Pens and Papers

[KONGO]

Don't be afraid to be firm. That's the biggest thing that stays in my head when dealing with people. As long as you're firm and reasonable and not an asshole, people will generally understand that you're just trying to move things along. Raising the volume of my voice without shouting is one I use often, just to cut above the din. Also, you have to play the rope out a bit, and play into it. The best way to break something up is from the inside. If you go along with the joke for a bit and then try to rein it back, it feels like everybody had their chance to laugh and now it's time to get back to the game.

As for "someone more charismatic," I had something slightly of that sort with my first session. Just asserting my position, not by explicitly saying "You're stepping on my toes" but cutting him off after he cut me off, saying politely that I'm in the middle of speaking, etc. If someone's going to be the sort that will ignore cues like that, you probably don't want them at the table at all.

[EWB's Best Poster.]

I'm playing a game where we are the scouts to a party of a few hundred with an army days away from us numbering in the thousands that want to kill us.

I know I can stop them with my witch character given some time and questionable actions that the monk and cleric shouldn't be privy to.

Thing is I need a level. They are 14 days away. We had unlocked a shrine that lets us rest for a day in two hours.

So we rest and start scouting. We get in a single fight that lasts four rounds.

Now he us telling us we have 12 days. The fuck? When does two hours of napping and four rounds of combat equal two days???

Kinda pissed.

[Ruki]

Maybe they picked up speed? Maybe they are secretly horses? Or maybe the 'two hours' is actually two days!!!

But are those 2 days really gonna make a difference? If he really wanted to, he'd teleport the entire army in front of you!

But I am curious as to what your plans are for dealing with that giant army.

[EWB's Best Poster.]

Well they posses an anti magic field they can tote around. So the key is to fuck with them knowing they can't detect it easily.

I'm more upset about drawing a line then changing it arbitrarily. Give me a solid goal and I'll do it. But making a two hour rest into a two day loss of time means no matter what I plan for it will happen. So if its going to happen then yeah... Teleport them in and get it over with.

[thatblindgeye]

Our group tends to have a lot of off topic chatting. It can feel like we never really do anything in the campaign because of it. It doesn't help that we try to play once a week, but it seems more like once every couple of weeks. And when we do get together for a session we plan for a start time of around 3, but one of the guys never shows up until like 5 (the 'main' DM, who will also sometimes pack up his stuff and assume we are done because someone has texted him to go out and do something). When I took my first stab at being a DM it came off as nobody being interested in the story or that I was doing a bad job. It's just a case of not wanting to look like an asshole as well.

The 'not listening' thing actually lead to a great moment when I was doing the Abbey campaign. Someone had discovered a necklace or something, and the thief of the group took a look at it an pocketed it while the other person wasn't even paying attention, so I just let it happen. Later on when they ran into an enemy that wanted the necklace, the person who originally found it was in for a small surprise.

[KONGO]

Yeah, you have to allow some off topic stuff or else it just gets too strict. But you've gotta be an asshole sometimes if you're the guy in charge. I don't trust people in charge when they don't ever put their foot down.

[thatblindgeye]

Yeah, some off topic is good. Luckily I don't think it's AS bad now that we're down to only four players (we used to have 7 and the other three left one at a time, thankfully). I feel bad with the person running the Shadowrun campaign, because we do some out of battle stuff, but it doesn't feel like we advance all that much in each session. Once I DM an Avatar campaign, I'm going to be a bit more firm, or try to be, especially because when I did the Abbey it felt like a couple of people were trying to take advantage of me being newer to D&D. From reading various topics I've learned at least to not have arguments mid-session about how something works just to keep things from coming to a halt. I'm hoping doing my own story for the Avatar thing will be a bit better than a pre-written adventure.

[Ruki]

Yeah, if I'm not sure on a rule, I'll just make a judgement call in game and then look it up later.

[EWB's Best Poster.]

Always best. "For now its this. If it changes we can alter too. Now roll."

[Sousa]

Rule 1 is "you're the DM." This is also the next thirty-seven rules.

[GhostMachine]

There are different ways of taking care of problem players and too much OOC.

