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You don't even need to kill the character at all. Just recite those "bad terms" except in-game. "[Insert name] ended up getting in a fight with the group, so he left in a hurried fit, leaving the adventurers to fend for themselves". Its way more consistent with what previously happened, more convenient to do, and is also polite.
I use background music all the time! Go music! The best music that's inspiring yet not distracting is video-game music. It's composed much differently than movies for sure. VG music generally stays at one tone, because the composer can't assume the players will do things here, here, and here. It's more tailored to delivering music for a general situation rather than a specific narrative. I also stay away from well-known tracks. If you play "Concerning Hobbits" for example, that track has previously been so associated with the Shire that players will only imagine the Shire. That's not good, unless you want them to think about the Shire. Because of this I generally don't play music from LOTR, Skyrim, and Zelda (with exceptions). Here are some soundtracks I play a lot: Gears of War 1 -- combat or war music God of War Trilogy -- Boss music The Witcher -- town/city music The Legend of Zelda series -- Dungeon music (I usually use the ZREO versions)
Thanks for the help guys. These ideas seem so obvious now. Will implement immediately!
I've been having trouble keeping track of who's who during combat. On the combat grid, I use coins to represent the enemies. Different coins equal a different type of enemy. However, when I have multiple similar enemies represented by the same coin, I often lose track of who's who. Any advice on alternate methods or improvements I can use?
I've thought about it, but it's hard for most players not good at acting & improv to roleplay well. It's pretty difficult to make a "20" worthy speech on the spot. What I usually do is I ask the player what he wants to say, then let them roll. I interpret the rolls result and narrate aloud what the player said ended up actually sounding like. Ex: The player says "Where are the drugs going?!" like Batman Gets a 6 "You patiently ask where are the drugs going with a faint awkward cough at the end" says the GM
I wouldn't get hung up on using comedic gimmicks, cliches, and reoccurring jokes to define how funny you will be. That stuff is funny when its coming from a side character NPC, but when the story is primarily focused on you it get's extremely annoying for everyone else that you're playing with. No one wants to watch you try to be funny off of the same few jokes for dozens of hours. Just create a good character in general that isn't shallow, but has a lot of qualities that end up being hilarious on a wide array of occasions. The characters from Arrested Development are good examples. Source: Played as a shallow/comedic character once (Halfling that talked/acted like a dwarf). Everyone wanted to kill me after the first 20 minutes...
Finished. Great questionnaire! Hope to see the results.
I think it can also count as partial cover, or something like that, for people hiding behind you.
Alter-ego curse? Like the Hulk, or Jekyll & Hyde. At the player or GM's discretion, a PC will assume an alternate identity. Their physical form remains the same, but alignment becomes the opposite, name changes, and ability scores are switched around. Str score is switched with Int score, Dex with Wis, and Con with Cha. A LG character becomes CE, and a Neutral character is no longer Neutral (TN --> LG, CG, LE, or CE ; CN --> LG or LE ; LN --> CG or CE). A new alignment also reflects a players new personality. As a PC levels up, this curse becomes more controllable. For example, at lvl 5, once per day, you can voluntarily activate the alter-ego, allowing alignment to only shift over 1. Instead of LG --> CE, you get LG --> NG or LN. New personality reflects the new alignment. Voluntarily switching alter-ego lasts a number of rounds equal to class level. At the beginning of each turn there is a 50% chance you lose control. At level 10 it becomes 25%, and level 15 it becomes 0%. At lvl 20, this curse-ability can be activated at will, for as long as you want. Losing control means reverting to what the effects of the curse normally are. You would probably need a notecard, or even another character sheet for this to stay organized for a player.
