Tabletop General

[XSI]

Bottom post of the previous page:

Rule of thumb for PF
If a fight is not at first range increment, it will be so very soon because almost every single hostile thingy will be melee based. Only exception is if you're fighting people or some rare critters

[Wyzack]

4th edition certainly has its share of problems and i like it less than any other edition of DnD I have played, but there is still a lot to like about it. Quality of your fellow players and GM is far more important in determining if the game is going to be fun than quality of the system anyways. One of my favorite long-running campaigns I played in was 4th edition

[Professor Hangar]

It does help that one of my players is an even bigger autist than I am who helps with a lot of the mechanical crap, but I feel a lot of the criticisms of 4e are entirely made up bullshit by people who've never actually tried to play it and have no relation to the actual problems the system has. (which are mostly issues as a result of leftover 3.5 mechanics, in which they are ten times worse)

I need to read up on the Dark Sun rules. I think it's a trend that Dark Sun has a shitload of rules and stuff worth using in any edition, since it's when the writers have an excuse to basically rewrite the system for an almost entirely different setting than the assumed default. And, y'know, Australian-style desert.

I also have stats for walking crocodiles I need to use.

[ShadowDimentio]

>Be me
>Playing up-and-coming caster with insane potential and cunning
>GM throws riddle meme game at us
>Win twice against all odds after completely carrying the team with my legendary riddling abilities
>Challenge GM's riddle guy for the grand prize, he has to solve one of my riddles
>Win with a riddle I came up with on the fly, "What's always wet when it stays inside?" Answer: Your tounge
>Progress through dungeon, kill the boss
>Dungeon starts imploding
>Bail
>Grand prize was an item to be spent in the dungeon
>Don't want to go back in because I'm a squishy caster and "rocks fall everyone dies" seems to be hanging over this
>Another player begs to go back alone and spend it, I let him on the condition he tells me what happens
>He spends it
>A devil appears
>"Yo you get three wishes, what's it gonna be"
>Scream internally because said player can't think creatively to save his fucking life
>The dungeon is literally collapsing around him
>He literally can't think creatively to save his life
>This is like a cruel joke
>GM helps him escape but he wastes his wishes becoming young and getting like one thing
>He tells my dude, the one who riddle'd like crazy, and is clever as fuck
>Descend into despair because I would have gotten everything if I was there

Next day, different game

>Be me
>Playing cool guy pious heals cleric
>Just beat the boss of a dungeon
>GM gave us some random treasure earlier including a Finger of Death spell scroll
>Goth blood mage snatched it up and used it on the boss' minion at my (ooc) suggestion after the fighter softened it up
>Goth blood mage now has a CR 14 zombie ice devil as a permanent loyal pet, fucking awesome
>Explore everywhere in the dungeon now that we killed the boss
>Find an angel chick crucified in the torture room
>While I'm freeing her from her crucifixion the fighter rugby tackles me to the side so he can catch her
>He does, angel thanks him and asks her to put her out of her misery, that if he does she'll reappear to thank him properly later
>Life cleric is right there with heals to spare and he snaps her fucking neck
>I don't even get thanked for removing her curse

I'VE BEEN CUCKED BY TWO FIGHTERS IN TWO DAYS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[InsaneHyena]

>tfw met my character from the previous campaign on today's session
>Who, in turn, is a part of a paladin order named after my character before that
Man, it's great when your DM's campaigns all take place in the same world

[Ikarrus]

Twilight Imperium 4th Edition announced for Q4 2017

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/n ... h-edition/

A Galaxy of Change

Twilight Imperium commands an imposing legacy unlike any other game out there. For twenty years, this venerable strategy board game that casts players as the authors of their own epic, spacefaring saga has seen three full editions and several expansions, each of which has changed the thrilling gameplay and vibrant universe of Twilight Imperium. Twilight Imperium Fourth Edition sees several changes from previous editions in order to push the game forward into the dawn of a new age. These changes include but are not limited to:

Trade - Trade contracts do not exist in Twilight Imperium Fourth Edition. Instead, commodities are traded between factions who have ships in adjacent systems. Every time the trade strategy card is used, its primary ability allows a faction to “refresh” their commodities. Then, that faction may choose to let any other factions refresh their commodities for free. Other factions may then use trade’s secondary ability to spend a token from their strategy pool to refresh their commodities. Commodities do nothing on their own, but become traditional trade goods when given to another faction.

