NationStates Jolt Archive

there are rules for diceless gaming.

fair enough...um.....have to admit I've never used diceless rpg (outside of video games)...are there any you might recommend?

fair enough...um.....have to admit I've never used diceless rpg (outside of video games)...are there any you might recommend?

keep your mind open, referree the results and keep the flow going towards the end results.

fair enough...um.....have to admit I've never used diceless rpg (outside of video games)...are there any you might recommend?

Ditto. Although I've done some diceless wargaming. And the rather silly dungeon I ran where the players almost didn't need to roll at all - except for paranoia reasons.

The Castle Falkenstei RPG system doesnt use dices, but cards. Its pretty interesting.

I'll help, but work constraints would reduce me to role of Player only. ;)

Same here -- well, trying-to-find-work constraints, in my case.

I quit playing when my Character reached a god status .....

I quit playing when my Character reached a god status .....

That's when you either A: start fighting gods, or B: start a new character.

Ditto. Although I've done some diceless wargaming. And the rather silly dungeon I ran where the players almost didn't need to roll at all - except for paranoia reasons.
the best type of roll calls.

"er... roll spot"
"why?"
"just roll."
"I got a 12"
"ok, continuing on..."
"wait... what happened"
"nothing... as far as you know..."

Lol, that is why I, as a GM, always made the rolls. I used a "barrier" so the players never saw what I was doing behind it. And I always made the rolls without telling them anything.

I can remember the look on their faces when I started rolling the dices. They never know what was going to hapen. Sometimes I just rolled the dices for no reason at all just to make them paranoid. Their faces were priceless.

the best type of roll calls.

"er... roll spot"
"why?"
"just roll."
"I got a 12"
"ok, continuing on..."
"wait... what happened"
"nothing... as far as you know..."When my brother GMs he's really good at keeping players paranoid. You roll a million times without ever knowing why. But he also tends to kill off characters with alarming regularity. You've had amazing luck to get a 5th level character.

I get really attached to my characters, so I only take newly made ones specifically for his games. And he prefers Oriental Adventures, which I'm not really that fond of. But he's really super organized and very detail oriented when he games.

On the other hand I tend to make up things as I go along. No use knowing all the critters in the Monster Manual because I just made that one up. Sneaking a peek at the GM's notes? Not going to do you any good. It's bare bones and the rest made up on the fly.

keep your mind open, referree the results and keep the flow going towards the end results.

Yeah...some friends and I experimented with rule-less RPGing...but ultimately needed to use something to introduce randomness into the milieu. Like combat for example...or magic (success/failure)...how would this work with regards to the proposed game?

the best type of roll calls.

"er... roll spot"
"why?"
"just roll."
"I got a 12"
"ok, continuing on..."
"wait... what happened"
"nothing... as far as you know..."

Lol, that is why I, as a GM, always made the rolls. I used a "barrier" so the players never saw what I was doing behind it. And I always made the rolls without telling them anything.

I can remember the look on their faces when I started rolling the dices. They never know what was going to hapen. Sometimes I just rolled the dices for no reason at all just to make them paranoid. Their faces were priceless.

heh. Yep. But the best part of that one was that it was just so straight forward, but they were just so very paranoid. They were did most of the paranoia rolls themselves. Add enough "disarming" adjectives and they went crazy!
It took 'em about 10 minutes to get through a "plain, simple, ordinary, non-special door, that doesn't appear to be trapped, magical, or otherwise anything to write home sbout in anyway whatsoever." Of course it was exactly as described.

The op-art painting of a pit on the floor was fun too. Just an ordinary and fairly obvious painting - nothing special. :D But such attempts to avoid it! Hehehehehe.

But my all time fave for D&D dungeons I did was "the dream", which one player ended up describing as the insanity dungeon - everything was off the cuff, die rolls resulted in utterly evil and random results ("15? Your +2 sword turns into a carnation.") As implied, it's all a dream in the end. One does have to be careful never to do it with a player who sees the player/GM role as adversarial...

When my brother GMs he's really good at keeping players paranoid. You roll a million times without ever knowing why. But he also tends to kill off characters with alarming regularity. You've had amazing luck to get a 5th level character.

