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My friends and I are kicking around a shifting/multi-DM story with our characters either being NPC'd while we're running the game or off on another adventure. Basically, I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas about a dungeon or city or adventure where a druid would have no problem navigating, but the combination of a ranger/bard/fighter would have a difficult, but fun, time?
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Nov 25, 2012 04:56
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Something involving diplomacy with spirits of the forest? The ranger might have an "easy" time, but you could make some of the forest spirits pissed at him and his kind for using their special tree for firewood or eating their sacred berries or something. Depending on the tone of the game, they could be ancient and terrible beings of the woodland feuding over a grove of power, or the Bunny King and the Weasel King trying to negotiate a ceasefire. VVVVVVVVV I was taking "navigate" less literally than that. If it's a literal "hard to move through" setting, then I have no idea. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 11:11 on Nov 25, 2012 |
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Nov 25, 2012 05:59
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Footsteps Falco posted:My friends and I are kicking around a shifting/multi-DM story with our characters either being NPC'd while we're running the game or off on another adventure. Why is the druid having no issues navigating? Or, more specifically, why is it important? All I can think of is Elven Forest city, built in the trees. Or something where its like protoplanet of the apes, where simians are a servant animal class, so there are lots of tunnels and passages designed for monkeys/apes to move through (handholds for swinging, etc); have it so the druid's animal form is an ape which grants access to these "servant passages" to get around, but the party cannot. Or just cut out the middle man and make it an ape city.
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Nov 25, 2012 09:13
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P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT
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My Lovely Horse posted:- no one knows the exact wording of Walter's wish since part of it was that the wording be forgotten after the wish was fulfilled - he took a long time to make it as watertight, safe and non-divinable as possible. Little does he know some jackass time-travelling adventurer group intercepted his wish letter and messed with it! Now they and only they know how he can be killed.
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Nov 25, 2012 09:43
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First post in here! I run a low level 2e campaign, sandbox-y, all of my own design, semi-serious gaming (low on wacky hijinx, and the rule 'what you say, you do'). The players have been navigating their way through an ancient elven temple which has been overrun by goblins. They're carrying a glowing sphere which has to be placed deep within to prevent a non-specific catastrophe. At the end, they were fighting a giant tentacle guarding the plinth the sphere is to be placed on. The priest ran to a stone coffer up on a platform, and found it to have a symbol of his goddess on it. He unlocked it with his holy symbol, and within found some glowing prayer beads. Holding them, an image of his goddess flashed through his mind, and he realized with it he could summon her in physical form to banish this beast of darkness, and let them finish their job. He does so, and I describe how a woman with a holy glow appears floating in the air in front of them, rays of light piercing every bit of the place, etc etc. This kind of thing has never happened before, as it's all rather low level and low magic. Midway through the (short) description of the goddess and her actions, one (newish) player says something like "Lol slut". Her healing light faded from his view, and everyone else gained the benefit of her combined bless/healing/cleanse poison rays and such. At that, he replied with "Ugh, what a bitch." At which the goddess pointed at him and he lost the ability to speak for a short time, since I didn't really know what to do at that kind of holy interruption. So my question is, should there be some terrible curse on him for behaving in such a way towards a goddess, especially one summoned in to essentially save them? She's my campaigns goddess of the Sun, Light and Peace, but a curse of some kind until he repents in some way seems appropriate, as far as my campaign goes. I like my gods vengeful. As she's goddess of the Sun, I'm thinking a gradual sensitivity to sunlight, eventually turning into full-fledged damage ala vampirism, until the character repents or is sent on some quest of repentance. (Edit: Bolded the main points, as this got long)
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Nov 25, 2012 17:35
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Ravendas posted:So my question is, should there be some terrible curse on him for behaving in such a way towards a goddess, especially one summoned in to essentially save them? She's my campaigns goddess of the Sun, Light and Peace, but a curse of some kind until he repents in some way seems appropriate, as far as my campaign goes. I like my gods vengeful. I'm thinking that the revenge is one that you want to exact personally, for the player's lack of seriousness, and that your internally-inconsistent desire to have the goddess of PEACE go after him highlights this pretty clearly.
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Nov 25, 2012 17:50
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Ravendas posted:So my question is, should there be some terrible curse on him for behaving in such a way towards a goddess, Yes. Kick him out of your game for being a misogynist shitstain.
