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Either this Wednesday or the next I'll be putting my group through a demon masquerade. It's a 4E D&D campaign loosely based off Diablo 1 (with creative liberties of course. Last week I put them through the entire setting room-for-room from The Descent to finish off the Cave levels). So the group will need a mcguffin in order to continue forward. This mcguffin will be kept by either Azmodan, the Lord of Sin, or Belial, the Lord of Lies, both whom are Lesser Evils who haven't shown up in the games yet. Either way, the demon I decide upon will be portrayed as a demon prince who loves to throw lavish heathen parties. All the demons present will be humanoid-ish and speak 'common'. So the players will be encouraged to take this as an opportunity to sneak in while disguised and steal the mcguffin. The challenges to be thrown at them will be that they'll have to think like a demon and fit in, or risk being discovered while being surrounded by blood-thirsty monsters. I'm looking for cool events/things demons would get a kick out of but make the player and character moderately uncomfortable/twists to traditional party games. These games will be played IRL if conveniently possible. So if they're playing charades and the phrase is "Eating babies" they'll have to stand up from the table and act it out with the rest of them guessing. What I have so far: - The party spared Gharbad the Weak's life and he ran off. He's going to show up again here, punished for deserting the front line against the mortals above. He'll be going around serving a plate of horderves and missing an arm. His arm had been cut off and cooked, and he's now forced to offer it as a snack with his remaining arm. The players will have to sample this delicacy or loose Party Points. - The breaking of a pinata, except it's a real living thing and the guts are the candy. (Thanks Brian) - Demon Scribblish. I might bring back the old Jenga blocks for some added Dread flavor, which worked well during the The Decent portion. The party will probably be split into several party events with breaks for socializing and sneaking/investigating in between. While party events with an evil twist are more than appreciated, what I really need are general phrases, things I can throw into the charade/scribblish games. Things that demons would get a knee-slapping laugh out of, but the heroes would be disgusted by. The more extreme and outlandish the better. Thanks in advance!
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Feb 6, 2011 23:24
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Dr. Doji Suave posted:I am planning on doing a Hyborian Age Campaign in 4th Ed here on the forukms (or through maptool), and I want to try to keep it as close to the fluff as possible. However to do this I would probably need to completely disassemble any magic classes currently in 4th Ed's core rulebook. What would be the best course of action to take with this? From what I have read in both novels and comics, magic never really had such a foothold in Conan as it does in generic D&D. I am kind of at a crossroads on how I want to handle it, and I am looking for ideas. There's no reason this can't be done in 4e, but of course some things will have to be set to be swords & sorcery. Remember that swords & sorcery primarily means: 1) Evil people have the magic, and magic is rare and dangerous. 2) Characters are heroic, but flawed. 3) HIGH ADVENTURE Personally I would just have players be martial classes only, and possibly reskin the bard as someone who is simple a jack of all trades and charismatic enough to do his whole healing and debuffing role. Essentials adds a lot of great classes like the druid controller who uses an animal companion to do most of the controlling, and a ranger class that is a controller as well. That way you've got 2 controllers, 2 leaders, and a whole lot of defenders and strikers of varying flavors. Hell, with essentials and all the martial powers you have almost 10 options for decent fighters alone that mix ample amounts of defender and striker, and about 8 varieties of rogues and a half dozen of rangers.
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Feb 7, 2011 01:46
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I really could use some thoughts from other DM's ... I don't know how many folks out there run "public" games, but I've got an annoyance. I GM a LOT of games. I’ve run Shadowrun at GenCon, hosted D&D games for friends and gaming groups, done Paranoia at conventions.. so I’m pretty used to having to deal with “pubbies” (to steal a WoW-term) at the table. My D&D Encounters group on Wednesday nights is the problem. I started the group by loading the deck. My roommate and another one of my best friends plays (and his 6 year old son plays, too!) and we picked up another guy and his son who are very cool and fun to play with as well… However, we’ve also picked up a couple of people who are ruining it for everyone else. They are a pair of "brothers", probably late-40's in age, and they have some major social interfacing issues. (And, to be honest, need to shower and change clothes occasionally.) Neither can't keep a thought inside of his own head, and both are uncomprehending of personal space for the most part. Neither can seem to grasp the idea of “someone else’s turn”. Example from last night: Me (as an NPC): “Thank you adventurers! Malgorim doesn’t like me to go off alone, so hopefully having you along while I research some of the plants in the area will…” N1: “I have a 6 insight! *clatter* I roll a 13, so I have an insight roll of 19!” Me: “…help him feel more at ease.”… “Okay, you believe she is happy to have you along while she looks for these plants.” N1: “I have a 7 nature! *clatter* That’s a 14 so 21! Do I find some of these plants?” Me: (Praying for death but trying to be nice.) “You haven’t left yet to find herbs - you’re still on the trail with the caravan.” N1: “Oh. Well I’ll look when we get out there!” This happens during most combats or roleplaying sections. I’m not the only one rolling my eyes each time it happens. The problem is this - as the GM, and a representative of Wizards of the Coast and the store we game in - I can’t just say "GTFO, NERDS!" When you run a public game you understand that you will have to take who you get and make it work. If they were severely disruptive, I would ask the store guys to ask them not to come back - but they are only being … well, the quintessential stereotypical introverted gamer nerds. I need to figure out a way to chill them out, or make them leave. 
