[QUOTE=Spacewolf;49089937]That's gotta be a great feeling.[/QUOTE]
There's few better feelings for a GM than a good compliment, or when your players recall awesome stories and moments from your games months or years after the fact.
Im really worried about making the content of my campaign too easy/too hard. I remember the pain of my Heroes Unlimited campaign where I spent friggen days coming up with this awesome concept for a boss. She fought with energy whips attacks to her pony tail, both hands, and both legs, and, like, ballerina danced in a cloud dense fog so that all you could see were these crackling orange streaks of energy twirling in the mist. She had martial arts abilities combined with cybernetics brought in from supplementary material that let her multi-attack, counter attack, attack on dodges, and just generally barf out damage so that it would just be a constant barrage on the party. There were two heavy tanks, so I figured if the squishier characters were getting chewed up too bad, I could just have her refocus on the heavies.
I leveled her to the point where I thought she would be a very challenging, but memorable and winnable encounter, and let her loose on the players with a surprise attack where her whips suddenly tore through the walls of a tiny lakeside ranch house while they spoke to a hallucinatory decoy of her mind-fucking psychic partner. I thought this entire reveal and the ensuing combat was going to be badass, so that she could be a recurring villain who they both love and fear fighting against. I was so stoked.
They trounced her in two rounds and only suffered a couple little scratches. My heart was broken.
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;49091492]Im really worried about making the content of my campaign too easy/too hard. I remember the pain of my Heroes Unlimited campaign where I spent friggen days coming up with this awesome concept for a boss. She fought with energy whips attacks to her pony tail, both hands, and both legs, and, like, ballerina danced in a cloud dense fog so that all you could see were these crackling orange streaks of energy twirling in the mist. She had martial arts abilities combined with cybernetics brought in from supplementary material that let her multi-attack, counter attack, attack on dodges, and just generally barf out damage so that it would just be a constant barrage on the party. There were two heavy tanks, so I figured if the squishier characters were getting chewed up too bad, I could just have her refocus on the heavies.
I leveled her to the point where I thought she would be a very challenging, but memorable and winnable encounter, and let her loose on the players with a surprise attack where her whips suddenly tore through the walls of a tiny lakeside ranch house while they spoke to a hallucinatory decoy of her mind-fucking psychic partner. I thought this entire reveal and the ensuing combat was going to be badass, so that she could be a recurring villain who they both love and fear fighting against. I was so stoked.
They trounced her in two rounds and only suffered a couple little scratches. My heart was broken.[/QUOTE]
5th Edition has some decent guidelines for building encounters for your players. On page 82 of the DMG, you can see information on building an encounter for your characters, and on page 274 there is information for the CR to set for a new enemy you create.
If you want to make a character a recurring character, give them a healthy dose of HP and an escape mechanism (like a ring of spell storing with a word of recall spell stored in it, for D&D).
Also if you want your character to fight the characters on their own, give them some way to act out of turn or more times per round. in D&D 5e this can be Legendary Actions and I know that in the FFG Star Wars RPGs, you can give your adversaries a second turn at the end of each round, for example.
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;49091492]Im really worried about making the content of my campaign too easy/too hard. I remember the pain of my Heroes Unlimited campaign where I spent friggen days coming up with this awesome concept for a boss. She fought with energy whips attacks to her pony tail, both hands, and both legs, and, like, ballerina danced in a cloud dense fog so that all you could see were these crackling orange streaks of energy twirling in the mist. She had martial arts abilities combined with cybernetics brought in from supplementary material that let her multi-attack, counter attack, attack on dodges, and just generally barf out damage so that it would just be a constant barrage on the party. There were two heavy tanks, so I figured if the squishier characters were getting chewed up too bad, I could just have her refocus on the heavies.
I leveled her to the point where I thought she would be a very challenging, but memorable and winnable encounter, and let her loose on the players with a surprise attack where her whips suddenly tore through the walls of a tiny lakeside ranch house while they spoke to a hallucinatory decoy of her mind-fucking psychic partner. I thought this entire reveal and the ensuing combat was going to be badass, so that she could be a recurring villain who they both love and fear fighting against. I was so stoked.
They trounced her in two rounds and only suffered a couple little scratches. My heart was broken.[/QUOTE]
This iw wgen you introduce the gm fiat
Imo, nothing wrong with ignoring the dice if itll make things more interesting
Definitely
It's great to have those crunchy encounters that turn out perfectly according to the rules, but as a practical matter, adjusting things on the fly tends to produce better results, especially when the dice are going really well/shittily for one side or another
especially when it comes to planned recurring characters. Almost every system gives you a huge variety of methods within the bounds of the game that let them get away or get back in the fight without technically breaking the rules, and nothing says the players have to know about these methods or that the villain has them available IC or OOC, and if they come into play, great, your fight isn't just over and done, and if they don't need to come in, then no one is the wiser
I'm really excited; I finally got my friends back together for a new campaign in Pathfinder, one that I actually turned to official sources to acquire and it looks really good. I tried making my own, but had difficulties writing up the story. It devolved into a lot of rounds of boring combat and not a whole lot of exploration or skill checks because I was relatively new at DMing and my old group wasn't very supportive of me ("Anti-life barriers and floating castles?! That's bullshit, what's powering all of it?" and "Nordic people are proud and honorable! They'd never succumb to bribery!"), combined that with their massively paranoid meta-thinking and it made it hard for me to give it another go. But my new group are all really good people who are genuinely interested in playing, so I'm feeling pretty good about it!
