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I got the Dying Earth RPG in the Bundle of Holding, and while I like it overall the worst parts are all the really goony bits that say poo poo like, "Well, there aren't any lady archmages in the books, but I guess if you want you might be allowed to play the only lady archmage that everyone hates." Lore can be funky and fresh as you wanna be.
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Feb 19, 2014 05:49
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Whybird posted:Did you chat with the players about this in advance? Eberron is an amazing setting and I love it, but changing the setting is the kind of big change to a campaign that it's important to get players on side with, especially if you're doing it for OC reasons. I discussed it with them in the lead up to the campaign, many of them were fine with it, one player had a character from Eberron and up until this point the campaign was largely a combat slog without much emphasis on story and the setting might as well have been irrelevant, so I figured it was ok. I think the players were interested in stopping the villain, it was the civil war plot that generally didn't interest them- either that or I think the choices were too grey that they didn't like any of the options in the end. Judging from your response as well as My Lovely Horse I think I should just allow them to pursue the villain and do whatever they want on that plot, and let the civil war subplot kind of resolve itself in the background. And, as you suggested, if they're interested I can throw in an additional goal to escape back to their homeland. Cheers for the advice.
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Feb 19, 2014 11:12
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Hey dudes. I made the mistake of asking my players to do some homework for the next month's game. I asked one to summarize the last game, another to write a paragraph of character history, the final to write a summary of his god (he's a cleric, and the player has told me that they way I handle gods in the game makes him uncomfortable). I then sent them examples of each. I wrote a history of the campaign, a character history, and a write up of a god. For my job, I work with committees of people so I'm used to people avoiding assignments. I asked everyone individually if their assignment was ok with them. They all said yes. Then I sent out weekly e-mails to ask if they needed help and to encourage their work. There were no replies until yesterday when I got an e-mail accusing me of being too demanding, and that two players were afraid to do the work for fear of disappointing me. These are all newbies in terms of RPGs and I want to encourage them to get more involved in the game. At the table they are quiet and disingenuous. I know that they care (bought their own dice, etc.) but I am having a hard time encouraging them to get involved. I realize that assigning homework was a mistake and I promised them I'd never do it again, but I'm out of ideas. I've been playing RPGs for 23 years, and am used to extroverted, funny people who are not intimidated by rules or playing make-believe. I'm an adult now and stuck with the people I know now who are much more reserved. Does anyone have suggestions of how to best reach out to new players, and how to encourage introverts to roleplay? What are some tips to getting new players to share the creation of a campaign?
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Feb 19, 2014 18:13
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I can't speak to making introverts into extroverts because I'm pretty sure that's impossible. Let's talk about homework though. I've run a couple of LARPS and maybe a half-dozen games over the years. I don't say this to posit that I'm some kind of expert, because I'm not. The same 20 or so people have formed my gaming pool for the last decade. That's all the sample size I have to work with. In that group I have basically two kinds of people. Well, three, but the third kind of person doesn't even like playing RPGs so I'm not including them in this discussion. The first group loves to obsess about games. They read the rule books cover to cover, they love between-game chatter and they would probably play 24-7 if given an opportunity. The second group primarily enjoys playing. Group #2 seems to always have a work obligation or a relationship meltdown or something when it comes to emails and downtime stuff. But they keep coming to game. What I've come to realize is that people just enjoy games differently. The first group is easier for me to work with as a GM because that's the kind of player I am, but that doesn't mean group 2 is somehow not as good at elfgames. Players in the second group love to see that the world responds to them, and does things based on what they do; they show up to see what happens. By and large players in group 1 show up to make things happen. I'm sure there's a Freudian sex-thing you could analyze out of that but I'd rather not. e: I should say I've had at least one player who hates between-game stuff in every game I have ever run. They always smile and nod to my face and then produce nothing in downtime. At first it used to cheese me off. I called them 'flakeouts' and got really frustrated, especially in the LARPs. Then I realized I was fighting uphill to get someone to spend their recreation time the way I wanted, and I was wasting my own recreation time being frustrated about it. Just accept that for some people, that's not how they want to play the game. Mendrian fucked around with this message at 18:28 on Feb 19, 2014 |
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Feb 19, 2014 18:26
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redherringj posted:I've been playing RPGs for 23 years, and am used to extroverted, funny people who are not intimidated by rules or playing make-believe. I'm an adult now and stuck with the people I know now who are much more reserved. Does anyone have suggestions of how to best reach out to new players, and how to encourage introverts to roleplay? What are some tips to getting new players to share the creation of a campaign? Let player share the creation of a game. Do a Dresden Files-style setting creation by having the first session of the game be a combination of character and setting creation. Have everyone come up with a few threats and setting themes right there, at the table, as a collaborative effort, and then make sure each player is tied into at least on the of things they've created.
