Birthright and other games.

[The Swordgaunt]

The reason for why we all read and post in this forum is rather obvious: we enjoy the Birthright setting. This also means that we play roleplaying games. As a matter of curiosity, I would very much like to hear what other games you play.

I'm a sucker for the statesman-adventurer theme of the BRCS, and the mythical, low-magic aspects are part of the selling point. The mix of intrigue, personal heroism, lingering fear of things dark and evil, and the elements of straregy are what appeals to me. I tend to go for some or all of these elements in my other games as well.

I would have to divide my list in two, one for the games I GM, and one for those I play.

As a Game Master:
I really like historical settings, sometimes with a touch of magic or the occult, thus White Wolf's Storytelling system will rank highest on the list.

Continuing on the same line, Mage: the Ascencion (especially Technocracy), and Vampire: the Dark Ages tends to return again and again.

What's cooler than starships and lightsabres? Star Wars is a long time favourite, and even if the canon opens up a lot of storylines, the expanded universe is the real carrot. You can play almost any scenario and genre in a single campaign.

Sometimes you just need machineguns and high-speed pursuits. Although the setting is more than a little dated, with a little bit of work, Cyberpunk can really spice up the day! Of course, the Storyteling system can give you this, but imo it's a weak combat system.

Call of Cthulhu would be the favourite for horror and the macabre. I've recently started a Carnivale-inspired game running on the d20 sytem... So far, it looks like it'll work fine.

There are a few older games I must mention, even if I haven't played them in a long while. The Vietnam War game 'Nam and the expansion RECON has served for a briliant ear and a half of good gaming. Another golden oldie is Twilight 2000, it's dated but nukes of fun. I'll add a final game, The Aliens roleplaying game, and even if I haven't managed to get more than a few scenarios out of it, these were worth remembering.

As a player:
Vampire; the Victorian Age would be my current favourite. A friend of mine runs a game, and she's a brilliant Storyteller.

Star Wars is probably the game I've played the most, and it's bombad fun!

I'm mostly GM'ing, and it's been a while, but Ars Magica really let you play the powerful magician.

[celtibear]

Other games I currently enjoy: three different home-brew setting 3rd/3.5 edition D&D games, BESM, and Mutants and Masterminds. RPGs of the past include D&D, AD&D, 2nd ed AD&D, Top Secret, Villains and Vigilantes, Champions, Mage, Werewolf, Changeling, Rolemaster, MERP, and GURPS. I also seek out Four Colors al Fresco at GenCon every year.

Boardgame- and Card Game-wise, Munchkin, Candamir, Settlers of Catan, Starfarers of Catan, Carcassone, Puerto Rico, Cranium, Trivial Pursuit, Mah Jongg, Canasta, and various styles of solitaire are my faves.

I also play City of Heroes/City of Villains, and Guild Wars online, and have played in the past World of Warcraft, Everquest and EQII, and Dark Age of Camelot.

[Arjan]

currently only playing World of warcraft since my friends which i played DnD with are so as well. so we still have our 2-3 times a week come togethers.. only the game changed :P

[ploesch]

I'm an old school player.

So, Champions, D6 Star Wars, the D20 version just doesn't do it for me. Call of Cthulu is allot of fun, but no one else is willing to GM, Cyberpunk is also a great game. I also love Rifts.

Those are all the games I've played in the last couple years, but if you name a game there is a decent chance I've played it at least once.

[Lord Rahvin]

I`m very interested in ways people have found of manipulating conventional
roleplaying traditions, so the indie RPG market really appeals to me. And
just about anything from Mongoose Publishing - even if it doesn`t "work"
very well, sometimes the experiments are good for their own sake.

My current fascinations are with Green Ronin`s Mutants & Masterminds, Lumpy
Games` Dogs in the Vineyard, and Luke Crane`s Burning Wheel.

I`m facinated with the video games Alpha Centauri, Master of Orion III, and
X-com Apocalypse because of their "domain level" components.

[dalor]

One of the settings I don`t care a great deal for is
the Kingdom`s of Kalamar...decent setting; I just
never latched onto it...BUT

The Atlas that was published for it was FANTASTIC.

