Woo! Ran a session last night for the first time in almost a year.
It went pretty well. The PCs were tasked with burying the body of a halfling whose family owed a local magistrate a bunch of money. They brought the body safely through a group of hired thugs, figured out how to open the tomb door, and fought off the undead guards of the crypt. Now they have a mysterious job offer from another halfling who wants to move out of sight of the local governor, all while one of my PCs has shown great interest in selling everyone else out to the gubbmint.
The only big issue we had was that our striker, a barbarian, took the brunt of everything. He was almost killed twice, and spent most of the encounters hovering just above unconsciousness. This wouldn't be a problem, except that everyone else felt like they weren't in danger in comparison. Suggestions?
On the bright side, our warlord loved using commander strike to turn the barbarian into a constantly damage-dealing engine of destruction.
Do you have a defender? If so, figure out why enemies weren't incentivised to beat on him, if not, your melee strikers are pretty much going to have to take the brunt of things. Generally speaking though, your melee strikers are going to get hit a bit, but the defenders should be absorbing as many attacks as they can.
Yeah we had a defender. A warden. I talked with the barbarian player, and I think I convinced him to retrain swift panther rage for macetail rage. That should increase his survivability quite a bit. Also it will get better as the players get a better feel for their characters, I think.
edit: The warden was doing everything he could, I think. Marking adjacent enemies and all that. It's just that the barbarian kept insisting on charging into the thick of things, and has powers that let him shift a bunch, so the defender couldn't keep up.
edit2: Any tips on monsters that might make the defender fear for his life?
straights, since you're linking forum games and stuff.
are people still interested in star wars saga edition?
i've been running a play-by-post over in critical failures for... almost two years now.
Give me a quick write up and link, post in the brewery thread, and then I'll put it in the OP
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StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
edited July 2009
You're the DM bro
Any monster can make any player fear for his life
You just gotta have the monster focus on the player
Which I mean, unintelligent monsters should already be focusing on the defender, because he hits them with his sword every time they try to attack somebody else
And intelligent monsters get the choice, so, just make them hate that fucking warden for some reason
You just gotta have the monster focus on the player
Which I mean, unintelligent monsters should already be focusing on the defender, because he hits them with his sword every time they try to attack somebody else
And intelligent monsters get the choice, so, just make them hate that fucking warden for some reason
ArtreusI'm a wizardAnd that looks fucked upRegistered Userregular
edited July 2009
Yeah, I (the warden) was doing my best to mark enemies and get in between people, but the striker kept splitting up and going away from where I could easily do much. Gonna try better to do that stuff in the future though.
He killed a guy that was resisting arrest because he didn't know that, as a Warden, he could turn into a huge tree monster. So he got charged with police brutality and kicked out of the city.
i am so determined not to have spotlight-hog DMPCs that on the rare occasion the PCs get a DMPC in their party they are such tertiary characters that i have sometimes forgotten they exist
An older kid was our DM and he persistently made terrible, terrible DMNPCs and villians and references to other character's pasts
He had this thing about always having some guy who was responsible for raping or murdering a significant other in someone's backstory, always
If you were playing an orphan he'd damn well decide to tell why you were an orphan
I think everyone has had at least one DM who did stupid bullshit like this.
ayep
One friend I had that DMd when I was first starting out on 3.0 really loved rust monsters. So much so that anyone who played under him didn't want to make any sort of tank or cleric in a can, because as soon as you spent all your starting gold on full plate, it was gone forever after the first dungeon.
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UtsanomikoBros before DoesRollin' in the thlayRegistered Userregular
i am so determined not to have spotlight-hog DMPCs that on the rare occasion the PCs get a DMPC in their party they are such tertiary characters that i have sometimes forgotten they exist
in mid-combat, even!
This is my mode of operation; the NPCs accompanying the group will express substantially less authority, motivation and initiative than the PCs.
I once put together a Forgotten Realms campaign. After each PC threw together a few bits of backstory I privately emailed each one with additional details to set the tone of their adventures. One PC was a member of a disgraced family that had been nearly wiped out, aside from him and a few other extended family. A villain from Zhentil Keep found him and was blackmailing him to head north to Silverymoon to spy on a member of the Harpers.
