GM Lounge - Bartenders Answer All Your Questions

Started by HockeyGod, January 02, 2012, 03:16:41 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Thufir Hawat

Quote from: Caitlin on July 14, 2012, 08:18:23 AM
:o I already had 1 airplane nearly crashing in my hidden base, lol! I think the shock of that was enough to last me for the rest of the week. ;D
Then it seems it worked woth you, didn't it :P?

Quote from: HairyHeretic on July 14, 2012, 08:21:24 AM
That's a good point. I was just thinking about the actual genre and setting, and not the complexity of them.
Genre and setting are right ;). I opposed your suggestions simply because IMO, we've got to account for the whole picture when recommending new stuff for people to try.
Join The System Gamers List
Request thread 1 Request thread 2
Request thread 3
ONs and OFFs
"Love is a negative form of hatred." - Roger Zelazny, This Immortal

A&A thread!

HockeyGod

Quote from: AribethAmkiir on July 14, 2012, 02:42:16 AM
Hoping I could get some help.

I'm currently running a superhero/villain game that is highly slanted toward the silly and inane.  I think I made the mistake of allowing players to make both hero and villain characters, and I began the game by replying to every single character post.  Probably a bit overambitious on my part.  Well, now my players expect this to continue and I really can't keep up with the game by doing it this way.  I'm attempting to shepherd them into forming teams or groups, but I still have a few that just do their own thing.  I also have a few players who don't quite want to mesh fluidly into the setting, and still others who do a bit of godmodding.  I'm not exactly sure if I'm not expressing myself accurately enough and if the communication problem is completely on me, or if my players are just a bit thickheaded.

I think everyone is having fun in the game and when I ask the interest is supposedly still high, so I don't want to cancel it or reboot it.  I would like some strategies on how to possibly redirect my players, shift my GM style from what I began with to something a bit less demanding, and solidify the setting in a way that players understand what it is their characters are expected to mesh into.

I appreciate all attempts to help and thank you in advance for the replies.

-Ari

Do you have a co-GM or would it help to elevate someone in the game to that status to help you manage?

HairyHeretic

Just a little FYI, but I see Fantasy Flight Games are releasing their new version of Star Wars in a beta form. I don't think I'd be interested in buying the book (even if it would be limited edition), but if they do a PDF it might be worth a look.
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

persephone325

My game is coming very close to being able to have its own sub-forum. I was wondering, (since I'll be the GM) do I have the power to appoint assistant GMs within my game? Once it's moved to the big group games, of course.
This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck.
It always ends in a fight.
You pulled me from the river. Why?
I don't know.
"Don't dwell on those who hold you down. Instead, cherish those who helped you up."

Thufir Hawat

I'm not part of the staff, but I definitely don't remember ever seeing anything that would prohibit you to do so even now 8-).
Join The System Gamers List
Request thread 1 Request thread 2
Request thread 3
ONs and OFFs
"Love is a negative form of hatred." - Roger Zelazny, This Immortal

A&A thread!

HairyHeretic

If you want them to have board administrative abilities, you want to drop the staff a line, yes.
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

persephone325

This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck.
It always ends in a fight.
You pulled me from the river. Why?
I don't know.
"Don't dwell on those who hold you down. Instead, cherish those who helped you up."

Sasha


persephone325

Hello Sasha!

How do you deal with someone who is constantly misspelling words, and you've mentioned to this person more than once to watch their spelling? (In a nice way, I've mentioned this quite a few times.)
This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck.
It always ends in a fight.
You pulled me from the river. Why?
I don't know.
"Don't dwell on those who hold you down. Instead, cherish those who helped you up."

Chrystal

Random question:

System games..... I have played a lot of board games and I've played D&D a couple of times, and I seem to recall that the most basic system for PvP combat is what I think of as "To-Hit/To-Kill".

Basically, you roll a dice against your weapon type and skill, modify it by the target's size and dexterity, modify it by your own dexterity and if the modified roll is lower than the hit number, you have hit your opponent.

Your opponent then rolls against their armour class, modifying the role by target facing, and takes damage based upon the amount by  which the roll exceeds the armour class.

I'm sure people know this system. It's basic and it works in just about any situation from swords and sorcery to tank battles, to space battles.

My question is, what is the best way to implement it in group game in E?

The problem I can see is, that if you have two equally matched opponents duking it out, the combat could last for several rounds and the worst case scenario is that one of them posts once a week...

My best idea for this is to ask both players to submit (say) 5 rounds worth of dice rolls at the start of the fight. They both put in a hit and damage roll for each round, regardless of the result of the hit rolls. These are then matched up and the result of each round worked out.

