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Arrrthritis posted:Finally, any other tips or bits of wisdom would be appreciated. While I do want my campaign to end up the way I want it to, I also want the players to have a good time role-playing and overcoming some of the challenges beset them. If that's out (and it really shouldn't be, even if it means  until you guys get the scratch together for the real thing), the #1 thing would be encounters that are dynamic. Think about how to add to combat so it's more than just wide open fields and full attacks after closing to melee. Battlefield conditions, auras, elevated terrain, it all adds up.Think an average Orc War Party's campsite. It could be boring, just run in, wizard flings in some spells while the fighter closes to full-attack range. Or pepper in a standard that's blessed by Gruumsh flying over the camp that gives -2 to hit for non-orcs in a 30' aura around it. And the war party is riding giant cockroaches instead of worgs (use the same stats, just call them roaches), so they made camp next to a marsh so the roaches could feed - Boom! instant slowing terrain from the encroaching swamp. There might be an orc lookout or two in the trees, but what if the camp's been there a while and there's a network of rope ladders and swings so the ranged orcs can pepper death down on their foes - and the ranger/rogue can go up there and chuck orcs off of the catwalks to their death.
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Jun 8, 2009 18:41
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Joudas posted:So just kind of to echo what people have been saying already: Present the players with some cool scenarios, but be prepared for them to do the complete opposite thing that you were imagining them to do and roll with it. That's kind of half the point of these games, anyway. I remember one game (as a player), where we were breaking up a cult resurrecting their dark lord. We busted in on them as they were pulling the ancient evil sarcophagus out of its tomb with a rope and pulley. The elf said, "I want to shoot the rope and have the coffin crash back into its pit." DM said, 'Sure, gimme a roll.' Sure enough, we made the cultists stop their ritual and sidestepped a big fight. The DM later was like, "Well, that could've been a cool fight, but you guys handled it fine, soooo..." And we still talk about it to this day as "the day an elf cut a rope with an arrow." So basically what I'm saying is, let the players try anything, and if it's cool, don't get flustered, just be like, "Yep. Ya got me, you win." and move on to the next encounter. Of course, it never hurts to have "reinforcements" show up if the fight isn't going the bad guys' way, too. 
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Jun 9, 2009 03:47
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Arrrthritis posted:How does 3.5 deal with kicking someone into a fire or causing a boulder to fall on someone? Should I incorporate designs in dungeons where players could use the environment to their advantage, or should I just stick to the basics and keep it to sword on shield action? Also, don't forget "the DM's best friend," a situational +1 or +2 modifier, handed out to players who attempt some bit of derring-do that seems cool. Make sure to make a point of letting the table know, something like, "That's such an awesome idea, you get +2 to try it, hope it works... ROLL!" Arrrthritis posted:One other thing: It's already set in stone that we're going to do 3.5. While I agree that 4 is a good system, we don't have the patience to learn a new system as we go along with a new GM. 3.5 is a system we're all very familiar with and I won't have to deal with sessions of people interrupting with "That's such bullshit." after I tell them that a kobold dies after the first swing.
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Jun 9, 2009 04:34
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Fenarisk posted:That is extremely rail-roady. I like the idea (open world, go anywhere, do anything in any order); it's really not hard to scale any monster to any level (pp 178 in the DMG shows you the exact breakdown), just a little bit of work. I would play up the "escaped slave" angle to impress upon them that they have *nothing* to their name, no home, no food, etc, and that they should start by building a homebase nearby to radiate out from. That gives you a chance to see which environment they're going to first, and build that one - not that you shouldn't have each designed a little bit ahead of time.
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Jun 9, 2009 18:58
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FordCQC posted:I feel like if I don't give them impetus to some degree, they won't end up doing much, but I don't want to always have to tell them where to go/what to do. Don't forget to have shady halflings offer to show them a shortcut, for a price. We take for granted what 1700 miles looks like since we have cars/planes, but just getting to this treasure could be a campaign in itself, and have the PCs helping people/gathering allies along the way. And of course once they get there, they can use the riches to finance their war against their former captors. Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Jun 9, 2009 |
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Jun 9, 2009 19:00
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Jiggity posted:Long story short, am I ruining any sort of mystique for the PCs by throwing dragons in the mix so early? Is there a level at which dragons might be more acceptably introduced?
