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Exalted is good but not something I want to GM, (and I'm always GM)
I enjoy high fantasy. Magic spells, knights, chivalry, stuff of that sort, but I've played the classic archetypal games so many times I'm sick of D&D, pathfinder, etc.
I also enjoy steampunk but only a light dash of it. Less airships and steam computers, but more trains, cars and guns. If that makes sense.
I want to do the dresden files but don't have a group yet. I have a few people in mind though...

Ah, I'm probably a poor guy to ask then. High fantasy is my least favourite genre.

So, for the game I mentioned in the "Describe your last tabletop session" thread, we're using a heavily house-ruled version of the Alternity system. The system is meant for a futuristic setting (it's basically a Starcraft RPG system), but we're adapting it for a D&D-esque medieval setting. To aid in the adaptation, we're grabbing spells and abilities from Pathfinder and D&D, as otherwise we'd be far more limited in what characters we could create.

Now, the role of mage in our party has fallen to me, because most of the rest of the party have physical combat roles, whereas I've minmaxed to be able to bluff the universe itself (mainly for entertainment, and to aid the relatively inexperienced GM in directing the party, as she refuses to railroad even when she should and lets the party split up far too much). My character is a not-to-intelligent snake oil salesman/con-man, who will be able to do some magic through a combination of the aforementioned insane bluff score, and a powerful magical artifact that is always trying to punish him.

With that exposition out of the way, I've never played a magic-user role in Pathfinder, or any other system, really. So what spells would fit with that character of a shady con-man? Mainly along the lines of persuasion, changing alignment, confusion, anything that would effect a character's mind. I can probably adapt spells/skills from any system if I have a reference to go from.

Glibness comes to mind immediately. Suggestion, charm, and (maybe) dominate spells are also all easy choices.

JackSlack wrote:Ah, I'm probably a poor guy to ask then. High fantasy is my least favourite genre.

gotcha. though castle Faulkenstein sounds good.

You could play up the fantasy elements, easily enough. Have the PCs be a circle of mages from one of the secret societies, like the Bavarian Illuminati.

So imrealize this is in direct contradiction to the "high fantasy" comment, however
What im actually tired of in RPG's is the way campaigns tend to go is either "we just met each other, ADVENTURE TIME!" or "there's an omnipotent job agency and they are gonna give you a ring from time to time. Have fun"
The only problem is that its tough to get a group with a little more focus.

Dresden Files is DEFINITELY a good choice then, the game was designed to avoid that problem.

JackSlack wrote:Dresden Files is DEFINITELY a good choice then, the game was designed to avoid that problem.

I knew i needed to pick that game up. Its been calling to me from the LGS shelf for the last three weeks.

I'll add this DriveThruRPG link for the Dresden Files bundle here:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/8 ... sden+files

So the first session of Dresden Files the players and the DM actually build the world, and then the characters the PCs will be playing together.

Since the game is modern day supernatural, they suggest players decide on a city (usually the one where everyone is from) and doing some research on myths and supposed supernatural bits of lore in the city to build from. Buffalo, NY, where I grew up for example, could include Father Baker's Orphanage (http://www.wgrz.com/news/daybreak/artic ... -Orphanage), any lore involving the Erie Canal, and the Holiday Inn Ghost (http://voices.yahoo.com/the-holiday-inn ... 51903.html), just to name a few.

Everyone in the first session comes to the table and creates a few organizations or locations that are paranaturally active. The Fort Erie Strip Clubs are actually run by a coven of White Court vampires, for example. Father Baker died, his orphanage abandoned, but he persists as a ghost helping lost souls in death like he helped lost children in life, and the Holiday Inn Ghost is his assistant. Since in the Dresden Universe water cancels magical energy, and Buffalo was a boom town in the later 1800s due to Erie Canal, the Canal was actually dug by wizards of the time to lie over a lay lie of extremely negative energy, and as the canal has lessened that negative energy is starting to escape. Or take this idea and something powerful lurks behind Niagara Falls, imprisoned behind hte mighty waters.

Now that everyone is on the same page as to what is going on, you make your characters that fit in to this world, character that can have relationships to each other, so that at the end of the first session you've not played the game, but there is a natural framework for the world, how your stories interact and what the threats the GM can use to engage the PCs are.

That sound badass.

Do you guys think I should make a thread for people looking for games? Like you list your location to play rpgs and such.

Maybe.

Also, playing online is almost painless these days. Especially if you're a Google Plus user.

Yeah yeah, <insert no one uses G+ joke here>.

Seriously though, G+ allows for tons of ways to play RPGs online. I can demostrate if needed.

Yeah, I'll throw in my support for using Google+ as well. It's the only way I've ever even played a tabletop RPG.

-PA fist bump-

G+ Hangouts are awesome for RPGs, even without any plugins.

Yaxley wrote:Yeah, I'll throw in my support for using Google+ as well. It's the only way I've ever even played a tabletop RPG.

Indeed.

Cheers to that!

I know I'm a week late, but wanted to throw some additional weight behind the Dresden Files system. I think my best tabletop experience to date was playing with that system, especially with the world we were able to build with it.

The whole building the world you're going to play in aspect of DF is such a brilliant aspect of the game, especially when you choose an area with diverse history, but also interesting urban mythology. Our game was set in London, since that was where we were all studying/living, and we came up with some really interesting and fun power groups to centre our game around. I can't remember all of the things we came up with, but the ones which stick in my head are the Genius Loci, powerful supernatural entities who draw their power from specific locations in London (similar to the characters in Neverwhere), the Institute of Civil Engineers, who were actually an ancient cabal of thaumaturgists who were using their influence in city planning to enhance the natural leylines and gain great power, and the London Transport Police, whose real purpose was the protect the citizens of London from the nasties that lurk in the dark. You know how they hold trains at the stations sometimes, it wasn't to balance out the trains, but to give them time to clear some gremlins off the line.

Between those groups we had ways of getting nudged towards doing certain things, as well as having people we could turn to when we needed to draw on things beyond our capability, and gave more greater purpose to the 'quests' our party embarked on, giving better flow to the sessions.

Overall, a brilliant system, and one that I'd love to be able to delve into again.

I found an awesome walking dead RPG group! I just need to find a time slot...

i need a game group, sadly.

i have d&d from 2nd to next, gurps, rifts, shadorun, maid, vampire, risen, chaos earth, mechwarrior, starwars, alternity. you name it i can play it.

Have you tried gathering a group to play online?

Tzimisce wrote:i need a game group, sadly.

i have d&d from 2nd to next, gurps, rifts, shadorun, maid, vampire, risen, chaos earth, mechwarrior, starwars, alternity. you name it i can play it.

If you want to try Arcanis, we do an online game a couple times a month on Google Hangouts/Roll20

I'm playing a Warforged in our Eberron game. It's technically neutral, but really, I'm not sure it shouldn't be evil instead. It's a horrifying character no matter what.

Is it wrong that I want it illustrated by Monica Ray of Strip Search fame? It would be the cutest automated beast of pure destruction ever!

Oh man you guys.
Go check out DROPZONE COMMANDER. it is so freaking sweet!