Troll Lord Games

We are ready to play today. Are you?
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

Hey! I must have been typing my new message when you wrote that!

Check new message

I will need your help on how it all works in practice, as I have not DMed for ages (except one session of Dead Mule), and never C&C

Also, do you know how to do Fog in OpenRPG? I spent ages last night making the rather huge map, but I would prefer that you guys can only see the room you are in. Maybe you and I can fiddle with it before the session. If not, everyone please use the zoom feature (the magnifying glass under the map) to keep zoomed in on only the room you are in
_________________
"Kids, you tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is: never try"

Homer Simpson

Aramis wrote:
Hey! I must have been typing my new message when you wrote that!

Check new message

I will need your help on how it all works in practice, as I have not DMed for ages (except one session of Dead Mule), and never C&C

Also, do you know how to do Fog in OpenRPG? I spent ages last night making the rather huge map, but I would prefer that you guys can only see the room you are in. Maybe you and I can fiddle with it before the session. If not, everyone please use the zoom feature (the magnifying glass under the map) to keep zoomed in on only the room you are in

I've used the fog of war and it works, but I quit using it because it distracted me too much from running the game. Maybe if you let one of us have DM privledges and the player clears the fog as we go.
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

I'm having such a crappy day at work today. I can't wait to bust some redhatted skulls tonight!

When's go-time again?
_________________
Jason Braun
Art Monkey for Hire
Three-Headed Troll Art Wurks

jaybird216 wrote:
I'm having such a crappy day at work today. I can't wait to bust some redhatted skulls tonight!

When's go-time again?

I am sure they want another crack at that Matomoros' disciple as well!

Game time is back to normal: 6-9 PST, which means 7 pm start in the wilds of Arizona, and a leisurely 9 pm start for the cosmopolitan residents of Montreal

Everyone please take a gander at the game summary in the "Crusades" section. This game (pretty much like all non-D&D style games) relies on the players pushing the story, as you are not in a medieval maze doing the room-monster-treasure routine.

Also, for some bizarre reason, all NPCs will sound as though they have a heavy head cold. Why? Ummm...quality roleplaying!

See you then.
_________________
"Kids, you tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is: never try"

Homer Simpson

I'll be there with bells on. Ok, maybe not bells. Maybe, like, pelts and furs and unexplained rashes.

C&C and a couple glasses of wine. Does it get any better than that?
_________________
Jason Braun
Art Monkey for Hire
Three-Headed Troll Art Wurks

jaybird216 wrote:
I'll be there with bells on. Ok, maybe not bells. Maybe, like, pelts and furs and unexplained rashes.

C&C and a couple glasses of wine. Does it get any better than that?

Hmmm. Not in any truly meaningful way.
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

Bad news guys, I might be a little late to the party, we have some guests coming for supper and I have to give them a ride back to the nearest metro Station afterwards, If one of you guys wants to play Father Pedro/Tony feel free just try not to get me killed before I show up. If all goes well I should be online no later than 10ish. Stupid guests making me be all hospitable and not making them stand in the Ugly Snow/Rain we're having waiting on the cities most unreliable Bus.

Aramis has a copy of my Character (he should, he made it and sent it to me ) for all the numbers and whatnot. Just remember, Ol Tony is proud of his Priest get up and will try his damnedest to not blow his cover.

-Andre
_________________
"A DM is like a duck." -Aramis

"thats the one where you explode. You sure you wanna do that?" -Titania

"It has a Rate of fire bonus of ... Ouch!" - JarredMcgee

Fantastic game, thanks again Kurt! I just loves my fancified jacket.

Andre, I'm glad you could make it just in time for the climax. Don' nobody go 'rrestin' the good Padre if Buffalo Johnson has scratch to say on it!
_________________
Jason Braun
Art Monkey for Hire
Three-Headed Troll Art Wurks

jaybird216 wrote:
Fantastic game, thanks again Kurt! I just loves my fancified jacket.

Andre, I'm glad you could make it just in time for the climax. Don' nobody go 'rrestin' the good Padre if Buffalo Johnson has scratch to say on it!