Technology - Twilight Imperium Third Edition featured elaborate tech trees as a pathway to powerful technologies. The process of researching technology has been streamlined, as there are no longer specific technologies that are prerequisites for other advancements in Twilight Imperium Fourth Edition. Instead, certain types of technology are used as prerequisites—a new tech may require three Biotic Technologies, or two Warfare and a Cybernetic Technology, making prerequisites easy to track.

PDS Units and Space Docks - Previously, PDS units and Space Docks were constructed like any other unit, requiring a resource cost and an activation token to place on a planet. Now, PDS Units and Space Docks are created with the Construction strategy card, which allows a player to place either two PDS units on planets you control, or a PDS and a Space Dock on planets you control. The secondary ability allows a player to spend a token from their strategy pool to place a PDS or Space Dock on one of their planets.

Politics - Previously, in Third Edition, the politics phase began with the primary ability of the Politics strategy card. Now the agenda phase occurs at the end of every round after Mecatol Rex has been claimed. Players get to refresh all their planets for the agenda phase, meaning they don’t have to split their planets for use between resources and influence. Like Third Edition, agenda cards are used to pass new laws in the galaxy, flipped from the top of the deck. After one law is voted on, a second card is flipped and another round of voting occurs. Planets are refreshed again after the agenda phase ends.

Imperial Strategy Card - Previously, the Imperial strategy card’s primary ability allowed for the user to receive two victory points. Now, the card’s primary ability allows a player to receive one victory point if they control Mecatol Rex or receive an additional Secret Objective. This Imperial strategy card is more flexible but still provides a pacing element, and can be used as a powerful tool if selected at the right time.

Twilight Imperium Fourth Edition includes many components first introduced in expansions for the Third Edition of the game. Flagships, promissory notes, factions, strategy cards, special galaxy tiles, and more return in Fourth Edition.

[Anonmare]

So, in my travels through the blasted wasteland that is contemporary /tg/, I happened across references to a fa/tg/uy and ca/tg/irl made tabletop by the name of Artifice.

The premise of Artifice is simple, you are an artificial intelligence that, either intentionally or accidentally, came into being and thus must deal with the world you find yourself within. The default setting is set in the near future of 2025, cybernetics exist but are very primitive, elephants are extinct and VR porn is the new standard. AIs are unknown to Humanity at large and how you approach humanity may impact how it approaches you (Depending on your GM that is).

But hold on before you reveal yourself friend, you're not the only AI out there and, I'm not just talking about your fellow players. Other AIs exist and they may not want other people to know that AIs can exist (or they either think you're a threat or would make good spare parts), or perhaps there's an organisation or some other kind of entity that eliminates intelligences like you that's just as clandestine as you are?

Regardless, you can manipulate both the digital world and real world in a variety of ways but the most reliable way of affecting the real world is by manipulation or employing Humans to do what you want. Hope you're not Three Laws compliant friend!

The PDF on this is very barebones since it's all made inhouse but it has the rules and character sheet ready to move. Any would be GM would have to be prepared to design a lot of the world since most of it is intentionally left vague. But all the tools are there and it would be something I'd like to try but good luck finding a group.

Links:
https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Artifice
https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/f ... sp=sharing

[Qbopper]

sounds really cool actually

[DemonFiren]

Artifice.
Shit, that takes me back. To Bay, but whatever.

