Feeling Dirty: 4E never thought I'd like it.

I gotta say that with the web support products the WotC has 4E is looking to be a good game. I understand that too many players are calling it "Paper WoW" and for the most part that is true. But the game system is pretty solid, you can still Role Play, and in the current game I'm playing I'm actually seeing how the game is broken down.

Sure at first 4E lacked depth, and there was that bitterness of WotC switching systems YET AGAIN but truthfully I was getting bored with d20. The vancian spell system always bothered me and power creep hit the system like a flood, rather than a trickle whih plagued other game systems.

SoI must say that 4E has rekindled my interest in D&D, and the idea of playing in a Fantastic world is appealing again. I'm no longer bored with elves or pressed to play only Humans because they are the only thing that survives.

My only fear is WotC switching systems all over agian in only a couple years. I understand they need to make a profit and I'm willing to support a game that will be around for a while. The whole subscription support idea seems to keep a steady cash flow for them, so lets hope they don't somehow fuck that up.

Anyways, I'm looking into getting more miniatures, and the Token sets I found look to be great editions to the game.

Eden Studios

I'm a bit confused at Eden Studios and the way they are conducting business. I realize that only they are seeing the whole picture when dealing with their business, but it seems that they are not exactly supporting their own products very well.

I myself primarily play Armageddon and All Flesh Must Be Eaten (AFMBE). But for a while now they seem to not have the capability to produce/print more titles. Even on the message boards, the fans are getting a bit restless.

In my limited experience though Armageddon seems to be the game that gets people hooked into the system. Although I am a Zombie Fanatic and there is already a huge hoard following that genre, I have to say again Armageddon is the game that hooks people into the system.

The really problem is that the book is no longer in Print and purchasing any found copies is getting way more expensive. Although PDF is a good alternative it still doesn't work as well as a good old fashioned book. I really hope that Eden figures something out and can reprint or print new copies.

I still find d20 games boring

I've been running into this problem for a little while. But I've been finding it quite boring to run a d20 game. By run I mean GM/DM the games. For one I've never been the GM to favor strick book keeping as long as things didn't get too out of hand, but to me d20 feels too much like homework, when I'm preparing for the game.

Even with Pathfinder being released, I still find the concept of d20 boring. The mechanics work great, but I feel they aren't as flexible as advertised. Also I think there is a little too much realism sacraficed for speed of play. Sure I understand that characters with high HP let's them keep fighting after being shot. Its a game, and not real life. But I like it when no matter what level you are at, having a gun pointed at you is a threat. Also I don't like that a person with a gun pointed at you could still loose initiative letting you charge 30ft and hit him before he can squeeze the trigger. But I digress, a savy DM would say, his gun automatically counts as a readied action. But then you have the huge amount of HP in which the players thinks. I can take the shot, and still get him. Too me that's too unrealistic.

I think I've just grown to enjoy the flexibility of skill based games of Level based games. But I have to say that with Unisystem I like the realism too. Sure it uses Life Points (LP) but so far, everytime a person gets shot in the game they think... "holy shit, that sucks" as they should their character was just shot.

Still people have their preferences and I do like playing in a d20 game. I even like playing in a DnD4e game. I know I feel dirty for saying it.

d20 May Have Some Hope

It has been a long while since I've actually posted here. I guess my RPG addiction has waned a bit, but after running my completely awesome Armageddon game (see previous post) I was seriously looking to get rid of all my d20 books.

This was mainly due to WotC's move to end the 3.5 rules and release D&D 4th Edition. Although I am somewhat curious, I like many other people I've talked to just don't want to purchase a whole new set of books to "keep with the current edition."

3.5 rules are very solid, and although they do need some work, releasing a 4th Edition now may very well spell the end for D&D for a little while. Thankfully there is some hope. Paizo Publishing has announced that they will carry on making d20 products using the 3.5 rules. They have published a set of rules which they intend to update d20 while trying to keep backwards compatibility. Its a big challenge, and even though the Alpha release is some glitches, I think that the overall intent is very good, and I look forward to seeing the end product.

I too am playing with the rule set and once I get enough information I do plan to post some suggestions about how their intended Mechanics work. But needless to say, that with this revision and intent to not have all my books go to waste, the announcement of Pathfinder has really brought d20 back into an interesting light for me. And already our first session has gone quite well.

Be sure to visit the Paizo website and download the Alpha Release, its free.

Angel? Demon? Demi-god? Immortal? Child of the Creator?

Well I've poured through the Armageddon book, and although I still have much more to read I've found this to be a great foundation and storyline. Rather generic about the overall info, it does play on the myths held here on Earth as presented on Earth.

All too often I've found that many RPGs tap dance around the idea of monothesism and the religions and myths tied to them. But this game did a great job in combining the belief systems of the world and rooting them into a cosmology that was deluded over centuries of censorship by corrupted or incompetant people.

It places heaven, hell, and purgatory into a mysterious perspective against reincarnation and immortality with a strong creative mix that makes sense. Although any overly religious types may possibly take offense to it, but it does use some historical links to place these different types of beliefs together as one over arching cosmology. "There are bits of truth in all the beliefs, but they are scewed by centuries of editing and rewriting of the good books."

Still I am highly anticipating my first long planned unisystem game.

The End of Times

Another game that I've found to be interesting is Armageddon, the End of Times. An interesting twist on Revelations and the end of the world, and not only does it conicide with other Unisystem games, like AFMBE, but it also presents a good workable storyline.

On the other hand the rules lend themselves to allow for a great deal of diversity in a game. Sort of a lower powered Rifts game. Where the players use Assault rifles, and shotguns opposed to multinuclear warheads, and high powered laser blasters.

We'll see how it works, as of right now I'm cooking up an interesting game drawing ideas from several recent shows and movies. I'll admit with no shame that I do get some of my better motivations from such shows. Well once Eden Studios gets more books printed I would recommend purchasing this book, as it thoroughly lays out the Unisystem in one book.

Garnering interest for Zombies

It seems that I've been able to bring about a serious interest about how cool Zombies are.

Many of my co-workers were sitting around on break, and we just happened to bring up the sunject of zombie movies. Resident Evil, Dawn of the Dead '04, and my rant about the utterly horrible and disappointing Zombie Nations (another blog later.)

But also I have been able to garner some interested parties into playing All Flesh Must Be Eaten (AFMBE). Awesome for this would be my second game completely in the setting. I know that now many people are into a Zombie apocalypse game, but those who really know me understand.

Anyways, I'm just biding my time and setting it up. I plan to start the campaign with the board game called Zombie!!! then when after some wins or everyone is eaten I'll actually start with the RPG game, and let people set out trying to survive.

But I hope that this will be more than just surviving a few days and making it to safety. I want this game to be open ended enough to give the players control over what their characters are going to do.

Find a place that's safe, deal with other survivors looking for safety or trying to take their supplies. Maybe the zombie evolve later on, maybe the whole cause is scientific or supernatural... who knows how where I'll take it. But the players will make the plans and I will facilitate off the cuff and see how long they survive.

I will also make an effort to keep random updates on the games progress.