Dug's page

Great points about the Gunslinger class. I've considered converting the gunslinger into more of a magical class, i.e., guns are enchanted, can only be used by the gunslinger, bullets are magical, have magical properties, do various things, almost like an alchemist. Then it feels more fantasy to me.

Still working on it.

Give out a lot more XP's for roleplaying and not combat. Maybe that would make him realize what you and the other players value more in a game, and maybe he'd act accordingly. I had combat heavy players once and when I started handing out individual XP's for roleplaying, their tunes changed, soon they were chatting up every beggar they could find in town.

Will do. Thanks.

A follow up... *sigh* two of my new recruited players were taken away by a younger DM (someone closer to their age). I ended up with one player. Another DM felt sorry me and played, but will not be able to play regularly as he has his own campaign.

So, I think that's the final straw. It's time to hang it up. I had a good 30 years of this. So, I appreciate all the great advice. Maybe down the road I'll join an online game, but for now I'm taking a big fat break from all this.

Thanks for the advice and support, guys. I really do appreciate it.

Thanks, GM Tribute.

I'm building a new group. I didn't think it would happen that fast. They're younger, but playing with someone who has never played the game before is a wonderful experience. Also, my kids can play and not have to listen to all that filthy language.

I'm starting to feel very lucky...at least as far as gaming groups go.

Thanks, my old group is scattered across the states. Pulling us together even on a yearly basis would be next to impossible and they've moved on with their lives....

FORTUNATELY, I'm starting to find some new players and putting a whole new group together. I'm being careful in my selection, feeling them out before I invite them to my table. There may be hope here yet.

Yup, that's it exactly. My two confident, knowledgeable players could always keep the rest of the group in check. On my own, not so much.

Sounds good. I'll give that try. Thanks.

Been there before, and I feel your pain. If you really want to keep playing, try doing it over the internet. That's what I did. Either way, good luck!

Thanks, I think the thing that bugs me the most is I finally found this great space to play in, it's private, we even have a large flatscreen to put up maps and now it will go to waste because of these dorks.

Anyway, yeah, maybe I'll just join an internet campaign....

I've been playing RPGs for many years, and had great fun in college. There was never a complaint about my style, and I had to turn players away because there were just too many some times.

I got married and moved to a smaller town and had kids, the only players eventually available were my stepson's friends. Things started well, we played for many years, but then two key very good players moved away (they grow up, they get lives).

Now, things have gone downhill. I've had a couple scheduled game sessions (I give at least two weeks notice in advance) where nobody showed up. Lately, there were games where players had a bender the night before and were not in the best of shape to play. My stepson alone shows up 4 hours late into the game and then sits and distracts those who did show on time while he updates his character.

One player (who use to be really good about showing up) who said she would play has now missed three games in a row....two other new players have really lowered the standards of chit-chat in the game, sexual innuendos (which I can forgive some of that), outright mocking of other players, etc. (and the female wasn't chased away because of the innuendos, she's just as bad as the boys).

Despite telling them my concerns about this, and telling some to change their ways or leave the game, it hasn't changed anything.

So, I'm getting a little tired of it, and I think it's time to just hang up playing. I know I probably won't find other players in this small town area (many of these players come from 30 miles or more away), I'd rather just disband it than continue to go through with this...

Just wanted to vent... thanks for your time.

Excited! A perfect birthday present to myself...

I highly recommend Torn Asunder rules. They've adapted it to Pathfinder now.

Torn Asunder

I know this is an old post, but it's a shame this is on hiatus. Have to say the creature design is really unique, and the artwork is phenomenal.

Used the Rat Ogre in a recent campaign (it was exactly what I was looking for), and I cannot wait to use the Nysrogha (what a cool concept).

Any news on that PDF?

Thank you!

- A high quality table. This is actually really important because that's the focus of the room. In my case, I had a friend make a custom table that had a recess in it for a plasma TV that is hooked up to a computer. My original plan was to have it act like a virtual play map for miniature play, but this ended up working out poorly due to the fact that the glass I had to protect the TV displaced the miniatures too much and nobody cold tell what square they were really on. We ended up moving fully to virtual tokens using Roll20 and that has worked out extremely well because it also allows us to easily integrate in remote players (for example, one of our players is a cool guy we met at GenCon this year who lives 3 states away).

Do you have a picture of the table? I'm going to build one, too, and looking at different designs.

(Old message, I know, but...) Yes, it's a nice little combat system they've got. I'm thinking about incorporating it somehow also.

I use to use rolls of graph paper. I would have maps drawn out ahead of time (altho, players started to peak), but then I've gone digital now, using MapTool from RPGtools.net, and a digital projector. There are a few issues that need to be worked out (like characters going off on a tangent, and I don't have a map for it).

And the Initiative tool is realy helpful, too, that cut down on wait time in combat.

I have been coming up with reason why characters come and go. I always find something amusing, fell down a hole, told other characters to go on without them, got lost in almost-endless tunnels until reunited, ran off on another mission, etc. I always found a way to make things fit together.

We had an entire war, and that was a great way to split off characters who came back with stories of how they avoided orc search parties, etc., to get back to the main group.

