Tayleron's page

Hey, hoping you guys wouldn't mind checking out these songs I recorded of my band's music. I'd love it if you guys would listen and give comments/critique. They're on Youtube, so you can't expect the highest sound quality and I'm not exactly the best sound engineer, but still I'd love to hear what you have to say.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JZI0jm4rRg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEXnMAtqsDE

Thanks in advance.

I'd like one where I could do magic, and magic was easy, not like where a wizard has to study and s*++, I just want to be able to do it and do it as much as I want. I also doesn't really want to be in danger, and I want current day or future level technology. I basically want to live in this world, but with unlimited magic power. Is there an RPG that fits that description? If so I want to try it.

Also, I want to be a Mechwarrior. That'd be sweet too. 2nd choice...

I love these descriptions, none of them make me uncomfortable in the least, I found reading them that I was getting excited to play again! I love my DM's descriptions of my arrow piercing the head of the goblin, or my sword rending their flesh, the bones crushing under my furious assault.

Gore has never been a problem for me in anything and neither is the sexual stuff you guys are talking about. If I'm playing the hero, yeah totally I'll get revenge, but if I'm playing the villan who's to say I won't be the sadist rapist? I've got a couple vile characters in my past, my character held a girl hostage for serveral months before my character finally went insane (retired) and my bro's cleric used to dismember and hide victims for the hell of it. We're not strangers to that stuff.

When we rolled dice it was 4d6 drop lowest and if the 3rd die was the same was the lowest reroll. Also lowest score became 18. Yes we were powerful, but we needed it to be honest... we had (still do) one of them killer DMs. Now-a-days the DM is better and we point-buy (25-point I believe).

Phone Basket: We're horrible losers and never have anyone using their phones during play =(
Off Topic: Usually happens once per session, but it's always a good laugh so we allow it (we're all guilty)
Dice: We all have multiple sets ready to go at a moments notice!
Food: None of us really eat during play but my house (our usual) is about 1 min from a corner store, so any snacks are pretty close at hand.
Team Play: Unfortunately we suffer from a lack of this... I remember one game where the DM started us in a battle and one of the PCs turned and one-shot'd another PC "because it was hilarious" (which it was) and then killed the enemies. Even when we try to be good teammates roleplay gets in the way and we're turned on eachother for whatever reason. We're all guilty of it though...
Hygiene: Not a problem, we're all very clean.

-We used to roll, but with Pathfinder we found that using point buy was more enjoyable
-Point buy is our current default
-2002, started with 2ed and quickly moved on to 3.0 and then 3.5 came out shortly after. Years later we heard about PFRPG and haven't looked back. We have dabbled with World of Darkness lately.

** spoiler omitted **

That's actually awesome, it's a little less graphic than we usually do (depending on DM), but it would certainly go over well. I like the detail concerning the shirt!

I love this kind of thing! I always ask myself very similar questions, I like to wonder who my characters were before they picked up the sword. Most often I ask myself these things over the course of the game though and only the basics at creation.

Was his childhood hard? Easy?
What was the relationship with family?
Was there one singular event that made him what he is?
Did he have any friends? Still have friends?
Why is this stat so much higher than this stat?
Why does he use that weapon? Why not this weapon?
What's his fears? His joys? Likes and dislikes?
What's his relationship with women like? With men? With other races? His party?
What's notable about his temperament?
Does he have any vices? Virtues? (Picked up from World of Darkness, haha)

If I think of anything else I'll drop back, but that's it for now I think. I got to get back to work!

Oh man! I can't wait for 5th Edition! I've already got a set of d30s ordered!

I agree with Sebastian on the kill count front. I'm quite certain that Walt moved Jane, although it may have been an accident, he still didn't help.

I can't wait to see what happens when Gale is dead, anything could happen! I don't think Walt will die, at least not in the first episode, though that would be one hell of a twist! Also that dude is on his way to Gale's house, so Jesse is in danger too! So excited for Season 4!

Best show ever.

Awesome, I'll add those for sure and thanks for the response!

