Going to throw in my +5 for Epic Credits videos. They explore good design and how you as a game designer can create good games.
*Some of the things include opening up (or reducing) options for players.
*Influence decision making by players
*Telling better stories through various mediums
This sort of thing is really important if you want help your players discover interesting story points without beating them over the head. Or teaching your players through mechanics without hand holding them.
As a player, I find it disappointing when members of my party drop in and out.
I can understand once or twice but when it becomes a common occurrence, it becomes a situation where I can no longer rely on that character for planning, support or role playing.
As it is *now* she is no longer a regular player, don't forget you're allowed to make a decision now and change it at a later date. As a GM you are governing for the group as a whole and making decisions that will give them the best GAME EXPERIENCE.
I'm going to keep it simple, Pathfinder is a game filled with hundreds of rules.
For every rule, there's more rules on top, conditions altering those rules and rules written badly just to make things fun.
My problem with the new classes is how they tend to break the rules that have already been established or create weird caveats/conditions to situations. From a GM point of view I find it annoying that for every class, there's about two dozen extra rules I need to learn so I can properly adjudicate a session.
I write my own personal story into my scenarios, generally not hugely indepth but always with reason for dead bodies or item placement.
For example in one dungeon I had a fully armoured corpse at the bottom of a deep pool of water. Another situation I had a locked and broken vault with a shrivelled corpse missing his fingernails.
Small stories that keep myself entertained but on the occasional when players figure things out it's a mind explosion~
I'm curious how other games run with resting? Does your GM make it an interesting/difficult/special. Do you enjoy/disagree with how it's managed?
In my first game, resting was handled as a non event (you've rested-on with story). Unfortunately my first game as GM, I handled it the same way and began to notice the problems with hand waved sleeping.
By making resting so easy, it encouraged players to rest often, then nuke encounters, which is really annoying for encounter design.
In my current game as GM I've made it point to make resting rather involved, with players thinking about who's on watch, deciding on whether to wear armour, consider whether to light a fire and think about carefully about location. I like to make it a point that players really need to think about whether they need to really rest or not.
At this point in time I'm thinking about maybe a situational bonus for those who invest in comfortable sleeping equipment. Or possibly a roll to replicate getting a good night's rest.
Anyway curious how it's handled in other gaming groups!
The more I think about it, the more I like Summon Instrument because it forces me to think outside the box and be creative.
*Eavesdrop through a hole in wall or door with a horn in your ear
*Float across that river by using a large wooden drum
*Climb over that wall by summoning a tall drum
*Slide quickly down a steep slope by summoning a metal gong and riding it
*Create a large metal gong to use as a shield
*Make a poor man's grease spell by smashing a pair of maracas
*Reach that object by summoning an alpine horn
*Throw a tambourine (then un-summon it immediately) as a distraction
*Use a drum as a bucket for carrying large amounts of water/oil/gun powder...
*Place a hand bell on top of a slightly open door as an early warning sound
I'm sure there's more, but these and the ones I've created so far :)
If you're running on experience, drop the experience speed down one level (so if you're on fast go to medium, medium go to slow). One of the things resting often breaks is proper CR, because you're supposed to encounter 3 to 4 appropriate CR encounters before resting.
The other thing it allows is for you to rank up the difficulties of individual fights without the run away train effect (too much extra exp)
Owning a bladed belt will be a cool replacement for all your sharps (daggers, knives, spears, long swords, two handed swords and others). It shouldn't be too big a leap for the GM to allow a player to upgrade it to +1, +2, etc for standard prices or maybe a premium.
DMing is somewhat for the selfless, if you're the kind of person who gets joy out of seeing others having fun, then certainly consider DMing.
For myself, DMing is an outlet for a mix of creative skills and an interest in human behaviour.
As a DM I can draw, act, design, create, story tell and test an infinite number of possibilities. It is however the understanding of how people act, the reactions and the scenario playing out that I find most interesting.
I love predicting how my players will act or inserting my players into scenarios and seeing how they act.
Seeing or having my friends say they had fun is the best thing though.
I keep a notepad in my car, my work bag and ones all around the house. Every time I have an idea (especially for game scenarios) I write it down, you'll be surprised at how productive you can be in those small moments stuck in traffic, waiting at the doctors or any space moment.
Over time it's easy to just collect all my thoughts together and build a good game. Little bits at a time, you don't have to commit to everything on paper but commit to writing any and every thought you have.
First tip: Avoid more than one "random attack" encounter. Nothing drags the speed down or makes a journey seem longer than fights. Even if you want to do more than one, make them possible to avoid through diplomacy/intimidate. MAJOR POINTS if you can fill the journey with events that DON'T require combat. Players fight all the time, so filling the journey other things makes it feel special.
Second tip: Vary things up a bit, there are a hundred different events you could throw into the game to make it interesting. Just a few suggestions below...
*One of the merchants/passengers has had something stolen and it's possible for your party to investigate and find the culprit/item.
*A penniless bard wishes to travel with the group but has nothing to offer. He doesn't actually offer any thing if you pay for his ticket/allow him to join but does write a song about the group.
*A large storm has come and winds buffet the group. Continuing through causes the players to come down with cold and risk losing items to wind. It's especially interesting if they're travelling with a caravan and can offer assistance to protect their belongings
*A farmer is standing underneath a tree and is confused by his poor donkey who is stuck in the crook of the tree 5 feet above ground.
*A mother's child has fallen ill and is in need of medical assistance
*A travelling merchant selling (unusually) cheap goods, apparently he's trying to sell them cheap to avoid taxes but they're actually fake/stolen.
*A travelling caravan selling exotic food/wares.
*A stubborn group of cows blocks the path and refuses to move
*A bridge is broken and is in need of repairs to pass
I personally would aim for around 4 maybe 5 encounters, ideally the most of them aren't too involved as your group's ultimate purpose is to reach a destination and continue their quest, not get sidetracked on other story lines. I am personally of the mindset, that time invested into side stories, detracts from main story line too much.
Indeed my biggest dissatisfaction with RotRL was the disconnection between campaigns. What a cool way to connect the campaigns and give the players time to build/prepare!
