what games doses your group play other than shadowrun?

my group plays/has played ogl steampunk and maelstrom story telling.

any of you play any cyberpunk games? i was looking at ogl cybernet, but ive heard more bad then good about it. but i think thats how it is with ogl in general.

Well, I just recently finally got a group started, mostly. We're kicking things off with Savage Worlds Necessary Evil with me running. We did chargen the other night, and hopefully we'll get started next weekend.

I actually own and enjoy lots of games. Shadowrun just happens to be my favorite. Don't know if these folks would enjoy it, but I'm thinking about running some pickup SR games at the local shop over the summer.

My group is made up of players from a wide range of RPG backgrounds so we tend to jump from game to game (depending on who's running the campaign). Usually what happens is someone will make up a campaign in a specific system and we play that for a couple of weeks. To date we've played the following:
* Shadowrun (duh)
* Star Wars D6
* Twilight Imperium
* Mechwarrior RPG with MWDA parts

Right now we're alternating between Dark Heresy and Vampire: The Masquerade, with wargaming (Battletech or Warmachine/Hordes) going on in the afternoon before we bust out the character sheets.

Here Dark Heresy and D&D 3.5. Some of us also play warhammer 40k and killteam.

My group:

HackMaster
Alternity
Shadowrun

ok games that sound interesting that i know nothing about.

savage worlds
twilight imperium
dark heresy
hack master
alternity

guys mind telling me about these games?

Dark Heresy is warhammer 40k rpg focusing on the acolytes of an inquisitor. Current Publisher is Fantasy Flight Games.
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_min...i=Dark%20Heresy

Alternity is a sci-fi game system put up by TSR just before the switch over to Wizards of the Coast. It's been out of print for several years (though still easy enough to get the books). Good fan community dedicated to it here: http://alternityrpg.net/

HackMaster is a fantasy rpg put out by Kenzer and Company (makers of Knights of the Dinner Table). The 1st edition of it, known as HackMaster 4th ed was based on AD&D 1st and 2nd ed. The new edition coming out in a couple of months is a brand new beast that looks really good. There is a 80+ page thread on their message board for spoilers about it.
http://kenzerco.com/

Twilight Imperium is more of a board game then a RPG game. It is set in the far future after the fall of a great galactic empire. There are numerous factions (including humans) and there is an additional expansion pack that adds another 7 or so alien races (including a genetically advanced human). At the start of the game each player helps to create a galaxy (with the galactic capitol in the centre and all the races around the edges). Players duke it out till one race wins the game (through conquest, or victory points). The game takes such a long time that some players even brag about just finnishing a game (let along winning a game).

Hackmaster was created by a bunch of DND first eddition fanatics. The games is nutorious for its pages apon pages of tables and ways to get every advantage they can for every roll in the game. Personally I couldn't even finish creating my character without getting annoyed by the system. I played all of one game.

Savage Worlds (scroll down)

It's a generic rules set that doesn't suck. It's designed to be fast and loose but still have enough crunch to satisfy people that aren't looking for a pass the stick game. I've played Savage Dukes of Hazzard, Savage Ghostbusters, and I'm about to run Necessary Evil, a superhero system that uses it. Of those, only NE is "official".

Coolest thing about it is how extensible it is, and how it manages extensibility without, well, sucking (I'm looking at you, GURPS). You can get "toolkits" that show you how to bolt on stuff to make fantasy games and worlds, sci-fi stuff, pulp, and horror, and you can find tons of conversions and stuff for it online. Its main strength is that you can pick it up and run freaking anything you want. Got a favorite TV show or movie? Run it with this. That book you really dig? Ditto.

It's a slick system.

My RL tabletop gamers have never played SR. Two would like to, but the third, my wife, just doesn't get cyberpunk and I can't convince her to play.

Therefore, we have been working on Spycraft 2.0 and DnD 3.X. (We are all staying far away from 4.0.)

I'm currently running SR and playing Dark Heresy, but from time to time I try to run some Dying Earth or my own cyberpunk in space hard sci-fi game (called "Space Punk" for a lack of a better name).

