Not sure if this is the best thread for it but I didn't feel like making a new thread, I was making a single challenging opponent for my group of PC and the rules say to spend 1&1/2 of total refresh on powers on your NPC, that would make the refresh to spend 30 though. Is that right or am I reading the rules wrong. There are five PC s and they have all don't four refresh on powers
GM you find out people are missing at the docks
Character "I think I know someone at the docks (Rolls a -4) Nope.
Awesome idea, thank you for that ;Dpoor Hot dog stand guy....
I absolutely agree. But a stray fireball is easier to come up with than a hot dog vendor eating troll. Or anything like it, for that matter. Opens up a new way to deal with those things for me.
I say it's a skill some people need to hone. I suggest playing the game "Fiasco" as a way to sharpen the seat of your pants fun.I absolutely agree, that's why I'm so happy. I think I am quite good at this when it comes to physical skills, but on others, I often draw a blank.
Baron munchausens (sp?) is also a good seat of your pants gamebetter if youre drinking
Have you done city building with your group? If you did this, many of your NPC's and Locations would be done, at least as an outline.yep
Have you done city building with your group? If you did this, many of your NPC's and Locations would be done, at least as an outline.
Not sure if you're referring to me, but yep as well. This little project of mine is to help expand on that, and transition from the city creation to the story creation. I'm doing this because I feel what I have so far isn't quite robust enough to feel real - The laws of reality are in place, but the details are still a little too flexible yet to feel like an actual game. Instead it feels like I'm making up a story as I go along, and while my players might not notice, it bothers me and takes away from my fun.
At the same time, I don't want to go too far and put the whole game on rails either, which is a real concern for me as well. So, I'm trying to come up with a way to better define the players in my story - a system where I can firmly say 'this is what I'm in control of and this is what I'm not'. The point is to create a challenge for not only my players (which I could do just by improvising) but for myself.
Sounds like I'm inventing a ruleset to make story creation a minigame for myself I guess. Not sure if I've worded this quite right, but hopefully other GMs get what I'm saying. lol
What does a classroom look like? Like a classroom? Is their a fire extinguisher in there? Roll me notice or give me a fate point
I don't like the idea of giving too much control of the scene to the players. After all, what's the fun in running the game if you can't describe the scenery? Giving players a declaration for something that'd have a good chance of being there is one thing, but letting them describe what the room looks like is another. Also, it leads to some metagaming abuses as well - the GM didn't describe anything, so there's obviously nothing important here. There are more extreme abuses that could be pulled off, but I'm not particularly worried about that.
Or Fists, or Weapons, Or whatever makes sense
Agreed. Even so, I should have expected/planned my NPCs method of attack better. I think this was just inexperience either way though.
Whatever you want them to do. Or if the players can convince them to help.
It'd have been nice if I had actually written up some default NPC stats is what I was getting at, and having them on hand at a moments notice.
I print out a list of my players Aspects so I can look at them
Every game I've played, I've had a list handy. However, to a newb GM, it'd be better to spend a little time brainstorming some compels to use as part of your story. It makes it easier to predict the characters actions and plan around how the players might actually react. For instance, in the going off the rails example you gave, your GM could have used the loose cannon aspect of your charactor and compelled you to do exactly what you did, and then planned out a result.
You couldn't have thought of all that before hand, and if you TRY to think of everything you tend to get tunnel vision on what you "expect" to happen *Quick story at the end*
I'm not trying to think of everything. I am trying to provide myself with a guideline of the minimum amount of preperation for each scene. I can't predict how players will overcome a challange, but I can brainstorm up what tools they have available to them, as well as what those challenging them have as tools as well.
It's a skill, you have to realize you are playing the game they are playing, and then playing another game above the one they are playing.
Yup. And to play both games, a little organization will go a long way. ;p
I find that I improvise better when I have something planned. Even if my plan gets completely derailed, the time spent thinking about it helps me respond to what my players do.
Oh and about Player Maps.
If you ask someone to draw a school room, and the throw in a weapons locker and a nuclear reactor, thats where you as the GM step in and go "come on". But a school room is a school room, a banks a bank. If you have something really awesome, draw a map of that, but I think it helps players invest in the game. Also if they have a hang out like a bar or something, let them draw that, put scene aspects ect because it cuts down on the "burn it down' factor. Hey OTHER PC dont burn down the bar we spent 45 minutes on!
My suggestion, next game, do it the way I said, then the next game do it the way you are saying, compare/contrast. Whats the worst that can happen?
My way
Zero prep before game time
Show up for the game, maybe ask the players some questions about their childhood, background, inter party relationships, how they feel about events going on in game "how does you character react to McCoy stealing the Mantle of Power from the Jade Court?" and just roll with it.
This is how I see it.
When I was a kid my friend and me played Duke Nukem 3d alllll the time, I loved that game, it was 3d, it was cursing, it was amazing.
So when he got this "Duke Nukem 3d level editor" book from Half Price books, my mind was blown.
Sadly, It was like finding out Santa wasn't real. Why? Because I realized stuff like enemys were spawned when you enter certain rooms, it didn't matter where you hit them, just as long as you hit them ect.
So when I hear people talking about drawing up maps of the dungeon/school/whatever they are going to fight in, I just think of Duke Nukem, and how it didn't matter if I snuck into that room/or how monsters were going to Spawn into it, regardless.
With a video game, no matter how good, only so many things can happen, in an RPG ANYTHING can happen. I just see planning like this as limiting your ability to do anything.