|
I liked what Ilor said except for the skipping of down time. Having your players chill in a tavern or goof off after a mission can produce some fun RP based on your groups composition. Having time to explore your character and their interactions with others outside of combat or missions can be enjoyable. Just don't let it drag on. Give them a few minutes to RP and pick some action to do then move on. So you make it back to base and report in. What do you tell the boss? (summary of response, maybe future plot foreshadowing or Intel) Ok anything your characters want to do before they head out on the mission tomorrow? (rp loving around results, maybe dice rolls to determine if they won sabacca or something dumb, just make it a quick summary unless players are really into it) Ok next morning your off to blow up stormtroopers yay!
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2018 00:15
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 11, 2024 16:01 |
|
|
Keeshhound posted:If they're worried about plot/Star Wars feel you should probably just tell them what you had planned (in broad strokes) to make sure that it's even something they're on board for. If not, try to get their input on what kind of plots they're more interested in seeing. All fair points. I suppose I was hesitant to describe what I had planned out-of-game since I thought that it might ruin the feeling of uncovering the unknown, so to speak (that and it's not exactly a fantastically original plot; I believed that I could make it stronger in the execution than the bald summary). But being brutally honest with myself I wager that's ego speaking more than anything - it's not like it's going to matter by next session either way since the plot will be making a belated entrance in full force. So far as rolls go, thank you. Gumball Gumption posted:In broad strokes, what is your plot? Why do you think it needed to be drip fed instead of revealed right away? In retrospect drip-feeding was a mistake - the plot isn't exactly filled with twists and turns and it feels a tad crap and smells faintly of fan fiction now I've typed it out. To try to boil it down, an ex-Separatist commander wants revenge on both the Empire and the Rebel Alliance (for different reasons) and has found a bunch of highly secret extra-galactic facilities that were used during the last war to finance and arm the Separatists. He's been stealing/salvaging old battle droids, warships etc. and a rogue cloner is helping him build a new (if small) clone army in secret. In addition he's also found the plans for a superweapon that was never built/only partly built by the time the last war ended. Long story short what it does when activated is make every droid that picks up its signal/virus go absolutely bug-gently caress crazy and start destroying poo poo (his are immune due to special, hard to make modifications). The superweapon's nearing completion now. As for why the Empire didn't kick the door in and ruin his poo poo immediately, he's been extremely careful to hide the extent of his resources (and a lot of the more overt stuff looks more like the doing of organised crime - helped by the fact he's made a deal with a Hutt). His endgame is to create a new, different polity that isn't as oppressive as the Empire or a retread of the seriously flawed Republic (which is one of the major problems with the Rebels in his eyes). Up until now he's been ostensibly helping the Rebels (who are unaware of the plan) since he would have been flattened immediately otherwise (now he might get flattened slowly enough to trigger the superweapon  ).Ilor posted:I'd like to think you've brought your concerns to the right place. There's lots of folks here who will give you solid advice. This is extremely helpful, thank you tons! If I've made it sound like my players are unhelpful, they really aren't. They're a joy to play with and they have been trying to help (one of them suggested a brilliant sanity check he called the "soldier question" - if it could be solved by sending a bunch of soldiers in, then it shouldn't involve the PC group). Unfortunately splitting the party may prove difficult since I'm playing on Roll 20 and I'm also concerned that if I'm not careful I might leave the non-active player group twiddling their thumbs. What you say about scenes is excellent and one I'll strongly consider. But I like to impose a little structure on myself so that I'm not entirely flying by the seat of my pants aimlessly from session to session or drowning under the weight of possibilities. Though of course I'm sure there's a superior way of doing it to my current solution. Dameius posted:What does your session prep look like? How into the weeds with details do you map out? Given what you have said, I'd be willing to wager you are approaching your prep in a counter productive fashion. I think I might've discussed this the last time I brought up my campaign, but I struggle to think on my feet (not exactly a stellar trait in a GM). So to avoid that dreaded problem of going "Uh, poo poo, I dunno" or dead air as I wrack my brain to come up with something, I try to determine at least a few likely outcomes. As I said to Ilor, I also like to give myself a little bit of structure so