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Had an out-of-game great moment. I've been in a 13th age game for a few months. All this time, I never had a one-unique thing. I had a high concept, (a devil-consulting elven lawyer on leave), but couldn't decide on an OUT. What was so unique about Kordelia Poe? Originally, she had a letter of exemption from the inquisition, but as the group fought with devils, demons and crusaders, it didn't fit. (After the group defeated and took over the Crusader's airship, she had to 86 her role at her law firm. So her OUT couldn't even be law related.) Then I started thinking about elves in the setting. We'd only met one - a retired spy who only met the group for drinks. The elven court, whenever it was discussed, was filled with mystery. Another question was, why was Kordelia so SKILLED? She was a lawyer on vacation, not a skilled mercenary liked the rest of the party. So it made me realize...the high elven court was the CIA. Kordelia's one unique thing was her role as elvenkind's first sleeper agent. Edit: A year later, we fleshed this out even more, and Kordelia has gone from a Jason Bourne "what do all these memories mean?" to a James Bond "Of course they know who I am. I'm a secret agent!". She was also interim diabolist (but found demons really freaky and gross). Golden Bee fucked around with this message at 06:23 on Nov 19, 2014 |
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Nov 15, 2013 04:47
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These stories get me thinking often about a hypothetical store rules notice I'd put up if I ran a FLGS. "No Gaming Is Better Than Bad Gaming" would be right at the top, in big bold letters. Some kind of admonition to have showered in the past eight hours would be on there as well, and either a selection of "don't be a dick" rules, or just "Don't Be A Dick. If we have to explain what that means, we will probably just ask you to leave." coupled with the standard "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone" sign. I also have a vague idea for a series of satirical "Know Your Grognards" posters detailing various undesirables as if with monster manual or wilderness guide entries. The Fun Vampire, The Edition Warrior, The Catbox Golem, etc. I might kick that idea around some more, see if I can get enough fleshed out to justify kickstarting it or something. Do you guys think either of those would actually be a useful thing that would bring some measure of enlightenment to the hobby?
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Nov 15, 2013 15:01
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Dareon posted:These stories get me thinking often about a hypothetical store rules notice I'd put up if I ran a FLGS. "No Gaming Is Better Than Bad Gaming" would be right at the top, in big bold letters. Some kind of admonition to have showered in the past eight hours would be on there as well, and either a selection of "don't be a dick" rules, or just "Don't Be A Dick. If we have to explain what that means, we will probably just ask you to leave." coupled with the standard "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone" sign.  I took this photo at the gaming store near where I went to college. That place had more than a few cat piss men. 
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Nov 15, 2013 15:43
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Dareon posted:These stories get me thinking often about a hypothetical store rules notice I'd put up if I ran a FLGS. "No Gaming Is Better Than Bad Gaming" would be right at the top, in big bold letters. Some kind of admonition to have showered in the past eight hours would be on there as well, and either a selection of "don't be a dick" rules, or just "Don't Be A Dick. If we have to explain what that means, we will probably just ask you to leave." coupled with the standard "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone" sign. I'm surprised more stores don't have 'don't be a dick' policies, as it can really be harmful to their business. A while back (around the time Neverwinter came out) I was browsing the 4e section at my FLGS, trying to find the Neverwinter City book as I'm a sucker for lore. A college or highschool student walked up to me and grabbed the MM3 and was looking through it, seemed to be having some trouble, then asked me "Is this what I need to run a game?" Turns out he was trying to start a roleplaying group with some people who had never played an RPG before (himself included). I helped him find the Rules Compendium, one of the Heroes books, and the monster vault and was explaining to him how everything worked when this guy walked up to the other side of the kid and decided to interject. He was like a walking version of every edition war cliche ever, he even called 4e "stupid MMO WoW Bullshit" and that it "wasn't for real gamers". He also said it was worse than 3.5, and when the college student found the shrinkwrapped 3.5 reprints he quickly added that "3.5 was terrible." I finally convinced him that the kid was just starting out and that the Essentials books are a better option for beginning gamers than anything else in the store. He wandered off mumbling something about how it was still bullshit. I was able to convince the first guy that he would be fine with the Essentials paperbacks and he went off to the cash register a happy man. Walking Edition War wasn't in the store when I finally bought my stuff, I'm hoping the owners overheard and kicked him out. Kurieg fucked around with this message at 16:53 on Nov 15, 2013 |
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Nov 15, 2013 16:50
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Asehujiko posted:He's not a PvP'er. A PvP'er plays Starcraft or something and has fun fighting/winning. He's a fun vampire who steals enjoyment from others. I think the word you are looking for is "griefer". The sort of person who gets his kicks from PVPing to kill lower level characters who don't want to PVP.
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Nov 15, 2013 16:55
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Kurieg posted:Walking Edition War wasn't in the store when I finally bought my stuff, I'm hoping the owners overheard and kicked him out. They probably don't want to lose a cash cow. Dude probably buys a copy of everything they get in so that he can give detailed descriptions of exactly why it offends him.
