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Typical Pubbie posted:Looking for suggestions on how to handle ship combat in a sci fi game. Anything will do, but in particular I'm looking for something that will give every player incentive to participate in the action. I want to discourage passenger syndrome and leader-bullying. Have the enemy launch a few missiles at them that turn out, once they hit, to be robotic enemies that seek to enter engineering and blow up the ship, or head to the bridge and seize control of the vessel. You can even have them abduct members of the crew and jettison them through the ships escape pods for a kidnapping arc. This provides on the "ground" combat during the space battle for those who play the normal ground assault/security officer roles. Who knows? Maybe the players will take this to heart and begin boarding enemy ships this way themselves.
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Dec 12, 2021 09:07
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Make them handle ship combat via Space Alert. It's a real-time spaceship survival boardgame.
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Dec 12, 2021 16:02
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So my homebrew campaign is now ~8months and ~30 sessions in and things are starting to get serious. Up until now, the party has been able to sail around the area pretty unmolested apart from random encounters with sea creatures and the like. However, they are moving into a more populated area and I want to run naval fights with them. They have been prepping for this and have themselves a war galleon and their current mission is to hire a crew from a freeport. I am really tossing up how I want to run these fights. I have GoSM as a reference book to fall back on, but I am not sure if I want to do them as ToM or with mini's on the table. One idea I have for using minis is to adapt the Star Wars Armada capital ship movement rules, meaning that ships won't be able to turn too quickly and the captain (our Oath of Open Sea Paladin) can set a course and the rest of the party can do their 'jobs' on the ship until the inevitable boarding action and close-quarters fight that we can switch to minis for. Has anyone had any good experience with ToM for a ship battle? Or with minis? My fear is that it might just be too much to keep in the head with how the ships are in relation to each other, and having a physical representation might really help. Please give me your suggestions and experiences!
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Dec 16, 2021 00:28
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Phrosphor posted:So my homebrew campaign is now ~8months and ~30 sessions in and things are starting to get serious. Up until now, the party has been able to sail around the area pretty unmolested apart from random encounters with sea creatures and the like. However, they are moving into a more populated area and I want to run naval fights with them. They have been prepping for this and have themselves a war galleon and their current mission is to hire a crew from a freeport. It's hard to make miniature naval combat satisfying. A player needs to have interesting choices to make their turn interesting. In a regular combat scene each PC has their own token, and each token has multiple options available to it. They have a variety of terrain, some of which blocks line of sight or provides other hindrances, so positioning is relevant. Compare this with naval combat. There's much less terrain, and there's only one token for the whole party. That massively cuts down the number of choices available to the players, so most of the time players will spend their turn rolling their highest relevant skill and smiling if they roll high or frowning if they roll low. My recommendation would be to go straight to the boarding action as a melee combat, with some ToM skill checks in advance that, if successful, allow the players to dictate the parameters of the melee. If they've chosen to keep their distance and blown holes in the enemy's hull, it'll be sinking and they'll be forced to go on the aggressive rather than turtling up, but the players' ship might have taken some damage from return fire in the process. If they've gone straight to boarding action, the enemy will be at full strength but there's more of an opportunity to loot their stuff.
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Dec 16, 2021 00:54
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What are the key questions to ask and statements to make in a session zero? So far I've got: 1. GM makes an elevator pitch as to what the campaign will be - what system, what's the setting like, how long will the campaign be, what kind of stuff the characters will be doing and so on 2. Decide on how death will be handled in the campaign - can PCs die, or if not how is getting defeated handled 3. Decide on any types of content that's off-limits 4. Players make characters Any other stuff people can think of that it's worth getting settled right out of the gate? Gort fucked around with this message at 12:59 on Dec 17, 2021 |
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Dec 17, 2021 12:23
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I think in point 1 you also need to set the expectation of play style as well... combat heavy or more RP ? What kind of consequences will players face for their actions in the world? Can they play things in a kind of loose chaotic way, pulling crazy heists and leaving a trail of destruction, or are you playing things more straight where the city guards will be hunting them for not paying income tax on the dragon hoard they found within city limits?
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Dec 17, 2021 12:58
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Whether you want players to solve problems with the tools the system gives you or find clever workarounds involving physics, rules interactions etc.
