HYPERBOREA » Introduction Thread

under_score · 11/17/2017 5:37 pm

Hello Swordsmen & Sorcerers. Somehow I missed it that this game has its own forums.
I only recently discovered AS&SH with the 2nd edition kickstarter. I got to play in Chainsaw's Lost Treasure of Atlantis game last NTRPG con and have been obsessively reading the pdf since its release. I'm actually starting up my first AS&SH campaign this Monday. We had a session zero to create characters and played a quick skirmish against a few ape-men to introduce the combat a couple weeks ago. Everyone loved the character class choices and the combat flowed easily, so we're excited for the game.

Chainsaw · 11/17/2017 5:55 pm

Zach! Welcome aboard, my friend. Great to have you.

If you have time and interest, feel free to start a thread in the Campaign forum with summaries, notes or anecdotes from your game. People might not always respond, but I think we all enjoy reading them.

mabon5127 · 11/17/2017 6:33 pm

Congrats on the new campaign! Welcome!

under_score · 11/18/2017 10:09 pm

Chainsaw wrote:
Zach! Welcome aboard, my friend. Great to have you.

Funny thing today, I went to a local game store to join a game of DCC and recognized one of the other players. Got to talking and realized he was in your game with me at NTRPG (Will, if you remember). Small world.

Chainsaw · 11/18/2017 11:43 pm

under_score wrote:
Chainsaw wrote:
Zach! Welcome aboard, my friend. Great to have you.
Funny thing today, I went to a local game store to join a game of DCC and recognized one of the other players. Got to talking and realized he was in your game with me at NTRPG (Will, if you remember). Small world.

Damn, how about that! I do remember Will, actually. When I run convention games, I do my best to try to use everyone’s real names whenever possible (especially during initiative). After four or five hours, they sometimes stick in my stubborn brain.

Jimm.Iblis · 12/18/2017 11:02 pm

Whoops, introduced myself on the wrong thread!
A little late to the OSR party (recovering Pathfinderaholic since its inception) but AS&SH is by far my favorite interpretation of the classic rules I grew up with. Throughout my years of running and playing Pathfinder, I've had some good times, but nothing close to matching the fantastic times I had with 1st edition. I am looking forward to getting to know the community here!
I'll add here that I'm looking forward to giving this rule-set a spin if I can convince the players of my current Hyborian Age campaign to move from Dungeon World to AS&SH... (crossing fingers)

Brock Savage · 12/19/2017 1:35 am

Jimm.Iblis wrote:
I'll add here that I'm looking forward to giving this rule-set a spin if I can convince the players of my current Hyborian Age campaign to move from Dungeon World to AS&SH... (crossing fingers)

Dude, you run the Hyborian Age using Dungeon World? That sounds pretty cool. Dungeon World has made me a better DM and I incorporate many of its lessons into whatever game I am running.

Jimm.Iblis · 12/19/2017 3:58 am

Brock Savage wrote:
Dude, you run the Hyborian Age using Dungeon World? That sounds pretty cool. Dungeon World has made me a better DM and I incorporate many of its lessons into whatever game I am running.

I do! And yes, there are a great many lessons I will swipe from it, especially asking lots of questions, using the answers, keeping things moving, keeping the players in the narrative instead of the mechanics, using Dangers and Grim Portents to "plot" without having a plot (as in railroad). It has truly helped wean me off the PF/3.x rut I was in. After running a campaign in PF for a few years, I could see that choice paralysis was crippling the game. Even at 5th level. Dungeon World has shown me, through my players, that you don't need to have a million character options to have awesome adventures. I also needed to relearn how to describe scenes in and out of combat without relying on a battlemat--and I was going freakin' nuts designing battlemats. All that work and the players were more annoyed by it then awed.

That said, I already feel that the arbitrariness of Dungeon World starting to chafe a bit. We quickly had to abandon much of the collaborative world- and adventure-building because, go figure, the players want to explore and be surprised, to feel badass when they wreck your dungeon and feel smart if they figure out what you're up to--you know, play. They want enough control of the narrative to establish their characters in the world, but don't want to tell you what's behind door number 2... most of the time.

We're also getting tripped up by a few of the things DW just doesn't do or explain. Its one thing to say X is true because it makes sense "in the fiction," and to "have a conversation" about how stuff happens or plays out. In reality, I think players need to know there is some structure or else it all seems arbitrary and their agency suffers.

So, yeah, TLDR version. Pathfinder and Dungeon World on opposite sides of the scale, and I think joy is in the center, right about where early D&D lies. There's an inner snarkward middle-schooler in me saying "I knew it all along."

under_score · 12/19/2017 12:09 pm

Jimm.Iblis wrote:
That said, I already feel that the arbitrariness of Dungeon World starting to chafe a bit. We quickly had to abandon much of the collaborative world- and adventure-building because, go figure, the players want to explore and be surprised, to feel badass when they wreck your dungeon and feel smart if they figure out what you're up to--you know, play. They want enough control of the narrative to establish their characters in the world, but don't want to tell you what's behind door number 2... most of the time.