Plus, one of my friends made an a pretty nice character description and backstory. This is his dude:
[T]https://scontent.ftpa1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/t31.0-8/12184162_1111816908829478_4509016782490422655_o.jpg?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9[/t]
So yeah! I've got high hopes! Wish us luck for this weekend!
[QUOTE=Eva-1337;49092302]"Anti-life barriers and floating castles?! That's bullshit, what's powering all of it?"[/QUOTE]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/oBGbbYI.jpg[/img]
Held the final match of Smash Mekton just before.
[I][B][U]NERTS[/U] IS THE WINNERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR[/B][/I]
It was pretty absurd though. Sibs' guns literally couldn't damage Nerts' Mek in a straight-up fight. Lucky for Sibs, he scored some fuckhuge crit against Nerts and nailed him 4 times with a series of crack-shot special effect hits, really blasting him.
Then Nerts turned his luck around and two-shot Sibs' paper mache Mek in the torso and vaporized it.
This being after a 2-hour slapfight of no-damage misses that was effectively me policing a "my dad can beat up your dad!" fight.
But hoh, what's this? My good friend and cohost Red Rocket Smas steps up to the plate, showing himself as a secret bonus boss! Smas is a notorious filthy powergamer scum. Not as scummy as a set of TERRORBEES, but he's pretty bad.
Nerts may have won his $20, but if he can beat Smas, he'll get $10 more on top of that! The match is maybe this Sunday, so stay tuned for more info!
[t]http://i.imgur.com/AQABvnV.png[/t]
[editline]10th November 2015[/editline]
And speaking of Mekton I had more of the 1-1 last night. After "joining" the gang and scoping out their hideout, she took her leave for a time and went to go pick up some non-lethal weaponry. Namely: a stungun. Having warned Widoia of her plans and asking for possible backup from Langio "Fuhrer Titberg" the nazi-like Dryder for backup, our PC Kari sets off back into the gang's hideout to free the trapped child.
She decides to take a catnap until nightfall, when the gang's likely asleep. She wakes up and scopes out the guardpost at the entrance to the hideaway. Chats up the two on guard, tells them she'll get 'em some beers and heads into the kitchen, finding the kid under guard by a single individual, along with the gang's Dryder boss in the back making more of the drug they've been calling "Red Silk." After some smooth-talking to lower the Dryder's guard, she tased him out cold.
Grabs some beers, walk out, tase the dude guarding the kid. Wake the kid up, speak to her a bit, find out her name's Valentine. After telling her to crawl through some small child-sized vents and follow Kari through the halls to circumvent the guards. Before Valentine can enter the vent, the kitchen's door opens, and another ganger walks in. Kari manages to skillfully divert his attention before he saw the kid, ferrying him out into the halls and towards the guard post with her beers in tow.
She hands out the drinks, tells the boys she'll be back later, and leaves the hideout to retrieve Valentine from an out-of-sight vent. The two talk as Valentine thanks Kari, heading back to the ship for her to have a happy reunion with her brother.
[QUOTE=croguy;49085863]
This just gave me an awesome idea for a setup in SR. A superhero/fantasy action TV show which replaces actors, [B]special effects and the like with real awakened/casters/adepts.[/B][/QUOTE]
What do you think the main commercial use of trid phantasm is :v:
Party got to the end of haunted and crumbling ruined temple and confronted the necromancer who lived there, who turned out to be very insane. In the middle of her rambling, the sorceress put her to sleep and she fell over, which pissed off her pet ogre skeleton, who nearly killed the entire party.
Next session they will decide what to do with the necromancer. The dwarf keeps trying to cast aboleth's lung on her.
[QUOTE=Crimor;49093484]What do you think the main commercial use of trid phantasm is :v:[/QUOTE]
No, I think he means like, really do it. "Hire" some orks from the ghetto, dress them up in tribal costumes, then have the hero actors come down and murder all of them. Like reality TV but less fake.
[QUOTE=Aperture fan;49093085]Held the final match of Smash Mekton just before.
[I][B][U]NERTS[/U] IS THE WINNERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR[/B][/I]
[/QUOTE]
Oh man, time to give Sib shit for losing
like, all the shit
Imagine fighting for $20 in mathematically confusing mech combat.
[editline]11th November 2015[/editline]
Who gets the extra 10 if Nerts loses?