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Dec 17, 2021 13:00
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Gort posted:What are the key questions to ask and statements to make in a session zero? So far I've got: I would suggest expanding 4 a little: players brainstorm ideas for characters, share ideas, ensure their concepts aren't overlapping, and then the GM works with players to expand on character concepts, find links between players, and understand the bits of the character which plot hooks will plug nicely into.
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Dec 17, 2021 13:16
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Gort posted:What are the key questions to ask and statements to make in a session zero? So far I've got: 1,2,3 are all fine. i do this pretty fast and thats simple enough. 4: players make characters as a group, collaboratively. this way they have the DM involved and can ensure they are cohesive and everything makes sense and everyone is on the same page. 5: players run through a sample, non canon, mini one shot(if this is more than like 30 minutes you are screwing up) to give the fledgling group chance to play around in some space and try stuff out a bit. dreams work great for this. it might not even have any resolution, just an excuse to roll some dice and explain the basic mechanics(if necessary) 6: end session by recapping characters and going over the campaign elevator pitch, re-integrating characters into it E: in step 2 you may also want to consider going over house rules too pog boyfriend fucked around with this message at 14:03 on Dec 17, 2021 |
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Dec 17, 2021 13:58
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If they are new players or they are new to you then remind them that they are going to create a character that will want to party up with a group for adventuring for the long haul, so emo lone wolf steal from other PCs because its what my character would do types ard not a good fit. If they are new or new to you I would also explain your philosophy towards certain mechanics. Some examples I've done being for traps, I'm not looking to play gotcha game where they weren't constantly stating they were checking for them so they get hit with one. I use them generally as mechanics puzzles. I err on the side of enabling player power creep in the name of fun or just to make things interesting, but I balance that out with escalating encounter design. Anything that I can think of that could be considered an optional rule or flavor rule I'll go over with them and get group consensus on before we start so beyond simply forgetting there shouldn't be any feelings of bait and switch. I also remind them that the GM is there to have fun too and is not going to shoulder all the responsibilities for managing both the game and the group. So at our table one of the players will always be in charge of scheduling and herding the group, another is in charge of being the official note keeper for session summaries and recaps, etc... and I won't officially start prepping for the next session until we have scheduled. I only ever play with close friends and family so your mileage may vary with that one but it does seem to help with buy-in. e: I also very much go by rule of cool for everything and fail forward dice rolls so I go over that as well and give some examples. Dameius fucked around with this message at 14:58 on Dec 17, 2021 |
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Dec 17, 2021 14:55
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Also a good idea to settle on a common attitude towards repeating or optimizing skill rolls, like in the following scenarios: 1) Player 1: "I listen at the door to see if the orcs are lying in ambush. Perception roll? Yep, that's, oh, only a 7." DM: "You don't hear anything of note." Players 2-n: "We also listen at the door, preferably one by one!" 2) Player: "We need to get the king to change his mind, why not just tell him his advisor is plotting against him together with the enemy general at the kingdom's borders, and simultaneously offer to gather assistance from the knight without a master we met three sessions ago - we still have his crest to prove we're on the level! This just might work! My character Bob the rogue only has +3 to Persuasion though, so Alice the paladin with her +5 should definitely tell him all that."
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Dec 17, 2021 15:43
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My Lovely Horse posted:Also a good idea to settle on a common attitude towards repeating or optimizing skill rolls, like in the following scenarios: For this one, at least, create a failure scenario after a single check that reveals what the threat was while simultaneously punishing (well, not so much punishing as, not giving the reward they would've gotten had they passed) the players. For example, in this scenario, of there are indeed orcs, then this failure represents them accidentally knocking the door down, alerting the orcs within. This could just be an audible orcish grunt from the other side, no check required, that shows the orcs know something is coming, or having the orcs burst through the door immediately. If there are no orcs, then the player accidentally falls against the door, opening it and revealing the room, empty as it is. It's the same policy I take with picking locks or similar - failing the check doesn't mean the lock doesn't get picked, it just means something determinental happens along the way. Failure is boring. Success with consequences is way more fun.
