LoadingReadyRun: The Theatre of the Mind

[deadpool.forever]

When did Loading Ready Run start spying on my gaming sessions?

 

[Absimilliard]

A gamer saying there's no time to loot? Now that I find hard to believe...

 

[barbzilla]

Dire weevils. I'm not running a game now and haven't for a dog's age but when I do dire weevils are so in. As is the line, "They've got a bite on 'em." That might do for a sole descriptor, really.

Quite liked this vid, it did a great job capturing how it feels when scrabbling for plot as a GM for a bunch of disinterested and unimpressed players. While there are ways to cope, any GM whose consistently got players right where s/he wants them must be railroading something awful. Also thought it worked from the players perspective, describing the relative amounts of suspension of disbelief.

Man, I miss gm-ing.

I've DMed for a number of groups now, and with the exception of one they all say I'm the best they've every played under. The thing is, I only plan two things when I DM. I plan the general story over arch, and I plan what key NPCs will be doing at any given time (well if you consider drawing a map to be planning, then three things). Outside of those two things, everything else that I do is on the fly. I do this intentionally though. When I first started DMing I would plan every single detail I could possibly come up with, and my players would always find a way to derail my campaigns (hell one campaign my players decided they were going to start harvesting dinosaur skins as a new super material to sell, that campaign turned into mid-evil business simulator 2.0). After a while of my players getting bored I started "creatively adjusting" my plans at opportune times to get the story back on track. Eventually I got so good at ad-lib DMing that I just adopted that as my style.

The thing is, players don't know what is happening, what is going to happen, or what should have happened (unless it is a pre-packed module). So changing your plan to make the campaign more enjoyable for the players I think is a good thing to do. I even do it with my fights. If this fight was supposed to be super hard for the players, but they get extremely lucky to the point where it would have been cake, I "creatively adjust" the encounter to make the situation more tense and thrilling, unless the encounter was too easy because the players came up with an amazing plan, in that scenario I will often fudge the numbers so that their plan goes through (for example, one of my players came up with a plan to "kill" a god using a Tarrasque, I was so impressed with his plan that when the Tarrasque passed his fort save to remain asleep I "creatively adjusted" it to be just enough to fail the save).

The point is, as the DM you have one job. Your job is to entertain and engage your group. Some groups are easier than others and will provide enough inner party drama that you can sit back and let things unfold naturally. Other groups rely on details, descriptions, and guidance from you. You just have to figure out what kind of group it is, then you enthrall them to the best of your abilities. Just never let them question you...

 

[barbzilla]

Sounds a lot like my campaigns, especially when I craft specific routes for them to take...

One time I had a simple mechanic, endless waves of X until they flee.

I thought...obviously after I say its an endless wave they'll try to flee.

Nope...they stayed and fought. Forever...

I learned that I need to be better at adlibbing because some people don't take a hint.

Also, since when can a Magic Missile do 6points of damage? Magic Missile is 1d4+1

-M

Probably a damage modifier of some kind.

Well if she was at least level 3 there would be two bolts, that could easily cause 6 damage.

 

[theultimateend]

Well if she was at least level 3 there would be two bolts, that could easily cause 6 damage.

25% of the time you'd deal 6 damage if you were firing 2 bolts.

That does fit into the "Easily" category.

Good on you .

edit: I excelled it out. 6 would be the most common damage dealt.

 

[barbzilla]

Well if she was at least level 3 there would be two bolts, that could easily cause 6 damage.

25% of the time you'd deal 6 damage if you were firing 2 bolts.

That does fit into the "Easily" category.

Good on you .

edit: I excelled it out. 6 would be the most common damage dealt.

Lol, I didn't think about the actual odds on it, I just reflexively went to two as opposed to a damage modifier. I don't know of many magic items that give you a modifier on spell damage. I've seen higher penetration, higher saves, and better range from magic items, but very rarely is it a damage modifier.

 

[theultimateend]

Well if she was at least level 3 there would be two bolts, that could easily cause 6 damage.

25% of the time you'd deal 6 damage if you were firing 2 bolts.

That does fit into the "Easily" category.

Good on you .

edit: I excelled it out. 6 would be the most common damage dealt.

Lol, I didn't think about the actual odds on it, I just reflexively went to two as opposed to a damage modifier. I don't know of many magic items that give you a modifier on spell damage. I've seen higher penetration, higher saves, and better range from magic items, but very rarely is it a damage modifier.

It's been 11 years since I last played DND (which makes me feel extremely old), so I'm not surprised when I misrepresent things about it .

edit: wait...less than 11 years, 7 or so. Not sure why I said 11 but I'll keep it.

 

[barbzilla]

Well if she was at least level 3 there would be two bolts, that could easily cause 6 damage.

25% of the time you'd deal 6 damage if you were firing 2 bolts.

That does fit into the "Easily" category.

Good on you .

edit: I excelled it out. 6 would be the most common damage dealt.

Lol, I didn't think about the actual odds on it, I just reflexively went to two as opposed to a damage modifier. I don't know of many magic items that give you a modifier on spell damage. I've seen higher penetration, higher saves, and better range from magic items, but very rarely is it a damage modifier.

It's been 11 years since I last played DND (which makes me feel extremely old), so I'm not surprised when I misrepresent things about it .

edit: wait...less than 11 years, 7 or so. Not sure why I said 11 but I'll keep it.

If it makes you feel any better at all, you didn't misrepresent anything. It is quite possible that she was a specialist or had something that modified the damage. I was just providing an alternate (easier) solution.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

I do in fact know what a wereweevil looks like and I think they should consider themselves lucky it only used eleven of its claws to attack. They got off lightly there

 

[JonnWood]

I've never been DM, but whenever I play I always make up spells and abilities for my character. "Now that Mr. Pimptastic is a level 10 Pimpaladin, he gains the passive ability Misogyny, which gives him +2 speech when speaking to female characters of a lower level, and -5 speech when speaking to female characters of a higher level."

You'd think he'd have that from the start.