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JAssassin posted:Oh that'd be awesome if you could do that.
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Jun 27, 2013 18:10
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I'm not sure how many people here use minis in their D&D campaigns, but just in case you do then feel free to check out my SA Mart thread for Reaper Bones minis. The guy I was splitting the set with bailed, so his loss could be your gain depending on what you might be looking for. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3556962&highlight=#post416945878 Thanks Indolent Bastard fucked around with this message at 04:27 on Jun 28, 2013 |
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Jun 28, 2013 04:24
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I've got a problem related to "GM advice". I've been a forever-GM for about three years and I've gotten to the point where sometimes I feel competent at it. The players seem happy and I'm getting better at making it up on the fly. I'm going to be a player for a new friend's first time GMing in a Pathfinder campaign, and it'll be my second non one-shot character ever. While I'm excited, I'm also a little worried that it'll start rocky, as all first campaigns do. I want to toss him some advice for not screwing up, like Greg Stolze's How to Run RPGs, that sort of thing. Maybe show him Dungeon World, to pull from the GM Moves section. But I don't want to be a  knowledgable expert on how to run elfgames while I'm doing it. How do I comment that "maybe planning out everything in your setting diminshes player input" and "maybe we would be better off without Strongo the Dragonlord, 20th level Paladin who looks just like you helping us out" without being an rear end? I don't expect anything that bad, although his primary worry is about properly understanding the system, and our possible rules-lawyering.
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Jun 28, 2013 10:15
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Mimir posted:I've got a problem related to "GM advice". I've been a forever-GM for about three years and I've gotten to the point where sometimes I feel competent at it. The players seem happy and I'm getting better at making it up on the fly. I'm going to be a player for a new friend's first time GMing in a Pathfinder campaign, and it'll be my second non one-shot character ever. While I'm excited, I'm also a little worried that it'll start rocky, as all first campaigns do. I want to toss him some advice for not screwing up, like Greg Stolze's How to Run RPGs, that sort of thing. Maybe show him Dungeon World, to pull from the GM Moves section. I feel that "well, if it were me, I totally wouldn't have planned out the whole setting" is overstepping, because player input into setting is (in my opinion) a matter of group taste rather than right/wrong. I feel that "well, I really don't want Strongo in the party, near the party, or communicating in any way with the party, because we're the party, not you" is super-important (if said more nicely). The best thing you can do, rules-wise, is feel very free to supply rule clarifications and help as long as 1) you freely do so against the party when those are the rules, and 2) he gets the final say. And tell him that's what you plan to do, in advance.
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Jun 28, 2013 14:15
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Ashcans posted:But, Roll20 does seem to have issues with handling a ton of objects on the map that Maptool does not, and ultimately Maptool is a more powerful option. It's exactly this reason that prompted me to just start drawing my maps in photoshop. Really any image editing software will do but Roll20 works best when you just have a single static map image with a few tokens for movable objects. It's a bonus if the program in question can do a grid to snap to, but not every system requires rigid tiling.
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Jun 28, 2013 14:35
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Mimir posted:I've got a problem related to "GM advice". I've been a forever-GM for about three years and I've gotten to the point where sometimes I feel competent at it. The players seem happy and I'm getting better at making it up on the fly. I'm going to be a player for a new friend's first time GMing in a Pathfinder campaign, and it'll be my second non one-shot character ever. While I'm excited, I'm also a little worried that it'll start rocky, as all first campaigns do. I want to toss him some advice for not screwing up, like Greg Stolze's How to Run RPGs, that sort of thing. Maybe show him Dungeon World, to pull from the GM Moves section. I think a lot of this depends on your relationship with New Friend. You might want to put forward "Hey New Friend, I understand being a DM can be overwhelming and little confusing, and I've been one for a long time. If you have questions or want some tips, you can ask me.", sometimes they just need an open door or an assurance they aren't being a bother. Do you have an experienced DM friend who isn't the group? It might be better for him to talk about DM stuff with people not directly in the party he's I'm with Homullus that you should shutdown Strongo sooner rather than later, but I'm not really sure how I'd broach that topic - it would need to be very specific to that person.
