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The Board Game Thread

Started by radiator, 21 February, 2014, 03:13:04 PM

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von Boom

Quote from: Funt Solo on 17 November, 2020, 07:25:44 PM
Mention of modules reminds me of my first D&D set - the Basic boxed set from '81-ish:



The module was "Keep on the Borderlands", but the plot is "commit genocide of the subhumans". It's brutal.
That was my first set as well, although I rapidly got hold of the DM's and Player's Guides.

I'm eyeing Iron Crown's Middle-Earth Roleplaying game online.

TordelBack

#736
Quote from: von Boom on 17 November, 2020, 10:43:21 PM
That was my first set as well

Mine too. Still have it, still use it on occasion.

Keep on the Borderlands is unfathomably deadly for low-level characters (and the Moldvay set only covers Lvls 1-3) so I wouldn't feel too sorry for the targets of this particular genocide. My brother and our mates littered those caves with our corpses before I learned to fudge rolls and railroad the party into the 'right' caves.

I created a giant spreadsheet of KotB a few years back to facilitate a conversion to Dragon Warriors,  putting in all the monster XP values, average damage outputs and treasure. It was sobering, bearing in mind the average 1st Level  Magic User had 2.5 hit points and AC 10, which even a 1/2 HD Kobold will hit 50% the time for that much damage with just a sling stone.

von Boom

#737
Quote from: TordelBack on 17 November, 2020, 11:08:00 PM
Quote from: von Boom on 17 November, 2020, 10:43:21 PM
That was my first set as well

Mine too. Still have it, still use it on occasion.

Keep on the Borderlands is unfathomably deadly for low-level characters (and the Moldvay set only covers Lvls 1-3) so I wouldn't feel too sorry for the targets of this particular genocide. My brother and our mates littered those caves with our corpses before I learned to fudge rolls and railroad the party into the 'right' caves.

I created a giant spreadsheet of KotB a few years back to facilitate a conversion to Dragon Warriors,  putting in all the monster XP values, average damage outputs and treasure. It was sobering, bearing in mind the average 1st Level  Magic User had 2.5 hit points and AC 10, which even a 1/2 HD Kobold will hit 50% the time for that much damage with just a sling stone.
Deadly.

That's what I don't like about more modern versions, characters are too powerful at low levels. It was such a thrill the first time my barely competent cleric made it to level 2. I wanted to play a thief or fighter, but I was too reckless with those types of characters and died quickly and often.

Barrington Boots

Quote from: von Boom on 17 November, 2020, 10:43:21 PM
I'm eyeing Iron Crown's Middle-Earth Roleplaying game online.

MERP was my very first introduction to tabletop roleplaying and led me down a slippery slope. I had the box set GW put out of it, and I'm pretty sure even now my parents regret buying it for me.
Being basically a child at the time I ignored most of the Tolkien-y elements of the setting and basically just played it as D&D but with a more complex ruleset and character generation. I've never played it as an adult but I suspect it'd be pretty cool. The main thing I remember from it, apart from being able to play about 100 different types of human, was the amazingly gory and descriptive critical hit tables.
You're a dark horse, Boots.

Colin YNWA

The boy child got 'Poetry for neanderthals' for his birthday and we played it this evening. I see very many happy Christmas fights over this one. Great fun but the boy child and the girl child delight in the No Stick a little too much!

TordelBack

Colin me old jewel, you've just sorted my wife's Christmas present. We're hardcore devotees of Exploding Kittens, word-guessing games AND Neanderthals in this house, so this is just Venn-tastic.  She will squeal with delight, and with far less effort on my part than is usual. Now to see if I can get one in time...

TordelBack

#741
Game secured for click-and-collect from my FLGS. Happy dance!

While I'm here, an update on my lad's D&D game. Feel free to look away now!

