Akela

Thursday night, August 23rd... invading dieselpunk space nazis from the dark side of the moon... landing in Denton, TX. :) http://www.tugg.com/events/1127#.UAsNvqOG6So Normally I wouldn't post stuff like this, but since the nature of the movie, the culture of the gamer geeks likely to be interested, and the location are all so harmonious I figured I'd risk it. If nothing else, I'd love to see Reaper Matt Clark put on his monacle and Reich of the Dead hat again for the movie. ;)

I think his page and video say it all.

Well in interesting news, the Obsidian Portal community saw fit to give our Dresden Files game a nod as "Campaign of the Month" for December 2011. Dresden Files: Dallas

Well, after it brought home a passel of awards... we started up a group. Anyone else get to actually play this game yet? Thoughts? Opinions? Good? Bad? Caveats? For grins I threw our game up on Obsidian Portal as well in case you're of a mind: http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/dfd We played our first session last week, still trying to get a handle on the Aspects system.

I was a young high school aged gamer in the early to mid 90s and at a convention in Dallas I played in a game where the GM gave miniatures to his players. Garath Hawkblade was the first miniature I ever owned and introduced me to both Sandra Garrity and Reaper Miniatures.

Caiphas Cain ... ditto the recommendation. Speaking as an Imperial Fists player... I agree with the warning for Sons of Dorn ... avoid like the plague.

Wow. Blast from the past.

Bought it, watched it, enjoyed it. For a fan-made feature length movie made on a shoestring budget* for some of the nitpickiest fans on the planet I'm not going to knock it. Good on them for making a movie and having the endurance to finish it and put it out there. I hope the blokes that incurred all the debt to make it at least recoup their costs. Only buying will result in these things getting better. * IIRC they had a 9 million pound ($13.8 million dollars) budget to create the CGI, screenwriting, pay for voice acting, and self-distribute a feature length movie. The 5 minute opening cinematic to Onimusha 3 cost over a million US by itself, the Dawn of War opening cinematic at 2 minutes was several hundred thousand dollars with 'functionally' no voice acting (a handful of words with no need for direction)... just for reference. My 2 cents.

To answer the question asked I assume this is for something like Flames of War or Reich of the Dead? Hopefully you're not wanting "historical accuracy" ... that's a touchy subject on any forum. ;) Since you asked for "what are guys using" ... I guess I qualify ... so here ya go. Most of these ratios/options were mixed up by Anne Foerster many years ago. I filled in holes for my own preferences. YMMV. Ratios are listed in parts (3:2 means three parts color A and 2 parts color B). US Helmet = Jungle Moss (9082) Infantry jacket = Terran Khaki (9122) Infantry pants = Earth Brown (9127) Belts/Webbing = 3:2 Khaki Shadow (9121) & Olive Green (9035) Boots = Ruddy Leather (9109) Vehicles = Jungle Moss (9082) Vehicle Camo = 2:1 Earth Brown (9029) and Green Ochre (9128) ------------------------------------- German (generic) Helmet = 1:1 Rainy Gray (9038) & Muddy Olive (9034) Uniform = 3:1 Rainy Gray (9038) & Muddy Olive (9034) Belts/Webbing/Boots = Pure Black (9037) Generic Vehicle = 2:1 Grey Liner (9065) & Muddy Olive (9034) when I'm feeling picky; Stormy Grey (9188) when I'm not. "Hinterhalttarnung" camoflage "Dunkelgelb-isch" = 6:1 Palomino Gold & Muddy Olive "Olivgrün-isch" = Muddy Olive (9034) "Rotbraun-isch" = Russet Brown (9199) ------------------------------------- British (generic) Helmet = 3:1 Green Ochre (9128) & Muddy Olive (9034) Uniform = Uniform Brown (9127) Belts/Webbing = Terran Khaki (9122) Boots = Pure Black (9037) Vehicles = 3:1 Green Ochre (9128) & Muddy Olive (9034) Vehicle Camo = Uniform Brown (9127) ------------------------------------- Soviet Helmet = Jungle Moss (9082) Uniform = Khaki Shadow (9121) Leather (belts/crossbelts/pouches) = Muddy Brown (9028) Boots = Pure Black (9037) Vehicles = Jungle Moss (9082) (actually I prefer Pro Paint Troll Flesh (8049) and for the helmets too)

Ditto the "cut out the center" bit. I have ribbons I cut apart from years ago, they're still good. I store the two blobs in the same plastic container, separated by a piece of saran wrap to keep them from touching. Perhaps your batch had some impurities from the maker (theory)?