It's getting harder for me to have fun with regular fantasy games.

I'm the only one that runs Shadowrun in our group.

This group also has played DnD 3.0, 3.5 and we currently have a 4.0 game running. One of the players has run a Deadlands HOE game. Another one ran a HERO System game, but that only lasted a couple months.

I haven't played any other games with this group...pretty much DnD and Shadowrun. We all also play WoW, Combat Arms and various XBox games.

* Dungeons & Dragons 4e
* Spycraft 2.0
* 2300AD
* probably Eclipse Phase when it's released

And when I'm too tired/burned out/just don't feel like being a GM/DM:
* Twilight Imperium 3e
* Munchkin/Space Munchkin/Munchkin Cthulu
* Tannhauser
* Battlestar Galactica
* Talisman 4e

Currently ongoing:

-Shadowrun (I GM)
-Exalted (I GM)
-A Witchcraft/Delta Green sort of game
-A different Exalted game, on Hiatus
-Legend of the 5 Rings, which for once I am NOT the GM of

Regular appearances:
-Tribe 8
-7th Sea
-D&D 4th
-Mage: The Awakening
-Teenagers from Outer Space, now that I have Bull's copy!

Things that Will Be Run But Not Right Now:
-Jovian Chronicles

Primarily my interest right now (besides SR) is DnD 4e. The only other thing I'd be willing to run right now would be a Werewolf: the Apocalypse game, possibly a non-Garou game.

I have tons of ideas for DnD right now though.

Currently Running
7th Sea
Cliffhangers (Using the HEX rules)
Shadowrun

Currently Playing
Shadowrun (different campaign)
Earthdawn

Recently Ended
GURPS Cyberpunk
Call of Cthulhu
Deadlands

two games ive been wanting to hear about but never really did.

earthdawn
mage the awakening.

how are they? how do they play? how quickly can they be picked up?

Earthdawn's a good time, and their core system remains one of my favorites. Gameplay (the basics) comes pretty quick, but gets more complicated at higher levels/power scales -- but by then you've got such a grasp of the basics that it doesn't present much of a problem.

Mage was always a little tougher for me and my group to wrap our head around, primarily because (the edition I played, at least) White Wolf is so much more of a "storytelling" than "game playing" company that their core mechanics always felt very sloppy to us. Mages are crazy, crazy, over the top powerful compared to other World of Darkness stuff, by and large, and to those willing to take the Paradox hit, they can pull off some pretty insane stuff.

The best and fastest way to understand Mage: The Awakening is to read:
Books of Magic - the first trade paperback.
Alan Moore's run of Swamp Thing
Hellblazer.

Especially Books of Magic - in a nutshell, Books of Magic *is* Mage, because it's what inspired the game in the first place.

That first Books of Magic TPB is fucking awesome, by the way.


My group has been having issues with scheduling lately. The only thing we've played recent is Shadowrun 4E. If I wasn't pushing to get the group to meet, that probably wouldn't be happening.

We made characters for 7th Sea not long ago, but the GM sort of fell through. He didn't feel the adventure he'd cooked up was good enough. Which is silly, IMO.

There's talk of playing D20 Modern or D&D 3.x at some point. The GM was the one who was going to run 7th Sea, so... we'll see. He said he'd run canned adventures. Maybe that will help.

-paws

Great stuff. Hellblazer I could give or take depending on the writer (Delano and Ennis [maybe Ellis] = good, everyone else = bad) but Moore's Swamp Thing is classic.

Ugh 7th Sea. The single biggest gaming disappointment in my life. Marketed as high seas and piracy, in reality.... highfalutin Lords, ladies and k-niggets. Not even decent rules for running a ship. Of course when your friends write parts the mechanics, you play anyway.

Our group has a 4th Edition D&D game we play ... sometimes. It attracts about 1/3rd of the Shadowrun players. Frankly, we don't think it was made for gamers like us and we are ecstatic to hear it works for WoW Players and former card gamers. If its the crack that leads them to other games, great.

