James,
Where on Golarion would you set an adventure involving a cult of Barbatos (the Archdevil)? I'm hoping for somewhere I can go all backwoods-horror on my players. Do you have a specific town or region you'd pick?
Thanks.
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Required, lichdom is not. Afraid of horses, Yoda is not. Insulted, Yoda is at being called a mite. Ten levels in the psion class and ten levels in the quinggong monk class, Yoda has. Mythic rules, Yoda also uses.
Wow, so many good ideas! I love the incarcerated man's vault, Caleb and Dudemeister! Pophyrogenitus' beaurocratic maze idea is great, not quite what I'm looking for with this situation, but I will probably use it at some point. And Third, the pipe and the puzzle are both great. I could also see the monster in the puzzle being a nasty underwater Lovecraftian horror in a pool (no cage), and every time they guess a wrong letter the room fills with a couple inches of water, until there's finally enough for the monster to swim out and try to eat their legs... Man, I don't know if I can pick. I might have to create more situations later on so I can use all of these.
So I wrote myself into a corner--I promised a puzzle for next week's session, because I don't plan ahead very well. I'm absolutely terrible at coming up with puzzles. I'm sure you guys are better than me, so here's the situation: The PCs need help from an NPC who is in prison. He knows some information about the location of their mutual friend/mentor who was kidnapped, but he's not telling, and they aren't torturing him because they're all Lawful Good. So I plan on the NPC coming up with a deal: Solve a puzzle or an investigation for him and he'll give them the information he knows. Unfortunately I don't know what kind of puzzle to make. Optional Background Info: The NPC in question turned himself in to the prison (he's actually hiding from the big bad, whom he used to work for), so he's not going to ask them to spring him out of prison or anything. Setting is Lands of the Linnorm Kings, PCs are level 2 (human paladin, half-elf rogue, halfling ranger, and human sorcerer). I'd love to hear any idea; I'm a bit desperate.
Good to see you on the boards, Miss Feiya! 1) Did you enjoy your time in Ustalav? Who was your favorite adventuring companion there?
I've discovered over the last few years, after DMing with both new players and experienced players, that I actually prefer DMing for noobs. They don't know the rules yet, but they are more willing to try methods other than combat. They run away from really hard encounters and regroup rather than fight to the death. They bargain with people rather than fight them. They let the villains finish their speeches. The group of experienced players I've had over the past few years is a lot different. They're nice people, and generally good at role-playing, and they know all the rules. But they always try to kill any creature they can detect as evil, they are less likely to be creative in their approaches, and worst of all they seem to think they're entitled to win every time. When they lose a battle, they get disappointed, and even when they've been warned by numerous NPCs (and even their own Sense Motive checks) that the villain is much more powerful than them, they try to kill him anyway. I've been trying to give them some challenges that aren't just hack-and-slash challenges, because frankly those bore me if they're the only thing we do, but they still treat every challenge as if they can--and should--be able to beat it to a pulp, and if they can't they get really disappointed. How can I get my experienced players to act more like the new players? I've asked them some questions and it seems they acted like the newbies when they first started playing. How can I get that attitude back?
I don't know what you're freaking out about. It sounds like your friend just wants to make a character he thinks is cool and have fun playing with you. That's the point of the game, right? If your friend's not worried about it, let him be. Rule 0.
I'm running a homebrew game with 4 really well-thought-out PCs. They have decent backstories and personalities, and know what interests them. Well, mostly. One of them, the player who is usually most engaged and grabs all the plot hooks, is currently playing a fighter. His backstory: He used to be a bodyguard, but failed and his former employer died. So he hightailed it out of the country. The game is taking place a couple hundred miles away from where this happened. Now his PC is kind of an alcoholic, kind of doesn't like to discuss his past, and is kind of impossible to find a plot hook for. He goes along with the plot hooks everyone else takes, but I get the sense the character is not that enthusiastic about them. I like the character and think he has potential, but I don't know how to motivate him! What can I do to interest this character?
I hide that I'm a literary snob from my roommate who reads trashy novels. (*hugs* for lynora, for being the exact opposite of me) I hide that I'm a lesbian from my parents. Everyone else knows, though. I hid it from everyone when I was sexually assaulted by a guy in college.
As someone who's gay and lived in an extremist Christian community for most of her life, I can say that I really appreciate this article. It goes back to something Gandhi said: "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." ...which is something I think we all need to work on. Whether we claim to be Christians or Buddhists or Muslims or Pagans or whatever, we all need to remember that just claiming to be virtuous does not actually make you virtuous. You have to act on it.
Are you a fan of were-beasts? Do you think the "bestow curse" spell could support turning someone into a were-swan, like in Swan Lake? I noticed that in the Guide to Darkmoon Vale, the writer mentioned a new breed of werewolf that is immune to silver, but we never got stats. Are we ever going to see those?
Lots of helpful stuff. Wow, this was really useful. Thanks! And I love Helic's idea about mooks (maybe second-in-commands) that are confident they'll be raised later.
So, I've been DMing for 3 or 4 years now, and my players are pretty happy with my style--the one thing I can't seem to do right is role-playing a conquered enemy. After they've been knocked unconscious, grappled and tied, or forced to surrender, it's difficult to tell how they would act toward the PCs. How can I keep them from giving up all their information and still make them seem intimidated? How hostile should I play them? How does it vary between different types of villain?
A similar character I played recently... Instead of having a mount, I took the Sacred Servant archetype so I could get access to the fire domain! That was fun. I burned the bad guys until they would repent. As a goblin worshiper of Sarenrae, I was all about repentance. I refused to believe anyone could be evil forever, so I had a habit of just manacling the defeated bad guys and dragging them around with me until they got sick of me and said they had repented. My GM let me dump wisdom down to 6, so I was naive, helpful, and trusting. And I did not kill a single person.
Suggest taking ranger, I do. I've GMed SD twice and can tell you (not really a spoiler) that Urban Ranger or Infiltrator would be great archetypes to take. I would not suggest taking a mount. Dangerous and deceiving, horses are. Plus you won't be able to take them to most of your encounter sites. Suggest the following, I would:
Hope this helps, I do, young padowan. |