For me...
Exploring: 1
Dungeoneering: 3
Intrigue: 5
Urban V Wild: 1
Combat: 3
Social: 4

More suggestions welcome!

Hey all, this is something I've been thinking of doing. Basically, I'd print out this quiz and have the players fill it out and that would help give me an idea of the type of game/adventures that they'd like to play. I've always found that simply asking doesn't really give you the info needed (I usually get back "Something fun" or "Something awesome".. A couple examples below. Note this isn't the final formating of it or anything, just examples of questions that will probably be on it.

-Scale of 1-5, how much exploring?
-Scale of 1-5, how much dungeoneering?
-Scale of 1-5, how much intrigue?
-Scale of 1-5, 1 being nearly all urban and 5 being nearly all wilderness, where would you prefer to adventure?

I guess that's all I got so far, it's a work in progress, haha. So, have ideas, suggestions, comments or whatever?

The buffet was awesome, and the money was twice what we'd asked for. A pretty good day.

Score!

The Penny Aracde crew with Jerry at the helm. They seem like they love the game, have a ridiculous amount of fun, and take it seriously. I think a lot of the authors mentioned here write fine stories but wouldn't necessarily be good DMs, DMing isn't all about the story after all.

And Mass Effect is a rape simulator as well.

Sigh...

What game isn't these days?

I don't have a link right now, but I've read/heard in a couple interviews by her herself that she used a body double. She was on Craig Ferguson for one, she made a big deal there because Craig was so excited to see her bum. I'll find the other interview I remember in a bit.

EDIT: link to Ferguson interview on Youtube

EDIT2: Can't find other interview. Giving up on that one.

Lena Headey was actually pretty naked in that scene in the tower.

Body double.

Also, the Patriot Games spoiler isn't very effective since we're going in expect GoT spoilers and so would read it and have Patriot Games spoiled. Not that I care personally, but just mentioning.

On Topic: GoT is turning out brilliant and I suggest to anyone who hasn't read the books, that you should stop looking stuff up about it if it isn't too late already. Spoilers would rape the enjoyment of this series. It's like watching a mystery where you know who did it. The twists are some of the best I've ever read/seen.

Just sayin'.

Oh man, I forgot about Littlefinger. I never thought of non-POV's, but Littlefinger is probably my favorite of those and the only reason the Sansa chapters aren't "I'm gonna take a break" moments anymore.

Man, I wish I could read the series for the first time again =( so good.

I hate to think of the characters in terms of favorites, but I think it's probably Arya followed by Tyrion and during SoS I found myself falling for the Dany chapters more and more.

I love this series. Best I've ever read. It never feels like a chore to read it unlike some other stories I've read. (Felt that way with the Dune series more than once)

Amazing new trailer. You get to see so much new footage and some really "chill-inducing" moments. And the scene is excellent.

I'm so excited for this! I've watched all these trailers so many times now yet everytime it gets me excited again and gives me chills. April 17th really can't come fast enough!

I certainly don't think I'm a problem player! I'd never yell or get angry and certainly never over something as trivial as a half-hour. Although I said I made a fuss over it, it's not like I derailed the session or accused the DM of anything, I just made a bigger deal than normal people might have.

In the situation we had just finished travelling from completing a quest and returning home, only to be sent directly on a 42 day cross land no exceptions trip. It did feel railroady, especially since we couldn't get any other transportation, though I think it was more about the length of time our characters (more specifically MY character) would be doing nothing. I feel like justifying it makes me sound like a dick, but at the time it seemed like a terrible injustice.

Oh also, when we got there we found out we were a decoy. We weren't even doing anything important. That just blew my mind! But that's something else, I had no idea back when I was upset about the travel.

I am, like your player, impatient and in a dungeon situation I am generally the one out front (even if I'm not supposed to be sometimes), but I take my volly of arrows like a man and drop to neg hp. I know when I've been stupid and accept it. Note that I am working on being more patient, but I just don't have the mind to sit for 5-10mins and debate about opening the door or crossing the bridge. Sometimes you have to be the one to move the adventure ahead.

