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So, my party requested a sort of mad-max style arc. And I put forward two ideas: a thunder-dome battle, or big bug race (it fits because of the setting). So far I got votes leaning towards the bug race. So I've been trying to come up with something that's interesting and not just roll # successes. I like the idea of them zooming around a track board, and the idea of options of attacking others and it being more cutthroat. The map I have is a pretty basic figure 8 map, measuring 24x30 squares. Here's what I have: Turn order is from front to back (with inside of the track going first). On your turn, each racer moves 5 squares, and chooses an action: Push: Make a DC 10 animal handling related check. (+Cha and any background that makes sense). On sucess go 2 more spaces (Total 7) Boost: Same as push, but your mount takes 1 damage, and you take -1 penalty to all future push or boost checks. If you suceed, you go 4 more spaces (Total 9) If your penalty is already -10, you don't gain any higher penalty, but you take 1 extra damage. Attack: Roll an attack roll against an enemy, and they take that much damage Other: Other special actions can be suggested. Crowsbow Row This is a section marked in yellow. When you land here, GM rolls an attack roll (+10, on hit 6 damage). Winning Whichever team has their racer cross the finish line first wins. If more than one racer crosses in the same round, whoever made it further past the line wins. ------ I did a sort of testplay with them always boosting every 1,2,3 or 4 rounds. It feels a bit swingy where the one boosting every round got pretty lucky and got a head start early with good rolls, and though they got caught up to in the end, finished second. The one who boosted every 4 rounds kept getting really bad rolls. In my testplay it took me about 17 rounds to finish. Is that too long? Is this too dependent on luck, or is there ways the players can be creative? Do I need more obstacles (walls to avoid?) to mix things up? Should there be more a damage penalty for boosting? Should you go slower than 5 if you fail on a boost? Is this not very good design and I need to scrap this and start over? Other feedback? I was considering just having us play Formula D with the NPC racers all having a formula of what gear they kept on, but I felt it was weird to just play another board game as an encounter, and the gear shifting thing didn't really work thematically if they were using bugs. I did borrow the "gunners row" from the race city map from Formula D. Thanks! Foolster41 fucked around with this message at 05:10 on Jan 15, 2018 |
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Jan 15, 2018 00:24
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Another thing you could do with the lie detector (this idea's fun!): The spymaster has set <the plot> up so that if he's captured, he can safely speak the unabridged, unadulterated truth. Like, he can straight up tell the PCs everything he knows, and it doesn't hurt his plans because a) The PCs doing what they want to do is part of the plot. That is, the spymaster has set things up assuming that the PCs will interfere, and is pretty certain of their methods and abilities. b) By the time the PCs question the spymaster, other factors mean that they're in a position where they must do what they would have done anyway. They can't do anything else without badly (possibly fatally) derailing their own plans. c) Somehow, the spymaster wins because of this. The "actual" BBEG might lose, but the spymaster (and/or his agency) achieves their goal. This might be as simple as setting up a win/win where either the PCs or BBEG get wiped which is a net positive for the spies*. That way the player with the power gets to use it, it works exactly as intended, and it's a key part of revealing the big horrible twist. I can't speak for everyone, but "uncovered what's really going on" would be very much in-theme for what I'd want from a character with a perfect lie detector ability. Also (another thing that'll probably be a point of contention), the fact that this superspy villain has planned around my special ability would definitely make me feel like the protagonist during that scene. It'd suck if the planning was that he made a ring of gently caress your special ability, but the plot bending around me like that would be great. *For example: The BBEG(s) might be the spymaster's chain of command which has been compromised by a rival organisation, and the PCs are set up as useful idiots, intended to succeed and derail a much more dangerous and complicated plot threatening the spymaster's org. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Jan 15, 2018 |
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Jan 15, 2018 02:08
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Thanks a lot for all the suggestions on how to deal with it! I'm still not entirely sure how I'll go about it, and some of the suggestions given don't quite fit the scope of the campaign or my own roleplaying ability, but having this many suggestions has given me a number of ideas on how to handle it. I especially liked that "barrage of inconsequential lies" idea, it really fits in with the character.
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Jan 15, 2018 02:25
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How do you guys feel about puzzles that the players must solve out of character rather than in-character? It would be more engaging, but I don't want to deny my players the ability to use their characters' skills. Maybe just provide hints on successful INT-based rolls, or let them bypass the puzzle with skills if they don't want to solve it?
