robert Goode's page

robert Goode wrote:

My main thought was that the survey doesn’t really cover anything more than # of Stars/Novas

What exactly were you looking for? If you want to provide more information regarding yourself the free-form comment field at the end of the questionnaire allows for that. If you’re wondering more about what to expect as a GM, we provide information by email and we have Slack channels set up where our volunteers can ask questions and discuss expectations and best practices. We provide the link to those conversations in the emails sent out by the organizing committee.

Honestly that mostly answers the question. I wasn't entirely clear on the process or how GM Volunteers are approved.

robert Goode wrote:

I just volunteered to GM at GenCon for the first time. I have years of experience GMing, but have only done Organized play for he last couple years and haven't quite earned any Stars/Novas. If I volunteer for 8 slots, is that going to be a deal-breaker on GMing that many?

That's going to be a lot of GMing, which means more time spent running games than exploring GenCon. It is certainly doable--there are dozens of folks that run that many slots--but it does make your convention experience all about Organized Play.

Also keep in mind Con GMing is different from any other experience. Running one convention table =/= running a table anywhere else. Expect lots of yelling due to noise, repeating yourself due to noise/distractions, completely varied players (30 years RPG experience, this is my first time and I brought my two 10 year olds), and tons of different personality types to balance over the course of four short days. You might also find yourself pressured for time if your games tend to run long.

So again, 8 slots is a lot of time to spend GMing. It is doable, but it's work.

I definitely appreciate the reply. I have played Society at GenCon several times so I understand the environment and I’d be completely comfortable running that many slots (I have 25+ years of gaming experience and love GMing) so I’m not worried about that.

My main thought was that the survey doesn’t really cover anything more than # of Stars/Novas.

Still, good info to have in general.

I just volunteered to GM at GenCon for the first time. I have years of experience GMing, but have only done Organized play for he last couple years and haven't quite earned any Stars/Novas. If I volunteer for 8 slots, is that going to be a deal-breaker on GMing that many?

So for people planning on being at GenCon, will we be able to pre-order and pick up our books at the convention?

I was just looking at the Bloodrager and had the same question. I agree this sounds right, but is there an official ruling anywhere? Can you substitute the unchained rage feature for the regular version in existing classes?

So I just started to run Aow and wanted to add my first party death to this thread.

Gorack, 1/2orc barbarian

Whispering Cairn (specifically filge's observatory hideout)

Catalyst: evil dice and a brilliant plan gone awry.

Details: So the night of evil dice started from the beginning of their raid on the observatory when the party's thief could not get the front door unlocked. Bad rolls continued to plague then and by the time they got to the top , they had alerted Filge and were doing horrible against the zombies. they were force to retreat when the Barbarian went down. They drug him out of the room and healed him so he decided to try and hold of the zombies while thee others escaped. this is where the brillant plan came in. There was a room that had two doors, both of which led to the same hallway. So the barbarian stands in one doorway and lets the pursuing zombies come to him. he attacks and retreats to the other door. The zombies follow. So this idea totally should have worked. That is until the night of evil dice reared its ugly head. After a night of consistantly low dice rolling, the barbarian retreats again.

Natural 20 on an AoO + rolling max damage on a crit = one very dead Barbarian.

Thus ended Gorack and thus begins the my Age of Worms death toll.

I just thought I'd pipe up and say that I have pretty much thought in terms of adventure paths for as long as I have been DMing, which has been a long time. I have always run the long epic story arch with the big bad at the end. Just now, Dungeon has given it a name. I guess that's why i like them so much.

Also,I have used most of the suggestions in this thread in one way or another to create my campaigns. In the end it seems to work best to use a combo of whatever gets the job done, but they are all good ways to get going.

Wow, Stop paying attention and look at all the posts. Sebastion, Hope you see this one, refers to several posts ago

So, by your definition (games must have a winner or loser), MMORPG's are not games. ;-)

The definition of a "game" is hard to pin down. I come from a background in theatre and I don't concider D&D as much of a game as a storytelling experience or improv with guidelines. Thus the "my gaming is the right gaming" comment. If you like the more "game" aspects, great. I prefer the story part. I just hate the people who act like they are the authority and if you don't game under their rules interpretations you are stupid. Me? I ignore rules all together if there is a strong story reason (I emphasis the STRONG). I'm not much of a computer gamer so I can't honestly talk about MMORPG's. I'm not even 100% sure that I am thinking of the right thing cause I'm not sure what MMORPG stands for. And of course I have no desire to single anyone out, I've just noticed it a lot when reading various forums. In a way, I think part of the problem with the game nowadays it the lack of story. The source books are constantly spewing forth more rules options but there is very little in the way of story. When I started playing, I was introduced to the game by some older kids that had played all the classic adventures where a large number of the classic monsters and characters originate from. I wish there was something more like that with this edition rather than new rules that every DM and their brother will interpret differently.