[cedarbridge]

So, in my travels through the blasted wasteland that is contemporary /tg/, I happened across references to a fa/tg/uy and ca/tg/irl made tabletop by the name of Artifice.

The premise of Artifice is simple, you are an artificial intelligence that, either intentionally or accidentally, came into being and thus must deal with the world you find yourself within. The default setting is set in the near future of 2025, cybernetics exist but are very primitive, elephants are extinct and VR porn is the new standard. AIs are unknown to Humanity at large and how you approach humanity may impact how it approaches you (Depending on your GM that is).

But hold on before you reveal yourself friend, you're not the only AI out there and, I'm not just talking about your fellow players. Other AIs exist and they may not want other people to know that AIs can exist (or they either think you're a threat or would make good spare parts), or perhaps there's an organisation or some other kind of entity that eliminates intelligences like you that's just as clandestine as you are?

Regardless, you can manipulate both the digital world and real world in a variety of ways but the most reliable way of affecting the real world is by manipulation or employing Humans to do what you want. Hope you're not Three Laws compliant friend!

The PDF on this is very barebones since it's all made inhouse but it has the rules and character sheet ready to move. Any would be GM would have to be prepared to design a lot of the world since most of it is intentionally left vague. But all the tools are there and it would be something I'd like to try but good luck finding a group.

Links:
https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Artifice
https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/f ... sp=sharing

I'll look into writing some material for a group (if any is interested) once finals are done.

[XSI]

Sounds interesting, but Im pretty sure I won´t be joining on account of not having any time

[Jazaen]

Neat, reminds me of "Endgame: Singularity" a bit.
Anyway, should anyone want to run it do ping me.

[Anonmare]

Neat, reminds me of "Endgame: Singularity" a bit.
Anyway, should anyone want to run it do ping me.

It's a bit like that, except if Endgame had rival AIs that competed with you for resources.

The PDF does describe that AIs are loathe to come into contact with one another due to the risk of mutually assured destruction, hence, the need to manipulate other Humans into doing it for you.
if you ever watched POI's season 4/5, that would be a good example of how AIs combat one another

[DemonFiren]

PO what now?

[Anonmare]

PO what now?

Person of Interest. It's a show about an AI in charge of a mass surveillance network. Season 4 is when a rival AI is created and are in direct conflict with one another

[XSI]

If you've ever played AI in SS13, you'd know to just cut their APC power until the cell is dead

[Anonmare]

If you've ever played AI in SS13, you'd know to just cut their APC power until the cell is dead

Actually that is what it does. One AI hid from theother in the US's power systems so it started using controlled power outages to confine it into one area and kill it that way


Artifice does have a sort of sister series called Engine Hearts that's more about playing barely sapient household robots in a time when all the Humans have disappeared. It's a lot more fleshed out and has some premade modules for it

[DemonFiren]

I have to put all of you liggas on my ignore list because I'm torrenting that show now.

[Anonmare]

Interesting or notable RPGs uncovered by Anonmare that you might want to play if you get a chance
Deadlands

Spoiler:

A deal between dirty injuns and evil ghosts turns the Wild, Wild West into the Weird Wild West as a desperate attempt to beat back the white man results in bringing forth the Reckoners - Evil spirits that feed off of negative emotions. They don't kill, unless they need to, and are terrorising the New Frontier and it's your job to stop them, if you can.
The year is 1879 and history has diverged, the Civil War was fought only to a draw thanks to the interference of the Reckoners and there's an uneasy ceasefire between the Confederate and Republic states. Technology is a little haphazard as spirits have revealed technological secrets that create devices that are far more advanced than the rest of the setting, powered by Ghost Rock typically (The new coal in essence).

