Category Archives: Role Playing

RPG a Day: A Whole Month’s Worth of Gaming!

A bit late to post, but a similar family emergency as detailed here has cropped up. While we are all shaken, we persevere and make the necessary changes to our life as needed. I will not be putting my weekly posts on hiatus as I dearly need this hobby of mine for stress relief, but I cannot cast aside any chance of troubles meeting my schedule in the future. Things happen, and while we are making every preventative effort we can, more may yet happen.

That being said, this was a delight to take part in and to share and relive my personal gaming stories. Much is copied from my personal posts on Google Plus, which you can still find on my profile, but there is much that was lost or not included that I stuffed in here! I hope you enjoy and find yourself reminiscing upon your own gaming (mis)adventures!

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One: First RPG Played
That would be Rifts by Palladium Books, and I was 17. My Dad was the DM, he had just gotten honorably discharged from the US Navy and he was looking to spend some time reconnecting with me, so he dug out his old copies and we spent about 4 hours going through character creation! My fiancé (now my Husband) was there, too, and while he had played Dungeons and Dragons throughout school, he’d never heard of Rifts and got sucked into it, too. I played a Freeborn Dog-Boy (played in the style of an Operator O.C.C. who specializes in mechanics), and my fiancé played a human Wilderness Scout.

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The campaign stretched on for a few weeks through nightly sessions, we’d gotten to level 14 or so, until finally Dad devised a player killer ending. We were up against an army of Coalition skelebots, tanks, towers, deathhead transports, SAMAS suits; it was very much meant to end the campaign. While my fiance and the rest of the party were taking down a good amount of baddies with some well timed explosions and great shots, I climbed up a tower with my gigantic wrench, taking pieces off as I went along, until I finally reached the point where I could hack into the terminals. Dad is the type of DM who operates on the belief that anything is possible, even if it’s incredibly unlikely (I got this DM style from him.) I had to succeed at two separate pencentile rolls (with a maxed out skill) and roll really well for both of them.

I somehow managed to do it. Then I used the tower to destroy the other defenses and take out droves of baddies, paving the way for a surprise success with my other powerful party members. Dad ended the campaign there because he was not only sick of the campaign itself, but also because he didn’t want to figure out experience. We went out and ordered a book from our local game store within the week and we’ve been playing ever since.
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Toon Tuesday: Sonic the Dog-Boy Navy “Sea Dog” (Rifts)

I know I’ve already done a Dog-Boy, but the Coalition Navy sourcebook offers a vastly different take on them, and I haven’t done many pro-CS characters, so I thought I’d add another to the list. I’ve actually written an entire team of CS Navy operatives before, including two Sea Dogs, which was a lot of fun to build, but this is an entirely new character to enjoy. The Rifts universe needs more Dog-Boys! Please note, there were some minor additions and swaps here or there, typically in skill percentages, due to errors in the text; I did my best guess at the intended scores. Enjoy.

Game: Palladium Books’ Rifts RPG
Books Needed: Rifts Ultimate Edition and Rifts Sourcebook 4: Coalition Navy.
Recommended Setting: Coalition or CS Navy campaign, works especially well around water and with human characters.

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'I've found the bomb, buy me thirty, no twenty seconds to disarm it and then take him out.' - Sonic the Sea Dog

General Information
Nickname: Sonic Sarah
Exp. Level: One
Experience Table: Dog-Boy
R.C.C.: Dog-Boy (Newfoundland)
O.C.C.: Navy “Sea Dog”
Alignment: Scrupulous
Invoke Trust/Intimidate: 75%
Charm/Impress: Not applicable.
Health Points: 35 (+1D6/lvl)
S.D.C.: 48 (+1D6/lvl)
M.D.C.: Not applicable.
P.P.E.: 12 (Permanent.)
I.S.P.: 59 (+10/lvl)
Chi: Not applicable.
Horror Factor: Not applicable.

Stats
IQ: 12
ME: 19
MA: 23
PS: 20 (Lift/Carry: 1600/800 lbs)
PP: 14
PE: 25
PB: 13
SPD: 40 (Run: 28 mph, Digging: 6)
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Toon Tuesday: Big Ted the Larmac Saloon Bum (Rifts)

Ah, Larmac, the “lazy lizards”! I do so love the reptilian races. Anyway, I’ve swapped out the O.C.C. skills Dance and Sing for Gambling and Gambling: Dirty Tricks as the skills make more sense that way, also, the text has a mistake, offering Dance twice in two lines. This is subject to DM approval, obviously, and if not allowed, it will be Dance +20% and Sing +10%. Enjoy this unmotivated lump!

Game: Palladium Books’ Rifts RPG
Books Needed: Rifts Ultimate Edition, Rifts World Book 30: D-Bees of North America, and Rifts World Book 14: New West.
Recommended Setting: New West will provide the best use for his talents, but he could really be a part of any average adventuring group or gang (evil or good, provided he has a reason to stay) and can travel through extreme environments with ease.

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'Yeah, so I got 'im held up by 'is shirt an- what the grack?! You spilled my beer! You're gonna pay for that with yer teeth!' - Big Ted

General Information
Nickname: Big Ted
Exp. Level: One
Experience Table: Saloon Bum
R.C.C.: Larmac
O.C.C.: Saloon Bum
Alignment: Anarchist
Invoke Trust/Intimidate: Not applicable.
Charm/Impress: Not applicable.
Health Points: 24 (+1D6/lvl)
S.D.C.: Not applicable.
M.D.C.: 53 (+2D4/lvl)
P.P.E.: 3 (Permanent.)
I.S.P.: Not applicable.
Chi: Not applicable.
Horror Factor: 12, unless Larmacs are known to them.

Stats
IQ: 8
ME: 9
MA: 10
PS: 35 (Equivalent to Robot Strength, Lift/Carry: 1750/875 lbs)
PP: 13
PE: 24
PB: 5 (By human standards.)
SPD: 11 (Run: 7.5 mph)
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