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Ceros_X
Aug 6, 2006

U.S. Marine

JonathonSpectre posted:

Hello friends. I'm getting ready to write my Delta Call of Green Cthulhu group.

I'd make the stabilization of the dead require blood. Many of the towns folk have vivid still healing scars where they have shed their own blood to keep their loved ones alive.

I'd play off the civilia war aspect, maybe there is a Confederate POW camp nearby that they sacrifice from (making any sentient undead soldiers aghast that they are butchering the honorably surrendered), maybe they sacrifice escaped slaves from the south, etc. Maybe have the undead actually used to work the fields in an unconscious parody of slavery. Need some :psyduck: undead loving to creep people out also.

The end game could be the necromancer has convinced the entire town to do a Johnstown mass suicide - that many deaths simultaneously will summon Orcus who will restore all the townspeople and their war dead when he returns.

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JonathonSpectre
Jul 23, 2003

I replaced the Shermatar and text with this because I don't wanna see racial slurs every time you post what the fuck

Soiled Meat
Holy cow I LOVE some of these ideas, this is why I come here folks. The most creative GMs in the world post here.

I like the combo of the ideas that once raised the zombie is a feral animal until it consumes a living person, then it becomes a slow, tired, sad version of its human self. At that point is when it requires blood to keep it stable and, uh, "normal." The still-healing scars are a great clue, and the POW camp adds so much moral turmoil and ambiguity to the whole setting that I actually said, "OF COURSE!" out loud.

This is going to be so good. Here's just a few questions that pop into my mind.

What's happened to the sheriff. Does he know? Is he in on it? If he's in on it, is he enthusiastic or reluctant? Or is he gone, the victim of a zombie to ensure silence to the outside world, replaced by a more pliable townie? This might be a clue. "We heard the sheriff of this town's name was Randall Smith, not Zeke Stanford..."

Are the "normal" stabilized zombies kept secret, hidden in houses, or are they actually allowed into the day-to-day life of the town? Perhaps a few of them that are in the best shape and most human-seeming are allowed to wander about and do chores? What's the fallback plan for a zombie that goes off its meds?

Is there a resistance to this in the town? I have the idea of a family whose zombie patriarch denounces this horror and demands to be allowed to die with dignity, and they let him after saying goodbye, and their man's impassioned speech about being denied his reward in Heaven has made all of them question this thing that has begun happening in their town...

What is the town's reaction to the entrance of the investigators? Obviously this is an opportunity to raise some of their men, but these aren't starving POWs or vagabond drifters, these are reporters and investigators from New York City that people are expecting back! I kind of want a slow burn here, where the evidence that something is badly wrong keeps piling up until they finally figure it out, at which point all hell breaks loose.

What happened to the town's real preacher? The travelling "priest" certainly has no use for a real man of God in his town. Perhaps the preacher was devoured in his own church by the first zombie raised, the "miracle" that proved to the town that this power was real. A faint bloodstain on the floor of the church could provide a clue that something went down there. Or perhaps he's being kept alive with several POWs, nailed up as blood dolls for when the town is too tapped out to give the daddies their daily iron ration.

Ceros_X
Aug 6, 2006

U.S. Marine
For the sheriff (that seems like an old west term, maybe police chief?) I would have his son be one of the undead which gives him a perfect moral dilemma between law and order and the hope of his son coming back to him. You can also maybe have him initially try and run them out of town or lock them up and then the players see why he is like he is.. bonus points if his son was a young boy who lied about his age and was a drummer, bugler, etc.

For the townsfolk, you could have them hotly divided but use the small town mentality where they dont talk about their business in front of outsiders?

For the local clergy maybe make him sound insane initially, maybe a revival meeting tent with a few people ranting about how the end times are nigh and the antichrist (the necromancer) walks among them. Maybe have the tent on the outskirts of the town in between the railroad station/bus station and town. Maybe the old church burned down mysteriously, maybe it is a red herring and just accidentally burned down, etc.

