Roll20 is really good if you're running online games.
[QUOTE=Tagger;47850133]Hey guys. Posted months ago looking for materials to start a DnD 4e game with. Well, I got em. And the custom campaign (or the world's loose basis) is almost done.
Now what I need is tools to run a game. Ill be DMing this. Any specific programs, tables, or documents I should acquire/have on hand for the game?[/QUOTE]
I use OneNote to take notes on EVERYTHING including having tabs for each character so I can remember what they did. It's also really handy for building a sort of quick mini-wiki as I've done for my own world I'm GMing in.
Yeah, onenote is pretty handy, but unless you've got two screens for your PC you might just want to use paper.
What about managing combat?
Roll20.net is handiest, just runs in your browser, you don't need to install shit or fuck around with port forwarding or anything unlike any other game map program I've used.
Im doing a physical game. Still use roll20?
Also in regards to a physical game, how should I tackle loot generation. Id prefer high rarity in regards to magic items rIght now. PCs are colonial mercs fighting tribal natives and possibly local foreign farmers, bandits, guards, etc. Mundane enemies.
[QUOTE=Tagger;47851673]Im doing a physical game. Still use roll20?
Also in regards to a physical game, how should I tackle loot generation. Id prefer high rarity in regards to magic items rn. PCs are colonial mercs fighting tribal natives and possibly local foreign farmers, bandits, guards, etc. Mundane enemies.[/QUOTE]
Randomly generating magical equipment wouldn't be a good idea. If you decided to drop a few magical objects into the game for the players to acquire, conceal it by making the players think they're not magical until they put it on or spend time checking equipment.
Thats good. But what about mundane loot? Non magical, but potentially useful. Im hoping there is a generator program that doesnt chuck in a magical item for the hell of it, or at least one that allows me to specify parameters (level, party size, content).
[QUOTE=Tagger;47851673]Im doing a physical game. Still use roll20?
Also in regards to a physical game, how should I tackle loot generation. Id prefer high rarity in regards to magic items rIght now. PCs are colonial mercs fighting tribal natives and possibly local foreign farmers, bandits, guards, etc. Mundane enemies.[/QUOTE]
Oh, graph paper works well, white boards and markers, big sheets of laminated paper, etc. Figurines are nice but I've always end up using Lego, coins, bottle tops and whatever's on hand
[editline]1st June 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=Tagger;47851697]Thats good. But what about mundane loot? Non magical, but potentially useful. Im hoping there is a generator program that doesnt chuck in a magical item for the hell of it, or at least one that allows me to specify parameters (level, party size, content).[/QUOTE]
Mundane loot like gear, or treasure?
[editline]1st June 2015[/editline]
Trade goods are good as treasure too, bottles of fine wine, artwork, shipments of nonperishables, anything that's valuable is treasure, not just coins and gems.
Gear, potions, junk, etc. Im just trying to avoid depriving them of proper loot, but not drown them in riches at the end of a session.
[QUOTE=Tagger;47852470]Gear, potions, junk, etc. Im just trying to avoid depriving them of proper loot, but not drown them in riches at the end of a session.[/QUOTE]
Consumables (scrolls and potions, usable items like elemental gems), adventure gear they lack (silk rope and grapnel, climbing kit, poisons, horses) and then material wealth (coins, gems, jewelry, maybe something like a very valuable mahogany dresser.)
Generally you put that kind of thing in a horde, the main source of treasure in a dungeon, generally only after a respectable fight rather than just some lame bandits.
lame bandits, lame loot
[QUOTE=Pax;47832645]Plan to throw my Shadowrun group up against horrible bug monsters today. Let's see them ghost their way around that! (I'll be back later to relate how they carefully avoided my bug monsters.)[/QUOTE]
Dammit, they ghosted their way around my horrible bug monsters.
[QUOTE=Pax;47852808]Dammit, they ghosted their way around my horrible bug monsters.[/QUOTE]
i'd just like to note how you cannot hide on the astral plane, and spirits are always percieving the astral plane
[QUOTE=elowin;47852868]i'd just like to note how you cannot hide on the astral plane, and spirits are always percieving the astral plane[/QUOTE]
I don't think he meant bug spirits.
I imagine he meant something similar to the True Form things from Shadowrun Returns, or some sort of paracritter.
[QUOTE=Tagger;47852470]Gear, potions, junk, etc. Im just trying to avoid depriving them of proper loot, but not drown them in riches at the end of a session.[/QUOTE]
This one is for Pathfinder but it should still be useful for potions and scrolls, something I've found it especially useful for (and it looks pretty):
[url]http://pathfinder-treasure-generator.com/[/url]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/ZWY2ffi.png[/t]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/50AzRuB.png[/t]
donjon has the best general purpose generators I've seen and with a little configuring you can use it to generate a lot of mundane items:
[url]http://donjon.bin.sh/4e/treasure/[/url]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/DZ2HKzx.png[/t]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/OlNdzEQ.png[/t]
And as always, the best generator of all:
[url]http://www.wizards.com/dnd/bcs/index.htm[/url]
But yeah what Elowin said is still a good thing to note; if you want them to be unable to ghost through something literally, just throw some FAB in their way or a mage who summons shit, because their spirits will always be able to see them unless they're an astral chameleon.
[editline]1st June 2015[/editline]
Or they're ninjas, like Axznma.