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Jun 28, 2013 19:47
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P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT
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Mimir posted:I've got a problem related to "GM advice". I've been a forever-GM for about three years and I've gotten to the point where sometimes I feel competent at it. The players seem happy and I'm getting better at making it up on the fly. I'm going to be a player for a new friend's first time GMing in a Pathfinder campaign, and it'll be my second non one-shot character ever. While I'm excited, I'm also a little worried that it'll start rocky, as all first campaigns do. I want to toss him some advice for not screwing up, like Greg Stolze's How to Run RPGs, that sort of thing. Maybe show him Dungeon World, to pull from the GM Moves section. The first thing to do is ask him if he wants advice. I know when I was starting out I didn't want no advice from nobody nohow because I knew what I was doing, damnit. Then my campaigns exploded and I started to learn what was fun for people and what they hated. Then if they agree to take advice from you, ask them what sort of advice they want. Do they want specific advice on this plot arc? On making NPCs? On keeping people engaged? Do they want criticism? That's how to do it and maximize not-being-an-rear end. On the other hand ask yourself - if you were just a player, would you be shy about telling a DM everything you hated about their campaign? Probably not as much. Any reservation you feel is likely tempered by your experience as a DM. So I guess if something falls over the line of slightly-annoying into "gaming cardinal sin" territory (like Strongo, the level 20 Babysitter) that's when you drop decency like an overcooked Hotpocket.
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Jun 28, 2013 19:55
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So I have been GMing for a 4th edition D&D group that has seven players that have never played a roleplaying game other than this one. Surprisingly, things have been going amazingly well due to their love of political intrigue and roleplaying, but naturally things have been extremely slog heavy when combat arises (especially now that they have reached level 5 and have lots of tools to play with). What I really need is a way to make combat easier, more fun, and faster, which is naturally difficult with this game and with a literal mob of new players. Right now I am using the monster manual 3 math so that they have challenging and bloody battles, but they can only go about 3-4 rounds and yet they still take 2 hours. Secondly, I need some ways that they can outlet some of their money into things that doesn't include silly gear that gives +1s to attack or whatnot. They are extremely interested in buying businesses or other things, but naturally the game has no mechanical setup for that, and I would love to have something to help me make up some nice bonuses. Due to the fact that we are playing 75% of the game ignoring the most mechanically sound bits of 4th (combat), I was also thinking of moving slowly into some other game. What I am essentially looking for is a game where they can keep their D&D characters sort of intact (especially their skill sets, they love using skills) and I can easily make monsters and situations while following some mechanical balance that the game has a backbone on. Due to the number players I would also like to keep using battle mats and minis (also because they absolutely love playing with minis), but I just dont know where to look for something (I came into roleplaying using 4th).
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Jul 1, 2013 22:58
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joethesurly posted:So I have been GMing for a 4th edition D&D group that has seven players that have never played a roleplaying game other than this one. Surprisingly, things have been going amazingly well due to their love of political intrigue and roleplaying, but naturally things have been extremely slog heavy when combat arises (especially now that they have reached level 5 and have lots of tools to play with). What I really need is a way to make combat easier, more fun, and faster, which is naturally difficult with this game and with a literal mob of new players. Right now I am using the monster manual 3 math so that they have challenging and bloody battles, but they can only go about 3-4 rounds and yet they still take 2 hours. Seven is rough for anyone. And there are tweaks - but I can't think of major ones. quote:Secondly, I need some ways that they can outlet some of their money into things that doesn't include silly gear that gives +1s to attack or whatnot. They are extremely interested in buying businesses or other things, but naturally the game has no mechanical setup for that, and I would love to have something to help me make up some nice bonuses. Investment is a location, location, and location thing. Which is why hard and fast mechanical systems don't work that well. Are they after investment or RP rewards? quote:Due to the fact that we are playing 75% of the game ignoring the most mechanically sound bits of 4th (combat), I was also thinking of moving slowly into some other game. What I am essentially looking for is a game where they can keep their D&D characters sort of intact (especially their skill sets, they love using skills) and I can easily make monsters and situations while following some mechanical balance that the game has a backbone on. Due to the number players I would also like to keep using battle mats and minis (also because they absolutely love playing with minis), but I just dont know where to look for something (I came into roleplaying using 4th). So you want battlemat and minis, skills, and something not quite so complex as 4e? 4e is the only game I can think of that really uses minis anything like that well, but I'd suggest looking at the following two: 1: 13th Age - Rob Heinsoo (lead designer of 4e) and Jonathan Tweet's (designer of 3.0) "Love letter to D&D". From a 4e start it's lighter, faster, and less tactical - and you can easily replace the backgrounds with the 4e system. This is the most like 4e I can think of and probably exactly what you are looking for. (Minis not necessary but work well) 2: Fate Core. A fast playing narrative heavy game with a skill system that can be easily tweaked. Probably the largest of the Indy-games.