I get really attached to my characters, so I only take newly made ones specifically for his games. And he prefers Oriental Adventures, which I'm not really that fond of. But he's really super organized and very detail oriented when he games.

Sounds like the intro scenario I used for my cyberpunk game. It was based loosely on the intro scenario for Shadowrun (the one where the players walked in on a stick up at a "Stuffer Shack", if you know the game.)

I told everyone:
a) it was intended to be realistic combat, not heroic or cinematic.
b) it was a both an intro to a different style and a playtest of the rules
c) not to "invest" anything in the characters, as they would most likely die quickly

Even with those caveat's, the results were sobering - it was later known as the St. Stuffer Shack Day Massacre...

My brother, who didn't play regularly with the group, and was mostly familiar with AD&D 1st ed. and not the T2K campaign that some of the rules came from, decided that the players from my regular group were crazy. Especially the player who played the troll to the hilt. She really was one of the best roleplayers I ever knew, taking her sometimes rather extreme characters to the limit. The first time I ran T2K, she played a beautifully suicidal Ranger with PTSD. He lasted far, far longer than he ever should have, partly thanks to some juidicious cheating on my part due to his high entertainment value.

Yeah...some friends and I experimented with rule-less RPGing...but ultimately needed to use something to introduce randomness into the milieu. Like combat for example...or magic (success/failure)...how would this work with regards to the proposed game?

the one's I ran in, Damage was Average... say Magic missle does 1d4+1. so it would be damage 3. Maximized would have it at 5.

Hit points, characters roll up (if the DM trusts the characters, and the DM will have a copy of the character sheets.) or it can be assigned.

Hit or miss is up to the DM. (if on a Forum, the DM can do the rolling.) the thing is, tho. the DM can't be "out to get the characters." it has to be fair.

I quit playing when my Character reached a god status .....

Either you played for 30 years, or you had a shite DM.

The first time I ran T2K, she played a beautifully suicidal Ranger with PTSD. He lasted far, far longer than he ever should have, partly thanks to some juidicious cheating on my part due to his high entertainment value.

I love my rangers.. even tho the rest of the party was detrimental to my health.

imagine a room, floors like a checkerboard. I was slowly making my way across, marking which squares are safe, and which squares are not. the Dwarf and other ranger got bored and decided to toss in a log to set off all the traps.

great plan... wish they let me know about it.

DM: ok, youre about 3/4 through and roll... listen.
ME: Ok, *roll*
DM: you hear some activity by the door.
ME: I turn to look.
DM: You see the dwarf and the other Ranger Heaving a sizable log into the room.
ME: SHIT! I run to the other door!
DM: ok, make... 4 reflex saves... minus 5 because you're running.
ME: *Rolls and gives results*
DM: Good news, you avoided the spiked pit, but one of the darts gets you, so does a blade that popped up, and... you dogded another set of arrows.. roll bull rush to get through the door!
ME: %$#@! *Rolls*
DM: You're through as you hear various traps going off. I will rule you are on the ground, so the arrows and darts that normally stick into the door sail harmlessly over you... now your damage... *DM rolls* 8 pts. and I need a Save for the poisoned dart...

I should've sicced the Ghost I encounted on em.

the one's I ran in, Damage was Average... say Magic missle does 1d4+1. so it would be damage 3. Maximized would have it at 5.

Hit points, characters roll up (if the DM trusts the characters, and the DM will have a copy of the character sheets.) or it can be assigned.

Hit or miss is up to the DM. (if on a Forum, the DM can do the rolling.) the thing is, tho. the DM can't be "out to get the characters." it has to be fair.

Ahhh...thats pretty interesting....lots of trust involved though...which is good...I could handle that...

I love my rangers.. even tho the rest of the party was detrimental to my health.

imagine a room, floors like a checkerboard. I was slowly making my way across, marking which squares are safe, and which squares are not. the Dwarf and other ranger got bored and decided to toss in a log to set off all the traps.

great plan... wish they let me know about it.

