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I Forge Iron

The RPG connection, or "blacksmithing, the game"


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offten we gripe and grouch about the "kids" who try to bring World of warcraft or other "RPG's". But how many of us are old school Gammers (who think RPG means dice, coffee stained rule books and setting across from some real people)? 

Figured after hijacking the sword desighner thread, that I dont seem to be the only one that stole mom's hair drier at 12 and tried to take take forging? 

 

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Oh I don't care that kids want to play games and their games are on a level I'm probably too petrified to even be cannon fodder. My only gripe is when the poor sprouts try to apply game rules to the real world and expect steel to honor their experience points.

Uh, about sitting across a table from real people, when's the waitress going to show? I don't have any way to speed service up since I quit smoking. WAIT, you're not talking about us old codgers here are you? Or do you have a very different definition of "across a table" from mine?

Uh, Mother had a new hair drier when I snuck that one out to the . . . forge is such a presumptuous name for that set up. I wish I still had that hair drier, it had a plastic hair bag, hose and a counter top power unit. That puppy put out serious air volume on high and was adjustable so low it'd barely blow out a candle for setting color, bleaches, perm, etc. without drying them out. And hot was HOT.

Do you remember what those old hair products smelled like!? Oh man better than mace for getting the menfolk out of the house!

Okay, back on topic. Unlike the younguns we're not trying to make comp games apply to real blacksmithing, weapons, war and looting. We're planning on bringing those delightful pursuits to the internet. Yes?

Frosty The Lucky.

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fairly recently I was talking to a fellow designing a game who wanted to know about swordmaking; but he didn't like it when I pointed out that the folks who smelted the iron/steel were not the folks who forged it and heat treated it and the forgers didn't do hilts and the hilters didn't do scabbards...much like a traditional japanese sword is still made: each task has its expert with the tools and training and *EXPERIENCE* in doing their part.  I lost interest when he told me the whole sequence had to fit into 6 hours---doesn't even give you time to dry out the bloomery furnace! (which took several hours to build with a trained team...)

More interesting was the designer who wanted to work out how a water living fur bearing race prone to overheating could forge steel. We came up with some workable ideas I think

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Good Morning,

Thank You very much, I just learned something. Maybe Eye Kan nowe liv inn tha tweeny somting McCenchury.

RPG = Role Playing Game. Knot tha grenade McLauncher.

Now Eye feel so much badder!!!

I always played with real life skills, People, Business, Tax Departments, Liars (Lawyers), Knumber Crunchers, Real Hunting (with real Guns), Reel Fishing (not uncommon for the fish to get away), Fire and the Hottest stuff you can't hold, Being clocked by the RCMP at 240KPH, throwing it sideways into a corner and not getting a ticket (I race cars on Frozen Lakes). I guess I have led a Boring Life, no Risk involved. Maybe I should grow up, KNOTTTT!!!!

The Real thing is WAAAY better than sitting on your toosh.:D:D

Neil

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Well, I suppose it is just like they say, you can learn something every day! I just did and it isn't even 7am here yet. Thanks Neil:D 

Charles, I was thinking that you might have tried to 'join two RPG 7's ' and had found some 'new game' that made shooting anvil seem tame:P

We had some American tourists participate in a 'new game' at a game park about 20 minutes from my home, its the 'stop your car right next to lions and open the window to get a better picture game'  better yet your family  then get to want the park to put down the lioness .

 

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offten we gripe and grouch about the "kids" who try to bring World of warcraft or other "RPG's". But how many of us are old school Gammers (who think RPG means dice, coffee stained rule books and setting across from some real people)? 

Figured after hijacking the sword desighner thread, that I dont seem to be the only one that stole mom's hair drier at 12 and tried to take take forging? 

 

​My first response to "RPG" was also an image of one of the original "Wolverines" taking out the Cuban invaders with a repurposed RPG. That was probably my first introduction to them and it still pops up in my mind. Coincidentally is also about the same time that I started playing the RPG's that you were talking about, that should qualify as old school.

But no coffee stained rule books in my case. For me it was flashlights and an overcrowded tent out in the woods late at night, I started playing when I was in the scouts about 30yrs ago. Usually started out at a table under a tarp. Then would migrate to a tent after lights out. No less than six kids crammed into a 2 man cabin style tent, that would actually cave in if someone tripped over a guy line. After a day of camp activities in the summer heat, it was usually quite odiferous. Only one or two of us were actually half way serious about D&D and most of the time was spent "creating" characters for people that wanted to play. I use the term "creating" loosely, all my characters were awesome, I've never been that luck rolling dice. ;) Never did any blacksmithing/bladesmithing though, wanted to but just didn't happen, as close as we got was making "swords" out of sticks or switches and beating the crap out of each other. Good times.

