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[Kadzar]

If it's you're first time, I'd recommend going with Angry GM's advice on the matter.

Too long (understatement); didn't read: Run a published module; have players use pregenerated characters; keep expectations low. DMing is hard enough; you don't need to compound it by trying to create your own world or run an open world adventure your first time.

[Neyvn]

Matt Mercer did a vid about how he sets up his DM Screen, something all DMs need to understand how to prepare for themselves. Mind you, his method of organized madness is highly different to your own but looking over it I can see some useful things that I need to add to my DM screen madness...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRMVTmbe-Is

[Rolan7]

This demonic campaign is going great so far (2 sessions now) but presents some new challenges to me writing it up.  For one thing, we're paranormal investigators, and my character carries a camera everywhere...  which almost demands a certain narrative style
I'm sure once I get started I'll hit a stride.  Right now I'm short on time, which is a good excuse for me to bang out an intro.

The Ghost Cops are a team of 4 buddies from highschool professional paranormal investigators... in that Youtube ads have earned them a couple dollars.  While they have yet to find conclusive proof, per se, they have found all manor of spooky houses.  Yeah, very professional.

Despite all the smoke and mirrors they use to get views (maybe even a subscription, someday), they aren't just fakers.  For one reason or another, they think the truth is out there...  And it's their duty to find it.


The team, in front of a burning house??  From left to right:
Brian: The camera hobo.  Ambidextrous.  Sleeps in the van, mooches off the others.  Likes to tinker with scrap and subscribes to the "If it ain't broke, use duct tape anyway."  Isn't enthusiastic about much...  except ghost stories.  Knows, like, everything about ghost stories.  (my character)
Chad: The team mascot.  Sometimes called "Scrappy" for mysterious reasons.  Was the official mascot in high school, apparently got used to being in fursuits.  I'm... not actually sure where he sleeps.
Sean: The suave investigative reporter.  Good at smiling and playing to the camera.  Physically fit, too.  Sells the trickery and half truths while... bless his heart... thinking it's all real.  Owns the van and sleeps in the driver seat, yet carefully maintains his appearance.
Jen: Very well off, but looking for something more out of life.  Has an expensive toolkit of EM readers and special cameras, and knows exactly how to use them.  Her father is basically Mr White from Breaking Bad if nothing went wrong.  Though most of us sleep in the van, said van usually happens to be in her yard, much to the groundskeeper's chagrin.

AKA not-Shaggy, not-Scrappy, not-Fred, not-Daphnelma

[Yoink]

I'm running a game in my highschool. I introduced a druid with an appearance similar to Terraria's Dryad, and the party full of underdeveloped teens started giggling and trying to gain her favor. So far, she's the only female character I've introduced and it's the second session.

Become Pavlov.

When female characters are around, make bad stuff happen, but don't link it to them directly. Like, maybe the Dryad comes to talk to them and the party is attacked by bandits. Or they go to meet the Lady of the town when SUDDENLY ASSASIN. Done correctly, this will train your players to fear the consequences of female interaction and guarantee you D&D sessions for years to come.

Some say that stunting the emotional growth of your peers to permit more tabletop is immoral. I believe its positively delightful compared to what we do to dwarfs.

This is super late, but... I've had this post quoted in a reply for at least a few weeks now. It's hilarious.
I can't really think of anything more to add, but this idea made me laugh my arse off at the time. Brilliant.


Otherwise... yep, still suffering from a terrible lack of tabletop gaming in my life. Alas.
I tried joined a 'Meetup' group before I moved a few months back, but it was sort of a general, larger group of players meeting regularly, most of their games seemed to be full, and I lacked the confidence to really involve myself and try to get a new game going or force my way into an existing one.
I think there's at least one group who play tabletop in the comic store in town here (I was in there once looking at comics and heard the sound of ham-acting from a table in the next room), but who knows if they have room for more players, let alone if I'd be bothered trying to get involved there either.

[Gentlefish]

Heh.

I had to kelp-strand and boot a half-fiend ally into a stream of plasma (to be fair, he did try to push me in first) but my wizard-druid gestalt is now the proud owner of a plane. One that's connected to the abyss... For now.

As a sylph, she's gonna make it into a floating islands sort of sky preserve after she spins it off the abyss and into its own demiplane orbit.

Then I'm pulling out an incanter cleric (a la spheres of power) undine who worships the Traveller to see the party through the rest of the campaign. Who, every time he heals someone, takes irreducible nonlethal damage until he's able to rest. Beware the Giver of Gifts, eh?

[Rolan7]

I keep trying to write our new NWoD sessions up but I get bogged down in details which get tricky.  Which is the wrong approach anyway...  Even though some of the details are funny (like Jen's dad being Walter White) or potentially important (the alchemical symbol on the silver whistle).  But nobody needs to hear about our hijinks getting pizza in a one-gas station town.

The Scooby Doo Mystery Gang Ghost Cops got a lead about a house.  Typical spooky stuff (old lady was getting scratched up in the night (it was her cats)).  Thing is, the Ouija board worked.  Actually worked, there in that damp basement.  And Jen's expensive EMF equipment was going hairwire... at least until its battery drained, as did our flashlights. 

