|
quote:I've got a 4E question. Does anyone have any experience running a combat-like encounter without using a map? You've hit one of 4e's weak spots. Do it as a skill challenge and let them swing from chandeliers and stuff. Edit: top of page, need quote.
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2013 20:54
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 11, 2024 00:12 |
|
|
homullus posted:You've hit one of 4e's weak spots. Do it as a skill challenge and let them swing from chandeliers and stuff. I was thinking about doing that, but how should I handle stuff like Encounter Powers?
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2013 21:08
|
|
P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT
|
Guesticles posted:I was thinking about doing that, but how should I handle stuff like Encounter Powers? Let them use the powers as their flavor text (rather than mechanical text) suggests, or if something's legit dangerous, let them burn encounter powers for rerolls. You could even set up a few cool things in the room for them to do (like swing from the chandelier or whatever) and tell them they can do those specific things at the cost of an encounter power. I realize you're not playing 4e at that point anymore. If you wanted to go further, you could do any other sort of mini-game that makes sense -- a memory-type matching game with cards to eliminate bad guys, simulating the recognition of people despite their elaborate costuming. Or use something like this (not mine).
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2013 03:36
|
|
|
homullus posted:
Everyone should check that link out. It makes creating a stealth/thieving game really easy. That gives me an idea to use Dominoes to simulate a race.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2013 10:01
|
|
|
dragon_pamcake posted:Everyone should check that link out. It makes creating a stealth/thieving game really easy. One of my dream RPGs has fun minigames that take the place of the more complex or more narratively-important skill challenges, and 4e-style tactical fights that take the place of key-to-narrative battles in an otherwise more-abstract WFRP3-ish combat system.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2013 02:05
|
|
|
I've got a question about how to create a homebrew setting based on existing fiction: How much do you try to convert beforehand? I know there's always the temptation to do as much of the setting as possible -- especially if it's something you really like -- but that could be more than you need while playing. Another issue is that fiction is rarely balanced in a gameplay sense, so you may need the play experience to handle the more finicky issues. So, what is your experience with this?
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2013 15:33
|
|
|
scissorman posted:I've got a question about how to create a homebrew setting based on existing fiction: Try to capture the vibe of the setting rather than trying to shoehorn all the details in. For example, let's say you want a Star Trek: TNG game. What you need is some good social combat rules, some non-complex personal combat rules, a mystery resolution system, and a technobabble mechanic (once every so often a character can reroute the plasma conduits through the forward shield generator to neutralise the alien mind spores, but only after some kind of character drama is played out). What you don't need is racial SDCIWC stats for 17 different forehead aliens, detailed melee/ranged personal combat, and ship combat system that's more complicated than most wargames. Because that's not what TNG is really about.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2013 16:04
|
|
|
AlphaDog posted:Try to capture the vibe of the setting rather than trying to shoehorn all the details in. This is a good way of putting it, and I want to go one further -- sometimes people want a TNG game that's like the show. In the show, it's not hard sci-fi -- it's character-driven drama and morality play. But sometimes when people say they want to run a Star Trek: TNG game, they mean that they want to run a hard sci-fi game that's in that setting, because they liked the look of the ships or uniforms or whatever. Basically, have the best (and likely, but not certainly, most) rules for the things you want the game to be about. Kind of "good fences make good neighbors", but with rules and players. But recognize that just saying you want it to be "like [familiar setting]" should not be the extent of the conversation, because that's how campaign misunderstandings happen.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2013 16:19
|
|
|
Yeah choice of system really helps you set the tone that you want. If I was going to try to run "hard" Star Trek I'd use GURPS which attempts to (and does a decent job of) mapping character traits to real life capabilities. You wouldn't have a technobabble skill, you'd have Armoury (Beam Weapons) or Mechanic (Starship) or whatever. If I was going to do Star Trek "as intended" (as a soft sci-fi setting) I'd go for something cinematic like FATE that lets you just say your character is good at technobabble without having to think too hard about what that entails.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2013 16:23
|
|
|
Hi, first time (sorta) GM here. I'm attempting to run a 4e campaign that I'm writing for some friends of mine as a GTA style sandbox game. It's kinda set in a 1920's-aesthetic-and-warforged-and-magitek-but-low-magic kind of world, and they're guild members contracted out to do jobs for several different factions. Basically what I'm looking for is either some mission ideas or alternately a site that may have some. The factions are as follows: Silencers: Cops, pretty much. Murder mystery, busting drug deals, missing persons kinda missions. Optional objectives involve capturing rather than killing people. Nobles: Shady morally grey missions, tax collecting, etc. Make use of golems and stuff as security. Optional objectives are things like looking the other way to sketchy business deals or demanding a cut. Bloody Doorway: Eco-terrorist druid types. I want stuff that scales from low level protesting against habitat destruction at first to destroying factories and mines later on. Also they deal in drugs - their message is muddled because most of them think it's like Greenpeace but it's more like the Earth Liberation Front. Optional objectives involve thinking of more dramatic ways to show they mean business - the flashier the better. Green Eyes: Bandit/pirate gang newly moved into a city trying to get a foothold and oust the local gangs. Optional objectives involve thinking of ways to utterly crush the local gangs so they can recruit more people. I'm trying to provide the PCs with some framework ideas like "ok you need to go here by this time and do this - how do you do it?" but I'm trying to think of the framework ideas in the first place. Also, it's a Heroic level campaign, so the entire thing takes place in one city, and concerns the fate of that city, rather than the world. Help?
