I've been inducted into D&D

[smokingwreckage]

Well ther was this Legends of Five Rings / lord of the Rings hybrid homebrew where my character got another character pregnant. The, ah, the one belonging to the GM's* wife. Um. Yeah. I was given a character with a substance abuse problem and a seduction skill, and that's all I have to say about that.

 

That was the second campaign in a row we'd mauled to death in the first session.

 

Things have improved since then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* the same GM who is highly accomplished in about a half-dozen martial arts.

[Bill_Adcock]

Our D&D game is now on indeterminate hiatus. The DM has gone and gotten himself a girlfriend and spends his weekends watching anime with her.

 

So I have taken it upon myself to create an interesting and engaging setting and run it myself with a few friends.

 

I've come up with an alternate history-fantasy version of the Aztec Empire, wherein by 8000 BCE the Aztecs had forged a shining empire spanning from modern-day Oklahoma in the north all the way to uppermost Brazil in the south. barbarian tribes control what's south of the Aztec border, and occasionally sell their services as mercenaries in the Aztec army. Within the confines of the Empire, the Mayans, nearly extinct, reign supreme underground beneath the ruins of their temples and cities, slowly evolving into half-sightless, pallid creatures of the Underdark. their sorceries and bizarre technomagical skill keeps them a threat. the Mayans learned their magicks from the Serpent People, now extinct save for scattered tribes of degenerates (using the stats for Troglodytes, minus the Stench ability). Far to the north are the Plainsmen, the remote ancestors of the modern native american.

 

There's also a variety of monsters and creatures, including the dreaded Chihuahua. Dead serious, I have stats for Chihuahuas.

[CuCulain42]

That Aztec campaign sounds interesting. So for chihuahua's did you just modify the dog stats? I can't imagine tham being that different fom the standard dog... except smaller. Unless you made em magical.

[Bill_Adcock]

I actually bought a d20 supplement on the Aztecs, and it had stats for Chihuahuas, who actually have a special quality regular dogs don't: Game Design.

 

Game Design (Ex): While they are rarely given the opportunity, chihuahuas are excellent game designers. In the future they will labor largely in obscurity but will make key contributions to some of the finest games around the turn of the 21st century.

[lionmane]

....is the Jaguar God , axe in hand, going to make an appearance?

[Bill_Adcock]

....is the Jaguar God , axe in hand, going to make an appearance?

 

Sort of. here's a description of one of the tribes of barbarians who dwell in the southlands:

 

The Jaguar Clan: members of the Jaguar clan tend to be tall and powerfully built, with enormous, bulging muscles rippling under every inch of skin. Males are warriors, while females and children are usually non-combatants. Traditional garb is a loincloth and mask of jaguar hide, worn by men and women alike. The mask is a sacred item to them, and they will only unmask when they are alone or when the only person who would see them is their spouse. Common weapons are two-handed battleaxes as well as clawed gauntlets made from the paws of jaguars, strapped to the hands of a warrior. The Jaguar clan builds its villages high in the trees – indeed, they are as comfortable in the trees as on the ground, and all members of the tribe get a +4 bonus to Climb rolls. Females, if pressed to battle, use longbows or throwing arrows.

[Joe Kutz]

D&D was great (to include expert booklets).

 

AD&D was good.

 

AD&D 2nd Edition was OK.

 

D&D 3rd Edition was silly.

 

D&D 3.5 Edition is down right stupid IMO (how many more ways is WoTC going to think of in order to get more money out of wallets?).

 

I've had a steady campaign going for 12 years now that uses a mixture of AD&D (based on Mystara...sort of) rules with copious house rules and modifications...along with blatant theft of ideas from systems like Palladium Books and else where (pop-culture, news). Same 4 core players - plus myself (DM) and a handful of others who come and go from time to time (hard to explain how the dwarf thief manages to catch up with the party who has been fighting for the past month in the Abyss though - Summon Drunk?).

