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Ok so I have a favor to ask (and I thought this would be the best place to ask). I was thinking about running a pbp game, not sure if it'll be 3e or 4e. But I'm really nervous, unsure, etc...etc., about doing it.
Would it be better to run an AP or something homebrewed. I just don't know. I think I'm letting my failure as a DM at my home games get to me.
What do yall do when run games? What do you use to make maps? The questions could go on, but I think I'll ask as I go.
Thanks
Rev** spoiler omitted **
Lazaro
That's all just fine. I picked ongoing damage as the trigger because it seemed like the kind of thing that might make a spellscar flare and allowed me to be a little creative with the effects. So far you've only taken ongoing poison damage which does the following:-
Roll d20. 1-10 -1 on att/dam rolls; 11-20 +1 att/dam. Effects last for 1d4 rounds after ongoing damage hits. It's kind of cumbersome, but spellscars are new territory to all of us, so we're all being guinea pigs. I wanted something that has the possibility of working as much in your favour as against. That I and like rolling dice.
Ok so I have a favor to ask (and I thought this would be the best place to ask). I was thinking about running a pbp game, not sure if it'll be 3e or 4e. But I'm really nervous, unsure, etc...etc., about doing it.
Would it be better to run an AP or something homebrewed. I just don't know. I think I'm letting my failure as a DM at my home games get to me.
What do yall do when run games? What do you use to make maps? The questions could go on, but I think I'll ask as I go.
Thanks
You speak to one who is still very much in the throes of learning the ropes.
As far as adventures go, while I've toyed with using APs, they seem a bit daunting, given the usual rate of progress in a pbp. If you want to run one, I'd go for it though. Do something that you genuinely like and enjoy because you will be seeing an awful lot of whatever it is.
For mechanics, all of my games are a shameless lift of things that Pat devised and used first. The exception would be XP, which we award slightly differently, but with similar results. If you take the 10 encounters per level standard for pbp, your players are going to be waiting a very long time indeed to level. So my alternative is to allow 5 encounters per level (thus awarding double XP) and keeping in mind that this may well mean I have to upgrade later encounters if the party are higher level than the adventure predicates.
I think as well that pbp is quite a forgiving medium for GMs. You can do a lot of the hair pulling behind the scenes for a start. As I'm discovering, ruthless cutting is a good idea as well. Lengthy sections of dungeon crawl are fun at the table, but can make for very dull play over the messageboards, so what I tend to do is find ways of pushing the action onwards without overtly railroading players.
Luckily, adventurers are so random in what they decide to do in any given situation that this is often easier than you'd expect. Spellgard is a case in point. Don't read the following unless you want to know something about how this has worked for me so far.
I shamelessly used Brujo's paranoia to engineer your first encounter. Devlin and co exist in the adventure, but in a different context. As written they are a rival band of adventurers, which was how I planned to use them. Then the group started getting antsy in the grove so I swapped out the originally planned kobold ambush to make it a more personal attack.
The ambush in the ruins I just played by instinct. I reckoned kobolds would surrender if they were being that badly trashed. I did NOT plan on Snaggletooth and Kneebiter becoming personalities in their own right. That just happened - and it's actually been very useful from a GM point of view as you have a legitimate, slightly dubious source of information about the Tower.
This in turn will allow me to cut out a couple of longish sections which would be fun at the table, but could get very draggy with pbp. That said, they are still kobolds and don't yet count as good guys. And of course Devlin is still lurking out there as a handy source of trouble if needed (that is in the adventure, just not in this exact form).
In essence I'm cherry picking the adventure and trying to cut down on the number of people and things you need to keep track of - not that successfully, but the principle is sound. The basic story remains the same of course, but how you get there is more of a serving suggestion for me. Most of what happens to you will be determined by your characters, I'm going with the flow.
For maps I use Fractal Mapper and if possible run them through Campaign Cartographer to make them bigger, before posting the basic unadorned version on Photobucket and updating using the text tool. It's sort of quick and dirty, but it works for me. Pat uses Google Spreadsheets which update themselves. There are plenty of other solutions as well. If you're going 4E, some kind of map is essential I think. Without them combat is guesswork.
As for 3E over 4E over PFBeta - that has to be your call. I know I can't handle the mechanics of 3E or PFBeta well enough, so I wouldn't try to GM either. It won't stop me playing in them, but no way would I try to run a game. Partly that's lazy, but partly it's because I only started gaming again this year after a very long break and 4E came in at the exact right time for me to be at the bottom of the learning curve like everyone else.
