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The situation: I'm running an Age of Worms campaign at the moment. It's very fun for everyone so far. My group: a bloodthirsty paladin, killing any evil creature on sight, a sorcerer who is the same, but doesn't admit to it, a stupid, trigger-happy ranger and an even more stupid cleric, who can't kill poo poo. I think you can imagine what kind of roleplaying we do. We have a house-rule for getting laid and getting girls pregnant. Yeah. But the group also enjoys serious drama and roleplaying, as long as it's not too often. My goal: The group needs/wants to kill their enemy Ilthane, a female black dragon, they have met several times already. I want to make this kill hard for them. Emotionally. Ideally they will feel bad about killing the dragon or maybe even spare her life. (They will pay dearly if they spare Ilthane's life. Hehehe.) My plan: They meet Ilthane bedridden in the form of a heavily wounded young woman. She is located in a settlement and is taken care of by its inhabitants. Ilthane has been attacked by adventurers looking for her treasure only a few days ago. 1) I believe Ilthane should be really evil. Not under some kind of external pressure and acting against her own will. That would be too clichè. 2) The settlement either knows she is a dragon and has some kind of deal with Ilthane or they are totally oblivious. 3) If they are oblivious, the group has to murder a helpless young woman that is never left alone. 4) If the settlement has some kind of deal with the dragon, there are two possibilities: Either they are a small village of good people seeking protection from powerhungry neighbors or they are a small fief ruled by a lord with ambitious expansion plans. So, what do you think? How can I reach my goal? My plan isn't set in stone.
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May 20, 2010 19:05
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rock rock posted:I'll try and type up a bunch of stuff a bit later on how I stat NPCs on the fly. Ok, so as promised... There's some pretty simple maths you can do to calculate things like attack bonus and damage on the fly. Say you've got a warrior you want to stat. Attack bonus = level (BAB) + 2 (strength bonus) + 1 (presumed weapon focus). Every 4 levels or so add an extra +1 for magic weapons or whatever. If you've got an ok knowledge of different feats, you can pick one or two interesting ones depending on level and let him use it as an attack. For example, improved trip. Damage = weapon damage + 2 (str) + 1 for every 4 or so levels, again for magic weapons or whatever. Anothert + 2 if he's a lvl 4+ Fighter for weapon specialisation. HP = lvl x 5.5 (average roll on a d10) AC = 10 + armour & shield mod + 1 or 0 for dex Skills = 3 + lvl + ability mod This stuff is way easier for low level guys, and again those tables in the DMG are your friend. Remember you don't have to have perfect stats either. Your players don't know. If an NPC is dieing too quickly, chuck on a few extra HP. If he's having a hard time hitting, well, looks like he just gained a level in (say) Barbarian and now he's raging. Too tough? Shave off some HP or AC. Of course, this all works better if you don't have the kind of players who do constant mental arithmetic to figure out what they need to hit, but players don't know what's actually going on behind the scenes. Just tell anyone who questions your math that maybe the NPC got scared and was shaken or whatever. The hardest part is casters, who require a pretty good knowledge of spell lists to be able to play on the fly. But (and this applies equally to story or snadbox games) theres probably only a few decent casters around, so you can stat up one or two of each flavour pull them out when you need them. Even just write a couple spell lists. I could probably write inane poo poo like this for pages, what stats give you problems? Or is it personalities etc? There's always the random NPC traits table in the DMG, which can make for some memorable NPCs, and if you don't like what you roll, roll again. Or just pick a trait or two. Or even just read the thing a couple times before the game for ideas. Also, what level are you playing at? I think some goon posted something like this already, but you can just have a bunch of level appropriate encounters that you pull out when appropriate. Maybe just write down a few monsters from the monster manual (with page references) that you think would be fun and might show up, read their descriptions before hand and you've got a bunch of encounters done. I like to put a couple possible ways they could be introduced too. EG, for an Ankheg: *burrows out of a field when PCs come within X ft. *A peasant complains something has been eating his sheep. *Gnomeish burrows have been mysteriously collapsing, as if their being undermined.
