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Post by fordfjord on Aug 5, 2017 0:57:07 GMT
First (or 23rd) game session yet? I use pictures culled from the internet, mostly from DeviantArt (but you use what you want), to emphasize scenes during gaming sessions with my kids. Sci-fi, historical, techno, you-name-it. I think this might work well for the "RPG-un-initiated" or relatively young, whatever. My two bits. Seriously. how has it gone?
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Post by Hedgewick on Aug 5, 2017 19:07:29 GMT
I use pictures culled from the internet, mostly from DeviantArt (but you use what you want), to emphasize scenes during gaming sessions with my kids. Sci-fi, historical, techno, you-name-it. I do the very same thing. Specifically, I'll seek out concept artwork that matches the settings I'd like to use for a particular adventure. On game day, I'll share these images with the players to reinforce my descriptions of each new setting. It's been a big hit with my players.
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generalrose
2nd Incarnation
Posts: 196
Favourite Doctors: Eight, Twelve, Ten
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Post by generalrose on Aug 14, 2017 23:11:56 GMT
While I have much interest in playing pretty much any tabletop rpg, I am limited by what I believe my wife would enjoy (which is not tabletop rpg's (yet) but is Doctor Who). That and being a father of 2 youngsters and working 6 days week with 8-10 hour days I have been lacking in both time and opportunity to seek out and join a group, which is why I haven't played in about a decade. Given the perfect world I would love to join a small group as a player and learn the ropes by playing, and maybe eventually move into being the gm for an odd game or two. But as things stand for me I have to create my own opportunity and run with it. How old are your youngsters? Perhaps they'd be game to play with you and your wife?
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Post by foehammer343 on Aug 16, 2017 11:03:41 GMT
Sorry for the long silence everyone, life has been a bit crazy, but finally got around to playing last night. It went surprisingly well, although I found that my wife is a much better role player then I am as I was bumbley and nervous while she acted her role with gusto (though to be fair my wife probably is River Song in this dimension so she was pretty much just acting exactly how she would have reacted if this was her real life). It was a real quick session, I think it took less then 30 minutes total, but it was really just the prologue.
The main setup includes a custom race that I called the Chauvogs, which are a human sized species that look like a mashup of a bearded dwarf and a pig (visually similar to a Tellarite if you are a Trekkie*) and have a very low opinion of females, often treating them like property. The planet of the Chauvogs has many moons, most of which are settled in some way. The smaller ones are privetly owned mansions and such while the middle sized ones are typically business owned ventures, such as luxury getaway resorts and casinos or large scale spaceship construction yards. The larger ones are still government owned, being militarily bases, fully settled colonies, or space moon jails.
As our story went River song was approached in her office by a Chauvog General and his two human escorts/bodyguards with a mission to collect the engagement ring of the third daughter of the planets king. The king had gambled away the ring at New Space Vegas, which meant that the casinos owner and CEO could marry the kings daughter (told you that women are treated as property). It is feared that the space Mafia runs the casino and wants to become the planetary king by killing the two elder daughters. The second eldest daughter already killed in an “accident” and the eldest is now in protective custody. River was sought out to retrieve the ring as she is female and therefor can't marry the kings daughter herself.
The meeting went well although Rivers argumentative nature coupled with her being a non-submissive female infuriated the General. River was offered one of two pieces of holography gadgets to aid her and literally only 1/100th of the monetary bounty as an upfront payment (although as angry as the general was it was a good idea not to have tried bartering as there would have been a massive penalty from his angry mood and a failure would have resulted in withdrawing all support for River). However Rivers attractiveness and charm won over one of the two human guards who pickpocketed the second hologram gadget and left it, along with his phone number, for River. The session ended with River plotting how she wanted to go about infiltrating the casino and what gadgets she wanted to bring with her.
Does that sound like a good intro and/or plot? I'll list my two hologram gadgets in the next post to see if I did well in their creation.
*P.S. I am not a Trekkie at all, I just found a picture of Tellarites on Google image search and though that they roughly fit my mental picture.
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Post by foehammer343 on Aug 16, 2017 11:06:14 GMT
Holographic Clothes Plus – Minor Gadget (has 1 story point)
Description: A swallowable pill that allows for a holographic disguise. A technological improvement of the original holographic clothing pill for its speed, stronger abilities and ease of use, but at the cost of only being a visual change and with a far shorter life span before shorting out.