I have been thinking about running a JoJo campaing in the future, with either one of the many jojo themed systems people have homebrewed/adapted, or making my own.
The one campaing I played, people could choose their stand abilities during character creation, so I was thinking about having an option for generating random stands, taking a random article from super power wiki as ability and rest being done via rolls or tables.
[QUOTE=leonthefox;47853469]I have been thinking about running a JoJo campaing in the future, with either one of the many jojo themed systems people have homebrewed/adapted, or making my own.
The one campaing I played, people could choose their stand abilities during character creation, so I was thinking about having an option for generating random stands, taking a random article from super power wiki as ability and rest being done via rolls or tables.[/QUOTE]
You could use FATE core or accelerated edition.
And this: [URL]http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~dft29/Stand_Generator/Stand-Generation-Overdrive.html[/URL]
[QUOTE=elowin;47852868]i'd just like to note how you cannot hide on the astral plane, and spirits are always percieving the astral plane[/QUOTE]
Ironically, this is what got me in trouble, because my Astrally Projecting mage player spotted the Insect Spirits while doing recon, so the crew NOPED out of going there. My fault really, we're still leaning the system, and the mage hadn't really been doing anything astral, so I didn't take it into account. Should've surrounded the site with astral barriers or something so they had to physically go inside to find out what was up.
[editline]1st June 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=Rats808;47853165]I don't think he meant bug spirits.
I imagine he meant something similar to the True Form things from Shadowrun Returns, or some sort of paracritter.[/QUOTE]
The one in particular they avoided was a Hybrid. Of course, I don't have Street Grimiore, so I kinda hacked together some mechanics from generic beast spirits and what info I was able to find on the internet. I was actually trying to disabuse them of Insect Spirits as presented in Shadowrun Returns, as most of them have played it.
[QUOTE=Rats808;47853165]I don't think he meant bug spirits.
I imagine he meant something similar to the True Form things from Shadowrun Returns, or some sort of paracritter.[/QUOTE]
True form bug spirits are still bug spirits.
Also, 99% of paracritters are dual-natured.
[QUOTE=Pax;47854223]Ironically, this is what got me in trouble, because my Astrally Projecting mage player spotted the Insect Spirits while doing recon, so the crew NOPED out of going there. My fault really, we're still leaning the system, and the mage hadn't really been doing anything astral, so I didn't take it into account. Should've surrounded the site with astral barriers or something so they had to physically go inside to find out what was up.[/QUOTE]
If the mage can see it, it can see the mage.
And yeah, having astral barriers everywhere important is generally a good idea, and entirely in-setting because pretty much everyone realizes how important it is.
It's also a commonality for corporations to keep all of their secretive shit underground, because you can't pass through the Earth in the Astral plane(even spirits can't pass through Gaia). IIRC this means they usually have like a layer of stone in the middle of all their walls, too, just so even when a mage does find their way down, they still can't just fly through all the walls.(If that isn't a thing it should be.)
[editline]1st June 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=elowin;47855837]If the mage can see it, it can see the mage.[/QUOTE]
Not necessarily. You can see people who aren't astral/dual-natured while projecting, it's just that you only see their aura.
[QUOTE=Rats808;47856203]It's also a commonality for corporations to keep all of their secretive shit underground, because you can't pass through the Earth in the Astral plane(even spirits can't pass through Gaia). IIRC this means they usually have like a layer of stone in the middle of all their walls, too, just so even when a mage does find their way down, they still can't just fly through all the walls.(If that isn't a thing it should be.)[/QUOTE]
You can pass through the earth, it's just a huge pain in the ass.
[QUOTE=Rats808;47856203]Not necessarily. You can see people who aren't astral/dual-natured while projecting, it's just that you only see their aura.[/QUOTE]
uhm yeah
but it's a dual natured being
thus it's astrally percieving
thus if the mage can see it, it can see the mage
ya dummy
[QUOTE=elowin;47856258]You can pass through the earth, it's just a huge pain in the ass.[/QUOTE]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/8FPO5G4.png[/t]
The core book would beg to differ.
Yeah, manabarriers are standard shit for high security, on par with having an onsite security hacker or a reaction team.
[QUOTE=Rats808;47856282][t]http://i.imgur.com/8FPO5G4.png[/t]
The core book would beg to differ.[/QUOTE]
Not really. All it's saying is it's solid and you can't just pass through it, just like in the material plane.
And like on the material plane, that won't stop you if you're determined enough. You can press through it, kinda like digging but different. It's just a huge pain in the ass, slow as shit, and potentially very lethal.
[QUOTE=Rats808;47856282][t]http://i.imgur.com/8FPO5G4.png[/t]
The core book would beg to differ.[/QUOTE]
Walls are also solid but that's yet to stop me in a Shadowrun game.
[QUOTE=Rents;47856363]Walls are also solid but that's yet to stop me in a Shadowrun game.[/QUOTE]
Nothing like tanking your big ass troll through two walls, hitting two hidden enemies along the way.
[QUOTE=Twitzle;47856791]Nothing like tanking your big ass troll through two walls, hitting two hidden enemies along the way.[/QUOTE]
Nah, I usually go for high explosives, monowire saws or ramming a car into it.
GM Pro tip!
Fuck with players in a horror-themed setting by asking which hand they used to interact with a quest item and then never explaining why.
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