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May 22, 2010 02:09
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As an example of fiddling stuff, I was running a game of RuneQuest at my local gaming society, late at night, and just as they were fighting the climax (a Manticore) I was told we had to finish up soon, we were all being thrown out. So, mid fight, I dropped all the monster's skills by 20% and took 4 points off all its armour locations. Players never had a clue. Told them afterwards, and explained how it was so we could finish quickly, and none of them really minded. The short of it is that players don't mind you changing poo poo on the fly, or even making stuff up on the spot, so long as it's entertaining and you had a good reason. While sparing individual characters from well deserved deaths is kinda lame, changing things up to avoid an entirely accidental Total Party Kill is perfectly fine. A lot of people seem to have an aversion to this kind of chicanery, but it's really one of the most important techniques a GM should use and perfect. The difference between doing it right and just making poo poo up is, I find, only making changes to bring stuff back under control: if you intend a fight to be lethal, don't throw the players any bones, but if you put something together and it's clearly kicking their rear end when you explicitly don't want it to (say, a filler encounter of low-level monsters like goblins), it's okay to relent a bit. Conversely, never change stuff up to be harder when your players are getting lucky or doing well. You shouldn't dilute their hard work or good fortune, just roll with it and come up with another challenge further down the line.
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May 22, 2010 02:20
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rock rock posted:Advice This works really well. I'm running a level 2 party right now so I'm just trying not to kill them and trying to flesh some things through. We're having our game tomorrow and I did a lot of what you said so I'll be sure to tell you how it goes.
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May 23, 2010 01:16
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Hungry Gerbil posted:The situation: Just to check, but this is the type of thing you're trying to support right? Because if not, punishing the players for failure to slaughter a helpless and sympathetic NPC might be a bad call. I would say definitely make the village oblivious, otherwise, from the way you've described your players, they'll probably feel justified in just hacking down anyone who gets in their way and calling it justified, since Ilthane is definitely evil. If you really want to force a moral dilemma for the characters, I would focus on the consequences to the villagers, rather than a black dragon they already hate, as sympathy might be a bit beyond her grasp. I guess I'd arrange it like this: Ilthane is being cared for by the villagers, who believe her to be a simple wounded woman. If the players just charge in and try to kill her, the villagers will resist them, many of them willing to die protecting a young woman. If they confront Ilthane, she can taunt them, telling them that if they force combat, she'll destroy the village in the process, and that otherwise they can simply wait for her to recuperate and try their luck another time. If they try to convince the villagers that she's a black dragon, they get laughed off as mad or paranoid (a little charming magic from Ilthane would go a long way here). So your players are faced with a 4-fold choice. A)Charge in past the villagers, killing who they have to, and getting the village destroyed. B)Sneak/talk their way in and kill Ilthane, getting the village destroyed C)Try to find some evidence that Ilthane is a dragon before she can recover from her wounds and slip off, knowing that they might not get a chance like this for a while D)Let her recover, knowing that they're minimizing the loss of innocent life, and try to track her down as she leaves. That's my 2 cents anyway. Let me know if I've misinterpreted anything.
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May 23, 2010 19:36
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So I had my game last night and I think it went really well. Unfortunately one of my players couldn't make it and I had to write him out of the plot. At this point he's basically a prisoner (He wanted to be a drow.) Which was as simple as a bumpy road and a spot check that no one made for the drow to be gone though. I really can't explain how much the dmg helped me plan for this, thank you again Rock Rock
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May 24, 2010 20:00
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MrMortimer posted:Which was as simple as a bumpy road and a spot check that no one made for the drow to be gone though. Risky. What if one of your players made it? Given that it's the sort of check you should make (the PCs don't know they didn't see anything) you're better of not rolling. You can tell your players you gave them all spot checks if it'll make them feel better. Remember, you're the DM and your job is hard enough in 3.5 without having a check that rules as written the players should get destroy your plausible reason for losing a PC, forcing you to keep inventing ever more implausible ways for the drow to disappear. Just don't go the other way and railroad them about stuff they care about. While they're probably all happy for you to shuffle an absent player's character off, fudging roles that affect someone who IS theres' character so your plot cn advance is an art that if done poorly makes the game unfun and removes player input. But yeah if you really want that BBEG to escape giving him 10 more HP isn't the end of the world.