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Feb 17, 2011 15:29
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Have all the other players tell them to get the gently caress out. Even the 6 year old. If WotC gets on your tits about it, tell them it was either these two getting the boot or the game dying and them losing 5 customers and a rep.
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Feb 17, 2011 18:45
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I know this isn't the place for it, but what the hell does pubbie even mean?
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Feb 18, 2011 02:53
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Pubbie is an MMO term. Someone who just sits around in the capital cities, trying to get someone to let them join their guild or raid group or whatever because they can't be arsed to make one themselves or put in the effort to make themselves desirable to a group. In a tabletop game, these would be the people who go around to cons to play because no one wants to play with them in their home town.
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Feb 18, 2011 03:15
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Yawgmoth posted:Have all the other players tell them to get the gently caress out. Even the 6 year old. If WotC gets on your tits about it, tell them it was either these two getting the boot or the game dying and them losing 5 customers and a rep. Bad customers aren't something any business wants or needs, even moreso for the tabletop hobbies if they hope to not stagnate and die by 2030 or whatever.
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Feb 18, 2011 04:56
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Tomero_the_Great posted:I'm looking for cool events/things demons would get a kick out of but make the player and character moderately uncomfortable/twists to traditional party games. These games will be played IRL if conveniently possible. So if they're playing charades and the phrase is "Eating babies" they'll have to stand up from the table and act it out with the rest of them guessing. Off the top of my head: - Pin the tail on the mortal. Of course you have to get the tail from somewhere... - Mortal chess. Or perhaps a game of chess where one PC is the "player" and the other PCs can volunteer as pieces to increase their chances of winning. Combat between pieces is of course to the death, with the moving piece getting the initiative and a charge bonus on their first attack. Bonus points if Morgibb the Undefeatable decides to play for the other side. - Plenty of truly cruel and horrible hors d'oeuvres. Every had pixie wing or puppy dog tail? Plucked right in front of you! Wash it down with the tears of a widow, or the blood of a virgin! - Bring out some board games like Wise and Otherwise (make up daemonic sayings), Don't Break the Ice (have a mortal on the ice pleading for mercy every time a block is removed), or Lego Minotaurus.
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Feb 18, 2011 05:13
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Yawgmoth posted:Pubbie is an MMO term. Someone who just sits around in the capital cities, trying to get someone to let them join their guild or raid group or whatever because they can't be arsed to make one themselves or put in the effort to make themselves desirable to a group. In a tabletop game, these would be the people who go around to cons to play because no one wants to play with them in their home town. Or in any online game, someone who isn't part of a group or clan or whatever and who just plays pickup games with whoever. Generally a derogatory term, even though it applies to the general population of casual gamers.
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Feb 18, 2011 11:50
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yeah pubbie isn't an MMO term it's a videogame term which means anyone who plays on a public server as opposed to with guildmates on a private server. It goes back to games like Quake and Counter Strike and probably DOOM. Its a word that is usually associated with being a big goddamn baby who sucks at games and cries when you own the gently caress out of them. Oh no, where did PubbieTears.jpg go? Liesmith fucked around with this message at 12:27 on Feb 18, 2011 |
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Feb 18, 2011 12:19
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Liesmith posted:yeah pubbie isn't an MMO term it's a videogame term which means anyone who plays on a public server as opposed to with guildmates on a private server. It goes back to games like Quake and Counter Strike and probably DOOM. Its a word that is usually associated with being a big goddamn baby who sucks at games and cries when you own the gently caress out of them. http://imgur.com/SvTio
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Feb 18, 2011 19:15
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Edit: 4e D&D if it wasn't obvious I've been statting up a Badguy Pair using the MM3 on a business card numbers, and I want y'alls opinion on a leader mechanic. lvl 4 brute and controller/leader, the brute has a Recharge-when-bloodied close burst pushback attack, controller has a burst spell and a Recharge 5-6 spell that will punishes movement on one dude. The leader mechanic I want an opinion on is this: pre:Potion charge Minor Action Close burst 5 Target: 1 ally in burst Special: Can only be used once per round. Effect: Target gets +2 damage until the end of the encounter. This effect stacks with itself. As a minor action, the target can end all of the Potion Charge effects on itself. The target then gains +2 to all defenses for each effect ended this way until the end of its next turn Problem is, I don't know if this effect is too strong or if it will delay the fight too long. I suppose if the fight goes poorly, I can say that both dudes run away when either one is bloodied, as I'm thinking they'll be mercenaries who certainly aren't willing to die for the Badguy Cause. Thoughts? Edit2: Huh, Actually hadn't thought of that. Yeah, lets say that, maybe with a bunch of minions to fill it out and mess up PC movement. vvvv M.c.P fucked around with this message at 23:30 on Feb 18, 2011 |
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Feb 18, 2011 22:59
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I guess this is a pair of elite threats? Ordinary monsters of any stripe can wilt very quickly when the PCs decide they should die.
