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goldjas
Feb 22, 2009

I HATE ALL FORMS OF FUN AND ENTERTAINMENT. I HATE BEAUTY. I AM GOLDJAS.
Actually if I remember correctly, in the Tomb of Horrors there is a pretty surefire 2 step process to guarantee a win (although this does require kind of knowing this, but then again...Tomb of Horrors).

1. Get that little poem or whatever at the start, and someone writes it down. Whenever something in the dungeon related to the poem comes up, follow the poem, if you don't, whoever goes in the wrong door/takes the wrong gem/whatever will instantly die.

2. Always take the secret door. If there is no secret door, look everywhere for a secret door. Do not go through any obvious door that's just there. ALWAYS the secret door. To the point where I remember when I ran it for some players for fun, there was a hallway with no secret door, so they stopped, looked around, found a pit trap, and like 2 obvious doors, so they summoned some monsters or something and sent it down the pit trap, and then there weren't any spikes at the bottom of the trap, so they searched for a secret door there. Sure enough, that was the correct path.

Basically if you follow these 2 things no matter what you will win the Tomb of Horrors. The group I ran it through only lost a few characters to instant death before they realized these 2 rules then beat it without much more trouble.

Edit: Also, looking at the 3.0 version, isn't it basically exactly the same as the old version except you get a save before dying to some of the instant death traps?

goldjas fucked around with this message at 05:12 on Apr 3, 2013

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Whybird
Aug 2, 2009

Phaiston have long avoided the tightly competetive defence sector, but the IRDA Act 2052 has given us the freedom we need to bring out something really special.

https://team-robostar.itch.io/robostar


Nap Ghost
I've always wanted to run it with the conceit that the players are all part of an army of Warforged being sent in squad-by-squad by another demilich who wants to loot the Tomb.

Lemon-Lime
Aug 6, 2009

Guesticles posted:

Edit: If you do run it, don't think of it as Dungeons and Dragons, think of it as Paranoia.

In fact, run it as Paranoia. Each player should have a generous amount of disposable characters and know that death will happen often.

Guesticles
Dec 21, 2009

I AM CURRENTLY JACKING OFF TO PICTURES OF MUTILATED FEMALE CORPSES, IT'S ALL VERY DEEP AND SOPHISTICATED BUT IT'S JUST TOO FUCKING HIGHBROW FOR YOU NON-MISOGYNISTS TO UNDERSTAND

:siren:P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT:siren:

Lemon Curdistan posted:

In fact, run it as Paranoia. Each player should have a generous amount of disposable characters and know that death will happen often.

That's what I meant. Have a deep, deep reserve bench of extra characters to replace dead ones. Get your players to expect their characters to die, and try to make it fun when they do.

Check out Fourthcore if you want some more "Really hard modules that work best as one-shots, require a group comfortable with TPK, and will probably require more than one run through".

Comrade Question
Mar 30, 2011

"I'd say it's nothing personal, but corporations are people, too."

Thanks for the additional input. I'll probably try the intrigue system for a few sessions and if the players seem bored by it I'll cut it out or try to trim it. Not sure how much the unbalanced elements will come into play, since the players don't have enough experience with the system to really powergame.

Songbearer
Jul 12, 2007




Fuck you say?
Did my first 3.5 game session last weekend as a DM and man it was fun. My friends, not being giant nerds, had never played D&D before but (After seeing it on Big Bang Theory) they decided they'd like to try at it.

I got them together and basically went over the races and classes and asked what they would like to be playing as. The results were pretty interesting:
A Dwarf Bard who had a stein that could hold infinite amounts of any alcohol,
A Half-Elf prince turned Ranger from a ruined kingdom who had a purple chicken as an animal companion,
A Elf Sorcerer with a magical staff,
A Halfling Druid who could shapeshift into an invisible bear
A Halfling Ranger who had magical shurikens

Now, these all sounded ridiculously overpowered, but I managed to work out some rules that made sure that everything was actually relatively balanced. Without going into details, you'd be amazed at how happy people can be turning into what is essentially a beefed up badger if you tell them it's a juvenile bear with a good hide rating.

I had purchased the core rulebooks years ago as I just enjoyed reading them. I'm a big fan of D&D in general but never actually had the opportunity to play any of it outside of CRPGs, so I got to work writing up backstories for all the player characters, guides on what their characters can do, a starting location and some quests.

Although I obviously had to explain a lot of the mechanics to them, I'm amazed how quickly they all picked it up. I had typed out reams of descriptions and behaviour patterns for the NPCs they'd be meeting, but so much of the preparation was moot: In the end the cheerful Dwarven innkeeper's wife fell madly in love with the half-elf, the bottomless beer stein got the barkeeper drunk in a drinking competition after he tried to down it in one.

