Remember, always listen to your players. Encourage them to be vocal to help you cater to them and help everyone have a better time. I must ask my players about their characters and thoughts about three times before the first game of a campaign and dozens of times beyond.

If you have any home brew rules, in house rules, or a campaign setting that is different from the norm. Make a hand out that covers most of if not all of that. Keeps people from getting lost or not feeling comfortable with in game settings. Almost like a FAQ that saves you a lot of time.

My players have always loved it, and I always give one to new comers so they can get a feel for things. (makes them feel like they are not just in the dark about everything.)

(Could also make a google doc for them all to view, that is what I did.)

>>36008518

Following up on this:

Handouts for rules reminders are an excellent way to speed up a game. In one campaign I ran, I hand-wrote ability cards for every player's equipment - even options they didn't take. And being able to read, re-read, and re-re-read what their stuff did enabled them to take turns quickly and have time to think of cool things to do with them by the time their turn came around. Granted, they were all MTG players, so RTFC worked a lot better on them.

Conversely, the rules that weren't written in stone and laid out on the table for everyone to double-check instantly - including stuff that was in a rulebook on the table - caused slowdown as everything had to grind to a halt to check on it.

My advice to you: Streamline the rules as best as you can, either by using easy rules or putting the rules out in the open.

>>36008651
This.

Also following up a few more points on >>36008518

Try to go outside of the norm a bit. Everyone has seen lord of the rings, and the matrix. Try coming up with some originality to at least detract from what people are familiar with. I.E In my settings Driders take the place of dwarves, they live in hollowed out mountains, keep to themselves etc etc. while dwarfs live in swamps and bogs. (I have a lot of Tolkien super fans, so I try to keep clear of the tropes of fantasy as much as I can)

Also supplying things for people gets people really invested in the game. With a copy of my handout I usually send a PDF of whatever system I am running so people can get an idea of what they want to play.

Also if you can, I would avoid having the same group for years on end, people tend to have the same behaviors and groups tend to become stagnant after a while.

And (yeah it is retarded) but every single time I have tried to run a campaign without an actual physical copy of the book I have enjoyed the campaign far less. Run a new system from PDF, if you like it buy some used books. People like having them to gawk at as you play. (Just personal experience here nothing wrong with just using PDFs if you see no reason to not get the books)

Be crafty, make shit, and invest in your campaign setting. If it is cardboard or if it is made from molds, make something from time to time. Show that you invest in your setting, especially if you pain miniatures for grids. I find it gives me some pride in my forever DM status.

>tl;dr my advice for some shit. Could go on and on for pages, i'll stop here.

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>>36007446
If you're looking for more ways to make combat interesting, consider incorporating the environment into more battles. Ledges, pits, traps, hazards, shit like that.
>a crumbling pillar you can strike or push down onto an enemy
>crumbling stairs you can smash to knock an enemy prone
>red barrels full of oil or gunpowder that can be shot with a fire spell or flaming weapon to cause an explosion
>traps such as spike walls, collapsing floors, swinging blades, crushing slabs, swinging logs, etc. that enemies can be pushed/pulled/thrown into
>make the traps above timed so they trigger every second round, so players can feel clever by timing it just right so the enemy gets clobbered/skewered
>hazards like bonfires, electrified grates or puddles, pools of acid, some kind of corrosive pillar of magical energy, a crystal growth pulsating with dangerous energies
>a narrow ledge, hole in the floor, or balcony an enemy can be pushed or thrown from

OP here, still here and monitoring thread, some great advice here. Some of it I'll have to bank for my next serious campaign as I'm just doing forgotten realms for this one. These guys had zero table top experience and just wanted a Drizzit adventure pretty much. Which is fun, but I like making my own settings and stuff, and will do that again some day.

Do you guys have any ideas for lack of a better term "mini games" shit that isn't combat or skill checks but less free form than just pure role playing. I've done cup games for gambling before and a staring contest once, just looking for some neat ideas.

>>36010076
Riddles are great, but and easy to find. There are a lot of puzzles you can find online and convert them to a TRPG appearance.

