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roflcopter_down Apr. 13th, 2009 12:01 pm)
roflcopter_down Apr. 13th, 2009 12:01 pm)SO, first things first. I'm getting a good mortgage at a crazy low interest rate with money provided by the Federal Home Loan Bank's first time home buyer grant for part of my down payment. The total monthly payment comes out to less than the rent for a two bedroom appartment. You have NO IDEA how excited I am by this. After seven months of anticipation, hard work, and penny pinching, I'm just glad that the home buying process is moving along, let alone working in my favor. By the end of May I can finally start enjoying the fruits of my labor.
Now, since that's not really what I tend to talk about in this LJ, let me talk about something that I normally do talk about here, and that's role playing games!
My Shadowrun group is coming up on endgame. I know this because last night a dragon acknowledged our existence. So yeah. Time to wrap things up and retire.
When this game ends I'm running Cthulhutech. Unlike Shadowrun this game doesn't have a direct premise in mind. It's much more open to different styles of play. In fact, it's almost to the games detriment because many of the books are presented in such an open way that much of the material is unclear. When you present things like mecha pilots, Guyver style shapeshifters, Dunwich Horror-esque magicians, and Akira style psychics in the same book (often in the same chapters) with only a few sentences describing why the gameplay styles are mutually exclusive, people get confused. It becomes a clusterfuck of cool stuff and people start combining them in ways that are not consistent with the setting or mechanics of the game. The game designers have run headlong into this and so far have taken critisism about as well as a four year old takes an tetanus shot. Go to the official cthulhutech message boards and make a thread asking why tagers can't by engel pilots. I dare you.
I've handed the players the books, and they've flipped through. One of the group members has stated that he wants to play an Akira-style Psychic. That's fine. Originally I had no interest in that part of the game, but now I'm coming around to it. None of the other members have stated a prefference.
I've come up with three possible scenarios for what to do. Let's see if you can spot the influences!
1. Mecha style game: The game takes place on a New Earth Government supercarrier in the Pacific Ocean. There has been an increase of Mi-Go and Esoteric Order of Dagon activity there as they are apparently searching for something. The supercarrier is tasked with supressing the rising threat. Meanwhile, crew members are behaving strangely. There have been attempts at sabotage, but those caught in the act immediately go insane upon apprehension. They claim to have blackouts, where they simply don't remember long periods of time. There appears to be a new threat, and any crew member could be a co-conspirator. What is happening to the crew, and can they figure out what the Mi-go and the EoD are doing before it's too late? Players will play NEG Navy mecha and engel pilots.
2. Standard Military game: An Engel pilot has deserted his post and taken his Engel with him. His last whereabouts were somewhere in Southeast Asia, deep within the area controlled by Hastur the Unspeakable and his death squads. The players must infiltrate the territory and find the defector while battling the Mi-Go and Rapine Storm. Should they find him, will it really be that easy to kill him?
3. Parapsychic and Magic game: The Baltimore Arcology is a cesspool of crime. Nothing is new about that. With the discovery of magic and psychic abilities there are new kinds of crime, and a new kind of police force is needed. That is the Office of Internal Security. The OIS is a federal branch of law enforcement dedicated to the control of magical and parapsychic related crime. Even worse, as North America's largest estuary Baltimore and the surrounding Chesapeake Bay area is a prime target for subversion by the Esoteric Order of Dagon. Players will play officers in the OIS.
Now, since that's not really what I tend to talk about in this LJ, let me talk about something that I normally do talk about here, and that's role playing games!
My Shadowrun group is coming up on endgame. I know this because last night a dragon acknowledged our existence. So yeah. Time to wrap things up and retire.
When this game ends I'm running Cthulhutech. Unlike Shadowrun this game doesn't have a direct premise in mind. It's much more open to different styles of play. In fact, it's almost to the games detriment because many of the books are presented in such an open way that much of the material is unclear. When you present things like mecha pilots, Guyver style shapeshifters, Dunwich Horror-esque magicians, and Akira style psychics in the same book (often in the same chapters) with only a few sentences describing why the gameplay styles are mutually exclusive, people get confused. It becomes a clusterfuck of cool stuff and people start combining them in ways that are not consistent with the setting or mechanics of the game. The game designers have run headlong into this and so far have taken critisism about as well as a four year old takes an tetanus shot. Go to the official cthulhutech message boards and make a thread asking why tagers can't by engel pilots. I dare you.
I've handed the players the books, and they've flipped through. One of the group members has stated that he wants to play an Akira-style Psychic. That's fine. Originally I had no interest in that part of the game, but now I'm coming around to it. None of the other members have stated a prefference.
I've come up with three possible scenarios for what to do. Let's see if you can spot the influences!
1. Mecha style game: The game takes place on a New Earth Government supercarrier in the Pacific Ocean. There has been an increase of Mi-Go and Esoteric Order of Dagon activity there as they are apparently searching for something. The supercarrier is tasked with supressing the rising threat. Meanwhile, crew members are behaving strangely. There have been attempts at sabotage, but those caught in the act immediately go insane upon apprehension. They claim to have blackouts, where they simply don't remember long periods of time. There appears to be a new threat, and any crew member could be a co-conspirator. What is happening to the crew, and can they figure out what the Mi-go and the EoD are doing before it's too late? Players will play NEG Navy mecha and engel pilots.
2. Standard Military game: An Engel pilot has deserted his post and taken his Engel with him. His last whereabouts were somewhere in Southeast Asia, deep within the area controlled by Hastur the Unspeakable and his death squads. The players must infiltrate the territory and find the defector while battling the Mi-Go and Rapine Storm. Should they find him, will it really be that easy to kill him?
3. Parapsychic and Magic game: The Baltimore Arcology is a cesspool of crime. Nothing is new about that. With the discovery of magic and psychic abilities there are new kinds of crime, and a new kind of police force is needed. That is the Office of Internal Security. The OIS is a federal branch of law enforcement dedicated to the control of magical and parapsychic related crime. Even worse, as North America's largest estuary Baltimore and the surrounding Chesapeake Bay area is a prime target for subversion by the Esoteric Order of Dagon. Players will play officers in the OIS.