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Yes, but the expenditure and compulsion of FATE points to power Aspects is central to the game, and that poo poo is death in a PbP setting. It's hard enough waiting for someone to respond to "what do you do next?" Having to also wait for, "hang, on, will you accept a Fate point if I compel your 'ain't got time for this poo poo' Aspect?" really makes the game drag. I've played exactly one PbP game using the FATE system, and it quickly became apparent that what works well at the table (the Fate point economy) is really difficult to keep workable in PbP.
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Nov 9, 2017 03:52
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LOCUST FART HELL posted:Hi everyone, I hope this is the right thread to ask about this kind of thing in. Basically I have never GM'd before, but was interested in creating a game based in the DC Universe with players joining the ranks of D-list members of the Justice League; so fairly low stakes. I've been looking around and I'm not too sure what game system I should go with, especially as I intend to play this as an online play by post thing, probably in Discord. I'm kind of familiar with FATE (and the fact that a similar thing is currently being played on TAZ helps), but I also see that DC comics has their own dedicated Mutants and Masterminds variant, though I'm completely unfamiliar with it. What sort of thing should I be going for here? I'd almost always use Marvel Heroic Roleplaying for Superhero games. Just gently caress around with the datafiles until they fit those characters.
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Nov 9, 2017 05:24
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Hey folks, I asked this in the Shadow of the Demon Lord thread but figure maybe I'd cast a wider net here. My group is about to engage with some base-building mechanics, and I was wondering if I could get a second opinion on the prices I have in mind for their manor and its upgrades. For upgrades such as a rookery for messenger birds or additional beds (they're trying to provide lodging for an entire private retainer of mercenaries) i'm thinking about 30 silver a piece. For things such as clearing out rubble from the damaged wings of the manor about 40-50, and then for upgrades to the main tower attached to the manor something like 75 silver - 1 gold. I'll give the party the opportunity to reduce cost by undertaking short challenges, but all told the fully restored manor is a labor that will run them up like 6 or 7 gold, which is quite a bit in terms of SotDL's economy. Does this sound reasonable, assuming they will be engaging with this mechanic for a few months of campaigning? Edit: I should add that these upgrades will carry both narrative and tangible benefits. Some as simple as boons on rolls and better healing during rests, others might provide steady income or materials for crafting. The PC whose family owns the manor is looking to grow in influence, and eventually achieve kingship in a semi-republican system of governace. Glukeose fucked around with this message at 18:42 on Nov 9, 2017 |
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Nov 9, 2017 18:40
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Pricing of this stuff is an encoding if “how much do I want them to get per session/adventure”. Without knowing what you want there, and what they get per adventure, I at least would have trouble giving advice. You might follow the path of character leveling and just have stuff done after a certain number of sessions, rather than do the bookkeeping.
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Nov 9, 2017 18:51
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Subjunctive posted:
This is good advice - tie it to favours from local craftspeople. Do something that benefits the local labourers' guild? They'll clear a wing for you, it'll be done after the next adventure. Rescue the Carpenter's daughter? She'll build you a rookery.
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Nov 9, 2017 19:27
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Yeah, I don't know if anyone can answer this question for you the way you put it. Those gold amounts sound fine inside of the fiction of SoDL but the actual values are totally arbitrary. You're handing out tokens that they then hand back for stuff. When do you want them to have the entire keep? Are any of the components something that you don't want them to buy right away? Figure out how you want to gate it and work out from there.
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Nov 9, 2017 19:35
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just give them at least three interesting choices, one of which is longer term, and you'll be fine
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Nov 9, 2017 19:59
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It probably is wiser to have it tied to narrative progression now that I've put it out there. I think I was more looking to give them something to put money toward so that funds didn't feel so meaningless. SotDL is much less gear-reliant so I can't just throw magic items at them. I will go with providing them options which are actually just directly tied to little one-off quests and stuff. That will alleviate a lot of dumb book-keeping on my end. By the time they truly finish with the region they're in it will have been reasonable for the estate to be fully refurbished.