If someone could put a book out like that for
Birthright I would simply probably NEVER play another
campaign world again...for a while...at least a
year...maybe less... =)

Anthony Edwards





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[Jarod_Lindfaller]

Mostly we play our 'homebrew' Birthright game, it's been running for over 2 years now too. On the side I run an Eberron game and we occasionally side-track into 'Strike Force Zero', 'Wasteworld' and some assortment of White-Wolf games.

Mostly Birthright though, we're even going to set up a secondary campaign with non-blooded in the same world as our scions.

[Green Knight]

Can't say that I actually find time to play it very much, but GDW's 2300AD is a long-time favourite of mine. Fairly hard-science sci-fi setting. A more modern sci-fi setting which I enjoy is Transhuman Space. Transhuman is GURPS-based whild 2300 AD has its own system; I like neither system very well, byt the settings are great.

For fantasy I enjoy the odd game of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. The new edition is aqutally quite good; keeping the good features of the old system and fixing what was badly broken.

Fun to play a non-D20 games.

[graham anderson]

I would say the big three I play, run and or love are fading suns, birthright (Heavily modified), mage the ascension and Artesia.

Honourable mentions should be given to Burning empires, metabarons, game of thrones, deryni, fvilminata and probably a hundred other things I dont remember just now.

[Vicente]

On my group we play Birthright (renamed to Statecraft, and very modified),
Alternity and DnD 3e (Forgotten Realms).

All three of them have great memories and moments in their respective
campaigns :)

Regards!

Vicente

[Danip]

Outside of conventions our group mainly plays 3.5e D&D. We have a long running BR game, a 3.5e game in a homebrew world, and I DM short Eberron one-shots when the whole crew cant make it to play one of our regular campaigns.

In the past ive played; Shadowrun, Cyberspace, Dogs in the Vineyard, Paranoia, StarWars D6, Traveller, etc.

[Lee]

Other games I play? Where to start? In RPGs, I`ve picked up the
Serenity RPG, and plan to run that in the next calendar year. I play `normal` D&D,
as I seem to be the only one who runs BR, as well as Living Death. In the
past, I`ve run and enjoyed Twilight:2000 a lot; and I belong to a group that
dabbles in GURPS.
I consider myself more of a board-wargamer than an RPG`er. World War II
holds my interest the most, a series I can`t get tired of is Europa, a
monster-sized operational level game; and its Glory and Great War cousins. Star
Fleet Battles and its brothers, Federation Commander and Federation & Empire are
also my constant companions. I have a lot more wargames in boxes and bags
around, but those have been my consistent favorites.

Lee.

[Rowan]

There's a Serenity RPG? I've just recently become addicted to that series! Refreshingly original (I presume we're talking about Firefly and the Serenity movie).

Has anyone else played Eden Studios games Witchcraft or Armageddon? I prefer those settings to White Wolf's World of Darkness. They're even more clever at working in actual mythologies, and they're not so overwhelmingly oppressive and focused on evil. Inquisition can be fun.

As a side note, Eden Studios kinda ripped off a lot of Birthright ideas to put into their Fields of Blood d20 domain game and warfare book. They did have some interesting new ideas, though, including military unit maneuvers and governing styles.

Also, Fantasy Flight Games has several settings that I haven't yet played, but look awesome: Midnight, Fireborn, Grimm, and Spellslinger.

[Doyle]

There's a Serenity RPG? I've just recently become addicted to that series! Refreshingly original (I presume we're talking about Firefly and the Serenity movie)...<snip>...
Yep and Yep.
I've had a quick look through the rulebook and it does seem to capture the feel of the series. However, it does also have the feel of being pushed through the editing process to soon (check out the back cover to see what I mean), I've not had the chance to play it yet. I guess it may have been rushed given that the series was axed after only one season. For those not familiar with the series, its a western Blake's 7 stretching an MA rating - great characterisation, great background plot, great stories... but unfortunately not to the tastes of those who do the funding :(

Just while I have the floor (and before I digress further off topic), Other games I play... almost any system put in front of me if its at a convention - and I do try to dabble in as much new stuff as I can. For wargames I prefer the simpler stuff - Dawn patrol and Mordheim, for RPG it will often depend on the crowd I'm gaming with - Vampire and Hunter I like and for D&D 2ed over 3.0 and 3.5. At the moment due to my irritation with the 'broken' bits of the systems I play (that usually need at least several house rules to either clarify of fix any base rule set), I have started to write up my own for the next campaign I run. Odds of finishing it - fairly low.

