I will be the first person to admit: as a LARPer... I -hate- halloween.
I know what you're thinking "what? that doesn't make any sense! you LARP! you should love to dress up and get candy!"
and to this I say: Why?
I have spent 2-3 weeks out of the past few months dressing up as anything I needed to. Gypsies, Pirates, Robots, Plants, A Creepy Clown Girl, the list goes on and on. I simply don't need Halloween anymore because I have atleast one Halloween every month. And when Halloween finally -does- roll around...what should I be?
My character for Mystic Realms is a Sea Elf. I dress her vaguely piratical. (not all sea elves dress like a pirate, but where roleplay goes, costume follows) So, do I really just want to be a pirate? Eh, no. I like Sam(my character) she has a rich backstory and a very unique personality. There's something about not wanting to mess with that.
Should I be a gypsy? The concept of Gypsy isn't a fun costume to pull off anymore. It doesn't stand out enough for my attention mongering personality. Besides. I was just a Gypsy at witches ball. It's pretty much whatever. I could slap a witch hat on the gypsy costume and be a witch...but the thing about costuming for a 24 year old is that I have 3 choices for having a great costume: be a recognizable character, be sexy, or be ridiculous...I'm not sure how to go about that.
Being a recognizable character is a slippery slope. Not all recognizable characters are actually recognizable. I had 2 friends wear AWESOME costumes this past weekend. They were so well thought out and well put together...and I had to ask someone else what they were supposed to be...and yet, the more recognizable you get, the blander the costume becomes.
Well, once I figure it out, I guess I will post some pictures.
I have a few ideas, why not vote/leave suggestions in the comments?
My options:
Witch, Black Cat, Queen of Hearts, Medusa(or any matter of Greek/Roman Characters), Gypsy, Pirate, Some sort of fairy like creature...
any other ideas?
Monday, October 15, 2012
Friday, October 12, 2012
D&D: 3.5 vs 4.0
I know, volatile subject for some.
I know there are people who loathe 4.0, and people who would MUCH rather play it than 3.5.
My opinion? I like 4.0. Perhaps because 4.0 is (in my opinion) more streamlined. I absolutely hate having to "check the rulebook" and waiting to figure out how to work a skill or discovering that a relatively simple sounding task is even more complicated than the last simple sounding task that I had to look up was. Bottom line:
3.5 is great for people who love skills. It's wonderful for the type of gamer who likes to manipulate their character to be totally broken, to destroy the crap out of monsters and NPCs and move to the next task, collecting experience along the way. There are tons of abilities, skills, spells and other things that you can make or break a scene with although sometimes it can get a little convoluted.
4.0 is great for the group who loves storytelling. If you've got a great DM(dungeon master) and a creative collective of PCs, you will have a great time. From my experiences, 4.0 is less about beating the shit out of NPCs and more about roleplaying and storytelling. Again, this is all my own experiences.
I used to hate...absolutely loathe...D&D and many forms of tabletop because it always came down to arguments. Whether it was over alignments, skill usage, or rules queries, my gameplay was always stifled by out of game disputes and discrepancies. No matter how many times the ultimate "DM's call" rule was quoted, someone always thought it was unfair, or biased, or uneducated. More often than not in the last case, a player would feel it their divine job to educate this DM on the "right" judgement call. I have yet to have an issue with this particular problem in 4.0. I feel that the game is soo streamlined, that DM's call -has- to be the word and law, because the 4.0 system seems to be written for the storyteller to do just that, tell a story. Rather than getting bogged down by "in this circumstance" or "because this is in effect" the storyteller can go about his or her business, get their players completely wrapped up in the story. This is the optimal Role Playing game, because then no body cares to argue. The story teller focuses on plot and details and setting instead of combat, stats and scenarios. The player focuses more on development, personality and relationship instead of skills, alignment and defeat. This makes for a much more enjoyable session, and also makes it alot easier to bear the re-telling of what happened at your friends last game.
Because I'm always more entertained by "and then we answered the riddles and tricked the troll into attacking his ally" rather than "I rolled a 26 with my bonuses and he only rolled a 10, so ...."
I know there are people who loathe 4.0, and people who would MUCH rather play it than 3.5.