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2013 16:34
|
|
|
dog kisser posted:Hi, first time (sorta) GM here. I'm attempting to run a 4e campaign that I'm writing for some friends of mine as a GTA style sandbox game. It's kinda set in a 1920's-aesthetic-and-warforged-and-magitek-but-low-magic kind of world, and they're guild members contracted out to do jobs for several different factions. Basically what I'm looking for is either some mission ideas or alternately a site that may have some. Sharn. Which is not a site or a mission idea, but rather a search keyword.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2013 17:04
|
|
|
dog kisser posted:I'm trying to provide the PCs with some framework ideas like "ok you need to go here by this time and do this - how do you do it?" but I'm trying to think of the framework ideas in the first place. Also, it's a Heroic level campaign, so the entire thing takes place in one city, and concerns the fate of that city, rather than the world. Help? Have you found out what the PCs want to do? What are their motives? Are they looking to amass wealth? if so: - a shady guy in a dark alley is offering a briefcase full of money in exchange for a no-questions delivery of something every faction wants - The police put out a bounty on a known criminal, dead or alive... but extra money for alive - A noble is hiring to smear another noble's reputation Are they looking to gain power? if so: - A noble is pining after a commoner and would owe the PCs a favor if they helped him out; and his forbidden love would make great blackmail material later - Some foreign mafia-type persons are muscling in, and looking for local-type talent to serve as legbreakers, muscle, and/or hired goons. If they players do well, they can rise in the ranks and start muscling out the foreign-type leadership. Are they looking to fight things? - The police are overworked and have begun hiring mercenaries for on-call work to handle the jobs that don't require SWAT, that they don't have time for, or that they simply don't want to do But really, talk to your players and find out what they want to do. Sandbox games can fall apart really easily if nobody has any real motives. Edit: And if they have no idea, or you don't know, establish a few local personalities. The lady bartender who works/owns the place they stay in, the local wiseguy, two or three information brokers, a pawnbroker, a couple of nobles who hate each other; and then just play things by ear and let the players go looking for trouble rather than trying to write scripted encounters for them. PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 17:57 on Jan 18, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2013 17:49
|
|
|
PoptartsNinja posted:Have you found out what the PCs want to do? What are their motives? That's all great stuff! The real tough thing is that we haven't actually started playing yet, so I'm just trying to nail down a few possible encounters for the future. I have a loose idea for where I want them to go, but in the beginning it's just like "Okay guildies, we have a few jobs up on the job board - pick a couple of them and head out there" with very little story, tying into bigger plots later on. I really want them to be able to do whatever they want and just go with it, but I also want to be prepared for at least a few eventualities.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2013 18:46
|
|
|
(Crossposting from the Apoc World thread since it fits this thread as well) So after some consideration, I've finally decided to run my first PbP game on SA using this hack. Now, I've GM'ed before, but it was all live games. So far I've GM'ed D&D 3.5, GURPS, FATE and currently run a Pathfinder campaign. I also currently play in a very non-standard Pathfinder campaign. Now, I've played Dungeon World before, and had a blast with it, which is what inspired me to do The Sprawl. The Apocalypse system seems to lay out how to run it very well, but is there anything I should know about doing this? Details in the Apocalypse system that aren't immediately apparent? Things I should look for in a cyberpunk setting? PbP and general GM tips? (For reference, it's going to be close in tech level to GItS, SNATCHER sans consumer-level hover tech, and Snow Crash with a more varied Metaverse.)