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Nov 15, 2013 17:00
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J Miracle posted:I gotta be honest, the cousin may be the cat-piss but this DM seems pretty bad, what with the rapist NPCs and the being complicit in secret PVP crap and whatnot. The GM for my current Shadowrun game is very willing to roll with whatever we do, but has stated in the past that if PVP combat breaks out, he's going to NPC-ify the characters, play them with brutal efficiency, and let the chips fall where they may. I'm not sure if he means that for just the antagonizing PC, or everyone, or what, but there's a chance I might find out tonight... My mirrorshades magic detective is planning on betraying one of the other PCs, a pink mohawk adrenaline junkie that completely ruined a run before anything even happened (A package-delivery / train mission that went FUBAR when a high-explosive grenade destroyed the caboose in the first ten minutes of the run, full writeup here.) The player in question has already put together his replacement character; even if his adrenaline junkie survives the next mission (which is trying to clean up part of the mess from the mission he blew), none of the rest of our characters are going to want to work with the guy.
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Nov 15, 2013 17:44
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goatface posted:They probably don't want to lose a cash cow. Dude probably buys a copy of everything they get in so that he can give detailed descriptions of exactly why it offends him.
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Nov 15, 2013 17:49
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Kurieg posted:I'm surprised more stores don't have 'don't be a dick' policies, as it can really be harmful to their business. When I was in the chicago area visiting friends last year we went to some game stores. The first one was a musky den that had a nice selection but a ton of catpissy dudes. The second one we went to was completely awesome. I'll name drop it for that reason: Fair Game in Downers Grove, IL. The selection was kind of sparse for ubernerds like us, but the store space was clean, tastefully decorated, well lit, and the owner Josh was super friendly and very focused on creating a family friendly environment. A mom and her ~6ish year old son came in and I watched him teach them how to play some board game. One of my friends was looking at one of those big Ravenloft boxsets, and someone happened to be playing it in the play area in back. The people playing it were more than happy to stop their game and explain how it worked and show him some of the stuff. When we commented on that to the owner he said "Oh yeah, no, if they weren't polite about that I'd kick them out." I bought some books and dice I didn't even need just so I could have an excuse to give him money.
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Nov 15, 2013 19:09
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Went back to the gaming store because a friend that recently moved up wanted to know where it was, and I was pleasantly surprised how Depissified it gotten. They moved to a bigger location (Nice to see considering how many such stores are struggling), made it better lit and put up huge signs near the entrance that warned that harassing other customers is an automatic ban.
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Nov 15, 2013 19:40
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Simon Draskovic posted:The GM for my current Shadowrun game is very willing to roll with whatever we do, but has stated in the past that if PVP combat breaks out, he's going to NPC-ify the characters, play them with brutal efficiency, and let the chips fall where they may. I'm not sure if he means that for just the antagonizing PC, or everyone, or what, but there's a chance I might find out tonight... My mirrorshades magic detective is planning on betraying one of the other PCs, a pink mohawk adrenaline junkie that completely ruined a run before anything even happened (A package-delivery / train mission that went FUBAR when a high-explosive grenade destroyed the caboose in the first ten minutes of the run, full writeup here.) The player in question has already put together his replacement character; even if his adrenaline junkie survives the next mission (which is trying to clean up part of the mess from the mission he blew), none of the rest of our characters are going to want to work with the guy. I made a blood mage character for a Shadowrun 4e game - specifically geared for overcasting by spilling his own blood. When he Awakened as a teenager, his magic manifested out of control and killed his adoptive parents. He was so terrified he ran for the Barrens. The first spirit he met was a spirit that told him he could control things with blood magic. Even though he learned how to control himself that way, from years of trid viewing he knew that blood magicians were reviled and hunted, so he kept it all secret. He never preyed on others and powered everything by self-harming. Eventually he ended up as a Shadowrunner. This character was teamed up with a mercenary veteran of the conflicts between Aztechnology and Amazonia, played by Nick. He had been captured and tortured by blood mages, and had sworn to kill any he came across. I was able to hide my blood magic for most of the arc, but near the end we had a fight at an observatory. My character was torn between leaving a team member to die, or using an unconscious guard to power a spell that would save him. He chose the lattter. Thanks to some keen observation from the team member and the mercenary, they saw the magic and blood and figured out that there was no way I could have unleashed a spell of that magnitude without killing myself - unless I had used another source of energy. As it was, I was knocked unconscious. When I woke up, I was in a medical facility. I was suspicious of a new scar on my chest and after some investigative rolls found out that I had a device planted next to my heart that would stop it when a signal from a com-link was received. Unsurprisingly, this com-link was owned by the mercenary veteran. I tried to get it removed, but a fail-safe had been implanted. Fast forward a bit - we've role-played the conflict between team-members lying to each other, the breakdown of trust, the decohesion of the group. It all comes to a head in the final session. My character wants to be free, but the mercenary veteran won't let him go (I can't remember if he was going to turn me in to the authorities or not, but I was certainly not getting away clean). After we had defeated the primary antagonist, we were hoofing it back through the woods and my character decided to levitate the mercenary veteran as high as possible, in a wild attempt to gain some negotiating leverage. From a significant height, his character looked down at me . . . and pushed the button. My heart popped and he fell to the ground. He was optimized to take damage, so he survived with no major problems. I, on the other hand was crawling towards an apparition of my father that had appeared. As I got closer it turned out to be the original spirit that set me on the path of blood magic, and he took my essence away. This was PVP with almost no maliciousness - Nick's character did not want to kill me outright because I had been an asset to the team and saved their lives on several occasions. At the same time I was a perversion to him and couldn't be allowed remain free. I obviously couldn't live my life looking down the proverbial barrel of a gun held by a twitchy, burnt out mercenary so I tried to free myself without bloodshed. Thanks to having good GMs (in this instance SA user McGravin) and good players like Nick, PVP ended up being something that was actually meaningful to the story.