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Nov 9, 2017 20:42
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Update to my paranoia adventures, i think i am doing this right -Forcing registered mutants to wear hazard tape on their person at the table -They are now paranoid of elevators -They are now paranoid of trains -They now expect landmines behind every door (I only did this once) -I informed them to bring spare characters to the next session Any other suggestions to increase the paranoia factor?
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Nov 11, 2017 01:02
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Shrieking Muppet posted:Update to my paranoia adventures, i think i am doing this right Wear sunglasses and smile at them all the time. If it ever looks like their plans are succeeding, smile wider.
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Nov 11, 2017 01:15
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LOCUST FART HELL posted:Hi everyone, I hope this is the right thread to ask about this kind of thing in. Basically I have never GM'd before, but was interested in creating a game based in the DC Universe with players joining the ranks of D-list members of the Justice League; so fairly low stakes. I've been looking around and I'm not too sure what game system I should go with, especially as I intend to play this as an online play by post thing, probably in Discord. I'm kind of familiar with FATE (and the fact that a similar thing is currently being played on TAZ helps), but I also see that DC comics has their own dedicated Mutants and Masterminds variant, though I'm completely unfamiliar with it. What sort of thing should I be going for here? Mutants and Masterminds is sweet. Its a broad approach to powers that manages to shut down power gaming pretty well and keep action going. Play by post advice. No idea. Only played some board games via post in the let's play forum.
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Nov 11, 2017 05:06
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Kommando posted:Mutants and Masterminds ... manages to shut down power gaming pretty well aaaahahahahaha
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Nov 11, 2017 05:19
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Nov 11, 2017 05:29
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Kommando posted:Mutants and Masterminds is sweet. Lynx Winters posted:aaaahahahahaha
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Nov 11, 2017 07:23
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Kommando posted:Mutants and Masterminds...manages to shut down power gaming pretty well... I’ve had exactly the opposite experience with DC’s M&M. I resorted to hours of research looking for ways to balance powers that just are...over powered. From my Speedster wanting to explore entire buildings in a secure government facility in a single action (phasing through locked doors etc), to my Grappler being stronger than Superman and instantly eliminating any “Brute” type I throw at them...I came to realize the game is inherently unbalanced. But that’s part of the fun, isn’t it? Try to embrace that the characters are likely going to be more powerful that any single baddie you can throw at them, and they’re likely not going to stand around Dragonball Z style, while they take the bad guy on one by one. Try to focus on more creative ways to endanger the heroes...attack the city, endanger the public with poisonous gas, make the chaos that ensues as the heroes fight your baddies destroy what they love or what they’re there to protect.
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Nov 11, 2017 13:47
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Shrieking Muppet posted:Update to my paranoia adventures, i think i am doing this right What color is the hazard tape? Ask unrelated questions a lot, then scribble notes. Occassionally pass notes to players that say “DONT LET ANYONE ELSE SEE THIS NOTE”. Have two buttons, one of which looks fine and one of which is throwing off sparks and says DO NOT PRESS. Both will kill the presser when pressed. (“The one that looks dangerous is clearly a trap!” *blows up* oh I guess the dangerous looking one was the OK one, haha, you got us good.” *blows up*)
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Nov 11, 2017 14:09
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My personal taste in Paranoia is to encourage the players to kill each other, rather than presenting situations which kill off the players. The deadly button, for example, I would make a thing which only kills the person who pushes it. That way, the players get to have an argument about who gets to push it, which will rack up the bodycount and generate more interesting rivalries than anything you throw at them ever could.
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Nov 11, 2017 17:01
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Give one player all of the laser barrels (for safety purposes) and instruct the team to request the barrels from them as needed. Give that player 1 fewer laser barrel than you tell the rest of the players. Then wait for them to turn on each other.