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Dec 18, 2021 21:48
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Morpheus posted:For example, in this scenario, of there are indeed orcs, then this failure represents them accidentally knocking the door down, alerting the orcs within. I like to take a note from Blades in the Dark, and try not to make failures seem like the players are incompetent. The player could be listening to to the door, and gathering clues when the orcs decide it's time to formation and go on patrol... right into the place where the players are. You give them the details of a successful hearing check, but then as you're describing them the door yanks open, and the orcs discover the players as the players discover the orcs. Neither is surprised, or really aware of what's fully on the other side of the door, but they know a threat is there, and they're rolling for initiative. This also can possibly speed up play, since if the players were going to attack the orcs, they no longer have time to do lots of prep or ask a dozen questions. They're in an action sequence now.
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Dec 18, 2021 23:17
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ninjoatse.cx posted:This also can possibly speed up play, since if the players were going to attack the orcs, they no longer have time to do lots of prep or ask a dozen questions. They're in an action sequence now.
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Dec 19, 2021 07:13
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Have your players ever made a decision that, while valid and mostly reasonable, just really didn't sit right with you? This is probably half vent, half advice seeking. To provide some context to the situation I'll say up front this is a family group, playing 5th ed DnD. The lineup is: DM, me Wizard, dad Artificer, uncle Druid, cousin(my uncle's son) Ranger, other cousin Fighter, brother We're playing through the Dragon of Icespire Peak to give me time to do more of the groundwork for my homebrew campaign, which is on an original continent with all the effort that implies-cities, pantheon, etc. About midway through the campaign, the Fighter told me he was not loving his character and kind of getting bored of the game in general, so stepped away from the game, while saying he might come back to this campaign at some point, or he might just wait until its finished and jump back in when we return to my homebrew campaign(we have already begun that game and the group completed the first "arc" or so before we paused it). Since there was the possibility of him returning, instead of just writing his character out completely I had an idea-while the group was deep in the woods tackling an objective, the Fighter would return to town, take the next mission off of the bounty board, and round up a couple of allies to complete it. He and two others would ride out to an abandoned fortress deep in the mountains with the intent to clear it of danger in case the townsfolk needed it as a place to retreat to in an emergency(there's a dragon in the area as well as a pack of goblins in possession of a nasty artifact). When they arrived, however, they would find a powerful banshee taking residence in the fortress, who defeats the party and takes the Fighter captive as an enthralled minion. The PCs would return to town, learn that the Fighter had left over a week ago with no word since, then decide to follow after him when the Fighter's trail guide stumbles back into town mumbling about monsters and a terrifying ghost. I figured it would be a fun little way to keep the Fighter in the narrative, while also giving the party an additional incentive to go to the fortress. Two notes before I get to the problem: One, the party headed into the forest with multiple stops and missions to complete, and the Fighter, when returning to town ahead of them, claimed the smaller of the two rewards, much to the party's chagrin. This is a group that has shown no desire to spend a single gold coin they've earned so far so their annoyance at this caught me a little off-guard. Two, the Fighter was carrying a dragon-slaying longsword on him when he left, and with him missing, the party now had to recover it from the fortress along with him. I stressed to the players out of character they would absolutely get the sword back and that it being "lost" so to speak was just a matter of coincidence-the player who left the game just happened to be the character wielding it. So they go to the fortress, find the path the Fighter and his companions took to get inside, and over the course of fighting through they discover that at least one of the people he brought along is dead. This is an NPC I didn't even name, created solely to flesh out the group who went to the fortress. Nobody reacted to the news when they heard it. They encounter the banshee, the enthralled Fighter at her side, and she starts the fight by possessing him and, since he's an Echo Knight, manipulating his powers so that his echo resembles her