Sims: Role Playing Game Comments and Discussion

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THE RULES

In this version, we will use the PDQ Core Rules system, one of the easiest, simplest and most flexible systems for beginners. In fact, we won't even use all of it. We've "modified" and shortened it even more to keep as brief and simple as possible. Most games have voluminous books of rules (or mechanics), so the following, we can confidently state, is the briefest ever in the world of role-playing games, and I sincerely hope that our players will pay adequate time and attention to read and fully understand these rules and thus master this game and guarantee an enjoyable experience playing it.

I'd also like to confirm that we can modify these rules or come up with our own, suggest new techniques or even just roleplay without any rules at all. This last option may not be the best option, because it depends solely and heavily on the players' creativity and imagination, which may not be very reliable or readily helpful all the time. But this at least shows us how flexible this game could be and how vast the range really is from having to follow detailed rules to simply playing out your character with no rules at all.


RULE ZERO
Rule Zero of role-playing is this: Have fun. You don't have to get all the rules right. As long as everyone is enjoying themselves, everything else is secondary.


1. MASTER CHART

As explained earlier, Qualities have Ranks, which indicate increasing proficiency. From lowest to highest, the Ranks are:

Poor [-2];
Average [0];
Good [+2];
Expert [+4]; and
Master [+6].

The numbers in square brackets following the Rank of the Quality show the Rank's "Modifier"—how much is added to or subtracted from a 2d6 dice roll (see below).

Characters have some things going for them (two Qualities at Good [2]), and at least one thing working against them (One Quality Poor [-2]). At everything else, characters are neither noteworthy nor inept—that is, they're Average [0].

Characters also have Strengths and Weaknesses. Although these attributes have no "modifiers" and don't directly influence the outcome of an action, they help develop the character and shed more light on its tendencies and attitude. For your Weaknesses, a word of advice: pick something that will be fun or entertaining (for you the player, not necessarily you the character) to flub at and mess with! Come up with a word or a phrase to sum up the Weakness. Examples here include Glass Jaw, Bad Credit Rating, Slow as Molasses, and Wallflower.

(Note: Never hesitate; if after play begins a particular Quality sees no use and doesn't really add to the characterization of a PC, a player should feel free to change it to something that fits better, but only after talking to the GM first).

2. TASK RESOLUTION
When your character tries to do something, the GM will determine if the situation is simple, complicated, or conflict. Let’s take each in turn.

Simple Situation
In simple situations, the task is clear-cut, there are no outstanding issues interfering with the attempted action, or randomness would slow down the game. In a simple situation, the GM looks at the Master Chart (above), and determines the Difficulty Rank of the task. Then, the GM compares that Difficulty Rank to the character's most appropriate Quality Rank. The higher Rank of the two "wins." If the Difficulty Rank of the task is equal to or higher than the character's relevant Quality Rank, the task becomes a Complicated Situation (see below).

Example 1: Neo wants to climb a wall using his Good [+2] Outdoorsman Quality (he successfully convinces the GM that climbing a cliff face is similar enough to climbing a wall for it to count), he'll automatically succeed in scaling Poor and Average Difficulty walls (because his Rank "Good" is higher).

If Cypher wanted to climb a wall, he has no applicable Quality, and so would have the default Quality Rank of Average [0]. This means he can only automatically succeed in climbing Poor Difficulty walls.

For Neo, Good or higher Difficulty Rank walls are complicated; for Cypher, Average or higher Difficulty Rank walls are complicated.

(NOTE: In addition to the in-line examples here, two detailed examples—with all the bells and whistles—appear at the end of this thread).

Complicated Situation
Dice rolls are made in complicated situations where comparisons of Rank are inconclusive or when randomness is desired. It's also a complicated situation when Quality and Difficulty Ranks are tied, or when Quality Rank is lower than Difficulty Rank. To attempt a complicated situation, the PC rolls two regular six-sided dice (2d6), and adds the Modifier of his Rank. To succeed, the PC must match or roll higher than the Target Number of the task's Difficulty Rank.

Example 2: Neo is trying to climb a Good Difficulty wall using his Good [+2] Outdoorsman Quality. The Target Number of Good Difficulty is 9. Neo must roll 2d6 and add his Modifier +2, trying to match or beat a 9. He rolls a 3 and a 5, giving him 3+5+2 = 10! He succeeds in climbing the wall.

Cypher wants to follow Neo up that Good Difficulty wall: again, he has no applicable Quality, and so must use the default Quality Rank of Average [0]. He must match or beat a 9 when rolling 2d6. He rolls exactly the same thing that Neo did: a 3 and a 5, and since Average Rank Qualities have no Modifier, that's a total of 8. This is below the Target Number of the wall, so Cypher fails.

