Vengeance of the Downtrodden (Inactive)

Game Master DM Mooshybooshy, "the Foolish"

I'd say you have to care about something to want to protect it, especially feeling guilty towards someone necessitates caring for that person. I supose I labeled it as 'Protective love' because I've recently been playing around with Tarot cards.

Point taken. Even if it's mainly because of where they're from rather than the individual themselves. I'll have to see how Smoog reacts to me to see how they think of me. I can, admittedly, see how Greas would like the guy even before he gets a chance to be dazzled by his new toys - he's frickin smart, and he did excellent work with digging/mining. Very useful when you're trying to make a pit trap or something. These are assets, you know? It just doesn't do to misuse a precious resource.

Care to elaborate on the Tarot stuff sometime? Most of my knowledge and recognition can be derived from playing Persona, but it still interests me.

Tarot cards all have different meanings, called energies. There are 4 suits goin from Ace/1 to 10, Knave, Knight, Queen and King. These suits all represent an element and are part of the Minor Arcana. There is a 5th suit of sorts in 20 cards of the Major Arcana, each with wildly different meanings, but generally the cards kinda each come in a pair. The fool which stands for the beginning of a journey pairs well with the World which stands for the end of a journey.

I.could go on and on but I've personally only learnt all of it less than 3 days ago from 5 or 6 pages of a really small instruction booklet.

The suits also represent affection (hearts), leadership (swords), wisdom (staves), and wealth (coins).

Swords can also represent 'thought'.

I only know this because my card is the ten of swords: being a victim of your own over over-thinking.

Many times I've felt like the guy on the card. ;)

Site was down during the only time of day that I had free to write updates yesterday, which is why I didn't post anything. Too busy at work today to post a full update now, but I will be taking care of that when I get home from work tonight. Update coming in the evening! Cheers folks

I guess that is but an alternate interpretation of the card. In the little instruction booklet I got it states the card as 'Empowering guidance' and then goes on about the infinite possibilities of life.

I wonder, how does one go about finding their card? Is there a special process or do I pick one myself?

In both cases, the Ten of Swords represents an overwhelming abundance of choice, either due to a lack of leadership, or an abundance of it. This can also be empowering or enslaving, depending on the facing of the card as it's drawn, and the contextual cards that are drawn with it. Different readers have different methods and matrices for drawing as well as reading.

The pictograph shows a commander weighed down (or cut down) by ten swords over his head. It's also called the crown of swords. The decision the card points to is not generally a yes or no prospect, but something more nuanced. As a persona, it would represent the idea that the character carries an onerous weight of leadership, be it actual or imagined.

East happens. Lots and lots of family and foolery here in Nawlins, Pretty much lost about a week of my life. Slowly getting into the shape of things through the fog. Are there any needs of Tessith?

Well, it wouldn't hurt to get in an action post if you can. We're all coming together now, and with any luck you still have time to catch up and state what you're doing.

Hopefully not too long, though. The tarot talk is tiding me over a bit - I'm still interested in that. Wasn't expecting people to be chiming in though! - but it is killing me waiting for Mooshy. I understand that there's stuff, but it's kinda throwing me off that the usual posts aren't there.

EDIT: I check over in a couple of the other threads I follow and see Mooshy's managed to get in a post with his characters. Seems he's alive today, at least.

Save me save me! Hurt them, hurt them!

I'm just hoping to see something good comes out of this cage. I'll jump in there with you the moment I see you. That elemental magic triggers a guy like Oadir. Where'd you get the class from?

Yeah, it's easy to pound out a post as a character and more time consuming to make a DM post. I'm alive, I'm working on it, I just have to balance a lot of stuff right now. Post incoming!

Yeah, it's easy to pound out a post as a character and more time consuming to make a DM post. I'm alive, I'm working on it, I just have to balance a lot of stuff right now. Post incoming!

Don't I know it. It's really nice when you get the chance to send one out, though. Especially to such a positive crowd.