that I'm not left rudderless. Generally I ask myself the following: where does the session take place? Why? Any special caveats that apply? Who's there and why? What is happening at the time of the PCs entering the location? What would make for an interesting event? Okay, now how do I represent that in the game? Rinse and repeat 4 or so more times. I probably include more detail than I need to in order to ensure I've got all the info I need (last thing I want is to be hurriedly flipping through rule books for something I didn't account for). the moose posted:I liked what Ilor said except for the skipping of down time. Having your players chill in a tavern or goof off after a mission can produce some fun RP based on your groups composition. Having time to explore your character and their interactions with others outside of combat or missions can be enjoyable. Noted, thank you. Soup Inspector fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Jun 12, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2018 00:44
|
|
|
the moose posted:I liked what Ilor said except for the skipping of down time. Having your players chill in a tavern or goof off after a mission can produce some fun RP based on your groups composition. Having time to explore your character and their interactions with others outside of combat or missions can be enjoyable. In the supernatural hunting campaign I'm about to start, one of the hunts in Key West even has downtime built in where the hunters have a small amount of evidence to suggest something but not enough leads to go on or really confirm that a supernatural monster or ghost is doing anything. Even before arriving, the guy who gives them the tip suggests that it might turn out to be nothing and that they can treat it as a free vacation if they can't find anything to kill. So they're encouraged to just go out and hit up the beach bars, chat with each other, and have fun. And then there's a scream from the alleyway as they drunkenly stumble back to their hotel and they find a necromancer harvesting organs from a tourist.
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2018 00:52
|
|
|
Yeah, let me be clear. I don't mean, "don't ever do downtime." I mean minimize it to exposition and don't let it drag on. If good RP is happening between the players, let it roll a little bit. But not too long, as otherwise the people not involved/invested are going to start to tune out. Essentially, the goal is to try to keep people actively involved and interested in what is happening, even if their character isn't "on screen." There are lots of ways to make this happen, a good one being to involve an off-camera character's stuff or NPC friends.
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2018 01:32
|
|
|
The downtime discussion reminds me a little of what one of my players said during our post-game review: TTRPGs aren't video games or other forms of roleplaying, so don't structure them like one - ideally the pace should be kept fairly speedy. It's definitely something I think I was guilty of (structuring/pacing things like a video game, such as with my attempt to "ease in" the players with more simplistic. not directly plot relevant missions).
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2018 01:35
|
|
|
Right, you're the guy I suggested Thrawn as a model for the big bad, right? If you need to blow the plot wide open and you haven't revealed too much about your big bad yet, sounds like it is time for him to double cross the rebellion, or whomever your players are working for. That'll get things moving for sure. Hell, if they are anti-imperial then you can have them do an extraction mission for a Jedi that is being closed in on by Vader's forward scouts and that is where the betrayal happens. Get all the Force they never knew they didn't want. As far as you being worried about thinking on your feet, remind yourself that everyone, DM and players, are telling a story together. Player comes up with a cool idea and you don't know exaclty how to handle it? Just ask them, "yeah how do you do that?" and then if you think what they described would require a dice roll, you just need to set the difficulty. I don't have direct play experience with your system, but it does sound like, in your worries on not being able to improvise, you are accidentally railroading them. They want agency, a great way to do that is give them it. You know that they need to end up on Planet X to get mcguffin Y to advance mainplot A to point 2. The planet will have thisndungeon you built, with this notable baddies and their supports. Cool. How do your players get there? Who knows, let them tell you that through their actions in the game. Maybe you have thme get hired to find the mcguffin. If they decide they want to chase leads, just let them and put a guy in front of them that gives them the planet and/or owner of the base. If they want to check shipping data or something, cool, put that exposition there instead and have them find it there. They'll think your some super wizard genius for being able to think so far ahead of them and connecting all of this. Meanwhile you will have no idea what is going on until it is, you've just slotted in your hooks where they left you openings.
