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From: lkh <lkh@sdf-eu.org>
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: What have you been playing in APRIL 2024?
Date: Fri, 3 May 2024 05:32:04 -0000 (UTC)
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Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:
> So, it comes to the end of the month. I know, I asked about the whole 
> thing a bit into the last month already, but it's a brand new month, so 
> lets go over the last one...
> What have you been playing in APRIL 2024?

I took part in three games this month. Not to bad I guess, but the month 
was quite busy with work and stuff.

# Burning Wheel

First game I played in was a one on one Burning Wheel game, which I
enjoyed a lot. There's an after action report by GM alex here:
https://campaignwiki.org/wiki/MontagInZ%c3%bcrich/2024-04-04_Starhome
It's amazing how much can happen in a two hour game when you're the 
only player.


# Labyrinth Lord 

Next up was your game :D

> This month was the first LABYRINTH LORD game in a while, played with the 
> MapTool VTT, which actually was pretty nice. We were going through 
> Skerples' Tomb of the Serpent Kings (only the first two parts so far), 
> and then half the group died to some snakemen skeletons.

Well ... I'll freely admit, that I played that coward of character and 
his hireling who were to live, because they (I) chickend out ...

> For what it's worth I actually liked the experience with the MapTool, 
> but it feels like it's idea for such a short enclosed area. I don't 
> really see it being that useful in more open spaces.

Yes, I enjoyed that technical / visual part too, and I think MapTool 
is underestimated when compared to roll20 or foundry. 

As for the open spaces, I've used Roll20 quite extensively for overland
travel and classical player mapped dungeon crawls. The trick is, to 
keep in mind, that you don't *have* to use fancy maps, lighting and 
field of vision tricks and all the bells and whistles.

In wildernes / hexcrawl mode, you'll use the map for basic reference,
and just a single counter to indicate "you are here". In dungeon crawl
mode I used to put the players on a simple map with squares and let 
them draw themselves as we went along, just as you would with pen and
paper. For combat you have all the choices: perpare an area in advance
with a fancy map and all, or just put up a basic black on white map,
quickly sketch in some interesting obstacles.

I've also used the VTT for some wargame like scenarios with a scale
of 10 yards to an inch, both for Traveller and OD&D.

VTTs seem to suggest, that you'll use them to map and display every
nook and cranny of a dungeon. This might work nicely for a small
linear dungeon designed for editions 3.5 upwards, where the meat and
potatoes are in complex preplanned encounters. But when you look 
at a classical mega dungeon, the whole idea becomes silly. So just
relax and play like you would at the table, and use the VTT to show
handouts, and pop up a blank map with counters to show marching
order and maybe some rough sketches (it helps it the mapper uses
a graphics tablet).


# OD&D

Next and last game for me was our f2f OD&D campaign, which felt 
like one of the grandest rpg experiences I've ever had. I'll write 
about it elsewhere ... but just for some basic facts:

We started out with three magic users levels 3, 5 and 6, one level 2
halfling fighter/thief, and one level 2 cleric. The players took a 
solid 1.5 hours for perparations, planning and book keeping ... 
no kidding ... but then they delivered: 

Summoning illusions of old red dragons, throwing
fire balls, lightning bolts and commanding guerilla style units of
about 80 heads, they broke up the seige of a nearby castle, defeated
the besiegers, and freed the inhabitants from their foul 
cultist lords, banishing a demon along the way. Too bad the
halfling succumbed to his greed for magical swords and failed his
resurrection save ...

They went home with almost 20.000 XP honestly earned, plenty of loot
and ... apparently ... their own castle. 

Which left me, as a referee, somewhat puzzled but super happy :D


So looking forward to May. There's another Burning Wheel scheduled, 
more Lab Lord goodness coming up and also some UVG ... good times!

Cheers, 

lkh

PS: never got into Shadowrun ...

-- 
Laurens Kils-Hütten * lkh@sdf-eu.org * @lkh@social.sdfeu.org