Best of all, the poor wounded hunter I had made for the group to help wound up suffering after the one Good member of the party refused to give him a healing potion, then the Sorcerer forced him back into the cave he had ran out of with a succesful Intimidate check. After he fled the cave and returned to the town, telling the guards about what the party had done to him, the Sorcerer was confronted by the guards and managed to bluff his way out of the situation, despite the odds being stacked against him. I had to put my hands up, say that the guards apologised for wasting his time, and then gave the poor hunter their appreciation by taking him around the back of the inn and giving him a firm but fair beating.

Something tells me my entire team of neutrals (Apart from the one Good, who hasn't been living up to her alignment very well) is going to wind up edging more towards evil by the end of this, and I couldn't be happier. I've made this world to be played fairly straight, but they're doing a good job at abusing it while screwing each other over, and it's downright hilarious.

The only things that didn't go down too well is that I'm still pretty neophyte when it comes to remembering all the rules, so there's moments where I have to look certain skills and rules up. Combat is pretty glacial, because I can't figure out good ways to lay out and easily create encounters, and I always wind up missing important information like specific bonuses to attack and so on. Two of my players I felt were severely underultilised and didn't contribute much, so I need to find a way to encourage participation without forcing it - the three other players sort of stole the show.

Paolomania
Apr 26, 2006

If you are playing loose/RP-heavy (i.e. no strict turn-taking) a session can easily be dominated by the more assertive and creative players. As GM you can even things out by prompting the less forward players. Prompting is just directing a question at a specific player. You can do this in the natural flow of the narrative or as a non-sequitur used to interrupt the flow created by the other players. Have the something happen involving the less involved character in a way that requires that specifically they take action (i.e. not just another opening for the more involved players to do a Cool Thing) and keep things (especially the other players) on hold giving the less involved player, who may just need more time to think about character action, decides what to do.

homullus
Mar 27, 2009

Tomb of Horrors is one of the worst things TSR ever did to itself, because it published a killer DM Schadenfreude Speedball dungeon in the same way it published modules that would work in a campaign, and people thought that was how dungeons were supposed to be. Yes, it is possible to have fun with it, but so many of the "puzzles" have no clues whatsoever, just "something happens and if you decide the wrong thing without clues to guide you, you die" mixed with "you chose an action that will automatically kill you." There are some cool parts -- the puzzles that actually have clues, and the stuff that hints at Acererak actually being a dude who lived a long time and built this place -- but mostly it is a terrible slog of roll-playing. Specifically, rolling saving throws, because there's like five creatures in the whole dungeon, and you are not likely to face (and/or fight) all of them unless you find absolutely everything and then attack it. There are generations of gamers who hold it up as one of their favorite dungeons and it is one of the worst showcases of D&D ever made.

Captain Walker
Apr 7, 2009

Mother knows best
Listen to your mother
It's a scary world out there
I've always wanted to try ToH just to see what all the fuss is about. There's a published 4e version (E2 in their original Points of Light adventure path) but I can only imagine it loses its teeth if the dungeon is anything other than a litany of traps and a mega-boss at the end.

Guesticles
Dec 21, 2009

I AM CURRENTLY JACKING OFF TO PICTURES OF MUTILATED FEMALE CORPSES, IT'S ALL VERY DEEP AND SOPHISTICATED BUT IT'S JUST TOO FUCKING HIGHBROW FOR YOU NON-MISOGYNISTS TO UNDERSTAND

:siren:P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT:siren:

Captain Walker posted:

I've always wanted to try ToH just to see what all the fuss is about. There's a published 4e version (E2 in their original Points of Light adventure path) but I can only imagine it loses its teeth if the dungeon is anything other than a litany of traps and a mega-boss at the end.

If I recall right, there are two "Tomb of Horrors" for 4e - one is a port of the original ToH to 4e (which I think they put out for free), the other one is more like a sequel to the sequel of ToH, which was a slim hardcover. I have the latter, which is more like a mini-campaign; it has 3 sections which are not (necessarily) meant to be played back to back.

ZombieLenin
Sep 6, 2009

"Democracy for the insignificant minority, democracy for the rich--that is the democracy of capitalist society." VI Lenin


[/quote]
So I am a fairly experienced GM with a question about starting and keeping players involved in a very specific type of campaign.

I am about to start running a WHFRP 2nd edition game for people with zero experience with the world, but more importantly I'm going to be following things by the letter for this game.

Meaning player characters will die and will die in some pretty gruesome ways. So while I'm comfortable killing player characters when the story calls for it and/or my players do something incredibly stupid (like jumping into a vat of molten lead because Bob disbelieves it exists) I have never really ran a game where the PCs are at constant risk of death and limb loss.