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Feb 19, 2014 19:58
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Piell posted:Let player share the creation of a game. Do a Dresden Files-style setting creation by having the first session of the game be a combination of character and setting creation. Have everyone come up with a few threats and setting themes right there, at the table, as a collaborative effort, and then make sure each player is tied into at least on the of things they've created. Any suggestions on how to solicit this info from them?
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Feb 19, 2014 20:20
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petcarcharodon posted:Is there a Idiot's Guide to Basic GMing somewhere? I wanted to start up a space opera campaign, so I bought some dice and the Mongoose Traveller Rulebook (I saw it recommended on some site I don't remember a while back), But I really don't know the most basic poo poo I need to do beyond that. No one I know has any tabletop experience, it's just something my friends and I decided might be cool to do sometime. Any help at all would be appreciated. If you're starting from nothing, written guides can help, but they can also make you nervous and you can forget the advice in a clutch. Personally I've found that the BEST thing to do is play with a good GM and learn from them. If you can't do that it really helped me to listen to Tabletop podcasts with really good GMs. Over time I started to absorb their style a little bit, both consciously and unconsciously. It really stepped up my game from the railroady, over-prepared garbage that I used to do. I'd recommend listening to the 13th Age podcast and the P&PRPG podcasts on this forum. If you want to read something with good advice pick up Fate Core and Dungeon World. I'm a bit of a shill for those systems, but they both go through a lot of effort to tell the GM how to build an excellent game and how to run it in a way that's super fun for the players. Other basic advice to help: 1. Don't write plots. Write hooks. Write lots of hooks. You should never try to predict what the PCs are going to do. Just think of lots of stuff that they'll want to do. 2. For NPCs, write personalities, manufacture backstory as needed. When it comes to 99% of the NPCs they'll only see the shiny surface. They won't care enough to know that the shopkeeeper is having an affair or whatever. So don't waste your time, spend it coming up with fun personalities. Give every NPC something memorable, a quirk of some kind, that keeps them distinct for the players. Then give them a motivation, that lets them interact with the players like real people. 3. Practice your "yes, but" skills. Under very few circumstances should you ever say "no" to anything the Player wants to do, no matter how crazy. Find a way to make it work. But it's great to add a complication and make it more exciting. Now the exception to this is if they want to do something just for the sake of pissing another player off or breaking the game in some fundamental way. But those issues are best handled outside of the game.
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Feb 19, 2014 20:45
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Piell posted:Let player share the creation of a game. Do a Dresden Files-style setting creation by having the first session of the game be a combination of character and setting creation. Have everyone come up with a few threats and setting themes right there, at the table, as a collaborative effort, and then make sure each player is tied into at least on the of things they've created. redherringj posted:Any suggestions on how to solicit this info from them? This actually sounds like a really good way to approach a game if you have a normally not very cooperative group. I might try this approach sometime: Sit everybody down for character generation, and say, "Okay, here is the basic gist of the world you're operating in. Here are some key places in that world. Here are some notable people and organizations. Let's decide where you want to operate out of, and everybody figure out up front why you're adventuring and why you're adventuring together." THEN, when that is all done, hit them with this: "Now, tell me what's happening in the world, and what you plan to do about it." Have the players tell you what kind of adventure they want to go on next, and what sort of challenges they expect to face. Determine what sort of prize they are seeking, and what they expect their conditions for victory or failure to be. The fuzzy details like maps, and encounter composition are mostly up to you, the GM, but if the players want to storm a valley ruled by Juggalo ogres, or if they declare that any given politician is officially a Secret Dragon, it is now canon. Let the players know that they share authorship in the world. Participate in the brainstorm, too- everybody can toss ideas into the pile and decide which ones sound the most fun. Solicit such information at the end of every adventure, in the form of a "now what?" By letting the players establish the scenario like that, you are able to run a game in which they know what to do, and why, but the "how" is filtered through your own final design. As the campaign progresses, you guys will end up with your own collective mythos of characters and events to build upon, and it won't just be some contrary person trying to assassinate an NPC because you named him, and that's suspicious. I think this could work really well for my group, now that I really think about it, because I am often terrible at making objectives clear.