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Jul 2, 2013 01:54
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Also take a look at Jimbozig's Sacred BBQ. It's based on 4e, but is much more streamlined.
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Jul 2, 2013 03:14
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Hey thanks to both of you, I have been browsing through both Sacred BBQ and 13th Age and I just might use one of them (once I get a better feel on how it might affect my players) but I didnt even think about using FATE, considering that most of my crew are improv people it might roll well with them. neonchameleon posted:
I think that the players might enjoy narrative awards more than investments. also, investments would likely cause a waterfall affect of gold that they will exploit to its full potential. I have been riffing off of Eberron quite a bit for the setting (they are in a massive city full of magic), so maybe I can have something like the "Dragonmarked" houses that they can donate to for some narrative control.
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Jul 2, 2013 04:42
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joethesurly posted:so maybe I can have something like the "Dragonmarked" houses that they can donate to for some narrative control Kind of depends on your party setup how easy a transition to 13th Age would be thematically. If your party is all human warriors, elf wizards and dwarf clerics, green light. If you're all genasi psions, shardmind wardens and deva warlords, it might need some shifting around of things.
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Jul 2, 2013 06:55
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My Lovely Horse posted:13th Age has Icons, powerful NPCs that are essentially the movers and shakers of the world, and every character has a particular relationship to one or more of them that can influence the narrative. You could definitely very easily describe those as something like Dragonmarked houses rather than individual persons - or maybe the persons are each the head of their house - and you could definitely introduce a donation system. The group is pretty vanilla, but as it stands I would probably need to ease them into the 13th age interaction system, as they are still feeling out the "world" and where they want to be in it (plus role-playing in general, though they are loving it). Would perhaps slowly modding in the great narrative features like backgrounds be viable to get them comfortable with it? Or should I whole hog move over to 13th when we all feel ready for it?
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Jul 2, 2013 14:00
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Take the plunge. The new engagement rules, escalation die and miss damage will speed up your game. Give your characters their sheets ahead of time.
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Jul 2, 2013 18:36
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So, I'll be running my first game here soon. Shadowrun 4e it looks like, though nothing is really set in stone yet. All of the players are experienced roleplayers and I know each personally, so I figure this won't be too bad. But, I'm the DM. None of us have ever done tabletop games really, so this is a pretty new experience all around. I've played a very few (one of which was Rifts and bloody awful due to the DM flat out lying and playing favorites) and one of the players was in that same Rifts game which basically is all of our experience. I'm going to be checking the Shadowrun thread too, but where would you suggest I begin with this? I was thinking something easy or at least fast paced for their first real job, a kidnapping thing where the target is what amounts to a glorified accountant but with access to information their boss wants so he can start moving on up in the world.
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Jul 4, 2013 07:32
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There's a quick module out there called Fast Food Fight that can be found in the quick start rules. The rules were either in a hard paper folder for free RPG day(if you super need it maybe ask at your FLGS to see if they have the free RPG day stuff kicking around.) If not it can be found online here. Fast Food Fight is quick, doesn't get the group into anything too gonzo on their first run and will give you an idea of how the game plays and what aspects your group likes about Shadowrun.
