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I ran Blades in the Dark (which is adequately in the same direction as Fellowship for it to be at least lightly relevant) on Roll20 solely because the character sheets were good. You can always use the "tabletop" to set moods with images and stuff, rather than dropping down battle maps or whatever. Ask your players what they want to do, if they would prefer to keep their own sheets and be responsible for them, I'd let them.
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Aug 10, 2022 12:27
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I ran FFG'S Star Wars as an adventure type game on roll20, and it worked great. I just created scenes that gave the overall effect of where the players were (and then allowed them to draw on it for hilarious results). Just because it's sold as a top down map doesn't mean you have to treat it that way. Some pictures from that game years ago: Mustache Ride posted:
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Aug 10, 2022 13:31
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Looking for everyone's opinions on this; is it OK to just do a "slice of life" session? Do players respond well to that? No mystery to solve or quest to run, no real plot advancement, just a couple hours interacting with townsfolk and RPing with each other? There's a town that is central to our campaign and we've never really taken the time to establish the place beyond a couple important NPCs, so I wanted to do something low impact that's just getting to know the place so the incoming plot will have actual stakes.
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Aug 14, 2022 19:31
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Everything Counts posted:Looking for everyone's opinions on this; is it OK to just do a "slice of life" session? Do players respond well to that? No mystery to solve or quest to run, no real plot advancement, just a couple hours interacting with townsfolk and RPing with each other? There's a town that is central to our campaign and we've never really taken the time to establish the place beyond a couple important NPCs, so I wanted to do something low impact that's just getting to know the place so the incoming plot will have actual stakes. Depends entirely on the players. Personally I find that basically intolerable as a player, but plenty of people like it.
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Aug 14, 2022 19:34
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Everything Counts posted:Looking for everyone's opinions on this; is it OK to just do a "slice of life" session? Do players respond well to that? No mystery to solve or quest to run, no real plot advancement, just a couple hours interacting with townsfolk and RPing with each other? There's a town that is central to our campaign and we've never really taken the time to establish the place beyond a couple important NPCs, so I wanted to do something low impact that's just getting to know the place so the incoming plot will have actual stakes. The success of such a session will depend entirely on your players, yeah. Some players love that poo poo, I'm one of 'em - and some will want nothing but to nap through it or otherwise dick around, because they're not getting what they want out of the game. So talk to your players (aka "the default advice"). See if they'd be interested.
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Aug 14, 2022 19:51
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Everything Counts posted:Looking for everyone's opinions on this; is it OK to just do a "slice of life" session? Do players respond well to that? No mystery to solve or quest to run, no real plot advancement, just a couple hours interacting with townsfolk and RPing with each other? There's a town that is central to our campaign and we've never really taken the time to establish the place beyond a couple important NPCs, so I wanted to do something low impact that's just getting to know the place so the incoming plot will have actual stakes. This can be a fun session, but don't get lazy with zero structure and expect the players to pick up the slack. You should have some kind of low-stakes B-plot that encourages them to explore. Like the carnival is in town! Use the Witchlight Carnival as a template and you can run something interesting. Have different shops running games and doing give-aways and raffles to advertise their wares. Have the local temples out recruiting new members. Have the rival temples get into a fight on the bumper cars, that sort of thing. Each booth and game gives tickets, and you can win a FABULOUS PRIZE at the end of the night!
