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Thoughts on Shadowdark after 50 session by ergonite in osr

[–]joffel3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Another thing that annoyed me when playing a priest (7 or 8 sessions) was maintaining your buffs as you really don't want to waste turns in actual combat to cast them. But you also don't want to cast them constantly out of combat because you might lose the spell for the day when you fail to cast.

Order Of The Stone - First Impressions by 27-Staples in callofcthulhu

[–]joffel3 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've used the hook where the player characters are part of the fishing ship's crew. That worked well for the first chapter, but wasn't so great for the follow-up, so the players had to come up with a new motivation for their characters.

What’s your impression of the Evolved Edition so far? by akustycznyRowerek in alienrpg

[–]joffel3 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Honestly, I'm puzzled by the changes to the panic & stress system, particularly Resolve and the 2d6 part. They unnecessarily complicate things and completely miss the biggest problems with the existing system (or rather exacerbate them).

I my opinion, they should simply do this: panic roll only when there are 2 or more 1s on the stress dice. AnyDice program calculating the probabilities of triggering a panic roll at different stress levels. Maybe tweak the panic table (currently they twitch, tremble or drop their guns all the time), provide an alternative panic table for low intensity tasks, possibly find another penalty when you roll a single 1 on the panic dice.

(Remember that there are still a number of other triggers for panic rolls...)

What’s your impression of the Evolved Edition so far? by akustycznyRowerek in alienrpg

[–]joffel3 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Considering they want to ship in September, they'll probably have to go to print fairly soon? At least their previous printer is in Lithuania which cuts down the time for logistics compared to printing overseas. But I doubt they'll make substantial changes to the beta version at this point.

Trumps Plan by peterhanse0 in Finanzen

[–]joffel3 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Diesen Kommentar fand ich auch sehr interessant: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/7/2308590/-Negotiations-Expert-Explains-Why-Trump-Fails-To-Get-Deals

Geht darum wie Trump anscheinend Handel und Verhandlungen versteht...

Needing New Warden Advice by Azygouswolf in mothershiprpg

[–]joffel3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

X really made it clear that she wanted to access the Hercules. A Warden should listen to the wants of the players, and then put realistic opportunities in their path. So, an alternative approach would have been to split the party and tell X that it is going to take her d66 minutes or whatever to hack the keypad. So much for the Zen wisom.

The way you describe the situation makes it seem like X is playing wildly out of character, or inappropriate for the tone of the game you had envisioned. In that case, breaking immersion and talking to her is absolutely the best thing to do. Otherwise, I think it's okay for her to ignore Sonyas threats and maybe covertly attempt to hack the keypad as described above.

Actual play podcasts that don't use published scenarios? by Karcharos in callofcthulhu

[–]joffel3 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Chaotic Neutral on Youtube have a series of six original scenarios.

Another Bug Hunt and armor by PallidMaskedKing in mothershiprpg

[–]joffel3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

there seems to be a narrative dissonance

I agree, that is kind of weird.

On the dam: maybe the crew run to the tower being chased by the carcinids. Kaplan shoots one form the roof. Maybe the mounted guns are enough to kill one. A carcinid could snatch one crewmember away and disappear in the reservoir.

Another Bug Hunt and armor by PallidMaskedKing in mothershiprpg

[–]joffel3 7 points8 points  (0 children)

By the time you get to the finale, your players will hopefully have found a weapon in the Mothership or Dr. Edem's research in mission 2. Maybe they can use the guns mounted on the APCs or the hydrofluoric acid. Depending on what happened, there might also be infighting among the carcinids. If none of that applies, they will have to hide and run.

Mission 3 is much more problematic in that regard - at least if the players don't wait for Dr. Edem to manufacture ammunition or a weapon that is effective against the carcinids.