I once bought a four sided rubix cube and re-painted it with runes and had them find it in the dungeon. They kept it for three sessions before solving it which opened a way into a new plane. You really just have to get creative when it comes to outside of mental theater work. It is easy to make a "puzzle" and say "roll a check" and they solve the puzzle.

Just find something online and use it if you can't make something up yourself.

I have used a stop watch on my players and told them to play in real time during say a room ceiling in coming down on them. It causes a bit of panic, usually I make the answer very bold and easy to solve but it still adds that bit of flavor.

You can go to a "magic" shop as an example and pick up some strange puzzles there also. If you really want to make things fun make puzzles complex while enjoyable. It is a hard balance, as sometimes it is easier to make a "puzzle" into a fetch quest.

Depending on how strong deities and what not are in your world you could always pull a judge from final fantasy tactics thing. Some powerful force declares certain qualifications for a battle or event with clear repercussions. Like no ranged attacks this battle. Or even something like a favor system where the God's have random small quests, arm wrestling, actual needle in a hay stack, or even a triathlon for your characters. (Take strong suits of each of them and make it into a race, ex. Run 100 m, find x book in the local library first, and then finally steal y item from the mayor's daughter. Something where each person is making ability checks against the other players in an attempt to win.

I'm trying to DM a campaign of FATE core for my group because I can't trust my current group with something rules-heavy and, quite honestly, I'd like to give a rules light narrative-based system a swing after years of Shadowrun and Pathfinder

However, I realized that the game abstracts wealth.

Like, the players don't have money. They have a stat to represent "Resources" that they roll to buy things

How the fuck does that even work? People roll into town, and I set a "diffuclty" for the stuff they want to buy? And then if they roll well enough, they have the money to buy it?

How am I supposed to reward people for doing things when money is an abstracted concept this doesn't make sense

>>36010792
>And then if they roll well enough, they have the money to buy it?
More correctly, they find a way to acquire it. It isn't necessarily liquid wealth.
Ideally you make the players explain a harebrained scheme to find that power converter.

>>36010792
The games where I had the most fun made very little of wealth, monetary rewards and inventory, for that matter.

>>36010827
Okay, that sort of makes sense, but how am I supposed to adequately represent the acquisition of wealth in game when the game discourages me from actually tracking wealth?

Do I give people temporary aspects or something?

>>36010890
>Do I give people temporary aspects or something?
That's one way of doing it, or decreasing the difficulty of finding what they want. Or tiering items, or setting mechanical bonuses.

Though this is coming from someone who's never done fate and was iffy on FUDGE.

"wealth" can also get you contacts, ins, and access to, say, training

>>36007446
4e is a bit too crunchy to be truly fast-paced in my book. I tend to play rules-light stuff with minimal mechanics and a stress on GM improv. If a person sits there thinking for more than 5 seconds or so, then I feel like the game has lost momentum. The more pressing the danger, the more I try to rush people to make a decision.

Hey, I am a forever GM seeking some advice. How do you handle a player who makes all of his characters suicidal?

He's made 3 characters across 3 different campaigns (a private eye with a secret, an Arab-ish merchant, a vampire veterinarian) and all have displayed suicidal tendencies the moment something does not go his character's way, whether he messes up during combat or he fails to inform the rest of the party he plans to negotiate with the sandsharks and gives up on life when the other PCs decide to kill them instead.

He says it's because he likes having his PCs die for "good causes" and that they'd be good deaths, but the rest of the group and I don't see it that way. The other PCs are getting tired of having to beat his characters back into the game instead of letting them bite the bullet.

>>36010792
Not FATE, but my group tends to use somewhat undefined wealth in our games. We carefully avoid asking for exact figures on how much we have so as to avoid playing Auditor: The Accounting. We have a general idea of how wealthy we are, and we ask if we can afford something, and the GM gives us some idea of how badly it'll deplete our purses. It's just so much quicker and easier this way.

>>36007446
If they are looking for an action-packed, quick game (and you're willing to accomodate them) you shoul probably give a shot to Dungeon World.
Try playing that as a oneshot and see if they like it. The system will pretty much CareBear you into fast improvisation of cool stuff.