When a character's Qualities are set against the Qualities of other characters, this isn’t just complicated, it's a Conflict Situation.

Conflict Situation
Conflict situations involve active resistance by another to a character's attempts to perform a task: trying to punch a guy in the face, out-thinking a chess player, running a race, or convincing a cop that you weren't really speeding. Conflict situation include more than just the immediate success or failure of an attempted action; here, conflict includes the back and forth of an active contest, out-maneuvering the competition, and wearing down an opponent's resistance. Examples of conflict situations include combat (physical conflict), seduction, haggling, debating, and so forth. (Note that some groups won't necessarily want to use the conflict situation mechanics to resolve social interactions, and will want to rely on pure roleplaying instead; this is fine—the rules structure is there if a group wishes to use it.)

There are various ways to resolve conflict situations, but here in this version, we'll simply treat them as Complicated Situations. That is, instead of having characters roll using their Qualities against each other to determine success, simply treat their Quality Rank as a Difficulty Rank. Then, the attacker uses the Target Number of that Difficulty Rank to roll against for success; the difference between roll result and Target Number settles the conflict and gives the "Damage" Rank (see below).

Example 3: Draco has gotten to the treasure chamber of a Ninja Hut. His path is blocked by a Henchman Ninja (Average Henchman). Draco attacks the Ninja and rolls his Good [+2] Cutlass Quality against the Ninja's Target Number of 7 (because as a Difficulty, the Average Rank requires the Target Number 7). He rolls a 3 and a 6, plus 2 from Good [+2] Cutlass, giving him a total of 11: Eleven easily beats 7, so Draco slices the Ninja from stem to stern in one blow and continues walking toward his prize.

However, if Draco rolled a 1 and a 2, plus 2 from his Good [+2] Cutlass, that would be 5, less that 7. Draco loses.

(Note: if Draco rolled 7 in total, equal to the Target Number, the characters are then "tied," neither gets hurt, and we roll again).

Example 4 (non-combat example): Sandra (the undercover CIA agent), having now traveled back in time, wants to use her Seduction Quality (Expert [+4]) in her next meeting with Nazi General Ernst Eichmann, the only man who can open the door for her to meet with the Fuehrer—Adolf Hitler in person. Eichmann (the player or the GM) will use his Analytical Thinking Quality (Expert [+4]) in his defense. Is this a relevant Quality? Can this Quality really help in this situation? It is, and it can, so Sandra will have to roll the dice (whether because they both are "Expert"s [complicated situation] or because of the mutual resistance [conflict situation]).

As a Difficulty, "Expert" requires the Target Number 11 to be overcome. Sandra rolls, gets a 2 and a 4, and with her Seduction Rank (Expert [+4]) the total is 10—still less than 11. She loses.

3. ATTACKER - DEFENDER
In Conflicts, the character whose turn it is will be called the attacker; the character who is the target of the attacker's action is called the defender. The attacker explains what his attempted action is, and the defender explains how he'd try to counter that action. In this version, the defender is always a "Difficulty" and therefore requires a Target Number to be overcome; the attacker on the other hand always rolls 2d6 for his relevant Quality and adds the Modifier of the Rank. He wins only if his total is higher than the Target Number of the defender.

If the attacker is successful, "damage" is applied to the defender; if the attacker fails, no damage is done. A tie is just that—nobody wins, nobody loses. . . but they both muss each other up a little.

Example 5: in the example above, Sandra was the attacker, because it was her turn and initiative; General Eichmann therefore was the defender and was dealt with as a Difficulty. In some game systems, both players should roll, but in this simple version we'll always deal with the defender as a Difficulty and always roll against a specific Target Number.


4. UPSHIFTS - DOWNSHIFTS
An Upshift means that for the action in question, the PC rolls as if his Quality were one level higher (essentially giving him a +2 to their roll). Upshifts come from two sources that will be discussed later, namely playing "Full Attack" and "Being Badass."

(Note: if the PC is using a specific Quality during "the action in question" and his rank is already Master—meaning the character can't Upshift the rank anymore, because there is no rank higher than Master—the player then rolls 3d6 instead of the usual 2d6. This is the only case we roll 3d6 in this system).

A downshift is the opposite: it means that, for the action in question, the PC rolls as if his Quality were one level lower (essentially giving him a -2 to their roll). Downshifts also come from two sources: if a combatant decides to play "Full Defense," or if the character generally takes any Failure or Damage Ranks (see below).

(Note: The GM may give a Downshift as a penalty for the character's awkward behavior especially in social interactions).


5. DAMAGE
Damage (be it physical, mental, emotional, or social) is the loss of capability. As a character takes damage, he is less likely to be able to perform at peak efficiency. This is shown by a temporary Downshift applied to the character's listed Quality(s), called either a Failure Rank or a Damage Rank, depending upon the nature of the conflict.