So my question really is how do write a campaign that keeps the players involved and can accommodate a moderate turnover rate of player characters.

For instance, how do you keep a coherent group that sticks together when, in all likelihood, by the end of the game there won't be any of the original party members left. Particularly given that I like to keep my games more open than: you are all mercs in company x, you're all servants of x who orders you to do y, etc.

God Of Paradise
Jan 23, 2012
You know, I'd be less worried about my 16 year old daughter dating a successful 40 year old cartoonist than dating a 16 year old loser.

I mean, Jesus, kid, at least date a motherfucker with abortion money and house to have sex at where your mother and I don't have to hear it. Also, if he treats her poorly, boom, that asshole's gonna catch a statch charge.

Please, John K. Date my daughter... Save her from dating smelly dropouts who wanna-be Soundcloud rappers.
I'll change it to Tomb of Whores. If they go in two of the three entrances, the party takes 5d10 in Chlamydia damage.

Or, actually, I won't run it at all.

Guesticles
Dec 21, 2009

I AM CURRENTLY JACKING OFF TO PICTURES OF MUTILATED FEMALE CORPSES, IT'S ALL VERY DEEP AND SOPHISTICATED BUT IT'S JUST TOO FUCKING HIGHBROW FOR YOU NON-MISOGYNISTS TO UNDERSTAND

:siren:P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT:siren:
Talk to your players. Let them know that they are entering a game in a harsh, unforgiving world and you are not going to pull punches; its very unlikely the characters they have now will be alive in a few sessions, and if anyone doesn't like that, lets talk about it now instead of later.


Here are some things you can do to make character death a little less harsh on your players:
-If you aren't going allow your players to use "Same-Character-Different-Name" when they die, generate another half of your party to party's worth of characters, with back grounds, gear - all ready to play. Generate about a party to a party and a half's worth of fully statted characters that just need name and background filled in, and have the stack beside you each session.
Sometimes having a character ready to jump right into can help make death a little less demoralizing.
-If someone dies, have something for them to do that isn't "Roll up a new character" or "Sit and watch". Have them take over some of the enemies, make them the insane computer AI. They should be able to participate until their new character shows up


Regarding "Why are we here", you need to find a common cause for your players. Talk with your players about why the survivors are continuing, and why the new comers are joining up. However, you'll to anticipate if someone leads the party on a holy quest, they die, and the rest of the party saying "Well, now that he's gone, gently caress this".

Honestly, given the fact you're expecting a lot of player death, I wouldn't make my players do this (unless I knew this was something they really enjoyed); I'm not going to make them get too attached to characters that might not survive their first session. I'd just say "Lord Whowhatsitbreche The Fifth employs a motley band of troubleshooters to patrol the outskirts of his land and stab trouble." so a player can always just say "Replacements sent by Lord Whowhatsitbreche Reporting" when they show up.

God Of Paradise
Jan 23, 2012
You know, I'd be less worried about my 16 year old daughter dating a successful 40 year old cartoonist than dating a 16 year old loser.

I mean, Jesus, kid, at least date a motherfucker with abortion money and house to have sex at where your mother and I don't have to hear it. Also, if he treats her poorly, boom, that asshole's gonna catch a statch charge.

Please, John K. Date my daughter... Save her from dating smelly dropouts who wanna-be Soundcloud rappers.
I have a character in town that is a Thayvian wizard named Turjan who can clone characters. Essentially, if they bring Turjan a piece of one of themselves, they can be cloned and effectively begin at the start of the previous character level. They can only be cloned 4 times before they lose all soul however.

I was wanting them to go to the Petitioner town of Rib Cage. So I'll save the Tomb of Horrors for that. I was really looking forward to having suicide be the only solution to travel the planes at one point of our game. But I may have fun with it, and just send them to the Tomb of Horrors as part of the plot, to get them to Rib Cage.

Paolomania
Apr 26, 2006

ZombieLenin posted:

So my question really is how do write a campaign that keeps the players involved and can accommodate a moderate turnover rate of player characters.

I have a vision ... it is called ... Dark Souls World

YOU DIE (Special Move) : When YOU DIE roll +nothing. On a 10+ you resurrect at the "nearest bonfire" (last place you Made Camp). On a 7-9 you resurrect at the "nearest bonfire", losing all your "humanity" (XP). On a miss you crack and Go Hollow: your corpse instantly resurrects as a hostile, mindless zombie (you may reincarnate at the nearest bonfire as a new character at level 1).