I hate it even more when the DM fudges in favor of the players. I hate not being able to die and having risk taken away from characters to serve the "story." It's not a story, it's a game, and the rules should be respected.

I actually dislike playing though. I only DM.

Except that a "game" should have winners/losers. roleplaying implied the creation of a story. If I want to roll dice, I'll play a miniature battles game (which I do) or possibly craps (I could use the money),

I hate the "my gaming is the right gaming" attitude

player death is also a valid method of manipulating the party into doing what you want. :D

Although this statement seems a bit harsh, it is very true and I agree with windnight. My group tends to be obsessed with healing potions because we have a small group so there's no cleric. Although I have yet to DM AOW, I have read most of them and have heard a lot on these boards. You group will either get smart and take advantage of every alternative there is, or they will die and realize the need for a cleric. It pretty much happens in every campaign I've done.

In defense of wizard players, play smart and you have no need to cower behind a meatshield like a little girly man! I don't need no stinking meatshield!

Besides, Min/maxing doesn't mean don't use tactics and options. That's called "strategery".

we never had an actual mechanic for it but my group tends to play the vorpal weapons as instant kills rather than beheading. It was just cooler to have a bit of variety. This started with 2nd ed. and still holds. Anything immune to crits are immune to the instant kill.

I like your way of thinking about hit points in general. As far as the Phantasmal Killer, I don't see a problem. The high level character is just tougher mentally after seeing and doing the things they have done to get there.

The healing is a little bit tricky though. I supose you could say that levels are like energy and it requires more to "refuel" a PC than a commoner.

I kind of think that there is more than just fatigue involved with hit points dispite the lack of penalties-- sorta like in action movies where they don't seem to get tired even after all the punishment they take. More hit points are more like a generic number value of how tough and skilled a character is, so it works.

I'm gonna eat some of my own words here. We gamed last night and the party consisted of a warmage, a sorcerer, and a warlock. We housed everything...everything. It was a travesty. Warmages rock out with their socks out. Fighters can just take a hike I guess. :-)

I've noticed that even at low levels (3rd-5th) a well thought wizard can make a fighter's kill tally look like small potatoes. On the other hand, my wizard wouldn't even think of trying to hold a narrow corridor from a stream of angry orcs. Meatshields have there purpose and though Warmages are more combatty than wizards, they still can't take the shear punishment that a Fighter with a huge AC or a Barbarian's massive number of hit points allows.

I tried DMing a maze once. My players got frustrated pretty quickly. Still, if done right, they can be cool.

the frustration is what makes them cool. Especially if there is a big nasty chasing them around, sorta like the classic Miniotaur legend combined with a haunted house. Something they know to run from but won't kill them outright-- some sort of stalker monster. You have them make listen checks followed by the thudding steps of the unseen monster. As they stop and wait anxiously, the massive dragon's head comes around the corner and roars and preparesto breath.(Can anyone say "Jurrasic Park"?) the look on the player's faces= classic!

I am a fan of mazes and such so i came up with a one room maze concept. It can also be a dungeon all itself.

Basically, you are in a large chamber. In the center is a solitary room. you can actually walk all the way around it, almost like a small building. The room has one door on the outside, but when you enter there is a door in each wall. Each door leads to another identical room. the only way to get back to the main chamber is to retrace your steps backwards through the rooms exactly as you entered them. From there, you can add all sorts of things to make it interesting- random encounters, lost adventureres etc.

A warning though. This room can really ruin things if the entire party gets lost and doesn't catch on quickly, especially with blank rooms that have no identifying marks. I have found that the discription of the building in the main chamber helps give it away so this doesn't happen.

Compliments on the great way of reintroducing the adventure path. Nice way to get things going.

how about some rooms with messed up gravity and ceatures that aren't affected by it. (ie Cling to the walls, fly etc.)

a room with an invisible floor over something dangerous (spiked floor 10' down, Monsters) but sections are actually open. PCs have to avoid holes adn maybe things can grab at them

Turns out Filge left town about twenty minutes after they left him alone. Go figure. He'll turn up for revenge in the free when they get to the free city.

Well, duh!

Nice thought I suppose.

And as for the "bad Taste" homage- I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

WAAAAAAYYYYY back in the days of AD&D, I played in a groupwith a guy that was a total power gamer with the theif's backstab ability. one adventure, we were crossing a narrow bridge in an underground chasm when we were attacked by a giant bat. Said player ties one end of his 200 feet of rope ( he made a big point of this number) to the bridge and used the other end to lasso the bat. With the bat now leashed to the bridge , he shimmied up the rope and climbed on to the bat's back. Then, he decides to backstab it, doing ungodly amounts of damage killing it instantly. As the bat falls, the player is unconcerned because he has that 200 feet of rope with one end tied to the bridge.