By candlelight we listened to the "ghost", supposedly the lady's late husband.  It told us about the cats... but in exchange, it had a request.  See, we had placed the Ouija board on an ornate little box.  He wanted it open.  Despite our genuine enthusiasm over the occult being real, we were... hesitant...  which is when the roaches emerged from the walls.

My camera guy and Jen the paranormal tech expert managed to pull away from the Ouija board and run, blind, through the roaches to the exit.  We did not hang up the call...  Apparently, that has implications.

A few minutes later our charming yet somewhat idiotic "lead reporter" emerged with the board and the box.  It was still closed though - we were professionals, and needed to get the unboxing on video!  None of us seriously considered not opening it.  The roaches were freaky, and dark clouds had swooped in from *nowhere*, but that was meant this was REAL.  We housed the camera in a small faraday cage to prevent the battery drain, took some establishing shots of the dark sky, and opened that sucker up.

A small silver whistle.

"I think it wants me to blow it".  "Don't worry man, we can fix that in post."  "Fix what?"  He blows the whistle.

[Rolan7]

If our characters seem weirdly cool with this, keep in mind that they're about 25 and have been doing this since high school.  They also live out in the boonies, bored as all hell.  They needed this stuff to be real, yet barely hoped that it actually might *be*.  All this spookiness is basically validating their life choices.

So, the whistle...  checking my notes...
Basically Sean blew it then fell to the ground, argued with himself for a while, threw the whistle, then Sean stood back up and acted like everything was fine.
Mmmm-hm.  We obviously knew something was up but decided to keep an eye (and the camera) on him.

Also the whistle turned brass or something and had a strange alchemical symbol on it, and the Ouija board kept repeating "husk".
Mm-hmmmm.  Great footage, team!  We were still honestly just excited that magic was real, and figured Sean was just high on thaum or something.  It's not like we abandoned him!  In fact we studied him with intense interest.

We decided to spend the night because why not, free house, and the lady expected us to.  OOC because the rest of us expected to get our powers too somehow   I expected to get mine from the cats, but just got scratches ):  Sean drove off in the night (after kicking our Scrappy-do Chad out of the van) which was weird.  And I think we had a prophetic dream...  might have been later...  not sure.

The next morning Chad shoved my character awake (this became a trend) and called Sean.  Fortunately he seemed back to normal, though he didn't remember anything after blowing the whistle.  Just woke up parked on the side of the road about 20 miles away.  How mysterious!  He drove back.

... And then we reminded the GM that the van is literally riddles with cameras (which we did establish before!) so we got to see footage of Sean perched on top of the van, naked, howling at the moon and beating his chest.  As before, we were surprisingly okay with this (especially Sean), particularly since Sean seemed mostly back to his own self instead of obviously possessed.

That was basically that.  We told the woman about the cats and that her husband loved her very much, and then spent a couple days just editing the footage for our BIG BREAK!  And sure enough, when it hit Youtube, we got like 40 subscribers!  Plus a lot of recognition from the paranormal community.  Many wanted to know how we faked everything, but a lot of people seemed to really believe and want to know more.  It was the recognition we'd always wanted.

In fact, we got noticed by something greater than we could ever have imagined...
I mean, of course, the Ghost Hunters of the SciFi channel!!! (2006, so no SyFy nonsense).
And they wanted our... help...

[BlackFlyme]

'Nother round of me being Magic Jar'd and killing a teammate. At least it was only one this time.

Though we found out that Magic Jar/Possession isn't that powerful. You don't get the victim's abilities; just their body. I shouldn't have been kicking so much ass in either of the instances in which I was a hijacking spirit's bitch.

Also been looking at some of the 3rd party stuff for the Kineticist. The idea of a Time-Bender is weird, but it exists.

[Jimmy]

Beware the rabbit-hole of 3rd party archetypes. That way madness lies.

My campaign has just introduced what I hope to be a recurring villain. Our group of murderhobos (APL: 6) rescued an orc from a cage at a crossroads who claimed to have been wrongfully imprisoned for kidnapping three children from a local village. They learn that the orc was actually a huntress seeking revenge for the murder of five orc children from her tribe by our BBEG.

Adventure bait is swallowed hook, line and sinker, and the party frees the orc and she leads them to the bad guy's hideout. She tells them the BBEG has allied with a hag who commands a group of ogres for muscle.

The group murder the ogres, murder the annis hag, kill a half dozen small fire elementals and then successfully engage a greater barghest with conversation rather than violence. Said barghest is, of course, a complete a-hole about revealing anything more than the barest of information, but agrees to assist them if they return with the BBEG's corpse.

They retreat and rest, come back at full strength and discover the next room is protected by five allips bearing the features of the dead orc children. Background is that the hag turned their spirits into allips. Party take some serious wisdom damage but survive and open the door to the BBEG's chambers.

