Random Gaming Thoughts

[AppleQueso]

indigo is a nice color, though I'd prefer if the indigo Gamecube were a little more blueish

[ZeroAX]

That pink PS Vita actually looks amazing imo

I'm hoping for more sky blue and white consoles. Or more game specific limited editions. If you are going to bundle a game you might as well put a design on the console (I'd love my PS3 even more if it had a sack face on the hood)

[catnip]

I think this counts as a "Random Gaming Thought", although it's not a video game...

I've been spending lots of time building an urban low-magic Pathfinder campaign to run with some friends. Gah, GMing is a lot of work, man.

Has anyone else run campaigns? Any tips?

[fastbilly1]

I have GMed a couple times, but I have played in thousands of games. What issues are you hitting? Sadly I have only played Pathfinder twice, so I will just imagine you are playing D&D 3.75 with grappling rules (which is the feel I got for it when I played it).

[KalessinDB]

And Archetypes. So many Archetypes. There's almost no reason to play a base class.

Plus, like every class gets something cool every level!

But it's still D&D at the core. Kill lots of things seems to be the main focus, always. Not to say you CAN'T have a roleplay-heavy game in a Pathfinder or D&D setting, it's just not as likely as under some other settings.

[catnip]

I guess the issue I'm hitting at the moment (much of the campaign is taking place in a city) is just populating it - making enough interesting NPCs, quest givers, that sort of thing. I have a bigger-picture of the direction the campaign is going, but the nitty-gritty of individual quests and characters is overwhelming me.

Edit: I also don't want to give too much away too fast; I guess I'm just scared that my pacing is gonna be off, and the story won't be sustainable.

[BoneSnapDeez]

black looks nice until you own it for a few days and it becomes dust and fingerprint city

Seriously.

My PSP looks like an oil slick.

I just wish that all my consoles were pink and fingerprint/dust resistant.

[Exhuminator]

My PSP looks like an oil slick.

Same thing happens to all my glossy handhelds. My solution was to use silicone skins for all of them. For example my PSP uses something like this, my Vita is wrapped in this. I find silicone is much more comfy than hard glossy plastic also.

[fastbilly1]

I guess the issue I'm hitting at the moment (much of the campaign is taking place in a city) is just populating it - making enough interesting NPCs, quest givers, that sort of thing. I have a bigger-picture of the direction the campaign is going, but the nitty-gritty of individual quests and characters is overwhelming me.

Edit: I also don't want to give too much away too fast; I guess I'm just scared that my pacing is gonna be off, and the story won't be sustainable.

What kind of city is it? Without more details, it will be hard to suggest things. Though a name generator is always a good starting point. Personally I use a d2, a d6, a d20, and a couple minutes - Use the d2 to decide the other die to roll, d6 for vowels, d20 for consonants, then it is an anagram. ie, falktena may become: Kena Falt or Kal Taf.

My view on giving away to much is that you are there to guide the party, if they take you a different way you need to be flexible enough to adapt and steer them back to the original route. I highly suggest watching Gamers 2 Dorkness Rising about this subject.

[catnip]

What kind of city is it? Without more details, it will be hard to suggest things. Though a name generator is always a good starting point. Personally I use a d2, a d6, a d20, and a couple minutes - Use the d2 to decide the other die to roll, d6 for vowels, d20 for consonants, then it is an anagram. ie, falktena may become: Kena Falt or Kal Taf.

My view on giving away to much is that you are there to guide the party, if they take you a different way you need to be flexible enough to adapt and steer them back to the original route. I highly suggest watching Gamers 2 Dorkness Rising about this subject.

It's a highly-populated capital city. The king has just been assassinated, and there are five factions who all have their own motivations (some wish to claim the throne, others just want to keep certain other factions from claiming it, etc.). Super secular, but one faction is building churches/health clinics/libraries, so people are warming up to them and becoming more religious. The factions mostly keep to their sections of the city, and the city proper is a bustling marketplace, where merchants pay a group of mercenaries to protect them and their products.