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For my last game, I prepared an OP video for the session. Basically some really generic epic music (To Glory from Two Steps From Hell), the D&D logo with a little zoom animation, and some panning shots over the PC's portraits with their names. Took me less than half an hour to put together on Windows Movie Maker and I can reuse it for all future sessions, and the players loved it.
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Mar 4, 2014 16:14
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I only have it on my computer, and you should trust me when I say that it would be very underwhelming to view if your character did not appear in it. I guess a more useful link to give would be for the Windows Movie Maker(make sure not to deselect the crap you don't want to install). I know that it will make people who have done any video editing squirm, but if you just want to present a series of pictures with nice transition effects and a soundtrack it doesn't get any simpler.
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Mar 4, 2014 23:51
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So, in our last session (4E), my players did something I did not expect. After doing a small "quest" for some kobolds, which basically coincided with their main quest so it wasn't a detour, they decided to just kill the kobolds for the XP. Now, that's not really my problem, because I read Skullkickers and I wish that more D&D parties were borderline gangs than beacons of hope, but the problem is that we started this campaign because they recently watched the Hobbit and were pumped for some high fantasy heroics, world is in danger, etc etc. One of them even made a huge deal out of character creation because he wanted his dude to be as close to Gandalf as possible. And then they go and murder some kobolds for the XP. Should I just get rid of XP and let them level at appropriate story points? They were originally against it (they are both CRPG players so they couldn't even wrap their heads around the idea that you can have monsters that are not bags of XP), but they eventually understood my point. Still, I also offered them to reconsider the tone of the campaign to make it more murderhobo-y, but they refused. Dunno, am I making it too much of a deal that they killed a bunch of kobolds that were not even part of the main story? They are both new players (one of them had some experience with a very bad DM though) and I just want them to have fun playing DnD, and having them worry about one number on their sheet seems like a bad thing to have in the game. In return for taking away XP from battles, I'll try to bump the rest of the reward minigame a bit (items, boons and things like that), but I'll probably post in the 4E thread about that.
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Mar 13, 2014 10:21
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God Of Paradise posted:In my Ravenloft game, the evil player character has everyone in the palm of his hand. He is about to TPK the rest of the party. I guess I hosed up as a DM for letting it come to this. He has failed every powers check for every evil action, and is essentially a dark lord at this point, outpowering the rest of the party on a one on one basis. I figured the other party members were going to put him down. Now, the opposite is about to happen. Step down from DM, join the group as a new PC, and let that guy be the new DM, problem solved.
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Mar 16, 2014 13:30
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If no one particularly liked it, pretend it didn't happen.
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Mar 20, 2014 17:36
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SeraphSlaughter posted:Fashion Paladin Alignment: Lawful Gucci only.
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Mar 24, 2014 20:14
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I think he just wants to play as a player for a bit. Do you think you could go on some kind of self-contained sidequest so that another one of you can be GM for a session or two?
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Mar 27, 2014 22:05
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Sade posted:How I handle these is like this - I roleplay them in noncombat scenarios and say their "lines" in combat, but for the purposes of fighting things and solving problems using the NPC's skill set, they have total control over where he goes and what he does. That's what I also do for my 4E d&d game. I also "assign" melee hirelings to ranged characters and vice-versa to offer some new options. However, every hireling you add is still an action that the players didn't pick at character creation themselves, so even if they are in control it's not always the best option. But that's more of a problem in D&D than DW I guess.
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Mar 28, 2014 23:15
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masam posted:It's set after both shows, Korra's second season included, long enough for there to be air benders that are while rare, less of a scene causing sensation. I'm looking more towards a mature game, with the occasional adult theme, still focused on the adventure and the awesomeness of bending and technology. I'm thinking maybe 1930's to 40's? a bit of a tech jump but still focused on the themes within both shows. Earth-bending Hilter, why make this complicated?
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Apr 29, 2014 11:31
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Just pick any off-the-shelf adventure that features a macguffin object. Everyone wants macguffins, even the villains. e: especially the villains.