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May 24, 2010 23:56
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Chainsawdomy posted:That's my 2 cents anyway. Let me know if I've misinterpreted anything. Thanks. I saw those points, too. And I just couldn't make it work. So I made the dragon just hard to kill. Now she had infiltrated a fief and brainwashed the lord and his younger daughter. She also bribed the lord's personal guard and had a dozen spies concealed as servants. The older daughter was suspicious and the lord's general was very suspicious. My player's had a hard time even figuring out who the dragon was. After that it was still difficult unmasking the dragon. But they finally convinced the general and older daughter and a big fight ensued in the throne room. (Inbetween they almost got poisoned, almost got imprisoned and all of their weapons were stolen...) 
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May 25, 2010 00:11
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rock rock posted:First off what is a BBEG? Also, no one was supposed to make the check. Granted had someone nat 20'd they would have seen it (chances are no one would have stopped for him). I thought it worked well because the players know they lost something, they're just not sure what yet. It made for a good moment later when the cleric asked the drow a question way later on in the campaign and no one could find him. Everyone figured it out and laughed. My only real problem I had was I made my bad guys ac too high and people had a hard time hitting them (This was originally to compensate it for being a 3 on 8 fight.) All of my Players are into meta math and figure out what the AC is, so I didn't want to change it without having a reason besides "You guys are too weak"
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May 25, 2010 04:55
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BBEG = big bad evil guy. The boss, in videogame terms. If your players are going to notice that the enemy's AC has changed, pull a reason for the change out of your rear end. For instance, if the enemy's a monster or melee combat type, you might describe a hit as, "you stick your weapon deep in his leg, and he starts to limp a bit as he moves around," or, "you get a solid hit against his head; he's looking a bit dizzy." Bam, lower AC (and a dex penalty if you're obsessive about tracking that sort of thing). If the enemy's a caster, you could say, "you notice a flash of energy around him;" a successful spellcraft check with an easy DC would let them notice that "you think one of his protective spells just failed."
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May 25, 2010 05:14
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Maybe this isn't the right thread, but I figure I'll ask here anyways. My brothers-in-law, who are 9 and 10 are interested in playing Dungeons and Dragons after watching us run a session a while back and partially participating (letting them roll dice, choose who to attack, and make a few minor decisions). Does anyone have experience running a game with players that young? Would 4th edition be too much for them, because my original intention was running with 4E and be less strict about rules or just altering them to make it less confusing for them at times, and if they continued to play over the years, gradually introduce more of the game mechanics. I'm also open to suggestions of other systems that are simple to use. I'm not stuck to 4E or anything, it just happens that I have the books for 4E and all the resources I need to get it running. Basically, do you think 4E is too complex for 9 & 10 year old kids to get the hang of and play? If so, would there be another system that would be a nice introduction into tabletop games? If we use 4E, what are some elements you would think about cutting initially, or altering to be simple for beginning play? I know it doesn't have a definitive answer, because it all depends on them but suggestions would be nice.
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May 25, 2010 17:38
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Yarrbossa posted:Maybe this isn't the right thread, but I figure I'll ask here anyways. http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4dnd/monsterslayers Give this a run, and if they adapt to the rules well you can upgrade them to the full game.
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May 25, 2010 17:41
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CoolCab posted:http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4dnd/monsterslayers Exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. Thanks a bunch! EDIT: I'm still open to other suggestions as well. Yarrbossa fucked around with this message at 20:50 on May 25, 2010 |
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May 25, 2010 19:24
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Hmm, never really thought about it like that. I guess I'll just start bullshitting more.
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May 27, 2010 06:16
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I've begun work on a campaign and I've hit a bit of a snag. The players have all made super interesting characters that come from a wide range of backgrounds, but that has hindered my ability to make a good reason for them to stay together as a party after the initial encounter. I haven't run it yet, but in my mind I'm struggling to come up with a reason why these 5 strangers would stay together and go on dangerous adventures without me railroading them into forming some kind of Adventure Co. There are the classic tropes, of course, such as party blackmail, slavery and the search for freedom, or the group simply knows each other before hand, but I'm just looking for other possible ideas.