In mental, social, and some physical conflicts, loss of capability is usually temporary, and is represented by Failure Ranks. Examples include a chess match, witty repartee, or running a race.

In many physical conflicts (and even some physical complicated situations), loss of capability is more enduring, and is represented by Damage Ranks. Examples here include combat, running through fire, or falling off of a wall.

Environmental damage
Like that taken from falling, jumping through a fire, drowning, or other complicated situations – works by comparing the Target Number of the task against the total of the character’s failed roll. The difference between roll and Target Number is the Damage Ranks taken.

Example 6: Say that in the example above from Complicated Situations, where Cypher wants to follow Neo up a Good [9] Difficulty wall, Cypher is instead trying to follow Neo down the wall. As he has no applicable Quality, he must use the default Rank of Average [0], and match or beat a 9 when rolling 2d6. He rolls a 3 and a 5, for a total of 8. This is below the Target Number of the wall, so Cypher fails, falls, and takes 1 Damage Rank from the sudden stop.


6. OUT OF THE SCENE
When "any" one of a character's Qualities drops below Poor Rank, the character is out of the Scene—that could mean they've totally messed up their seduction attempt, been knocked unconscious (or killed) in combat, or run out of test-taking time and must put down their pencil. The GM describes how and why the PC is out of the Scene, and lets the player know if/when they can return (see below, Recovering from Damage).

Out for Blood?
For physical conflicts, the default assumption in this system is that characters can only be killed once they are unconscious or otherwise helpless (below Poor Rank/out of the scene). This requires no roll, check, or action, simply a statement on the attacker's next turn that he wishes to kill the victim. (GMs should feel free to change this rule if they desire. Perhaps characters pick whether they are doing "bruising" damage or "killing" damage at the beginning of a conflict situation).


7. RECOVERING FROM DAMAGE
Once a Scene ends, the injured character will begin to recover lost Ranks. How many he gets back depends upon whether he was in momentary danger or is still in continuing danger.

Momentary Danger: If nothing else is going on, and the character is otherwise safe, relaxed, and lacking any time constraints. Examples of momentary danger include playing Go Fish with a six year old, a car chase (though some Environmental Damage could happen), or a seduction attempt. At the end of the Scene, all Failure or Damage Ranks are removed, restoring Qualities to their appropriate levels.

Continuing Danger: Danger is continuing if the overarching situation that the conflict happened in is risky, stressful, or under deadline. An example of continuing danger would be playing poker in a seedy bar with three Mafiosi. Characters will recover 1d6 lost Ranks of Quality at the end of the conflict Scene. The player selects which Qualities' Ranks are restored. However, the character will not recover any more Ranks until the GM tells them to roll again.

Example 7: Soren's been beaten up and stuffed in a garbage can by a zombie. At the end of the conflict, all of his Qualities were Downshifted to Poor, except for Pirate, which he had zeroed (below Poor). Since this happened in a bad part of Zombietown, he's still in continuing danger. He rolls for damage recovery and gets a 3. He puts 1 Rank into bringing Pirate to Poor [-2] (now he's conscious), and uses the remaining 2 to get Toughness back to Good [+2], (from Poor to Average, then from Average to Good), since he figures it'll be the most useful Quality if someone else jumps on him.

Example 8: Back to Draco and the Ninja in the Conflict Situation section. Why could Draco so easily kill the Ninja when he rolled 11? Because the Ninja was a secondary NPC that the GM introduced as an Average Difficulty (Target Number 7). The Ninja therefore, we may imagine, took 4 Damage Ranks (11-7) and was immediately "Out of the Scene." Had the Ninja been another PC, or a major NPC with as many Qualities as the PCs, he'd have probably endured the 4 Damage Ranks, "distributed" them on his different Qualities, then in his turn hit back and perhaps even won.

8. CONFLICT STRATEGIES

Full Attack
An "attacker" strategy: The attacker flips out all over the target, making strong attacks (physical, mental, or social) without much heed to defense. A Full Attack grants an Upshift for the attack (and any subsequent damage the defender may take) and a Downshift on all defensive reactions and other non-conflict-related actions until his next turn.

Example 9: Let's get back to Sandra, the CIA agent. She rolled total 10 (2+4+4) and lost her attempt with General Eichmann. Let's say she instead played Full Attack. Full Attack gave her Upshift and she became a Master [+6] in her Seduction Quality. Eichmann used his Analytical Thinking as his defense Quality (Expert [+4]), and as a Difficulty this required the Target Number of 11.  When Sandra rolled she got 2 and 4, but now with her new Rank (Master [+6]) the total would rather be 12. So she'd won, even give Eichmann "two" Failure Ranks (because Failure/Damage is Upshifted in Full Attack).