• PCs can play a number of archetypes, the most notable are:
• Hucksters - Gambling men who make deals with spirits via card games. Think Gambit from the X-Men and that's basically them in a nutshell.
• Blessed - Christian folk whose sheer strength of faith in God grants them the power to perform miracles and in D&D would be closest to the cleric title, though they have a little more versatility. You are encouraged to quote appropriate bible verses while putting down demons with a shotgun.
• Mad Scientists - Weirdos whose voice in their head isn't *always* in their head. These voices secretly whisper advanced scientific formula to them as they sleep, these artificers may be somewhat lacking in the sanity department, and their gadgetry has less reliability than their sanity, but they're typically well-accepted - more so than the magic users anyway.
• Shaman - Basically the Native American equivalent of the Blessed. They're the druid to the Cleric at the most basic.
• Harrowed - Shucks pardner, ya ran outta time but you came on back now, di'nt ya? The Harrowed are the Walking Dead, no really, these folks should've died and are now Revenants of Frontier Justice. Let's just hope the actual demon inside of you appreciates your justice.

You don't have to strictly follow these formulae, you can be a straight-up gunslinging Texas Ranger or a dynamite-lobbin' prospector or something else if ya bring in third-party stuff.

Delta Green

Spoiler:

Do you like Call of Cthulhu? Do you like Call of Cthulhu, but in modern day times? Then welcome to Delta Green, an organisation that doesn't exist that investigates the supernatural and paranormal, but unlike CoC, with proper equipment and training. Did I also mention that officially your agency is considered a terrorist organisation by those who still know about it and there's another organisation called Majestic 12 who are in bed with, what they think, are aliens?

PCs are typically recruited from other government agencies and can use the resources from them (though you're gonna need to be real charming to convince the B-52 pilot the town full of murderous cultists is just a mock-up target).
Crunch is based upon CoC but with a few differences, weapopns have something called a "lethality rating" which means you roll a d100. If the number it hits is equal or lower than the lethality rating, your target instantly dies which greatly saves on dice rolls, otherwise, weapons never deal more than 2d10 damage. SAN loss can be resisted by expending 1d4 Willpower and burning a "bond" - Something that connects you to another person and the number of bonds you have and how deep they go can vary between backgrounds, burning a bond permanently damages it which can have consequences for your relationship with the target of your bond.

Engine Heart

Spoiler:

I mentioned this before with Artifice so I may be repeating myself. Engine Heart is based upon Artifice's drone rules but greatly expanded, and unlike my other examples, is freely available to download. Engine Heart is about being what amounts to being a barely sentient roomba after something caused all the Humans on Earth to disappear. Think Wall-E and Mad Max mixed together and you'll get a pretty good idea of the typical setting.

Players control commercial robots and are free to design them to whatever specification they want. Wanna play a toaster? Go right ahead. Autonomous forklift? Sure. Humanoid sex robot? You suck fuck but go right ahead. The goal in every adventure can vary but the overarching and often unspoken objective is to find out what happened to Humanity and if they're still alive, find them so you can get back to work.

Don't Rest Your Head

Spoiler:

When was the last time your slept? If your answer isn't in the last month or so then you might be a PC in this RPG. Don't Rest Your Head is about people who haven't slept in so long that they've "awoken" to the Mad City and its various denizens and have begun to have waking nightmares. As a system it's fairly rules-lite with only few dice being rolled and GMs advised to have the PCs only roll if something is at stake. As for tone... Think Nightmare on Elm Street and you'll have more or less nailed the tone.

PCs are created with a backstory (which includes; a past, a goal and a reason as to why they've been awake this long) in addition to three abilities:

• Exhaustion Talent - This is a mundane thing performed with supernatural ability. This includes: running, fighting, driving a car, salesmanship, adding up numbers in their head and anything else you can think of. Exhaustion dice are black, and starts at 0.
• Madness Talent - A Madness talent is something supernatural you can do because you've stayed up for too hecking long. This is usually something fantastical like cutting things by looking at them, summoning dead army buddies to do battle, causing blood to rain, the more bizarre the better. Madness dice are red, and they are related to your response points, which you have a total of three between: Fight Response (you will go berserk when you lose one of these) and Flight Response (you will run away in blind panic when you lose one of these).
• Discipline Rating - Discipline dice are white. These dice are your friends, and like your real life friends: They will eventually abandon you.