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Jan 15, 2018 15:32
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As with all things RPG, it depends on your group. My groups tend to like them! But some people aren't there for those kind of puzzles, those people are better suited to the "set-up and take the first passable answer" puzzle types. However, my favourite moment in my Keep on the Borderlands 4e game was when one player used the planar sudoku puzzle, another decoded the Morton cypher and a third solved the riddle contained therein to open a portal to the infinite staircase and escape the undead Orc army. It was a cool justice league moment and I loved it. This is all to say that the ideal puzzle has something for everyone to do that meshes together, either in or out of character.
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Jan 15, 2018 16:07
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A good rule of thumb I've seen is to have every puzzle have at least one brain solution and at least one smashy solution - and for both of them to be more-or-less valid.
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Jan 15, 2018 16:15
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Sanford posted:Any better ways of starting combat than saying “roll for initiative”? Even if its a dramatic moment, it goes “Suddenly the dragon tires of talking. Its head snakes towards you at lightning speed and mighty jaws snap closed inches from you... and roll for initiative”. I need a standard way of letting the players know it’s happening but saying the words is boring and repetitive and spoils the flow. It’s like holding up a sign that says “THE ANSWER HERE IS VIOLENCE” and generally calls a halt to more inventive resolutions. The example you give sounds like the dragon just got a surprise attack for free, and if the players want to explore a pacifist solution as they're being eaten, they have that option.  If I was a player at that table, I'd have a d20 in motion so fast I'd probably bounce it onto the floor in line with my character's "ohshitohshitohshit" reaction.My game is so heavy on plot and characterization and gathering clues and role played dialogue that my players love combat. "Roll for initiative" may well be translated as "IT'S ON, MOTHERFUCKERS" at our table. It's a challenge for me as a DM to give them the blood sport they crave but also to keep it organic and appropriate for the setting and what they can handle. Unrelated, we had a fun little random encounter while the party was traveling with NPCs, one of whom they knew previously, where they were charged by a very angry max-stat wild boar. The NPC buddy held back his group with a sort of "watch this" gesture, because in their previous travels, he had seen one of the players so grotesquely one shot overkill a beast in combat that I couldn't describe it any better as a DM than "The Dire Rabbit...explodes." It was a fun way to better tailor the encounter to the party and keep the NPCs from stealing all the stabby good times. Sexual Lorax fucked around with this message at 20:18 on Jan 15, 2018 |
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Jan 15, 2018 20:16
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Just to clarify, my main issue around my roll for initiative question is that my players pretty much never initiate the combat; they wait for me to tell them to roll. Maybe I need to start taking them prisoner more often and telling them they didn’t react fast enough, but then I don’t want them to shift to “stab first, talk later”. I’ll mull it over. Another question - are there a range of ice-based, low- to mid-level creatures? One of my players really wants a flaming sword, so I thought of having a mini dungeon with an effreet held prisoner at the centre of it. Rescue the efreet, sword as a reward, trouble later because you freed an evil fire demon. Ice monsters seemed the right thing to be keeping him prisoner but I only know frost giants, and I’m on holiday without my monster manual.
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Jan 15, 2018 21:37
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I think there are Frost or Ice Mephits, they're kind of lowish level. You could reskin a Water Weird as an Ice Weird. These are in the MM or Volo's Guide, if I recall correctly.
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Jan 15, 2018 22:32
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Malpais Legate posted:I think there are Frost or Ice Mephits, they're kind of lowish level. You could reskin a Water Weird as an Ice Weird. These are in the MM or Volo's Guide, if I recall correctly. Ice Mephits are in the MM, yeah.
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Jan 15, 2018 23:48
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Crosspost from the Shadow of the Demon Lord thread:Tias posted:Oh boy. The amazingly resourceful goblin monk PC in my Dis game has been caught up with. I decided his interesting thing rolls ("a box full of fleshy rods", "17th son of the Goblin King", and "Reputation as an amazing lover") have caught up with him - and that Princess Ailara of Summer, a powerful fae lady about to be wed, wants to bang him before she settles down.