ZombieLenin
Sep 6, 2009

"Democracy for the insignificant minority, democracy for the rich--that is the democracy of capitalist society." VI Lenin


[/quote]

Paolomania posted:

I have a vision ... it is called ... Dark Souls World

YOU DIE (Special Move) : When YOU DIE roll +nothing. On a 10+ you resurrect at the "nearest bonfire" (last place you Made Camp). On a 7-9 you resurrect at the "nearest bonfire", losing all your "humanity" (XP). On a miss you crack and Go Hollow: your corpse instantly resurrects as a hostile, mindless zombie (you may reincarnate at the nearest bonfire as a new character at level 1).

I'm not sure that will work. :D I'm not trying to have players use "you die!" as their special power (I prefer giving all my players burrowing myself,) it's just the nature of the mechanics--in Warhammer you'll eventually: vanish into a bloody mist, lose all your limbs and need to be rolled into battle by your allies, mutate into an avatar of chaos, or go so insane that the only treatment involves drilling a hole in your skull and pouring in molten lead.

I could do the "you all work for x" thing, I'm just trying to think of a way to write a campaign where the players are a bit more free to act, yet the in-game party can also handle losses and new faces without it being jarring and immersion breaking.

Captain Walker
Apr 7, 2009

Mother knows best
Listen to your mother
It's a scary world out there
Just run it as what it is: a giant unconquered dungeon that broadcasts a giant "gently caress you, ain't nobody touching my poo poo, love Acerak" to every sell sword in a fifty mile radius. Line out the door to enter single file and test one's mettle.

sebmojo
Oct 23, 2010


Legit Cyberpunk









God Of Paradise posted:

How's the old Tomb of Horrors module?

I'm thinking about running it once my players gain a couple of more levels. Have a major plot point artifact to introduce and figure the Tomb of Horrors would be a good place to put it, plus, running the old 1st edition Ravenloft module went over well, despite a couple of poorly designed puzzles...

So I'm curious. Is Tomb of Horrors just going to TPK everyone? I'm using Pathfinder and 3.5 Monster Manuals to translate the game to Pathfinder as we play, it's not hard for me, but do you guys think ToH is fun? Or just an unfair, unfun, horrible horrible experience that usually ends in cheap deaths?

Hahahaha that's hilarious. I'm running it on Sunday, was just coming here for advice!

And yeah it's cheap and stupid as hell but so are kung fu movies and they're still fun. The mood you want is 20% good natured competition, 10% faux macho DM kayfabe and about 70% general amused curiosity about who is going to die horribly next.

But I'd strongly advise against using an existing party. Use premades, and frame it as a shared hallucination or something because otherwise your players will stab you.

Guesticles
Dec 21, 2009

I AM CURRENTLY JACKING OFF TO PICTURES OF MUTILATED FEMALE CORPSES, IT'S ALL VERY DEEP AND SOPHISTICATED BUT IT'S JUST TOO FUCKING HIGHBROW FOR YOU NON-MISOGYNISTS TO UNDERSTAND

:siren:P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT:siren:

God Of Paradise posted:

I have a character in town that is a Thayvian wizard named Turjan who can clone characters. Essentially, if they bring Turjan a piece of one of themselves, they can be cloned and effectively begin at the start of the previous character level. They can only be cloned 4 times before they lose all soul however.

I was wanting them to go to the Petitioner town of Rib Cage. So I'll save the Tomb of Horrors for that. I was really looking forward to having suicide be the only solution to travel the planes at one point of our game. But I may have fun with it, and just send them to the Tomb of Horrors as part of the plot, to get them to Rib Cage.

Be careful with that: There are spheres of annihilation in ToH, and ways for characters to be separated from the party where body parts might not be able to be retrieved. And unless your players are very experienced, I think 4 lives is pretty low for ToH.

Now, the "Players must die to travel between the planes" aspect might be kind of interesting. If you think your players wouldn't freak out at you and/or each other with a TPK at least long enough for you to tell them about them waking up in this other plane, it could be pretty fun.

God Of Paradise
Jan 23, 2012
You know, I'd be less worried about my 16 year old daughter dating a successful 40 year old cartoonist than dating a 16 year old loser.

I mean, Jesus, kid, at least date a motherfucker with abortion money and house to have sex at where your mother and I don't have to hear it. Also, if he treats her poorly, boom, that asshole's gonna catch a statch charge.

Please, John K. Date my daughter... Save her from dating smelly dropouts who wanna-be Soundcloud rappers.

Guesticles posted:

Be careful with that: There are spheres of annihilation in ToH, and ways for characters to be separated from the party where body parts might not be able to be retrieved. And unless your players are very experienced, I think 4 lives is pretty low for ToH.