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Aug 14, 2022 20:48
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Everything Counts posted:Looking for everyone's opinions on this; is it OK to just do a "slice of life" session? Do players respond well to that? No mystery to solve or quest to run, no real plot advancement, just a couple hours interacting with townsfolk and RPing with each other? There's a town that is central to our campaign and we've never really taken the time to establish the place beyond a couple important NPCs, so I wanted to do something low impact that's just getting to know the place so the incoming plot will have actual stakes. Just because there's "no real plot advancement" doesn't mean the session can't be strewn with more hooks (for future sessions) than an overturned tackle box. I remember fondly one game session where we all had a night on the town that I think was supposed to be a 10 minute interlude before getting our next hook, but my Dwarven barbarian/berserker prestige class (I don't remember the name; it was a 3.5 FR I think -- key notes are +Fort, +Will, +Dwarven resistances IIRC) decided to extend the night's party on his own. Getting as drunk as his high CON and Dwarven resistances would allow, he started demanding free goods and services at establishments because "If it wernshn't for me and my friendsh, you'd all be spheaking Orcish now." It ended with a parkour chase from the city guard who eventually caught him after he fell 40' off a wall and stunned himself long enough to be brought into the slammer, then he decided to chant Dwarven battle hymns at full volume in jail. The guard had to rouse a cleric who tried to cast Silence on him, but he passed the save; the cleric got smart and cast it on the lock of the cell. He had to pay a big fine and all that but got released because the mayor needed us to do something else. The key was the DM was letting other players play NPCs involved in the rampage. Lots of fun. BUT a that was only fun because everyone got to be involved, even if not as their character, and there was action (doesn't have to be physical action; could be social action like bluffing or diplomacy). (Technically, there was also a lot of roleplaying on my part.) If you decide to go this way and the players are OK with it, make sure you set up scenes where multiple players can be involved, either as their characters or as NPCs. Also, you might want to take a page from PbtA-type games and let the players do a lot of definition of the town, even down to letting them draw places on the map. It'll give them a bigger stake in things later on (e.g.) when the maiden Rowena has to be rescued from marauding goblins if they're the ones who named and described her.
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Aug 14, 2022 21:41
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I’ve been running a campaign for teens & tweens at the local library, but we’ve only got about 1.5 hours of play time. The kids seem to enjoy things so far but how would y’all recommend fitting combat and role play into a single session? Or just general tips for very short sessions
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Aug 15, 2022 12:06
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Triskelli posted:I’ve been running a campaign for teens & tweens at the local library, but we’ve only got about 1.5 hours of play time. The kids seem to enjoy things so far but how would y’all recommend fitting combat and role play into a single session? Or just general tips for very short sessions Extremely clear and well defined stakes properly scoped for the time. Were I in your shoes I'd probably plan for basically each game being a vignette with a narrative glue connecting them together occurring as a kind of Saturday Morning Serial. Kind of depending on the group you have, I would even try having it be the characters all sitting at a pub trying to one up each other with war stories with each player getting the hot seat a session, with how much narrative input they get TBD by you and your players.
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Aug 15, 2022 15:49
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Triskelli posted:I’ve been running a campaign for teens & tweens at the local library, but we’ve only got about 1.5 hours of play time. The kids seem to enjoy things so far but how would y’all recommend fitting combat and role play into a single session? Or just general tips for very short sessions put roleplay in the combat
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Aug 15, 2022 16:00
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maybe some sessions could have combat resolution other than “kill the bad guys” too. some of that could be roleplay—convince the bandits to stand down—and some of it could be action done mid-combat, like get to the magic item that is tethering the spirits to this realm and deactivate it so that they all disappear. then the fastest characters can shine at one thing, the smartest at another, and the toughest at a third
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Aug 15, 2022 17:09
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I'm going to be resuming my Tyranny of Dragons DMing, picking up about halfway to through the 1st book. I'd like the absolute simplest, fastest treasure generation 5e offers. Previously, IIRC, I would: 1) look up the CR of the encounters 2)Generate the treasure from online calculators 3) manually assign the important/interesting treasure throughout the encounters 4) keep the rest on a sheet of paper to tick off when appropriate Can I do even less work? Does someone know if, for example, there is a single "give me all the treasure they get for this level" in one online generator, so I can just generate that, print it, and be done?
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Aug 15, 2022 17:48
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Triskelli posted:I’ve been running a campaign for teens & tweens at the local library, but we’ve only got about 1.5 hours of play time. The kids seem to enjoy things so far but how would y’all recommend fitting combat and role play into a single session? Or just general tips for very short sessions What system are you using? Obviously it'll be easier to do both if you have a system that allows compression of combat to a few rolls like something in the PbtA or FitD families. Is the group stable? Even if it is, regardless of system, you may want to use simplified character sheets, because every second looking up what someone can do or how to make a given roll is one of your 5400 seconds gone. But this becomes even more important if you have new people coming in and out. Counterintuitively, let the players take a role in describing things/defining the world. It's not roleplaying per se but involves them actively in a non-die rolling fashion, and more shy players might find that easier to do than speak as their character. Just allow for time spent doing this, and make sure to swing the spotlight onto players who haven't gotten their fair share of time.
