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kaffo posted:Hey fellow GM goons Are you...me? I'm struggling with nearly the same thing, except my players are all via Roll20, so atmosphere is a bit harder to control there. I've taken the route of playing mood setting music over discord. My group is playing DW as well, and I'm new to it. It's my first AW engine game, and we just started playing it this year, though I've been running games for more than 20 years (mostly DnD and WoD games). Which brings me to a suggestion for you: Have you tried Urban Shadows? (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/153464/Urban-Shadows). I was looking for a DW adaptation of WoD games, and ran across it. There's a few homebrew supplements that bring WoD directly over into US without much work. I mention this because the entire setting of most WoD games is that of despair, dread and horror.
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Oct 10, 2017 16:54
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kaffo posted:Got any advice for getting better at this? Other than "do it" No, seriously, just do it. It's awesome and depending on your group they'll eat it up. I chopped off the hands of one of my PCs. He was a Monk so it didn't really impact his character at all because of the whole "my entire body is a weapon" thing. But it made the other players really think twice about a lot of situations. Plus I let the monk buy awesome stump-weapons so he was happy. "There is a lever mounted on the wall next to the door in a recess about a foot deep." Suddenly nobody wants to open a door and they're using staves to poke everything. Sometimes just knowing that certain things can happen is enough to bring the fear.
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Oct 10, 2017 17:22
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This is all really great advice fellow goons, cheers I'll consolidate everything I've got here into some notes and start putting stuff together next week, and there's a lot here to think about 
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Oct 10, 2017 17:31
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kaffo posted:Got any advice for getting better at this? Other than "do it" If you need to psych yourself up for this, think about every time someone has lied to you, swindled you, cheated you, threatened you, or made you feel small or worthless. Now imagine you have somehow turned the tables on them and they're under your thumb. Feel that? That's how your NPC feels - now play him or her accordingly. And if you don't want to kill PCs, ok, cool, whatever. But in that case, you should be absolutely ruthless with everything about which they actually give a poo poo. Bonus points if you can make this come as consequences to their actions (as in: yeah, the PCs killed the rear end in a top hat warlord who was demanding tribute, but that left a power vacuum and now his gang has split into multiple groups of marauding raiders, one of which hit Burner's Hole last night and butchered the beloved Gimpy Jim in the process).
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Oct 10, 2017 18:07
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kaffo posted:Hey fellow GM goons 1. Make players work for their victories. This is essential in a grimdark campaign, never just hand players something - when it becomes clear they want something, think up things that can get in the way and make sure those things get in the way. 2. Try to remember that every meaningful victory should come with a cost, and that cost should be known beforehand. This may not apply to the little stuff, but when it comes to the most important stuff you need to make sure that the players sit back and think about what they really want. e.g., Okay, you're trying to deal with the demon infestation in the city, and you've decided that setting up a local inquisition is the best way to do it. Only... one of your enemies has gotten involved, and he's poised to achieve leadership over the organization once it gets off the ground. Is this really what you want? What about if your father's likely been possessed, and you won't be able to protect him? There are a lot of things that can make players squirm, make them feel like actions have consequences, beyond killing the PCs. In fact, killing the PCs is among the least interesting things you can do. Falstaff fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Oct 10, 2017 |
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Oct 10, 2017 18:17
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Agreed. I think it's MonsterHearts that has the absolute best GM advice for this: gut-punch off-screen.