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Feb 19, 2014 20:46
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The campaign has been active for a year. When we began, I had just read Gamemastering, so I worked with the players to create their characters, their allies and enemies, and the world. The players promptly forgot their own history, friends, and enemies and treated every NPC as a target anyway. My attempts at dialoging and getting them to create their own stuff (figuring they didn't like the stuff I had helped with) have borne no fruit. So my question is this: How do you ask players what they want from a game, especially when they have trouble expressing themselves. If I approach them wrong they may get intimidated or hurt or whatever. I do want to check out Dungeon World, so I'll do that soon.
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Feb 19, 2014 21:19
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redherringj posted:The campaign has been active for a year. When we began, I had just read Gamemastering, so I worked with the players to create their characters, their allies and enemies, and the world. The players promptly forgot their own history, friends, and enemies and treated every NPC as a target anyway. My attempts at dialoging and getting them to create their own stuff (figuring they didn't like the stuff I had helped with) have borne no fruit. woof. Some players just want to watch the world burn. Honestly, I would just flat-out ask if everybody is having fun. If that's what's fun to them, then that's what it is. If it's not also fun for you, then there's a small conflict, but it sounds like maybe they just want to do exciting poo poo and not worry about non-immediate consequences? If that's the case, try optioning something like a series of context-free heists or dungeon crawls. No "boring" NPCs or town stuff, just "here is a dangerous obstacle course with level-appropriate enemies and treasure, and like an upgrade store between adventures. GET CHALLENGED". Some people just want something like a video game that responds to a more naunced input, and get frustrated when somebody tries to inject stuff like a narrative agenda or the idea that your character is beholden to any sort of authority whatsoever. It's hard to say without knowing your group, but probably the truth lies in a gray area where they like some of the narrative trappings, but not others. Otherwise you'd just be playing Descent or some other adventure-y board game.
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Feb 19, 2014 21:35
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redherringj posted:The campaign has been active for a year. When we began, I had just read Gamemastering, so I worked with the players to create their characters, their allies and enemies, and the world. The players promptly forgot their own history, friends, and enemies and treated every NPC as a target anyway. My attempts at dialoging and getting them to create their own stuff (figuring they didn't like the stuff I had helped with) have borne no fruit.
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Feb 19, 2014 23:10
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Paolomania posted:Despite the fact that many of us are fans of sharred narrative and collaborative world building, maybe your players just don't want to engage with the game in that way? Pushing an unwanted gaming style on your players is bad GMing even if it is a style that has merits that you personally enjoy and really really want to share. You shared it and they rejected it. Listen to them. It sounds to me like you have a group of time-limited adults who, quite validly, just want a light evening of diversion and socializing without any homework or memory requirements. If they just want to engage with the game as socializing around a persistent board-game with some light puzzle solving and dice rolling then it is your job to either deliver that experience or bow out of the GM role for this group. Which brings up my original question: "How do you ask players what they want from a game, especially when they have trouble expressing themselves."
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Feb 19, 2014 23:12
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redherringj posted:Which brings up my original question: Throw some one-shots of a variety of genres at them, see which one they like best.