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Jan 16, 2018 10:33
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Tias posted:Crosspost from the Shadow of the Demon Lord thread: So Biblically the "Holy of Holies" ("Most Holy Place" in the King James Bible) referred to the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle. From Wikipedia: "The Holy of Holies was covered by a veil, and no one was allowed to enter except the High Priest, and even he could only enter once a year on Yom Kippur (the day of atonement), to offer the blood of sacrifice and incense before the mercy seat. The Bible reports that in the wilderness, on the day that the tabernacle was first raised up, the cloud of the Lord covered the tabernacle (Exodus 40:33-40:34). There are other times that this was recorded, and instructions were given that the Lord would appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat (kapporet), and at that time the priests should not enter into the tabernacle (Leviticus 16:2). According to the Hebrew Bible, the Holy of Holies contained the Ark of the Covenant with representation of Cherubim. Upon completion of the dedication of the Tabernacle, the Voice of God spoke to Moses "from between the Cherubim" (Numbers 7:89)." So if orcs are supposed to treat this guy the same way, they should be keeping non-orcs from seeing him, preferably by chaining him to a wall deep inside a secure fortress, and once a year the Orcish High Priest should walk up to him and sacrifice a goat. Shoulda just asked to be treated as a holy man or a prophet or some poo poo, dude.
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Jan 16, 2018 10:42
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I’ve written an outline for 4 sidequests that the players can pick up if someone can’t make a session for some reason. I’ve discussed this with them and we’ve agreed we’ll just pause the main quest wherever it is, pick up a sidequest, and come back to the main quest exactly where we left off no questions asked when everyone’s back. I’d like some general feedback but don’t want to post a massive wall of text so I’ll do them one at at a time. Any advice on improvements or tips on how to deliver more complex story issues gratefully received. The players are about to enter Cragmaw Castle, so I’ve added a dungeon with several prisoners. Each of them gives a sidequest when rescued. Cell 1 - Undead Ship The cell holds an elf trader in rare drinks, Clade Sinkmire. Offers three phials of elven sherry that give adv on a single attack. Don’t ask where he hid them. A group of Hobgoblins ambushed his ship and slaughtered most of his crew. They sent him and his surviving men to the castle but a lot of the attackers stayed with his ship of fine booze. He can show the party where his boat was moored, but warns them that the only reason they stopped was because two crewman fell prey to the zombie curse. The rest of the survivors have since succumbed (and are in an other cell) but he seems fine. He will reward them further for clearing his ship. The ship is moored in shallow water in a bay between soaring cliffs, and there is a Hobgoblin camp on the narrow shore. A few tents, big fire, everyone roaring drunk. Behind them, the ship. Once they get on board, there find a single hobgob calling “Brakk? Brakk!” down into the hold. Brakk’s arm shoots up and drags him in, because Brakk has become a zombie. Many, many zombies in hold, can’t burn them because it’s a wooden ship full of alcohol and it’ll explode. At the back of the hold is a crate marked with symbols from Thay, filled with amphoras. It is topped with an opened gold clasp in the shape of a scarab. The scarab is set with a glowing green gem. Smashing it will destroy the zombies, but summon a mummy that they must fight, again without fire.
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Jan 16, 2018 23:30
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Sounds awesome. I'd assume that the ship will blow up. Plan for that, have a contingency plan for if it somehow doesn't. For real. 99% it's gonna go boom at some point even if you'd rather it didn't. I would have a really hard time not setting it off myself if I was your player. Just having some xp and the story of "that time when we blew up the zombie pirate ship" is probably a better reward than any items or gold you'd want to hand out on a side quest. E: If it goes off bang without them setting it off, "that time we barely escaped from the exploding zombie pirate ship" is also a cool story. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Jan 17, 2018 |
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Jan 17, 2018 02:12
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As part of a borderlands campaign, I’d like to give my players the option of building their own town/city from the ground up. Is there a good rule set for this in any fantasy setting/system?
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Jan 17, 2018 03:04
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Shitshow posted:As part of a borderlands campaign, I’d like to give my players the option of building their own town/city from the ground up. Is there a good rule set for this in any fantasy setting/system? Check out Cold Winter
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Jan 17, 2018 06:46
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Or reskin Kingmaker from Pathfinder. I don't know what Borderlands is, though, maybe one of the sci-fi colony games would work here?
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Jan 17, 2018 10:03
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Tias posted:Or reskin Kingmaker from Pathfinder. I don't know what Borderlands is, though, maybe one of the sci-fi colony games would work here? Well, it's probably somewhere between Borderlands (Gearsoft) and The Keep on the Borderlands (TSR).
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Jan 17, 2018 10:08
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AlphaDog posted:Sounds awesome. You’re right, they are going to blow it up. If they’re on it, that will kill them. How would you get out of a tpk in this instance? Give them one turn to react and see what they do?
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Jan 17, 2018 14:53
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Sanford posted:You’re right, they are going to blow it up. If they’re on it, that will kill them. How would you get out of a tpk in this instance? Give them one turn to react and see what they do? Who saves them, and what do they want in return?