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Nov 11, 2017 17:46
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How often do you guys split the party? I've been watching some of Matthew Colville's videos and it seems he does it fairly often, going as far as to take players into a separate room to advance their story. This sounds really cool and a great way to add a layer of complexity, but I can't get over the fact that it completely halts progress for the players left out. If I was asked to wait while the DM goes into another room with a different player, and it took like 30 minutes or whatever, I'd be annoyed. Furthermore, how do you guys handle when a player gets a perception roll? I ran a Call of Cthulhu game, and when the players were questioning a kooky old man, one of them got a psychology roll so I told the whole table "he's telling the truth". It looks like in this case, Colville sends a text to the player that got the roll, and it's up to them to decide what to do with it. I get the idea that, during a real conversation, you wouldn't be able to tell your party members "this guy's a liar" or whatever, but again, it seems like it would kill the pace. I tell the whole table when one of the players gets a Spot Hidden roll and discovers a clue, too, rather than send a text or write a note only to have the player immediately tell the party "this corpse's bite wounds were not made by a predator's teeth"
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Nov 11, 2017 20:49
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WHY BONER NOW posted:How often do you guys split the party? I've been watching some of Matthew Colville's videos and it seems he does it fairly often, going as far as to take players into a separate room to advance their story. This sounds really cool and a great way to add a layer of complexity, but I can't get over the fact that it completely halts progress for the players left out. If I was asked to wait while the DM goes into another room with a different player, and it took like 30 minutes or whatever, I'd be annoyed. I much prefer the dramatic irony of telling all the players the truth of the situation and then letting them decide if they're going to share in-character. I don't like physically splitting players at all, and I rarely like player-level secrets. It does require players that are comfortable playing to the dramatic irony, but I haven't had a problem with it yet.
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Nov 11, 2017 21:04
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WHY BONER NOW posted:How often do you guys split the party? I've been watching some of Matthew Colville's videos and it seems he does it fairly often, going as far as to take players into a separate room to advance their story. This sounds really cool and a great way to add a layer of complexity, but I can't get over the fact that it completely halts progress for the players left out. If I was asked to wait while the DM goes into another room with a different player, and it took like 30 minutes or whatever, I'd be annoyed. Like so many things, "should I physically split the players as well as the party" is dependent upon your individual players. Some players simply cannot separate "what I as a player have heard" and "what my character knows," for example. It's maddening and I make fun of them for it, but it happens, y'know? Some groups of players like secret knowledge that they can surprise the other players with; some will hate it. Some groups can be safely assumed to be communicating regularly, so if you say "this corpse's bite wounds were not made by the teeth of a predator" you can assume that their PC is looking up and saying "hey guys this corpse's bite wounds were not made by the teeth of a predator," but not all groups can (or even should) be assumed to work that way. Hell, it depends on the game you're running, too; an adventuring party in D&D can safely be assumed to be less in-fight-y than a group of Paranoia Troubleshooters or a V:tM coterie. I realize that saying "well, it depends on the players at your table" is not the most directly helpful advice, but it never fails to be true. If this is a thing that's worrying you as a GM, talk to your players about it. Since you've been telling things to the whole table, try doing it the other way for a little while, then sit all your players down and say "so which way did you guys find more fun?"
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Nov 11, 2017 21:11
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I'm DMing and my party is rapidly approaching a set piece I had in the background that wasn't intended to be approached, at least not for a while. The cliffnotes version is that they're heading to a city under siege by an absurd amount of orcs. They had a near-miss with this horde previously and elected to walk in the other direction because, and I quote, "no thank you please." Now their express intent is to help free the city from the siege. Ya'll got any resources for what a medieval fantasy city would be like under siege? Any suggestions for objectives they could complete? I've got next to nothing for this, because the intention was to make this area undesirable to go to and obviously I got the opposite of that. This is a party of 5 adventurers so I genuinely doubt they're going to single-handedly save a small kingdom from orcs but I don't want to disappoint them by letting them show up with nothing to do. This is supposed to be Waterdeep in the Forgotten Realms, if that informs/changes the input.