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Nov 15, 2013 21:26
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Hotdog In A Hallway posted:Blood Mage Stuff. I'm surprised he didn't try to turn you in alive to the Draco Foundation for Dunkelzahn's 1 million nuyen bounty.
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Nov 15, 2013 22:01
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This thread is making me remember all the lovely D&D I played back in the day, so I figured I'd share the love. The DM I was playing with was a decent guy, but he could not for the life of him improvise. If we ever went off script or did something that he didn't think of, no matter how inconsiquential, disaster struck and he had no idea how to regain control. He'd just fumble around until we wandered back to his main plot or got violently railroaded back. Here's an example. Baby's first border patrol I should mention at this point that the DM really liked elves, like really really liked elves. All his own characters were elves and there were more than a few times we got monologues about how elves are better than humans in every way. Through some plot contrivance our motley crew journeyed to the elven homelands to help them drive off a stereotypical invasion of Drow. We just sort of blundered in without any real plan and were stopped by the border patrol. DM: As you walk through the forest, you are suddenly surrounded by a band of well-armed elves. They jump down from the treetops with supernatural grace, rolling perfectly to their feet in front of you. You would guess them to be about 16. The leader nocks an arrow and demands to know who you are. Me: You know elves live to be like 700 right? They're not even adults until 110. A 16 year old elf is probably still a toddler, there’s no way they could be doing this. Rogue: Yeah, that’s like two years old in human years. DM: Uhhh, You see their arms and legs are encrusted with vast amounts of magical items. Multiple rings jammed on each finger and they all appear to be wearing several belts and headbands. That’s how they do it. Me: I cast detect magic. DM: You are practically blinded by the auras of magic coming from the elves. That’s right, instead of simply correcting the ages or telling us to shut up, the DM decided no, we were right, the elves were really babies. They just had millions upon millions of gold pieces of magic items that allowed them to function like little toddler demigods. Needless to say, we were skeptical and started questioning the leader of the band as to why elven babies were patrolling the border. The leader responded that many of the elvish babies were in fact dopplegangers. We were then immediately railroaded into a combat zone despite protesting that we wanted to stay and learn more. We never got any clarification as to why doppelgangers or babies. The DM refused to speak of it afterwards.
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Nov 16, 2013 09:52
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N00ba the Hutt posted:I dunno about "useful" but it'd sure be entertaining! It's no substitute for a shower.
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Nov 16, 2013 10:04
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SynthOrange posted:It's no substitute for a shower.
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Nov 16, 2013 10:11
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J Miracle posted:I gotta be honest, the cousin may be the cat-piss but this DM seems pretty bad, what with the rapist NPCs and the being complicit in secret PVP crap and whatnot. Well, up until this point, you've been getting the worst and the weirdest, so it's been kind of a skewed picture. DM did consider it more or less his “job” to let players make an attempt at what they choose to do, and he'd rarely just stop character actions by fiat. The most prominent time he did had to do with the worst player who didn't make it an entire session. But that's another story. How we dealt with the Gunslinger through PVP Cousin's stealth PVP should have been shut down, and, in another situation, it would have, but it can be good for the option to be on the table. I almost never want to assassinate another PC, but it's nice to know that I could. The specific situation came up earlier in the campaign, when Gunslinger was Chaotic Evil, and was literally a mercenary that the party was paying to keep around. “What are we gonna do if the merc screws us?” was a common concern, and something we always tried to have a backup plan for. It led to some interesting roleplay, and at least one awesome character moment while the Alchemist / Gunslinger was still untrustworthy, much of it involving stealth PVP. Keeping tabs on the merc was a standard party duty for a while, and while it could go as far as having Detect Thoughts, or Discern Lies running, it was usually just casual observation. I had a standing protocol with the DM, that whenever we were out nearby to each other in a city, I'd be kind of keeping an eye on the Gunslinger, while looking casual/ like I wasn't. One day, while the party was preparing for a sea voyage, it so happened, that I noticed someone discreetly pass the Gunslinger a note. I waited until he wasn't moving, stealthed up behind him, pickpocketed it, read it, and planted it back. The Gunslinger had been invited out to a meeting by his old “Mercenary Company”, an anarchic group of bandits and thugs that made the occasional big hit. I broke away from him and reported this back to the party. We'd had run ins with the group before, where the Gunslinger's loyalty wavered, an we also knew that most of their clients were evil, and/or, our enemies. The group decided that I should shadow the Gunslinger to the meeting, and, if he betrayed us, we'd jump him, and either kill him or turn him in to the authorities depending on how the fight went. Later that day, the Gunslinger, having said nothing about it to the party, discreetly broke off from us at the inn. I messaged the DM that I was shadowing him. DM took the Gunslinger's player to the kitchen, and I listened from the doorway opposite to the one they'd come in (both houses basically had this feature, after a fashion, so it was nice for when this sort of thing came up). The Mercs had a client that wanted the party dead, and knew that we were working dockside security for a ship we were about to set sail on. They offered the Gunslinger a borderline unbelievable amount of money to let them sneak a large crate into the cargo. The Gunslinger expressed some weak misgivings about the crew, and some much