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Feb 19, 2014 23:34
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EFB ^redherringj posted:Which brings up my original question:
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Feb 19, 2014 23:37
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Mr. Prokosch posted:
These are excellent bits of advice. I'd add: 4. Don't have plot elements that you absolutely can't change - if you have a sudden whim to send the plot in a new direction based on player action then do it. Practice 'what if' - if the players kill the courier they were supposed to talk to maybe he was an imposter? Maybe the baddies now think the players are on their side? If the players look for a secret door and roll well, maybe they find one? Where might it go? 5. Players like NPCs that give them a bit of sass but never take their stuff or refuse to pay them. They also like NPCs that are slightly in awe of how badass the PCs are especially if they start out a little dismissive. Don't use the classic DM NPC who's arrogant and enigmatic, they're terribly dull. Instead pick a movie character (steve buscemi in reservoir dogs, sleazy corp guy in aliens, etc) and do an impression of them (without telling your players). There is a 90% chance they'll never realise who you're being, and it will make it vastly easier to manage lots of characters. That's not to say you should only have NPCs that players like. But it gives you a lot more to work with if you can whip up likeable NPCs easily, as it makes their sudden inevitable betrayal a lot more interesting. Oh, and 6. Listen to your players trying to work out what the plot is. If they come up with something that makes you go 'I wish I'd thought of that'? Steal it, file off the serial numbers, and use it. They'll think they're geniuses. sebmojo fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Feb 20, 2014 |
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Feb 19, 2014 23:38
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Look at their character sheets. If they've got a ton of diplomacy, they want to dimplome. If they have stealth, run heists. If it's all combat skills, throw fights at them. Not cast-iron, but a good starting point.
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Feb 19, 2014 23:39
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redherringj posted:Which brings up my original question: I haven't had that problem with players, but in my everyday life I know plenty of people who have trouble expressing themselves. One technique I have to deal with it is to keep things simple. Ask clear yes or no questions. "Do you think that was fun?" "Would it have been more fun if____?" "Hey guys, do you want to do fantasy or sci fi?" Also listen to the signals. If they are having fun treating the world as hostile, maybe they want a hostile world! Give them a Tower of Deadliness for a while, or a Post-Apocalyptic Hellscape. Nothing wrong with being suspicious and hostile towards outsiders if it's a zombie apocalypse! There's a good chance that once they're more comfortable they'll start to express themselves more and ask for changes too. The main issue with that solution is that everyone needs to be having fun. If they like what they're doing then it's all good, unless it leaves YOU frustrated. Are you ok with doing a series of challenges instead of a rich world with lots of npcs?
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Feb 20, 2014 00:12
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Or, as has been said 1000 times: the players have to be having fun; the DM is a player, too.
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Feb 20, 2014 00:17
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How would you, as a player, approach a GM who seems intent on playing out their story and somewhat railroads you into it, and skips over RP opportunities? The problem being the GM is a great guy, and I'm not even sure he realises what he's doing, but he's very intent on us going through his storyline and using his miniatures and scenery (that he's spent a lot of time painting and DO look amazing, but tends to have him want to use them every session and do it all "physical" instead of imagination).
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Feb 20, 2014 02:34
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Well, if he's a cool guy, and maybe doesn't realize he's doing it, then why don't you just have a respectful grown up conversation about it? Tell him that you like him, you like his DMing, but you'd enjoy it more if you had more freedom over what happens and had more opportunities to roleplay. Some DMs do like to go through a lot of elaborate preparations, and once the preparations are made they really want to use them to give the players what they feel will be the best experience. They don't trust themselves to deliver a good experience off the cuff. If that's the case for your DM maybe you should suggest that he ask players what they enjoyed and what they plan to do next at the end of each session. That way his preparations are more focused on what he knows you want to do, instead of what he thinks you want to do.