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Feb 18, 2011 23:26
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Kenderama posted:I really could use some thoughts from other DM's ... I don't know how many folks out there run "public" games, but I've got an annoyance. Get advice from a middleschool teacher. 12 year olds with add react the same way. Basically, be clear that theres no dicerolling until you say so or it doesnt count. Make very clear conventions of interaction for them to follow.
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Feb 19, 2011 13:54
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Syphilis Fish posted:Get advice from a middleschool teacher. 12 year olds with add react the same way. Basically, be clear that theres no dicerolling until you say so or it doesnt count. Make very clear conventions of interaction for them to follow. This is actually a pretty good idea. Thanks!
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Feb 19, 2011 18:15
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Standard 4E D&D game, getting into freeing an enslaved population. Yadda yadda, I was getting a little bored so I decided to switch things up for fun. So I was getting to the end of a campaign when someone new joined in. The game was turning heavily into combat only, which was fine for some players but I wanted to get away from it for a little while as little roleplay was being done and I wanted to change that. Long story short, the characters killed a lawyer who sold his soul to a minor demon lord for a paltry amount of power. The lawyer was unable to fulfill his part of the bargain and so the demon lord ordered that the characters be put on trial for destruction of property and the lawyer himself is going to be their adversary. And so they are now in hell. Specifically the part that deals with sloth. And they are awaiting trial. Barring any pacts with forces greater than them, the players will have to defend themselves in court from said lawyer with the honorable judge Belphagor (inventor demon who the lawyer belongs to, creator of the slap chop and the unseen servant) presiding. The main goal of this story arc will be a sort of recap of the campaign leading up to the death of the lawyer so the new players won't be bored/lost all of the time, and so he'll feel more connected to the storyline. It will also be foreshadowing a campaign at a later time which is coming up soon. What I have: Read through Dante's Inferno. It will be at most a mutated caricature of tiny parts of the book. Characters fight their way through a demonic library in order to obtain knowledge of how to win a court case, battling against hellish books, library paiges and the dreaded severe librarian Fraulein Hair Bun herelf. Also, doing a job of some sorts to recruit a Johnny Cochranesque or some other type of lawyer to be defined at a later date. If the glove don't fit, you must acquit! What I want: I'm looking for any sort of flavor which might deal with both evil and laziness and how it would impact the characters. More fluff than anything. The campaign is also fairly lighthearted, so I'd rather have punishments from hell, the trial, gathering evidence for the defense, etc, be more laden with irony rather than straight up torture. Although grotesque monsters of laziness would be great too. Also faux legalese hilarity. I have some experience with how court proceedings work, but it has been ages since I've went over legal documents. However, I need to dumb it down and make it interesting so I don't bore them with legalese. I'm looking for any ideas for the campaign to be fun. I'm going to run this for at least four game sessions, if not more. Any help with ideas, no matter how small, would be greatly appreciated.
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Feb 21, 2011 06:50
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Ice Phisherman posted:Standard 4E D&D game, getting into freeing an enslaved population. Yadda yadda, I was getting a little bored so I decided to switch things up for fun. For some fluff you can play up the bureaucracy for laughs; every person they talk to refers them to someone else, dozens of forms they're told to fill out, long lines making for an eternity of waiting (think the DMV from hell) until they figure out the right people to talk to or process to follow. As for the trial itself, maybe you can put an biased evil spin on or show the evil consequences of the party's major actions (bad example: the party rescued a king, the kings rule is going to lead to a war that will kill hundreds)
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Feb 21, 2011 09:16
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Have you read Eric by Terry Pratchett? There's a major sub-plot in there dealing with a deamonic uprising, brought on by the fact that hell has become too bureaucratic, it'd probably help give you some ideas for a mildly farcical Hell. A variation on the discworld's version of Sisyphus could be pretty entertaining, he's doomed to forever roll his boulder up a hill, but before he can attempt it, he has to listen to a deamon read out the full health and safety regulations regarding the movement of heavy objects. Have a few wretched souls arraigned before the court of hell, locked in tiny cramped cages and having an unendingly long and complicated charge sheet read to them by a deamon talking in a slow and droning voice. Just describe it in passing as they go by complete with sample of confusing charge. I'm having my own stupid player problem and i'm hoping to nip this one in the bud before it starts. I'm about to start running Masks of Nyarlathotep for Call of Cthulhu for a group at my university and i've had a guy express interest in wanting to play his two character concepts so far have been: A crazy hobo who talks to his cardboard hampster and quote:Mark Snookerson How exactly would you recommend telling him to take his horrible wacky meta-humour poo poo away from my game and try to create something that doesn't completely destroy the tone of the game. I'd like to take th straightforward approach and just tell him that, but my girlfriend is also playing in the game and for some strange reason doesn't want me being rude to incredibly obnoxious guy that everybody hates.
