Just postin' some ideas. - plus, discussion of whips!

[RangerWickett]

So I'm thinkin' up what to do for various game-related things.

1. I need to work toward a finale in my D&D campaign, where the party will first defeat a powerful lich air mage and his giant living biomanced airship, then climax with a fight against an ally they know is going to betray them. They're going to try to keep the guy from becoming immortal.

2. I want to get started on EN Arsenal - Whips soon. I've got some ideas, but I haven't done much brainstorming yet. Anyone here like whips?

3. I'm working on three different fiction pieces. One's for a friend, and we plan to collaborate to create a comic based off it. One's for a creative writing class, and it's ginormously long, involving a trip to GenCon. The third one is an old story I was revising but never finished, told from the point of view of one of my friends that I haven't seen for years. I've finished the first draft of the first story, I need to write 20 pages on the second story by Sunday, and the third story's just sorta wallowing because I'm too busy.

4. Due to irritating illness and general feeling-crappiness (but not due to being single on Valentine's Day), I emailed almost no one this past weekend, so a lot of ENWorld Player's Journal work awaits me this weekend, perhaps.

5. I'm graduating this May, and after that, I'm not sure where to go. I don't have a job lined up yet, and I'm worried that I'll miss my current group of friends too much. Almost all the members of the Emory University 'Psi Phi' club stick around after graduation, perhaps because the rest of the club members are too cool to say goodbye to. I might like living in Atlanta, and I should talk to some of the big places like Turner and Coke to see if they need a lowly Creative Writing major. Thing is, I really like my current gaming group.

6. Regardless of all these circumstances, I'm going to be ending my current campaign before the end of May. I'm not sure exactly what to do after that, game wise. I'm pretty sure I'll be going home to Texas for the summer, where I'll hang with some of my friends if they haven't yet gotten jobs and moved on. I don't think I'll be able to afford GenCon this year, especially not if I have to go alone. I've got one or two ideas for games, but with no players, that's not too useful.

7. The ideas I have are a) a modern fantasy game, in the style of the Savannah Knights storyhour; b) a standard fantasy game using the Elements of Magic rules, where the group just makes up magic as they go along, there are no preset spells, and almost no one even knows how magic works; or c) the game is set in a virtual reality game, where the players are actual players, who can play different characters as they see fit. If a player can't make it to a session, we just say that his character (also a player in the VR world) had to log off. It'd be like meta-roleplaying.

 

[diaglo]

2. too bad Angelsboi hasn't posted in awhile. he loved whips.


5. Congrats. and good luck finding a job you enjoy. have a coke and a smile....or something like that..<insert brand X here>

6. there are several groups in the Hotlanta area who would probably love to grab you and any of your players.

email me.

or visit this forum: http://www.enworld.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=49


7. see 6. sounds like you need to play OD&D(1974)

 

[LGodamus]

hey if you do live in atlanta someday it might not be too much of a stretch to drive up to NC for the game day....I would like to meet you , and I bet a bunch of the rest of the NC crew would too.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

4. Due to irritating illness and general feeling-crappiness ... a lot of ENWorld Player's Journal work awaits me this weekend.

Hope you feel better. Vitamin C, rest, plenty of water, etc.

5. I'm graduating this May, and after that, I'm not sure where to go.

When I was in a similar point in life, I moved to Washington, DC largely on a whim and I haven't looked back. Things are a little "yuppie" for some people's tastes, rent is high, and its a very transient and cynical population, but there is an overwhelming ammount of things to see and do here. The job market is reasonably stable too. My understanding is that most of the creative writing stuff is further north, but you may want to give the area a look.

My college friendships remain with me to this day and if I hadn't left my old stomping grounds, I would have never met my wife. I was a little lonely for the first six months, but there are just so many intreset groups and organizations here that meeting people is realatively easy.

6. Regardless of all these circumstances, I'm going to be ending my current campaign before the end of May. I'm not sure exactly what to do after that, game wise. I'm pretty sure I'll be going home to Texas for the summer, where I'll hang with some of my friends if they haven't yet gotten jobs and moved on. I don't think I'll be able to afford GenCon this year, especially not if I have to go alone. I've got one or two ideas for games, but with no players, that's not too useful.

7. The ideas I have are a) a modern fantasy game, in the style of the Savannah Knights storyhour; b) a standard fantasy game using the Elements of Magic rules, where the group just makes up magic as they go along, there are no preset spells, and almost no one even knows how magic works; or c) the game is set in a virtual reality game, where the players are actual players, who can play different characters as they see fit. If a player can't make it to a session, we just say that his character (also a player in the VR world) had to log off. It'd be like meta-roleplaying.

I like the VR game idea. See if you can tie the virtual world in with the "real" one. Like, say, a gaming friend of one of the players is murdered and the clues are found in the game world.

 

[RangerWickett]

I will bear that in mind once I get a car. Yeah, it's a bummer, I know.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

2> I like whips in general, and especially the idea of whips as a weapon, but the PH whip is bad and the whip-dagger, while cool, seems extremely unrealistic. I've heard of a whip-type weapon from OA or Rokugan that's supposed to be good. I'd love to brainstorm with you.