The GM uses only one ability for the difficulty in conflicts: Pain dice. They are blue (or green, or marbled), and they will have come from Satan's ass as far as you're concerned. The nightmares and terrors of the awakened city only use Pain dice.
Despair coins can be used by the GM to fuck with players, by either adding a '6' to any pool that was rolled in a conflict, or removing a '6' from one of the pools. "I failed, but at least I rolled a 6 in my Discipline pool." "*clink* No you didn't." "Shit." GMs can spend as many Despair coins as required to be a dick, but every Despair coin spent turns into a Hope coin that the players share for spending for their advantage. Hope coins can be used to undo a point of Exhaustion, get a Response point back, add a '1' to their discipline pool for more successes, or even to undo permanent Madness.

If you gain 6 Exhaustion, you fall asleep. You don't know how long, and while you're asleep, the Nightmares know exactly who and where you are. Death is probably one of the nicer things that can happen to your character at this point.

If you lose all of your Reaction points, you go psycho for the rest of the scene. When you recover you have all your Reaction points back, but one of your Discipline dice is replaced by a permanent Madness die.

If you lose all your Discipline dice, you've gone full-blown psycho -- you ARE one of the Nightmares now, and you know exactly where you "friends" are...

[Nabski]

I got Tyrants of the Underdark.

Played with two and it felt almost too competitive.

Played with four and there was much more wiggle in what you could get up to, as well as being able to knock down a runaway player.

The board is dark, two of the colors are dark blue and dark grey. Whomever made that choice is retarded. I gave the dark blue green accents, and now it works better, but fuck you game having 45 minis per team that I needed to paint.

[DemonFiren]

So, is Artifice happening?

[Spärde5590]

Alright, storytime
>be generic /k/ommando
>noguns because lolyurop
>one day browse /tg/ out of curiosity and because I was procrastinating
>discover Flames of War, Team Yankee
>immediately hooked
>used to play homebrewed wargames w/friends using 1/72 model kits
>nostalgia rush
>get my first models from Zvezda (shilkas and 2S1s because soviet all the way)
>Volksarmee just out, hesitate repainting them in East German colors, decide to postpone it
>get friends to join the game
>always 3 people max at games even if I convertes 6-7 coworkers and friends
>even got my father into it
>get tired of that horseshit
>decide to have common holidays in summer 2018 dedicated to normie stuff, but team yankee too
>begin looking up places to rent
>figure I can rent a whole villa and it'll be cheaper than rent one small flat each if we share the cost
>decide to head towards alicante region because some of us know the place
>spend time browsing sites with friends, find actually decent stuff such as https://tranio.com/rent/spain/valencia/alicante/
>still one problem, 5 nato players for 2 reds
>nobody wants a horde army
>wait for red thunder, better soviet stuff
>red thunder released
>only minor improvements, T-64s are still spam tanks because lolnoERA, T-80B mysteriously absent
>meanwhile Stripes gives tons of great stuff to the Americans
>father and some coworkers run into personal problems, cancel
>with 3-4 people left, having a grand holiday tournament is useless
>mfw no big tournament with friends, no holidays in a villa, no time with everyone, and TY Soviets are still garbage

[Timbrewolf]

Twilight Imperium 4th Edition announced for Q4 2017

I got to play a game of it a few weeks ago.

It's better in prettymuch every single way. Even the pieces and parts like the plastic model ships are better.
I main dat Nekro Virus and crushed it. Won the game with a solid 4-5 VP lead by picking Imperial and cashing in a 2VP public objective while I also controlled Mecatol Rex for a 3VP jump. Ye boi.

I've seen people bitch that it's not a complete reinvention of the whole game. Fuck them.
It was already a really good game, it suffered from having too much fat on its bones and some balance issues.
It didn't need a whole new edition it needed to be fixed up and re-calibrated slightly.