Hmmm. Not being familiar with the figure from Hasslefree, I wonder if in this case plastic (which can be injection molded thinner than spin-cast metal) may fill your requirements? The Games Workshop Vampire Counts Skeleton Warriors box set (from which you can usually find broken up as bits on ebay and the like) has one set of legs that might fit the bill: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=400027&aId=4300015 Being plastic, it should be fairly straightforward to reposition the legs into whatever pose suits you. Even the "back foot" which is bent, might be able to be repositioned into something more suitable to a feminine pose (since you're using a support on the base anyway).

Nothing to worry about. If you're really concerned, if you do a lot of filing/conversion work that involves filing = wash your hands when you're done/before you eat. If all you're doing is buying them to primer and paint, nothing to fear at all.

I usually try soaking it for 48 hours (or more) in Simple Green first (slower, but non-toxic) - http://www.simplegreen.com/ - Simple green will dissolve superglue and greenstuff but leave metal and styrene plastic alone. If that doesn't work I use Castrol Super Clean/Degreaser (purple bottle). Soak overnight. Use rubber gloves.

Sorry for coming to the thread so late. I've been running, dreaming about running, playing, or dreaming of playing in various GURPS games for 20 years or so now and these are some observations based on what I've read from the OP on this. Please correct any of these assumptions that are wrong as it is the basis for my comments afterwards 1) Looks like you're looking for a common "reality based" system that will let you still enjoy some of the heroic elements common in other systems. 2) You're looking at GURPS because you're looking to blend genres down the road depending on how your story develops and progresses 3) While you like the detailed character creation, you're not looking for excessive rules minutia during play Suggestions 1) Your idea to stick to GURPS Lite is a great one. Avoid the minutia by simply not having access to it. Most new GURPS GMs get sucked into all the options and things they have access too and are not ready or familiar enough with the rules to keep combat (or even general play) flowing. Abstract all armor damage resistance into a single value, don't worry about random hit locations, etc. etc. etc. 2) Players that are coming from more "heroic" based systems are expecting a bit more survivability than GURPS gives them "out of the can." The "Cinematic" optional rules are fantastic for this. Specifically (in the latest edition) the "Flesh Wounds" and "TV Action Violence" rules. -- "TV Action Violence" basically means spending 1 Fatigue Point to succeed any Active Defense the character just failed; in exchange for the character spending their next action taking cover, hiding, jumping about acrobatically, etc. etc. etc. (note sometimes an Active Defense is not allowed, for example you can't dodge an attack of which you are unaware, so it's still possible to die even with this cinematic rule.) -- "Flesh Wounds" basically means spending 1 unspent character point (some GMs allow you to go into "CP debt" for this) to reduce the damage taken to a single point with cinematic blood and gore remaining... "It looks bad, but it's just a flesh wound." Between those two rules (using one, the other, or both), you retain everything GURPS brings, and your heroes would need to massively screw up in order to die. It also leads to more heroic actions from the players since they're less worried about getting splatted by the big-bad-nasty you had planned. Full on "gory realism" games tend to result in rather cowardly heroes who are afraid of getting killed... which is rather realistic I think... but often not very fun if you're not playing a horror genre. 3) Roleplay only Disadvantages If you'd like to focus on the roleplay and less on administrating your disadvantages amongst your player characters, I suggest this (until you're more familiar with the system and whatnot). Simply put, give some percentage of the points they would have taken for maxing out disadvantages anyway... and give no points for taking disadvantages at all. So the default is say a 150 point character. Normally that's 75 points of disadvantages and 5 points of quirks (80)... that's 230 points of positive purchases after all is said and done. Simply give the heroes 200-230 points and tell them to only take disadvantages they'll roleplay and they gain no points for doing so. 4) "Money" I've found nothing abuses the system faster than the gaining of money by PCs and then the spending of said funs on "stuff" which will quickly blow the lid off any attempt at "balance" ... especially as they cross genres. A quick and simple abuse is to take poverty levels for points, knowing they'll quickly be able to earn it back in game or be given whatever they need by wealthier PCs... or to make themselves SO wealthy that they just buy enough toys to boost their "combat effectiveness" without having to pay actual points for it. Rather than make suggestions, I simply recommend a new GURPS GM simply watch and be aware of this potential problem area. 5) "Bang" Skills GURPS optional rules allow for what are called bang skills. Skills with an exclamation point afterwards ! ... they are used when you don't want to worry about having heroes buy every one of 30 different skills to represent extreme skill in a particular area. They are bought as Mental / Very Hard skills and I strongly suggest no more than a single bang skill per character and only suited to their "schtick" ... the scientist in the party, let her roll "Science!" ... the cowboy, frontiersman, rustic... let him roll "Survivalist!" for anything outdoors/tracking/hunting related... the Mechanic/gearhead rolls "Mechanic!" to be build/fix/rig anything... save yourself the headache when you're a new GM of learning the names of all 212+ skills. 6) Nevermind the minutia, when in doubt roll 3d6 and run with it. There are worse things you can do than just apply an arbitrary modifier of between 1 to 5 points +/- to a roll that seems reasonable and just run with it. If they don't know the skill, -4. If they did great roleplay, +5. Ignore the rest, roll and go. GURPS is remarkably versatile and fun at this most basic level.