stronger ones about his own safety. The Mercenaries played up the fact that they were the Gunslinger's friends, and how they'd worked in the dirt and muck for years together, and what a name they'd make for everyone with this score. When the Gunslinger pressed them for a few details, they described this advanced Assassination Golem that could hide in plain sight, walk through walls, disintegrate everyone, teleport out the payment, and vanish without a trace. The Gunslinger agreed to help the mercenaries assassinate the party. I headed back to the game ahead of them. When they got back, the DM secretly had me roll Knowledge Arcana, and Spellcraft. I passed, and then he took me aside to the other room. He told me that, with my knowledge of magic, I could tell that the Mercenaries' claims about this Assassination Golem were so overblown as to be ludicrous, and that a Golem like that would be so expensive that no one who could afford it would need it. I told him that I was going to stay behind, and see what the mercs actually did. The crate they were shipping was just a huge bomb, on a four-day timer, locked in a shoddy crate with a mechanical fire trap in case of tampering. I stayed behind and watched them set it up and get it ready for shipping, specifically so that I could have a bonus if I needed to disarm it. Once things were done there, I headed back to the party and made up an excuse about being out carousing. The Gunslinger was there, and we'd worked out a pass phrase that would let the party know if I'd been able to follow the Gunslinger, and whether everything was fine, or if we needed to stomp the Merc. Paladin: “Did you stop by the bakery while you were out?” Me: “Yes, I did.” Paladin: “How was the cake?” Me: “Delicious! It was so soft, and moist.” (Don't judge us. There was another phrase that would have set off everyone's readied actions, but this meant everything was fine.) I lied to the party. The Gunslinger didn't say anything, and, the next day, let an unaccounted group of longshoreman load a horse-sized crate onto the cargo palettes going to the hold. The very same crate that was supposed to hold a ludicrously deadly Assassination Golem to kill the party, but which actually held a huge pipe bomb. It was a huge ship, carrying over 500 passengers, and a fifth as many crew. It was loaded up with VIPs, travelers, families, and quite a few NPCs that the party had built relationships with. Accommodations ranged from spartan, but clean, to opulent, and the ship had a Gala atmosphere, with parties in the grand cabins, and festivities on deck every day. We got underway, and the party took advantage of the chance to network with wealthy merchants and nobles, as well as to catch up with NPCs from quests we'd completed, to pick up quests and rumors, and plan out our next adventure. An aging mentor from Gunslinger's backstory was aboard, headed off to retire. As a Chaotic Good Aasimar  Sorcerer / Rogue, I was always friendly and outgoing. Gunslinger was being standoffish, but I made a special effort to drag Gunslinger into as many conversations as possible. At one point, I gathered up a bunch of the children on board, and shanghaied the Gunslinger into a magical trick shot show, where I used illusions and conjurations to help the Gunslinger wow the crowd with feats of marksmanship. I dragged the Gunslinger, a human nearing middle age after a life of hard living, along with the girls to get our faces painted. The Gunslinger chose a wolf... grudgingly.There were lots of social encounters, and skill challenges to be had, and the trip was a nice break for the party, after some rather difficult and deadly adventures. We were three days out, and the Gunslinger still hadn’t said anything, but that was just fine, because I'd been taking the time to think of my plan. I'd made sure that I knew where the crate was on the first day of the trip. On the third night, the Gunslinger was up on deck, alone, being as distant as usual. Me: “Hey! Gunslinger! I need your help with something! Come on!” The Gunslinger reluctantly followed me down to the hold. Me: “I was down here poking around... Hiding, sneaking, locking and unlocking things... shadowing people... you know, keeping my skills sharp? And I noticed this trap...” I tapped on the crate. “Gonna disarm it, but I need your help.” I started disarming the fire trap without even waiting for a response. Gunslinger: “You should probably leave that alone...” Me: “Nah... it's obviously important.” The Gunslinger was backing up, and checking gear and positioning, obviously expecting me to wake up a super Golem, and for initiative to start. I disarmed the trap without any problem (+5 bonus from seeing it set), and popped open the crate. Me: Come over here I think you need to see this... you know, as an expert. The Gunslinger came over and looked. Me: This is a huge bomb. If it went off, it would kill everyone, just... everyone on the ship. Here, help me diffuse it, put your hand on it over there. The Gunslinger aided my disable device check. (I already had a +5 bonus, but that wasn't the point) Me: I'm glad I brought you along, things like this are dangerous, and it's important to have friends you can trust. Hold your breath! I rolled a die for show, but told the DM that I was actually taking 10. I asked him to make it sound like I was cutting it close. DM: You carefully wedge your dagger underneath the timer, and, with light fingers, you pop it loose, but you've failed to notice a nearly invisible backup fuse! It races out from beneath the timer, and burns along the surface of a bomb powerful enough to kill you instantly. Your heart races! IN THE LAST MOMENTS... it extinguishes harmlessly under Gunslinger's hand. You have narrowly avoided certain doom. Gunslinger:  The way he hammed it up, I thought DM might have pulled a fast one on me, but it was cool. Me:That was a close one! Almost killed us all... but what's important is that we're all still here. You know, I had a look around this crate, and there aren't a whole lot of clues. It's likely... no one will ever know how this bomb got here. I started to leave the hold. Me: I figure you probably want some time to think about things... like how to salvage some gunpowder from that bomb, or something... or whatever, you know... but they're doing chicken fights up on deck, so I have to go change into my swimsuit. I'm glad we have you around. The Gunslinger stayed down in the hold for the rest of the night, but was much more personable for the rest of the trip. The party did more social encounters and roleplay, and we fought off some wyvern riding