Returning player/GM to Palladium

[xandarr2000]

I, like many of you, was an avid gamer during the late 80's early 90's of palladium products. I ran several Robotech campaigns. quite a few TMNT campaigns and I gobbled up rifts products even though I was never able to find a group to game with due to my being in the military. Now, at 40 years old, I am a disabled Vet, unable to get around very well nor drive. This has pretty much negated my ability to roleplay like I use to. Recently however my children have expressed interest, and they are exceptionally bright kiddos, both having skipped grades and being much smarter then their old man (a factor I attribute to their mother entirely) After much research, my son and I really just feel like the Megaverse of palladium really has everything we want in terms of variety. So I pulled out my old TMNT/After the Bomb stuff, All 30 of the various rifts books, my Palladium Fantasy stuff, heroes unlimited etc. I instantly felt overwhelmed. I realized it had been SOOOOOO long since I had played or GMed, I had no earthly clue where to start. So I began looking around and saw that some folks do online games, and figured this would be a great place to wet my beak, but I cannot seem to figure out where to begin. I did not see anything other then a robotech game on Roll20, I am not sure if I am just missing out here or there really is a secret meeting place for online Palladium games. Any and all suggestions will be happily received. I just want to get back in the swing of things so that I can perhaps one day host my own games again, but im looking for a bit of hand holding as I break back into the process.

To help out a bit I will list off the products I own

Palladium Fantasy RPG 2nd Edition
Palladium Weapons/armor/castles compendium
Dragons and Gods
Monsters and Animals
The Old Ones
Adventures on the High Seas
Adventures in the Northern Wilderness
Further Adventures in the Northern Wilderness

Full run of After the Bomb/TMNT products

Beyond the Supernatural

Ultimate rifts Handbook
Rifts Gamemasters Handbook
Rifts Magic book
Aliens Unlimited
All world books through #20

Robotech RPG 2nd edition (small manga sized version)
Macross sourcebook

I am quite sure I am missing something but I have a decent enough set to get started with, I just havent touched some of them in almost 20 years. I have gone ahead and started buying the products again and next month I am planning on adding in the other Palladium Fantasy books, since that is more my kind of thing.

So my question is, as a gamer, if you were handicapped and could not get around, where would you look to find a game online? Can you run a decent game with just 2 players and a GM. I realize these questions may be redundant but I suffered some brain trauma so for lack of a way to put it, my old memories of running palladium are gone for the most part. I am learning from scratch. Thank you in advance for any suggestions

Chris

[Bill]

So my question is, as a gamer, if you were handicapped and could not get around, where would you look to find a game online? Can you run a decent game with just 2 players and a GM. I realize these questions may be redundant but I suffered some brain trauma so for lack of a way to put it, my old memories of running palladium are gone for the most part. I am learning from scratch. Thank you in advance for any suggestions

Chris

Hi Chris! To answer your questions; I would check RPOL for online games, and yes you can run some great sessions for just two players and yourself. The trick to the latter is to not set up detailed challenges in advance so much as situations for the players to deal with. Let their decisions guide your storytelling and you'll keep them engaged for years. So, rather than decide in advance that the players must kill all of the badguys (or other specific end goal) to succeed in the adventure, you set up the scenario and ask the players how they want to deal with it. Then riff off of their ideas to let them achieve success with the resources that they have. It's a really good way to run games in general, but especially good with kids because every scene becomes a teachable moment. You can ask them to think through the pros and cons of their strategy before executing it and process what happened after.

[Jerell]

That advice is full of win. Well stated.

Roll 20 seems to be fairly popular to run on-line games on these days...

[xandarr2000]

You know I found one game advertised on Roll20's group finder that was for robotech, same thing on OPL. Which prompts me to ask is there some section of the forums I am missing where people post online games? I am perusing them as well but quite a lot to read. I am looking specifically to sneak into a rifts or fantasy game.

[kiralon]

There's a decent list of player finders here
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?372 ... er-Finders

[Prysus]

I have gone ahead and started buying the products again and next month I am planning on adding in the other Palladium Fantasy books, since that is more my kind of thing.

So my question is, as a gamer, if you were handicapped and could not get around, where would you look to find a game online? Can you run a decent game with just 2 players and a GM. I realize these questions may be redundant but I suffered some brain trauma so for lack of a way to put it, my old memories of running palladium are gone for the most part. I am learning from scratch. Thank you in advance for any suggestions

Chris

Greetings and Salutations. For finding an online game ... I guess my question to you is: Are you looking just to watch/lurk and get a feel for other people's styles? Or do you actually want to play? Many find the latter ideal, but it really depends on your goal. Sometimes people have limited time for one, and if you're also planning to run a game for your kids that could get time consuming (for some). Also, just watching can sometimes let you analyze the situation better as opposed to getting personally invested.

Also, you should figure out what kind of online game you're looking for. The main three I can think of are: Chat, Play by Post (PbP), and Play by E-mail (PbEm). Each has a different feel, and you'd have to decide which one works best for you. Chat games probably move at the best pace and (in my opinion) closest to a table top game, but requires everyone to meet up at the same time (which many find difficult). Chat games can be further broken down into voice chat (using programs such as Skype) and text based (using standard chat rooms). Play by Post games are good if you just want to be able to make a post when you're able (I'd recommend planning to make at least a small post a couple times a week). This is great for people with limited time or with odd schedules (which makes meeting up with others difficult). Play by E-mail ... honestly, I can't tell you much about this one. I don't know anyone who's actually used it (but I thin it's similar to the PbP option).

A few options off the top of my head include:

Lurking (voice chat): There's a PF game (and you said that's more your thing) on Twitch TV. Great way just to watch some other people game. You can find out more details here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=148287

Lurking (chat room): The Forums of the Megaverse also has a chat room. Last time I checked, a game is run there most nights. Feel free to check it out and lurk. If a game is in progress though, please be courteous and don't interrupt with questions. Save them until the game is over or in a break. If you know a game is going to happen in one of the rooms but don't have time to watch, you can always log-in, lurk in the room, and then just read the logs when you return (hopefully you don't get logged out in that time). You can find a link on the main Palladium Books website.

In addition, if you're looking to lurk on a PbP game, or join a game, always feel free to check out the Game Room Announcements (and also the Gamers Looking for Other Gamers) section right on these forums. You might be able to find a game to join or see something you want to at least lurk in.

Hopefully some of that helps. If you decide to investigate in a certain area more (such as chat based games, or PbP games, etc.) and those links don't help, I might be able to provide more useful links once you narrow down the field for me. Of course, the other sites and tips provided in this thread are also quite useful. Thank you for your time and patience, please have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys for now.

[xandarr2000]

Thanks for the information. Brushing up now, and been listening to the twitch broadcast. It sure sounded like a lot of fun!

[Dark]

For Palladium specific gaming I would suggest considering the site Explorers Unlimited as well.

A thread discussing play there by current players is here in the Pally Forums. viewtopic.php?f=29&t=147971