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Have them give you a 3x3. Three allies, three enemies, and three acquintances/rivals.
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May 11, 2012 00:08
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I'd use a system that rewards invention, like SOTC (or Legends of Anglerre). Improvisers love giving themselves handicaps, plot points, and control over the scene. That'll make it much more exciting. Find a way to make it visual; make the rules or people's abilities on a placard. Have them ask the audience for advice.
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May 29, 2012 00:50
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If your players aren't creative, suggest things. Enlist strongly imaginative players to help others OOC. "What would Elfrogue do to get past the guard?" Or even "How would Batman do it?". Call out heroes who rely on their wits, and REWARD THE TYPE OF PLAY YOU WANT. That's why Paranoia is a great, great newbie system - you can toss out perversity points like candy, give weird problems, and let your players die up to 6 times each. It encourages risk and lateral thinking.
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Jun 4, 2012 08:46
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You can always ask guiding questions. "How are you feeling about [previous event]?" is useful even in everyday conversation with our best friends. The fact ANOTHER PLAYER told you that she should've felt something, however, is an odd hint. That's what you bring up in character: "Tarythn, you should thank me for what happened at the Black Friar Tavern!" Etc. Golden Bee fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Nov 14, 2023 |
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Feb 4, 2013 08:44
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Your players will ALWAYS guide the morality of the story. They're not there to tell your story. However: You should always be honest about the consequences. Is what they're about to do self defense, or murder? Have they concluded a mugging was really an owlbear attack, or misunderstood the size of a room? You are a human being who's creating the world. As long as a fun and cooperative tone continues, all you need to do is provide choices and obstacles.
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Mar 24, 2013 07:01
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Apocolypse world. Easy peasy, you'll grok it quick.
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Apr 14, 2013 08:49
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FATE has characters with open ended traits like Bookish or Won't Back Down. Sometimes they help you (in a library or a patriotic music fest.) But the GM can tempt you: if you act on them negatively, you can earn FATE points that help you down the road.
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Apr 18, 2013 09:40
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God Of Paradise posted:
I'm confused and upset by your rapist-torturing fantasy. Your table may be different from mine, but sexual assault is something that has very little part in pretend games. That's on the one hand, that it's at a vote. You're a GM, and your job is facilitate fun for everyone; but just like four wolves and a sheep don't vote on dinner, what is acceptable in your house is up to you. It's your perogative; you're going to be spending the most and brainpower on the game; you can't abdicate tone with a vote. But the other thing is, you seem to have a rape-revenging fantasy, where the Goddess of Pain goes out of her way to punish an errant player-rapist. That doesn't make sense. In a world with evil Deities who war in hell forever, evil is no vice. You really can't produce a world where murder, slavery and genocide are considered OK, but rape is a Universal Mustn't. To do so desexualizes your world and robs it of a lot of the edginess you're going for; either evil gods are OK with taking sex by force, or the orc marauders are a bunch of pointless thrill-killers.
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May 5, 2013 10:36
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Heart Attacks posted:Thrill killing is pretty terrifying though. I actually haven't had any of those in my game! My villains have killed for money, land, rage, fame, or because they're 3 ton rhinos. "No reason" is a hell of a reason. Brain: What do you want from your game? Is it hard Scifi? Is it hardscifi with a bunch of conceits (A'la Eclipse Phase) or is it fantastic scifi, where there are a poo poo ton of alien races, space-ship battles, and a galactic government? "Space" and "Future" are ingredients, not a recipe; there's a world of difference between Aliens, Serenity, or Star Trek.