pirates. The Gunslinger learned a new combat feat after the Mentor shared some tricks of the trade, along with words of wisdom and advice on how to live a long life. The party bought it when I said that there was no real way to tell how the bomb got there, and the DM subtly indicated that there wasn't an adventure hook in it, so everyone assumed that whoever had done it was acting alone, or with an NPC. The matter dropped, and we mopped up the Mercenary Company in other storylines. The party assumed that Gunslinger had resisted temptation, and deserved more trust. I never said anything to the contrary, although I did, secretly, keep an eye on the Merc from time to time for a little while longer. After the trip, the Gunslinger was less standoffish, and took a special shine to me, always coming along if I needed extra muscle or backup. We shared a special bond, because the Gunslinger knew that after he'd tried to kill me, I'd saved his life twice, kept his secret, and given him a second chance. The gunslinger learned the value of Good. My humanoid heritage was elven-derived, so when Gunslinger got reincarnated as an elven woman, I ended up deeply involved in the storylines that came up around that as well. The Gunslinger no longer needed to be bribed to take on extra duties, and even made a habit of making some free potions for the party, selling others at cost. The Gunslinger saw the value of friendship and helping others. His alignment shifted pretty quickly to Chaotic Neutral, before ultimately changing to Chaotic Good in a crowning moment of badass. DM did reveal that, if the bomb had gone off, plenty of people would have been killed in the initial blast, and the ship would have sunk rapidly. He had Lost at Sea, and Stranded on an Island storylines ready to go (I'm pretty sure he moved a lot of the content into other adventures) The party was pretty low level, but the Druid had a Waterbreathing or two prepared, and I know I had a scroll. It's likely that the party would have avoided TPK, but the chance for casualties was high. The NPC death toll would have been massive, amplified by the fact that we'd spent the first half of the trip roleplaying, making connections and plans for the future, and catching up with NPCs from the past. We also would have almost certainly failed in the pretty long-term quest that we'd been on at the time. Gunslinger was faced with moral challenges quite a few more times, and, after having failed this one badly, yet getting a second chance, succeeded on almost all of the subsequent ones. It wasn't until many sessions later that Gunslinger's player let slip OC that she'd helped plant the bomb, but, by then the character was already Chaotic Neutral, with good leanings, and was far more trusted. It was a really good session/ storyline, and I consider it a positive experience, and it largely hinged on stealth PVP. I was glad that the party was able to plan what to do with the Merc if he screwed us, and, depending on circumstances, taking him out might have been the right thing to do. If he'd doubled down on Evil instead of coming around, it would have happened. The Gunslinger needed a chance to betray the party, and of course it had to be done secretly. The party needed a chance to protect themselves from betrayal, and, short of just putting the Gunslinger on a leash and under guard, that had to be done in secret. I'm glad that I was able to simply lie to the party outright, in order to give the Gunslinger a second chance, and to handle the situation low-key. It lead to some excellent character growth for the Gunslinger, and a good partnership within the party. A game shouldn't be about PVP, and the PCs shouldn’t often want, or need, to assassinate each other, but the option shouldn't be totally foreclosed. Most importantly however even though she roleplayed a Chaotic Evil character willing to assassinate the party, the Gunslinger's player wasn't a shitlord at all. That is absolutely the most important factor in how PVP may effect a game. Incidentally, I did have a very solid plan for what I was going to do if the Gunslinger had tried to ice me before I revealed the “Golem”.  e: typos Dr. Jamming fucked around with this message at 01:59 on Nov 17, 2013 |
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Nov 16, 2013 12:38
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NGDBSS posted:As unsubtle hints go it's not bad.
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Nov 16, 2013 14:01
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Dr. Jamming posted:but they're doing chicken fights up on deck, so I have to go change into my swimsuit. I'm glad we have you around. I'm curious whether the Gunslinger's player was... I can't think of all the right words, but whether he was more like his cousin at first and the Gunslinger's transformation was also his own, or whether he was mostly playing against type initially. You have a pretty cool group, though, aside from the Paladin's player bringing her rape fetish to the table. That's just not cricket. I'm of the opinion that it's okay for a group to use RPGs as a vehicle for discussing sensitive topics, but it's definitely something that everyone involved needs to go into with full information, eyes wide open. I mentioned this in a previous thread, but I also deployed PVP to good effect in violation of my own principles. I had a real problem with one of my group's characters, a rather assholish Ranger that was mostly just snarky but occasionally went against the group's plans. I wound up blowing up at the Ranger's player a few times, which, after the initial burst of anger had driven everyone else off (I still feel bad about that, by the way, it was not something I could say was justified), led to peaceful, civilized discussion of the problem between myself and the Ranger's player. We eventually worked out that the only thing the Ranger really understood was force, and I suggested we punch it out. The other player was incredulous: "You realize I'm a Ranger with Favored Enemy: Humans and you're a ranged, low-Con Warlock, right? I'd beat the crap out of you." "Yeah, I'd lose mechanically, but the point is more to plant an idea in your mind. We should probably just RP it out, no rolls involved." It wound up being something close to Monkey Island's insult swordfighting, it all worked out great, and it still lingers in my mind as one of the best times I've had RPing. Partially because it helped me finally set in my mind the difference between a player and a character's personality. Because the Ranger's player was a pretty cool guy, if a bit of a munchkin.