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2018 02:36
|
|
|
I'll probably weigh in with my own advice on more in a bit, but regarding downtime, I basically consider sessions to be like any other stories: we skip the boring parts. I give players the option for downtime roleplay conversation bits in the form of questions (what are you doing blah blah) or in the form of putting them in familiar places together and giving them a bit after the description to tell me what they're doing, but this is always just before some kind of action occurs. So if there's going to be downtime conversations between party members, the setup might be something like "You're in the noodle shop where you work, doing the normal things, what's been on your minds?" (let them roleplay for a bit) then "as you're pouring a bowl for the customer, [thing happens]." If when I give them the setting and the softball they go "we're just doing the normal stuff" or "nothing" or silence or whatever, we skip that downtime roleplay poo poo - they clearly aren't feeling it. No big deal. Basically I like to give opportunities for meaningful, character developing conversations and exposition, in the form of questions to players and so on. "Last week Swole Legdayton's best friend got killed, how's he been handling that?" But if the players don't bite, they don't bite. Only interesting things need to be on scene. I also wanted to mention the whole "telling your players they know things" thing is super important. You don't have to expose information through plot, you're not writing a book. "You know (from being a person in the world) that such and such is a delicious ale" or "that so and so is a horrific monster." If the characters would reasonably know such a thing as people living in the world, just tell them what they know. If they might know it, but not definitely, there are sometimes checks for that (set reasonable DCs). It's really easy to fall into the trap where you try to do everything via exposition, but I know hippopotamuses are the most dangerous animals in Africa and not to gently caress with them around their watering holes despite I've never been to Africa. I know I probably can't solo a lion. Your players' characters, as people in a world/galaxy/whatever, probably know similar things. Star Wars makes it a bit weird because star Wars is all about those strange alien creatures, but even then straight up unheard of things are pretty rare.
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2018 05:29
|
|
|
Dameius posted:Right, you're the guy I suggested Thrawn as a model for the big bad, right? If you need to blow the plot wide open and you haven't revealed too much about your big bad yet, sounds like it is time for him to double cross the rebellion, or whomever your players are working for. That'll get things moving for sure. I am indeed the guy you made that suggestion for. Good advice, cheers! Paramemetic posted:I'll probably weigh in with my own advice on more in a bit, but regarding downtime, I basically consider sessions to be like any other stories: we skip the boring parts. I give players the option for downtime roleplay conversation bits in the form of questions (what are you doing blah blah) or in the form of putting them in familiar places together and giving them a bit after the description to tell me what they're doing, but this is always just before some kind of action occurs. That's a good way of handling things, thanks; I've admittedly not had much opportunity to do so but I'll try to be more proactive on that front.
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2018 22:07
|
|
|
Luminaflare posted:A puzzle room with no actual solution. Just there to make people think they need to solve it and each possible solution is some form of trap. The last "puzzle" is inside the king's coffin: His Majesty's spring-loaded corpse holding an outstretched knife.
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2018 23:16
|
|
|
Soup Inspector posted:I am indeed the guy you made that suggestion for. Good advice, cheers! I feel it is worth repeating for you, a good DM isn't one that has an answer for anything, so don't try. At best you'll railroad them, at worst you'll drive yourself crazy and breakup the group. So don't stress out so much over not being able to think on your feet. The more you DM the more easy it will get and you should always feel ready to ask your players how they do something they want to do.
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2018 00:00
|
|
|
 Someone put these in their game.
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2018 15:46
|
|
|
Sword-what-goes-on-forever is basically a weapon from Kill Six Billion Demons.