You reel as another fierce punch impacts with your nose, and you feel the blood begin to drip down your face again.
"Hah! You're hardly worth the effort," sneers the wicked man you have come to despise: Marten "The Hand" Ethar, spymaster of Zhentil Keep.
"Don't you get it boy?" Marten asks. "Your life is in my hand," he says, holding up a terribly scarred and deformed appendage, more claw than hand. "One word to those Telthar back at the Gate and you'll be filling the bellies of the crows before the days out."
Enraged, you struggle against the ropes holding you to the chair in the basement of this filthy basement in the city of Waterdeep. "Ah! there's that fighting spirit you Calsens are known for - heh - I mean were known for..." He taunts, grinning at his insult.
"Anyway, on to business. There's a women I want you to spy on, travels by the name of Darla Moonstride. I have reason to suspect she's an operative of those damnable Harpers, and I want you to find out what she knows, without tipping the bitch off. My contacts tell me she's leaving tomorrow morning with a merchant caravan headed to Silverymoon. We don't have many agents there, so I'll trust that the thought of your surviving family members' heads tarred and spiked will be enough motivation not to try to run again." He rushes towards you, shoving you against a rough stone wall, his crippled right hand like a vise upon your neck. "Remember this moment boy. Burn it into your memory. If you ever act against me or my brothers in the Keep, this will be the last sensation you ever feel...after I've had my fun with you."
You struggle for breathe, and as you begin to fall unconscious, you feel your rope bonds cut, and you tumble to the ground. A small bag drops near your head, the familiar clink of coins from within.
"Buy passage onto the caravan. Find out what the Moonstride woman knows. We will contact you. When someone tell you "It looks like a black storm is coming in from the south" you will respond "Yes, but the wind blows darker from the east." We are always watching Calsen.
Never forget that.
I miss DMing
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StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
i am so determined not to have spotlight-hog DMPCs that on the rare occasion the PCs get a DMPC in their party they are such tertiary characters that i have sometimes forgotten they exist
in mid-combat, even!
First game I ever ran was also the first game I ever played
It was a travesty for a lot of reasons, but my DMPC was a big one of those
And because of that I've kinda grown like this
I'm going to have to have a DMPC that I've been playing up as a rocking dude (and he is a rocking dude, admittedly) in on of my upcoming M&M games, we'll see how that goes.
The first time i played dnd the dm hat some super npc made, he did well on keeping him out of the way during important things but outside of that he was in charge of making sure we got around to doing exactly what the dm wanted doing.
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ArtreusI'm a wizardAnd that looks fucked upRegistered Userregular
edited July 2009
When I ran that maptools and vent game monday, one of the guys didn't show up. Just some lurker guy, half-orc ranger, so I made his token a picture of aragorn with green scribbles all over his face and orc teeth drawn in. I didn't want to give away story or anything, so I just made it a drooling idiot they had to watch out for.
One of the traps I'd made was really out of nowhere, just a small golden statue on the middle of a small island surrounded by waterfalls, you had to pass through the water to get to it. Well they were really suspicious, because I'd said I would have a lot of traps, and their perception check had revealed that something was off with the statue, but they weren't sure yet, so after a lot of debating, they were going to leave it alone. Well I wasn''t going to have this, so I made the drooling idiot run after the statue and pick it up. Everyone in the party shouted out at him, telling him to stop... nothing happened. So smart hero told him to toss the statue to him, it exploded into flames the second it touched the water.
Didn't do a ton of damage though. I was going to have it only hurt the half orc until he asked for the statue. Also they completely avoided one trap I was really looking forward to.
During combat the half orc was incredibly useless, missing left and right and left. He eventually missed so much I just said the attack him himself in the foot, I rolled for 1d8 damage. It did 8. That would have almost killed him though so I changed my mind, but damn that guy.
When I ran that maptools and vent game monday, one of the guys didn't show up. Just some lurker guy, half-orc ranger, so I made his token a picture of aragorn with green scribbles all over his face and orc teeth drawn in. I didn't want to give away story or anything, so I just made it a drooling idiot they had to watch out for.