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Nov 16, 2013 17:17
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Dr. Jamming posted:nonshit pvp Another thing that makes PVPish stuff work is when you're working at cross-purposes but not actually trying to murder one another. Different goals and motives open up RP, trying to kill one another just leads to minmaxing.
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Nov 16, 2013 20:19
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Have to say if you have a guest player where it's clear that he'll be around only for X sessions, setting up a brief storyarc where someone joins the party and turns out to be a traitor is very far from the worst thing you can do with that. If your guest player isn't an asshat and your DM isn't a pushover of course.
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Nov 16, 2013 20:28
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Gotta say that I want to give the Paladin the benefit of the doubt and believe that she was calling out/loving with the DM for suddenly bringing rape into the game rather than getting off on it. It just makes more sense for her to force the DM to play out the scene without her input, knowing how awkward he is, to punish him rather than making the game into a sexual fantasy. Then again, I wasn't there and don't know anyone involved, so I doubt my opinion's all that valid.
MizPiz fucked around with this message at 21:01 on Nov 16, 2013 |
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Nov 16, 2013 20:42
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A DM threatening a female PC with rape is usually if not always both in poor taste and clichéd, so hopefully she was making a point about that.
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Nov 16, 2013 22:31
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J Miracle posted:A DM threatening a female PC with rape is usually if not always both in poor taste and clichéd, so hopefully she was making a point about that. Given that the DM literally gave every opportunity possible to prevent it from actually happening, and the players plan was "lets have all the women pretend to get drugged at an all female religious order and see what happens," where I could pretty much guess that "what happens is rape" from the outset, the player pretty much explicitly put themselves into harms way and absolutely refused to get out of the way. I mean, the DM all but said "Do you, the player, want your character to be raped in this scene when your character can stop it without any problem Y/N" and the player said "Yes", I'm not exactly sure what else there is he could have done. Obviously sexual assault can bring up some triggers for people, but it sounds like the DM and the group knew their boundries pretty well, and no one came to him and said "This is not cool, can we please not have this plotline."
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Nov 17, 2013 00:53
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quote:I'm not exactly sure what else there is he could have done. He could have stepped away from the table and discussed it OOC he could have just not made it a scenario in the first place he could have changed the direction of the scene on his own at any point but can we PLEASE stop talking about that session now?
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Nov 17, 2013 01:09
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Volmarias posted:Given that the DM literally gave every opportunity possible to prevent it from actually happening, and the players plan was "lets have all the women pretend to get drugged at an all female religious order and see what happens," where I could pretty much guess that "what happens is rape" from the outset, the player pretty much explicitly put themselves into harms way and absolutely refused to get out of the way. This is almost exactly what happened. When the DM later apologized to Paladin, she said that everything was cool, that she'd had a fun time, and not to worry about it. To be clear, and to be fair to DM, there was absolutely zero possibility that anything would have happened had the player/character not been comfortable with it. MizPiz posted:Gotta say that I want to give the Paladin the benefit of the doubt and believe that she was calling out/loving with the DM for suddenly bringing rape into the game rather than getting off on it. It just makes more sense for her to force the DM to play out the scene without her input, knowing how awkward he is, to punish him rather than making the game into a sexual fantasy. Then again, I wasn't there and don't know anyone involved, so I doubt my opinion's all that valid. Having a little bit of fun loving with the DM was definitely at least part of her motivation/ part of the fun for her, but she had no problem with any of the content of the game. It's sort of just part of her personality. She likes being the center of attention, and can sometimes be very "Look at Me!", but no one minds, because she always makes it fun for everyone else to watch her be the center of attention. In game, she doesn't begrudge anyone else their spotlight time, and is generally helpful/supportive of the other characters. Case in point; when we did a secret ballot for party leader the votes came in 4 Paladin, 1 Wizard, and 1 Dr. Jamming. Everyone was pretty sure that Paladin and her husband tossed their votes to other people on purpose. She has the most social savvy of the group, and is generally friendly to/ protective of DM, but to quote her, she "couldn't resist". DM was more uncomfortable than anyone else during the brewery incident, and I'm sure that Paladin would have behaved differently if she'd gauged that anyone would be seriously disturbed.