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May 16, 2014 16:18
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Bumfluff posted:We had no say in the matter, it was just a couple of d100 rules and that was it. The gently caress? Did he just roll on a table and the die landed on the "Your pregnant wife dies" entry?
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May 29, 2014 20:44
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Depending on how invested the GM and other players are on the setting, their reaction should range from "sure, why not?" to "gently caress you and your previous campaign". Of course, "I don't have time/am not autistic enough to read through all that setting lore to make my character, just point me to a mine my dwarf hails from" is a perfectly acceptable thing to say, but if you are doing this thing just to circumvent this process but still have a fully fleshed-out character, it's going to be a big gently caress-you to people who put the effort to tie their characters to the setting, and the GM who might want to work with elements from the setting he picked, not a different one. In the end, whatever we say here won't matter at all in your table because we are not these people who are going to play with and you should be more worried what they think about your characters than what the goon hivemind deems acceptable elfgame cross-planery. petrol blue is right, just ask for help with making your backgrounds to tie in with the rest of the group. Inter-campaign shenanigans aside, it's lovely when half the party has it's own thing going on.
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Jun 5, 2014 14:25
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50 Foot Ant posted:What I'm asking, I guess, is is this a symptom of having GM'd for so long Nope, he is just an rear end in a top hat. Also probably a lovely GM.
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Jun 6, 2014 09:46
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Glukeose posted:Making custom items for your players, yea or nay? I've made up several items and given them to my players in a couple campaigns of Edge of the Empire, and they seem to be cool with it, but I'd like to branch out and stat up some custom items for a 4e campaign I'm currently running. My players are all decently experienced with the system and I'd like to keep things fresh instead of just waiting to hand out treasure parcels of stuff I know they want. For 4e, I suggest you start by using the inherent bonuses rule from DMG 2. That way you can focus entirely on the riders and flavor of the items instead of fiddly numbers bullshit, and the players will be less stressed when having to choose between more fun or more efficient items. Of course there will always be items that are just plain better in terms of calculable damage output, but the choice will not be as clear-cut.
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Jun 10, 2014 10:42
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I prefer the table, but when I DMed a few sessions over skype I used MorphVox and the players loved it. YMMV.
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Jun 10, 2014 16:39
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vicidius posted:Our only previous experience in several months of Dungeon World, which we all enjoyed. We are now trying "graduate" to something crunchier in hopes of finding a more concrete combat system. There was something about it that was unsatisfying at times. So, without trying to start an edition war here, speaking strictly in terms of having a crunchy and concrete combat system, have you guys considered D&D 4E?
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Jun 13, 2014 08:58
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The horse was working for the bandits all along 
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Jun 19, 2014 22:58
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Also Paizo had a literal licence to reprint 3E. No one can do the same with 4E. Not to mention that DDI is such a big thing among 4E customers that any "4thfinder" would have to offer an equivalent service from launch if they wanted people to move.
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Jun 30, 2014 16:00
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Hey, they already gave you a hook, they are looking for a girl. Someone knows a guy who might now what happened to her, but he wants a favor. Trail of breadcrumbs to the evil dudes that hold her hostage. Final showdown in burning castle during sacrificial ceremony. Go full cheese. Don't prepare anything for more than one session ahead, the drow player will gently caress it up eventually. Don't give a gently caress about soul-selling mechanics. Assuming you absolutely have nothing better to do with your time.
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Jul 5, 2014 00:49
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My Lovely Horse posted:or if it would be fun to have him secretly be an actual intelligent falcon who uses the strongest hobgoblin as a proxy. A falcon who used to be an elf.
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Jul 14, 2014 09:31
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When both sides are so powerful that whoever wins initiative usually determines the outcome of the battle, it's rocket tag.
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Jul 20, 2014 17:59
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Whenever I need a map, I always look at cartographersguild.com first.