Didn't know you ran a game. Taking a look, it looks the sorta thing I would be interested in trying myself, but I don't think I have quite enough familiarity with the sort of material it covers (sadly) and I'm not sure whether I'd be able to do it justice. In any case, I'm probably going to be following your game from here on out.

What is it like, being a DM? Running games like these? How do you deliver something so satisfying?

I swear, taking a look, a good portion of the people here have their own games running. Makes me wonder.

From experience, DM posts are way more thought intensive than player posts. On the flip side, I often feel a momentary tinge of guilt posting character posts when I know that I owe my players an action post. #DMProblems

Storytelling is infectious, especially when the storyteller gives you a little piece of the story that's your own to tell. It's also hard not to be at least partially successful at it if you put the work in. As long as you're honest to the other players about what kind of story you're trying to tell. Misunderstanding what game you're playing is the one thing that kills an RPG. Most of the time when this happens, though, the players will say that a player or the DM "isn't good at role-playing" which doesn't help our delicate egos.

We've settled into a gentle, two posts per week rhythm in Kawaii Cataclysm. We started with thirteen players which, I'll admit, was madness incarnate, but we're pretty happy with the seven we have now. Not that I wouldn't love a nice, round eight...

We've settled into a gentle, two posts per week rhythm in Kawaii Cataclysm. We started with thirteen players which, I'll admit, was madness incarnate, but we're pretty happy with the seven we have now. Not that I wouldn't love a nice, round eight...

Very tempted. Greas, I'm going to write up a bigger post on my DM theory in response to your post later this evening.

Have to admit, I'm tempted too. I'm quite enjoying myself so far, and I'm only on page 2. If I ever have a moment like I did with this game and go "Why the hell not, I want to be in this" despite my usual thought patterns, I'll be sure to ask. I'd be happy to watch any "research material" you point me to regardless of playing or not, since there seems to be a stupid amount of stuff I will watch gleefully. My main concern is the same as here - accidentally overposting. I spend farrrr to much time checking this place.

Can't wait, my Beyond Heavenly DM. I'm quite interested to see just what your thoughts are here.

This place is awesome. Why didn't I do this earlier? I'm addicted.

EDIT: Yeah...I have another individual telling me to watch Madoka. Repeatedly. *ahem*. And, ah, I already have some experience with Moon. A few volumes from the start and several episodes from S...before the DVD wouldn't cooperate anymore. How much of this general kind of stuff do I need to watch before optimal eye-grind potency is reached?

I'd be happy to watch any "research material" you point me to regardless of playing or not, since there seems to be a stupid amount of stuff I will watch gleefully.

I'd say Madoka Magica (can be found on Netflix) but you should be familiar with the tropes before they're ground into your eyes like shards of traitorous glass. Card Captor Sakura or Sailor Moon if you can stomach a kid's show. I'll try to think of more.

OMG! OMG! OMG! I'm squeeing like a fangirl at the awesomeness that is this creature, I absolutely love this design. I'd never seen it before but damn this is some awesome stuff you pulled out of your hat.

Bravo, sir, bravo! And everything else as well. My god!

However I wish I hadn't clicked that link on google after the image search that used the word 'riding' differently then I was imagining it... Quickly closed that tab and it shall never be opened again...

Back to looking at this awesome creature, which while I cannot unsee, is still really frickin awesome.

EDIT: Actually no, scratch that. I think I just experienced the first ever thing that I could unsee, it's just that good.

I'm using this alias for this post because the "Quick References" link below my name is just fantastic to keep close to hand when DMing Dungeon World.

I should start by saying that the PbtA system, and its progeny like Dungeon World, are my absolute favorite RPG systems. When done right, they creates amazing scenes and stories. Even when done wrong it is fun, so long as the DM keeps the principles in mind.

I DM far more often than I play. In fact, the only campaigns I've played in in years have been this one, and Mooshy's Skaven campaign. DMing can be a ton of work, but it doesn't have to be. Dungeon World makes it as minimal as possible.