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Nov 25, 2012 17:53
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homullus posted:I'm thinking that the revenge is one that you want to exact personally, for the player's lack of seriousness, and that your internally-inconsistent desire to have the goddess of PEACE go after him highlights this pretty clearly. It's not 'going after someone' if it's just a single curse for a blasphemy to the goddesses face. Athena cursed Medusa, Apollo cursed Cassandra, Hera cursed Echo, etc etc. Curses from the gods for blaspheming or being dicks to them is a common theme. Even 'good' ones do it.
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Nov 25, 2012 17:57
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Ravendas posted:So my question is, should there be some terrible curse on him for behaving in such a way towards a goddess, especially one summoned in to essentially save them? She's my campaigns goddess of the Sun, Light and Peace, but a curse of some kind until he repents in some way seems appropriate, as far as my campaign goes. I like my gods vengeful. And here I would have gone with denying him the protection of light and peace instead, things that go bump in the night go bump in the day for him, inability to rest, etc. Imagine if while attacking him, vampires and shadows can ignore sunlight's penalties on them. If bright illumination doesn't help reveal hidden foes. But it really is more a player problem than a character problem. veekie fucked around with this message at 18:03 on Nov 25, 2012 |
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Nov 25, 2012 17:59
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Ravendas posted:It's not 'going after someone' if it's just a single curse for a blasphemy to the goddesses face. None of those are gods or goddesses of peace, and the literal divinities of peace in Greek and Roman mythology (riddled with gods-as-human-assholes-with-powers) have no such stories attributed to them. EDIT: I mean, yes, it's your homebrew and you can say "well in my world they do" and that's that, but it sounds as if you have a problem with two of your players, and one of them is you.
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Nov 25, 2012 18:05
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veekie posted:And here I would have gone with denying him the protection of light and peace instead, things that go bump in the night go bump in the day for him, inability to rest, etc. It is a bit of a player problem, but I figured that if his actions had consequences, he might pay a bit more attention to what he's doing. That's a good idea for a curse though. The party has a priest dedicated to her Sun aspect, so that priest is going to feel a bit of a pall over his aura or somesuch, hinting at the nature of his curse. I tried to show him his words and actions have consequences, when his first character got beaten to death in the backroom of a thieves' guild pawn shop, by a rather fat ex-bruiser that wasn't up for getting pushed around by a young gnome new to the city and burgling their guild-protected locations. Guess it didn't stick.
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Nov 25, 2012 18:09
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Him being a misogynist shitstain aside (seriously, kick him out for being a misogynist shitstain) the line I always go with when players say or do things like that is just "Is that what your character is saying?" or "Is that really what you're going to do?")
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Nov 25, 2012 18:17
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homullus posted:None of those are gods or goddesses of peace, and the literal divinities of peace in Greek and Roman mythology (riddled with gods-as-human-assholes-with-powers) have no such stories attributed to them. Athena is associated with being a goddess of peace though. She cursed Medusa and Arachne, among those that I know of. Apparently the Norse goddess of peace cursed some king for killing a divine being. It happens in mythology. Even gods of Peace can demand some respect. Edit: Whybird posted:Him being a misogynist shitstain aside (seriously, kick him out for being a misogynist shitstain) the line I always go with when players say or do things like that is just "Is that what your character is saying?" or "Is that really what you're going to do?") Yeah, but they know general chatter is what their characters do and say. Random chatter about what to do next has attracted monstrous attention before when their arguments got too loud. It's just how we run games, and the players know that generally what they do, say and act is what happens. Ravendas fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Nov 25, 2012 |
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Nov 25, 2012 18:17
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Consequences never work with that type of player, since they tend to associate those consequences with "you being a dick for no reason" instead. Still, I'd say a peace goddess would curse through denial of service more than direct harm ala vampirism. Light stops making things bright for him(but not dark, since that is outside portfolio, everything just looks dim and grey as the curse advances), the sun does not warm, with increased overcast skies(but not storms or frost, just dark and cold), and critters become more likely to be unfriendly for no particular reason.