Now, the "Players must die to travel between the planes" aspect might be kind of interesting. If you think your players wouldn't freak out at you and/or each other with a TPK at least long enough for you to tell them about them waking up in this other plane, it could be pretty fun.

Yeah... Should work. Lots of planar travel in my game. The party works for a Sigilian demigod of portals who's in job is to be charge of planar activity on Faerun. Take out their boss, trap them in Faerun, shut down all portals on Faerun, lead them to research how to get out, which then leads them into the Tomb of Horrors. The trick is, I'll lead them to believe the portal exists at the end of the dungeon, when, in actuality, only death inside there can transport them out of Faerun.

Oh their tears will taste so sweet.

Mimir
Nov 26, 2012

God Of Paradise posted:

Yeah... Should work. Lots of planar travel in my game. The party works for a Sigilian demigod of portals who's in job is to be charge of planar activity on Faerun. Take out their boss, trap them in Faerun, shut down all portals on Faerun, lead them to research how to get out, which then leads them into the Tomb of Horrors. The trick is, I'll lead them to believe the portal exists at the end of the dungeon, when, in actuality, only death inside there can transport them out of Faerun.

Oh their tears will taste so sweet.

Return to the Tomb of Horrors turns the Green Devil Face Sphere of Annihilation near the start into a portal that requires Acercerak's skull to use. It leads to the Negative Energy Plane. :unsmigghh:.

Feline Mind Meld
Jun 14, 2007

I'm pretty creeped out
Alright, with all the advice I'm on course for character creation and description of the world ready so we can get a party hammered out and give them a week to think about their story and how they fit into the world for the first session next thursday :toot:

I've plotted out most of the relevant pieces of a world map and will fill it in once I have the backstory and was they figure out where things are. Autorealm is totally awesome. Also name generators because goddamn it takes me like 20 minutes just to name a drat alt in world of warcraft or my dude in fallout 3 whose name LITERALLY DOES NOT MATTER. I can't imagine naming npcs without a list to go "yes no no no yes no yes" to.

I'm getting ready with encounters soon, still need to map out the first town. I'm waiting on the actual monsters to see how the party shakes out (3 players), but I have ideas for the role breakdowns and where I'm gonna put my first elite monster in. I have my dm notebook going now too. I'm excited!

That said I have a pretty easy question. I want a big grid/mat for drawing out an encounter on. Do I have to bite the bullet and drop :20bux: on amazon or is there a cheaper alternative? I have plenty of dice and need to print out some sheets soon, is there anything else I need to have ready physically? Or mentally?

DarkHorse
Dec 13, 2006

Vroom vroom, BEEP BEEP!
Nap Ghost
For the grid, depends on what you're looking for. Battlemats are nice because you can roll them up and store them easily, but I've heard some can be difficult to erase. What my IRL group did was go to a hardware store and get a big (3'x5') sheet of whiteboard material and have 1" grid lines scored into it there. It cost about the same, I'd guess, and was harder to store or transport, but it erased very easily and provided plenty of real estate for huge maps and some space for players to keep track of statuses/initiative. They also had an old heavily varnished table that you could draw on with dry erase, so that came in handy at times.

My favorite solution is MapTool with a TV, monitor, or projector, but it seems I'm a bit of a MapTool fanboy here. :v: Since it looks like you're playing 4E I can give you a lot of tips on how to create encounters very quickly in MapTool if you're interested.

As for being ready: the most useful tool I've had is what I call a drop-in encounter. You have the monsters statted up and the arena sketched out, but they're both sort of a blank template. Then, when your players do something or go somewhere you don't expect (which they will do) you just plop the drop-in encounter and give it an appropriate skin for the situation. This will buy you time while you try to figure out how to salvage your plans.

Another useful thing is to have lists of names you can give to NPCs on the fly. When the players ask about a particular dude you don't have statted up, you can just check off the name and put it in your notes for fleshing out later. It helps with the flow of the game, which in my opinion is the most important responsibility of DM: providing interesting experiences, keeping the game moving, and making sure everyone is having fun.

Rocket Ace
Aug 11, 2006

R.I.P. Dave Stevens

Guesticles posted:

...
-If someone dies, have something for them to do that isn't "Roll up a new character" or "Sit and watch". Have them take over some of the enemies, make them the insane computer AI. They should be able to participate until their new character shows up
...

I just wanted to highlight this part 'cause HOLY CRAP this is a great idea. I can't believe I never thought of it before.

In my case it isn't for characters who DIE, but for players who are "off-stage" when they're not actively part of the scene.

One of my constant troubles as a GM is when the party splits up. I hate the added book-keeping and having to make the inactive players wait (no matter how much I try to switch back and forth in a good rhythm, I'm always very self-conscious and worried about people getting bored).