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May 27, 2010 08:09
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The Poison Tree posted:I've begun work on a campaign and I've hit a bit of a snag. The players have all made super interesting characters that come from a wide range of backgrounds, but that has hindered my ability to make a good reason for them to stay together as a party after the initial encounter. I haven't run it yet, but in my mind I'm struggling to come up with a reason why these 5 strangers would stay together and go on dangerous adventures without me railroading them into forming some kind of Adventure Co.  I'm actually serious, emote joke aside. Before you get into trouble, preferably before the next session, say that you don't currently have a reason for them to all stick together after this story, and decide as a group if they all want to work towards a common purpose, or go into business together, or all be/become friends and stick together, or whatever. You can always help justify it if they get a reason they all like; if they all want to pursue wealth or crusade against evil, throw out rumors of a well-guarded treasure or a world-threatening cult, respectively, and similar justifications. I can't really contribute to the brain-storming without being part of the group and knowing the characters, but it's not really a bad thing to get all the players in on planning what their group does. Also very handily avoids railroading, since it's literally their decision.
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May 27, 2010 09:54
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I'm always doing a mixture of approaches. Usually two characters are friends. They maybe have a common enemy with the other characters. Or a common goal like protecting their home from evil. If all else fails cleric and paladin types can be ordered around by their superiors. The method works out alright.
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May 27, 2010 09:58
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Maybe tell us a little about the characters and the setting?
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May 27, 2010 10:09
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Typically if you have a couple PCs who were GMs back in their day they are pretty good about making things work on the PC end of the equation. They understand the PCs need a reason to stick together, and acknowledge that it would be somewhat ham-fisted for the GM to just staple a reason on to them, so they tend to invent in character reasons that work well and don't require NPC intervention. That might just be a local thing though, as we have a very high number of GMs and very few people who are only PCs, but you can tell a difference rapidly when they play. Plus, people who used to GM games tend to bitch a lot less since they actually understand that the show must go on, even if Sparkleleaf the Elf doesn't get to be the star of the show. Barring that? Set items. Item sets that work better when more people are carrying them and sticking together are instant solutions to getting the PCs to form bonds, since they want all the pluses they can squeeze out of their gear, and that requires them sticking together as a group if they can't find anything better.
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May 27, 2010 12:32
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This is a Scales of War semi-specific question, so I'm going to use some spoilers a little later on. My party is currently in the middle of module #4, The Lost Mines of Karak. Whenever my group can't make a full game, I'll often run One-shots that take place in my game world, but outside the Elsir Vale to add more flavor and depth to the world. I try to somehow link them back to the Scales of War main game in some way, either vaguely or hinting at things to come. For instance, 2 months ago I ran the module Massacre at Fort Dolor, but had the father of one of my main game's PC's, (he's the 3rd son of a baron) hire the oneshot party to check out Fort Dolor which is in his jurisdiction. I replaced the endgame cave fight with Githyanki and the next time the PC in my main game visited Overlook, his mother had written him a letter telling him about what the PCs that went to Fort Dolor discovered. Tonight or tomorrow I'll be running another oneshot for a couple of players. I'm working on having them find an Inn that's had a massacre happen very recently, and was going to have a big part of it be the PC's trying to figure out what happened by following clues and piecing things together themselves. I was thinking in the end that they'd have to find a magic item that will open a portal to the Shadowfell, and find the Inn there is actually a cultist temple that worships Tiamat. Do you think that since the main party is only 6th level and is pretty far away from discovering Tiamat is behind the events of the main game it's too early to bring Tiamat into play? I think in the real game they don't discover it until the upper teens or early 20's. Again, this is with characters that aren't in the actual Scales of War game, but their players are. Any suggestions for what could be in the Shadowfell if it's too early for Tiamat? I don't want to reuse Githyanki. Thanks!
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May 28, 2010 12:54
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I admittedly have never played Scales of War, and have just read the plot overview a while back, but (spoilered just in case) isn't there some shadar-kai weapons dealer in the latish heroic tier? Perhaps they find out the massacre was his doing. I think he marks his wares with a broken black arrow or something; maybe the one-shot PCs track down who's responsible for the massacre and they notice all the armor and weapons the villains used have the weapons dealer's mark on them, which leads them to him. They fight one of his lieutenants as he makes his escape so he can fight the main PCs later.