DM: ok, youre about 3/4 through and roll... listen.
ME: Ok, *roll*
DM: you hear some activity by the door.
ME: I turn to look.
DM: You see the dwarf and the other Ranger Heaving a sizable log into the room.
ME: SHIT! I run to the other door!
DM: ok, make... 4 reflex saves... minus 5 because you're running.
ME: *Rolls and gives results*
DM: Good news, you avoided the spiked pit, but one of the darts gets you, so does a blade that popped up, and... you dogded another set of arrows.. roll bull rush to get through the door!
ME: %$#@! *Rolls*
DM: You're through as you hear various traps going off. I will rule you are on the ground, so the arrows and darts that normally stick into the door sail harmlessly over you... now your damage... *DM rolls* 8 pts. and I need a Save for the poisoned dart...

I should've sicced the Ghost I encounted on em.

Heh. That was T2K, so she was playing a US Army Ranger, but same difference. He was, as I said suicidal - literally. She reasoned "there's been a nuclear war, the world's gone, and I don't like it. I'm better off dead anyway, and I don't care who goes with me." The episode in Lodz was just hilarious - for her and me.

Me: "The last intel report says there's a company strength Soviet garrisson of about 250, with a couple of tanks."
Ranger: "Excellent. Kill'em all."
Party: "NO!"
She had him drive the FAV straight into the town square and open fire...


The Ranger survived.

That story also reminds me of the very first Traveller game I played in. I ended up playing a Scout with high Stealth and ungodly Shotgun skills, amongs a party mostly made up of former Imperial Marines and ex-Navy types. The first adventure involved a boarding party bug hunt inspired by Aliens. There I was doing my sneaking and peeking on point, when the GM told the Marine who was backing me up that he thought he saw something. (>.<)

A FGMP fired over one's head results in cussing. Lots, and lots of cussing!

Heh. That was T2K, so she was playing a US Army Ranger, but same difference. He was, as I said suicidal - literally. She reasoned "there's been a nuclear war, the world's gone, and I don't like it. I'm better off dead anyway, and I don't care who goes with me." The episode in Lodz was just hilarious - for her and me.

Me: "The last intel report says there's a company strength Soviet garrisson of about 250, with a couple of tanks."
Ranger: "Excellent. Kill'em all."
Party: "NO!"
She had him drive the FAV straight into the town square and open fire...


The Ranger survived.

That story also reminds me of the very first Traveller game I played in. I ended up playing a Scout with high Stealth and ungodly Shotgun skills, amongs a party mostly made up of former Imperial Marines and ex-Navy types. The first adventure involved a boarding party bug hunt inspired by Aliens. There I was doing my sneaking and peeking on point, when the GM told the Marine who was backing me up that he thought he saw something. (>.<)

A FGMP fired over one's head results in cussing. Lots, and lots of cussing!

So I'm assuming Traveler is a bit like Fallout 2.

Also, what's the point in being able to be really sneaky and quiet if your weapon of choice is a fucking shotgun? It's like, "Yeah, I'm damned quiet. Till I kill someone. Let's hope he doesn't have friends." Lol

So I'm assuming Traveler is a bit like Fallout 2.

No idea. It's a fairly hard SF flavored space opera game, with a strong 19th century age of sail feel to it. A typical part has several ex-military types bumming around with a merchant, scientist, or nobleman.

FGMP = Fusion Gun, Man Portable. Basically a big man portable "energy" cannon. Not something you want your back-up firing off casually, like happened.

Also, what's the point in being able to be really sneaky and quiet if your weapon of choice is a fucking shotgun? It's like, "Yeah, I'm damned quiet. Till I kill someone. Let's hope he doesn't have friends." Lol

That was from a couple of different points.

First, the char gen for traveller gave random skills.
Secondly, for a space craft boarding party, a shotguns's a pretty good choice, even for being for being sneaky. Especially in comparison to a fusion rifle.

I love my rangers.. even tho the rest of the party was detrimental to my health.

imagine a room, floors like a checkerboard. I was slowly making my way across, marking which squares are safe, and which squares are not. the Dwarf and other ranger got bored and decided to toss in a log to set off all the traps.

great plan... wish they let me know about it.

DM: ok, youre about 3/4 through and roll... listen.
ME: Ok, *roll*
DM: you hear some activity by the door.
ME: I turn to look.
DM: You see the dwarf and the other Ranger Heaving a sizable log into the room.
ME: SHIT! I run to the other door!
DM: ok, make... 4 reflex saves... minus 5 because you're running.
ME: *Rolls and gives results*
DM: Good news, you avoided the spiked pit, but one of the darts gets you, so does a blade that popped up, and... you dogded another set of arrows.. roll bull rush to get through the door!
ME: %$#@! *Rolls*
DM: You're through as you hear various traps going off. I will rule you are on the ground, so the arrows and darts that normally stick into the door sail harmlessly over you... now your damage... *DM rolls* 8 pts. and I need a Save for the poisoned dart...

