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Verisimilidude posted:Multiverse seems like it'll be great for playing online I don't feel like this product is what people think it is? Like, it's not an unlimited table on which you can implement your own games, it's a game that they've designed (and revealed almost no mechanics for) that the GM can "customize."
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Nov 6, 2019 20:54
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I'm looking for some interesting things to do with players who made a tactical withdrawal against a demon cult in our last session. They stumbled into the cult preparing for a sacrifice to summon a powerful demon to possess one of them. The party managed to rescue the sacrifice and kill a good amount of the 20 person cult, but didn't feel they could manage to fight the rest of the cultists and their leader. They withdrew to the safety of a hideout in the city sewers. The victim in this case was the nephew of one of the leaders in an empire's civil war. The cultists wanted royal blood but were willing to settle for this (thus, if the party let the sacrifice go through there's a good reason for the demon to be kind of weak). So now the cult is technically still around but lacks a worthy sacrifice. However, the players recently delivered by accident the princess and heir to the legitimate emperor into the hands of the usurper. What i was thinking was that the cult could make a last ditch effort to get acquire actual royal blood. The only problem is that the princess isn't kept in an easily infiltrated dungeon. She's kept in the city's palace apartments, under distant guard but otherwise treated very well as a political prisoner. It seems far fetched that a small cult of about 12 and a few demons could pose that much of s threat to the contingent of soldiers plus the players. I could have the cult follow the party into the sewers but that seems kind of brutal, and having the cult just disappear until a better time seems uninteresting. Any ideas?
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Nov 8, 2019 01:43
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How adept is the cult? 12 people and a few demons might not be able to overwhelm the soldiers, but they could use disguises and magic to convince them that they're a special covert unit that's learned of an upcoming attack and they're there to secret the hostage away before there's even the chance of them being rescued. Or, if they're particularly dedicated, they could sneak in with the intention of performing a different ritual to have a demon possess the princess with the intention that their new agent will then offer to join the usurper and take over that way.
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Nov 8, 2019 02:10
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Panderfringe posted:I'm looking for some interesting things to do with players who made a tactical withdrawal against a demon cult in our last session. They stumbled into the cult preparing for a sacrifice to summon a powerful demon to possess one of them. The party managed to rescue the sacrifice and kill a good amount of the 20 person cult, but didn't feel they could manage to fight the rest of the cultists and their leader. They withdrew to the safety of a hideout in the city sewers.
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Nov 8, 2019 02:13
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I want to give one of my players a bow that lets her take a single shot at the beginning of combat, regardless of initiative. A nat 20 will still beat it to go first so that chance isn’t removed for the other players. Too powerful?
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Nov 10, 2019 17:38
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Sanford posted:I want to give one of my players a bow that lets her take a single shot at the beginning of combat, regardless of initiative. A nat 20 will still beat it to go first so that chance isn’t removed for the other players. Too powerful?
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Nov 10, 2019 18:01
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Make the one requirement that they aren't surprised and it sounds fine to me. I'd honestly even give the free shot some sort of little bonus, like having a chance to knock the enemy prone or something, just to signify it's special nature.
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Nov 10, 2019 20:58
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It’s roughly a two thirds chance to do an extra d10+6ish damage per fight, you don’t need to worry about it being overpowered.
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Nov 10, 2019 22:53
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Sanford posted:I want to give one of my players a bow that lets her take a single shot at the beginning of combat, regardless of initiative. A nat 20 will still beat it to go first so that chance isn’t removed for the other players. Too powerful? Yeah I don't think that needs any clauses. Just give it as is.
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Nov 10, 2019 22:55
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That's a cool magic item but, I would also give it a bonus.
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Nov 11, 2019 18:59
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I'm running a one shot this weekend with people who I hope will become a regular group (I'm an idiot for trying to throw this together in November with all of the holidays coming up.) Would it be wrong to end the one shot on like "You solved this mystery but here's some hints that more evil is on it's way, hopefully you'll want to come play again and figure that out." or would that be cliche to end a one off on a cliff hanger.
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Nov 12, 2019 01:53
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Don't don't do a straight up cliffhanger, but an ambiguous "THE END ...OR WAS IT?!?!!" is a fine way to end a oneshot. Think like an old twilight zone episode or The Thing, rather than "join us next week to see how it ends up".
