Pencil and Paper

If people want to run a PNP-style game on-line, there is a Python-based program called OpenRpg that a friend of mine has been using for years to run an on-line campaign. Granted, you have to do everything text-based, but it's got built-in dice rollers so people can't cheat and a basic "miniatures" system. Not quite the same as sitting with your friends in a basement with dice and books, but works a good deal better than play by e-mail.

 

Thanks Kalshane for telling us about the OpenRpg. Its a whole world I personally didn't know about, and goes towards making up for a lack of PNP people in my town.

Is there some way of viewing a game in progress without interrupting it, just to see the way these OpenRpg games play out?

Thanks.

 

Sailor Moon? I need to google that I guess.

 

!!!

YOU DON"T KNOW WHO SAILOR MOON IS?

I don't see why you would know, actually. But it is a japanese cartoon that I fell in love with when I was younger.

 

Dragonball is what I was reading when I was younger. And Akira and Ghost in the Shell were about the only anime which made it to Britain outside of specialist shops which were filled with wierd fanboy types which were very scary to go into for an indy kid.

Looks like a fun anime. Not a patch on Bubblegum Crisis though it would seem :goatee:

Wonder how old Sailor Moon is. Because I've seen Serena being used by RPG wimmin since at least the late 90s.

 

The first one is sailor moon, and the second one is my favorite character from the show sailor venus.

 

Well I watched Sailor Moon when I was in first grade, which was when I was 6 I think, so at least 11 years old, and it was out in japan way before it was on here.

And I used to love dragonball and dragonball z

 

Couldn't you use one of them instead of the furry hybrid for your sig? First you start with pictures of humans with ears and tails, then you move to full furry and then you have to wear a furry suit and pretend to be an animal. This is not good. Save yourself. :yes:

 

Sure, Zeb.

 

If the room hasn't been password protected, you can just pop in, but your name will show up on the list of people present. Whether this counts as an interruption or not, depends on the group, but in my experience, if a room isn't protected it's because the group doesn't mind people observing.

 

since you asked... :eyebrow:


This goes back to the old days...

I fondly recall the Cavalier class. I rolled up one just at the advent of 2nd Edition, who had started off in AD&D as a simple knightly-type fighter, then revamped with the Unearthed Arcana as a Cavalier. I also used an article out of a Dragon magazine to take him down a few notches. Then later, I converted him fully to the 2E Cavalier kit. His name is Alexander Denolas Courtenay II - one of my favorite characters of all time. We had a lot of amazing games in Germany with my cavalier, 'Den', and his wife Celeste d'Abo - half-elven thief/mage/druid (long story).

...

Den is currently sitting in semi-retirement at a mere 10th level. The reason I never took him higher than that was because I DM'd more than I played. Of course I barely got him started in 1988, just before 2E was released. He was also my first Forgotten Realms character, from the Vastian Coast - specifically the city of Procampur. And he was a Cavalier of Helm, who later caught major flack during the Time of Troubles. His father was a great knight of Procampur himself, and was thought lost at sea during a great battle with pirates while Den was still very young.

Den traveled all over the Vastian Coast, from his city of birth to Ravens Bluff to Calaunt and Tantras. He met the person that would later become his wife while on his first journey to a gathering of knights at a locale just outside of Tantras. Celeste d'Abo was the daughter of a retired knight and officer of Ravens Bluff. She was half-elven - her elven mother (a druid) having died when Celeste was very young. She was a Neutrally-aligned character who was full of teen angst (i.e. she was a thief), who eventually gained a healthy respect for wizardry and multi-classed over.

It was during this ceremonial gathering that the Zhentarim took an opportunity to strike against the knights who'd put a stop to so many of their devious plans. [basically, imagine a horde of assassins and wizards descending upon a manor house during a grand ball]

It wasn't pretty.

Anyway, Den and Celeste - both played by me - were some of the handful of survivors. Imagine that! Den was knighted after the Zhentarim attack. And he then offered to ensure the safe return of Celeste and her father to Ravens Bluff on his way back to Procampur. After that, the two of them traveled together on adventures with Den always acting as the overprotective brother to Celeste until they finally became romantically involved (when a younger female player needed a character play during a one session cameo).

Together they have seen the Dalelands, Myth Drannor, and the southern coast of the Moonsea. They have battled Zhentarim, brigands, ogres, trolls, minotaurs, death knights, and a red dragon. Celeste even rode atop the back of the rogue Red Dragon over the Pirate Isles while fighting... well, pirates and their leader - a lich (in the true vein of the Emperor from Star Wars). And who would this Lich's right hand man be but none other than Den's father thought lost at sea. *insert Darth Vader heavy breathing*

*duh-duh-duuuuh* Oh, the drama that ensued.

