Crank's page

Cheers to you and your group! Did they win? Did they wipe? Any highlights, or did you put those elsewhere?

They won, but they surprisingly didn't take the Hurricane Crown -- handed that off to the Master of Gales.

A few highlights:

- The cleric getting sucked into the Immortal Dreamstone just as the sorcerer shattered it, sending his soul into the afterlife
- Allying with Besmara's herald, the Kelpie's Wrath, to take down Ifestus
- Coincidentally, the PC designated as captain randomly rolled on the massive damage table and lost an eye, so he had an eye patch for the majority of the campaign
- The Free Captain's Regatta is a fantastically written series of encounters
- I gave the PCs an opportunity to claim revenge on the Dominator while "shooting the gullet", which I changed to an escape through a series of tunnels
- The number of NPCs that the PCs could ally with in this campaign is fantastic, and they took full advantage of it

After three years, four character deaths, five guest players, and probably 10-12 gallons of whiskey, our Skull & Shackles campaign wrapped up last night. It's been a wild ride, filled with lots of plunder, tons of NPCs, hours of pirate music, and loads of interweaved character arcs.

This is the first pre-written campaign I've run, so I can't really compare it to others. But I can say that I REALLY enjoyed running the Island of Empty Eyes arc (I actually thought I would hate it and considered skipping most of it -- glad I didn't do that), and I REALLY hated ship-to-ship combat. We tried it once and never again. Also wasn't a fan of the fleet battles, and in retrospect would have skipped over those encounters and added more on-deck encounters while describing the battle raging around the PCs.

I liked the idea of Infamy/Disrepute, but in the end there wasn't really a good payoff for all the work the PCs put into it. The Plunder mechanic worked really well and I may incorporate something similar into future campaigns.

The best part, as always, is hearing how much fun my players had -- makes all the work outside each session absolutely worth it.

Quick question, no where near this book but wondering what people did.

What was done about Tidewater Rock? Did your players just fully drop it? Move the people to the Island of Empty Eyes?

They kept it as a second base of operations. After winning several ships, they gave them to their allies as a reward to go and engage in piracy in the Shackles, so every now and then they'd come back and their captains would have deposited a couple points of plunder. Plus, my party's captain married the Lady of the Rock, and she didn't care to leave, so they always had a connection back to it.

Conchobar had the most possible love in my campaign. Not all of the characters liked him, but the players thought he was a hoot. I played him as a fop, but competent. He was eventually captured in a battle with a Chelish ship. (The party at this point was way out of the sandbox of the campaign off stealing the Sun Orchid Elixer.) They escaped, but he was left behind. They found him again while breaking someone else out of an island prison. He was playing it all out, wearing rags, used prestidigitation to grow his hair and beard long and crazy.

** spoiler omitted **

That is incredible.

Don't ever see the game as you vs. the players, and don't let them see it as players vs. you. If ever they say, "Man, you keep hitting me!" or something similar, always respond with "I'm not hitting you -- they are!" while pointing at the bad guy miniatures. Similarly, don't act excited when the bad guys get a hit in; instead, show that you're genuinely bummed (especially if somebody drops). It'll help them see you as being on their side instead of being the enemy.

DM says: You don't find any traps on the door.
DM means: You failed your perception check.

DM says: You don't have time to rest.
DM means: This scenario's final boss isn't challenging enough.

DM says: It's a gazebo.
DM means: It's a gazebo.

DM says: You take 6d6 acid damage.
DM means: I'm sick of your PC stealing the spotlight from the other PCs.

While shopping for t-shirts online yesterday I noticed that the list of items Amazon was recommending for me based on recent purchases by customers similar to me was about 1/3 Pathfinder books and about 1/3 gay pride gear. This makes me curious if there’s a deep intersection between the Pathfinder and LGBT communities.