System/Medium Neutral Advice:

1. Regardless of the system you are running, use PbtA's fronts system to track your campaign. You can get away with almost no prep. Google "dungeon world fronts" and you'll find what you need. But generally, you don't need to come up with detailed plot lines. You just need to know the actors in an area, and their general motivations. Who is powerful here? Who is weak? What do they want? What will they do to satisfy their wants? Regardless of the system, learn how to quickly create combat encounters on the fly. Dungeon World has some monster generation rules. Those should be kept at hand. Pre-generating encounters will only make you want to drive your players towards those encounters, and that contradicts your play to find out what happens agenda.

2. You don't always have to be interesting. The players will ALWAYS be interesting for you. So don't stress out about it.

3. Don't worry too much about creating scenarios with solutions. Frankly I don't think about that much at all. I just throw situations and problems at my players. They will come up with a completely different solution than you dream up anyway, so why waste the effort?

4. Play to find out what happens. This is a PbtA principle, but it applies in any situation. Just let go of the idea of needing to know what is around the next bend. Figure it out together.

5. Steal without shame. Steal ideas from media you are digesting, other games, etc. But most of all. More than anything. Steal from your players. I often create situations without any idea, whatsoever of that is going on. The players will start brainstorming around the table and talk about things they are worried about. Pick the most interesting one and make it true. Bonus, the player will feel like she figured something out.

6. There will always be another monster/puzzle/trap. Don't worry if the PCs bulldoze their way through something that you've created. You are a fan of the players, and that makes them feel powerful. They will inevitably get themselves in a jam again in no time, and you can challenge them again. In that vein, don't get too tied to your NPCs.

7. Be very careful with DM-PCs and traveling companion NPCs. Don't have your DM-PCs save the day, because that steals player agency. DM-PCs exist to make situations worse, not better. For example in Beyond Heaven I usually try to have Bucanero be the source of trouble (or at least the bearer of bad news), rather than any real help at all.

8. If you are planning a mystery session, read this first. What is obvious to you won't be obvious to your players.

Dungeon World PbP advice. I've only ever DM'd two DW PbP games, so take this entire post with a grain of salt.

1. Remember that 7-9 rolls are successes. The PC accomplishes what he set out to do, but something (unrelated or related) also happens. The most difficult rulings will be 7-9 results on defy danger rolls. Defy danger rolls are very common, so you will need to hone your ability to create engaging hard bargains and ugly choices. Think about what the player most values about their character and what their character most wants out of their move (beyond just succeeding). Offer one in exchange for the other. Or don't, and come up with something else. Honestly I still have trouble with 7-9 defy danger rolls.

2. Don't be afraid to say something is just impossible, don't let "yes, and" go to absurd levels. But do it gently. If someone wants to try something that doesn't fit with the fiction, ask them how exactly they do what they are trying to do and then offer an alternative. "I don't think you'd be able to jump to the ledge, its just too far above, but I bet you could climb it."

3. Telegraph the danger. Make it really clear when someone is in danger. Often players will ignore the obvious danger and do something else. An overly obvious example would be:

GM: The space ogre's tree trunk is slamming down towards your head. What do you do?
PC: I shoot him with my shotgun. At this point you as the GM need to think: Did I telegraph the danger enough? Is the PC unaware of the danger, or is he intentionally ignoring it. If you decide the PC is intentionally ignoring the danger, then bring the hammer down and make that hard move. It won't always be this clear cut.
GM: Great, roll volley to see if you manage to hit him before the tree trunk smashes you into the ground. Take 2d8 damage regardless.

4. Go with your gut. The rule book suggests that you think of your first idea for a GM move, see if it fits with your principles and follows the fiction, and if so, then go for it. PbP potentially gives you a lot of time to second guess your initial ideas. However, I usually find that I end up with my original plan anyway.

5. Just run a campaign. If you think you want to try it out, I'll happily join your game. If you find you don't like it, then you can apologize, and bail out with no hard feelings.

6. Don't get into the mindset that you only make GM moves on partial successes and failures. You are always making GM moves. Even on a full success something happens, it just won't be a hard move. For example, if your monster only reacts on a partial or a failure, then your combat will be very stilted. Give life to your monsters, and make them a constant threat. This thread is great.

