Typical Things About the Game that Rarely Make it Into Yours


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Last saturday, after we finished our Pathfinder session (where I'm the DM), we came to realise one thing: It was the first time since we've been playing together (since 1996; we all started roleplaying together and the same group continues to this day) that a dragon of any sorts has been featured in one of my campaigns. It has never really been something I do on purpose, but for some reason I never create stories that include dragons, and this time it was mostly because, when we started the current campaign, one of the players directly requested me the option of, eventually, becoming a dragon rider of sorts.

What typical elements of D&D/Pathfinder, that you feel ought to be fundamental to the game, rarely or never show up in your campaigns?

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Unique magic items.

Unless a module includes them, I rarely see sun blades and holy avengers used. I really need to include them more in treasure.


@Klaus: What about wyverns?

I hadn't had any dragons (other than wyverns), either, until I specifically made up a one-shot last year to take out a white one.

I don't know if I'd say it was fundamental, but I've never DMed off-plane.


I've only run modules or APs as of this moment, but in games I've played, we hardly ever come across demons, devils, or other such nefarious creatures. I've encountered my fair share of dragons (9 in total), and more Undead than Kyra has channels in a year, but Demons, Devils, Daemons etc, haven't really appeared all that often. I guess I would go so far as to say extraplanar creatures are a rarity, as most everything we encounter, even at higher levels, tends to be from the material plane.

My GMs tend to prefer beefy NPCs from the world we're playing on, or beefed up monsters like Dragons with class levels, or powerful Drow, than things from outside the material plane.


TriOmegaZero wrote:

Unique magic items.

Unless a module includes them, I rarely see sun blades and holy avengers used. I really need to include them more in treasure.

This as well. I would also add custom magic items that the GM makes himself. I haven't had a chance to run a game of high enough level for custom items that I've personally designed, since my CotCT campaign fell through the table. But when I do get a party up high enough, I plan on introducing custom items so people don't stagnate it what's found in CRB and Splat.

Dark Archive

For my games, I've never had a dungeon, they're just not part of my games... come to think about it I don't think there has been a crypt or tomb either

Scarab Sages

I've never been in a game where someone had a Staff of the Magi.

Liberty's Edge

Ironically dungeons and (true) dragons. The only time I've ever (well, let's say in the last 10 or so years, my memory isn't perfect) actually used either was in Shadowrun or Rifts.

Sovereign Court

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Crafting. My players just don't bother doing it.


I haven't seen a beholder since I switched over!


TPK.

Haven't seen one since 3E came out.


What A Snooty Gnome said:

+1

Never done a beholder on either side of the screen.

Dark Archive

I think it's been a year at least since anyone in our gaming group cast a fireball or lightning bolt.

Also, we've never had a wizard. Like, people have dipped into and we've had arcane casters, sure, but never a full on, bookish, big-white-beard and a pipe wizard.

Liberty's Edge

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Not only have I never faced off against a Beholder, Ive never had the "pleasure" of fighting a Mind Flayer.

Damn...


Doodlebug Anklebiter wrote:

@Klaus: What about wyverns?

I hadn't had any dragons (other than wyverns), either, until I specifically made up a one-shot last year to take out a white one.

I don't know if I'd say it was fundamental, but I've never DMed off-plane.

Nay, no wyverns either.

Though we do have a player who cannot, no matter how hard he tries, pronounce "wyvern" (he always mumbles something like "wrnm"), so we say that word often in the table just to piss him off.

Another thing that never shows up in my games: Halflings. No one in the group ever plays one (though we did have two players end up with halflings in a game of Warhammer Fantasy 2e, but as a result of random character generation. Everyon died 10 minutes into the game, though, so it was short-lived).


Mind Flayer's and Beholders, much fun. Only one encounter with either creatures, though they were memorable. The Beholder's were nothing, we killed 5 beholders in 3 or 4 rounds. Thank you failed saving throws and Disintegrate!

My character, unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be, died when a 150 point Harm spell befell her. The rest of the party got to play the 'Who's Being Controlled Now' board game while I sat on the couch waiting to be raised.