Traits: Shapeshift – 1-3 minute after swallowing instant holographic disguise.
Restrictions: Eyes only – Can only fool vision, does not emulate touch, smell etc. Time Limit – 1 hour for clothing only. 30min for clothing and light facial changes. 15 min to visually change species Psychic effect – Doesn't affect people with psychic training One Shot – One time use.
Credit to Jay042 who created the original holographic cloths gadget that inspired this modified version.
Holographic Distraction Mouse – Major Gadget (has 2 story points)
Description: Looks like a futuristic wind up mouse toy, but is capable of producing a hologram of a scanned object. It will then attempt to avoid and run away from anything and everything it can to the best of its ability.
Traits: Scan – specialised scan – captures visual image of an object Hologram – Produces a hologram of a scanned object Run for your life! – Runs away and avoids contact with anything it can
Restrictions: Eyes only – Can only fool vision, does not emulate touch, smell etc. Low Memory – Can only hold one scanned object at a time Preset settings – Assumes everything it scans is a living being capable of movement
As a note the Chauvogs are poor of eyesight but have keen smell. The general didn't want to give anything that would have as easily fooled his own kind, but to be fair most of the guards and workers of the casino are human.
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Post by foehammer343 on Aug 16, 2017 11:20:53 GMT
How old are your youngsters? Perhaps they'd be game to play with you and your wife? They are only 6 and 4, still a bit young for a complicated rpg with complex rules and plots to follow. Candyland can still be a headache sometimes lol. But one day....
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Post by Hedgewick on Aug 16, 2017 14:15:32 GMT
Does that sound like a good intro and/or plot? I'll list my two hologram gadgets in the next post to see if I did well in their creation. This is great! It sounds like a plot perfectly suited to River Song. Do you have stats for the Chauvogs? Would you mind posting them? It might be fun to include them in a future adventure.
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Post by olegrand on Aug 18, 2017 16:32:52 GMT
The Chauvinistic Hogs (sorry, Chauvogs sure seem interesting... and yes, the setup really seems very River-esque. Kudos!
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Post by kismaci on Dec 9, 2017 21:18:08 GMT
Hi all! We just played an adventure as a "test run", my advices as GM: - the Doctor should be a player, not an NPC. I've used to tie loose ends, help them if they got stucked, but in general, I couldn't use him as it should be I think.
- The players should really be encourged to use Story Points (and as GM, reward them as well along the adventure)
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Post by Stormcrow on Dec 10, 2017 13:39:38 GMT
the Doctor should be a player, not an NPC. Absolutely true. If the Doctor is an NPC, all the players will use him as a crutch: "What do we do now, Doctor? Tell us what to do!"
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Post by tlemmens10 on Mar 27, 2021 15:59:09 GMT
Then, for your first few games, your wife should play the Doctor. I do assume that if you do a solo game with one player you don't necessarily need to go for the Doctor or River Song as the main character. As a novice, I really think it's a good suggestion to start off with a test game with one player. My brother will most likely be the player I will try this out on. And maybe vice versa. He grabbed my Roleplaying Manual, so I think he's interested to maybe run a game as well. I certainly would like that, as I would enjoy being the player too at times. But back to my main point: My brother's favorite character is Strax, so I'm wondering what could possibly be a good first solo adventure for this character.
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,753
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Mar 27, 2021 19:20:52 GMT
Then, for your first few games, your wife should play the Doctor. I do assume that if you do a solo game with one player you don't necessarily need to go for the Doctor or River Song as the main character. As a novice, I really think it's a good suggestion to start off with a test game with one player. My brother will most likely be the player I will try this out on. And maybe vice versa. He grabbed my Roleplaying Manual, so I think he's interested to maybe run a game as well. I certainly would like that, as I would enjoy being the player too at times. But back to my main point: My brother's favorite character is Strax, so I'm wondering what could possibly be a good first solo adventure for this character. Hmm, interesting. Strax is an interesting character but not one that jumps out at me as a solo PC. Off course there's no reason not to involve Vasta and Jenny as NPCs. You'd need something Victorian, unless Strax has been displaced from Pasternoster Row. Strax is generally portrayed as dumb and direct (though he has Ingenuity 3 which is the same as Barbara, Ben or Polly) so perhaps something less investigative? Personally I like the idea of his visits to Glasgow, on his weekends off, so let's see what the possibilities are for Glasgow in the 1890s. I actually have one in my Notes file; the Glasgow Subway.