I have a journal of similar design, which I use as my "happy thoughts" journal. While I love the thing, my biggest problem is the catch is bulky and really gets in the way when trying to write in the book (probably not a problem for righties?).
You definitely can't write on both sides of pages though.
Indeed this does kinda boil over into the homebrew/advice questions section but I was hoping there was something in the rules that might help.
Kudaku's your suggestions above sound pretty good actually because ideally I'd like taking multiple knowledges useful (instead of boosting the already powerful Knowledge: Local/religion/arcana).
The other alternative I guess is simply using pure 20+int mod to work for players to identify things but that's no where near a elegant as having skills.
So with monsters there's nearly a dozen knowledge skills to help identify who they are and what they are capable of.
My problem is I feel like players should not automatically know what class a humanoid is nor their abilities.
While I can imagine perception is a good way to identify what a person is equipped with, it would not tell you their skills.
So far I can't identify which skill I should be using to identify classes?
Religion could cover clerics
Nobility would cover Paladins?
Dungeoneering for fighters?
A player specialised in grappling almost excessively strong, yes it might take two rounds but once someone is pinned, next move is coup-de-grace and the fight is over. I shouldn't need to tell you that defeating a boss in 3 rounds is too fast (1 round to run over to him).
Based on the other examples of previous campaigns you've experienced quite a number of dick manoeuvres from this GM. It would almost seem like he's been targeting you (based on your recounts).
My 2 cents is that GMs will often target Clerics because they readily break the challenges GMs have setup in their prepared story points.
*Whole party takes heavy damage from a trap: CHANNEL
*Accidentally put on cursed equipment: REMOVE CURSE
*Lose a limb: REGENERATE
*Rogue incapacitated: FIND TRAPS
*Death: RESURRECTION.
The list goes on.
I've had my holy symbol stolen before, which was an obvious move to clip my wings. It was annoying but I went along with it, which unfortunately ended up with one of my party members getting killed because no one else could heal.
Note that a wizard who tires of their familiar can just dismiss it and find another but if this is a role playing scenario done as a player, it should not be a real problem. Remember the benefits should outweigh the downsides.
If this is a situation where a GM is controlling one of the player's characters, it ranks as extremely not cool.
I'm of the mindset that the how the players interact with the game is most important.
Personally I'm planning an encounter where my players are fighting the BBEG on a frozen river, where their battle starts tearing the ice apart. So the players end up standing on ice cubes inside a glass tray and as the ice melts it causes them to drift in random directions. So my players (who are mostly melee/dex dumped) will have to paddle their ice cube towards the BBEG before they can attack!
Another thing I love to do is build my puzzles that have to be solved with real world ingenuity. Finding torn notes piece by piece, that players have to piece together to read, codes to break, hidden text and so on.
While this may not be universally true, my greatest respect lies in GMs who are able to run games without using battle maps, pictures, figurines and physical tools. There are GMs who run games with only their words, voice acting and improvisation.
For myself my biggest "ah ha!" came from listening to how Matt Mercer describes situations in his campaigns and voices his characters 30min video > youtube.com/watch?v=yLEMb_RIZ3o
Another big revelation has been awesome encounter design, this channel has some really sweet ideas on intriguing puzzles> youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJlxgWpsI4afqC8UOWFz9p6EkI-1sO-Zi
Trying to force a campaign concept on someone else will only lead to disappointment for both you and the gm. Honestly it's unlikely the gm will play the concept in a way you'll like or hold true to the way you imagined it.
Every gm starts out as a player, so maybe consider doing a dual gm role or having another more experienced player as a referee gm.
*If you dual gm you can tag in and out of the campaign as each arc closes and play both roles as player/gm.
*Being a gm with another more experienced player as backup gm means you can create the story you want, while having another gm help with rulings. GMing isn't that hard and once you realise how much fun you can give to other players, quite fun.
A way you could have done things better: You probably shouldn't have let them kill 12 Gnolls, because anything you can kill 12 of in one battle is a weak enemy.
Now I don't agree in TPKs but certainly don't put on the "kiddy gloves" when you've pre-warned your players (or "pull back" on a death blow).
Remember as a GM you can talk directly to your players and let them know what they're doing is reckless. Tell them bluntly some of them will probably die if they continue.
How I would have run the gnolls, is maybe let them fight three really tough ones (CR+2ish). Then while they're gasping midway through the fight, let them roll perception and see an army of 20 gnolls in full armour running towards them. Have them realise that the gnolls they're fighting are probably farmers/ordinary folk...
Simple math:
*100% of GMs want to play or be a player
*Only a small fraction of players, want to GM
This is why there are more players than GMs
Simple logic:
*The responsibilities for being a GM far outweigh the reward
*The skill set required to become a GM is incredibly high
*Gratification comes easier with being a player
One of the more annoying, yet funny, yet unintentional ways we derailed our GM's game was killing an NPC we were supposed to rescue.
For background we had to go into this portal and a side quest was to search out the previous team and bring any survivors back. After much gruelling dungeon crawling we eventually ran into the only surviving person from the previous adventuring group.
Of course this person was dominated and we had no way of breaking the enchantment. On top of this the GM had decided it was perfectly ok to build an OP monk/wizard, which our one, full BAB could occasionally hit on a roll of 15 or higher. She had monk saves through the roof AND the ability to block successful attacks against them (crane style?).
This monk was ripping us apart and there was little motivation for us to wait for our full BAB to roll a natural 19 to non lethally take out the monk.
In the end for self preservation and sanity reasons we killed the monk and our GM looked quite sad, "She was supposed to lead into the next storyline..."
Me to GM: "Dude, do you even realise what you just did?"
Combat isn't really that interesting past a certain point and if you make an entire session combat heavy it really drags. Think less fighting tournament and maybe more Olympic games and you'll be able to think of lots of funny games.
Here's a few suggestions, give players limited tokens which they can trade in for different events.
Simple events are
Archery (highest attack = closest to bullseye)
Fencing (first to three hits)
Wrestling (first person to succeed in pinning opponent)
More interesting events can be
Gladiator: Two opponents stand on poles and must use a padded staff to knock their opponent off the other log. Attack rolls vs touch ac but each time someone is hit they're allowed a reflex save to save themselves from falling off.