>>36011249
Tell him to stop. Really is that simple. Most issues people have with bad players can be resolved by simply saying "If you do (issue) again you can't come to the next sessions until our campaign is over." I've told people straight up if they ruin the game for everyone else, that I will remove them from the group.

If everyone has a issue with him no one will protest.

>>36011289
TBH I strongly feel that wealth should only matter if it's relevant for story purposes. So if your game is about slow resource accumulation, like if it's a post-apocalyptic thing or a bunch of fringe outlaws on the run living from day to day, then it makes sense to track wealth and resources to some degree. But in general, it should only matter when it has story consequences - in other words, the only costs that things have are story costs, costs you pay in terms of story hooks and actions.

If you are running a game that uses a square battlegrid and you need help placing terrain features on the map, open up a game of Tetris and watch what tetrominos fall down, then draw those blocks on the battemap.

>>36011297
I suppose so. We've tried that at least twice now, but it keeps happening. I was ready to boot him out when his detective character was about to commit suicide in front of a teenage girl, until said teenage girl (one of the other PCs) talked him out of it.

But yeah, talking to him (and possibly booting him out for good) seems like the only sound option if it happens again.

>>36011249
I have a mean solution: new characters only have half the experience points / levels / whatever earned by existing characters. You can even have them earn experience at an accelerated rate until they make up the difference so that they don't feel permanently cheated, just as long as it takes a while.

>>36011249
There are several ways you can deal with a player like this, here are my two favourite ways:

1) Talk to him about it. Be direct, say that you're worried about him and his characters' suicidal tendencies. Tell him that you're a little weirded out and that you're having trouble coming up with interesting subplots for his characters because they keep dying / giving up on life.

2) Tell him that if his character dies or leaves the party he will have to make one at a lower level / fewer character points / etc. When he realizes that suicide puts him behind the rest of the party's level for a few sessions he may think twice about it. Honestly I usually enforce this whenever my players start considering their characters disposable.

>>36011355
>>36011377
I get the feeling it won't work too well, but I'll try the "hold his next character back" tactic if talking doesn't work and the other players are hazy on booting him out. They don't think he should be removed, but don't like having to keep him from killing his characters repeatedly either.

>>36011345
If he is a friend, maybe this is his way of saying he is bored. That's how I would take it. Each time I have players who just go do the same thing in each town (i.e They all go to a local pub and get a drink and just sit there) I assume they are bored.

I think you should be pissed if anything. Your other players seem to enjoy the campaign right? If he is not having fun, then he needs to go find a new group and not bother / upset yours.

>>36011452
Maybe you could just accept the fact that his characters will often die, but try to keep them from dying stupidly. Maybe give him a "good death" bonus that eliminates a significant portion of the experience deficit he has for introducing a new character. That way, his deaths become less disruptive (hurting immersion and so forth) and more story elements.

>>36011526
You could also ask him to come to you when he gets sick of a character, giving you a session to plan how to write out the character in a constructive way. If he does this, he suffers less of an experience penalty. Maybe you could even have his old character waiting in the wings (off on his own quest or something) for a time when he might want to play him again.

>>36011452
...Did you ask him if the suicidal tendencies of his characters come from somewhere a little close to home? Like just casually ask him, "Hey Chuck, your characters sure do seem to love playing tag with Saint Peter. Do you think about killing yourself?" or something.

>>36011339
Alternatively, read some level design tutorials. Just remember a few key points:
>Flow: Players should be able to get from A to B without much difficulty. On a square grid, this means careful placement of impassable objects so that going 4 squares away doesn't take 6 squares of movement. Or, you can exploit that, and make those 6 squares be flanked by enemies waiting for those sweet, sweet attacks of opportunity.
>Lines of Sight: You want cover in your map, so that enemies and players alike can actually advance or retreat, encouraging motion and a flow of battle. It's far more satisfying than standing in an open field calculating range increments with nobody ever moving. Even just a big honkin' statue in the middle of a standard arena that makes it a ring instead of a square is miles ahead of most encounters.
>Purpose: Don't just design arenas. If you have a big open space, the players will instantly know there's a fight. Design spaces first, then add enemies second. Fights will seem much more organic and immersive this way.

