After all your years as GM, what's that one thing that still makes no fucking sense to you?
>>48251231
The player base.
>>48251231
Finding a group to play with
>>48251231
Why no one thinks to run away. Even just a tactical retreat.
>>48251279
Kill them until they understand it's an option.
It's worked wonders for me. Same thing with making traps, poisons, and diseases actually lethal. They'll learn.
>>48251231
How they always pick a seemingly random and stupid option that works out in the end.
>I want to play [gimmick character build that I won't enjoy past session 2]!
This is a game about adventurers. Play a fucking adventurer. Stop asking to play a fucking luchador, Stop asking to be a kitsune or a dragon or a water elemental. It's not funny, cute, or original.
>>48251231
Why do people still keep playing this bloody game if they're not there to have fun.
Why players computers always break down two hours before play is meant to begin.
The CR system.
>>48251458
fun is for faggots
>>48251405
Pretty much half my group falls into this
>>48251231
Why do people play "tanks" instead of "melee weapon user that happens to wear heavy armor" especially in systems where there's no such thing as an MMO-style taunt?
>>48251405
>luchadors kitsune dragons or water elementals cant be adventurers
you are that gm
>>48251537
>>48251231
Why do people need 20+ special snowflake races?
Why do people have to lean on options to write down on their character sheets to make unique characters?
Why do people sign up to play a game and miss every session after the first 2 or 3 but keep saying they will be there next week?
>>48251518
there is such a thing in pathfinder, it's called area control and attacks of opportunity.
>>48251551
you are right, that faggot just threw the fishing pole into the water talking about odd races like they aren't allowed to go on an adventure because theyre not allowed. I dont know why I even responded to something that stupid
Why can't they just fight the monsters and talk to the NPCs instead of trying to talk to the monsters and fighting the NPCs?
>>48251392
Lady luck's gambit, shes a bitch but when everything lines up right, she works like a charm.
>>48251573
Don't you ever reply to me again unless you're contributing to the thread.
>>48251573
Stay butthurt pathfag.
>>48251573
That's not the same thing as the player who says "I'm wearing the heavy armor, why doesn't everything just attack me?"
What you're talking about is what I always referred to as battlefield control, done melee style.
>>48251556
>Why do people have to lean on options to write down on their character sheets to make unique characters?
Because they believe that the stuff on the sheet constitutes everything about their character and have not learned to think beyond that.
That's why they think humans are boring as a race choice, because they don't see anything beyond the game stats as part of roleplaying. A fun little visual comes into their heads when they think "elf" or "warlock", but not when they think "human" so they decide that all elves or kitsunes or whatever will always be more interesting than all humans.
>>48251231
The first is D&D's armour class mechanic, wherein armour makes you harder to hit rather than reducing incoming damage. That has never made sense to me and it never will.
The second is how the very fucking instant I ban something, one player will always want to play that banned thing more than anything else in the entire world. It doesn't even have to be a douchebag That Guy player, I've seen this shit happen to otherwise level-headed and reasonable people. It's this weird childish "I want what I can't have" contrarian instinct that seems to surface completely at random when people are told that an option is unavailable. It's fucking bizarre and I hate it.
The complete and total lack of trust for sleeping and the distrust of npcs.
I have yet to betray them with a npc or attack them in their sleep. They do anything they can to try and sleep the least with the fewest down for the night. The also will not trust a npc, which has fucked them over several times in the last few years but they still will not trust one.
I do not even care any more if it is some weird form of trauma from another gm or game. I have been the one running the majority of sessions for the last 8 years and they still act like I am going to drop body snatchers on them at midnight.
>>48251405
Furthering off that
>I want to make a character who's really really good at [one thing] but utterly horrible at everything else!!
What the fuck why. You must realize this will condemn the character to performing their one maneuver over and over, and being totally useless when that maneuver isn't applicable to the situation?
>>48251707
>The first is D&D's armour class mechanic, wherein armour makes you harder to hit rather than reducing incoming damage. That has never made sense to me and it never will.
What?
A sword in your eye isn't going to hurt less because you've got a codpiece on.
Meanwhile if they stab the codpiece instead they aren't going to punch straight through solid metal and you're not going to take damage.
AC = armor stops the blow
Armor doesn't really dull blows that much. A stab through your gambeson is going to be about as bad as a stab without gambeson. It's far more usual for total invalidation than dampening of effect.
>>48251707
because armor class represents things like durability, dodging, skill, etc all rolled into a simplistic number, the end result of passing armor class has never been "you hit, but otherwise wouldn't have" it's "you hit well enough to do damage to the creature" damage reduction has always represented a higher version of that, that even a decisive hit was not as damaging as it would be to the average person/creature/etc
>>48251804
>>48251811
Fair enough. I still don't like the mechanic.
>>48251823
Just be glad it is better than the replacement mechanic in Unearthed Arcana.
>>48251853
which one? There's been several "variant" AC mechanics over the years in D&D
>>48251853
how does that work?
>>48251707
It might be that they think their paranoia is actively working for them. Unless you've clearly stated that they don't need to worry that hard about sleeping, they might be assuming that there are body snatchers waiting for them to let their guard down and the only reason they're safe is because of their precautions.
The not trusting NPCs thing, though, is really a mystery. That one should be a lot easier to figure out.
>>48251573
He said melee, not archer
>>48251606
this isn't off topic you twat monger. I did contribute to the thread about traditional games by pointing out that your shitty ideas of how adventuring works are retarded, and that no ammount of being a kitsune or a faggot prevents you from being an adventurer.
>>48251619
Sorry, I can't hear you over how salty you are with no argument for what any of those races have that prevents them from adventuring.
>>48251899
I think you misquoted, but that's okay, I still love you.
>>48251909
Melee is far superior for doing area control, not that ranged attackers are incapable of doing it, but it takes way more feat specialization for not much better effect
>>48251231
That players always hold up a sandbox setting as the ultimate holy grail of adventure design, yet whenever placed into a situation where they're given complete freedom of action they shut down and wait until I jam a plot hook in their faces.
>>48251916
I've honestly never seen anyone fall so hard for bait as stale as "don't ever reply to me again". Thanks, anon.
>>48251920
I absolutely did. Whoops.
>>48251710
>>48251916
yeah anon, choke on that bait.
>>48251873
>>48251877
You more or less halve all ac bonuses and but also give everyone an dr dependent on the type of armor it is. This also applies to natural armor to a degree. With a heavy guy in plate having like +4 to ac but dr/4.
It takes players all of 1 session to realize that you can just put hitting to the way side and just deal as much damage as possible.
>>48251231
How to balance a fucking encounter.
I seriously still don't understand how to do it.
I more often then not end up adding reinforcements or toning down abilities during a fight because it quickly becomes obvious that either the PCs are completely chumpalumping a simple encounter or a minor disabler will, through sheer dumb luck, cause a cascading party failure that will lead to TPK.