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Nov 25, 2012 18:20
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Ravendas posted:First post in here! This is an out-of-game problem, and it should be handled out of game. It sounds like he's not playing a character who doesn't believe in the sun goddess or whatever; he's just loving around and being an annoying misogynist shitstain while you and the rest of your players want at least a little bit of seriousness in your pretend elves and wizards game. If you try to handle it with in-game consequences, he's never going to get the message. Lay it out in clear terms out of the game, and if he can't deal with that then ask him to leave. If, contrary to appearances, it is a character thing rather than a player thing, then "a god in disguise tests a supposed hero" is a popular theme from mythology, gives him a chance to redeem himself, and (if he pisses her off) conveniently puts the goddess right there to explain what the curse is, why it's happening, and drop some hints about how to remove it.
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Nov 25, 2012 18:30
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Peace goddess? She kills with kindness. The offending moron finds himself sleeping for longer and longer each night until finally he hits a coma. Then you can tell him "by the way get the gently caress away from my table for being a moron." If he manages to atone in-game before the end, well, maybe he's got enough potential to justify not booting him - maybe - but this is definitely an issue, not of the game, but of the player, and it should be handled as such, IMHO.
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Nov 25, 2012 18:31
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Ravendas posted:Athena is associated with being a goddess of peace though. She cursed Medusa and Arachne, among those that I know of. After this paragraph about how wrong you are, I will return to being helpful: you are totally, wrong, man, about mythological gods of peace. Vengeance is disruptive and the antithesis of peace, and they don't do it. Athena is definitely not the goddess of peace, nor is she really associated with it: she is wisdom, especially martial wisdom and strategy, unlike the war-madness of her brother Ares. Yes, no doubt if you dig long enough you will find a story of an actual god of peace taking revenge, but you need to differentiate survival, revenge, and justice when you're digging, which brings me to the helpful part. Personally, I think you're better off leaving her as peace and having a separate god of justice or straight retribution go after the party instead for the slight against Peaceladyia, but it could still be her if you're really attached to a manic goddess of PEACE turning a human into a light-hating monster... it really ought to be the party that's affected, though, since it sounds as though you have a player who's rejecting your "if you say it, you say it" or some other aspect of your gaming. I mean, really, unless that person is naturally uncouth or something, there would be no ordinary reason to have the appearance of a goddess in a low-magic setting earning "lol slut." That player's behavior sounds like a bit of rebellion, of "acting out". The adult thing to do is to actually have a private (in person if humanly possible) chat with the player about why that happened -- what was he thinking? is he not happy with the campaign or party or plot? Not that you have to change it, but sometimes it's a fixable thing, and sometimes people are better off parting ways. You should involve the whole party in the atonement, though, because then they have more of a vested interest in the atonement -- it's not something the one player has to do on his own. They become their own police, instead of you. So, my suggestion: god of justice or vengeance goes after the party, and they begin to experience injustice against themselves. Their rights are ignored by corrupt officials; contracts are broken. An oracle will tell them that they will only get relief when they atone for the unwarranted insult when they broker an undeserved peace -- ending a war against someplace important to them and not levying reparations, allowing some who have wronged them to "get away with it" formally and permanently, you can probably come up with others. Don't make it too heavy (ever) or too obvious (at first), since this is supposed to be fun.
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Nov 25, 2012 18:46
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He's a relatively new player to the group, 4 sessions in, and a friend of a friend. The only outside of game contact I have is via our little group's facebook page. He just seems highly distracted (cellphone texting and website reading midgame, all the time) and a bit monkeycheese. I like both the ideas of a 'denial of service', and a chance to atone by an NPC discovered later. I really appreciate the posts, it's been helpful.
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Nov 25, 2012 18:55
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Ravendas posted:He's a relatively new player to the group, 4 sessions in, and a friend of a friend. The only outside of game contact I have is via our little group's facebook page. Get a hold of him on facebook, get his contact info from your friend, or (if you have to) just say "sorry dude I don't think your buddy is a great fit for this game" to your friend. If you curse him or lay down some other in-game punishment, there are two possible outcomes. He might want in-game attention, and realize that he can get it by saying things like "lol slut" or otherwise loving with the setting in a game the rest of your players are taking at least a little bit seriously. Or, he might not like the fact that he's being so "unfairly singled out" just for "being funny," and either check out completely or try to gently caress with the game. None of these things are good outcomes. Talk to him, out of the game.