I actually created a homebrewed Treasure Hunters Guild, and it works like what you are asking for. 1) There's the guild, which means there are tons of people. If a guildmember (PC) decides to take up a quest and not finish, it makes sense that another guildmember (different PC) can resume where they left off. If 1 member leaves, the party can send word for a request for more assistance. PC's can switch off between different members of the guild, assuming who they want to switch to is still alive. That solves the problem with having many different players, or several characters per player. I only allowed 1 character per player, per quest. When a quest finished they can switch to someone else for the next one, unless their character dies then they can switch immediately. 2) At the beginning of an adventure the guildmaster, or someone of higher influence, will present several quests for the party to choose from. This works great if you want to run modules/scenarios. The guildmaster will give a quick overview of each quest, only revealing info he knows of, along with how difficult it might be. The party picks what quest they want to do, and then they are on their way. Or perhaps a quest will start more eventfully in the middle of the city, and the party can follow through if they wish. The hard part about this is you need several quests prepared at once. 3) I specifically chose the "Treasure Hunters Guild"(True Neutral) because treasure can mean different things to different people. The treasure you search for may be of riches, love, power, honor, fame, or something else. This idea gives good motivation for the guild to offer many types of adventures, and for people with different goals to join. However, the guild you want to make is your choice. edit: #2 and #3 are totally optional of course, but #1 will work great to solve the problem you are facing. I would just be careful that players don't abuse the system. There should be realistic restraints, like less rewards if a quest is abandoned. Or if a new character is requested the new player has to wait a certain amount of in-game days for every X amount of miles the party is away from the guild. The time a player is waiting is the time their character in-game is traveling to the parties current location.
I'd give it a 3. You don't really see kung-fu animals outside of animation, so throwing it into a different genre may be interesting. The idea may sound cheesy on paper, but what you decide to do with your Lion Monk can totally change it up.
When a GM is getting bogged down by too many details my best advice is usually "have fun and improvise". If a GM can make stuff up off the top of their head that is interesting/balanced/believable, then you won't need to remember so much of the little stuff. Prepare what actually matters. You don't need to flesh out every NPC/store/sewer/item of a town, just do the main few that will have the most significance, then improv the rest. With good improv skills your players will feel like there is an entire living world before them, and you didn't even have to prepare half of it. I know being good at improv isn't a skill everyone is blessed with, but if you're feeling troubled by all these rules and details, just remember to have fun.
I would make each individual bandit a CR 1 for what you want. That's my opinion.
Timeless: I think this is a neat idea but a little more complicated than it needs to be. Instead of changing the age brackets, they could remain the same, but an Invoker would not take any penalties or bonuses from the age brackets due to being "magically healthier". They can still die from old age like normal. In addition, since an Invoker has to spend nearly a lifetime to master their art, a rule should be that an Invoker has to start at middle age and no younger. They may not live any longer, but in turn, they are perfectly healthy and capable of combat into their final days. It's like an old person who has being eating healthy and exercising their entire life. They may live a little longer, but the main bonus is that they "function" like a younger person even when they are 70. Edit: This class is super cool though. I really want to run a game with an Invoker in it.
One thing that catches my eye is alignment restriction. I don't think there should be any restriction. From what I've learned from watching Avatar TLA, a chaotic being who uses chaotic elements tends to lack order in favor of destruction, whether it be accidental or purposeful. A rigorous lawful character is just as suited, if not more, to get chaotic elements under his/her control as a naturally wild chaotic character. What it sounded like you were trying to go for was if you have a chaotic mind you'll instinctively understand how the 3 elements work. I don't think alignment has anything to do with knowing how to make the 3 elements work together.
Personally, roleplaying should be the judge of who gets what, which is what it sounds like now. If all the players want to split the loot unfairly, and they have in-game reason to do so, then let it be. If one player keeps getting cut out, then perhaps he'll develop a grudge against the rest of the party. When they are in dire need of help that player will reflect on the other players previous actions towards him and choose what to do from their. Although jerkish, that's kind of a part of roleplaying. God shouldn't have to come down and be all like "NOPE" and switch everything around, unless of course a player out of game is becoming extremely unhappy.
Thanks! I'll let you know if I come up with anything notable.
I agree with what Lincoln said. I actually might fiddle around with your idea Coyote, if that's alright?
I'm in the same boat as you. This is the closest site to anything where people donate homebrewed content, except there are no adventures posted, and I don't see a section to post them in.
That sounds like a lot of fun! I love those moments where an upcoming action seems so implausible and likely to crash and burn, but then they turn out as the most epic thing ever.
Pee on the floor in certain writing motions to deliver an anonymous threat.