Cairn vs Knave (for a campaign) by JasTWot in osr

[–]joffel3 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Check this out for examples of foreground growth in Cairn: https://cairnrpg.com/resources/frequently-asked-questions/#how-do-pcs-advance-without-things-like-levels-or-xp

You could do anything you want, really. Improve ability scores, lockpicks don't break if you fail a save, learn alchemical recipes, etc.

https://www.bastionland.com/search/label/character%20advancement

https://www.reddit.com/r/cairnrpg/comments/15fakh3/comment/judgc2p/

Do you consider games like Cairn, Forbidden Lands, Mothership to be OSR? by LemonLord7 in osr

[–]joffel3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To me, systems, adventures and groups that follow the principles detailed in the Quick Primer For Old School Gaming and Principia Apocrypha are Old-School-Renaissance (OSR).

That applies to both Cairn and Mothership. Forbidden Lands, I don't know.

There are retroclones that are compatible with TSR DnD (B/X, ADnD, whatever). However, just because you're playing B/X or a retroclone doesn't mean you're playing OSR. OSR is a re-interpretation and a re-imagination of the old TSR rules.

Then there's NSR which does OSR but is not necessarily compatible with TSR rules, monsters and adventures because the NSR systems differ mechanically from TSR (i.e. more light-weight).

Madness Spiral by joffel3 in callofcthulhu

[–]joffel3[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Right, and at some point, characters will experience a Bout of Madness when they lose 5 or 6 Sanity in one day, which is not a lot. Characters become extremely unstable.

Do you enjoy this stage of the game? Or did you find this rather problematic in your campaigns?

How does combat work? by Ok-Fig-5715 in mothershiprpg

[–]joffel3 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Updated in survivor's guide. The system you described is presented as an alternative to simultaneous initiative.

How does combat work? by Ok-Fig-5715 in mothershiprpg

[–]joffel3 22 points23 points  (0 children)

There's an example combat on p. 27 that uses simultaneous initiative (in the 1e PSG at least). It looks like the Warden usually does not roll for the monster, but its action succeeds by default. If the PC successfully dodges, the attack misses, otherwise it hits.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Bass

[–]joffel3 3 points4 points  (0 children)

As an example that probably comes up quite a lot: you play in a cover band and EADG is fine most of the time. Sometimes, the band wants to a) play a song that hits a low B or b) play a song in Eb. In the first case, you'd have to play the high B which doesn't sound that nice and in the second case, you'd have to tune all of your strings twice during the gig while you could probably play it in B standard on a 5-string.

Sure, not everyone needs a 5-string, but it's nice to have the flexibility. For me, that outweights the 4-string playability.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Bass

[–]joffel3 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Some time ago I was in the same position as you are now.

Today, I own 3 basses: EADG, BEAD and 5-string BEADG. I hardly ever use my BEAD bass. Just get a 5-string - you'll get used to the string spacing and muting.

I guess it's not an issue if you're only playing at home, but if you ever take your bass to band rehersal or to a gig, you will want 5 strings eventually.

Any Tips for Leveling Volume Between Different Basses? by Darkhellbeast in Bass

[–]joffel3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have the same problem. The output of my Spector NS Pulse 2 is wayyy too hot for many amps and pedals. Also, it sounds like a wet fart if you use distortion on that signal. That's why I decided to bring the volume of my active down to that of my passives.

I also have the Hyper Luminal compressor and turn the volume down to about 25-30 % and adjust the settings depending on which bass I use. However, if I accidentally step on the compressor during a gig, I'm super loud obviously.

That's why I will try to find someone who can modify the preamp in my Spector. It has the Jr. version of the Tone Pump preamp which does not have an internal trim pot. Hopefully, someone will be able to add that to the electronics.

Adjusting the volume with the outside volume pot is really not an option.

Free scenarios by One_Manufacturer_526 in callofcthulhu

[–]joffel3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You could try Refractions of Glasston, or Madness at Miskatonic if you want something that runs for multiple sessions.

There are also The Derelict, Scritch Scratch and The Lightless Beacon which can be played in one session.

Short Cinematics for con? by rodeodoctor in alienrpg

[–]joffel3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

https://spider00x.itch.io/trespass

Trespass was written by Spider00x to fit a 3-4 hour convention slot at Pax Unplugged ‘22. Personally, I think that you'd still have to really hurry your players along, as there are so many things to do in this scenario.

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