I (kind of) made a HL2 TTRPG and I need more people to play it with

vtipoman

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As the title says: A few months ago I got the urge to run something based in the HL2 universe. Did some looking and asking and ended up at a minimalistic RPG engine/framework called 24XX. Given it's CC BY 4.0 (thank you Jason Tocci!), I decided to take it, throw some HL2 stuff on top and give it a shot. About a week ago I finally got myself to stop rewriting and use the current version instead.



Disclaimer: I tried to keep it vanilla-esque with some inspiration taken from Alyx and HL2RP. I know I'm not as good at writing this stuff as a lot of you here though, so don't expect it to be great. Also, I'm not a game designer and the current version is both WIP and untested, so it might be a bit rough as an RPG as well (most of the rules on pages 2-3 are taken straight from Tocci, just as is the general structure of character creation). I'll keep updating this thread as I make changes.

Finally, I've changed the Valve names and terms around. I trust you will be able to figure out what is what, haha. I'll send over the edited version should you decide to play with us, though. (some of the changes aren't the best, I know)

Link To The Game



As for the specific game I'm running:
Structure: A Discord server for voice calls, a bot for rolling. Somewhat open table. Your spot will be reserved until you leave the group, but there won’t be expectations on how long you’ll stick around + I’ll try to keep the sessions self-contained.

Date/time: Every other Saturday, (around) 18:30 CEST, starting this week (16.4.2022).

Players: 3/3 (eventually maybe out of 4)

Content: Half-Life 2 Resistance missions, both violent and quiet. Focus on building up bases and stockpiles, helping civilians and so on, but plenty of action and danger in order to do so. Characters can die easily, but this should be somewhat offset with overpowered healing options. Depictions of combat and violence, some light (body) horror with the zombies.

Notes: Rather inexperienced GM, though hopefully I’ll be able to keep the game enjoyable and improve along the way. This is also my first time running/testing the hack, so do expect some jank and changes. Newcomers to RPGs welcome, the rules are pretty simple, too.

Interested?: Send me a DM :grinning:
 
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vtipoman

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First session over, and man, I've had lots of fun
Not that my work on the system or GMing were special in any way (or even all that great), but I genuinely enjoyed the way the underlying framework worked, the HL2 setting and the company of the players, I'm genuinely excited about GMing now

The two characters (who I really like already) learned of an outgoing comms outage and got an assignment to check on a late supply run from a base up north, traveled down some tunnels, emerged above ground and found that the earth under the second waypoint (a storage garage type place) caved in. Despite noticing houndeyes creeping around, they went around the hole to check a nearby abandoned bag. The scouting houndeye let out a signal and the rest of its pack had the remaining floor collapse. There was a battle with the buggers that the characters emerged from unharmed (me insisting the houndeyes stop and charge up before attacking attributed to that, haha), then they went on to look for corpses (survivors) of the previous houndeye attack/battle. Because of their amazing survival/exploration rolls, I had them find two of them still alive, and a medical roll later, both were relatively okay. In the end, returning with most of the supplies (half of the MedVials were smashed) and 2/3 lost rebels still alive earned them some actual respect at the base, too.
There were also some nice character moments between them and the base/cell leader and them and the quartermaster.
 

vtipoman

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Just a small update for anyone that comes across the thread in the future: (sorry for the necropost!)

The group's still running (I'll edit this post when it disbands completely), so if anyone becomes interested, shoot me a DM to see if there's currently room + how the focus of the game's shifted. I won't be editing the original post much, besides updating the rules.

Nearly two decades after the first Portal Storms, the Combine continues to maintain an iron grip on Earth’s remaining populations. Each “Citizen” regarded only for their usefulness to the alien entity, those who refuse to assimilate are overworked and mistreated. The rest, featureless legions of masked figures, work diligently to carry out the will of the occupiers, delivered to them by the cold voice of the Overwatch artificial intelligence and the hopeful promises of the human “Administration”.

There is another way, however. Even Overwatch is blind to the many sprawling and desolate places left on Earth. But resistance carries its own risks – not only is the wrath of the Combine merciless and ever-present, the world beyond the City walls has grown ravaged by natural disaster and otherworldly wildlife. But, given the prospect of total extinction – or, according to others, assimilation – these might be dangers worth undergoing.



System: A custom 24XX hack called BΔCKPRESSURE.

Structure: A Discord server for voice calls, a bot for rolling. Each session brings a new selection of missions to complete, with them now beginning to form a larger storyline.

Date/time: Every other Saturday, 18:30 CEST. Next session is on 25.6.2022.

Players: 2/4. If you eventually lose interest, you can stick around and opt into missions when you feel like it.

Content: Half-Life 2 Resistance missions. Depictions of combat and violence, some light (body) horror with the zombies. Characters can die, but overall focus more on the narrative/experience over "world simulation".

Notes: Still learning to GM + the hack’s my own creation, so expect occasional jank and changes. Also, I don't prep much.

Interested?: Send me a (Discord) DM vtipoman#0127 :)
 
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vtipoman

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Completely forgot about this post, but the campaign's now over.