For the undead, maybe you could steal some poo poo from the Walking Dead and have them kept in a barn that is boarded up, or maybe psyche them out and make them think that but all the undead are actually kept in the root cellars because the colder temps slow the decay and decrease the amount of blood needed.

Maybe the 'smart' undead could be confused with other ailments - maybe they cough up blood and people say they have tuberculosis, or maybe they are passed off as lepers in their own colony (which would explain rotting smells and deformity etc). Spitballing.

Edit: also, ask all the players of Male characters why they werent in the war (good tension because they didnt 'sacrifice'). Ask them if their character supported the North or the South and why. Maybe if they knew anyone fighting in the war. Guess who is in the POW camp maybe eh?

Ceros_X fucked around with this message at 17:53 on Apr 14, 2019

Azhais
Feb 5, 2007
Switchblade Switcharoo
You do know Sheriffs are still a thing right

Keeshhound
Jan 14, 2010

Mad Duck Swagger

JonathonSpectre posted:

Are the "normal" stabilized zombies kept secret, hidden in houses, or are they actually allowed into the day-to-day life of the town? Perhaps a few of them that are in the best shape and most human-seeming are allowed to wander about and do chores? What's the fallback plan for a zombie that goes off its meds?

My immediate suggestion for this is that the resurrection should have only returned the body to an animated state, but not healed anything. So someone with just a bullet hole in them can walk around without raising suspicion as long as they keep it covered up (this also gives you a "tell" if you want to make a cinematic reveal during the initial investigation; maybe a man wearing a hat has it blown off to reveal a hole through their skull).

quote:

Is there a resistance to this in the town? I have the idea of a family whose zombie patriarch denounces this horror and demands to be allowed to die with dignity, and they let him after saying goodbye, and their man's impassioned speech about being denied his reward in Heaven has made all of them question this thing that has begun happening in their town...

This kind of depends on how large a town it is. If it's only a dozen or so families, I'd imagine they're probably pretty much in agreement, and even the ones who don't necessarily approve would at least not condemn those whose grief led them to have their loved ones raised. If it's much larger than that, you might have a secret faction who disapproves, but can't openly do so because the resurectionists are in the majority and are extremely passionate in their advocacy.

quote:

What is the town's reaction to the entrance of the investigators? Obviously this is an opportunity to raise some of their men, but these aren't starving POWs or vagabond drifters, these are reporters and investigators from New York City that people are expecting back! I kind of want a slow burn here, where the evidence that something is badly wrong keeps piling up until they finally figure it out, at which point all hell breaks loose.

I think you could get a lot of mileage by just painting the initial hostility as superficially a rural-urban rivalry. A lot of comments about "soft city folk," "your kind ain't welcome here," that kind of thing. Ceros_X definitively has the right idea that any male character should get a "where were YOU in July?" kind of accusation.

quote:

What happened to the town's real preacher? The travelling "priest" certainly has no use for a real man of God in his town. Perhaps the preacher was devoured in his own church by the first zombie raised, the "miracle" that proved to the town that this power was real. A faint bloodstain on the floor of the church could provide a clue that something went down there. Or perhaps he's being kept alive with several POWs, nailed up as blood dolls for when the town is too tapped out to give the daddies their daily iron ration.

How powerful is your necromancer? Could he have magically ensnared the priest's mind and made him into an unwilling advocate? I feel like he should be around in some way, unwillingly lending his legitimacy to the necromancer.

Arthil
Feb 17, 2012

A Beard of Constant Sorrow
Sheriff is also a very medieval term, too. Sheriff of Nottingham and all that.

Ceros_X
Aug 6, 2006

U.S. Marine

Azhais posted:

You do know Sheriffs are still a thing right

A lot of people use the term interchangeably but a police chief and a sheriff have different areas of responsibility. A police chief is in charge of policing a town or city while a sheriff usually has a whole a county plus that he covers.

