I fail as a GM

[Ross Byers]

I added a spoiler tag.

[Liane Merciel]

Pssh, you didn't fail.

Lots of people have made lots of helpful comments so I'll just add that "failure" aside, your group still had way more of a challenge with Lyrie than mine did. My party didn't even MEET her; she saw the mayhem they'd dealt out elsewhere and skedaddled without them ever getting a glance at her or even learning her name.

Which is how I handle non-suicidal NPCs who are no match for the PCs and know it. ;)

[Maddigan]

Devilstrider wrote:

***MAY contain Rise of the Runelords SPOILERS***

Well, yeah I do fail as a GM.

I just switched from 4th Ed. to PF (and I THANK GOD for that), and we decided to start with Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path.
** spoiler omitted **
My luck is that my players are as ignorant of the game as myself, so when they win easily, they just feel more powerful and, well, happy. But I'd like to give them the right challenge, make them feel pressured, cause this will get old soon.

Is there any guide around about GM preparation, some tips, etc? We're having fun, and still getting the grasp of the rules, but I really want to give them a good time by feeling the pressure of it.

Also, I read that as the levels rise up, it becomes even more difficult for the GM to administrate things! I'm panicking already!

Thanks a lot in advance!

We destroyed her too. No way a single low level wizard has a chance against a party.

[blaznee]

We're about to enter Jorgenfist in the RotRL adventure path. This was our first campaign in Pathfinder. I had GM'd some D&D 4th edition, but never 3rd/3.5. I've GM'ed other systems though.

RotRL's can seem like a bit of a fizzle to the GM sometimes, because the big baddies tend to sometimes vaporize in the first round. It annoyed me to begin with, and the first real challenge didn't come until Xanesha really.

I have gotten a lot of positive feedback from my players though on how I've handled the fights and progression. You just simply have to acknowledge that A LOT of the fights in the AP will be steamrolled by the players. We have a decent setup with a sorceror, cleric, paladin and a crazy high damage barbarian.

It's all about keeping the party juuuust enough on their toes to not fall into the "there's no danger to us".. And they SHOULD feel progression as well. Having something that was a little scary the first time, can show up again and be wiped by the players.

Once in a while a fight turns up that makes the characters go OUCH. The first one is probably Xanesha, and many parties will have their first death in that.

The Fort can be dangerous if they are not sufficiently careful. Yes, the ogres don't seem particularly dangerous one on one, but if they suddenly take a hating to the party spellcaster, you can take said spellcaster out in 1 round.

I played many encounters where they just throw themselves at the barbarian, and he cuts down everything with little trouble. The paladin buffs the party and protect the squishies. But sometimes just work around it. 4 Ogres suddenly turn into a dangerous situation if they suddenly flank the party cleric. The damage dealers simply can't kill them all fast enough to not see their cleric take considerable damage.

Also, don't be afraid to kill of a character. My player who is now a Paladin, had a fighter before that. He was dumb enough to charge the ogre leader in the fort, so the dude could go full attack on his go. Power attack, w. human bane weapon and he crits too. The fighter vaporised in 1 single round

Last time they ran into what looked like a standard encounter. 4 ogre barbarians. The fire domain cleric was first and went "fireball". The ogres ofcourse take a disliking to him, so they ALL went for him. He lost half his hitpoints that round. He decided to make a BAD move. Stay in melee range and do Slay Living, which is like hitting an ogre with a wet piece of paper. But alas, he was now in melee range of all 4 ogres, and they went "whack a cleric" and he was reduced to pulp..

The party was 11th level, and felt like it was just another small skirmish, and I killed the party healer. They thought they had NO danger, and I wanted them to get on their toes before approaching Jorgenfist. I bent the world a little bit, and they went to Ravenmoor and sold all they could to afford a True Resurrection spell - which I allowed the city high priest to perform. The cleric had ALSO died during the fight with the dragon earlier, and looked a little sad that they had JUST spent the money for 1 resurrection, and now one more - just one fight later.. But to ease the pain, his deity gifted him a 25k sun yellow diamond as he was brought back..

Just make sure your party feels powerfull 75% of the time, and then now and then give them a decent scare.. Also, don't be afraid to whack the squishy players a bit if they start acting cocky and invulnerable. Our party Sorceress has twice felt like going in melee range to something, and both times ended up on the wrong side of 0 hitpoints the next round..

[dracomancer]

DMing is hard work but don't let it get you down. A few hours of prep work before each session to make sure things are fresh in your mind will do wonders. A good resource on these boards are the GM Reference sticky threads for each of the modules that are listed at the top of the Runelords boards. They have a lot of great advice about particularly sticky fights and situations through out the adventures.

I am currently running this AP for two different groups and group dynamics can make huge difference in some combats. What proves to be tough for one group could be a walk for the other. Luck with the dice also has an effect on combats too. I've had sessions where I just couldn't seem to challenge the characters as their dice were hot and mine were not and I've had sessions where I had crits coming up on what seemed every other roll.

