Tag Archives: MG Experiences Something

A Tale of Two Games: Pathfinder and Marvel Vs. Capcom 3

Posted on by Pyo

Greetings and salutations, and welcome back to this crazy little blog!  In this episode of Milady Geek, I will, once again, be discussing 2 very different things, as that has seemed to work out well for me so far.  Also, I’m beta-ing my new ‘ratings system’ on you, so be prepared for that insanity.

Anywho… Are you ready for this?

First off, how many people here remember DnD 3.5e?  Yeah, I know you do.  You probably had the same griped about it that I did (still do, really):  why do bards still suck?  What the hell is a paladin supposed to do with a mount in a dungeon crawl?  And what the hell is is with the hybrid classes totally sucking?

Well, fellow tabletop fantasy geeks, I bring you tidings of good fortune- and a game that may get you to look away from DnD 4th edition.  And that game is… Pathfinder.

For those of us who DON'T worship DnD 4th Edition.

Now, you may be asking, ‘MG?  What, exactly, is Pathfinder?’  Well, allow me to expound:  Pathfinder is- quite literally- DnD 3.75e.  You see, when Wizards of the Coast was coming up with the new rules for DnD, they decided to scrap the ol’ d20 system we’ve all come to know and despise love.  Well, once man’s trash is another’s treasure, and Paizo picked up the rights to 3.5′s ruleset. Only, they didn’t just leave all of the dumb questions above unanswered (well, except for bards.  They still suck.)  No.  Paizo fixed some of the more glaring errors in 3.5, and slapped a new name on it:  Pathfinder.

Now, what you have to keep in mind:  they did make a couple of changes to the basic ruleset, but nothing a veteran player of DnD won’t easily pick up or a new player won’t easily learn.  Each player class has a special something that makes you want to play them.  Paladins can have either the standard special mount… or can grant their weapons bonuses.  Druids can have an animal companion (which were also buffed to be more useful overall)… or they can have a cleric domain.  Sorcerers have to choose a Bloodline trait, which colors who they are and how the operate (and even gives bonus feats and spells!)  Those are just to name a few, some of the more outstanding changes they chose to make.  Paizo has released, to date, 9 Adventure Paths- fully fleshed out campaigns, each in a series of 7 paperback magazines (including a separate, special Player’s Guide for each!), ready to be picked up and played as is.  And on their site, linked above, they also have beta test books available, where DM’s can download and print out new, test material, run it in their groups, and give feedback on them!  How nifty is that?

Now, I’ve played Pathfinder pretty extensively- we had a really good campaign going on there for a while, and I’m looking at playing an Elemental (Earth) Elven Sorceress in a friend’s new group- when he finally settles down long enough to support a table of players, that is.  And I can say this- I was absolutely delighted by this system, almost as soon as it was put into my hands by Questionable Methods (you see?  I really can blame him, and my husband, for everything.)  When I got his book, I had been playing a Half- Elven Druidess at the time, and I was significantly underwhelmed by my class.  But we switched over to Pathfinder at around 4th level, and the game became so much more dynamic for me.  Finally, my wolf companion, Nymeria (cookie to whomever gets the reference!), was not only useful… but a serious problem for the bad guys!  And, having played a DnD3.5e paladin, I- literally- gasped at the paladin changes.

I highly recommend you go and at least check it out, even if you do play 4th Edition.  You might be surprised at how good it really is.  But bards really do still suck.  They were just bad, no matter what.

And now, let’s talk about a brand new game, just out in the past couple of weeks- that will have you screaming bloody murder at your significant other as you try to beat each other senseless with not one, but 3, heroes.  That’s right, you guessed, it…

OMG Dante and Deadpool?!?!?!

This game is RIDICULOUSLY FUN.  I mean RIDICULOUSLY.   And this is one game I’d advise you get the Brady Games book for… because the moves- my gods, the moves- can be difficult to learn, aside from the standard ‘half or quarter circle + button’ combo Capcom games are famous for.  And there is a wide variety of characters to choose from.  You, of course, have many of the Marvel super heroes and villains: the X-Men, Spidey, Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Captain America, etc.  And Capcom brings its own lineup of bad asses to choose from:  Dante and Trish from DMC, Tron Bonne and Zero from Megaman, Morrigan and Felicia from Darkstalkers, and several Street Fighter characters, amongst others.