I appreciate your contribution to this setting building - I'm sure you were thinking that maybe there is a sheriff who keeps hearing of poo poo going down in this podunk town but the police chief tells him it's his jurisdiction and to pound sand. Maybe a good source for outside pressure/reinforcements for the PCs edit although most small towns probably didnt have police chiefs until way later so mah point is dumb? But there also probably wouldnt be a law man who lived in the town 24/7 either. Verisimilitude whereforart thou?

Edit: interesting article on PA law enforcement during the civil war

Ceros_X fucked around with this message at 18:35 on Apr 14, 2019

Kung Food
Dec 11, 2006

PORN WIZARD

Big Mouth Billy Basshole posted:

I'm planning on running lost mines for some coworkers and friends. I don't have many minis, does anyone have recommendations for tokens?

What I do is a little labor intensive, but still much easier and cheaper than minis. First buy two things.
1 inch hole punch and 1 inch counting chips. Print out the things you want tokens of, make sure they are
1 inch by 1 inch. Use the punch to make circle portraits. Glue those to the disks.

You can also get bigger circle punches and bigger discks for larger creatures. Mine look like this:

Dameius
Apr 3, 2006
Raising ritual needs the sacrifice of a child. Townsfolk don't like the idea of sacrificing their own children so they've been adopting a lot of urchin orphan children from NYC (who were mostly Irish, this taps into a real thing that was happening at the time) as the ritual component. They are doing this by pressuring the local Catholic nuns/priest to work with the city Diocese to fast track the adoptions.

Edit: the necromancer then further utilizes the child corpses for something, like their skin for a thing that could be found by the players, and their skeletons set up in genuflecting prayer poses around the summoning pit with their blood as a moat or something. The level of gruesome set to taste for your group.

Dameius fucked around with this message at 23:26 on Apr 14, 2019

Whybird
Aug 2, 2009

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

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


Nap Ghost
I can totally see the townsfolk rationalising it as "well, better eternity as an undead Protestant than a lifetime as a living papist".

Hell, you could even go all balls-in with the religion aspect, have the village convinced that this is a miracle from God and they are doing His holy work.

Elector_Nerdlingen
Sep 27, 2004



Whybird posted:

I can totally see the townsfolk rationalising it as "well, better eternity as an undead Protestant than a lifetime as a living papist".

Hell, you could even go all balls-in with the religion aspect, have the village convinced that this is a miracle from God and they are doing His holy work.

One of the antagonist orgs in Laundry Files is basically this concept writ large and it's great.

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


My players just found a magical but not super powerfully magical, but very very ancient crown in the tomb of a famed dragon killing dwarf. I think the crown is important for plot reasons, but I have no idea what it’s actually mechanical effects should be-it’s DnD 5e with a party of 5th lvl characters. I think it’s very old, maybe something to do with the fey? Or dragons? Or dragons and the fey? They’re sort of both the primordial creatures that inhabited this world before the gods and civilized races arrived etc.

I’m thinking of saying they just can’t identify its exact use, and then have their powerful fey arch nemesis come steal it from them but leave them some nice magic stuff ‘because he always helps those who help him’ and then they’ll feel conflicted that they’re helping him with his schemes and being paid for it. Dick move, or sounds fun?

Keeshhound
Jan 14, 2010

Mad Duck Swagger
Make it slowly turn whomever puts it on into the fey lord.

DivineCoffeeBinge
Mar 3, 2011

Spider-Man's Amazing Construction Company

Kaiser Schnitzel posted:

My players just found a magical but not super powerfully magical, but very very ancient crown in the tomb of a famed dragon killing dwarf. I think the crown is important for plot reasons, but I have no idea what it’s actually mechanical effects should be-it’s DnD 5e with a party of 5th lvl characters. I think it’s very old, maybe something to do with the fey? Or dragons? Or dragons and the fey? They’re sort of both the primordial creatures that inhabited this world before the gods and civilized races arrived etc.

I’m thinking of saying they just can’t identify its exact use, and then have their powerful fey arch nemesis come steal it from them but leave them some nice magic stuff ‘because he always helps those who help him’ and then they’ll feel conflicted that they’re helping him with his schemes and being paid for it. Dick move, or sounds fun?