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Jan 17, 2018 15:18
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Sanford posted:You’re right, they are going to blow it up. If they’re on it, that will kill them. How would you get out of a tpk in this instance? Give them one turn to react and see what they do? It shouldn't kill them. They get blown into the water and live, just like every other hero on an exploding boat. Megaman's Jockstrap fucked around with this message at 18:38 on Jan 17, 2018 |
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Jan 17, 2018 18:15
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Tias posted:Or reskin Kingmaker from Pathfinder. I don't know what Borderlands is, though, maybe one of the sci-fi colony games would work here? The campaign style was inspired by Kingmaker - exploration, a bit of a hex crawl with dungeons and whatnot interspersed - but the kingdom building rules in the path seemed incomplete. However, I think I found the complete rule set that they're based on, so if anybody needs something in the future: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/kingdom-building/
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Jan 17, 2018 18:38
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I've never found any rpg system that had a good town/village management or building side-system 
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Jan 17, 2018 19:20
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Megaman's Jockstrap posted:They get blown into the water and live, just like every other hero on an exploding boat. If I applied "do the obvious", while keeping in mind that my frame of reference is heroic adventure fiction, this is where I'd end up, too.
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Jan 17, 2018 19:32
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Shitshow posted:The campaign style was inspired by Kingmaker - exploration, a bit of a hex crawl with dungeons and whatnot interspersed - but the kingdom building rules in the path seemed incomplete. However, I think I found the complete rule set that they're based on, so if anybody needs something in the future: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/kingdom-building/ Kingmaker came out before Ultimate Campaign did, and served as a prototype for what would later be UC's kingdom building/exploration rules. It's highly recommended that anyone running Kingmaker nowadays ditch the rules from the adventure path and use the UC rules instead. Among other things, the UC system is actually usable without exploitation, although there are still some weird relics of poo poo that had to be quickly patched over to fix glaring holes, like the "magic item slots" that are supposed to be filled. I'm running Kingmaker for my group, which is roughly 2/3rds of the way through the whole AP at this point, and I'd have some comments about the AP, the style of play that the AP presents, and the Kingdom building rules, but it basically boils down to the fact that exploring 1 hex/day is too slow for encounters to fatigue party resources, the Kingdom Building rules are mechanically pointless, and that if you attempt to run the AP as written, you'll find that your players will outlevel the AP very rapidly and that even if you control their leveling, the AP is way undertuned and very little presents a credible threat to the party.
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Jan 17, 2018 19:39
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As this explicitely a sub system I'm working on incorporating into my Strike setting supplement, what would you guys consoder requirements of such a system? I've always assumed advancement trees and resource/alliance managemwnt were the key here, what else?
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Jan 17, 2018 19:40
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AlphaDog posted:If I applied "do the obvious", while keeping in mind that my frame of reference is heroic adventure fiction, this is where I'd end up, too. If you design an explosive boat and it doesn't get blown up, it's not an explosive boat. Just like if you design a secret door and it doesn't get discovered, you made a wall.
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Jan 17, 2018 19:49
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Right, I am going to rewrite it a bit so the owner of the boat is less an honest trader in rare drinks, and more the leader of a gang of grave robbers who go around ransacking tombs while posing as merchants. Gives them justification to blow up the boat, but still means they have to decide to forego the generous reward they’ll be offered. For the next one any interesting ideas for rooms or traps would be great. Cell 7 - Snake Temple. Weird Snake Cultist called Davin Smaard. He fled the cult temple because they are murdering children. He just likes snakes. The cult are doing a ritual but it’s nonsense, Davin knows it’s bullshit because he went to school with the cult leader, his name is Ian Cheeseman and he just started doing this cult stuff on weekends for a laugh. Can tell the party where to find the snake temple. The temple starts with a narrow crack in the rock, broadens out into a long, spiralling tunnel that passes several rooms, guards and traps and at the centre opens out into a large cavern. The party are in the mouth of a snake carved into the rock high above the cavern floor. The leaders of the cult are here and have a cage of children, planning to sacrifice them. Their blood will flow out of the snake’s mouth and fall to a pit of actual snakes far below, summoning the avatar of the cult’s god. Davin, the prisoner at Cragmaw Castle, says this is lies - he knows the cult leader is bogus. TWIST: if they kill cultists (or children!) and the blood flows as described, it will actually summon a giant snake monster out of the pit. Ian got the ritual and the temple location out of a book he found - the original snake cult died out a century ago but they were real. Clever players might work this out, because how is there a massive snake temple if Ian just does this for a laugh on weekends?