Now, what about this game makes its so likable?  Well, unlockable characters, art, and other goodies are awesome.  Pair combos and group mega-blaster ‘mess up your husband’s team’ attacks are supersweet.  Being able to mix it up with crazy party compositions is always entertaining (unless you’re like me and you always manage to pick the absolutely WRONG third person for an otherwise awesome team.)  Being able to switch between characters and have your offscreen characters heal when they aren’t being used is freaking amazing!

And, of course, there is the ‘I get to beat the crap out of things’ aspect.  Because who doesn’t love that?  And being able to haul out some sick- nasty group combos doesn’t hurt.  Watch out, though, because slow characters are SLOOOOOOOW, and fast characters are CRAZYINSANEDODGINGTHOUGHSPACEANDTIME fast.  Oh, and Tron Bonne has flame throwers.  Which I why I rock her so hard (my ‘Dream Team’ is Zero, Tron, and Dante… even my husband will say I’m good with all three of them.  Good enough to even beat him occasionally.  He’s a mutant- he’s instantly good at any video game he picks up, I swear!)  Gimme speed over strength any day.

Bottom line is- MvC3 rocks.  Its an insanely good time with crazy awesome action.  I give this game 3 bags o’ chips and a soda (max rating!) for its sheer entertainment value.

And now, before I go, lets take a look around the blogosphere and see what other people are saying about… geeky things!

Blogosphere

Well, that’s it for now.  Stay tune for some more of my insane ramblings soon!

Cheers!

~MG

 

Minecraft and DMing: A Tale of Two Entirely Different Things

Posted on by Pyo

So, first new post with the new layout.  Everyone digging?  I wanted something with a custom background and a custom header, but I haven;t found anything I’m totally happy with yet, so I’ll stick with the semi- techie look of this and the Gamer Girl image in the corner.  It gets the point across well enough- well, at least until WordPress comes out with a theme that fulfills my wishes.

Anyways, I’m going to be trying something new here to determine if I like it or not.  Instead of doing one long post on one subject, I’m gonna do one medium- to- long sized post about 2 completely unrelated subjects.  Go me!

-runs off to prepare herself for inevitable DOOM-

Anywho, we’ll start off with something near and dear to my heart.  Its a game that allows you to build whatever you want with everything you could possibly imagine… and then have a walking green penis- like creature come and blow it all up.  Yes, that’s right, I’m talking about…

Minecraft (Move over, Bejeweled 2, you’ve just been usurped.)

Sexy!

Now, I didn’t quite understand the draw of this game at first.  8 bit graphics?  First person POV?  And what the hell is that green thing that hisses and looks like a penis and-  *BOOM*

Sonofabitch, did it just BLOW THE FUCK UP?  Holy shit, I must play this game!

Yes, that’s pretty much how it started.  However, you have to understand- not only is this game ridiculously fun, it is ridiculously simple in its execution.  Don’t be thrown by the block graphics, they are that way to decieve you into thinking that this game is for kids.  It is not for kids.  In fact, should you be playing Minecraft, and you have children, I highly suggest you tell them to go outside and play. because you are going to see- or hear, most likely, for it is possessed of a most distinctive hiss- one of THESE:

*hisssssssssssssssss!*

And you are going to curse at the top of your lungs and either:

  1. run away, or
  2. die because it exploded on you.