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2013 05:02
|
|
|
dog kisser posted:That's all great stuff! The real tough thing is that we haven't actually started playing yet, so I'm just trying to nail down a few possible encounters for the future. I have a loose idea for where I want them to go, but in the beginning it's just like "Okay guildies, we have a few jobs up on the job board - pick a couple of them and head out there" with very little story, tying into bigger plots later on. I really want them to be able to do whatever they want and just go with it, but I also want to be prepared for at least a few eventualities. This is best handled, I think, by talking to the players. Seriously, many campaigns go much smoother if, before starting the game, you sit down with the players and say "Okay, guys, I'm going for a kind of open world-y sandbox-y kind of thing. Tell me about your characters and the kinds of poo poo you want to do with them and what your eventual goals might be." You can't be prepared for everything, no one can, but you'll get a lot of mileage out of just talking to people.
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2013 06:39
|
|
|
dog kisser posted:That's all great stuff! The real tough thing is that we haven't actually started playing yet, so I'm just trying to nail down a few possible encounters for the future. I have a loose idea for where I want them to go, but in the beginning it's just like "Okay guildies, we have a few jobs up on the job board - pick a couple of them and head out there" with very little story, tying into bigger plots later on. I really want them to be able to do whatever they want and just go with it, but I also want to be prepared for at least a few eventualities. DivineCoffeeBinge has it pretty spot on. Just talk to your players in order to get a bead on what they want to do in your game. Sandbox games kind of puts the burden of motivations on the players. So when I run such games I crib from a game called Nobilis when it gets to the alignment part. Have them pick an alignment and then ask them what specifically drives their character. "I'm a Lawful Good Paladin" doesn't have much weight and there's no way to get hooks going for the guy. But if the guy says "I'm a Lawful Good Paladin and I'm trying to keep this orphanage open" now we know that the guy is probably going to be looking for high paying legal jobs that will keep the street kids in gruel and recycled shoes for another month. Alternatively he may take a low paying job if it's something like "Bandits have been hitting caravans before they get to the markets. The Merchant's Guild has offered a small bounty on the capture or elimination of the gang. The merchants already consider the shipments a loss so any intact supplies or dry goods are to be considered a bonus." because it gets his kids the things they need.
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2013 09:38
|
|
|
I'm looking to run a Star Wars game with the party as the officers on a Victory class ship immediately post-Endor but I've no idea what system to use. All the Star Wars systems I've used have the starship combat pretty tacked on and the starship combat games are all about either fighters or larger battles. I suppose I'm looking for a Star Fleet battles level system so the combat has a fair bit of crunch to it. Any suggestions for ways to balance character importance? I'm thinking of an Ars Magicka style multiple PC system where the players have two or three characters and the character that is, say, the Captain of the ship is the lowest ranked Stormtrooper in their commando team and visa versa the veteran sergeant of the commando team is the least influential bridge officer. Just to make sure everyone gets to participate in every part of the game and you don't get the Shadowrun decker syndrome. So, looking for probably a simple skills based system for the PCs plus a chunky space combat system to run that in. I imagine it'll be relatively rules light most of the time and all about political decisions and mission planning but once the turbolasers start firing I want to have some solid crunch behind their decisions. Possibly an impossible request? The older D20 Star Wars system has an okay space combat system but it's really alpha strike heavy and most ships can shred a ship of a similar class in just a few rounds but it did have fully detailed ship stats which was nice.
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2013 13:50
|
|
|
My players have recently entered into a 'strategic campaign' sort of scenario, where they're going to be fighting battles, capturing territory, and undertaking missions from their hub for a while (at least a few months of in-game time, I suspect) until they can accomplish their final goal. Is there a program or site that would support the use of a "campaign map" of sorts? I mean like a layout of the world that all of them could see, and that I could update in real time to reflect new missions available, changes in landmarks and territory, and so on.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2013 08:45
|
|
|
Karandras posted:I'm looking to run a Star Wars game with the party as the officers on a Victory class ship immediately post-Endor but I've no idea what system to use. All the Star Wars systems I've used have the starship combat pretty tacked on and the starship combat games are all about either fighters or larger battles. Honestly I have never encountered a Star Wars system that had even remotely-passable space combat - certainly not to a Star Fleet Battles level of crunch. If you're looking for that level of detail you might be better off just adapting SFB somehow or other.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2013 09:23
|
|
|
I had an idea for high-stakes gambling in my game. The players can give up 1 magic item to enter a game room. In this room, there is a timed puzzle where they are given no instructions. If they win, they get a second magical item. If they lose they lose both. The first game parlor was Pacman. A maze with yellow pellets on each square. Ghosts that chased them, who would be destroyed by picking up fruit. The puzzle is completed when every yellow pellet is obtained. Any other ideas for more?
