There's a difference between a player fudging roles (we call it cheating) and a DM fudging the role behind the screen to avoid a player receiving lethal damage.fanklok said:
DnD
- Thread starter Zaverexus
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D&D claims another for the horde.Zaverexus said:
I'm glad you're having fun. In fact, fun is the point! When you're playing, remember to have fun. If at any time you cease having fun, it stops being worth while playing.
Your GM/DM is weaving a story for you right now. You're in a time where the rules are an obscure thing. Your mind is pure, and when events happen in the game, it's like magic happened. Some rules worked their mechanics out, and this thing happened. Wow!
It's really the purest joy in gaming, is enjoying that purity.To hold on to that purity, don't get hung up on the rules. There is a gaming joke that there is a "Rules Lawyer" in every group. Someone that holds on to the rule book, quotes rules verbatum, insure that flawless adherence to the code of law that is the rules is obeyed at all times. These people ruin that purity. It stops being about the story, the pleasure of playing an imaginary avatar where anything can happen. The mechanics are supposed to (ideally) be subtile, and lend to imaginative game play. When someone uses rules, it's more like watching a machine work out through the cogs. Snore.
So when other players are learning the rules, and you are too, remember where they belong; in the background. Rules are not a clutch.
(Side note; D&D can be a little rules heavy now and again. It tries to be simple, but it also locks itself into its rule box very easy. Systems like Cyberpunk 2020, or Serenity the RPG are more rules-lite.)
I agree, although fumbles I don't play with. Otherwise I play completely open, all my rolls are visible to the players, the map's visible too, even the MM. It's up to them to read all my notes and the stats upside down if they want to. Nobody ever has when I've played that way.fanklok said:
Ah, I love D&D. I just started playing a couple of years ago. In fact, I just got back from a weekend session a few days ago.
4th Ed? Can't help you. We play AD&D.
I'm currently playing two characters, my 6th level Elven Ranger, and my 7th level Human Cleric (I'm running her because we don't have a regular Cleric with the party, and we kinda needed one...). What makes the campaign a lot of fun is that our DM makes his own magical weapons and distributes them, so we slowly learn about them as our characters progress.
Our last sessions actually went quite badly. We "lost" two separate fights. The first one was a fight against a group of Death Knights that totally out classed us. The DM didn't expect us to win, and of course the Cleric HAD to charge, so we got our asses kicked. The cleric lost her arm, and our Barbarian was able to call on Thor to help us escape.
Second fight we were against 13 Dracolings. Had we thought this out better, we totally could have beaten them, but we attacked the warriors first instead of the powerful spellcasters who proceeded to fry us with fireballs. Again, somehow the Barbarian got Thor's attention, and he came to save our asses by time stopping.
Other than those two fights, we made a 6,000 year old Dwarven King die of a heart attack, we found the treasure trove of two lesser black dragons who had been collecting for 6,000 years (We're really, REALLY rich right now), and we bought our weight in magic crap for our party. All in all, it was a lot of fun.
4th Ed? Can't help you. We play AD&D.
I'm currently playing two characters, my 6th level Elven Ranger, and my 7th level Human Cleric (I'm running her because we don't have a regular Cleric with the party, and we kinda needed one...). What makes the campaign a lot of fun is that our DM makes his own magical weapons and distributes them, so we slowly learn about them as our characters progress.
Our last sessions actually went quite badly. We "lost" two separate fights. The first one was a fight against a group of Death Knights that totally out classed us. The DM didn't expect us to win, and of course the Cleric HAD to charge, so we got our asses kicked. The cleric lost her arm, and our Barbarian was able to call on Thor to help us escape.
Second fight we were against 13 Dracolings. Had we thought this out better, we totally could have beaten them, but we attacked the warriors first instead of the powerful spellcasters who proceeded to fry us with fireballs. Again, somehow the Barbarian got Thor's attention, and he came to save our asses by time stopping.
Other than those two fights, we made a 6,000 year old Dwarven King die of a heart attack, we found the treasure trove of two lesser black dragons who had been collecting for 6,000 years (We're really, REALLY rich right now), and we bought our weight in magic crap for our party. All in all, it was a lot of fun.
I just got started playing again last week after a nearly 10-year and 2-editions long hiatus. I got a group of my best friends together, none of whom had ever played any tabletop game other than monopoly. I was of course the DM, and using a modified version of Keep on the Shadowfell adventure (with some of my own modifications), and it went great. That map teaches the basics of dungeon crawling very fast (and the importance of checking for traps).