>>36010792
>How am I supposed to reward people for doing things when money is an abstracted concept

Simple. Aspects. As a reward, give the party an aspect called "Big Sack O' Loot" with a bunch of free invocations, or a limited number of uses. So if the players want to do something resources-related, they can invoke the "Big Sack O' Loot" aspect and receive a bonus on their roll.

>>36011676
We did. We've noticed (and he said so himself) that he's fine in other people's campaigns, so I'm inclined to think it's related to me or my group.

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>>36007446
>>36010076
My advice is to keep a notebook nearby (Or take notes on your phone etc) so you can write down things that inspire you when you see them. Be it an interesting riddle/out of the ordinary quest idea. For example...

>While waiting on a train I was messing around with minesweeper on my netbook.
>hmm.. I wonder if i could create a dungeon for my group where each square was a room and the mines were traps.
>spend the next hour on the train scribbling out notes and a map of my new dungeon
>Next time my group did something stupid and got trapped in a cave/dungeon/teleported somewhere they wound up in the middle of a minesweeper map
>with traps on all sides and only one path out they had to decipher the runes on the floors to figure out they were numbers and get out alive
>it took about half an hour before any of them cottoned on.

>>36011841
You should ask him to base his characters off of characters from movies, books, shows, or celebrities. I had a friend who roleplayed as if he was Django's mentor, that crazy dentist bounty hunter german.

>tips
Don't bother preparing anything because at least one of your players will without provocation murder every NPC they encounter, burn down every building they see, and get the entire party killed by the second session
fuck you Kevin, you cunt

I'm currently leading my players along a long quest chain to gain an NPC's trust so they can move up in the world, but I planned it so that whatever they do they'll fail the quest. Things like some other party meeting the NPC first, or an opposing faction killing the NPC before the players get to him, etc. This is to introduce a new, bigger plot hook to my players.

Am I being a dick?

>>36012840
You're a GM being a dick comes with the job.

Also; no, as long as you do it correctly, like they do the quest and as soon as they come back they come into the room to witness the NPC get their brains bashed in and they try to chase the assassin. While another party member tries to aid the dying NPC he whispers "Butt goblins" or something that leads them to your next major plot.

Do not make the NPC just be a douche, and say something like "oh nah you're fags so i'm not telling you anything."

>>36012840
I wouldn't really like it if I found out that there was NO way I could have succeeded in saving someone. It's perfectly fine to make it so someone gets assassinated or whatever and it's unlikely the PCs will stop the assassin unless they just happen to get lucky and be in the right place at the right time or are incredibly careful or something, but if you just make it so that no matter what they do, they fail, that's kind of lame. Unless you make it so that someone is getting assassinated while they are just completely not in the area or something. Ultimately, however, they won't know the difference. If you timed everything out and did random dice rolls, and through sheer coincidence they came back just in time to see him fall to the ground lethally poisoned with an assassin leaping out the window, or you just made that scene happen no matter when they showed up, the players wouldn't be able to tell the difference. So... even though it is kind of a dick move to make it so someone will die no matter what they do, it's fine if you make it realistic.

For an example, if the PCs show up and their friend is dying of poison, and suddenly the party's cleric casts neutralize poison and ruins your plans, don't have them suddenly realize he has a knife in his back too or some shit unless he actually did to start with. If your players get lucky and do something you didn't 'want' them to do, you should really just go along with it. But in the end, they probably won't know, and you should do what makes for the funner experience. It's a bit hypocritical of me, I guess. I acknowledge completely that the players can't tell the difference and for them it doesn't matter, but it just still seems like a dick move to make things that WILL happen no matter what they do.

>>36012840

Yes.

Sounds like you just want to force your own story on them, fuck that shit. Let them directly influence where the story goes, not the other way around.

Might as well be writing a novel instead if you DM with this mindset.

>>36007446
>I need more things to add to my repertoire.
You could attempt to incorporate more random tables into your campaign (tables of traps, town encounters, items, monster attacks, etc), with rough encounter notes and some stats. This will allow you to quickly add encounters, twists, or surprises.

You don't want your notes to be too specific though. The key with using random tables well is to keep the notes brief enough that you can easily change the details to seem natural and specific to the PCs current location.

I've got a question as a player.

What can I do to make my DM's life easier?

>>36012840
Not exactly, but keep in mind players often can and will defy expectations.

Never make a hook too dependent on any single pillar, because the players aren't in your head and may not follow the same line of reasoning. Be prepared when you introduce a hook for players to take things a completely different way.

For example, the players may attempt to track the assassins, or kill/oppose the new group that has met the NPC.

Also, to add on to what >>36013072 says, it's important to try and at least maintain some level of player agency. There is no faster way to kill interest in the game that players who think they have no agency in the story. Try to always plan out a couple of alternate resolutions to any set-piece and be clear that your players actually can make a difference. Players usually don't mind long odds but walking the balance between long odds and impossibility is always the tightrope.

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>>36007446
>Give advice to new DMs and old ones looking for something new to spice up their campaigns.

I think a common mistake new GMs make is that they have to be world-builders, or that good world-builders make good GMs. In practice I've found too-extensive world building beforehand is a detriment, because players naturally feel more attached to the history they make through actual play, rather than any long handouts on the world's history that you make.

Instead, build the campaign world collectively. Let your players fluff out parts of your campaign world. If a player's character is from a certain region or familiar with it, let the player fluff out the area with your help/approval. This plays out nicely in game, because the PC now knows his hometown inside and out, without you having to spoon feed details they should know and break the pacing.

>>36013208
Learn the rules and your character and stuff so you don't have to ask your DM for rolls and shit. You can also not be a dick and ruin the DM's plans ALL of the time just because you can. But don't let that stop you from RPing your character or doing stuff if you want to. Also, actually just talk to your DM about stuff, if he's being an asshole or railroading too much or creating magical realms or having his level 20 wizard save you constantly after you get stuck in impossible situations, tell him to cut dat shit. Or tell him you enjoy things he does right so he knows what he's doing a good job with.

>>36013110
>force your own story on them
> with this mindset.

Seems like DMing in your view is babysitting nerds while they circle jerk each other, role playing elves.

>>36012840

Nothing wrong with deciding on a plot point in a campaign. Only difference between planning it out and doing it on the fly is someone getting pissed because they don't get w.e reward.
If you decide that when your session starts you feel like having your players kill a harpy that session and you do so, some people blindly think you are railroading because you made a predetermined decision and not a "oh my god you have to make everything random and only the players get to decide what happens" decision like some retards think.

Writing down every little detail and trying to get your players to re-enact your idea of what should happen is bull shit. Deciding to make a plot point around a NPC betraying them is not.

Judging from:
>Things like some other party meeting the NPC first, or an opposing faction killing the NPC before the players get to him, etc.

You aren't railroading, you have just decided on a plot device.

Short version: No you're not a dick.

>>36013246

Good advice.

I actually just run pre-established settings due to ease of use, but I always have the PCs effect the world around them.

>>36013246

>Let your players fluff out parts of your campaign world. If a player's character is from a certain region or familiar with it, let the player fluff out the area with your help/approval.

Even if you build your own world you should be willing to allow/do this, if not only for player enjoyment but to keep things simple in the long run.

What do you do when your group faces a problem they can't solve?

My group aren't the most creative bunch, they don't do much besides shooting people and asking if it killed them (they don't even use covers or traps). One of them has his character sleep through everything that's not a combat encounter.

I have this situation I want to unleash on them but I'm afraid they won't be able to get out of it and TPK. I know I can't come up with a way out of it, but finding a solution for them isn't my job, is it?

>>36013364
I had this issue a lot when I first started DMing, players would get to a puzzle in a Dungeon and just give up. etc. etc

I solved this issue a few ways

1: Got players that wanted to play a TRPG and not just sit around a pretend they cared.

2: I got people involved, making a campaign come to life is hard, especially when you don't have receptive players. I would suggest giving them non lethal trial that seemed hard, give them a reward that seems big and get them to actually want to try. Sometimes people just need a little push. Killing someone helps, rubbing a bit of salt in the wound by saying "Your body crumples behind the crates on your left. You die from internal bleeding because they couldn't shoot your dying body behind the cover."

3: Changed my setting. Sometimes starting over helps, I switched my party over to G.U.R.P.S and they got all excited to go from fantasy to fantasy with lazer guns.

Talk to your group, finding a solution for them is not your job. Providing a problem they feel like they should solve is.

>>36013364
Make sure your group has fun. But don't be afraid to give them challenges that might kill them if they're stupid, though it really depends what kind of game you're running. Oh but kill that guy in his sleep because what the fuck don't just go to sleep. Make them play Only War or some shit.

>>36013364
Murder them.
Seriously though, I wouldn't bother with this group. There's no point playing a TTRPG for combat, you'd all be better off playing some vidya.

>>36013433
>rubbing a bit of salt in the wound
>"Your body crumples behind the crates on your left. You die from internal bleeding because they couldn't shoot your dying body behind the cover."
holy shit I can just imagine the salty tears from that
delicious

>>36013434
Would shooting a madman strapped with enough explosives to level a building count as stupid? Because one of them did just that (I gave them a free pass that one time though).

>>36013468
This was inside a car, by the way.

>>36013468
>>36013480
Depends. Explosives don't usually explode when you shoot them, so unless he was holding a dead man's trigger or switch or whatever they're called, or even just a detonator he could press if he didn't die instantly, it's a pretty dumb move. If they could snipe him through the head and instantly kill him, sure, I can see that being reasonable. I'm not sure what they were doing in a car with a guy strapped with explosives though. At least they've got a good chance to hit him.

>>36013505
They stole a car, which happened to be the local BBEG's car. The guy is a delusional murderer and a hobo, and he was taking a nap. In his car. Since he was a hobo and all, you know. He was strapped with lots and lots of dynamites, because that's just his thing.

I told the player about the rule for called shots (we were playing Savage Worlds) and he just went "Nope, I got this" and shot. He rolled horribly, too.

>>36013629
>Since he was a hobo and all, you know. He was strapped with lots and lots of dynamites, because that's just his thing.

I get this strange feeling that your players don't take your campaign seriously, because you don't take your campaign seriously.

>>36013653
No no, I'm sure there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for this

>>36013653
Is there anything wrong with having a murderhobo as a BBEG? I mean BBEGs (and ruling bodies and just about everyone else) have to put up with murderhobos all the time, so why not?

How do I get my players to stop dragging their feet and actually make their characters?

>>36013701
Same reason most horror flicks don't get awards.

Making a murder hobo a BBEG is just not creative. Everyone knows Jason Voorhees makes a good villain for a teen slasher. But as a BBEG no, not really. You say so yourself even.
> I mean BBEGs (and ruling bodies and just about everyone else) have to put up with murderhobos all the time

MurderHobos are great for plot devices and simple villains. But as a main bad guy, really is not a lot of character in that.

-Guy who sells slaves, rapes women, buys from starbucks everyday, Steps on the poor, has influence and general immunity that your group must over come. That's a character to try and kill.

-Trench coat smelly dude that wears bombs for underwear, and sleeps in wealthy people's cars? Not very satisfying to kill aside from the flashy bits.

>>36013787
Making a character is simple. If your players don't even want to make characters for your game, they most likely do not want to play.

>>36013787
play with gud people who know how to rp

>>36013792
Derp, we seem to have a misunderstanding on terms usage here. By "local BBEG" I meant the most threatening villain in the players' immediate vicinity. He is (was) the dude most capable of wrecking the players' shit at that moment in the campaign. So he's more like the mid-boss villain, I guess?

The real deal is the corporation in the shadow that's making lunatics like the aforementioned gentleman by the number, for PURPOSES and stuff.

Besides crazies like the Scorpio killer makes for interesting villains imo, anon.

