Kids on Bikes - Roll20 Macro Work

I am prepping for a Kids on Bikes RPG game coming up.  We will play on Roll20 and I like setting up macros.  Some help the players and others are just notes to my self.  Here is what I have so far.

In a macro called Actions, it whispers to the GM clickable links:

/w gm &{template:default} {{name=Actions }} {{[Planned Action](`!

#yPlanned-Action)= [**Snap Decision**](`!

#ySnap-Decision) }}

It references 2 macros.  yPlanned-Actions:

/w gm &{template:default} {{name=Planned Action}} {{Set the DC=Allow player to describe their action and choose their stat. **Roll**}} {{Adversity Tokens +1=If another player spends their tokens, describe their actions}} {{Success=Player and GM narrate the success}} {{Failure=GM directs the narration with minimal player input, player gains an **Adversity Token**}}

ySnap-Decisions:

/w gm &{template:default} {{name=Snap Decision}} {{Set the DC=Allow player to describe their action and choose their stat. **Roll**}} {{Adversity Tokens +1=Other players ***cannot*** spend tokens}} {{Success=Player and GM narrate the success}} {{Failure=GM directs the narration with minimal player input, consequences are less weighty, player gains an **Adversity Token**}}

I also made a combat cheat sheet that I can click on as the gm.  So the macro will whisper clickable links to the gm and based on what they player rolls, I can click the correct link and a box will show in the chat window.  So, if an attacker wins by 4 points, I can click that link and the player will know how much leniency they have in describing the narrative.  So here is the chat box with the links to the other macros:

/w gm &{template:default} {{name=Combat Outcome }} {{[Defender 0+](`!

#zDefender)= [**Attacker 1-3**](`!

#zAttack1-3) }} {{ [Attacker 4-6](`!

#zAttack4-6)= [**Attacker 7-9**](`!

#zAttack7-9)}} {{ [Attacker 10+](`!

#zAttack10)}}

Macro zDefender:

&{template:default} {{name=Defender's roll is greater than or equal to attacker's roll}} {{=**Narrative Control:** The defender narrates the outcome.

**Effect:** The defender is uninjured; the projectiles miss or the blows don't land or hurt them enough to matter.}}

The other macros follow the same code and give the info from the chart on page 36 of the KoBs book.

These macros make it possible to include just two macros in my bar at the bottom, then click what I need from chat.

My First Ten Games

Following along with Mik and several others out there, I wanted to give my first 10 RPG style games.  Also known as, the games that got me into this mess...

1. The first RPG my brother and I ever played was the box set of DC Heroes.  I think we started this around '88.  I would have been about 10 and my brother about 7.  My mom is an avid reader and it filtered down to me and my little brother.  Walden Books carried this gem of a box and we begged for it until we got it.  It had big, pre-generated stat cards, easy rules, and characters we knew from The Justice League of America cartoon.  In short order, I was GM'ing a game for all our neighborhood friends.

2. This was followed quickly by the Marvel Version.  That box included cardboard cutouts that you folded into the three-sided figures, my first introduction to a miniature representation of the game.  It was harder to follow and my younger brother wanted to run it.  We didn't know the character's as well and it didn't last long.  But the hook was set.

3. I have to include the board game Dungeon! by TSR.  My cousin was 7 years older than us and had the coolest games.  We were too young to play DnD with him but he introduced us to the 10 hour game of a million pieces.  My brother and I would play this every time we went to visit, though I am not sure we ever completed a game!  I was always the fighter and my brother was always the magician, something that would carry over when we started playing...

4. (Around '90) The next thing we got into was Cyberpunk.  I loved this game!  Heck, I would still play it if I could find my book.  This was our first chance to develop characters with their own stories and backgrounds.  It had a great background or "lifepath" generator so when you started, you already had friends, enemies, and a gritty past.  There were solos (fighters) hackers (matrix people meets tron), reporters, and so much more.  Hmm... I may have to run my game group through a short game...

5. (Around '90) Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.  I honestly can't remember how we got our hands on the first books.  I think we started reading our cousin's books and then got our own.  We played some on our own but it wasn't until we started playing with an adult group ('92) that we really saw what a great story teller could accomplish.  We went from hack and slash dungeon crawls at home to character development and talking to NPC's.  By that time, I was 14 and my brother was 12.

5.1. ('94) I also have to mention Magic: The Gathering.  This sucked up so much of our money, it is astounding.  I, like many others, still have many of my cards, still hoping they will be worth more some day.  We started playing in the Revised Edition with Dual Lands but none of the Black Lotus' cards.  We played all the time, suckered our neighborhood friends into the addiction, and even still occasionally have a night of drinking and new booster packs.  I was usually a red/green player and my brother was often black/white or blue control.  Some of those games were vicious!

40k 2nd ed.

6. My best friends older brother was into Warhammer 40k and was a great (and prolific) painter of miniatures.  I would check out his work area and all his completed show pieces.  My brother and I eventually bought the 2nd edition boxed set, a bottle of Elmer's Glue, and a cheap can of red spray paint.  I think we were going for Blood Angels but we ended up with half assembled mini's with so much paint sprayed on you couldn't make out any details.  We still took over the outdoor patio table, threw green felt over it, and had battles.  Good times!

40k 4th ed.

40k 3rd ed.