He's on session 11 or 12 now, all over Discord, so (virtually) a seasoned pro. It's been fascinating to watch his campaign mutate from the 5th Ed Starter Set adventure into something original, and he's lifted the local setting out of the Forgotten Realms and dropped into his own creation.  In the very first session, he had an extra player join, so rather than slow things down he had him play a recently-captured goblin until he could roll up a character. Of course that never happened, and the character has now grown to become a sort of half-genuine goblin Messiah, with the other characters (human, elf,  dwarf, halfling) conniving to be paraded as subjugated representatives of the humanoid races, as they gradually convert and recruit a born-again goblin army to march on the mercantile cities of the coast and overthrow their snooty rulers.

Meanwhile, the Rogue character has secretly sold out his companions to a shadowy organisation who also want to see the city states overthrown,  but place their own agents at the wheel: each player has been gifted a minor magic item Galadriel-style by this grateful local "businesswoman", but in fact each is a different kind of monitoring device (sound,  vision,  location  etc.) that combined allow her to watch their every move. And that's just two of the characters!

I know there's nothing more boring than other people's D&D stories, but I wanted to highlight how there really is nothing like a tabletop RPG: even in this day and age of realistic multi-player computer games. A gaggle of complete noob teenagers sitting in their own homes can take a simple commercial rescue-a-dwarf introductory adventure and not-enough pre-gen characters and spin it up into over 2 months (so far) of completely unpredictable free fun.

It's a damn fine hobby.

Funt Solo

In a world of micro-transactions and loot-boxes, that is indeed a grand game.
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Colin YNWA

Quote from: TordelBack on 05 December, 2020, 12:40:41 AM
Game secured for click-and-collect from my FLGS. Happy dance!

Its a simple, fun game (I'm rubbish at it!) hope you as much as we did.

pictsy

Quote from: TordelBack on 05 December, 2020, 12:40:41 AM
I know there's nothing more boring than other people's D&D stories...

I don't know about that.  I've listened to more stories and recorded sessions of other peoples D&D games than I've actually played.  Usually, as you yourself did, a good anecdote can be spun from most D&D games, even that time I tried to run a game with one player and no experience DMing.  It was a hot mess.  One day I'll try again, but maybe with a different rule set.  I like the look of Traveller just because the character creation looks like a lot of fun.

TordelBack

#745
Quote from: pictsy on 05 December, 2020, 09:43:58 AM
I've listened to more stories and recorded sessions of other peoples D&D games than I've actually played.  Usually, as you yourself did, a good anecdote can be spun from most D&D game...

I know that it's currently highly popular (and welcome that), and I've listened to more than my fair share of actual-play podcasts/youtube sessions, but in the end I've been forced to conclude that 'let me tell you about my character' is no more interesting to me writ large with voice actors and high production values than it was in whispers at the back of Maths class. Anecdotes are fine, but playing is the thing I love (or right now living vicariously through my kids): I enjoy reading or listening to talk about games and their creators, but I think accounts of campaigns or recordings of same have lost their appeal for me.

And yes, Traveller character creation is great fun: a game in itself, and I suspect I spent more time playing  than the RPG itself.  I believe the original GDW version is currently being offered free of charge.

pictsy

Well, I'll admit that I'm not  listening to much D&D stuff at the moment (there is only one YouTuber I consistently watch and it's more to do with module reviews than anything else).  I veered off into the dark realm of GW miniatures and games and the terrain building hobby.  I like to make things.


TordelBack


pauljholden

I was involved in helping do some design/artwork for a game called "Prisma Arena" - a fun little game were you battle other players in an areana - you get pop up standees which you can customise with different hairstyles and as you upgrade their abilities you can also customise their costumes.

It's a little complex to set up (though maybe that's the norm, I'm not used to these things) but it plays pretty fun - the idea is you can combine moves as  you move your characters around the board, then can use "combo" cards - to move, strike and move again (you can build up these combos as you play and then play them all out in one go). Once you knock out their opponent their free to enter the arena again (since there's no 'death' in the game)

Anyway, you might like it https://www.wearehubgames.com/our-games/prisma-arena

pictsy