Thanks jaybird. You guys are a good group, and that makes it fun. You will see in my posted summaries that the recent rash of jacket nabbing has been noted!
I am still trying to get used to DMing again. It is much more multi tasking than I remembered. I don't know how Treebore does such a good job every week.

Where we stopped the game this week was interesting (I usually try to end on something happening, so the players have something to think about)

In this case, _I_ had something to think about. You guys had some good questions. What are the rules re: bounty hunters? I just did a quick google and found some interesting information. There was a supreme court of america case that ruled essentially that bounty hunters in pursuit of an escaped fugitive can do pretty much anything legal in any jurisdiction to apprehend him. It is treated like a sherriff nabbing a fleeing fugitive. But, this case is from 1872 (4 years _after_ our time here) [Taylor v. Taintor 1872]. But it is pretty much settled law that bounty hunters can apprehend escaped prisoners across the United States at this time. Your characters may know this

Tony Martinez is a bit different than the typical bandito with a price on his head, as he is an actual escaped convict. But can they be sure he is Tony Martinez?
It also mentioned that sherriffs sometimes helped the bounty hunters in return for a cut of the bounty to supplement their meager salaries.

There is more than meets the eye in this situation, however, so we shall see how it all plays out next week! In Dead Mule, there is always an angle (or three) that can be played

We had about 6 fist fights this week, but no gun fights. Groin gouge!

Next week, bring your shooting irons.
_________________
"Kids, you tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is: never try"

Homer Simpson

Good thing I got me a brand-new fancified navy-type shootin' iron too!

I did a quick google myself this morning and came up with this interesting link on law & order in Arizona Territory (it didn't become a state until 1912).
http://www.sharlot.org/archives/history ... 9_17.shtml

The excerpt pertaining to the powers of the Sheriff:

>>>>>

The county sheriff, his appointed deputies and other staff, were responsible for maintaining the peace, investigating crimes, apprehending and arresting lawbreakers, performing executions, serving summons and warrants, summoning jurors for both petit and grand juries and serving as the county jailer. The sheriff also served as the tax collector for the county. The district attorney presented cases to grand juries, drew up indictments as required by grand jury action, prosecuted all criminal cases within his assigned judicial district and represented the county or counties within his district in civil actions brought by or against it or them.

The sheriff's responsibilities as the county jailer presented special problems, particularly during the early territorial years. The early jails were either non-existent or very primitive. Thus, breakouts of incarcerated persons serving sentences or awaiting trial or the gallows were common. Protecting prisoners against vigilantes bound and determined to serve the sentence of "Judge Lynch" also presented special problems for county sheriffs, as many of the persons who participated in these extra-legal activities were respected members of the community and voters as well. Over time, the construction of more secure facilities ameliorated some of these conditions. Yavapai County, for instance, was in the forefront in this respect, having constructed a two-story building on Cortez Street in 1867 to accommodate the sheriff's office, the jail and the county courtroom, which also doubled as a community-meeting hall. In 1882, a new courthouse was constructed on its present site on the plaza. This courthouse was razed in 1915 to make room for the courthouse which stands to this day on that site.

The popular characterization of the frontier lawman as the steely-eyed gunslinger that faced down the bad guys on a dusty street at high noon is largely a fiction created by the 20th century media. For the most part, the sheriffs who served the Arizona Territory were ordinary folks who did their best to keep the peace and carry out the other duties of their office without resort to the gun. They did it by the force of the inherent authority of their office, the judicious utilization of citizen posses and the support of the people who voted them into (or out of) office. That is not to say that Arizona did not have some lawmen who were noted gunmen and manhunters. Commodore Perry Owens (Apache County, 1887-1888) and John Slaughter (Cochise County, 1887-1890) were known for their dexterity with weapons but, more importantly, their willingness to use them. But, for every Owens and Slaughter, there were many other sheriffs during the territorial years that quietly went about the business of enforcing the law without resorting to the "law of the gun."