I graduated high school in '96 and college in '03.  I got interested in other things and left the gaming stuff for a while (though my rule books occupied a special place at my parents house).  In 2003, I was walking in the mall with a friend and we happened across a Games Workshop store front.  I was sucked back in immediately and left with Warhammer 40k 3rd edition.  Little did I know that a year later, I would be buying 4th edition.  Stupid 40k...


7. ('05) I was in grad' school when I found Warmachine.  A friend of mine introduced me to the boys in blue (Cygnar) and it has been an ongoing love affair ever since.  I guy was getting out of the game so I ended up with a started box already assembled and painted and the core rule book for $20.  I think it helped that I was a girl.  This was followed quickly by Hordes and their Druids.  I would paint for hours in my one bedroom apartment when I should have been writing papers but we all know how that works out...


8. ('06)  Still in grad school, I stumbled across of group of people playing DnD.  No, I mean real DnD.  Keep in mind, I hadn't played since high school, and now I was close to 30 and so were they.  It was the first time I saw how effective a battle mat could be, especially with a large party.  We had a DM who could have given Tolkien a run for his money.  The game was in depth and huge and soul searching.  There was no 'right' answer and no railroad to where we might go.  When we finished one story, we would move to another section of the world and influence events there, only to find out that our previous story arc had further reaching ramifications than we could have imagined.  We also dabbled in a 4th edition game that I ran to take some of the strain off of the main story teller.  There were pink-bearded dwarfs and flaming skulls that talked out of turn.

9. With that same group, we took a summer to play the Star Wars RPG.  This was actually the first RPG my wife ever played and she only went along because I was going.  They handed her a character sheet and told her to pretend.  It was a little rough at first but two weeks later, we had cleared out an Imperial asteroid base and we were about to load back up in our space ship and leave.  Then she asked the Best Question Ever - "Can We Keep It?"  Of course, we all treated the asteroid as a dungeon and you can't keep dungeons.  But this was a movable ship disguised as an asteroid.  It threw all of us "normal players" for a loop and the GM worst of all!  It was fantastic!! I miss those games and that group tremendously.

10.  I think the last one I can include would be the World of Darkness storytelling system.  We played a Werewolf game and more recently we used it to play a Hunter type game.  I liked it because it moved away from all the math of the d20 system and gave more control to the story teller.

I hope you liked the trip down memory lane.  I sure did.  I may have to follow this up with a post about the books that got me here...

Werewolf kick

I am still on my werewolf kick. I am looking for fun sites tied to Werewolf: the Forsaken and I came across a fun java module for the phase of the moon. It is now in the right hand column, towards the bottom. It probably won't last there for long but it makes me smile for now =)

A New (old) RPG

Over the summer, I visited Texas and stayed with my parents. The normal question eventually came up, "Mom, what do you have to read?" My mom has always read a large selection of fiction and introduced me to Sci-Fi and Fantasy at an early age. Journey to the Center of the Earth and Treasure Island were read sometime in the 5th grade, The Hobbit in the 6th. Eventually I had access to a number of great series (the Honor Harrington books by David Weber and the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold are some of the ones that stand out).


This summer, my mom handed me Moon Called by Patricia Briggs. The main character is named Mercy, a modern-day mechanic who can shift into a coyote and lives near the Alpha of the local werewolf pack. She is friends with a vampire and her old boss is fae. The Fae came out of the closet roughly 20 years ago and the fallout is still going on with Fae hate-crimes and voluntary reservations being established. The first book sets out a great modern world with things just hidden in the shadows. I found myself looking for the next book to explore more of her world. I appreciated the strong plots, well developed characters, and no sex scenes (though the tension is there). I read the three out in paper-back in 3 days. I highly recommend the series!

I love the idea of these things being in the same modern world with us and we are simply unaware. Of course, I started thinking about how to use the DnD mechanics to bring this to my game group, but it would take a ton of work.

Then I came across White Wolf and the World of Darkness while voting for the Ennie Awards. Where have I been??? I remember looking at Vampire: The Masquerade (now replaced by Vampire: The Requiem) but it was too dark for us at the time (we were about 14-15). I guess I just stayed away from them since that first impression. Now, White Wolf has an extensive range of books set in the Word of Darkness. I have been reading everything of thiers I can get my hands on for the last 3 days. At first, I started reading the newest WoD core book: Monte Cook's World of Darkness. It uses the v.3.5 d20 system and I instantly have a basic understanding of the mechanics. However, I am not sure I like the story part.


Then I found a copy of the older the World of Darkness, the one the current Werewolf resources are written for. I am still trying to grasp the game mechanics but I like the story more. Of course, I also found the books for Werewolf: The Fosaken. Though the world is different from the one Patricia Briggs wrote about in Moon Called, I like the modern werewolf idea. I should also mention that World of Darkness now hosts materials for Vampires, Mages, Changlings, Hunters, and several others. They also produce products for Live Action Role-Playing or LARPing, though this is definitely not my thing.

Now, if I can just convince my group of previous Dnd players that what they really want to be is werewolves...

Last Night's DnD

I run a 4e game of Dnd and last night was the last night =( Folks are getting married and others are busy so the game will go on hold for a while. We have been running the Scales of War campaign published by wizards and the team has moved from 1st to 6th level. We are all grad students plus a doctor and the table conversation is a lot of fun. I haven't gotten last night's game updated yet, but feel free to check out the website. I would especially recomend the goblin-bard's "Ode to Poo" he uses for one of his attacks.