[QUOTE=croguy;49095690]Imagine fighting for $20 in mathematically confusing mech combat.[/QUOTE]
Imagine losing
Imagine winning but then having the guy shake it off one easy tech test later
[editline]11th November 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=RearAdmiral;49095607]Oh man, time to give Sib shit for losing
like, all the shit[/QUOTE]
1v1 me in Mekton you cheeky fucker
So I decided to be the storyteller for werewolf: the apocalypse, which I've never played myself. (I've played games in the same universe though. Werewolf seems to be more complicated than vampire) I was bored and had little else to do. My players picked a lot of flaws that were embarrassing,life threatening or both. Should be fun. It'll be the first game I've ever DM'd. Sliding down the rabbit hole of nerd.
Also I joined a new DnD game. I am Dwarf-Dwarf. I wanted a dwarf with dwarfism, but that wasn't allowed. An uncommonly short dwarf was ok though.
[QUOTE=SiberysTranq;49095969]Imagine winning but then having the guy shake it off one easy tech test later
[editline]11th November 2015[/editline]
1v1 me in Mekton you cheeky fucker[/QUOTE]
Instant win crits are kinda lame though, especially when you didn't even cause any damage :v:
[QUOTE=Rents;49096140]Instant win crits are kinda lame though, especially when you didn't even cause any damage :v:[/QUOTE]
In a contest where the cheesiest designs win, I will say that you were both piloting cheese cubes dipped in boiling pots of fondue. The only thing possibly worse was the bees, because that guy wasnt even playing the same game as everyone else. He was probably the cheese factory.
[QUOTE=Smas;49096218]In a contest where the cheesiest designs win, I will say that you were both piloting cheese cubes dipped in boiling pots of fondue. The only thing possibly worse was the bees, because that guy wasnt even playing the same game as everyone else. He was probably the cheese factory.[/QUOTE]
I wasn't that cheesy, I was just good at dodging and sprayed everything to death with a machinegun on both arms
[QUOTE=Rents;49096140]Instant win crits are kinda lame though, especially when you didn't even cause any damage :v:[/QUOTE]
I'm more irritated by the fact it was easier to get out of for you than for the crit result that DOES allow you to get out of it in combat
One of the players fictional meat puppets in my tabletop game just died due to complications resulting from the common cold. He had the best fortitude save in the group, too. :v:
[QUOTE=Oliolio;49097829]One of the players in my tabletop game just died due to complications resulting from the common cold. He had the best fortitude save in the group, too. :v:[/QUOTE]
Fuck, I thought one of your PLAYERS died until the second sentence. Should've worded that better
[QUOTE=NotAName;49097900]Fuck, I thought one of your PLAYERS died until the second sentence. Should've worded that better[/QUOTE]
I fixed it for you.
He rolled three natural 1's in a row if you were wondering.
[QUOTE=Oliolio;49097914]I fixed it for you.
He rolled three natural 1's in a row if you were wondering.[/QUOTE]
How does someone even die from the cold?
[QUOTE=kiloy;49097924]How does someone even die from the cold?[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Oliolio;49097914]He rolled three natural 1's in a row if you were wondering.[/QUOTE]
That's how. Don't roll 3 natural 1s irl btw
[QUOTE=kiloy;49097924]How does someone even die from the cold?[/QUOTE]
It was the dead of winter, and they were fleeing from the inquisition at a forced march, after a triple natural 1 spellcast earlier in the session dissolved their wagon. Everyone without endure elements needed to roll a simple DC 10 check not to catch the sniffles. He forced marched with the sniffles for a week, and caught a chest cold. One week later, he again failed the check, and the cold progressed into a moderate form of pneumonia. A week later and he comes down with the shakes as an opportunistic infection while he's still barreling through the dwarven northlands in the dead of winter with no real protection, and eventually dies from the aforementioned series of triple natural 1's.
He was a Kineticist with 20 Constitution. No check was more difficult than 10, and later, 14. Everyone else, including the Con 7 sorcerer two levels below him survived the trek with only minor injuries between them.
i thought the player actually died irl and i just rated funny for maximum edge
[QUOTE=Oliolio;49097973]It was the dead of winter, and they were fleeing from the inquisition at a forced march, after a triple natural 1 spellcast earlier in the session dissolved their wagon. Everyone without endure elements needed to roll a simple DC 10 check not to catch the sniffles. He forced marched with the sniffles for a week, and caught a chest cold. One week later, he again failed the check, and the cold progressed into a moderate form of pneumonia. A week later and he comes down with the shakes as an opportunistic infection while he's still barreling through the dwarven northlands in the dead of winter with no real protection, and eventually dies from the aforementioned series of triple natural 1's.
He was a Kineticist with 20 Constitution. No check was more difficult than 10, and later, 14. Everyone else, including the Con 7 sorcerer two levels below him survived the trek with only minor injuries between them.[/QUOTE]
do you not have a wizard
forced march is for losers, just cast mount
If you died from common cold IRL that'd be worse than fighting for money in Mekton.
[QUOTE=croguy;49098079]If you died from common cold IRL that'd be worse than fighting for money in Mekton.[/QUOTE]
hey man, dont diss the common space cold
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