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Jan 17, 2018 22:51
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slap me and kiss me posted:Check out Cold Winter Do you have a link? I don’t think I’ve found it, and as you might imagine the search results are a bit cluttered.
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Jan 17, 2018 23:33
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Sanford posted:Right, I am going to rewrite it a bit so the owner of the boat is less an honest trader in rare drinks, and more the leader of a gang of grave robbers who go around ransacking tombs while posing as merchants. Gives them justification to blow up the boat, but still means they have to decide to forego the generous reward they’ll be offered. Why would you want them to forgo a generous reward for doing something rad? You are dangling something awesome in front of them and then saying "don't do that for *reasons*", as a player I hate this. Let them blow up the boat and get the reward!
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Jan 17, 2018 23:35
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Man, I wouldn't reward the jackasses who blew up my boat. Have there be a bounty on their heads and the dude who's been tracking show up because he heard the explosion. They get some of the hefty reward?
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Jan 17, 2018 23:49
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Megaman's Jockstrap posted:...if you design a secret door and it doesn't get discovered, you made a wall. Saving this one for next time I have to have that stupid loving argument with someone. sleepy.eyes posted:Man, I wouldn't reward the jackasses who blew up my boat. Nah, but harbor control, stevedore's/seafarer's union, quarantine officials, customs/border agents, (or fantasy equivalents thereof) and a whole range of other people might be pretty loving happy that you blew up the zombie ship. Given the essential nature of most low level D&D games (petty officials hire extremely violent hobos to solve local problems) most of those people would probably still probably want to reward you if it was just a smuggler's boat.
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Jan 17, 2018 23:56
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Subjunctive posted:Do you have a link? I don’t think I’ve found it, and as you might imagine the search results are a bit cluttered. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/198895/Do-Not-Let-Us-Die-In-The-Dark-Night-Of-This-Cold-Winter
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Jan 18, 2018 00:01
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Fair enough, most of my DMs have been the Facebook Anarchist types so anyone (individuals or organizations) with power and wealth is actively trying to gently caress you over constantly. I sort of forgot about them being helpful, honestly.
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Jan 18, 2018 00:01
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Baronjutter posted:http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/198895/Do-Not-Let-Us-Die-In-The-Dark-Night-Of-This-Cold-Winter Oh, ok, thanks. I found that, but it didn’t sound like it had town-building mechanics as much as survival ones. I’ll check it out.
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Jan 18, 2018 00:04
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sleepy.eyes posted:Fair enough, most of my DMs have been the Facebook Anarchist types so anyone (individuals or organizations) with power and wealth is actively trying to gently caress you over constantly. I sort of forgot about them being helpful, honestly. My approach as a DM is that people with power and wealth will generally do whatever it takes to ensure that they stay powerful and wealthy, but most of them also recognise that pissing adventurers off is a really bad way to do that. Like, a king who cares only about screwing you over is an NPC you can only interact with in one way. A king who only cares about his kingdom, or his legacy, or his honour has much more potential as an NPC.
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Jan 18, 2018 00:35
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My PCs are raiding the ancient ruined tower-palace of The First Wizard which has been taken over by fanatical ninja cultists to stop anyone from getting to the treasure at its centre. I'm trying to think of cool obstacles and encounters for this session, a combination of wizard tower magic fuckery and devious ninja cultist traps/ambushes for them to get through. I've got: A geometry-defying magic library where stairs are on the walls and directions don't make sense. The stairs have been oiled by ninja cultists so they're slippery and poisonous Corridors rigged with pressure plates that open the floor up into spiky acid pits or whatever A magical portal room with switches that open portals to various horrible elemental planes, defended by ninja cultists (so the PCs can throw ninja cultists into the plane of fire and poo poo) Corridors that lock and fill with water while the PCs try and unjam the doors (a classic RPG trap I guess) Can anyone help me think of some more?
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Jan 18, 2018 01:20
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I'm in a game where the GM has just thrown reasonable people at the party and it really fucks our poo poo up.
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Jan 18, 2018 01:35
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EthanSteele posted:I'm in a game where the GM has just thrown reasonable people at the party and it really fucks our poo poo up. One of my favourite moments was watching how my party's fuckery gradually turned Reasonable But Well-meaning NPC With Prejudices into Murderous Instrument of Vengeance.
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Jan 18, 2018 12:27
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Boing posted:Can anyone help me think of some more? A nightingale floor that releases actual nightingales.
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Jan 18, 2018 13:42
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