I don't DM/GM a lot, but I don't mind OOC so much in D&D. Shadowrun, however, is another story. Depending on the type of campaign/mission, it can feel like you're Spec Ops, Covert Ops, the frickin A-Team, or something out of Mission: Impossible. Too much OOC can ruin that, and if I'm the GM, that will call down the thunder. I won't get mad or attempt to kill off the PCs, but I'll make the mission harder and will be less likely to fudge rolls in their favor. (I never fudge rolls against players - with one exception: Rules Lawyer type players. Those piss me off to no end, so I tend to make things harder for them)

One thing I do whenever I DM/GM: each player gets one - and only one - free re-roll during the game. But it can only be used as a `save your ass' roll: re-rolling a failed save, a botched elemental or spirit summoning (or banish) or an attempt to turn undead, a failed Raise Dead, or to make a critical hit on the player a normal hit using defense instead is fine. Re-rolling damage dealt or a missed shot is out. In the case of Shadowrun, I won't let a spellcaster re-roll a drain roll, unless its a situation where failing it would get them or another party member into some deep shit. I also allow the players to ask me to re-roll one result I got during the game - and it can be a roll for anything, except on loot tables - but its a team vote, not one re-roll per player asking.

[thatblindgeye]

I had trouble fudging rolls on two occasions due to two people looking over the screen into the dice tray I was using, but luckily that never happened again. I don't understand why you would feel the need to look over the screen, unless you wanted to confirm a natural 20. The only concern I have is with the main DM, because he can be horrible as a player, whether it be trying to get away with stuff ("TECHNICALLY I'm not lying, so I don't have to roll Bluff") or just acting like a know-it-all. Though that could just be more down to his personality being grating rather than being a problem player.

With Shadowrun, it is really fun when we are on a mission or whatever, but the last couple times all we've basically done was fly in a helicopter and destroy a couple drones and walk around a city, looking for stuff to buy, out of about four hour sessions or so (give or take time for getting and eating food).

Edited May 17, 2013 by Vitamin E

[Ruki]

So....my friend wants me to run a one off Pathfinder game for her birthday. The people playing will likely be inexperienced/have no experience with the system.....what level should I start them at? What's some fun one off stuff I can do?

[EWB's Best Poster.]

5 or 6 is a great start. By then you should have a caster that could cast say a fire ball or two then has to count on the fighters to really clean up. The healers could have a huge boost of healing and then have to carefully portion. Many classes get a cool "trick" around then, making them more unique.

If its JUST a one off? 7 would be best if you never intend to come back to it.

5 if you do then when they do come back just tell them they have two more levels.

[Ruki]

5 or 6 is a great start. By then you should have a caster that could cast say a fire ball or two then has to count on the fighters to really clean up. The healers could have a huge boost of healing and then have to carefully portion. Many classes get a cool "trick" around then, making them more unique.

If its JUST a one off? 7 would be best if you never intend to come back to it.

5 if you do then when they do come back just tell them they have two more levels.

Yup, will just be a one off. So I will plan for level 7 encounters.

And I already know what the prize at the end will be: A Deck Of Many Things. Altered, of course, since stuff like 'fight the next monster solo and gain a level' won't really be appropriate. One I like? "You are now immortal...because you've become a tarrasque."

[EWB's Best Poster.]

Oh deck of many things. Just another game where your introduction heralds the end of a game.

[KONGO]

Trying to think of a good encounter idea to cap this adventure off. My PCs have followed a trail of clues towards where some stolen saffron is. It's been somewhat light on fighting so far so I'd like to put a good one at the end. I'm playing a no magic game in a city, no monsters, just humans, which obviously restricts my options on just slotting in some fantastical monster. Thinking perhaps a squad of specialized fighters, though I need to figure out how to flavor that into my game. Does anyone know any good level 1-2 archetypes that would make formidable opponents? Party is level 1, six people, but two are really poorly suited for combat.

Was also thinking of traps, but not sure which ones would play best in a city environment.

[Ruki]

Trying to think of a good encounter idea to cap this adventure off. My PCs have followed a trail of clues towards where some stolen saffron is. It's been somewhat light on fighting so far so I'd like to put a good one at the end. I'm playing a no magic game in a city, no monsters, just humans, which obviously restricts my options on just slotting in some fantastical monster. Thinking perhaps a squad of specialized fighters, though I need to figure out how to flavor that into my game. Does anyone know any good level 1-2 archetypes that would make formidable opponents? Party is level 1, six people, but two are really poorly suited for combat.

Was also thinking of traps, but not sure which ones would play best in a city environment.

A burglar and his crew?

A Cultist and her followers? Who, for some reason, need saffron to summon the Old Ones.

[KONGO]

No magic like no magic. None of that stuff, really. There's something stand-in but they're not near the level where they'd be encountering all that. Know any good city traps?

[Ruki]

I kinda forgot that part when I saw the cultist

As for traps....someone could protect their home/base/whatever with bear traps or can protect their goods with trapped treasure chests.