Dodgeball: Each round everyone rolls a stealth roll, then on their turn they roll perception to try and spot other people in the area. Once they notice someone they can attempt a ranged attack with a ball vs flat foot ac. One shot out.
General rule: One contest for every ability (str, dex, con, int, etc) or give each player a chance to shine.
Tell your players you're not happy about how long each round is taking and want to speed things up.
Institute 3-5 mins per turn, use a timer and it if it goes off before you finish your turn then you lose the rest of your actions. Druid will learn to shape up quickly and concentrate on summoning less crap.
In my games redirecting an active spell/animal requires a move action anyway.
My solution for perception is that every player's PASSIVE detection is their perception skill + 10.
So if a player has +5 in perception they'll automatically see anything requiring a roll of 15 and under. If an enemy is lying in wake then they'll be using their stealth skill +10 to keep things fair.
However should a player ASK to search an area, then they'll get to roll.
Something else I do is keep a running sheet of my player's Perception/Sense Motive/Disable Device skills and have each player roll x5 d20s pregame. Then I'll flip a coin (keeping result a secret) to decide whether I use rolls from left to right or vice versa.
Also good for secret Fort saves when a player spends way too much time with a cheap hooker...
We were on our way to another city which involved months of travel on a ship to find a quest McGuffin. The GM (whether by story or over eagerness to include encounters), gave us non stop grief in the form of side quests.
First it was the Aspis consortium commanding our boat in their war effort (captain being a member), next it was Elves saying they wouldn't allow us onto their sacred land (this arc took months to resolve), then it was some sort of river troll attack, then it was a druid who didn't like us and wrecked the boat, then we needed to hunt monsters for their hearts to power the boat, then the Aspis came back and commanded our boat to ferry slaves.
The whole party was getting sick of all the forced deviations from our intended destination and decided to confront the captain.
We were actually thinking about shanking the captain and throwing him overboard at this point.
ME: THIS IS BY FAR THE WORST CRUISE I'VE EVER BEEN ON. IF YOU DON'T HURRY THE TRIP UP, I AM SO GIVING YOU ONE STAR ON LONELY PLANET!
*Smokesticks are invaluable for shutting down ranged enemies
*A potion of feather fall (or boots of the cat)
*A tanglefoot bag can change the tides, even at higher level play (but especially at lower levels)
*Earplugs because sometimes you need a boost on saves vs sound type attacks.
*Robe of twine: unlimited rope/string
*Chalk: great for leaving a trail, marking important objects, leaving messages
*Alchemist's Fire: Usually used for killing swarms but also for lighting fires efficiently or rigging traps.
I told him quite politely online that his gaming style wasn't a fit and he blew up in the most amazing rant. At first I was taken back by how rude it was but then re-reading it a few days later, it genuinely blew my mind how deluded he was. It was almost like he had been in another world playing Pathfinder with a different group and somehow was the hero of the story.
Aw, man, I want to read that rant. If you don't want to post it entirely, could we get a synopsis with highlights? Commentary discussing the disconnect between what he said and what happened would not be remiss, as well.
This was quite a few years ago on my phone and I've definitely lost it since then.
Long story short, his recollection of fights was quite imaginative. He went on at length to describe being pivotal in fights and how we wouldn't survive without him, claiming we didn't understand damage reduction and forgetting how the rest of us had to save him multiple times, from his own recklessness.
Longer story
Spoiler:
One of the things that our GM did was target the damage dealers, which played out as enemies targeting the biggest "threat". Funnily enough because his character never did enough damage to warrant a threat, it was rare that his character got attacked, so he saw this as some sort of immunity/testament to his builds. So while we were dropping into unconscious, he was occasionally doing 1d8+0, wonderfully he never took precise shot as a feat either.
Another fight had us against something almost immune piercing but he managed to score a critical hit with his bow. The gm bluntly told him that after DR he did 2 damage but he remembered that fight for his "amazing crit build".
One battle had us fighting a Dhamphir thieves guild which went very badly for us. Everyone was dropped into unconscious except for my character. Trying to avoid a narrow TPK, my character had to tank all the damage while healing everyone back into the fight (including his). My character later took the aggro of three intimidate checks with a natural 20 on one, with a ridiculous +20(?) skill modifier and mandatory fear effect. My character was forced to flee for many rounds.
He went from using his wand of Flareburst (DC12) but after the near TPK he thought the best course of action was to shoot his bow at the dominated civilians forced into the fight. So according to him he saved the party by killing the most enemies while my character ran in fear. Glossing over the fact he was killing unarmed, unarmoured civilians (who even suffered attacks of opportunity for their +1 attacks). Even after the fight ended with us killing off all the Dhampires and the civilians breaking free of their domination, he asked if he could keep attacking them.
Man there was so much WTF, but those were some of the highlights.
Usually I start off by closing my eyes and pressing some random keys on my keyboard. From there I drop those letters into random name generators and keep generating names until something "sounds right".
I always make sure that any name I choose can be shortened, as inevitably other players will drop syllables until it's only one or two.
Due to attrition my Pathfinder group lost two members, which left us with only two players. By luck I noticed an acquaintance (I knew from volunteering) posted in the local Pathfinder Society: Facebook group. I sent him through a few messages to ascertain his knowledge, as our game wasn't suitable for beginner players.
The guy seemed pretty knowledgeable so I invited him to join our game. Now we were able to find two new people to fill our gaps, but this guy made us all think we were better off as a team of 3.
Firstly while he seemed to be knowledgeable, there was a complete disconnect between what he knew and his application. His builds were reasonably good, until he started to play them... Firstly he loved investing in obscure feats and abilities he had no idea how to use OR did not use.
For example he would build archers, with archer feats then swing a masterwork sword with OR build a melee fighter and start using a non magical normal bow.
Generally the party would be swinging damage in the 20 to 60 region per turn, while his builds would be doing 1d8+1.