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Jul 4, 2013 08:27
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My friend's brother in law began playing with us a couple of months ago. He's so slack-jawed and next to nothing that we barely notice him. All he does is eat a ton of pizza and cast spells. On top of that today I learned he is a juggalo. How the gently caress do I get rid of this guy nicely? He's done nothing wrong, mind you, but I want him out anyway.
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Jul 4, 2013 11:24
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Just ask? "Hey man, we don't think it's really working out. Thanks for your interest, but we're gonna play without you."
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Jul 4, 2013 11:30
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Have you talked to him out of game about what he could do as a player to contribute more to the group? If he isn't being actively lovely and not ruining the game for other people, it seems like your first course of action should be to see if there's anything you could do as a GM to engage him more, or if he's just not understanding what it is you/the other players expect of him. I mean, you just said he's done nothing wrong. Maybe all he wants out of a game is to show up, eat pizza with friends and fry some goblins -- if that's incompatible with the group's style and neither of you are willing to adjust a bit, then yeah, at that point you should consider playing with other people. But if you really are dead set that you need to get him out of the group, it's still more or less what Arivia just said: just like... talk to the guy. It probably won't be fun, and maybe he'll get mad about it, but there's really not a way around it unless you want to resort to the kind of passive aggressive bullshit GMs seem to often try and pull on problem players. Like many GM-player problems, this can be addressed with the same bit of advice we give to 3 year olds on a daily basis: Use your words. Gazetteer fucked around with this message at 13:28 on Jul 4, 2013 |
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Jul 4, 2013 13:25
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God Of Paradise posted:My friend's brother in law began playing with us a couple of months ago. He's so slack-jawed and next to nothing that we barely notice him. All he does is eat a ton of pizza and cast spells. On top of that today I learned he is a juggalo. If this is your worst player, count yourself lucky. He's not trying to be a murder-rape hobo like that one player that was posted about in this thread (fake edit: oh, that was you with that guy as well; so I guess this is your worst remaining player?). I get that he's not exactly contributing, but, other than the fact that he's a juggalo, why do you want him out?
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Jul 4, 2013 18:01
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Galick posted:So, I'll be running my first game here soon. Shadowrun 4e it looks like, though nothing is really set in stone yet. All of the players are experienced roleplayers and I know each personally, so I figure this won't be too bad. By telling your players to download chummer, a Shadowrun 4e Chargen.
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Jul 5, 2013 03:19
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God Of Paradise posted:My friend's brother in law began playing with us a couple of months ago. He's so slack-jawed and next to nothing that we barely notice him. All he does is eat a ton of pizza and cast spells. On top of that today I learned he is a juggalo. Does he provide his own pizza or is he mooching? This is a very important distinction.
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Jul 5, 2013 06:49
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P.d0t posted:Does he provide his own pizza or is he mooching? This is a very important distinction. It really is. For instance, I try not to drive unless I have a long trip or emergency. And since two of my games are on bus routes I take public transit. I was feeling pretty lovely because since I also don't carry cash there wasn't really a reliable way for me to bring the pizza or whatever junk food we would eat on game night. So I just brought it up one week and asked if I gave the cash in advance if the DM would pick it up. Turns out everyone was in similar situations(rushed here from work, you guys come after a Cub Scouts meeting...) So since I brought it up in a way that didn't really call anyone out everyone got a chance to say "Let's just all agree to give Steph 5 bucks when she gets here." But yeah, are your other problems with his playstyle or personality? If he's being offensive or weird just let him know that it's not working out. If he's not roleplaying enough for you try the Dungeon World route. Give him leading questions when you enter a wizard school or whatever (Is there a chapter of Roland's Wizard frat here?) If you don't want to put in the work grooming a roleplayer, which is understandable if you're just looking for a group where you don't have to babysit one guy to make sure he's playing during the social scenes, then just let him know it's not working. It's highly likely he'll be some degree of mad at you. But it'll be infinitely worse if you try passive-aggressive bullshit in game or if you just treat him like an rear end in a top hat until he leaves.