The disadvantage to the above is that if it becomes clear that you are going to die, you can back out. The only way of preventing that is to maybe specify that players must fight for a minimum number of rounds before they can attempt to withdraw, and attempting to withdraw requires a dice roll, and gives the other guy a free hit, meaning you might just die anyway...

So, is this workable?

The follow-up question is, how do GMs like their players to post this sort of fight?

My ideal solution would be to have both players PM their posts to each other, work out the outcome of the fight and then both post opposite sides of the same fight, covering it all in a single post, rather than have them post a string of "blow-by-blow" one-liners. Again, does this work?

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

Thufir Hawat

A major question would be, does different manoeuvres and descriptions influence the difficulty to hit, the damage, or the like? If not, I don't see a problem with specifying a timeline and the GM rolling for anyone who's got too much on their plate to post for themselves, or using one of the previously sent rolls 8-).
If such things matter, which I personally prefer, then you've got to make them at least give you a general statement of intent even if they can't write a post.
Join The System Gamers List
Request thread 1 Request thread 2
Request thread 3
ONs and OFFs
"Love is a negative form of hatred." - Roger Zelazny, This Immortal

A&A thread!

Chrystal

Quote from: Thufir Hawat on September 09, 2012, 04:48:55 AM
A major question would be, does different manoeuvres and descriptions influence the difficulty to hit, the damage, or the like? If not, I don't see a problem with specifying a timeline and the GM rolling for anyone who's got too much on their plate to post for themselves, or using one of the previously sent rolls 8-).
If such things matter, which I personally prefer, then you've got to make them at least give you a general statement of intent even if they can't write a post.

Hmm... To be honest, I hadn't even thought of different moves.... I can see how, for someone like yourself who has a lot of experience with system games, it would be something that you would want to keep the realism. but I'm reminded of a maxim from my days as a tomboy teenager playing board wargames with my kid brother - you improve realism at the expense of playability.

The more rules a player has to remember, and the more dice rolls they have to make, and the more modifiers they have to apply, the more complex the game gets, it makes it less playable. By that I mean that each turn takes longer, requires more technical knowledge and gets in the way of actually moving the pieces on the board - or writing the posts...

This question came about because I had a really cool idea for a group RP that would of necessity involve PvP. I have decided to allow three levels of combat - Freeform by mutual agreement being the first level, where players decide mutually the outcome of the fight (and believe me there are benefits in loosing...!), GM adjudicated being second, where I look at the character stats and say "You'll win, and you'll loose" - I don't see that getting used too much, as players should be able to work that sort of thing out themselves. And then the third level is the dice roller.

Benefits for loosing a fight? Well, yes. Angels and demons don't die, do they? So if you get "killed",you get taken prisoner by the other side and that involves all sorts of delicious torture!

I can see some people deliberately picking fights they are going to loose!

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

Thufir Hawat

Quote from: Chrystal on September 09, 2012, 05:09:38 AM
Hmm... To be honest, I hadn't even thought of different moves.... I can see how, for someone like yourself who has a lot of experience with system games, it would be something that you would want to keep the realism. but I'm reminded of a maxim from my days as a tomboy teenager playing board wargames with my kid brother - you improve realism at the expense of playability.
Actually, no, it might have nothing to do with any realism whatsoever, and be meant to give more options and make the dice part entertaining in itself. If you're going to use it at some point, why wouldn't you have it add to the fun? Besides, even patently unrealistic genres are concerned with it, just think of a famous "Princess Bride" scene :P!
It's simply that different manoeuvres having different effects adds verisimilitude to many people.

Also, different manoeuvres could, but often don't involve more rolls or more calculations, although they might involve different ones. A simple example would be to take a penalty to your attack roll in order to dish out for more damage than you otherwise would deal, say by adding the penalty you took as a bonus to the damage roll.
To use a patently unrealistic example, that's why in WWF or whatever "wrestling" fights are called these days, lighter fighters jump from high places to slam into a heavyweight, although that gives the guy more time to react ;D!

Of course, you don't have to use any manoeuvres. I'm just asking what you're planning, since the two might require a bit of a different set-up.
Join The System Gamers List
Request thread 1 Request thread 2
Request thread 3
ONs and OFFs
"Love is a negative form of hatred." - Roger Zelazny, This Immortal

A&A thread!

AndyZ

Quote from: persephone325 on September 09, 2012, 02:21:13 AM
How do you deal with someone who is constantly misspelling words, and you've mentioned to this person more than once to watch their spelling? (In a nice way, I've mentioned this quite a few times.)

The only real way to handle this is a spell-checker program that you can force the person to use.  If someone doesn't know spelling, they don't honestly know that they're doing anything wrong.

Some people are more sensitive about their inability to spell than others, and some are truly dyslexic and can't learn to do better without severe help.  One thing I like to do is "nudge" people by using the word in my own post and spelling it correctly.  You can also quote their post but fix everything misspelled in their post.

