The Rogues' Gallery

[SDragon]

It's been awhile since Ive last posted in here, and I'd like to welcome everybody who's came since then. Welcome!

[BigTed]

Hi everyone Im BigTed.

About me:
Ive had this nickname since childhood, although Ive only recently started reusing it, since Ive got back in touch with some old friends.

Gaming systems you use
I mainly use Forgotten Realms

General gaming history
Ive played Forgotten Realms on table top games. and consol games I mainly play ElderScrolls 3: Morrowind. I also like D&D Heroes

Personal likes and dislikes
likes: Walking, Reading, looking at the Internet, RPGs
Dislikes: Early Mornings

Strengths and weaknesses in game design
Strenghths: Storyline and Imagination
Weaknesses: Implementing the storylines I come up with in a realistic manner.

Major influences on your world-building
Allsorts from Forgotten Realms and Morrowind to my own imagination

[Nareth]

Ok, so here's some of my information.

I'm 36 yrs old, and have been playing D&D since 3rd grade. That comes to something approaching 28 or 29 years. I'm mainly involved in D&D, right now 3.5e. I also run/play Mutants & Masterminds, Arcana Evolved, and most recently, Shadowrun.

Likes would have to include the d20 system. I'm actually looking forward to 4e, having gone to GenCon last August, and heard a lot of what they are planning. It's going to be an interesting summer next year for the hobby.

Dislikes...hard to really think of any. I'm not a big fan of the White Wolf games, but that's more a matter of personal taste than anything else. I'll play Vampire, but I have no desire to run a game in that system. I dislike power gamers and rules lawyers, but that's normal as far as I can tell among GM's.

For me, writing can be counted as both a strength and a weakness. I have a severe case of writer's block. I can never come up with the actual thing I want to write about. I know I want to create a campaign, but I can't find a starting point. This might be due to the large amount of material I own, and I get overwhelmed, but whatever it is, I just can't get started. However, once I have been given a topic, or decide on one for myself, then the writing just flows. That's how it's a strength as well as a weakness. I can create things on the fly fairly easily, once I know what I need.

Hands down, my favorite setting is the Forgotten Realms. I own every 3.0 and 3.5e book that has come out for the Realms, and a large amount of 2e material as well. Beyond that, I own several other settings, including the Accordlands, Ptolus, Freeport, Midnight, Blackmoor, Rokugan, Dragonlance, Wheel of Time, Kalamar, Ravenloft and a few others.

Incidently, if any of you happen to own the World's Largest Dungeon, a good way to use it that we stumbled on was to have all the players create a character from a different setting. A dream about their destiny drawing them to the trans-dimensional mountain where the Dungeon is located was our hook, and it worked really well.

I guess that's about it. Looking foward to getting to know some of you out there, and exchanging ideas.

[MINI]

First, Thanks for the nice format Ivar:

Gaming systems you use
D&D 3.5, Mutants & masterminds, d20 Modern, NWoD

General Gaming History
Started playing D&D at about 15.  I have played 1e, 2e 3.0 and 3,5.  I got into online gaming after I had kids but began GMing as a table top GM.  First worlds I ran were homebrew and one shots.  I now run some d20 modern and 3.5 DnD online using OpenRPG.  I have also developed an OpenRPG support website: Mayhem gaming since about 2000 and it has been recently moved and redone.  I also started a gaming community, Mayhem Gaming, about a year ago which is also tied into that website.

Personal likes and dislikes
Likes: Gaming, period.  Chess, guitar.

Dislikes: none I know of....

Strengths and weaknesses in game design

I like playing subtle yet real NPC's,not neccesaruily high level types that stand out.  You innkeep might be interesting in my games and so on.  I also run persistent worlds where 20-30 people can particiate where their schedule fits.

What published settings have you used/do you like?
I have used in the past:
-grey Hawk- the original setting that I learned.
-RPGA Mods (more greyhawk) - I am a herald level GM but I found RPGA games to be mor work than I liked doing for getting them done in good time for online play.

[samwise7]

Name Tim
Male
Age 28
Married
100% Gaming geek :)

Gaming systems you use
D&D 3.5, White Wolf WoD Hunter: the Reckoning, Dark Ages Vampire (old systems), H.A.R.P. (High Adventure Role Playing made by I.C.E), and tons of free systems you can download online that are mainly lite systems.

General Gaming History
I've written this out somewhere else... let's see if I can find it, and then cut and paste it here...