instead, allowing her to simultaneously control him and fight as herself, using her banshee abilities. I figured the party would focus the banshee more, especially after I had the echo disappear from taking one solid hit, but they instead almost exclusively target the Fighter, who has an AC of 20 and a solid chunk of hitpoints to back it up. The Fighter is wailing on the Artificer(who wasn't at the session) every round, connecting at least one hit each time. Finally, the banshee uses her Wail, casting it both from the Fighter and from the echo. I changed the mechanics of it to not necessarily drop people to 0 if they failed the save, instead dealing 10 damage for each number they missed the DC by. After this, the echo vanishes and the banshee exits the Fighter and flees into a nearby room. The Fighter drops to the floor unconscious, drained from the whole ordeal. The Wizard goes next, backs up a bit, and hurls a Fireball at the doorway, close enough that it will spill into the room and catch the banshee. As an Evocation wizard he can save four people from the blast, and he says he's leaving out the three other PCs and the Artificer's pet. I pause a bit, and mention a little bewildered that this will hit the Fighter, and since he can't save it might kill him. The Wizard angrily says that the Fighter stole money from the party, ran off with the magic sword, and got a member of their company killed(the frame story is all the PCs are members of a mercenary group, so the two people who accompanied the Fighter were members as well). That he got sloppy and took a mission he shouldn't have, without them, and so he didn't care what happened to him anymore. Not knowing what to do, I rule that the Fireball drains the Fighter's HP and gives him a failed saving throw, so he's dying but not yet dead. The spell obliterates the banshee and the fight is over, and the three players have a debate about whether to stabilize the Fighter, heal him and ask him questions, or just straight up let him die. The whole time I'm flabbergasted at how my plan to add a bit of a personal hook to this mission has backfired so insanely and completely puzzled at how they're seriously this mad at the situation. They finally decide to stabilize him and leave him slumped against the wall and they'll swing back for him when they're done with the dungeon(they haven't found the sword and a miniboss escaped earlier). After the session, the Ranger, who I chat with for a couple hours after most sessions, tells me he was surprised at the Wizard's reaction as well, but hearing his reasoning thought he had something of a case. He then admits to me that he sent the Wizard a PM saying he was onboard with sneaking away from the other party members at some point and silently killing off the Fighter before they left. My ultimate question is: I loving hate this and it's not what I had planned for this scenario at all. I'm already going to have the Fighter conscious when they come back for him so they're forced to hear his side of the story, as well as make the decision to kill him to his face, if it still comes to that. If they let up and really force a confrontation, am I allowed to bring up how displeased I am with the whole thing? I know the Wizard isn't going to back down or soften his rhetoric at all. The whole thing has left me demoralized and I'd love some opinions about all of it.
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Dec 20, 2021 05:51
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I'm really sorry but I didn't read that could you bottom line it for me
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Dec 20, 2021 06:07
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Storuwise, nothing stopping you from having some magical thing so that it's not actually the fighter they've killed but a doppleganger, a flesh beast made to look like him, etc But it sounds like this is something that needs to be discussed out-of-game with your players, stating that you as the gm would prefer if they didn't straight-up murder their family member's character
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Dec 20, 2021 06:07
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sebmojo posted:I'm really sorry but I didn't read that could you bottom line it for me Player leaves game for a while, DM uses opportunity to involve his character in plot to keep him involved in the world. Other characters (maybe players too) react angrily to the character's actions and want to kill him.
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Dec 20, 2021 06:09
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Sounds like a combined need to not plot out your games as much/talk to your players scenario. If the fighter doesn't mind being killed then do it imo.
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Dec 20, 2021 06:30
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It sounds the player doesn't really care about the character, so I think the fuss is unnecessary. Give him a new chacter next time he plays But lol at a family PKIng each other.