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May 5, 2013 21:02
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BrainGlitch posted:I guess I'd like to go somewhere in between Farscape and BSG, with a good amount of "realism" in terms of combat and such. So who are your players, and what do they do every session? Are they bridge officers, or an away team? You'll often find that even in a galactic campaign, the scope is relatively small. Think of how Mass Effect does it. Create a space station the players want; the players will only see 7 floors of it. (Docks, restaurants, police HQ, seedy area, club/casino, wildcard). If they go to another space station, emphasize the contrast. One is run by an extremely efficient, religious group; there's one pants store, one gun store, the church, and plenty of public space. Another is a space metropolis and has more stores than you can imagine. The next is a military installation, or a hospital ship. (If the hospital ship has a gift shop, the players may latch on to that; think about the features of your world that are unique, and make the players want to care. They'll build a world they like if you give'em half a chance.
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May 6, 2013 07:12
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Whenever possible, cut the scenes together. Last night I ran two heavily split-the-party style encounters. One was our party's steamboat vs a pirate ship, and I had the following intersections occur: *The Artificer spotted the enemy ship too late; its cannons blew open the Storm Mage's cabin. The Artificer then used a magnetic-field glove to draw the anchor on the enemy ship, slowing it down before it rammed the player's boat. *The Doctor stormed the boat, intent on grabbing the helm. This caused counter-boarding (where the Artificer and Markswoman teamed up). *The Ranger swashbuckled her way onto the deck, but only partially succeeded, knocking over team's Doctor. (The doctor had bellyflopped onto the deck after flubbing her own roll). *The Storm Mage created a huge gust of wind, knocking the down pirate ship into the waves...nearly knocking the ship over. This caused the doctor and ranger to almost slide below deck...The Doctor tied a rope around the ranger's ankle. The ranger would have her cat cut her loose, then flip acrobatically to the floor below. *The Storm Mage was ambushed by her arch rival, who she eventually smashed backwards, through the railing of the steamboat...and onto the gunnery level, landing right at the feet of the ranger. --- Later on, the party was infiltrating an office building. The Markswoman met her long lost love (the receptionist) and flipped out; the rest of the party snuck into an elevator. At the 26th floor, they spotted their adversary, but argued one of them should get to escape and confront him before he pushed the down button. The one who rolled the highest was the morally nebulous Doctor. The villain promised her a lab, corpses, and a bag of platinum to ignore the party, and she did. Meanwhile, the Markswoman and the receptionist made out in an elevator, slamming into all the buttons. They stopped at every floor and spied the villain. The rest of the party (who never exited the elevator) found the line had been cut. The party was split three ways, but I made sure to cut between them rapidly. *The Markswoman saw the Doctor supposedly betraying the party *The party and the Markswoman decided to try the stairwell, since the elevators weren't safe *The Ranger discovered a plot point while the Artificer and Mage searched elsewhere *Everyone saw the Markswoman's old flame as he was thrown down the center of the stairwell...
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May 14, 2013 20:42
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Burning Wheel does social combat really well (I remember a Song of Fire And Ice game ran in it where I played an elderly nun schoolteacher. The character felt plenty 'powerful'). P .dot, the question of "Why are there so many adventurers" is important to address from a setting perspective. How many people become adventurers? How do they get quests? Who hires them? I decided that all PCs were members (or would soon become members) of the Adventurer's Guild. The Guild takes a cut of profits and handles overhead, gives out missions, and handles mail services for characters. (Once the players grew comfortable with that, I had other organizations manipulate and attack the Guild; but basically, if someone was wearing a Guild Pin, they meshed well with the party.) Another way to mesh is to use bonds: this isn't Random Adventurer #86, it's the Artificer's old schoolmate! They haven't seen each other in forever! Doing this gives a secondary benefit; the new player will have a built-in link to the party ("Hey man, remember when we used to throw rocks at ballywogs?" instead of "Uh, so what's being a wizard like?")