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Feb 20, 2014 03:05
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So I'm playing a Dungeon World game (switched over after finding D&D 4e was too wargame-y and not freeform enough)having some trouble getting my players to focus on what they really want to do. Like yeah, I hang some carrots in front of them, but they always manage to artificially create 3 loops for themselves and jump through them for no reason before getting the carrot they deserved. For example, at the beginning of the session, the ship they were traveling on got raided by pirates/slavers. They made the thief invisible and he snuck through the combat to stab the pirate captain in the back on his own ship. Then, the bard raised the morale of their own ship's crew and while he did that, he jumped over to the pirate ship with the cleric and they started busting in heads, even though I told them the pirates were retreating. Okay, so they wanted to help their thief buddy get back. Fine, I rolled with that, but he just skill checked to jump from ropes and pulleys and masts back to his own ship. Then the bard and cleric spent another two minutes cracking skulls before they went "uhhh, why are we doing this again?" and figured out they should've just bailed when the thief did. More flagrantly, they were at an arcane university later on and wanted to help a student recover his stolen magical ring which was bringing art pieces to life. So they went through the main hall fighting statues and living paintings, eventually making their way to a storage room with this student, and found the thief hiding between a bunch of paintings. They debated for five minutes on what to do with him, and eventually they tackled him, charmed him, tackled him again, put him to sleep and cast a spell on him which made him afraid of the ring. Then they told the student they were going to give his ring to one of the teachers at the university, and when I made him protest, they tackled him as well and locked him up there. I mean, don't get me wrong. We're having a lot of fun dicking around, but I feel a lot of the hang-ups are somewhat caused by them having a bit too much freedom. It was pretty clear they won the fight with the pirates, but they just kinda fought on because there were still dudes. They got the ring and he was going to help them with their more plot-important issues after they helped him, but they did finish the thief encounter in a very roundabout and chaotic manner. So am I doing something wrong by giving them complete freedom and seeing them do stupid poo poo before getting serious and thinking about what they actually want to achieve? Or is it normal for players to occasionally just kind of dick around for twenty minutes, kicking a dead NPC five times to make sure he's dead and then incinerating his corpse for good measure?
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Feb 20, 2014 03:27
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Based on the stories you told, it sounds like your game is a blast.
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Feb 20, 2014 03:59
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Deltasquid posted:So I'm playing a Dungeon World game (switched over after finding D&D 4e was too wargame-y and not freeform enough)having some trouble getting my players to focus on what they really want to do. Like yeah, I hang some carrots in front of them, but they always manage to artificially create 3 loops for themselves and jump through them for no reason before getting the carrot they deserved. If they're doing fun stuff and having fun then mission accomplished? If they're ignoring Important Plot Stuff then have their decision to ignore it have consequence, which will also be fun. Relax, you're doing fine.
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Feb 20, 2014 04:51
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redherringj posted:The campaign has been active for a year. When we began, I had just read Gamemastering, so I worked with the players to create their characters, their allies and enemies, and the world. The players promptly forgot their own history, friends, and enemies and treated every NPC as a target anyway. My attempts at dialoging and getting them to create their own stuff (figuring they didn't like the stuff I had helped with) have borne no fruit. I would take a slightly different approach with this kind of group. That is to say, I would focus ENTIRELY on manufacturing villains. Have some bastard steal the group's mounts. Have him come back and try to pick their pockets (and let him get caught if necessary). Have the corrupt baron place a roadblock to charge extra taxes on travelling adventurers. The evil wizard threatens to sacrifice the town for his black magic ritual. And so on. Give them allies if they purposely seek out friends, but don't go out of your way. Be transparent about who's bad and who's not. Let the players express themselves when you explain the bad thing that the dastardly villain has done and then ask them "what do you want to do about it?". And most importantly, let them retaliate wholeheartedly against these villains. Don't worry about the "realism" of them making everyone their enemies; let them simply defeat those they choose to defeat.
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Feb 20, 2014 05:02
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How long does combat usually take for a normal group. I've been DMing for a little bit more than a year now and it seems that combat devours the greater part of our sessions. Last session I had them fight another group of 4 npcs and over the course of 6 or 7 rounds we spent a little less than an hour and a half. Any tips speeding up combat would be appreciated.
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Feb 20, 2014 10:12
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Both how long combat takes and how to speed it up depends really hard on the system. If that's D&D it's about par for the course and even expected since combat is D&D's bread and butter. 7 rounds is maybe a bit much.
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Feb 20, 2014 10:16
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Free Triangle posted:How long does combat usually take for a normal group. I've been DMing for a little bit more than a year now and it seems that combat devours the greater part of our sessions. Most players just never use their encounter/item powers and spam at-wills every round, get them to improve their tactics.
