Showing posts with label 4th Edition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 4th Edition. Show all posts

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

Married life and Mutants and Masterminds GM kit

Hey folks we had a long hiatus between posts again but for good reason.

  1. Its the summer holidays and im burnt out from making pizzas
  2. Social commitments
  3. I GOT MARRIED
So yeah I got married over a month ago and it is going well. I and my glorious missus have not killed each other ... yet. Honeymoon was great the wedding i am told by many was the best wedding EVAR!!!

We had some drama but hey nothing new.

Right so lets get down to the gritty. 

Mutants and Masterminds
Green Ronnin managed to walk away with 3 ENnies at Gen con two of them for Mutants and Masterminds. Both the Mutants and Masterminds Players handbook and the interior artwork for DC adventures both took silver awards. so well done to them.

So now lemme get down to what i wanted to review the Mutants and masterminds GM Kit.

The GM kit comes with two items the GM Screen and the random character generator. The Gm screen is made of the same material as a hard cover book making it very sturdy and the front cover artwork is nicely put together. On the inside the the screen has the information you need at your finger tips (damage charts, measurement tables, Size modifiers, action and manoeuvres  and basic conditions to name a few). 
The random character Generator is probaly one of the coolest bits of kit I have ever grabbed as a GM. A super hero RPG is one of the few games where a random hero generator can work in my opinion. The book is 48 pages long and comes with a expanded 
character sheet. The generator has 20 archetypes Each one of these archetypes has variable statistics so you wont get say two battle suit characters what are complete clones of each other.
By the time you are done generating this character you will have a 150 point PL10 character ready to go. The generator is great if your a player and you have a mental block on your new characters concepts. As each time ou roll for new advantages /abilities that random attribute is given a title such as: Overseer,Athletic, Innate power, Mutant/mutate. This can give you some ideas on your characters personality and concept. 
The Random generator is also great for GMs who are 30 minutes from game time and need to pull a new plot villain of the week out of the hat.

Anyway folks thats my review so until next time keep fighting the good fight - Fen

Tuesday, 16 June 2009

I still cant get into 4th Edition

Sorry to all those who really can get into 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons but I cant there I said it. I mean its a ok system if you like a game where you have to micro manage every last detail. including powers. GOne are the days where I could be a fighter and it would be simple case of yeah I hit the guy. Yeah ive got these bonuses from feats. End of discussion. Now I have to keep rtrack of what special attacks Ive used which ones I have left, etc it iritates me. Also movment now measured in squares not feet less abstraction ARRRGH!!!

To me it takes more fun out of the game and there are other htigns I dont like about it. Want to make a magical weapon wont take you days no more nope. One quick ritual and hey you got yourself a +1 Greatsword. How magic items are made aswell. Yeah your weapon can have this enchanbtment ... if its this weapon type wth. Are Wizards jsut trying to make weapon creation just thatl ittle more restrictive. If I want a God damn adamntine maul I WILL HAVE my Adamantine Maul and I dont care if your version comes with a +2 enchantment as a level 8 magical weapon ill have that Added by jimbo the friendly NPC mage. It may take many days to do so but then it feels right it feelsm ore epic. Narcil wasnt made in a day and nor was it reforged i none. Wizards hav made a game for WoW and other young MMO players.
So what this rant probaly means is im just gettign too old for the way these new fangled things work. By the way Wizards GSL sucks balls.

And today unfortunatly there was no D&D as my players whop said they could make the session were no show and didnt turn up till late when there was less time. SO I have spent the evning watching mr O from commissioned drawing live via his web cam he is awesome and miss luna also agrees and is moderatly jealous. im more jealous of his baldness lol dunno why.

I also spent probaly the last 2 hours helping my new arrivals make there characters. We got a gunmage and a bard now. So more spell casters. The party is becomign spell caster heavy. Sorcerer, Arcane Mechanik, Gun mage and now a bard, All there is a paladin and fighter to protect them until the barbarian show (still waiting miss Y).
BOth there sheets are incomplete but its just spells equipment to go. THe Gunmag is a follower of Toruk eep. He is so up for a whooping if anyone ever finds out. Toruk is not favoured in the ik. The bard is being played by my good pal Nomis and he always plays spell casters. So I suggested to him that he might want to try Bard which he seems happy to do so. SO him and the sorcerer will be throwing around 0 level spells infinatly all day making the gun mage and arcane mechanik unhappy. As the party is nearign the end of Part 1 of the witch fire trilogy im currently developing my own NPCs to have them meet and ultimatly despise.

Ive decided there gobber friend will be making a return as a hexblade. I figure he returns the goblin chief fidns out that he was hiding in the chiefs room like a coward whilst there men were slaughtered and is cursed (literaly) and is banished fro mthe teribe. In time this curse he will master and become a hexblade/fighter. I wanted a Hexblade NPc as its one of my favourite PC classes and had much fun playing one in my friends campaign (ergo briefly).
Kaiketsu also has a rival NPC (he jsut dosent know it yet) ive decided on a Knight Exemplar who will hopefully be a recouring NPC whos soul purpose is to bring back Kais sorceress so she can be tried as a witch and burnt at the stake.

Ill probaly make a few intresteing other NPCS. Possibly a Cygnaran Gunmage a Swashbuckler to be the missues pirate rival stuff like that.