But seriously, though- this game is marvelously simple to play and absolutely addictive.  You can make anything out of anything- weapons out of wood, armor out of diamonds, you can build your own island chain fortress (like I’m doing- I’ll scan my ‘blueprints’ and post them up at a later date).  You want to make something out of wood?  Go punch a tree.  Want some leather armor (frankly, it’s all you REALLY need), go punch a cow.  Getting low on health?  Go kill a pig and make yourself some cooked porkchops.  The crafting UI is the key.  Here’s how it works. This is your crafting window (without the Craft Table, you’ll only get 4 blocks):

Craft Table crafting window

And, lets say that, like in the image, you want to make a stone pickaxe.  What you do is take 2 Wood Sticks (which is, in turn, made from 2 Wood Planks) and 3 blocks of Cobblestone and stack them as they are in the picture.  And voila!  Stone pickaxe.  The key to the crafting UI is… be creative!  Mix and match materials in different patterns and see what you come up with.  Don’t feel like thinking about it?  Well then go to the Wiki!  Either way you cut it, this game is well worth the $20 it costs, as it is hours of crazy fun.  (Hm, potential idea- rating system?  -ponders-)

But, seriously, though… watch out for the creepers.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

And now, without further adieu, I give you part 2 of today’s post, something that is a bit scary and probably a long time in coming…

MG DM’s a Campaign: Her Insane Plot to Kill the PC’s in Her Dark Heresy Game and Her First Impressions of Being a DM

Did I make that ominous sounding enough?  Well, let me tell you, if you haven’t DM’ed (and by DM I mean been a Dungeon of Game Master… and if you didn’t know what that was, shame on you) before… its daunting.  Especially if your PC’s are run by my group, currently consisting of my husband (seasoned DM and slightly insane) and Questionable Methods (ditto on both counts.)  But, all ow me to tell you about my story- not too much in detail, though… my PC’s are reading this.  At least, they better be.

My game takes place in the grim darkness of the far future, where there is only war.  That’s right, I’m still indulging my absolute obsession for Warhammer 40K, this time in the guise of Fantasy Flight’s Dark Heresy RPG.  In this game, the PC’s are members of an Acolyte cell that work of a member of the feared and ruthless Inquisition, and for my campaign, that Inquisitor is High Witch Hunter A’ura Maestra of the Ordo Hereticus, a branch of the Inquisition dedicated to hunting down and destroying elements of Chaos that corrupt Mankind from within.  Currently, the PC’s (3 of them, 2 being run by QM) are on the planet of Vaxanide, trying to determine why mutants have been disappearing from the lower levels of Vaxanide’s main hive city, Vaxanhive (more will be explained on hives and hive cities in a fture post.)

But thats not what I’m really here to talk about.  Let me tell you a thing or two about running a game:

  1. Have a general idea of how things are supposed to go for a session. Don’t plan everything to specifically, because your PC’s WILL find a way to COMPLETELY DERAIL your plans and run off on their own, weird little tangents.  I say this because not only did I happen, it happened several times.  But, gods above, it was fucking hilarious watching how their minds tried to work out a way to solve the problems I was presenting them with.
  2. NPC’s don’t always need to be totally bad ass. If someone is pointing an automatic shotgun at an NPC’s head… he’s gonna be scared.  Unless, of course, you happen to have laid a hand on that NPC’s daughter…  Oh, and your Inquisitor should ALWAYS be bad ass.
  3. Do not be afraid to crack the whip if PC’s are getting out of line. If they are starting to get too far off track, tell them so, and set them right.  I actually haven’t had to do this yet, but they got close, so it was something I noted.
  4. Use your NPC’s well. In my game, I have NPC Acolytes to help my PC’s fill out their ranks, since I only have 2 players.  I allow them to task the NPC’s with things to get done.  This worked out very well for me, as it allowed the PC’s to play to their strengths, and allowed me, as a DM, to feed them what information the NPC’s could potentially glean from whatever situation they are handed.  They didn’t need to worry about running characters that they didn’t write and didn’t really know much about.
  5. Feel out your PC’s before getting too descriptive. Both of my players love descriptiveness, and its something I excel at, so this isn’t an issue for me.  But not all PC’s will like it.  Frankly, if you want to game with me, you’re getting descriptive, as I love writing about sensory elements- it makes my games feel more like you’re there.

Well, I think I’ve rambled on quite enough.  Let’s take a look around the blogosphere, shall we?

Blogosphere

That’s it folks!  Tune in later this week where I will discuss other geeky things and stuff.  And things.  And all of it will be good.

Cheers!

 

It so got you, I KNEW it would!

~MG