The downside of this strategy, however, is that Sandra Downshifted all her other Quality(s). If she got attacked by another character, or by any means involved in any other action during this scene, she'd react with a lower Rank in whatever Quality she may use.

Full Defense
A "defender" strategy: The defender plays Full Defense for safety by not taking any chances, holding back in the conflict. Full Defense grants an Upshift for all defensives reaction and a Downshift on all the character's non-conflict-related actions until their next turn. Unfortunately, Playing Full Defense means that the character's next attack action will suffer from this Downshift.

Example 10: Back to Draco and the Ninja. If the Ninja (Average, Difficulty 7) played Full Defense, He'd be Good (Difficulty 9), and he'd "endure" Draco's attack up to 9. However, in his next attack, the Ninja Downshifted as an "attacker," so he'd be even less than Average; he'd be Poor (Difficulty 5)

Being Badass
If the player describes his character's attempt to perform an action in a graphic, flavorful, and entertaining way, the GM can give them an Upshift. So, rather than "I hit the sailor" (or "I haggle with the merchant"), the player says something like "I grab the sailor's shirt with one hand and pull him closer to punch him in the face with my other fist–arr, matey!" (or says, in character, "May the fleas from a thousand camels infest the beds of your children if you try and rob me in this way!"). If the PC had a Good [+2] Pirate (or Bargaining) Quality, this would change his roll in attempting to hit the sailor (or haggle with the merchant) from 2d6+2 to 2d6+4, as if he were Expert [+4] Rank.


9. USING MULTIPLE QUALITIES
If the GM agrees that more than one Quality can be brought to bear on a task, simply combine the Modifiers for the relevant Qualities. Furthermore, this case includes not just the Qualities of a single character, but also if multiple characters team up to perform a task. If multiple characters are joining forces, only one of them needs to roll.

Example 11: Standing on the roof of Le Cafe, Adi sees some zombies attacking his friend Posay on the ground floor. He decides to join the fray. He can combine his Good [+2] Cutlass and Good [+2] Judo Qualities (as well as his Average [0] Pirate Quality) in his attack on one of the zombies. He'll be rolling 2d6+2+2+0, or 2d6+4, for this maneuver.

Example 12: Lunar (Expert [+4] Marketing Exec) and Kazoo (Good [+2] Rockstar) decide to work together in a pitch meeting to try and convince a Record Company Exec (Expert - Difficulty 11) that Kazoo is worth signing. Lunar will roll 2d6+4+2. She rolls a 3 and a 5, for a total of 14. Lunar and Kazoo successfully convince the NPC that Kazoo's career is promising!


10. USING A QUALITY AGAINST MULTIPLE TARGETS
If it's necessary for a character to take on multiple targets simultaneously in a single action, he can split his attention (and relevant Quality Ranks) between them. Of course, this leads to a commensurate decrease in effective skill. For each additional target selected, apply a Downshift to the Quality Rank.

Example 13: Say that Armine (Expert [+4] Kung Fu) is fighting two Samurais. If she tries to take them both on, she'll only be at an effective Rank of Good [+2] for her attacks on each. If there were 3 Samurais, she'd have an effective Rank of Average [0]; if 4, Poor [-2]. If there were 5 Samurais, she'd automatically fail all five attacks, since his split Rank would bottom out with another Downshift. Better to take them on one or two at a time, Armine.

But wait! Armine has Chef at Good [+2]. Perhaps if the fight took place in a restaurant kitchen, the GM might agree that Armine could add in her "culinary" know-how (grabbing cleavers, throwing pots and pans, creative use of the fryer, etc.) This circumstance would allow Armine to take on 2 Samurais at Expert [+4] (Downshifting only her Good Chef to Average [0]), 3 Samurais at Good [+2] (now Downshifting her Expert rank), 4 Samurais at Average [0], 5 Samurais at Poor [-2], and auto-fail only when facing 6 Samurais in the kitchen at once.

11. CHARACTERS IMPROVEMENT
Characters can upgrade their Qualities as a reward for their successful campaigns, or for special, probably critical missions assigned by the GM to only one or more characters during the game. In the latter case, the GM should announce in advance that the mission in question is an Upgrade Mission. When a character reaches Master Rank in a Quality, this Quality cannot be improved further. The player may then apply the new upgrades to any of the character's other Qualities. However, Masters in at least three Qualities have other options:


12. MASTER +
If a character is Master in at least three Qualities, the player, in the next upgrade, may ask for a Master+. This gives his character two more new Qualities, both ranked Good [2], increasing his abilities and rolling results in any area of his choice. However, if the player didn't take Master+ and waited until his character became Master in six default Qualities, the player may then ask for "Rebirth."