Still got my trapper keeper full of my characters and the Basic and Expert rule books and a module or two, and my old pouch with most of my dice.

Flash forward 30 yrs  and my kid basically plays the same kind of games, minus the dice and books, and wants to make swords and armor. So here I am finally. Thanks internet. ;)

 

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Well, I figured that we probbably should start a proper thread in the proper catogory, first. Lol.

as to Glenn, a little bird told me he is pretty close to swamped with work, pojects and the joy if having the web hosting company graciusly "upgrade" the server os at will. With email, text and chat the comunication isues are well coverd, unless y'all want to be spectators. Lol.

The old school RPG's started out as a combination of tactical board games (table top minitures) and "role playing" used in psycolagy. Ah what college students get up to...

belive me, I am an adrinilen junky, lol, raced 3 wheelers 250r with a 300 kit) and other "safe and sane things" so setting around with my nurdy friends wasnt all I did growing up.

yes, I remember the old hairdriers, unfortunantly I never scored one, the one I "liberated" had a crome body, and a black plastic grip with a wide base so it sat up rite. In this electronic age, but with out cheap, reliable telepotation i dont see many of us to acualy have the chance to set down and meet, much less play face to face.

in my experiance, you go threw a lot of characters in any "good" game, lol. That is what was a PITA about Traveler, took so long to make a character, and one ship to ship combat and you and your budies were making more characters... 

Soent more time in character generation than playing, lol

Edited by Charles R. Stevens
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Have you seen "the Gamers, Dorkness Rising" where a fellow has his employees roll up several hundred bards for him as he loses them very quickly indeed.  It's a sequal to the original movie the Gamers; unfortunately there are a number of different ones with that title...

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Geeze, I can see I'm a real neophyte gamer. I've only gotten to play Traveler a couple times and those were at public invitation games at a local college. The guys I regularly played with weren't into Sci fi. We played D & D but that was maybe once or twice a month.

I am SOOOOO behind the times I should just lurk and maybe pick up a little. (failed my know diddly roll. sigh)

Frosty The Lucky.

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Oh, you wont get off that easy Master Frost! Some of us get crazy and do this you are going to be in the middle of this! Lots of systems out there, scifi, sci fantasy, space opera, fantasy, fuzion, superheros, horrer etc. heck I even share the copy right on some home grown mechanics and compleat systems. My suggestion is to let the GM roll, and just play the game as a story generated game. Tho internet comunication gives the GM more time one still needs to ballance reality modeling (yes that is still important in a fantasy game) and playability. My suggestion would be to alow the GM to chose a shstem he is familiar with, be it Traveler, GURPS, Hero syatem, Any of the D&D veriants or even White wolf (they handle magic and such very well) the point is their are a lot of systems, but a good GM can make anything work, even a system writen down on the back of a napkin after 15 min of brainstorming (been there, played it). The thing about rules is it can be fun to try to min/max and exploit them, but as one gets older or more experianced it becomes about the story, and playing the character.

lol, sorry. Got of on a tangent. 

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DM rolls, I vote aye. How much time do I get to read up on whatever system we decide on? Some of the best games we ever played were sitting around a campfire, Baileys and coffee without dice and drawing maps with sticks in the dirt. We called it Campin and Dragons. One of the guys tried making dice by marking round sticks but we decided we liked a simple coins toss if it was necessary.

We donned our characters and told the story as it went. Great times. I'm up for an online version whatever we play.

Frosty The Lucky.

Edited by Frosty
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If we follow Frosty 's route ie. No dice but lashings of booze it'll be fun if somewhat nonsensical, and those that find themselves in ''medicinal'' states could play whilst listening to 'The Devil went down  to Jamaica ' by The Muppets, fun indeed.

Edited by ianinsa
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4 sided dies make better pile rug caltrops than even legos do...

​I see I'm not the only one that has happened to.    LOL   :lol:

 

Nothing beats jacks for that though. The blend right in and disappear. A handful of jacks tossed negligently across a shag rug and no one is crossing that at any speed in bare feet.

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