One of the traps I'd made was really out of nowhere, just a small golden statue on the middle of a small island surrounded by waterfalls, you had to pass through the water to get to it. Well they were really suspicious, because I'd said I would have a lot of traps, and their perception check had revealed that something was off with the statue, but they weren't sure yet, so after a lot of debating, they were going to leave it alone. Well I wasn''t going to have this, so I made the drooling idiot run after the statue and pick it up. Everyone in the party shouted out at him, telling him to stop... nothing happened. So smart hero told him to toss the statue to him, it exploded into flames the second it touched the water.
Didn't do a ton of damage though. I was going to have it only hurt the half orc until he asked for the statue. Also they completely avoided one trap I was really looking forward to.
During combat the half orc was incredibly useless, missing left and right and left. He eventually missed so much I just said the attack him himself in the foot, I rolled for 1d8 damage. It did 8. That would have almost killed him though so I changed my mind, but damn that guy.
Thinking about that huge ass bridge in the middle of the map with nothing but traps on it, I wonder if something like that might work as a big skill challenge, with failures resulting in various trap effects and a complete failure setting off whatever huge nasty trap we didn't see. It might have helped to speed up that section of the map a little.
Also, I think I saved Lodwilk's token because it was so fantastic.
When I ran that maptools and vent game monday, one of the guys didn't show up. Just some lurker guy, half-orc ranger, so I made his token a picture of aragorn with green scribbles all over his face and orc teeth drawn in. I didn't want to give away story or anything, so I just made it a drooling idiot they had to watch out for.
One of the traps I'd made was really out of nowhere, just a small golden statue on the middle of a small island surrounded by waterfalls, you had to pass through the water to get to it. Well they were really suspicious, because I'd said I would have a lot of traps, and their perception check had revealed that something was off with the statue, but they weren't sure yet, so after a lot of debating, they were going to leave it alone. Well I wasn''t going to have this, so I made the drooling idiot run after the statue and pick it up. Everyone in the party shouted out at him, telling him to stop... nothing happened. So smart hero told him to toss the statue to him, it exploded into flames the second it touched the water.
Didn't do a ton of damage though. I was going to have it only hurt the half orc until he asked for the statue. Also they completely avoided one trap I was really looking forward to.
During combat the half orc was incredibly useless, missing left and right and left. He eventually missed so much I just said the attack him himself in the foot, I rolled for 1d8 damage. It did 8. That would have almost killed him though so I changed my mind, but damn that guy.
Thinking about that huge ass bridge in the middle of the map with nothing but traps on it, I wonder if something like that might work as a big skill challenge, with failures resulting in various trap effects and a complete failure setting off whatever huge nasty trap we didn't see. It might have helped to speed up that section of the map a little.
Also, I think I saved Lodwilk's token because it was so fantastic.
Yeah, I was so unsure of maptools and how to use traps, that all of my grandiose ideas got shoved to the way-side. I was going to throw much more creative traps at you, but I didn't even open maptools until maybe 3 hours before the game started, so everything was incredibly rushed. Also the bridge was so long because I had no idea how long it would be in relation to you guys. I might want to finish it up sometime, actually finishing the macros and putting better stuff in.
oh, so where we supposed to be able to remember how we got there?
Er. Well not that either. I was mainly trying to say as the DM that you are just in some room, no idea how you got there, you are just all there together. Then the guy bursts in and provides motivation for getting the hell out of there.
Also in retrospect, putting the Retriever at 999999 hp was a bad idea.
Shit, Shit That rabbit hole goes a little to far down for me :P
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UtsanomikoBros before DoesRollin' in the thlayRegistered Userregular
edited July 2009
On one hand, I think it would be hilarious to run Wuthering Heights the Roleplaying game, especially over Vent.
On the other hand, I don't want to have to read any more frickin' Victorian literature for source material.
I guess I'll go despair over the predicament a while longer.
