#nethack RPGs
Posted: 2010.12.14 (05:13)
In the past two weeks or so, I've started running Labyrinth Lord on IRC, channel is #nethack. LL, for those of you not in the know, is free for the no-art version. It is, for all intents and purposes, B/X D&D (aka Basic aka Red Box aka the one from 1980 edited by Moldvay) while technically not actually being D&D due to copyright reasons. It is an incredibly different game from other versions of D&D. If you're used to 3.5 or 4e, this is nothing like them. For one, the book is actually written in a way that you can just read straight through it and learn everything. For another, it's a hell of a lot lighter, has a stronger focus on exploration, and will fucking kill you. I'm not exaggerating. Most classes get d6 hit dice. Most weapons do d6 or d8 damage. I'm sure you can figure out what the average mortality rate is for LL characters. On the plus side, it takes about 5 minutes to make a character, so you can get back in the game pretty fast. I'm a fairly inexperienced DM, so I'm trying my best not to kill any characters if I can help it. (If they die, they can always come back in Risus, where nobody dies unless it would be totally awesome.) It also has a bunch of other fun quirks to it, like races-as-classes, ambiguous alignment, and sided initiative.
I'm more than willing to talk about this with anyone. I can tell you about my experiences playing it (there was this time I knocked out the party Magic-User while trying to see if the magic rings we had actually worked, there was this time I ran over an exploded, burning bridge, and there was this time I stabbed a guy with two short swords at the same time) and make a character with you. I'm really a softie. 4d6d1 in order, first hit die is maximized. That should get you a character that doesn't suck and won't be gibbed by a stiff breeze. No promises if you run into a pack of goblins. If you want to get serious, I have a TeamSpeak server we can use and can host a MapTool server for us to roll dice in, doodle on, and chat in.
I play Labyrinth Lord with an online group on Sundays at 6:30 PM. We're more or less full right now, but I'll keep you updated on the cool stuff we get into. If you'd like to attempt to have some sort of input on it, you can read and comment on this blog. Mess with my DM's head!
What I'd really like to play is Risus. It's the only RPG where not only is combat hairdressing a valid strategy, it can be incredibly lethal if done correctly. It's light, it's silly, it works perfectly over IRC.
And of course, I'm what I refer to as an "RPG whore": I'll pretty much play anything with anyone at any time I'm not busy.
Games I'm currently running:
- (LL) Dreok the Fighter and Rachael the Magic-User investing rumors of skeletons in caves near a village (with Bio and Calvin (DoctorAperture))
- (LL) Jones the Thief trying to find himself a new longbow and getting more than he bargained for (with Calvin (DoctorAperture))
- (Risus) In a parallel dimension, Salgo can't remember the last few days and someone keeps trying to kill Rachael (with Bio and Calvin (DoctorAperture))
I'm more than willing to talk about this with anyone. I can tell you about my experiences playing it (there was this time I knocked out the party Magic-User while trying to see if the magic rings we had actually worked, there was this time I ran over an exploded, burning bridge, and there was this time I stabbed a guy with two short swords at the same time) and make a character with you. I'm really a softie. 4d6d1 in order, first hit die is maximized. That should get you a character that doesn't suck and won't be gibbed by a stiff breeze. No promises if you run into a pack of goblins. If you want to get serious, I have a TeamSpeak server we can use and can host a MapTool server for us to roll dice in, doodle on, and chat in.
I play Labyrinth Lord with an online group on Sundays at 6:30 PM. We're more or less full right now, but I'll keep you updated on the cool stuff we get into. If you'd like to attempt to have some sort of input on it, you can read and comment on this blog. Mess with my DM's head!
What I'd really like to play is Risus. It's the only RPG where not only is combat hairdressing a valid strategy, it can be incredibly lethal if done correctly. It's light, it's silly, it works perfectly over IRC.
And of course, I'm what I refer to as an "RPG whore": I'll pretty much play anything with anyone at any time I'm not busy.
Games I'm currently running:
- (LL) Dreok the Fighter and Rachael the Magic-User investing rumors of skeletons in caves near a village (with Bio and Calvin (DoctorAperture))
- (LL) Jones the Thief trying to find himself a new longbow and getting more than he bargained for (with Calvin (DoctorAperture))
- (Risus) In a parallel dimension, Salgo can't remember the last few days and someone keeps trying to kill Rachael (with Bio and Calvin (DoctorAperture))