Unfortunately, he took damage when he hit the ground- from 200 feet above the bridge to the ground only 100 feet below the bridge. (= 300 ft falling=30d6 pts of damage) Time to make a new character

Concider this: I am a professional costume designer. That's right, as in sewing and stuff. I particularly enjoy making corsets and frilly dresses. I can't even count the number of times that i have recieved the same response when i tell someone what I do for a living. It goes something like "..but -but , you're ....STRAIT!!??!!!"

My point is this: Just because something is concidered a "guy" thing or a "girl" thing it is stupid to let that be concidered truth. Gaming is just one example of that stereotyping.

Personally, I prefer the roleplaying aspects of gaming more than the mechanics and if female gamers were not made out to feel like a freak at sideshow when they showed up, there would be a lot more of them. I envy these other posts that say they have females in their group. I have only had that experience a couple time in the 15 or so years that I have been playing. it would be nice to see a little more diversity.

Personally, I discourage evil PCs for one reason. they don't work well. A lot of players, even experienced ones, don't tend to play "evil". instead they are just snotty, arrogant, and rude. they don't do anything actually evil and that really annoys me.

then there are the few that do play the "evil". when you have a group that consists of various alignments it should only be a matter of time before the evil character does something that makes him/her leave the group (willing or not). Sometimes, this can come dangerously close to crossing the line between game and the real world when one player does things to the other characters or causes a disruption that screws things up. Players can get offended on a personal level, not just in the game. Trust me, I've seen it happen.

As for your player, find out why he is drawn to the Drow Blackguard and then come up with a path to lead him there. Make sure he understands what being evil in the game should be. Then you, as DM, have to be prepared to deal with the consequences.

Yeah, I should have added :
4) they get captured instead of killed

to my list of options.

My players tend to hate the run option. Although they don't like getting killed, they accept it. (I also rarely use resurrection magic)

I think that the core classes in the PHB are more than enough. While all the extra ones may look like fun, are they really any different? Yes the mechanics change but so what? A ranger/rogue fills the same role as a scout. An Evil sorceer can easily be called a witch or worlock. you can easily have three or four fighters in a party that between class, race and feat choices will be completely different. If you want specialized wizards, use them. There is also something to be said for personallity and alignment.
I do think the paladin would be more appropriate as a prestige class and that the Monk just doesn't fit with a European style setting (fantasy or not) . Personally, I would drop the monk and add the psionicist.

"In my gaming experience most parties don't move tactically, coordinate fire, set up SOPs, etc. and as a result a "squad" of orcs using tactics could pretty effectly abush and destroy a middle level party."

I have no military background (I don't even know what "SOP" stands for) but I understand tactics on an intellectual level. As a player, I'm usually the one giving the orders in combat dispite the fact that two of the other players and the DM all have military backgrounds. We usually hit with lots of precision and are very effective. There are times when we get suprised an whatnot which is a little tougher. Overall, tactics are common on both sided from my experience.

As for realism, I think it depends on your taste. I use a "mid-level" amount of realism: enough that it is not rediculous, but not enough to bog things down and bore the players. My main concern is the story so if tactics and realismadd to that, I use it. I think tactics and motivation in particular (based on the INTand alignment of the monster) are the most important to the story.

no missle weapons? silly adventurers!

1) any NPCs that could show up for Re-enforcements?
2) enviromental change to even the odds
3) retreat?

Maybe some more info on the party to come up with some ideas.

One of the Campaigns I am playing in sees it a bit different. Although the story aspects can be interesting and the class abilities are cool and all, it seems to be a little too powerful. Like, the touch AC attack with the eldrich blast is a bit much with the amount of damage dealt. And the spell-like abilities at will? It doesn't seem to balance out.

So here is the deal. I'm preparing to run Age of worms in a couple of months when one of my friends/players moves home. Right now, i am starting a short campaign to introduce the eberron setting to my group. We are trying out the eberron setting for the first time and I wanted to incorporate a couple of the Shackled city adventures into this one. My question: where would be the best place tyo locate Cauldron? If there is any info on this let me know where to find it. Or if anyone just has suggestions. Thanks

To Phoenix--it was Lady of the Mists from #42. I ran it our Greyhawk campaign and also in Ravenloft (where it worked even better)....wonderfully written adventure---i believe there was a follow up to it but can't remember what issue

That was a great issue! It was the first issue i bought and I ran an entire campaign with the adventures in that one issue. maybe I'll dig it out and use it with my current group.

Here's a suggestion. I usually say that most places will only give you half of the seeling price( 300gp for the 600gp armor) that cutts down on the money and the desire to carry it all. I don't think your players should be punished for creativity but this might be a realistic way to keep it in check.

Also, you can make them haggle too. good roleplaying = more reward.