My memory is pretty horrible (swiss cheese between my ears) but I think I was 10 when I started roleplaying. My mother bought me a D&D boxed game. I think Hero Quest was somewhere in there too. Then we bought the I.C.E. Lord of the Rings RPG box set, and got the 2 expansions for it and played those.

From there we bought the Rolemaster Standard System and although we butchered the rules horribly we had a lot of fun, which is all they should be about anyway. My brother and I were always the guys that knew the rules and ran the games, but I was always better at it. I prefer playing to running games, but I normally get to wear the GM/DM hat.

The group fell apart (people "grew up" and moved on) and I was without a group for awhile. There were some 1-shots of Rolemaster, but nothing stable.

Then I got the Magic The Gathering virus for awhile, and many of my McDonald's paychecks went to buying collectible crack in the form of cards... I still have them all and play from time to time. Mainly it was hanging out with the other people that played that was fun, but I still enjoy building deck strategies when I am not glued to my computer, hehe.

In college I had hoped to find a gaming group, and the only one I found was a group that played Vampire: the Masquerade. Now I am normally good at ignoring how people look and try to get to know them underneath, but even for me these people were downright creepy... So after playing once, I never returned. So college was without games, which was a surprise for me. I played a few games of Magic the Gathering, but nothing consistent.

I got married, and found a gaming group in Pittsburgh www.gaspgamer.com

GASP (Gaming Association of Southwestern Pennsylvania) was a real beacon for gamers, and it became my once a month gaming fix, and still is. For anyone near Pittsburgh we have a yearly convention in Nov that is small, but great, as it is made for gamers by gamers.

Anyway, GASP exposed me to D&D 3rd edition, and then later D&D 3.5. I played lots of D&D games in various worlds over the years and had some very consistent players.

Recently I've am very disillusioned with D&D and with WOTC (Wizards of the Coast). I've been looking at a lot of free RPGs, and have been using them, plus a rules lite version of the D10 dice pool White Wolf game engine for fantasy 1-shots. I've also fallen in love with HARP (High Adventure Role Playing) which is I.C.E.'s new game (which is like a lite version of Rolemaster influenced by D&D).

The group I was a part of was a D&D only group, and it got too me, so it was funny when I was the one bailing from a gaming group, when it had been me for soooo many years that worked so hard to keep so many failed groups together.

So all that being said, I'm a gamer through and through, and it is really my main hobby. I've only ever played in Middle-earth using the Lord of the Rings rules when I was a kid, and have never returned to the lands of Tolkien. Maybe I will run a game in the future set in Middle-earth set in the 4th age, who knows.

Anyway, thanks fellow gamers for the replies. Being a gamer is sometimes like having a rare disease, in that you try to keep it in the closet for fear of being labeled "weird."

I take pride in my Geekdom.

website:
Myspace http://www.myspace.com/samwiseseven
Marth Ice World http://marth.bravehost.com
Enlil, GASP World Building Project http://www.eonsreach.com/worldforum/index.php?www
 
Personal likes and dislikes
Likes:
Dark fantasy/grim fantasy worlds that are low magic.  Midnight is my favorite new setting.  

Dislikes:
I'm really starting to dislike D&D and all it stands for.  I hate high level games, and high power games... bleh!  I dislike Power Gamers, but I'm patient with them when I'm in the same group with them (but I pout quietly), hehe.  I'm also not a big fan of settings where humans play a large role, but humans are like cockroaches in fantasy settings, hehe.


Strengths and weaknesses in game design
I tend to give the players too much power, and broken options that I later regret.  Though I am getting better at it.  I'm good at shooting from the hip, but GMing burns me out quickly.  I think I'm an above average world builder, but probably not great.

What published settings have you used/do you like?
Robert E. Howard's Conan Hyborian Age, Middle Earth, Midnight from Fantasy Flight Games, Cyradon by I.C.E., and my home brewed setting Marth Ice World.

[the_taken]

Welcome to the the CBG. There's a song we're supposed to sing for you, but my voice is shot from yelling at my incompetent henchmen.

Your dislike for what D&D is becoming is understandable, as the effects of corporation on talent and quality eventually cause degradation. (WotC is Hasbro's little b****) But think it thru thoroughly to make sure you not becoming a grumpy old man complaining on gut instinct alone.

We Cabbages are the artisans and gods of our own little worlds, and we collectively gather to share all of our ideas (good and bad) and improve our overall quality. Ideas! All of them!!!

PS: I want your brain.

[swoods241078]

Me:

Name: Stu.
Gender: Male.
Location: Greater London, UK.
Married/Single: Single.
Class: Gardener!