The BBEG is in fact a Summoner, currently engaged with a Planar Binding of an efreeti. The efreeti is within a circle of silver powder, and as combat starts it roars to be freed. One of the characters does in fact free it by breaking the circle, meaning it aids the party in attacking the BBEG, turning a CR 10 fight into a CR 8. The party kill the Summoner, but two of the group fall unconscious during the fight. The party rogue is currently unconscious, but the samurai is at full health, the telekineticist is in pretty good shape, and the cleric is at half health but currently lacking any spellcasting ability due to wisdom damage. The last player, a magus/cavalier multiclass, is in pretty bad shape.

We left off for that session as the BBEG was slain, but for next week's session I have planned the resolution of the encounter with the efreeti. Currently, I believe the players think the efreeti is a large fire elemental, since I deliberately used a token for one and described it as a "burning giant humanoid figure" when they saw it. Nobody has attempted a Knowledge: The Planes check to figure out what it was, though savvy players might note that it spoke in Common, which elementals don't know.

Had the group left the efreeti inside the binding circle, they could have possibly pumped it for a few wishes in exchange for freedom. Since they freed it, it won't willingly grant them wishes, but it won't attack them without provocation since they assisted its escape. However, it will attempt to take the three children from the local village as slaves before plane shifting back home to the City of Brass. We've got a strong anti-slavery theme in the party, which means conflict is pretty likely.

One option I did consider is having the group be offered a trade of the three children for the orc NPC in exchange, since a trained warrior is more valuable as a slave. Currently the orc treats the magus/cavalier as her master who's owed a life-debt (said character has Leadership, so the orc counts as an NPC follower). I've got the orc as a worshipper of Lanishra, orc god of slaves, so if her 'master' orders it, she'll willingly submit to being exchanged, since she genuinely believes she has no rights except to do her master's will.

I'm pretty sure the efreeti will beat them like they were foster children if they go the combat route. I'll probably just have him knock them out and leave them alive out of respect for freeing him. They're pretty worse for wear after the boss fight against a CR 10 Summoner and her pet eidolon, with only the samurai and possibly the telekineticist capable of putting out any significant damage right now. From the efreeti's perspective, the battle is over and it's time to loot the corpse. To him, slaves are a valid form of loot, so it's simply intent on getting something from having spent a few days of its time stuck in a summoner's circle.

As far as the efreeti goes, it's there not just for the roleplaying fun but also for the opportunity to earn the difference in XP that the group lost by the CR reduction of the boss fight. However, I'm fairly certain that the weakened state of the party means it can probably mop the floor with them right now. I kind of see an efreeti's lawful evil nature to include a strong sense of honour and desire to exact retribution on someone who summoned and trapped it, meaning it would hang around and try to kill the summoner when they're distracted instead of fleeing immediately. It also means the group has a shot of learning that the BBEG had summoned this efreeti before and gained a few wishes, notably a wish to duplicate the Clone spell, meaning they and their eidolon are still alive somewhere (but that the players can also loot the current body).

[Rolan7]

Thanks for sharing that!  The slavery themes are interesting.  I agree with your lawful take on the Efreeti.  Just because it's evil doesn't mean it has to backstab the party for releasing it.  LE outsiders are all about favors and allies of convenience.

Personally I wouldn't dock them combat XP for releasing it, though...  It was a massive risk on their part, particularly since they barely survived even with its help.  But I guess we've discussed XP rewards for non-stabby actions... to death

I guess their choice basically is:  trade away a willing slave, or risk death.  Such dilemmas happen when you deal with a devil...

[BlackFlyme]

Beware the rabbit-hole of 3rd party archetypes. That way madness lies.

Ah, I'm well aware of that trap. But Kineticists have so little content, even when you count third party content.

Still doesn't change the fact that Time is a stupid idea for an Avatar/Jedi inspired elemental-bender/telekinetic master class. I get the rest. There's Light, Poison, Sound, and Viscera.

Mostly I'm just wishing the official Blood-Bender Archetype was a bit better than a red-coloured water-bender.

[Sirus]

Oddly enough, my overriding image of kineticists isn't actually one of airbenders or firebenders or even Jedi. When you take all of the concepts of base kineticists - burning HP, focus on having a strong body, and taking combat rounds to charge up attacks which deal potentially catastrophic damage - my mind immediately jumps to Dragonball/Dragonball Z. Especially Z, when energy attacks and episodes-long charge-fests became far more common.

Gathering power creates an extremely loud, visible display in a 20-foot radius centered on the kineticist, as the energy or matter swirls around her.

Case closed.

[Jimmy]

Would you believe my group's telekineticist has his overflow power turn his hair bright yellow? And whenever he gathers power, his character says "Ka... me... ha... me..."

[Sirus]

I can easily believe that. Were I to ever run a kineticist I fully intend to ape Vegeta as much as possible.

[BlackFlyme]

Never thought of the Saiyan connection before. Mostly because they aren't a very Martial class, and their HD could be higher.

Though I see where that idea could come from.

Gathering energy can be risky at times though.