how do you like your fantasy games

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

Byronic hero: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byronic_hero

 

That. Fits. Me. To. A. Freaking. T.

 

 

You are SOOOOOO repped!

[AnotherSkip]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

I think the phrase here is "you are not alone".

[Lucius]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

I like them just great!

 

I want more!

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary remarks that he may just have to run one if he wants any these days.

[Jhaierr]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

Well, I have an interest in S&S but I've never played it. I've usually ran sort of a high-power fantasy (kinda like Champions Fantasy, 300+ points), though I've done others. I'm open to anything as long as the world is interesting and/or the plot is good.

[tkdguy]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

I used to like high fantasy, but my tastes changed in recent years. I tried a low (non-magical) fantasy, although it didn't prove too popular with my players. I am working on a sword & sorcery game (low magic, all spellcasters are NPCs) using AD&D 1st edition rules.

[assault]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

My ideal character (and hence game) is one who spends a fair slab of points on being a local aristocrat, having a bit of divine favour on his side, and generally blowing a fairly massive stack of points before he even starts to think about being able to fight, much less cast spells.

 

In other words, he would suck hugely in a low point game.

[bubba smith]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

for those gamers who prefer super-heroes the GM can tell the players that the fantasy campaigns PCS are effectily the super-heroes of the campaignsworls/time era that ought to bring them in

[Fenixcrest]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

I've typically run fantasy games with kind of a weird hybrid of "realism settings." Characters, both PCs and NPCs, tend to have access to all sorts of magic and cool "special moves." At the same time, though, I make heavy use of the hit location table and disabling effects. Makes the players behave with appropriate caution, but allows combat sequences to have some real action movie-style brutality, especially on critical hits and the like.

 

"Your Bolt of Radiance blasts through his knee like a hot knife through butter; the orc falls to the ground with a fearful scream."

 

"The creature leaps through the air at a high speed; the sharp horn on its head lands right in the exposed part of your armor by your shoulder. Now it is stuck there, glaring at you with its one eye and impotently trying to free itself. You are bleeding "

 

"Your axe finds a new home in the Baron's vitals."

[Guest steamteck]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

I run a steampunk/swashbuckler/fantasy game with high level characters but mostly with cinematic abilities. Magic can be pretty effective but mostly characters rely on wits, skill and non zap powers. There are way more evil zap wizards than good ones as its seen as ungentlemanly to magically zap civilized opponents. In fact one player sorceress just moved to the neighboring plane of my superhero universe to " escape the prejudice ".

 

Things are pretty high level in many ways though as the behind the scenes sort of metaplot is the several thousand year underground was between essentially highlander style immortals and the vampire clans. Several players are immortals but as of now ( but there were vampire PCs in the past-but they were rebel vamps) no vampire players characters.

[Bismark]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

Mid-to-high-powered games are my stock-in-trade.

 

I have tried 100+50, 125+50 and 150+50 point games so far; 2 years of Turakian Age High Fantasy (the first 100+50pts, the second 125+50);

 

1 year of Valdorian Age S&S (100+50pts - but with all characteristics starting on 10 and no Skill limits other than no non-combat Skill Levels except PSLs);

 

and

 

1 year of Shadow World (ICE's world for Rolemaster) High Fantasy (150+50 pts) aping the RM magic system using Multipowers (16D6EB was the main combat mage's standard offensive attack ).

 

The last game showed some promise, but the inspiration well ran a bit dry that year which was why I took last year off from HERO GMing and did a bit of Mongoose RQ instead.

 

All characters tend to have bucketloads of Skills (mainly to fit concept - I have yet to master the art of handwaving a lot of stuff with Professional Skills...) and are min-maxed to the hilt (within concept, of course - mainly to free up points for all those Skills).

 

Nearly all my games use the Hit Location Table, disabling etc.

 

One of my 'idiosyncrasies' (according to one of my former players - Shadowsoul, here's looking at YOU) is my handling of the effects of PRE Attacks; people badly affected by them don't just stand there gibbering or shaking, but also tend to empty their bladder and 'embarrass themselves' in other, rather more smelly ways...

[Jhaierr]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

As a follow-up to my previous answer, I like most any power level, but the feel of the campaign cannot allow for PCs tripping over their own swords and making spectacular spell failures[1]. This is practically a pet peeve of mine.

 

[1] Unless of course the character concept is that he or she is clumsy/new/inept or the spell is extremely dangerous and it would be dramatically appropriate if that happened.

[DusterBoy]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

I've had a character running around in my brain for a while now. She is meant for either a sword and sorcery or moderately high fantasy campaign.