A fun move on balance, IMHO. It's kinda chintzy in that the PCs don't get the chance to go "what are we gonna do with the cool-rear end artifact we liberated" but it does give you the chance to give them magic items that are more suited to their characters, it makes sure everyone gets one instead of just one PC having a powerful doodad, and it gives them a story hook in that their natural response will probably be "you fucker, you took our powerful doodad, we want it back."

Exchanging the crown for magic gear isn't the dick move, really; it's the theft. If it happens by GM Fiat, and all the PCs' precautions are worthless, then it's a dick move (alternatively, if they don't take any precautions, then what the hell do they have to complain about...). You'll have to work to make sure the players don't get the impression that they're on rails, y'know?

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Steal isn’t probably quite the right word. They know he is a Very Powerful Fairy, especially in his own lands, and they have to cross those lands on their way back to town. All they know about this thing is that it was very ancient and strange magic that they couldn’t identify-I don’t think they have any reason to think it’s a major plot item, so I don’t know that they’d be super cautious (unless they’re reading this thread :argh:).

I’m thinking the fairy will appear as they cross his lands, and make it known that giving some tribute or exchanging gifts is customary and would please him very much and he always rewards his friends. If that doesn’t work he’ll claim it as his own lost property (which I think it actually may be, in a way) and finally get very angry and make some poo poo explode and just demand it. They’ve met him before, and while there’s no love lost, (half the party hates the fey generally for backstory reasons, but one of them at least is very pragmatic) there is at least some mutual respect and he has led them in the right direction in the past. Maybe they’ll fight him-who knows what PCs will do. (Usually try and fight stuff)

Ceros_X
Aug 6, 2006

U.S. Marine

Kaiser Schnitzel posted:

Steal isn’t probably quite the right word. They know he is a Very Powerful Fairy, especially in his own lands, and they have to cross those lands on their way back to town. All they know about this thing is that it was very ancient and strange magic that they couldn’t identify-I don’t think they have any reason to think it’s a major plot item, so I don’t know that they’d be super cautious (unless they’re reading this thread :argh:).

I’m thinking the fairy will appear as they cross his lands, and make it known that giving some tribute or exchanging gifts is customary and would please him very much and he always rewards his friends. If that doesn’t work he’ll claim it as his own lost property (which I think it actually may be, in a way) and finally get very angry and make some poo poo explode and just demand it. They’ve met him before, and while there’s no love lost, (half the party hates the fey generally for backstory reasons, but one of them at least is very pragmatic) there is at least some mutual respect and he has led them in the right direction in the past. Maybe they’ll fight him-who knows what PCs will do. (Usually try and fight stuff)

Instead of making it so that they couldnt identify it, maybe make it seem to be cursed, or make the person who identified it get a psychic vision of a stream of (dragon) fire coming towards them, or something like that?

Polo-Rican
Jul 4, 2004

emptyquote my posts or die
Anyone know of a module, campaign, 1-pager, etc, where you play as the bartender in a dnd style tavern? I really want to put something together but don't want to waste a lot of time thinking about mechanics and stuff if it's been done sufficiently before.

Current idea is that the players manage a bar that's next to a giant, infamous dungeon that's been there for 1,000 years. Countless adventurers on their way into and out of the dungeon stop by with requests, talk about what they've seen in the dungeon, etc. Different people want different drinks, foods, and services. How do you deal with a bunch of drunken dwarves trashing the bar? What do you do if a half-orc patron requests a strange drink you've never heard of before? Sometimes adventurers that stop at the bar will never be seen again - did they perish in the dungeons??... Monsters, beasts, slimes, etc from the dungeon occasionally break out and wander the surface. Sometimes adventurers will stop at the bar, hauling amazing loot they found - other adventurers may want the loot and start a bar fight. Or the loot may be magical and lure more beasts to the surface?