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Dec 20, 2021 07:08
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First of all you absolutely do need to talk to your players. That wizard player sounds like a beaut. I think I'd talk to the fighter first and depending on what they said that might be the end of my player conversations and the beginning of some in-game consequences for their decision-making. Since you mentioned this had you demoralized, let me share a story about one of my biggest demoralizing moments and how this forum changed them into one of the most memorable things that ever happened in my game. Long story short, my characters had helped build up a town called Brunfelt thatwas home to a mysterious, alien, black-robed wizard who had adopted them as their patron. This was the "Gandalf" character who points the way to things, and at this point they were used to him being there to offer advice etc. During the course of their adventures, they had discovered two crude magical rings that opened portals to other realms, one more sophisticated than the other, as if whoever was making them was improving their craft. The wizard informs them he has to leave the town for several days and to keep the place clean. As soon as he leaves, that night the cultists in the town summoned up an AVATAR OF YEENOGHU, a big bad-rear end monster I was CERTAIN was going to push my party to the limit. I wasn't very familiar with 5e DnD, you see, and I thought that something with 250 hp all by itself with no lair or legendary actions was going to survive against 5 PCs. I mean, it's got a BAD-rear end attack it can do ONCE A ROUND! I was wrong. They destroyed the Avatar of Yeenoghu in a single loving round. It missed its only attack against them and then basically everyone worked together to super saiyan the pally, who just straight-up wrecked it. The entire fight was over in under a minute. This was the combat I had designed much of the end of the game around, thinking they would have had a long, vicious fight with this twenty foot giant maggot-thing that wound around the town and destroyed a bunch, damaged the walls, etc. Instead it got summoned, moved about a hundred yards, and died. My cinematic ending combat for the session turned into a loving roflstomp. I was bummed. I felt like a complete failure as a DM. A challenge I intended to leave my party exhausted and wounded had literally just made them laugh. So I came here and vented and got (as always) the greatest advice on the Internet. Roughly translated, the best idea I got was, "The threat posed by the Avatar was not the threat they dealt with; its death was all part of the greater plan." AS IT TURNS OUT THAT WAS MY PLAN ALL ALONG, that was 100% true, and the gnolls had the Avatar summoned as a trap. Its corpse just lays there in the street, beginning to twist and corrupt the land around it in a radius that widens by the hour. There doesn't seem to be ANYTHING they can do to move or destroy the rubbery lump. The lake is turning to poison and the marsh reeds and grass around it are coming to life and becoming carnivorous. The Abyss itself is invading the world through the portal of this dead monster. It is also a ticking time bomb. In seven days, it will explode, and anyone touched by its goo will turn irrevocably into a gnoll flind. They didn't know this second part. They did find out about that part, though.  The best part was when the wizard returned a few days later and they were all like, "Save us!" and his response upon observing how hosed-up everything was and the giant corpse in the town turning everything into a nightmare was... "Do any of you have any ideas? I'm out." God drat do I ever love when Gandalf says that, the "oh poo poo" looks are priceless. I'd encourage you to do something similar to what I did. The banshee is eternal; she has had centuries to observe and plot against mortals. She had to know defeat for her and her fighter was a possibility, and that if they lost she would have to flee and leave her warrior prize behind. Knowing this, what did she do to turn their "victory" into ashes in their mouths? What was her contingency for if she lost and her thrall was returned to the party as a "free man?" Perhaps he looks fine, but was infected with a highly-contagious form of filth fever that is also extremely resistant to magic. Nothing to worry about for a banshee, but man, the party has PROBLEMS now. Or perhaps she has put a geas on him to destroy their supplies and summon her when they are in a desolate, no-help-is-coming place. She's had centuries to plan. What was the plan? I understand your depression at having your party start fighting BUT... this is awesome character growth as well. Your wizard has now revealed who they really are. They are willing to cold-bloodedly loving murder a companion over gold. While they may not know it, this person is as evil as the day is long, and there are always dark gods looking for such evil souls... The rest of the party has revealed themselves to be dithering weaklings who will stand around and let their companion be murdered over a handful of gold. I'm presuming this fighter has risked his life for them in combat. What a bunch of mercenary pieces of poo poo! Won't it just be too bad when they get to the next town along the way and the headman of the town wines and dines them and they wake up in loving prison chained to the wall with the guards telling them, "Yeah, the banshee will be here to take care of you lot soon enough. I know this seems pretty harsh, but listen... we all got paid. She would never have thought of it, except with how angry you got about him taking the money. Thanks for the idea!" I gotta say though... sight unseen and player unknown, I want to give that murderous wizard a surprise if they and their accomplice do decide to swing back around and cold-bloodedly murder their friend. They're expecting to find a slumped, helpless, half-dead human. I wonder what they might find there instead, or in addition to? Just right off the top of my head the two of them show up and there's the banshee. They're not too worried because they just kicked her rear end and made her flee and she must be weak as gently caress. Then she says... "My sister asked me to come watch over her pet until he was strong enough to move. Now I know why. Oh, me? I'm her identical twin, Lir. Nice to meet you. One of you will make an excellent slave."
