The Geekery!

All I can say, you guys, is that the bunch of you (us?) are really, really scary. 8D And here I thought geekery in Singapore was relatively extinct.

I agree.

Only events like these brings us out of the woodwork or rather, internet webwork.

Woo D&D! D&D! Who's a DM?

My friend have plenty of stories which recount my erratic behaviour during D&D.

I've always thought geekery was non-existant in Singapore, as well, til I met a friend at mine at school who was just as nerdy. And then I went for the kickoff. While I know about D&D and WoD, I've never actually played them due to lack of people to play with. I've found a group of D&Ders at school, though. TCGs I've always been interested in, EoJ looks kickass, the only one I've ever actually played was Pokemon. ...yeah, I feel sad too.

RPing, though. My lifeblood, though school hasn't allowed for much of it lately.

Tis' only a flesh wound.

(edited for mixing up acronyms. >>)

OMG. Anyone want to induct a noob into the art of D&D?

Like I said during the Kick-Off, I have totally no idea what you guys were talking about but that doesn't mean i don't want to learn. Please feel free to educate me in this tangent of geekery.

EoJ does seem pretty darn awesome, ne? But all I've seen are those damned trailers which seem too extrapolative to be in any way accurate ._.;

D&D I haven't actually played (apart from computerized versions of the game), mostly because I don't have a set and, if I did, I wouldn't be able to find anyone in school to play it with, anyway. I realize that I played something like D&D with my friends when I was 8 years old or so, though. I was a DM, and they'd call me and have conference calls about what they would do and stuff: my on-the-spot narratives at that age were probably part of what shaped my writing style the way it's become today. Of course, the fact that they ended up with strange and normally rather disgusting weapons was kinda awkward, but I still haven't seen any other RPG where you start in a room with nothing but a fridge and can choose from oranges, bananas and durians as weapons.

... Yeah. The durians were kinda overpowered at the start, although their low hitrolls were deterrent enough later on.

M: tG and Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon are all TCGs I do play: Duel Masters I know how to, but since it's a newbie version of Magic (despite the vehement protests of my juniors in school), I don't actually have a real-life deck. My Magic card collection runs through most of the recent blocks sans Lorewind, but the only decks I have are a Kamigawa block Samurai deck, a Ravnica block Selesnya deck, and a rather esoteric Ravnica block Magemark/Signet deck, the last of which is made up entirely of commons and a few uncommons, with zero basic lands (it's made out of my spare cards). Nonetheless, it's rather playable, considering how unwieldy it looks.

I currently only have two un-dismantled (mantled?) Yu-Gi-Oh decks: a Water deck (standard ALO and stuff: ALO being A Legendary Ocean, or as it reads on the card: Atlantis -- I forget.) All my decks are made of Japanese cards, though, so playing with those unfamiliar with my cards requires that they can trust me. I'm a very trustworthy person, though =3

Pokemon I've played since I was a young boy of nine or so... unfortunately, that was on the gameboy. I never had the money when I was young to buy a deck, or friends with the economy to play it with me. The deck I have now, though, has Gardevoir, which is my all-time favouritest bestest-in-the-whole-wide-world Pokemon... excepting Gallade. So I'm quite happy with it.

Anyone here Netbattle, by the way? I don't pretend to be an expert on the metagame, but if anything, it's one of my passions as a Pokemon player. The nuances of the metagame, while lost to standard builds, can still yield a few surprises: can you imagine a Level 100 Togepi (not a Togetic, mind you) beating a Level 100 Ho-oh? Well, I did =D

... On another note, I love Super Robots. SRW: OG is one of my most-favouritest animes ever. Although I can't sing Break Out except in this low-ish voice... because the bloody chorus is too high =o=

... Oh, that's right. I've a YouTube account where I sing random anime songs. That's... well, I'm not sure what that is, but I guess I should add that here =3

Where do you campaign anywho?

Alas, I am not up to date in D&D for mostly I FFRP! That's free form role playing by the way. Without stats but more storyline and stuff.