/casts resurrect on an old thread Has anyone looked into asking Battlefoam to make new inserts for the Reaper bags or seeing if the inserts for any other companies fit?

When I was writing/compiling the original fluff, I had a very distinct idea in mind for what the Taltain culture would look like as well as general ideas for the music. I was never able to find a real world artist that meshed with that sound in my head.... until today. For those interested, look into Yasmin Levy's "Mano Suave" - "Una Noche Mas" is on youtube and Amazon.com has snippets of several songs on it. A modern blend of Spain (in this case Sephardic Spain) and Arabia is exactly what I was looking for all those years ago but never found. The fact that she sings in Ladino is even better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVi-HaCOxH4...player_embedded More reading if you're interested: http://www.rareexception.com/billy-joel/bi...start-the-fire/ Any American History teachers out there?

For what it's worth/additional info: Our group has been participating in the beta testing of the WotC character creator software and it does a fantastic job of keeping track of things and the cards. The beta does the first 3 levels: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/i...haracterbuilder

A lot of sturm und drang to arrive back at the point we all knew at the beginning - it's all about your group. For our part, 4th edition is a fine system and one I enjoy a very great deal. Reaper Bryan's posts (the most recent especially) echo my thoughts on the matter(s) presented.

Agree

After a month and a half or so, it's now my preferred incarnation of D&D without a doubt. Re: Skills At first we thought it was "lacking" as well... but really it's quite liberating actually. I play in a GURPS game (200+ skills) and it's actually quite nice to have a system without all those minutiae. Roleplay or just common sense works just fine. For example, I don't need to roll to see if the character knows how to play the lute or sing a good song... all that matters is the social effect which the skills provided are sufficient. Does it really matter if the character knows how to play the lute or not? We've found a lot of the skills we "relied upon" in other games really were just crutches. Now we roll for the real goal of the roll (social manipulation, revelation of information) not just to roll for the sake of rolling. However, when we do need a bit more detail... having now used it several times... the "Skill Encounter" mechanic (several different rolls, final results are determined by getting X successes before you get Y number of failures) works fine when used alongside roleplay to represent the different rolls. We've extrapolated the underlying mechanic into big field battles, tournament jousts, a "hunt" (falconry or hounds, etc.), and a castle seige. Works great. Re: Old Campaigns I can definately see how some of them won't convert. After all the new edition makes several modifications to underlying assumptions of the genre. However, old campaigns CAN be converted with a real understanding of the system and some elbow grease. I've (for instance) just converted Greg Stafford's Pendragon into a higher fantasy version using the 4th edition and it works great. In the end, it breaks down to you, your group, and your DM. For me, 4E is a winner. Hands down.