Tels wrote:

Mind Flayer's and Beholders, much fun. Only one encounter with either creatures, though they were memorable. The Beholder's were nothing, we killed 5 beholders in 3 or 4 rounds. Thank you failed saving throws and Disintegrate!

My character, unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be, died when a 150 point Harm spell befell her. The rest of the party got to play the 'Who's Being Controlled Now' board game while I sat on the couch waiting to be raised.

That's why I love them eye tyrants: SFX laser beams and the opportunity to screw with player's minds.

I try to put at least one beholder in ever campaign. The current one has them heavily involved further down the story.


I was running a campaign that incorporated Necromancer's The Vault of Larin Kar which had two evil halflings in it. At the same time, one of the PCs was a halfling who had his memory erased by pixies and went CE. He eventually hooked up with the other two and became a huge force of pain-in-the-assness to the party.

Eventually that trio got killed off, but, by then, some of the PCs had become huge anti-halfling racists. One of the players brought in a new character and, for whatever reason, that character was a halfling. The other PCs were so mean to him that, when the campaign ended in a TPK not too long afterwards, that player wouldn't play with us for like six months.

Not really on topic, but whatevs.


Klaus van der Kroft wrote:
Though we do have a player who cannot, no matter how hard he tries, pronounce "wyvern" (he always mumbles something like "wrnm"), so we say that word often in the table just to piss him off.

I had a gaming friend who couldn't say "abominable".

He could say "a bomb in a bull", but when it came to putting it all together, it was always something like "abummble".

His roommate took a mild sort of sadistic glee in using yetis in his campaign, just so the words "abominable snowman" came up once in a while. :D


Haven't seen very many unique magic items, but have handled almost every artifact in the 3e DMG. Have had multiple dealings with the Deck of Many Things, probably seen that in 5 campaigns over the years.

And each one crashed and burned a session or two later, save the very first.


Pan wrote:
Crafting. My players just don't bother doing it.

Same, minus one player who was heavily into alchemy. But true magical crafting? No.

Deck of Many Things has never been used.

Most of the magic items in the DMG/DM's section of the Core Rulebook. I tend to prefer using whatever is in the mod, or making custom items on my own.

Never used Drow. (Have used a Drider or two, though.) Beholders or Illithids neither.


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xn0o0cl3 wrote:

I think it's been a year at least since anyone in our gaming group cast a fireball or lightning bolt.

Also, we've never had a wizard. Like, people have dipped into and we've had arcane casters, sure, but never a full on, bookish, big-white-beard and a pipe wizard.

A long time ago I was running a PF game set in a Greek / Bronze Age world. It was pretty historically accurate as far as historical settings go: certainly better than Xena and Hercules.

When the party was about 6-7th level, they arrived at a town where a Fury was flying around, killing people and flying off with certain politicians over an injustice. The PC group was not at all equipped to deal with a flying archer and she beat the tar out of them. The town leaders didn't even recognize how powerful the PCs were because of the butt-kicking, so they hired a wizard to handle it for them. The guy rode into town on a phantom steed, with a big starry robe and matching bent hat, smoking a pipe, holding a wand and carrying a quiver of wands and scrolls. The players just instantly HATED this guy, offended that someone would be that flashy. They went out of their way to find dirt on him just to get an excuse to kill him and take his stuff.


Doodlebug Anklebiter wrote:

I was running a campaign that incorporated Necromancer's The Vault of Larin Kar which had two evil halflings in it. At the same time, one of the PCs was a halfling who had his memory erased by pixies and went CE. He eventually hooked up with the other two and became a huge force of pain-in-the-assness to the party.

Eventually that trio got killed off, but, by then, some of the PCs had become huge anti-halfling racists. One of the players brought in a new character and, for whatever reason, that character was a halfling. The other PCs were so mean to him that, when the campaign ended in a TPK not too long afterwards, that player wouldn't play with us for like six months.

Not really on topic, but whatevs.

For me, at least, it's the kender vibe that doesn't allow me to like halflings. I grew up reading Dragonlance, so from me wee years I learned to hate those pick-pocketing little thieves with passion.

