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Megane

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"Anybody here play Tabletop RPGs?" , posted Tue 26 Jan 10:10

If so, any tips for a starting DM?

I'm going to GM a "trial run session" with two or three other RPG newbies using the basic stuff in GURPS. The two players are relatively silly yet not too crazy, so if I handle their antics well in our session I can probably handle GMing.

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sfried

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"Re(1):Anybody here play Tabletop RPGs?" , posted Tue 26 Jan 11:17

I'm trying to find people who could show me more about D&D, especially about 4E in particular.

Amakusa

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"Re(1):Anybody here play Tabletop RPGs?" , posted Tue 26 Jan 11:59

quote:
If so, any tips for a starting DM?

I'm going to GM a "trial run session" with two or three other RPG newbies using the basic stuff in GURPS. The two players are relatively silly yet not too crazy, so if I handle their antics well in our session I can probably handle GMing.

You should tailor your style to your players. Everything you plan will go out the window because the players can break it easy. In fact, I would suggest you don't plan any one thing too deeply and prepare some trap doors in the event one of them happens. Even better, have a modular trap door ready to help steer things in the direction you want, but don't make it so obvious that you're trying to herd them somewhere.

Listen to what your players want to do and prepare for that on your next session (if you get that far).

Probably more important, just remember to have fun with it. You can be a hardass when it calls for it, you can throw a bone when they need it, just don't let anything get in the way of having a good time.

I found Kagami's sword in a junk yard.
I will rule the world and find that truly good cup of coffee.
"Dink-a-dink-a-dink-a-do."

Maou

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"Re(2):Anybody here play Tabletop RPGs?" , posted Tue 26 Jan 13:24

No, but in a related vein, we should start a thread about the cool European board games that have been making such a scene for the last five or so years. Maybe I'll start it myself.

人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．

karasu99

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"Re(3):Anybody here play Tabletop RPGs?" , posted Wed 27 Jan 08:27

I've been saying for years that I want to start up and AD&D 2E game locally. I played often while I was growing up and I miss it.

Spoon

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"Re(3):Anybody here play Tabletop RPGs?" , posted Wed 27 Jan 12:03

quote:
No, but in a related vein, we should start a thread about the cool European board games that have been making such a scene for the last five or so years. Maybe I'll start it myself.

The Dominion games are probably some of the best made games in... a really long time.

There's a real feeling of "building" as you try to determine what's the best way to increase your deck's ability to buy versus the actual amount of points it has.

The game can feel like it has multiple drafts, one that creates a metagame of the game, and one for the actual deck creation.

The game makes good use of the statistics involved in a finite deck of cards, and the possible configurations that result from that.

Loona

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"Re(4):Anybody here play Tabletop RPGs?" , posted Wed 27 Jan 19:50

quote:
I've been saying for years that I want to start up and AD&D 2E game locally. I played often while I was growing up and I miss it.

At some point some friends of mine were playing the 3.5 edition (I really like the player book for that one, it's really well put together and I find myself reading bits of it even if we haven't played in ages), and since our DM grew up with 2nd edition, at some point he had our campaign shifted to Planescape, completing the change with a shift to 2nd edition rules.

The only annoying part about this was that I was playing monk, and D&D's even number version seem to have an aversion to that class, so it was tricky to translate the skills from one system to the other.

Reading Order of the Stick (do check that webcomic if haven't yet) made me consider the Sorceror class if we ever reboot gaming sessions, since I thought all casting classes had to prepare stuff in advance.

"Beat the machine that works in your head!" - Guano Apes "Open Your Eyes"

Nekros
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"Re(1):Anybody here play Tabletop RPGs?" , posted Thu 28 Jan 00:40:

quote:
If so, any tips for a starting DM?

Don't take the game too seriously. Insert simple elements and work on conversation and "dramatic" aspects to involve your friends focusing more on the story than the gameplay.
If they enjoy the setting, RPG players usually can go deep in the gameplay aspects, often EVERY aspect of their class.
I played as DM a lot, I enjoyed the very first edition of D&D but didn't like the followers. I preferred spending more time playing Vampire The Masquerade or World Of Darkness.
Nowadays I play table-rpg no more. Especially Vampire and other White Wolf games, that are exposed to a silly fandom of emos, vampire kids, goths and other creepy inhuman beings.

[this message was edited by Nekros on Thu 28 Jan 06:32]

Megane

460th Post

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"Re(1):Anybody here play Tabletop RPGs?" , posted Mon 1 Feb 11:50

Thanks for the input guys. We had another prep session last weekend, to finish the details of my test subjects' characters, and to give them a brief rundown on how the game system works.

So far, this is on my plate:
A dapper gentleman-slash-thief by night, a rogue wizard with a penchant for blowing things up, and a drug addicted Lee Rekka seeking enlightenment. Gentleman Thief and Rogue Mage meet Lee Rekka in prison (Thief and Mage got suckered by corrupt police, dunno how Lee fits into all this yet).

I plan on them busting out just as the town they're in are under attack by barbarian raiders (or mercenary brigands). So they basically have to escape the town, and/or choose to stay and help out the townsfolk. I'm fleshing out some of the NPCs that the players can interact with (a militia captain, a temple priest, a farmer with a missing kid, etc), although I'm unsure if I could act out small kids with a straight face.

I haven't planned out the details of the world yet, but the players seem keen on a Discworld-esque world, eg, stone Trolls, dwarves, vampires, werewolves, no elves, etc, so I think I could go with that after the session.

Thoughts?

Loona

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"Re(2):Anybody here play Tabletop RPGs?" , posted Mon 1 Feb 20:02

quote:
no elves

Is that a plot point?

"Beat the machine that works in your head!" - Guano Apes "Open Your Eyes"

Megane

461th Post

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"Re(3):Anybody here play Tabletop RPGs?" , posted Mon 1 Feb 23:28

quote:
no elves

Is that a plot point?

Not really, but it could be!

In the Discworld, elves were more of the Fair Folk kind than the Tolkien kind; petty, sociopathic, weak to iron. They also have no creativity, so they regularly steal from humans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elves_(Discworld)

I believe you just gave me an idea...