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Jun 18, 2009 03:13
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TooManyUzukis posted:Anyway, the question is this: is this normal with introducing people to the game, or is this more likely indicative of a problem with the setup itself (DM skill, boring campaign, etc)? How do you deal with, for lack of a better term, ADD players? It also helps if you use voices when you talk (even if - especially if, sometimes - they're lovely caricature voices), and keep in mind the enemies talk during combat, too. Use squeaky kobold voices and have them act like grunts in Halo, if that's what works to engage the players. Also, homebrew or official is irrelevant, as long as you use adventures that personally involve the PCs. Take away their toys, home or friends and watch them bend over backwards to follow the plot and stay involved.
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Jul 7, 2009 07:08
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Leperflesh posted:What do you guys do when your party is making a lot of unanticipated mistakes? I mean anything from tactically poor decisions, to forgetting that certain skills exist, to approaching every problem from the exact same angle? There's always just telling them "hey guys you know that was a pretty poor move right there, see if you did this or this or this, you'd be in better shape" but I've got a really strong aversion to telling players how they should play their characters. If they do something really dangerously stupid, I do tend to say things like "so, your character realizes that that's pretty risky" or "are you sure? x or y or z could happen..." but even that to some degree can feel like taking away the challenge. It's their world, if they want to be tools, let'em. It's fun.
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Jul 27, 2009 08:14
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Ulta posted:Just to tie this to GMing, what do you guys think is the "best" setting? Tendrils answer: DARK SUN! quote:
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Jul 30, 2009 23:56
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 OK, you see those spaceships? Good. Now they're not powered by rockets, they're powered by space hamsters on exercise wheels in the bowels of the ship, who are generating magical energy used for thrust. And the reason they look like spiders is because they're helmed by intergalactic slavers with the bodies of spiders and the heads of moray eels. Also, Elminster has a summer home here. Also, tinker gnomes.
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Jul 31, 2009 00:07
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Mikan posted:There is only one correct answer to this question: The Iron Kingdoms.
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Jul 31, 2009 00:30
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Fitz posted:Here is the stat block I have so far, is it too much? Too little? I don't have a lot of experience with high level creatures and this fight is a long long way away, but I was just looking for some feedback. And 2, really, Wizards? You can't build a drat "Monster Builder" program that lets us use your silly "dice side" images for recharging?
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Jul 31, 2009 21:14
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Fame Throwa posted:My players are newbs, and they aren't great with tactics. Beyond helpful suggestions, is there anything I can do to help them get a better grip on it? The swordmage has problems with it especially, he insists on using close burst powers when there's only one guy in range, and he has trouble grasping the whole marking mechanic. You could have them make Wisdom checks before going through with a suboptimal action to "realize" a better idea. Or if the swordmage is having fun, let him keep hucking close bursts at just one dude. Don't make them be all WoW-like, "OK, Kenny, go ahead and set up the buff in 2-round increments, Stan link your dagger with Kyle's bow action... potions on 5" If they're sub-optimal, let them be. They'll learn if they eventually stumble onto something that works and keep doing it. For marking, you could get a different kind of candy (reese's mini cups are good) to put underneath the figure to explain its marked status. Also, try explaining (either in downtime during the week or before a session) flavor-wise how something works. If he understands the why, maybe the how will drop into place. Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 12:29 on Aug 3, 2009 |
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Aug 3, 2009 12:26
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Bob Smith posted:I've been thinking about how to have a plot in my campaign which the players will be a part of, but at the same time avoiding railroading or "go here do this to see plot" missions. Then you have every week (or two weeks) a list of things happening in your world to give to the players, and after game (in which they, say, defended the elves from the orcs) you can email involved players and get their reactions.
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Aug 31, 2009 11:37
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Bob Smith posted:That's awesome - I go to a wargaming and boardgaming club that's completely discrete from my roleplaying circle, and what I may do is ask the guys there for their opinions on how the villain should react to the party's actions.