Secondly he was perplexing in his battle tactics, he never helped us focus fire down dangerous enemies and instead chased down full health minions (and in one game spent his turns shooting civilians/bystanders). One session had him spamming a wand of sleep vs undead, which the GM did flat out tell him that they were immune to. One character was a ranger that had access to cantrips and he spent the session spamming a DC11 flare. Furthermore he also spent half his wealth on weapons he would never use. So his ranger would have a 12k bow but would only ever swing a masterwork longsword...
The gm being incredibly patient allowed him to reroll his characters to fix them but instead this guy decided to rebuild his characters every single session (including changing names/sex). Every character was suffering from feats, skills and weapons he would never use. I would even spend hours to help him build characters but every time we finished building something playable, he next session he would rock up with a completely different character.
He never paid attention during other player's turns or when the gm was talking, always asking questions that had been already been answered. He was ALWAYS unprepared for his turn, after asking for options he would always ignore any advice and attack something random.
Finally, he had the most annoying way of rolling dice. Take into account we're level 7, multiple attacks and multiple damage dice. He would always pick up one dice in one hand, hold it for a second, pass it to the next hand, hold it for another second, then roll it. He also did this strange body body bobbing thing depending which hand the dice was in. Then he would stare at the dice for an excessive amount of time calculating. He would roll every single dice individually, making his turn alone take longer than the whole table combined.
You know it could have worked had he role played at all, had story reasons to back up his odd decisions but in the end we had enough and I was asked to get rid of him. I told him quite politely online that his gaming style wasn't a fit and he blew up in the most amazing rant. At first I was taken back by how rude it was but then re-reading it a few days later, it genuinely blew my mind how deluded he was. It was almost like he had been in another world playing Pathfinder with a different group and somehow was the hero of the story.
So he returned to the Pathfinder Society and I really felt sorry for all those poor people that had to deal with him.
I did a quick search of the PFS group and it seems like he has been banned. Sorry but that brings a smile to my face.
This is a part rant but also a call to attention about Pathfinder's HORRENDOUS naming system. Too many times I've encountered names in various APs are impossible/clumsy/ridiculous to read let alone pronounce.
Either Pathfinder needs to try harder to make names pronounceable OR start including pronunciation breakdowns for all their names.
So fellow players what are some of the ridiculous names you've come across in Pathfinder materials?
For me I bear a special hate for the following:
*Sarenrae (clumsy to say and I feel like it should be SareNAE instead)
*Orik Vancaskerkin - so this is an HUMAN name???
*Demon Lord, Kostchtchie - Most of the demons in Pathfinder are unpronounceable
*Ardathanatus - Elven name from Shattered Star
*Volioker Briskalberd - A Dwarven locksmith name apparently
These are ones close at hand but I remember so many over the years that make me stop and scratch my head.
My read of Rise of Runelords puts the treasure value overall as pretty high. In fact I removed some treasure because my players were destroying encounters so easily, edging off their treasure was my way of bringing their power back into line.
I would suggest loot wise get rid of the breastplate, googles of night and circlet of persuasion. They are way too good for low level players. Worst case scenario (and optimally) you have to imagine the possibility of players selling that gear and gaining +8000gp to a level 2 player's stash is EXTREME.
Replace one of the drops with a wand of cure light wounds with 20ish charges, maybe a few alchemical drops like sun rods, tangle foot bags and alchemist bombs. Scrolls of xyz spells. Basically expendable objects that can really turn the tides of battles but generally considerably expensive for low level players to buy.
Right now I'm designing a large scale attack on a town with a variable/random set of encounters. The feeling I want to create is an organic, randomised chaos but with tailored encounters.
The way it plays out is like those "pick a path" stories.
Basically I'll be writing several encounters of different sorts from both trivial to story changing (examples being save a woman from bandits, house on fire, aggressive dog, lost child). Dealing with encounters in most cases will be as simple as a diplomacy/stealth/intimidate roll, rolling saves, etc
Then I will shuffle the cards, deal 6 of them face down in front of my players.
One at a time, each player will have to choose two cards to flip them over and either choose to (or be forced to) deal with the encounters. Once those encounters are dealt with, they are removed from play and then new cards are dealt for player 2 to choose two. Repeat as desired.
This way I can create a randomised set of encounters that is interesting, compressed (rarely need to draw maps) and exciting. Using this model I'm sure you can create a maze players are traversing without actually having to draw or create any of it :P
Encounters could be:
Dead end
Rope bridge over chasm
Locked door
Trapped hallway
Fire pit floor
Treasure room
key
Mimic!
Empty hallway/room
Monsters easy/medium/hard (roll d6, d4 or 1)
Trap sprung
etc
You can easily create your own battle map by printing out 1 inch grid onto a board as big/small as you want, then getting it laminated. The pros of this is that's possible to get it done at every generic print shop (sometimes it even costs less).
Another tip is to look at each map and understand the purpose of each room. 100% of the time I redraw every map to exclude pointless details on graph paper (there's only so many empty warddrobes/storerooms I can be bothered describing).
My rule with players is that I'll make a ruling now, write down the question and vow to research the correct rule in time for next session.
Don't invite arguments over rules or debate which because it only stops gaming and makes life boring for the unaffected players.
GMing for people more experienced than you can go one of two ways, they can be either a painful handful or easy going crowd.
If you're starting out, you will make many mistakes. Some of these mistakes might even cause crippling problems that will plague your game later on. (Compounding this is if you have problem players).
Realistically I don't think you'll be able to finish an adventure path, more than likely you'll be able to run for a few years before thing peeters out of steam naturally (usually life steals away players). Or problems may even destroy your game.
With the cynical preamble out of the way, you're better off picking a few modules and after a few you'll most likely start modifying them to suit your group or writing your own. Have a short "what do you want/expect" with your prospective players and choose an adventure based on that.
Even better is to open with a throw away set of modules/short campaign like the awesome "We Be Goblins" and you'll get an understanding of your players and be able reset and tailor your experience for them.
What kind of glass cannons do you have?
*For most just limiting their vision is enough through Darkness, Obscuring mist or smoke sticks.
*Spell Resistance is a pain for casters.
*Monsters with auras generally stomp players
*Bait out their good abilities and spells with throw away monsters like stirges or swarms, then follow up with the harder hitting things.
If you really want to be mean, use Seugathi...