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Nov 11, 2017 22:38
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Malpais Legate posted:Ya'll got any resources for what a medieval fantasy city would be like under siege? Any suggestions for objectives they could complete? Waterdeep, as its described, is a HUGE city. An orc horde looking to raid it would have to be massive, and likely organized. The city’s guard would likely set defenses in place WELL before the horde arrives...hopefully. Maybe the characters have to get the news of the approaching horde to the city’s leaders before the horde’s arrival? Or maybe the characters arrive after the massive siege has already begun? If they arrive after the siege has started, getting INTO the city is going to be a problem of its own. The city’s legendary sewers and maybe even Skullport might provide the answer, but then the characters are left dealing with forces that may or may not WANT the siege to succeed. If the walls are breached, the guard would likely pull back and regroup near the inner walls, where the richer populace lives. If the characters are entering after the outer wall is breached, make sure it’s CHAOS: Houses burning with families still screaming inside, Orcs and what’s left of the guard fighting in the streets (with a heavy emphasis on the guard fighting a losing battle). Make sure to roll randomly in scenes for arrows, fire etc to kill bystanders. As the characters witness all the death around them, make them feel like they could die at any time (even if you aren’t intending it). Much of the casualty in a large siege is happenstance...a house collapses, killing that family right as they’re escaping...the pcs save a child from an orc about to do the worst to him/her, only to have the child take an arrow moments later and die instantly. War is hell. Give it to them.
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Nov 11, 2017 22:58
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DivineCoffeeBinge posted:Like so many things, "should I physically split the players as well as the party" is dependent upon your individual players. Some players simply cannot separate "what I as a player have heard" and "what my character knows," for example. It's maddening and I make fun of them for it, but it happens, y'know? Some groups of players like secret knowledge that they can surprise the other players with; some will hate it. Some groups can be safely assumed to be communicating regularly, so if you say "this corpse's bite wounds were not made by the teeth of a predator" you can assume that their PC is looking up and saying "hey guys this corpse's bite wounds were not made by the teeth of a predator," but not all groups can (or even should) be assumed to work that way. You're pretty much right but I'd like to expand it with some of my thoughts too I think for one shots splitting the party or having secret info is totally fine, and can work really well, for example Pananoia which heavily relies on this For longer term games, I don't really like splitting the party personally unless it's a one session thing (like a murder mystery section or something). Often it's easier to gloss over any splits as a piece of narritive so folk aren't sitting there on their phones while I'm away talking to one dude for 10 mins Secret knowlege is interesting. I've ran games where the plot hinges on secret info or the players having secret goals and it can be a load of fun if done right. It gets everyone talking about what everyone's "thing" is I think there's gotta be a bit of work on both the player and the GM's side to make it work well though. Cos someone can easily be a dick about it In my latest dungeon world game, I played with the "player knowlege is character knowlege" thing, since I was getting kinda sick of "do you tell us about that thing you just found out?" "yeah I guess" and it seemed to work out well. Admittidly that campaign have 0 intrigue or puzzles to solve But yeah, depends on the system and if you/your players like it really
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Nov 11, 2017 23:55
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N0data posted:I’ve had exactly the opposite experience with DC’s M&M. I resorted to hours of research looking for ways to balance powers that just are...over powered. From my Speedster wanting to explore entire buildings in a secure government facility in a single action (phasing through locked doors etc), to my Grappler being stronger than Superman and instantly eliminating any “Brute” type I throw at them...I came to realize the game is inherently unbalanced. You've missed the obvious sarcasm M&M is a player power fantasy game.
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Nov 12, 2017 00:39
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Malpais Legate posted:I'm DMing and my party is rapidly approaching a set piece I had in the background that wasn't intended to be approached, at least not for a while. The cliffnotes version is that they're heading to a city under siege by an absurd amount of orcs. They had a near-miss with this horde previously and elected to walk in the other direction because, and I quote, "no thank you please." Now their express intent is to help free the city from the siege. Waterdeep, iirc, is a pretty important hub city whose influence stretches much further than its nominal territory. This means that, in order to get there, your orc horde would have had to fight through various outer fortifications, waystations and satellite towns, their defenses likely strengthened by Waterdeep's coffers. My takeaway from this is that there are probably allied forces still in the area, even if they're scattered and demoralized after (presumably) being routed by these orcs. If you need your group to have an Objective that would be important, maybe somebody in the city's leadership needs some errands run in order to contact these outside forces and rally them into an army to break the siege. Maybe they later need a small group to mount a daring raid (to take a bridge or other critical point) in order to set the orcs up when reinforcements arrive. Another idea: Waterdeep is a big port, so, if the orcs want to siege it properly, they need some way of closing the port. There are orcish and other monstrous pirates in FR - maybe your Orc warlord has formed an alliance with one or more pirate clans to blockade the city. With the port open, the Lords of Waterdeep can use their significant wealth and influence to bring in supplies and reinforcements. With the port closed, they're trapped. So maybe the turning point of this conflict is a naval sortie to break the blockade of the city. Naval battles are an area where a small group of tough adventurers can make a difference, since in pseudo-medieval times naval warfare is mostly close-quarters boarding actions.