I have a beginner's set though, stashed away in my wardrobe including dice.

True story:

Me: Okay, I've got flanking and Insightful Strike ready to go, and the opponent's flat-footed.

DM: Okay, roll to-hit.

Me: *rolls a natural one*

DM: Uh, okay. You fumble the weapon, and lose your attack. Roll again to see if you injure yourself.

Me: *rolls a natural one again*

DM: ... roll again.

Me: *rolls a natural one for the third time*

DM: You just criticalled yourself. What's your weapon damage?

Me: Um. 3d6, 2d6 of which is magical.

DM: *rolls 6, 6, 5*

Me: ... that puts me from full health to negative 4.

DM: Yeah, you attempt to strike at the duelist, and somehow impale yourself on your rapier. Somehow.

Me: Next time, can I declare Dodge on myself?

DM: No.

This is actually considered a normal occurence for me. I roll very, very poorly.

If the above was too obtuse, here are a few things I have been told I am no longer allowed to do in a roleplaying game:

- Even if arcane spellcasters get spell failure penalties for armour, this does not mean I can adventure naked.

- Sarcasm does not count as a valid language.

- Even if the DM allows Sarcasm as a valid language, it still does not give me bonus points in Sense Motive.

- Yes, the magic item is called the Rod of Lordly Might. This does not give me permission to snigger every time someone whips it out.

- Not allowed to name a speed-based superhero "Breaking Wind".

- Not allowed to call a Wand of Magic Missiles "the missile launcher".

- Not allowed to make a Warforged bard named Soundwave.

- Not allowed to raise a zombie mosquito.

- Jellyfish do not get a meaningful initiative roll.

There's more where those came from. This may or may not be a good thing.

On another note, I'm looking for a (semi-)regular tabletop roleplaying gaming group. I give the above list as a warning to prospective DMs about what to expect.

... That's beyond unlucky ._.; That's just wrong.

On a side note, the list you put up is hilarious beyond words XD

I am also no longer allowed to spend my last 15gp at character creation to buy a Wand of Magic Missiles with one charge left. (Nor am I allowed to refer to it as "the Wand of Magic Missile".)

This is because of the following backstory (yes, the character is lying through his teeth):

"Yeah, I'm a sorceror. A PIRATE sorceror. Used to be captain of a ship of my own, until my first mate mutinied and left me on a deserted island. I'll get that backstabbing half-orc barbarian one of these days.

"He took everything I had, but left me a wand, a Magic Missile wand, with one charge left. He told me I'd know what to do with it. Well, screw him. I escaped from that island by strapping a pair of sea turtles to my feet, and now I'm saving that last Magic Missile for him.

"... hey, I have a d4 hit die. It could conceivably have killed me."

(Also: Just because I am the only Asian in the roleplaying group, playing a spellcaster in a pirate setting campaign, does not make me a Ninja Wizard Pirate.)

Did you ever say "Welcome to Singapore?".

Teach me oh great ones. Teach m,e how to play these games because I just need another time/money-suck.

Holy crap, dkellis, that is some serious, serious bad luck. xD

Personally I've never D&Ded, only AD&Ded, though I spent a good chunk of my childhood watching enviously as my brothers painted Warhammer figurines. Not as though they ever let me touch any of them, though. I've got a few D&D books and manuals (3.5, I think. Or 3.) stashed under my bed, bought out of interest's sake. If anyone wants to buy them over for better use, I go much, much cheaper than Borders, believe you me.

BIG HUGE GIGANTIC FAN of Baldur's Gate II, oh god, I could play that game forever if I had enough time to ever do the campaign again. *_____* Never has a game more dominated my braincells in such a good way. More recent playthroughs include Final Fantasy XII and Knights of the Old Republic I and II. Neverwinter 2 disappointed me, though I'm a big NWN XP fan.

Did someone quote Monty Python? :D :D :D

@sarahcoldheart: No, but not for want of temptation. I never did find an appropriate occasion, and believe me, I looked.

