Yeah I thought about that. That's why I'm focusing on tying the adventure around their backstories rather than forcing them to follow the adventure based on a specific reason. So, if they stay in-character well enough, they should stick to the general path.
[QUOTE=ReapDaWrapper;48130919]I feel like it will take at least a few different adventures to even come close to facing a Lich, but I'm having trouble thinking of meaningful story hooks and global intrigue along the way.[/QUOTE]
Random story hook generators can ease the brainstorming process but in the end your own talent at writing will be the deciding factor on what you consider meaningful. One of the easiest ways to create a hook is to have it tied in with your players and their characters history -- the catch being a diverse party is unlikely to have common enough ground (without forcing them) to collectively care about any one thing. You're likely to get a bunch of dry and shitty "explanation" novels than any real back story though -- at least it seems to be the general mentality in online groups since they've been spoiled with the availability of play it provides.
This is different of course if you're playing with people you've known for a long time that have a history of giving a damn about their games -- the greatest boon any GM could ask for.
[QUOTE=ReapDaWrapper;48131417]Yeah I thought about that. That's why I'm focusing on tying the adventure around their backstories rather than forcing them to follow the adventure based on a specific reason. So, if they stay in-character well enough, they should stick to the general path.[/QUOTE]
This is one of the better reasons to play with people that put a lot of work and care into their back stories. Their characters will have general behavior patterns that, provided the players are good at role playing, can be easily exploited to make them do what you want (even the randumbs). Natural character growth is the only way to justify shenanigans and that requires time and investment. Character growth only moves forward and is simply replacing old behavior patterns either way, so it's easy to deal with.
It's also the reason I won't GM for groups that don't make good back stories anymore. Without prior contex they can too easily do things [I]they[/I] want to do and not something their [I]character[/I] would. Most players probably don't even realize they're doing it, but not having a clearly defined character (further growth aside) is on the opposite end of the classic Hendorson equation. Hendorson had an overabundance of written excuses for everything little tiny thing he did, but the other (not having anything; maybe a few lines at most) can make up new excuses and behavioral patterns because they have no overwatch to check and balance -- they have no responsibility to or for their character integrity and the GM can't card them for it. It's the prime reason you get the random shenanigans that have become famous greentext, which is fine if that's what you want but anything else will require much more player investment that many aren't willing to give.
As an aside, requiring players to make detailed back stories (and pray they understand what [I]story[/I] means) makes "planning for everything" laughably easy (if you can put yourself into their characters mindset) and I recommend it for any GM that can't make things up as they go (this will become much easier the more you play with those characters in your game).
If you ever find yourself in such a scenario that you can reliably predict what your players will do, then the best piece of advice I can give on that is not to create situations in which the character has many choices to complete their objective but only one is the way their character would use. This creates that rail-road with a lot of [I]"if only I wasn't LG I could be having FUN"[/I] misery. Instead of using your ability to predict what the characters would do and then give them effectively [I]nothing[/I] to do, you instead give them the opposite. Use their history and patterns to create situations in which they are under the illusion of great choice; so many ways to complete their objective and only a few their character would outright forgo -- the best rail road is the one that players don't even know they're on.
[QUOTE=Alice3173;48124141]When your players (in my case one of them at least) has a history of fudging their character rolls to be more powerful allowing them to roll their characters beforehand is a bad idea regardless of the general consensus on it.[/QUOTE]
It's Star Wars: Age of Rebellion, there is no randomness at all, it's entirely point buy.
I always use point buy when running a game. If I want to play a Rogue, I want to build a rogue. I don't want to get super boned by bad rolls or start off super overpowered because of good rolls.
[QUOTE=Alsojames;48135000]I always use point buy when running a game. If I want to play a Rogue, I want to build a rogue. I don't want to get super boned by bad rolls or start off super overpowered because of good rolls.[/QUOTE]
The only system where Point buy doesn't matter is 40k and Cthulhu.
Because if you're trying to go for an "optimal build" you completely misunderstand the system.
I just don't like being the party X and not being able to do my job properly because the dice gods decided to screw me over.
Yeah, it's more fun for everyone if you're all around the same level of effectiveness and have a niche.
[QUOTE=Rents;48140111]Yeah, it's more fun for everyone if you're all around the same level of effectiveness and have a niche.[/QUOTE]
there are very few tabletop RPGs in which the ideal party is [i]not[/i] the A-Team
Yeah, I've come to learn that the party's balance relative to the world is much less important than the characters' balance relative to eachother is. The GM can tweak the former entirely on their end, the latter just ends in irritation.
[QUOTE=elowin;48140358]there are very few tabletop RPGs in which the ideal party is [i]not[/i] the A-Team[/QUOTE]
I need to make a rigger in SR who used personachips so much he thinks he's actually Howlin Mad Murdoch.
Do ye guys do regular games in here? If so, I'd love to join one to get into Pen 'n' Paper RPGs in general to see if it is my cup of tea.