In addition to serving patrons, there's also the actual upkeep of the bar - ordering new mugs if the patrons smash them, ordering new stools if the patrons smash them, ordering exotic ingredients that patrons have started requesting, interviewing and hiring horrible beasts to work in the kitchen, etc.

Basically, a tabletop version of Cheers, except the bar is next to a giant dungeon and regulars are adventurers.

Polo-Rican fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Apr 17, 2019

sebmojo
Oct 23, 2010


Legit Cyberpunk









You run a bar in 5e's Dragon Heist.

Syrian Lannister
Aug 25, 2007

Oh, did I kill him too?
I've been a very busy little man.


Sugartime Jones
Wasn’t there a old second edition module / box set, set in Waterdeep with access to that large dungeon that was through a bar?

Polo-Rican
Jul 4, 2004

emptyquote my posts or die
Ah yeah it looks like Waterdeep's dungeon is through a tavern called "The Yawning Portal" - although, reading about it, that book seems to just be about exploring the dungeon, whereas the concept I have in mind is focused on tending bar, with all of the dungeon delving being secondhand (told by the patrons who come and go).

Double May Care
Mar 28, 2012

We need Dragon-type Pokemon to help us prepare our food before we cook it. We're not sure why!

Polo-Rican posted:

Ah yeah it looks like Waterdeep's dungeon is through a tavern called "The Yawning Portal" - although, reading about it, that book seems to just be about exploring the dungeon, whereas the concept I have in mind is focused on tending bar, with all of the dungeon delving being secondhand (told by the patrons who come and go).

It sounds like you'd want Durnan's Guide to Tavernkeeping, which has rules for running the tavern players get in Dragon Heist (not the Yawning Portal). As for the secondhand delving thing, that's literally the framing device for Tales from the Yawning Portal, which has some "iconic" dungeons from D&D's history.

E: Reading into it a little more, Durnan's doesn't have as much minutiae and prices, so much as it has lots of tables for generating things in the tavern itself. And it's still D&D.

Double May Care fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Apr 17, 2019

Whybird
Aug 2, 2009

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

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


Nap Ghost

Kaiser Schnitzel posted:

My players just found a magical but not super powerfully magical, but very very ancient crown in the tomb of a famed dragon killing dwarf. I think the crown is important for plot reasons, but I have no idea what it’s actually mechanical effects should be-it’s DnD 5e with a party of 5th lvl characters. I think it’s very old, maybe something to do with the fey? Or dragons? Or dragons and the fey? They’re sort of both the primordial creatures that inhabited this world before the gods and civilized races arrived etc.

I’m thinking of saying they just can’t identify its exact use, and then have their powerful fey arch nemesis come steal it from them but leave them some nice magic stuff ‘because he always helps those who help him’ and then they’ll feel conflicted that they’re helping him with his schemes and being paid for it. Dick move, or sounds fun?

It's forged from a coin of gold from the hoard of each of the dragons the dwarf killed. When worn, the wearer knows the approximate distance and direction of the nearest dragon, as well as their age, the type of dragon they are, and any unique magical resistances they might have (like, if the nearest dragon has worked a ritual so that only a blade that has never been drawn before can pierce their flesh, the crown will tell you that.)

It's not directly useful to a fifth-level party, who probably aren't going to be tooling up to go dragon-slaying any time soon, but there are a lot of dragons who have been assuming it was gone for good, and would like to make sure nobody else gets their hands on it -- not to mention that its mere existence is a bit of a middle finger to dragonkind in general. And there are a lot of other people who would like to get hold of it for exactly those reasons.

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry

Polo-Rican posted:

Anyone know of a module, campaign, 1-pager, etc, where you play as the bartender in a dnd style tavern? I really want to put something together but don't want to waste a lot of time thinking about mechanics and stuff if it's been done sufficiently before.

There's Retail Magic, a d6- and shenanigans-based RPG about running a magic shop. I think it would adapt pretty easy to being about a magic tavern instead.