Someone young, energetic and with an abundance of time write me a great RPG at Sea. Something where when you play a pirate you die of an infection. Where the wind matters. Where ... Where the chain of command is the thing you get beaten with if you don't follow orders. Or at least the Cat.

BlueMax
/Even in its bag
//The Cat holds power
/// Maybe I should keep mine out in the game cave
//// For tangents and the like.....

Yeah, only one of the players had ever touched it - as far as I know - and he GM'd. The guy who was going to run was hoping to find something different do, I guess?

There were some interesting things about the rules (raises, the damage system), but other parts were exceptionally chunky/unwieldy (ships, some of the magic systems). Also, several inconsistencies about how much things cost - one chart would list one price, but the description would be different. And so on.

Anyway... it looked interesting, but we'll probably never get around to playing.

As for high seas adventure... well... I don't know. There's a section in D20 Past about Carribean pirates. >.>

-paws

I'm right there with ya. I don't have any idea how or when the hell it happened, but apparently at some point in the last few years I became "the responsible guy," that Cyclops/Apollo/Captain America straight-man that has to get everyone else's asses in gear to get anything at all to happen, instead of being the Wolverine/Starbuck/Hawkeye asshole that tosses out pithy one lines and snarky comments.

I don't recall approving this change in where I fit in the group dynamics, but one the rare occasion I haven't sent out emails and gotten things in order, nothing at all has happened (whether it's been an evening of gaming, or people going to Gencon, all of a sudden if I don't push the buttons, nothing gets done).

We need a thread on this subject. We need it post haste. And we need to find a solution. Not a moment to lose!

BlueMax
/its hard enough GMing
//now I got to parent too?

Hmm. Are your gamer friends also computer gamers, by chance?

-paws

PS I think I've traced the death of our 40K playing to the release of Dawn of War.

PPS I suppose it doesn't help that I have a child who is too young to be left alone while mom and dad go do irresponsible things, like gaming. Also, he's too young to really get PnP RPGs. His version of "let's play Shadowrun" involves 3 to 5 minutes of running around the house with a Nerf gun, alternatively yelling or sneaking, and then coming back to say that he's managed to "cap the enemy intel." Then again... maybe he does get Shadowrun?

If your family is ever in the San Francisco area, look me up. Sounds like my lads and your lad would get along just great.

My guys are computer gamers but for the most part have phased out MMOs. Work chews into the freetime of all of us in the software slavepits...errr Industry.

I've been pining to get out West again. Maybe some day...

We're mostly done with MMO's, but FPS and RTS games still seem to suck us in.
That and time spent at the pub.

-paws

I think you can chalk my lack of interest in 40K these days to money grubbing constant rereleases and the like. Hell at this point count me firmly ensconced in the ranks of the Rogue Trader Cult...

Now if someone wanted to pull out some Blood Bowl or Necromunda on occasion, I might be more amenable to that. I'm always willing to run folks through Warhammer Quest as well for that matter as a change of pace.

I would be happy to play Clan War with my gamers... If only you could still get minis.

BlueMax
/BloodBowl is an option.

I hear you guys on this. I supposedly have a gaming group finally, but we've met twice. Once to pick a game, and once to make characters. One guy didn't even make the second meeting (although he had a perfectly good reason and I don't at all hold it against him; just an annoying coincidence). This is over the course of about, say, almost two months. Ridiculous.

I mean shit, I understand we're adults. I get it, we're busy. But my gf and I are full time students. She works 3 days a week. Two others (also a couple) are also full time students, neither works during the school year. The last one has the most regular schedule of all, works a 40hr/week job and always knows when he's free (within your normal margin of reason). And we've met twice. We haven't even played a damn session yet.

And if I don't get the ball moving each time even to start a conversation about when we might potentially get together, it's like the group doesn't even exist.

I would just shit-can the idea, but I like all of them and think it'll be a fun game. I'm giving a lot of slack right now, too, because everyone's in the middle of finals, some folks are looking for summer work, etc. But man it's frustrating. It's probably worse to have a so-called gaming group that never plays than it is to just not have one at all.