<<<<<
_________________
Jason Braun
Art Monkey for Hire
Three-Headed Troll Art Wurks

I think one of the problems we're having with the maps is the resizing of the counters. Every time someone moves, it displays their counter full-size and then shrinks it back down. Way spammy when there are 6 of us plus the NPC's on a small map. I couldn't even see the map half of the time last night, especially during the fracas with the bounty hunters when we all crammed into the saloon/alley.

If anyone wants to email me their mini, I'd be happy to resize it for you in time for the next game. Alternatively, I can make cowboy-font initials for everyone (like the "B" I switched to for Buffalo), since 15 pixels isn't big enough to actually see your counter pic anyway. We have Annie, Tony, Gabriel, Frank, Buffalo and Duke... no repeated initials.

Another option, Kurt, is to make the map a larger scale (though I'd still be in favor of resized minis with that too). I have Photoshop and all that other fancy graphic software, so I'd be happy to either make the existing map larger or to recreate it for you. Heck, it might be kind of fun to even draw a fancy top-down illustration map for you if you'd be interested in that.

Anyone who wants to take me up on this is welcome to email me at jaybird216 gmail com.
_________________
Jason Braun
Art Monkey for Hire
Three-Headed Troll Art Wurks

jaybird216 wrote:
Good thing I got me a brand-new fancified navy-type shootin' iron too!

I did a quick google myself this morning and came up with this interesting link on law & order in Arizona Territory (it didn't become a state until 1912).
http://www.sharlot.org/archives/history ... 9_17.shtml

The excerpt pertaining to the powers of the Sheriff:

>>>>>

The county sheriff, his appointed deputies and other staff, were responsible for maintaining the peace, investigating crimes, apprehending and arresting lawbreakers, performing executions, serving summons and warrants, summoning jurors for both petit and grand juries and serving as the county jailer. The sheriff also served as the tax collector for the county. The district attorney presented cases to grand juries, drew up indictments as required by grand jury action, prosecuted all criminal cases within his assigned judicial district and represented the county or counties within his district in civil actions brought by or against it or them.

The sheriff's responsibilities as the county jailer presented special problems, particularly during the early territorial years. The early jails were either non-existent or very primitive. Thus, breakouts of incarcerated persons serving sentences or awaiting trial or the gallows were common. Protecting prisoners against vigilantes bound and determined to serve the sentence of "Judge Lynch" also presented special problems for county sheriffs, as many of the persons who participated in these extra-legal activities were respected members of the community and voters as well. Over time, the construction of more secure facilities ameliorated some of these conditions. Yavapai County, for instance, was in the forefront in this respect, having constructed a two-story building on Cortez Street in 1867 to accommodate the sheriff's office, the jail and the county courtroom, which also doubled as a community-meeting hall. In 1882, a new courthouse was constructed on its present site on the plaza. This courthouse was razed in 1915 to make room for the courthouse which stands to this day on that site.

The popular characterization of the frontier lawman as the steely-eyed gunslinger that faced down the bad guys on a dusty street at high noon is largely a fiction created by the 20th century media. For the most part, the sheriffs who served the Arizona Territory were ordinary folks who did their best to keep the peace and carry out the other duties of their office without resort to the gun. They did it by the force of the inherent authority of their office, the judicious utilization of citizen posses and the support of the people who voted them into (or out of) office. That is not to say that Arizona did not have some lawmen who were noted gunmen and manhunters. Commodore Perry Owens (Apache County, 1887-1888) and John Slaughter (Cochise County, 1887-1890) were known for their dexterity with weapons but, more importantly, their willingness to use them. But, for every Owens and Slaughter, there were many other sheriffs during the territorial years that quietly went about the business of enforcing the law without resorting to the "law of the gun."

<<<<<

Thanks for the info. There are a couple of thing right out of my plot-notes that I made up, which is a bit startling.

