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So, I'm about to run a Humblewood campaign for 5 of my friends, and this will only be my second campaign after running through the Starter Set adventure. I felt like I struggled with NPC interactions, mainly figuring out the voices and generating congruent answers from them on the fly. I also had some trouble getting the players engaged in the story. Maybe that was just the Mines of Phandelver story not being so compelling, or (likely) had to do with my inexperience. They all told me they enjoyed it, but I'm sure a lot of DM's know the self-doubt that comes with running these games  . Any input, tips, resources, etc. You fine folks have would be appreciated. Has anyone else ran Humblewood? Any hiccups or weirdness I should know about to maybe rework a bit? I want to play off the balance of the four elements being disrupted and that's why the Aspect of Fire initially appeared, and why it's presence still lingers in the Grove, as well as the tensions between the birdfolk and humblefolk.
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Jul 30, 2021 20:56
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Sanford posted:
drat, that's a phenomenal idea. Thank you! It didn't even occur to me to play with that to gather my thoughts before responding. Also, your campaign sounds awesome 
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Jul 30, 2021 23:25
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Maybe one thing you could add to this spymaster as a Flaw is that he's very vain, and likes to have a signature 'calling card' to his machinations. So, as the party is doing things and always just missing him, or uncovering mysteries/dealing with killers/groups hired by him to do his bidding, etc. They'll find his thing. Maybe he's developed a network into a secret society of sorts that has like, an old coin as their mark to each other. Or perhaps he has a stylized symbol like a raven or vulture or whatever that he likes to sign all his letters to his lackeys with. Perhaps it's a tattoo that he has them all have, or just a signature MO to his schemes that can easily be recognized as a pattern(start subtle and make it glaringly obvious later on if they don't pick it up). Knowing that they're up against a consistent foe that's always hanging in the shadows and working against them through hints like that is very fun, I think. Especially if they can capture a high-level member of this guy's secret society/agent/gang/whatever you flavour it as and use that as a way to give the players some information on his future plans so they can start trying to get ahead of him
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Aug 9, 2023 14:43
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Arglebargle III posted:Stuff You wanna know what really motivates players who don't want to play along with the story hooks that you're trying to drop in? Taking away something they've grown to like having, and make them go out and get it back. Of course, the way to get it back involves hitting some of your cool decision points and dramatic scenes too (but don't stomp all over the player's agency either!). Make sure the rewards along the way of getting their Thing/Person/Situation back make it well worth their while, too. So, perhaps another rogue trader faction that's already running an operation in this region of space has taken notice to the party cutting into their business interests and profits, and have them come in and start interfering and going after the players. If they really like this idea of dealing with a rival group, then really lean into it, make a cool captain NPC as the head of their ship or group or whatever. Or perhaps have one of the imperial groups start to notice their operation once it gets really successful, and explore how that'll play out with their situations. Oh, they're wearing environment suits in an area that you'd like to have something cool happen? Oh, one of their suits is having a malfunction and they have to roll well to fix it or get back to their ship. Or, perhaps a roving pack of baddies comes up and tries to grapple one of the party, and if successful on that they try to pull their environment suit helmet off. Don't force the situation if their plan and rolls totally go their way. But you gotta introduce complications that they have to work through. Mechanical equipment fails due to chaotic influences or plain wear and tear, some creatures are intelligent enough to try to violate the integrity of their suits, etc. Etc. And ultimately, if they're having more fun with the planning and roleplaying more than combat all the time, then make sure to respect that too! Mederlock fucked around with this message at 07:30 on Sep 3, 2023 |
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Sep 3, 2023 07:25
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E: sorry don't know why I double posted.. was supposed to be an edit. Awful app being weird or something
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Sep 3, 2023 07:27
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This thread is awesome, so I'd like some inspiration. One of my players expressed an interest in gambling. They wanted to play a blackjack style game, so I just had him and the dealer roll contested straight intelligence checks for about ten rounds, before I had him move on from that. Do any of you have some good suggestions for a light gambling system, maybe like 2-4 mini games that are interesting, rules light, and quick? The rest of the party seemed kinda intrigued after that player was done gambling away half of the party's gold . I do have a laptop, a projected screen on my tabletop, and a monitor nearby, as well as decks of cards and whatnot.