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Aug 15, 2022 18:00
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Jack B Nimble posted:I'm going to be resuming my Tyranny of Dragons DMing, picking up about halfway to through the 1st book. I'd like the absolute simplest, fastest treasure generation 5e offers. Donjon has all the treasure table generators you will ever need. You can generate treasure hordes or dungeon levels with appropriate treasure, or just lists of random treasure like you rolled straight out of the back of the dmg. https://donjon.bin.sh As for how to balance things, that's a bit tricky with 5e. They really don't give you a lot of guidance in that edition about magic items. If you want better guidelines about roughly what level each item is appropriate for each level you can consult the 1e DMG or OSRIC https://osricwiki.presgas.name/doku.php?id=osric:chapter6 In 1e you gained XP based on your wealth. This means you can understand roughly how many magic items a character has by consulting the XP charts. So a 10th level fighter needs 500,000xp, which means they should also have 500,000gp worth of stuff (give or take for expenses). This is how I run my 5e game and it keeps the magic items in a manageable state. I'm kind of generous though, so you can tune it by using a less generious XP chart for guidance. Rutibex fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Aug 15, 2022 |
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Aug 15, 2022 18:06
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That's the site I've always used but you have to generate the treasure by CR and I'm so lazy QQ I can just do the same thing as before, if that's how it shakes out. My recollection is a lot of regenerating results and picking and choosing, but I guess that's the nature of online generators for something as delicate as "all of the party's stuff".
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Aug 15, 2022 18:10
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Jack B Nimble posted:That's the site I've always used but you have to generate the treasure by CR and I'm so lazy QQ You could just roll every magic treasure on the big "all magic items" table during play, so its exciting to everyone involved. Like a game of Diablo. Just make sure you have a backup campaign ready for when they roll the Deck of Many Things
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Aug 15, 2022 18:20
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Admiralty Flag posted:What system are you using? Obviously it'll be easier to do both if you have a system that allows compression of combat to a few rolls like something in the PbtA or FitD families. I'd love to move to simpler systems, but the Library locked me in to running D&D 5th Edition. Thankfully the group has been pretty stable for a while and most of the inexperienced players are happy running the premade characters, but I see your points.
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Aug 15, 2022 19:22
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Could anyone offer some general advice for keeping the immersion going when a D&D party goes part way through a dungeon, in a printed campaign, and then leaves to take a break? I think mostly I would throw up some obvious but not actually too-impactful barricades and things, to suggest the monsters are not impossibly unaware that someone took a big chunk out of their dungeon and then left. Probably also remove one of the encounters and relocate it as an assault or ambush on wherever the players go. And finally, when the players return make some noises about how they enemy has scrambled to hasten EVIL PLAN throughout the rest (without actually changing the campaign rules). Basically, any tips for keeping some flavor in a partially aborted dungeon crawl in a pre made campaign?
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Aug 15, 2022 22:11
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monster assault on the town in the middle of the night. if the players had done enough to "earn" a rest it can be after they recover spells and hp and so on. if they did like one fight and tapped out, before
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Aug 15, 2022 22:33
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Yeah that tracks - keep things from feeling like a static PC game.
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Aug 15, 2022 22:48
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When the players come back the next day, have them find the monsters have moved out and a Beholder hanging up a "For Rent" sign.
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Aug 16, 2022 03:31
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Rival adventuring party hauling out sacks of treasure. "This is all our mules can carry, but the rest is all yours!"
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Aug 16, 2022 07:31
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The corpses of a band of local village boys who figured that, since the brave adventurers had left, surely that meant there was no further danger - so they wandered inside ...okay admittedly that one might be a bit mean
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Aug 16, 2022 07:47
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Pickled Tink posted:When the players come back the next day, have them find the monsters have moved out and a Beholder hanging up a "For Rent" sign. I love this
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Aug 16, 2022 09:29
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Jack B Nimble posted:Could anyone offer some general advice for keeping the immersion going when a D&D party goes part way through a dungeon, in a printed campaign, and then leaves to take a break? A group of awed monster kids is gathered around a campfire in one of the first rooms, as a grizzled and traumatised veteran tells the tale of THAT night, when adventurers came to slaughter their way into his home. As the players' shadows grow on the wall, the terrified old man's eyes widen. He screams, "IT'S HAPPENING! IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN!" Less silly: Add a mini-boss with a stealth/tracking aspect (a goblin hunter, say) to one of the encounters who introduces himself cordially, praises the heroes for their courage in returning, and says he's studied their tactics from their previous attack, as he knew they'd be back to finish the job. Give him some fun little counters to the players' most-used tactics and give him some playful taunts. "Another fireball, Bregoth? Really, you're going back to that hoary old spell?" It's a consequence, but the players can come away feeling recognised by the story rather than penalised.