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Nov 17, 2013 01:39
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Dareon posted:I'm curious whether the Gunslinger's player was... I can't think of all the right words, but whether he was more like his cousin at first and the Gunslinger's transformation was also his own, or whether he was mostly playing against type initially. Gunslinger's player was basically nothing like her Cousin, and, while she did play a Chaotic Evil character, and does have a strong streak of "what my character would do" she also recognized the importance of everyone at the table having fun. She actually enjoyed the opportunity for character growth and roleplay that having Gunslinger's attitude evolve represented, and was pretty sure that she'd eventually have to have the character grow to mesh better with the party, or she'd have to re-roll. Dareon posted:I mentioned this in a previous thread, but I also deployed PVP to good effect in violation of my own principles. I had a real problem with one of my group's characters, a rather assholish Ranger that was mostly just snarky but occasionally went against the group's plans. I wound up blowing up at the Ranger's player a few times, which, after the initial burst of anger had driven everyone else off (I still feel bad about that, by the way, it was not something I could say was justified), led to peaceful, civilized discussion of the problem between myself and the Ranger's player. I think that everyone eventually comes to learn the difference between player personality, and character personality through similar incidents, especially in dealing with players who like to play against type. It's easy to assume the worst if you've dealt with a lot of players like Cousin who just play jerks because they are jerks, or even if you're used to players who play nice characters because they're nice in real life. Insult swordfighting sounds pretty awesome though  . My Lovely Horse posted:Have to say if you have a guest player where it's clear that he'll be around only for X sessions, setting up a brief storyarc where someone joins the party and turns out to be a traitor is very far from the worst thing you can do with that. If your guest player isn't an asshat and your DM isn't a pushover of course. This is true. DM had set up a ton of variables and situations for how we might deal with a disloyal/traitorous party member throughout Gunslinger's early plotlines, but "I'm just gonna try to kill everyone as efficiently as possible, without getting caught," probably wouldn't have been much fun outside of a game of Paranoia, especially with a strategy of avoiding interaction/roleplaying to minimize exposure.
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Nov 17, 2013 01:58
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a post about stuff we really have no reason to be talking about in a roleplaying subforum, basically
Adelheid fucked around with this message at 06:11 on Nov 17, 2013 |
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Nov 17, 2013 02:02
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Had my first ever RPG experience last week. It ruled so much. I've been looking into the Star Wars (Saga Edition) game for the last year or so, and I finally managed to get a bunch of friends together to give it a shot, with me GM'ing. Everything that i've read in this thread has been incredibly helpful as far as things to avoid, watch out for and when to just roll with the crazy stuff that the players throw my way.I think in our group, only one person had ever done much in the way of role-playing; a few sessions of D&D 3rd edition several years ago. All in all it was a fun experience. Highlights of the first session - The party putting a bunch of fuel into an escape pod and firing it at a pursuing Y-Wing fighter like a depth-charge, and shooting it with the laser cannons when it was close enough. The Wookie player character throwing the Ewok player character at an enemy, Wolverine-Collosus Fastball Special-style. The party knocking out an enemy grunt, then once he'd (under interrogation) told them everything he knew, debating cutting out his tongue and finally settling on just leaving him tied up in a locked cargo container (that only they have the key to) in the backwoods of a planet that they'll likely never visit again. Hopefully it will continue as it started 
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Nov 17, 2013 03:21
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I'm going to pretend that post was utterly blank, and everyone else should too, because what it would have said if it wasn't blank is an 55-gallon drum of worms.
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Nov 17, 2013 04:33
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ajheretic666 posted:The party knocking out an enemy grunt, then once he'd (under interrogation) told them everything he knew, debating cutting out his tongue and finally settling on just leaving him tied up in a locked cargo container (that only they have the key to) in the backwoods of a planet that they'll likely never visit again. This is the sort of thing that opens the door to a colorful reoccurring villain. The one who can never get the best of the party, but who somehow always finds a way to come back for another go. Or, it's just a loosely tied up plot point that never gets referenced again. I wonder which will happen.
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Nov 17, 2013 05:38
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Remembering all of those little details can help make you a wonderful GM. while the party will probably help you remember some funny parts or in jokes that come up. (1010220 is frequently a com link frequency for us, for instance). But make a note of that guy. Maybe he gets out of that box. Maybe it comes back to bite the party in the rear end. If you want to see a good set of examples of the long con, look at Divine Coffee Binges posts in this thread.
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Nov 17, 2013 05:49
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Varjon posted:The second one we went to was completely awesome. I'll name drop it for that reason: Fair Game in Downers Grove, IL. The selection was kind of sparse for ubernerds like us, but the store space was clean, tastefully decorated, well lit, and the owner Josh was super friendly and very focused on creating a family friendly environment. A mom and her ~6ish year old son came in and I watched him teach them how to play some board game. Definitely making the trek out to give this dude some business. 
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Nov 17, 2013 07:14
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Sour Blossom posted:This is the sort of thing that opens the door to a colorful reoccurring villain. The one who can never get the best of the party, but who somehow always finds a way to come back for another go. Or, it's just a loosely tied up plot point that never gets referenced again. I wonder which will happen. SpookyLizard posted:Remembering all of those little details can help make you a wonderful GM. while the party will probably help you remember some funny parts or in jokes that come up. (1010220 is frequently a com link frequency for us, for instance). I've been making some pretty extensive notes on the stuff that went on during the game for ideas further along the line. This is one of those happy accident things that I didn't really plan on, but now i've got the oppurtunity to bring that random grunt back later on. Thanks for the advice, guys
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Nov 17, 2013 19:10
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SpookyLizard posted:But make a note of that guy. Maybe he gets out of that box. Maybe it comes back to bite the party in the rear end. If you want to see a good set of examples of the long con, look at Divine Coffee Binges posts in this thread. (I realized in my Dungeon World Game I had hosed with the players too much with recurring characters when they started lopping off heads of captured foes - it's a tone issue).