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May 22, 2013 23:56
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The key to avoid this problem, besides talking to everyone about what kind of game they want (before and after sessions), is this. You have to create a world where the players are free to know, notice, and say what their characters would. If the Larry the shy guy is playing Duke Francibald, and he puts a few Thees and Thous in his message to the prince, it should come off majestically. We know what he was getting at. On your end, you create fairness by constantly asking players what they're doing; who's entering the room first? (Even when there aren't any traps). Who wants to talk to the Sea hag, and who's hanging back? Which of one you is the most experienced with Elven Wine Vintages? I'd be fine with a failed "ask directions" roll putting you on the bad side of town, but it should lead to a second encounter, even just a mugging that's secretly an ambush. It gives the players a few seconds to be heroic (or cowardly), or even grab the mugger and use him as a human shield. When that happens, they'll have interacted with a world you created fairly.
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May 30, 2013 04:25
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Dungeon World is cheap (10 bucks for the PDF, everyone in your group can by one) and doesn't require huge rules knowledge by the players. All their moves could be put on a single page of Microsoft Word, or two pages of character sheet.
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Jun 11, 2013 20:14
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Everybody likes a "hmm, that's odd" here and there. As long as long gameplay segments aren't based on private player knowledge, everyone will have fun. I had a similar thing where I ran a one-shot for a player, and they changed their character (telling me the original character, a time mage, 'never existed'.) The players went to Time Mountain, basically, where a hooded character gave the PC a headache/nosebleed whenever they came in contact with her. The reveal that this was someone unhinged from time was very, very rewarding, just based off one player's reaction. (The others had fun too; one started a time travel rumor that he was a living God and stepped into the future to find statues of himself).
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Jun 18, 2013 05:22
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Biotech, making the Vizier not evil seems beyond the pale unless you're really really foreshadowed it, since the Vizier is almost ALWAYS evil. 99% of the time viziers are evil, unless the point is they're not.
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Jun 18, 2013 19:43
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Can we change the thread subtitlle to "Talk to them first?" It's almost always the first and best advice.
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Jun 24, 2013 18:48
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Take the plunge. The new engagement rules, escalation die and miss damage will speed up your game. Give your characters their sheets ahead of time.
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Jul 2, 2013 18:36
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How long are your sessions? More than 2 hours of prep is overkill. Give'em rewards for what they do right and introduce complications to make it exciting.
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Jul 13, 2013 00:48
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Turtlicious posted:4E Pre-Made is like Top Ramen, kind of poo poo on it's own but you can stomach it. If you add your own poo poo though then you end up making something awesome, using the ramen as just a base for your awesome food. Then again, if you're gonna cook for company, spend the extra 2 bucks and make chucka soba.
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Dec 10, 2013 22:22
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Treat him as a resource. Have him organize whatever the party lacks: a supply line, patriotic support, clearances, prayer, a way to keep the other demigods out of it...
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Dec 28, 2013 22:02
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Well, what's on their character sheet? Who do they talk to? Who do they ignore? If you're stuck, have your players do their homework. Have them do a 3x3: Three people their characters love/need/look up to, 3 that they betray/disrespect/feel responsibility for, and three people who they can't kill but make their lives hell. Encourage them to share people. If you want a really spicy game, have them combine across rows; the wizard's wife makes the druid's life hell. The ranger looks up to Sir Wensblee, who the Elven Rogue taught everything he knows (and did half the stuff Wensblee's credited for).
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Dec 29, 2013 09:29
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Pththya-lyi posted:If she really wants you guys to act out something she's planned in advance, she should write a play. The indie game "My Daughter, The Queen of France" would be a great fit. One character is William Shakespeare; everyone acts out a scene he introduces, then he yells at them to fix it until he either admits he's a bad father, or all the actors quit.
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Jan 12, 2014 20:25
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Turtlicious posted:You don't let people skill roll on players. It's never, EVER fun. Disagree heavily, if your game has social combat and reasonable concessions. I started out a game of Grimm with the Dreamer, Outcast and Popular Kid all taking minor consequences escaping a flooded beanstalk. When they encountered a pony, the popular kid charmed it...and said nobody else could ride. I offered the Popular Kid a fate point to initiate social combat to call the other two ugly, dirty boys (and target their existing consequences). She mopped the floor with them, and they conceded (earning a fate point each). The Popular Kid got to feel like a real bigshot, the entire thing took 8 minutes to adjudicate, and everyone had more fun than if I made it a straight die roll.
