Re: What have you been playing in APRIL 2024?

On 5/3/2024 7:32 AM, lkh wrote:

Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

So, it comes to the end of the month. I know, I asked about the whole
thing a bit into the last month already, but it's a brand new month, so
lets go over the last one...
What have you been playing in APRIL 2024?

 I took part in three games this month. Not to bad I guess, but the month
was quite busy with work and stuff.
 # Burning Wheel
 First game I played in was a one on one Burning Wheel game, which I
enjoyed a lot. There's an after action report by GM alex here:
https://campaignwiki.org/wiki/MontagInZ%c3%bcrich/2024-04-04_Starhome
It's amazing how much can happen in a two hour game when you're the
only player.
 

I never really got into Burning Wheel. I think I looked at it before but my eyes glazed over.

 # Labyrinth Lord
 Next up was your game :D
 

This month was the first LABYRINTH LORD game in a while, played with the
MapTool VTT, which actually was pretty nice. We were going through
Skerples' Tomb of the Serpent Kings (only the first two parts so far),
and then half the group died to some snakemen skeletons.

 Well ... I'll freely admit, that I played that coward of character and
his hireling who were to live, because they (I) chickend out ...
 

For what it's worth I actually liked the experience with the MapTool,
but it feels like it's idea for such a short enclosed area. I don't
really see it being that useful in more open spaces.

 Yes, I enjoyed that technical / visual part too, and I think MapTool
is underestimated when compared to roll20 or foundry.
 As for the open spaces, I've used Roll20 quite extensively for overland
travel and classical player mapped dungeon crawls. The trick is, to
keep in mind, that you don't *have* to use fancy maps, lighting and
field of vision tricks and all the bells and whistles.
 In wildernes / hexcrawl mode, you'll use the map for basic reference,
and just a single counter to indicate "you are here". In dungeon crawl
mode I used to put the players on a simple map with squares and let
them draw themselves as we went along, just as you would with pen and
paper. For combat you have all the choices: perpare an area in advance
with a fancy map and all, or just put up a basic black on white map,
quickly sketch in some interesting obstacles.
 

I think this would be possible with Maptool even, there are some of the free libraries which can be used to just create ad hoc dungeons with common dungeon shapes.(Wyrframe's Shady Halls specifically)
I was thinking they might be a good way to quickly create some dungeons for use in the game, but your comment just got me the idea that the dungeon mapper might just map along if given the right rights in the program. Hmm... this might be something to think about.

I've also used the VTT for some wargame like scenarios with a scale
of 10 yards to an inch, both for Traveller and OD&D.

I was thinking of doing a bit of wargaming in there, I was thinking the hex and counter kind, or some skirmish games though.

 VTTs seem to suggest, that you'll use them to map and display every
nook and cranny of a dungeon. This might work nicely for a small
linear dungeon designed for editions 3.5 upwards, where the meat and
potatoes are in complex preplanned encounters. But when you look
at a classical mega dungeon, the whole idea becomes silly. So just
relax and play like you would at the table, and use the VTT to show
handouts, and pop up a blank map with counters to show marching
order and maybe some rough sketches (it helps it the mapper uses
a graphics tablet).
  # OD&D
 Next and last game for me was our f2f OD&D campaign, which felt
like one of the grandest rpg experiences I've ever had. I'll write
about it elsewhere ... but just for some basic facts:
 We started out with three magic users levels 3, 5 and 6, one level 2
halfling fighter/thief, and one level 2 cleric. The players took a
solid 1.5 hours for perparations, planning and book keeping ...
no kidding ... but then they delivered:
 Summoning illusions of old red dragons, throwing
fire balls, lightning bolts and commanding guerilla style units of
about 80 heads, they broke up the seige of a nearby castle, defeated
the besiegers, and freed the inhabitants from their foul
cultist lords, banishing a demon along the way. Too bad the
halfling succumbed to his greed for magical swords and failed his
resurrection save ...
 They went home with almost 20.000 XP honestly earned, plenty of loot
and ... apparently ... their own castle.
 Which left me, as a referee, somewhat puzzled but super happy :D
  So looking forward to May. There's another Burning Wheel scheduled,
more Lab Lord goodness coming up and also some UVG ... good times!
 Cheers,
 lkh
 PS: never got into Shadowrun ...
 

I think Shadowrun makes more sense if you really see it as DnD but with guns. Even the classic starter setting of the Seattle megaplex feels very Keep on the Borderlands: a single city state, cut off from their main homeland, port city, surrounded by tribal lands full of hostiles, and elvish kingdom to the south, multiple big fortresses and dungeons in the city.
Dave Arneson even wrote the first proper module (DNA/DOA) and Ken St. Andre got involved in the first book.
By now it is it's own thing, but back in the beginning it was very much a reaction to DnD.
We are playing through some of the early modules and I feel like a few of the scenarios we had have some issues. I still don't know if I want to run DNA/DOA for example, because it has some great setpieces, but it also manages to be somewhat railroady. It also manages to put a dungeon crawl into a cyberpunk setting.