I'm not sure why so many people put emphasis on "fun" being only related to how you perform in combat. There is a lot more to Pathfinder than that. You can be the most boring class in the world, but if you have a good GM they can make your games extremely entertaining every time. Same goes for a good player who really gets immersed into the game world. Having fun while playing Pathfinder doesn't strictly need to be linked to combat. edit: Of course if combat is all you care about, then by all means focus on class abilities and stuff so you can have a good time by your standards.
Yeah, CA doesn't really look like my thing. Plus I think I'd be using Kyle Olsen's Combat Manager to do all the fancy work...or not, idk. I haven't seen how intuitive Roll20 can be yet. All I'm asking for is something that's super simple, but visually stimulating. All I really need the VTT for is for the map and tokens, as of now.
One of my players was a grippli gunslinger and had an absolute blast. There was so many roleplaying opportunities for him it was ridiculous. As for combat though, yeah, I would say it's pretty similar to an archer.
Thanks for all the great responses! Although I am very attached to my live groups, I will most certainly give VTT a try. I'll probably be using Roll20. If anyone has suggestions on a better VTT program in terms of visuals (I'm an artsy guy) just let me know.
As the title says, why do you like to play VTT (Virtual Tabletop) games, and/or why don't you? To broaden the subject lets include any online way of playing like PBP (Play-by-post). Please try to comment only if you've played in-person sessions as well as online. I have never played a ttrpg online before, and I am really skeptical of the differences. I would like to know what you all think so I can make a decision of whether to try running an online game for my detached group or not.
What DonDuckie said. "Avatar State, Yip Yip"! Also, the Twinrova boss fight from LoZ: Ocarina of Time comes into mind as some possible inspiration for you to use. It's cool.
It would be nice to know more about your campaign so the community has more to work with. Since your campaign is based all around elementals, perhaps an end boss that is a bit off from the norm may be best. Dragons and Elder Elementals are bosses that would be expected by players, and seem to create a lack of depth and creativity in a good story/world like yours (from what I know). I think you should make something from scratch. Perhaps the final boss is a gnome or intelligent beast that has met a "terrible fate" and they are cursed with the unbearable control over a powerful 5th element. This curse has caused a destructive change in his behavior, making him hateful of all elemental creatures of the primary 4 types which is why they are enslaved. In the final fight he uses these enslaved dragons and elder elementals as "minions" in the front lines, while he strikes with his far superior 5th element when the minions are taking a beating.
I have a duck ton of music I use for my games, like 4 gb worth. I create unique playlists for each part of an adventure with tracks representing specific or general events, encounters, and areas of the appropriate mood/theme. It takes a little bit of preparation but it's fun and worth it. I hate it as a player when the GM will play the same 3 tracks over and over again. Music is the only type of media I use that my players have "access" to.
What Luz said in number 4 is the most important of the bunch. Details are like the icing on the cake. No matter how much icing you put on, if the foundations of your cake are made of cardboard then the cake will still not taste good. So, if you practice a lot of gesture drawing and "pushing the pose", one of the main foundation skills in illustration, then your drawings will become THAT much better, even if you aren't doing any fancy coloring or rendering.
When I'm stuck on finding that cool name I take an existing word or name, and start mixing, adding, and subtracting new letters like so: America --> Ramerica --> Ralerica --> Raleryka --> Leryka --> Lerykas --> Lylakas... Do that until you find something you like. I personally love this method.
Great outlook, and great motivation! Here are some things you should study and practice in a specific order. They are all steps of figure drawing: Gesture, Construction, Anatomy, and Tone. Start with the gesture, and once you get the hang of it, add the next thing in line on top of that. Don't know what these are? There are tons of figure drawing tutorials all over the internet. Start by researching Glenn Vilppu. He is one of the modern masters of figure drawing and taught my professor Sheldon Borenstein. Here is a great starting tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_81488&feature=iv& amp;src_vid=8j39NqwL7s4&v=74HR59yFZ7Y And here is a great online practice tool if you don't have actual models to practice from: http://artists.pixelovely.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing/ Good luck with your endeavors! Since there aren't many places on the web to get decent art critiques, if you ever want private feedback just PM me with your drawings asking for a critique and I will gladly give you feedback.
