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Calling Game and Dungeon Masters - Printable Version

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Calling Game and Dungeon Masters - LandStander - 12-23-2013

So I don't have much experience in the RP department and even less in being a GM/DM (don't know if there is a difference between the two). I attended one that Meat threw at release (our resident rock star Roegadyn) and kind of just worked my way from there with the small bit of experience I picked up from it. 

I have thrown a few events myself and added in some mechanics from time to time (like double attacks and defensive characters using cover), but I really want to start playing around with HP bars and such now. I want to add a bit more of randomness to the fights I host and I want the PC's involved to sometimes fail and suffer the consequences of it. 

My question for those of you who run RP battle events (or have been involved in them in the past), what mechanics do you use and what advice can you give?

RE: Calling Game and Dungeon Masters - C'kayah Polaali - 12-23-2013

IIRC, the Grindstone fights use a random number website (random.org, I think) that lets two people set up a session and see each other's numbers. They do a "first to three hits" rule, and it's up to the contestants to RP the actions.

Most of the RP fights I've been involved in have been freeform, but that requires a lot of trust between all of the participants. When I played Star Trek Online, I dabbled with using their PVP system for fights, but that was always pretty unsatisfying. Many people play their characters as being a different power level than in-game mechanics support, which would get completely tossed aside using an in-game PVP system.

If you want to get a little more involved than Grindstone, you might use a number site, and then weight the results: "Foo, you're a powerful fighter, so you add ten to all your rolls. Bar, you're very tough, you'll take four hits to defeat." For the most part, though, the Grindstone fights (with their very simple and even mechanic) seem good enough for most things I could imagine.

RE: Calling Game and Dungeon Masters - Magellan - 12-23-2013

I agree with CK that dice is the way to go. Freeform has never worked satisfactorily for me, as people rp well beyond their strengths and IC capabilities. I also agree with his weighted dice system, though obviously you would have to kbow the combatants ahead of time to fairly assess their abilities, and they in turn would have to trust your fairness as DM

RE: Calling Game and Dungeon Masters - LandStander - 12-23-2013

Yes, you are looking at the People's Champion of the Grindstone :3

I play a lot of Garlean characters and usually control some Garlean NPC's to throw at people (and I have been thinking about getting one of my characters into piracy or banditry). I have developed a bit of an HP system for the NPC's, but I am unsure of how to treat it for PC characters. 

This is how my current system goes:

If the attacker rolls a number that is higher than the defenders roll then the attack lands.

1-25 higher is a light attack: -1 HP
26-50 is a moderate attack: -2 HP
51+ is a heavy attack: -3 HP

I have been messing around with things like double attack, letting the highly offensive player roll two attacks every 3 rounds, or letting the highly defensive and protective player roll a defense for another player who has failed their roll to try to protect them from an attack. I don't want to make it too confusing, but I want to add enough mechanics in my small events to make the characters feel more unique. 

Usually my no named NPC's have about 3 HP, but I am unsure how much to give the PC characters. I have also spoken with a friend about a trait bonus system giving the PC players about 10 points each to assign to things such as 1 point can be spent to raise all of your offensive rolls by +1, but staying with the subject of HP. Could these trait bonuses be used to raise HP for those characters with high constitution? Should it be something more like 3 points can be put in to raise HP by 1 to make the trait not to over powered? How much HP should PC characters start off with that wouldn't make them too strong? I am thinking that 6 may be good enough?

I don't know. Just wanted some fun stuff to spice up my events a bit more Big Grin. I have no problem with tavern RP, but its really nice to get a break from it all and have people go out and face the dangers in the world. I just want them to feel like the world is dangerous and not that they are some supreme adventurer who can just go charging into beastmen camps and coming out with 100 Amal'jaa heads.

RE: Calling Game and Dungeon Masters - Whittledown - 12-23-2013

I've done a lot of DMing in table top settings in the past and here are some generalized rules I would suggest if you're wanting to add some spice to your combat.

1.) PC's will game whatever system you devise to their maximum benefit, often in ways you didn't predict.  It will happen.  Even your friends will do this.  This can be frustrating but remember it is just a part of gaming.

2.) Whatever tweaks you make, be sure to counter-balance them to avoid making them too powerful.  For example, I remember you gave Hornet 2 attacks in a single round but on a cool-down.  The cool-down was a good idea, but I would suggest going further.  For example, if Hornet chooses to make two attacks she should face a penalty to both attacks due to her splitting her focus.  Perhaps -10 to each roll or something like that. 

3.) For NPC's, I like the 'extras' system to add flavor to a conflict with a more powerful NPC.  Extras are your garden variety filler mob, nothing special, they're there for the PC's to slaughter.  They shouldn't be able to harm the PC's in general terms but they could get a lucky break every now and again (for example, the Extras might roll a d50 to attack and defence while the PC retains the full d100).  Extra's are also very squishy, typically any successful attack roll is enough to finish them off.

4.) For powerful NPC's, make sure they are not infallible.  Sometimes that just happens by the luck of the dice (I'm looking at you, Invincible Sword Princess) but unless the NPC is intended to be retained for future use, victory should be possible with all things being equal.

That's all I can think of right now, and I'm at work so I should probably go do work stuff now.

RE: Calling Game and Dungeon Masters - Eliane Dufresne - 12-23-2013

I second Hornet on everything said, especially

Quote:1.) PC's will game whatever system you devise to their maximum benefit, often in ways you didn't predict.  It will happen.  Even your friends will do this.  This can be frustrating but remember it is just a part of gaming.

this one. Oh my god, this one.

One of my guilds actually made use of light character sheets for DM'd events back in the day. It didn't have the full spread of str/dex/int/wis/vit etc -- there were just stats for physical strength, mental strength, and speed, with HP averaged out from however many points were spent in the three. So attack rolls benefited from a bonus from whichever strength stat you focused in, and defense/initiative rolls benefited from the speed stat. Occasionally mental strength was used for defense rolls against magic. It made for a convenient way of doing fights, because it nicely supplemented the Grindstone-esque rolling system without getting muddled down in overly-complex mechanics.

The downside? Maintaining it, really. First of all you needed copies of everyone's character sheets, and you needed to make sure they were updated. In the guild's case, PC characters could "level up" based on their activity in the guild. They'd earn points for doing various things. The easiest way to do this was to donate money or items. One guy bought gold and dumped a huge donation into the guild coffers, which we had honestly never seen coming. So yeah. One of many ways people will game whatever system you devise. Tongue

RE: Calling Game and Dungeon Masters - Tobias Nightbringer - 12-23-2013

I've DM/GMed (same thing) 3.5/4th Edition D&D but never done any in-game kind of 'tabletop' RP. Would usually kill in-game mobs and pretend they were such and such. However, that may be impossible for some due to difference in levels. 

That being said, I have a question of my own. I've never done the /roll but I would imagine if you typed in /roll 100, it would give me a random number up to 100. Is that correct?

P.S. -

(12-23-2013, 05:27 PM)Whittledown Wrote:
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I love everything that Whittle said.