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/aberrations/seugathi
I'm assuming a problem with Resurrection? If your player saved the skin of his friends, then those friends should at least try to bring him back role play wise.
Wild Rager sounds pretty close to what we need actually.
What I'm currently thinking is to tweak the conditions of Wild Rager so it works better for the party. On 1 rolls the ranger immediately enters his shape shift (regardless of uses left) and gets confused, 25% of attacking nearest random target/hurting himself/doing nothing/attacking normally.
Then a will save at the start of the next round to end the confusion effect.
I see this as a useful double edge sword, a gamble that is 2 points useful and 1 point dangerous.
Either way it's going to go to party vote, my players can decide if it's kosher or not.
I like the puzzle but it's still a few clues away from being "good".
One of the biggest problems with creating puzzles, is as the creator we tend to think the answer obvious.
Any puzzle that requires guessing/trial error sits on bad/poorly designed, so this puzzle to me reads like it needs additional clues for it to truly work.
Maybe a few knowledge checks so players can further narrow options.
Discovering a parchment from one of the bad guys with a riddle or poem that helps work the middle or last digit?
I personally design my puzzles with multiple answers or success scenarios.
Hi guys, I have a player who's building a Ranger Shapeshifter with the idea of building a Werewolf who's losing control or has a chance to lose control.
I admit it is a cool idea with a few possible angles, the player himself is experienced and plays with the mindset of roleplay/interesting over power.
There's plenty of side effects so I'm looking for advice how to GM and balance this idea. What are some of the problems I might run into and how can I run this under pathfinder rules?
TL;DR version = I have a lot of soundtracks and music for gaming I have gathered... I'm looking for advice on must have "categories" for dividing it up into themed playlist.
Non-TLDR:
I was taking a break from planning out the upcoming game of Pathfinder this Sunday to play Oblivion when I thought of something... A while back I added some theme music to the folders of Oblivion to add some diversity to the song choices. For those that don't know, Oblivion's folders are sorted into Battle, Dungeon, Explore, Public, and Special.
My idea is to sort all of my various scores/sountracks and gaming music into playlists in a similar fashion. The advice I seek is for what kinda suggestions of "themed playlists" to create. I'll include the obvious "Boss music" to the list.
I had a player ask if his Eidolon contracted a disease if it would stick or fall off on the resummoning (after sleeping). I do realize that it is treated like a summoned creature. Therefore it should fall off.
At the same time, it is the same creature summoned over and over again. This gave me pause. *I was also curious how poison and other ability draining/damaging things would work.
Anyone wanna weigh in on this?
*EDIT = I was referring to how they would work should it stick.
As mentioned above, I have a new player that one of my existing players has brought into our game (just starting a game of Kingmaker with mostly newbies). When I first asked him (the new guy) what kind of character he wanted to play, he pushed for playing a ninja (the playtest version). I was hesitant (we already have a rogue), but granted him the ability to play it, as long as he rebuilt the character with subsequent errata and if anything was immensely broken, he'd have to adapt. So far this playtest, core, APG, and Psionics Unleashed (by Dreamscarred Press) are the only things allowed.
After two sessions he's wanting to go back and swap his race for the Elan so he can use it to become a Pyrokineticist at 6th level (power points are granted by the race). He's wanting to take a bunch of the Psionic feats. The group is predominately role-players, whereas this guy is 110% a roll-player. When the other PCs ask him why he's taking this approach, he becomes very defensive and doesn't wanna discuss it.
My issue with all of this is that it feels like he's trying to munchkin his way into a character more powerful than the others. The rogue already is being out-shined a bit by the ninja's build at lower levels and seems to be irritated and feeling undervalued.
Which brings me to the problem... at this point I'm torn between just granting the character the build, saying no, or just telling the guy I think he needs to find a different group (one more munchkin tolerant). Before making a decision, I have decided to consult the wisdom of the Paizo boards. I feel bad with the idea of dismissing him, but I have two other people wanting into a full game (six PCs currently) and I wouldn't keep him if not for the friendship of the inviting PC.
I'd appreciate any advice or perspectives on the matter. I've tried to clarify the situation, but if more info is needed, I'd be happy to supply it.
Every year people I know make New Year's Resolutions that last until sometime in February. I'm going to list a few that I'm going to try to stick with until at least May. How about you?
What resolutions are you making and how long do you expect them to last?
Review the more products - March (starting classes, less time).
Start and finish Insanity Workout/Diet - Lasts till March.
Just in time for the new year! Hope you all like it!
EDIT: This includes some of the effects being incorporated into the next update for the Advanced Character Portfolio... I guess you could a call this a trial balloon. :)
Before I dive into this topic, I want to mention that I'm not referring to product previews when I use the term free (example: the playtest classes). I'm referring to complete products made by third party publishers that are given away for whatever reason.
I would also like to state that this thread is intended to be about the users and their perspective. If we could keep specific names, companies, or products to a minimum I think that it will help to keep this thread on track. :)
I've asked several people one-on-one recently of their perspective on the subject and receive a pretty diverse array of answers. If a product is independently functional, would you use it?
The most obvious is that the product is free and there's nothing to lose. The second most popular answer is that it's probably too little to be of use. The most puzzling answer is that some people wouldn't bother looking at it (why give good product away?) unless it was a preview.
First, I need to pay with two non-listed credit cards if possible. (Wells Fargo switched over my Wachovia account 3 days ago and still I'm still having issues with them).
Second, I never received the print copy of the APG and it is supposed to be shipping with the Bestiary 2. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't left out somehow. :D
Please contact me at the number listed on my account or let me know if you can't spread the payment over two other cards. Thanks and keep up the good work! ;)
There are two things that I commonly come across in games that are not announced as house rules, but instead misunderstood as part of the core rules. Both things irritate me as they are plainly stated in the book.
The first is the assumption that the presence of light somehow counters darkvision. Another character lighting a torch should not effectively make my character's darkvision worse then their lowlight, unless it is related to colors somehow.
The second is when an attack of opportunity is given to anything and everything entering an adjacent spot. I understand moving through a threatened square or out of a threatened square more then an AoO, but simply moving up to a monster without reach DOES NOT DO THIS. See the picture in the link for reference.
