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PA comic: Monday Nov. 28, 2011 - The Conflux, Part Three
Ramius
Joined: July 19, 2000Administrator, ClubPA admin
Joined: July 19, 2000Administrator, ClubPA admin
Ramius on
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Devious dungeon masters.
Even if it shows up on the Season 3 DVD.
tata
No no, don't you see? The party can easily cope with death and danger, but this is going to test their emotional capacity to one another. Tycho is proposing having the party turn on itself, which could effectively end the game. Which means the DMs win.
Tycho with red eyes!
Yeeeeees
That's exactly what I'm suggesting! I like to think of it as metagaming for the DM.
The point of these encounters was the players had to split their resources between attacking different targets (some of whom ALSO had force spells), while also trying to use the ability to change from being ethereal form to their advantage to avoid monsters that were real (similarly, the monsters also fully understood the rules). As they progressed I mixed this up further with terrain such as water, lava, pits (being ethereal would allow a creature to "fly" over a pit, walk over lava without damage or walk on water, but they risked being knocked out of it by a force spell and dropping), traps like the encounter with the very real orb of annihilation and "movable" mist (burst/blast effects would allow a player to shit the mist where they wanted. The trap did not change to an ethereal object, allowing a player to avoid the rolling orb of annihilation with good strategy).
Here you don't need to inherently break up the party whatsoever, just change the rules enough that they have to split their resources to combat the threat they're facing. Inherently, you've increased how challenging the encounters are without having to significantly alter the rules of the game (just using the framework that already exists). In this example, the first encounter simply had regular monsters and zones of ethereal energy, then just more or less let the players figure out what was going on. If they cottoned onto the unique aspect of force, it meant that they gained a pretty big advantage as the parties controller couldn't be touched (pretty much). The next encounter mixed this up with a more unique mix of creatures. The next added a flooded room filled with fetid water and aquatic monsters plus ghosts (whom I changed around the insubstantial qualities of). So on and so forth, until the final battle with a dreadful dracolich on broken bone covered islands surrounded by a sea of roiling ghostly water.
To say it was very successful and genuinely challenged a decently optimized level 21+ party in 4E was something I am still proud of.
You prefer the old-style bananahands?
1. don't split the party
2. the door/chest/small child is trapped
3.never trust a rakshasa
4.don't draw a card when a tarot deck emanates strong magic
5.DON'T SPLIT THE FUCKING PARTY
If the DM splits the party up "a wall appears" or "a trapdoor opens beneath two of you" or any of that crap, then it's the DM's fault and the group will be pissed.
You have to sow their internal conflict, and allow it to ripen like poisonous fruit. They must be the architects of their own demise.
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Yes actually.
Yes
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/05/05
http://penny-arcade.com/comic/1998/11/18
I figured. Guess I just never noticed before. You picked hilariously awful examples of hands though. Wow.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/01/05
Man, what a gem. The comics with bitchslaps are just better. They're like PA royalty.
The hands in this issue are just odd. I don't think Gabe could figure out how to make them both goofy and dramatic. FF in panel one makes up for any and all hand deficiencies though.
Well the first one is hand which is supposed to be a withered claw, so obviously it's supposed to be bent all out of shape, and the second one is their first comic so I mean there ya go.
Maybe they could catch things if they were drawn better. :bz
I bet he could catch things with his feet.