Privateer press this week released a preview of there new plastic warjack for the retributuion. People have already flamed it sayign it dosent fit in with the feel of Warmachine its too animeish etc. To be fair I didnt expect elves to have steam belching heavy armour clad warjacks I expected somethign more aerodynamic and streamlined. And yes i expected them to be powered by arcane powers. Reac the Iron Kingdoms RPG stuff people the fluff says it all.
Cant wait for the Retribution to be relased roll on September.

Monday, 18 May 2009

They just keep commig!!!!!!!

SO I went to RPG night today unfortunatly no Roleplaying was had. Oh well we now have all our Call of cuthulu charactwers soughted out for after the bank holiday.
Were looking at 1890's Steam punk setting, and i get to play the part of the megalomaniac Inventor from Prussia with his badly burnt sidekick Igor (MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA).
Yes shall be fun as our D&D 4th Ed group may be comming to a end. Main reason for this is that when playing everythign feels too automated (ie press this button poof power activateS). I mean Wizards its a ok product if your trying to hit on the new genration of gamers whos idea of a roleplayign game is say WoW. For the group im with (the oldies/Vets) not all of us enjoy sitting down having to manage the combat down to the smallest point (eg whos standign where exactly). Some of us are personnaly down the act of doing abstract combat ok if your standing near these guys or near the entrance you get hit. SO yeah DD 4h ed good for micro managing combat and if you like the MMO feel in the real world.

So I get to try Pathfinder out Thursday as I shall be dming from 2Am onwards. Yay i am ding a Iron Kingdoms Campaign with pathfinder rules. It will give the base classes a little bit more of a edge (espescialy fighteR). Ive been lookign through pathfinderand I can say that therse not alot of changes to 3.5 there but wjhere they change things it works (ie getting rid of gather information and making it part of diplomacy for example). All the base classes have had a ugrade. Sorceror and Fighter are my favourite upgrades.

Fighters got Bravery what im proves there will saves against fear which is bloody helpful for fighters cas they are likely to have nothing in the way of a will save for many levels (fighter with points in Wisdom hahaha).
The armour training is great, as you go up in levels +1 to Ac and you get +1 to the max dex you can use in the armour. By level 20 you can have a +4 dex bonus in Fulle plate (enter the combat god), and then at 19th/20th level yo uget armour mastery what gives you damage reduction.
Weapon training just makes you more than the guy with bonus combat feats but into a pure weapon master. Choose a weapon group you now get a +1 bonus to your attack and damage rolls. Now every 4 levels choose another weapon group also increase your other weapon group bonus by +1 every 4 levels Gah PAIN. WIth this abbility I now DONT have to run round with my fighter buying into prestige classes/other classes for extra damage now, or buy these amazing feats. Just so i can keep up with the damage everyone else is throwing around. Although i dont usualy care i do get tired of beign out damaged by a rouge and a ranger specialy when im takign te brunt of the hits. And now the stupid amazing powewr you get at 20 weapon mastery. Choose one weapon of your choice. All your criticals auto confirm, you cnanot be disarmed whilst wielding that weapon AND when you score a critical the damage multiplier is INCREAESED by 1.

Ok Now Sorcerors there truly Amazing now. Previously I viewed them as Wizards who didnt learn spells jsut blew stuff up and couldnt really swich round spells like a wizard could. So effectivly a spontanius wizard. Now they have bloodlines. These give sorcerors new and unique abbiliteis based on the bloodlien they choose.
these bloodlines are:-
  • Aberrant
  • Abyssal
  • Arcane
  • Celestial
  • Destined
  • Draconic
  • Elemental
  • Fey
  • Infernal
  • Undead
All of these give some great bonus abbilities for sorcerors some which work great as a backup when there runnign low on spells (dragons breath). What I also forget to mention so will do quickly therse no spell per limit on 0 level spells now but cure and inflict minor wounds were removed.
For my campaign im limiting th bloodlines because soem really dotn fit in the iron Kingdoms universe. These are:-

  • Draconic
  • Abyssal
  • Abberant
Dragons a obvious oen. All dragons are warped twisted corrupt creatures wh are A sexual and create more spawn by spillign there blood.
Abyssal dosent really fit within in IK
and Abberant as therse no thingsl ike the planes or well any strange "alien" racers i nthe Ik i figured nah.

Infernal and Celestial I have no problem with. I see as Infernal as you family made a pact with infernals soemwhere along the lin and its just seepedinto you. although is your soul truely yours and celestial hey your blessed by Morrow/Dhunia/nyssor/whoever. I still havent decided on Fey but that will probaly go but elemental can stay.

So Iron Kingdoms im goign to enjoy a group hwat never has experienced Warmachine or Hordes so they dont know much about the universe so it will be a suprise them im sure. We also get to start 2 years before any of the major events of Warmachine so plenty of time for them to get used to the world at large.

At the moment everyones scattered across the country at uni and the like so were going to be using gametable for the 1st sessio nor 2 but when everyones back myp lace for D&D haha. In lue of everyone commign to my place and as were going through the witchfire trilogy ive gone and grabbed the Witchfire Trilogy minatures JOY I have all the major players (another Alexia whoop).

SO yeah much fun to come thursday