As the title says, what misconceptions make you want to scream?
I would like to begin by apologizing for being out of communication for a while to all those out there waiting for updates or new product. I had some serious events come up in my home life and with family members that I had to see through. I have still been working on the updates to the spell cards and character sheets, albeit much slower then I've ever wanted to.
Due to some unforeseen financial concerns I have had to take up other work and have been more pressed for time. I am not however giving up, I've just slowed down a bit.
I will not be able to do the all the cross-promotional products I originally wanted to, but I will be happy to let any publisher use my spell card templates to create a set to accompany their products as soon as I finish.
Thank you all for your patience and I hope to make it up in the future. :D
I felt like this answer was a little off topic to the thread it was in. How do you run your puzzles and challenges?
What Brian is responding to:
Our gaming time breaks down into something like this:
35% puzzles/challenges
25% combat
20% roleplaying
15% exploration
5% explaining prototypes and suggestion
While combat is still important, it's never the most important. Maybe it's because we have a lot of fans of the Zelda and Soul Reaver, but they really like short puzzles that can be bypassed when they're too hard. It could also be that we have an alternative social system that works similar to combat (mechanically). Players still defeat their foes, but having ongoing rivals and foiling each others schemes (the foes vs players that is) seems to have a better effect them a dead forgotten body.
I'm not saying the other way is wrong, I've had some fun times hack-and-slashing. I know of many games that have long term playability with mostly combat. I know there are other systems that may be better for this, but we're all really fond of using Pathfinder.
If social interaction had mechanics similar to combat, perhaps there would be more games with people participating instead of a lone "face-man". It'd also be great if the people releasing puzzle books focused more on teaching how to create good puzzles and less on "here's a puzzle, if your players bypass it, get furious because it's wasted".
I love combat and having players battle through foes... we just like the other stuff a little more. :p
Brian Bachman wrote:
Interesting. Haven't seen quite that emphasis on puzzles from many groups. I like them, too, and was a big fan of the old Dungeon magazine Challenge of Champions series as an occasional break from the usual dungeon crawls and deadly combats. As a group, however, puzzles sometimes lead to trouble, as the riddles and puzzles I or my fellow GMs design that seemed blindingly obvious to us when we designed them, frequently stump the players completely. To forestall the obvious question, we have several really bright people in my group, some with lots of fancy initials after their names. Puzzles are just tricky that way. How do you deal with it when a plot-crucial puzzle or riddle has the group completely flummoxed?
Our initial approach to puzzles is to want the players to solve them while occupying them with critical thinking. Usually when writing the puzzle I make sure to include at least three clues that can only be gained via the characters using their in-game talents (skills, combat, spells, etc).
Borrowed example from Zelda: Phantom Hourglass:
there's a room with 4 levers that must be drawn in order to open the door. Link has to read three clue locations to tell him which order to go in. At each clue location there is an enemy that can easily be dispatched with a sword stroke or two, but would be annoying to leave alive.
Clue One: Lever #1 is pulled after #4.
Clue Two: Lever #4 is not first.
Clue Three: Lever #3 is last.
The puzzle can be solved without all three clues by guessing or trial and error, but it becomes easily solved with all three clues. If the Lever #3 is last, and neither the Lever #1 or #4 is first, then Lever #2 is first. Since Lever #1 is pulled after #4, Lever #4 must be second. Leaving Lever #1 third and Lever #3 last.
If you're writing your own puzzles, I'd recommend starting with the solution and reverse engineering it. Choose a puzzle structure (the way the information is presented) and start setting up how much information all the final clues assembled will give. Remove a piece of information or obscure a part of the puzzle to make it a clue. Keep doing this until you have at least three. Choose the rewards for the puzzle.
treasure allotment:
I don't recommend giving out incremental treasures when a puzzle or challenge can't be bypassed. Wait until the end because you never know how many hints will be needed to succeed. On a puzzle that isn't mandatory, give out a little with each clue to keep them motivated (something hinting at the end to build excitement). This way if they never solve it they got a little something for their trouble. Limit the time on these puzzles if they begin overtaking your game... in all things balance is essential.
If the puzzle is mandatory to the storyline, the players will need to have ways to keep simplifying it until it is solvable. If it's not mandatory (a prize for collection the clues throughout the quest to be solved at the end), then don't allow it to be simplified to the extent listed above. It'll cheapen the experience if the players know it'll always be cracked, but it's important to allow story points to be passed.
I recommend buying a few puzzle books for starting. I go to the used book store here and find em all the time. Adapting just takes a little time and they're usually marked for how hard they are. Avoid anything that takes you (the GM) more than half an hour to solve without hints.
Kakarasa vs WKG:
I use the avatar Kakarasa instead of Wicked K Games when giving my personal perspective. That's not to say we won't do a puzzlecraft book one day. ;)
I've found this thread quite interesting. I thought I'd add my two cents... Our gaming time breaks down into something like this:
35% puzzles/challenges
25% combat
20% roleplaying
15% exploration
5% explaining prototypes and suggestion
While combat is still important, it's never the most important. Maybe it's because we have a lot of fans of the Zelda and Soul Reaver, but they really like short puzzles that can be bypassed when they're too hard. It could also be that we have an alternative social system that works similar to combat (mechanically). Players still defeat their foes, but having ongoing rivals and foiling each others schemes (the foes vs players that is) seems to have a better effect them a dead forgotten body.
I'm not saying the other way is wrong, I've had some fun times hack-and-slashing. I know of many games that have long term playability with mostly combat. I know there are other systems that may be better for this, but we're all really fond of using Pathfinder.
If social interaction had mechanics similar to combat, perhaps there would be more games with people participating instead of a lone "face-man". It'd also be great if the people releasing puzzle books focused more on teaching how to create good puzzles and less on "here's a puzzle, if your players bypass it, get furious because it's wasted".