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Jan 27, 2014 09:31
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Nissir posted:We are playing Pathfinder if that helps. quote:I have to ask. Why is there such an aversion to anything sexual happening in role playing games? I don't think there is, but I play with mature groups that I game with a lot. 1. If you're asking why in general, look at your demographics. Gamers* aren't likely to be the people heading out every weekend, getting laid, forming healthy relationships and dealing with western cultures's difficult sexual mores. They probably spend more time on forums than the average person, which is a much different model than normal social interaction. Anyway, when you bring a load of baggage to the game table, it's easier to avoid it. American Culture has always been more comfortable with violence than sex, so the average dungeon crawl isn't likely to raise many issues. 2. From a systems perspective: Consider Monsterhearts, which bills itself explicitly as "the messy lives of teenage monsters." I haven't had an immature experience** with the game, because the game is what it is. And the mechanics are clear. That which gets measured gets done best. So in D&D, where "Charisma+Diplomacy+(1-20 randomly determined=Binary success or failure"), you either get the bar wench or you don't. Uncomfortable, and hard to game. Or you cast charm person. That's binary; it's not gameable. In Monsterhearts, 2d6+hot=failure (with a general list of in-game badnesses), somewhat success (from am explicit set of options) or emotional power (gain strings, they do what they think you'd like). If you want to, you can use emotional leverage to increase your roll after you make it, and they can counter it. There are complex subsystems to manipulate everyone else; it's a social game, and sex is a social action. If your system represents sex as a flat probability curve, and success as "you sleep with the prince/captive/demonic messenger", then you're guided to an immature experience. Monsterhearts doesn't function as a dungeon crawler, swashbuckling adventure or Civ-building. It's a scalpel, not a multitool. But sometimes a scalpel is best. *As opposed to you, who's reading this! I mean everyone else. **Relating to its themes. One guy stated at start of play his intention was to kill my character...he hosed up repeatedly and, after an hour and a half, stormed out of the room.
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Feb 22, 2014 19:13
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Razorwired posted:Monsterhearts: There's combat in this game? It's hard to die die, since you can go darkest self, and if you take 4 harm THEN, you can lose all your strings. So you have to take 12 harm to die for real. (Of course, bring in a Zombie and you'll get Claire Bennet syndrome, where the player finds excuses to die and come back to life every session.)
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Feb 26, 2014 09:10
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I don't think you can. And if you stat two people with different intelligence scores...hoo boy.
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Mar 25, 2014 06:13
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Songbearer posted:Around this time last year I hosted, for the first time, a self-made D&D campaign for a month with some people who've never played the game before. for casters, if at all. Buy Dungeon World. Only 2 dice to roll, and your job as the DM is simply to say "Yes!", "Yes, but..." and "Almost, but INSTEAD..." It's only ten bucks. You have ten bucks.
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Mar 30, 2014 00:28
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Make R&D easier by looking up a list online, grabbing what looks interesting, and having players secretly requisition the rest via notes. Then scribble on the notes so they get either something mundane and reasonable, or something SORT of like what they wanted. Like nuke grenads.
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Apr 13, 2014 19:33
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Use natural saves and 16+s.
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Sep 16, 2014 23:50
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I've found that 6+ new person groups are a great time to break out Fiasco.
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Nov 13, 2014 01:25
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Unless you're Pavlov himself, you can't make the players use their abilities. What may work is to have a supporter, someone among the PCs who says "Hey, Wizard, can we get some fire here?" or "I ask the Cleric to talk to the priests, he has knowledge: Church Customs."
