Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Any D&D/D20

Shadowrun

World of Darkness

Palladium

Other (feel free to post about it)

[Persus13]

Online rpg loses about 50% of the joy of it though

Its definitely a different experience, but most folks I know are still having a blast with the switch. Personally I'm slightly biased though because a lot of my games have been online.

[scriver]

Mine too, that's why I'm biased against it

[Persus13]

Mine too, that's why I'm biased against it

I can definitely understand that.

[delphonso]

I play mostly online - voice only. Things are a little harder to keep interesting without a visual element (body language/a map) but I've also had my best games online. Most of the ones I've played in person have been average or lower, just due to the dynamics of the people playing.

[Telgin]

Online rpg loses about 50% of the joy of it though

Its definitely a different experience, but most folks I know are still having a blast with the switch. Personally I'm slightly biased though because a lot of my games have been online.

This is what I was going to say.  Play by post is agonizingly slow compared to doing it in person, but I can't and probably never will be able to get into character in person like I can with a play by post game.  As a result, I really prefer online RPGs in whatever format.

[Kagus]

Ah, okay, so

white paper D&D builds and such online

did not in fact include "playing online" in the "and such online". I thought you were including online chat/forum games in the list of invalid experience.

And there again we see the use of clarifications, as my interpretation of your statement was clearly different from its intent.

And the listing of criteria doesn't disqualify haste or dominate person.

In your interpretation and opinion, sure. And I can definitely see how that could be a valid conclusion to make.

What I'm trying to say is that not everyone's going to see it that way, so even the DMs and players who specifically want to follow the official core rules a la Crawford to the letter may end up with different interpretations due to how the clarification is worded.

Yes, that table will probably land upon an internal agreement sooner or later without too many ruffled feathers, but the idea is to try and minimize arguments of intent and interpretation between those who want to use the rules as written.

[Mephisto]

D&D is the only line I'm aware of where a large swath of players have such an obsession with the nebulous "rules as that one flaky dude with a Twitter account says they should be this week."

[Kagus]

"rules as that one flaky dude with a Twitter account says they should be this week."

...this is the D&D thread, not Ameripol

[Iduno]

I really got to sucker people into Shadowrun again.

[delphonso]

Combining those last two posts, the dystopic behavior of the US during this crisis is prime SR material. Quarantines, armed protests, corporations pushing for reopening at the expense of lives. Really easily gets the thoughts running.

Got a DnD session tomorrow. I generally plan very loosely - general ideas and maybe looking up some monsters then heavy RP and improv for the game. I'm trying to improve as a GM, so instead, I'm do more of the plan a ton and be willing to throw out the work. Any advice on riding the line between under and over preparation?

[Cthulhu]

Here's a good article on prepping.  Prep less, prep smarter.

Some general tips I try to abide by:

1.  It should take less time to prep a given amount of material than it takes to play it at the table.
2.  Do not use published adventures as a model for what your own content should look like.   No one else will use your prep.
3.  Anything you'll remember at the table without a prompt should not be written down
4.  What you do write down should be in whatever minimum shorthand is necessary to job your memory.  No complete sentences.
5.  Never ever ever ever ever ever ever do choose-your-own-adventure style plotting.  (e.g. if players do A, X happens, if they do B, Y happens).  It's a gigantic waste of time.
6.  Mapping out NPC relationships, goals, and resources for achieving those goals is much more value-added.  You can get the same dynamic effect of a fully plotted CYOA without prepping all that shit, you just reference the map to see how NPCs respond to the players' activities.

Don't plan a ton.  No plan survives contact with the players.  Do as little as possible to run a good game.  Some wasted prep is inevitable, so prep the stuff that will always be useful.

[Iduno]

Here's a good article on prepping.  Prep less, prep smarter.

Some general tips I try to abide by:

1.  It should take less time to prep a given amount of material than it takes to play it at the table.
2.  Do not use published adventures as a model for what your own content should look like.   No one else will use your prep.
3.  Anything you'll remember at the table without a prompt should not be written down
4.  What you do write down should be in whatever minimum shorthand is necessary to job your memory.  No complete sentences.
5.  Never ever ever ever ever ever ever do choose-your-own-adventure style plotting.  (e.g. if players do A, X happens, if they do B, Y happens).  It's a gigantic waste of time.
6.  Mapping out NPC relationships, goals, and resources for achieving those goals is much more value-added.  You can get the same dynamic effect of a fully plotted CYOA without prepping all that shit, you just reference the map to see how NPCs respond to the players' activities.

Don't plan a ton.  No plan survives contact with the players.  Do as little as possible to run a good game.  Some wasted prep is inevitable, so prep the stuff that will always be useful.

Yes. That's why I started building with why something is happening, and who is doing it. If you know who the other people involved are, and their motivations, you know how they would react when the players did something you didn't expect. Which, there are more of them than there are of you, someone will come up with something you didn't think of. And, as they point out in the article, caring about how you want the players to approach a puzzle isn't helpful, and just makes the game worse. Maybe consider ways they might be able to approach a problem (and make sure there are multiple options, and you have an idea of what they would see if they go different places), but railroading is just frustrating for both the GM and the players.

[Kagus]

Step one: Cast Flesh to Stone on hapless individual and maintain the damn thing until it takes properly.

Step two: Cast Stone Shape on your new statue. "The object you create can have up to two hinges and a latch, but finer mechanical detail isn’t possible."

Step three: Find a way of reversing petrification

Step four: Enjoy your new doorman.

[scriver]

A but wouldn't the doorman upon returning to flesh immediately go into shock, die, and rot?

[pikachu17]

A but wouldn't the doorman upon returning to flesh immediately go into shock, die, and rot?

Gentle Repose is your friend.