On his own, Den has also seen the great Kara-Tur when he was whisked away to that mystical place by a DM (my younger brother) for the module Ronin's Challenge. Den placed fourth in the tournament to crown a new emperor, but it was some of the best roleplaying and the luckiest dice rolls of my life. Meanwhile, Celeste was at home in Ravens Bluff dealing with political intrigue shortly after giving birth to their twins (yes, twins - determined by a dice roll, although I chose them to be a boy and a girl).

*second heavy sigh of the day*

A couple of years ago, I was planning to introduce these two characters to the NwN server 'the Vastian Coast' on the first version of the NwN Realms of the Dragon Reach server ring. But then I left there for Sojourney. I even had a female player who had agreed to play Celeste for me to my Den character.

Oh well, maybe another time.

 

more on Den...

...

During one starry night just south of the Moonsea coast, after a battle in a river with some scrag, our party (including Den and Celeste) were camping and drying out their armor by the campfire. The DM - Stan - rolled a random monster encounter while Den was on watch. He rolled on a wilderness table in the DM Guide and ended up with a small herd (flock?) of pegasi. They flew overhead and landed in a nearby field to graze. Out of sheer curiosity and awe, Den snuck over the edge of the meadow where they had landed. He was only interested in watching these magnificent creatures.

But Stan rolled the dice, and a young adult female pegasus wandered over to near Den's hiding spot. She was white as snow, yet her wings turned to a storm-cloud gray. Den was enamored. He had to touch this beautiful beast. He snuck forth, making unbelievable dice rolls, and eventually reached out and ran his hand down the wing of the pegasus. She let out a small whinny of alarm and the entire herd descended upon him with lightning speed!

He was all but ran down by the alpha male. This was one of those pegasi that could speak limited common through a form of telepathy (*smirk* how convenient). To make a long story not so long, Den had apparently 'ruined' the female for the herd by simply touching her. And in order to regain her purity, Den had to prove himself to the herd by riding the alpha male - bareback - and survive... (in his long-johns no less, since his armour was still drying). So with more extremely lucky dice rolls and some very close calls, Den managed to win back the purity of the female pegasus and the respect of the entire herd.

Den was also now the proud companion to his new female pegasus, 'Storm'. *sly grin* Yes, the alpha male deemed that since Den was able to prove himself as a pegasus rider, and since he was able to sneak up on the herd like he did, that the young female pegasus was to stay with him as his companion in the fight against evil. So she became known as Storm, due to the coloration of her wings.

...

 

more from the Forgotten Realms character roster:

...

Monique de' Larouge Tulon was a lithe human female who grew up on a farm east of Eveningstar. One dreadful night when she was young still, trolls invaded several farms and took everything they didn't kill and eat on the spot. The trolls retreated back to their caverns in the nearby hills with captives. Monique was one of those captives. She thought for certain that she and the other children were as good as dead.

But by daybreak, the trolls' caverns were found by a local group of heroes. A long and bloody battle ensued. A couple of the heroes lost their lives, and one - a great swordsman - lost his swordarm. He lost it while fighting a troll that had Monique in it's clutches. Before she lost consciousness, Monique witnessed the troll bite the man's arm off at the elbow, as the man used his free hand to ram a burning torch into an open wound the troll had suffered in the fight.

Monique awoke at the Church of Lathander with a new outlook on life... As she matured, she decided that she too would be a hero of the people. She dedicated her life to the teachings of Tyr, and at the age of 19 traveled to the city of Suzail in order to train as a knight. The church hesitated, but took her in. She had decided early on to train with the longsword as a tribute to her saviour. She did this left-handed out of respect to both him and to the deity Tyr. She would also train in the longspear, as a lance was often too cumbersome for her to wield from horseback. She also chose to wear a piecemeal suit of armour - hide, studded leather, chain, and a breastplate. As most armours would not fit her small frame.

Monique became a Paladin Knight of Tyr by age 23, and returned to Eveningstar as the protector of the Starwater Vale.

My dice rolls weren't quite as good as some. Monique ended up with a 17 CHA, and met the bare minimums for other stats. So I deemed that she had to spend twice as long in training just to be granted the status of Paladinhood. Being from a small town, I also used the Peasant Hero kit (this was before the Paladin's Handbook came out later) so she could follow in her saviour's footsteps. This was perfect for her decision on using the piecemeal armour, longsword, and longspear. She basically looked like a ragtag knight. *grin*

...

Yes, even though I wasn't able to play her above 4th level, I did have much fun playing Monique.