Handing monster stat cards to the waiting players in the meantime (and a basic motivation, which is usually: fight until you're obviously losing), is an awesome idea. I'm going to try this out next game session.

Feline Mind Meld
Jun 14, 2007

I'm pretty creeped out

DarkHorse posted:

For the grid, depends on what you're looking for. Battlemats are nice because you can roll them up and store them easily, but I've heard some can be difficult to erase. What my IRL group did was go to a hardware store and get a big (3'x5') sheet of whiteboard material and have 1" grid lines scored into it there. It cost about the same, I'd guess, and was harder to store or transport, but it erased very easily and provided plenty of real estate for huge maps and some space for players to keep track of statuses/initiative. They also had an old heavily varnished table that you could draw on with dry erase, so that came in handy at times.

My favorite solution is MapTool with a TV, monitor, or projector, but it seems I'm a bit of a MapTool fanboy here. :v: Since it looks like you're playing 4E I can give you a lot of tips on how to create encounters very quickly in MapTool if you're interested.

As for being ready: the most useful tool I've had is what I call a drop-in encounter. You have the monsters statted up and the arena sketched out, but they're both sort of a blank template. Then, when your players do something or go somewhere you don't expect (which they will do) you just plop the drop-in encounter and give it an appropriate skin for the situation. This will buy you time while you try to figure out how to salvage your plans.

Another useful thing is to have lists of names you can give to NPCs on the fly. When the players ask about a particular dude you don't have statted up, you can just check off the name and put it in your notes for fleshing out later. It helps with the flow of the game, which in my opinion is the most important responsibility of DM: providing interesting experiences, keeping the game moving, and making sure everyone is having fun.

I love the mapping tools and would gladly use them in a heartbeat, but unfortunately the only real playspace we have is far away from where all our tech is set up, and we have a small/old apartment that's not very flexible about plugs. Also small since I am young and poor still. Something I can roll up sounds way better to me because of the aforementioned space thing but I really just want a big grid I can draw layouts for encounters and towns and stuff in. I like the idea of exploring around a space and gradually revealing it as they percieve it as it can be a good way to reward players who value that kind of exposition or have stats there.

Names are something I've already got a solution for and will be making a list of once I know what kind of races are gonna be around. Encounters will be the same as the first thing I'm dropping them into will be a bit railroady just to get us all used to the system. I'm already grabbing some monsters and just changing their theme so I don't think that'll be a problem.

Guess I'll bite the bullet and buy a mat on amazon. I'll read the reviews about cleanup to make sure as I want to be using it every time we play.

Guesticles
Dec 21, 2009

I AM CURRENTLY JACKING OFF TO PICTURES OF MUTILATED FEMALE CORPSES, IT'S ALL VERY DEEP AND SOPHISTICATED BUT IT'S JUST TOO FUCKING HIGHBROW FOR YOU NON-MISOGYNISTS TO UNDERSTAND

:siren:P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT:siren:
I will vouch for my Chessex battle mat (even if it doesn't see much use anymore) being super easy to clean and maintain. Just use the wet erase markers and have some babywipes or kitchen wipes handy. I left a section of dungeon on there for about 6 months after I moved, and it came off with the first pass with a moist paper towel like it was never there.

Danger-Pumpkin
Apr 27, 2008

That's the way the bee bumbles.
As far as battlemaps, I've been using the blank side of a paper grid that came with the 3.5 starter set, but my GF had the brilliant idea of taping it to some clear plexiglass. It can be a little bit difficult to erase if the dry-erase marker sits on it for too long, and it's pretty inflexible (part of the edge broke off, so it's a bit jagged there,) but we cut the map in half before hand, so we can at least store the two halves a bit easier, and only bring as much of it onto the table as needed.

Feline Mind Meld
Jun 14, 2007

I'm pretty creeped out

Guesticles posted:

I will vouch for my Chessex battle mat (even if it doesn't see much use anymore) being super easy to clean and maintain. Just use the wet erase markers and have some babywipes or kitchen wipes handy. I left a section of dungeon on there for about 6 months after I moved, and it came off with the first pass with a moist paper towel like it was never there.

Excellent. Even after the campaign ends for whatever reason, I can see it being fun to have for other drunken board/card game nights as a way to pass time not on your turn. :dong: never not funny.