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Tommy2Handswhat is this where am iRegistered Userregular
edited July 2009
I would want to do that sooooo badly
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Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
edited July 2009
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======
Gnarsh, level 1
Half-Orc, Rogue
Build: Brawny Rogue
Rogue Tactics: Ruthless Ruffian
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 11, Dex 20, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 8.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 14, Con 11, Dex 18, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 8.
ITEMS
Leather Armor, Mace, Dagger (2), Adventurer's Kit, Thieves' Tools, Hand Crossbow, Crossbow Bolts (40)
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======
Posts
Yeah we had a defender. A warden. I talked with the barbarian player, and I think I convinced him to retrain swift panther rage for macetail rage. That should increase his survivability quite a bit. Also it will get better as the players get a better feel for their characters, I think.
edit: The warden was doing everything he could, I think. Marking adjacent enemies and all that. It's just that the barbarian kept insisting on charging into the thick of things, and has powers that let him shift a bunch, so the defender couldn't keep up.
edit2: Any tips on monsters that might make the defender fear for his life?
GoFund The Portland Trans Pride March, or Show It To People, or Else!
Give me a quick write up and link, post in the brewery thread, and then I'll put it in the OP
Any monster can make any player fear for his life
You just gotta have the monster focus on the player
Which I mean, unintelligent monsters should already be focusing on the defender, because he hits them with his sword every time they try to attack somebody else
And intelligent monsters get the choice, so, just make them hate that fucking warden for some reason
That warden raped a bear!
And that bear was THEIR FATHER!
An older kid was our DM and he persistently made terrible, terrible DMNPCs and villians and references to other character's pasts
He had this thing about always having some guy who was responsible for raping or murdering a significant other in someone's backstory, always
If you were playing an orphan he'd damn well decide to tell why you were an orphan
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
I think everyone has had at least one DM who did stupid bullshit like this.
GoFund The Portland Trans Pride March, or Show It To People, or Else!
ayep
No
I've only played with se++ people though, so I don't think I count.
He killed a guy that was resisting arrest because he didn't know that, as a Warden, he could turn into a huge tree monster. So he got charged with police brutality and kicked out of the city.
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
in mid-combat, even!
Yet again he is screwing with my backstory
One friend I had that DMd when I was first starting out on 3.0 really loved rust monsters. So much so that anyone who played under him didn't want to make any sort of tank or cleric in a can, because as soon as you spent all your starting gold on full plate, it was gone forever after the first dungeon.
This is my mode of operation; the NPCs accompanying the group will express substantially less authority, motivation and initiative than the PCs.
Although sometimes this can be a challenge.
"Hah! You're hardly worth the effort," sneers the wicked man you have come to despise: Marten "The Hand" Ethar, spymaster of Zhentil Keep.
"Don't you get it boy?" Marten asks. "Your life is in my hand," he says, holding up a terribly scarred and deformed appendage, more claw than hand. "One word to those Telthar back at the Gate and you'll be filling the bellies of the crows before the days out."
Enraged, you struggle against the ropes holding you to the chair in the basement of this filthy basement in the city of Waterdeep. "Ah! there's that fighting spirit you Calsens are known for - heh - I mean were known for..." He taunts, grinning at his insult.
"Anyway, on to business. There's a women I want you to spy on, travels by the name of Darla Moonstride. I have reason to suspect she's an operative of those damnable Harpers, and I want you to find out what she knows, without tipping the bitch off. My contacts tell me she's leaving tomorrow morning with a merchant caravan headed to Silverymoon. We don't have many agents there, so I'll trust that the thought of your surviving family members' heads tarred and spiked will be enough motivation not to try to run again." He rushes towards you, shoving you against a rough stone wall, his crippled right hand like a vise upon your neck. "Remember this moment boy. Burn it into your memory. If you ever act against me or my brothers in the Keep, this will be the last sensation you ever feel...after I've had my fun with you."
You struggle for breathe, and as you begin to fall unconscious, you feel your rope bonds cut, and you tumble to the ground. A small bag drops near your head, the familiar clink of coins from within.