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Nov 12, 2019 02:01
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Does anyone have any good resources on setting up political/spy intrigue games? I'm looking at the conspyramid from Night's Black Agents and some guidelines from Vampire the Requiem about setting up political factions already, but if people have other ideas/recommendations/advice for either of those two tools (if there's an NBA supplement with more conspiracy advice, that would be welcome). I'm doing things slow-boil, so I don't want something quicker like Dungeon World's fronts.
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Nov 12, 2019 05:55
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I got very in my own head about doing puzzles/challenges that have actual answers and aren't solved with a dice rolls. I ended up hitting writer's block until I realized that these scenarios work better if I let my players improv. So my advice is don't get overzealous, I guess.
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Nov 12, 2019 08:41
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Elector_Nerdlingen posted:Don't don't do a straight up cliffhanger, but an ambiguous You could always do a post-credit sequence, my players have eaten that poo poo up
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Nov 12, 2019 16:09
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I'll do one-offs with my group, like when we don't have quorum but want to play anyway- I'll almost always throw a plot seed at the end in case they wanna go back to that scenario, and had one game completely shift to one of those after they liked it better one that I'm excited to do again over the spotty-calendar holidays is a run of Everyone is John set in the campaign world- last time it went amazingly well and was very funny, and the one guy who was a lil bummed out we weren't playing bona-fide D&D was placated with bonus XP for their main game characters
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Nov 12, 2019 16:44
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Arivia posted:Does anyone have any good resources on setting up political/spy intrigue games? I'm looking at the conspyramid from Night's Black Agents and some guidelines from Vampire the Requiem about setting up political factions already, but if people have other ideas/recommendations/advice for either of those two tools (if there's an NBA supplement with more conspiracy advice, that would be welcome). I'm doing things slow-boil, so I don't want something quicker like Dungeon World's fronts. While it's not even close to a "gaming resource" as such, you could do worse than to check out Overworld: The Life and Times of a Reluctant Spy.
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Nov 12, 2019 17:51
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Quick questions, I’m in game in half an hour and noticed two big gaps in my notes. 1) Helen Handonheart has totally lost her poo poo and has got the last of the Saviours together and they’re going to execute Handsome Horace. When he’s rescued the players will find he’s had all his fingers and lips and poo poo cut off. What spell will restore his handsomeness? Doesn’t matter how high level it is, I want Half-Horace to rush up calling them cunts and wankers like normal and then cast a really high level religious spell to save his friend. I quickly looked through every variation of heal I could find but none of them seem to grow bits back. 2) Mr Please-Please the executioner has got a terrible black axe that continually weeps blood. It is a hosed up weapon that was sealed away after the big war with “this place is not a place of honour” style warnings all over. He took it anyway and now never puts it down or speaks or does anything except wait to be told to cut a head off. What horrible thing can the axe do to people it kills? I was just going to have it trap souls as a plot point, but they’ve seen him kill half a dozen people with it and it would be nice if it had a mechanical effect of some kind. Also thinking about it now “it traps souls in the axe” is basically the most boring thing it could do. Edit: d&d 5e sorry Sanford fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Nov 12, 2019 |
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Nov 12, 2019 19:00
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Sanford posted:Quick questions, I’m in game in half an hour and noticed two big gaps in my notes. 1) Sounds like Greater Restoration (5th level, Bard/Cleric/Druid) to me. It doesn't explicitly grow bits back, but it can cure petrification and ability score loss and so I don't see why amputation wouldn't be covered. 2) Traps souls in the axe is pretty classic for that sort of thing, just let it do something with the souls. Consume a soul for a free fear effect at a pretty reasonable DC? (Check the wand of horror or something for a comparator?) Kinda depends what power level you want, but a greataxe that can cast a fear effect on a bonus action is pretty solid. Or it could consume souls to summon low-to-medium level ghosts? Or is what you're looking for a non-combat power. The axe induces a sense of dread in all who see it, lending authority and fear to the wielder (bonus to intimidate checks, penalty to will saves?). The blood can be used as a magical reagent? Or the axe severs and destroys their souls, preventing them from reaching the afterlife/being escorted by the god/goddess of death to wherever souls go, prevents them from being reincarnated? Or the axe does that, but instead of destroying the souls it captures their energy and can be used to fuel dark rituals. Or it captures the soul energy and forever damns those it kills, while a talented wielder can channel the energy into raising headless zombies.