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Nov 25, 2012 19:08
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Ravendas posted:He's a relatively new player to the group, 4 sessions in, and a friend of a friend. The only outside of game contact I have is via our little group's facebook page. Echoing the "talk to him out of game" advice, that's usually the only way to get through to these guys. Approach it in a nonthreatening way and ask him if he's enjoying the campaign, finds it uninteresting, etc. It never hurts to try the friendly approach first, because you can always fall back on "get the gently caress out" later. As an aside, I've found a "no laptops" rule to be really helpful at my table. I asked my players to try it after we had a few sessions where one of the guys played video games during the campaign (Really?). They thought it was silly at first, but it helped people be a lot more present and involved, especially the guy who'd been playing games. Sixto Lezcano fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Nov 25, 2012 |
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Nov 25, 2012 19:30
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To be fair, if the guy is new blood, he may just be unfamiliar with the notion that games can rise above the level of discourse found in your average WoW chatbox; that's why I like the idea of giving the character a chance to atone. If he takes it, and does well with it, it's not just the character making right - it's the player, in a way, and if he's willing to embrace the challenge it might work out well for all concerned. Since he's a FOAF (friend of a friend), talk to the friend he's a friend of, too; if he's always like this, well, he won't be a good fit for the group and you can ask him to leave with a clear conscience, but if the guy's still getting comfortable with the group - i.e. he really only knows the one other guy - he could just be trying to find his comfort level, and your mutual acquaintance ought to be able to help sort that kind of poo poo out.
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Nov 25, 2012 20:11
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Yeah, this is an out of game problem. Talk to the guy, or get his friend to talk to him, and point out that you try to keep the tone of the game a little more serious/mature, so just trying to stirring poo poo by being lolwacky is not a good fit for the campaign that's being run. I would give New Guy a bit more slack because he's new the group. Maybe that's how his last group ran (if he had one, I'm not sure how "newish" New Guy is). Find out from your friend if New Guy is always like that, or if this new behavior. If he's always like that, you may just want to tell him that you don't think he's going to enjoy being in the game you're running. If you want to ice burn the guy with the Goddess of Light and Peace, if the party ever summons her again and this guy does something stupid, just have her say to the New Guy something along the lines of "I'm very disappointed and I expected better behavior from you." I also have a no surfing/no cellphones (unless its someone contacting you, and then its "answer their question, tell them you're busy") rule at the table; no good comes from distracted players. I have had to say "Put it away or I take it away" more times than anyone should need to say to adults, but its mostly stuck. My Lovely Horse posted:Just wanna go back to this for a sec and say it worked out beautifully - I managed to place enough subtle hints about what went down in the past that they had the idea of inserting a loophole in the wish all on their own but still felt free enough to consider other ideas. Thanks to their own particular approach to event triggers, the way to kill Walter is now, of course, for one of them to speak the Power Word: Slartibartfast. Great to hear what worked for you, My Lovely Horse.
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Nov 25, 2012 21:49
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Well I just woke up, and feel a bit better about the situation. I'll just talk to him outside of the game for now, and see if he can cut down on the cellphone use so we don't have to constantly update him on what's going on 2 feet from his face. Previous posts were after a 4pm-11pm long session, and posted at 1am to 2am or so. Was rather worn out and annoyed. Thanks again for the help.
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Nov 26, 2012 03:05
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I had a player make a dumb rear end rape joke once, I said "do that again and a bear eats you." worked fine for me.
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Nov 26, 2012 05:13
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My players were pretty receptive when I asked them politely not to use "rape" as a stand-in for "do a lot of damage" etc..
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Nov 26, 2012 05:18
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Just sending this message: " Hey, just wanna say a few things about the game yesterday. We've been playing in this campaign stuff for some time, and an encounter like yesterday's hasn't happened before really, so it'd be appreciated if you keep the 'lol, slut, bitch' comments to a minimum when I'm describing things. I like to keep it semi-serious, and we tend to run 'what you say, you say, what you do, you do.' That wasn't terribly appropriate. Bob's semi-guilty of that as well with a "I'd do her", but his character has been that way forever, and I typically read those comments of his as a thought bubble over his head. Oh, and if you're ever bored or disinterested in your character, you can always retire him and reroll a different one. Like I said, don't feel you have to fill a role in the party, 2e is pretty lenient with party compositions. " The other person I mention, Bob, plays a very outgoing and lady loving bard. His comment wasn't terribly out of style with his character, but he too lost the healing rays of the goddess at that moment. He took it with style though, and won't be suffering further from it. The disinterested part is just about him texting and whatever on his phone half the time, because he is playing a low level mage in 2e, and doesn't really seem to be interested in the character. He also chooses spells terribly, like all Burning Hands and Color Spray, and gets annoyed when he gets knocked out from running head first into groups of enemies.