@nerwenfaelvirin: Personally, I've found that tabletop roleplaying in general is attractive mostly because it's a chance to get together with friends and be geeky at each other. The systems in general aren't really that good, and a sizeable part of the game session is mostly arguing with each other about the rules and hunting for clarifications in the index, but the times when the entire table just goes "wait, WHAT" in response to a one-liner ("Night falls. Roll Reflex save.") or a funky dice roll ("Do you institute the insta-death rule on three successive natural twenties? If so, I think I just killed the prison guard with the broom handle.") or just the absurdity of the situation ("Dude, you just criticalled the parfait") makes it all so very worth it.

One way to learn is to read up a bit on it (for example, I think much of the current D&D 3.5 ruleset is online free at www.d20srd.org, which I have yet to encounter anyone able to read and understand all that in one sitting), but don't stress about not knowing anything, since I've found that the best way to learn is to attend a game with more experienced gamers willing to teach you the ropes.

-

And now for some more random ramblings.

Actually playing D&D is quite different from playing a video game based on the D&D ruleset: in the latter, the math (ie the calculation of stats and dice rolls) is cheap, but the talk (ie interactions between characters or environment) is expensive. In the former, it's the other way around: ANYTHING is open to your character, assuming it falls within the rules and the stats, and it is actually possible to convince the big baddie to give up his evil and take up gardening (true story)... but you'll be stuck there for five hours while everyone argues about how the procession of turns go thanks to Attacks of Opportunity (also true story).

Further things I am not allowed to do when roleplaying:

- Backup dancers do not provide bonuses to the bard's Charm Person song.

- Not allowed to lug around a dead goblin corpse as a trap-springer.

- No, not even if I name it.

- If the DM tells me I am not allowed to make a twelve-year old Fighter, I am not to make a ten-year old instead.

- I am only allowed to take the spell Mage Hand if the words "I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you!" never cross my lips ever again.

- Not allowed to take five feats just to have effective proficiency in sword-chucks.

- If the DM has to stop the game for more than five minutes to ponder the ramifications of my action, the answer is no.

- Not allowed to taunt the were-crow with glitter-dust.

- Pizza delivery is not an optimal use for Werewolf form.

- It is physically impossible to kill someone "until they're sorry".

- My alignment is not "North-east".

- When ascending to the plane of the gods, my first move should not be to roll initiative.

- Sheep are not that flammable.

- There is no God of Sewage, nor is his invocation "Holy Crap".

I think we need a forum on a faster server, or at least a consistently faster one.

dkellis, I think I'm in love with your D&D brain. We should all get together (noob or unnoob) and burn down Earsho-- do a session one write in. xD

That would be awesome.

The sad part is that I'm also not allowed to DM, since even though I can come up with a fairly good short session plot, my sense of game balance is completely off. Story-smart and mechanics-dumb, so to speak.

Systems I'm familiar with (ie am able to come up with a character from scratch in under an hour) are D&D 3.5 and New World of Darkness. Systems I'm slightly less familiar with, but still have read up on and tried a bit, are the various d20 stuff (d20 Modern, d20 Cyberpunk, etc), Old World of Darkness, Big Eyes Small Mouth (d20 and Tri-Stat version), and Shadowrun (... I forget which edition).

Then there's the Hero system, which I've read up quite a bit on, but will never be able to consider myself "familiar" with it, since there is no way I can create a character from scratch in under an hour. I mean, have you seen the Fifth Edition? I believe the appropriate 4chan meme is HUEG LIEK XBOX. That thing is 1d6 Bludgeoning at least.

*snickers* I was born into AD&D myself, but read enough D&D stuff to hopefully not Fail at Life should we decide to start a game. But hey, I'm sure there are plenty of people around here who've never taken a stab at it who'd be willing to play a One Roll Per Minute game while typing out their stories. 8D

All your rampant talk of D&D makes me feel like trying it all the more. Maybe I was born in the wrong generation... >> Seriously, though, if games can be played during the write-ins and none of you mind explaining to me and the other n00bs, it has to be done. Without question.