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Nov 12, 2019 19:08
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Sanford posted:Quick questions, I’m in game in half an hour and noticed two big gaps in my notes. Regenerate for number 1. Relevant text: The target's severed body members (fingers, legs, tails, and so on), if any, are restored after 2 minutes. If you have the severed part and hold it to the stump, the spell instantaneously causes the limb to knit to the stump.
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Nov 12, 2019 19:12
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Arcturas posted:Or the axe severs and destroys their souls, preventing them from reaching the afterlife/being escorted by the god/goddess of death to wherever souls go, prevents them from being reincarnated? Or the axe does that, but instead of destroying the souls it captures their energy and can be used to fuel dark rituals. Haha this is  The Saviours have been revealed as assisting the priests of Morr, who have been corrupting/stealing the souls of the dead for their own ends rather than ushering them into Morr’s realm.Arivia posted:Regenerate for number 1. That is perfect, thank you. And Half Horace was meant to be revealed to be a high-level cleric, but I’m definitely making him a bard instead. He’s horrible.
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Nov 12, 2019 19:21
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Sanford posted:That is perfect, thank you. And Half Horace was meant to be revealed to be a high-level cleric, but I’m definitely making him a bard instead. He’s horrible. It's on the bard list, so you're good!
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Nov 12, 2019 19:23
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Ignite Memories posted:You could always do a post-credit sequence, my players have eaten that poo poo up Post credit scenes own. Have a badass musical sting to play after
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Nov 12, 2019 19:50
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Sanford posted:
Anyone it kills is transformed into some kind of undead depending on the level of the person killed that is under the control of the axe (make it some kind of evil intelligent weapon). So, skeleton to zombie to ghoul to wight, etc. Oh, and whatever the form of undead (even a skeleton) it can still talk. And that talk is screaming in agony and/or begging for death.
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Nov 12, 2019 19:52
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Sanford posted:Quick questions, I’m in game in half an hour and noticed two big gaps in my notes. Options: * A being trapped in the pommel of the axe makes it an unstoppable weapon. When wielded by mortal hand, the being trapped in the pommel of the axe starts to break loose -- it is what the warnings around the weapon were about. The blade consumes the souls of those killed in order to maintain the bindings on it. * Those killed by the axe are imprisoned inside it; the wielder is able to communicate with them and interrogate them (and has effectively godlike powers over the pocket dimension where they're imprisoned) * Whoever picks up the axe is possessed by the combined spirits of everyone who the axe has ever killed. The gestalt of combined spirits only want to add more to their number, so that they become more intelligent and powerful (and as they do so, they also become less and less capable of human things like emotion).
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Nov 13, 2019 00:04
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I like the "it chops off their soul" bit. Forget storing magic, it's just ultra evil and semi sentient and no one knows it's happening except the executioner, Mr. Please-Please.
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Nov 13, 2019 02:50
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Glory to Italia!
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Those the Axe kills are cleaved from the mortal plain and imprisoned in the Plane of Chains. They are forever chained to the massive seige engine that is pulled by the thousands of souls the Axe has slain. The souls of those who die by the Axe's blades will never enter the after life and are immune to ressurecrion magict -- they toil unceasingly, blindly against the chains struggling to move the asige engine forward -- and once enough souls are hitched to the World Shatterer it will bring forth it's evil into this realm.
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Nov 13, 2019 03:03
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Ceros_X posted:Those the Axe kills are cleaved from the mortal plain and imprisoned in the Plane of Chains. They are forever chained to the massive seige engine that is pulled by the thousands of souls the Axe has slain. The souls of those who die by the Axe's blades will never enter the after life and are immune to ressurecrion magict -- they toil unceasingly, blindly against the chains struggling to move the asige engine forward -- and once enough souls are hitched to the World Shatterer it will bring forth it's evil into this realm. this is amazing and original and i certainly haven't read it in any large fantasy novels (it owns though)
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Nov 13, 2019 03:13
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sebmojo posted:this is amazing and original and i certainly haven't read it in any large fantasy novels (it owns though) If you are killed wielding the Axe, you return to life moments later, more powerful, but also less free-willed and less sane. A character immediately gains a level upon dying while holding the Axe, and is returned to life with full hit points and all negative status effects removed (except for the curse of the Axe), with all lost or maimed body parts restored, 1d4 rounds later. This character also loses 1 point of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (whichever is lowest) permanently, and is considered charmed by the powerful extraplanar entity who crafted the Axe after losing any ability score points to this effect. The evil entity can speak to the character telepathically, anywhere and is aware of the wielder's actions and surroundings. Upon having any ability reduced to zero by these effects, the Axe's wielder is permanently under the control of this evil entity and is lost forever.
