This thread is for conversation amongst PLAYERS and GM, not the characters. Feel free to post whatever you want here. You can talk about the game, post a message saying you'll be offline for a few days, say happy birthday, etc. The only request would be not to have long, involved conversations about non-game things.

Sure has been fun posting to myself. Just one post from JW and one post from Chance in a week or so.

The good news is that at this rate, we'll have no trouble starting the game by November.

Good to have this thread here...

I need to get into the daily practice of RPOL...

Happy Solstice Everyone....

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg #1):

I've got family in town 'til Monday.  Limited posting only 'til then.

Hey Judge, I was trying to download the [DHR1300] Six Guns: The James-Younger Gang from the e23 site and it got hung up for some reason.  Do you know anything about it?  In the meantime, would you send me the file from your archives?  Much appreciated, sir.

Don't know why DHR1300 would hang on e23, or any vendor site. It's been out there for some time and gets downloaded regularly according to our vendor sales reports.

It's a free product, so I'll send it along.

Just had a nasty lightning strike right outside my house which has apparently damaged my fiber phone line. My router is down (transformer is fried, maybe the whole router) and Verizon says they need to come repair my internal wiring. S'posed to be tomorrow morning. Borrowing a neighbor's wireless but don't know how strong the signal will be or if it will be available regularly. If I'm out of the loop for a while, you'll know why.

Well, as it turns out, our lightning strike also damaged the A/C air handler and blew out a TV.

Verizon came early this morning and got my phone/internet back on line. Router was fried and two phones fried.

Anyway, I'm online with regular service.

Sorry to hear about all that.  I hope your homeowner's insurance will help out some of the cost.  Did your HDTV get fried?

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg #8):

Yes, please don't tell me that your HD TV got it. However, I'm guessing that you since you wrote "a" TV, as opposed to "the" TV, your HDTV is fine.

No it wasn't the Sony HDTV. Our A/C was fixed yesterday. Having to deal with the effects of the strike was no fun, but it could have been a lot worse.

Testing things out here...

FWIW, I picked up 4th edition and I think it's pretty good.  As a game designer I would have thought that you would welcome a chance to reprint and update.  That said, I'm not a designer and have never dealt with WotC.

I have nothing against 4e. Based on what I know about it, it isn't suited for converting S:R. There are a few reasons DHR isn't going to convert at this time.

1. 4e is the D&D update. It doesn't update the d20 Modern Rules, which is what S:R is based on. Supposedly WotC is going to release a new license and updated 4e rules for d20 Modern, at some later date. At that time, we may reconsider.

2. The licensing is a big issue. We can't have both a 3.5e version and 4e version of the same product--or product line. Thus, if we convert to 4e, we can't go back. And if they were to consider all of our Branded for Recoiled products as one line then we could never release a product to support our 3.5e game--and our existing products would have to be updated, taking the old versions off the market. It's all or nothing.

3. Early analysis of 4e shows it is heavily geared toward miniatures. Our read is that it is moving away from roleplaying that we find essential to S:R.

There's more, but this sums it up pretty much. There are a number of game designers facing this decision and from what I've heard, there are a number who are staying with 3.5e. Paizo and the Pathfinder series is a prime example.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg #13):

It does appear to be geared towards miniatures, I think that is designed to also drive players to the online table.  Also if  you look at the format of descriptions then they also will be pushing cards.

I think the roleplay is there but they want combat to be quick and visual.  One attack per round.  Roll initiative once and keep the order for the whole time.  Wizards have at will spells like Magic Misile so they won't be digging through the spell book evrey round.

I will add more thoughts and ask more questions if that's OK.  I need to get used to posting once a day.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg #1):

FWIW:  My great great great grandfather served with the 6th Regiment Michigan Infantry/Heavy Artillery.  So that's where I had Travis come from.  Here's some info

http://users.aol.com/dlharvey/6thinf.htm

Travis was a Wolverine Rifle Ranger.  Sounds like a bad comic book.

JW beat me to the punch on selecting courier duty.  Dag nab it, I'm unoriginal.

At least I have the Duke's recommendation.  Col Cord McNally was John Wayne's character in Rio Lobo.  :)

Update: The internet informs me my ancestor was in Company G, the "Littlejohn Light Guard"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:51, Wed 09 July 2008.

Post away, pard. That's the whole idea. I reckon iffin' everyone gets in the habit of logging in once per day, we'll move down the road a piece.

Looks like we're building some momentum. If we could get JW back in the loop, we'll be on our way to actually playing the game, too. Ironic that the first player to sign up--and volunteer to play the pivotal role of "Johnny"--has disappeared. I s'pose a direct contact by voice is on the docket.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg #16):

Post of the day...

First, I learned that "Goin through the mill" is not a landmark in our upcoming adventure but rather a term meaning to gain experience the hard way.

D&D 4th edition:  Races -- Overall I say it has been Improved.

Races have been balanced with comparable racial abilities.  It appears at first that dwarves are the big losers (again) but in a miniature-based combat environment the dwarven ability to stand his ground, while appearing useless,  will be quite valuable and oft-times decisive.  Not as cool as breathing fire but...

We lost the gnome and half-orc.  Gnomes never "owned" a class and were always second best at whatever they did except illusionist.  Not enough illusionists out there to support the race.

Halflings are now wanderers and affiliate with wetland (marshes, rivers) as dwarves do mountains and elves the forests.