Hey Kingman, these are great ideas but I suggest that you brush up on your figure drawing skills, especially if you're looking for art related work. If you need any help or advice on improving let me know! I am a student-illustrator with two years of good learning, and I'd like to see how much more awesome your drawings can become.
Perhaps if you had shovels and pick axes, then sure. If your method to getting to the other side of a locked door makes logical sense, then it's ok in my book.
I'm possibly interested in playing, but I have never done a VTT game before. I'm a bit skeptical about it so I may need convincing. Anyways, I would be able to play Friday - Sunday
I think it's a good start, especially with the forest concept, but I'm not exactly drawn in yet. I would add a lot more fluff for flavor. I don't really have a good idea of who Dryadborns really are besides "humanoids with wood-like skin and like nature". It's all about good, descriptive writing. This kind of feels like a quick synopsis. I think you should go more into the human dryad relations and what it is like to be a "half breed". Besides that though, I really dig the "no father" thing. I think you should flesh that out a bit more, and maybe make it so most Dryadborns don't have fathers, instead of just a select few. Important tid bits like this will really make your race more unique and pop out to players.
Thanks for the help guys, I'll look into Called Shots promptly. And um, reproductive organ as an improvised weapon? Sounds like Saints Row the Third to me :)
Say a PC wants to attack a specific area on an enemy like "the ogres head" or even more specifically "in between the ogres eyes", is there an already existing rule that details how a PC would accomplish this? Or if not, what do other people do? Before, I would just have them roll a percentage check after passing the enemies AC, but I'm not really sure about this formula.
I guess it depends on how you play, but when my players fumble horribly and what not it's a rare, exciting, and memorable experience. It makes all my players laugh and cry, depending on what exactly just happened. Now if these critical fails happened often, they just become a passive in-game mechanic where a player is like "damn, that sucks" and then get on with their life, compared to if it was rare thing with a player reacting like "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO". It's like going to Disneyland for the first time, compared to going there every day. It makes the players feel like they are immersed in a real world, rather than a game where you draw bad card, bad card, good card, good card. Even when my players roll ones, I don't make their weapons explode every time, there are a lot of viable repercussions that I improv on the spot, like throwing your sword on accident, breaking your weapon, or bopping your teammate in the head. Now I don't know how often your "fumble chart" takes play, since I'm a little confused on it. I could be wrong about everything I just said. If you want combat with a bit of slap stick that's completely cool, but if not, I would tweak your system a bit.
One useful tip is to look at the dungeon map (if provided), and use your judgement based off what the lighting looks like. Those maps should be descriptive enough that you can get a good feeling of the area.
I don't think increasing their points is much incentive, at least for me. My incentive to play comes from how much fun and excitement I'm getting from the adventure, not how good my stats are. Your players could be different, but fun is an essential rule when making any game. If your players don't want to complete and play more adventure paths, you need to come up with an incentive that will make the adventures more fun or rewarding, not easier. For instance, "unlocking" new things could enhance the experience, like a well-designed class/race from a different rpg system that isn't normally a part of pathfinder. This technique is used in video games a lot to get you to play over and over, even if it is the same thing. Mind you, if you do this unlocking feature, you need to make a wide array of unlockables so that there is something that would appeal to each player.
Oh man this sounds so cool! I wanna play! Personally, I would take an existing animal as a "base", then change its name, description, and a select few of its abilities. You would still use a lot of the stats of the original base animal, but it is now disguised as something else so PC's shouldn't really know the differences. Also, one of my first thoughts was Pokemon. Just gonna throw that in there.
Thanks ClarkKent07, that makes a ton of sense. I didn't really set up why they should be afraid, I just kind of expected them to assume the fear. Undone, I don't really have a problem when trying to create fear out of physical things that you can interact with, like dead bodies and such. I think it's easier to get the point across when there is this horrifying thing lying right in front of you, but you do raise good points with the knowledge checks. Thanks
Last night I was running a module which involved the PC's camping out in the dark wilderness for the first time. It was supposed to be very scary and eerie, so I played music from Bioshock 2, along with giving descriptions of what they were hearing. However, my players didn't feel/act creeped out at all. So I ask, what do you guys do to create an eerie setting/encounter?