7. Read the Dungeon World Guide.

8. Try to read your players. It's hard to do over the forums, but you start to get a feel for their playstyle and what they like. Once you have that read, give them what they want. One beautiful thing about DW is that, mechanically, combat is no different from non-combat, and splitting the party is easy to manage. In the Beyond Heaven campaign, I know that 2BR is going to be launched at every enemy ship, so I will immediately have a split party situation in space combat. And the system makes it work so well. This happens almost immediately in the Beyond Heaven gameplay thread if you want to take a look at it (I think it is on page 2 or 3).

9. Learn from others. I've found Austin Walker, of the Friends at the Table podcast, to be an excellent Dungeon World GM. If you are bored, listen to the first season. He does a great job with hard choices and interesting GM moves. For PbP examples, this campaign is often cited as an excellent place to start.

10. Difficulty in Dungeon World is weird. You don't have difficulty modifiers. You don't take -2 to volley if there is a bunch of smoke in your way. I think this thread really explains how to handle difficulty. There are two theories. To summarize, if something is more difficult then: 1) make the PCs make more rolls to accomplish their goal. Require a defy danger before they can even make the volley, etc; or 2) Difficult tasks have more severe consequences for partial successes and failures. Make the fictional response after the roll more dire, even after a full success. I think there is a place for both, and I try to use both.

11. DON'T write your draft posts in the Paizo forum text field. Paizo will sometimes crash when you hit submit, and you will lose your beautiful post. In fact, if I hadn't remembered to copy this post from the Paizo text box into a word file, I would have lost it.

Whew, what a rant.

TLDR: When is your campaign starting up ... I think I'm going to roll a short grey paladin.

I just want to reiterate how important the 7th point on his 1st post is.

I was once in an AMAZING LotR campaign with a -very- energetic DM. The party got split, but everyone else got a unique reward for their efforts.
I got friendly with a tribe of Halfling merchants, and when the party was reunited, I had figured out their complicated barter system, and was ready to post a -very- nice post detailing how I acted as a middle-man between the tribe and the city that they were banned from. I figured that learning the Halfling "ways" was my reward, and I would just need to act on it to get lotsa money.

So, literally one F@@@ING hour before I'm gonna post, the NPC DOES THE EXACT SAME THING!!! In-game he took ONE look at the halfings, then EXECUTED MY ENTIRE PLAN!

I was...destroyed. Never again did I put anything like my normal maximum effort into it.
The campaign limped on for a while, but eventually everyone started to feel that we were just being lead by the nose and dropped off.

Hence, yes, I'm still all for NPCs playing key roles, but I see R2-D2 as the penultimate NPC. He moves the plot forward, and might even make a skill check or two in things that no one else wanted to take, but it's not like he should shine in combat and start lighting enemies on glorious fire.
(Huh? What? Uh-huh. Prequels? What? Oh...R2 does set droids on fire. Uh-huh. Yeah. Jetpacks? What? Okay, I'll have to watch these "prequels" then get back to you.)

Also, yes, I'm now in the habit of cntrl-C'ing each of my posts before I hit Submit.

>> THIS IS 2BR HERE ADVISING YOU TO DETERMINE WHICH OF YOUR NEAREST ORGANIC MEATSACK FRIENDS CAN BE USED TO BLUDGEON YOUR OTHER ORGANIC MEATSACK FRIENDS INTO A FINE PASTE, AND THEN TO EXECUTE SAID BLUDGEONING <<

Ahem. Oh. I was going to contribute something. Ah, yes, that was it.

Rule from Apocalypse World: Drive your NPC's like you stole them. They weren't yours before, they won't be yours for long, and it's boring if they aren't burning in a wall somewhere by the end. Also helps prevent Mary Sues from growing like fungus in your campaign notes.

Thanks for all the tips and references. I am also interested in GMing in the near future. DW seems like the best way to get into narrative gaming without worrying too much about nitty-gritty rules.

For those who currently GM, what are your thoughts on maps? Do any of you use them or do they just get in the way of the story?

All very well written points. I'll be sure to look into friends at the table.

