Cool. I picked up an expasion for that on clearance awhile back and keep meaning to get the actual game so I can play it. Hoping to get to the gaming store this weekend and maybe pick it up then...
A few of months back I found a local D&D group that was playtesting the early Next (aka 5E) rulesets. My time with them lasted about four sessions and then things tapered off when either the players or the DM couldn't find the time for it. Still, I was glad to have had the opportunity to experience the game and I was lucky to have a pretty good DM too.
Last Edit: Dec 18, 2012 13:51:16 GMT -5 by Naradel
Well, if you're interested you can download the current playtest for free off of the WotC site I think. They literally just updated to a new version today, bumping the level cap to 20 and adding/changing a bunch of rules. Just be warned that some of the rules might be purposefully skewed to be under- or overpowered, because that makes it easier for the developers to spot problems and balance things later on.
I'm just kinda sad that they introduced warlocks quite early on and then took them back out in the following playtest, since that was the class I played (I made a warrior later on but never got to play her). The warlocks did feel kinda off though. Maybe it's because they only had one pact in the packet and that was a pretty meh fey one.
Maybe they will bring them back as it progresses. Will have to find the time to take a look at it. I dont get much time to play (mostly because i have no one but my kids to play with) but i still like to keep up with whats going on.
Now if only White Wolf would revamp the World of Darkness stuff and bring back proper Tremere...
Oh I'm sure they're bringing back warlocks eventually, they just needed to be 'taken back to the drawing board' as Wizards said, along with the sorcerer who was just /utterly/ broken and more of a gish class than what would be expected from a real sorc. Our DM actually banned that class from the game.
Wow. They must be changing things alot then. I liked the sorcerers in previous versions. I always hated the idea of preplanning my spells so never played a mage until they came along. I still tend to stick to the Ranger/outdoorsy types anyway for D&D type games.
I'm not a fan of Vancian magic either, which is why I picked a warlock when our group needed an arcane caster (though we did get a wizard too after that). But then again, the warlock they had at the time was really limited in terms of magical options. There was ofc Eldritch Blast, which is what I ended up using over 90% of the time, because other than that I had a few highly-situational-at-best non-offensive pact powers, three level-0 at-wills (cantrips) from my background options and a small magical familiar. The only other things I was useful at were magical lore checks and perception (being an elf).
So yeah, Eldritch Blasting was my bread and butter in that game, so much so that since 'eldritch' is really hard to translate into Estonian, the group quickly nicknamed my power 'Vanem Pauk' ("The Elder Boom"). XD
Why do i see your character running around "Shouting" like in Skyrim...
Fus Ro Vanem Pauk!!
Sounds similar to how some of the old school mages used to have their spells in second edition (before warlocks and sorcerers and such) "I have Magic missle, and then a bunch of random stuff that will be totally awesome if I ever get into a situation where i can actually use it..."
Yeah, give me a bow and arrows over that any day...lol
Lol. I always felt that there was a disparity between our mage and cleric, who always had a bunch of really cool and useful powers to use in combat, and then my warlock, who functioned thusly: *If the enemy is within 50 ft, then Eldritch Blast. *If between 50-100 ft and I can't get close enough, then Ray of Frost (I wouldn't be surprised if they've changed that spell since I last played anyway).
I do have one really cool story from our last session together. There was a war between goblins and the humans and on the orders of the king we were to infiltrate a hobgoblin camp and kill their leader, Gurnis. The party was given a potion that would shapeshift them into hobgoblins for 24 hrs on condition that we couldn't use any healing spells for the duration, but one of our first problems was that out of the five, two of us couldn't speak or understand Goblin (our fighter and I). That and we didn't really have a solid plan aside from 'we get in and then figure something out'. My elf was absolutely appalled by the idea of becoming one of those "disgusting and foul creatures" even for a day, partly because she was very vain and partly because she worshiped the fey queen Verenestra, who gave her powers in exchange for slowly draining her beauty, so naturally my warlock was also fearful of losing those powers when she needed them most.
Since one of my pact powers was such that I could charm anyone nearby for a minute (or was it ten?) if they failed a save, then the party decided to pretend that they were from a small faraway hobgoblin tribe that wanted to offer a "gift" to Gurnis (the gift of course being my warlock). She would seduce him and while he was busy the others would take him out. Things would have worked out just fine, but before we could even get to Gurnis' tent our party got split up and although the charm worked perfectly, our rogue half-botched the assassination and got caught. The whole hobgoblin camp erupted into mass violence and confusion and we spent the rest of the long game desperately trying to come up with some kind of a rescue plan, all the while trying to stay undercover and find the other half of the party. We eventually pulled it off, thanks to no small amount of sheer luck and some very clever planning. But at least now I can truly appreciate the saying that the sweetest victories are the ones that were the hardest won.
I do think one of the highlights of the night for me was my elf's absolute horror and disgust once Gurnis was starting to get really handsy with her and she realized that our rogue should have shown up to save her already. Everyone else made occasional "goblin-porn" jokes that night.
Last Edit: Dec 19, 2012 13:23:40 GMT -5 by Naradel
As I had mentioned in the chat a while back, I had my first real role playing experience not too long ago in a game called Serenity, which is based off Joss Whedon's Firefly.
Of all the whacky hijinks and 'moments' we had, the most memorable came from the first session.