I may sound a little bitter, but I'm not really. I'm usually the guy that takes the RP lead so I tend to get caught up in story stuff.

I've played in a few games where we would spend months (upwards of a year) in game traveling between continents and locations. Those games involved a lot of sea travel, exploring new lands and tracking the BBEG across multiple continents. Most of the time our DM hand waved things (especially after we bought our own ship and had the money to fund the expeditions ourselves) but there were a few occasions where we had to figure out if we could afford to travel that far or if we needed to make some more money/get a sponsor.

Long travel times like that can make for some interesting role-playing opportunities and can take the game in some interesting directions if you have the right group.

That said, it can definitely get boring if over done.

You know, I've never thought of it like that and I could actually see myself enjoying that kind of stuff. I think I'd need to know ahead of time that we were going to travel like that, though. Then I could at least prepare myself for the scale of it all.

Generally, I think of staying within a region, going from town to town adventuring, and only ever leaving the region if there's a real need, like the BBEG is escaping over the mountains and we have to track him down in a new area. Maybe this is from my time with computer games, like say Neverwinter Nights, where you do all the quests in town and then go to the next one and do them there and the next... etc.

I've spent the last few minutes thinking and my own DMing is like what I describe above. I set the players in a town, usually a smaller one, and give them a quest. Then once they've done that I'll find a reason for them to move on, and set the next adventure in the next town over or in the main city of the region. One time I had an adventure where they had to travel back and forth between 2 towns, but the distance was only a day by horse. Even right now, my current campaign, I started the PCs in a small town, gave them a cave to clear out, and now I'm trying to figure out a quest that will get them to move on to the next larger town, and then to the city that's near that one.

I think the reason I was so struck by the travelling is because it's something that I'd never do in one of my own campaigns.

As a DM, especially knowing that you're not interested in that kind of stuff, I'd be tempted to say "it will take you half the summer, you'll have to spend 42 gp and voila, you arrive as the sun sets"...

I'd encourage you to (politely) tell your DM that this aspect of the game doesn't interest you so much. He (or She?) will then be informed and won't waste too much game energy on this in the games to come.

Well, I imagine he knows that now because I made quite the fuss over it, haha. I was probably at the point of being annoying with my complaining, but at the time it really felt terrible to waste that kind of time.

I was wondering if anyone else felt like traveling for long periods in game blows. Recently I was playing a RPG and to get to our next town we had to travel 42 days. I was struck dumb. I couldn't believe that I was being forced to travel that kind of distance or that that kind of distance was going to take that kind of time! I went and bought a cart and donkey to carry the ridiculous amount of rations/water I'd need. To make it worse there was only going to be one town on the route and it was small. No other transportation was available either.

I'm not 100% sure why it pissed me off so much, I mean afterall it's only to say "alright, 42 days is passed" and it's over, but still, for some reason, it felt like the worst kind of wait. When the DM said it, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Anyone else ever feel like that? or know why I might have felt like that? Any comments?

These guys are hilarious and I can totally see them pulling something this messed up off. If it's near as good as Pineapple Express it'll be awesome.

I'd rather it be shot in 2D and left the hell alone.

+3!

I'm with the guys saying that reading fuels creativity. I've been in several cases where I've been stuck for an idea and just lifted a general idea out of something I read recently only to branch it off and make it something altogether different. As an example, recently I was asked to to GM a game where I only had about 30min to come up with an idea. I had recently read some H.P. Lovecraft and decided to throw some cultists at my players. They didn't say "hey, those guys are from 'The Call of Cthulhu'!" they said "oh man, remember when I cut that guy in half? That was sick!". Now they'll be investigating (and killing) a cult in the area based loosely on the cult of Cthulhu. Eventually I want to have them do something epic, but we just started and I don't really know what they want to do yet.

You mentioned that you feel like everything you write has been writen before and to that I say, well yeah, but it hasn't been writen quite like you write it!