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Jul 5, 2013 07:02
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Mooch. And he tries to get us to take him to the liquor store. He's the 19 year old brother in law of a close friend and he sucks in every way. Trust me. I wish he was a trolling, selfish, NPC-raping dick-head. Please, ruin my game. Then at least he'd have some identifiable element of personality. Then he'd show that he had the limited brain capacity to ruin a game. Personality of a rutabaga. If I wanted to DM for my wall, I wouldn't invite people over.
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Jul 5, 2013 08:51
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God Of Paradise posted:Mooch. And he tries to get us to take him to the liquor store. He's the 19 year old brother in law of a close friend and he sucks in every way. Sounds to me like he really, really doesn't want to be their, either. Are his parents foisting him off on your other player? Is your player bringing him along as some kind of bonding exercise? Is he just looking for any way to get out of his house?
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Jul 5, 2013 21:44
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TheAnomaly posted:Sounds to me like he really, really doesn't want to be their, either. Are his parents foisting him off on your other player? Is your player bringing him along as some kind of bonding exercise? Is he just looking for any way to get out of his house? Bonding exercise I believe. From here on everytime he casts a spell I'm going to say, "There's magic everywhere up in dis bitch," and have him be attacked by ninjas with hatchets.
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Jul 5, 2013 23:02
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God Of Paradise posted:From here on everytime he casts a spell I'm going to say, "There's magic everywhere up in dis bitch," and have him be attacked by ninjas with hatchets. What are you, a loving ten year old? Tell him you've noticed he doesn't seem to care and ask him what it would take for him to actually feel invested in your game. If that doesn't work, talk to the person bringing him along and tell him you don't like him or his attitude, that he's disrupting the game and would that person please either work on his attitude or stop bringing him along.
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Jul 6, 2013 00:01
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Lemon Curdistan posted:What are you, a loving ten year old? Nah man, gently caress this advice. You should totally act like pre-pubescent mind child, and ruin the game for everyone because you don't like a dude. I mean, where's the fun if you can't systematically ruin something for yourself? Nowhere, that's where. Be 10, you've earned it buddy.
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Jul 6, 2013 00:08
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Do both. GMs must do as they will.
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Jul 6, 2013 01:33
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Oh, I shall. I shall. He'll be fighting loving magnets and loving rainbows for time eternal.
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Jul 6, 2013 11:25
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Some people do just wallflower. I had a guy in one of my games for the longest time who took a back seat, rolled when he had to, and rarely said more than a few words at a time. I was surprised as anything to learn that he was having a great time, but apparently he was. If he's enjoying himself, and he's not actually harming your game, what's the problem?
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Jul 6, 2013 13:36
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One option is to try and worm some character development out of him, obviously I can't know what goes on each session but this would be my method: For starters, if you don't know it already than learn his characters name. Yes especially if it is incredibly stupid, this is coming from someone who has DM'd for both Slayer and No Name respectively. Next, whenever the party isn't on the move and is having a bit of a discussion moment, turn to this guy and ask him "Boring-Pizza-Man, how is [his character] reacting this situation?" If he has never even considered it before it will probably be written all over his face. Be prepared for an answer that isn't exactly high literature ("He feels pretty good about this"), but every path starts with a single step. Should he brush off the answer be prepared to ask him why his character feels this way exactly. Now comes the important bit, whatever character he actually starts making for himself when these questions come up, try and hold him to it within reason. He may actually find himself somewhat invested and start contributing more to the party. One last thing to keep in mind is that you don't want the player to feel singled out for whatever reason, so try to get at least this level of conversation and involvement out of most of the other party during the night. My last bit of advice is that if a player is playing but doesn't actually have much they want to do, try and get them to really want to murder one of your particular NPC's, and see if they can't end up rallying the whole party to go over to this bro's house and burn his poo poo to the ground.
