GM Lounge - Bartenders Answer All Your Questions

[Thufir Hawat]

You can let them get inside, ask them where exactly and consult your plans of the place, then they're in, and have to deal with whatever is there, without allowing anyone nearby to shout a warning.
Granted, most people tend to get distracted when people suddenly appear out of nowhere. Still, they've set themselves up for a high risk, high reward game, so that's what they're going to get!

[Roleplay Frog]

No I can't.

4 people going into a tight space they know nothing about. teleportation misshaps where not only possible but almost impossible to avoid.

[HockeyGod]

No I can't.

4 people going into a tight space they know nothing about. teleportation misshaps where not only possible but almost impossible to avoid.

Isn't that what makes for fun writing...the mishaps I mean?

[TheGlyphstone]

Isn't that what makes for fun writing...the mishaps I mean?

Fun writing, sure. Fun gaming, no. 'Mishaps' in this case typically involve things like "having your internal organs fused into the solid stone", at which point the only writing is how horribly the characters die and the game ends.

[Roleplay Frog]

Well, I can do fun yeah but I'm no fan of head through the wall attemps from players, and if I try to mess with them afterwards guess what happy faces they make, so I rather warn em.

[Thufir Hawat]

No I can't.

4 people going into a tight space they know nothing about. teleportation misshaps where not only possible but almost impossible to avoid.

I assumed the magic sends you to the nearest place not occupied by a solid object?

[Roleplay Frog]

Nope: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/dimensionDoor.htm

[TheGlyphstone]

Nope: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/dimensionDoor.htm

Yup:

If you arrive in a place that is already occupied by a solid body, you and each creature traveling with you take 1d6 points of damage and are shunted to a random open space on a suitable surface within 100 feet of the intended location.

If there is no free space within 100 feet, you and each creature traveling with you take an additional 2d6 points of damage and are shunted to a free space within 1,000 feet. If there is no free space within 1,000 feet, you and each creature travelling with you take an additional 4d6 points of damage and the spell simply fails.

Seeing as how one of the options was to simply climb over it, there's no way they would end up taking more than 1d6 damage apiece.

[Roleplay Frog]

Yeah, I kinda shortened it, they tried to teleport into a mages tower behind the wall, so technically I could get a 3d6er out, not that I tried... buuuuut... it's just a stupid idea to do without any scouting, pretending that the tower has no magical defences and traps for immediate into it teleportation. Just a teleport behind the wall I may have said alright let's have a dice roll of chance. That's what I too thought the plan actually, hence my initial description but they actually tried to teleport into the mage tower, behind the protective wall. Yeah.

[Roleplay Frog]

Anyway, you guys! A question! ~

Truenamers. I love truenamers, the concept. But what do you think, pretend it's a classic DnD 3.5 or mostly rule following 3.5, what do you guys think on alternative rules/custom designs for them?

now I'm gonna presume we know/agree on the following: Truenamers as they are are broken insofar as on a steady leveling courve they get weaker the higher their level gets, so something can't be right. The easiest suggested fix I heard, making the dc not (...) + 2x creature Hd but (...) + creature HD quickly imbalances them as well.

What method would you prefer, or don't you want them at all, I personally remember with regret the designers notes on how they wanted truenaming to be at first, creative and, admittedly, needing some knowledge to use at all.

[TheGlyphstone]

That fixes the math, but then you have to do some heavy homebrewing for utterances as well. Truenaming really got the shaft in multiple ways - there's the impossible math of making Truenaming checks as you said, but there's also the issue that Utterances themselves are extremely mediocre. When you get access to an effect, a real spellcaster would have gotten access to that effect several levels earlier and more reliably/repeatably.

[BrokenCollar]

-wanders in and finds chair, a ridiculous look on my face that clearly says I know nothing about any of the current conversation-

Hey everyone!

I'm thinking of running a group game over the summer so thought that the more planning and R&D I did the better. One tiny problem...

I have never GM'd or ran a group game before.

I don't know about the actual system for it or any of the problems I should expect to face.

This is basically a shoutout to anyone who has some advice for a first time GM.

Thanks everyone!

-sits back, sipping a cold one-

[TheGlyphstone]

-wanders in and finds chair, a ridiculous look on my face that clearly says I know nothing about any of the current conversation-

Hey everyone!

I'm thinking of running a group game over the summer so thought that the more planning and R&D I did the better. One tiny problem...

I have never GM'd or ran a group game before.

I don't know about the actual system for it or any of the problems I should expect to face.

This is basically a shoutout to anyone who has some advice for a first time GM.

Thanks everyone!

-sits back, sipping a cold one-

Well, first off, what system are you running? Knowing if one of us is already an expert in the game will be important.

[BrokenCollar]

-tries to know what your talking about-

In terms of a dice? I was thinking just freeform... With dice checks for the occasional thing if necessary...

Is that what you meant?