Keep reading, but if you're forgetting things maybe you should slow down a little. You might be missing a lot of finer details like themes and symbolism and junk like that too. You can always reread stuff as well.

Set in Eberron. PF RAW + APG + Eberron Specifc. Just a quick overview of the RP, there's more to it than what's below.

Elf - Ranger 4 - (Me)Composite longbow and Talenta Tangat for close combat, fights from a distance for the most part (& Wolf Companion!)
RP: At first he was attempting to be good, but over time a combination of not being accepted and his lack of friends/lovers has driven him to not care anymore and be outright hostile towards certain characters. He just got his wolf, so hopefully she'll be good for him.

Human - Wiz3/Fig1 - Dagger Whip and Heavy Mace, fights in the mid and uses spells to alter the battle, uses school power to attack at range
RP: Using the party for his own gain, but at the same time is loyal enough to us.

Warforged - Cleric 4 - Fights up front and mainly uses spells for healing,
RP: Really I have no idea, he just seems to hate us all.

Human - Paladin 4 - sword and board, fights up front, secondary healer when necessary,
RP: Party leader, knows more than the rest of us about the quest/job, is mostly loyal to his job.

Gnome - Bard 4 - sings...
RP: She's only there because we lost our rogue. And the worst part is that she doesn't even do the rogue stuff, I do all that now. Her entire purpose seems to be to piss me off and take a share of the XP.

My first character was a 2nd Ed. drow rogue named Tayleron. My friend was a minotaur that couldn't speak any language. The first thing I did was creep out at night and rob a lady, but I got caught and thrown in prison. Then there was the adventure of the Minotaur trying to find me... that took a while. Eventually, I bribed a guard and got out. We then went out and faught a werewolf, which I threw silver pieces at.

Good times.

I hate Video Game RPGs, I can play Neverwinter for a while, but I get bored around the second act. and I did manage to get through FF7, but I'll never play another.

I dislike Star Wars and Star Trek, and most all Sci-Fi in general. I have no interest in shows like Stargate, Battlestar Galactica, and whatever else there is. I like Dune, read all the books.

I hate the LotR books, and only marginally enjoyed the movies.

I liked Dr. Horrible the first time, but I've... grown cold to it. I haven't been interested in anything else of his.

The only fantasy books I enjoy are the Song of Ice and Fire series.

8-bit music is annoying and I don't like many "classic" games.

I hate comics and comic book heros. Why are there like 200 versions of Batman?

I don't like Seth MacFarlane's work, early Family Guy was alright, but I haven't watched that in a long time.

I don't like messing with computers.

I hate Lost, Heroes, and especially Big Bang Theory.

I hate Warcraft lore AFTER Warcraft 3 and I don't like the story of Starcraft 2 (SC1 is probably my favourite game).

I'm sure there are more things I can come up with as I'm reminded.

The mention of owlbears above reminds me of a short lived session where we created the ultimate monster... The cougerhulkhawk. Part couger, part umberhulk, part hawk. It was another time when exageration got the best of us and we ended up with something that will always live with us. My friend has a strange obsession with umberhulks and we were talking about owlbears and it just went from there. They're as sneaky as a couger, as powerful as an umberhulk, and can fly. They sit up in trees and prowl, swooping in on their prey.

Keep in mind while reading that, although I've been playing for a while, I've never been the main DM for the group. Also, I run only very small groups (1-3 players). Last time I tried a larger group it ended poorly, but that may have been because of the players as some weren't very serious about it.

I like to get my players thinking about their characters and decide what it is they want to do. I come up with a vauge idea for a plot, but I know better than to try to get my players to follow it through. Then I like to start with a base adventure, one that doesn't rely on what the players are or what they want to do. The purpose is to just feel out what they'll act like when confronted with combat vs roleplay vs stealth and whatever else I think I might need to test. The base adventure I did last was a mystery where I did up the town's major NPCs (and suspects) in high detail and just let the PCs explore and investigate. The full adventure isn't over yet so I'll have to get back you on whether it works or not =).