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Feb 21, 2011 14:56
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Ice Phisherman posted:Dungeons & Deliberations  !! If you haven't played Phoenix Wright, those games are right along the lines of what you're looking for. Also seconding the massive beaurocracy. After all, there's no statute of limitations when eternity is the timeline!As for my own advice request - I'm running a 3.5/Pathfinder game, and have an idea for my next little arc. First, some background information. The party's around level 8 and includes a warforged paladin/halfling rogue combo, an elven bard/ranger, a human wizard, and a human dragon shaman. Through the course of our game, we went through Whiteplume Mountain, ended up finding the remnants of an ancient civilization, and opened up the Jammerverse. Through this, the party picked up a benefactor by the name of Arn, who is like a foppish cross between Raistlin and Willy Wonka. Massive power, used frivolously and whimsically. The idea for my next bit is a Dungeons & Dinner murder mystery. Since I'm going to be moving, we're planning on doing a big dinner for the new place, and I figured it'd make for a perfect setting. In celebration of the expansion to space, Arn throws a dinner party for the instrumental characters on his luxury airship. As the meal starts, he keels over, dead. I already have an idea as to how everything should work out, but I need some ideas for interesting NPCs who could be involved, clever red herrings to throw out there, and some props to include. Since the players will be eating as the game goes, the time limit is the duration of the meal, so they'll have to find the answers quick! Spoiler, in case anyone's interested:Arn's really just loving with everyone. He never really dies.
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Feb 21, 2011 15:39
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Calico Noose posted:<snip> Non-nonsense version: "You can play your character that way if you want, but people will react in a realistic fashion. At best, people won't want to talk to you. At worst, you'll be institutionalized. It's hard to keep a precious unique flower alive in the wild, and I ain't running a greenhouse on the other side of this screen." Slightly accommodating version: Ask him to play the character straight most of the time. When he blows his first SAN check for temporary insanity, he lapses into this fantasy persona to attempt to prevent any more damage to his psyche.
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Feb 21, 2011 15:42
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Honestly, compared to some of the things I have read in the "Worst Experiences" thread as I attempt to read from page 1 to the end, you should be thankful that this guy actually has semi-creative inappropriate ideas, rather than "I would like to play an animes from my favorite bishonen-waka-waka-waka."Nonvalueadded User posted:Slightly accommodating version: Ask him to play the character straight most of the time. When he blows his first SAN check for temporary insanity, he lapses into this fantasy persona to attempt to prevent any more damage to his psyche. This sounds pretty reasonable. He seems literate and intelligent, tell him "look, I understand that there is always some degree of comic relief in the apocalyptic horror of Call of Cthulhu--but this needs to be the exception, not the rule." If "a pretend British detective" is his coping mechanism, it is then funny precisely when needed most, after something genuinely terrifying and scary has occurred. Rather than ruining the set-up to the horror. Or something; it is not like I am Mr. Cthulhu Expert Man. The other one might actually be a better character; because if played with even a modicum of straightforwardness, a creepy disheveled homeless man who finds comfort in talking to cardboard would be a fine fit.
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Feb 21, 2011 16:02
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The way he arrived at the homeless man talking to cardboard hampster was me telling him to gently caress off when he said he wanted to play Minsc from Baldurs Gate in Call of Cthulhu.
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Feb 21, 2011 16:35
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Ice Phisherman posted:I'm looking for any ideas for the campaign to be fun. I'm going to run this for at least four game sessions, if not more. Any help with ideas, no matter how small, would be greatly appreciated. Doink Doink I'd second the idea of a bureaucratic hell. You may also want to look into a combined closing arguments/fight scene at the end of the trial, with special abilities for the player's to use. Objection! Standard Action One creature within Close Burst 5 Roll a saving throw* and make up some bureaucratic legalese. On a successful saving throw, target is dazed and immobilized until the end of their next turn. * With modifiers for how appropriate the argument is, or how excitedly they yell OBJECTION!