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Nov 13, 2019 03:55
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sebmojo posted:this is amazing and original and i certainly haven't read it in any large fantasy novels (it owns though) I was wondering who else had read it :V On book 3 right now
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Nov 13, 2019 04:29
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Ceros_X posted:I was wondering who else had read it :V It's obscure enough most people won't get the reference though, and its a nice creepy touch.
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Nov 13, 2019 09:52
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Yeah, Dragnipur was my first thought too. Always wanted to put that in a game somehow. There's a Malazan thread here in which you should post your reactions if it's your first time reading by the way. An idea to mix up this with what Infinite Karma said could be that when the wielder dies one of the captured souls has a chance to possess the body and because of that the souls inside the axe are in constant battle with each other to have a better chance to escape when the wielder dies, meaning whoever takes over is someone who's permanently destroyed multiple souls (an evil person) and whose soul itself is probably damaged.
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Nov 13, 2019 12:16
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Ceros_X posted:Those the Axe kills are cleaved from the mortal plain and imprisoned in the Plane of Chains. They are forever chained to the massive seige engine that is pulled by the thousands of souls the Axe has slain. The souls of those who die by the Axe's blades will never enter the after life and are immune to ressurecrion magict -- they toil unceasingly, blindly against the chains struggling to move the asige engine forward -- and once enough souls are hitched to the World Shatterer it will break the afterlife, condemning all just and good souls to hellish torment for eternity while the souls of evil are set loose to run free upon the material plane/ Just suggesting a minor tweak.
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Nov 13, 2019 16:17
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DivineCoffeeBinge posted:Just suggesting a minor tweak. Alternative: once enough souls are hitched, it will break the afterlife, allowing the souls facing eternal torture their crimes while alive to break free and enjoy the same pleasant, rewarding afterlife as those who stuck to a life of piety and self-denial.
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Nov 13, 2019 17:48
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Whybird posted:Alternative: once enough souls are hitched, it will break the afterlife, allowing the souls facing eternal torture their crimes while alive to break free and enjoy the same pleasant, rewarding afterlife as those who stuck to a life of piety and self-denial. See I thought about that, but my players would have gone "huh, that sounds like something we can live with" and forgotten about it, so
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Nov 13, 2019 17:52
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DivineCoffeeBinge posted:See I thought about that, but my players would have gone "huh, that sounds like something we can live with" and forgotten about it, so I'm with your players. "Heaven's still around, there's just no bouncer at the door? Good enough."
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Nov 13, 2019 19:12
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Whybird posted:Alternative: once enough souls are hitched, it will break the afterlife, allowing the souls facing eternal torture their crimes while alive to break free and enjoy the same pleasant, rewarding afterlife as those who stuck to a life of piety and self-denial. that's not a consequence, that's a goal
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Nov 13, 2019 19:36
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The axe does not only kill the victim, but destroys any memories other people might have of that person. Spouses would believe themselves never married. Neighbors would wonder about the strange house that has always been empty. Children would remember childhoods raised by a single parent. In the end you not only cease to exists, but you never even existed in the first place.
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Nov 14, 2019 08:17
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Kung Food posted:The axe does not only kill the victim, but destroys any memories other people might have of that person. Spouses would believe themselves never married. Neighbors would wonder about the strange house that has always been empty. Children would remember childhoods raised by a single parent. In the end you not only cease to exists, but you never even existed in the first place. How would resurrection work with it. Would people's memories return with you being alive again. Could the axe be used in conjuction with resurrection to effectively create new identities for those in need of an absolute way to shake hunters.
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Nov 14, 2019 19:09
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Kung Food posted:The axe does not only kill the victim, but destroys any memories other people might have of that person. Spouses would believe themselves never married. Neighbors would wonder about the strange house that has always been empty. Children would remember childhoods raised by a single parent. In the end you not only cease to exists, but you never even existed in the first place. If the bearer of the axe ever critically fumbles and kills himself with the axe, not only does everyone forget about him they forget about everything they knew about the axe. This is why the axe has never been the central item in an evil cult's scheme to take over the world, because clumsy doombringers keep lopping off their own heads and making the evil cult forget why they got together in the first place.
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Nov 14, 2019 19:23
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