After feeling the players out, I use any loose ends or some other way to tie the adventure into the next adventure, which is where I start to include the PC's goals and backstories if possible. Each adventure after I try to work as much of their characters into the setting so that they feel like they're really there and making a difference in the world. I also like to reference previous characters of theirs, especially if they had any effect on the region, such as making my brother's character an NPC in the base adventure mentioned above.

Once they're well integrated into the setting they start taking care of setting up stories more or less and I simply accommodate. I want them to try and see their goals through and if they end up accomplishing what I initially set up all the better.

A moment of frustration that has lived on in our games. A long time into a long, frustrating session, DMing more people than I'm capable. I finally say, "That's it the Ogre grapples you".
"No check!?"
"Fine, whatever", he rolls a 20 and I still fail him. At first they were all pissed, but later the table laughed and the exaggeration started. Eventually it grew so that the players all assumed that all ogres always had infinite grapple, could charge indefinitely and had vorpal headbutts. We never went back to those characters, but it's still brought up often enough.

Probably not the best example here since it never became canon.

This one happened recently and it was amazingly fun. Please keep in mind while reading that my memory of the exact events is poor. And sorry in advance for the length.

We've decided that we'll play without alignment until a few sessions in at which time the DM will tell us what alignments we are. So I'm a level 3 ranger specializing in bows. I travel with a DMPC Paladin and Cleric, and a PC 1Wiz/2Fig. The Paladin is the leader of the party and we're working for him.

It's winter and my party and I are passing a ruined keep near the road. There's a damaged wagon near an entrance downward and another entrance down, farther away. I decide that I'm stopping, it could be stranded people in need of help.

I check out the entrance by the wagon while the Wizard and Cleric check the other entrance, the paladin has to don his armor. I head down the stairs noting that there's a light coming from the bottom, I draw my Composite(+4) Longbow +1 and ready a shot to fire at anyone threatening. I reach the bottom and there are 2 men visible and one has a crossbow. I tell them that I'm here to help if they need it and after some back and forth the crossbow guy raises to fire and I fire on him (crit/point blank shot/rapid shot for 52 dam) catching him through the throat and the other guy flees. I head down and note that there are others in the room and I call out trying to bring this to a peaceful ending but they don't let up, it's almost as if they WANT to kill me.

The Wiz/Fig comes down (the other PC) and I tell him what has happened and yell to the NPCs that I've got backup and if they don't lay down their weapons we would deal with them. They start on about being traders or something and I lay down my bow and step out to talk to them and they shoot me 3 times with crossbows. I duck back out of the room and grab my bow again and then the Wiz/Fig and I go to work destroying them.

I grapple the last of them and tie him up to question him. He starts saying how they're just innocent traders and we're the bad guys. I start to get anxious... "What have I done? What if the Paladin finds out? But, I am, after all, just defending myself!" The Wiz/Fig is starting to believe the NPC's story as well as I am. We check their loot and it consists mostly of trade goods. I'm starting to freak out now, I'm trying to be good! My character isn't evil! I'm basically playing a more outgoing version of myself! I hatch a plan.

I tell the Wiz/Fig to go on ahead and I'll get the NPC up and bring him upstairs. He goes and I drag the guy over to the door and take out two of my daggers, one in each hand. I keep him quiet until I hear steps coming down the stairs and wait until they're near the bottom. IRL I'm nervous, it all comes down to a bluff... At the last moment I grapple the guy and make it look like he attacked me by putting one of my daggers into his hand and at the same time I stab him in the side of the head with the other dagger... Just as the Paladin walks around the corner. I tell him that "he attacked me! He had been lying about being a trader!" And he believed me! We head up and he's none the wiser... I had gotten away with it! I told the others up top about the whole thing and got the Wiz/Fig to believe me. The session is over.

