Innocent Bystander's page

I can see your house from here!
Take control of a kingdom and make your subjects fear you.

So what do you consider 'good roleplay'?

Well, roleplaying. Development of characters, not thinking in a purely strategical sense 100% of the time. You have to keep in mind with this that I GM almost exclusively for very inexperienced players, and this is my way to encourage roleplaying.

I think one good point to make comes from the FATE system, which uses fate points in a manner similar to hero points in D&D and Pathfinder. One of the ways you can get these is if, due to a pre-established character trait, your character does something that could get them in trouble down the line, or makes it so they have to do something the hard way.

The idea is to encourage the players to roleplay further. The system isn't perfect, and is probably unnecessary for players who already create and play interesting characters, but I find it's pretty fun, and honestly that's the reason we all play.

Well, it's not tonight, but I watched halfway through Captain America: The Winter Soldier last night before my DVD player decided to stop working. It's okay though, I've seen it before.

I like arbitrary leveling. Makes things easier, honestly.

Print out a cheat sheet on basic rules stuff, and maybe include information on what they can do in combat. I find newer players typically go for constantly attacking, rather than using maneuvers, which can really enhance gameplay.

Are they creating their own characters or are you giving them pregens?

My games typically have lots of rule of cool, largely because of a houserule I implemented. In short, the PCs get a series of tokens, in the vein of hero points, called Badass Tokens. These can only be gained through good roleplay, since I like to encourage that in my players, and essentially allow them to temporarily suspend the rules and make their characters look awesome. Now, I get veto power on any actions (I don't let them one-shot beings much more powerful than them, or take out bosses) but I do allow a lot of minion killing. Some examples:

1) A half-orc fighter used his sword to slash through the hinges in a large door, then followed this up by kicking it down, smashing it onto the head of the boss and doing some decent damage.

2) A rogue, frustrated at fighting some very robotic golems (half-magic, half-machinery) and his inability to do sneak attack damage, used his to jump down from a rooftop and puncture one of the machine's fuel lines, doing serious damage to it and gaining the ability to make sneak attacks on this variety of robo-golem, albeit at a higher AC, and only 1/2 as effective as normal.

3) Another rogue in another campaign was caught in a trap, along with one of his allies, a warlock. He made the check to avoid it, but the warlock was going to get hit, and he was rather squishy. So the rogue spent a badass token and used his whip to pull the warlock out of danger.

20. The Bloody Barstool

Some bars cater to a certain kind of person. Many seek to attract adventurers, due to their tendency to drink heavily and their heavy wallets. The Bloody Barstool attracts a VERY specific kind of customer.

The sounds of conflict often emanate from this basement bar. It has no windows, and its only means of entrance are a very sturdy metal door and a smaller door behind the bar, which lets out into the alley behind the tavern.

The only staff are the gruff ex-guardswoman bartender and her young daughter, who serves as waitress. There is no bouncer, and this is probably because being rowdy is almost entirely the point of the Bloody Barstool.

The Bloody Barstool is probably one of the only bars in existence that has scheduled bar fights. When the time comes around, the bartender rings the bell, and the waitress retreats behind the bar. Then the fighting breaks out, lasting until everyone's either unconscious or spent. Afterwards, everyone who's left standing gets a few drinks from the owner's special stock. This usually makes sure that everyone's passed out by the end of the night, and the bartender eventually shoves everyone out onto the streets to lick their wounds and nurse their headaches.

Speaking of canon? Drow. Just... drow.

Fleshwarping is bad.

Innocent Bystander wrote:

Not sure if I would call Vetinari a villain. He's much more neutral, and is really never the antagonist in any of the Discworld novels. I have two favorites from Discworld though.

1: The Hiver: ** spoiler omitted **

2: Vorbis: A person who doesn't even believe what he is doing is wrong, and genuinely believes his own desire for power and control is his God motivating him towards greatness. I love the idea of a villain who will flip a turtle on its back and prop it up just to see what will happen.

What about Carcer Dun and The Cunning Man?

From the Disc, though, The Elves *shudder* I have had nightmares about them.

I like Vorbis a lot more than Carcer, who's kind of just a total psychopath. And... I don't actually know who the Cunning Man is. I haven't read all the Discworld books yet.

But the Elves are great. Personally, I like villains who are totally unable to comprehend what they are doing is wrong. The cognitive dissonance is great, whether it be due to delusion or completely alien morality systems.

For an excellent example from recent history-- Handsome Jack, of Borderlands 2 fame. So delusional, he believes he's the hero of the story, and that his mass-murdering of Pandora's inhabitants is justified, since they're all bandit savages in his mind.

Lord Havelock Vetinari - so good he sometimes has to remind political opponents that he is a tyrant. When thrown in a scorpion pit he made the scorpions turn on each other.