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Aug 31, 2009 12:06
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Party Boat posted:Also are there any 4e pitfalls that a DM who's new to the system should be wary of? 4e is a very tactical game. Don't have fights in a 14x20 square room; have tons of cover, concealment and effect areas (DMG2 has some awesome ones) Announce to your players right off that you will award "Stunt Bonuses" for trying awesome stuff (like swinging from a chandelier and kicking over a firepot) to get them to try fun things. I like the concept of "generally dominated bad guy mooks being transported away from their master's control for the first time," it's a decent plot starter. Kinda like the movie Soldier, where they have to learn to live, when all they know is dying.
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Jan 28, 2010 02:37
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Party Boat posted:Good advice, thanks guys. I'm used to making interesting terrain so that's no problem (although I don't have or intend to get the DMG2 unless I see it on the cheap). I'll check out the enemy HP thing as well.
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Jan 28, 2010 12:04
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Male Man posted:Protip: never keep track of XP. In fact, pretend it's only used for balancing encounters. Give players levels whenever it would be fun and rewarding (i.e. at the end of sessions, but not necessarily every session). Anything else is just clinging to the rules for the sake of rules. [insert rant about "legacy mechanics"] I just keep track of "encounters" and have the party level every 8 or so. I love using XP to make encounters the right strength, but nobody likes tracking how far till they level.
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Feb 17, 2010 09:30
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I'm having some problems with 4e skill challenges. Not the normal ones, because I'm not retarded, but sort of problematic: The players are good. I mean, really good. They each have two or three skills that they are astoundingly good at (like, a +18 at 11th level). The problem is that the guide says a "hard" DC for their level's skill challenge is around 21. Well, that means that each player has a skill that they hit on a 3 or 4. Now, obviously the players want their characters to be good at something, and they've taken feats to do so. I'm fine with that. But my options are, "PCs breeze through every skill challenge, which is supposed to equal the fighting of four monsters" and "tailor skill challenge to be specifically unfriendly to their skills" I know about only allowing X successes with each skill, but it seems like in a diff 4 encounter (8 before 3), the party will start with 3-5 successes without really trying, lowering skill challenges from "roleplaying opportunity" to "just botch already to get back to the bard's turn" What am I doing wrong?
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Jun 23, 2010 19:04
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Pentheus posted:Combi-encounters are good as a happy medium.
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Jun 24, 2010 16:59
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Dedekind posted:I thought about running an encounter this way, but it seemed to me it was basically asking a player to voluntarily take a dazed status: "Oh, well, I don't get to do anything fun this turn because we need an Arcana check." Was that how your players were taking it? Or if not, how did you run it so that they were feeling useful when they were using skills instead of powers? The other was when the party, in a helicopter (don't ask) got their stabilizer tail bitten off by a Red Dragon who was upset they were flying near his mountain. So half the party jumped out, Terminal Velocity-style, and did aerial combat against the dragon and his minions (they had potions of feather fall instead of parachutes) and the ranged characters stayed in the spinning, falling chopper to try and do fire control while taking potshots as needed. (the skill challenge was to have the chopper crash softly instead of hard) The aformentioned warden even got in on it from outside by trying to hold the chopper steady from outside. So yeah, splitting the party works, for very small values of split.
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Jun 24, 2010 17:13
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Son of Thunderbeast posted:I forget the name, but it was a type of medieval prison with a domed ceiling where folks were basically tossed in and forgotten about.
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Aug 1, 2010 11:24
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My Dark Sun party of level 2 peeps is going to be ending up underneath Balic in their aquaducts. Now, I have a stiffy for Carrion Crawlers, so I'll be leveling one down to level 4 or so, but I'm looking for things to make the fight seem more interesting. I'm thinking some sort of tiny undead (Crawling Claws? Aquatic Zombies) that the carrion crawler would ignore, but would hang around him. Also, what are your thoughts on a rushing stream that forces players to certain positions or be slid 3 at the end of their turns to keep them moving? Or something like that.
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Oct 14, 2010 06:48
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I screwed up and let my PCs have too much money. Star Wars: Edge of the Empire game, most of the PCs are running around with about a grand in their pockets, with docking fees being around 50-100 credits every time they touch down. They found some Alderaanian wine and (since Alderaan doesn't exist anymore) it is quite rare. Using their contacts, they located a Corellian wine connissuer and sold all three cases for 27,000 credits. How do I bleed them dry of this money? Or should I? I'm hoping one of them flips to the cybernetics page in the core book and blows it all on upgrades.