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May 28, 2010 14:31
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The Rogue in my 4e group wants to start a thieves guild in a very small town that the players are attached to and are building up from a once-small-outpost. He's using an old friend and resource to get one going, and doesn't want to rob from the town but the other players are vehemently against it, even if it means the guild beyond highwayman against the traders that come in and out of town. The Rogue mostly wants to money for the town to improve it, and just thinks it'd be cool to be head of a small time thieves guild, so any ideas on something that can be implemented that won't irk the other players so much or bring ill will to the town? The closest small town is 2 days ride from town, bigger port city is 4 days ride, if that gives an idea of opportunities.
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May 28, 2010 18:34
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I have a 4e group in who are 4th level doing fetch quests for a wizard. I had an idea to have the wizard essentially doubt their power and say I'll give you this next quest only if you can defeat me. It will be a non-lethal fight, from his side anyway, and was wondering if there were a good way to architect this challenge. I was thinking he could proposition the party and give them a day to prepare, essentially an optional skill challenge to find what elements his spells are, and to determine what strategy they are going to use. I want this to be a fairly difficult fight for the party and the but I'm not going to use the non-lethality of it to let me have a fake TPK just because. The wizard has a pet bird and a warforged butler so I was thinking I could use them somehow, as a lurker and an elite soldier perhaps? Then make him a solo controller? Is this a good strategy or is there a better one I'm not thinking of? I've never run a solo encounter before, is there a good guideline for levels above the party they should be? I've heard bad things about solos having too many hit points, but considering it is a duel of sorts submission if the fight is getting too drawn out is a good possibility.
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May 28, 2010 19:04
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Fenarisk posted:The Rogue in my 4e group wants to start a thieves guild in a very small town Maybe what he could do is put together a small roving band that only uses his town as a home base. One day they're breaking into some nobleman's house ten days to the east, another they're ambushing people in a forest ten days to the west. That's not the same thing, but if you flavor it as being Robin Hood, or the A-team or something, it'd be pretty cool. How involved with his "guild" does this guy want to be? That's really the sort of thing he should be leading in person, but I suppose just a random update every once in a while could work. "Hey, boss, here's your cut from that port job we told you about," or "Bad news, Steve got killed by a stray arrow and we need a new lockpick expert," or whatnot.
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May 28, 2010 19:13
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I'd go all out and do a three or four story library/summon chamber with lots of ledges he can hop to and from, slinging spells and controller abilities while summon goofy poo poo like possessed spell tomes or minor demons. I'd also toss in the warforged butler too, because a robot butler with a serving platter as a shield and feather duster as dagger would be kind of funny, and would be a nasty addition to the wizard if he was a defender type. Basically use the terrain and fun magic stuff more than a straight up fight, and give options for the players to use it against him. Maybe the flying books can be re-routed with a successful arcana check to fly up and hit the wizard or blind the wizard for a round, or a smaller player can grab onto the bird familiar to be sent up to a higher spot quicker than climbing. Another idea is maybe have the wizard pick a different element each round (clearly visible) to flavor his attacks, and something in the room can help give the players resist 5 to that type or something.
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May 28, 2010 19:14
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bezel posted:Yeah, there won't be anything worth stealing in the town, and word will get around quickly if he starts attacking traders. That's the last thing he'd want to happen. The player is very much not the douchey "heh, i pick pocket everyone" rogue. His style is more blackmail and subterfuge out of combat to help the party get needed resources or take care of enemies, and doesn't resort to killing unless there is absolutely no other way. Even his item selection is geared towards escape and hiding. I'll toss out the idea of a guild that is far reaching, just set up in their town.
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May 28, 2010 19:17
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D&D4E: I need ideas for a side-quest or two from a little peasant village where the characters are passing through. They need to get some more XP to go up a level before they get to their next plot-destination. The last session ended with them just getting to a tiny peasant village (an inn, a grocer, about 20 other houses) and finding a safe room for the night. Any good side-quest ideas that could start from here would be great. They would be even better if they are not combat-oriented. The last session was just a string of encounters with little dialog or strategy. I've got one player (the rogue) who wants more sneaking around, gathering intel, talking to people, etc but the problem is that the player is much quieter than the rest of the group, so any time I present an opportunity that allows for that, the others decide its easier to bash down the door and go in axes swinging. So, do you have any suggestions for simple mini-quests that involve dialogue and/or wits to solve, not brute force?