Guesticles
Dec 21, 2009

I AM CURRENTLY JACKING OFF TO PICTURES OF MUTILATED FEMALE CORPSES, IT'S ALL VERY DEEP AND SOPHISTICATED BUT IT'S JUST TOO FUCKING HIGHBROW FOR YOU NON-MISOGYNISTS TO UNDERSTAND

:siren:P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT:siren:
I will say there are two issues with my battle mat: One, it is giant, and rather stiff. "But those sound like good features" you say. And they are, until you realize the map is the not just quite the width of your kitchen table, and if someone, say, slides their player's hand book along the table instead of setting it down, the mat, and all the things that are on it, will suddenly be in motion.

And two, it can get a little hard to lie flat if you keep it rolled like I do. If you can leave it on the table, I'd do so. Otherwise, get it as flat as you can as long as you can before a session so it can 'settle'.

BrainGlitch
Jan 14, 2007

Good sir, you can't pay me enough to go to France while our countries are at war!
Anyone have any tips for statting up NPCs? I'm doing D20 Apocalypse and have mostly been taking d20 modern characters from a wiki database of them. I'm still kind of learning the rules but one of my players is very familiar with them so he's kinda helping me through it (he's never ever been on the player side of the screen and I wanted him to play a drat game). If I want to alter these dudes can I just arbitrarily switch around their stats/gear or do I need to go through the motions of leveling them up properly?

Also when I roleplay npcs do I need to actually talk from their perspective? I'm kinda shy about acting and poo poo.

BrainGlitch fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Apr 7, 2013

goldjas
Feb 22, 2009

I HATE ALL FORMS OF FUN AND ENTERTAINMENT. I HATE BEAUTY. I AM GOLDJAS.
I pretty much don't stat up NPCs, I got sick of doing it from 3.x when it was a huge thing, and then after 4th came out it stopped being a thing, and now I don't do it for any game. If your players are doing a skill check or something, just make a DC or whatever (depending on the game) that would make sense considering the current NPC, if the players want to fight him, just use a monster with stats that make sense for him and reflavor it to whatever he would do.

Guesticles
Dec 21, 2009

I AM CURRENTLY JACKING OFF TO PICTURES OF MUTILATED FEMALE CORPSES, IT'S ALL VERY DEEP AND SOPHISTICATED BUT IT'S JUST TOO FUCKING HIGHBROW FOR YOU NON-MISOGYNISTS TO UNDERSTAND

:siren:P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT:siren:

BrainGlitch posted:

Also when I roleplay npcs do I need to actually talk from their perspective? I'm kinda shy about acting and poo poo.

I use the "Fallout Method" of NPC acting: If my game was FO1, and they've have been important enough to have gotten a voice actor, they get at least some sort of dialect. That said, if I'm having trouble putting information in that character's voice (or if the NPC is prone to lengthy oration, or if I'm just trying to hurry a section along), I'll break character and summarize what the NPC has told the party.

One of the things I miss about not being in person is I can't add body language. One of the quest givers and general information brokers was a wizened old farm hand who had a cane. So when the party spoke to him, I'd mime him having his cane at hand, 'leaning' over it to give the players particularly juicy bits of information, jabbing it at the party, etc. (edit: To be a little more clear with what I was going for here, even if you don't give an NPC a different voice, you can give them physical mannerisms; but ideally you should do both)

Its sort of shocking to hear your friend start using strange voices, so unless you have a habit of doing impressions or everyone's old hands at tabletop, you'll probably get a smirk-to-giggle from your friends the first time you do it.
My advice is the first time you start doing it with a group, do it with an NPC who the players are supposed to find amusing/get laugh out of, and just go balls to the wall with it. It will make it feel less awkward because your players (if not the characters) are supposed to be laughing at the character. Get the giggles out, as it were, so they won't think anything is odd when you drop into character as King Yanhiem the XII.

Guesticles fucked around with this message at 07:09 on Apr 7, 2013

BrainGlitch
Jan 14, 2007

Good sir, you can't pay me enough to go to France while our countries are at war!
I will borrow my father's straw hat and play a post-apocalyptic southern fella. I guess I gotta learn sometime.

Zereth
Jul 9, 2003



BrainGlitch posted:

Anyone have any tips for statting up NPCs? I'm doing D20 Apocalypse and have mostly been taking d20 modern characters from a wiki database of them. I'm still kind of learning the rules but one of my players is very familiar with them so he's kinda helping me through it (he's never ever been on the player side of the screen and I wanted him to play a drat game). If I want to alter these dudes can I just arbitrarily switch around their stats/gear or do I need to go through the motions of leveling them up properly?
You're the GM, you can arbitrarily set things to whatever you want.

You're "supposed" to go through the motions of leveling them up properly, though. This is part of why d20 is horrible.

BrainGlitch
Jan 14, 2007

Good sir, you can't pay me enough to go to France while our countries are at war!

Zereth posted:

You're the GM, you can arbitrarily set things to whatever you want.