I am trying to play this sherriff as a world weary type who tries to stay neutral. There are certain in game reasons for some of this, as we shall see (or have already seen, to a limited extent)


_________________
____

Hamlet: there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

jaybird216 wrote:
I think one of the problems we're having with the maps is the resizing of the counters. Every time someone moves, it displays their counter full-size and then shrinks it back down. Way spammy when there are 6 of us plus the NPC's on a small map. I couldn't even see the map half of the time last night, especially during the fracas with the bounty hunters when we all crammed into the saloon/alley.

If anyone wants to email me their mini, I'd be happy to resize it for you in time for the next game. Alternatively, I can make cowboy-font initials for everyone (like the "B" I switched to for Buffalo), since 15 pixels isn't big enough to actually see your counter pic anyway. We have Annie, Tony, Gabriel, Frank, Buffalo and Duke... no repeated initials.

Another option, Kurt, is to make the map a larger scale (though I'd still be in favor of resized minis with that too). I have Photoshop and all that other fancy graphic software, so I'd be happy to either make the existing map larger or to recreate it for you. Heck, it might be kind of fun to even draw a fancy top-down illustration map for you if you'd be interested in that.

Anyone who wants to take me up on this is welcome to email me at jaybird216 gmail com.

That is interesting. I have not had too many problems with the map (except for the notorious F7 fiasco, which seemed to hang the whole process). Or when the grid disappears for no ^&*!#$ reason.
The problem started when I made the map. First attempt I ran out of squares (after I had done about 80% of it of course!). So, 2nd attempt, instead of making the "page" bigger (I did not know how to do that then, I do now) I made more squares on the same size page. D'oh! I thought if we zoomed in, it would be equivalent, but that just makes all the minis a blur

Needless to say, when I made the Tamoachan map, I learned my lesson and made the page bigger...and then still ran out of space after doing 80% of it again. D'ohhhhhhh!

My map does not show their minis being resized every time they move, they only come in big sized when initially loaded for me. I save my minis as thumbnails from the outset, so they are not too big to start.

I also tried to make a map in a dungeon mapping program, but so far, I have not been able to "bring the map over" to openrpg without problems

______________

"To be good is noble. To teach others to be good is yet nobler - and far less trouble."

Mark Twain

Cool stuff. I find it interesting, since I live basically right next to Tombstone, that Tombstone wasn't mentioned considering how many men were hunted down and killed by Earp and his posse, let alone taken into custody, tried, convicted, and executed.

Slaughter is from around this area too. I'll have to look into him more. This area of AZ has a lot of "Wild WEst" history to it, with Benson, Bisbee, Tombstone, and Douglas beling all around me. Plus Cochise's Strong Hold just down the road from me.
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

2 new house rules for your edification:

1) running in crowded towns, streets, buildings etc. is at 2x speed rather than 4x speed. If we make it 4x speed people can run from one end of town to the other in 6 seconds, which seems wrong somehow .

Running in wilderness is normal (altough 4x seems a little high, if jogging is 2x, shouldn't running be 3x? C&C player's handbook says 4x, p. 116)

2) Natural 20s. In my rules, typically there are no natural 20s. Rather, they are handled as we are doing brawling damage in Dead Mule. That is, the amount you exceed that needed to hit can lead to extra damage. This typically means that 15th level characters get "criticals" on 1st level opponents much more often than 1st levellers get it on 15th level opponents. Which makes sense.

The default d20 criticals means everyone has a flat 5% to get one, each round, regardless of relative combat skill, which I never liked

However, I know how everyone likes their crits! So, we will do it like this: every time a natural 20 is rolled, it is treated as the chart bonus that some classes get. The gunslinger gets the +2 on the shooting chart, the drifter and mountain man get it on the brawling/grappling chart. Anyone who rolls a natural 20 gets to move the same +2 that those classes can do for free once per day

The way we did it last night made criticals a bit too good. I had one both against the Duke and Buffalo, in the boxing matches, and it was too devastating to double my damage. Especially because I got to add my humongous STR modifier twice each time there was a critical.

Thoughts?


_________________


All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

Arthur Schopenhauer

sounds good. but what would a ranger/rogue get?

Also, you have yet to post the summary in the Crusades forum. I've been waiting.
Titania

PS guess whos in the middle?

