Pens and Papers

[Ruki]

Play by post? Happened a few times, but loses steam fast.

[Kuji]

Yeah, I imagine it would happen like in the mafia forum.

I have a hard time playing irl (lack of buddies close by to do so) and online, so I joined a website where they play it by post using the basic Pathfinder core rulebook + homebrew. Honestly for me, it is the best I can do with the lack of irl buddies and time/study constraints.

[theburninator77]

In my current game I play as a tank character, I decided I wanted to try and actually do a little bit of damage for our next encounter so I bought a enlarge person and bull's strength potion.  After drinking the enlarge person potion I suddenly remembered that not only would my height be double, but my weight would be multiplied by eight.  My character went from weighing a modest 200-ish pounds to weighing in at 3/4 of a ton.  In the battle we were dealing with archers on rooftops.... they weren't a problem since my character just attempted to climb on the buildings with the archers, the building didn't support my weight and collapsed.  I got a couple of scratches, cuts, and bruises; the archers however died in all of the debris.

[Ruki]

I killed a player in Pathfinder today!

 

The players were going through this temple of trials...3 really easy things (first: a room with 12 doors, different descriptions of each...they just all had to make a decision, second: a lever that when pulled causes spikes to come out of the ceiling and lower....holding the lever again would stop it. It would stop right before them and open. Third; A bizarre room with buttons and levers...they just needed to go out the door).

 

At the end they came to a room where they would receive boons or banes. Bunch of different effects/abilities they might get...like 10 good, 5 neutral, 5 bad). First player goes....she gets +2 to two ability scores...but then those scores swap (her Charisma took a small hit, but Int went up to 18). Second player...-1 Con perminantly. Next player...death. Straight up. Then player #2 (reincarnated, grew a tail, lost all magical items, alignment change and can roll initiative twice) and #4 (gender change, can breath water, immune to water but weak to air/elec, always drunk) took the rest of the boons/buffs.

[Ruki]

Hey! Anyone interested in getting into the super awesome Pathfinder game?

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/paizo-pathfinder-bundle

 

THey have a lot of their books on the Humble Bundle. Just $1 gets you enough to get up and running.

[Toe]

I have 2 people interested in trying D&D. I know 2 is not ideal for a group, but am struggling to find a third or fourth player. Do you think it would be OK for me to add myself into the group as a 3rd character while I am also the DM? I'd probably be a support character, and make sure that the character is not leading the group unless they are stuck.

[Ruki]

Ehh...I have never been a fan of DM-PCs. In my experience it's always been a "Oh look how awesome this guy is who is following your party!" Plus, if he does ever speak up to help solve a problem, then it's just the DM giving the party the answers.

 

I'd say go on Kijiji and post an add, finding a local MeetUp group, or go to a game store and ask around there if anyone is looking for a game.

[Toe]

35 minutes ago, Ruki said:

Ehh...I have never been a fan of DM-PCs. In my experience it's always been a "Oh look how awesome this guy is who is following your party!" Plus, if he does ever speak up to help solve a problem, then it's just the DM giving the party the answers.

 

I'd say go on Kijiji and post an add, finding a local MeetUp group, or go to a game store and ask around there if anyone is looking for a game.

I don't think this group would want someone they don't know joining them. They are very new to this stuff. I think I'll just keep looking for another player. I can always start the campaign with just the two of them, and then add in a new player when we find one.

[GhostMachine]

My advice to Toe:

If you can't find an actual third player, make up a Fighter character who is essentially a henchman for the players. You make the rolls for the character, but other than fighting, his interactions are limited to what the players' characters say to him, and they're his boss. (No helping solve puzzles - he's dumber than a post when it comes to such things - and no running into NPCs he knows and striking up conversations with them other than RPing how he meets the players, Make up some backstory and history for him and give him a personality if you want to, and RP it) Fudge rolls if you have to, so he doesn't end up being the hero or making the players feel like crap. (For example, treat any crit rolls as normal hits, and do NOT let him get in any finishing blows unless the group is being attacked by a lot of skeletons or goblins or something along those lines)  

Since you're introducing new people to D&D, you might want to make it challenging but not too brutal. Be willing to mess with things a bit. If it were me, the players' characters would be damageable, but I woulon't let them die unless its due to their own stupidity. (And there's a difference between making mistakes and being stupid) After 2 or 3 adventures, take the gloves off.

 

Edited March 7, 2016 by GhostMachine

[OctoberRaven]

Non-intended use for a spell:

Fireball straight into the air = Signal flare.

[GhostMachine]

Waste of a Fireball spell, unless its used in an extremely dire situation. 

[OctoberRaven]

6 hours ago, GhostMachine said:

Waste of a Fireball spell, unless its used in an extremely dire situation. 

Or if you know that you won't need that spell slot.

My DM encourages creative spellcasting. For example, surviving an avalanche unscathed by letting it knock you upwards after casting Feather Fall.

A lot of our sessions are non-or-low combat. To the point where my wizard's most often used spell is Sending.

[Toe]

I ran a session for a group of 5 on Saturday. Most were new to D&D, with 1 being completely new to RPGs in general. Since it's my first time running a game of D&D (and second time DMing anything) I chose to run the Lost Mines Of Phandelvar from the D&D Starter Set.

I think it was a bit of fun. Some of the players easily got into character, and I think playing without a map sheet or models allowed for them to be a little more creative in combat. The early part of this adventure is heavy on combat, and they definitely have picked up on how squishy they are at level one. In fact, the Paladin was already knocked out by a wolf, and had to be saved by the Cleric.

