AVALON
My 11 year old is ready for role playing, but the idea of starting a low level DnD Campaign bores me to tears. Last night on nightshift surfing ebay for out-of-print RPGs I worked out what to do - "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other strangeness" by Palladium had a heap of rad expansion books, one was Avalon, like Arthurian Britain but with anthropomorphic animals instead of people. I don't know if it had magic but this campaign will.
The 11 year old wants to be a ninja fox (he loves Star Fox Adventures on Game Cube) the 4 year old an echidna (standing up on his hind legs, with little arms holding a bow and arrow. Maybe he should use his own quills for ammo?) and the wife a wizard owl who lives up in a fully furnished tree house out in the deep forest (she refused to let me name the character "Barny".) The first NPC that came to mind is a rhino blacksmith with a huge gut who brews his own beer - he can repair and manufacture items but roll first to see if he's passed out drunk. The Royal Knights are rabbits and field mice or whatever, everyone is relative in size - mice hobbit size, rhino ogre size, etc.
The idea of a humanoid echidna decked out in a broadsword, huge shield and custom heavy medieval armour really works for me. Everyone wants to start playing immediately, but I haven't got the rulebooks yet... I've worked out some twists that could carry this campaign for years.
Any ideas suggestions or feedback please let me know. I'll use TMNT or the 2nd edition called After the Bomb (ATB was originally just a TMNT expansion, the 2nd edition was renamed due to lapsed licensing agreement) the combat system is OK and quick and easy, but I think I'll throw in parrying from Stormbringer for swordfights, and at this stage I think I'll just use the spell system from ADnD, sparingly. (Start with a 1st level spell, any more you'll need to find a scroll, copy it into your spell book and study it.)
What do you reckon?
The 11 year old wants to be a ninja fox (he loves Star Fox Adventures on Game Cube) the 4 year old an echidna (standing up on his hind legs, with little arms holding a bow and arrow. Maybe he should use his own quills for ammo?) and the wife a wizard owl who lives up in a fully furnished tree house out in the deep forest (she refused to let me name the character "Barny".) The first NPC that came to mind is a rhino blacksmith with a huge gut who brews his own beer - he can repair and manufacture items but roll first to see if he's passed out drunk. The Royal Knights are rabbits and field mice or whatever, everyone is relative in size - mice hobbit size, rhino ogre size, etc.
The idea of a humanoid echidna decked out in a broadsword, huge shield and custom heavy medieval armour really works for me. Everyone wants to start playing immediately, but I haven't got the rulebooks yet... I've worked out some twists that could carry this campaign for years.
Any ideas suggestions or feedback please let me know. I'll use TMNT or the 2nd edition called After the Bomb (ATB was originally just a TMNT expansion, the 2nd edition was renamed due to lapsed licensing agreement) the combat system is OK and quick and easy, but I think I'll throw in parrying from Stormbringer for swordfights, and at this stage I think I'll just use the spell system from ADnD, sparingly. (Start with a 1st level spell, any more you'll need to find a scroll, copy it into your spell book and study it.)
What do you reckon?
posted by stompbox at 6/23/2005 02:27:00 pm
6 Comments:
Firstly I think you're a sad fucking nerd. But thats hardly news so I'll move on.
My experience with this stuff IS admitadly small I played some AD&D & some Cyberpunk, so I can't comment too much on how things should work. however I think it's a great idea.
Barny is a must, thats the funniest shit I've heard all day.
However how are the kids going to cope when their beloved characters get taken out by a giant flaming ogre?
is it worth making a 'youre not actually dead, go to bed & come back next week' rule. or is that already implied.
btw - you said anthropomorphic.
LOL
The only other thing I'd say is that half your audience is under 12. are they really goign to have the patience to find a spell, copy it learn it etc....
Maybe you need to lighten up on teh rules a bit & just make shit up as you go along a bit more. (I assume you're going to be GM) Dad I want to do this.
Errr ok, roll the dice.... sweet you did it.
The 4 year old will follow his brother's lead and get to roll dice a lot. Then he'll lose interest and wander off, or just listen to the story. The wife will often be an NPC, her character is the only one with magic. The game will revolve mainly around the 11 year old, and he'll be fine. Lots of stealth, martial arts and ninja fun.
It'll be more about getting his imagination going in a Wind in the Willows meets Lord of the Rings anime style epic. The younger one will grow into it, and the older one will be primed for other games when he gets a bit older.
I have to get these rulebooks, the kids are nagging me relentlessly.
OK, here's the drill
Echidna's spines are a pain in the ass to draw
& a proper ninja mask makes a fox's face look like a pile of dirty washing.
I think Foxy McRoxy will either go for a karate kid style headband or the TMNT style reverse out ninja mask (superhero mask)
preference?
My moneys on the kids going for the Kato style mask
now, how to justify a shaved echidna
Slight change of line-up, for the better I reckon. The 11 yo is now a goanna, with corked akubra (at his request) and a boomerang. The little bloke is still an echidna. They have an NPC koala, and possibly other marsupials. My wife is still a barn owl, Australian also.
Still set in Avalon (fantasy mediavel Britain), the party are adventurer dudes.
I can make the figures in lightwave and have them printed as resin models, costs a little but not prohibitive. The echidna spines would be added later. Might do them one at a time as presents.
This stuff is all anyone's talking about at my house.
oh man, does this mean the NPC rhino is out?
he was going to be awesome.
Rhino guy (Rhudi) is totally in, he is an important NPC for the group. He can forge weapons, repair shit, fence or buy found treasure, get them work, and when you need heavy melee support, nothing beats a rhino in full plate armour swinging a tree. He could also be used as artillery support - that motherfucker could carry a seige catapult on his shoulder.
I think he likes them, and giving him a cut of their haul keeps him liking them. He in turn keeps them geared up and in work. If they're out working he can stay working at the forge drinking beer. When I grow up I want to be a rhino.
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