It's more likely that 1/3 of your purchases have been Pathfinder books and 1/3 of your purchases have been gay pride gear. Amazon's recommendations for me are 1/4 Pathfinder books, 1/4 recording equipment, and 1/2 Metallica/Avenged Sevenfold/Halo soundtrack albums -- because that's what matches my shopping history and "customers like me".

I treat homosexuality in Pathfinder as I do real life -- a non-issue. Sometimes it shows up, sometimes it doesn't. So what.

Write a list of potential character hooks -- tied to the main plot -- that each player can choose from. For example, "You're an understudy for a local wizard and have been tasked with rooting out a cult behind the pirates." Or "You've traveled to [city name] to attend the funeral of a friend. You suspect foul play and intend to investigate."

Then, use the hooks your characters have chosen to determine the most reasonable meeting place. Maybe the local baron calls them in and asks them to investigate one of the ships at the docks quietly, since he has reason to suspect its involvement with pirate activity but can't provide proof yet. Or maybe the PCs' snooping puts them on the cult's radar and are unknowingly guided into the marketplace where they have a huge fireball trap set up.

I don't mind a CR+3 fight to end an adventure. But why is it always a "boss" -- a single bad-assed monster?

Your responses would have been much more productive if you focused on this question, explained why you think the "one boss monster" encounter is uninteresting, and gave Headfirst some thoughtful alternatives.

Instead, you took the cliche'd route of saying "DON'T" rather than giving the OP what he needed. Ugh. Tiresome.

Here's your second chance -- go for it. Tell us what Headfirst should do instead.

- I have learned the hard way to be a hardassed b#++@ about attendance and promptness, and my players can accept this or find a different GM. While this is much less of an issue than when I was much younger, I have set up ahead of time clear expectations:

-- You will do your best to show up on time. We usually declare a "doors open time," and a "game start" time. The "game starts" at the stated time regardless of who is there. The "doors open time" usually at least a half hour before "game start" gives people leeway for arrival.
-- I make it clear people not present will be botted by me, and make sure people are okay with that (if they are not, they need to either show up, make other arrangements in advance about what their character is doing, or they need to find another game).
-- Advance notice of being unable is polite and expected -- I'd do it for you, you do it for me. Unexplained, unannounced absences (or very frequent, extreme lateness) are unacceptable; more than two, you leave the game. Period. Real emergencies are of course not an issue--I'm not going to kick you out because you had to go to the emergency room or your child was sick, etc. I am going to kick you out if you didn't show up, repeatedly, with excuses like, "I forgot," "I didn't feel like it," or "I overslept."
-- I will note, STRONGLY, I have not have someone miss a game in YEARS without advance warning and amicable arrangement as to what to do with the player in the absence. Occasional lateness happens, never more than 15 min or so, and usually due to stuff like traffic or other reasonable issues, and the late individual always calls to let me know they're being late. Common courtesy stuff, really. I've only had one person back out of a game because of my attendance policy, and he wasn't hurt about it--it just forced him to be honest with me and himself--"You know what, my schedule really is busy and you're right, if I'm not sure I can make it, then I'm going to bow out so someone else can take a slot who will be able to guarantee they can show up."

Great input, DeathQuaker. I especially like the timeliness and promptness issues you brought up (quoted above). This, too, has been a difficult learning curve for me, and the next time I GM I will adopt your attitude toward it. Lack of promptness from my group heavily contributed to my frustration.

As a group, we agreed to meet at 11 a.m. on Saturdays so we could have the majority of the day to play. Most wouldn't show up until around noon, and then they'd socialize until 1 p.m. One player would occasionally show up at 2 p.m. with good reasoning -- and would let me know ahead of time -- but it contributed to the disarray.

The day that I decided to call it quits was the worst. We didn't gather around the table until 2 p.m., and even then they sat around talking until about 3 p.m. I sat and waited quietly because I was tired of dealing with it. The remainder of the session was filled with tangents and side conversations, and I got so frustrated I was tempted to throw a few Balor Demons their way just to end it all, hahaha.

