Feeling Silly...

Which, of course, informs the content of the post. To start with:

The 10 Commandments of Gaming

1. Thou, DM, shall be a democratic god.

Seems simple enough. The DM only has the power the other players give them. If you want to be a god, fine, but ask the other players first. If you don't, you might just find yourself a god without players, which is rather boring.

2. Thou shalt not worship at the false idol of F.A.T.A.L.

http://atrocities.primaryerror.net/fatal.html says it all for me, really. Don't play this game. I'm not kidding. There will be lightning involved.

3. Remember thy gaming day, and keep it holy.

Which means, being translated, try to let people know at least a week in advance if you aren't going to be there, and don't dick around too much with the scheduling. (I'm guilty of this one, myself.)

4. Honor thy gaming group.

If you dislike someone, not causing fights is still nice. If you can't not fight with them, probably one of you should consider leaving.

5. Thou shalt not player-kill without permission.

I'm sure your character could kill his. Don't. Unless you both decide to do it as part of the game.

6. Thou shalt not screw around.

If everyone else wants to play, play. Don't quote Monty Python again. (Yeah, I'm bad for this too.)

7. Thou shalt contribute thy fair share of the snack food.

If you eat chips, drink pop, etc, give some cash, or bring some of your own next session.

8. Thou shalt not bear false witness about the state of thy dice.

If you're going to fudge a roll, ask the group. Don't hide it. That's cheating. A DM can get general approval, but a player should probably have to ask every time.

9. Thou shalt not covet, nor touch without permission, nor cast a hoodoo upon, thy neighbor's dice, nor steal the luck thereof.

'Nuff said.

10. Die! Die, bad robots, die!

Well, that came out somewhat more seriously than intended. However, the next batch really shouldn't. I present: geeky poetry! (mostly limericks, but, hey...)

There was a young geek from Nantucket
Who loved buying dice by the bucket.
He had too many by far
to ship them all in his car.
So to get to his game he must truckit.

A comely young goth girl named Alice
played vampires with relish and malice.
She tried drinking blood,
but found with no food,
she was seriously lacking in ballast.

Truly I can't tell a lie;
when a new game catches my eye
the store owner is cheerful
while my wallet is tearful
for I just can't help but buy!

A chrome plated robot named Wally,
while shopping one day at the mall, he
saw a red ATM.
He gave his PIN out: a 10;
Now with a wedding in store he's most jolly!

Learning to game is not very hard
Just choose fighter, cleric, or bard
or wizard or druid
or ranger or fluid
or sentient self-motile playing card!


Hmm. 500 words, and 5 very bad poems. Well, I can always talk about... Um. Stuff. Stuff is good.
Hmm. Two hours later, and I can't think of anything particularly funny. However, I have a mini-rant about what's wrong with Shadowrun, which I shall trot out now.

First, the system as a whole tends to be rather unbalanced. There are two routes to combat effectiveness: magic and cyber. Having simple very good skills does not compete. I can't create a master gunman who won't get pasted by someone with equal points who invested them in either Resources (to buy cyber) or magic. This stings.
Second, the skill system not only permits the Ed Gruberman Syndrome, it encourages it. It's actually cheaper and faster to buy up your skill all at once, rather than leveling up over time. Bad.
Third, the wound system tends to seriously lead to a death spiral: the first person to get hit for damage in combat, all other things being equal, is the one who tends to lose.

That's about it for Shadowrun. Problems, though not serious enough to make me stop playing them. Fixing them, however, should be worth a thousand words or so...

Soooo... New feats, I guess.

Seeking Spell [Metamagic]
Your ranged spells that require an attack roll have a second chance if they miss.
Benefit: This feat can only be applied to spells that required a ranged attack roll, touch or not. If you miss an attack with such a spell, the spell will circle and then try to attack again one round later. The second attack roll is made with your attack roll at the time. If the second attack misses, the spell acts just as if it had missed on the first round.
This feat increases the level of a spell it is applied to by 3 levels.

Quick Stealth [General]
You can be stealthy even while moving quickly.
Prerequisites: Stealth 9 ranks
Benefit: When moving, you do not take a -5 penalty to Stealth checks while moving at more than half your normal speed but no more than your normal speed, and while attacking, running, or charging, you only recieve a -10 penalty to Stealth checks.

Flit Through The Shadows [General]
You can be stealthy even when moving as fast as you can.
Prerequisites: Stealth 15 ranks, Quick Stealth
Benefit: You take no penalty to Stealth checks for moving more than half your normal speed.

Light Sleeper [General]
You wake at the slightest sensation.
Prerequisite: Perception 4 ranks.
Benefit: You only take a -5 penalty to Perception checks while sleeping. In addition, you can be woken from a sleep spell or similar magical effect that allows waking as a move action.
Normal: You take a -10 penalty to Perception checks while sleeping, and waking someone requires a standard action.

Ech. This one has been like pulling teeth. Oh, well. Tomorrow I'll have a better one, I swear. And, this post marks my 7th straight day. One whole week! Go me! Only 51 more to go... Ok, time to stop before I depress myself.