English, anybody?

    Hi there. I am visiting Ulm for the summer semester and being a pen-and-paper RPG fun decided to research any local clubs and hobby stores. And thus I found Cubus.
    Problem is, I am not a native German speaker and have considerable difficulties speaking it. So I wonder whether there are any English-based games that I can participate in?
    My personal RPG portfolio is: D&D 1e/3.5, Call of Cthulhu, BRP, Eclips Phase, 40k: Black Crusade. Have a stable group where I have been DM'ing for almost 2 years now.
    Hope to hear from you!

    Hi, Azuregos!


    Welcome to Ulm and the Cubus Forum.


    Regarding english-based games I don't know of any regular group here in the Cubus Verein or at the University.


    There were some more or less one-shot oriented games, as I recall.


    If you have a webcam and a Google+ account, you could always find regular gaming groups for playing via Google+ Hangouts. Those are available all around the clock (in nearly every time zone there are several games running concurrently every day - so no problem to find one fitting to your personal time schedule considerations).


    I happen to play A LOT via Google+ Hangouts. I am currently gaming in four campaigns via Hangout, a german-speaking Savage Worlds fantasy campaign, a german-speaking Space 1889 campaign using the Ubiquity rules, an english-speaking Fate Core Space Opera campaign and an english speaking Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Cosmic Event campaign.


    If you prefer direct "face-to-face" gaming, I am sure that some one-shot gaming sessions could be provided by GMs of the Cubus Verein. But whether there will be sufficient demand for a regular english-speaking gaming group, I don't know. (Actually, during the Cold War in Ulm and Neu-Ulm we had quite a lot of US soldiers stationed here and there were a lot (mostly D&D) english-speaking gaming groups active. But that were the Good Old Days, I guess.)



    On the other hand: joining a gaming group where most of the table talk is in German - but probably using an english RPG system, so the rules talk would be in English - might actually help you improve your skills in the German language. - My spoken English was quite 'bumpy' as I am mostly writing in English and translating English texts, not so much leading a conversation in English. But the english-speaking campaigns via Google+ Hangout had the welcome side effect, that my spoken English became a bit more fluently. So, I guess, it might work out beneficial for you, too.



    Regarding games I regularly play, my GMing concentrates currently on: Savage Worlds, Marvel Heroic RPG, Leverage RPG, Barbarians of Lemuria, Cortex Plus games, Fate Core, Fate Accelerated Edition. - If there is a sufficient number of players for an english-speaking game that, I'll gladly offer to run at least a one-shot for you.

    Hello, Azuregos.


    I would be game for an English group, and some others might be, too. Since you list D&D1E - maybe something OSR-related? Cthulhu is also an option, there would be about three rules options for that by now.


    Dignitas is a likely candidate as well.

    Oliver, that sounds great! I had a very positive experience with Labyrinth Lord and look forward to old school D&D fun. And CoC is by far the greatest thing ever created in its genre. I am always availible on Mondays after 18.00 and would be thrilled to stop by for whatever time is necessary.
    So, looking forward to more newes from this thread!

    I've been thinking about this... An ongoing mini campaign would be a nice thing for Monday nights, where one person could GM per adventure. Dungeon World, Dungeonslayers or Dungeon Crawl Classics all would do nicely for such a campaign as they are not too rules-heavy and try to honor the spirit of old school D&D in their own ways.


    I'm not sure if we can get enough players - currently I would assume that we are three in total (you, Dignitas and I) if Dignitas would join us. Four would be the bare minimum. We could keep at least one slot open for others to drop in, though.

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    Count me - I'm just not yet sure if in or out... I'd like to join an English speaking group, but I will not play any game based on the d20 System. I have a personal issue with that one, and I do take it personal...


    Still, I'd call myself able to GM Space Pirates, 7th Sea and the "elderly" Storyteller games (old World of Darkness, Exalted, Trinity).

    Zitat von Oliver

    An ongoing mini campaign would be a nice thing for Monday nights, where one person could GM per adventure.

    You mean like "rotating the GM"? Every one would run one adventure, then the next one gets behind the screen?


    Is the intention of keeping it to one rules system or do you intend to "rotate" the rules systems, too?


    Dungeon World is an entirely different league as Dungeon Slayers and as Dungeon Crawl Classics. And all of them are significantly more complex than Old D&D in sheer rules volume and in system specific ideosyncrasies that each one of them would have to be well understood by the respective GM.


    Currently, it seems, that only you would be able to run all of them.


    If there is some interest I could offer to run Spears of the Dawn RPG. This is a new RPG based on the B/X D&D rules set, but set in a kind of fantasy Africa. It is intended for sandbox-gaming in a very old-school way. (Including the usual high mortality rate of PCs.)


    Labyrinth Lord would be an alternative for such a rotating GM game, too. - The rules are really easy to grasp, have quite a low volume of text to digest and are - as far as B/X D&D clones go - less "exotic" than DW, DS or DCC.


    I remember that we have discussed running a kind of "location based open campaign" for Labyrinth Lord using the city of Larm set by Moritz Mehlem. This is a kind of a "frontier city", situated in a region where adventurers come and go (and often come and die). Such a campaign could be a classical "drop in" campaign, characters are very quickly generated and new players would be good to go in only a couple of minutes.