Titania Lefey wrote:
sounds good. but what would a ranger/rogue get?

Also, you have yet to post the summary in the Crusades forum. I've been waiting.
Titania

PS guess whos in the middle?

Nice emoticon. Many guns drawn and someone on fire. That about covers you renegades!
The summary is now posted. I hope I captured the insanity of the session accurately
As to the above rules, these just clarify that a natural 20 is treated like the special ability of the gunslinger or mountain man/drifter to do extra damage. The scout does not get a special damage ability, but I did extend the range of your (and The Duke's) rifle. Won't matter much in town, but in the wilderness it can be very handy when you can shoot them and they cannot shoot you.

Good job, "Groin Gouger"!
_________________
"Kids, you tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is: never try"

Homer Simpson

Your updates just crack me up, Kurt. Great job!

I'm going to point my gal pal at 'em. Maybe seeing the creativity and all-out fun behind my "nice hobby" will sway her to actually attempt to take a crack at throwing the d20's around. Heck, at least she knows the difference between "D&D" and "C&C". It's a start...

Well, a feller can' dream, cain't 'e?
_________________
Jason Braun
Art Monkey for Hire
Three-Headed Troll Art Wurks

jaybird216 wrote:
Your updates just crack me up, Kurt. Great job!

I'm going to point my gal pal at 'em. Maybe seeing the creativity and all-out fun behind my "nice hobby" will sway her to actually attempt to take a crack at throwing the d20's around. Heck, at least she knows the difference between "D&D" and "C&C". It's a start...

Well, a feller can' dream, cain't 'e?

Thanks jaybird.

If my updates can get more people interested in shooting a feller in the street, just to watch him die, well, I know my job is done.
_________________
"Kids, you tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is: never try"

Homer Simpson

Well, she is a native Texan, so half of your work is done by heredity
_________________
Jason Braun
Art Monkey for Hire
Three-Headed Troll Art Wurks

I am having some computer problems so Thursday the 6ths session might run into some problems. This is in addition to the furnace failure, bird flu, and snow storm I have suffered. Hell week continues.

The problem, I now know after having my computer in to be monitored for 48 hrs (it was periodically shutting off for no reason), is a failing hard drive.

So all I have to do is install a new one, put windows etc. on it, transfer all old files from old hard drive to new, and voila.

Pray for me!
So, _when_ (when, not if) that fails, in some as yet unforeseen way, I will have to resort to a few unsavory options.

1) replug in the old hard drive and hope there is still some life in the old girl.

2) use the old computer I have (using right now for this) which is pathetically slow and may not be able to run skype or openrpg, and in addition, does not have the tokens or precious, precious map on it.

(no, I have not made a new map. This is hell week* (*10 days and counting))

So, expect problems. I will try to post if the session needs to be postponed. (also, be aware of the above if I drop off after 40 mins, and you wonder what happened)

If I do use this old one, someone else would probably have to host the skype call.

Courage!

I do want to get in the session, as I hope it will be the action filled climax of the first half of the module. I hope to wrap the whole shooting match up by the 20th (which gives us 3 sessions). That leaves the holiday times open for people

In the new year, if people want to keep the Thursday slot alive, we could start a rotating chair of DMing, where people can run a module for 3-4 weeks, and then get back to playing as someone else DMs

We could also continue to try some non medievalish games, or go back and do some of the old TSR classic modules

What do you think?
_________________
"Kids, you tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is: never try"

Homer Simpson

Good luck with the necromancy! I hope it works out (for your sake and ours).

I'm having a great time doing the Thursday thing (my only other game is Rigon's bi-weekly DL), so I'd definitely be game to either play or run something weekly. I'm really not choosy at all.

EDIT: My best real-life gaming buddy is single again, so I'm trying to convince him to try this online gaming thing in his now-abundant free time. A fresh start would be the perfect time to insert him into the action, if that's cool with everyone else. Ironically, he had suggested OpenRPG several months ago, so that we could play with the old crew back in Milwaukee. I shot down the idea because I didn't believe that it would be any fun not having everyone around the same table, face-to-face.

