Earthdawn

[Dr. L. Loki]

I will give it a shot. I was hoping for something of a different genre that fantasy. I really enjoy the villians game bill ran.

Matt, how does that cthulu game look?

[TheWake]

I could ren a modern GURPS game if you wanted something other than fantasy.

I also dug through the deep recesses of the collection and I found an old TMNT RPG book, a comic book game called Tomoorw Knights, an '80s cartoon game called Cartoon Action Hour, and a noir-in the future but not cyberpunk game called Midway City.  I haven't looked at the last three too closely, but I have to admit I like the idea of Midway City.

I do not have any other sci-fi rpgs since I lost my Shadowrun stuff.

[matt]

Matt, how does that cthulu game look?

Trail of Cthulhu looks pretty cool, but I haven't had time to really wrap my head around it. It's a little more free-form than what we're used to and I'm not sure if my unpracticed GMing chops are up for it. That said, I am definitely interested in trying it out. It's kind of different so it'd be an experiment for sure. I've got the rule book and the fancy GM screen, so I'm game to give it a shot.

There are very little dice involved. Most things you do, like finding a key taped under a desk, reading some ancient script hastily scrawled on a wall in human blood or deciphering the babblings of a one legged drunk hopping toward you with a ceremonial dagger in one hand and a live chicken in the other are automatically granted if you can convince the gm your character has a skill that applies, usually with a "well, Reynold Higgins spent a year in the congo during his youth and knows Yagabarthi tribal script when he sees it." Combat is really simple too - you roll to hit, but then damage is automatic based on the weapon used. Most weapons are fatal to a person in one or two hits. so you can image that combat is more spread out than in d&d or earthdawn. However, there is a pulp mode that is more action oriented with higher hit points and such. Overall I think it's more about constructing an interesting story and role-playing your character's personality and current sanity level than keeping track of stats and powers.

The skills and character professions are really interesting and I think there's a lot of potential in it.

There's an adventure in the book that's one or two sessions long that might be interesting to try it out and see if it fits the group (and if I'm capable of running it).

Chris, I know you're interested in Lovecraft, how about the rest of the group? Interested in a 1930s era romp through the supernatural?

[TheWake]

how about the rest of the group? Interested in a 1930s era romp through the supernatural?

Ok Let's do it.

[matt]

I could ren a modern GURPS game if you wanted something other than fantasy.

I also dug through the deep recesses of the collection and I found an old TMNT RPG book, a comic book game called Tomoorw Knights, an '80s cartoon game called Cartoon Action Hour, and a noir-in the future but not cyberpunk game called Midway City.  I haven't looked at the last three too closely, but I have to admit I like the idea of Midway City.

I do not have any other sci-fi rpgs since I lost my Shadowrun stuff.

noir in the future sounds cool, and TMNT are awesome, dude. I could, like, totally play that.. radical. (scary, but I'm being serious.. I think I could really enjoy a TMNT rpg.)

[Dr. L. Loki]

I could ren a modern GURPS game if you wanted something other than fantasy.

I also dug through the deep recesses of the collection and I found an old TMNT RPG book, a comic book game called Tomoorw Knights, an '80s cartoon game called Cartoon Action Hour, and a noir-in the future but not cyberpunk game called Midway City.  I haven't looked at the last three too closely, but I have to admit I like the idea of Midway City.

I do not have any other sci-fi rpgs since I lost my Shadowrun stuff.

noir in the future sounds cool, and TMNT are awesome, dude. I could, like, totally play that.. radical. (scary, but I'm being serious.. I think I could really enjoy a TMNT rpg.)

TMNT is a fun game.  Where else can you be a mutant hamster?

[TheWake]

Now I have to check to make sure the book is the main rulebook.

[TheWake]

I do have the main rule TMNT book and a supplement called Road Hogs.

[gollum]

Well whatever the group decides. Not sure if I can make it anyway so you guys decide what you want to do. I know there is Mutants and Masterminds game too. It's a superhero game. It's d20 based. You can play heroes or supervilllians if you want. I have two sets of books. I have the original and the update. I could drop off the orginals to anyone that might want to check it out. In fact, I have a series of books for the game too. Anyone can use them if they like.

[matt]

I really enjoyed the super hero game that bill ran as well, that was a lot of fun.

I was looking at my book last night and here's some more info on trail of cthulhu..

Investigators (the players) choose a profession and get a number of points to put into two different types of abilities - investigative and general.
Investigative abilities pretty much never require a test to use but you can spend points from their pools to get more information.. they are your professional skills and knowledge that make your character special in some way. For instance, say Bill is playing an archeologist. You guys are exploring a tunnel under the city and come to an alcove containing a stone table covered in blood. Bill says he wants to examine the table and immediately, without any tests, knows the table is of ancient origin. I, as the keeper, ask if he'd like to spend one or two archeology points to examine it further. If he wanted to he could spend one point and determine that it's some sort of sacraficial table of south american origin. For two points he will find out that it's an ancient Incan sacrificial slab used to appease a forbidden god of famine (which tips you off that you'll probably want to go visit the Peruvian expert met earlier at the library.) Those points he spent are pretty much gone for the rest of the session, so it's important to pick and choose where to use them.

Jim, a physician, also examines the table and notices that spots of the blood are still relatively fresh and upon a point spend in some related skill determines that it's probably not been there for more than half an hour.

General skills usually require a test and point spend. They are things like physical actions and combat. Tests always consist of a single 6 sided die roll, which sounds boring, but the mechanics are really in the point-spend system. So, in your journeys through the tunnel you come to a door. Chris, being the adventurous type, decides to bust it open. I tell him that it looks pretty tough, meaning he should probably dump a couple of points into the effort. He rolls and adds the points he chose to put in to get the result. The book recommends difficulty number be between 1 and 8 (1=can't miss, 8=nearly impossible) but since an 8 isn't really next to impossible to get, it's more about moving the story along and choosing whether to spend or save your various skill points. If Chris spends all of his athletics points busting down a door then he may not have any strength left to confront the cultist on the other side. It might make more sense to find a better way in.

That's the gist of the skill system. It seems like there's supposed to be a lot of leeway. For instance, if chris had the occult skill then when you guys look at the table to get more info, bill would ask if archeology will tell him anything and chris would ask to use his occult skill. A lot like the knowledge tests in earthdawn, only instead of rolling you're deciding if spending points you might need later on is worth it.

[Brain Waster]

I'm unfamiliar with some of these games.  How about we plan a day where we could all bring a few of them over so everyone could check them out.  We could hang out, BS, make characters and fool around with the systems to see what we like.  Once we decide on something we could start the game in earnest a few weeks later.

This woulg give Matt a chance to get out of the house and away from the wife and midgets.

[matt]

This woulg give Matt a chance to get out of the house and away from the wife and midgets.

The midgets are no longer an issue.. turns out you're supposed to feed them. oops.

[matt]

I'm unfamiliar with some of these games.  How about we plan a day where we could all bring a few of them over so everyone could check them out.  We could hang out, BS, make characters and fool around with the systems to see what we like.  Once we decide on something we could start the game in earnest a few weeks later.

That sounds like a good idea to me.

[TheWake]

I'm unfamiliar with some of these games.  How about we plan a day where we could all bring a few of them over so everyone could check them out.  We could hang out, BS, make characters and fool around with the systems to see what we like.  Once we decide on something we could start the game in earnest a few weeks later.

That sounds like a good idea to me.

I think we have a plan.  What days are good for everyone?

[matt]

I think we have a plan.  What days are good for everyone?

I should be able to make saturday or sunday this weekend.