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2013 11:46
|
|
|
I guess this is a bigger problem than just running a game, but as this is where it's come up, I'll post it here. A game I have in the works is going to be some adventurers dealing with the supernatural in the Victorian era, and it's going to be fairly sandboxy. It'll start off in London, but travel to places considered primitive or at least exotic at that time is an obvious possibility. My problem is that I'm not sure how to treat some cultures fairly. For example, it would make sense (from their point of view) for a bunch of ignorant Englishmen with too much time on their hands to travel to Africa because they want to learn about evil pagan magic. Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about Africa, especially during and prior to the colonial period, and it seems all too easy to fall into stereotypes. Obviously reading and researching things is an antidote to that, but then I'm worried that I'll sperg out over it, spend hours or days researching it, and put my players to sleep by hitting them over the head with an anti-colonialism message or minute details of a culture they've never even heard of. In short, I want a fun but moody adventure, without stupidly insulting some rich and important culture because I'm too much of a dumb westerner, or turning it into a boring history lesson. Project1 fucked around with this message at 05:19 on Jan 24, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2013 05:16
|
|
|
I'd focus on where the PCs would travel in Africa. Good options are Egypt, Cape Town, or the Ivory Coast. Pick one, read up on the basics, (who settled when) and then flesh it out. Keep in mind the "Heart of Africa" is referring to the Belgian Congo when making travel plans. The Zulu tribe is pretty an important part of South African history and utterly destroyed the British in The Battle of Isandlwana. They're also well documented on Wikipedia for ease of research. "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad contrasts civilization and savagery and is available for free on Project Gutenberg.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2013 08:52
|
|
|
Yeah, I know to read up on a particular region, as tribes/cultural groups differ in a continent or area despite how outsiders might see it. I guess I'm just concerned that I should be doing more than just acknowledging the major differences between groups and not treating them like ignorant savages. Perhaps I'm overthinking this, though.
Project1 fucked around with this message at 11:55 on Jan 24, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2013 11:53
|
|
|
Nyambe is a well thought out Africa analog you could mine for hooks that aren't explicitly historical Africa. http://www.atlas-games.com/nyambe/ Babylon Astronaut fucked around with this message at 12:07 on Jan 24, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2013 11:56
|
|
|
The Africa thing was just a good example of something that could be relevant, but I know nothing about. It could just as easily be Asia, the Middle East, or anything else.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2013 12:14
|
|
|
Project1 posted:I guess this is a bigger problem than just running a game, but as this is where it's come up, I'll post it here. Read up on Haitian Voodoo. Loa's. Nganga's. A secret society of "ignorant 2nd class" house maids, cooks and beauticians who run a secret cabal based on information and blackmail. Veve patterns. Gris Gris. Zombification drugs. I mean, imagine a stuffy British scholar finding one of these creepy rear end things.  Voodoo really is the way to go. British scholars taking a trip to Haiti and then into late 19th century New Orleans would be perfect. I'd recommend going to the library, getting a dummy's guide to voodoo, listening to Dr. John's first album, reading a bio on Marie Laveau and downloading Gabriel Knight Sins of the Father off GOG.com for inspiration. Then there is NE India. Which has the Agorhi's. Followers of Shiva the Destroyer who drink their own urine, blood, eat dead humans, and basically acting like GG Allin on stage to gain their animalistic enlightenment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEpJdHS1pV0 Then in NE India, you also have worshippers of Kali. Back in the 1800's they were quite feared by the British colonists, and for good reason. 