I've been thinking about running some one-shots at the FLGS. Various stuff, put up a sign up sheet one weekend, run a game the next. Just something to actually get me gaming.




Funny this should come up. I'm currently selling off my not-ever-quite-finished WH40K IG army because while I'm sure it's a fun game if you play several times a week, if you're an occasional revisiting player/collector, every freaking time you look up prices have gone up, a new Codex for you army has come out and changed what you need, and a new edition is on its way to make everything you have completely useless anyway.

For us, we've been pretty routine on "every other Saturday," with a few exceptions (holidays and three day weekends and stuff can rock us). About half of us meet up at a local game shop to sling dice with a wargame for a few hours, then we grab dinner, and everyone else meets up with us back at my house (with me remembering to bring home some food for my wife, or it's trouble!) and we bust out the character sheets and get down to business. This weekend will be Dark Heresy, where my Cleric (a Schola Progenium graduate, who acts and fights as much like an Imperial Guardsman as a holy man) has been a lot of fun so far.

On the off weekends, I play a Battletech campaign that's been a real blast. We're each an officer (and that officer's wingman) in a small merc company, and we've got to keep track of damage and ammo expenditures and yadda yadda yadda from one fight to the next, we all vote on contracts and the captain negotiates for the best deals he can gets us for salvage rights and pay and all that... some of the guys are really into the nitty gritty detail stuff, where I'm pretty much just happy playing rompin' stompin' robots, but having a sense of storyline/character to it. It's good times.


PM sent.

Yeah, if I was playing really regularly it'd likely be different, but I'm not and the game isn't to my taste enough to really try all that hard to make sure I am, I suppose.

I've actually just starting thinking about picking up the CBT intro box, but I worry that around here it'll just turn into another game that I never get to play. That campaign you're in sounds like a freaking blast.

The CBT starter box really is one of the best deals in gaming right now. For the price, you just can't go wrong. Get ahold of Heavy Metal Pro somewhere (it's an up-and-up, legal, software program that has stats and background in it for almost every Mech, ever, along with print capability, etc, etc), and you're pretty well golden. There are a few more rulebooks for advanced combat rules, but most of what you need is in the starter box.

This campaign's been a blast so far. Part of the fun is that we're coming off the end of a big Clan/Word of Blake campaign, where each of us was a Star Captain, and the forum was all busy for a week heading up to each play-weekend with us bidding against one another to see who would have the "honor" of the next attacks (with the losers playing the opposition). Going from all the high-tech super-awesome state of the art goodies to this game -- set in 3039, just kicking off the FedSun/Drac War -- made for the first few sessions being pretty interesting.

It's quite a shift in gears, going from running a full Trinary of Clan goodies, to having a pair of Wolfhounds.

I am waiting for SR4A, so no SR until then. (I GM SR, and no one else runs it)

Play
Warmachine/Hordes (Mk II or normal, depending)
L5R (CCG)
Pirates of Spanish Main (Savage Worlds)

On hold
SR (see above)
Iron Kingdoms (Warmachine/Hordes RPG)
Scion

If you can read French, there's Pavillon Noir which, incidentally, is edited by the same editor as the French version of Shadowrun.
It's exactly what you're describing: it's meant to play pirates (mostly in the caribeans, but it can be played elsewhere I guess) in a realistic way. The books are great, full of details about how things worked.

I got to play 7th Sea at a convention last year I think and I had such an awesome time with it, I had to go out and track down the books.

Guess what? The Gm guide has no rules in it! And the Player's Guide is rare!

I'm this close to just popping it up on ebay to rid myself of it (and a few other impulse purchases).

The 7th sea is clearly the best RPG i've ever had the chance to GM.
Well let's say "was" up to the point where all the creators where fired/left AEG.
And then they went D20 ...
Nonetheless John Wick, the creator, as well as a few of the authors where very present in the mailing list/forums of the game in the first year. They gave enought ideas to run multiple campaigns

I heard tell that Boerwinkle, who was rumored to have written a good many of the schools( I think that is the right term) has put in several offers to buy the game and restore it to its original glory. Sadly, AEG likes to kill games dead. As witnessed when Kuni Tetsu tried to buy Clan War and revive it.