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Oct 10, 2017 18:19
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Ilor posted:Yeah - you know how when the players are all looking at you to say something about what happens next or what an NPC does or says? Right now, your default mood is to get funny. Instead (and this is especially true of NPCs), get angry. Sure, having a hostile warlord cracking jokes lightens the mood, but if you want to set the tone, have that guy be a stone-cold rear end in a top hat. I think this hit home the most, cos it's exactly what I do, but reading this just now has made me self aware of it I'm getting really hype for this now. I think I can pull it off, and stick to it, if I go in with that right mindset. My group is pretty dynamic, but like me they've tended to side on the fun and light hearted, but I know I can get them in the mood if I stick with it Last dungeon world is definitely next Thursday, then we decide if it's me or someone else running the next game... Thanks again guys, I'll keep up with this thread and post if I can offer any advice myself Five minutes later edit: I was thinking about what Ilor said about playing the angry dude, imaging the other guy is someone who's been poo poo to me I realised I'm just not that kinda guy IRL, if someone is that poo poo to me I go "alright, good for you" and cease all contact with them. I'm a passive dude, it's how I roll in life. However, to do this right, I'm gonna need to do some REAL roleplaying I think. Not just me reskinned This'll be fun  kaffo fucked around with this message at 23:13 on Oct 10, 2017 |
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Oct 10, 2017 23:01
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Yeah, being an MC absolutely involves role-playing. That's most of the fun! And part of making convincing NPCs is giving them real motivations. If your players can look at one of the NPCs and say, "You know, I loving hate that guy, but I totally get why he is the way he is," then you're all set.
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Oct 11, 2017 00:51
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So I'm running Curse of Strahd, and the players drew the mad mage as their ally. They've just rescued him and I'm wondering how exactly to incorporate him into the campaign. I don't want to directly involve him because honestly, this dude would eat strahds lunch. I was thinking he could provide magical support via items and scrolls, maybe a get-out-if-jail-free card if the players get into a jam. The players went through a great deal of trouble to rescue him and I want it to be worth it without giving them an 18th level caster in the ranks.
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Oct 13, 2017 14:54
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GIRL BRAINS posted:So I'm running Curse of Strahd, and the players drew the mad mage as their ally. They've just rescued him and I'm wondering how exactly to incorporate him into the campaign. I don't want to directly involve him because honestly, this dude would eat strahds lunch. I was thinking he could provide magical support via items and scrolls, maybe a get-out-if-jail-free card if the players get into a jam. The players went through a great deal of trouble to rescue him and I want it to be worth it without giving them an 18th level caster in the ranks. Your PCs want to be the ones to kill Strahd. They do not want to watch an NPC do it. They busted rear end to get the guy out, so it has to have been worth it - but he should be supporting the awesome parts of the campaign, not starring in them.
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Oct 13, 2017 14:59
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DivineCoffeeBinge posted:Your PCs want to be the ones to kill Strahd. They do not want to watch an NPC do it. I totally understand, that's why I'm asking what would be the best way to meaningful Incorporate him as an ally. I don't want this dude showing up in the final battle just to chuck 2 spells and have it be over, but I want him to contribute in a way that emboldens the players to defeat strahd.
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Oct 13, 2017 15:03
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He's a high level caster so he has way more important poo poo to do than babysitting a bunch of adventurers. That said, he likes them for saving his rear end so he will help them as much as he can. Let him be a source of knowledge and maybe a few magic items.
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Oct 13, 2017 15:03
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GIRL BRAINS posted:I totally understand, that's why I'm asking what would be the best way to meaningful Incorporate him as an ally. I don't want this dude showing up in the final battle just to chuck 2 spells and have it be over, but I want him to contribute in a way that emboldens the players to defeat strahd. As HatfulOfHollow said, let him be a resource. If she shows up for the battle and casts any spells at all, have them buff the PCs rather than doing damage (if memory serves even after being freed he should still be kinda mad, so you can always have him explain that he didn't memorize any damaging spells because the voices in his head said not to or whatever).