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Sep 14, 2023 19:49
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admanb posted:my GM instinct is to figure out why your players want this? If they want to play poker maybe you should just schedule a poker night? If they just want a quick way to make in-game money you shouldn't put that much effort into it. Their character's backstory has them as the son of a rich merchant, who's gotten in trouble before for blowing money and tarnishing the family's reputation. They wanted to get a quick gambling fix and get more gold for some magic items in town to impress the rest of the party. It also let me introduce another section of the main settlement in the region that they hadn't even thought to explore yet too E: Lamuella posted:One suit poker with d12s. 1s are aces, 12s are queens, no kings, all the usual hands apply with an added max hand of five of a kind. Oh I do like this, thanks! All but one person at the table likes poker anyways, this can be good for a few quick rounds of gambling! Mederlock fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Sep 14, 2023 |
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Sep 14, 2023 22:10
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Vargatron posted:How do y'all plot your campaign storylines? I used to be real meticulous about plot points but I've switched over to a bullet point outline and don't really plan head further than 2 or 3 sessions. I have a general ending I'm aiming for, but the last time I really tried to plan a story out, the party killed a big bad way too early and threw that in shambles! Can't believe they rolled so drat high on their grapple checks... I really like this method of approaching it, I'm adapting a prewritten module (Humblewood) using it to add in the character's backstory's and massively expand on each phase of the setting book so we get more mileage out of this campaign, adjusting difficulty levels as we go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9qQ4Yk6i4E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVelBbXcYCE
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Sep 22, 2023 19:37
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Verisimilidude posted:How would you approach a player creating a character in D&D5e, but their stats are kinda all over the place and they don't do any one thing particularly well because of it? Is she going to be a hex blade warlock? As long as that 15 stat is charisma, that's one great way that she can make that character and weapon combo work, as she can use her charisma modifier for her weapon attacks E: and you can always re-flavour the hex blade ability to be in line with alternative patron ideas they have, rather than it being related to the shadowfell it can be a holy weapon for instance, or a cursed blade, or a weapon made by some fey entity or whatever Mederlock fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Sep 22, 2023 |
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Sep 22, 2023 20:02
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Verisimilidude posted:She chose fathomless as her patron, so no hexblade. Yeah, I would maybe just offer her the choice to re-flavour hex blade as a Spear.. or a trident?  that came from some entity from deep in the plane of Water or something, and maybe let her swap a spell or three between their spell lists to some more water-themed stuff if she wanted. If she still wants to stick with her choice, then yeah, let it be and offer her a one time respec or whatever if she's unsatisfied later
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Sep 22, 2023 20:57
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Vargatron posted:What's a reasonable amount of distance that a party can travel in a day? I'm planning on an outdoor scenario with some overland travel. Points of interest will include a few miles of swamp, a large forest, and some caves with ruins inside. I was thinking about doing a 20-30 mile overland map then have some random encounters rolled as the party travels. I've really been digging this Channel's takes on DM'ing, he's really condensed down a crazy amount of DM advice in such a good way. He's got a great video on overland travel. https://youtu.be/pOKkrbPdsPA?si=aOarJLD6IYzXSEqs I also like the idea of borrowing from BG3 and converting everyone's rations and water supplies into a single party-wide Camp Supply resource, that is expended each long rest when not in a tavern or other accommodations, and limiting the maximum of supplies that can be carried based on the party's total strength modifier or something, and which levies a point of exhaustion if not used during a rest.
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Sep 25, 2023 02:36
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Arglebargle III posted:I had a nasty surprise this session when one of my players announced he was firing his shoulder-mounted autocannon! He's been running around purchasing things outside of sessions and now has a truly ludicrous arsenal; he's way out of whack with the other players. He also announced that due to a special rule it counts as twin-linked. He pretty much single-handedly ruined the combat encounter, which the players were supposed to lose, and turned a fight with overwhelming odds into a three-hour slog the players actually won. Kind of wrecked the whole session. You're going to have to have a private talk to this player about the fact that Absolutely Nothing Happens on a character sheet or their inventory, except when you are part of the loop. During a session when a player pulls out something like that without talking to your first, you can just say, No, you do not have those weapons, because you didn't talk to me about it and find an appropriate vendor to buy those items during the session. Sheesh, purchasing things outside the session.. seriously, where did this individual even get this ludicrous idea? And also make a general note to the whole group during your next session that only actions that happen at the table or after discussion with you, are actions that happen in the world.