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Jul 25, 2014 16:23
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Hmm, that looks like Post Traumatic Adversarial DM Syndrome. I'd prescribe some FATE if your players are not storygame intolerant.
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Jul 28, 2014 14:26
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My Lovely Horse posted:The way this game came about is that I said, hey, I feel like running a game, we could do a really combat-focused 4E game or a more free-form 13th Age one, anyone interested? And I got enough interest in 4E that it was worth it running that. So that's something we all agreed on before we started; To be fair, agreeing that you want a combat focused game does not exclude that the world is a deterministic Rube Goldberg contraption that must be carefully interacted with so as not to come crushing down on their heads. Maybe you thought that "combat focused" means "All encounters will be balanced to be challenging but fair", but for someone who hasn't played 4E before it could very well mean "listen here, there will be a lot of people who want to kill you, you better always prepare for the worst". Next time you guys gather to play, just watch The A-Team (the movie) instead. This is the game you want to play, they just don't know it yet. Rexides fucked around with this message at 11:29 on Jul 29, 2014 |
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Jul 29, 2014 11:20
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Crosscontaminant posted:I'm considering the possibility of running a Pokémon Tabletop United game with some friends. One thing I'm tempted to try and incorporate into the game is a subtle but growing sense of animosity between the player characters. The idea is that as much as they may want to work together and be friends there is when all's said and done only one Champion title to take away, so they will at some point have to transition from being buddies to competing between themselves for the title, so I'd like to get the internecine stuff and vague distrust going as quickly as possible. Just hand them a piece of paper that says "I have to become the Champion because _____________________". Like mention explicitly that the core gimmick of the campaign is that they all want to be become the one champion and if they are not down with it then you can play something else.
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Aug 14, 2014 10:14
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Super Waffle posted:I recently came across an album of space shanties that I absolutely love, I don't know about spaceelfgames, but this is the perfect soundtrack for space truckin' in Elite Dangerous.
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Sep 10, 2014 10:30
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Well if templates for already existing systems don't suit you and you don't like excel, then I think the only other option is LaTeX.
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Sep 10, 2014 14:10
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thespaceinvader posted:Start with a huge creature, splits into two large creatures when bloodied, splits into four minions when killed. If you keep the defences more or less the same, and you calculate the the total "encounter HP" correctly starting from a solo, it should last the same amount of time as a solo fight. In fact, it should be quicker, as the more the creature splits, the more vulnerable it becomes to area attacks. Whybird posted:The difficulty you'll find is that the encounter won't come to much of a climax; it ends with the PCs mopping up a bunch of minions which isn't that exciting. A better solution might just be to have a solo which keeps on spawning minions as it takes damage. That sounds like a good idea, will definitely try it at some point.
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Sep 22, 2014 09:44
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deadly_pudding posted:Yeah, I'm willing to adapt. It's just hard to get a read on the situation. They really like following the breadcrumbs and Getting The Thing, but they usually don't end up actually caring what The Thing is, or why they decided to get it. I can't tell if it's just because the narrative doesn't largely matter to them across the board and they just want to roll some dice, or if my particular narrative just happens to be super uninteresting Do what I (plan to) do and just throw Saturday Morning Cartoon Villains at them. They visit a village, which is harassed by a group of bandits. Their leader is an rear end in a top hat, that's his entire motivation. Later they are targeted by an assassin. They killed the assassin's boyfriend, that's her entire motivation. Make the villains interesting not by having an intricate backstory, but by being as flamboyant as possible. The bandit leader has a mechanical right arm! The Assassin is half devil and her head is perpetually on fire! That's perfectly ok if you ask me. TRPG players, especially new ones, already spend most of their cognitive capacity dealling with things like base attack bonuses and grappling rules and goblin HP and other poo poo that has nothing to do with the story, and even lifting their heads out of the books the first and foremost thing they are going to care about is their character. Having the villains be just a foil for their characters to defeat and feel awesome is fine, they need no more depth than that. Having the macguffin be just a navigation mark for the plot is equally fine. It's not about them preferring "kick in the door" gameplay to whatever literary masterpiece you prepared for them, it's about making the plot easy enough to explain to a person who is currently doing his math homework while playing with an action figure at the same time.