My players, though, they just don't use them at all. Every other race is represented in a roughly balanced manner (though Humans tend to be the most common).

Regarding the Deck of Many Things, I put it once in one of our campaigns to see what happened, but one of the players (also a long-time DM) gave so many warnings regarding it during the pizza break that the party never opened it. It was quite anticlimatic, as it ended up forgotten inside a chest in a ship that afterward sunk, and no one r

cranewings wrote:

A long time ago I was running a PF game set in a Greek / Bronze Age world. It was pretty historically accurate as far as historical settings go: certainly better than Xena and Hercules.

When the party was about 6-7th level, they arrived at a town where a Fury was flying around, killing people and flying off with certain politicians over an injustice. The PC group was not at all equipped to deal with a flying archer and she beat the tar out of them. The town leaders didn't even recognize how powerful the PCs were because of the butt-kicking, so they hired a wizard to handle it for them. The guy rode into town on a phantom steed, with a big starry robe and matching bent hat, smoking a pipe, holding a wand and carrying a quiver of wands and scrolls. The players just instantly HATED this guy, offended that someone would be that flashy. They went out of their way to find dirt on him just to get an excuse to kill him and take his stuff.

Hahahahaha!

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

I've also never faced nor placed a dragon in any game I've played. I'd love to, but never have even with the higher level campaigns. Dragons are so iconic, an encounter with one should be a truly epic experience. It's never felt like the right time in my campaign.


Klaus van der Kroft wrote:


Regarding the Deck of Many Things, I put it once in one of our campaigns to see what happened, but one of the players (also a long-time DM) gave so many warnings regarding it during the pizza break that the party never opened it. It was quite anticlimatic, as it ended up forgotten inside a chest in a ship that afterward sunk, and no one r

I once played in a game of evil characters, who had come across a Deck of Many Things, and carried it around with them. In order for a new character to join this group, you had to draw from the deck as initiation.

I broke one campaign apart using the deck(unintentionally), just to see what the DM would do. I got the Wish card, and my wish was worded so that my XP's would be tripled; somehting along the lines of "I wish I were thrice as experienced in the ways of the world as I am of this moment..."

The DM could have aged me 3 times over, which would've been a fate befitting the DoMT. But, he simply tripled my XP, which took me from 12-ish level to 21. So, the DM found himself running an epic level game all of a sudden. Didn't last very long.


I don't know if I've ever seen a Wish/Limited Wish/Miracle used in any of the D&D-like games I've played in.


I've had so many bad experiences with the "W" word, that now I don't even use that word when I'm sitting at the table. See? I can't even type it properly anymore.
After thinking a bit, one typical thing that never makes it into our games are the difficult terrain rules. We just don't use them.


Artifacts & Wishes haven't been seen since 1e days, I think.

Psionic anything, mind-flayers included, too.

Gnomes, bards, sorcerors.


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I love wishes in my campaign. I just lo-o-ove them.

My players don't. >:)


I've only encountered two wishes (one granted to each of us by a God that would skew the wishes in our favor), and a Limited Wish to save our Cleric's life after a bad roll.


Come to think of it, I remember having a "Ring of Zero Wishes" on one of my (2E) character sheets, so I suspect it used to have a non-zero number of charges at one point. We probably used it to raise someone from the dead.


One of the best wishes I recall seeing in-game, was from a player who simply wished to be proficient in all manner of weaponry in the known world. Basically, became proficient with every weapon in the game. The DM had no real issues with this, and let it go as is.

The best part? He was a Monk. He rarely ever used weapons in the first place.


Josh M. wrote:
who simply wished to be proficient in all manner of weaponry in the known world

I could see the wish being screwed over by the "known world" part. Most people in a medieval society didn't know much about what was in the next county, let alone other countries. :)


incorpreal undead and elementals.


You go somthin' 'gainst Ghosts, Wu?


Jerry Wright 307 wrote:
Josh M. wrote:
who simply wished to be proficient in all manner of weaponry in the known world
I could see the wish being screwed over by the "known world" part. Most people in a medieval society didn't know much about what was in the next county, let alone other countries. :)

Well, we weren't playing in medieval England, so it turned out alright. It's been many years since that game, so my brain might have tacked on the "known world" part.