God Of Paradise fucked around with this message at 12:38 on Jan 24, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2013 12:24
|
|
|
Project1 posted:Yeah, I know to read up on a particular region, as tribes/cultural groups differ in a continent or area despite how outsiders might see it. I guess I'm just concerned that I should be doing more than just acknowledging the major differences between groups and not treating them like ignorant savages. Perhaps I'm overthinking this, though. You are. Start with stereotypes, then mess with them is the right order.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2013 23:58
|
|
|
Project1 posted:Yeah, I know to read up on a particular region, as tribes/cultural groups differ in a continent or area despite how outsiders might see it. I guess I'm just concerned that I should be doing more than just acknowledging the major differences between groups and not treating them like ignorant savages. Perhaps I'm overthinking this, though. Well, I see what you're getting at and it's always a good thing to have a rich background for the people in your game. But if you want to portray tribes in regions of Africa in any way that might portray the way they are in reality? Well, see you when you've spent 2 years in Africa then! ^^ What you should ask yourself is: WHERE is this set? Is it Africa, Asia, Polynesia, North America, South America, Australia? Since it's a sandboxey game I'm assuming the players might have a hand in where you go. This adds a huge problem for you if you want to portray tribal regions accurately. My tip would be too skim through wikipedia pages on major tribes in areas. At the end of my post I'll post some large tribes in some areas. MIght be a good start. WHAT do you want to convey? Basically, do you want your players too be wooed by the tribal mystique or do you want them to confront their own racism? Etc etc. If it's the former then go balls-out with weird rituals, magic, strange conventions. If it's the latter then do the same but make the tribe more "human", here you could give them aspects of modern Western thinking. Just to make them relatable. My biggest advice would be to cherry-pick. Just take from every regions tribal culture and make a not-at-all-accurate mix of tribal culture. This way you won't so easily fall into one specific stereotype. It also helps you if they move around, you can shake poo poo up without having to do much more research. Read up on rituals, ceremonies and so forth. Because either way, since this is set in Victorian times and the only TRUE unbiased accounts of tribal life made by westerners mainly comes from expeditions done in the late 1800s you will have a hell of a time finding non-judgemental accounts of early tribal life. SOme tribes: Australia: Aborigines - Torres Strait Islanders North America: Apache, Kiowa, Creek (Muscogee) South America: Aztecs, Olmec, Maya Africa: Zulu, Berber, Bantu (These are generalized terms for different tribes that share a similar language and/or culture) Asia/Polynesia and Southeast Asia: Mongols, Maori, New Guinea (this is an island and not a tribe, but it is home to over 300 or so tribes.)
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2013 12:21
|
|
|
Yeah, I figured it was probably going to be a case of spending, at best, weeks in the books in order to do a particular people justice. The good news is, like all of my games at this point, it's PbP, so if the players suddenly decide to travel to Polynesia, it won't be odd if I take a day or two to do a little reading. I'll be sure not to overdo it, though. I doubt anyone wants to take a break of a week for verisimilitude. As for what I want their experience to be, it's a little of both. On the one hand, the shamanism and so forth is vastly different from the parlour magic and spiritualist societies that they're used to. On the other, these strange (from a Victorian Englishman's point of view) people are no less human than they, even if their characters don't understand this yet. So being faced with situations where they have to learn this is on the cards, preferably without beating them over the heads with it. It's going to be a very sandboxy game, but, for example, if a character shows particular interests in some sort of magic, they will probably come across references to African or North American natives in their researches. They don't have to follow it up, but it's a reason to leave Dear Old Blighty for other places.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2013 12:58
|
|
|
Seems like you have a good idea of the way you want to portray it. All you need is the knowledge that makes it feel real. Do some light reading on places that they're going to and then improvise from there. What is convenient is that culture is often shared, if they go to West Africa they will find that many tribes in that area share a similar culture. Use that to your advantage, make a blueprint for the region and then tweak it for the individual tribes they meet. Maybe they meet two tribes in an area that both make a huge bonfire once a month, but one tribes sacrifices fish and woven mats on the fire while the other sacrifices dried meats, berries and wooden instruments. I think the best way to make the tribes feel similar to them is to present them with relationships and the daily life. Maybe two tribal members are fighting because one looked at the others woman. Maybe the chief has to mediate between the heads of two vassal families because they can't agree on who's animals should graze where. Maybe a child is sad because he accidentally broke his toy.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2013 13:12
|
|
|
Thanks, I've got some good ideas to go on now, and it's put my mind to rest about some issues. One final thing I wanted a little advice on: how to do detective play. It's not the main focus of the game, but a little sleuthing will be necessary to work some things out. I don't want to just leave it up to dice rolls or "guess the GMs mind", though. Any good advice, or good writings out there?