13. REBIRTH
If a character is Master in six Qualities, and has no Master+ Qualities, he or she in the next upgrade may ask to be reborn. Rebirth is just rebirth: starting all over again: A whole new character sheet with a whole new set of Qualities. This time, however, the character will have in addition 4 more Qualities, all Good [+2], one of which could be psychic or extraordinary.


14. BEHIND THE SCENES
During the game, both the GM and players can communicate privately. A GM may even have a "mole" among the players. He could even be a spy undercover, and he may at any moment receive "new orders" from his Command Center and just begin shooting and killing his own team. Actually the GM, privately, would still write to him in-character. For example, if we were playing WWII, the GM would write to this specific player as an officer in the Gestapo would write to an agent under his supervision—although nothing in the events or the plot provided in public ever mentioned or even referred to the Gestapo or the Nazi secret police at all. Not yet at least

For a better scenario, however, clever clues should be given every now and then, as to raise at least the attentive players' suspicion. For example, this character should "seem" to know too much about the Nazis. Or, he never shares in any dialog against Hitler or laugh at any joke about him. And so forth.

_________________________

Finally, there are literally dozens of books and hundreds of tips, blogs and web pages on this game; however, these two short PDF files from Greg Stolze (American novelist and writer and prominent role-playing master) are relatively brief but very interesting and will definitely help you get the feel and take you one more step further. Happy roleplaying!

• How to Play Roleplaying Games - For Players
• How to Run Roleplaying Games - For Gamemasters


_____________________________________
- This post was prepared and written by Royer Blaze and Lotus.

[Guest]

Ohhhh this sounds so terribly exciting!!

(Glad I'm not the GM, it is all a little complicated for my 16th-century-texts-filled brain to handle at the moment! )

I'm very, very very very veryyy excited to see how this develops.



Love,

Selina
suddenly a teenager again

[Guest]

P.S. I want to be a samurai!



P.P.S. I chuckled at this: "May the fleas from a thousand camels infest the beds of your children if you try and rob me in this way!" +10!!

[Night Eyes]

oooo i would love if we could be like Vikings or something

maybe Medieval maidens and knights with castles and magic and dragons!!!


excited much!!!!

[Guest]

I'm currently writing about Renaissance maidens and knights with castles and magic and dragons Night so this idea goes down very well with me, too

[lunareclipse]

My level of gaming is this

[Night Eyes]

lol Lunar i have to admit there were parts when i was thinking the same

but i'm all for winging it!

i think the basics are.... we create a story with our characters... and roll a dice to determine some of our actions based on our characters skills

p.s i was more a sonic girl lol

[Lotus ♥]

Hi everyone. Listen guys, I know how lazy some of you are and I've done my very best, honestly, to make it as short and simple as possible just for this reason. Please look at this photo. These guys are playing a role-playing game. You see this book on the table? This is how big a book of rules for this game should be. So to put this all in only one post like this was itself an achievement in my opinion. If you're too lazy to read and fully understand those rules above, at least those above, cool, but role-playing games are simply not for you.

In fact this game, in a sense, is a "serious" business. You can play like this, with no rules at all. Just roleplay. But to create and actually live in a "movie-like" world is an entirely different experience.

This is another group playing, and as you can see there is a map here of the world they are in, various kinds of dice, cards, sheets, and even small toys and mockups to be located, or moving, on the map, according to the scenario being played.

I'm currently writing about Renaissance maidens and knights with castles and magic and dragons.

The FIRST role-playing game ever, released in the early 1970s, was "Dungeons & Dragons." I guess you'd really love this game if you tried it. But this is a "huge" game, with characters coming from different "Clans" and "Tribes," very dramatic settings, and the potential for epic events. I believe this group is playing Dungeons & Dragons. (Supposedly our character sheets here should be like this; that's why they're divided into two columns).

Anyway, please get ready because you might be the Game Master next time. Think, for example, what kind of castles? How high? How grand and magnificent—or threatening and fearful? Your dragons: How do they look like? How big? How fast? How fiery? Can you "see" these dragons? Can you "hear" their roar? Do they hiss like snakes? Screech like owls? . . . What I personally like most about this game is that it trains and helps us exercise our imagination muscles like no other game does, not the ones I know of at least.

The only problem with this game, in my opinion, is that here we heavily depend on our words. No voice tonality or facial expression or body language. However, this can be easily overcome thanks to Google. Just search for whatever you want to communicate on Google Images. Pictures can truly save you a lot of words; even help you create a fantastic game. I just typed "dungeons" and clicked, soon to find "locations" as suggestive as this or this; "dragons" for moments as dramatic as this, or this. And when I finally found this one I just said "Wow!" How many words would it really take you to communicate "this" to your players? So instead, just show them the picture then go ahead perfecting your plot and playing along with them.  