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Nov 26, 2012 05:30
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Ravendas posted:He also chooses spells terribly, like all Burning Hands and Color Spray, and gets annoyed when he gets knocked out from running head first into groups of enemies.
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Nov 26, 2012 07:31
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The White Dragon posted:Okay, those criticisms of your player's personality are totally legit, but this? Don't have this attitude, it's your job as a GM to off-the-cuff rebalance for this. I'm not 100% on 2e, having only ever played video game translations of the system, but drat man. Players not taking the most perfect min-maxed spell loadout of a thousand charges of Summon Monster is not a valid GM complaint. 10ac and 8hp means you shouldn't be in arms reach of the 3+ monsters that makes these spells useful. Burning hands is melee range. (Edit: 10ac is naked in old editions. Even a lowly kobold has at least a 50/50 of hitting you, usually for 1d6 damage) It isn't my job to rebalance things to fit their setup, it's their job to plan ahead to prepare for the locations. That's the whole point of thinking ahead of time to pick out which spells would be useful that day. The only time a Burning Hands is good is when you get surrounded and it's a last resort to save yourself. It's not a good idea to charge in head first naked and with HP low enough a single longsword swing can knock you out. If they're going to a dungeon full of trolls, and they know this, and they don't take anything acidic or firey, it's not going to suddenly change into a dungeon of ogres to fit their loadout.
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Nov 26, 2012 12:16
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Ravendas posted:It isn't my job to rebalance things to fit their setup  You're the DM. It's your job to build encounters around what your players' characters are.
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Nov 26, 2012 12:40
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Lemon Curdistan posted:
Not in pre-3e, especially not in a sandbox. They have access to extra gear, spells of their choosing, and various hirelings and henchmen to take along. They know what their goal is, they prepare for it, and go. If something seems out of their league, they go elsewhere until they are ready to come back and take it on. I'm not running a railroaded campaign, they can go where they want. Some places are tougher, some easier, but there are plot hooks all over to pick up on.
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Nov 26, 2012 12:48
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Ravendas posted:I'm not running a railroaded campaign, they can go where they want. Some places are tougher, some easier, but there are plot hooks all over to pick up on. You might be doing just that. But the players might still not realize what they are up against. Having a dead char due too a decision or error in a "fair fight" is one thing. Being steamrolled because you set foot in the wrong place is demoralising. Regardless of it being a sandbox or not a good GM/DM ALWAYS needs to make a player feel challenged but not overpowered. It's just the way difficulty works. I've been in plenty of situations where my char or something like that is taken away because of a misunderstanding between me and the DM/GM
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Nov 26, 2012 13:20
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Ravendas posted:Just sending this message: Wait so you definitely have to take his (lovely) comments as being something his character said, but the bard's lovely comments are "a thought bubble over his head?" This guy needs an out-of-game talking to but Bob is only "semi-guilty" because he took his penalty "with style?" This is making less sense to me the more you say. If I were the new guy I'd be a little pissed off, it sounds like an established guy is getting cut all kinds of slack for his lol monkeycheese comments but NONE FOR THE NEW GUY. Also, have you considered maybe just making a few suggestions about spell loadout in between sessions or something, if you're completely unwilling to adjust encounters to the actual capabilities of the party?
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Nov 26, 2012 13:33
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Ravendas posted:
I feel this says even more that I was right: your problem is with the player, you want to punish him and hurt him, and you don't see it or are unwilling to admit that you do. You let the bard "thought bubble" his comments in your head in a "if you say it, you say it" campaign -- that's really, really unfair to the new guy and to the party at large, actual cheating by the DM so that you could punish the new guy. You think that repeated trips to your meat grinder (in a game that's supposed to be fun) will teach him better or faster than talking to the guy? You are a straight-up bad DM if you don't either 1) talk to him straight about what his character needs to be like to fit your quite exacting specifications or 2) kick him out.