I should've sicced the Ghost I encounted on em.

As a DM I really hate that sort of thing... When you have one or two members of the party who like to gather attention buy going off on those tangents from time to time. Of course, if their silliness gets them killed they're usually the first to argue... :rolleyes:

Especially the player who played the troll to the hilt. She really was one of the best roleplayers I ever knew, taking her sometimes rather extreme characters to the limit. The first time I ran T2K, she played a beautifully suicidal Ranger with PTSD. He lasted far, far longer than he ever should have, partly thanks to some juidicious cheating on my part due to his high entertainment value.

My favorite characters are usually emotional basket cases. (I know, not a lot of role playing needed there) And I play male characters more often than females. My favorite of all time is an alchoholic bard who's a closeted homosexual. When he got to be such a high level that no one wanted him in the campaign I voluteered to drop him from 22nd to 11th level so I could find GMs who let him in the campaign.

My favorite characters are usually emotional basket cases. (I know, not a lot of role playing needed there) And I play male characters more often than females. My favorite of all time is an alchoholic bard who's a closeted homosexual. When he got to be such a high level that no one wanted him in the campaign I voluteered to drop him from 22nd to 11th level so I could find GMs who let him in the campaign.

Heh. Fortunately, she GMed more than played. But when she played, watch out! In the longer, Texas based campaign for T2K I ran, she played the town doctor, based largely off Dr. "Bones" McCoy. Best line: "It's not dead Jim. It's ... Russian." (When the Pact radio they'd liberated died.)

Most characters I played were pretty sane, but just off the wall, and too often with a poor sense of judgement. Early on in my days of the EPT campaign, I won the group's Han Solo "Never tell me the odds!" badge for trying to face off an encounter with a group of very powerful mon-human magicians single handedly with a 1st level fighter who simply didn't no any better, even when the rest of the party escaped via magic. :)

Anywho, I'm off to bed - 5am here. (>.<)

I once played a 2nd Edition Necromancer with a Constitution of something like 5 or 6... Every time I cast a spell the DM rolled to see if I passed out from the exertion...

As a DM I really hate that sort of thing... When you have one or two members of the party who like to gather attention buy going off on those tangents from time to time. Of course, if their silliness gets them killed they're usually the first to argue... :rolleyes:

There was a time when I was a GM and in the group there were two guys who didnt like each other that much, so they were always trying to mess with each other´s characters.

One of them managed to have sex with the wife of the character of the other guy, and he found out. Both guys got in a rage and decided that they were going to try to kill each other. It was one of the few times when I literaly saw two guys chearing for their characters to make sure they won over the other lol. :D

One of them was a pirate, and the other who got cheated was a cleric of a local temple. The pirate won, the player of the cleric got mad and went away after his character was slaughtered.

He got happy when I made sure his character order hunted down and killed the pirate out of revenge for his falen brother :D

I have to say it was a good session. Two characters killed, two very pissed players, and a very happy GM. The only player who got well was the third one, who was a thief and looted all the itens from the dead players.

It was the last time I played with the three of them.

There was a time when I was a GM and in the group there were two guys who didnt like each other that much, so they were always trying to mess with each other´s characters.

One of them managed to have sex with the wife of the character of the other guy, and he found out. Both guys got in a rage and decided that they were going to try to kill each other. It was one of the few times when I literaly saw two guys chearing for their characters to make sure they won over the other lol. :D

One of them was a pirate, and the other who got cheated was a cleric of a local temple. The pirate won, the player of the cleric got mad and went away after his character was slaughtered.

He got happy when I made sure his character order hunted down and killed the pirate out of revenge for his falen brother :D

I have to say it was a good session. Two characters killed, two very pissed players, and a very happy GM. The only player who got well was the third one, who was a thief and looted all the itens from the dead players.

It was the last time I played with the three of them.