Actually you can build an entire, unforgettable scene based on this picture alone. For example, you can lead your players to this place and get them stuck here for hours, fighting every kind of guards, or ghosts. Then finally when they discover the only way out, as shown in the picture, out there will be a fearful dragon or an invincible enemy, or perhaps an entire Army of Shadows, and it will be actually approaching them. Now they're not only stuck; they're about to die—for sure die—within a few minutes.

But look closely at the picture. (Now you're going to save them). Look very closely. Why do these "mouths" look like this? Because they're not just mouths; these, indeed, are secret or magical doors that would take your heroes and heroines to a whole new world—and new scene. And this is what only one single picture can give you!

* * *

[lunareclipse]

Hi everyone. Listen guys, I know how lazy some of you are and I've done my very best, honestly, to make it as short and simple as possible just for this reason. Please look at this photo. These guys are playing a role-playing game. You see this book on the table? This is how big a book of rules for this game should be. So to put this all in only one post like this was itself an achievement in my opinion. If you're too lazy to read and fully understand those rules above, at least those above, cool, but role-playing games are simply not for you.

Clearly this was aimed at me, so I guess I should answer. Although I appreciate your hard work of going through all the rules and writing it down, I did read through them and to me as someone who has never gamed, it was just a lot of new stuff at once, so I apologize for not being smart enough. I am sure that all these lovely people on pictures are far less lazy than me, but to my defense I do have a newborn and a 2year old to take care of, I have not quit my job and I do have to do the household chores and feed 3 other mouths every day 3x a day. So since I am too lazy, I guess this game as you say, is not for me and I'll let you enjoy it without moi

[Lotus ♥]

Clearly this was aimed at me

no it wasn't, believe it or not.
and you are smart enough.
and no one said you should take it all in one or two or even three days.
and personally i'm not playing, of course; with or without you.

[Guest]

Without meaning to put words in Lotus' mouth, I have a feeling he thinks we're all lazy as far as reading through the rules properly goes... which is very accurate when it comes to me, I confess that so far I've only skimmed through everything without reading or understanding in depth. (Even though I don't have kids!) Just now my 15th- and 16th-century fairies are enough for my brain to handle.



But as soon as I have this draft finished I will read everything in the same depth and detail as any of my Renaissance texts, and that's a promise.



...which brings me to my second point. Ohhhh dragons.
I have of course heard of Dungeons and Dragons.

Actually, a short tangent before continuing with this point -- the last time I was on a plane (a few days ago) the in-flight magazine had a feature on role-playing and how seriously people take it. Again, my head was filled with other things, so I didn't pay as much attention as I might have, but the article was talking about...some RPG "colony" in...Iceland? Finland?... ..Denmark?    ...*cough* somewhere like that, anyway (sorry! I know they're hardly the same!)... and how they even have workshops, summer camps teaching people how to play properly



oooooh *Selina, who loves dressing up, loves this idea *

Tangent over. But I guess it illustrates that yes, it is as Lotus says... a serious business of fun, and complicated if you do it right, but all the more rewarding for being treated seriously.

...Dungeons and Dragons...

I confess, Lotus, your dragons scared me to death!


^how Selina likes her dragons

The last dragon I saw was one who was actually a man transformed into a dragon, so that he could guard a bridge.
Transformed...by a fay who loved him, the Fay Morgana (though it was a rather one-sided sort of love, sadly, but that's another story)...



...only her spell broke, it went "off", she made a mistake! So shortly afterwards he died.

You can imagine how wretched she felt after that. *whistles innocently*
(Don't worry...later in the story she manages to resurrect him. She is magic, after all.)

And oh, Zor- Lotus , there seems to be so much violence in this game! --- is there any room for damsels in distress? Cos I'm definitely distressed... I don't think princesses are *meant* to participate in any way in this kind of thing, what with spies and aliens (probably) and Nazis (please leave me out of that game   ) and war raiders (tomb raiders?) and general "badassery". Maybe I'll wait for the next game where I'll be (somewhat boringly gracious) GM?  

But, my God, such fun this is...    just daydreaming about all the possibilities is giving me a big, wide, sunny smile.
(dewy-eyed too -- hello Lotus, it's so nice to see you around on here a little I manifested a "roleplay" post from you even before finishing this, look at that! aww why won't you play widd usss *baby cryyy*)

[Guest]

I just had to come back to Posay and the players as soon as possible so my free time lately was fully dedicated to this game, trying to understand it first myself so that I can explain it to others. Although the web is full of materials "on" this game, nowhere could I find exactly what the rules are and how to actually play it. So I had to go to the next level: read "books" and lengthy PDFs to get a handle on it, finally.* I hope you'll kindly excuse my lateness.