Brief introduction:

Hello! This is my first proper attempt at creating a fully fleshed out gaming world for use in games of DnD 3.5 and possibly online using the Neverwinter Nights 1 or 2 game engine (undecided as to which). I am tempted to use the "outside in" method of world creation, starting with a creation myth and pantheon, and then going further into detail.

Gaming systems:

DnD 3.5.
NWN (PW Avlis).
NWN2 (PW Avlis).
A bit of Shadowrun, Wharmammer FRPG, Vampire, GURPS.
Fighting Fantasy.

Gaming History:

Started out as a kid playing Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000, which then progressed to various RPGs, starting with Jackson & Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy game system and progressing through to DND 3.5 and the NWN PW's listed above, where I was, up until recently, a Senior DM. That experience has prompted me to attempt to buid my own campaign setting and eventually PW using either NWN or NWN2 (which still needs a lot of work IMHO).

Loves:

Fully immersive RP.
Player driven storylines.
In Character posts/ stories/ event write ups.
Rich backgrounds and world history.
Lots of other things.

Loathes:

Whiney players.
Cheats (metagamers, griefers, "DM shoppers", cheeser's, etc).
Excessive out of character talk whilst playing (both online and PnP).
Stupid PC names "Jebediah- the lord shall smite thee- Pulsifier" is the worst I've seen to date!

Strengths:

I have quite a strong imagination ( a good start!).
Ability to plan and organise things (eventually!).

Weaknesses:

Little experience of World building.
Little/ no experience of cartography (hence I signed up to the cartography guild).

Published settings:

I've always tried to base any adventures/ campaigns in my own settings, although these have changed somewhat over the years, and were never fully fleshed out.

Major influences

Its impossible for me to say that I haven't been influenced quite heavily by the world of Avlis. As this has been a major part of my gaming experience over the years. However, that said, I am loathed to cast an exact copy. Also, some of my setting will be influenced by our real world, and various other elements, which are still to be undecided.

[Hibou]

Welcome to the guild guys. I hope and I'm sure everyone else does as well that you find the perfect part of it to plant yourself in for the long term :D.

[Midgardsormr]

Hello, everyone!

I am an immigrant from The Cartographers' Guild.  I finally decided to make my way over here and perhaps glean some tips as I continue to develop my campaign worlds.  I don't know how much I'll contribute yet, but I'll at least poke my head in to a few threads now and again.

-Gaming systems I use: Anything that seems interesting.  At the moment, my system of choice is the one that drives Unknown Armies.  I've modified it to run a low-fantasy play-by-post campaign currently in hiatus.  I'm also playing in an Alternity Star*Drive game and trying to get into a play-by-post Traveller game.

General gaming history: Like a lot of people my age, I started playing in junior high school and have never really stopped.  I cut my teeth on Rolemaster, of all things, moved on to some Palladium games--Rifts and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to be specific, and then branched out into a few other systems.

Personal likes and dislikes: I enjoy character-driven games with a lot of cultural detail.  I dislike killing monsters and taking their stuff for it's own sake, but if it's the only way I can get a game, I'll put up with it.  I detest catching myself doing the things that annoy me; I suppose that drives me to constantly improve, though.

Strengths and weaknesses in game design: I am very good at creating plausible cultural constructions and finding ways to fit unlikely details together.  I tend to overcomplicate plots, though.  I realized I had a problem when I ran six consecutive adventures in which the party failed because they'd been betrayed.  My game was starting to resemble the TV show Alias--even I had a hard time figuring out which side some of the NPCs were on.

Published settings I have used/like: I tend to avoid published settings because they come with too much baggage.  When a world has a canon, I feel constricted in what I can do with it because I know my players will have expectations.  I ran a game in the Star Wars universe between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back that went fairly well, but I used a military framing mechanism to keep the PCs from creating continuity problems.  Actually, I occasionally used the PCs to explain away continuity problems in the original story, such as the peculiar lack of Star Destroyers at the Battle of Yavin.

Major influences on my world-building: European history, Tolkien (naturally).  I can't think of other major influences, but I know they're there, influencing everything I write.

I have three campaign websites up right now: My old Rifts campaigns from 1993-1998, a Fudge medium-hard science-fiction game, and The Queen of Air & Darkness, a low-fantasy game driven by Unknown Armies rules.  I've grown a lot as a GM and as a world-builder (not to mention web designer) since my Rifts days; I hope that shows in the web sites.

Anyway, I look forward to getting to know all of you, and I hope I have something to contribute!

[Neubert]

Greetings all of you!