This really sums up well why I've never been able to wrap my head around the PbtA games (and probably a host of other games I haven't tried). I played in one once (the Sprawl, a cyberpunk take on it) and the whole player group actively resisted all collaborative activity. Myself included; I was not a good player that game. But I think this is why. Our whole group went in looking for a challenge to take on and kept being asked to make our own problems. It ended up just pissing everyone off.

That said, I always see people reference DW as being one of the best DMing books outside the 1e DMG, so maybe I need to give it a read sometime and see what all the fuss is about.

Jimm.Iblis · 12/21/2017 4:59 pm

under_score wrote:
I always see people reference DW as being one of the best DMing books outside the 1e DMG, so maybe I need to give it a read sometime and see what all the fuss is about.

Definitely worth porting the DM rules and advice to keep things dynamic and exciting. And the DM should be phishing for background/hook fodder constantly through questions. But I, and the players, prefer me as DM to have control over what's behind the door.

BinaryTortuga · 2/07/2018 3:33 am

Hello, all! Zach Henderson, here, and I started out playing B/X and AD&D in about 1983. I haven't quite been a constant gamer, but RPG's are something that I've always managed to circle around back to at various points in life. Here I am with renewed interest in the hobby... and wow... What good fortune to find a game like AS&SH! I'm only a couple of days into perusing the pdf and I have a hard copy of the core book on the way. Looking forward to learning more and participating in the discussions. Cheers!

Handy Haversack · 2/07/2018 8:30 am

BinaryTortuga wrote:
Hello, all! Zach Henderson, here, and I started out playing B/X and AD&D in about 1983. I haven't quite been a constant gamer, but RPG's are something that I've always managed to circle around back to at various points in life. Here I am with renewed interest in the hobby... and wow... What good fortune to find a game like AS&SH! I'm only a couple of days into perusing the pdf and I have a hard copy of the core book on the way. Looking forward to learning more and participating in the discussions. Cheers!

Welcome to the Hyperborea boards!

Did you know there are only 10 kinds of people in the world? Those who understand binary and those who don't!

Yes, I logged in just to make that joke.

But welcome! It's a friendly and opinion-ful group, so ask anything that might be on your mind.

Ar'Pharazon · 2/07/2018 10:14 am

BinaryTortuga wrote:
Hello, all! Zach Henderson, here, and I started out playing B/X and AD&D in about 1983. I haven't quite been a constant gamer, but RPG's are something that I've always managed to circle around back to at various points in life. Here I am with renewed interest in the hobby... and wow... What good fortune to find a game like AS&SH! I'm only a couple of days into perusing the pdf and I have a hard copy of the core book on the way. Looking forward to learning more and participating in the discussions. Cheers!

Welcome Zach! You're going to enjoy the game. Hopefully, we'll see you at some of the bigger Cons!

Ar'Pharazon · 2/07/2018 10:15 am

Handy Haversack wrote:
Did you know there are only 10 kinds of people in the world? Those who understand binary and those who don't!

Yes, I logged in just to make that joke.

BinaryTortuga · 2/07/2018 11:55 am

Ar'Pharazon wrote:
Welcome Zach! You're going to enjoy the game. Hopefully, we'll see you at some of the bigger Cons!

Thanks for the welcome, guys. Man, I haven't been to a Con in ages. I'm not even sure which qualify as the "bigger Cons" these days. I have seen mention of the North Texas Con a few times, and that's relatively close to my wheelhouse.

Handy Haversack · 2/07/2018 2:49 pm

Ar'Pharazon wrote:
Handy Haversack wrote:
Did you know there are only 10 kinds of people in the world? Those who understand binary and those who don't!

Yes, I logged in just to make that joke.
<Slowly shakes his head>

Ya haird me!

Kradonus · 2/07/2018 11:09 pm

Hi everyone!

Just ordered the book after doing some research and cant wait to get it! Missed the kick starter due to life (small children) but want to get back into role playing. Played 1rs and 2nd ed back in the day. I am in a black hole of gaming it seems so Ill either have to form my own group or find something on line.

Grimmshade · 2/08/2018 12:24 am

Welcome Kradonus!
You're research led you to an awesome game!

Jimm.Iblis · 2/08/2018 1:51 am

Welcome fellow gamer dad! Oh man, you are in for a treat with that book, and the community around this game that is growing by the day.

Ar'Pharazon · 2/08/2018 8:37 am

Kradonus wrote:
Hi everyone!

Just ordered the book after doing some research and cant wait to get it! Missed the kick starter due to life (small children) but want to get back into role playing. Played 1rs and 2nd ed back in the day. I am in a black hole of gaming it seems so Ill either have to form my own group or find something on line.

Hi Kradonus and welcome to the forums! It's a great game, a great setting and I'm sure you'll have loads of fun with it.