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Dec 20, 2021 14:33
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JonathonSpectre posted:First of all you absolutely do need to talk to your players. That wizard player sounds like a beaut. I think I'd talk to the fighter first and depending on what they said that might be the end of my player conversations and the beginning of some in-game consequences for their decision-making. i love the first part, but the last bit smacks a little of a palette-swap re-do - I'd say keep the actions, add the consequences like the (delicious!) gnoll story.
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Dec 20, 2021 20:31
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Are there any good adventure modules about a prison break? I'm looking for something to crib ideas from.
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Dec 20, 2021 21:04
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Typical Pubbie posted:Are there any good adventure modules about a prison break? I'm looking for something to crib ideas from. The first book of Way of the Wicked is a big prison escape adventure. No clue on the quality though.
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Dec 20, 2021 21:17
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Baller Ina posted:My ultimate question is: I loving hate this and it's not what I had planned for this scenario at all. I'm already going to have the Fighter conscious when they come back for him so they're forced to hear his side of the story, as well as make the decision to kill him to his face, if it still comes to that. If they let up and really force a confrontation, am I allowed to bring up how displeased I am with the whole thing? I know the Wizard isn't going to back down or soften his rhetoric at all. The whole thing has left me demoralized and I'd love some opinions about all of it. loving yes you're allowed. They're acting like they're taking blood vengeance against the fighter's player in absentia for swindling you into letting him wreck the mercenary company when he left the campaign. This was your attempt to keep the character relevant in case he might come back, and not intended to display any kind of poor judgement or tear down the company from within, so they shouldn't be acting like it was, any more than they should be acting like, say, the local baron is a patronizing idiot who thinks they can't buy their own food when he shows up with some traditional housewarming gifts or whatever. Just a tip for future events involving the fighter, assuming there are any - when Apocalypse World lets you retire a character as an advancement option, it always specifies "to safety" -- "you promise not to kill her off just because now she's yours and technically you could [...] you promise not to turn her into their enemy, just because now she's yours and technically you could". Maybe the fighter focuses more on local recruitment and training rather than active duty from now on? Glazius fucked around with this message at 23:01 on Dec 20, 2021 |
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Dec 20, 2021 22:40
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With regard to the banshee possession, I agree that talking with your players about both your expectations about what kind of game this is would be important. When I read Baller Ina's recap, I considered what my perspective as a player would look like. And as a player, it looks a lot like the DM used another player retiring as an opportunity to turn their PC into a puppet to mess with the remaining PCs. That's definitely not what you intended, but I think it's pretty easy to misread intentions if people aren't regularly talking about how they feel about the game. We are playing mercenaries in the fiction, and this runaway merc is now competition. He took a powerful weapon away until we could retrieve it, poached a job (and if we haven't spent any GP yet, that could be a sign we are EXTRA greedy) and now he's made a pact where he is boosting some kind of evil ghost lady and attacking us on sight. My instincts as a player tell me that this guy is now our recurring enemy. We could kill him now to keep him from sabotaging us now in the future, but he'll probably come back as an undead monster continuing to sabotage us out of vengeful spite. Alternatively, we could banish his undead pact-partner, put him in shackles, and drag him back to our merc company overlords to put him on trial. He'll still probably escape, but when he turns up as a minion for some evil overlord later-on, I doubt he'll be as much of a threat. Might be some opportunity for a dramatic reconciliation. Of course, that also means a lot more spotlight time, so if the party is not interested in the DM's version of this abandoned PC turned nemesis, we should probably put him down hard and decisively. That way we'll get a nemesis more the players enjoy spotlighting. Taking control of a PC, even an abandoned PC, can be pretty delicate business. The D&D social contract often makes PC volition a pretty big deal. This arc may have changed what kind of game your players think you are playing. The best thing to do is come clean about what you were aiming for, that it's not going where you expected, and to have a serious conversation about what kind of game everyone wants to play and how you can work together to make that happen going forward. This is unlikely to be something that can be solved in-character.