[Lee]

In a message dated 12/8/06 1:02:20 AM Eastern Standard Time,
brnetboard@BIRTHRIGHT.NET writes:

<< There`s a Serenity RPG? I`ve just recently become addicted to that
series! Refreshingly original (I presume we`re talking about Firefly and the
Serenity movie). >>

Right. Margaret Weis Productions. So far, it`s only the rulebook, GM
screen, and one module (riddled with typos, but a fantastic town setting). The
game seems neat (haven`t run it yet). There probably won`t be any more
product, due to licensing issues, but check out the website/forum "Waves in the
black" for a community as supportive as this one.

Lee.

[Rowan]

This is a slight digression, but, considering the wargames and other RPG's, has anyone found a good place for cheap miniatures?

I don't paint minis, nor collect them, but they're nicer than counters or dice on a battle map. I've done some looking in wargame miniatures and elsewhere and haven't yet quite found what I'm looking for.

What I'd really like to find are cheap plastic minis. You know, like the plastic army guys we had when we were kids. Why doesn't someone make packs of orcs, goblins, human troops, etc like that? I'd love to be able to put up a little horde of zombies, skeletons, goblins, orcs, soldiers, or what have you.

Any ideas?

[Gurgi the Goblin Mage]

Well let's see I play in the old 2ed games, I'm a long time forgotten realms DM who has just started DMing a birthright game. I also GM an old D6 Star Wars game modified to account for the new movies. In addition I have an extincive Rifts collection although I've never had the time to get a true game going.

[Doyle]

This is a slight digression, but, considering the wargames and other RPG's, has anyone found a good place for cheap miniatures?
...<snip>...What I'd really like to find are cheap plastic minis. You know, like the plastic army guys we had when we were kids. Why doesn't someone make packs of orcs, goblins, human troops, etc like that? I'd love to be able to put up a little horde of zombies, skeletons, goblins, orcs, soldiers, or what have you.
Any ideas?

For cheap metal mini's I use Euraka Miniatures and they probably do ship outside Australia.
Bulk plastic ones - usually box sets, especially the ones to go with a new wargaming system that didn't take off or are old and replaced. Sometimes the price drop makes it worth buying the starting set just to get the mini's. 2nd hand copies of Warhammer quest for example.
Another option at the moment would be the collectable stuff from Wizards. Like most collectable series there are a pile of 'commons' that collecters wind up with that they never wanted (like those that buy 20+ boxes to get a particular 'rare' and wind up with 30 scorpion clan dark elves - I've never purchased a box and yet have 40+ of the things from RPGA events I've attended). If you don't have acces to the collectors, try the hobby stores that sell the boxes, because just like with the 'magic the blathering' sorta thing, there should be piles of 'commons' going cheap.

HTH,
Doyle

[Audric]

I enjoy the old Greyhawk setting in AD&D tremendously. I also play Element Masters and Star Wars. But, my biggest favorite of all time that is very close to Birthright is Star Frontiers. I have of course modified it tremendously, but it is the groups favorite remembered campaign.

Audric

[Public]

I personally prefer Cyberpunk (but since I have mixed it w/ Call of Cthulhu quite liberally, I guess it's actually Cthulhupunk, but much more than monster hunting)

I GM Birthright because D&D is the only system that seems to survive the long haul. I keep away from kingdom and realm work as I have yet to see PC that actually function well at this point (and yes, I've been GM/DMing since the early eighties and this is STILL true).

I also Love It Came From the Late Late Show and Paranoia, but alas that tells of my age....

'Nuff said

Public