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2013 14:10
|
|
|
I have the very beginnings of an idea for a session I might want to run in the near future. Basically, it's sort of like... have one of the NPC's narrating an encounter they had, meanwhile the party is actually playing through it. I guess the best analogy I can think of would be Max Payne, where the whole story is told in past tense, and the protagonist inserts bits of narration as you progress through the levels. I know this is sort of a vague request, so I apologize for that. Are there any major do's and don'ts I should keep in mind? General advice on doing "flashback" encounters? Really, I just wanna know if there is a good way to do this and have it be fun and not suck, so any advice would be appreciated. D&D 4e, btw
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2013 22:54
|
|
|
P.d0t posted:I have the very beginnings of an idea for a session I might want to run in the near future. Basically, it's sort of like... have one of the NPC's narrating an encounter they had, meanwhile the party is actually playing through it. Don't have the narration cover combat: "after we made it past the goblins . . .". Blow their minds for 1.3 seconds by having the narration pre-recorded and when the party makes a choice you've set for them (fork in the road, letting the chieftain live, etc), you play the narration for that bit as if it was the only option you recorded, because you knew they would choose it. Obviously, you'd have recorded both options, you just play it quickly enough that they're amazed for a sec. Bonus points for having it in the voice of somebody none of them know.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2013 23:19
|
|
|
Project1 posted:Thanks, I've got some good ideas to go on now, and it's put my mind to rest about some issues. Don't have a miss on a roll mean they don't get the clue, give them a clue, at a cost. Make them expend resources, put one of them in a tight spot, give them a tough choice, or a hard compromise.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2013 00:05
|
|
|
homullus posted:Don't have the narration cover combat: "after we made it past the goblins . . .". Blow their minds for 1.3 seconds by having the narration pre-recorded and when the party makes a choice you've set for them (fork in the road, letting the chieftain live, etc), you play the narration for that bit as if it was the only option you recorded, because you knew they would choose it. Obviously, you'd have recorded both options, you just play it quickly enough that they're amazed for a sec. Bonus points for having it in the voice of somebody none of them know. Is this person one of the PCs at a later time? Will you do the Prince of Persia thing if they die and go "no wait poo poo that didn't happen, sorry"?
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2013 00:54
|
|
|
Captain Walker posted:Is this person one of the PCs at a later time? Will you do the Prince of Persia thing if they die and go "no wait poo poo that didn't happen, sorry"? What I had in mind was that the PCs would rescue an NPC and he would occasionally regale them with tales of his past glory or his last mission or whatever. Or else it could be a bard spinning a fabled/legendary battle. So no, it's not specifically "you in the past" per se, although that is a thing I might want to do, too. My objectives are kinda to 1) Give the players a chance to try out some different character classes (pregens), 2) get them experienced with playing NPCs who may be accompanying them in combat in the future, 3) have a deeper appreciation for significant events of the past, rather than just have a "talking head" NPC narrate through it (I've been relying a lot on narration for my story arc, so I want to work combat and skills into it more when/if I can) To answer your question, maybe I could have the narrator be a DMPC and the players could be the redshirts who accompany him? Or "party members who totally die as part of the story at some point anyway" I dunno, that's just an off-the-cuff solution to the problem you posed.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2013 01:16
|
|
|
If the PCs are not the main drivers of the story you very much run the risk of the problem that FF12 had, where you play a guy who follows the protagonists around. If you change the standard tropes, know WHY you're doing so and HOW do it effectively (hint: railroading the group into to a TPK isn't it).
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2013 01:19
|
|
|
So in other words there is no way it won't be a pain in the rear end to manage, that detracts from the players' fun.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2013 01:26
|
|
|
I didn't say that, but I don't entirely disagree. I mean, if you think of a super great way to run it, sure, but don't force the party I to a TPK so your guy can narrate his story. In a collaborative game the story is the players', and you shouldn't put all this effort into something the PCs will invariably gently caress up.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2013 01:40
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 11, 2024 00:12 |
|
|
Predetermined history flashbacks aren't always a bad thing, as long as the players are aware of what that means. One of the highlight encounters in a game I was in was when we flashed back several hundred years, playing the followers of a dragon lord in conflict with the dragon who would later become the main party's arch-nemesis - we were never going to be able to actually foil his plot, but it let us pull some things that would later ring throughout history (including the fact that the surviving characters later became involved with the PCs - one was revealed to be my character's father, another was later discovered to have been a new player's mentor, and the third wound up bailing us out of an interdimensional rift in time.) As long as they know what they're getting into, most players will take the chance to write history anyway - even if those characters won't survive, they can at least go down being total badasses, and every time they hear stories about what those past-selves did it'll be a mark of pride rather than just extra flavor. E: Oh, and, obviously, make said history-TPK a narrative thing if it's gotta happen. Hopeless encounters are pretty much invariably dull. (And if it ends on the classic 'pose as a team before charging into a hopeless battle', well, so much the better.) Chaotic Neutral fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Jan 26, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2013 01:58
|
|