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Nov 12, 2017 00:41
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Thanks for the replies, guys. I was thinking of other consequences to splitting up the group, and I guess if the group does split, it will reduce the chances of each of the smaller groups making rolls...for example, if a table of 4 players split into two groups of two, well they only have two Spot Hidden rolls for a group to notice something, opposed to 4 rolls if they were all together. I like having a story with a time sensitive condition, to keep a sense of urgency which could create reasons for groups to split up and cover ground more quickly. I'll need to consider the players, maybe if we get to a point where the group splits, we could call it a session and then I could do independent sessions with each group. But I'm really coming to the conclusion that it would be easiest if we all just sat at the same table and switch between groups when applicable.
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Nov 12, 2017 02:02
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Malpais Legate posted:I'm DMing and my party is rapidly approaching a set piece I had in the background that wasn't intended to be approached, at least not for a while. The cliffnotes version is that they're heading to a city under siege by an absurd amount of orcs. They had a near-miss with this horde previously and elected to walk in the other direction because, and I quote, "no thank you please." Now their express intent is to help free the city from the siege. Okay, I'm going to leave aside the plausibility of an orc horde attacking Waterdeep because it's already been established that you have an orc horde attacking Waterdeep, but I do think it's worth looking at how they got there, because as mentioned Waterdeep is a huge-rear end city that is very important to the well-being of basically the entire region and it's surrounded by civilized human kingdoms and such. So as I see it, there are two ways for said orc horde to have arrived, and depending on which it is, that should alter how the PCs can view it and interact with it. On the one hand you have the idea that the horde was somehow transported to the city - someone built some kind of permanent teleport gate or used some artifact-level magic or some poo poo. This will mean that Waterdeep's defenses were not alerted; the horde was just kind of there all of a sudden. If this happens you're going to see all the retired adventurers and high-level mages and whatnot that live in Waterdeep pulling out all the stops in a desperate attempt to stave off ruin while the city's defenses are prepared and neighboring kingdoms get their poo poo together. This might actually be the better option in terms of giving PCs something to do that will directly affect the siege; if they can sneak in in the middle of the chaos they can do poo poo like "get this staff over to the Great Wizard Fred over at the south gate; his is almost out of charges and we need that steady stream of fireballs to disrupt their formations" or "we're getting up a barricade on this side street but a team of goblins has rushed in and is wreaking havoc; kill them while our workers get our defenses set up" or "oh look this messenger that was riding to Cormyr (or wherever) to call on them for aid got ganked, someone is gonna have to deliver the message" or what have you. On the other hand, there's the idea that the horde got there the old-fashioned way - that they made a beeline for Waterdeep and went around, over, or through the various defenses, redoubts, fortresses, castles, neighboring kingdoms and villages, and whatever else that was in their way. If this is the case, you're going to have ample opportunity to demonstrate that War Is Hell just by having the PCs stop by any of the places the horde has been; they'll have cut a swath of destruction through the countryside. You're also going to see half of the Forgotten Realms making GBS threads their collective pants, because for an orc horde to just bust through all those defenses and reach Waterdeep would be impressive enough; for them to do so and still have the strength to invest a siege is loving terrifying. That would be the biggest drat orc horde in history, most likely, and a well-led, well-equipped, disciplined, and supported one. Every kingdom in the region is going to start building up their own defenses, because if the orcs can't be stopped at Waterdeep, where will they go next? For your PCs in this situation you have a couple of options, as I see it; the most unusual one might be "they get drafted." Have whatever region they're in just flat-out draft them. "But we're not citizens!" "You will be once your service ends. Besides, you're here and you know how to fight, you're in the army now. Are any of you Fighters? You? You're an officer, congratulations, Lieutenant. Take your squad and report to muster. Oh, and if you're thinking of just leaving, we don't have the time to stop you - but keep in mind you'll officially be deserters, meaning you'll be unwelcome in this kingdom and any of the surrounding kingdoms that we have treaties with." Alternatively, if, again, they can get into Waterdeep, then you can have them dispatched to look for the cause of all of this - something brought the orcs here, what might it be? Either way, I want to echo N0data - War Is Hell. Don't hold back on that poo poo. Watch a bunch of war movies, mine them for ideas.