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May 31, 2010 23:56
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DarcArc posted:D&D4E: I need ideas for a side-quest or two from a little peasant village where the characters are passing through. They need to get some more XP to go up a level before they get to their next plot-destination. The last session ended with them just getting to a tiny peasant village (an inn, a grocer, about 20 other houses) and finding a safe room for the night. My group is in a similar situation. My plan is once they get to the town they learn about a suspicious character whose been sneaking around at night and robbing townspeople. Since the attacker is using night as a cover, the party won't be able to attack him head on, so they'll need to find out where the person lives. This would force them to talk to people of the city or visitors to gather intel.
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Jun 1, 2010 02:47
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Well I'm gonna say in 4e you can get away with just saying "you level up" whenever you want and saying gently caress it to XP but if you don't wanna do that I reccomend a hostage situation. Perhaps bandits have the mayor's daughter and will cut her throat if they see anyone but the mayor approach their fort with the ransom money. So they have to talk to people to find more subtle ways to sneak in.
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Jun 1, 2010 04:39
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Off the top of my head: Local law enforcement hires the players to sneak around in the nearby hunting grounds reserved for the king/baron etc. looking for a band of poachers. Potential twists: A)Poachers need the game to survive, and the players end up helping them evade the local law enforcement, B)There are no poachers, and the sheriff/whatever uses the opportunity to frame the out-of-towners for the murder of a rival on the hunting grounds, resulting in a chase and/or trial.
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Jun 1, 2010 08:35
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Chainsawdomy posted:Off the top of my head: Local law enforcement hires the players to sneak around in the nearby hunting grounds reserved for the king/baron etc. looking for a band of poachers. I've considered similar plots, although the twist is that the king wants the party to discover "evidence" of a neighboring kingdom raiding border towns and logging camps. Whether or not they catch on is up to how obvious you make whatever clues available (stragglers in the raiding parties, suspicious equipment or patrol routes, or noticeable preparation for war on the part of Kingdom A). This sort of things offers a few possibilities for the players to proceed, and plenty more for them to gently caress things up even more.
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Jun 2, 2010 02:54
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I need some help getting around the 1-hour workday problem. I've got my party exploring a small-ish dungeon, and it is not realistic for them to spend 8 hours resting there - its a short crawl, but there's enough encounters that I feel they'll exhaust their spells and healing before the big bad at the end. If they do rest, it is very likely that the big bad will escape or overwhelm them in an ambush. I've supplied them with several Pearls of Power and plenty of healing potions to get them through, but what else can I do to get them to press on and not rest? I want them capable and able to fight the end boss, but if they choose to rest I'll have to ambush them while they're sleeping and that just compounds the issue.
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Jun 4, 2010 16:22
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Stuntman Mike posted:I need some help getting around the 1-hour workday problem. I've got my party exploring a small-ish dungeon, and it is not realistic for them to spend 8 hours resting there - its a short crawl, but there's enough encounters that I feel they'll exhaust their spells and healing before the big bad at the end. If they do rest, it is very likely that the big bad will escape or overwhelm them in an ambush. Give them a time limit - they need to find item X before something bad happens, or bad guy Y is going to be leaving soon, so they need to get through this as fast as possible.
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Jun 4, 2010 18:11
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Stuntman Mike posted:I need some help getting around the 1-hour workday problem. I've got my party exploring a small-ish dungeon, and it is not realistic for them to spend 8 hours resting there - its a short crawl, but there's enough encounters that I feel they'll exhaust their spells and healing before the big bad at the end. If they do rest, it is very likely that the big bad will escape or overwhelm them in an ambush. I deal with the problem (Granted not in 4E, but it should be about the same) by providing a constant lure or push deeper, so the players can't rest, but generally believe it to be their decision (because it's the right one). As a random example, since I know nothing about this dungeon: Party runs into a big bunch of bad guys. Bad guy sergeant immediately hightails it in order to raise the bridge over the chasm that leads directly into the inner dungeon. The party can grind their way through the bad guys as normal, but by the time they're done, they'll have to take the circuitous, dangerous route via the tunnels. Or, they can push through the bad guys as quickly as they can in order to stop the sergeant, killing a few, taking a few hits, but overall being more concerned with moving them out of the way. Once they catch and stop the sergeant, they have a big group of bad guys behind them, and the logical choice is to get across that bridge and raise it. They could rest now, but those guys are coming through the tunnels eventually; the best they'll get is 45 minutes or so. Switch between luring and pressing them, and they won't feel railroaded. Later, for instance, they run into the Big Villain, who isn't expecting a confrontation. This is it, the players think- as the villain retreats, presumably to the battleground, the players pursue, only to run into the next obstacle (Pet Hydra, puzzle trap, elite guard, whatever)that the villain easily bypassed. If it's a small dungeon, like you said, you should be able to keep this up long enough that the players never consider resting as a real option. In my experience that pisses them off less than "You try to rest, but harpies attack". Green Intern posted:This sort of things offers a few possibilities for the players to proceed, and plenty more for them to gently caress things up even more.