The DM laughs. He says that it's time to set alignments. He tells the Wiz/Fig first, Neutral. He turns to me and says "You have from the beginning been Evil. It's just been which kind of Evil." Neutral Evil! I'm only out for myself and I'll do anything to preserve myself. I argue for a few mins about not being evil (I killed them thinking they were bad and defending myself!) He explains that while I did initially think they were evil I eventually believed them and willfully killed what I thought was an innocent man just so I wouldn't get caught. I covered up my murders! He then explains all my actions up to this point from his point of view and I can hardly believe we're talking about the same character! Was I truly this dastardly? I accepted my new alignment, and vowed to change myself to be a better man.

He revealed to me afterwards that they were indeed evil. They were bandits that were preying on travelers.

I'm eager to know how this session went!

Sorry for the long silence. I should explain that the three of us (my group and I) are running rotating campaigns, each of us DMing a different campaign each weekend. The last time a session ended before the adventure, we finished it up the following Friday first thing, before we started the regular campaign for that weekend. I thought we would be doing that again with mine, however the players both thought that it was better to wait and spend a weekend on it rather than try to hastily finish up my adventure in an afternoon and I agreed. I meant to post again sooner, but I went out of town for a few days on short notice and among other things managed to forget about you :(. So anyway, we went around and now it's actually my weekend again this weekend coming.

In summary, we haven't had another session of my adventure yet, but it will be happening again in a couple days.

Also you might be interested to know that I do intend to go with your fire idea. Tweaked just right to, hopefully, shed some light on the villain. At this point I still feel like I haven't offered up enough clues to point to the correct person. The hunter will start the fire in a drunken act of rage against them and I may have them fight him in the burning inn. Also, it seems like the PCs are looking to add the Inn keeper to their party, she's a half elf fighter. I told them when we started that I wasn't giving them any DMPCs but also that they could get help if they wanted to. I say that, because I was thinking that if the inn burned down she'd have less reason to stick around and she's already established as wanting to leave the town.

More suggestions are always welcome, but I feel like I'm rambling here so I'll cut it short, haha.

Ever had a DM that straight up killed your party at 1st level? Ever had a DM that did this 20 times?

I can say with absolute confidence that I have started and lost at least 10 level 1 characters and another 10 that died before 4th level. Probably more!

I've had 1 character that EVER made it to 5th level. (with this DM)

Then he turns around and says, "oh man, I had big plans for these guys"

Yeah, sure you did. That's why that mimic suddenly existed and 1 shotted me in a surprise round after I alone survived the party massacre just a few mins ago. We were level 2

How about the time we fell through the floor and had to fight an inescapable battle against necromancers and stone griffins all after just fighting through 2 encounters. We were level 1.

How about that one time where we were tasked with breaking into the guy's house, and when I got in a magical mechanical dog ripped me in two pieces in 2 turns with no escape. We were level 1.

How about the time my bro asked for money from a paladin (obviously high level) and was immediately knocked out and arrested, and when I too got arrested (intentionally to try to help him break out) the campaign ended with, "and you both rot in prison forever". We were level 1.

Sometimes we don't even end the campaign. Sometimes we simply don't come back to it. Ever been playing and after the first session you don't play again for a week or 2 and when everyone decides to play again you roll new characters again?? What the hell is that?!

If I think of anything more I'll probably be back, it's nice to get this stuff "out there". Normally we joke about it, but it really is irritating.

Ever had a DM that straight up killed your party at 1st level? Ever had a DM that did this 20 times?

I can say with absolute confidence that I have started and lost at least 10 level 1 characters and another 10 that died before 4th level.

I've had 1 character that EVER made it to 5th level. (with this DM)

Then he turns around and says, "oh man, I had big plans for these guys"

Yeah, sure you did. That's why that mimic suddenly existed and 1 shotted me in a surprise round after I alone survived the party massacre just a few mins ago. We were level 2

How about the time we fell through the floor and had to fight an inescapable battle against necromancers and stone griffins all after just fighting through 2 encounters. We were level 1.

How about that one time where we were tasked with breaking into the guy's house, and when I got in a magical mechanical dog ripped me in two pieces in 2 turns with no escape. We were level 1.