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Feb 20, 2014 10:19
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Have them roll damage together with the attack roll, I assume you already are, but just to be sure. Ask your players to decide on their action before it is their turn. My biggest speedbump is a player who watches everything and only when it is his turn starts going through every power on his sheet, one by one. We tried everything to push him, including just skipping when he didn't have anything ready, but he just decided to say "oh well, I was going to do A and decided this before my turn, but now that the other players did such and such I have to think again" every single time. Drives me absolutely nuts. Don't make fights last till the very last HP of the very last enemy. When you get ambushed by 10 bandits, they will run as soon as half of them are dead. Bloodied guys will surrender, throw out their weapons and run. If the fight is just to keep hitting one big pile of HP it will seem to last forever.
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Feb 20, 2014 10:27
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Exactly. Winning a fight doesn't necessarily mean slaughtering the entire group. Sometimes it's just about stopping the fight. If the guys retreat, then the fight is over and the danger has passed.
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Feb 20, 2014 15:25
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So, I am planning on running a Wild Talents one shot where my entire party is EEEEVIL supervillains. The set up is that they are out doing their evil everyday things but then the extraterrestrial Luchador arrives and challenges everyone on the planet to Lucha Libre and if they lose, he destroys the planet. So, like the Champion from Marvel Comics. Forcing our villains to stop him. Of course, I was going to ask my players what sort of evil scheme they were doing before they got interrupted by the Herald of the Luchador. I am just trying to figure out how to make the fight oh so memorable and also have other comic book shenanigans in it as well. For starters, one of my players is a supernormal which is Catwoman and I want her to be able to participate equally amongst the other supervillains in the group. One of them is apparently a Soccermom who can transform into the Blob from the movie The Blob, and the other is a 30 year old guy stuck in the 90s with his love of Vampire the Masquerade. So any advice?
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Feb 20, 2014 18:28
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Don't suggest it yourself, but allow them to cheat like crazy and let it backfire half of the time.
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Feb 20, 2014 21:11
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sebmojo posted:Don't use the classic DM NPC who's arrogant and enigmatic, they're terribly dull. Instead pick a movie character (steve buscemi in reservoir dogs, sleazy corp guy in aliens, etc) and do an impression of them (without telling your players). There is a 90% chance they'll never realise who you're being, and it will make it vastly easier to manage lots of characters. This is a really good point, and a fun piece of advice. I have notes on all my NPC cards now to denote the actor the NPC is played as.
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Feb 20, 2014 23:17
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My favorite NPC was one who was rather unassuming, plain, genuinely nice and helpful and kind, and just wanted the party to succeed. Because they were all absolutely dead certain he was Satan himself, except one player who accepted it at face value. It was a fun dynamic.
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Feb 21, 2014 00:29
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I have to ask. Why is there such an aversion to anything sexual happening in role playing games? I've read the horror stories of morbidly obese perverts using d&d as a segue into a horrible orgy. I've read about a lot of immature guys dming and acting like creeps towards women. I've read about guys playing out pathetic rape fantasies in rpgs. So I ask, when and how would sex be a topic worth broaching in a table-top rpg? Recently, I gave myself the task of doing something with Kalidnay, a Dark Sun country in Ravenloft. What I came up with relied heavily on Cronenberg-style horror, a mix of desperate living conditions, sexual horror and body horror. My players are 2 women and 3 men, and it went over like a home run. I should mention that I have been running a weekly game for over a year, and one of the players is my gf of 6 years, so we are comfortable with one another. I should also state that no girl leering or creepy DM power fantasies came into play.
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Feb 21, 2014 14:04
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There's nothing inherently wrong to have sex in your elfgames, provided everyone is comfortable with it. It's just that it's something where it's very easy for things to go wrong. Usually, it's a problem of people not knowing where other people's boundaries are, or else not respecting those boundaries. For example, a GM who doesn't realize that one of his players is sensitive about rape. Or a player who likes to play out his or her sexual fantasies, making the rest of the group unwilling participants. Or a player who just plain isn't comfortable with sex in the game, but is afraid to speak up because they feel they'll be ostracized by the group. The important thing is that everyone knows exactly where the limits are, and everyone is willing to speak up if the limits of the group go beyond what they're comfortable with. It sounds like your group are all pretty comfortable with each other and the stuff you have in the game, so it shouldn't be a problem. Just make sure your players know you're willing to listen if they have a problem. Elfgames aren't worth making your friends uncomfortable.