The other thing I'd say is be up front with your players. You will make mistakes and so will they. Deal with them as they arise and try to keep an open mind. I hadn't GMed for years and it took months of wibbling before I took the bait here. Did I mention I'm enjoying it hugely?
Essay ends.
For maps I tend to use the maps in an adventure (shhhh don't tell the publishers!) either scanned or right-click, saved as jpgs, and then I manipulate them in GIMP (free Photoshop type programme).
Rosey is probably the best PbP DM I have played with, due to her willingness to roll with whatever is thrown at her, and her utter ruthlessness in terms of posting. :D
If it was possible, you'd see a blushing avatar. Must get GIMP and do some manipulation.
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Well after putting some thought into it. I've decided to run a game of my own
My plan is to run the Scales of War AP(4e). But before I do that, this may sound dumb. I thought I'd shake off the ol' DMing dust by running a one shot adventure, using either Pathfinder or 3.5 rules.
This doesn't sound to bad...right? Would anyone here be interested?
I'll put a thread up shortly, so I stop cluttering up Rev's thread.
Thread is up!
Good luck -- and let us know when you make the move to 4E!
Time to level up. As noted on the game thread, you are the proud possessors of 2304XP each. Upgrade yourselves and the new stuff comes into effect after you've had an extended rest.
My gut feeling is that the best time for that is not now when an enraged clan of halfling wererats may descend on you at any second.
Time to level up. As noted on the game thread, you are the proud possessors of 2304XP each. Upgrade yourselves and the new stuff comes into effect after you've had an extended rest.
My gut feeling is that the best time for that is not now when an enraged clan of halfling wererats may descend on you at any second.
Whee! What, if anything comes into effect now? Just wondering about the "upgrade yourselves" part . . .
Tentatively planning to take Command and retrain Cause Fear for Divine Glow.
Whee! What, if anything comes into effect now? Just wondering about the "upgrade yourselves" part . . .Time to level up. As noted on the game thread, you are the proud possessors of 2304XP each. Upgrade yourselves and the new stuff comes into effect after you've had an extended rest.
My gut feeling is that the best time for that is not now when an enraged clan of halfling wererats may descend on you at any second.
Additional HP and healing surges are effective immediately - which may be of particular interest to Cronin :D
New encounter powers - not until you've rested. Nothing much else changes at level 3 I think, but correct me if I'm wrong.
Pat - both of your choices sound like good ones for Cronin. I can see him using both to good effect.
Additional HP and healing surges are effective immediately - which may be of particular interest to Cronin :D
Done, and yes!
Pat, old boy, you're up in Ashenport. :)
Pat, old boy, you're up in Ashenport. :)
I read the discussion board first, thenkew.
Just thought I'd let ya know, partner. :D
An advance warning that I'm away from Tuesday morning to late Thursday next week. It's not optimal timing as you're likely to be up to your necks in combat, but it can't be helped. Apologies, but at least you will be spared my usual flurry of posts.
Flurry of posts? Is that a new monk ability :D
Level 1 DM ability. Class feature :D
Note to all: I will have limited access from Tue 12/16 through Mon 12/22, but should be able to check in at least daily. Sorry for any inconvenience.
I think as a group we need to come up with some general tactics or strategy, as we seem to be coming through some fights by the skin of our teeth.
I'm not very good at that sort of thing, but it seems that each of us (including me) is operating as an individual rather than a team member. That's just my perception, by the way.
e.g. I think we should have a marching order (how old school) as well as a general plan of attack. Such as "Leo and Brujo engage as a first wave, holding up solos, elites, Perigia and Fairwind concentrate on minion clearance, backed up by Caine or Cronin. Fairwind will tackle leader creatures if someone can grant her combat advantage for a sneak attack."
Incendiary Blade sounds like an entirely Brujo flavoured power and I'll be interested to see how Greenflame Blade plays out. You'd had decent mileage out of Booming Blade.
On the tactics front, Lightning Lure is tailor made for setting up flanks anyway, so go for it.
Also on the tactical front, that's up to you as a party of course, but most of your opponents have either been entirely self-serving, cowardly or minus a brain. It's not a bad plan to have something in mind when you enter the combat arena from now on. Certainly once you hit the Tower proper you can expect things to be tougher. On the plus side, I think that you may well be borderline for 4th level at that point.