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2018 15:53
|
|
|
The Honeycomb Sledgehammer is my favourite.  I like to think that there's a chance that you can summon a bee swarm or something if you hit particularly well. If I was GMing a more lighthearted fantasy campaign I'd use those weapons in a heartbeat.Dameius posted:I feel it is worth repeating for you, a good DM isn't one that has an answer for anything, so don't try. At best you'll railroad them, at worst you'll drive yourself crazy and breakup the group. So don't stress out so much over not being able to think on your feet. The more you DM the more easy it will get and you should always feel ready to ask your players how they do something they want to do. That's a relief! I'll be completely honest, I feel a little overwhelmed/panicked planning out this next session - I feel like if I don't nail it 100% on every point I'll end up losing my players. Maybe it's just nerves, and it's not like my players haven't been saying what they want to see, but with some things I'm finding myself wondering how I can possibly do it all (and well) in the span of a single session. For example, one of them said I should "throw in a situation in which we actually have to make a real decision [...] make sure that whenever we make any kind of decision something is sacrificed for the sake of something else". It's a solid suggestion, but I haven't the faintest clue how to engineer such a choice in this scenario (and I fear if I tried to do that for every single session/possible decision point I'd tear my hair out). The party's current location is coming back to haunt me: a shot up spaceship with a bunch of hacked droids, roving boarders, and a hostile Force user with backup coming. The boarders, backup and Force user are trying to hunt for a certain artefact, but scattered throughout the ship are potential plot hooks (for once they get off the ship). Not exactly much room to insert meaningful decision points except for when they leave and choose which hook(s) they want to pursue... though I fully expect it's a failure of imagination. My overriding goal is to get my party out of the ship and into a situation where they're in control ASAP. Am I repeating the mistake of trying to have an answer for everything or biting off more than I can chew? Soup Inspector fucked around with this message at 20:52 on Jun 13, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2018 20:47
|
|
|
There is a quote for writers, I have no idea where it originally came from, but the jist is tha tif don't know what to so, kill someone and write what happens because of that. That force user of yours was supposed to be a badass, especially in his own head. Time to have him kill some redshirts, even if you didn't realize they were redshirts until just now to up the ante. If your players are the only ones there on their side, automatically revive someone from the crew to kill then. Or pick something else equivalent to killing off. You are overthinking things some. You can always move plot hooks around and present them later. Your players want something dramatic and big to happen. Blow up that ship. Send that Force user on a direct line of murderspree at your guys. Sappers are going to force decompress the ship unless the PCs stop them. Give them a situation that you feel is slightly unfair/too hard for them and just let them work it out. Don't plan for a solution on how they can get out of that. They'll tell you how they get out of it. No matter what they decide, roll with it. Just throw your baddies at them at the appropriate time and act like they figured out your puzzle.
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2018 22:08
|
|
|
The mistake you're making is committing to an outcome that you want to have happen and writing a story instead of creating a game for your players. You have a plan for things you want them to find. That's telling a story. They don't want to be told a story. They want to play a game. To use video game terms, the box said it was an action roleplaying game but you're giving them quicktime events and a walkthrough. They are expecting Skyrim, you're giving them Heavy Rain. If your players don't have to make decisions, or if the decisions don't have stakes, they aren't playing a game. All D20 RPGs are based on making decisions. You have to give something up in order to get something. You have to do this or do that, you can't do both. Bad DMs turn this into rolling dice. "Roll some dice to see if you discover the thing. Oh, you didn't. Roll the dice again. Roll them until you get an 18. Okay cool you got an 18 here's the thing you get." That's terrible. Never do that. Every encounter should force your players to expend resources. Fights, challenges, puzzles, traps, whatever. The game is "you spend your resources to get an outcome." That's where the decisions come