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Feb 21, 2014 14:24
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God Of Paradise posted:Recently, I gave myself the task of doing something with Kalidnay, a Dark Sun country in Ravenloft. What I came up with relied heavily on Cronenberg-style horror, a mix of desperate living conditions, sexual horror and body horror. My players are 2 women and 3 men, and it went over like a home run. I should mention that I have been running a weekly game for over a year, and one of the players is my gf of 6 years, so we are comfortable with one another. I should also state that no girl leering or creepy DM power fantasies came into play. Sounds like the best case scenario, when everyone knows what everyone's comfortable with and no-one's a creeper. Not everyone is so fortunate though! Hence the aversion to sex and sexuality in games. It certainly doesn't help that almost RPG product that heavily featured sex has been awful. I think Apocalypse World handles sex pretty well: it's about the consequences of the sex rather than the act itself, and if you still don't like it you can leave it out of the game.
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Feb 21, 2014 14:24
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God Of Paradise posted:I have to ask. Primarily it's just the idea of your neckbeard friend trying to get you to have phone sex with him there at the table because he doesn't understand why you don't really want talk through his fantasy sexcapades. I think the best possible case scenario for that happened to me a couple years ago, though: ME (GM): Alright, so it looks like you all want to take a break from the investigation. The pub you find is called the "Red Horse". Amanda: "IF THERE ARE ANY GIRLS AROUND, I WANT TO DO THEM!" Everybody: [chuckles] ME: [rolls some dice behind the screen] Okay. During her lunch break, Lady Resyl Vuu'ra has sex with a waitress. Do you promise to see her again? Amanda: ....yyyyes? But probably not really...I'll... I'll have my maidservant send her a fruit basket  That said, I think body horror is a different kettle of fish. If you have somebody fail a FORT save, and then later inform them that they have a sufficiently bizarre new growth on them, then you've pretty much kicked off a session that will run itself. "Also, an odd sensation in the front-right side of your head is compelling you to try and eat something metal. Just a little taste. Maybe a chainmail ring, or a nail. Something with a little rust on it. Scratchy, scratchy rust." Cool people will try eating that nail just to see what hosed up poo poo you're brewing.
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Feb 21, 2014 14:36
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God Of Paradise posted:I have to ask. Because like so many topics, the topic of 'sex in RPGs' is one that depends heavily on all the people in a group being interested and being able to handle it in a mature fashion. And sadly, far too many groups don't fit those criteria. For the vast majority of us, even if the gaming group is by and large mature and capable... there's always that one guy. The one guy who can't say "no girl leering or creepy DM power fantasies came into play." Sometimes he's the DM, and that is awful and a sign that you need a better DM; sometimes he's just another player but his antics ruin the notion for the rest of the table. Most people, I suspect, who are very vocal about "no sex in my elfgames" are people who've been burned by that one guy before; the ones who were enjoying a perfectly fun dungeon romp and fulfilling quests left and right only to feel suddenly nauseated when that one guy decided that now was the perfect time to tell the DM, and by extension the table, about how he plans to defeat the Evil God-King by ensuring that when he sacrifices the Captured Princess in his dark ritual that the ritual will fail because the Captured Princess will no longer be innocent and virginal and let me tell you in excruciating detail just exactly what I plan to do and why aren't you acting out her terror and revulsion come on I'm trying to roleplay here. That one guy sucks.
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Feb 21, 2014 14:57
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How do you deal with a player that is vastly over powered compared to the rest of the party when it comes to combat? To make a long story short, I am the broken combat monster and the rest of the party are great roleplayers but are really, really, really badly built.
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Feb 21, 2014 19:11
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Depends on the system. For instance, if it was 2nd Ed. AD&D, I'd say it's time to multi-class.  Is your goal to soften your character up, or toughen theirs? If the former, maybe it's time to retire that character. If the latter, well, that's tough, be wary of back-seat-driving their characters if you try to offer pointers.
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Feb 21, 2014 19:13
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