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Dec 20, 2014 00:16
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I used minis in DW only when positioning WAS important. That is, a freefall fight down a giant cavern, and you had to defy danger to move more than 1 zone up or down. It led to things like the hunter ripping off a pterodactyl's wings and using it to flap up so the air mage could steady herself and concentrate. BTW, Iron heroes is exactly Conan the d20 RPG. You'll save a lot of time starting there and engage more of the system. Can fighters, rogues and barbarians even attack Reflex, Fort or Will saves without items?
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Dec 25, 2014 22:29
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Turtlicious posted:I'm running a Sixthworld game. (Shadowrun DW-hack.) When they say "I introduce myself", ask "What does that sound like?" Then show you're listening, with things like: "You're telling him your full name?" or "Is Skyraider your codename?" Make a meal of some things: "What do you feel about Skyraider using her full name? How do YOU introduce yourself, De'Shawn? Have you handled these sorts of missions before, Trainwrekk?" Turn it around on'em. But if they're lost, go slow, and relate it to the real world. ("It's kind of a Cyberpunk McDonalds. Each of their machine pistols fires as fast as two AK-47s. Aluvio is the King of the projects, but the guy demanding payment from you is like a serf.")
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Mar 12, 2015 07:48
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Pththya-lyi posted:Anyone got any ideas for dramatic stuff I can introduce in the Monsterhearts game I might run tomorrow? In the first session I had a car crash into the PC's classroom. If you're Foretold Signs of Future Badness, then follow up on them. If you resolved most of them, there are a lot of dangers for PCs: -Sex (Teacher/teacher, Student/student-teacher, Mascot/Rival school mascot. The cool folks are into the nerd; the nerds have incrementing stuff on the loner; the photography club has been doing a telephoto project.) -Drugs (someone wants the least capable PC to sell drugs; someone's sibling or parents are using/abusing; they find evidence of use in a locker room, but no clue who did it). -Rock N Roll (New music makes people act primally; a new band is in town, and ticket scalping is rampant; the town bans a very specific type of minority dancing; someone's True Love is rehearsing all the time and is too tired for anything fun; a Prodigy is being taken advantage of). What do your characters want, and what're they afraid of? Put those things together.
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Jun 28, 2015 18:23
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If it means nothing, make it quick. "Oh, a lot of doors are bronze in ancient temples. The Kolori had an abundance of bronze and were bad statuemakers." Or: "The shoeshine boy looks at you blankly. 'Hi' he says."
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Jun 29, 2015 00:05
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Night10194 posted:I had a PC fall in love with an NPC who was just supposed to be a janitor by day watching the door for a secret society she was a member of by night and ending up marrying the guy. Players latch on to the weirdest things and it's best to just go along. In a game I ran, a one-off supervillain turned into the hero's girlfriend. (Critical negotiation and charm). Her anger-based fire control was useful, but instead of blowing up theme parks the hero got invited to a lot of snooty galas.
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Jun 29, 2015 06:36
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PublicOpinion posted:We always just did 4 fights per full heal regardless of the narrative, whether that meant two weeks or twenty minutes in-game, and everyone was on board. It's all about momentum! Keeping the juices flowing and making EMOTIONAL recoveries. (And yes, I think we went from level 7 to 10 within the span of an in-game afternoon.)
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Jun 30, 2015 01:40
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Pththya-lyi posted:Basically teenage monster melodrama in the style of Jennifer's Body and Ginger Snaps. They have to get a Band to come to town, and they're the complete opposite; proof of the moral decay. Never make the answer easy in Monsterhearts, and never give them more than one trustworthy adult.
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Sep 1, 2015 19:57
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HatfulOfHollow posted:I run a game for the worst group of adventurers ever. I should probably change the name of the campaign to TavernQuest: The Game of Outsourced Adventure and allow them to live out their dreams of hiring contractors to do everything for them. This game could be awesome. Just make it medieval Parks and Rec.
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Sep 2, 2015 19:52
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