My hobby summary of 2019. 2020 can't arrive soon enough!
2019 came and went, but it was one of the most intense, hobby-filled years of my life.
First of all - I got married! It was, to this very day, the happiest moment of my life. What can I say? Being married rocks! Here;s to my wife, Lia - I love you baby, more than anything else on this world.
Hobby-wise, 2019 was intense as hell. I've continued to explore Delta Green, the modern, para-military system, centred around the dreaded Lovecraftian Mythos. I can safely say that this is one of my favorite RPGs of all time, and that in 2020 I intend to play it a lot. A few months back I've started to regularly (once a month, usually) enjoy it via Roll20, with a couple of very nice people from Sweden. Johanna, Jim and Martin - here's to you. Fhtagn!
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| Just keep those SAN points high! |
When it comes to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, it definitely regained a place in my heart, as my all-time favorite roleplaying game of all time. A few years back I couldn't look at the rulebook without feeling sick, but then a couple of gents from the States showed up, I've discovered Roll20, and later rekindled the flame with my old squad - and the rest is history! Currently I'm running "The Thousand Thrones" (for the third time) with the USA team, and the original "The Enemy Within" (for the second time) with my first group, with whom I've also finished "Lichemaster" this year! With Cubicle 7's ongoing work on the 4th edition, and tons of new, fan-made content being made almost daily (my updated collection can be found here!), it seems like Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is here to stay, at least at my table, and for a very long time to come. Anyway - Marcin, Krzysiek, Mateusz, Cezary, Andy, Bryan, Jason and Sean - here's to you. Also to Andy Law, who no longer works on the newest iteration of WFRP, which I find incredibly sad. Sigmar Vult!
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| The true Emperor of Mankind! |
The excellent Jackdays from the equally excellent Kalevala Hammer website published my first written work for the game, around April. "Cultrum: Thin Red Line", "Secrets of the Path: Disciples of the Serene King" and "Blood and Silver" have been a joy to write, and the feedback from people who've read these titles was more than positive. I am extremely grateful to Jack for publishing these PDFs on his website, and to Hectorius from the now, sadly gone, Strike-to-Stun forums for proof reading them, and giving me lots of cool ideas, regarding the content. In 2020 I plan to write at least two more sourcebooks - one about the Blood Magic, or Sanguimancy if you will, and another one about a cult, but that's all that I'm willing to divulge right now.
Oh, and there will be a third once, describing one of my favorite parts of the world of Warhammer Fantasy - the dreaded land of Khuresh, ruled by the equally dreadful Blood Nagas!
Oh, and there will be a third once, describing one of my favorite parts of the world of Warhammer Fantasy - the dreaded land of Khuresh, ruled by the equally dreadful Blood Nagas!
Finally there's a sad tale about my complete dissapointment with one of the most legendary RPGs out there - Vampire: The Masquerade. I've ran a custom chronicle at the beginning of this year, and I can safely say that VTM: Revised is the biggest pile of rancid feces that I've ever had the displeasure to GM. It's horrible. It's actually so bad, that I can't even fathom why there are people out there who think that this is a good game. A botched lobotomy is a more preferrable method of spending your time, than even considering playing Vampire: The Masquerade. The game has a broken system, which basically dosen't even require players to roll, since they'll always pass every, single fucking test, and every danger can be defeated with either Domination or Presence. Actually this game should be called Vampire: Domination, given how much of a shitty, Get Out Of Jail Free Card this discipline is. Tension? The sense of threat and challenge? We don't have these in VTM, oh no.
The sad part is, that lore-wise, this game is probably the best one of all the Classic World of Darkness titles, and I'm saying that as a hardcore Hunter: The Reckoning fan. However a well written splat won't be able to defend itself, if its rules are bad, and Vampire's rules are simply unplayable. This is truly one of the worst titles in the history of RPGs, and one of the most overhyped games out there. You couldn't pay me enough to run this fucking thing, even with all the money in the world.
The sad part is, that lore-wise, this game is probably the best one of all the Classic World of Darkness titles, and I'm saying that as a hardcore Hunter: The Reckoning fan. However a well written splat won't be able to defend itself, if its rules are bad, and Vampire's rules are simply unplayable. This is truly one of the worst titles in the history of RPGs, and one of the most overhyped games out there. You couldn't pay me enough to run this fucking thing, even with all the money in the world.