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Nov 12, 2017 02:07
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Thanks for the input! I'm not terribly well informed about the Forgotten Realms, so when I established this absurdly large orcish horde I kinda just picked a direction for them to march and the natural terminus was Waterdeep. It was only later that I looked into what the poo poo Waterdeep is and realized what I'd done. Their first encounter with it had the entire township nearby disappear overnight, but I'll probably need to inflate the size of the threat considering how Waterdeep is equipped. This can't just an exceptionally large army, this has to be something of nearly apocalyptic proportions. The party has been on an exceptionally long win streak lately so giving them a taste of War Is Hell sounds like a good idea. Especially since they immediately turned around from their last adventure to "yeah let's go save a city," I'd like to kinda punish them for their cocksuredness.
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Nov 12, 2017 07:01
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there's always the chance that the orcs got pc level lucky neighboring kingdoms feuding ignored the army marching to gently caress each other over, waterdeep wasn't ready for an attack, the orcs have a man on the inside ect.
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Nov 12, 2017 07:29
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I've got a monster of the week game where four of the five players are representing different Secret societies and/or are extremely self-centered. It's awesome, because well they collaborate as players, I can instantly put in drama play making them fight over objectives. Two players represent mystical secret societies, one benevolent but weird, one designed to keep monsters away from shipping and trade. Another two work for a secretive federal agency; one has been assigned to take out at least one of her fellow PCs by the end of the game, another has the dark history move so she's constantly involved with evil poo poo. The last one is the Mundane but has told me and the Dark Pather he is secretly not who he says he is. The players have already taken on a sea hag, a few necromancers, a Fae contract, and the Mexican Mafia (during what was supposed to be a day off on dia de los muertos). What other mysteries can I throw at them that will keep them on separate paths but not so much they going to PC on pc gunplay?
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Nov 12, 2017 07:49
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I think the "orcs have a man on the inside" and/or "there's some kind of cult feeding sorcerous energies to the orcs from inside Waterdeep" or some poo poo is the way to go, honestly, as it gives the PCs something they can fight without telling them "go kill seventy-three million orcs, hope you packed enough healing potions." If there's some external source helping the orcs, then the removal of that force should make the horde defeatable by standard military means, giving the PCs the chance to be Big drat Heroes without actually needing them to hold Heartbreak Ridge or some poo poo. I actually kind of like the idea of some kind of apocalyptic death cult holding rituals involving some ancient Orcish artifact that has the effect of A. making orcs want to come to Waterdeep and burn it down, explaining why the horde is coherent and hasn't devolved into a billion individual raiding parties, and B. giving the orcs some kind of buff that makes it hard for standing armies to hold them, like giving all the Orcs Mage Armor or Stoneskin or some poo poo. Find the cult stronghold, destroy the altar, hand the artifact over to one of the umpteen High-Level Mages living in Waterdeep, and the orcs become beatable - but enough of them escape to wreak havoc on the surrounding countryside and provide adventure hooks for years to come. That's how I'd do it, personally.
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Nov 12, 2017 07:51
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General advice for any situation like this is "make sure your PCs actually matter." Don't just turn them into Nameless Soldiers in the Grind of War. Let them make major changes and effect the siege dramatically. A PC group would be invaluable not as common soldiers but as a small irregular force. Assassinating leaders, fouling and poisoning orc supplies, breaking apart supply chains, smuggling in resources, that kinda thing. Also for the love of god do not just send them against like thirty orcs or whatever. I get that it's meant to invoke how big the siege is, but all you actually end up doing is weighing everything down.