I recall playing one time when the group was to take an ocean voyage (to a coastal island which contained the Secret of Bone Hill). This was an island famous for their breed of horse, where she would eventually find her Paladin Warhorse. So she went there at 2nd level with a well-rounded party and ended up investigating the ruins of an old keep. While there, we encountered some bugbears who made short work of the party. In order for the party to survive, Monique called for a strategic withdrawal (run awaaaaay!!!).

While the party was retreating, Monique took on the last two bugbears and fought them to the 'death'. She took one out and then the other struck a mortal blow to her at the same time she hit it. It crawled away while she lost consciousness and bled out. Luckily the dice were with her that session and she stabilized *whew*. The party thought her dead, and had retreated all the way back to town to tend to their gravely wounded.

She regained consciousness the next day and made her way back to town - just a few miles away. This was her wake up call. This was her 'troll' fight. She became a much more methodical, strategic warrior on that day. She became a true leader on that day.

...

Unfortunately, I never was able to finish the module. Conflicting schedules made it impossible. And shortly after we started it, I ended up moving from Mississippi back to Georgia. So I picked up with another DM, and we skipped playing out her finding her mount - the DM just wasn't up for it (bummer). But we played another scenario later where Monique was asked to travel to another island location. This DM's campaign involved Baldur's Gate and the Sword Coast, so it was kinda strange to jump from Cormyr all the way to the Sword Coast at 2nd/3rd level. *shrug* But if I was going to play Monique...

Funny story - I was also starting up a new character (a secondary PC since our group was pretty small): Phaelin Y'landrothiel, an elven female specialty priestess of Shiallia - from the High Forest. What she was doing on the Sword Coast is beyond me as well. LOL. But she was there.

So Monique has to book passage on a ship in order to investigate strange happenings on a nearby island (deja-vu). She's certainly NOT going to leave her trusty steed in the hands of a common flea-infested stable. So she had to use every ounce of her 17 CHA to convince the captain of the ship to make special consideration for her mount. He reluctantly did so.
Another character - whose name I forget, but a female rogueish fighter PC if I recall correctly - was also hired to join us. But she had to find a stable for her mount. In passing, a female halfling thief named Bondina Trace happened to mention that the captain happily made special arrangements for the paladin's mount. Of course I believe it went something more like...

• Captain and female fighter standing on docks discussing passage; halfling is passing by; fighter mentions that she has to take time to stable her horse; halfling pipes up, "Hey, the captain was really nice and said that the other lady could bring her horse... he'll let you bring yours too!" :biggergri and keeps on walking up the gangplank. Captain turns red with anger; Fighter gets happy; Captain grumbles a LOT and takes her horse too; Captain wishes for an opportune moment to throw halfling overboard.

We all had a great laugh over that one. Then we traveled to a nearby island to check out the Caverns of Quasqueton. *grin* The DM of course turned out to be quite the dull one. But he improved as a player after I offered to start running The Ruins of UnderMountain as soon as it was released.

...

As far as where Monique is these days... she was last seen in Ravenloft denouncing Tyr. She wasn't turning evil - just fed up with trying to be a Paladin in a place where she could not discern 'evil' from 'good'.

To make a long story short (let's only hope, as I start writing)...

Monique and a couple of other PC's ended up being taken by the Mists of Ravenloft. They found themselves in a small town in Barovia (I forget a lot of the setting - never was a HUGE fan of Ravenloft), trying to locate a missing girl for a local baron. They found the girl and rescued her from her captors - a family of cultists according to the Baron. We fought this family of cultists, killing a few in the process. They had a crazy look in their eyes and wouldn't give up their 'daughter' as they called her. So we returned the young woman to the Baron, who referred to her as his child.

Turns out, the Baron was a vampire and was trying to bring the entire family under his control. He was starting with the daughters of course. The DM argued that Monique could not differentiate between the two (good and evil) in Ravenloft. And that I should have roleplayed it better and asked more questions and talked to the family... even though they drew first blood.

:censored:

Monique denounced Tyr on the spot, saying that it was him who led her to this nightmare place... and that was the last time I played her. That particular DM (the 3rd for that PC) didn't care either. Hmph Since that time he's bragged about turning my paladin against her god.

(jerk)

*sigh*

...

 

hey we got ourselves another storyteller.



We might've had Sailormoon here (I did know who she was) but I don't remember seeing it. on the otherhand Pokemon, Card Captor Sakura, Dragonball (the lot) were ones I saw here - I guess thats what you get for being friends with a half japanese girl.

hijacking this thread to the realm of japanese cartoons I saw the most fucked up one the other day...

super robot monkey team hyperforce go!

I think the theme song is the soundtrack to hell.