into play. For some players this is calculated risks (do I attack this guy and risk a fight and damage? Do we do something else? What else?). For some it's baked into the character design ("I only have 4 force powers left to use, is this worth it?"). For some it's immediate ("if we rest here there's danger and we lose time") and for some it's long term ("if we don't save this person then that's gonna bite our rear end later"). I'm gonna be 100% real with you right now, and please take this in the spirit it's meant: if your game isn't built on the players making decisions, it's not a matter of "room to insert meaningful decision points" - if there's no room to insert meaningful decision points, then scrap it. If the entire ship can be reduced to "here's the stuff you find, here's a decision to make" then just skip all that poo poo. "You search the ship, and you find the following things: [plot hooks here]. Based on this, you need to decide [next thing you want them to do]. If you want to get them off the ship and put things in their hands, and they want to get off the ship and have things in their hands, and there's nothing that can go wrong to make them make decisions, then just skip the whole drat thing. You are in 100% complete control of the session. If nobody wants to be doing the thing, including you, then don't do the thing. It is infinitely more important that the game is fun (that is, that it has interesting decisions to make where the players make decisions and things happen because of those decisions) than that you get to show off scenery. Edit: I'm gonna possibly throw a grenade out there, but Angry GM is generic "angry" blogger, GM edition. He has a lot of stuff I don't always agree with, but he has generally solid ideas for running D&D. He uses some methods I don't care for and that you won't care for either, that's cool and fine. But in a piece about "how to DM," he says this, and it is important and it sounds like why your players are routing: Angry GM posted:Here’s the deal: an RPG is about choice. That’s what makes an RPG an RPG. Players project themselves into the minds of characters in another world and they make choices. Those choices have outcomes. They have consequences. And from that, a game emerges. And I’m not going to deny that. Choice is the single most important aspect of every RPG. It isn’t story. It isn’t challenge. It isn’t role-playing. It isn’t imagination. At the heart of every RPG is the freedom to choose and the promise that choices have consequences. And those choices might be challenge focused, like choosing the right tactics in a combat. They might be focused on mechanical growth, like picking a particular feat. They might be character driven, like choosing how to react to a difficult emotional dilemma. They might be narrative-focused, like whether to turn over the relic to this faction or that faction. It doesn’t matter. Min-maxers, character actors, power-gamers, storygamers, simulationists, and all of those various “types” of gamer are all united by the fact that an RPG affords you the freedom to choose as long as you accept the consequences of the choice. You may do well to read the an unrelated article, it could help you out: http://theangrygm.com/adjudicate-actions-like-a-boss/ There's another article I haven't read but a friend has about creating encounters, I can't link it because I don't know which one it is, but I suspect it will help in this case. Because you're not creating encounters, you're creating setpieces, from the sounds of it. Paramemetic fucked around with this message at 22:32 on Jun 13, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2018 22:17
|
|
|
Paramemetic posted:I'm gonna be 100% real with you right now, and please take this in the spirit it's meant: if your game isn't built on the players making decisions, it's not a matter of "room to insert meaningful decision points" - if there's no room to insert meaningful decision points, then scrap it. I appreciate the reality check (being 100% genuine). Looking back I've definitely committed the "rolling dice for the sake of it" error and I obviously haven't broken out of the predetermined outcome/story and setpiece mindset. I think what I'll do is check in with the players and ask if they want to skip this entirely. Thanks for being so patient with my enquiries, everyone. I really want to become a better GM than I obviously have been in the past. If they decide not to skip it then I'll take Dameius's suggestion. e: I've read one or two of the Angry GM's things in the past - I'll check that article out now. Thank you so much!
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2018 22:29
|
|
|
Paramemetic posted:If nobody wants to be doing the thing, including you, then don't do the thing. Nobody ever seems to mention this but it's one of the best pieces of GMing advice you could possibly get.