Next time, I will make my expectations much clearer. It's definitely not mature or polite for them to continually be late, but it's also not fair for me to expect my players to be mind readers.

I share your frustration when players interrupt or talk over me, which inevitably leads to infuriating questions like these: "Where are we?" "Who are we talking to?" "What are we supposed to do?"

It also gets on my nerves when players don't read the rules for the feats, skills, traits, etc. that they assign to their PCs. One of two things always comes of this: Either they misuse the ability and become angry when I have to interpret it correctly, or they expect me to tell them what the ability does mid-way through combat (which also usually leads to anger directed at me). I don't mind helping my players build their PCs before gameplay or otherwise outside of it, but when they're building as we're playing it plunges the entire game into a mire of slow-moving rules discussions. Even worse, it forces me to become a rules lawyer -- granted, that's part of the job as the GM, but holy moley, the players should at least know their own PCs!

Werebat, I suppose that since the RAW doesn't say my Inquisitor can't fly, it means he CAN fly, right?

Your search for validation here is futile. Your GM is correct, he made the right ruling, and I pity the fact that he has to deal with somebody as petulant as you...

I've been a GM for six years, starting with the 3.5 ruleset back in 2007 and running campaigns for friends on and off. I've learned how to balance encounters, let each PC have a moment to shine, create sweeping storyline arcs that tie everything together, give PCs freedom to explore without railroading them, and strike a balance between rules lawyer and gracious host.

My gaming groups have never been as big into the storytelling as I have, which is fine. As the GM, I should be more interested in it than them; however, my group treats our bi-weekly meetings as mere social events with a side of Pathfinder. Any attempts to introduce roleplay are met with disdain and the revealing of cell phones to watch videos, crack jokes, and otherwise get off topic.

I spend hours each week finding interesting developments for PCs, writing intriguing encounters, scheduling sessions, finding great background music to accompany the game, e-mailing them asking for ideas about their characters, and updating our campaign journal online. Not because I have to, but because I enjoy creating an immersive world for my friends to experience.

Last week was the final straw, the last crumbling bastion of willpower that finally cracked beneath the weight of player disrespect. I can now be added to the list of failed GMs who threw in the towel in the face of overwhelming odds. At my players' request, I created a special Halloween episode that involved the exploration of a haunted house. One showed up two hours late. The rest BS'd at the table for a full hour and a half, accomplishing nothing. When I finally called for initiative, I achieved perhaps 40% of their attention. The rest was saved for cell phones and off-topic joking. No interest in roleplay and only minimal interest at the swarm of undead heading their direction. They couldn't even remember the name of the NPCs they've interacted with the last five sessions -- not to mention we never made it to the haunted house. Three-quarters of my session weren't even touched because I couldn't get them back on track.

When the night was done, I decided I was done. Next few days, I worked with one of the players who seems to understand my plight and we agreed to switch to him as GM.

My year-and-a-half epic campaign came to a screeching halt. All the NPCs they had interacted with are gone, my 44,000 word campaign bible I set up for them is now utterly worthless, and the three major campaign arcs I designed were reduced to ash in mere seconds.

When I sent the e-mail to the group explaining that the GM duties were switching and we were no longer playing my campaign, I was met with: "Okay", "Cool", and "Sounds good." That's it. One didn't even bother to respond.

Hey, at least I get to try playing an Inquisitor now.

The main point of this post isn't to ask for advice... I'm aware of some of the things I did wrong, but I realize that most of this is out of my control. My group doesn't want to play as much as I do, period. I mostly want to get this off my chest, get a little encouragement from the great community here, and point out that if you have a GM who strives to be fair, cares about your characters as much as you do, and doesn't adopt the "GM-versus-player" attitude, thank him/her next time you see them. They work hard to make sure everybody's having fun. Make sure they're having fun, too. Or else go home and play Skyrim.

Oh, and if anybody lives in the Denver metro area and wants to consider getting together once a week to play, who knows. Maybe that would work better than relying on my friends as players.