We once completed a very long and arduous high level Module (H4) and two of the players had agreed to team up and kill one ofmy characters for the purpose of looting him. The first, a CN Magic-User cast Magic Missile and anhilated my Ranger in one spell. The second cast Magic Missile on... his partner. (He too was a CN Magic-User/somethingelse) Amazingly, the latter survived, and immediately escaped, with none of my loot, by using Teleport w/o Error or some such.

Good times.

We once completed a very long and arduous high level Module (H4) and two of the players had agreed to team up and kill one ofmy characters for the purpose of looting him. The first, a CN Magic-User cast Magic Missile and anhilated my Ranger in one spell. The second cast Magic Missile on... his partner. (He too was a CN Magic-User/somethingelse) Amazingly, the latter survived, and immediately escaped, with none of my loot, by using Teleport w/o Error or some such.

Good times.

Looks like fighters always get the bad end of the deal.

I was playing a regular campaign on a world one of my friends had created, and we went to a ship that was docked so we could loot it. Two of the other characters, a cleric and a thief, found some women inside and started to play with them, while my character decided he was going to explore the ship. So, the GM focused on me.

I explored and in one room I found a Water Elemental control ring, which was very powerfull and could control and create elementals out of nowhere. But, my character, being a fighter/barbarian who hated magic, just decided he didnt want it (I was roleplaying). So I said to the GM that I was going to throw the ring to the sea. The other player, the thief, listened to that and screamed: "YOU´RE GOING TO DO WHAT?!".

Imediataly he said his character got up and went to where I was. He told the GM that he was going to beat up my character, and so he did. The cleric (who was having fun with the prostitute) went with him, and they both kicked the ass of my fighter, got him to his underwear and threw me over the ship into the water.

Now, how the characters found out that I had got a ring and was going to throw it away, we will never know. Ok, we were like 13 or 14, and I was the only one roleplaying there. Anyway, I got mad because the GM allowed it, and decided to use the ring. I conjured an elemental and used him to destroy the Ship and took everyone within to the water with me.

Yes, good times.

We once completed a very long and arduous high level Module (H4) and two of the players had agreed to team up and kill one ofmy characters for the purpose of looting him. The first, a CN Magic-User cast Magic Missile and anhilated my Ranger in one spell. The second cast Magic Missile on... his partner. (He too was a CN Magic-User/somethingelse) Amazingly, the latter survived, and immediately escaped, with none of my loot, by using Teleport w/o Error or some such.

Good times.
did you read KODT and the Head of Vecna?

Looks like fighters always get the bad end of the deal.

I was playing a regular campaign on a world one of my friends had created, and we went to a ship that was docked so we could loot it. Two of the other characters, a cleric and a thief, found some women inside and started to play with them, while my character decided he was going to explore the ship. So, the GM focused on me.

I explored and in one room I found a Water Elemental control ring, which was very powerfull and could control and create elementals out of nowhere. But, my character, being a fighter/barbarian who hated magic, just decided he didnt want it (I was roleplaying). So I said to the GM that I was going to throw the ring to the sea. The other player, the thief, listened to that and screamed: "YOU´RE GOING TO DO WHAT?!".

Imediataly he said his character got up and went to where I was. He told the GM that he was going to beat up my character, and so he did. The cleric (who was having fun with the prostitute) went with him, and they both kicked the ass of my fighter, got him to his underwear and threw me over the ship into the water.

Now, how the characters found out that I had got a ring and was going to throw it away, we will never know. Ok, we were like 13 or 14, and I was the only one roleplaying there. Anyway, I got mad because the GM allowed it, and decided to use the ring. I conjured an elemental and used him to destroy the Ship and took everyone within to the water with me.

Yes, good times.Bad DM... You should've asked "how did they know about the ring?"

One of my friends RP'ed a fighter type who was actually a powerful Sorceress. (she lost her memory and aquired a Phobia about magic.) one adventure, the Mage teleported eveyone to a major battle. they all drew their weapons and charged.

my friend?

(Rolled her con...)
DM: ok, what do you do.
Player: I Faint!
Everyone else: What?!
Player: My character has a paralyzing fear of magic, you just cast a spell on her... she failed her con save... she faints.
Mage: But she has those magic gloves...
Player: No one told her it was magic, remember? so they fit extremely well and the effects do not reveal that they are magical (Gauntlets of Ogre Power.)

they kept forgetting her phobia, so time after time, it's "She screams and runs away," "She faints,"

Very good times...

did you read KODT and the Head of Vecna?