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2018 22:30
|
|
|
So I'm a relatively new DM, and I've got an idea for a campaign I'd like to run past people with more experience behind the screen: The party starts in a Dungeon (Like a prison, not a tomb or w/e), sentenced to life without fantasy parole for crimes they decide on. They're visited by Fantasy Steve Irwin (current idea: Ferret-like, named Steve Ermine) who recruits them to help fill his magical Manual of Monsters with a whole cavalcade of unlikely portmanteau-based critters (Examples: Croakonuts, Shorthogs, Chamomileons, etc.) in exchange for their freedom. The long game would be trying free Fantasy Steve Irwin from a curse placed on him eons ago by the gods for his hubris. He claimed to know more than all the gods combined about animals, so the gods told him to piss off and made a bunch of lovely magical animals that he had to catalog. Do y'all think this idea has legs? I'm (obviously) not looking for a serious campaign, but I'd like it to go for a while because the players are good friends of mine and I see them often. Got any cringe-worthy animal portmanteaus? Thanks in advance!
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 05:24
|
|
|
Yamtaggler posted:So I'm a relatively new DM, and I've got an idea for a campaign I'd like to run past people with more experience behind the screen: 1. Steve Irwin died 12 years ago so I don't know how fresh that joke is going to be. Plus centering everything on a particular NPC is really not fun for the players 2. I'm not really sure why the dungeon part is necessary aside from a way to railroad people 3. You're probably better off using existing monsters rather than making your own, it's way less work. There's enough weirdo animals already though, like Owlbears other than that it should work ok: Find interesting Monsters and Catalog them is a decent premise. It might get repetitive but I imagine it'd develop from that core. I'd be upfront about what you were thinking to the players so they can design their guys around it, otherwise their guys probably won't fit.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 06:24
|
|
|
Hm. those are all good points that I'll definitely take into consideration before I move beyond the Vague Concept stage. I hadn't really considered the whole "GM Super Character Fallacy" thing, thanks for pointing that out!
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 06:51
|
|
|
Yamtaggler posted:So I'm a relatively new DM, and I've got an idea for a campaign I'd like to run past people with more experience behind the screen: Skip the bullshit and cut out the middleman is at the tip of my tongue, especially when such a more obvious references exists and your players will have no expectation of getting into contact with the NPC giving the quest again. Professor Tree wants to catalogue every animal in the [Setting Name], you are all mercenaries hired by the Professor to work together and get him every animal (since in his old age he cannot travel). He has a Encyclopedia Monsteria that should magicaly fill itself with information about these monsters. If the party likes Professor Tree, then you introduce why he wants to catalogue all of these monsters (a dark god's curse or whatever). You can also throw in a rival group of hunters to thwart to break up the monotony or an evil cult out to capture and exploit some legendary monster. (I'm mostly kidding with the Pokemon riff, but depending on the group it might create a tone/generally act as inspiration)
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 08:57
|
|
|
Yeah just cut to the chase. Crazy funny mad professor wants to you to catalog monsters, pays ridiculously well, monsters get harder, after a while the competition arrives, a bit after that the larger plot arrives too. That's a great set up.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 09:10
|
|
|
The changes I'd make are: * Instead of having Not Steve Erwin pull the PCs out of prison, just start with them already employed and say to your players: "This is a campaign about you capturing monsters for Not Steve Erwin -- you can come up with any reason you like that you're working for him but you have to have one." Your original approach signals to the players that the important thing is that they were arrested, so they'll make characters with a cool arrest backstory they want to explore and get frustrated when they spend their time capturing monsters instead of overthrowing the corrupt regime that threw them in jail. * Have Not Steve Erwin be a distant mentor. He doesn't come on the quests with them, they just capture the monsters and bring them back so he can show them off to his fans. That way he's not in any danger of overshadowing the players. * Absolutely god yes make up stupid pun monster names with stupid themes. I can't stress this enough.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 10:34
|
|
|