BlueMax

I get that. Games Workshop is a huge money vortex. And their (re-)release schedule is... fail.

Still, most of the people we know did not start in the Rogue Trader era. Its general apathy about painting, assembling, and the length of games. Yet, with the amount of time our crew spends on the computer playing games, we could get together and paint, play, etc. Computers are more convenient.



I'd be down with any of those.

-paws

Most of our group started back when SR 1st Ed and AD&D 2nd Ed where kicking about. Since then we kind of played most every other edition of both but are thankful that SR 4th Ed isnt D&D 4th Ed which we've so far managed to purge from ever being played.
Other stuff along the way, bit of Rifts until it got seriously silly, played a lot of SLA Industries as I wrote a couple of sourcebooks for it, Cyberpunk, Paranoia, HOL, D6 Starwars, Mage/Werewolf/Vampire... yeah fairly much everything I think at some point or another.

Currently its Dark Heresy and SR4 though.

At what point did Rifts fall into the silly territory? I had a few Rifts books when I was a lot younger but I gave them away without playing. I saw a few at a local used book store and have been weirdly tempted to buy.

I hear the "Rifts/Palladium sucks" screeds from the old-school gamers and I agree that it sounds imbalanced and non-playtested but without having played myself I'd like to know what others think.

Played:

Shadowrun4 ed most of time
Mage: Awakening second most
oWod Hunter one campaign
nWod Hunter one/current campaign

In Future:

Maybe RuneQuest (old version)
And there has been some talk about Star Wars (d20 ?)


I like Shadowrun most, but Mage's magic system simply rocks.

Rifts and Palladium in general are one of the games I really enjoy running, and playing on the few occasions where I'm not stuck running stuff. The system works well (at least I've never needed much in the way of house rules) once you get the hang of it (which is the trick).

Rifts is probably one of the harder settings to get because it mixes everything with extremely high powered stuff right along side very mundane/weak stuff.

If your looking to get into the system I'd suggest starting with Palladium Fantasy (since it's my favorite of theirs. I prefer 1st ed since 2nd makes playing warriors pretty much pointless). Though any of their other settings are a betting introduction to the mechanics then Rifts/Chaos Earth.

Rifts doesn't build game balance into character creation... or anything else, really. Some things really are more powerful than others. Instead, they leave it up to the GM to say yes or no to things. If the GM doesn't have the spine to lay down the law? You end up with "everything and the kitchen sink" in you group.

On the other hand, Rifts is one of those game where its perfectly cool to completely abandon reality and go over the top and it works. Hatchling Dragon? Check. Vagabond with superman-like powers? Check. Godling? Check. Glitter Boy Pilot? Check. Wilderness Scout? Check. Immortal Elvis dual wielding a pair of plasma cartridge pistols, wearing a a personal force field projector, and racing across the plains at 200mph+ on a hover bike? Check.

-paws

PS The game system does suck, but its not unplayable.

That's what I needed to hear! Thank you. Along with Cyberpunk 2020, I shall begin grabbing these books wherever I can find them used/cheap-as-free.

In the Past

Played easily two dozen + systems, run a local gaming group for over two decades now.
Long time campaigns include D&D,Rifts,Marvel,Gangbusters,Macross,Cyberpunk,Battletech,Morrow Project and more.


Currently in our lineup
SR4 A game thats been in our lineup non-stop since its 1st edition realease. (small lapse in 3rd edition)
Star Wars (cause were all SW fanboys)
Pathfinder (Awaiting it's release after a group wide revolt against D&D4e)
Currently testing the waters to return an old favorite or add another game. (Current games in contention Morrow Project, Fringeworthy, Battletech, Twilight 2013, Aces and Eights or HoL)

Currently just Shadowrun (which is about once every two months we get together). I am eagerly awaiting Eclipse Phase.

Jimson, I have a totally random question. Do you teach in Texas, and are your initials S. M.?