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Aug 16, 2022 09:58
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Someone's been playing Shadow of Mordor  Don't get me wrong, it's a great idea that I'll steal post haste
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Aug 16, 2022 10:07
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No, no, this is a completely new and original idea I had, because you see
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Aug 16, 2022 10:10
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Put a big, conspicuous treasure chest in the first room when they come back. Full, empty, trapped, untrapped - either way your players will spend about an hour deciding whether to leave it alone or not.
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Aug 16, 2022 10:35
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The answer depends a lot on what the players were going in there to do, but also what kind of behaviour you want to encourage. If you want your players to gradually chip away at a dungeon through increasingly deep expeditions, don't make the consequences too severe. If you want your players to have to finish a dungeon all in one go, then give them a phyrric victory where because they took so long, the thing they were going into the dungeon for is no longer available (evil ritual got finished early, big bad fled with the magic item they were after, whatever) but there's a clear indication of where to go to set things right.
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Aug 16, 2022 11:42
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Can you post some details about the dungeon, what the monsters are, why the party is supposed to go in etc.?
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Aug 16, 2022 11:56
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My Lovely Horse posted:Can you post some details about the dungeon, what the monsters are, why the party is supposed to go in etc.? The party is chasing both a caravan of looted treasure and a dragon cultist, and so obviously breaking off the engagement lets both finish their escape. This is accounted for in the campaign so that's OK. I'm neutral on the subject of resting because it can become a mechanical necessity but also can feel like a narrative failure -a party can be forced to take fights they don't feel ready for because it "wouldn't make sense" to stop. This castle is big, and I don't want to shorten it, it's a chunky dungeon and that's good. Jack B Nimble fucked around with this message at 13:21 on Aug 16, 2022 |
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Aug 16, 2022 13:17
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Oh yeah, if the party is chasing baddies, and then they go leave to have a nap, have the baddies escape and have them rig the cave/ruins/building to collapse on the party when they return, or set a particularly nasty ambush for them. If they wait too long, a local group of children, or townsfolk looking for lost loved ones, or whoever winds up springing that trap, bringing the whole place down. Drop some hints around town that So-and-So has been missing. They were last seen heading out to look for family or lost heirloom or whatever the cultists stole/brainwashed/whatever.
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Aug 16, 2022 14:34
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One pretty basic structural question. I'm prepping for a group of mostly new players for the first time in a couple of years, and I have a kind of Session 0+ set up. The characters begin as prisoners, and their first act will be to plan their escape. So we'll run through character set-up and establish the rules of the table, etc, then segue into setting up the scenario and doing in-character introductions around the campfire, and then I essentially have two 'tutorial' events to complete the session and give them a taste of the basics: - An ally will appear to suggest to the players with a few suggested hooks for making their escape; the players will then be free to roll some introductory skill checks to gather extra information from the ally and hopefully agree on their next course of action for the campaign proper. - A gang of fellow prisoners will interrupt them, showing up to provoke a tutorial fight and getting everyone used to the rules of combat with no long-term consequences, as the guards can rush in if things get hairy. What do people reckon is the smoothest and most engaging order for an introductory session like this - combat then planning, or planning then combat? My natural inclination would always be to have the combat as the climactic event, but I'm wondering if that'll feel like slamming on the brakes if it interrupts the players already anticipating and ready to tackle the next stage of the story. (And any other suggestions for good mini-tutorials to slot in without overwhelming everyone? I'll likely end with a rest sequence but travel will have to wait.)
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Aug 23, 2022 08:27
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I'd mull over doing the combat first as an in media res so they go immediately from character creation to an activity that will consume a large large portion of the player's mechanical focus. Then have everything else follow from that. I don't know just how green your players are to everything but if you're planning a tutorial you may want to make everything both in game and table talk as explicit as possible and telegraph everything. Err on the side of too much hand holding for that session and look for places to pull back rather than the converse.