My opinion? I like 4.0. Perhaps because 4.0 is (in my opinion) more streamlined. I absolutely hate having to "check the rulebook" and waiting to figure out how to work a skill or discovering that a relatively simple sounding task is even more complicated than the last simple sounding task that I had to look up was. Bottom line:
3.5 is great for people who love skills. It's wonderful for the type of gamer who likes to manipulate their character to be totally broken, to destroy the crap out of monsters and NPCs and move to the next task, collecting experience along the way. There are tons of abilities, skills, spells and other things that you can make or break a scene with although sometimes it can get a little convoluted.
4.0 is great for the group who loves storytelling. If you've got a great DM(dungeon master) and a creative collective of PCs, you will have a great time. From my experiences, 4.0 is less about beating the shit out of NPCs and more about roleplaying and storytelling. Again, this is all my own experiences.
I used to hate...absolutely loathe...D&D and many forms of tabletop because it always came down to arguments. Whether it was over alignments, skill usage, or rules queries, my gameplay was always stifled by out of game disputes and discrepancies. No matter how many times the ultimate "DM's call" rule was quoted, someone always thought it was unfair, or biased, or uneducated. More often than not in the last case, a player would feel it their divine job to educate this DM on the "right" judgement call. I have yet to have an issue with this particular problem in 4.0. I feel that the game is soo streamlined, that DM's call -has- to be the word and law, because the 4.0 system seems to be written for the storyteller to do just that, tell a story. Rather than getting bogged down by "in this circumstance" or "because this is in effect" the storyteller can go about his or her business, get their players completely wrapped up in the story. This is the optimal Role Playing game, because then no body cares to argue. The story teller focuses on plot and details and setting instead of combat, stats and scenarios. The player focuses more on development, personality and relationship instead of skills, alignment and defeat. This makes for a much more enjoyable session, and also makes it alot easier to bear the re-telling of what happened at your friends last game.
Because I'm always more entertained by "and then we answered the riddles and tricked the troll into attacking his ally" rather than "I rolled a 26 with my bonuses and he only rolled a 10, so ...."
Thursday, October 11, 2012
TABLETOP THURSDAY
Thought I forgot about this, huh?? Nah, just revamping, focusing on other gaming stuff and getting a job...
Anyway...
The Card Game GLOOM
# of players: 2-4 (way better with 4)
price: $24.95
Rating (muggle to 1337)
N00b.
In my opinion, this is a great and fun game to play. It's easy, not too quick, but not too long, and it's fun. The best part about this game is the storytelling behind it. Get creative! It's way more fun that way!
How to Play:
Pick a family! there are four families you can play in this game, and each family has 5 members. You're goal is to make every member of your family die as miserable as possible, and to do your best to make your opponent's family live a wondrous and happy life with little to know obstacles and tons of sunshine and rainbows.
deal your hands. you either get pleasant cards (to place on your opponents family) or unpleasant occurrences (to subject your own family to). Once one player's entire family is dead and gone, add up points. Player with the most points wins. don't forget to subtract points for the finer points of your character's lives!
This is great game to play when you're tired of games. Seriously, it's lighthearted, creative...and actually quite competitive. My friends and I had a great time screwing with each other's families and teaming up on each other.
Anyway...
The Card Game GLOOM
price: $24.95
Rating (muggle to 1337)
N00b.
In my opinion, this is a great and fun game to play. It's easy, not too quick, but not too long, and it's fun. The best part about this game is the storytelling behind it. Get creative! It's way more fun that way!
How to Play:
Pick a family! there are four families you can play in this game, and each family has 5 members. You're goal is to make every member of your family die as miserable as possible, and to do your best to make your opponent's family live a wondrous and happy life with little to know obstacles and tons of sunshine and rainbows.
deal your hands. you either get pleasant cards (to place on your opponents family) or unpleasant occurrences (to subject your own family to). Once one player's entire family is dead and gone, add up points. Player with the most points wins. don't forget to subtract points for the finer points of your character's lives!
This is great game to play when you're tired of games. Seriously, it's lighthearted, creative...and actually quite competitive. My friends and I had a great time screwing with each other's families and teaming up on each other.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)