Just read this (finally --oops!) on the "The others" thread... oh my, Lotus, we all knew you put in a lot, and I mean a lot, of work into all this, but..... I didn't know it went to *that* extent...

I suppose we shouldn't have expected any less from you. But really, I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we're so grateful for the time and energy put into this game.

[Night Eyes]

i actually read all of the rules....... i understood the majority i think it was the skill points that took me a while to get my head around

and whilst i wouldnt relish being GM i think my imagination can stretch quite well in a fantasy world with Magic and Dragons and Damsels.... Night-Eyes is a character from Robin Hobbs Farseer Trilogy.... its a wolf that befriends and communicates with the main character



i watched the cartoon of Dungeon and Dragons when i was a kid

and well i have a big bookcase full of fantasy novels... so my imagination is like.. bring it on hehe

just no GM duties please! hehe

[Guest]

^ the person above me deserves to be GM in the next game (sorry Night, I know you're a] modest and b] don't want the duties, but your imagination and knowledge stretch to the skies! )



Wolves have no kings.
Nighteyes in Royal Assassin



***
Postscript: Oh brother just reread your post Night and realised why it didn't seem to quite add up before: I thought you said you would relish being GM, and then just said you didn't want the duties... --- well, I still think you'd do well in that role, much better than I would! -- but obviously nobody will push you into GMery if you just want to be a free spirit role player.

[Night Eyes]

i did read that some of these games have 2 GM's i might do it if i had someone to share it with.. as it might take me a while to get my head around these skills and how they work in certain situations, such as climbing the hard wall.. or attacking someone, you know rolling the dice and how it determines the outcome.. thats the bit thats foxing me so far

the rest i can see really is pure imagination and setting the scene etc

but all in all i'm quite excited for it... Luney Moon i do hope you change your mind and join us, i'm sure Lotus meant the term Lazy in general and a few of us have commented in the past we can be lazy with certain things so, i'm sure he meant it in the loosest of terms

one thing i'm aware of is as much as this game will be fun, its probably going to be a slow process.. due to us all being on different time zones, and some of us will be working, or taking care of families and away from the forum doing all the things we do in our lives... so its only natural the game will be a slow, gentle process.. which is a good thing as we can get to grips with its workings easier and it gives us time to fire up the imagination

[Night Eyes]

[Lotus ♥]

I have a feeling he thinks we're all lazy as far as reading through the rules properly goes...

i'm sure Lotus meant the term Lazy in general and a few of us have commented in the past we can be lazy with certain things so, i'm sure he meant it in the loosest of terms

I think, from her earlier post here, she was going to withdraw anyway, or was at least thinking about it. Yes, she thinks she's lazy. Yes, she has two kids and her household is very demanding. Yes, she's apparently under so much stress and she has good reasons to withdraw. But interestingly, or perhaps sadly, instead of withdrawing with a beautiful smile in peace and love, wishing everyone good luck, she chose to connect this withdrawal to my words and make it look like a reaction to what I wrote.

My words, on the other hand, were much simpler than that—and much deeper. No, I didn't mean that anyone here in particular is lazy or "not smart enough." But I do know that lengthy posts, generally speaking, are not very popular—let alone lengthy posts full of instructions and rules. This is the whole "culture," not just here. In the good old days, for example, a housewife would spend hours, perhaps daily, to prepare a good, loving meal for her family. Today, we rather go "Fast Food." We've been put in a "race" and we are just running—thoughtlessly and, dare I say, madly. Fast Food is only one expression of this race, but by now we rather want everything to go as fast as possible, not just food: fast music or shorter songs to listen to, fast shows on our TV, fast action in the movies, fast computers to work on, fast success to achieve, fast money to make, and similarly, short posts on the forum to read, FAST. (We even ended up, inevitably, with our feelings running fast as well, just racing, with no depth or power or endurance. Actually by now we even have "canned" feelings, like canned food; ready to consume right away, or show others on the spot.)  So it's a cultural phenomenon; and the virtue of "reading" is simply dying, the world over.

This all, and more, was what I had in my mind when I innocently wrote "some of you guys are lazy." How this turned out to be private, concerning a specific lady with two kids in Florida, is just beyond me.

* * *

Generally speaking, I think it's too early for anyone to talk about withdrawal. We're all along just "talking" about the game. Please take your time reading and preparing. But let's be mindful not to end up like a bunch of philosophers standing before the sea, looking to the water and just talking about swimming, theorizing and analyzing without ever getting wet. I therefore suggest that you start warming up—in very short, freestyle sessions, with whoever might be online, and with no GM or much attention to the rules. Heck, you didn't even roll the dice once, guys. That your next action would be determined by the rolling of dice, this alone, I personally find amusing. Well, let me start. Let me roll 2d6, so I have from 2 to 12, average 7. Let's say if I got 7 or less, I'd write one more short post to Selina; if more than 7, to Night. Let's see.