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Nov 12, 2017 09:02
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DivineCoffeeBinge posted:I think the "orcs have a man on the inside" and/or "there's some kind of cult feeding sorcerous energies to the orcs from inside Waterdeep" or some poo poo is the way to go, honestly, as it gives the PCs something they can fight without telling them "go kill seventy-three million orcs, hope you packed enough healing potions." If there's some external source helping the orcs, then the removal of that force should make the horde defeatable by standard military means, giving the PCs the chance to be Big drat Heroes without actually needing them to hold Heartbreak Ridge or some poo poo. Hell, the apocalyptic death cult could be coming from inside the city. This could all be a play by one faction within the city to smack down the others, which is why the orcs were able to get past all Waterdeep's defences: they had insider information. Also, even before the actual battling starts, there are plenty of things that adventurers can do for a besieged city. Unmask traitors who want to sabotage the city's defences; map out a hidden escape route (and decide what to do with the information that one exists; a few people could get out without detection, but if everybody starts trying to escape the orcs will spot them); smuggle supplies in; all that stuff makes for great hooks that are more interesting than just killing orcs.
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Nov 12, 2017 11:00
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Alternate comedy answer: the orcs are no threat to Waterdeep at all, and have been tricked into coming by a bunch of retired adventurers who paid off the army to let them through so that they can play at being heroes again without having to travel across country.
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Nov 12, 2017 11:02
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Thanks for the feedback regarding what system to use for this game I'm planning. I'm still settling on this and still looking around. The Marvel Heroic RPG does seem a lot more balanced, but on the surface level it seems like there's a lot more to keep track of with the dice rolls and stuff. Are there any good Discord bots I should be aware of for that sort of thing? I've seen some sites plugging for the Marvel Super Heroes RPG from the 80s and the modern equivalent, FASERIP. Anyone have any experience with that and how it plays? A Great Big Bee! fucked around with this message at 12:55 on Nov 12, 2017 |
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Nov 12, 2017 12:48
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WHY BONER NOW posted:How often do you guys split the party? I've been watching some of Matthew Colville's videos and it seems he does it fairly often, going as far as to take players into a separate room to advance their story. Speaking of Colville, I've watched a bunch of his videos and have not been particularly impressed. I mean he certainly is enthusiastic and likes to talk, which are important GM traits, but I haven't gotten much out of them that wasn't already evident.
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Nov 12, 2017 14:07
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E: Wrong thread.
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Nov 12, 2017 19:17
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Whybird posted:Alternate comedy answer: the orcs are no threat to Waterdeep at all, and have been tricked into coming by a bunch of retired adventurers who paid off the army to let them through so that they can play at being heroes again without having to travel across country. This plus the above "artifact drawing in every orc in the land" thought reminded me of my first Warhammer 40k RPG. A falling spaceship wreck was about to destroy an allied base and they didn't have means to get everyone away, so the remaining forces had a bunch of Psykers draw in as much of the Orc horde as they could. We were charged with taking down the Psykers who mutated during the ritual and were about to kill the rest, since the orcs might lose interest without them. Then we ran the hell away.
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Nov 12, 2017 22:22
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I need tips on how to make wilderness adventuring fun. Background: in our next Fragged Empire session, the characters are going to Mishpacha, a planet of untamed wilderness with only one permanent colony. They've accepted a job to escort a scholar to some ancient ruins in search of data on an event that happened there 60+ years ago. I know basically what to do once they get to the ruins, but I don't know how to make the parts before that fun. I could skip right from "landing at the colony and securing transport" to "exploring the ruins" but that seems like it wastes some of the potential of exploring untamed wilderness. That's a pretty unique scenario in a spaceship game like Fragged Empire and because my players actively chose this mission over some other ones I offered, I'd guess they would be disappointed if I just skipped the "exploring the dangerous wilds" part. But I've never really gotten a handle on how to run that sort of session, and I'd love some tips. There was one time in a previous game I ran (using Savage Worlds) when I made a huge hex map for exploring a jungle and had a bunch of weird things the characters could find, and random events that could happen to spice things up, but that might be overkill for this. Not too sure, though.
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Nov 13, 2017 16:57
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