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Sep 22, 2014 19:04
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My only advice is that if you don't want to shell out money for "real" miniatures, you should at least try to be as consistent as possible with your solution. Having a battlefield consisting of three cardboard adventurers on plastic stands, 10 goblins represented by coins, an iphone for a horse and an actual miniature for Greg's character because it was the only one who could capture the nuance of Torg the Barbarian, it will end up very jarring. Back in college, we used coins for minis, which ended up costing as little as a penny.
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Sep 26, 2014 11:13
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Also, before committing to any physical solution, have you tried any software that can emulate a tabletop? I started our campaign playing on a physical table with handmade tokens (bad ones), but when we tried Maptool on a whim, the players loved it. Now we switched to Masterplan, and I don't think we are going back to physical tokens any time soon.
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Sep 26, 2014 15:18
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gradenko_2000 posted:There are for face-to-face games, and not all of us have laptops, that's why I'm looking at physical objects. We are also playing face to face, and it's only my laptop that is used to manage the battle (the players just point to where they want to move).
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Sep 26, 2014 16:03
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If they play table top games in general (catan, etc): DnD 4E with pregens (don't let them anywhere near feats!) If they play CRPGs: DnD 4E with the online character builder If they have seen people "play dungeons and dragons" on TV (Community, Big Bang Theory etc): Dungeon Word, DnD 5E maaaaaybe. Just my bad opinion though.
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Oct 1, 2014 17:40
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Just have some survivors rave about "boomsticks". That's all you need, and it will save you the embarrassment of your players going "Oh, they were muskets. There are muskets in out fantasy world  "
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Dec 12, 2014 00:52
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Mage Knight is a cool game, and while it has "few rules" if you just count rulebook pages by RPG standards, it's very deep in how you interact with your cards and analysis paralysis can be a huge problem, nearly as bad as it can be in a rules heavy RPG. Also, it does not really do the "four murderhobos enter a lair, three emerge with loot" thing at all, it's more like "four murderhobos rampage through the land, pillaging villages and press-ganking people into service, occasionally being dicks to each other for no reason".
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Dec 16, 2014 18:35
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Just play to your strengths. Try to find three fun spells to throw at the players (you will need a PHB for this, though), and the first time they are hit after the third round announce that they have run out of HP.
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Dec 17, 2014 22:23
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AlphaDog posted:e: Or you could do what a guy who described himself as a professional game master told me to do when I was 12**, and whenever the enemies are too strong just have the PCs blow them up with barrels of gunpowder Ah, yes, the DOOM school of dungeon mastering.
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Dec 20, 2014 01:14
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As long as the DM can present a clear picture of what kind of game he wants, and is ready to accept that the players might think it's a pile of poo poo, then it's ok to set restrictions. As far as "balancing" 3.5E is concerned though, I think that if you advertised it as a Tier 3 & 4 game instead of arbitrarily banning classes you would get more traction with the players, and you would offer them more options than just a different flavor of full attack. Of course the tier system is just an internet thing, but for some reason seems to have been more or less accepted as a fact by the community. Seems so to me at least. In any case, I really like the T3 classes and might actually remotely consider the faint possibility of maybe attempting to play 3.5E again (maybe) if it was restricted to just those.
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Dec 23, 2014 18:21
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Torquemadras posted:Okay, I need some advice on thievery in the game. As long as you can make sure that +Math items go to the correct recipients (ie, they are rewards handed specifically from quest givers instead of being in the mercy of the thief finding them first), I think what you are doing right now is ok. There are a lot of magic items that are cool but absolutely not essential (I think ritual scrolls are a good candidate) and can be part of that kind of party drama.
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Jan 6, 2015 21:32
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