If you want some good conversions for the mods look for posts from Grandfather in the various GM Reference threads. He has converted #1-4 not sure if he has posted anything for 5 or 6 yet.

[ciretose]

Sieglord wrote:

Of course you fail as a GM...anyone using pre-written crap rather than coming up with their own campaigns fails as a GM...I should think that would be common knowledge.

"I am a dedicated, story-addicted, must-have-have-a-decent-plotline-or-else-I-will-leave-in-a-huff roleplayer...and I encourage as much optimization as possible in the games I run. "

Sieglord, from another thread.

"That Guy" is legion...

[Evil Lincoln]

ciretose wrote:

"That Guy" is legion...

Cire, don't bait this chump. He was rightly forgotten a page ago in favor of sound, on-topic advice.

[Aberrant Templar]

Devilstrider wrote:

Well, yeah I do fail as a GM.

You definitely did not fail as a DM. You said so yourself; your players felt powerful and happy after they mopped the floor with her.

Happy players = successful DM.

The people who posted before me said a lot of good stuff. A single low-level wizard, unprepared, in a small room isn't going to stand a chance against a full party. You actually did a good thing by shuffling her position around. Paying attention to your party and anticipating/adjusting encounters accordingly is good DM behavior!

I'd definitely second (or third, whatever) the suggestions that you pick up a copy of the Gamemastery Guide. I also agree that you should check out the conversions on the Pathfinder SRD website (which is a super-useful resource in general). You don't have to update every encounter, but it will definitely pay off to update the important ones.

I wouldn't worry too much about trying to find the "right challenge". That's just something you'll work out over time, once you get a feel for the system and for the people you're playing with. There's nothing "wrong" with the PCs stomping an enemy, and there's nothing "right" about the party having to scrape through every encounter by the skin of their teeth. A good balance goes a long way. :-)

[Devilstrider]

Well, we ended the first part and I used a lot of the comments written in this topic, so thank you very much for all the help and support. This' a great community really, something I couldn' find in the 4e boards (though some people are really nice there too!).

***SPOILERS COMING UP***

Well, they negotiated with Orik and he followed them until they met with Nualia. The he "unturned" his coat and attacked them from the back, which was awesome. One player actually said "Oh sh**, you mother*****...", which means he was actually immersed in the game.

The buffed Nualia gave the paladin a hard time, with her high attack bonuses. I did shatter his longsword, but they did very well. Those Yeth Hounds are really mean, I gave her just one, since Orik was there (at 9 hit points, but still, that Bastard Sword of his sure hurts a ranger or a rogue).

Some doubts arised: does channel energy for healing allies heals the cleric too?

After Nualia came Malfeshnekor, which was great too. I didn't really know how to handle invisibility, I just couldn't find the rules! In there a penalty for attacking? I know the invisible attacker gets +2 to hit, but what about the attackers?

Anyway, by the time they killed Malfeshnekor they were in pretty bad shape and out of healing itens or spells. So the giant hermit crab was a funny ("Guys...that helmet is looking at me...") and tense surprise (ranger got knocked out...it's an NPC anyway.)

In the end we had a lot of fun, thanks to your suggestions, thank you very much!

I need to work on my "administration" skills. There's a lot to keep track of, but with time Iknow I'll get used to it. For instanc, I forgot Mafeshnekor's DR, but it was good somehow, cause it's a really powerful monster, so I think the party could have died in the end.

I'm looking foward to part two!!

[Evil Lincoln]

Devilstrider wrote:

Some doubts arised: does channel energy for healing allies heals the cleric too?

Yep. It heals every living thing in the area. You can choose to have it harm undead, but you forgo the healing of allies in that case.

Devilstrider wrote:

After Nualia came Malfeshnekor, which was great too. I didn't really know how to handle invisibility, I just couldn't find the rules! In there a penalty for attacking? I know the invisible attacker gets +2 to hit, but what about the attackers?

Look up the condition "invisibility" in the back of the book. Or here. Your wording of the question here is a little ambiguous though. People attacking an invisible creature must pick a square to attack, and even then they have 50% miss chance on top of the attack roll.

Devilstrider wrote:

I need to work on my "administration" skills. There's a lot to keep track of, but with time Iknow I'll get used to it. For instanc, I forgot Mafeshnekor's DR, but it was good somehow, cause it's a really powerful monster, so I think the party could have died in the end.

It is a lot to keep track of. I never beat myself up for missing stuff, I just make a note and try to remember it the next time around. As long as the players are enjoying themselves and are challenged, all is well.

[godsDMit]

With Channel Energy, the character can choose to affect themselves, but they do not have to. So if, for example, you somehow had a positive channeling lich, the lich would choose to not affect himself with the healing power, so he wouldnt hurt himself every time he healed his living allies.