Polo-Rican
Jul 4, 2004

emptyquote my posts or die

Rather Watch Them posted:

It sounds like you'd want Durnan's Guide to Tavernkeeping, which has rules for running the tavern players get in Dragon Heist (not the Yawning Portal).

Ah this is basically exactly what I was imagining, thanks!

Glazius posted:

There's Retail Magic, a d6- and shenanigans-based RPG about running a magic shop. I think it would adapt pretty easy to being about a magic tavern instead.

I'll grab this too, thanks!

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Whybird posted:

It's forged from a coin of gold from the hoard of each of the dragons the dwarf killed. When worn, the wearer knows the approximate distance and direction of the nearest dragon, as well as their age, the type of dragon they are, and any unique magical resistances they might have (like, if the nearest dragon has worked a ritual so that only a blade that has never been drawn before can pierce their flesh, the crown will tell you that.)

It's not directly useful to a fifth-level party, who probably aren't going to be tooling up to go dragon-slaying any time soon, but there are a lot of dragons who have been assuming it was gone for good, and would like to make sure nobody else gets their hands on it -- not to mention that its mere existence is a bit of a middle finger to dragonkind in general. And there are a lot of other people who would like to get hold of it for exactly those reasons.
Thank you this is pretty great! I think I'll do some of this and some of Ceros_X's and maybe it will get taken by the fey and maybe not? That maybe even explains why he would want it.

Agent355
Jul 26, 2011


Ended up pulling in a couple players to fill out my game by advertising over roll20/reddit and both of them are great and will really add to the roleplay/narrative stuff well. One of them in particular is like, terrifyingly good and makes me feel really inadequate in my own roleplaying. Like I'm a good RPer, I've done it for years and it's been a long loving time since I wasn't the best at the table by a good margin, but this person puts me to loving shame and I'm almost embarassed.

Now I have to DM for them and i know it's going to force me to get better at DMing and fast, just to keep up with them.

kingcom
Jun 23, 2012

Agent355 posted:

Ended up pulling in a couple players to fill out my game by advertising over roll20/reddit and both of them are great and will really add to the roleplay/narrative stuff well. One of them in particular is like, terrifyingly good and makes me feel really inadequate in my own roleplaying. Like I'm a good RPer, I've done it for years and it's been a long loving time since I wasn't the best at the table by a good margin, but this person puts me to loving shame and I'm almost embarassed.

Now I have to DM for them and i know it's going to force me to get better at DMing and fast, just to keep up with them.

Thats awesome, best of luck and don't stress. In my experience people who really go in for the roleplaying are happy if you the GM are willing to try and put in the effort that they are. Talk to them about their character and what they'd like to do and how they would like to grow and they'll love it. You don't need the best GM or anything, just demonstrate that you care as much as they do and they'll be happy.

sebmojo
Oct 23, 2010


Legit Cyberpunk









Just listen and dangle some hooks

Arthil
Feb 17, 2012

A Beard of Constant Sorrow
Going to be running again this Friday, our usual DM seemed very happy to get the chance to play again. Likely going to be having them start right up to getting back into the dungeon, just need to keep a few things in mind. Reinforce that they've been working together long enough to have the whole splitting of loot stuff sorted out, maybe make them decide on how to do it before we begin. Go with having people say they're being wary for traps, at the same time I'll also have them be spotting secret doors cause it's all Perception anyway.

Finally I'm going to really hammer home the "Are you sure you want to do that?" response for a couple spots in this dungeon. While I'm willing to let their mistakes cost them, I'd rather remind them of caution in the heat of the moment. If they ignore it anyway what happens will happen.

The Shame Boy
Jan 27, 2014

Dead weight, just like this post.



So my Curse of Stradh group pissed off the leader of the knights at Argenvostholdt and managed to kill him, what is the most dramatic way to make him come back for revenge? :getin:


Also a question about 4E, i was recently gifted the 1st and 2nd players handbook and i kinda thing i'd like to run it at some point, is there any sticking points i should know about going into it? Seems like combat is a bit more complex with all the different tiers of abilties but more interesting since you can actually control the battlefield a bit more with shoving people around or moving your friends around and what not.

