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  1. JConstantine

    Tales from Elsewhere: Clockworld – Talking Weird West Action Horror With Peter Lange

    That aligns with my view: love the vibes of Deadlands, but Savage Worlds utterly fails to live up to its tagline of "Fast. Furious. Fun". I was considering Huckleberry as my replacement for a Weird West game, but I'll be keeping an eye on this.
  2. JConstantine

    Tell Us About Your Pirate Campaign(s)

    Arr! I've not run a pirate campaign yet, but tis on my list of campaign pitches, so I'll be reading this thread to plunder ideas.
  3. JConstantine

    D&D General Who else was resistant to Eberron for awhile before falling for it?

    Eberron or Forgotten Realms? Either way, the answer is yes. Generally speaking, I use the Realms when I want to indulge in the clichés and tropes, and Eberron when I want to subvert them.
  4. JConstantine

    D&D General Who else was resistant to Eberron for awhile before falling for it?

    I kinda have the same gripe from the opposite direction. I adore Eberron, and I hate that things that originated there have been ported into other settings because it makes Eberron less distinct. Which rather goes to show that Keith Baker was ahead of the curve.
  5. JConstantine

    D&D General Who else was resistant to Eberron for awhile before falling for it?

    When I first became aware of Eberron, I wasn't particularly interested because it felt too modern, with the lightning rail and whatnot. I wanted classic fantasy, and was busy devouring Forgotten Realms lore. Over time, my tastes broadened and when I rediscovered Eberron, I fell for it hard. I...
  6. JConstantine

    How Special Are The PCs?

    That's what I'm getting at, though. I specifically don't have a fixed preference for level of "inherent protagonism", as you put it, (like the example you gave with @Micah Sweet) that informs the games I run and play. I get enthused about a premise for a campaign, and that informs what level of...
  7. JConstantine

    How Special Are The PCs?

    Even with this clarification, I'm going to agree with @DrunkonDuty in that, for me, it depends on the game. In a Forgotten Realms game, with the likes of Elminster, Laeral Silverhand, Drizzt and the Companions of the Hall, etc., your standard PCs are arguably less special than their peers...
  8. JConstantine

    TTRPG Genres You Just Can't Get Into -and- Tell Me Why I'm Wrong About X Genre I Don't Like

    In the online RPG discussion space, Mothership is certainly brought up more than Alien, but I think this is less about Alien's audience being collectors, and rather that the Alien IP works against the game as much as for it. From what I've seen, there's a false perception that in Alien, you're...
  9. JConstantine

    Roll for Effect or Intent?

    So, I suspect a potential reason some people seem to be struggling to grasp rolling for effect vs intent, may be due to viewing through the lens of a system designed for effect (i.e. approach, or task resolution). I think a system needs to be designed with intent/goal in mind. I'm reminded of...
  10. JConstantine

    Planescape Exploded city map of Sigil on Inkarnate

    Another vote for ambiguous population sizes. Sigil is the City of Doors; it has multiple people arriving and leaving, both deliberately and accidentally, every day. There's no way an accurate census could be taken no matter how much a given Faction wanted to.
  11. JConstantine

    What makes Arthurian fantasy its own genre, different from more traditional D&D-ish medieval fantasy? What are some Arthurian-style plots?

    Speaking of fae, another thing that differentiates Arthurian Legend from D&D-esque fantasy that's worth highlighting specifically is not simply the scale and prevalence of magic, but where it comes from and who utilises it. Magic is the domain of fae and other other-wordly entities, and pagans...
  12. JConstantine

    What makes Arthurian fantasy its own genre, different from more traditional D&D-ish medieval fantasy? What are some Arthurian-style plots?

    There is somewhat of an ugly undercurrent of "might makes right". With Greek myth, heroes being successful typically meant they had the favour of one or more of the gods, and this attitude seems to have carried over into Christendom: that if one was successful, clearly they had the favour of...
  13. JConstantine

    What makes Arthurian fantasy its own genre, different from more traditional D&D-ish medieval fantasy? What are some Arthurian-style plots?

    And in this manner, he truly is the once and future king. For Arthur to defend Britain against the Saxons, it would have to be c. 490 AD, though it's worth noting that Geoffrey of Monmoth's Historia Regum Brittaniae and Chrétien de Troyes' assorted works were both 12th Century and the...
  14. JConstantine

    What makes Arthurian fantasy its own genre, different from more traditional D&D-ish medieval fantasy? What are some Arthurian-style plots?

    As I understand it, it's generally accepted that Malory was indeed a prisoner as he claimed (though debate as to precisely who), so it's likely he wrote it to while away the time.
  15. JConstantine

    [GMing] Description techniques

    You've kind of touched on what I was going to say. I use different techniques depending on the game I'm running to try to evoke more of what the game is about. I've never run a mecha RPG, but describing the scene/situation via the HUD is precisely what I'd do in that situation. Blades in the...
  16. JConstantine

    What makes Arthurian fantasy its own genre, different from more traditional D&D-ish medieval fantasy? What are some Arthurian-style plots?

    While "Black Knights" are often the villains - or villeins - it should be noted that antagonists in Arthurian Legend aren't always such obvious enemies. The Lady of the Lake exploits Merlin's love/lust for her to have him teach her all he knows, then uses magic to capture and either kill him or...
  17. JConstantine

    What makes Arthurian fantasy its own genre, different from more traditional D&D-ish medieval fantasy? What are some Arthurian-style plots?

    I'd add the 1998 miniseries Merlin, starring Sam Neill. It takes some liberties, like adding Queen Mab as sister of the Lady of the Lake and antagonist, but Miranda Richardson's portrayal of Mab along with Martin Short's Frik are a great portrayal of malevolent fey. To expand this, there's...
  18. JConstantine

    What makes Arthurian fantasy its own genre, different from more traditional D&D-ish medieval fantasy? What are some Arthurian-style plots?

    The author of Romance of the Perilous Land has some supplemental material on their itch.io, including a couple free adventures you might be able to repurpose. If you have time, you could watch episodes of Prince Valiant (YouTube playlist) for inspiration.
  19. JConstantine

    What makes Arthurian fantasy its own genre, different from more traditional D&D-ish medieval fantasy? What are some Arthurian-style plots?

    I was all ready to waffle on about Arthuriana only to see that between @aramis erak, @Tonguez and @Benjamin Olson, what I was going to say has already been said. I suppose there's a few things I can add to tie it into the OP. The Knights of the Round, combined with Charlemagne's Paladins are a...
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