I'm not very good at that sort of thing, but it seems that each of us (including me) is operating as an individual rather than a team member. That's just my perception, by the way.
I think you're right. Part of it is the trouble with a PBP -- it's harder to keep track of what each other have just done, or at least for me.
Cronin is basically a buffer, being a leader. His at-wills are range 5 single-target blasts that help an ally. He does best in the second rank, because he's not good at melee, but a lot of his powers are short range or even blasts.
Fairwind is a striker - she is useful for hitting hard and fast. She specializes in moving around the battlefield in particular. She can be useful against minions as she can attack 2 per round, or she can use 2 attacks against a boss monsters.
Once per encounter she can use sneak attack (very very useful if someone can set up a flank or grant her combat advantage some other way).
She has scorching burst as well for minion clearance.
Happy Christmas!
Happy New Year folks.
I'm off-line until Sunday night, so Fairwind may or may not be dead when I come back... :D
Your cleric is now mobile and may be able to help. If the wight doesn't slaughter you first of course.
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Okay, so here is the story with Perigia and cold based spells. When I first made my spell selection it was simply that they did a lot of cool things to control the battlefield, like slow and daze opponents. Somewhere along the way though I started to think about it and I realized that someone who is infused with elemental fire and has a degree of resistance to heat based effects is not going to see fire as being that threatening.On the other hand, cold is their antithisis and would be something that they would usually shy away from. Perigia is simply studying spells that would be most terrifying to her, and in the process getting some pretty good effects out of it.
Okay, so here is the story with Perigia and cold based spells. When I first made my spell selection it was simply that they did a lot of cool things to control the battlefield, like slow and daze opponents. Somewhere along the way though I started to think about it and I realized that someone who is infused with elemental fire and has a degree of resistance to heat based effects is not going to see fire as being that threatening.On the other hand, cold is their antithisis and would be something that they would usually shy away from. Perigia is simply studying spells that would be most terrifying to her, and in the process getting some pretty good effects out of it.
That all makes perfect sense for the character.
Oddly enough, I have a half-elf wizard in one of Pat's games who is based on a similar kind of idea. His father was an elf who specialised in fire spells and Rin naturally took that road when he first started casting. Unfortunately, he's also an pact initiate (infernal) which frightens him a lot, so he's taken a lot of cold based spells to prove that the infernal pact hasn't really got any control over what he does. The cold spells for him are part of proving he's not just his father's son as well of course.
You're not that far off from getting into Spellgard Tower. If you survive that (not a given), the nature of the adventure opens up the strong possibility of further things to do, places to go and people to meet.
Just so I can plan ahead a little, this is a first tentative call out to see if any of you might like to continue with these characters once Spellgard comes to an end. This is not going to happen any time soon, as you have a lot to deal with first, but if any of you think you might be interested, let me know.
As if you need ask . . .
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So like I said in the game thread, I added some of Perigia's impressions and thought about the other characters to her profile. I would appreciate any comments you might have about what I wrote, or any comments about how other people veiw Perigia.
Rev
So like I said in the game thread, I added some of Perigia's impressions and thought about the other characters to her profile. I would appreciate any comments you might have about what I wrote, or any comments about how other people veiw Perigia.
Rev** spoiler omitted **
David F
Either of those works fine. If you want to give me a little more back story to play with, that would be helpful. It's all grist to the mill as I tend (as you may have noticed) to run with what players throw my way.
Very nice to have Perigia's thoughts, particularly as they've clearly been developing as the game goes along. Father sounds intriguing. I've no idea how Genasi family works, but authoritarian springs to mind. I also loved the little moment with Perigia and Fairwind in the corridor before you got the warrior tombs - perfectly expressed the uneasiness they felt with each other and the attempt to find common ground.
Updated and ready to roll!
There's probably good loot in them thar tombs, but Cronin's not the one to suggest graverobbing.
It would be low on the list of fun activities for Brujo and Perigia as well, given their backgrounds, Leo's a paladin and both Caine and Fairwind, while highly practical, are quite likely not to see the point. It's not compulsory to tomb rob, after all. Although I've known adventuring groups that think it is.
Funny that. My home game warlock is getting twitchy too. And Edie's not a good sight when she's twitchy.
Rev
** spoiler omitted **
David
Elmo will stab your toes. :D