Some advice... hmm, well, I'd say the two main things any DnD'er needs to follow:
1. Be creative! If you're a player or DM, come at the game with an open mind and creativity and you'll help add to the experience. This is no video game or adventure book, you can (try to) do anything you want to. We've all had this experience, probably at least a dozen times per video game, where we thought to ourselves "Well, why can't I try tackling this problem like this?", but of course the game wasn't programmed to allow for that. But, now you can try all those crazy ideas! I mean, no guarantee they'll work but.. offer yourself up to the Dice Gods, and maybe you'll get lucky.
2. Know your group! Several people have said "have fun with the game!", and several others have said "be serious!", well, those are both right, depending on the situation and the group you're in. Try and fit with what the group as a whole wants. Do they just want a silly campaign where limbs are routinely chopped off, flaming vomit is used as projectiles, and genitalia is used to channel Ki strikes (all of these things happened in my last game)? Or do you guys want a serious adventure with a great storytelling? Or some mixture of them? You should all decide what you'd like out of the game as a group.
Hope you guys have as much fun with it as I have
P.S., 4th ed., at least the combat, is awesome. Any other problems with it can be overturned or tweaked by any DM worth his salt. Just like every other edition.
edit:
P.P.S. Playing in 4th, bring back critical misses on a natural 1. And don't let your DM be lazy, be creative in what a critical miss means! Randomness is the spice of life.
Some advice... hmm, well, I'd say the two main things any DnD'er needs to follow:
1. Be creative! If you're a player or DM, come at the game with an open mind and creativity and you'll help add to the experience. This is no video game or adventure book, you can (try to) do anything you want to. We've all had this experience, probably at least a dozen times per video game, where we thought to ourselves "Well, why can't I try tackling this problem like this?", but of course the game wasn't programmed to allow for that. But, now you can try all those crazy ideas! I mean, no guarantee they'll work but.. offer yourself up to the Dice Gods, and maybe you'll get lucky.
2. Know your group! Several people have said "have fun with the game!", and several others have said "be serious!", well, those are both right, depending on the situation and the group you're in. Try and fit with what the group as a whole wants. Do they just want a silly campaign where limbs are routinely chopped off, flaming vomit is used as projectiles, and genitalia is used to channel Ki strikes (all of these things happened in my last game)? Or do you guys want a serious adventure with a great storytelling? Or some mixture of them? You should all decide what you'd like out of the game as a group.
Hope you guys have as much fun with it as I have
P.S., 4th ed., at least the combat, is awesome. Any other problems with it can be overturned or tweaked by any DM worth his salt. Just like every other edition.
edit:
P.P.S. Playing in 4th, bring back critical misses on a natural 1. And don't let your DM be lazy, be creative in what a critical miss means! Randomness is the spice of life.
I've been playing this game since before most of the folks on this thread were born, perhaps before their parents were born. My advice on the game?
Have Fun. It's a game, games are supposed to be fun.
Play with people you like spending time with. Life's too short for asshats.
Ignore the edition wars. I've played every one, from the Blue Box Basic, through AD&D, 3.X and 4th and y'know what? All of them are/were/will be fun. It's the people far more than the rules that make the time at the table fun. If you're having fun, you're doing it right. Try as many as you care to, and use whatever one is 'most' fun for your group. See 1 and 2 above.
Be creative with what you've got. The 10' pole? It's been a ranged button pusher, vaulting pole, fishing rod for giant magic carp, rust monster shooing/poking device, wall keeper-aparter for crashing walls trap. And I still, 32 years later, am surprised by the things people do with it.
Try not to take what happens at the table with you when you get up from it. If the DM kills your character, if the rest of the party 'lets' him die, hell if the party KILLS HIM, try to remember these folks are your friends. One day this will probably be a much-trotted out tale of 'Remember when you broke the code?' with much laughter and nostalgia, and even wierd competition as to who got the worst of it over the years.
For DM Rulings: try to remember that what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. When the DM won't let you make that called shot to the Vampire's Heart with your stake, remember that if you can do it, so can the NPCs. And a stake through the heart will kill just about any PC race just as dead as that Vampire. Be sure you're comfortable having whatever tactic you're introducing work against you just as easily as you want it to work for you.
Have Fun. It's a game, games are supposed to be fun.
Play with people you like spending time with. Life's too short for asshats.