No I sure haven't...

No I sure haven't...

Enjoy.

Head of Vecna (http://users.tkk.fi/~vesanto/link.fun/stupid.pcs.html)

:D :D :D

FGMP = Fusion Gun, Man Portable. Basically a big man portable "energy" cannon. Not something you want your back-up firing off casually, like happened.

Due to a horrendous misunderstanding of the weapons chart and an apparent complete failure to comprehend that superscript was intended to direct you to the footnotes, at one point in our traveller campaign an FGMP-13 was doing something like 12Dsquared damage, a FGMP-14 was doing 13Dcubed damage and so on.

Enjoy.

Head of Vecna (http://users.tkk.fi/~vesanto/link.fun/stupid.pcs.html)

:D :D :D

OMG that was hillarious :D

Thank you!

Enjoy.

Head of Vecna (http://users.tkk.fi/~vesanto/link.fun/stupid.pcs.html)

:D :D :D

LOL Hadn't seen that one before. :D

Due to a horrendous misunderstanding of the weapons chart and an apparent complete failure to comprehend that superscript was intended to direct you to the footnotes, at one point in our traveller campaign an FGMP-13 was doing something like 12Dsquared damage, a FGMP-14 was doing 13Dcubed damage and so on.

:eek:

That reminds me of the good old "Murphy's Rules" strip from the Space Gamer:
http://archive.gamespy.com/comics/kovalic/Murphys/samples.html
http://www.acc.umu.se/~corps/murphy.html

I've about tapped out my store of funny stories for the moment, buty I've got a couple more.

When I was a kid, we drove from Texas to Washington DC to visit family - this was about 1979 or 1980, and I was 11 or 12. It was a really long ride, so my brother and I decided to run through Borderlands. My mom thought that'd be a perfect chance to get in on the fun and see what the D&D stuff was all about. Everything went fine until we ran into a gelatanous cube, and mom just went :confused: "What?"
So I described it for her, ending with "...and it'sa really icky."
"Oh, sounds just like your room."

In another thread, I think I mentioned the N’lüss warrior (think big blond Viking type who's honorable to a fault) who's favorite weapon was the "chain flail" - a long chain whip with each link honed to a razor edge. The party hated that weapon because it did percentil dice damage and had a fair chance of hitting anybody nearby.

The party was travelling between cities when we ran into a random enounter with some tax collectors. A point about the culture of EPT: the main Empires are basically authoritarian bureaucracies - think Chinese or Byzantine empires. Everybody has to keep all sorts of travel papers, including their record of having paid taxes. Not paying your taxes is a capital crime. These tax collectors were backed up by about a hundred troops. As it turned out, there were several of us who hadn't paid, including me. So we decided to hide in the woods. I failed my roll - miserably, and was spotted right away.

Knowing I was about to die, I asked "How many do I take with me before I die?"
The GM had me roll percentile dice. I took out a huge swath of them - more 70, IIRC. Unfortunately, for the party, the authorities were able to ID me as being an associate of the party, leading to a long and involved man hunt.

Another interesting one was from the early days of my involvement in that campaign. The cultures of EPT are very complex and xenophobic. The GM ususally had new players play foreign "barbarians" (ie not from the Empire) until the player got familiar with the complexities. This usually involved running a succession of characters who ran afoul of various problems and got themselves killed or enslaved - it took a month or so for most players. As I mentioned above, I have a thing for some off the wall characters.

So, for my third or fourth character, I decided to run a fighter who was a ninja/monk type. I figured I knew enough not to get him killed, so I wrote up a really detailed description, including the background of his fighting order, which I called the Dragon Warriors.

Everything was going fine, until I mentioned I was a Dragon Warrior. Everybody said "What?!?" The rest of that session pretty much involved the two powerful political factions in the party, and a few out side groups trying to kidnap or enslave me. The problem was that, unbeknowst to me, but know to everybody else, in EPT's history, there was a powerful historical empire known as the The Dragon Warriors of N’lüss (http://www.tekumel.com/world_history05.html), who were rumored to have utilized some high tech devices from the world's SF settlers...