Now that system wasn't opened until 1896 but fuzz the years a little, and set the scenario during the digging of the tunnels, a year or so earlier. One of the classic Who plot-lines is something nasty being unearthed, the idea of Quatermass and the Pit has been reused several times. So while digging the tunnels the excavation has unearthed Something Nasty. This could be the classic long buried alien ship (C7 used it in Ghost Engines and FASA for The Iytean Menace), a crystal imprinted with the memories and personality of a alien being, a portal to another location/dimension through which things are coming, anything really.
To stick with the buried alien ship let's say that an (imprisoned?) alien escapes and possesses/controls one of the workmen, using him as a pathway to others. Why is it doing this? Let's go with the classic 'draining psionic energy' to allow it to re-energise the ship to escape Earth. So there have been a number of strange deaths in the city, initially a couple of workmen who were employed as diggers but moving on in the city. Perhaps the alien's influence 'wears out' bodies and so it has to jump into a new one every so often. The victims need to be brought to the ship to be 'processed' and then wander off, almost brain dead to be found, dead or alive. Even in Glasgow people are starting to wonder.
OK there's a basic skeleton, now for the flesh. Strax is in Glasgow for a weekend off when one of his local friends (Archie?) mentions the rash of odd deaths; people found wandering, dazed, taken to the Royal Infirmary, where they linger for a few days and die. Physicians are baffled. So Strax decides to investigate. perhaps he's annoyed at Vastra and Jenny and wants to prove himself.
- If necessary they can be contacted by telegraph, Sontaran communicator, telepathic dreams or other methods.
So he, and Archie, decide to investigate. It's Taggart 1890s style. I see
- Them listing out where the victims were found on a map.
- Getting into the RI to interview the newest mysterious case.
- In the hospital Strax using a Sontaran device (the one he used to check Clara perhaps) to scan a patient, and find that mysterious alien energies are involved.
- Figuring out that most of the cases have been found wandering near the subway workings
- Pub crawls to pump workmen for information on odd happenings (possibly involving one of those Sontaran hypnosis devices)
- Several brawls.
- An encounter with the police ('polis') when the pair are found lurking near the subway.
- Trying to find the current alien's host; the logical way being that that Strax (aided by Archie's local knowledge) findd that some cases seem to have happened far from the others. This is the alien leaving one host to possess another. There may be subtle differences in the effect on the host, compared to those simply drained.
- Putting it all together
- The finale when Strax, perhaps aided by some large Glaswegians with blunt instruments, oil lamps and flaming torches, ventures into the partially dug tunnels to confront the alien. Naturally it tries to possess him, or Archie if he;s along, and must be beaten by a combination of indomitable willpower and brute force. Cue large explosion.
- The return to London and Madame Vastra asking how his weekend went....
Alas Strax didn't bring his usual arsenal along for the weekend.
Does this help you at all?
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Post by tlemmens10 on Mar 27, 2021 20:57:26 GMT
Hmm...I'm certainly getting some ideas from this suggestion. Thanks.
I just think I need to get my hand on The Eleventh Doctor Sourcebook for NPC stats of Vastra and Jenny. I might maybe change the 'random people getting possessed' idea to maybe Vastra being possessed. Or mind controlled. Depending on what is easier.
In any case, thanks for the suggestion. I'll keep it in mind.
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,753
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Mar 27, 2021 21:19:17 GMT
Hmm...I'm certainly getting some ideas from this suggestion. Thanks. I just think I need to get my hand on The Eleventh Doctor Sourcebook for NPC stats of Vastra and Jenny. I might maybe change the 'random people getting possessed' idea to maybe Vastra being possessed. Or mind controlled. Depending on what is easier. In any case, thanks for the suggestion. I'll keep it in mind. Not at all, my pleasure.
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Post by tlemmens10 on Mar 28, 2021 4:39:58 GMT
Glad you did.
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