Now I get to eat my hat! Oh, if only it were a fancy English bowler and not a dead skunk.
_________________
Jason Braun
Art Monkey for Hire
Three-Headed Troll Art Wurks

As far as "rotating" games go, these past few months of C&C have been my first splash back into gaming since the mid-90's, so I may be a little rusty playing/running pretty much anything.

Likewise, I jettisoned my ENTIRE gaming library when I moved to Texas three years ago. I've realized the error of my ways and have been slowly rebuilding it. The playable titles on my shelf are: Twilight:2000 1e & 2e (currently hunting a deal on v2.2); Traveller TNE; Dark Conspiracies; AD&D 1e; BECMI D&D (well, I don't have M or I yet) and C&C.

Josh (my aforementioned buddy) is a big fan of Call of Cthullu and MERP, so I know he has those.

I like pretty much anything, though Military/Espionage is my favorite. I don't find too much interest in Samurai or OA-style games , but I can't say I wouldn't give them a shot.
_________________
Jason Braun
Art Monkey for Hire
Three-Headed Troll Art Wurks

I don't think my wife is going to remain reasonable if I tell her I want to turn Thursday into another permanent game night. I already have, outside our family game sessions, Monday, Wed, and alternating Sundays, let alone this Thursday game, which is supposed to be temporary.

So I cannot obligate to such a thing, but my kids might, maybe, get away with it.
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

OK- i am going to have to try this on my old wonky hard drive

to make our lives easier, it might be best to have one of you with lots of bandwith (not Treebore) host the skype call, and another with bandwith host the open rpg. Grant me GM privileges and I will load the map and tokens. Once the map is loaded, maybe one of you should save the map you can reload it

if the hard drive conks out, i will use the slow computer upstairs

management apolgizes for the inconvenience

If I can get away with it I would love to CK you guys. If you guys like I could run you guys through my homeworld.

I'm willing to wait my turn so definately consider me for any thursday game you end up CKing jaybird!

Titania AKA Annie "groin gouger"

I'm defiantly down for keeping the Thursday slot alive and well. And while I do love the classic sword and sorcery stuff, I have been thinking alot about some non-standard gaming, Although I'm kind of in the same boat as jaybird (just getting back into gaming after a couple of year long dry spell) but Im down to try pretty much anything, and Im sure the DMing bug will bite me soon enough .

I acctualy started running the AD&D 2nd ed campaign Night Below with a couple of my buddies using C&C rules, so im sure ill get back into the swing of things soon enough. This is my first attempt at running C&C as well as my first time running a written adventure, but were a few sessions in and Im getting the hang of things pretty quickly. And my players love the freedom of the C&C ruleset, and I like the fact that the SEIGE rules speed up game play, especially when my PCs want to try to pull off some cinematic moves

So yeah, basically im definitely down to play anything, and im a Definite maybe for eventually running something a little later down the line

Apart from the standard medievalish stuff my favorite settings would probably be Post Apocalyptic and Cyberpunk, or Oriental (I tried to get my buddies who used to play the L5R CCG to play the RPG version but they didn't get into it, so we went back to standard AD&D stuff) but like I said, I'd be willing to play more or less anything

-Andre
_________________
"A DM is like a duck." -Aramis

"thats the one where you explode. You sure you wanna do that?" -Titania

"It has a Rate of fire bonus of ... Ouch!" - JarredMcgee

Great game tonight, Kurt. But you gotta shoot straighter'nat if youse fixin' ta dirtnap ol' Buffalo!

It sounds like we have the beginnings of a grand regular Thursday thing going on here. I'll see Josh tomorrow, and will broach the subject of him joining in on our fun. He doesn't currently have internet access outside of work (THE HORROR!), but he can always drag his laptop over here and log in on my network.
_________________
Jason Braun
Art Monkey for Hire
Three-Headed Troll Art Wurks

Deppity Buffalo, might I add.
_________________
Jason Braun
Art Monkey for Hire
Three-Headed Troll Art Wurks