How about the time my bro asked for money from a paladin (obviously high level) and was immediately knocked out and arrested, and when I too got arrested (intentionally to try to help him break out) the campaign ended with, "and you both rot in prison forever". We were level 1.

Sometimes we don't even end the campaign. Sometimes we simply don't come back to it. Ever been playing and after the first session you don't play again for a week or 2 and when everyone decides to play again you roll new characters again?? What the hell is that?!

If I think of anything more I'll probably be back, it's nice to get this stuff "out there". Normally we joke about it, but it really is irritating.

To vary the pace, a fight or action scene might be in order. Perhaps the villain strikes where the heroes are expected to rest, such as blocking the exits and setting the structure on fire. Alternatively, an aggressive bull might be "accidentally" released into a meadow or country lane where the PC are travelling. A speak with animals potion could be used to encourage the animal to specifically target the adventurers.

Well one thing they managed to do was piss off the hunter by going behind his back and talking to his wife when he forbade it. I haven't done anything with this yet but I wonder if perhaps it could lead to something such as burning the inn they're staying in. I think that would add some diversity to the adventure and maybe they'd even have something else to investigate, even if only for themselves.

How did it go?

Hey, thanks for the interest!

It went amazing! Unfortunately the adventure went on longer than planned and so we decided to pick it up again this weekend. Basically the PCs spent the main portion of the session talking to different NPCs and forming their opinions on the people of the town. They thought they had the answer a few times, but talking to another other NPC would make them change their minds. I think I may have thrown in too many red herrings. They don't seem to know who did it or why yet. They're still investigating though.

As the session ended they were torn between the hunter and I think the merchant and they were just about to investigate the inn keeper further. I'm so excited to see my players thinking about this stuff. It's just such a huge departure from the "go in dungeon and kill" games we usually play.

The PCs are a Rogue and a Monk. I think I may have trouble designing good combat encounters around just 2 PCs and they're these classes, but I haven't really decided where to take the campaign afterwards.

DungeonmasterCal wrote:

I am astounded at the number of gamers who seem afraid of running water and soap. A few years ago I was at my local store going through some 3.5 books when two guys come up and ask if I was currently in a game. I glanced up and immediately said "Yes, but we're full." One guy actually had lice visibly crawling in a long, scraggly beard and the other guy gave off a smell like rotting meat. We made gamer small talk for a couple of minutes and I faked a "phone call set on vibe" and left. Egad.

:puke:

Seriously if you have lice in your beard imo it has reached a level where you should have your head checked. The reaosn why I bring up poor hygiene is that for awhile we had a player in our game who was in denail about the problem and who brushed it off with comments like " a tur friend would ignore and not say anything" and other such bits of wisdom. He did not last long I can tell you.

That's hilarious because I have a friend who does the same kind of thing. I tell him he stinks, get a shower, whatever and he's just waves it off as though we're teasing him or something. He's gotten a bit better lately but it's still nasty.

Ever get a player that WANTED to RP but was simply terrible? Like in the adventure I'm running right now, one of the players is really good at RP and is able to handle talking to characters in character, and then the other just sits there. So we encouraged him to speak up and gave him some 1 on 1 time with some NPCs. He just could not manage it past "hi there". I started asking him questions in character and he basically froze.

I don't know what to do. He seems willing, but he just doesn't seem to be able to handle it...

Anyway, it's driving me nuts. The fact that one of my players is getting this much spot light unintentionally really sucks.

Also, I had one player that used to come to every new game with some crazy character concept and then immediately die in the first combat. It was ridiculous.

Thanks for all the help. I'll be running this in a couple hours and so some last minute prep is in order. Wish me luck!

Wulf, when I read your post I suddenly realized I forgot to think of physical descriptions for ANY of the characters. You just saved me big time. Also I was wondering what kind of clues there could be for the abused wife idea, I like it but I'm not sure I know how to implement it.

I was thinking it could be the wife of the hunter whose son was the first to go missing. I think it would help to put a little more 'pressure' on him as a suspect.

Anyway, I'm off to bed for tonight, but I've still got a few hours in the morning to prepare.