My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

Monsters in 4E had design issues until Monster Manual 3 came out. Monster Vault is a book that contains the same basic monsters as the regular Manual, but their design is much better. Just use Vault and the MM 3.

Also you've got the best sourcebooks there already, plenty for a game, and 4E is tons of fun.

punishedkissinger
Sep 20, 2017

I know this isn't QUITE the right thread, but I'm looking for some character concepts, and you're the baddest dudes I know for the job.


We're playing Burning Wheel and building the setting together. The campaign will take place in an occupied land. A war 5-10 years in the past resulted in an outside power taking control of the countryside, and the PCs, each from a background that the new regime seeks to repress, find themselves faced with the choices of how best to cope with the new reality.

We have a former soldier from the losing side, currently a belligerent drunk.

We have an elf, skilled in the blade but regarded as inferior by the bigoted regime, who seeks revenge

We have a practitioner of forbidden magics, who seeks the rumored facility where the regime keeps the magical knowledge it seizes.

I'm leaning towards being some kind of dwarf craftperson but otherwise I've got some writer's block.

My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

Weaponsmith who prominently worked for the wrong side?

punishedkissinger
Sep 20, 2017

My Lovely Horse posted:

Weaponsmith who prominently worked for the wrong side?

I like the idea of having worked for the occupiers a lot and it's definitely something I am considering.

Dameius
Apr 3, 2006
Member of a mining clan who were supplying for the losing side and thus forced from their ancestral home?

Ilor
Feb 2, 2008

That's a crit.

kidkissinger posted:

I like the idea of having worked for the occupiers a lot and it's definitely something I am considering.

Play up the "filthy collaborator" angle - like you sold out your own side so hard, but the occupiers don't really trust you because, hey, you can't really trust a traitor, amirite? So now you're sort of despised by both groups.

Dameius
Apr 3, 2006

Ilor posted:

Play up the "filthy collaborator" angle - like you sold out your own side so hard, but the occupiers don't really trust you because, hey, you can't really trust a traitor, amirite? So now you're sort of despised by both groups.

Sell your own clan out for more gold but then get double crossed by the winners when it came time to pay out the remainder practically writes the rest of the details you need by itself.

sebmojo
Oct 23, 2010


Legit Cyberpunk









My Lovely Horse posted:

Monsters in 4E had design issues until Monster Manual 3 came out. Monster Vault is a book that contains the same basic monsters as the regular Manual, but their design is much better. Just use Vault and the MM 3.

Also you've got the best sourcebooks there already, plenty for a game, and 4E is tons of fun.

Skill challenges are best handled like dungeon world, telling a story with intermittent skill checks then using that result for a 'yes, and/but'.

Also use lots of minions, don't be afraid to push the players hard and if you want a trivial fight just do it with skill challenge rather than breaking out the mat.

Whybird
Aug 2, 2009

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

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


Nap Ghost
My big takeaway from 4e is this: fights tend to take a long time, so every fight should be important enough to warrant that time -- there should be more at stake than "do we win the fight and continue with the adventure, or do we lose the fight and all our characters die and the game stops here?".

To put it another way, if you can't conceive that it would be dramatically satisfying for a player to heroically sacrifice their character to ensure success in a fight, you shouldn't be wasting time running that fight.

E: the upshot of this is that it tends to lead to you figuring out fights where the stakes are something other than "do the players die?", so you run fights where the players losing doesn't derail the game, so you're free to play the monsters as hard as you like, secure Inthe knowledge that there's still a game next session if they win.

Whybird fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Apr 19, 2019

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Kung Food
Dec 11, 2006

PORN WIZARD

My Lovely Horse posted:

Weaponsmith who prominently worked for the wrong side?

Made weapons for the invaders because it was highly profitable, but you saw the devastation your work had on your homeland. Now you seek atonement.

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