Games for the Summer Quarter 2019

Tags

gaming, Referee, RPG

Hello everyone,

We only have a couple of sessions before the end of the quarter, so if you’re keen to run a game, please respond to this post with some details and/or post them on the Slack channel.

As things stand, we only have one confirmed game, which is Nathan’s Planescape.

I’m intending to run something, but am still working out exactly what that will be.

Cy may be running the next installment of his ongoing Samsara campaign. I’ll get confirmation as soon as I can.

Stew may continue with his Firefly game for another quarter. As above, I’ll get confirmation as soon as I can.

Matt

 

Home Brew Rules

Tags

Game design, gaming, Referee, Roleplaying, RPG

I’ve been roleplaying since the dim and distant days of the early/mid-80s. It wasn’t too long after I started that I found myself making tweaks to published rulesets and not too many years after that I started to venture into writing my own rules.

In the early 90s I bought a supplement for Rolemaster RPG called ‘At Rapier’s Point’, for gaming in the 17th Century Europe of the Three Musketeers. Rolemaster was, in my opinion, a pretty wretched set of rules, but I really wanted to run a game set in this historical period. Even though I had a copy of Rolemaster, I wanted a more approachable system, but at that time I didn’t have anything that would work with the swashbuckling game I had in mind. I did have Middle-Earth RPG (also known as MERP) from the same company (Iron Crown Enterprises), which had a system that could be called ‘basic’ Rolemaster, and that I thought would allow me to use – at least in some form – the new rules presented in the At Rapier’s Point supplement. I quickly realised, however, that in order to make the MERP system support the concept I had for At Rapier’s Point, I had a fair bit of work on my hands. I ended up having to rewrite a good chunk of the character generation rules: ditching the fantasy races and replacing them with social backgrounds;  coming up with new skill categories and skills; designing a whole new set of character professions; etc.

Over the years I’ve been running At Rapier’s Point, the parts of the MERP system that I didn’t initially discard have – bit by bit – been replaced to the point where there’s nothing left of it and I have my own set of rules. These have been used – with amendments – for other genres and settings, so have proved incredibly useful.

So, have any of you designed your own rules, whether it’s for an entirely new game, or to replace an existing set of rules that you didn’t like? Or maybe you’ve simply hacked an existing ruleset to make it work ‘better’ for you and your players? If you haven’t done either of these things, have you considered doing it, or are you more than happy with the rules in the published games you already have?

 

Games for the Spring Quarter 2019

Tags

gaming, Referee, Roleplaying, RPG

Hello everyone.

We’re three weeks away from the end of the current quarter and so far the following games have been offered up:

1) Firefly (referee: Stewart). This is part 3 of an ongoing adventure. There may be a place available in this game: please post in the Slack workspace if you haven’t previously played in this adventure, but are interested in doing so.

2) DnD 5E- Kasora Oriental Campaign (referee: Snowy). Please speak to or message Snowy for more details.

3) Who You Gonna Call (referee: Cy). Ghostbusters themed game. Please speak to or message Cy for more details. **Update** After chatting with Cy last night, I can confirm that he would like to run the original Ghostbusters RPG from West End Games (1986). He is looking for three players, with a fourth slot available for new players.

4) At Rapier’s Point (referee: Matt). This is part 2 of an ongoing adventure, which will probably run for the next two quarters. The game is now full, although I am keeping a slot open for new players (only).

If anyone else is intending – or would like – to run a game next quarter, please post the details on the Slack workspace.

If you have any other queries, either grab me at the Club or message me.

Cheers,

Matt

 

Review Time

Tags

gaming, harrogate, Referee, Roleplaying

Hello everyone,

I think the time has come for a review of how (and perhaps how often) we start new games. After another slightly painful first quarter game selection, I’ve come to the conclusion that the ‘beauty parade’ approach is not a particularly good way to determine which games will run. Part of the problem is the lack of certainty on the part of both referees and players: prospective referees will undoubtedly spend time preparing to run a game, only to find there’s a lack of interest; likewise, players gear up to play in a game only to find that it doesn’t run, or it’s oversubscribed.

I don’t think that there’s a perfect solution to this problem: we have a lot of players – some regulars, some less so – and it’s difficult to determine in advance of a new quarter who will be available and, even if they are, whether there will be a game they want to play in.

The question, therefore, is how do we get more certainly? One suggestion I’ve had is that games are offered up four weeks out from the start of a new quarter and a final decision regarding the games that will run and who’s in each game, is made in the final week of the quarter. It will be the responsibility of each referee to advertise their game and secure players by the final week. This is similar to the Survey Monkey approach we used for a little while, but puts the emphasis on referees and players to arrange things directly.

Another (possibly throwaway) suggestion, was to switch from quarters to ‘trimesters’, so that there are only three sessions in a year, reducing the amount of messing around and increasing the opportunity for longer games.

Now I may be the only one that thinks changes are needed. If so, we can carry on as before. However, if I’m not and anyone else has any ideas for improving things, leave a comment.

Cheers,

Matt

 

 

 

Sins Campaign Q4

Tags

gaming, Referee, Roleplaying, RPG

From Cy

Hi all just a quick note to say I am playing to make an offering to the Next quarter. Still trying to iron out a few things but as it stands.