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Dec 21, 2021 02:57
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I'm running a 5e game of Ghosts of Saltmarsh, and I'm a fairly new DM. Running the haunted mansion the rogue was in front, checking for traps and so, and because of the nature of that building there was a lot of stuff the rogue was doing, but the rest of the party less so. Any advice on how to balance that more so that other characters get to do some stuff if there's a lot of doors/traps/sneaking going on?
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Dec 21, 2021 03:10
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The Slack Lagoon posted:I'm running a 5e game of Ghosts of Saltmarsh, and I'm a fairly new DM. Running the haunted mansion the rogue was in front, checking for traps and so, and because of the nature of that building there was a lot of stuff the rogue was doing, but the rest of the party less so. Any advice on how to balance that more so that other characters get to do some stuff if there's a lot of doors/traps/sneaking going on? What our DM did for us when we were going through the haunted house a couple of months ago is that he had each of us give him one or two things our characters were interested in that otherwise are not represented much on the character sheet, and then he'd use those as springboards to give us some info. My Wizard, for instance, is an aspiring shipwright who's been working as a ship's carpenter, so he'd give me little asides like "you can see the structure of this room is pretty sound but there's a lot of rot in this corner of the wall" and so forth. These sorts of little asides don't have to have any mechanical effect, as long as they keep a player's interest by speaking specifically to their characters' interests.
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Dec 21, 2021 03:26
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avoraciopoctules posted:With regard to the banshee possession, I agree that talking with your players about both your expectations about what kind of game this is would be important. Oh, right, I forgot about something. You should actually say with your human mouth something that resembles the following: "hey fam, I hosed up last session. That Fightgar, that was all me. I was just trying to keep Fightgar relevant in the event that Steve, player of Fightgar, could find the time to rejoin the campaign. I didn't mean to make them some kind of long-term threat to you, and I'm not going to play them as if they were." Because not making that clear is what got you into this mess in the first place.
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Dec 21, 2021 04:00
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Absolutely. I have definitely made this kinda mistake before. My first ever D&D campaign, I had very different expectations about what kind of game we were playing, and I think it would have been a better experience for everyone if I admitted when I messed up and expected the players to read my mind for the "right" way to play it. Admitting to players when I make mistakes can be a pretty solid way to get them more engaged with the idea of collaborating so we can make a better game for everyone. Nothing has helped my engagement more than going "I messed up, I don't know how to salvage this game, but I think if we work together on it we absolutely can."
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Dec 21, 2021 04:21
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Glazius posted:Oh, right, I forgot about something. This. Speak to the players as a DM and that communication was messed up. It happens and it's far easier to deal with if you know and they know and you each know the other knows. Also are they aware that the fighter was being mind controlled rather than was working with the banshee?
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Dec 21, 2021 14:12
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The mind control was pretty explicit, yeah; the fighter was dead-eyed and wordless in every encounter and the banshee made it clear he was her thrall. I'm definitely going to bring up the miscommunication at tonights session (maybe at the beginning so they might get my perspective before we jump into the game) about how I didn't intend for the Fighters actions to be malicious-he was just trying to get some more work done for the town while the rest of the party was in the forest. I'm hoping having a talk before the session clears the air and everyone can just admit we misread the situation and not have any bad blood or anything from it. I'll report back tonight on how things go.
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Dec 21, 2021 19:49
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Went alright. I said my piece, basically apologizing for not seeing the player side of the Fighter's actions. The Ranger and Wizard didn't really have anything to say in response, but they didn't kill the Fighter and just grumpily told him to go wait in the cart while they cleared the dungeon, so I'll take it. Thanks for the responses everyone and helping me get some perspective on the ordeal.
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Dec 22, 2021 06:51
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I need some of this thread’s creativity. The 5E game I’m running is a homebrew setting. Kinda think a Conan/Antiquity/fantasy setting. My players are going to visit one of the seven dwarven “hills” known as Deepmine. It’s where most of the old moneyed dwarven families live. The city is known as The City of Mirrors because massive openings have been cut into the mountain slopes so sunlight can reach the city inside. This sunlight is redirected by thousands of mirrors of all sorts of shapes and sizes to send this sunlight many parts of the city. Obviously much of how they work is handwaved as “a wizard did it” so real world issues and impossibilities don’t pop up. Sunlight shines upon gems and panels that open up shrines for worship in the evening. The light can made to shine in various colors for celebrations, festivals, funerals etc. My question is what other fun things or ideas could I do with this concept. Again, magical world so I’m not really tied down by hard science of how light actually works.