[HairyHeretic]

Generally when people talk systems, they have a specific pen and paper system in mind .. Pathfinder, FATE, Mutants and Masterminds, or whatever.

[Chrystal]

It's actually not necessary to use a system at all. Freeform is in a lot of ways easier, although it has it's disadvantages.

Many GMs on E have never run a system game and I'm sure we aren't the only two who wouldn't know where to start!

If you are going to have any form of PvP then I think a system is pretty much required, but with all players on the same side a good GM can use NPCs to keep action going.

That said there are some good systems available, but I'm not the one to talk about them...

[BrokenCollar]

Funny to see you hear Chrystal! It was your game that inspired me to start a group game, I have decided this summer is the time to do it.

So if I ran a freeform game as I think is most likely, what is my check list so to speak of things I need to have ready.

I already presume, setting, plot, my character, other NPCs...

[TheGlyphstone]

Oh. When you said

]I don't know about the actual system for it or any of the problems I should expect to face.

I thought you meant you had a system in mind, but had never played or run it before. My misunderstanding. Freeform is very much viable, particularly if you've never played a system game in RL or on the internet


Okay, first decide what kind of group game you want. There are two major categories here, though almost all games will draw on both types.
-A plot-driven game will be primarily dependent on the GM. If the premise is a group of heroes on a noble quest, or the Mystery Gang exploring a haunted mansion, this will involve the GM presenting situations, problems, or events and letting the players react to them. This requires the GM to be much more committed, but also has the benefit of needing less preparation and pre-planning, as you only need to react to what the players are doing right then, as well as having them tend to be in one place (though there are exceptions).
-A player-driven game (what systems often call Sandbox) is dependent primarily on the players taking initiative. This tends to require more active, involved players, but less work on the part of the GM. The GM sets up an environment, anything from an exotic hotel resort to a space station, dumps the players into the environment, and then lets them create their own stories and situations by interacting with each other or the environment. This has significantly more involvement than a plot-driven game initially, but much less once it gets off the ground.

One thing to consider immediately is the notion of 'your character'. As the GM, every character that isn't a player is technically your character. You might have a specific character who does the most player interaction - the captain of the spaceship they're on, for example - but avoid the trap of seeing an NPC as 'yours' any more than another.

[BrokenCollar]

I think my idea if definately closer to a Sandbox but there are certain key events that will happen throughout the course of the game.

The character I would play would actually be present much and so will allow me to concentrate on various NPCs but still have a a prescene in game among the players to bring up said events and generally move them towards the next chapter.

[HairyHeretic]

One thing to keep an eye on with a sandbox game is the players themselves. Some people, without a definite plot to move them along, can be rather lost in the freedom a sandbox offers. You want pro active players for this, in preference to reactive ones.

[BrokenCollar]

I'm actually being a little sneaky in that I currently have half a dozen or so games going in the setting I hope to play the group game in, so will hopefully be inviting my current artners over and they will also have a knowledge of the setting and may even keep their character.

[TheGlyphstone]

One thing to keep an eye on with a sandbox game is the players themselves. Some people, without a definite plot to move them along, can be rather lost in the freedom a sandbox offers. You want pro active players for this, in preference to reactive ones.

Ayup. Players should know what they're getting into, otherwise the game can flounder and fail because the players have no direction and the GM is unprepared to give one. If there are existing players you know can handle driving their own plots in your world, that's a good way to go.

The character I would play would actually be present much and so will allow me to concentrate on various NPCs but still have a a prescene in game among the players to bring up said events and generally move them towards the next chapter.

That's still just one NPC among many, then, it just happens to be the first one they meet, and the one who shows up occasionally (Gandalf in LotR, for example). I'm warning you against thinking of 'your character', because new GMs to system games (which you might end up trying eventually) are exceedingly prone to what's called a GMPC. A "player character" like the others who gets to do all the things players do, but because it's backed by the limitless power of the GM, is invincible, gets the spotlight in danger, earns all the best rewards and treasures, and generally poisons the game for the real players. Playing freeform avoids that specific issue, but it's just a bad habit you want to kill before it really takes root.

[BrokenCollar]

The main reason for me having to take on this character is because of the setting no one else could play it as they would have to much control over other players and I don't want to run that risk.If I have the Heir, who is the top of the command tree in the setting, as an NPC then his power can't be abused.

[TheGlyphstone]

The main reason for me having to take on this character is because of the setting no one else could play it as they would have to much control over other players and I don't want to run that risk.If I have the Heir, who is the top of the command tree in the setting, as an NPC then his power can't be abused.

No, that should definitely be a non-player character. What I'm warning against is the mentality of thinking of any one NPC as 'your PC' with a special out-of-game status attached to that which you don't regard any other NPC you play with.

[BrokenCollar]

Indeed. that's why I am keeping NPCs out of each other's way because hopefully I'll gather enough players to require less than constant NPC input.

How do the multiple threads of a group game work?