 

[barsoomcore]

5. I'm graduating this May, and after that, I'm not sure where to go.

In your position, I went to Japan and taught English there for three and a half years. Awesome. Absolutely awesome. Made some of the best friends in my life there, learned more about myself than maybe I cared to, and never once had to think about money. Without even trying to save money I came home with a tidy chunk of change.

Got tons of writing done, learned that I knew almost nothing about English grammar (and am very glad I acquired the knowledge I was missing), and gained more story ideas than I could ever use up. Plus, Tokyo rocks.

Problem of course is with finding a gaming group. And being ten thousand miles away from home -- that's a problem for some people, I know.

But it was a heck of an experience. I ended up disliking the actual work, but if I didn't have to teach English, I'd move back to Japan in a heartbeat. Love that country.

 

[RangerWickett]

Which is really tempting, in that I've taken 2 and a half years of Japanese, I just watched Lost in Translation last night, and I know I could do well in Japan (except for the paucity of chocolate, but then there's always Pocky [I hope]). I'd personally prefer to stay in the US, because . . . I'm frankly a little scared of being that far from home. I'd like to try to get a job at a large publisher, of pretty much any sort.

But there's always the draw of exotic foreign women. Hmm.

Re: whips, is there any good reason you can't hurt people in armor with whips? I mean, we all know hit point damage isn't necessarily actually injuring someone, just wearing them down. I'd think most people would be okay with a skilled warrior getting in a lucky shot and lashing the face of a warrior in chaimail. I could maybe see the inability to harm someone in full plate, but as long as some skin is exposed, I think a whip could still hurt.

Plus, you could always say that the whip was actually damaging because you wrapped it around the person's arm and yanked, half-popping the limb out of joint. I mean, logically, there's no way shuriken could get through full plate armor, but they don't have a drawback.

As for the Oriental Adventures whip, let's see.

We have the kau-sin-ke, a six-sectioned chain made of iron bars. We have the chijikiri, a spear with a length of chain at one end, but that's not very whip-like. Then there's the kusari-gama, which is again more of a dual-ended chain weapon, this time with a sickle instead of a spear. No good whip replacement.

Kau-sin-ke. Exotic weapon, bludgeoning, 1d8, 20/x2, 4 lb. 15gp. I have no idea why this is an exotic weapon. It's a big whirly club, and has no mechanical benefits over a mace. It should at least have reach. I think in actuality, this is the weapon that was used when modeling Ivy's whip-sword in Soul Calibur.

We could possibly use the nagaika from Masters of the Wild, but that's pretty much just a whip dagger that's 20/x3 instead of 19-20/x2.

 

[RangerWickett]

For whips, how about a few ideas?

Revamping the whip-dagger for 3.5.
Discussing whether whips suck, and, if so, how to unsuck them.
Whip-swords, like Ivy in Soul Calibur or the villain in Brotherhood of the Wolf.
Lassos.


Thing is, I really want some practical experience with using a whip before I finish the book. I'd feel cheap otherwise. Anyone know somewhere I can buy a nice bullwhip? Or a whip-dagger? I have lassoed things before, but that was a while ago. Not too hard, actually, with stationary targets.

 

[RangerWickett]

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~rdante1/record.html

Hollywood has long been a haven for whips in movies, and now it's home to "The World's Fastest Whip."

The Guinness World Record for "World's Fastest Whip" was set by whip expert and coach Robert Dante on Sept. 2 at the Dream Circus in Hollywood. Dante set the record by cracking a whip 203 times in one minute, using a 6-foot bullwhip made by Australian whip maker Mike Murphy.

Whip performer Brian Chic, stage combat coach Mark Shuler, and Dream Circus' Director of Aerial Arts Ray Pierce measured the whip, kept the time, and counted the cracks. The attempt was broadcast live on KTLA Ch. 5's Morning News show with host Gayle Anderson, who took a few whip lessons between segments.

The attempt was timed to coincide with the launch of Dante's weekly bullwhip academy at the Dream Circus in Hollywood.

"If you've admired Indiana Jones, or Zorro, or even Catwoman, this class is your chance to feel the thrill of gracefully and safely cracking a bullwhip," said Dante. "Kids and adults alike can learn to handle a whip with confidence and skill, as an Australian-style sport, a Western art, or a modern circus performing craft."

Dante, founder of the sport whip-cracking club L.A. Whip Enthusiasts, has performed at circuses, on TV, at nightclubs, and onstage.

A member of the Wild West Arts Club, he is a monthly columnist for Wild West Performers Online magazine, and he has been featured in such publications as the L.A. Times, Rex Features Syndicate, and the Toronto Star. Dante has been teaching individuals and groups the ins and outs of whip cracking across North America for years. Dante lives in Hollywood.

-- 30 --

Oddly enough, this dude seems to use whips no longer than 6-feet. Certainly not enough to provide a 15-ft. reach.