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Oct 13, 2017 15:08
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GIRL BRAINS posted:So I'm running Curse of Strahd, and the players drew the mad mage as their ally. They've just rescued him and I'm wondering how exactly to incorporate him into the campaign. I don't want to directly involve him because honestly, this dude would eat strahds lunch. I was thinking he could provide magical support via items and scrolls, maybe a get-out-if-jail-free card if the players get into a jam. The players went through a great deal of trouble to rescue him and I want it to be worth it without giving them an 18th level caster in the ranks. My immediate thoughts is to help the players out with something offscreen. Since having him hand them magic items and spells seems a bit lame Tell the players how he's got a grand plan to go and sabotage part of the BBG's plans or maybe weaken his defences or give the players an opening to go hit the big bad I dunno anything about Strahd, but if the BBG was some dick King or something you could have the mage dude blow a hole in the side of the castle and distract the royal guard with a golem army while the PCs go and do the important/fun poo poo or have him rip open a rift to the salt plane and pour salt + salt elementals out in the capital to create a distraction So yeah, I'd use him as a resource, but in a slightly more abstract way than "give players things" and it also makes the dude seem like a bad rear end and be worth their time busting his rear end out That's my 2 cents at least
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Oct 13, 2017 15:17
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kaffo posted:My immediate thoughts is to help the players out with something offscreen. Since having him hand them magic items and spells seems a bit lame EDIT: Also, it's worth remembering that the Mad Mage did have to be rescued. He might be more than a match for Strahd one on one, but Strahd beat him - and that's likely because it wasn't just one on one. Lean into that. The Mad Mage isn't powerful to overcome all of Strahd's resources on his own, but he can tie up a lot of them and maybe even draw Strahd out of his defenses. That explains why the PCs are important too - they're the ace up the sleeve, the force that tips the balance. Comrade Gorbash fucked around with this message at 15:31 on Oct 13, 2017 |
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Oct 13, 2017 15:25
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It was a homebrew campaign, but I had a high-level mad mage NPC resource that never actually helped the players in combat. Instead, he acted mostly as a plot resource (although they had to pick apart his heavy metaphors to draw the information out- he saw the world... differently). He gave the players very helpful insight into history/NPC motivations/arcane goings on, but they had to work for it because crazy person. Why didn't he help them out with his magic powers when the world was ending? He was much more concerned with his own experiments, that they would catch glimpses of whenever they would come by. They appeared trivial, but would give the players clear displays of power to keep them invested and care about what he said. I kind of dialed an eccentric emeritus researcher up to 11- his stuff is important to him and nobody else, but back in his prime...
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Oct 13, 2017 15:30
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If this is who I think it is, they're more interested in just creating spells, and would probably give those and/or magical items off to the party than be an active participant.
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Oct 13, 2017 15:35
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Thanks for the replies, yeah I figured I'd mix his fascination with the darkness of barovia with his bad memories of the last time Strahd stomped him up and down the countryside as a convenient distraction. The players really like their characters and the mage is pretty well traveled, so it'd be cool to kick em a little something something tailored to each of them that he's picked up over the years.
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Oct 13, 2017 16:08
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BadSamaritan posted:It was a homebrew campaign, but I had a high-level mad mage NPC resource that never actually helped the players in combat. Instead, he acted mostly as a plot resource (although they had to pick apart his heavy metaphors to draw the information out- he saw the world... differently). He gave the players very helpful insight into history/NPC motivations/arcane goings on, but they had to work for it because crazy person. I currently have an NPC in my own game that fulfills this role. They keep peeling back more and more layers to see exactly how stupid powerful she is, which means that when she has an errand she needs done the PCs immediately trip over themselves to make it happen. In return they ask her to perform extremely specific single tasks that they otherwise could not, in order to help them carry out their own plans. At one point for instance they leaned on her magical expertise to levitate a stage for them to play instruments on, allowing them to show up a rival Bard.
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Oct 13, 2017 17:27
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Anybody have any advice, ideas, or inspirations for GMing a game about the PC in the role of a fairy godmother, guardian angel, or otherwise (probably) unseen facilitator? This is for a single player, and during character creation they took quite an unexpected turn and I haven't been able to come up with much. The one idea that seems fun and quirky enough is to retell classic fairy tales (Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, The Three Little Pigs, etc.) with more of a Terry Pratchett style of humour and setting versus traditional Brothers Grimm style of the same. Or maybe go grimdark as hard as possible. That would be fun, too. Any suggestions appreciated!
