Re: OT: RPGs (was Re: Conlangs in RPGs...)
| From: | Eruanno none <eruanno@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Wednesday, January 17, 2001, 22:35 |
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>On Wed, 17 Jan 2001, Eruanno none wrote:
>
> > > > My langauge I am intending to put into my story and all my RPGs (
>video
> > >and
> > > > paper+pencil ).
> > >
> > >Yeah--Chevraqis is at heart a story-language, which means I don't feel
> > >quite as obliged to do something New and Neat and Experimental with it;
> > >it's meant to be quasi-naturalistic, or at least naturalistic enough
>that
> > >if I can ever finish _Origami Souls_ and sell it to a publisher, a
> > >conlanger or linguist won't automatically go "BLECCH!" at the
> > >foreign-language phrases, names, etc.
> >
> > Hopefully, my language won't suck either... Of course, what are the
>chances
> > of me actually finishing my language, or my book even ^_^
>
>I find it takes ~2 mos. of "full-time" writing (4-6 hours a day) to write
>80,000-100,000 words of a novel first draft. That's assuming that's
>almost *all* you do for those 2 mos. Or maybe I just lack stamina.
><sigh> So many people think writing is an "easy" way to make money, and
>it's actually pretty damn difficult. At one short story sale per year
>for the past four years for ~$400-$500 per story, I'm *way* below the
>poverty level...unless you're Harlan Ellison in sf/f, novels are where
>it's at.
Wow, that much for a short story? Cool ^_^
I make a webpage in a day for that much money tho...
> > > > I really have never been able to play a pencil+paper kind of RPG and
> > >would
> > > > love to learn how.
> > >
> > >Easiest way is to hunt down a local group of roleplayers--er, where are
> > >you, BTW? considering the multiplicity of home-locations I always
>forget
>[snip]
>
> > I live in Atlanta, Georgia. My father thinks that D&D is satanic, of
> > course, I think he is satanic, but, you just can't argue with the person
> > that puts a roof over your head and stuff and a new computer ^_^
>
>My parents think computer games, roleplaying games *and* science
>fiction/fantasy are *all* stupid. But they never prevented me and my
>sister from amassing huge (~800-1000 books) sf/f collections, collecting
>some 20 RPGs and playing a few, and any number of computer
>games--including Wolfenstein 3D, which the mom of a *guy* friend of ours
>forbade him to play because it was "too violent," and Doom. (My sister
>jokes that our parents' attitude toward our computer game tastes is
>something like "Oh well, girls will be girls.")
Lol, Wolfenstein was AWESOME! I miss it alot.
We never got the rest of the games ( when they were on floppies ), cause we
was poor fellas... ( sorry ^_^ )
>Still, to start out you don't actually need to *own* rules books (for
>system-based roleplaying) as long as someone you know has them and is
>willing to teach you, or lend them to you.
He ( the dad ) offered to invite me and my friends ( and my bro ) to his
tight house ( he has a plethora of games/systems, plus DSL ) and play D&D
and/or whatnot...
> > One of my school friends' dad played D&D and might teach me and my
>friends
> > how to play. I hope!
>
>Sounds good to me. :-) Another thing y'all could do is split the $20
>cost of a RPG you want to try (the basic set--most systems have insane
>numbers of supplements) and go at it. Everyone has to start somewhere.
>I would tend to advise that someone who's good at storytelling and
>mediating, as well as recordkeeping, try being gamemaster, though y'all
>can always rotate.
Game master is the same as dungeon master, correct?
I am the most creative of all my friends, sad to say. But I am not the best
storyteller, my friend is... We might let him to be if we ever get someone
else besides that guy to be DM/GM.
>AD&D is a terrible system compared to what's available these days, but
>it's one of the best-known for heroic fantasy. The British system
>Advanced Fighting Fantasy is far less well-known, but it's also far
>easier to learn. Champions is a number-heavy system that's good for
>superhero roleplaying and is flexible if you're willing to crunch
>statistics. For magic/cyberpunk, Shadowrun by FASA is fairly well-known,
>and Earthdawn is sort of the quasi-medievaleque/Cthulhuesque fantasy
>version. GURPS (generic universal role playing system, and yes, it does
>sound like a rude noise...) is flexible and fairly reasonable,
>rules-wise, if you really *need* a generic system; for specific genres or
>settings, more specialized RPGs tend to do better, or else you can buy
>one of the myriad supplements (GURPS Illuminati, GURPS Space, GURPS
>Magic, ad infinitum). Legend of the Five Rings is probably one of the
>best oriental fantasy systems, and due to its wide ccg following also
>decently well-known among the gamer set. Various White Wolf games, like
>Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, etc. are also pretty
>popular if you're into the sort of dark, serious goth mode.
I will probably check out D&D first, maybe purchase the comlete set at the
nearby Babbages, and expirament from there on...
Thanks for the games tho!
> > >If that doesn't work, you can try play-by-email games online;
> > >
http://www.pbem.com updates its listings regularly. Many of them have
> >
> > I have tried e-mail RPGs ( believe it or not, my first was a Poke'mon
>e-mail
> > RPG, but it didn't get all that far... ).
>
><grimace> There's an extremely high drop/burnout rate for PbEMs, because
>they're so difficult to run. I had two failures as a GM early on, one
>partial success (the Black Wall, which ran for nearly a year with nine
>players and 6 sets of moves before I finally burned out), and one ongoing
>hopeful....
> > Maybe us conlangers could get an e-mail RPG goin, or something
>similar...
>
>I co-GM Shazrad: City of Veils
>(
http://www.cityofveils.com/pbem/introduction.phtml) with Alioqui: it's a
>fantasy freeform campaign with overtones of the Arabian Nights. I'm sure
>there are other people on the list running their own campaigns, or maybe
>even willing to start one up. (Shazrad is still looking for one or two
>more active players, but our acceptance rate is something like 5-10%
>because Alioqui and I are on the picky side. Being picky early on saves
>grief later on, as far as GMing a PbEM is concerned....)