The problem is that our society no longer welcomes constructive criticism, and as a result, most people feel insulted.  Trying to tell people the difference between your and you're is now considered an act of trolling.  If someone doesn't learn and doesn't want to learn, they won't learn no matter what you do, because they get frustrated and it leads them to double down on bad behavior.

If they honestly do want to learn but the mistakes can't be caught by a spell-checker, a number of websites can be found via a search engine which detail grammar and syntax.  If they just keep forgetting to use a spell-checker, suggest that they use a new browser, one that automatically checks every word.  I know on Chrome it makes a red line if I goof anywhere,  and same on OpenOffice Writer if they want to put their post into a separate file before posting.  Or, just suggest that they click Spell Check at the bottom more often than just the final thing they do before posting, and then it might become habit.

I hope this helps to at least some degree.
It's all good, and it's all in fun.  Now get in the pit and try to love someone.

Ons/Offs   -  My schedule and A/As   -    My Avatars

If I've owed you a post for at least a week, poke me.

persephone325

Quote from: AndyZ on September 09, 2012, 06:25:01 AM
The only real way to handle this is a spell-checker program that you can force the person to use.  If someone doesn't know spelling, they don't honestly know that they're doing anything wrong.

Some people are more sensitive about their inability to spell than others, and some are truly dyslexic and can't learn to do better without severe help.  One thing I like to do is "nudge" people by using the word in my own post and spelling it correctly.  You can also quote their post but fix everything misspelled in their post.

The problem is that our society no longer welcomes constructive criticism, and as a result, most people feel insulted.  Trying to tell people the difference between your and you're is now considered an act of trolling.  If someone doesn't learn and doesn't want to learn, they won't learn no matter what you do, because they get frustrated and it leads them to double down on bad behavior.

If they honestly do want to learn but the mistakes can't be caught by a spell-checker, a number of websites can be found via a search engine which detail grammar and syntax.  If they just keep forgetting to use a spell-checker, suggest that they use a new browser, one that automatically checks every word.  I know on Chrome it makes a red line if I goof anywhere,  and same on OpenOffice Writer if they want to put their post into a separate file before posting.  Or, just suggest that they click Spell Check at the bottom more often than just the final thing they do before posting, and then it might become habit.

I hope this helps to at least some degree.

I see. I'll have to try something like that and hope it works.
This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck.
It always ends in a fight.
You pulled me from the river. Why?
I don't know.
"Don't dwell on those who hold you down. Instead, cherish those who helped you up."

Chrystal

Quote from: Thufir Hawat on September 09, 2012, 05:24:31 AM
Actually, no, it might have nothing to do with any realism whatsoever, and be meant to give more options and make the dice part entertaining in itself. If you're going to use it at some point, why wouldn't you have it add to the fun? Besides, even patently unrealistic genres are concerned with it, just think of a famous "Princess Bride" scene :P!
It's simply that different manoeuvres having different effects adds verisimilitude to many people.

Also, different manoeuvres could, but often don't involve more rolls or more calculations, although they might involve different ones. A simple example would be to take a penalty to your attack roll in order to dish out for more damage than you otherwise would deal, say by adding the penalty you took as a bonus to the damage roll.
To use a patently unrealistic example, that's why in WWF or whatever "wrestling" fights are called these days, lighter fighters jump from high places to slam into a heavyweight, although that gives the guy more time to react ;D!

Of course, you don't have to use any manoeuvres. I'm just asking what you're planning, since the two might require a bit of a different set-up.

I'm more than open to advice on the easiest way to handle this? I was thinking of giving each character the option of one or two "special attacks" - like from the video games. Is that the sort of thing you were thinking of? In my first post on the subject I didn't say that I was talking about supernatural beings, but I have mentioned this now, so I can be more specific. I was thinking of allowing each character one magical attack and one special weapon attack or something. With a limit on how often an attack can be used, obviously.

I think having rules for sword thrust, chop, back-hand chop, two-handed downward chop, etc, would be seriously cumbersome?

Quote from: persephone325 on September 09, 2012, 06:46:19 AM
I see. I'll have to try something like that and hope it works.

Firefox also has a built-in spelling checker. (Interestingly, it underlines the word Firefox!) The only one I don't know about is Microsoft Back-Door I.E.

Andy is right though. Plus of course you have to make allowances for people who's first language is not English! If someone speaks Russian as a first language, cut them some slack, unless your Russian is better than their English! And then there are all the people who speak American, with the idiosyncratic spelling from across the pond! If I spent all my time telling people to put a u in colour, I'd never get anything done!