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Feb 26, 2015 19:30
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I doubt it would break the game, even a Z-95 (the worst snubfighter in the game) is like 40k, so it isn't an earth-shattering amount of money. The wine was real, but I like the idea of the wine collector forcing them to go to Dathomir for Rancor milk to make cheese that pairs with it, or other hilariously over-dangerous things because money means nothing to the idle rich.
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Feb 26, 2015 20:31
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CountingWizard posted:It was a 90 ft whale and when I looked up bone weight vs total weight to obtain meat weight, it was worth a total of 2.5 million gold even after adjusting for unusable organs and such. 
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Feb 27, 2015 04:36
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Turtlicious posted:Anyone know where I can buy a bunch of figurines for battles and stuff? Maybe little cards to piece together battlemaps?
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Mar 5, 2015 00:39
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I'm going to be starting up a Night's Black Agents game for my players soon, and I have some questions from people who have run it before (I have as a one-shot for NPC Cast, as well as played a few other times in very short games, but never as a campaign): 1) Can you take it from the default European setting and move it to America easily? I know the implied setting is opium dens and eastern bloc hellholes, but I would feel more comfortable having my players tromp around domestic places like Louisiana backwaters, gang-controlled Detroit enclaves and northern California militia compounds that still have an unruled element to them 2) Are Vampires it? Has anyone incorporated other supernaturals, or does it feel wonky and too World of Darkness-y to have the occasional Will-o-Wisp or Sasquatch running around?
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Jan 5, 2016 02:58
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Sneaking posted:I've got two rules for it: like you said, it's got to be within reason (and by extension the crazier it gets the harder the check becomes)
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Jan 10, 2016 23:25
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blerg ignore me
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Jan 11, 2016 06:36
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:what would you even consider an actual narrative game, at this point Microscope
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Nov 15, 2017 23:08
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Nehru the Damaja posted:Our group is on a path to a resolution of the campaign now. I have either 3 or 4 sessions (depending on if jury duty fucks with my prep time) but they threw a monkey wrench into things by having one guy get killed and the others get captured by Duergar in the Underdark. I've got a plan to get the story moving again but god drat we are gonna be on a bullet train to resolution here. The guy that got killed is reanimated by Lloth or whoever because lloths will is not finished. Easy-peasy and now they get a demonic template
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Nov 21, 2017 20:14
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players are dragging a chest full of medicine to a town where one of the players knows the town leader. kinda at a loss for what to do when they get there. this is in FATE high-fantasy (players are a mad monk, merfolk, goblin and a lord-knight) leaning towards wise medicine woman leader saying "thank you sweetie, but this just treats the pox. we need a cure, found only in the (something) of a deadly (something) in (place)" is this too "fetch me 6 wolf pelts" obnoxious? how do I solve for X on this to make it fun? Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Sep 9, 2021 |
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Sep 9, 2021 00:08
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these are great. what should the cure be? thinking it should be bile from a purple wurm's gut so they can have fun figuring that out. also ok with owlbear pellets or possibly something weirder like vampire's shadows (how do you even collect that?)
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Sep 9, 2021 00:35
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I have an adventure next week, the players are arriving at legally-distinct-from-Waterdeep to meet up with a crusader who is a goody-two-shoes (modeled on Thalia of Thraben) trying raise an army to take back her home from the evil vampire lord. questions are twofold: 1) is there a good map making tool to make nice looking (can be procgen) fantasy maps, preferably with the opportunity to give some inputs first 2) what sort of trouble can my npc have gotten up to in the week she's been here trying to raise an army before the PCs get there? I kind of want just finding her to be like half a session, but I'm open to ideas. Shrecknet fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Sep 29, 2021 |
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Sep 28, 2021 00:00
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that is perfect because my city has a combination courthouse/amphitheater where legal matters are handled by the Quintessons from the Transformers movie and pretty much everyone gets fed to the crocodiles
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Sep 28, 2021 00:49
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