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Jul 6, 2013 19:54
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I think we should just leave God of Paradise to his own devices in this incident now. Or it'll be like when he had the rapegamer and was looking for the okay to do a detailed torture/murder scene on the guy to punish the behavior while still allowing it. Most of us have given him the "be a loving grownup" advice and "if you really must, be the passive aggressive DM but it could cause a rift" advice. Does anyone else do prop heavy DMing? I got my hands on some foreign coins from my grandma's shed(worthless, looked 'em up) and have been just kind of tossing one or two to players when they find treasure/get paid. Now some of them have a bunch of the drat things and I want to do something with them but if I have them turn the coins in at the shops it's just Monopoly money which doesn't sound fun. Any suggestions on little turn in things that I could have them use the coins for besides hoarding them?
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Jul 6, 2013 19:55
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Razorwired posted:Any suggestions on little turn in things that I could have them use the coins for besides hoarding them? Depending on what system you are playing you could do lots of things I'm sure. If it is something like D&D or Pathfinder you could make them magic tokens. Pathfinder has Feather Tokens which are just feathers that transform into an item. If the coins have interesting pictures or symbols on them you could steal that idea. Idea 2: They are actually relics from some long lost society. Throw an elaborate vending machine in a dungeon somewhere that only accepts these coins. Then you can make it a puzzle to try and figure out how to make it spit out the best stuff. Lallander fucked around with this message at 21:04 on Jul 6, 2013 |
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Jul 6, 2013 20:16
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Curse them and/or bless them. Let the players use them to reroll a bad roll.
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Jul 6, 2013 22:51
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reignofevil posted:One option is to try and worm some character development out of him, obviously I can't know what goes on each session but this would be my method: This is good advice. Maybe I could get more RPing out of him if I gave him an enemy, instead of the party an enemy. Then I'd ask him to come up where he knew his enemy from. Maybe I could ask him where he has family, and put that town into some trouble and then we could build his character on the spot.
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Jul 6, 2013 22:55
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VanSandman posted:Curse them and/or bless them. Let the players use them to reroll a bad roll. Both. They flip the coin - heads they take the best result of the two rolls, tails the worst.
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Jul 6, 2013 22:57
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What sort of visuals do most people use for GMing? My group and I are starting to get sick of my really spartan use of Map Tools ("this stone tile represents a building. This long dirt tile with grass on top is a tree!") but I don't know what else I can do. I'm playing around with Roll20 a little bit, and it seems like it's more user-friendly, but I feel like I'm getting really bad carpal tunnel syndrome by dragging and dropping individual pieces to make a single area. And it seems really time-consuming and unpleasant to have to design areas this way. We do it IRL and not online, if that makes any difference.
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Jul 10, 2013 05:54
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I make dungeon levels, other maps, and backdrops in various drawing programs and then use those in Roll20. I usually dress them with varying furniture once I've got them in Roll20 so I can adjust them a small amount to fit the situation. Examples:  Zoomed-out city map. I try to keep individual Roll20 pages reasonably sized, so I have larger scale maps for the party to move around on and then zoom into a city block map or portion of wilderness if they need greater resolution for a fight or NPC interaction.  A really crappy battle map I threw together immediately before the session for the one specific fight that was about to take place in a magic lab.  A much nicer battle map I hope to get some mileage out of. Plenty of chances to fight in a construction site.  A dungeon map. When I used it as the basement of a hotel I dressed some of the rooms as staff quarters and a wine cellar, and then blocked the dungeon-ier parts off. Click through for big on the color ones. PublicOpinion fucked around with this message at 07:03 on Jul 10, 2013 |
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Jul 10, 2013 06:50
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Cephas posted:What sort of visuals do most people use for GMing? My group and I are starting to get sick of my really spartan use of Map Tools ("this stone tile represents a building. This long dirt tile with grass on top is a tree!") but I don't know what else I can do. Download some asset packs from Maptools, you can do this through the client. Download everything by Torstan. For interiors, I've also gotten a lot of mileage out of the infinite dungeon (I think you have to download that from the forums). Download the tree packs too. This will give you enough stuff to generate probably 70-90% of your maps.
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Jul 10, 2013 08:30
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