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| Fuck this game with both fists |
The rulebook's nice, though. Kinda like a fancy packaging, hiding a rancid, rotten dog turd. But it looks nice on the shelf, and if I'll ever sell it (and I most certainly will), at least I'll earn a pretty coin for it, since, for some insane, fucking reason, it costs a fortune. I guess there a lot of people who really like the taste of shit, or just have incredibly low standards. Or possibly both.
Finally there have been lots and lots of games of Horus Heresy, with my pals from the official, Polish league. Horus Heresy is my favorite tabletop game from Games Workshop (or Forge World, if you're picky), and I've managed to start a second legion, the White Scars, as well as a knightly household of Cadmus. Engaging, tactically demanding, and with the most balanced ruleset of all the GW's products, this game rocks my world. It also helps that I'm a 30K/40K lore junkie, who finds a lot of joy, just exploring the myriad stories of this grim and dark universe. I will continue to play Horus Heresy for many, many more years, and who knows? Maybe I'll start a third legion, eventually?
Probably not, since my wife would almost certainly kill me.
Raven Guard. It would be the XIXth. Just so you know.
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| "From the darkness we strike: fast and lethal, and by the time our foes can react ... darkness there and nothing more." |
Now that I have that out of the way, I wanted to wish you all a happy 2020, and all the best to you and your kin. May you stay safe, be kind to each other, and generally have a bloody, good time, enjoying all your favorite hobbies in the upcoming year!
Oh, and sadly there have been no interviews this year. I plan to rectify that in 2020, so keep your fingers crossed for those return mails with confirmations!
Until next time!
You missed the link in 'my updated collection can be found here'
ReplyDeleteHave an happy 2020!
Thanks for noticing! I've added the links. Enjoy! ;)
Delete(This is Andreas - the "comment as" feature doesn't seem to work for me.)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your eventful year with so many positives! (Let's just pretend for a moment there's no such thing as a wider world.) I wonder about your V:tM experiences, though. I must confess, I never considered running the vampire aspect of the WoD - I really believe that the bloodsuckers only really work as NPCs, at least when you want to hit the richness and depths of the WOD's themes. But I have a hard time believing that the overall rules are THAT bad.
Is it maybe possible that you have simpy run afoul of a group of minmaxers who had identified a key unbalance of the disipline system and milked it for all it's worth? Such imbalances exist in every complex system, after all (lurking on the Ratter discord makes me wince every time someone brings up such a topic with WFRP 4e rules, for example). But in an overall sound system a GM should be able to address such unbalanced elements with realtive ease by houseruling.
As for passing "every single test" - I really wonder. I don't remember none-discipline stats in Vampire being THAT much higher than in other WOD games. With the GM able to adjust the difficulty of a challenge by a) changing the target number, b) requiring a certain minimum of successes, and c) in some cases, reducing the character's dice pool for a test - how is there a problem?
What kinds of challenges did your PCs encounter? Normal humans should, of course, not pose such challenges unless in large numbers, exceptionally well organized, or cleverly using vampire weaknesses (starting with daylight) - that is the whole point of the game. But there are other vampires, werewolves, imbued hunters etc. And of course there's that humanity thingy often getting in the way of solving problems easily. From my vague recollections of playing Vampire back in the day (only a few times before the much more interesting Werewolf and Mage came around), I never felt anything close to invincible.
Thanks for the kind words, all the best to you as well. As for VTM - I will probably write more on this system in the future. Let's just say that yes, I did had a a bunch of players who were min maxing, but then again - this is a system for min maxers. Disciplines normally don't cost you anything,a nd you can spam them indefinetly. The humanity aspect is not that deep, and if you start with low enough counter, almost all of the tests are more than easy. I did send a lot of threats which forced my players to think beyond their character sheets, but it was like swimming in jelly. That, and they really wanted to be the kings of the night, while I've explicitly informed them before the game that they'll have to earn their place, and not just rely on their vampire rep. I've GM'ed Hunter: The Reckoning for many years, a game that is usually disliked by the CWoD community. It's also a game that, rules-wise, leaves VTM in the dirt.
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