 

A female mercenary, a princess from a pseudo-Irish background, with very short ash-blonde hair, hazel eyes and built like a man, 6'1", 165 lbs. Kind of resembles Brigitte Nielsen ( me) when she was fit, (circa Beverly Hills Cop II) only more muscular and athletic. She is aggressive, passionate, a superb soldier and extraordinarily strong and fit. In combat she usually wields a single-handed, double-edged sword, with a hatchet-style axe at her side and wears a mail corselet which reaches to her elbows and halfway to her knees, mail coif and a simple helmet.

 

Her name is Tobin.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

I prefer:

 

-Action/adventure swords/sorcery. Howard over Tolkein.

 

-Skills/abilities/power from the character vs. power from stuff.

 

-Abilities/powers that do helpful/useful things vs. just massive defense/attack. Characters that can do all kinds of cool stuff instead of just invulnerable howitzer-toting combat machines.

 

-Some level of possible mortality even vs. minor threats. A pitchfork wielding mob or a hundred goblins should cause anyone to think twice (or more!) before trying to tackle head-on.

[Vondy]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

I prefer human-centric pseudo-historical settings with a solid sense of verisimilitude. I tend to prefer magic to be rare and subtle, but not necessarily weak, with the fantastical elements coming more from flora and fauna than magic using characters. Magic should never feel commonplace or lose its ability to inspire wonder. In general, I have tended to prefer anglo-saxon and viking like settings more than straight medieval ones. I guess they would be lower powered than a lot of high fantasy games, but that doesn't necessarily translate as low-points. I like competent characters with some skill breadth and useful perks. In general, they are above average individuals who have a pro-from-dover streak in their narrow area of expertise or schtick. I would call the level of play "adventurous" rather than "cinematic." Somewhere between realistic and cinematic.

[mayapuppies]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

I prefer human-centric pseudo-historical settings with a solid sense of verisimilitude. I tend to prefer magic to be rare and subtle' date=' but not necessarily weak, with the fantastical elements coming more from flora and fauna than magic using characters. Magic should never feel commonplace or lose its ability to inspire wonder. In general, I have tended to prefer anglo-saxon and viking like settings more than straight medieval ones. I guess they would be lower powered than a lot of high fantasy games, but that doesn't necessarily translate as low-points. I like competent characters with some skill breadth and useful perks. In general, they are above average individuals who have a pro-from-dover streak in their narrow area of expertise or schtick. I would call the level of play "adventurous" rather than "cinematic." Somewhere between realistic and cinematic.[/quote']

Dude. Vondy, my man. You should follow the linky in my sig. This is the type of game play that Kamarathin was made for.

[Vondy]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

Dude. Vondy' date=' my man. You should follow the linky in my sig. This is the type of game play that Kamarathin was made for. [/quote']

 

It looks interesting. At this point I'm running a trek PBEM and haven't run fantasy in years, or had the opportunity to play. In the past I've used the Ivinia-Shorkyne-Chelembly regional materials for Harn World with harn-religion and the tolkein bits stripped out in lieu of a real world mish-mash of folklore and legends. I've leveraged the Eddas, Midrashim, Howard, Lovecraft, and Leiber for fantastical elements while avoiding a firm stance on the validity of the belief of various cults and religions. Mostly its a combination of mystery cults, dark cabals, ancestor veneration, and to some extent, deistic natural law type beliefs.

[Fenixcrest]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

for those gamers who prefer super-heroes the GM can tell the players that the fantasy campaigns PCS are effectily the super-heroes of the campaignsworls/time era that ought to bring them in

 

Really, that's kind of true for most non-superhero genres. In a world populated mostly by "normal people," the PCs tend to be the ones that make the normal people say, "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU JUST DID THAT." For example, if there is a legal misunderstanding that involves the normal person, he will get arrested, maybe roughed up, and have to sit in the town lock-up until somebody helps him out. If the PCs end up having that same misunderstanding, they're often liable to start a giant brawl that doesn't end until a guard is willing to listen to their explanation of what happened there.

 

See similar results involving highway robbery, only this time one of the parties involved gets slaughtered in the forest.

[PhilFleischmann]

Re: how do you like your fantasy games

 

I've been using 75+75, "low, wide" magic. Magic is common, everyone has access to it, if they choose to develop the skill, but it generally isn't very powerful. Magic items are rare. Magic is almost exclusively for things you can't do otherwise. No flashy fireballs. You want to kill something? That's what weapons are for. Wizards are not there to be the party's walking artillary platform.