    We could even cross the rules sets and run this as a kind of FLAILSNAILS game. Are you familiar with the FLAILSNAILS charta?

    Zitat von kyoshi

    Count me - I'm just not yet sure if in or out... I'd like to join an English speaking group, but I will not play any game based on the d20 System. I have a personal issue with that one, and I do take it personal...

    But do you have any objections to classical Old School D&D games?


    D20 is D&D 3E and later. - Old D&D games are very different in rules sets and - most importantly - in the outlook on gaming in general.


    Zitat von kyoshi

    Still, I'd call myself able to GM Space Pirates, 7th Sea and the "elderly" Storyteller games (old World of Darkness, Exalted, Trinity).


    If other gaming systems are OK for such an english speaking open gaming table, I could offer to run games based on the Savage Worlds rules - like Deadlands: Noir, Deadlands: Reloaded, Necropoiis 2350. Or games based on Cortex Plus rules - like Marvel Heroic Roleplay, Leverage RPG and some Conversions like Star Trek TOS. And, of course, Deadlands - The Weird West and Deadlands - Hell on Earth using the old, a bit more complex Classic rules, too.
    Regading other Fantasy RPGs I could offer to run Barbarians of Lemuria, a Sword&Sorcery RPG. This one is decidedly "non-D&D-like" and it emulates the tropes of pulp fantasy like Robert E. Howards Sword&Sorcery stories quite well.

    • Offizieller Beitrag
    Zitat von Zornhau

    But do you have any objections to classical Old School D&D games?


    Not at all. It's just d20 that has taken my miscredit. Maybe the game systems I offer give a hint: I like freedom and simplicity in my game systems. (Well, Hyperborea doesn't quite meet the freedom thing either, but at least it has some outstanding game 'mechanics' with the you-can-be-a-weapon-thing....)

    I have a counter-proposal that could be interesting for everyone. Instead of mini-campaign and switchable DMs we can simply embrace the old school legacy by running classic modules from B\X era. I'm talking about Ravenloft, Keep on the Borderlands, Tomb of Horrors, Against the Giants...those kind of classic masterpieces. That would surely be entertaining and not that taxing for the DM to prep. And any OSR product will do, be it Labyrinth Lord, OSRIC or DCC. I done it in the past and it was a blast! Although it does require old-school thinking from players sometimes and a passion for dungeon crawl style of play.
    On the other half, Call of Cthulhu is another good-to-go system with innumerable classic one-shots that rely heavily on roleplay and player's dedication.
    It is sometimes funny to interchange those two beasts and admire the results. :)


    So, that is just a thought to discuss. I personally would be glad to participate as a player and as a DM for that kind of games or any other for that matter. Although It would be difficult for me to jump right in as a DM, so I would prefer to start as a player first, if that is ok with you.


    Kyoshi, d20 is something a lot of people don' like for it's bulkiness and it is a complete opposite of what old-school D&D/CoC is with it's simplistic rules-light framework. I think you will not be dissapointed.

    I deleted my last answer because we cross-posted, Azuregos.


    Yes, that is certainly a good idea and I can imagine it to be fun. I would be open to that. DCC is something some of us wanted to explore, for example.

    Zitat von Azuregos

    I have a counter-proposal that could be interesting for everyone. Instead of mini-campaign and switchable DMs we can simply embrace the old school legacy by running classic modules from B\X era. I'm talking about Ravenloft, Keep on the Borderlands, Tomb of Horrors, Against the Giants...those kind of classic masterpieces. That would surely be entertaining and not that taxing for the DM to prep. And any OSR product will do, be it Labyrinth Lord, OSRIC or DCC. I done it in the past and it was a blast! Although it does require old-school thinking from players sometimes and a passion for dungeon crawl style of play.


    I would REALLY like to play Keep on the Borderlands or the Against the Giant series again (more than 20 years later than I've last played one of those classic modules).
    Tomb of Horrors not so much, because - as I remember - this one is a KILLER. No, really! A KILLER!


    Ravenloft I've actually never played - so that would be an entirely new experience for me.


    I like this idea very much! - Though I wouldn't use DCC or DW or DS for playing those old modules, instead I'd prefer some real D&D clone like LL or others. (Even LotFP is not that "congruent" to Old D&D as LL.)

    Unfortunately, I was unable to find someone here in my somewhat limited social circle. But it seems that we do have a positive outlook from at least two other members here (Zornhau and kyoshi) so things look quite promising.

    Hello,


    I moved to Ulm a couple of months ago and I am also looking for a RPG group.

    So, if you need people you can count me in. I come from d20 but I am open to any kind of proposal.

    Hey, Page.


    Thanks for bringing this back up. I'm currently prepping a DCC adventure for my Tuesday group, we can also play it in the club. DCC was made to play D20 adventure a bit more the old school way.


    This Monday I will finish up with jcorporation's Hollow Earth adventure, i assume. Dignitas, who also professed interest in an English group, is busy on Monday for at least after the 22nd. But from my point of view we're hitting the minimum to get going.


    Dignitas - how is your availability on non-Mondays? Maybe we can kick something off in a pub instead of at the club. (The club facilities are currently only available on Monday nights.)