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Sep 25, 2023 04:38
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Vargatron posted:As others have said, you need to talk to him 1 on 1 about this. idk anything about 40k, but I would totally not allow this at all in my 5E game. Honestly, I'd almost retcon his equipment back to standard levels. I would also retcon it all out. It's a flagrant violation of table etiquette
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Sep 26, 2023 00:21
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gurragadon posted:I've never read the ruleset to 40kRP but it's encouraged to buy stuff out play without telling the GM or other players? If it is, then what the player did seems to be what the creators intended so I guess I couldn't knock it too much and sounds like the player is just a power gamer. You can also tell them no, and if they make a big stink about their superweapons being taken away, you can also just ask them to leave if they won't respect you or the rest of the table
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Sep 26, 2023 15:49
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Dameius posted:"I'm really enjoying the time we're spending together but am not really feeling this game. Should we switch this time to just hanging out or try a new game, with possibly a new person at the DM helm? If y'all want to continue with this game, can we agree to some changes on how these sessions are going and maybe offload some of the ancillary game tasks I'm currently doing such as..." 
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Oct 12, 2023 15:51
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Zoeb posted:In the defense of my friends, who can be passive and never read the rules. They are my friends first and my players second. Running a nerd game was my idea and they aren't big into gaming. We just do it when we hang out. So asking them to read a rulebook is a big ask. You should really try a rules-light game like Root. I think you and your players would like it better.
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Oct 15, 2023 07:15
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Agrikk posted:Ten books? Check out the Legend of the Galactic Heroes novel series, it's in a sci-fi space opera setting but there are so many great characters to steal, and the character arcs of the two main protagonists are rife with great examples of how to build up and scale up a plot as a character goes from zero to hero. It's basically late 1800s imperial Germany hubris vs. democratic American corruption, the Space Opera Or just watch the original anime adaptation
Mederlock fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Jan 25, 2024 |
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Jan 25, 2024 17:00
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Agrikk posted:When they are both dead, I hope GRRM and Robert Jordan get to spend eternity locked in a room together a la Huis Clos in which George gets to read Robert endless rapey stabby passages and Robert gets to read George endless passages on lace patterns/hairstyles/bosoms/tsks of irritation. Let's add Patrick Rothfuss to this scene, he's part of this cadre of never releasing the final part of a series too.
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Jan 25, 2024 19:29
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Morpheus posted:5e is fine for first-timers, it's all just about how stringent you are with the rules, how much combat you decide to include, etc. There are systems that are lighter in rules with more RP, or focus more on short adventures without levelling up or anything, but 5e is alright.  I'm somewhat experienced at DM'ing, and I'm halfway through this book and it's now my go to recommendation for other GM's, in addition to the Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master by Mike Shea. It's got a really well thought out structure that puts the important bits out up front, the principles the author is teaching are very strong, and it's got lots of resources to get you started. 10/10 Would recommend both, but get the other book before you get the Lazy DM one https://www.amazon.com/You-Want-Game-Master-Adventure_for/dp/1645679152/ https://www.amazon.com/Return-Lazy-Dungeon-Master-Michael/dp/1726631826/
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Feb 9, 2024 02:53
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Arglebargle III posted:This is a really dumb question but: You're running Rogue Trader, yeah? It's best to do things like that not through some BBEG monologue revealing the scope of their plan or bragging about how cruel and terrible they are, but instead present that information through other NPC's and reminders in the world. For example, have victims of the bad guy, or maybe their captured cronies give up information about them as they're being interviewed or interrogated, respectively. Have small voice or video recordings left in an area where the bad guy had done something bad to further their aims, perhaps from someone's personal data recorder, a half broken servitor, the surveillance system, et cetera. Have the villain's story also be told how they impact their environment, their flavour of corruption, destruction, a calling card symbol they like to use that ties a crime to them, stuff like that.
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Feb 11, 2024 16:24
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Data cards and logbook recordings, maybe some defunct but barely functional servitors are stuck in a loop repeating some info, you can have some desperate people scrawl out warnings in blood on walls, maybe the ship's system's machine spirit's could communicate with their personal computers/tablets/whatever
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Mar 17, 2024 04:06
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Arglebargle III posted:My players continue to throw me for a loop. They now have their light cruiser pacified, and I was planning to have them tow it back and launch into a siege episode where they would have to rush through its repairs in order to fend off an invasion. Or maybe they could go do a mystery adventure if they're not ready to go home. But now they want to stash it in deep space and go home! So there's not really any narrative hook, they just want to regroup and now if I fire the siege plot their new ship won't be threatened. They keep foiling all my plans... The eternal curse of the DM. One Of Us, One Of Us
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Apr 13, 2024 08:30
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I'd honestly springboard several campaigns off this setting in the future, to get the most value out of your effort invested in it. The setting of random colony ships popping up in different areas and times also really makes it easy to spin up a new campaign in the setting whenever the need arises.
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May 7, 2024 07:22
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