Our plucky crew set off on what was supposed to be a routine pick up and delivery job for easy money, but much like most jobs turned out for the crew of Serenity, it never goes smooth.
Easy money, as it turns out, attracts all kinds of folk to a job where the employer ain't exactly picky on who gets to finishing it. Our ship had some competition on the way to pick up the cargo, made even more deadly by the fact the station where we were to pick up the goods was behind a field of asteroids that got thicker as you flew in.
Thankfully, our pilot specialized in what he does best (even though he took on a perk that forced him to reroll successes) and he managed to beat the other ship to the station.
Our Captain, aptly named Starbuck, took his two best gunmen with him to make the deal, my character being among the two. Before we could even pick up the cargo, we had to deal with a paranoid miner who wasn't about to give up the goods and kept us at bay with a rifle from inside a shack.
While that distraction went on, it turned out that the other ship made it through after all, and it's crew appeared at the other end of the room.
This, people, is when I learned what my captain is famous for, and it wasn't for a name that sounds like something out of a Space Pirate Captain Harlock ripoff.
Before the other ship's Captain could even say a word, ours whipped out his piece and shot straight at the other party without a second thought or concern for our own, outnumbered, well being.
"Oh!" You might be thinking, "So he's the 'shoot first, ask questions later' kinda guy?"
No, as he put it, "Shoot first, and then keep shooting them until they're all dead!"
So there we were, locked in what turned out to be a long standing gun fight inside an air bubble that wasn't built to withstand bullets. A few botch rolls threatened the structural integrity of the thing and thus our own lives if this fight kept on going.
Desperate to get one of our men in a flanking position, I did the stupid thing and broke cover to serve as a distraction. My character isn't the soldier he once was in that he gained a couple of pounds since the unification war. So he was an easy target.
The fish took the bait and filled my guy full of holes, barely leaving him gripping at life. On the verge of death I called for our medic.
Which may have been a death sentence in itself. Not because our medic is not good at what he does. He's very good at what he does, it's just that he is as quick to let you die so he can gather your working innards as he is to healing you. We had all sorts on the ship.
So in a bloody and pathetic state, I call for the doctor who nonchalantly leaves the ship and enters the battlefield. He also has nothing but a t-shirt, an overcoat, and shorts on him. The man looks like he just got out of bed and half dressed for work before walking out the door.
He gets behind the boxes, where my guy is, and calmly asks, "So what's achin' ya?"
"What do it look like? I drank too much wine and it's seepin' out ma pores. I'm dyin' you fool!"
"It don' look too bad, you can talk after all."
"Look, just give me sum'n for the pain so I can at least shoot straight."
With the widest, most sadistic grin I ever seen stretch across another man's face, he opens up his coat where strapped all under are many vials, some luminescent.
"What color do you want?"
I forgot what color I took in the end, but it turned my character into an angry gorilla with the howl of Steven Seagal when he's karate chopping planks with his morning boner.
Last Edit: Dec 23, 2012 2:59:01 GMT -5 by Serenity
Thanks for sharing that cool story, Serenity. Props to the guy playing the medic. Also, that was really something I could see the Team Fortress 2 Medic do to his "patients" as well.
I've picked up X-wing Miniatures and have been playing that with the kids. A fun game and its interesting to play a mini's game where you HAVE to move each turn. We spent several sessions running into each other as we adjusted. LOL
Pandemic is a fun co-op board game.
Forbidden Island has been fun as well, but I like Pandemic more.
Recently picked up Dungeon Command which is based on D&D for x-mas. Havent tried playing it yet, but it looks promising...
My middle child got Ticket to ride for x-mas as well, but have yet to play...
Oh and she also got Gloom, which has been fun making awful things happen to your "family" and coming up with the stories to explain the cards played. lol
And the big news is I finally found a group to play classic White Wolf with in pen and paper form. They are playing it open so you can be anything from vampire, Mage, Werecreature, etc... The were's flaked, and the Mages are still getting used to their powers, but its been fun to get back into that world again after so long. Currently running Neko as a vamp in that story. a Catiff with Celerity, Obfuscate, and Protean. I know probably only Gray will understand all that, but I feel it fits her. I'll be taking over running things in a few sessions and she's going to get her classic cat look thanks to the help of some Progenitor experiments. Lets hope the group can save her in time...
I picked up Daemons of Chaos for Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40k.
I wanted to play the army because it would be challenging, at least in the 40k game, to play since they're mostly close combat with very little ranged support. However, what I didn't realize before was that the codex screws over the army, hard. There's a table you have to roll on everytime during the shooting phase before you actually do anything, and whatever you roll on that effect occurs.
Something bad can happen if you roll on more than half of that list, but three in particular are meant to really bone you.
In this one game, my warlord was totally decked out: A daemon prince with wings, chaos armor, psychic powers, and a deadly weapon of deadliness. This dude was gonna tear through the ranks and scatter his foes to the far winds.
On turn 1 during my shooting phase, I rolled on the Chaos Warpstorm table. I got the 3 result: Randomly select a character on your side and do a daemonic instability test on a 3d6.
Without going into too much detail, the test uses the model's leadership and if go anywhere over it I lose wounds, basically.
On the random selection I got my Daemon Prince. I rolled the dice and got a 13 result, killing my warlord instantly after all he did was move up.
I was never closer to literally flipping tables.
Last Edit: Dec 29, 2013 1:19:40 GMT -5 by Serenity