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Aug 23, 2022 11:15
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This is entirely based on playing with kids, but I’ve had three very successful campaign intros by beginning with either combat, or a visual puzzle (you’re washed up on a beach, here’s the map, find your stuff). Don’t worry about the rules, the players tell me what they want to do and I’ll tell them what they need to roll, and why. Then they explain what they want to do (“I shout “back off” and wave my sword” or “I want to search this pile of driftwood”) and then you can introduce various rolls and concepts as you need them. This gets the players in the habit of describing things theatrically (definitely my preference as dm), asking you questions when needed, and trusting you to guide things and keep them informed (rather than seeing you as an adversary). I feel I’m explaining this really badly but it works really well. The example up there of shouting “back off” led to an explanation of skill checks, intimidation rolls, how other skills and proficiencies work, and a quick q&a on some specific skills and where you’d use them. Bit stilted but stops it getting boring and sets the rules in context, so they’re remembered. The bits you’ve put below sounds good but I would be very inclined to put the fight up front, or some other challenge. You want them rolling dice and feeling they’re moving the plot forward as soon as you can.
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Aug 23, 2022 11:27
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Dameius posted:I'd mull over doing the combat first as an in media res so they go immediately from character creation to an activity that will consume a large large portion of the player's mechanical focus. Then have everything else follow from that. Yes that’s what I was trying to say.
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Aug 23, 2022 11:33
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Thanks both, that all makes a lot of sense!Dameius posted:I don't know just how green your players are to everything but if you're planning a tutorial you may want to make everything both in game and table talk as explicit as possible and telegraph everything. Err on the side of too much hand holding for that session and look for places to pull back rather than the converse. Yeah, I'll definitely be doing a lot of 'freeze-framing' during every in-game sequence to give context around what's happening and what the options are. They've all been watching Critical Role and enjoying it (and they've been coming up with some great character backstories so far), so I think they all already have a decent sense of the ebb and flow and theatrical spirit of play. Should be fun!
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Aug 23, 2022 11:53
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grobbo posted:Thanks both, that all makes a lot of sense! If they are entirely new to ttrpgs and their only exposure to the format is CR and you're doing a tutorial session 0 anyways, I'd prepare some thoughts on table expectations and how CR is as much an entertainment product made by professional entertainers and yadda yadda etc.. It may never come up and may never be a problem in which case hurray, but that Thing™ has come up enough at tables with completely new players that its just something I'd keep an eye out for.
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Aug 24, 2022 16:39
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Hey, just wondering - are there any lists of recommended systems for running a 'paranormal investigation/response team' type game, out of curiosity? Not like, cthulhu or aliens or whatever, more like... I dunno, something similar to an "SCP Foundation" team pursuing cryptids, containing weird and dangerous anomalies and the like. (There are better examples of what I'm going for, but that's the main one I can think of) Better yet if it's good at low numbers - since I'll potentially be playing with maybe three others. From what I've seen, 'Delta Green' might be workable? There's also an SCP RPG, but, like with what little I've seen of SCP content, it may be of varying quality - no idea if it's actually any good, or if it's sub-par. I'm pretty new to GMing, but I've been thinking about running something like this for a little while. However, I'm still unsure about what system to actually use. I'm hoping for something reasonably flexible in the sense that it more easily allows for creating/importing custom enemies and that sort of thing. I'd also greatly appreciate it if anyone could point me towards materials (either made for the chosen RPG system, or something entirely different that can be adapted or used as inspiration) for mini-campaigns for it? Other stuff like 'bestiaries' on stuff like this would be great too, since although I'm interested in running a campaign focused on this stuff, I'm personally not very knowledgeable on it Since I'm hoping I can (without being boring and railroading everyone) make a string of missions and mishaps that, depending on outcomes, may have interconnected elements that come back to bite everyone later on, to create more dramas. (If you've played 'Control', I'm thinking kinda like that, or SCP. Where there are big secured containment areas of the base/bunker, where all the recovered weird anomalies/creatures are kept, off to one side. So if there's an issue on the base, it might end up causing a chain reaction with multiple anomalies getting loose) Apologies if this is the wrong place to ask (seems like this is probably the best spot? There doesn't seem to be a general TTRPG thread, plus I'll be GMing and I am seeking advice, after all!  ) and also apologies for being a little vague with my questions. I'm in the early stages at the moment - just trying to see what might work and go from there. Thanks!
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Aug 29, 2022 03:33
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Have you looked at Monster of the Week? I just started a campaign with it, it's pretty easy to pick up and run with and it's designed to create a story that is Players Investigate Monster->Players Confront Monster, rinse repeat. It's probably what I would use running an SCP based game.
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Aug 29, 2022 03:46
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