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Feb 21, 2011 19:12
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Quarex posted:This sounds pretty reasonable. He seems literate and intelligent, tell him "look, I understand that there is always some degree of comic relief in the apocalyptic horror of Call of Cthulhu--but this needs to be the exception, not the rule." If "a pretend British detective" is his coping mechanism, it is then funny precisely when needed most, after something genuinely terrifying and scary has occurred. Rather than ruining the set-up to the horror. Or something; it is not like I am Mr. Cthulhu Expert Man. Calico Noose posted:The way he arrived at the homeless man talking to cardboard hampster was me telling him to gently caress off when he said he wanted to play Minsc from Baldurs Gate in Call of Cthulhu. Good: In a particularly high-mortality game, each new character I created was another brother from the same family, each with daring/tough/manly names that rhymed with each other or the last name. I played them all straight, each was different, but it was a little running joke and a subtle commentary on the visciousness of that game. Bad: Once had a player who wanted to play an insane asylum escapee who tags along to help out his alienist friend. Sort of Renfield meets the Joker meets Krusty the Klown. Saying hard is no to friends.
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Feb 21, 2011 20:17
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Kenderama posted:<snip> Just talk to them. If they get there early enough, pull them aside before the game starts. Tell them you want to talk about the game and take them out front and a little to the side. Explain that while their enthusiasm is great, they're starting to get disruptive. Start off treating them like you'd want to be treated. If they don't get the message you might have to ask them to leave sooner or later, but on the off-chance that someone from Wizards asks why they got a complaint from these two you can always explain what happened and even point out that you treated them like adults.
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Feb 21, 2011 20:52
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Nonvalueadded User posted:Saying hard is no to friends. Example: I'm starting up an Eberron game for some friends, and I told them that anything past core needs to be run past me first, and even then, I have final say on anything, even core. I specifically mentioned that nothing outside of Eberron was going to work in the same way as it does in whatever world it's originally from. This meant telling them "no, that doesn't work" about a dozen times because they kept wanting to import poo poo from Faerun whole cloth, including history and poo poo that just does not make anything resembling sense in Eberron. After I beat it into their heads that I'm not going to let them run roughshod over the setting and create characters that would be wholly impossible, they started actually trying to come up with poo poo that would work. The party is still Weird As gently caress, but they fit within the game world and I can actually do something with their characters besides throw increasingly bigger monsters at them as they run down a hallway.
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Feb 21, 2011 21:32
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Ice Phisherman posted:Standard 4E D&D game, getting into freeing an enslaved population. Yadda yadda, I was getting a little bored so I decided to switch things up for fun. I'm very confused on this, Because honestly while I lovefull on mental battles in games, I wouldn't want them within a mile of an RPG I like, LARP or not. However this has nothing to do with it, and no offense, I think any player whose read up on anything in this genre can Objection! you in the first moments airtight without needing to do poo poo. this is why I am asking this How the heck would they be tried for destruction of property? If the guy who sold his soul dies for any reason normally, the demon still gets his "body" and soul in hell. That's just standard Faustian pact legal terms there really. The demon/devil never has any claim to his physical body, in fact having his actual body in hell means the lawyer in question could still try to escape hell of his own free willsince the demons can't collect on the body, and I'd imagine them killing him invalidates the contract as well. Once he dropped dead, short of bringing him back to life directly, the demon doesn't have any problem with it, and explicitly, he can't do anything then either way, it just means his contract has a new due date. (He can certainly take matters into his own hands on the prime material though.) The lawyer's soul is the only item that can be as part of the contract. The entire point is either - he succeeds and unwittingly furthers the demon/devil's causes, or he dies, they get the power back, and a soul, nothing more generally. The demon has absolutely no ground to stand on if the lawyer failed, even if the actions of the PCs in question caused it. (this is how I am seeing it)
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Feb 22, 2011 07:38
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Lord Psychodin posted:I'm very confused on this, Because honestly while I lovefull on mental battles in games, I wouldn't want them within a mile of an RPG I like, LARP or not. However this has nothing to do with it, and no offense, I think any player whose read up on anything in this genre can Objection! you in the first moments airtight without needing to do poo poo. this is why I am asking this  It's a game, dude. You're overthinking things. I'm not too worried about MY STORY. I'm worried about everyone having fun, myself included. Consequently, I'm not running a game to be taken seriously. I'm just running it to have some laughs, hang out with friends and drink some beer. Mostly I'm just trying to squeeze comedic value out of it while simultaneously horrifying them.