I have been lurking for some time now after falling over this site during my endless travels through Google's pages for inspiration. And I apparently had already created an account, which must have slipped my mind (like so much else..).

General gaming history
Anyway, I have been playing roleplaying games in general for about 6-7 years now (started with D&D) and have started to GM a little now and again for about 1-2 years.
I actually started getting into roleplaying at a very young age by reading the DragonLance books from my school library and borrowing the red box set of D&D from the local library. Although the only thing I did with it was read through it and draw dungeons.
Almost since I began playing D&D with my friends have I had an idea for a campaign setting. It was just an idea for a long time, but I have "recently" (the last couple or years or so, I forget) become more focused on it.

Gaming systems
I have tried playing a little bit of everything, but it has mostly been d20 that has stuck with my group. We do play the odd Vampire session now and then.
I have also created my own d20 system (Science Fiction) with heavy inspiration from the Alien and Starship Troopers movies. It is what is currently being played/playtested weekly by my group.

Personal likes and dislikes
Not sure there is much interesting to tell here.
I like theorizing and thinking about "stuff". A couple examples included (to give you an idea):
- Making a list of all the professions in a D&D world that might have an effect on the items players buy.
- Making a big excel sheet, comparing various classes in my homemade Science Fiction game.
- Figuring out water currents in order to calculate travel times around the world.

Strengths and weaknesses in game design
I am a perfectionist, which is my curse. I am trying to create a whole campaign setting with every NPC fully fleshed out, which will obviously never happen. I am slowly realizing that. I am also trying to create a system that will give me prices for items based on distance it needs to be transported from the producer.
I guess I also have trouble thinking outside the box - at times at least.

What published settings have you used/do you like?
I guess my own setting is very much like "vanilla" D&D. When I have been GMing, it has so far been in an "unnamed" setting (mostly resembling Greyhawk). Nothing interesting here really.

Major influences on your world-building
Random tid-bits here and there scattered over the internet.


Looking forward to reading more, and hopefully getting some help to fix some holes in my campaign setting.

Excuse any brain-farts from my side in advance as English is my second language.

[LordVreeg]

[blockquote=neubert]I am slowly realizing that. I am also trying to create a system that will give me prices for items based on distance it needs to be transported from the producer.[/blockquote]
Neubert, this is fantastic.  In all my years of this, I have rarely seen someone mention shipping costs in terms of the local economy.  Welcome aboard, and keep the abacus close at hand.

[Neubert]

Thanks! It was actually while reading your thread about Celtricia that I got inspired to create an account (which I apparently had done already) and post.

Figuring out the system took a lot of research (with data which contradicts each other), and it is still very simple so far (and somewhat based on the maximum percent I would let the price increase with). But this is what I love to do. Go into detail.
Send me a PM or mail about it if you would like to see or discuss it.
I guess it will also make it's way into my campaign setting thread at some point, but I can't really say when. (Now would be a great time for a shameless plug/link for my campaign setting post - which is in my signature by the way).

As everything else with me, it is a project which is a work in progress, and that I will likely never finish - that is the running joke with my friends, that I have many many projects, and I don't finish any of them.

[WormShade]

Hello.  I found this place after I tried out eruvian, didn't like it, and Ishmayl recommended I come over here.  Seems pretty cool, I like that there's a functioning wiki.

General Gaming History
Introduced to D&D in 1981 completely be accident.  Joined local gaming club at school.  GMed first campaign in 1985.  Been GMing ever since.  Started working on new campaign setting 2 weeks ago - very much in its infancy stages.

Gaming Systems
D&D3.5.  White Wolf (Exalted).  Magic: the Gathering.

Strengths and Weaknesses in Game Design
I'm very new to designing, so that's a weakness in itself.  On the plus side, I have studied many years Eastern civilization, focusing particularly on the Achaemenid Empire, Indian culture, various Oceana cultures and traditions, and anthropology and archeology, so I think I've got a decent start.

Major Influences on Setting
So far, mixtures of ancient Indian history and fitting it into a RPG context with a Dark Ages paradigm.

[Neubert]

Hello WormShade and welcome! :)

[Randzz]

Accidentally posted my salutations on another thread, anyway... Hey all. I was referred here by Spirit Hawkfellow. Interesting site & certainly seems more open then Wizards appears to be nowadays. Anyway I've played: Star Wars (D6 & D20 versions; I prefer the former), D&D since 2e, RIFTs, Mage, Palladium RPG

I've run: RIFTs, Star Wars (WEG version), Scarred lands & my own home brew 3e, Monte Cooks Arcana Unearthed/Evolved.

I'll check whomever, whenever.