 

Great fun, but I think it would be better if they focused more energy on fleshing out campaign worlds and similiar things and less on rewriting the rules (over and over again).

[lionmane]

If I had a character in your game, he would definately be a Jaguar guy.

 

There's been talk amongst my friends of wanting to play some D&D....of course, they want me to run it...I ran a Conan game for a whole 2 sessions before that kinda went by the wayside. I told 'em that I want a commitment of at least one or two games a month if I'm gonna go to the trouble of running a game again.....we'll see.

[Mourningcloud]

For anyone whose home game has ended, I would suggest giving Living Greyhawk a try. I have started playing recently, and have gotten completely hooked. I too came from first edition, and was skeptical if third, but I figured if I wanted to play my favorite game again I had to give it a shot, and it is the best thing to ever happen to roleplaying.

 

Not because the gam eis that good (although it is pretty darn good-obviously bette rthan my typing), but it has revitalized the roleplaying industry as a whole. There are more people gaming now per capita then even when first edition was in its heyday.

 

The game itself has more rules than older editions, but that is becaused they revamped all the old rules and made all that stuff that didn't make sense, well, make sense. so they can add more because the core rules are so much less complicated and more streamlined. ( we wont even talk about that joke that was second edition, where like every new suplement contradicted the one that came before, and there were no rules for like say, combining a kit with a players option character. In fact 2.0 was just written to get Gygax's name out of the books and reinvent D&D as if it had nothing to do with him at all, pushed through TSR by the woman (she came on board TSR after Gygax lost his controlling shares) who from all reports-and Ive read more than a few- just had this huge grudge against him, and subsequently ran TSR into the ground. And some of the crap they put out! Red Steel with audio cds for npc encounters? I bought the boxed set a few years ago for 2 dollars at kaybee toys discount outlet, where there were like 30 boxes stacked up, just to see what the heck was inside. And yep, there was a cd! Wow, thats roleplaying! I want whatever They were smoking...)

 

I heard all the horror stories about how Living Greyhawk is just a bunch of rules lawyers arguing about how much powergame cheese the dm will allow them to get away with (and its never quite enough for the munchkin powergamer/players tha run rampant through the RPGA, who sponsors Living Greyhawk)

 

The reality is completely the opposite. I have met a lot of really cool, neat,and fun people to play with. And not one has been in need of a bar of soap during a game. I've had some really great games, and in 20 mods (which run about four hours) only played in one that had moments that were somewhat unpleasant (mostly because of one player who was whiney, unimaginative, and to add insult to injury really didn't play his character very well.)

 

True, you dont know who you are going to play with in a given game, but that is half the fun. You get to know the people in your area when you have played a few times, and you will know whhich ones you like to play with. And when you go to conventions, or even just at local game days, you can meet and play with new players who just might be more fun than a barrel of Gorillons (who have four arms each, so thats a fun barrel indeed!)

 

And you can again see the joy of watching your character grow, and being part of creating new legends in a shared world campaign that is as old as D&D itself. And if you travel out of state, pack your books and your cahracter(s) and try to find a game in wherever you are visiting. play a different region's mods. the beauty is that everywhere you go there are players playing the same game you are, with all characters created and games judged under the same guidelines. Try doing that with a home game!.

Not that it will replace your home game-if you got one, enjoy it; theres nothing better than gettingtogether with old friends-in both the real world and in an imaginary one, and seeking adventure and spilling pizza and beer all over somebody's tablecloth.

 

But give Living Greyhawk a try too. Yes it is a horse of a different color, but its a damn good horse nontheless.

 

Gary

 

P.S. Sorry if this sounded like spam; I am in no way (not even my own mind) a representative of WOTC or the RPGA; like I said, I started playing Living Greyhawk not too long ago (San Diego Comic Con) and just wanted to get the word out to all you who are lacking in a certain kind of companionship; that being the kind where you get your dice out and go kill monsters together.