Thanks again, everyone!

You guys are awesome! Some really good stuff that I'm going to take into account. I'm running it tomorrow, so I'll probably be up late working out all these details and adding new characters.

I'm starting to find that this kind of adventure is actually really fun just to design and I hope it's as much fun for the players. This will also be a big change from "the dungeon is filed with orcs, go", which I think the others will enjoy.

Thanks again, and I'll check back again to see if anyone has anything else.

Use red herrings. Don't have the initial evidence lead to one person.

Give them several different likely possibilites to puzzle out, then give more details as they go.

That's not a bad idea, I was toying with the idea of making them weary of the merchant because he has a large cart and regularly goes to the city. I just don't see it going anywhere beyond "I look at the cart, nothing? Moving on."

Here it is: The PCs enter a town, they know at least 1 person in town is a kidnapper. I want to have them talk to the residents and discover who it is like a mystery. I don't want my bad guy to blow it because he messed his bluff check when they ask him, "did you do it?" that'd be horrible.

What are some ways to encourage solving the mystery rather than just busting in and beating people?

This will be the first adventure for two 1st level PCs, I don't know what classes they will be or anything else, except I've asked them to be non-evil. It's set just outside of Waterdeep in FR (I don't use much FR flavor because I don't know much, but I'm not against it)

The townspeople thus far are: inn keeper, blacksmith, priest, merchant, town drunk, retired adventurer, hunter.

It's a small town, so I think that could be enough, but any more characters could be useful.

Also, is it too obvious who's doing it based solely on their professions?

Anything you have to say would be useful, and I can give more info if needed, thanks.

How about they're useful because they're fun to play. I've played many rogues in my time and I don't play them because I think they out DPS the Fighters or Wizards. I play them because I like being sneaky, I like moving around in fights and setting up the perfect flank, I like being the guy the party depends on to get the traps disabled or locks picked, I like the flavor of rogues, and there are other reasons.

If the only thing you're worried about is dealing the most damage or who's better at what when specialized, then no you won't like the rogue. I've never played D&D for the combat and, as important as it is, it's not what the game is all about.

I'd tell him he's not entitled to ruin the night for the others in the group and if he blows up again, I'd tell him to grow up and get out. His problems aren't yours. I said this in another thread just recently in a slightly different way.

Life is too short to be screwed around by morons who can't play a game without having some kind of break down. This is your time to have fun too, no one should be allowed to ruin it for you and get away with it.
Certainly not every week...

Also, I'd play with 7 simply because I've never played with more than 4 players and I'd like to see how it'd work out =D.

I'd tell him to "grow up".

If it's really that obvious I'd call him on it. Make him start rolling in front of you and prove that his rolls are as good as he says. If he throws a tantrum I'd tell him to "grow up" again. Alternatively, you could tell him to "man up".

If he persists that he's either not cheating or simply pissed that you noticed, tell him that you're "not impressed" and ask him again if he'll play by your rules and roll in front of you. Make everyone do it so that it doesn't look like you're forever scorning him.

If he doesn't like it at this point, "boot him".

The conversation as it would go by me:

Cheat, "Hey I got another crit!"
Me, "Bulls***, I saw that s***. Grow up, b'y. We're tryin' to play a game, I want you to start rollin' in front of us all."
Cheat, "No way, man, totally not cheating!" *gets all angry*
Me, "Dude, you better man the f*** up. We got a good thing goin' and we don't need it messed up."
Cheat, "Screw you! I haven't cheated this whole time!" *Still angry*
Me, "Not impressed, dude. From now on everyone rolls in the middle where I can see it, if you don't like it, get the f***."
Cheat, "Fine whatever, I don't give a s*** anymore." or "Fine, f*** you guys I'm out of here."
Me, "Go on then, stop wastin' our time with this child s***."

1 month later you're all wasted at a bar and you offer up some good ol' DnD fun and as long as he doesn't hold a grudge you guys are good again.

Good times...

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for the loss of friends. This approach relies heavily on you having a similar group dynamic as I do.