Depends on your point of view I guess. A thin spear or sword will still bend. The difference is with a higher lead content, it doesn't break the crystalized structure (that "cracking sound" you often hear with higher tin figs). So you just bend it back. Lead - for me - is MORE durable for gaming.

Well anyway. The thread started wanted thoughts, I gave mine. I have always wanted a system to deal with the one area of the game that needs fairly good rules so that everyone is on the same page, etc., and that's combat. Why? Because that's the one area where character death is the MOST likely and most people, if they're going to get gibbed, want to at least have it been according to some set of agreed upon rules. 4E does that. Everything else, all the roleplay, social interaction, etc. is all subjective. You could flip a coin and it would work just as well. It breaks down to 1) either the GM wants the party to succeed and the story to continue or 2) he/she doesn't. Everything else is just the dice-based ritual we use to give the illusion of random-ness or the risk of possible failure. 4E focuses on the combat rules to keep them fun and flowing, and keeps everything else light and simple so we the group can decide how much or how little we use. And frankly, that's exactly what I want. If I never roll a die in between "combat" encounters, great. If the entire Adventure (as was often the case with Ravenloft) is resolved without even picking up the dice once... even better. So, if you're in a gaming group that prefers to roleplay non-combat scenes anyway... and you're worried about the way 4E handles non-combat rolls (roll-play as we like to call it)... Who cares how 4E resolves it? You're not going to use it anyway. Heck, chances are you probably don't even use your current system the way it was intended. -------- If you tried it and didn't like it. Fair play to you. I wish you the best of luck and loads of fun with the system you like best. Wish me the same, and we'll both enjoy or hobby together, expressed in different ways. As for yall grousing about the system without playing it yet or whatever. Well... frankly.... you're one of the demographics file-sharing was created for. You're currently unlikely to ever buy the product, so just go download the torrent (or get it from the person in your group of friends that already did, and I'm certain most of you know at least one). Try it. If you buy it later, the torrent helped make the sale. If you don't, delete it, no money is lost or gained for the company because you were never a sale to begin with. If you have a moment, read Eric Flint's opinions of how to use online distribution to promote sales at the Baen Free Library. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's horrible that people do stuff like this... but that's the world we live in. That's another reason why WotC is trying what they're trying (with the online monthly stuff). -------- One last and then I'm out.....regarding WotC --- guys, when I worked for Reaper I spent days, weeks, even months trying to figure out ways to take YOUR money. I assure you Reaper, WotC, White Wolf, (you name it) literally tries to figure out every way possible to take as much of your paycheck as you're willing to part with. It's called capitalism, and I love it. WotC/Hasbro is NO different from Reaper in that regard. Ultimately, you're the one that forks the cash or not. If the company does a good job, you do so (I bought their core books in the slip case). If they don't, then you don't (I'm not buying their online subscription or supplements). But loathing them for trying to make money off you is just a bit silly. Buzzwords like "target audience" or "new editions" or "new supplements" anything else like that is just more of the same old game. They want a paycheck so they can buy stuff, same as you, and you're the source of that paycheck. ... and, to be blunt.... "gamers" are just about the worst customer market that exists. It's small, niche, usually broke, and is always wanting to spend the least possible and hang on to it for the longest time possible, without ever spending any new funds. ... cheers to WotC for trying a new tack with it (the "monthly fee"), it just didn't work with me, but I can't fault them for trying it.

Played it and ran it and am switching to it from 3.5. If you play it, the strengths of the system come out, not the least of which is that it's a FAST and very enjoyable combat resolution system. Additionally, the non-combat resolution has a simple mechanic and has a lot of versatility. Just read "Urban Chase" in the DMG for an outstanding example of how it can be used. As for the non-combat/roleplay "soft and fiddly" stuff... that's up to the DM and Players. If they're crap, no system can save them. If they're good, no system matters. I play/played Savage Worlds and prefer D&D 4, our Savage Worlds group is switching campaigns in fact. However, I will NOT pay for the online service. I'll use it while it's free, then switch back to OpenRPG. The price gouge there is one aspect of the "4e package" that's utter drek. EDITED: To fix URL formatting

Glad you enjoyed your first Songkran. When Jay was in Thailand she loved it as well.