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Jan 3, 2022 04:36
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Nash posted:I need some of this thread’s creativity. Reflecting light goes both ways, doesn't it? Maybe it's used to broadcast live events and possibly also spy on their residents? The wealthy use them to make video calls, the employers use them to terrorize their employees, and city officials use them to make public safety announcements? There might be a dissenting group that, concerned for the invasion of their privacy, go about their business in masks and veils, while most others are either unconcerned and/or directly profiting from them?
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Jan 3, 2022 05:20
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Nash posted:I need some of this thread’s creativity. Right off the bat, each noble (or guild or whatever depending on how you have them set up) house has a mineral or gem that represents them as a crest. They compete for who can find the biggest chonker of a geode to display in front of their to let the light filter through and wash their area in that color. Some enterprising dwarven tinkerers/engineers have been getting waaay into spectral analysis with the light that they redirect to their shops. The people who work in ores suddenly have a lot of interest in making them polished to incredible degrees, but also conversely some dwarves start to get interested in onyx and obsidian. You could, if you wanted, lift some inspiration from Discworld's dwarves and their orthodox beliefs over the Deep Dark. These would be the conservative fundamentalists who reject the light and see it as an abomination unto the city and a sign of moral decay that the city elders are allowing its corruption to enter the hallowed halls etc...
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Jan 3, 2022 05:25
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it is rumoured the mirrors the dwarves are making are polished so precisely they can see things that havent happened yet
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Jan 3, 2022 05:54
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Tree law but for mirror alignments. "you overlit my rose bushes with your lovely new windows and I demand payment of such and such" Maybe some of the PC's armor is polished to an illegal level of shininess that disrupts something.
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Jan 3, 2022 06:05
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Nash posted:I need some of this thread’s creativity. adventure hook: One of the noble houses, in their competition to see how has the shiniest shiny is the apparatus, has entrapped a celestial/angel/godlike being in one of the mirror panes to give of a sense of luster that none of the other panels has. This happened so long ago that none of the dwarves know it, they just know it's a beautiful mirror. It was moved relatively recently, and one of the inhabitant's skin seems to burn and peel when under the light the pane. S/he thinks its a target attack against themselves, personally, and they get the PCs to investigate. The reality is the celestial is very cheesed about being stuck in the panel, knows nothing about whom the light shines on, and wants to be freed. The reason it burns the skin of that one individual is that they are a vampire/lich/possessed by an evil spirit from the evil big bad. The characters get two arcs of discovery, and an open decision about what to do now that they have discovered the reason for the targeted affliction, and what happens if they destroy one of the apparatus's most beloved panels. Maybe it's the only panel that opens a particular passage in Deepmine? What would be stored there?
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Jan 3, 2022 06:07
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Nash posted:I need some of this thread’s creativity. You could play with social dynamics a lot with this by making how well lit each area of town is correspond to the wealth. Its absolutely ruinously expensive to live in the areas that have a full day cycle while some of the worse off areas get hardly any light at all outside of mid-day. Couple hooks you could run with from this; one of the noble houses in a bid to increase their prestige has secretly moved some of the mirrors throwing the entire system completely off which is reflected in some of the slums starting to get appreciable amounts of daylight which throws a massive wrench into the social and economic politics of the city. If you want smaller scale you could do rival businesses who are competing to build larger and more ostentatious buildings to block the sun from their nearby rivals and the PCs could get dragged into sabotaging or some ugly backroom dealings trying to deal with it. If you want to go really fantastical you can have the city itself be built around grand illusions. The light is bent in such a way that the most important district is always in view as the shining jewel of the city, everything is a kaleidoscope of vibrant colors and lights. Maybe make the culture have a serious taboo about fire as they use light from the sun to light and heat everything and view fire as a barbaric practice unworthy of their city. With natural light you can also take the opportunity to show how they have absolutely bountiful gardens and plentiful trees even deep underground, a veritable natural oasis in the heart of a mountain.
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Jan 3, 2022 06:42
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