I've tried and tried, both with systems that have a suggested balance system and ones that have none at all, and I still have to resort to tweaking to produce enjoyable encounters.
What the fuck is wrong with my brain
>>48251990
From the other GMs I have talked to, balancing encounters on the fly is used by most of them, though only occasionally.
>>48251990
Speaking as a player, there's not much wrong with this. Breezing through encounters can be fun so long as you don't breeze through every encounter. Same goes for seemingly easy encounters that turn deadly. If all your encounters are balanced, things start to get predictable.
>>48251936
Same here. I've had many different players tell me that they want a heavy sandbox game and then when I plop them down somewhere in the world and tell them what's going around them they simply sit there. Maybe they bum around in town for a little while before going off to kill things in the woods. Not uncommonly they start killing eachother. Sometimes they just resign themselves to running a small shop in town.Then after the session the same player will tell me he wasn't sure where the main quest was.
Fucks who do not know what game they are running and try it run it like the first system they ran.
I can understand glossing over some things. I can not understand not knowing how fucking combat turns work when you have been running the system for years.
Or shit like when they say core rules are optional or work completely different then how the book or anyone else who has ever run the system have used them.
>>48251982
Just because one system is poorly executed doesn't mean that the concept, itself, is flawed.
>>48251804
The problem with that is that it plays badly, making people in heavy armor seem more dodgy than unarmored folks. And then there's the case of a giant's sword or a boulder that clearly shouldn't just glance off your armor.
>>48251231
Why do people think critical failures should have results like accidentally slitting your own throat?
Taking all gear from players in games that revolve around gear.
This always stuck in my craw when I played 3.5 and actually got me to leave the table for 2 years when a gm tried it in shadowrun then acted like we could do anything else with characters he kept poor then stripped.
Worst game I was ever in had us start at 10th level, with nothing. No spell ingrediants, no spell books, no foci or the like. Martial had no armor or weapons. He gave us quarter staves in the first session then dropped a corrupted angel followed by a lich on us. Two games later, we find magical gear and have spell casting crap, then a ship he refused to move the plot along without went down and we got teleported to some realm that stripped all gear from us and we had to start again.
>>48252223
Only idiot bitch fuck retards think that and I wish people would stop playing with them and indulging their stupid fucking ideas and dumbass assumptions
>>48252145
>I plop them down somewhere in the world and tell them what's going around them they simply sit there
Even really good players are going to struggle with this. The trick to getting a sandbox up and running is making the first arc not a sandbox at all. Once people break in their characters and get some more context for the world, they'll know what they want to do.
>>48252223
Because they like memes and also, like 90% of people in this hobby, they have never actually opened the books and play like their group.
Kinda like the idea of Advantage, like in 5e, came from a core rule of 3.5 in the DMG that no one used.
>>48251933
>Melee is superior for anything
>Pathfinder
You are shit even with your shitty pet system
>>48252268
Which rule are you referring to fro 3.5? I can't remember that, but 3.5 had such specific rules for specific situations that it got hard to remember them all. I only remember circumstance bonuses.
>>48252295
He's talking about a casual mention in the 3.5 DMG to give +/- 2 to rolls
>>48252287
The only reason I think Pathfinder is still a thing is because it's harder to acquire the 3.5 material. Pathfinder breaks more than it fixes and is still less satisfying.
>>48252287
>durrr
just because pathfinder isn't balanced doesn't mean you know anything about how area control with ranged works. feat for feat, and the base abilities alone, all make ranged a terrible option for most area controlling needs
>>48252308
That's the circumstance bonus rule I was talking about. Advantage is MUCH better.
>>48252223
I've never gone so far as someone slitting their own throat, but I do occasionally use critical fumble tables with results such as stabbing yourself, stabbing a teammate, shattering the weapon, or throwing it 1d100 feet. I only ever use these tables though for casual hack n slash dungeon crawler one shots.
>>48252295
One of the rules for skills, and could be applied to combat was the rule of +x or -x was considered one of the dms best tools.
Generally, it meant you give the players a +2 or -2 depending on what situation they are in. They are winning a fight, attacking a clearly inferior foe or climbing a rope because lava is coming for them and give them between a +1 to +20.
If they being over run by enemies, the house around them is burning down or they are badly hurt, apply -1 to -20 to what they are doing.
Also, 3.5 does not have that many rules. The rules for work place fraternization in my office is longer than the phb and dmg combined.
>>48252327
Best control options:
1) Spells
2) Snap Shot
3) End of list for anything that's not a corridor
>>48252378
3.5 grogs confirmed for worst grogs
I once played with a "thief" who wouldn't play unless we allowed his thief to have "supernatural trap sense" as he called it, which meant all of his dex savings throws act as natural 20 is special (read: all) scenarios, based on some weird flavor reason that didn't make sense. We let him play this way a couple times and just avoided putting him in situations where he could abuse it, but when his demand for accommodation started bleeding into his hit/dodge rolls, we kicked him out. Basically, I'll never understand why people who want to godmode their self insert character exist.
>>48252378
That's the circumstance bonus rule. I prefer advantage since I don't need to make a number on the fly.
I never met a 3.5 DM who did not know about circumstance bonuses though.
>>48252394
nah, that will always go to 2e fans.
Imagine something as inane as that guys post, but he spams it in every thread like it was the gospel of christ.
>>48252328
It's about twice as good, really.
>>48251231
How Mage: the Ascension mechanics work, and specifically Paradox. Seriously, what the fuck?
>>48252442
Numerically, advantage fluctuates between +1 and +5 based on how much of a chance you already had to succeed. It gives the highest bonus when the target number on the d20 is 10 or 11.
It's much better in my opinion because you don't have to arbitrarily make up a bonus or penalty number on the spot. I don't think adding +2 is hard but I've seen it slow down too many people.
>>48252381
>snap shot
>lets you take attacks of opportunity in 15' reach
>requires 5 feats to do what a melee person with a spell can do out of the box.
>gets you shit all for spells that boost your ability
>CMD nearly entirely useless with ranged attacks.
You have no idea how tanking works in pathfinder. The only ranged attacking controller is the arcane archer build.
>>48252457
See all that great shit you put xp into?
Well, if the st had a bad day, you will not be using any of that without him fucking you with realities barbed cock of correctness.
If he is high as shit, you become a god.
>>48251231
"The campaign is going to be about X."
"I WANT TO MAKE A CHARACTER FOCUSED AROUND Y WITH ZERO ABILITY OR INTEREST TO PARTICIPATE IN X!"
If you do this, kill yourself.
>>48251279
>Ran away in a benchmark playtest for characters so GM could calibrate the combat
>remembers that she's playing GURPS; combat is fucking dangerous
So yeah, what >>48251369 said.
Also, stop playing with D&D fucktards
>>48252465
Ignoring fringe cases that are almost certain to fail or succeed (long shots or sure shots), and looking at rolls within the more common 25% to 75% success range (before being modified), advantage grants you an average bonus of +4.5, a bit more than twice what you get from a +2 adjustment.
>>48252499
This 100%
>We've agreed to start a game trapped on an island
>My character has no reason to be on that island in the first place, so I'm not on that island I'm elsewhere.
Great, make a new character that has a reason to be on the island, or I will make you one.
>>48252545
>A wizard teleported you to the island
>>48252555
I try to be more creative than that, and I encourage my players to be as well.
>>48252499
Reverse of this burns my ass.
>we are playing a game focused around X
>10 sessions in and we have never run into X and we have planer traveled half of the fucking surrounding planes
>>48251405
I had this one guy who always had to be a ninja.
Shadowrun? Ninja.
D&D? Ninja.
Western? Half demon Ninja.
Any 40k game? Ninja.
Fucking why, you godforsaken cuntbag.
>>48252573
sometimes people need to be deus ex'd into playing along for the sake of the game.
>>48252540
You're not wrong and I didn't contradict you, but you entirely missed the point.
>>48252622
That's fine for weekly beer and pretzel games, fuck it I'll flow with just about anything at that point.
But for a game where we've all been working on the setting together and reviewing each others characters for weeks? Nope.
>>48252555
I used to play with a GM that would insist on making up his own reason for why a PC was now joining the party. This was made worse by frequent character deaths, so alot of new PCs would come in often. One of the stranger ones was that someone's thief character was attempting to pickpocket an old lady in town. As he approaches her he is suddenly blinded by a flash of light and finds himself attached to a comet hurtling through the atmosphere. This comet crash lands next to the party (who were in a cave) and the PC gets up from the flaming rock to introduce himself. According to the GM, this game was supposed to be completely serious, and he got angry if people started laughing.
>>48251405
At least those things are adventure-esque. I swear, if that dude brings in another fat merchant with gout so he can sit on his ass and not adventure in D&D...
>>48252671
so why is someone's character fucked off halfway around the world if that's the case?
>>48252644
I wasn't arguing with you. I was just commenting. The +1 to +5 range is a bit deceptive* because it might lead people to believe that you'd usually get a bonus lying somewhere in the middle of that range--somewhere around +3--when, in fact, you're more likely to get something very close to the top end of the range.
*Technically, it's +.95 to +5 (or +0 to +5, if we're looking at a roll you have no chance to succeed), but close enough.
>>48251823
>>48251804
Anyone have a gif of that guy in full plate armour and it protecting him completely from a sword blow? People in full plate armour are like statues.
>>48252573
>Tzeench decided to dick with you.
>Why me out of all other mortals?
>He's Tzeench, 'because fuck you' is pretty much his only reason.
Replace deities where needed, now you can introduce an ongoing way to encourage faith based roleplay of "I'll worship you/X this Y objective/do long penance quest if you can bitchslap Tzeench for me"
>>48252596
Are we talking 'ninja' or are we talking highly agile stealth character?
I mean, I know that I tend to play healsluts or crafters, but I like to vary the fluff and actual character.
>>48252596
It's like the sonic flags that can't help but put sonic in everything they do: it's autism, nothing more or less
>>48252704
Because they were being lazy and wanted me to come up with reasons for why their character would be on the island.
I made a list of 20 options based off what we knew about the character. The player in question refused all of them. It eventually boiled down to them wanting their character to be the center of the plot, a notion which I, and the other players, refused.
They were smart about it though, and finally caved in to making a new character that fit the game.
>>48251405
>Stop asking to play a fucking luchador
I see no difference between a monk who uses grappling and a luchador, a luchador adventurer could be interesting.
>>48252673
I'm stealing that intro
>>48252871
I've wanted to play a character like this before
>>48252213
You could consider the higher to-hit bonus of Strenght as the attack being able to deal damage to parts of armor that would neutralize weaker blows. That's why large+ beasts and boulders usually have a decent to-hit thanks mostly to Str. An experienced fighter with a high BAB can hit more accurately a weak spot, but a strong, lower-level fighter can also deal damage by hitting the general area around the weak spot with enough force that the blow is effective.
>>48252871
Not that anon, but I've seen several people that want to play a "luchador" specifically. Not just a grappler/wrestler type character but a "luchador" complete with mask, tight pants, and cheesy moves. I'm usually fine with it for beer and pretzels games, but sometimes the game is meant to be just a tad more serious. What really makes me dislike it though is when the player in question seems to think they are just the most cool, clever, and original person ever because they came up with such a brilliant idea.
>>48252871
Depends on the setting anon.
>>48253039
>my game is super serious also why do people want to have fun fuck those people.
this guy is a fucking disarmed shield and some rebranding away from being a luchador and yet every fucker under the sun seems capable of taking him seriously in his serious movies.
>>48252871
Here's my experience with players who want to be luchadors:
>I want to be a wrestler!
>oh here's some advice on how to do it, keep in mind that it's not that well-supported in the system at low levels
>why am I not doing as much damage as a greataxe?!
>why can my low-level barbarian not grapple everyone at once?!
>this is dumb I want to play something else!!!
And then he left the group, which continued without him for several months.
And the second case:
>Hey anon I'd love to join your game
>oh 5e core only because the other players are brand new to tabletops? I'm used to Pathfinder but okay, thanks for the PDFs
>hey anon here's a 3.5e homebrew luchador class from dandwiki, also I want to be a half-giant
>what do you MEAN 5e core only
>I guess I'll play a monk then
>oh this sucks because I didn't read the monk class at all
>you know what nevermind if I can't play my half-giant luchador I'd rather not play
And then the people brand new to tabletops played every week for months on end having a blast while he continued to have no group.
>>48253095
To each their own anon, relax.
>>48253095
>Implying the two-bit retards that copy Los Tiburon can or want to handle anything more serious than a scooby doo chase scene
>Implying "rebranding" doesn't cover tons of shit including total tone shift
>Implying "dude that fights with a shield" stands out in a party of powerarmored and mutating superscientists, norse god-aliens, and mutant teenagers the way a halfassed luchadore does in a traditional fantasy party.
Jesus Christ how does someone as retarded as you not forget to breathe?
>>48251231
Players having the campaign and its setting explained in detail to them before joining, then going "this isn't what I expected" after several sessions.
What did you fucking expect?
>>48253299
I mean, giving the player the benefit of the doubt, I think there are a lot of ways that could happen. My conception of a "serious" campaign might involve rape, drugs, and child soldiers, somebody else's might be "no turning the entire village into rabbits". People can listen to the same speech and get completely different things out of it.
>>48252213
You tend to want area attacks targeting either reflex saves or touch ac which is the doge ac with no armor (with other misc stuff that involved not getting touched at all).
The system makes sense if played correctly.
>>48251405
Luchadors are fun.
>>48253371
The person I'm referring to is a repeat offender though. He did it in two of my games (to a lesser extent in one), and one run by a friend of ours.
>Getting an angel of a new player that's eager to explore and do stuff and engage with NPCs instead of being afraid of doing anything
>Rest of the players chastise him for doing stuff without consulting them
For example I present the party with a NPC, the party starts debating how to approach this NPC, new player to my delight gets tired of the debate and just strikes up conversation.
>Rest of my players later complain to me about the new guy and how he's a problem player
Somebody end my suffering
>>48251706
I hate this, I love playing humans, and my group complains, that human is too boring and I should be different. Fucking bastards
>>48253504
Encourage the new player and tell the others to stop acting like pussies
Players keep trying to 'scare' me with the consequences of my decisions. I don't get it. Leaving alone that it's a very meta thing to do to begin with, and also the implication that I haven't thought through the consequences of my actions, it's like they cannot, even briefly, contemplate the notion that my intended end product when making a ruling is something negative for their character.
Like, not that they are throwing a tantrum and can't deal, but they genuinely cannot understand that I could possibly INTEND to screw over their character. I must be trying to do something else, and simply not considering the consequences of my actions.
Also >>48251405. I have some people I can trust to make a gimmick build AND an interesting character. Most players though, I see that they've made "Guy who grapples with two cyberarms" and know with certainty that they have no backstory beyond this.
>>48251231
How people somehow have absolutely no originality and just want to play the main character from whichever anime happens to the current flavor of the month.
I don't get why players are passive lumps.
>>48253769
Ignore this
Cut out the middle man and tell your players directly to stop acting like pussies
>>48251369
The players?
>>48251231
>players complain my dming has too much railroading and dungeon crawling.
>make a new game where i give players a map, a background history of universe and inform them they are mercenaries/refuges in the middle of a brewing war and they can go anywhere and join anyone.
>players complain about how they don't know where to go next and there aren't enough hints to point them in the right direction when any direction can be the right one.
>>48252741
Explaining probability to people is usually a futile endeavor. Which is why I just say advantage gives you the biggest advantage when the outcome of the d20 roll is most uncertain. Needing an 11 is the 50/50 scenario.
>>48251279
The problem with that is at least in 5e that unless every single member of your party travels faster than all of the enemies, it'd just be a perpetual move-dash because there is no way to indicate a monster will not pursue
>>48253877
That's funny to me, because I basically had my players flat out tell me 'just give us three or so easily identifiable options for any given point'.
>>48253259
>>Implying "rebranding" doesn't cover tons of shit including total tone shift
no, it fucking doesn't.
its america, luchadores are mexican, hence rebranding, it doesnt require any tone shifts, you are shoehorning a problem where there isn't one in order to justify your delusions when confronted with the evidence that they are bullshit. speaking of that, your first point isn't one either, because it addresses the shitty player, not the luchadore concept. get some not shitty players.
>traditional fantasy
>bullshit dismissal of captain america
dumbass, the point of CA is that he can be taken seriously, which is exactly why you said you where bitching.
>halfassed
so only a halfassed one? now you're blatantly backpeddling. I'm declaring it, I won this arguement. the only way you could come away thinking any different is if you are litterally incapable of any level of honest self assesment and reading comprehension. All of your sides posts have either been insults, ignoring the arguement completely, or awful stillborn arguements that practically killed themselves for me.
![remasteredmageflowchart[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/HSws9qy.png "remasteredmageflowchart[1].png")
>>48252457
Like this
>>48251231
>Runs a great game of tw2k
>Great group collected
>over 40 sessions that have been well planned out and the world evolved as the group set its own goals.
>Actually decently balanced enemy encounters
>Hand draws all the little things like maps of the area, secret messages, gun diagrams, character art for the ncs
>Loveable overweight guy always hosting the game at his house
>Actually well kept
>Ends up going silent for a week
>Find out he died from having a grapefruit sized tumor for several months
>None of the players knew about this condition
Why man... Why didn't you tell anyone...
>>48253932
Not that guy but holy shit I was just invited to a M:tA game too
What the fuck is that
>>48253932
Holy shit, why.
I've seen flowcharts for entire turns of games smaller than that.
I know White Wolf has a boner for overly complex rules, but what the fuck.
>>48253504
Group I've been playing with all started out with us just starting a conversation on a whim with NPCs.
>now half the party literally walks out of a building to wait by the street for when we decide to go somewhere else whenever theres conversation.
>>48253983
>Tell group
>All of a sudden that shadow of death is hanging over the entire table
>Everyone's too worried about him to play properly
>The game gets skewed because of this horrid anticipation
>Someone might even suggest he find more 'meaningful' things to do with his remaining time than have genuine fun with his friends
That man is the hero your group needed
I can damn well tell you right now he died with no regrets in this matter
>>48253504
GMing is suffering with my regular group. I got a side-group like a cheating husband and ended up leaving my original group and just GMing for my new guys.
Unfortunately the guy that's most eager to roleplay is... frequently bad at problem solving and so bad at dealing with people IRL that it shows even when he's pretending. I try to help as much as I can but it's hard to know what to do.
Speaking of things that are difficult: I have never been able to figure out how you balance out mechanical diplomacy vs. just roleplaying it out.
A player of mine thinks that diplomacy = mind control but...
>social skills are like any other skill, if I roll really well then I should be able to do something that's incredibly difficult automatically.
well it's hard to argue with that-- except then you have people in real life who just don't want to listen to a talker. For example no amount of begging or wheeling and dealing can dissuade a hardened contract killer.
So what am I to make of this dilemma? What do you guys do?
>>48253504
They have the classic "Assume every named NPC is the GM trying to somehow trick and betray you" mentality.
My players suffer from it as well, they constantly assume that I'm going to fuck them over if they help anyone but themselves.
>>48254013
There was so much we could have said to him atleast before he left. I wish I could have said how awesome of a GM he was... I regret not saying it at all.
>>48253873
No, their characters anon.
>>48252213
>The problem with that is that it plays badly, making people in heavy armor seem more dodgy than unarmored folks.
That's only if you've got a DM that's bad at describing action.
>>48254047
And now your last memories of him are going to be super awesome fun times instead of desperately watching the clock tick down
It sucks that you don't have closure, but at the same time I think he knew all that shit you wanted to tell him
>>48254004
>why
Because Mages are literally "I reshape the world with my mind": the class
There's a lot of rules, bylaws, stipulations, and hazards to them so it's not just freeform godmode
>>48254070
Never thought that I would be getting some therapy at 2 in the morning on 4chan. Thanks.
>>48253923
Can't we all agree that we're all just a gaggle of cunts and that no matter what argument we make, characters we choose to design, or whether or not we like our adventures in sandboxes or on rails at the end of the day we play with dice and paper in groups for make-believe? In all honesty, sometimes I wonder why everyone on this board, including myself, doesnt just do our favorite hobby a favor and remove ourselves from it. Maybe then tabletop rpgs wouldn't be plagued with half the shitty attitudes, bitching, moaning, and superiority complexes that we all drag into it.
Then again, maybe I'm just one of the cunts on this board just looking for someone to fight with so I can feel right too.
>>48254086
Okay. I've never played M:tA, but I thought their powers were a lot more specific than that.
I guess it's good that they're not, but damn. I assume most players use skill more often than spells both to keep themselves safe from those hazards and not to have to go through that flowchart again. Must take five minutes to do basic stuff.
People whose minds go straight to the gutter when it comes to kids.
"You see a teenage girl near the dilapidated house with white hair and her shirt tied around her waist. She's hastily chopping logs during the unexpected snowfall."
>"So she's topless?"
"There's this thing called a vest."
>"You never mentioned a vest."
"It was implie- fuck it, she's topless and looks quite /fit/, back to the game."
"The urchin has nothing to her name but a sheathed knife strapped to her thigh."
>"So she's naked?"
"... ... no. She has some near-worthless clothes that provide minimal warmth."
>"So, functionally nak-"
"You lose 100xp for being a creepy pedophile."
"The black-haired man is accompanied by a blonde-haired girl about fifteen years old, but she gives off the feeling that she wears the pants in the family."
>"So they're marri-"
"ROCKS FALL."
That's the abridged versions of those. All three different players in three different games.
>>48254018
Assuming this is 3.x/PF/5e since other editions of D&D do not have diplomacy skills.
In which case, the correct approach is to actually *read* the rules and play them properly. The SRD reads:
>You can change the attitudes of others (nonplayer characters) with a successful Diplomacy check
Then it gives you a helpful table indicating the NPCs starting attitude and the DCs. Again, Diplomacy is *not* "persuade someone to do a very specific task", it's "change someone's attitude to be more helpful".
A surly doctor that you sweet-talk into being more friendly is still in possession of his faculties. Whether or not he'll break the law for you depends on how that attitude meshes with his personality and professionalism.
Your contract killer interpretation is correct, however do note there are plenty of options still. A really successful diplomacy check might open up the option of being able to pay off the contract killer by outbidding the original contract, for example.
>>48254162
Who the fuck do you play with, sincerely?
>>48254179
Pedophiles apparently.
>>48254179
>>48254184
Pretty much. I get all the luck. I guess my question is "Why does it bring out deviancy? Be a loliphile if you want, I don't care, but don't bring it to the table. You don't know how everyone else will react."
>>48251405
>Stop asking to play a fucking luchador, Stop asking to be a kitsune or a dragon or a water elemental
Having played all of those save the luchadore, those can absolutely be fun in an appropriate and fitting setting if the character is well-made.
Sounds like you just need more creative players.
>>48253916
>'just give us three or so easily identifiable options for any given point'.
This is how I am as a player. If you want to run a sandbox, just give me some clear quests that aren't urgent (i.e. "do this right fucking now or the reward is a one-way ticket to feels town"). If I think of a quest to do on my own, I'll gladly do that if we have a moment, even if the group has to hem-haw for 20 minutes over some shit that doesn't matter before that can happen.
What I don't get is how reluctant my DM has been to give us time for side-shit. These past few months, I racked up a whole list of shit I wanted to do (explore the cave we passed by before, do a thing to help our amnesiac NPC friend find her memories, etc), and I even mention it during sessions, but the main story stuff is always so pressing and time-sensitive. Maybe if I told him OOC he might allow time for it?
>>48254218
i'm kind of the opposite, i've never been into side quest shit and i wished other people liked actually playing the "main plot line"
>>48254173
I actually just call it diplomacy so we'll all be on the same page. Social skills in general. My group doesn't actually play D&D anymore, but we tinker around with pre-existing systems and occasionally one of us shits out a homebrew that we all play.
>>48254201
How about just dont bring it to anything ever. What need is there to actively be sexually interested in people who are underaged, fake or otherwise?
My theory is that they all have some baby dicks and they knows kids won't judge them on the size of their teeny tiny shame sticks.
>>48251231
Well as a GM I never got why a select group of players I know will never kill goblins or kobolds and treat them as misunderstood but are just fine with ruining human bandits everytime they meet. I know one of them reads goblins but I am unable to discern the motivation of the rest.
As a player I have learned any game said to be set in Faerun but with GM's own special twist means it will be trash that is not actually set in Faerun. I would like to experience a game in that setting, I just wonder if anybody else gets reeled in with promises like this?
>>48251706
>A fun little visual comes into their heads when they think "elf" or "warlock", but not when they think "human" so they decide that all elves or kitsunes or whatever will always be more interesting than all humans.
So perhaps their race should actually be a part of their character rather than simply whichever look they find looks coolest when they pay some guy on dA $25 to draw their character.
>>48254259
Or they're trying to make the DM out to be a pedo in the most pedantic manner possible.
>>48254276
I can see the half-hearted chuckle value of that, but the potential of it is wasted when they could just find some loli shit from /b/ and post it all over the front of his house, car, etc.
why women play it
>this is my chance to be cute and funny
>>48254130
>I assume most players use skill more often than spells both to keep themselves safe from those hazards and not to have to go through that flowchart again.
That, plus it's how the game is meant to be played. If you're outed as a mage, expect the Technocracy to be hunting you before too long. Being as subtle and non-magical as possible for as long as possible is how the Traditions survive. It is World of Darkness after all--if you break the Masquerade, expect to die quickly and silently.
>>48254218
> Maybe if I told him OOC he might allow time for it?
Yes, do this.
>>48254274
I find that the kind of players who get really caught up on it, they're the type who think a statblock, a portrait, and maybe a quirk or single backstory element are sufficient to constitute a character concept, and either don't flesh it out, or don't know how to use RP to convey any of the other stuff they've written. For example, the beginning and end of the character concept would be "bard who came from that wakedancer village", or "gnome barbarian with anger issues".
>>48254276
I used to do that. It was more a way of playfully taunting the DM than trying to be creepy.
>>48253916
>'just give us three or so easily identifiable options for any given point'.
>>48251231
After years of trying to start, it still baffles me how do you guys even.
>>48254468
>easily identifiable
It's like you've never had a teacher obsessed with Scantrons.
>>48253932
>mfw I have to consult that chart
>>48251405
sick and tired of characters who aren't male human fighters eh?
>>48251279
>run away from a dungeon
>dm punishes us for not fighting it to the death
>>48251405
Only the kitsune seems like cancer, and the water elemental seems dope
>>48254656
As opposed to my players, who kill the shit out of everything potentially hostile to them then blast its corpse into colorful liquid globs that it may never return, regardless of how much personality it has, potential usefulness, or even the dubiousness of its true intentions. There are no long-running villains or rivals or fun. Even enemies with means and motivation to escape get stunlocked and splattered upon attempting it.
I guess I need to think of this less like a collaborative story and more like a game. And only allow core rulebook in the future.
>>48251405
>I wanna be the smartest wizard!
ok
>I am now too smart to go risk my life on adventures.
why
>>48251279
DM literally had a cave in occur, and then had us fight an encounter we had next to no chance to live through, and when questioned said he didn't expect us to fight them head on. Despite having nowhere to go, no resources beyond our standard fighting gearyetis destroyed wagon and supplies earlierand fighting non-communicating enemies.The last common speaking enemy we fought stopped talking abruptly and got a surprise round cone of cold off... somehow
>>48252596
As long as they're doing it right as the reconnaissance guy that outside his ninja garb looks just like any other dude and only kills if it's necessary to escaping with the intel/hide their identity, and in any case leaving no evidence they were there. If it's just a guy that wears pajamas and throws pointy chunks of metal at everyone then fuck 'em.
>>48254720
my players do this too one time one of them complained 'We never see the same stuff again, how come nobody we fight comes back to bite us in the ass?"
because you kill everyone you pick a fight with, dumbass
>>48253915
>DM can't just decide it got tired of chasing
Stop playing shit games
>>48251804
>armor doesnt really dull blows much
Then no one wouldve fucking worn it, you fucking idiot
>>48254765
So bring them back to life. Bioware did it.
>>48251405
>build that I won't enjoy past session 2
You shitting me?
My group is NOTHING but funny builds any game we play, and it lasts easily 8-12+ sessions of shenanigans.
It's always our forever GM that loses interest in his campaign whenever a new system catches his interest.
The fuck is wrong with you and your group.
>>48254765
Except, you know, that as a DM you can make any enemy survive anything. You can fiat that they got away, or maybe they even came back from the dead. It's up to you, not them.
>>48254720
>kill the shit out of everything potentially hostile to them then blast its corpse into colorful liquid globs that it may never return
Can't roleplay when you're dead, anon.
To a person in-universe, "recurring enemy" means "this asshole tried to kill me once, but now he knows my face, knows how I fight, and as we speak he is plotting to end my life". If your players are roleplaying as people who prefer living, then they are doing something that's pretty reasonable. If that character dies, he doesn't just grab a beer and roll up a new PC next week- it's game over for him, full stop, dead, not coming back.
So I'd say it's pretty good roleplaying to not throw your character's life away for shits and giggles.
>>48254807
>>48254801
I was planning this, I just got a little annoyed that they try and tie up all loose ends then complain that there's no loose ends.
>>48252596
Man, just let him have fun being his ninja dude in elfgames you play with friends.
>>48253915
>5e that unless every single member of your party travels faster than all of the enemies, it'd just be a perpetual move-dash because there is no way to indicate a monster will not pursue
Chase Rules
DMG page 252
You're welcome.
>>48251606
lolol umad
9 years behind the DM seat. Dozens of groups, hundreds of players.
You know what I have NEVER ONCE SEEN?
Someone show genuine excitement or happiness when they overcome a challenge or beat an enemy.
Sure, I see people TALKING about it all the time; They write stories about cheering when they beat a boss, they talk about awesome moments, but I have never once, in my life, ever seen an actual player act like that in the moment. Ever.
So what makes no sense to me is why everyone spends so much time lying about how much they like games.
>>48254804
>and it lasts easily 8-12+ sessions of shenanigans.
I don't care what you say, I don't care how much you insist it's the truth. "8-12 sessions of shenanigans" is not fun, it's not something to brag about, and it's not a sign of a good group of people.
>The fuck is wrong with you and your group.
You literally said that your group puts together retarded characters and then fucks around for a few weeks before getting bored.
...and you're asking what's wrong with other people?
>>48254897
Trying not to be an asshole here buthave you ever though to common element was you and your games just aren't engaging enough?
>>48251707
>The second is how the very fucking instant I ban something, one player will always want to play that banned thing more than anything else in the entire world.
Ah yes the autism "Explain every tiny bad thing about it to me! If you don't or I disagree, you have no right to deny me!"
http://pastebin.com/2QYxGABf
>>48251936
>>48252145
Make it like sandbox videogames.
Plot they can pick up whenever and then just collectibles for days.
>>48254130
>>48254004
It's less analogous to "take turns based on initiative, you have a move and attack action, which rolls so and so and so on" and more "this is how you homebrew spells in this system". Just look at D&D epic spell creation rules, they are along the similar veins.
>>48254925
No, because that makes no sense. How could I somehow be a factor in games I wasn't DMing for, or wasn't even playing in, but observed?
"Hurf its u lol" is not an answer to something that's pretty plainly obviously ubiquitous.
>>48254936
>to something that's pretty plainly obviously ubiquitous.
>Anecdotes
Players who make characters they know they'll get bored with in five minutes.
I've never once come up with a character that I had no intention of playing through to completion, and I've had 3 separate human paladins in my years playing.
Or maybe it's that people get bored with their characters easily and want to drop it. Which I also don't understand. The only way I can see a character not being to your liking after you yourself created it, and it's still well within your control is if the campaign took a turn you didn't like.
What the fuck is wrong with the guy who's constantly wanting to switch characters?Especially when it's always the same character with a new coat of paint.
Seriously, how many 'spunky youthful gals with a quirky fighting style' can you make before you realize you're playing the same one?
>>48254951
But that's what I'm telling you.
I've never seen it happen, ever. I've heard anecdotes about people telling me how they got totally into a game, or really excited, but I've never seen it happen despite having played in, DMed, observed, and listened to many thousands of hours of gaming.
So you're inevitably going to counter with YOUR anecdote about how "In my game, we totally cheer every time we kill a Kobold", but I have a weight of evidence that leads me to believe you're lying.
>>48254973
>"In my game, we totally cheer every time we kill a Kobold", but I have a weight of evidence that leads me to believe you're lying.
So why even bother bringing it up then?
>>48254812
Oh I realize it's a legitimate methodology for the characters and so I can't call it wrong or anything. It's a little odd that every one of this eccentric cast has the exact same thoughts on what to do with a downed combatant, regardless if he ever had the chance in the initiative order to prove his hostility or any other number of situational factors, but it's not a strictly wrong attitude. On the other hand I haven't previously made enemies who see a downed PC and think to toss an alchemist fire on its supposed corpse to make sure it never comes back from negative hp because the big bad evil guys I know always leave the hero to his "certain doom". I've had demons who didn't mind killing the heroes if they were in their way, but cared more about achieving their immediate goals after proving their strength than belaboring combat. I need to stop making characters out of punching bags and accept that, as we are playing it, every asshole on this planet who is at odds with anyone else is a paranoid double-tapping crusading force devoid of mercy, greater intention, or development. A player has even asked me for more "normal" combat with faceless mooks and that kinda crushes me.
>>48253783
Wut.
Dude, they're either doing something really mindfuckery or you're bad at explaining.
"Consequences of [presumably GM's] decisions"?
Some examples please?
>>48254897
Have you tried playing systems/with groups where combat actually matters and isn't just filler between other stuff happening?
>>48254787
Context, you oblivious dullard.
> It's far more usual for total invalidation than dampening of effect.
It's not "dulling", it's "neutralizing". A deflected sword doesn't cut.
>>48254897
I've seen players excited in the midst of a game.
Not hopping up and down (at least not often), but engaged and happy to succeed.
I feel kinda sorry for you, to be honest.
>>48254765
Bring someone back as a revenant or wight, and have them come after the party for revenge.
>>48254936
You implied you were the DM for those games.
>>48254955
For me, it took me like 2 years to realize what classes I genuinely enjoyed and which class's playstyles were boring as shit. Dude with Big Sword sounds cool when I'm making him, but then combat isn't as fun as it sounds. This was furthered by the fact that my group has a hard-on for never switching characters, and making everything way too easy. I spent so many sessions trying to get my last mistake character killed that I wrapped around into liking the suicidal bastard again.
>>48254928
>http://pastebin.com/2QYxGABf
Both people look like they're in the wrong here.
Who's meant to be the autism? Because both are getting salty about what seems to be a miscommunication.
>>48255041
that actually is a pretty good plot hook
>Player comes up with plan that would immensely benefit the party in their current (usually dire) situation
>Begins putting plan into action without telling anyone else what he's up to or asking their opinion
>Everyone else, having no idea what he's up to, try to do their own thing, often unwittingly screwing up the player's plan
>Player finally reveals that he had a plan, what it is, and now expects everyone to fall in line
>Everyone else is now in the worst possible position to make that plan a reality
This happened last session and two PCs died. It was almost a party wipe.
>>48254765
My players are the same, though I had one enemy left at 0HP once during a bad storm so they left him without checking or even taking his gear. That enemy was meant to be reoccuring, so I had him follow them around, this time prepared with magical items and the like to make his escape.
But in general I have to give every non-threatening character 20 guards or a hulking behemoth to protect them if I want them to live.
>>48254928
>http://pastebin.com/2QYxGABf
Both of you are fucking assholes.
>>48255200
I did this last session, and it workedagainst the other players' will, but I did save them all.installing overrides in their giant robots was the best idea
>>48254955
There are people who like making characters but find the actual game boring.
Yes, even the dumbasses who make the same thing every time. At least those players have the "is stupid" excuse to why they haven't figured it out why they don't like playing yet.
I'm partially one of those folks. I have a backup character because I was told we can lose them at the drop of a hat. Now I have an entire retarded donut steel party just to go with my backup character that will probably never see the light of day. I can't stop myself from doing it. The worst part? I'm not the guy switching characters.
>>48253932
To satisfy my pedantry: this flowchart is for Awakening (nWoD/CoD), not Ascension (WoD).
One for Ascension would likely be similar, though it would start with a box labelled "Have a fight over what sort of observer is assumed for the purposes of vulgar/coincidental"
>>48255120
Well lets start with
>I don't think I want you in my game
>See this attitude makes it hard to want to be in your game
This doesn't demonstrate anything?
>>48255356
During the last session the party entered a compact, heavily-trapped maze. It was quickly made apparent that stepping on certain parts of the floor would open doors in the walls releasing (more) monsters. This player's genius plan was to hole up in a side room and use that to funnel the monsters through and concentrate everyone's firepower. Not a bad plan.
Instead of sharing this plan, he decided to run down the hallway towards the nearest side room, triggering like four different monsters to come out between him and the party he left behind. After reaching the far end he turned and shouted "Okay, let's all get in here!" to his compatriots who were on the far side of several dangerous monsters in a cramped corridor.I was not the DM in this situation but I've seen it happen before when I was.
>>48254656
Is you from that group with 16 cowardly characters?
>>48255248
I confess to being an asshole but I'm not even in the log, I just know the guys involved.
>>48254984
Okay so on the tamer end is merely stuff like "Thats ridiculous. Doesn't that mean that people would die all the time in this world? And they'd need to resort to having heaps of kids and large families as insurance?"
And I point out that they all described themselves as coming from a large families, everyone they've met has been stated to have several siblings, etc.
On the weirder end, its stuff like "So in this setting noone has ever figured out how to summon a demon intentionally, ever? But if that's true, that means I can't make a character who summons Demons all the time!"
and my response will be something along the lines of "Well yes, that's the point" and they just don't get it.
>>48255486
I see.
Second example seems the guy has contrarianism like >>48251707 described.
>>48251231
That with each passing year people is less and less interested into reading fiction and barely are familiar with the cult movies that helped me to get interested into this hobby.
Most of my younger players only saw the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Narnia movies and when I ask them about Conan the Barbarian they always think of the awful 2011 film.
>>48251279
So many GMs will give you zero indication of where you're actually at in a fight. If you never get any more information than "you hit the monster" and "the monster is dead", there is no way to know if you should run away.
>>48252573
Being creative is unnecessary and overrated.
Creativity often gets in the way of gameplay.
>>48252213
>And then there's the case of a giant's sword or a boulder that clearly shouldn't just glance off your armor.
Realismfags are a phenomenon I've never understood. You complain that armour shouldn't be able to stop a giant's club, but you have no problem with the giant doing no more damage than your fighter.
Realistically, you shouldn't stand the slightest chance against the majority of monsters out there. Would you like that better, if every encounter just means you automatically die?
The absolutely worst realismfags are the ones that argue things are unrealistic, but have no god damned idea how reality actually works.
>>48255629
The ones I hate are the ones that clamor for it even when it isn't called for
>Faster than light travel is unrealistic, this is stupid
Dude, a LITERAL wizard is operating the FTL engine, with LITERAL magic
>But FTL is unrealistic
>>48255666
I never got the "FTL is unrealistic" thing. I get that the technology is a ways away, but things like the Alcubierre Drive have still not been disproven.
>>48254308
>a game about playing mages
>you are penalized for doing actual magic
I don't understand this brand of game design.
>>48255708
You're not penalised for doing magic, you're penalised for doing magic that looks like magic.
So "I throw a fireball" is bad, but "I throw a fake grenade while casting fireball" is good. It's there to try and give mages some considerations before they start spamming spells.
>>48255689
The means to "realistically" create that thing are even more fantastical than usual sci-fi level.
>>48251231
Good characters killing more than the evil characters. Almost about to just alignment shift all my players
>>48255750
It's sci-fi. So long as it doesn't violate the laws of physics, go nuts in my opinion.
>>48255761
Silver Flame zealots are the worst
>>48255765
Well see, you'd need either
>insert a physics exploit to make the drive easy; at which point you're the same as any other wormhole-riding scifi
>insert some insanely powerful energy generating method, which requires inventing some new physics AND carries heavy influence on the setting.
>>48255809
...so? All sci-fi involves some speculation.
>>48255689
>>48255809
>>48255828
Here's another one. I do goddamn space fantasy and everyone starts talking about sci-fi. Because apparently "space" and "science" are interchangeable.
>>48255848
Space Fantasy? Haven't heard of it, but it sounds interesting.
>>48254817
You don't even need to bring anyone or anything back to life. Somebody (wifes, children and such) who was not present might find enough clues to know who did it, and try to do something.
Maybe not personally, but hiring mercenaries, blackmailing or framing them are all possibilities.
>>48255875
What an interesting idea.
>>48255809
or
>just not give a FUCK because only pedants and assholes care so much about muh realisms that they'll flip a turdburger over FTL technology existing, despite being practically necessary to do interplanetary travel even within the same star system in any sensible or playable amount of time
>especially when the fucking thing's run off of magic
>>48255888
I remember trying to play a "realistic" rpg. My character won a gunfight, then died of an untreated infection two months later.
I must say, it was quite accurate.
>>48255871
You've never heard of even Spelljammer?
>>48255888
>>48255848
Ok man, chill a bit.
I feel like you're projecting the frustration with your group on me.
Just chill. I wholly agree that sperging about magic is dumb.
>>48255906
I've heard it mentioned in passing, but never really found out what it is.
>>48251470
This x1000000
>>48255925
Well it's an offshoot of D&D wherein you go planet hopping in magical ships.
>>48255937
Sounds interesting.
>>48251231
How to balance play groups. I always end up with some dick dealing 10d6 base plus 20d6 element of fuck you plus 1.5 times penis length and the like at level 2 while the other players are doing anemic 1d4-1 damage and feeling left out.
>>48255923
poster from >>48255888 here
nigger and i'm not even related to him or his group
it's just fucking dumb to sperg out about FTL of all things, and it's even dumber to act like every little detail of every setting has to have widespread, world-changing effects
sometimes it's magic you don't have to explain shit, so that you can get on with actually playing the fucking game
>>48254055
Underrated, I chuckled heartily and rolled a natural 20.
>>48252248
This. Every fucking gm I've ever had has been terrible at giving world context. They just say I'm in a forest in a religious empire. Okay, cool.
Who is the Emperor? What laws are big? What's weather like? Population esimate? Hospitality? Crime rates? Economy?
Nope. Just in "a" forest with a mysterious note from Bumfuck Whosthat and his friend Whyshould Icare.
You want to see us do interesting thigs in this world you setup, you have to give us context. I can make up reasons why my character might care, but if I start playing and you tell me in session 3 my character's beliefs are now heretical without any prior warning, go fuck yourself.
Or when there finally is an interesting plot thread and you let us kill an npc we met earlier as a werewolf without giving us a chance to hear his last words or for him to surrender, or somehow conveying we entered his territory... and then you complain that we didn't seek a peaceful option as you sent 9 werewolves at us with no indication we knew them...
Fuck you.
>>48255957
Well, still chill a bit, man.
Also, I sometimes like to add a pinch of realism concerns even into space fantasy.
>the stars are going out
>but they aren't going out in supernovas as they should; nor they are going out with appropriate chronological delay
>you see stars going out immediately across the whole galaxy because their conversion to magical uber-blackholes begins withdrawing all the light they emitted; you don't see them anymore because the light has done 180 and is heading back
>if you're in the system, and the outer sphere of the system starts glowing bright while the sun itself starts dimming, you are in biiiiiig shit
>if you're on a planet, you probably won't notice on account of being distracted by rising undead hordes
>>48256002
2 things.
1. I don't see how that's a realistic concern
2. That's fucking awesome
>>48255578
>not using tactical map
>>48251405
I GM'd a game with a half dragon cavalier/fighter player with a thunder horse mount, a god blooded bard, a wizard without any concept of right and wrong, a dwarven druid with even LESS concept of right and wrong if it did not apply to his plant waifus, and a halfling ninja from another continent that and one point went forward in time to get a duplicate of his favourite sword, went back in time, became a vampire, became a tyrranical ruler, and then was killed by his once best friend the half dragon.
That campaign lasted 3-4 years and was some great fun, you're an asshole for thinking that any character concept you don't like is somehow inherently bad.
And for the record, the only player who left was the basic dwarven fighter, who literally got bored of his character halfway through and left the game while the part was exploring a giant puzzle dungeon that the wizards player asked me to make for him.
>>48255749
The way you described it the players spend their time trying to avoid engaging what is supposedly the core concept of the game. I get that it's WoD and things need to be shitty, but still... Vampire doesn't penalize the characters for sucking off a male prostitute in a dingy alleyway nor Werewolf howling at the moon or whatever they do, you know?
>>48253371
>Serious campaign
>rape, drugs, child soldiers, and presumably drugged child rape soldiers
I couldn't take such a campaign seriously, I'd probably just take it completely over the top and make it a humorous edgy parody.
>>48251804
>A sword in your eye isn't going to hurt less because you've got a codpiece on.
Yes, and? Your system doesn't support different armor value for different body parts like steel breastplate for torso and chainmail for arms/legs?
>>48256037
>1. I don't see how that's a realistic concern
>"Something is killing the stars"
>"But how do we see it, the light is still travelling from millennia in the past?"
The best thing is that it fits seamlessly with the setting fluff - ancient pan-galactic empire of sun-magic guys grew arrogant and tried to collect as much power as possible to create more sun-magic by pumping it into the biggest sun-god (aka the soon-to-be black hole core of the galaxy)
>>48255578
Maybe. But if I DM, and tell you after you burn through all your high level spell slots that the monster "appears unfazed", tactical withdrawal should probably appear first and foremost in your list of priorities at that moment.
>>48256110
D&D most definitely does not. Not every game is simulationist, bro.
>>48256154
>D&D most definitely does not.
With C&T it does, but relatively few people used that.
>>48254928
>http://pastebin.com/2QYxGABf
>skins
>Chosen
What system is this?
>>48255956
help them build their character and ask the powerplayer to tone it down a bit
>>48252750
>People in full plate armour are like statues.
Or ignorance.
>>48256154
Ok. Then (in my opinion) if you don't have separate armor for different body parts you shouldn't use aimed attacks for different body parts. Just use general armor value that reduce general damage.
>>48256200
There are no called shots in D&D either (without using exotic and obscure alternative rules). Attacks hit or they don't. When they don't, you're supposed to fluff it as bouncing off your armor. Or dodging.
>>48256214
Well, that's just stupid. I assume when you roll for damage you fluff it as if you hit armor (if damage is low) or hit unprotected area (if damage is high)?
>>48256255
Read this block. It's the best explanation for how HP damage is supposed to work in all of D&D.
TL;DR version: You fluff wound severity based on what fraction of your maximum HP the attack did. 1 damage to a 4 HP wizard? Fairly serious injury. 6 damage to an 80 HP warrior? Barely a scratch.
>>48256200
That's probably the worst possible solution, though. It's neither more realistic than generalized AC that reduces the probability of suffering damage, nor does it offer simpler or quicker calculations(just adjusting the target number is faster than having to subtract some number from every damage roll). Sure, you can argue that armor reducing damage is more realistic, but that only applies when you add hit locations so wearing a maille vest doesn't magically reduce damage from every attack even though at least SOME of them probably ought to hit your arms and legs.
>>48256276
It does still lose some meaning when you try to calculate traps and fall damage.
A 20th level fighter can wade through magma for 18 seconds and come out bloody as hell but breathing.
A 20th level fighter can also fall from low orbit and walk it off.