"Buy passage onto the caravan. Find out what the Moonstride woman knows. We will contact you. When someone tell you "It looks like a black storm is coming in from the south" you will respond "Yes, but the wind blows darker from the east." We are always watching Calsen.
Never forget that.
I miss DMing
First game I ever ran was also the first game I ever played
It was a travesty for a lot of reasons, but my DMPC was a big one of those
And because of that I've kinda grown like this
I'm going to have to have a DMPC that I've been playing up as a rocking dude (and he is a rocking dude, admittedly) in on of my upcoming M&M games, we'll see how that goes.
One of the traps I'd made was really out of nowhere, just a small golden statue on the middle of a small island surrounded by waterfalls, you had to pass through the water to get to it. Well they were really suspicious, because I'd said I would have a lot of traps, and their perception check had revealed that something was off with the statue, but they weren't sure yet, so after a lot of debating, they were going to leave it alone. Well I wasn''t going to have this, so I made the drooling idiot run after the statue and pick it up. Everyone in the party shouted out at him, telling him to stop... nothing happened. So smart hero told him to toss the statue to him, it exploded into flames the second it touched the water.
Didn't do a ton of damage though. I was going to have it only hurt the half orc until he asked for the statue. Also they completely avoided one trap I was really looking forward to.
During combat the half orc was incredibly useless, missing left and right and left. He eventually missed so much I just said the attack him himself in the foot, I rolled for 1d8 damage. It did 8. That would have almost killed him though so I changed my mind, but damn that guy.
"Well, i know where ever we are from, they have mute stunned half orcs"
Thinking about that huge ass bridge in the middle of the map with nothing but traps on it, I wonder if something like that might work as a big skill challenge, with failures resulting in various trap effects and a complete failure setting off whatever huge nasty trap we didn't see. It might have helped to speed up that section of the map a little.
Also, I think I saved Lodwilk's token because it was so fantastic.
Is
Is your meat entirely illusory, Hero?
I have been lied to
Roll for Diplomacy and see if the tramp tells you
The shouldn't was because I hit enter too early, I was saying "you shouldn't be here, why are you here?" type thing.
And yes, I was disappointed when you knocked my t rex onto its fucking back by stabbing it in the face from the hill you were on.
okay I got a 22
Yeah, I was so unsure of maptools and how to use traps, that all of my grandiose ideas got shoved to the way-side. I was going to throw much more creative traps at you, but I didn't even open maptools until maybe 3 hours before the game started, so everything was incredibly rushed. Also the bridge was so long because I had no idea how long it would be in relation to you guys. I might want to finish it up sometime, actually finishing the macros and putting better stuff in.
The tramp ignores you, and instead slowly shuffles across to the paladin known as ANTVGM and asks him if he wants some oral relief.
Er. Well not that either. I was mainly trying to say as the DM that you are just in some room, no idea how you got there, you are just all there together. Then the guy bursts in and provides motivation for getting the hell out of there.
Also in retrospect, putting the Retriever at 999999 hp was a bad idea.
On the other hand, I don't want to have to read any more frickin' Victorian literature for source material.
I guess I'll go despair over the predicament a while longer.
Gnarsh, level 1
Half-Orc, Rogue
Build: Brawny Rogue
Rogue Tactics: Ruthless Ruffian
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 11, Dex 20, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 8.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 14, Con 11, Dex 18, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 8.
AC: 17 Fort: 13 Reflex: 17 Will: 10
HP: 23 Surges: 6 Surge Value: 5
TRAINED SKILLS
Stealth +10, Thievery +10, Intimidate +6, Dungeoneering +5, Streetwise +4, Bluff +4
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +5, Arcana, Diplomacy -1, Endurance +2, Heal, History, Insight, Nature, Perception, Religion, Athletics +3
FEATS
Level 1: Backstabber
POWERS
Rogue at-will 1: Deft Strike
Rogue at-will 1: Sly Flourish
Rogue encounter 1: Dazing Strike
Rogue daily 1: Pommel Smash
ITEMS
Leather Armor, Mace, Dagger (2), Adventurer's Kit, Thieves' Tools, Hand Crossbow, Crossbow Bolts (40)
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======
how's that look?