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Nov 26, 2012 14:08
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Ravendas posted:I'm not running a railroaded campaign, they can go where they want. Some places are tougher, some easier, but there are plot hooks all over to pick up on. Here's some ideas for making that hypothetical cave of trolls playable at a low level without ruining the integrity* of the setting: A wizard living nearby has been studying the trolls and believes he's found a way to weaken them, to the point the players can easily put them down. They get given a magical ritual to follow, or a device that emits an acidic fog. Upon performing the ritual or using the device, all the trolls in the cave will become killable at whatever level the PCs happen to be. If they refuse to take the device, maybe it turns out it was a trap meant to kill them upon activation, and the caverns actually contain the wizard's failed experiments he was trying to conceal. Or there happen to be a series of ruins nearby that were the site of a terrible magical inferno. The victims of the blaze were reborn as fire elementals, and are seeking to pass on to the afterlife. If they can be enlisted to fight the trolls they could go out in a blaze of glory, allowing the PCs to come in and mop up the survivors. You can describe the results of the battle by the time the PCs get there, pointing out the charred remains of the powerful beasts that would have surely done them in, had they not been so clever. Or perhaps trolls are migratory beasts and often have several homes that they only return to every few years. Callous monsters that they are, they'll often leave their young to fend for themselves. However, even a juvenile troll is a match for a farmer, and they regularly raid nearby villages. The townspeople know that the annual raids will soon begin, and enlist adventurers to deal with this new generation before they can become unstoppable. The players must clear out the not-quite-so-tough trolls soon, lest the adults return and make the task insurmountable. They might also be asked to place wards on the caverns that will chase the adults off until the players level up enough to take them on. *Just because the maps say "cave of trolls" doesn't mean whoever wrote that got it right. You need to be able to change every aspect of your campaign to make it more fun right up until the moment the PCs encounter it. You can't plan for their state within any given session, so you need to be adaptable, at least as long as it makes the game better/more interesting. Pyradox fucked around with this message at 14:31 on Nov 26, 2012 |
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Nov 26, 2012 14:22
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Ravendas posted:I like to keep it semi-serious, and we tend to run 'what you say, you say, what you do, you do.' One guy can't get away with something that another guy can't just because the first guy "always does it". Also, I'd be disinterested as gently caress in a character that was penalised for acting like another character. I wouldn't be cool with any of those remarks in my games, but if you're going to get upset about that kind of thing, it pays to be consistent. And for gently caress's sake stop using in-game penalties for out-of-game behavior.
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Nov 26, 2012 14:30
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The bard (I'd do her) player has been in my game for a few years now, as has his character off and on. That's just how that character is, and he did suffer in game for that comment. He didn't get the healing benefits. Same as the other player (lol slut, bitch), but the bard actually stopped making comments, while the new player didn't. I won't be cursing him or anything, I'd just like a bit more focus on the game, and less on middle school comments and texting. I've been running this campaign with mostly the same group for 2-3 years now. They know that there is a ton of stuff to do, a lot of options, but they also know they aren't the biggest badasses on the block (yet). They have obvious cues to realize when certain areas might be a bit over their head. They can still continue to go on if they want, and can actually overcome difficult things if they plan it out. But some things are just out of their reach, as it should. They had a good example of this in the first place they went through, a series of caverns under a town that were uncovered while digging a basement. The heroes were paid to go in and look around, see what's down there. A den of kobolds were found, and wiped out. They also encountered a circle of myconids in a far corner of the place, surrounded by kobold built traps to keep them in, with kobold fungal slaves. That, combined with the descriptions (a dozen or so 4'-10' giant mushrooms) convinced 4/5 of the party to back away, leave them to their peaceful little corner and just wall up the cavern entrance and never speak of them again. The 5th decided to charge in after many warnings and attempted restraint from the other players. He died quite quickly. He had in game warnings, out of game warnings, and ignored them all and dashed in solo. He earned that death. It was used to illustrate that some things are best left alone, and they have to use their judgement to determine whether combats are doable or not. And it's worked really well the past several years, with interesting delves and lots of great characters with noble and ignoble deaths. Edit: What you say is what you do (for the most part) is one of the main rules. If you say stupid poo poo, your character does as well. It tends to knock off the stupid poo poo, for most. So it wasn't ooc really. Ravendas fucked around with this message at 15:07 on Nov 26, 2012 |
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Nov 26, 2012 15:00
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Ravendas posted:I won't be cursing him or anything, I'd just like a bit more focus on the game, and less on middle school comments and texting. It does seem like you and your group is pretty much on the same page. I repeat what most of the advice has been regarding that player. Talk to him outside the game, and the group. Sometimes people get bored by the game or feel they don't really get invested. They usually do still come and play though, because of the obvious allure of the basement. That's where you got the problem. Find out if the guy really wants to play with you or if he just wants to hang out. You really can't have someone half-invested in a game if you're running it at a fairly serious level.