Not sure if I would call Vetinari a villain. He's much more neutral, and is really never the antagonist in any of the Discworld novels. I have two favorites from Discworld though.

1: The Hiver:

2: Vorbis: A person who doesn't even believe what he is doing is wrong, and genuinely believes his own desire for power and control is his God motivating him towards greatness. I love the idea of a villain who will flip a turtle on its back and prop it up just to see what will happen.

Well, someone got the references! I figured that would happen. Anyways, a couple non-Discworld related ones.

133: Is terrified of bugs, and makes other people squish them.
134: Never looks into anyone's eyes when they speak to them.
135: Gives money to any child beggars they see.
136: Spends their free time whittling/carving small objects, gives them to other characters.
137: When mad, launches into blistering tirades in a uncommon language.
138: Performs tiny, harmless pranks on their fellow travelers.
139: Finishes bandaging up wounds with a kiss.
140: Hugs people. A lot.

Well if you're playing off of El Macho, but you don't want to just repeat the scene from the movie, you could simply bump it up a notch.

Ride a Dire Shark, coated from head to toe in explosive runes, into a portal to hell. Proceed to blow up and kill Asmodeus. You win Pathfinder.

I think one of the big differences between Michael and normal Paladins is that Michael is a bit more subtle.

Well, not much. He's still a guy slinging around a broadswords that emits holy radiance and shouting in latin, but he's not quite as overt with his divine abilities-- it's mostly the aforementioned holy radiance. Maybe some abilities that make his Paladin status less apparent, until he really starts slinging around the holy power.

In addition, one of the Swords' abilities, in the RPG, is the ability to trigger the Catches of all defensive abilities. Perhaps an ability that allows the character to bypass a certain amount of DR or make his weapons different types for the purposes of bypassing DR?

Oh, and I really like the idea of a boosted Detect Evil. Fits with the character.

Turin the Mad wrote:

BigNorseWolf wrote:

Not deadly, but there's always the punishment fitting the crime.

Baleful polymorph for poachers.

Sex changing girdle for certain crimes.

The latter being especially entertaining when it's been "built" with a seriously juicy save DC. Then the guards shove the knucklehead into general population. A rather lonely, bored, tired of looking at bearded faces and hairy torsos kind of lonely... ;)

I was thinking more along the lines of a pillory.

I'm... not sure that any punishment for a crime should then engender more of the same crime, no matter if it is committed on someone who perpetrated that same crime. I mean, I can see this in a villain, but not in a legitimate government.

On the topic of horrible executions, a several-hundred foot drop can be pretty terrible, since they can see it coming. You just have to make sure that there's no way they can get access to Feather Fall.

113: Repeats the last few words anyone speaking to them said before they start speaking.
114: Uses the word "Actually" a lot, and often corrects people.
115: No matter how much money or status this person gets, they always prefer unidentifiable meats and boots with thin soles.
116: Has a bracelet made out of cord, with a small souvenir from each place they've visited on it.
117: Frequently writes letters home, sometimes with money in it for mom and dad.
118: Has an impressive mustache, and spends lots of time grooming it.
119: Shines their armor until it gleams.
120: Move their mouth while reading or thinking.

Jus' say "AarrghaarrghpleeassennononoUGH": Beat the snot out of or kill 5 drug dealers.
I do not call that much of an argument: As a non-believer in any gods, survive an attack by one.
There are not 2,300,009 invisible bloodsucking vampire ghosts: Weaken an opposing army by spreading lies and disinformation among the ranks.
Iron enough to make a nail: Create a new body for yourself.
Rule No. 1: Beat someone two age categories younger than yourself.

If you don't understand it, it's because they're all references to one piece of media. If you do get, you are awesome.

I hate small-scale maps. Bigger ones aren't that much of a problem for me-- I use a program on my tablet to lay out continents and the like. Just don't ask me to produce realistic geography.

I actually enjoy GMPCs, though I admit I've used them incorrectly several times.

I usually GM since I live in an area where there aren't many opportunities to play with other people, and I'm the most experienced tabletop gamer I know in the area. I often GM for younger, less experienced players just getting started with tabletop gaming. Thus, when the game gets started, I introduce the GMPC.

Well, that's not quite accurate. I don't use just one GMPC. I usually use my spare time to create characters whose interest align with the party's for a while. Usually, they serve to help guide the players along in their story, without taking center stage in combat. In addition, I often have them throwing out combat maneuvers or little tricks more experience players know, so that the players can learn them without me having to stop play to explain all their options only for them to forget later.

I admit I've created bad GMPCS before, ones who stole attention away from the party and overshadowed them, but lately they've gone over pretty well. I find bards or other classes that passively assist the party work great, since they help the party feel more awesome, and can serve as knowledge dumps should you need to exposit a bit.