I love combat and having players battle through foes... we just like the other stuff a little more. :p
Brian Bachman wrote:
Interesting. Haven't seen quite that emphasis on puzzles from many groups. I like them, too, and was a big fan of the old Dungeon magazine Challenge of Champions series as an occasional break from the usual dungeon crawls and deadly combats. As a group, however, puzzles sometimes lead to trouble, as the riddles and puzzles I or my fellow GMs design that seemed blindingly obvious to us when we designed them, frequently stump the players completely. To forestall the obvious question, we have several really bright people in my group, some with lots of fancy initials after their names. Puzzles are just tricky that way. How do you deal with it when a plot-crucial puzzle or riddle has the group completely flummoxed?
Our initial approach to puzzles is to want the players to solve them while occupying them with critical thinking. Usually when writing the puzzle I make sure to include at least three clues that can only be gained via the characters using their in-game talents (skills, combat, spells, etc).
Borrowed example from Zelda: Phantom Hourglass:
there's a room with 4 levers that must be drawn in order to open the door. Link has to read three clue locations to tell him which order to go in. At each clue location there is an enemy that can easily be dispatched with a sword stroke or two, but would be annoying to leave alive.
Clue One: Lever #1 is pulled after #4.
Clue Two: Lever #4 is not first.
Clue Three: Lever #3 is last.
The puzzle can be solved without all three clues by guessing or trial and error, but it becomes easily solved with all three clues. If the Lever #3 is last, and neither the Lever #1 or #4 is first, then Lever #2 is first. Since Lever #1 is pulled after #4, Lever #4 must be second. Leaving Lever #1 third and Lever #3 last.
If you're writing your own puzzles, I'd recommend starting with the solution and reverse engineering it. Choose a puzzle structure (the way the information is presented) and start setting up how much information all the final clues assembled will give. Remove a piece of information or obscure a part of the puzzle to make it a clue. Keep doing this until you have at least three. Choose the rewards for the puzzle.
treasure allotment:
I don't recommend giving out incremental treasures when a puzzle or challenge can't be bypassed. Wait until the end because you never know how many hints will be needed to succeed. On a puzzle that isn't mandatory, give out a little with each clue to keep them motivated (something hinting at the end to build excitement). This way if they never solve it they got a little something for their trouble. Limit the time on these puzzles if they begin overtaking your game... in all things balance is essential.
If the puzzle is mandatory to the storyline, the players will need to have ways to keep simplifying it until it is solvable. If it's not mandatory (a prize for collection the clues throughout the quest to be solved at the end), then don't allow it to be simplified to the extent listed above. It'll cheapen the experience if the players know it'll always be cracked, but it's important to allow story points to be passed.
I recommend buying a few puzzle books for starting. I go to the used book store here and find em all the time. Adapting just takes a little time and they're usually marked for how hard they are. Avoid anything that takes you (the GM) more than half an hour to solve without hints.
Kakarasa vs WKG:
Although I use the avatar Kakarasa when speaking from my own perspective, as a company Wicked K Games may one day design a puzzlecraft book to solve the need for a puzzle makers book. Thanks for reading all of this... :p
The Visual Alignment Tracker is now live! We decided to make this product free to say thank you to the online community on these boards.
This system creates a balanced approach to handling PC alignments and alignment changes. As the players make decisions, their alignment score gradually changes to reflect these actions. The tracking boxes maintain the PCs score totals and the point values translate into coordinates on the gridded graph. The two printable charts and color reference page included make managing all of this quick and easy. By constantly shaping the player's alignment, it encourages them to consider their character's ethics while roleplaying.
So usually I stay out of this, but I was outright angry to find that in addition to the recent added privacy changes, that Facebook opted every single user into the Instant Personalization Pilot Program. What that means is without even informing it's users, it's selling all of their information to third party companies! If I was given a choice in the matter, I would probably let it pass.
I know a big company like that only cares about 3 things:
Having users log in
Revenue from advertisements, and
Mining as much data as possible to sell.
Am I mad that they're trying to make money? No, they're a business. Am I pissed that they didn't ask? **** YES! I'm sure there are some people that are wondering what I'm talking about, but if you want to see for yourself...
Go to your privacy settings, click on applications and websites, in the section marked Instant Personalization Pilot Program.
I have a simple question... since the user of an oil is considered the caster and the target of the oil is the object, since the object cannot apply oil to itself (lest it be a creature) would the target need to include "touched" in it?
For that matter, wouldn't any oil need to be targeting a touched creature/object in any two party scenario (excluding potions to be fed to the target)?
I might of missed something... but I'm not sure... :p
This is probably pretty obvious, but when using Giant Form II, it says it functions the same as the first, except you can take a huge form. The stats are better for Giant Form II. I'm thinking that in order to get better stats you have to be huge, but I have a player disagreeing per RAW that since it functions the same as Giant Form I that he can be Large and he would still get these stats (the Giant Form I stat boosts apply instead here IMO). Am I wrong here or is he? (Just looking for a second opinion).
EDIT: This would also apply to the Forms of the Dragon too...
I was just curious as in the APG Witch class the owl grants greater globe of invulnerability at level 6. Is this supposed to be globe of invulnerability or is there going to be a new spell? My searchfu is not helping today.
Ready to supercharge your spellcaster? We are developing a set of spell cards to include both verbal and somatic components that can be printed from home onto 4x6 cards. The current design would include double sided printing (the back including the full description and the front including all other info). Each spell card will be marked to show class access (for all core classes including APG classes).
All 700+ spells in the SRD would be included in this project...
So now we begin! What featurs would you like to see in this? What layout ideas do you have? What would be a fair price point for this? We have a prototype created, but we're always all ofr improving our products for the community!
Lastly, if you just like this idea, a nod is always welcome! :D
I was going through the Final Fantasy Compendium the morning and I came across THIS.
Which made me wonder... Squares has used mindflayers over all these years. Would it be possible to argue that the IP of mindflayers is shared with Square meaning they could allow Paizo to develop these iconic monsters?