On the other hand, there's the people who confuse the comparative conjunction "Than" with the temporal comparative adverb "Then".

http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/difficulties/thanthen.html

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

Thufir Hawat

Quote from: Chrystal on September 09, 2012, 07:39:50 AM
I'm more than open to advice on the easiest way to handle this? I was thinking of giving each character the option of one or two "special attacks" - like from the video games. Is that the sort of thing you were thinking of?
More or less, yes. Although I was thinking more of something like the aforementioned jump attacks, tripping, disarming and the like.

QuoteIn my first post on the subject I didn't say that I was talking about supernatural beings, but I have mentioned this now, so I can be more specific. I was thinking of allowing each character one magical attack and one special weapon attack or something. With a limit on how often an attack can be used, obviously.
That might work, especially if they've got some interesting combos. What kind of effects would the attacks have?

QuoteI think having rules for sword thrust, chop, back-hand chop, two-handed downward chop, etc, would be seriously cumbersome?
Indeed, and I wouldn't recommend it. Such level of detail would probably make the system way more granular than is useful for your goals!
Join The System Gamers List
Request thread 1 Request thread 2
Request thread 3
ONs and OFFs
"Love is a negative form of hatred." - Roger Zelazny, This Immortal

A&A thread!

Sasha

Quote from: persephone325 on September 09, 2012, 02:21:13 AM
Hello Sasha!

How do you deal with someone who is constantly misspelling words, and you've mentioned to this person more than once to watch their spelling? (In a nice way, I've mentioned this quite a few times.)

Well if you have the ability to modify ...then just go in and hit the spell check button in modify . Fix it ....though this is rather rude if you think about it on some levels .  Not really advisable ...was more a joke on my part .

I think the fun of being a GM is that you get to watch others grow as writers . So if a higher standard exists in the group as a whole then the writing should just slowly improve is all . I have watched many that English is a second language with them become very humorous ...fun partners to write with . 

Sometimes you just have to ease up .....and take a chill pill anyways .




Chrystal

Right - in order to make life interesting for the players, I am giving them each 100 character points to spend. They can spend these on stats such as skill, dexterity, hit points, or they can spend them to "buy" weapons, "learn" special attacks, "learn" spells, etc...

I know I've encountered this before and the players I have interested so far seem to approve! Different character types start with different values, different weapons have different costs, players can have more than one weapon, each with it's own skill level... and as a reward for winning a fight you get more points to spend!

I'm having so much fun designing this, I really don't care if the game ever starts! I will simply keep the system on hold and use it again later! *snigger*

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

Thufir Hawat

Quote from: Chrystal on September 10, 2012, 09:01:22 AM
Right - in order to make life interesting for the players, I am giving them each 100 character points to spend. They can spend these on stats such as skill, dexterity, hit points, or they can spend them to "buy" weapons, "learn" special attacks, "learn" spells, etc...

I know I've encountered this before and the players I have interested so far seem to approve! Different character types start with different values, different weapons have different costs, players can have more than one weapon, each with it's own skill level... and as a reward for winning a fight you get more points to spend!

I'm having so much fun designing this, I really don't care if the game ever starts! I will simply keep the system on hold and use it again later! *snigger*
That's not an attitude I see for the first time ;D! Actually, it's part of the fun GMing system games, at least for me.
Well, I tend to modify ready-made systems more often than writing them from scratch, but I'm lazy like that >:)!
Join The System Gamers List
Request thread 1 Request thread 2
Request thread 3
ONs and OFFs
"Love is a negative form of hatred." - Roger Zelazny, This Immortal

A&A thread!

Chrystal

Quote from: Thufir Hawat on September 10, 2012, 09:30:30 AM
That's not an attitude I see for the first time ;D! Actually, it's part of the fun GMing system games, at least for me.
Well, I tend to modify ready-made systems more often than writing them from scratch, but I'm lazy like that >:)!

Ah, but I am modding ready-made systems... I'm taking elements from half a dozen and blending them together!

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

Thufir Hawat

Quote from: Chrystal on September 10, 2012, 10:22:15 AM
Ah, but I am modding ready-made systems... I'm taking elements from half a dozen and blending them together!
That's the way, I'd like to see what you would come up with ;D!
Join The System Gamers List
Request thread 1 Request thread 2
Request thread 3
ONs and OFFs
"Love is a negative form of hatred." - Roger Zelazny, This Immortal

A&A thread!

Aiden


Thufir Hawat

Join The System Gamers List
Request thread 1 Request thread 2
Request thread 3
ONs and OFFs
"Love is a negative form of hatred." - Roger Zelazny, This Immortal

A&A thread!

Chrystal

Quote from: Thufir Hawat on September 10, 2012, 12:56:00 PM
That's the way, I'd like to see what you would come up with ;D!

When I put the rules thread up I'll post a link to it here.

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!