To add my own two cents, I try not to have a bad guy. At its face, this might not jive with all games or all players, but especially with PbtA games and systems with fronts or factions, each environment the players encounter existed before the players got there and had some kind of conflict, be it man vs man or man vs environment.

Set things up in your head so that these factions have their conflicting goals which are logical (at least to them) and let your players take their own side. Make sure it's rarely a two-sided conflict. Bonus points if you get the players to debate about who to back, or how to make everyone happy. Extra super bonus points if you mold some factions in the image of individual players to make the debate extra spicy.

I look at the environment and its factions as a way to get a deeper understanding of who the PCs are and what the players want. If a question is easy for the party to answer, I need to move on, and avoid asking that question again.

RE: maps
I use google slides. Some use roll20. It depends on how important positioning is to the game you're playing.

I view maps as extremely important. Combat-via-imagination inevitably leads to someone thinking that someone is somewhere that they are not, and this leads to hurt feelings and animosity. Taking even one point of damage that you think you don't deserve because the narration was (to you) unclear can be detrimental to the suspense-of-disbelief crucial to PbP.

It doesn't have to be fancy, so if making actual maps is too time-consuming, I've actually volunteered to make something aski just so we can run it, and it's always went well. Like, say, this thing:
.

B_zE____
___D__J_
___T____
O_______

I hate using maps. God do I hate using maps. I try to narrate the action such that there isn't any positional confusion, and I don't always succeed, but I do hate me some maps. Mostly because I have to make them and track them myself.

I could see the struggle with maps from a GM perspective being trying to marry position with how you need the consequences to take place.

A bad roll for an attack or volley would let you as a GM put them into danger but with a map you may not be able to create the danger as the enemy is too far away. Maybe I'm overthinking that.

I guess with PbP the time element is under the GM control as well so you could just say that the PC stood stupefied for a few seconds as the goblin traveled the distance...

Kibra, I think the problem with positionally appropriate consequences can be remedied by your principle to "think offscreen." If something doesn't really work from your map (which should reflect the fiction or else it has limited value) then it isn't working with the fiction and you need to think of something else.

to be fair, I have never had an issue in this game without maps.

To be fair, Mini, your character only has to roll+STR/CON vs nearest obstacle until they run out of obstacles. We squishy gubbins have to make sure you're between us and the danger. This usually involves a line to the effect of "Thunk's between Sees and the danger" before we roll our highest stats against obstacles.

As far as "what do you do if the player specifically made it hard for my danger to hurt them and they roll low anyway" the answer is generally "something else bad happens." If nothing else, maybe they drop something. Lots of DMs underestimate the value of "you just dropped some of your stuff". Sometimes that hurts more than damage.

R.I.P. Grapple-Cane 9000

I dunno the lack of movement limitations and "actions" and "flank bonuses" really removes a lot of the need for maps. I'm playing a barbarian in another game and it would be next to impossible without the map. Though that game, though it has a great dm, doesn't have one that is overly descriptive

I was also in a way of the wicked unused to be in. In that I went through a goblin. Barbarian rogue, a human arcane duelist, and kobold alchemist, never had a map. The dm was descriptive enough that we managed

My point is, it's perfectly simple to play without a map with a dm that is as descriptive as moosh, AND with a system like this it's even more doable. I really don't think it has anything to do with the character

That's my 2 cents on it.

I cannot overemphasize how important Bastian's point about not having bad guys is. There are no bad guys. There are only people and groups with goals that conflict with yours and possibly methods that you find objectionable. Nobody is the bad guy in their own story. Very few famous fictional villains actually believe they are the bad guy. If your big bad is evil for the lolz, you have a problem. Nobody is going to believe that character.

I just wanted to say thank you to all the new players.
I loved the original 8 we had and thought I had lucked out joining such an outstanding group of players (which they all we/are).
I was very sad when the 4 who left us disappeared but...
Wow! Thanks for stepping up and being awesome NEW players.
Your character interpretations are all so inspiring and I look forward to finding out what crazy-awesome story we create together.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww. =)

I agree with Retzack! You have no idea how good it feels to read that. I'm having fun with you and the rest of the original 4 too. And Mooshy, of course. Let me say this now - had this been any old game, I wouldn't be here. But since it was all of you, who have devoured so much of my time and affection already, it wasn't so hard to make an exception when I found out you were taking new players.