To expand, the idea is great but you have a lot of extraneous bullshit you think you need but you don't. You don't need to force players to take up a premise, that's what you sell the game with. Don't assume what the players will be interested in (your big save steve irwin plot), follow what the players are interested in, and build detail around it. Then gently caress with it, in interesting ways. Don't bait and switch - I've tried it twice and it's been a terrible mistake each time. Players build a model in their head of the game they're going to play and it's risky to mess with it if you want the game to keep its energy.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 11:30
|
|
|
Thanks for the advice y'all gave me a ways back. I've been working on prepping my short campaign--I'd call it a one-shot, but realistically it will probably just be a few sessions, with the possibility of continuing onto another arc later if I'm up to it. The premise is that the PCs are humans trapped in a past-its-prime shopping mall by a starving ghost (it feeds on despair, and since the mall got less popular and the RMV inside it switched to a lot of online services, it has been getting desperately hungry), and they need to figure out some way to get out. I'm coming up with a few possible solutions, and I'll be open to working in whatever they come up with on the fly as possible solutions too. I'm looking for advice in 2 areas: 1) How to plan the "dungeon" they're trapped in (the mall). I've brainstormed a bunch of ideas of what stores/areas/etc. are in the mall, and 2 of the PCs have provided me with places they work at the mall (a cafe and a GameStop). My impulse is to plan out a map of the mall and fill in everything, but I know it might be a better idea to leave gaps that the players can fill in with their ideas. How much should I plan out in terms of that? 2) How to run the mystery part. For example, if the PCs destroy a particular object (which will be a challenge to get to), it will have the effect of essentially banishing the ghost. How can I set up clues for that? Like I can think of having the ghost be defensive of it, and the PCs finding notes on a dead NPC who came to investigate the haunting with a clue, but is that enough? How do I balance being too obvious vs. not being obvious enough? They will have a couple of NPCs they can ally with, and I know I could always have them suggest things, but that feels cheap. Of course, running a horror mystery for my first game might not be the best idea, but it's one I've wanted to do for a long time.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 17:14
|
|
|
Stroop There It Is posted:Thanks for the advice y'all gave me a ways back. I've been working on prepping my short campaign--I'd call it a one-shot, but realistically it will probably just be a few sessions, with the possibility of continuing onto another arc later if I'm up to it. The premise is that the PCs are humans trapped in a past-its-prime shopping mall by a starving ghost (it feeds on despair, and since the mall got less popular and the RMV inside it switched to a lot of online services, it has been getting desperately hungry), and they need to figure out some way to get out. I'm coming up with a few possible solutions, and I'll be open to working in whatever they come up with on the fly as possible solutions too. I'm looking for advice in 2 areas: For the first part I'd say map out about half of it, have enough that you have something to throw at the players if they don't know where to go or what to do but make sure that if they go "Oh, I wonder if there is somewhere we can find a golf club" you have space to add in a place for them to go. Think about why a place exists when you're adding it, what can the players do there and what problems will exist. And don't feel like you need to map out everything in a space once you've added it. Make sure you add a sad mini-golf that gets put in every failed mall. For the clues, anything you think will be obvious won't be to the players. It just works out like that. For each clue you put in add 2 more that reinforce that clue and point to where the players should be looking. Don't put in red herrings, things that look like a clue but are useless. Do misdirect them, so a clue might look like one thing but is actually pointing to something else and can be figured out with the help of other clues.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 18:16
|
|
|
Gumball Gumption posted:For the first part I'd say map out about half of it, have enough that you have something to throw at the players if they don't know where to go or what to do but make sure that if they go "Oh, I wonder if there is somewhere we can find a golf club" you have space to add in a place for them to go. Think about why a place exists when you're adding it, what can the players do there and what problems will exist. And don't feel like you need to map out everything in a space once you've added it. Make sure you add a sad mini-golf that gets put in every failed mall. Oh yeah, while I'm at it... do any of y'all have any tips on like, "behind the scenes" mall stuff? Like I know there are probably stock rooms in the basement and hallways that go behind the stores, but I'm sure there's other stuff that would be fun to play with that I don't know about as someone who's never worked in a mall.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 18:43