(And of course someone quoted Monty Python! =D)

o________O

And here I thought I knew something about this. Wow. My knowledge is extremely limited. I sooo need a newbie guide. Anyone?

I've never been a big fan of D&D, but I have played Diablo I, II, AND its expansion pack almost to death. What can I say? I've got that whole 'reluctant hero saves ungrateful ass of world' thing going on. xD

And I'll admit it: I geek over the Gameboy version of Pokemon like no other. Yes, I still play it (on my beat up old GBC no less) and yes, I'm on a personal mission to own Red, Blue, Yellow, Silver and Gold cartridges by the time I... well, before they turn into museum relics.

Just a poll: What's your favorite Monty Python film EVER? Mine has to be a toss up between Holy Grail ("Tis but a scratch") or The Life of Brian.

! Someone who still remembers the GBC!

aaahh, those days...

---

Has anyone else noticed the sudden popularity of MacBooks? They're everywhere you look nowadays, and they're popping up more often on television as well (Stepford Wives, Just Follow Law, etc)! I'm worried that the sudden increase in Macintosh users may result in a proportionate increase in OSX-targeting viruses, which would accordingly create a bigger threat to my computer.

...although.

LEOPARD IS SEX ON A SCREEN.

They've always been on telly and in the movies, just that I think they may have stepped up sponsorship or something. It'd suck if there were more viruses (choy, touchwood) because I just switched to one because of the security ):

I don't like Leopard's new dock, mainly because I'm concerned about the extra processing power required to render the 3D graphics and stuff. I'm quite happy with the current design, personally.

!! Someone else who knows what a GBC is! Now it's all X-box this, PSP that... what happened to the good ol' days of Super Mario, eh?

I'd get a Macbook if only I weren't such a Windows whore. I LIKE my WinXP, thanks very much. :D

GBC! I had the g'ol GB.

I doubt I'd be switching to Mac anytime soon, it's not so ideal for gaming.

I have my NDS Lite now... I can record songs with it but I love my first GB. :( You can't play GB games on the later versions of after GBC :(

Also... NANCY DREW USES A MAC!!!

I waaaant (okay, in reality I want a personal titanium line powerbook cause I do design and stuff and you can double boot up Windows anywho) it...

I SUPPORT NANCY DREW.

Yes, yes I actually watched the movie darn it and it was NICE.

Aha. I had the old first-generation Gameboy (two of them; one for me, one for my sister). I played the heck out of Super Mario Land and Tetris. Wore out so many AA batteries.

I remember when the first "colour Game Boys" were released: they were still monochrome, but the cases were in colour. When the actual GBC came out, I was stunned, and wondered what Sega would do. (I also had the Game Gear, and its AA-chomping full-colour lighted screen. Six AA batteries in one shot!)

Didn't own any more handheld systems until my mp3 player broke (sister's cat knocked it to the floor, turned out Creative didn't support the model anymore), and I got a NDS Lite. I'm still surprised by how amazingly high-tech it is, even though I also have a PS2 and XBox. I suppose I'm just used to consoles being great bulky boxes.

I'm sticking with WinXP pretty much because it's easier for gaming. I know about Boot Camp, but I figure there's not a lot of point in having to sidestep the OS incompatibilities when I can just as easily just use Windows, especially since there's really nothing the Mac has which appeals to me enough to switch.

Besides, I have too much software which are Windows-only, and I don't want to have to buy the same thing again, but for Mac. I'm looking at you, Sony Vegas Movie Studio.

i just recently switched to a Macbook too because Microsoft is evil, I mean.. um... my old computer was in on a ventilator and there wasn't much hope in its recovery. I haven't switched to the Leopard yet but so far it seems really cool.

I need to upgrade my RAM. I've got all these movies that I've pira -- er, acquired over the years, and my laptop freakin' LAGS when I watch them. Urgh.

I wonder if Apple and IBM-Lenovo will ever have joint laptop-babies. The sleekness of the Macbook, with the indestructibility of the ThinkPad.

And just for kicks, a Linux OS thrown in.

Bwa ha ha.