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View Full Version : play groups' profile (players rather than characters)



Kol Korran
2012-05-24, 06:15 AM
So i've been thinking- at times we saw some threads come up, detailing characters and so on. But i am curious as to who are the players, the real life groups themselves. i know of only very few groups in my immediate area, and mostly in my age range. it might be interesting to see what groups are there around the world, no?

hopefully others might be interested as well. i'll Start

Location: Israel, near Tel Aviv.
Age range: low to mid 30s.
How long has it been running: about 3 years i think?
Main system/s: mostly D&D 3.5, with quite a few rule changes. 2 also play shadowrun on occasion.
Frequency of games: it used to be about once every 3 weeks, but lately we're having real problems, meeting only every 5-6 weeks.
Average session's length: about 7 hours. climactic meetings (a few) can reach 9-10 hours.
Gaming style: fairly relaxed, focus on high action and roleplay interaction. we skip over/ make up rules when in the sake of speeding things up.
What makes it special: the people of course, and the fact that we're still playing and having fun. most groups at our ages break up far sooner. i guess we're doing something right
Players

Smiling Mr. Zen: worked at various management jobs, has a wife and 2 kids and leave in a most beautiful little country settlement. very relaxed, always smiling (sometimes infuriatingly), likes aesthetics and realism in his game. currently the DM in a short adventure (see sig), when he is a player he chooses varied roles, but all must be aesthetically pleasing. when DMing he tends to be quite challenging. also has quite nice photoshop skills that can come in handy.
the book keeper, Sir gallant: yours truly, a med student after a long disease. i'm the more engaged member of thr group, keeping notes, updating the group's site, and reminding people of who and what. i have DMed the previous campaign (see sig), and will DM the next in about 2 more sessions. i as a DM i'm very high on preparation (though i learn to improvise better), and as a player i always seem to roleplay a sort of paladin-ish character, though not in a stuck up way (hopefully)
The actor: a guy working in computers, and is quite an activist for animal rights (raises a few disabled animals). he has some training as an actor and brings it to the games beautifully. complex characters, fun characters, and the worst luck with dice. the dice quite hate him... he is partly an optimizer, but mostly on characters that are limited some way (haven't chose tier 1-2 classes). also DMs the shadow run game, in which i sometime play.
The Bastard: a lawyer with a wife and small kid. heavy smoker (leaves the room when ever he needs to smoke) and a hoot at the table. usually plays characters with some similarity to Belkar (though he never read the comic). he seeks to insert some spice to the game, often in the form of some inter party conflict. unlike Belkar- he knows when too much is too much. quite a heavy optimizer, but doesn't overshadow the party.
The fan: a pharmacist, married to the next player. known most of Joss Whedon's works by heart, and quite knowledgeable about other various works of fiction. tends to choose play either heavy brutes, or charming women. has even worse luck in dice than the actor, with every so often a great roll. takes a less active roll in the roleplaying on a whole, but his contributions are welcomed.
The new player: wife of the above player, a recent addition to the group (4 sessions) . she's a vet assistant, and totally new to gaming, though like her husband, she has some knowledge of the genre. so far she plays a half orc honorable warrior type, but seh seemed a bit overwhelmed. we're trying to ease her into the game, but do not know if she'll continue with us.

For the really interested
Current game synopsis: the characters got stuck in a snowy valley, with a strange illness affecting the only village. they try to figure it out, and figure themselves out. (for more check my sig. began with a crash)
Major influencing rules: players role all the dice, including monsters rolls and so on. improved our game incredibly.
- also, we don't grant XP by monsers killed, but by accomplishment, which some thinks makes the game better, some less.
- also, we don't play with missing players (which may explain partially our low frequency of games): too much of a hassle to control the other, and more importantly- too much of the interaction is lost with a player missing.
Snacks: nothing special, soft drinks and isreali equivlanet of ptato chips and the like. sometime people bake cakes and so on.
Game aids: we use a well worn erasable battle grid and miniatures, as many do. i started using soundtracks to sessions i DM, while the Zen guy loves to use pictures of who and what we see. i plan to use that too in the following campaign.
- out group also uses a PBworks site to either document the sessions and other stuff. the one for the next campaign is growing nicely with setting and rules info.

i hope this covers most things people MIGHT be interested in. if you think other things should be added, let me know. i'll love to hear what sort of groups are out there! :smallsmile: