>GM barely stats his bosses
>he fudges the dice constantly to hit the PC or not
>the boss still gets constantly hit but we never know how much health he has left
>as the battle seems to come close to an end, the boss makes huge amounts of damage with his attacks
>knocks out most of the party (but never killing anyone)
>the last party member is alive, mysteriously with 1 HP left
>he attacks the boss with all his might, the last chance they have to kill the boss
>surprisingly, those 2 point of damage he inflicted were enough to kill him
>players are euphoric for having defeated the boss in such critical situation
>GM smiles and celebrates as well, hiding his secret.
Is this a good or a bad GM?
It's a GM who has good intentions but is ultimately hurting his own game.
>>44313902
>everyone is happy
Good GM.
>>44313996
This. I'd think that using a different system would benefit him though
>>44313902
>players are euphoric
this is the only thing that matters
>>44313902
this sounds strangely like superman
If this could ever actually happen, then he would be a good GM.
In real life, however, the players catch on in minutes and are bored as hell.
Is there a website where GMs can share their encounters, NPCs, campaigns and exchange ideas freely?
/tg/ seems like it's geared more for players, I'm coming up with a few ideas and adventures for an Eberron campaign and I'd like constructive feedback.
>>44315491
I'd be on this boat, ive been experimenting with adding ideas of settings from different historical periods from across the boat
>>44315491
Well you are in luck! At this very moment, you are speaking to the only constructive person on /tg/.
Ask away.
>>44315541
I want to run a pulpy noir game with some magitech spiced in there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwbdWgvX560
In my head, Eberron has chanteuse's crooning in nightclubs for desperate men drowning in their own drinks.
>>44313902
If you don't like it then run your own game, jerk.
>he fudges the dice constantly to hit the PC or not
How do you know?
>but we never know how much health he has left
Why do you think you should?
>players are euphoric for having defeated the boss in such critical situation
Sounds like he's giving the players exactly what they want. Isn't that a good thing?
>Is this a good or a bad GM?
He is successful while not turning his hand to players. That means he is, by definition, a good DM.
Eh, he didn't fwp and did it to make the bossfights more dramatic... Ultimately good, I think. The distinction from bad here is he wasn't trying to beat the players, he was trying to let the players win while making it seem hard
>>44315491
Unfortunately, no, not really.
Being that I run Pathfinder APs, I would love to have someone else who actually understands Golarion lore and has familiarity with all of the modules from different editions that I do.
But those people don't exist, and they don't congregate anywhere that it's possible to get other opinions on the campaigns I write.
Which is why I just have to write things and hope they work since I don't have a person to bounce ideas off of.
>>44315541
I'd like to hear your ideas anon.
>>44315607
Well, I don't have a whole hell of a lot yet, I'm moving in a week and I have been looking through a few old rpg books.
My idea for an Eberron campaign would be a conspiracy of Dragonmarked houses.
One of the players has manifested a mark that threatens the sovereignty and very existence of a couple of the great houses. I like the idea that House Tharashk wants the party dead since they believe if the PCs are able to live, it will be a cataclysmic event for all of Khorvaire. Whereas another house may simply want them gone for reasons that are entirely monetary.
The players are visiting dignitaries to the city of Sharn, all in the family or service to a foreign Duke. Who has protected them all of his life and has hidden them away for their own protection. I like the idea that the Duke has had his hand moved in having to appear in Sharn for magisterial purposes.
Then that's when the assassins hit. Airship chases, high adventure in the Venice of the skies, hiding out in the bowels of Sharn's seedy underbelly.
>>44315707
are you me
I'm also gearing up for an eberron campaign, trying to run it as heavily intrigue. Right now my ideas are pretty bland, mostly riffing off of Witcher quests as filler and thinly reflavoring megaman bosses as warforged rebels.
>>44315803
It's funny, for all of the forums for people to compare character builds, there aren't a whole lot of resources for GM's to share and compare their ideas and experiences.
>>44313902
Terrible GM with easily amused players
If it works for them, I guess it's alright. I'd never want to play his game though.
>>44315841
Because there aren't that many DMs, and the few there are fall into the same characters the rest of society does: Huge percentages of people who don't know about or care about the things you do, and a small number that might be able to care, and an even smaller number who do care and know enough to talk to you about it, and the miniscule subsection of all of those that might congregate on the internet somewhere to talk about things.
>>44315707
As with most games, it first starts with what you think your players might like. Or at least thats my belief.
See if they are into that kinda of thing, and get them into it. Set the mood with appropriate music and if you all meet in person, maybe some appropriate drinks to. Immersion is a great way to get folks into a game at the start, bring all the sights and smells, dim the lights etc. But also makes sure they have fun and do what they want as well.
Was there any questions in particular you had? For the record I don't have the most experience dming existing worlds, as me and my friends always make up our own.
>>44315823
Sounds good but you need to flesh out why the dragonmark is a threat to the great houses. Is it a Draconic Prophecy thing? Does it look like a Tharashk mark, but is on a character a Tharashk mark cannot be on? Is it warped and abberrant? It is probably all three, but my point is you have to plan this in advance and make sure it is possible for the players to find out (even if they have to do some mystery-solving to do so). Too many leave it blank hoping that they will have an idea why later (or perhaps believing that not planning will help them "improvise") and then are stuck when the PCs start digging.
>>44315836
>reflavoring megaman bosses as warforged rebels.
This is the best idea I've seen on /tg/
I like the warforged identity and rebellion as a nascent idea, like any disenfranchised minority, I see them as struggling to pull themselves out of poverty, but maybe not necessarily out of petty crime.
>>44315707
>>44315900 >me
Its a great idea though! God that sounds thrilling, I wish I could get my friends on for some more rpish things
>>44315823
>>44315906
Could be the rumored 13th dragonmark resurfacing? There was something about a Mark of Death that got wiped out long ass time ago.
>>44315906
I was considering something huge and world changing, like a mark of ruling foretold by the Draconic Prophecy, something that has the potential to unite Khorvaire and usher a golden age or bring tremendous ruin to the entire world.
Maybe the house leaves their small Ducal estate and goes to Sharn to seek passage into the wilds of Xen'drik? Maybe there was only a pretense of magisterial concerns that the surrogate father/mother wanted to convey to the family.
I really appreciate the advice, I feel like I have DM'd way too many small-time, local-level tales of exploits of ne'er do wells and I should get back into world shattering high fantasy.
>>44313902
You forgot a few things
It's almost always one character that gets to save the day (gm's buddy/favorite)
Sometimes the bad guy captures the party, but because reasons, noone dies and they get an easy opportunity to escape and advance the plot after an hour or so in a cell
Any powerful magic items the bad guy used are broken/depleted/disappear after fight
Sometimes the boss 'flees rather than be killed', even thought he has the party on the ropes
1/2 the party is smart enough to see through all this, but they paste a smile on so they can keep playing and not have to GM, GM is autistic enough that he can't tell they see right through him
>>44315926
Thanks! None of my players are really big on megaman, so It'll really just be for my giggles, but I've got a couple sorted out already:
"Spark" - Warforged who is in indentured servitude to Cannith, modified to do special repairs on Lightning rails.
"Guts" - Leftover Warforged juggernaut experiment that is used in construction. At some point will try to bring down a tower.
"Snake" - Special reconnaissance unit warforged; tries to poison the water supply.
I'm thinking of having this set before "Lord of Blades" gets up and running and the idea of a warforged nation is still building up momentum.
>>44315900
That's great advice man. I would just put on jazz and I'd parallel Casablanca plot points all night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yis_itRsT_8
>>44315823
>>44315823
Currently I've been taking stuff from history throwing some fantasy in it. Its not the most original I suppose but its what I'm good at: cutting, pasting, and rearranging.
For the setting i'm doing a silk road kind of game, basically one of my players is apart of a trade caravan and luckily in the first game all the players signed up for it. Lots of different terrain to cover, alot of different nations and races to come across.
I worked on a trade and economics system that some of them might care about and an eating system that rewards them for eating like normal people instead of just eating rations everyday. (though they can still do that.
Since all my players are close friends we usually have one player that acts as the dm's right hand. In this game i went out to all of them and told them they are might right hand to help the party, but the catch is there is also another player that is my left hand and is seeking to destroy the party. This isnt entirely false or true as there is one player that is acting as the left hand but it isnt his main character but his hireling that is working with my insert character. Going to slowly work to subtlety throw suspicion around at each of the players while forcing them to work together to survive the various challenges of traversing the world
>>44313902
>players are euphoric for having defeated the boss in such critical situation
>GM smiles and celebrates as well, hiding his secret.
The combination of these two lines points to Yes. Whether that would hold true for another group is a different matter.
That said, there is perhaps an argument to be said for how that experience might influence other groups if you're talking about interconnecting everything all chaos butterfly flapping wise.
>>44316125
swing and electro swing are some of my personal favorites if your going to have a more energy intensive environment, but still want the classy, and subtle dark atmosphere
>>44316125
The Return of Doctor X was by far more interesting Bogart film.
>>44313902
>>44315861
This. If people want to play freeform that's fine. If people want to be so clueless that they're happy not knowing they're playing freeform that's also fine. It isn't for me and I'd almost argue it's doing a disservice to the players if they don't want to be playing freeform (imagine the alternate universe where they find out the GM staged the final battle and that none of their decisions mattered, some of them may not be quite so euphoric and groups have splintered over less) but if all goes well then there's nothing anyone on the outside can really say about it.
>>44316150
>I worked on a trade and economics system that some of them might care about and an eating system that rewards them for eating like normal people instead of just eating rations everyday
The biggest thing that I've found in my "simulationist" phase of +1's, +2's, -1 modifiers is that most players will deal better with abstractions. I personally love that kind of thing, but some players will look at it like a chore, what you may want to consider is writing an adventure or three that may revolve around those themes of trade & economics, without too many modifiers or nibs and flubs that may drag the game down.
Would you run the game like a hex crawl? Or would it be more narrative focused?
>>44316178
Electro-swing would be pretty amazing for an Eberron game, that's good to keep in mind.
Chase scenes, chaotic bar fights, illegal bar-fights in the cogs. The wheels in my creative drive are starting to shake the dust off.
>>44316074
I like that Spark was designed to do repairs, that ties in with the megaman canon really well.
>>44316242
I'll have to watch it.
>>44316287
simplified the eating system as much as i could, they dont have to eat well and i dont actually keep track of exacts as im pretty lax with it, so long as they eat reasonable food they bought during the market period or scrounge up food in the wilds I give them a few small bonusus.
>hex crawl? or narrative?
Its definitely more story driven as they are all following the caravan, which isnt just one merchants goods but a bunch of merchants forming a kind of coalition to get across the continent. Luckily after many experiences, me and all my friends learned that a little railroad is okay.
They still have plenty of choices though, for example if they take path A its much more dangerous because of the monsters/bandits or path b thats alot longer but less dangerous, though it has slightly harsher terrain and climate. And if they can convince the head of the caravan they can make their own route as I've given them a world map, in which case id have to design the path they decided on given my knowledge on my world.
As for the murder plot I'm not building it all at once and watching what my players are doing and how their characters are developing story wise. I aim to have a larger threat and reason for this plot to be happening eventually, but from what ive experienced its easier to work on things as they go then create this huge epic storyline which the players subsequently end up ignoring or only partially working on
>>44316339
One thing I aim to do in my campaign is add sound effects to fights and rp.
The few times I tried horror themed campaigns it really added some nice immersion and acted as a little prod when you wanted to party to gtfo of wherever they were
>party is litteraly staring at an odd block in my rip off of scp 087 because for flavor i said there were some odd colored tiles
>use sound effect massive metal crash
>they look at me like, Did we just hear that?
>yea you just heard that, above you
>monster rawr and loud footsteps
>they stop staring at the damn block and finally start moving again, booking it to the bottom
Ideally id like to have sound effects for fights too, when theres a hit, parry, death, etc. On top of a list of sounds for general rp and ambiance setting for most backgrounds
Of course it depends on how much time you have as my friend pointed out the time you invest into sound making and organizing is time your not spending on the actual campaign planning and setting.
>>44316534
That definitely sounds really interesting, it looks like you have a lot of different things for your players to do. What plot hooks will you be using to draw them into the campaign? I suck at making interesting plot hooks, so I'd like to hear yours!
>>44316661
I ran a Silent Hill nWOD game where I made disturbing sound recordings that they were able to listen to while recording the ambient noise in the rooms that they didn't have access to in the fallen world while they were doing leg work in the real. I even bought an old tape deck with a false wooden facade and distressed it to make it look exactly as I'd described it in session.
Props for awesome to draw players into a game. Honestly, your method sounds better than mine, I just have different play lists for different moods & themes, usually I have three or so.
>>44316534
>branching paths with clear yet distinct hazards
>world map
>have to reason with NPCs to choose your course
This is a great example of DMing a narrative sandbox that gives the players freedom but maintains a clear goal and plot regardless, some people could learn a lot from this.
>>44316687
Im not the best at them either, I usually use things my players have and work with that. For example:
>one of my players has a thing for elephants and dwarf stuff
I know he will likely be asking about where to get these things so when the proper setting comes up, he gets informed that theres a country famous for the elephants towards the end of the silk road and ruins of a dwarven kingdom midway as they cross the great mountains.
As I said I plan to tie the murder thing into a bigger plot like this npc insert of mine is actually a spy working to destabilize an already unstable region so his masters the tengri (mongols) can invade an slaughter
It helps that I know all my friends well so i can plan for them, try to think about what your players would be interested in seeing in this campaign of yours, or just upright ask them if thats okay.
I know some basic ways to get your characters involved would be simpler things like:
>have a big bad villain and give them reasons to hate him, reasons they would find agreeable to go on a quest to kill him
>object of power that could alter the world and must be guarded to keep out of bad guys hands
>save a person of importance then give the party reasons to help that person achieve his/her goals and ambitions
>conflict, a massive conflict that engulfs the players and touches them in the right aspects so they now care about how this conflict goes down
Again the players backstories and feedback will help immensely with all this, just try to find the right balance of it all
>>44313902
I played with this sort of GM a few years back. It went all right until I figured it out. After that, I just couldn't trust him or take anything in his game seriously. There was no more tension or danger. Playing with him was like watching a children's cartoon or listening to some 4 year old playing let's-pretend. No matter what choices I made, everything would turn out just the way the GM wanted because he said so. I felt insulted, my cognitive and emotional investment in the game was meaningless because everything was decided by him pulling shit out of his ass 24/7.
Nowadays I prefer a GM who can at least be honest with me. If you're going to roll the dice, then roll the dice and accept the possibility of something unpleasant happening. If you need to change something, just tell us about it. Play by the rules, or tell us when you're breaking them, or don't play at all. We're adults, we can handle the truth. We have enough people trying to pull a fast one on us, we don't need to add our dearest friends to that list.
>>44316749
Dont feel discouraged the more complex a plot gets the more difficult it can be to maintain it usually, and it can turn out like a soggy fish somtimes, trust me.
Props to you for doing your own recordings here, have a favorite of mine i stole
>and your vision fades to back as all your hear is the laughter of insane gods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8xhLDDLQo
It helps to formulate those epic moments and work towards them, but in my experience they often come from how the players shape a moment and how the dm helps it happen.
Having the ability to impromptu is very good
shit railroading GM that doesn't give freedom into the hands of the player
no matter what
no
matter
what
game will always be more satisfying in the end when players will know that all their achievements are of their own
I will never ever do shit like that because it's the definition of what I hate in /tg/ and /v/idya, handholding railroading shit
>>44317005
My biggest issue is finding something that unifies or aligns the parties interest. I could say that they are all part of the same Ducal house and they've all been directed to Sharn for one reason or another, but there may be something that will interest them about the city beyond the immediate goal, such as Morgrave University for my more scholarly Wizard, or the sheer marvel of the city for my cosmopolitan Bard.
I want to be less of a sandbox DM truth be told, my style is to make up a bunch of stuff and let the players decided, which is sort of what I want to do, but my games lose focus very quickly. Keeping them genuinely engaged is very difficult for me.
>>44317114
Thanks man, I appreciate the feedback. DMing has turned out to be a hell of a lot more fun for me than simply being a PC ever had, I just need to work on my techniques.
>>44317187
I know your pain! So much so! The first couple games me and my friends had together were alot like that. We all had our different stories and so when we rped our characters we all had our own things we wanted to do. Give me a sec to think & research on your setting, as ive never done any pre-made worlds except this one time we tried a dark sun campaign.
You have the right idea, you want a little bit of railroading but a good game is the one the players make up mainly for themselves. Try to give players reasons or motives to interact with eachother as much as you can, whether is negative, positive, or just plain simple chatter. The reason I was able to sign my party up for the caravan is my one player that was already part of it met with all the players in the tavern and as they talked he decided to throw a huge party in it with a bit of his wealth, while at the same time charging the rich noblemen fees (since this was a very upscale coach-house kind of tavern) Simple greed was enough for two of the players and the others were simply interested in the party. They all had a good time and decided hey this guy is cool the role with, lets go with him. That was the surface reason, I went aside with almost every player and give them deeper reasons ans motives to join. I realize this isnt very helpful though as this is more general advice when you wanted something more specific, tell me more about your setting and bounce idea's off me and I'll do the best i can.
>>44317187
So lets start with the basics, you said there is a mark thats gonna arise on one of the party members that is going to disrupt the high society. Something simple is to give the players a reason to care about this person, whether is personal or more faction based. Now something a bit trickier is to have one of the more rouge-ish characters secretly be out to get this character. He/she works his way into the group and tries to turn as many against the player as he can, because he/she was hired by one of the noble houses or has a different reason. This might not end happily for all the players though and would be more difficult to manage. Especially if your players tend to be bitter about pvp.
>>44317174
How do you know when you're making 'your own" choices rather than the one the DM has engineered the game in such a way that he wanted you to make, by making them choices that you wanted to make because of the story?
The answer is, you don't. You want "free will", but you have no idea how you would even feel if you were being led by the hand without even realizing it.
>>44317411
I could facilitate the role of the rogue with an NPC that some of the PC's could be sympathetic towards? I like the idea of the parties unity being tested, by outside forces, the best stories always happen when you can push your players.
>>44317411
You know, another thing I forgot to mention... I'd like to run a side story similar to the the first story of The Difference Engine...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Difference_Engine
Replace Ada Lovelace and the Rad Lords with House Cannith, the Dragonmarked house of engineering & hyper "modernization", a passionate, yet hopelessly outmoded street level campaign against their subtle control and machinations... Yeah, that'd be really cool...
Our GM has an overly elaborate, enormous as fuck setting, with different nations, houses that rule them, geography and economic system , and a HUGE political system that dictates the story.
The problem though, as great and meaningful as everything seems, the problem is that everything is just that- too fucking meaningful. Everything has consequences. Every thing we decide to get involved with leads to big things happening in the cities, or even in the overall plot. One time we decided to help out this city to kill some monsters, and due to being very diplomatic and heroic, we inspired an enemy spy to break ranks and inform us of an attack coming to the city. Then we gotta get involved into the spy's well being, and the city, and then we gotta decide if we're going to let the city fall, and then how are we going to help the city, or IF we want to help the city-
There's such a thing as too much freedom- and the weight of the setting feels harsh sometimes,- fuck, I just wanna kill some monsters sometimes, you know?The DM makes EVERYTHING this elaborate, enormous game that powerful people are playing, and we're caught up in this political shit storm river-FUCK, I JUST WANT TO KILL SOME ORCS.
>>44317494
Thats a good idea! Just gotta do it right my friend, and dont make it to obvious that this guy is the Judas. Or hell dont make him the Judas, make him initially working against the party, trying to turn everyone against eachother and then halfway through have him/her go through a moral dilemma in which its revealed to the party he/she has been working against them, but has reasons he was forced to infiltrate and sabotage the party, like debts or loved ones held hostage. Or any many of things, once your start brainstorming you'll come up with something
>>44317562
Well I found a new read over the holidays
That sounds like alot of fun to make, I completely agree with you, dming can be alot more fun than simply playing. The drawback is it's alot more work, though fun it can be stressful
People like you guys are the reason why I still browse /tg/. You've made my night, thank you so much.
>>44317827
Happy to help as I'm just as happy as you are. I dont come to /tg/ often and when i do, i dont usually see good threads talking about dm stuff
>>44317592
>The DM makes EVERYTHING this elaborate, enormous game that powerful people are playing, and we're caught up in this political shit storm river-FUCK, I JUST WANT TO KILL SOME ORCS.
I feel you. Sometimes I wish that in my games, someone can point me at an enemy so I can go blast them to bits and stop worrying about it so much. Doesn't even need to be an unambiguous foe, as long at least some NPCs are grateful for it.
In some ways it's more realistic too. The big players don't *want* their bone-headed thugs thinking critically about why they're doing things. They just want to tell you who the bad guys are, feed you some propaganda about why the bad guys need to be transformed into hamburger meat, maybe dangle some gold in your face, and point you in a direction to set about the grisly work.
>>44317959
You know what though, I run a complex campaign, there are webs of intrigue that have been obfuscated by a year of sessions..
But, I structure my campaigns in a way that was recommended by Shadowrun 5e. That is, have sessions that drive home the overall theme, mood and story arc of the campaign, but also have your throwaway sessions that aren't directly related to the main plot. You can totally mix it up and you aren't necessarily committed to poe-faced seriousness at all times.moo
>>44317959
In our campaign it's the reverse.
We've got some experienced roleplayers, and the DM is VERY solid on storytelling, but sometimes- his level of depth gets weird. He leaves things- open. He doesnt railroad, but in a way, it's like he doesnt paint a road,either, and because of that, we end up not seeing the depth.And our players want to fucking kill shit, so they jump on everything.
That fucks us. We cant trust any NPC. EVERYONE has an agenda. Everyone's trying to use our group, and even the City Watch/Sherriff/Captains we meet are also using us in their political/factional warfare, giving us half truths, half lies, and full bullshit.We cant blame the DM, either, because we dont tend to fucking roll "Knowledge:X" skills, or do research in bars, or try to gather information, or mingle in the courts for information- which is I KNOW how he wants us to play, but I feel like we're a bunch of like of random adventurers who dont want to get too involved in shit, and just get paid.
A few sessions ago, our party took down this seemingly evil Elderly Vizier that we -thought- had killed the King of the Realm, only to find out evidence had been planted againts him (again, we didnt roll Knowledge Checks, research, or gather information enough.)- by the end, it turns out that the King had been poisoned by his young King's Daughter, who framed the Vizier; (whom the only real check we had made is that he was very unpopular with the common folk for his stern hand and unflinching iron fist against crime-which made the peasants exaggerate, and we got...well, we became dumb.).
By the end, we had inadvertedly destroyed all the evidence by mistake because we lobbed fireballs in his office as the Vizier fought for his freedom and life- always screaming about "How Dare You!Outrageous!"(Did you know fireballs and spells damage the environment start fires and burn evidence and stuff?)
Sessions later, we start putting the pieces together, and realized the princess played us.
>>44318284
Worse part was that, with the Elderly Vizier dead, the VERY popular King's Daughter had been elevated to Queen, and now, basically, she had supreme power, and we had no real evidence, but circumstantial evidence, clues, hints, and the word of a very shady Thieves Guild member and outlaw, whose word was never gonna fly in any court.We had been checked.
.....And that was it.
We moved on.Sure, the city hailed us as heroes, and the new "Queen" lavished us with gifts (no political titles), and wealth (in hard to move goods that would require us to get out of the country to truly get the most of).
But it was a bitter fucking end. I just wanted to be a good guy, you know? Worse part?I was playing a Paladin.
Cant just bad guys be evil?
>>44313902
This is a bad gm, he can't cope with the story leaving his rails down to who wins combat, and no one dieing, If the players ever find out about this (Which when it happens more then once or twice it is pretty obvious) It invalidates what the players do. When we figured out our gm started doing that shit we just stopped caring about fights, and especially boss fights, we knew we would win.
If you want to do that kind of game do you do not do a game with mechanics.
>>44313996
This. Tension should come organically from how the dice play out. If the DM is fudging rolls behind the curtain to insure the PCs win then there's no actual tension at all.
>>44313902
>Politician gets drunk and high all day
>Constantly embezzles tax dollars
>makes abunch of great speeches in between draining his nuts of semen
>Always make sure to maintain the bread & circuses
>Plebs are ecstatic
>Basically no one even knows they're being improvised
>The swiss smile knowingly
Is this a good or bad politician?
>>44318417
>>44318284
>we are just adventurers who want to get paid
>why can't we just have bad guys to beat up
If you want bad guys don't get involved in mercenary work. Go kill monsters terrorising the countryside. Then you can go nuts with trapping/tracking down Big Game Monsters.
>>44314058
>>44314562
This and also >>44313996
It's acceptable, it works. I think the effort expended to bring about such things naturally would have knock-on effects that improved the experience even if the results were superficially the same.
>>44318417
Nah anon
But if you want an easy good v evil you should get out of town where things are simpler
>>44314562
So it's also a good GM when he puts happy pills in the food of the players?
>>44315491
i feel your pain. i'm currently running a 100% oc campaign as my first campaign, and while i think i'm good at it and it seems my players enjoy it i would love a place where i can bounce my ideas off people and get good constructive feedback from more venerated DMs.
As a GM I generally don't agree with fudging things in combat, but that's just my personal opinion. I certainly don't think such overt fudging is good GMing. As others have pointed out, sooner or later the players WILL figure it out.
>>44319007
>If you want bad guys don't get involved in mercenary work. Go kill monsters terrorising the countryside. Then you can go nuts with trapping/tracking down Big Game Monsters.
Good idea. I keep wondering how to reconcile goody-two-shoes characters with the adventuring life, but having the whole party quest for good reasons rather than profit seems like a good way to do it. Maybe I'll have my guy tithe part of his share to drive the point home.
>>44313902
>GM barely stats his bosses
That's fine. Too many games want you to stat out opponents with 80% of things you don't need.
>he fudges the dice constantly to hit the PC or not
Strike one. Fudging is the worst thing you can do.
>the boss still gets constantly hit but we never know how much health he has left
>as the battle seems to come close to an end, the boss makes huge amounts of damage with his attacks
These could be ok, some games allow for that.
>knocks out most of the party (but never killing anyone)
Fine too. If you take someone out of the fight it0s usually good enough.
>the last party member is alive, mysteriously with 1 HP left
Strike two. Too evident that he's fudging numbers.
>he attacks the boss with all his might, the last chance they have to kill the boss
>surprisingly, those 2 point of damage he inflicted were enough to kill him
Strike three.
>players are euphoric for having defeated the boss in such critical situation
>GM smiles and celebrates as well, hiding his secret.
Good for them. Now, what was the point of all this, if the GM just rolled dice for effect and fudged numbers? What was accomplished here?
>>44317469
That's bullshit.
>inb4 great argument
It doesn't need more of an argument. It's bullshit and it's obvious to anyone that isn't busy jacking themselves off over how clever they are.
>>44316074
Even though I'm a big megaman fan and am running a game with an Iron general leading a golem uprising, this never sprang to mind. Thanks anon.
Would this similar thing be okay?
>GM stats his bosses, but typically leaves HP a secret to prevent anticlimatic fights
>Boss takes a lot of hits, but players don't know his true HP. however, gm tells them what the boss looks like as the battle progresses, as in "the boss is slightly wounded from the strike" and later "the boss looks dizzy from the painful contusions and wounds all over his body, but he looks more determined than ever"
>the boss throws out an AoE attack in huge anger, takes out two party members and the last one is wounded as well
>the last two fighters engage in battle, gm says that "you feel weakened by the long battle, your wounds wear you down and you can barely lift your sword. your opponent looks similarly worn"
>both combatants have highly weakened stats
>"you trade weak blows, neither of you are capable of dealing any real damage"
>"the boss, while nearly bled out, lifts up its sword for one more grand strike"
>player hits him when he's exposed and finally kills him
Is it similarly obvious or is this considered okay? this is about as far as I'd go as a GM
>>44313902
Because rpg rely a lot on luck, I always plan my encounters so that with average rolls of the players there is a 50/50 chance of winning or loosing, never accounting special actions (doing it as if what they did only was attack-attack-heal-attack) and if I want to raise the difficulty I raise the percentage of good required rolls (for example, instead of getting average rolls like 5-6 on d10s or 10 on d20s the party must roll all the results above this average on all their rolls to be able to defeat the boss before they get stomped.)
This, more than usually, doesn't stand because the party thinks cleverly and uses good tactics.
>>44313902
>Is this a good or a bad GM?
As people have already said, that depends on the group, but most fatguys would probably tell you they like GMs who don't railroad and fudge their dice. I am one of them, to be honest.
The dice fall where they may and sometimes player death happens: a TPK is a possibility and you have to take it into consideration... if you're just going to handwave and say "That's not what happens, you survive and the fight with the final BBEG proceeds" then the tension is gone, as other anons have already said.
We can simply stop rolling dice and listen to the story, if that's what you want: but we will not; we came to play a game and failure is a real possibility. It just is: you can't win everything can you?
That's what sets apart RPGs from books or video games. The fact that things can go okay and that if you are defeated it might not automatically spell "GAME OVER" just because.
>>44319945
How is it "obvious"?
Again, if you're making a choice because you want to make that choice, why would you somehow feel betrayed and angry if it turns out that the choice you chose on your own was, in fact, the one that he had been carefully leading you towards?
Nigga, I do this all the time. We all do it. It's not even hard. All you have to do is play to a person's likes and dislikes. You want them to chase a villain? You make him one they dislike, specifically because he pushes their buttons. You want them to take a certain pathway, pick a certain multiple choice answer, or favor a certain character in the world? It's incredibly easy to set up a scenario so that option is appealing to them without making it a "railroad". It's basic DM shit.
You know how fucking many times my players have thought they derailed a campaign because they chose to hunt down a villain or spend time doing a thing they wanted rather than considering what the plot needed, when in fact what they wanted was exactly what I wanted the plot to do? A lot. Because it's easy.
>>44318968
tension for us maybe, but it's very real to the oblivious players and they're the ones that matter
>>44313902
It's kinda shit GMing, but if the players are having a good time...it's not the worst thing in the world.
>>44320115
Why would anyone believe you when you say you want a game where death and consequences are a thing?
We all know you are going to throw a tantrum and claim things are unfair when you start rolling 1s or your character takes a crit from a mook and drops into negatives. Or worse, when you fall into a pit trap and then make a thread on /tg/ about how DMs who use puzzles and traps are railroading assholes because they just want you to take damage and that's not "interesting consequences".
And let's be real: You wouldn't know what railroading is if you were in the fucking dining car.
>>44320141
>projecting and assuming that much
Sure, whatever you say anon.
>>44313902
I would fudge the roll if it were really bad and would cause TPK early on in the fight.
I would not fudge if a single player, already in bad shape, gets their ass handed to them in collateral damage and dies. Shit sucks, died an hero.
Overall, I think it is alright to do this, as long as you describe the wear and tear the players' attacks are causing the boss. All attacks hitting is a no-go, however. Shit rolls should happen. Then again, we play GURPS, so I can calculate their success based on their stat and the 3d6 distribution curve. Allows fine-tuning encounters real nicely.
>>44313902
Why even bother with a system, it's pretty much a quest thread at that point.
>>44320141
Nah, you're just retarded. For most non-autistic people, games where the risk of death and failure is real is better than one where the GM fudges away even the slightest possibility of death. And even for the rest, maintaining the illusion of lethality is a good thing.
Happened our last session:
>GM rolls for enemy #1, misses me
>GM rolls for enemy #2, misses me
>GM rolls for enemy #3, misses me
>GM rolls, picks up dice quickly not calling out the numbers, just says I get hit for half my HP
>This happens again next round
>"So you're down now right?"
>Call him out on not rolling, dismisses me
>Token girl of the group who was avoiding the fight suddenly leaps out of the shadows, taking down everyone quickly with similar non-rolls
>Rest of the session is about how amazing the girl is and her getting pissed whenever she isn't the spotlight
>GM making eyes at girl after session, keeps trying to convince her to leave somewhere with him.
I don't think I'll be going to the next game.
>>44320935
I'm going to call your story fake.
It very well may not be, but I prefer to believe in a world where the "DM tries to bribe a girl for sex" cliche doesn't actually happen.
>>44321049
It does.
I've been in a campaign before where the DM was showing clear as hell favortism towards the female member of the group.
Fudging rolls and forgiving behavior that would have had her killed in-universe.
Pretty damn annoying.
>>44321074
That could just be him being nicer or more forgiving because she's a girl, not because he wanted to bone her.
Girls tend to be treated nicer in general, and since they tend to carry a bit of a stigma of being inexperienced/naive/emotional with games, they usually get away with a lot, regardless of the DM taking an interest in them.
>>44317040
>We're adults, we can handle the truth.
>I felt insulted, my cognitive and emotional investment in the game was meaningless because everything was decided by him pulling shit out of his ass 24/7.
>>44321049
>I prefer to believe in a world where the "DM tries to bribe a girl for sex" cliche doesn't actually happen.
Don't you have fantasy roleplaying for that?
>>44321164
That's because he was lying to me and my friends for more than a year. You're not going to make people feel good about that.
If he was saying things like "Yeah this boss had too little health, I'm going to give him some more so you guys don't get bored", that would have been fine. But treating people like they don't deserve to know isn't okay.
>>44321128
That's not better.
>>44321251
Didn't your mother ever teach you to be nice to girls?
>>44321293
She did.
She also taught me to treat all people equally.
>>44321370
So just be nice and forgiving to everyone.
>>44315803
In all our collective years of being in the hobby, why isn't there some kind of GM guild out there?
>>44319799
Is this a trick question?
Most of us have to bring our own booze and weed.
If GM decided to give a Christmas freebie on the intoxicants we would sing his praises.
>>44313902
>Players are euphoric
Was the DM Richard Dawkins?
>>44313902
Good as long as everybody's happy.
That's usually going to seem contrived as fuck, though, and that doesn't leave anybody happy. It'd take a lot of skill and a good bit of luck to make a skin-of-the-teeth victory look natural if you're just winging everything.
If you pull this stunt often, it's going to be even more obvious.
>>44321413
Personality clash. People are used to being in charge while they GM, so being in a guild setting while still thinking of themselves in a GMing context would lead to a lot of people chafing at perceived slights to their style/skill/authority/personal hygiene.
>>44321413
That's actually a good question.
>>44321128
I've actually been in a group where fornication had occurred between members and this GM was just as brutal if not more brutal to the player than anyone else
They disgust me often but they skirt along the line of me just packing up and leaving into the sunset almost perfectly
>>44313902
>>GM barely stats his bosses
Dude, I never tell the players any NPC stats. No character has a "stat radar" that let them know, for Crom's sake. And they can't be sure if a creature or NPC follows its description in the rulebook/creature manual. I usually change the stats of common monsters.
The guard is a noon or a veteran? Let them know looking for small clues (better equipment, look alert, has a lot of scars, equipment is in good shape, seems very alert...). Same applies to monsters. Maybe one of the lizardmen is bulkier, carries a quality weapon, some jewelry worn as a sign of power, shouts to the other lizardmen and they seem to obey... ROleplay the encounters, don't just assign numbers!
>>the boss still gets constantly hit but we never know how much health he has left
I NEVER tell how much HP a creature/NPC has at any moment. Same as before. Tell the players that the owlbear bleeds from multiple wounds, seems to have trouble breathing, growls in pain...
Elaborate. Make tha players SEE the encounter, not a string of numbers and stats.
>>44313902
Are we just going to ignore that image? What's the context behind it?