[QUOTE=elowin;48140358]there are very few tabletop RPGs in which the ideal party is [i]not[/i] the A-Team[/QUOTE]
pretty much every RPG I've ever ran and/or played in [i]eventually[/i] became a hyperviolent recreation of the A-Team
the only difference is that usually 3 outta 4 players are Murdock and one guy is Face
[QUOTE=Mezzokoko;48140726]Do ye guys do regular games in here? If so, I'd love to join one to get into Pen 'n' Paper RPGs in general to see if it is my cup of tea.[/QUOTE]
Often people come here to scoop up players for various games, or, failing that, you could always learn to GM, these crazy fuckers need more people to supervise them on their adventures anyways :v:
[QUOTE=Alsojames;48135000]I always use point buy when running a game. If I want to play a Rogue, I want to build a rogue. I don't want to get super boned by bad rolls or start off super overpowered because of good rolls.[/QUOTE]
But dude, the developers at the paizo forums outright said you shouldn't try to play optimally! To them, as long as the strength-based wizard or intelligence-focused whip using rogue gets one or two moments to shine in a campaign, it's [I]all[/I] worth it.
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;48142660]But dude, the developers at the paizo forums outright said you shouldn't try to play optimally! To them, as long as the strength-based wizard or intelligence-focused whip using rogue gets one or two moments to shine in a campaign, it's [I]all[/I] worth it.[/QUOTE]
And yet you WILL get FUCKED in pf if you aren't optimal. You just WILL. It's how the game is designed. Past a certain point (REALLY low level, like the first 3) if you aren't building right you will get destroyed by everything and be completely useless compared to your party members that ARE building right.
The only true way to play PF is to not have combat ever, clearly. Turn it into a political intrigue simulator.
[QUOTE=gufu;48142922]The only true way to play PF is to not have combat ever, clearly. Turn it into a political intrigue simulator.[/QUOTE]
I think I killed a grand total of 1 NPC (directly) during all of my PF times as a bard. Fighting things directly is just so predictable, and doing non-slashy things in the background and foreground of things is really much more rewarding.
[QUOTE=gufu;48142922]The only true way to play PF is to not have combat ever, clearly. Turn it into a political intrigue simulator.[/QUOTE]
Even then, you'd want high charisma, lots of points in social skills, and social feats. That or stealth and other such utility things, either way if you build wrong you'll STILL be left in the dust.
Party managed to kill all the NPCs that were supposed to lead us to the black spider in the lost mines module :v:
[QUOTE=leonthefox;48144168]Party managed to kill all the NPCs that were supposed to lead us to the black spider in the lost mines module :v:[/QUOTE]
Even with mine carts, they're off the rails.
Anybody here ever try Traveller? It seems pretty cool.
[QUOTE=ElTacoLad;48144325]Anybody here ever try Traveller? It seems pretty cool.[/QUOTE]
I tried making a character for it once.
He died before I was finished.
[QUOTE=elowin;48144578]I tried making a character for it once.
He died before I was finished.[/QUOTE]
Stop playing non-Mongoose Traveller/Iron Man Mode.
[editline]7th July 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=ElTacoLad;48144325]Anybody here ever try Traveller? It seems pretty cool.[/QUOTE]
It's alright. I think I've just had [I]too many[/I] games of it that started off cool and got drawn out without cool things happening for too long(to the fault of nobody in particular), because I've kind of lost any will to play it at this point.
So what is a good system to blase an (relativity) hard sci-fi space exploration RPG on?
[QUOTE=Deathgrunt;48145551]So what is a good system to blase an (relativity) hard sci-fi space exploration RPG on?[/QUOTE]
how hard is relativity hard
[QUOTE=Deathgrunt;48145551]So what is a good system to blase an (relativity) hard sci-fi space exploration RPG on?[/QUOTE]
GURPS. Honestly, it's what GURPS was made for, realistic RPGs. But it's slow and hard to learn.
Any kind of realistic RPG is going to be slow though, it comes with emulating all the different aspects of reality with dice.
[QUOTE=gufu;48142922]The only true way to play PF is to not have combat ever, clearly. Turn it into a political intrigue simulator.[/QUOTE]
I played in a game that went a bit like that for part of it, my gnome irritated a lot of dwarves by insisting his name had to be written in sylvan.
[QUOTE=ElTacoLad;48144325]Anybody here ever try Traveller? It seems pretty cool.[/QUOTE]
I swear by it
one of my favorite systems
chargen is really fun, mechanics are simple, the gear porn is second only to shadowrun, and you can do almost any kind of scifi in it (I've successfully run both star-trek style ridiculous high-tech nonsense, and very hard aliens-verse CRT-monitor-punk stuff with about equal success, and our current game is whacky space antics that works equally well.) It can work as soft or hard as you want, basically, and the core system can really be used for anything
mongoose, at least. The other variations are a bit more varied in quality
How useful is (magical) weapon and armor crafting in Pathfinder? I made a character as a War-smith, and have a ton of points in crafting weapons and armor and don't want to actually be that useless.
[QUOTE=SiberysTranq;48152898]I swear by it
one of my favorite systems
chargen is really fun, mechanics are simple, the gear porn is second only to shadowrun, and you can do almost any kind of scifi in it (I've successfully run both star-trek style ridiculous high-tech nonsense, and very hard aliens-verse CRT-monitor-punk stuff with about equal success, and our current game is whacky space antics that works equally well.) It can work as soft or hard as you want, basically, and the core system can really be used for anything
mongoose, at least. The other variations are a bit more varied in quality[/QUOTE]
I posted in a thread on Roll20 applying to a game. Hopefully that pans out, but it's been like 2 days and no response, so I'm not particularly hopeful. Oh well.
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