I recently was approached by one of my players who is a HUGE fan of the Final Fantasy genre. He has a little bit of 3rd edition experience as a DM, but has only player pathfinder as one of my players. While most of his 3.5 games were run gestalt, I recommended not doing so in pathfinder right off the bat. A week later he came to me with his idea... I told him I could see some major problems with it, and I would mull it over and see if I came up with anything productive. I'm not sure if anyone has any ideas, but I decided to consult the wisdom of the boards before getting back to him. It all sounds like a TON of extra work to me. This is what I wrote down from his preposal:
Having the classes set up like the job classes of FF Tactics:
Each player has a main current job (class) and a activated secondary job (class). The maximum class level is equal to the level a character on the slow progression path would have, HOWEVER players gain levels as per the fast progression path. Hit Dice and skill points are set by the current chosen job. The class skill list of the secondary job are still considered class skills for the +3 trained bonus.
At the begining of a session each player declares their main and second jobs. For the rest of the session these are the classes they will use (this should be ready to go before the group meets). The main class dictates everything normal about a class. The secondary class grants any gained class abilities in that class. All class restrictions from both classes apply (including alignment restrictions). As experience is gained, it is gained in the main class as a PC of that level as if there was no secondary class.
If a player wishes to sacrifice levels in a class toward another class, they may do so, but they may never gain another level in that class. The max class levels still apply. The payout of XP from the sacrificed class to the new class is halved. He mentioned needing certain classes to unlock other classes, but I was not privy to that information.
He also mentioned getting rid of XP points and instead using points per CR kills, but I convinced him that was a bad idea pretty quick. As far as I can tell, it will only be the GM plus 3 other players total.
I know, I know, this is a bit crazy. I'd like to see if anybody here can lend some thoughts to a way to positively improve this. If you feel like ranting against how _____ it is, I'm well aware and am not going to be bothered by it. Any perspective I take away is useful. He's gonna run it either way, and it may crash and blow up in his face as it is. I'd hate for him to blame pathfinder and decide he only wants to run 3.5 gestalt as this is his first real big mod experience.
Lastly I think he said he would be starting this in a month, so I'm hoping to have anything useful together within the next three weeks. Thanks in advance all...
I know this is a stupid question, but are all the Golgarion Spells not open content? I'm making spell reference cards and wanted to make sure I was in the right as to whether or not to include this. I own all of the Curse of the Crimson Throne Books, and they say the contents are not open. Thanks in advanced.
I just wanted to open this up for opinions because after getting a good look at what can be done with autohyp, it seems like it could be CON baased. This is something I'd like to hear other sides of the argument on. These all seem like they function from enduring things. Perhaps it is mind over body?
Ignore caltrop wound (Ignoring damage and enduring pain)
Memorize (mental endurace)
Resist dying
Resist fear Fear (okay, this is Will here)
Tolerate poison (Fort all the way)
Willpower (basically ferocity)
I can see why this may have originally been a WIS based skill, but in converting it to pathfinder, would you change this? I'm on the fence myself.
If you've ever played Zork II then I'd love to hear any ideas. The only things that they'd be starting with are:
Sword of Elven Workmanship
Familiar Brass Lantern
This of course is for a homebrew game, or perhaps even to be used in a few overnight session at a local gaming store. I was thinking of doing a bit of a remake of this, similar to how SyFy rewrites Alice and Tin Man... any thoughts?
I was watching the ever entertaining Alton Brown on Good Eats just now, and I thought to myself 'Why not strat a food related thread?' We all know the cliches of gamers eating Cheetos and Funyuns while chugging Mountain Dew. I wondered if anyone else out there had a gaming tradition like my group. Every game someone brings food to snack on, on a rotational basis. Sometimes players take the quick route and buy food trays or get pizza. I think it'd be great if people discussed what they're snacking upon and )for those of you up to it) maybe throw down a few recipes for others to try. I'll start it off...
Creamy Nacho Dip
This recipe is a hybrid of two other simply dips, that seems to do amazingly well together. I apologize for not knowing exacts on some of these, this idea was off the top of my head. Here goes:
One large block of Velveeta Cheeze (reduced fat okay)
Two cans of Rotel tomatos (I like the one spicy & one mild)
One block of cream cheeze (no fat free, low fat okay though)
One pound Jimmy Dean Ground Pork Sausage (reduced fat, yet again okay)
Optional - One small drained can of chopped black olives and/or jalapeno peppers
Start by cutting the Velveeta and cream cheeze into 1/2 inch blocks. This doesn't have to be perfect, just approximate. The small size helps with the upcoming step. Mix the two cheezes together in a large microwavable non-plastic bowl (large enough to contain all ingredients and still fit into the microwave) with the rotel (with any optional ingredients) and mix well. Cover (whatever you prefer - saran wrap, paper plate, splatterguard, etc) and set aside.
Brown the sausage in a pan much like you would ground beef, except half way through drain the liquid grease. (I use a spoon, tilt the pan, and scoop the hot grease into an empty can (usually the olive can). Make sure it's thoroughly cooked through. If you have any questions on cooking sausage, google it! :D (sorry, I have to draw the line on details somewhere.) After the sausage is cooked and broken up into small pieces (yes, do this) add to the cheeze mix stirring a good bit.
Microwave the mix for four minutes. Some cheeze should have melted, take it out and mix it up. Keep microwaving for in two minute bursts until the cheeze is melted well. One it's fully melted and mixed, either refridgerate and remelt later or serve. This can also be made in the crock pot, and canned cream of mushrooms can be substituted for the cream cheeze I'VE HEARD, but haven't tried.
I hope some else out there has a chance to enjoy this simple mix, and I look forward to hearing what everyone else does.
The one thing I keep coming across that drives me crazy is the misconception that in 3.5 or PFRPG stepping into a monsters square provkes an AoO. Am I somehow misunderstanding something or is this just not clear enough?
Provoking an Attack of Opportunity: Two kinds of actions can provoke attacks of opportunity: moving *OUT* of a threatened square and performing certain actions within a threatened square.
In 3.5 Skip Williams clarified this, see Common Misconception #1 in the link below...
http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20041026a
I wouldn't make such a fuss, but I see it on a regular basis in posts, and I wonder if people are house ruling it in or just don't know...
This is a meetup group for houston gamers. It's mainly on the north side, but free and open to anyone willing to participate. If you're looking for more local gamers (to Houston), join us here. If you have any questions, I'm the organizer. I totally support Paizo too, and I'm trying to get more PFRPG going vs 3.5e.