|
|
|
Stroop There It Is posted:Thanks! That makes sense. Since you are Bostonian, I feel I should mention it's explicitly based on the Watertown Mall i doubt anyone cares about mall realism, is there actually a secret store hidden behind a display waterfall that sells occult bullshit no but in a haunted mall there could be Edit: i'm saying just do what you find fun and if anyone calls out the implausibility just shrug your shoulders and say "loving ghosts man"
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 18:52
|
|
|
Boiler room and generator room. Industrial HVACing (follow the Hollywood idea of it, not the reality). Large scale loading dock area. Security and loss prevention home base. Medical/EMT station. Hidden offices/cube farms. Elfgames posted:i doubt anyone cares about mall realism, is there actually a secret store hidden behind a display waterfall that sells occult bullshit no but in a haunted mall there could be Good point. False storefronts that are portals to other points in the mall. Survivalist rat's nest in the ceiling with sniper line of sights from previous victims Propane bombs everywhere Dameius fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Jun 14, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 18:54
|
|
|
Oh poo poo, be sure to include something about the candy-vending machines near the toddler-rides giving out way more candy than the ones near the entrance - I did extensive testing of this back when I worked right next to watertown mall. e: forever 21 is one of the better floorplans for combat since it's two floors high with the stairwell e: oo, also be sure to include the home depot that is only accessible if you go leave the safety of the mall's confines, that seems narratively significant. e: wait, i'm thinking of the arsenal mall, the watertown mall with the RMV was across the street. I still like the idea of incorporating a home depot tho Ignite Memories fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Jun 14, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 18:56
|
|
|
Know what would be spooky? The mall has a still functioning Bradlees.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 19:03
|
|
|
Elfgames posted:i doubt anyone cares about mall realism, is there actually a secret store hidden behind a display waterfall that sells occult bullshit no but in a haunted mall there could be Dameius posted:Boiler room and generator room. Ignite Memories posted:Oh poo poo, be sure to include something about the candy-vending machines near the toddler-rides giving out way more candy than the ones near the entrance - I did extensive testing of this back when I worked right next to watertown mall. Gumball Gumption posted:Know what would be spooky? The mall has a still functioning Bradlees.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 19:13
|
|
|
Sure, maybe they can get to the home depot through the back door of Dick's Sporting Goods. e: man that mall is a real shithole, no wonder it's haunted now
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 19:16
|
|
|
I think a lost children area would be pretty good. What happened to the ones that never got claimed by their parents? (Do they try and recruit the ones who wander away from their RMV-bound guardians? Do they serve the spirit that protects them and will interfere with the players?) Are there clues at the bottom of some of the congealing steam trays at the Hometown Buffet? Mall employees have noticed restaurant delivery trucks haven’t returned for weeks but they’re still open and the trays are full. (I had a buddy run a horror one-shot where our characters had to work their way through a progressively more disgusting diner scene and it was legit creepy and gross. Not eating people gross, but it really upped the tension and off-ness of the place.)
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 19:24
|
|
|
Lol a home depot that can only be entered from the other side is a funny idea.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 20:21
|
|
|
Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:Lol a home depot that can only be entered from the other side is a funny idea.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 21:00
|
|
|
What kind of goods can you buy at the Home Depot of the damned?
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 21:09
|
|
|
Factory-dull self-tapping deck screws, but the Home Depot of the Damned is actually Menard's, just fyi.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 21:14
|
|
|
Bad Munki posted:Factory-dull self-tapping deck screws, but the Home Depot of the Damned is actually Menard's, just fyi.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 21:27
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 11, 2024 16:01 |
|
|
Keeshhound posted:What kind of goods can you buy at the Home Depot of the damned? Pre-holed rubber gloves. A socket set measured in fractions of an inch. Rubber mastic that's actually just a living ooze. A smoke alarm that doesn't need batteries. So it never stops screaming at you while you cook. ...Now I want to run a haunting in a hardware store.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2018 22:47
|
|