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Nov 26, 2012 16:28
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Ravendas posted:The bard (I'd do her) player has been in my game for a few years now, as has his character off and on. That's just how that character is, and he did suffer in game for that comment. He didn't get the healing benefits. Same as the other player (lol slut, bitch), but the bard actually stopped making comments, while the new player didn't. I won't be cursing him or anything, I'd just like a bit more focus on the game, and less on middle school comments and texting. I run a Sandbox game as well, and here's the thing: unless its an encounter that has been specified, I'll tweak it to fit the party, provided it doesn't invalidate any clues the party has already picked up. Using your Troll encounter, if the party went in no acid/fire damage, I'd look at how the party had come to this decision. If the party did some research, knew that there were trolls there, and still went in with nothing to combat trolls beyond their normal gear, I'm not going to have the trolls wiped out by accident. The party is going to get stomped on by trolls until they retreat or die. (and then probably get resurrected, and have the resurrecter comment that going against trolls without acid/fire weapons is either brave or stupid, but mostly stupid). If they didn't do any research, that is there have nothing that hints at trolls specifically, I'd look at WHY they ran ahead. If the party skipped research because they and their characters were trying to rush ahead because they feel some sort of in-game time crunch more severely than I planned, I'm not going to Troll-stomp them for that. I'd rework the encounter to change the monsters (so they'd still be consistent with hints that have been dropped), or possibly give them access to some sort of basic anti-troll weaponry just before or during the encounter. The encounter will be hard, and after, if they didn't arrive at the conclusion themselves, I'd tell them it would have been easier if they'd tried to gather some intelligence on what was up ahead so they'd know to do so next time. If they just run in because they don't feel like doing research, and I don't mean in a 'I'm just not feeling like interrogating another drat bartender like we did in the last town' I mean in a 'Leroy Jenkins' sort of way, I'd give them some warning, including "You see large, green, warty-skinned creatures ahead". If they continue on, they will get stomped by trolls if they don't retreat. And then reminded that looking for clues and talking to people might give them hints about what they're up against. I was going call some bullshit on the Bard, but you've covered that pretty well here: The Bard initially got the same punishment and learned his lesson. But I'd make sure you cover it better when addressing New Guy: spell it out that he's not getting called out because he made a stupid comment, he's getting called out because he made a stupid comment, a bad thing happened, and he didn't learn. Regarding his spell choices: Are you/other party members giving him any feedback? (besides LOLNOOB) Its one thing for him to just slot up with Burning Hands, its another for him to do it after you or another player to ask him "Are you sure you want to go pure touch spells with your caster? You're sort of squishy, what about reserving a few slots for magic missile?".
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Nov 26, 2012 18:01
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Guesticles posted:Regarding his spell choices: Are you/other party members giving him any feedback? (besides LOLNOOB) Its one thing for him to just slot up with Burning Hands, its another for him to do it after you or another player to ask him "Are you sure you want to go pure touch spells with your caster? You're sort of squishy, what about reserving a few slots for magic missile?". I agree with basically the other stuff you said. My complaint is in the previous session, he took something like Burning Hands x2 and Sleep, and got knocked unconscious for a long time after running in to use it. The next session, he took basically the same set up, and was attempting the same things, with about the same success rate (he got knocked unconscious shortly after the goddess bit, after running ahead of the group into an unknown area). We haven't talked about spell choices or anything, he's played 3e previously so I figured he could figure his own stuff out. We've had spell discussions previously when the party gained a druid and priest, but haven't talked about it since he joined.
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Nov 26, 2012 18:25
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Ravendas posted:I agree with basically the other stuff you said. I completely understand wanting to be hands off, letting your players be big boys and girls, make their choices, and giving them the freedom to do what they want and build their characters how they want. But if he's making the same mistakes, you (or someone else) might need to actually step in and give him some suggestions. Now, it might be that he wants to run and get knocked out, he might find this fun/ny. Maybe his 3e group was set up in such a way this a viable strategy, or maybe he's just trying out a crazy build for shits and giggles. But talk to him and find out, and maybe someone (his friend or another spell caster) to sort of mentor him. "Hey, if you take X spell and I take Y spell, we can do damage combo Z."
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Nov 26, 2012 19:02
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