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Oct 14, 2017 21:23
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Watch Back to the Future Part 1, because that's basically what Marty's doing for most of it.
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Oct 14, 2017 21:41
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Just play touched by an angel episodes
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Oct 14, 2017 22:13
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BlackHattingMachine posted:Anybody have any advice, ideas, or inspirations for GMing a game about the PC in the role of a fairy godmother, guardian angel, or otherwise (probably) unseen facilitator? Take a look at Ryuutama, which has a DMPC in the form of a dragon that literally exists to make sure the party creates interesting stories.
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Oct 15, 2017 06:24
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I want to steal from Tenra Bansho Zero into 13th Age. What I'm looking for is a way to change I'll mark off X box for Y bonus, which says I'm ok with Z physical Disability. TBZ has four stages that starts with Unconsciousness, and that one is unavoidable, the second one is Limbs, and the third one is death, if you don't check off for death.
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Oct 15, 2017 10:07
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BlackHattingMachine posted:Anybody have any advice, ideas, or inspirations for GMing a game about the PC in the role of a fairy godmother, guardian angel, or otherwise (probably) unseen facilitator? This sounds like Everyone is John to me.
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Oct 15, 2017 16:18
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Leraika posted:Take a look at Ryuutama, which has a DMPC in the form of a dragon that literally exists to make sure the party creates interesting stories. This is pretty cool, thanks! Everyone Is John doesn't seem to be suited at all for one PC, unless I am missing something obvious. I didn't even think of Back to the Future, that's pretty close to what they had in mind for play style.
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Oct 15, 2017 17:26
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Any pointers for running or explaining FATE Core for people? It's a very weird system.
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Oct 15, 2017 17:53
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Terratina posted:Any pointers for running or explaining FATE Core for people? It's a very weird system. http://www.uptofourplayers.com/fate-core-rules/
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Oct 15, 2017 18:44
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Terratina posted:Any pointers for running or explaining FATE Core for people? It's a very weird system. As a system, it's incredibly flexible.
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Oct 15, 2017 20:08
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The main issue for me is getting rid of bad habits learned from 3.5e and company; quantitative vs qualitative roleplaying, you if you like. Also my head likes to overcomplicate things. Thanks for the responses so far. That comic is a big help.
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Oct 15, 2017 20:44
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GIRL BRAINS posted:So I'm running Curse of Strahd, and the players drew the mad mage as their ally. They've just rescued him and I'm wondering how exactly to incorporate him into the campaign. I don't want to directly involve him because honestly, this dude would eat strahds lunch. I was thinking he could provide magical support via items and scrolls, maybe a get-out-if-jail-free card if the players get into a jam. The players went through a great deal of trouble to rescue him and I want it to be worth it without giving them an 18th level caster in the ranks. Would it be out of the question for him to bestow some buff or cool weapons or some other lasting reward to the players, then have him go on to help them with the mission but surprisingly get killed? Like put the players in a position where their trump card is dead, "holy poo poo, how much trouble are we in"?
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Oct 15, 2017 23:41
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Or if he's a deranged mage like he sounds, maybe he shows up and throws everything into an alpha strike that takes out, I don't know, the castle walls or a huge army of Strahd's guard or something, and then blows up from the hideous side effects.