Elves have been broken into two races.  Elves which are your woodland ranger types, and Eladrin which are your Fey-based (faerie-affiliated) magical elves.  Elves always had too much going for it.  This division puts elves back into play as a balanced class.  With the tiefling and dragonborn they aren't even an exotic race anymore.

Tiefling have been added.  These horned humans of infernal bloodlines are capable of driving the warlock (formerly sorcerer) class.

Half-elves are no longer underpowered.  They pick up a unique feat from another class which makes them unp[redictable and they are built much more as a separate and distinct race not just a little of each parent race.

Lastly The Dragonborn basically a brick +2 strength, +2 intimidate etc... (best as a Paladin, fighter or warlord)  Think an upscale version of my Lizardman Sleeth.

Although, I missed it by less than an hour...

All the best boss...

While the thought is appreciated, it ain't a big day. I rarely celebrate the anniversary of my birth. At least I'm still younger than that Gontrum feller.

I did haul in a few nice gifts from the family, including all three seasons of Deadwood on DVD.

Re: D&D 4e

Some of the things you noted (and seem to like) about the races have been roundly criticized in other quarters (Some people aren't happy about losing Gnomes--I'm sure Mark would have something to say about the loss of his favorite gnome illusionist character; others question the changes to Dwarves). Interesting that you point out the advantage for Dwarves in combat, in my opinion, indicative of the leaning toward minitatures and battle. I'm not saying it's all bad or isn't improved, just providing another view.

Also, some people object to the small number of classes available depending on your race or class archetype. It seems much more like a MMO where you have to choose a pre-defined slot than wide-open roleplaying where you can design your character however you want (I expect the plan is to introduce other classes in supplements). That's another reason that we aren't too keen on converting--our system encourages multi-classing and switching focus and designing a character suited to your individual tastes and changing circumstances. Just like adventurers in the Old West often played one role in one town and a different role in another (e.g. bill collector in Wichita, lawman in Dodge, rogue in Deadwood, saloon keeper in Tombstone), heroes in S:R can adopt/shift different classes and roles easily. From what I know about 4e, that's not the case. Now, maybe 4e for Modern will be different, can't rightly say.

I found this on a website.

"Definitions of Civil War Terms"

http://www.civilwarhome.com/terms.htm
This message was last edited by the player at 19:22, Wed 09 July 2008.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg #20):

Happy birthday pard'.  At your age it's important that you don't make a big deal about it; but it is important that we do to a small extent.

Daily post...On 4th edition.  I don't think the gnome will go away or the half orc.  I think they'll be in the supplements.  If you look at the new method of prayers, spells and exploits I think you will see a much better, much more focused illusionist emerge.  Likewise for the barbarian and druid which also failed to make the cut. Another improvement of the races is no negatives to abilities.  Each race gets two +2s one for a physical (S,D,C) and one for a mental (I,W,C).

I take your point on multiclassing and flexibility.  Of course at 11th level you can multiclass or pick a paragon path (prestige class).  Here's why I don't mind.  In order to make the class attractive and playable the old system front loaded the classes.  A multiclassed character gained a huge number of abilities and bonus feats at early levels.  The character paid a price in experience and slower level advancement but this was often ignored by DMs. Each class had a knee in the curve where continuing in it may not have been the smart move.

I think the reason they changed this again deals with their new vision of gameplay.  First, I believe they are trying to create a more balanced character at each level.  Wizard 1 vs Ranger 1 is no contest.  Likewise Wizard 20 vs Ranger 20 is no contest except in the other direction.  Now it's much closer.  Because of this level parity it is easier to push the new online game play.  RPGA will only accept characters made with the point systems (no more rolling dies) this means any class and any level characters can be run fairly evenly by a neutral DM in a pick up game.  Magic items shift the balance but magic items now have levels and a DM can easily set limits by level for items.  I think miniature and cards for at home players and the new online play are driving the 4th edition.

More tomorrow...

If you keep this up, Travis, I reckon we'll have to start callin' you the 4efanboy. Not a judgement, mind you, just an observation.

Also, I'm toying with game use for the Bio 2 line. Check mine on this message.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:43, Thu 10 July 2008.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg #23):

Ott sighting!!!  Chris is alive and well.  He was slammed by work and needed to let the game move on without him.   I told him John was on vacation so he had a few days grace period. He will stop by and let us know what's up.

4th Edition:  Yes I am a fan.  I loved 3.5 it was varied but very deadly.  My bubba from C-Springs and I were talking about 3.5. Geoff is a super power gamer.  They would do one-on-one combats and min/max characters.  He said it basically got to the point where he would judge these matches and player A would roll initiative look at the dice and say "I win!" and they weren't just referring to initiative.  Powers and abilities had become tailorable and specialized enough so that gaining the upper hand in turn order was almost a guarantee of victory.  The new feats and racial abilities are much more tame and many have to do with helping allies (another miniature tie in).  I also like the 2 ability points every 4 levels so you can max your primary (who doesn't want a 20) but develop your secondary abilities and flesh out your character.  Likewise as S:R has done there are no more dead levels.  Everyone gets something every level(the same type of thing (feat, ability improvement, utility spell/exploit... sometimes more than one thing) so balance is maintained) .  Nothing worst then being a Paladin and having to wait 4 levels so you can cure disease one more time per day.  Show me a happy 3.5ed Paladin and I'll show you someone who doesn't know how to build a multiclass fighter/ cleric.  Discussion on classes tomorrow.