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Jun 4, 2010 18:36
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Chainsawdomy posted:Do you consider this a bad thing? Because I count that as a plus. When the players gently caress up, it's usually like a free adventure you can run through pure reaction. I meant it as a good thing. I realize it looks like a bad thing. I am of the opinion that gently caress-ups can be more interesting than success.
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Jun 4, 2010 18:38
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Chainsaw, that's totally rad. I like that a lot, luring and pressing the players rather than giving them free reign over the environment.
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Jun 4, 2010 18:44
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Stuntman Mike posted:I need some help getting around the 1-hour workday problem. I've got my party exploring a small-ish dungeon, and it is not realistic for them to spend 8 hours resting there - its a short crawl, but there's enough encounters that I feel they'll exhaust their spells and healing before the big bad at the end. If they do rest, it is very likely that the big bad will escape or overwhelm them in an ambush. Beyond the pacing stuff that others have already mentioned, the only thing I'd add is: give the players a general heads-up that they're going to be facing more encounters than they might normally. If your group is using up dailies and healing surges on the assumption that they'll see four encounters, they're going to get upset around the sixth. If they're rationing their resources a little more conservatively, it'll be easier to pull them on.
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Jun 4, 2010 19:02
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How about them buying healing wands and potions? And offensive spell scrolls? They're must haves. Make them almost die and they will learn to keep consumables for emergency situations and low level encounters in the future.
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Jun 7, 2010 01:53
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Alright, so I'm building up to the first boss fight of this campaign. General background is the PC's have to go around the world collecting artifacts of great power for MYSTERIOUS PURPOSES. The first place they went to is a jungle where a bunch of dragon worshipping kobolds are. All well and good, cept an actual dragon shows up, dragons haven't been seen for thousands of years, so despite the fact that its a fairly young one, this is a BIG DEAL. Dragon roosts in a temple which just happens to be where one of the PCs had a vision of an artifact they need. They've fought through some kobolds who naturally went batshit for one of their gods visiting them in the flesh, as well as some fresh dragonspawn that have been cooked up, and are approaching the temple. I'm planning a three stage boss-fight. The first stage is the dragon starts harrasing them on the roof of the temple complex, fight a bit, pretty quickly the dragon gets a bit hosed up and takes a nosedive right through the roof. Either the PC's go straight down after it to check its dead, or go back and choose a more cautious route through the temple, in which case they'll probably kill a couple of panicing dragon-worshippers, because hey, god is dead. When they approach the "dead" dragon, they are taken into its dreamscape(it's a psychic dragon), and have to fight in there. This is going to be based on a WoW boss fight, they get nightmare debuffs periodically which can stack(save ends all debuffs on you), and at the beginning of each players turn for each nightmare debuff a minion spawns next to them which only they can interact with/see. One additional gimmick to this is if the PC's realise they're in the dreamscape, they will be able to do whatever stunts they want. Hey, this is a dream, can I run up that wall and onto the roof? yes, yes you can. Once the dragon takes some damage in here the final stage begins, which will be a close quarters combat, the dragon doesn't have anywhere to run, and there's not enough room to fly about so they're all just going to slug it out for a few rounds. Any thoughts/suggestions/advice on any part of this?
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Jun 11, 2010 08:18
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| # ? May 9, 2024 18:23 |
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Don't make it too gimmicky. It shouldn't feel like a videogame boss. Use plenty of atmospheric descriptions and allow you players to do epic stuff. And if the boss is too easy, then don't hesitate to cheat. At least one character should have a near death experience.
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Jun 11, 2010 10:03
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