Role-playing-wise, it was actually kind of neat, and I snuck in little details that would make the characters go on another mission after the ones who were away saw something of interest....

I drew as I went on a large sheet of paper, or erasable graph sheet, but I am now going digital! I bought a projector and tablet and loading it up with Maptool, and we're good.

Reaching over the players and letting them get a wiff of my armpits was getting a little old. (They never complained, I just thought I'd be more considerate).

I liked "Torn Asunder," but would like to see a revamp of it for Pathfinder.

Never mind. Found it. :D

I liked "Torn Asunder," but would like to see a revamp of it for Pathfinder.

Oh brother. A TPK DM. *Sigh* Sorry you went through that.

Alright then... haha, then well, sounds like they need some firepower...I'd go with the next non-meat shield simple character, a Wizard.

Yeah, the Hackmaster dice-cleansing is classic! I had some players who swore by it.

Any time I have a new player who has never RPG'd before, I always suggest the fighter. It is the most straight-forward and simplest to play. It at least gives you taste of the game. They're easy to build for higher levels, like up to 8.

The website is helpful to starting...

Getting Started

Just scroll down to "Generating a Character"

One of my players loved the stereotypical "drunken dwarf" character, and wouldn't go anywhere without his beloved keg of dwarven ale. I've had so much fun with that thing. He lost it down a river (went swimming after it down the rapids), but found it later, whereby a group of pixies were fixated on it bobbing in the water, so the dwarf is chasing after this swarm of pixies to get his keg back.

A landshark swallowed it once. He dove in after it to get it back. It fell into a crevasse. "Bungee jumped" after it. Hurt himself, but he got it back. An evil mage mistook it for a valuable relic because he valued it so much. He used it as a "bowling ball" to knock down orcs.

Yeah, I've had some fun with that keg.

Hate to say it, but you have to be blunt with him, get straight to the point. I know we hate to hurt feelings nowadays, but it needs to be said, "You're bringing our game down. Get into it or get out.."

Okay, maybe TOO blunt.

Actually, try to be more diplomatic, do tell him he's bringing the game down, that if he doesn't enjoy it anymore, that maybe there's another pursuit he'd like to try. Try some other types of games. I don't know. I know it's tough when you've known him for so long.

Yeah, my group went through this once, too. His excuse was, "but I'm roleplaying my character." As GM, I did find the story angle interesting and allowed it (big mistake). This caused hard feelings for the other players. They bound the character and took him back and imprisoned him, but the player was voted out of the group. I felt pretty bad about it, and should have done something different, but I think ultimately, the player would have done the same things somewhere down the line anyway, so it was for the best.

We started using "active defense," love it. I've incorporated some aspects of "Torn Asunder" for critical effects, which makes the game more "believable," and dangerous, even for higher level characters.

I'm considering dropping the roll to "confirm" a critical hit, just let it happen anyway. I should read pro's and cons on that.

Otherwise, I'm pretty 'by-the-book.'

I suppose it's not Pathfinder property, but there was the D&D Argos, a multi-eyed gelatinous-like creature.

I know this adds "more rolling" to the game, but it's better (and it has the players jazzed when their turn is up) than me standing there reading off the opponent his this character, move to next.... I try to spice it up with flavored battle descriptions, but players start to turn to their phones or losing themselves in a players handbook...No, the second I introduced active defense--instant change! They loved it, and the dice roll determined the flavor of the battle, enhanced my descriptions, if you will. It has been very exciting, and we all look forward to the next combat.

Cover is only a mock-up? Aaah, I love the cover.

What a great resource! I'm such a busy GM. I love coming up with my own NPC's, but I welcome this with great anticipation!

I'd have to go with the Core, but if I have to go with a close second, it'd be the Advanced Player Guide, which featured the Alchemist, and the game has been nothing but fun since...

I think it's just a matter of the player and how they play them, for one, and the GM for the other. I have a group of varied players, and the two that shine the most are the barbarian and the fighter, but then that's probably because as a GM, I love combat over magic.

But, from my experience, the Witch has been rather weak, but then the player didn't really know what to do with her, wasn't very creative and hung back. I'm sure in the right hands, it could be an outstanding character.

I thought the Alchemist would be weak, but the player for that has been having a lot of fun, been very creative, especially with the class alternate archetypes.

Sorceror has worked well. Nobody has used the Summoner yet. They seem to avoid it with all the Eidolon build rules, but I sure wish someone would try.

We had a gunslinger, but it just seem to not work in the campaign that well, but that's more of a preference choice or a campaign specifically geared towards a gunslinger (which I may do in the future).

Anyway, probably not that helpful, but thought I'd add.

Excellent, Chris! Thank you for making that clear.

Sorry, guys. Total newb here. Let me backtrack a bit. So, the half-elf with the favored class, he gets to pick two classes at the beginning; right off the bat? Say, for example, he's a fighter/rogue, he has skills/feats/etc. of both classes at the start? Or does he just build off the one class, say, for example, he's a fighter at first, then switches to a rogue 1st level to get the skills, etc? Maybe I'm not understanding this?