That's what this edition is and it's great.

It could still benefit from some kind of ruling about maximum length to debate shit or make deals with people (include a sand-timer or something in the box Jesus) but you can easily house-rule that shit.

[Anonmare]

So, is Artifice happening?

Probability of one shot game: 12.5%
probability of no game: 64.38 %
Probability of short-term game: 10.91%
Probability of long term game: 10.25%
Probability of probabilities being correct: UNKNOWN - PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR FOR MORE INFORMATION

made you look

[DemonFiren]

Why did you take Fuzzy Logic.

[InsaneHyena]

>tfw no amount of underhanded dickery makes my players hate the antagonist

[ShadowDimentio]

>tfw no amount of underhanded dickery makes my players hate the antagonist

Either your players are soyboys that can't manifest hatred or you've outdone yourself in making the antag sympathetic

[Jazaen]

>tfw no amount of underhanded dickery makes my players hate the antagonist

If you know their IRL political preferences, make their antagonist represent something as far away from those as you can pull off without it being too obvious.

[Jazaen]

Also, artifice may or may not be happening. Who here would be interested in playing?

[DemonFiren]

The humans will welcome me with open arms, or I will open their arms by force.

[Anonmare]

Also, artifice may or may not be happening. Who here would be interested in playing?

Me, have a sheet I'm working on ready

[Jazaen]

Alright then, step two is finding the time.
Use http://whenisgood.net/ybadq8k

[Anonmare]

Those are the times I can roughly be at. I'm taken on thursday, friday, saturday and tuesday already

[DemonFiren]

Alright then, step two is finding the time.
Use http://whenisgood.net/ybadq8k

time zones motherfucker do you know them

[Jazaen]

Pretty sure 1# it changes based on timezone and
2# if it does not we live in the same timezone.

EDIT: Oh darn it does not. Alright, Anonmare, what timezone are you in?

[Anonmare]

UTC+00:00

[InsaneHyena]

>tfw no amount of underhanded dickery makes my players hate the antagonist

If you know their IRL political preferences, make their antagonist represent something as far away from those as you can pull off without it being too obvious.

My players are coming from "Sure, he's a fucking cunt, but at least he's not as genocidal as the main antagonist, and we might need him" reasons.

[Jazaen]

UTC+00:00

Then just remove one hour.

>tfw no amount of underhanded dickery makes my players hate the antagonist

If you know their IRL political preferences, make their antagonist represent something as far away from those as you can pull off without it being too obvious.

My players are coming from "Sure, he's a fucking cunt, but at least he's not as genocidal as the main antagonist, and we might need him" reasons.

Darn. You might have to make him eviller then.

[DemonFiren]

UTC+00:00

Then just remove one hour.

wait
are you saying you're running kraut time

[Jazaen]

>Krauts thinking they are the only ones living on mainland Europe again.

Spoiler:

But yes. Well, next two weeks.

[DemonFiren]

>polish
don't make me come over there

[Anonmare]

>polish
don't make me come over there

Again?

[DemonFiren]

>polish
don't make me come over there

Again?

jawohl

[Jazaen]

Anyway, the game is happening on Monday, 8 pm EU time (AKA 7 pm Separatist time).
EDIT: https://app.roll20.net/join/2878136/Z6MQnA

[DemonFiren]

It says "Not Authorized".
That's literally all that it says.

[Jazaen]

Fixed! Apparently I swapped the join link with the game lobby link somewhere along the way.

[DemonFiren]

dumbfuck rabbit where are you

[Anonmare]

I'm everywhere

[DemonFiren]

you better not be in my computer

for your own sake

[Anonmare]

Local algorithm thwarts Korean domestic terrorist

Death before defeat.jpg (9.21 KiB) Viewed 18576 times

[DemonFiren]

local algorithm solves captcha, has better taste in music than american knock-off
[youtube]rnPkmozi7Zc[/youtube]