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Nov 17, 2013 21:01
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One guy pissed as hell and out for revenge though? That's the kind of thing that elevates games. Keep that dude around as an antagonist.
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Nov 17, 2013 21:03
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Golden Bee posted:Never punish players for their mercy. If they see this guy again, he's either some master woodsman, or in a place of political power a'la Joseph. The challenge will be re-earning his trust, not killing him again. Wait, tying someone up, locking them in a box that only they have a key to, and leaving him on in the backwoods of a planet to die is mercy? That's arguably worse than just killing him - there's no way anyone is going to find and save him (at least as far as they think). Now, if they had done something actually merciful, like strip him of everything except what he needs to make a three day trek back to civilization while they execute their mission the next day, then yeah, maybe he wouldn't hold much of a grudge. Alternately, if they arrange for someone to go rescue him once they no longer need him to be disappeared, that would also work. As it stands, he's just going to suffocate and/or dehydrate to death without some sort of intervention. Yeah, I'd have that guy come back mad as hell for being tied up in a cargo crate and abandoned. His goal might not be to kill the PCs, but rather just to extract revenge through humiliating, isolating, and stranding the PCs. Hell, you could make a whole adventure around the PCs being shot down over an isolated planet en route to delivering an important piece of intelligence. Could be a fun and tense survival mission where they have to fight through the local fauna, scavenge technology from ruins, and rebuild what they need to finish carrying out their intelligence delivery mission in time.
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Nov 17, 2013 22:35
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Yeah. And just coming after the PC's to shoot them is kind of a weak revenge. Maybe instead he plans to sabotage their plans or missions or something. Try to make it similar to what they did to him though. Maybe he should eventually try and sabotage their ship to leave them out and drifting in the black.
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Nov 18, 2013 02:24
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ajheretic666 posted:Had my first ever RPG experience last week. It ruled so much. Golden Bee posted:Never punish players for their mercy. If they see this guy again, he's either some master woodsman, or in a place of political power a'la Joseph. The challenge will be re-earning his trust, not killing him again. Dirk the Average posted:Wait, tying someone up, locking them in a box that only they have a key to, and leaving him on in the backwoods of a planet to die is mercy? That's arguably worse than just killing him - there's no way anyone is going to find and save him (at least as far as they think). Now, if they had done something actually merciful, like strip him of everything except what he needs to make a three day trek back to civilization while they execute their mission the next day, then yeah, maybe he wouldn't hold much of a grudge. Alternately, if they arrange for someone to go rescue him once they no longer need him to be disappeared, that would also work. As it stands, he's just going to suffocate and/or dehydrate to death without some sort of intervention. This is a place where tone and specifics really matters. It can make a big difference what the player's intentions were, what the rules support, and what you think is reasonable as GM. Did they think/expect it to be an agonizing death sentence? Should they have? Was he tied up in such a way that he should have been able to free himself, and could he break out of the shipping container on his own? Is getting locked in the container a death sentence? In real life: Maybe-probably, it really depends on the lock. In an episode of CSI: Almost certainly a death sentence, unless you're in the main cast, and then you'll probably still need a rescue. In a Guy Ritchie/Quentin Tarantino movie: Probably not, he'll just come out tougher. In Star Wars: No, totally survivable, even if only by coincidence. Really, depending on your campaign, it's license to do whatever you want, and teach the players to show proper mercy one way or another. Dr. Jamming fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Nov 18, 2013 |
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Nov 18, 2013 02:47
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You don't even need to have the character escape to become a recurring villain/theme. They surely have friends, family, associates, etc. And, even if they don't, someone running across the container and knowing who you were could cause your players to now be on the wrong side of the law, or to get a grisly reputation that colors some of their future encounters.
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Nov 18, 2013 03:48
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Dr. Jamming posted:This is a place where tone and specifics really matters. It can make a big difference what the player's intentions were, what the rules support, and what you think is reasonable as GM. Did they think/expect it to be an agonizing death sentence? Should they have? Was he tied up in such a way that he should have been able to free himself, and could he break out of the shipping container on his own? I honestly aren't sure that they thought it through as far as that. As far as their thought processes were going, it seemed to me they were just thinking along the lines of "This guy and his buddies attacked us, therefore his life is forfeit." The cargo container just happened to be there and they didn't want him to wander back to town to get help or something. At the time, there was no indication really that they'd be leaving the planet, so I guess that makes sense. So far, they seem to be playing their characters as rather ruthless, but not without reasons, if you follow me?As far as the guy being able to break out of the container, I made it clear to them that the container could only be unlocked by their code; although I guess there is the possibility of him getting out of the bindings he was in, as he was only tied up by rope. I'll have a think on ways that he might come back to haunt them later on.
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Nov 18, 2013 04:08
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