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Oct 16, 2017 00:21
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Are there specific rules/guidelines for handling the mechanics of a PC cleric who is going to go bad and turn on the rest of the party (5e)? I know there's a good chunk about if a paladin commits evil but I'm just not sure about clerics. (Or maybe there is some info in the books and I'm just missing it). If it's played as a loss of faith type thing and their deity is of a good alignment, would they lose the ability to cast since it's divine magic being used? Can they forsake one deity and immediately start following another? Tbh they probably aren't going to live long after this betrayal, but I'm just generally curious too
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Oct 16, 2017 02:59
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Are you the DM? Personally it seems a bit strange for it to be...premeditated the way you seem to indicate. I assume you worked it out with the player in question? I hope you have stuff in there that weaves the "falling from grace" throughout the narrative in terms of them making the wrong choice or falling to temptation or whatnot. Maybe they make a few bad decisions under pressure and the stress gets them to question anything, I don't know. Is the player telling you that this is his plan and you are trying to work with him to make it fit and be fun? I guess, in short, I wouldn't worry about the mechanics so much as the narrative on that sort of thing. If there's a believable narrative cause than any sort of "instant-switch" seems possible. You could switch their cleric domain so they have new cleric domain spells. Hell, you could start that early and have them cast outside their deity's domain before the final betrayal, let them come up with an explanation if an astute player catches it. (To be clear, this is not intended as justification for leaving such rules out of the book but advice on how to handle it yourself.)
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Oct 16, 2017 03:16
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Thanks! And yeah, this is a result of the player coming to me and giving me a heads up that this is the thing they want to happen with the character and me wanting to do my best at facilitating it. Narratively I'd say that he has laid the groundwork for it with how he's been playing. "Fall from grace" might not be the best way I could have put it. Maybe disillusionment would be better? Like, "I used to think this world was a good place that was worth saving. But I was wrong, and am sick of clinging to this old ideal" is fairly close to what I was told for motivation. Switching domain and spells for the big heel turn sounds dope
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Oct 16, 2017 03:53
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My players are level 4 and have wandered into a tunnel network for a Beholder beneath the city. I signposted it as much as I could to not go in. They're on the periphery of the tunnel network so maybe they can find a way out but man.... these idiots might die.
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Oct 17, 2017 06:34
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Nehru the Damaja posted:My players are level 4 and have wandered into a tunnel network for a Beholder beneath the city. I signposted it as much as I could to not go in. They're on the periphery of the tunnel network so maybe they can find a way out but man.... these idiots might die. kill them then. you could leave a couple alive as beholder slaves, and change it to an ESCAPE THE EVIL BEHOLDER LAIR game
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Oct 17, 2017 07:02
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Nehru the Damaja posted:My players are level 4 and have wandered into a tunnel network for a Beholder beneath the city. I signposted it as much as I could to not go in. They're on the periphery of the tunnel network so maybe they can find a way out but man.... these idiots might die. Have you tried telling them "Hey gang, you are on the edge of a beholder's lair and you will probably die if you continue?" Not hinting at it or being subtle but just telling them?
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Oct 17, 2017 07:07
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They got there by way of a massive chasm with hideous monster breathing audible way at the bottom and magical colors moving up and down the chasm walls with each breath. They tied together enough rope to descend 100 feet to jump into a series of intersecting tunnels which they currently believe have been bored by a giant wurm. They may not know it's a Beholder but they absolutely know it's above their pay grade. They know the chasm is quite literally unfathomably deep because they threw a corpse down it and never saw or heard the impact.
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Oct 17, 2017 07:24
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Nehru the Damaja posted:They got there by way of a massive chasm with hideous monster breathing audible way at the bottom and magical colors moving up and down the chasm walls with each breath. They tied together enough rope to descend 100 feet to jump into a series of intersecting tunnels which they currently believe have been bored by a giant wurm. They may not know it's a Beholder but they absolutely know it's above their pay grade. I mean if I heard that description at any level I'd like like "Man that sounds awesome! Let's go find out what's making it!" Until I saw it, then I'd run like a little girl Just sayin, so far it sounds cool, I don't see much evidence it's great at murdering people so much as it is good at digging magical glowing holes Now something like "oh here's the corpses of captain hank from the King's personal army... And the entire army... And a dead dragon" then I'd be like "let's come back later"
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Oct 17, 2017 07:35
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