[Lotus ♥]

Rolling!

[Guest]

The member 'Lotus ♥' has done the following action : Dice Rolling

'Dice of Fate' :

Result :

[Lotus ♥]

As you can see, once you roll the dice, an automatic post from the GM instantly arrives with the result.

So to Selina (sorry Night ): ... First of all those in your previous post. . .

These are not dragons, ma'am; these are chickens.

Also, short answer to your last PM, the answer is yes; you can do this of course. Besides, members like you shouldn't ask about the rules in Le Café. Members like you "decide" what the rules here are.

_________________________

(This is probably my last post on this game, at least for now. Unfortunately I have a lot of other things to do or read or write about—while I didn't even hear from Posay herself. But as I said elsewhere, it's OK either way. I've personally enjoyed writing those posts and exploring that world, so no commitment or obligation whatsoever here, and the game is on for whoever wants to give it a try).

[Night Eyes]

lol @ chickens!!!!

and dammit the dice were not in my favour!

i'm looking forward to this game, my imagination is running riot!

[Night Eyes]

hows this for a dragon??

[Guest]

As you can see, once you roll the dice, an automatic post from the GM instantly arrives with the result.

So to Selina (sorry Night ): ... First of all those in your previous post. . .

These are not dragons, ma'am; these are chickens.

Sir, I'll have you know chickens are the proud descendants of dinosaurs!



Besides, in its defence, that is a baby dragon!  

Night, your dragon is a beauty.

Oh and @Lotus, the latest dragon I've met on my adventure through Renaissance epic poetry is MASSIVE ("huge past belief")...and has just

spread its jaws
to swallow that surpassing knight

...but the knight knew what he was doing, so the dragon died a death of such graphic violence that there's no way I'm detailing it here.
Poor little (big) thing. I'm vegetarian for a reason!

Also, short answer to your last PM, the answer is yes; you can do this of course. Besides, members like you shouldn't ask about the rules in Le Café. Members like you "decide" what the rules here are.

_________________________

(This is probably my last post on this game, at least for now.)

Ohhh, well, on my manifestation list I have, close to the top, "another post from Lotus on this thread soon, *at least* one for Night since she 'lost out' to me "
________________________________________________________________

I do hope Lunar can join us for the game, even perhaps if she doesn't participate fully? As I (still) haven't read the full instructions in the depth that Night has , I wouldn't know, but we need a bright Moon shining on Night Eyes.

And I totally agree with you, Lotus, about humanity's obsession with Running Around and Saving Time. (Which is of course why we are perhaps kindred spirits as far as Wuthering Heights is concerned... -- if only God could forbid our world from becoming even more one of "Tinder" and "flings" and the desperate rush for quick fixes in every department imaginable --- )

You've reminded me of something Hoff says, about the Bisy Backson (and yes, I am a guilty Backson most of the time):



A way of life that keeps saying,
"Around the next corner, above the next step,"
works against the natural order of things and makes
it so difficult to be happy and good that only a few
get to where they would naturally have been in the
first place - Happy and Good - and the rest give up
and fall by the side of the road, cursing the world,
which is not to blame but which is there to help
show the way.

Those who think that the rewarding things in
life are somewhere beyond the rainbow-----


"Bum their toast a lot," said Pooh.
"I beg your pardon?"
"They burn their toast a lot," said Pooh.

(From Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh)
[I originally excerpted more, but sadly my internet swallowed it, and I'm too tired - and busy - to recast the rest of the message... *again* [it swallowed it twice! and with all this copy pasting I wasn't left with a full saved version...]]

So good night for now, dear friends.

Back soon.

[Lotus ♥]

Thanks, dear princess. Thank you for everything, every picture and every word. Back especially for you, out of my appreciation, but I'm seriously done here, as I said, at least for now. As for Night, I'd have just said I was very glad to finally find out where this very suggestive and beautiful Night Eyes name came from; also why she always talked about, and seemed to be somehow connected to wolves. Such a beautiful creature!

(I'd have also told her that two GMs sounded like a good idea. I believe it's permissible, perhaps even preferable, to have a second GM. The problem here, however, is that the first is missing. lol)

Bonne nuit, princess; sweet dreams and see you soon.

[Night Eyes]

awww thanks for the little note Lotus, i'm glad you like my name... Nighteyes is my most favourite character of any book i've ever read, his friendship and 'wit' bonding with the character Fitz is so beautiful, he was named Nighteyes because he was the last in his litter to open his eyes.

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