You're "supposed" to go through the motions of leveling them up properly, though. This is part of why d20 is horrible.

Do you have any suggestions for a good alternative system? I'm mostly using it because it has the Apocalypse book and I don't have to make up rules for specific poo poo this way. I may think about trying GURPS or Savage Worlds.

Zereth
Jul 9, 2003



I hear Apocalypse World is pretty good.

Lemon-Lime
Aug 6, 2009

BrainGlitch posted:

Do you have any suggestions for a good alternative system? I'm mostly using it because it has the Apocalypse book and I don't have to make up rules for specific poo poo this way. I may think about trying GURPS or Savage Worlds.

What are you looking for specifically? What makes an apocalypse for you, and what does the d20 Apocalypse book have that you want premade rules for?

Apocalypse World is great but assumes a less co-operative player party than d20 probably does, and also plays nothing like D&D/d20 Modern in case your players are particularly stuck in that mentality.

Paolomania
Apr 26, 2006

BrainGlitch posted:

Anyone have any tips for statting up NPCs? I'm doing D20 Apocalypse and have mostly been taking d20 modern characters from a wiki database of them. I'm still kind of learning the rules but one of my players is very familiar with them so he's kinda helping me through it (he's never ever been on the player side of the screen and I wanted him to play a drat game). If I want to alter these dudes can I just arbitrarily switch around their stats/gear or do I need to go through the motions of leveling them up properly?
When I'm GMing a D20 game, I keep around a one-page table that has a one-line stat block summary for NPCs of various levels. As the game session progresses, improv NPCs enter the world as needed with no name and no stats (e.g. just "the blacksmith"). The more time the players spend interacting with the character the more descriptive details they get (name/appearance/mannerisms). If the players enter into a confrontation with the character (be it combat or social) then I just pick a level for the NPC and just look up a stat block from my NPC page. For more detailed elements such as spell selection I usually have some common picks in the stat block but sometimes its just "fudge whatever is dramatically appropriate".

quote:

Also when I roleplay npcs do I need to actually talk from their perspective? I'm kinda shy about acting and poo poo.
For generic NPCs that are involved in non-dramatic events I don't even bother with dialog ("the shopkeep sells you the twine and bids you fare well"). For NPCs of note that are on a questline, I usually give them some personality and a notable voice. You don't have to be actorly about it or even good at voices, just have some go-to "gruff NPC", "regal NPC", "sly NPC" voices and the players will love it. For improv NPCs, they usually start narrated with no dialog, progress to unaffected dialog when the PCs interact with them more heavily, and will probably get a go-to voice once the interaction has gotten heavy enough to warrant a name and description.

BrainGlitch
Jan 14, 2007

Good sir, you can't pay me enough to go to France while our countries are at war!

Lemon Curdistan posted:

What are you looking for specifically? What makes an apocalypse for you, and what does the d20 Apocalypse book have that you want premade rules for?

I want to use the factions/setup from the Atomic Sunrise layout, which is mad max as gently caress with roving mutant and marauder gangs, an evil New Texas Republic, and other cool post-apoc tropes. The book has rules for stuff like vehicle combat etc. but I feel like if I switch to Savage Worlds it will be way easier to just do my own setup for those encounters. The system is so much easier to understand, the source book is great.

edit: Well one of my players hates the ideas in Savage Worlds and really wants d20. Dammit, this poo poo is cool but it's complex.

BrainGlitch fucked around with this message at 00:24 on Apr 8, 2013

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Captain Walker
Apr 7, 2009

Mother knows best
Listen to your mother
It's a scary world out there
Write My Plot For Me, I Am Bad At The Short Term Edition

I'm running my first serious, unlikely to dissipate 4e campaign after about a half dozen failed attempts in the past. The PCs are a disparate group with diverse backgrounds and I was having trouble pulling them in, so I've decided to add my own hook that will probably last the whole game.

During an errand for the Woodsinger elves, the party was exploring some ruins in search of a magical anomaly and encountered an elaborate maze created by Morpheus, a very, very old being known sometimes as the God of Dreams. Morpheus has established that he intends to grant the party their various desires, provided they keep doing what they're doing, and gave them a small token: a coin with a butterfly on one side and nothing on the other.

I'm hoping to finish this adventure and move into Cairn of the Winter King before moving Morpheus front and center. I've come up with no motivation and long term goal for the characters, no reason for them to stay together. Basically, I have no clue what do do after about 5th level. I'm trying to establish smaller fish for the PCs to fry that requires cooperation. I'm gonna read over the DMG2 again, but what can I provide to give the campaign a sense of continuity, and make the PCs feel like Big drat Heroes, not just "dungeon of the week" fodder?

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