System: sins. no knowledge of the system is required and role play over rules.

Style: horror, very dark souls/bloodborn esk

Setting: a alternate 1650 ish (post english civil war) with fantastical elements. a muskets and right of kings sort of thing

Kasora Campaign q4

Tags

gaming, Referee, Roleplaying, RPG

System DnD 5E

“It is currently a bare bones Oriental/Wuxia setting with several floating islands making up the continent of Kasora. I will focus on one country that has a more Japanese feel to it. I intend it to be DnD on Hard mode. There will be some horror elements to the campaign and I will leave the area largely as a sandbox. There are stories and problems players can find, but if left they can potentially become more difficult and problematic.”

New Games – Q4 2018 – Insight

Tags

gaming, Referee, Roleplaying, RPG

Using the 2014 (I know, very contemporary for me) generic Insight RPG system from Norway.

This is a d10 ability/skill based system, with skill combination options and an interesting take on combat movement.

A medium fantasy setting with a vaguely Nordic feel to it – yes there will be Trolls.

The player characters have been accepted as volunteer auxiliaries in one of the smaller Guilds. Their role is to help out when things get busy. Guess what, things just got busy!

Players – 3 to 4

New Quarter Game: Cataclysm

Tags

gaming, Referee, Roleplaying, RPG

GM: Nick Green
Players: 4
System: Based on the recently released “Modern AGE” (by the producers of “Dragon AGE” and “Fantasy AGE”) but with some tweaks

Set in a near modern time when mankind’s supremacy on Earth is challenged by the arrival of supernatural monsters. You and your team are all that stands between a small town and the demonic forces of darkness. It’s a damn good thing you brought your powered armour and rail guns…

The campaign will be centered around a small scientific research facility in France near the border with Switzerland. You will be members of a team that has been hired by a secretive European organisation to demonstrate the capabilities of a new set of equipment designed for “urban defence and rescue”. Your diverse backgrounds will be based in policing, fire rescue and metropolitan search and rescue. Each of you have been involved in the design, testing and now demonstration of a unit and show time is approaching. If the backers of this project don’t like what they see, the last two years of your life will be an interesting but pointless footnote. The rest of the universe however had other plans and the world changes around you quickly, irrevocably, brutally. Left with no other choice, you will have to negotiate the parameters of your lives with a new world where humanity no-longer calls the shots, and our species is only one among many.

Tone: dark, serious, desperate
Magic: very low, mostly just creatures that don’t exist today
Science: today’s level or less, with some exceptions
Violence: high
Drama/conflict: high
Realism: medium/pulpy
Mystery/investigation: low

Classic Dungeon Hack

Tags

gaming, player characters, Referee, Roleplaying, RPG

Hi everyone,

Just to let you know that Theo is offering to run a game of (5th edition) D&D during the remainder of this current quarter. This will be of the classic dungeon hack variety.

If you aren’t in a game (or would like to change game) and are interested, please leave a comment below.

Cheers,

Matt

 

 

Games for the Summer Quarter 2018

Tags

gaming, harrogate, Referee, Roleplaying, RPG

It’s Sci-Fi season!

Yes folks, the summer quarter at the Harrogate Roleplayers club looks like it is going to be wall-to-wall sci-fi. So grab your laser blasters (or M41A pulse rifles), fire up your starship engines and get ready for action!

What’s on Offer?

In addition to Chris Middleton’s ‘Star Wars: Edge of the Empire’ game (see Nathan’s post, below), there are now three four other games on offer:

Call of Cthulhu (Classic 1920s Setting)

GM: Alex
System: Call of Cthulhu, d100.
Players: Maximum 4 players.

Firefly

GM: Stewart
System: Firefly, using the Cortex Plus system.
Players: 4 players, although 3 spots are already taken.

This a continuation of Stew’s game from a couple of quarters ago, but another player is very much welcome to join.

Space: 1889

GM: Rob
System: Space: 1889, using a custom d6 system.
Players: 4 players, although 2 spots are already taken.

Space: 1889 presents an alternate history in which certain discredited Victorian scientific theories were found to be true and have led to the development of new technologies. In the setting, Thomas Edison has invented an “ether propeller” which can propel ships through the “luminiferous aether” (the universal medium that permeates space, based on a now outdated scientific theory), and in 1870 traveled to Mars. There they discover that the planet is inhabited. By the time of the game’s setting in 1889, the great powers have used Edison’s invention to extend their colonies and interests to the inner planets of the solar system. Venus and Mars have been colonized by Great Britain, Germany, France, and Russia. Belgium has only colonized Mars and Italy has only colonized Venus whilst Japan and the United States maintain economic and scientific enclaves on Mars. There are no colonies or bases on the Moon. Only Great Britain maintains a (scientific) base on Mercury.

Traveller:2300

GM: Matt
System: To be determined. It won’t be the published rules though.
Players: 4 players (5 at a push), although 2 spots are already taken.

Although bearing the same name as Traveller, the two games have nothing in common. Traveller:2300 is a hard science-fiction game, set in the year 2300. Following a global economic and political collapse in the early years of the 21st century, mankind has managed to rebuild, returned to space and has begun the process of exploring and colonising nearby star systems. However, it is still early in mankind’s expansion into space, and exploration has reached little beyond 30 light years from Earth.