After the first season, everyone said they were enjoying themselves. The one player new to roleplaying seemed a bit quiet during gameplay, but she said she was just unsure of where to act and when to interject. In the next session (they are about halfway through the first encounter, and I stopped them right before what could be a very large fight), I am going to try and focus more on her character to get her into it more. The other players don't seem to have any issues.

I was intending to play this one with a little more serious tone, until one of the players named themselves Boobs. At that point, I just went with the flow. It was fun!

[OctoberRaven]

Non-intended use for a spell #2:

If you can see it and have line of clear sight to it, you can hit it with a magic missile.

Magic missile causes force damage, making it basically a magical Punch.

Thusly, if you spot a trap that's triggered by something like a trip wire, as long as you can actually see the wire or any other mechanism, you can use it to activate that trap, effectively disabling it.

[Toe]

6 hours ago, OctoberRavenO said:

Non-intended use for a spell #2:

If you can see it and have line of clear sight to it, you can hit it with a magic missile.

Magic missile causes force damage, making it basically a magical Punch.

Thusly, if you spot a trap that's triggered by something like a trip wire, as long as you can actually see the wire or any other mechanism, you can use it to activate that trap, effectively disabling it.

I was once playing a game as a Sorcerer and came across a wire trap. I didn't want to disarm it, so I just stepped away and used Acid Splash on it to set it off with my party standing a safe distance back.

[Toe]

I was finally able to get my two friends into a game. I invited a third friend of mine who I thought would be able to help them if they had some trouble with the game and their characters. Instead of running the Lost Mines Of Phandelvar, I decided to write my own adventure that was tailored to getting them to level 2, while also challenging them with some bigger creatures right from the start.

I had the characters meet in a small fishing village, where they were asked to go hunt for Elk - the traditional meal for the annual Summer Harvest Feast. While hunting, they had their first real encounter with a Black Bear. I thought this would be challenging for them - until the Dwarf Barbarian rolled insane and nearly killed the bear with only one strike. They quickly dispatched the bear, found enough Elk for the feast, and returned home.

On the way back, they encountered two Worgs feasting on their previous owners. Again, I wanted this to be a challenge so the new characters would really get to use their characters abilities and experience combat. Instead, the Barbarian and the Fighter posted up and readied, and as soon as the Worg's came in to attack they were almost instantly killed. I did manage to strike the Barbarian, but because he decided to Rage, his damage resistance prevented him from going down. This encounter also started the story - one of the goblins had a Hag's Eye on him, although none of the characters were actually able to identify it. 

They ended the session by taking part in the feast, getting very drunk, and then waking up to find that someone's child had been stolen overnight. 

I had a lot of fun. Writing my own adventure allowed me to improvise a bit more, and it was very satisfying when the players went in the direction I intended. In the next session, I plan on giving them more choices and more situations that can be resolved in different ways.

The 2 new players said they had fun, and while they may have struggled with where to jump in and what they're allowed to do, they seemed to grasp the game pretty well and were excited to get a second session going.

I am tempted to still search for a fourth player. This party is made up of a Half-Elf Rogue, a Human Fighter, and a Dwarf Barbarian (modelled after a Warhammer Troll Slayer). They have no magic users or healers, and I think it could be good to have someone different in the group. It's still early enough that throwing in a new character would be really easy, and the next session is going to probably be very combat heavy if they go where I want them to. 

[Toe]

Put my party through session #2 - their first dungeon crawl. Nearly killed the whole party by throwing 7 goblins, a bug bear chief, and a green hag (who stayed back and then ran away as part of the plot) at them. Even at level 2, the bug bear was lethal with his attacks.

[Toe]

http://geekandsundry.com/exclusive-star-trek-adventures-is-the-first-new-star-trek-rpg-in-over-a-decade/

A new Star Trek tabletop RPG. As long as this doesn't turn out to be a total tire fire, I'm going to be forcing my group to play this for sure!

[OctoberRaven]

So the 5e game I was in had it's big finale recently.

Final battle was us vs a high-level Drow caster riding brass dragon Dominated by an Orb of Dragonkind.

Our basic plan was to have the brawly types try to dis-arm the Drow, my wizard trying to use mind-effecting enchantments on the drow while Counterspelling, while NPC allies/recruits (Cleric serving a noble my wizard is bethrothed to, long-term party ally, and a headmaster of an evil wizard academy who we convinced to go along) played support by having a Wall of Force as a shield and casting buffs (which served more as making the drow counterspell than anything).

Zero casualties (my wizard was close; took a Disintegrate but thanks to abjuration spec survived, also took minimal damage from fire breath due to a protection item purchased right before). The party ally and the evil wizard both tried to grab the orb; my wizard managed to counterspell the latter and made the evil wizard leave in defeat. Brass Dragon, being naturally good, made the drow Deader Than Dead for using the Orb of Dragonkind. Ally just wanted to hide existence of dragons (being a Gold Dragon in disguise, not that any of us knew that IC).

Ending was pretty satisfying in a "go our seperate ways" route, too.

Group is going to play Pathfinder next with a different GM. Going to play a rogue who's a runaway from a barbarian tribe (running away because of an arranged marriage; a semi-intentional parallel to my wizard who had a 'I don't love him but it doesn't matter, this is for my family' attitude). Was going to be a backup character in the 5e game as I became tempted to go for this character just to demonstrate how chaotic neutral in a lawful good party can function (partly by not being Chaotic Stupid by doing things like trying to steal from your own damn party)

[OctoberRaven]

Oh yeah, almost forgot. Best statblock ever: 14/16/15/16/12/17. And that's BEFORE racial modifiers.