Your idea is definitely doable, though combining ALL of the modules may be hard. I'm actually doing something similar now, except on a smaller scale. 2) The best way to tie many of these things together is to create short adventures inbetween two modules. That way you can have a seamless transition. For instance, I have Crypt of the Everflame end with PC's gaining "work" with the Society. However, instead of Masks of the Living God happening next, I have a homebrewed adventure that requires the PC's to go on a trailblaze into Ustalav for the first time. They are tracking the source of these mysterious hordes of monsters roaming into Lastwall, which eventually will lead them all the way just south of Carrion Hill. The PC's have to go into the small city to take care of some final business when BAM, Carrion Hill module begins. 4) What I was thinking is that this super module campaign would almost be like as if the PC's had their own adventure show on TV. Familiar characters and themes, but lots of different stories and events that loosely tie together. The nice thing about that is that players don't have to make such a big commitment. They can be like that guest star who comes in for a few episodes, and then leaves until a few more later.
Thanks for the advice!
Has anyone ever ran an adventure for more than one group? How did you feel about it and what was the experience like? These adventures primarily include adventure paths, or games longer than modules with a lot of story. I'm a bit hesitant to do so since I feel like my past groups pretty much "own" every thing they were a part of. You can say I have gotten attached to the stories they have created. On the other hand, having another party play the same adventure may be an interesting experience, seeing what happens differently. Though, it doesn't sound like it would be as fun for me as the GM, to run something I've already done before. Thoughts?
When I was designing my heist campaign it basically worked out like Assassins Creed 1. Even though it's not like the best game ever, it provides a very solid formula for doing heist-like things, or anything that requires planning. 1) I wouldn't give them an excessive amount of money. It's not fun/challenging if the PC's have access to everything possible, but giving them access to a select few unique things will make your heists more strategic and interesting. Again, referring to the Assassins Creed series: AC2 had a good amount of appropriate items you could get, however, in ACR you were like a walking arsenal with weapons/gadgets seeping out every single pore. If you give your players too much money, they may abuse your system and buy things that make the heists too easy and simple compared to what they should be. Remember, heists are about strategy. If you give the players too much money, they can just buy their way through it. Perhaps they start with very little money (PC's broke and need a way to earn cash), and in order to make money they have to work their way up. So with each heist they earn more money, giving them access to more and more things. The first heist would be very simple, and eventually they would be robbing castles, which would grab the attention of the crime syndicate you spoke of. Although, you would have to plan a lot of heists for that... 2) It really depends on your story. Why are the players doing heists? Do they really need the money, or are they doing them because they just can, or are addicted to it (like in Breaking Bad)? If they are doing heists for clients then it sounds like they have already got the ball rolling, but maybe they aren't that well known yet so they don't have a ton of cash. If the amount of money makes since for your story, then your players won't be mad. I started off a campaign where the players were broke and practically had no items/weapons, but they weren't mad because they quickly earned money and were able to get what they wanted. They felt more rewarded that way, but only because it was in the context of the story. 3) I think your PC's should work there way up, and eventually gain attention from the local crime syndicate. The crime synd hires them, where things start to get crazy, and the PC's morals are really pushed beyond what they are comfortable with (unless your players are NE and CE). The crime synd has them doing horrible things which the PC's probably wouldn't have done before. Maybe at the end, the PC's get fed up with the "Boss" and instead of doing a heist, the last mission turns into an assassination where you murder him/her. I think this may be simpler. idk, just throwing out other ideas for you to use. 4)I think buying allies is fine, as long as they aren't going on heists with the PC's and stuff, or doing anything major. Anything significant should be done by the PC's, unless they earn major help from a specific ally by doing a sidequest for him/her. 5) I think the PC's should have a NPC contact that they use for every heist, someone who is unofficially part of the group but isn't a PC. 6) Before I answer your question, gathering information is good, but you need a strong variety of sidequests so it doesn't get boring. Stake outs just don't sound engaging at all. Ones like intercepting guard letters, interrogations, doing jobs for shady people who can give you information are all better than stake outs. Though, percepting the heist area is important To answer your question, I think it's a good idea, especially if you don't plan on doing it that often. As long as the PC's have a way of getting around the lie, so it isn't forcibly believed and railroaded, then I think you'll be fine. |