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Feb 22, 2011 11:27
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How the heck would they be tried for destruction of property? If the guy who sold his soul dies for any reason normally, the demon still gets his "body" and soul in hell. That's just standard Faustian pact legal terms there really. The demon/devil never has any claim to his physical body, in fact having his actual body in hell means the lawyer in question could still try to escape hell of his own free willsince the demons can't collect on the body, and I'd imagine them killing him invalidates the contract as well. Once he dropped dead, short of bringing him back to life directly, the demon doesn't have any problem with it, and explicitly, he can't do anything then either way, it just means his contract has a new due date. (He can certainly take matters into his own hands on the prime material though.) The lawyer's soul is the only item that can be as part of the contract. The entire point is either - he succeeds and unwittingly furthers the demon/devil's causes, or he dies, they get the power back, and a soul, nothing more generally. The demon has absolutely no ground to stand on if the lawyer failed, even if the actions of the PCs in question caused it. (this is how I am seeing it) [/quote] I completely disagree, I think this scenario could be a great deal of fun (and also full of Phoenix Wright). I think you'd have to break it down into several different skill challenges, one for researching into law done by the "legal expert team" (AKA the people who will be doing the talking in court) and one for research into the events by the detective team. The legal team would be looking up legalese and things to help them out, with a victory condition set that looks something like: Failure - find enough information to hold your own against the demon in terms of legalese Partial Success - Find the contract the demon made with the lawyer Full Success - Find the actual contract itself and also notice one or two "discrepancies" The detective team would be further looking into the event, and should have a success set up like - Failure - learn only that the demon was more directly involved in manipulating events than originally suspected Partial Success - Find out what drove the lawyer to seek to sell his soul in the first place Full Success - find evidence that the demon directly interfered with the lawyers original goals to make him turn towards a contract. After that, the players should segue into the court room, which should involve - Witnesses describing the events, as called by the lawyer and interpreting that player interruption caused the catastrophic failure of the demons plans. Several mini-skill challenges should be set up, the legal team should cross examine witnesses to find flaws in their story, potentially showing the witnesses things they didn't originally realize. They should also have opportunity to provide conjecture onto the nature of what "really happened" to cause the demon to lose his property. Success tree should look something like - Failure - not out of the frying pan yet, but hold on enough to not lose their souls Partial - get deeper into the truth of the situation, find out the demon was involved with events well before even the lawyer was born. Full - reveal that the demon had manipulated almost every event that culminated in the incident, except for the coming of the pc's/including the coming of the PC's. The detective team should get called on to testify to their findings so far, and should have a success tree something like - Failure - the PC's are seen as at least partially at fault for the disaster Partial - Jury is split on PC guilt Full - The Jury is willing to recognize that the PC's were an unplanned contingency in a greater scheme, and that they acted to save themselves instead of maliciously against the demon. Then another research stage, with the legal team finding out about demonic contracts, success along the lines of - Failure - Mortals are required to intiate contracts with demons before they're technically allowed to act on the mortal realm Partial - The demons involvement means he forfeits rights to the profits of his scheme Full - the demon was contracted long ago to bring the chaos and destruction about, and has manipulated all events to fulfill a previous contract. The players stepping in when they did ruined everything for the demon, and this has actually all been a ploy for revenge The detective team should find out that - Failure - someone (name somebody) was rumored to be in league with the devil a long time ago Partial - Someone (same as above) once tried something nefarious and big in scope - major military conquest/major magical conquest/opening the shadowfell/removing all puppies from existence - and was stopped by a group of heroes. Full - Someone (same as above) was also rumored to have prophesied revenge x amount of generations in the making, culminating with the current generation. This would lead to Court Scene 2, same setup as before, with same basic idea. The more successes the legal team gets, the more back story and information (now dealing with the demons' previous dealings with Someone) they weasel out of witnesses and the detective team presenting evidence to show that they are innocent of wrongdoing. The last set of skill challenges I'd imagine would be along the line of Legal: Failure - there was a contract between a demon and a very powerful and evil (class X) Partial - that contract was for (goals above), but was rumored to continue past the original events Full - the contract stipulated revenge must be fully enacted by the demon, or Someone would be set free Street: Failure - Rumors abound that an ancient and powerful villain has returned to the town Partial - Someone was recently seen bargaining with beings in the astral/primal chaos Full - Reliable witness reports that Someone is once again in the land of the living, either alive or undead/a construct/something else suitably villanous The last legal battle should have cross examination of the demon itself as the focus, and lead to a group cross between everyone using information from before. Huge circumstance bonuses should apply to all skill checks for recovered information up to this point, and should go something like Failure - the players are unable to get the truth out of the demon, but the jury doesn't find them guilty. Demon and Lawyer both go to hell Partial - Players weasel the information out of the demon, get him to admit this was all set up long ago in the past and their failure has cost him dearly and made them an enemy that won't forget them in the future! Demon and Lawyer go to hell Full - Players are able to break the demon down, getting him to admit that the entire contract they are accused of ruining was null and void because he set all the events in motion in the first place. The lawyer is stunned to realize the thing causing his problems in the first place was the demon he turned to for help, queue repentance moment and and argument between demon and lawyer, demon goes to hell and lawyer goes wherever you think the players would most like to see him go, ashamed of his own actions. Those should be three total skill challenges with three phases each (I'd use obsidian skill challenges personally). Remember that they count as encounters, so successful encounters should get some form of treasure parcels, be it left-behinds with magical residue, and old cache of the heroes who fought the previous baddie the first time, a gift from a thankful and repentant lawyer. If you want inspiration as to portrayals of NPC's you can play some phoenix wright games or watch almost any courtroom drama that involves a research phase, from law and order to Matlock. If you want to break up the skill challenges with some combat (bruisers in the streets refusing to talk, minor demons attacking the legal team) make sure that you have a reason for all your pc's to be together when it happens and don't be afraid to kick down a door with some demon-infused goons to set them on the right track once interrogated.