I just come from a long history of "word the wishes carefully". :)


Jerry Wright 307 wrote:
I just come from a long history of "word the wishes carefully". :)

Oh, I completely understand that. We've had some glorious wish mistakes blow up in our faces. BIG time. Heck, that's half the fun of wishes in the first place. :)


More I just don't really use them or like the mechanics of you need magic weapons to fight them and don't like a whole lot of immunities to remember when running a game.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber
xn0o0cl3 wrote:

I think it's been a year at least since anyone in our gaming group cast a fireball or lightning bolt.

Also, we've never had a wizard. Like, people have dipped into and we've had arcane casters, sure, but never a full on, bookish, big-white-beard and a pipe wizard.

+1

almost never a full wizard at my table and usually just some low level multi-classing. Even by higher levels we rarely see arcane magic above 4th or maybe 5th level.


I like the need for magic to fight monsters. Makes those spells like magic weapon useful.


Wishes:

One of my characters (Doodlebug Anklebiter?) once released an efreet from a bottle (we didn't know what was in it) and he granted me and my fellow party member three wishes. He gave a long, detailed explanation of how the wish-granting process worked and I said, "Hold on, back up, explain that again." He paused, retreated a few steps, explained it again, and disappeared.

I looked at the DM and said "Now, what was the point of that?" He just smiled a shiznit-eating grin and we went about the rest of the game. I guess it made him happy.

Back to D&D fundamentals I've never used: rust monsters.

Spoiler:
That'll most likely change this weekend thanks to The Trial of the Beast, though!

Liberty's Edge

Never did any plane-hopping. It always seemed that any environment worthy of exploring was so outright hostile that it would kill any character I ever had, or any party I ever GM'd. Also, never made it past 15th level. We never even played any games where we made up characters that level for a one-shot or short campaign.

Scarab Sages

Jerry Wright 307 wrote:
You go somthin' 'gainst Ghosts, Wu?

It's funny how different everyone games. In my first outing as DM I actually had a PC continue on as a ghost after he sacrificed himself to save the party.


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I can not remember ever seeing dinosaurs ...


It didn't happen to me, but I remember a story from 1E where a party crossing an empty plain was surprised by a T-Rex.

Just imagining that makes me laugh. :D


This thread made me realize that I've never used a mimic in my entire history of GMing/DMing.

This will be rectified in the next session. Surprise, players.


Necromancer wrote:

This thread made me realize that I've never used a mimic in my entire history of GMing/DMing.

This will be rectified in the next session. Surprise, players.

I just used three mimics in my Age of Worms game, upon which point I realized I'd never used one before. Worked out great, really. They got the party bad, taking down the wizard, the wizard's familiar/riding dog, and grappling the rogue for 2/3 of his hp. Then they liberated the other rogue and fighter of their weapons. But spare weapons, flanking, and persistence turned things around very nicely.

Grand Lodge

I have never actually used dragons. They simply have limited appeal for me. I was disappointed, for instance, in Dragon Age: Origins when the big bad was a dragon.(Or took that appearance anyway.) I wanted something frightening and hideous and what I got was an overgrown lizard.

I prefer more unusual enemies, anyway, since it's harder to metagame when the players don't know everything there is to know about what they're facing.

In games I've played, I've yet to encounter a Beholder or Mind-Flayer, and now that we have all moved on from 3.5 it seems unlikely I ever will.


Doodlebug Anklebiter wrote:

Wishes:

One of my characters (Doodlebug Anklebiter?) once released an efreet from a bottle (we didn't know what was in it) and he granted me and my fellow party member three wishes. He gave a long, detailed explanation of how the wish-granting process worked and I said, "Hold on, back up, explain that again." He paused, retreated a few steps, explained it again, and disappeared.

I looked at the DM and said "Now, what was the point of that?" He just smiled a shiznit-eating grin and we went about the rest of the game. I guess it made him happy.

It is little (or big, depending on how you see it) things like this that make DMing one of the best jobs in the world.

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