Ignore the edition wars. I've played every one, from the Blue Box Basic, through AD&D, 3.X and 4th and y'know what? All of them are/were/will be fun. It's the people far more than the rules that make the time at the table fun. If you're having fun, you're doing it right. Try as many as you care to, and use whatever one is 'most' fun for your group. See 1 and 2 above.
Be creative with what you've got. The 10' pole? It's been a ranged button pusher, vaulting pole, fishing rod for giant magic carp, rust monster shooing/poking device, wall keeper-aparter for crashing walls trap. And I still, 32 years later, am surprised by the things people do with it.
Try not to take what happens at the table with you when you get up from it. If the DM kills your character, if the rest of the party 'lets' him die, hell if the party KILLS HIM, try to remember these folks are your friends. One day this will probably be a much-trotted out tale of 'Remember when you broke the code?' with much laughter and nostalgia, and even wierd competition as to who got the worst of it over the years.
For DM Rulings: try to remember that what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. When the DM won't let you make that called shot to the Vampire's Heart with your stake, remember that if you can do it, so can the NPCs. And a stake through the heart will kill just about any PC race just as dead as that Vampire. Be sure you're comfortable having whatever tactic you're introducing work against you just as easily as you want it to work for you.
Wow, I wouldn't have thought of half of that... I need to get myself a pole.Tom Roberts said:
PS: our paladin has re-rolled as a Half-Elf (his last character had some rules issues and since we hadn't gotten very far yet he decided to just re-roll completely)
Better? Could you elaborate? I find it to be simply different. 4e is more streamlined and balanced overall, yet, with less flavors available. 3.5 is more fun to me, but does have some coherency problems (because of all the books and inherent unbalance even in the core classes)Arcane Azmadi said:
Having said that, I have just until now completely overlooked the importance of fate manipulation, despite being a somewhat experienced player (so, thank you). I will most definitely look into it, because even with a +23 on Will saves (pretty awesome for level 14), there is still a 5% chance of instant fail. I do have a ring of nine lives though, which has saved me with sort of -fate manipulation- indeed (when you needed a good roll on a save or die check).
I REALLY want to, i have always heard about it, and my cousin gave me a bunch of old manuals and books for it. but sadly no one i know plays it so ill just have to stick to Magic.
But even though i haven't played any games one type i know is to specialize and not make a multi class type character becuase it never works out.
But even though i haven't played any games one type i know is to specialize and not make a multi class type character becuase it never works out.
This is the only tip I can give:Zaverexus said:
The 10-ft pole is the most important piece of adventuring gear you can have aside from the 50 ft of rope.
Also, if your DM runs out of ideas, tell him to check out the "List of 100 Adventures," which can be found in the "Campaign" section of the 3.5 DMG.
Ah, glad to hear that you got into the game.
My advice? Everyone gets their own set of dice (necessity) and books (if you can afford it). The dice are rolled incessantly, and the books shouldn't get passed around the table every five seconds.
As for the actual playing, try to cut back on metagame talking. Don't chat about real life things, is basically it. It breaks the immersion, gets everyone out of their characters and off track. There's nothing that drives me insane like overly-meta games.
Oh, and if someone's being an idiot then let him deal with the consequences. He wants to punch out the king? Say that you just found him along the road and clap as he gets hung at the gallows.
My advice? Everyone gets their own set of dice (necessity) and books (if you can afford it). The dice are rolled incessantly, and the books shouldn't get passed around the table every five seconds.
As for the actual playing, try to cut back on metagame talking. Don't chat about real life things, is basically it. It breaks the immersion, gets everyone out of their characters and off track. There's nothing that drives me insane like overly-meta games.
Oh, and if someone's being an idiot then let him deal with the consequences. He wants to punch out the king? Say that you just found him along the road and clap as he gets hung at the gallows.
Just got back from a little impromptu session. Everyone has leveled up and we finished the mission we were on. The man we had been sent to look for by his concerned wife was found to be in the stronghold of his own will. we found him in a hot spring surrounded by female goblins all high on drugs he had been selling the goblins along with weapons for their war We dragged him back to his house and forced him to confess to his wife, who kicked him out. She was pretty upset but our paladin was able to convince her this was the best thing for her, and she was very thankful... though we still only got the original reward
We dragged him back to his house and forced him to confess to his wife, who kicked him out. She was pretty upset but our paladin was able to convince her this was the best thing for her, and she was very thankful... though we still only got the original reward