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Feb 22, 2011 17:04
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Calico Noose posted:The way he arrived at the homeless man talking to cardboard hampster was me telling him to gently caress off when he said he wanted to play Minsc from Baldurs Gate in Call of Cthulhu. Oh. Tell him he can instead play Xzar who thinks his old buddy Monteron survived Baldur's Gate II. Hmm, I just winged that, and I hope I did not actually remember that much detail about those two games. But, still, that does, in fact, suggest his intentions are not in the right place, as you imagined in the first place. As Nonvalueaddeduser points out, that is a recipe for disaster. He would be virtually guaranteed to have his cardboard hamster "go for the eyes!" like twice a game. No no, wait, I have it--saying "go for the tentacles!!! AHAHAHA!!! SEE HOW I TOOK THIS REFERENCE AND SLIGHTLY CHANGED IT, PER CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES?!" If somehow you are still considering letting this guy play in your game, maybe you could salvage something from it by looking into the awesome "Unseen Masters" supplement for Call of Cthulhu, which basically (spoilers only if you want to play in it) has one of the player characters "become a disciple/avatar of Daoloth," which is to say the character develops schizophrenia, with symptoms that are often indistinguishable from Call of Cthulhu clichés).
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Feb 23, 2011 17:06
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Need a bit of advice. I'm running the Reavers of Harkenwold module that comes with the essentials DM kit. Basically, Evil Mercenaries invade a county, heroes asked to stop them. There's all kinds of leadup and missions to find allies and stuff before the Big Battle, making for a pretty cool module as opposed to "Here's a dungeon, kill stuff, take poo poo". Anyway, too add a little tension, I'd set a time limit for the Big Attack, which basically amounted to "Barely enough time to get allies and back". Throw in a few sidequests for extra goodies/good feelings, and the PCs have cool RP challenges and tough decisions about if they have the time to save little Timmy's life when an invading army is on the horizon. I then decide to do a quick skill challenge, where if the PCs ace it they get a couple more days to prepare. They did, but that's cool, it just means they have time to do the couple of sidequests I prepared. The problem comes up with horses. At this point I'd already given the time limit, and rough estimations of travel time on foot. I'd figure that the towns would only have 1 horse each, due to Evil Mercenaries and being pretty drat small in the first place. But then my PCs remember that, hey, there's an enemy caravan coming up, that'll have a horse, right? After brief tussle and a skill challenge with a stubborn stable hand, they're the proud owners of two horses between 4 PCs, and I suddenly have a whole lot of work to do, because now I need to fill up at least 3 more days of possible stuff to do. A few options here. I can expand one sidequest by a day and then throw in an adventure that was originally going to be Post-Battle, which should fill their schedule. I could also find some way to kill the horses, though I definitely want to avoid DM Fiat bullshit. Or I could make up new hooks, though I'd like some goon input for appropriately Guerilla warfare/reprisal stuff. Basically, I wanted this time limit to create some tension and decisions for my PCs, but thanks to hot dice and unexpected smarts, that tension is pretty much gone.
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Mar 8, 2011 22:54
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Quarex posted:Oh. Actually it turned out my fears were unfounded, i stamped down hard on his two stupid character ideas and he turned out a perfectly fine character and we've only one session so far, but everything has been running smoothly on a character front. Now my biggest problem is getting the players to stop rolling botches in combat. At the end of the last session the group raided the JuJu house and got involved in a fight against 2 straight razor wielding cultists in a tiny cluttered shop. Because of the size of the shop and the chaos of the fight i decided that botched gunshots would hit whoever rolled worst on their luck roll. Queue about 8 botched shots in a row, two players managing to would each other with random fire, and the P.I managing to drop the Gun Runner to 0 hit points with a stray shot to the head. The group was doing some insanely badly at fighting that i look pity on them and decided that a cultist botching with a razor would end up slashing himself, the cultists took this as a sign to follow the players lead and immediately rolled 99 and 98 on their attacks, cutting their own throats by sheer random chance.