Take pride in yourselves, all of you. You're why I came, and why I intend to stay. And I can't wait to see what you do next.

Before I take this any further than I have already... Is everyone okay with me making a separate profile for the little rascal? I hope he's not being a bother to any of you, I'd hate that.

If he's a pain to you just say the word and I'll bring a world of pain to him.

Also yes I'm very happy to have joined. As with my message ^ I do hope I'm not overstepping any boundaries, but yeah Oadir is super awesome in my head but I felt he needed some character flaws too that don't just come straight from the stats.

(Also yeah being super tall and not dexterous by nature don't go hand in hand, and I speak from personal experience at 2m)

Before I take this any further than I have already... Is everyone okay with me making a separate profile for the little rascal? I hope he's not being a bother to any of you, I'd hate that.

If he's a pain to you just say the word and I'll bring a world of pain to him.

Hello, fellow 2m brother, (I am actually only 195cm)

Thanks, guys. I have very much liked this system and this game so far. It is pretty awesome to hear that we are so welcome also.

(That's OK Smoog, I'm rounding up slightly as well. The soles of my shoes are usually enough to push me over the threshold though, though I do tend to bump my head an awful lot abroad. I currently live in the land of the giants but I'm planning on moving to the UK in about 2 years, ready to bump my head everywhere for the rest of my life...)

I will be out of town and away from my keyboard until Wednesday night. Feel free to bot me as necessary.

So in what way are Dragons, Dragonborn and Kobolds related? Within this campaign?

Much like Orcs, Dragons can and will breed with anything, and their genes are almost aggressively dominant. Even ingesting Dragon's blood can alter your physiology, if temporarily. Anything that's reptilian is a descendant of a Dragon. One Dragon, specifically: Yig, father of reptiles. If Bahamut is our Zeus, Yig is our Chronos.

Dragonborn are usually recent half-dragon humanoids, like half-orcs, and generally think very highly of themselves. The best and worst of demidragons have all been Dragonborn. A few hundred years ago, Dragonborn attempted to coalesce into a single nation which quickly threatened to conquer the world, but one day the empire simply dissolved. The reason is lost to history.

Kobolds, on the other hand, are a servant race bred and domesticated by Dragon-kind. The manage the horde, a dragon's hygene, and the defenses of the dragon's home, similar to the role of brownies in humanoid homes. Not all Dragons have Kobolds, but all Kobolds have a Dragon. Kobolds left without a dragon for too long suffer from a strange ennui characterized by a thickening, and eventual hardening of the blood which is why they are hardly ever seen outside a Dragon's den. Kobold blood makes a fine forge material used in rustproofing alloys.

There are many other Dragonoid races, such as Wyrms, Wyverns, Drakes, etc. all of which are various offshoots of the same, ancient bloodline. The infectious nature of Dragon's blood complicates the taxonomy somewhat, as there are both borne and inured dragonkin.

Well that's my question answered. I was wondering what a Kobold or Dragonborn Tiefling would be. Let alone a Dragon x Archdaemon, which hardly ever happens but very much exists as nigh immortal since the infernal realm doesn't function under the normal conditions of death.
Anything infernal that has gone through the trouble of binding to the realm will be weaker in our plane but will magically respawn with a new healthy body at the time of death. Some infernals have used this process to harvest body parts to sell. Of course there are drawbacks to the binding alongside the weakening in other planes but they are very negligible when one frequently returns to the infernal plane.

Oadir has not bound to the infernal realm because he doesn't come there often (not at all if he can help it).

I'd imagine both dragons and demons would be wary of the cataclysm that spawning an infernal dragon would invite.

A Kobold-born Tiefling would be an abomination.

FYI, I'll be on vacation from this Wednesday to the next Wed. and will have limited ability to post. Bot me as needed.

So what is out next goal? Take over the time temple in the confusion?