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Mar 9, 2011 00:00
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M.c.P posted:A few options here. I can expand one sidequest by a day and then throw in an adventure that was originally going to be Post-Battle, which should fill their schedule. I could also find some way to kill the horses, though I definitely want to avoid DM Fiat bullshit. Or I could make up new hooks, though I'd like some goon input for appropriately Guerilla warfare/reprisal stuff. Basically, I wanted this time limit to create some tension and decisions for my PCs, but thanks to hot dice and unexpected smarts, that tension is pretty much gone. Well, have you put everything "on the table" as far as quests and durations? Even if you have, there's no reason you can't say "well, good thing you looted those horses, because some rear end in a top hat sabotaged this bridge and you have to go around". Look all frustrated like they foiled your cunning plan.
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Mar 9, 2011 00:31
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M.c.P posted:Need a bit of advice. Give the evil army a secret pass through the mountains or something, suddenly drop a couple of days like BAM Send evil army scouts to burn some towns in their army's way, so if the heroes don't get to defending the land they lose some villages
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Mar 9, 2011 02:32
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Liesmith posted:Give the evil army a secret pass through the mountains or something, suddenly drop a couple of days like BAM This coming from a relatively new (and not that great) GM, and I have doubts about my own ability to pull that off without sounding like fiat.
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Mar 9, 2011 03:13
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Glazius posted:Well, have you put everything "on the table" as far as quests and durations? Even if you have, there's no reason you can't say "well, good thing you looted those horses, because some rear end in a top hat sabotaged this bridge and you have to go around". Look all frustrated like they foiled your cunning plan. Yeah, I pretty much gave them a crude map, gave rough travel times, and said, "Allies and goodies are here, here, and here. Where do you want to go first?" DarkHorse posted:If you take this tack (which I would probably end up doing) be sure to give them hints about it. Enemy scouts carrying messages detailing the pass the army discovered, a small encampment that shouldn't be there yet, that sort of thing. They will have a while to bask in their success, only to discover that they haven't gained time, only made up for lost time they didn't know they had. Or, in other words, the players can still intervene to stop the surprise attack. Hmm, there's no mountains, but I think I can tie that into an existing little quest the PCs have. There's a group of elves in a nearby forest that the PCs are supposed to go to for help. They're the standard "What about our forests, why should we sacrifice ourselves, prove your worth to us  " stuff, but maybe I can pull a twist on that. Like, one of the elders is pushing to stay out of the fight, and that guy is secretly taking cash/goods/magic items from Evil Army. In exchange, Evil Army is using the forest as a secret flanking route, and the corrupt Elf is using his influence and cronies to keep the other elves out of the loop. Perhaps a mounted shock troop? A fight trying to defend a town against superior mobility could be suitably hectic.Maybe I should have an NPC offer to train a couple PCs in Mounted Combat? (read: free feat). Gives them an excuse to use the horses in combat, gives them risk if enemies try to kill the horses, and makes the Charging Barbarian a raging badass. Not a bad option, I'll have to look at the mounted combat rules again, but I don't remember them being particularly convoluted. Edit: Last question, somewhat tangential, whats the most widely accepted way for Eladrin to stay captured? M.c.P fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Mar 9, 2011 |
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Mar 9, 2011 04:25
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Teleportation requires line of sight, so blindfolds are pretty much like manacles.
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Mar 9, 2011 08:11
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M.c.P posted:Edit: Last question, somewhat tangential, whats the most widely accepted way for Eladrin to stay captured? There's feyslaughter weapons (When you hit a creature with this weapon, that creature cannot teleport until the end of your next turn) so maybe homebrew a feyslaughter rope/shackles/whatever? The PCs could hold onto it afterward and find some use for it in the future. If you're trying to stop an easy escape from a cell or room or something, remember (most) teleportation is all about line of sight. Eliminate any line of sight to places that would make escape trivial. Locked in an isolation cell, behind a big steel door, the window looks out to a 100 foot drop, etc. The eladrin could still use their teleport, (a neighboring cell visible through a crack in the wall found on a perception check, a crawlspace behind a grate, that sorta thing) but they'd be using it as part of the escape and not the entirety. (I assumed you meant PCs and not NPCs) edit: I thought of everything but the most obvious solution 
Wearsyourgodnow fucked around with this message at 08:22 on Mar 9, 2011 |
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Mar 9, 2011 08:20
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Mundane methods: a windowless cell, a bag over the head or a blindfold. Magic methods include the Dimensional Anchor (Level 16, Adventurer's Vault 2) or the Dimensional Shackles (Level 17, PHB). The anchor disables any teleportation within 10 squares, the shackles do the same for the creature wearing them.
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Mar 9, 2011 10:32
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M.c.P posted:Edit: Last question, somewhat tangential, whats the most widely accepted way for Eladrin to stay captured? There's teleportation circles, I always assumed some wizards could draw circles/wards that block teleportation.
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Mar 9, 2011 15:00
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