>>36011249
Tell him to stop, tell him why you are bothered by it

Then impose a rule that says new characters will start a level behind others with no magical gear

>>36013364
>One of them has his character sleep through everything that's not a combat encounter.
Seriously? Fuck that guy.

how do I into long range battles /tg/? one of the pc in my game is playing a sniper and it's not really exciting when the closest enemy she ever encounter is a mile away

>>36014415
You'd have to be more specific but just look up how people usually deal with snipers IRL and get some ideas, maybe they just take cover or get their own snipers or get big shields or armored vehicles or artillery or invisibility or flanking

>>36014441
is sniper vs. sniper a real thing or just some glorified vidya myth?

>>36014473
Well, all I'm saying is, two snipers are inherently on a level playing field. I don't know whether that's a real thing. But I Google it between typing this sentence and the last one, and Wikipedia says it's a thing so I'm concluding my search.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-sniper_tactics#Sniper_vs._sniper

>>36014473
countersnipers certainly do exist

keep in mind, in the real world. Snipers are scouts more than they are killers.

They pick off high value targets and then move

If your sniper gives away his position, make the enemies hunt him down

>>36014511
>If your sniper gives away his position, make the enemies hunt him down
Oh yeah, this for sure. If they work out where the sniper is they should be in for some bad times. Of course, maybe the rest of the party is just standing around too, in which case that's not really a huge detriment. But still.

>>36014507
>>36014511
>>36014544
thanks. but the logistics around sniper vs. sniper seems difficult, and I'm not sure I'm good enough run it in an interesting way

>Snipers are scouts more than they are killers.
yes. she's playing more like a dm role even though sniper is her official job title. not that I really mind, but it does mean the other party members are always out in front directly engaging the threats, so there's little chance hostiles can get near

>>36014695
This is tricky, but once the enemies they are up against know who these adventurers are. Employ countersnipers.

As they go in to combat, she will try to support the main group and then 'pzzzng' she hears a bullet whiz past her.

Then it is on, she can stay put and use perception checks to locate the enemy snipers then take the shot. Maybe she makes stealth checks to relocate and hide to make it harder for them to find her.

The issue is, breaking down her turn into an easy and quick combat so that the main group can still fight.

>>36008651
For Dark Heresy, I made basically a play by play hand out for character creation and basic rules. It dramatically changed the style of our game.

Instead of, "I fire at this guy"
Players looked at the list of combat actions and said "I stand up from cover and go on overwatch".

so in the last session I ran, my group was tasked to kill/capture an elusive target with unknown whereabouts. I gave them info about two of his only known accomplices. for god knows fuckall whatever reason, one of my player immediately killed one of the known companion when they found him.

he didn't even give him a chance to talk or anything, just up and went and stabbed him in the gut. poor bastard never had a chance.

so, am I in the right to declare the mission unfinishable if they repeat this with the second person?

>>36015475
Did he offer any sort of explanation for his actions? How did the rest of the party respond? And most importantly, what the fuck did he think his job was? If someone is so stupid that they KILL their only leads, then they deserve to fail. That's like going into combat and choosing to remove your armor instead of attack.

What's a good place to look for assets (maps, tiles, tokens etc) for use with virtual tabletops?

>>36015475
I don't know if you have to "declare" anything, although somehow letting them know they've made it much harder on themselves is probably in order. Personally I'd bend reality a little bit, maybe the target is extremely reclusive but was using those two for supplies and to stay informed about the outside world. If there are any other, unrelated plot strands going I guess you could encourage them to follow those instead, and over the coming weeks/months ingame have your mysterious target make occasional, brief appearances in civilized areas (to try to make new contacts or something) that citizens might be able to recount to the PCs
Unless that doesn't make sense at all in your setting

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>Teaching friend to play 40k rpg
>He seems to be having fun in the scenario
>Cares about what happens to his loyal NPCs
>One becomes Hanako 2.0 and needs medical care
>PC goes to mansion where rich billionaire is looking after Hanako 2.0
>Billionaires party does not interest PC until billionaire says he has some one special to show him
>Takes PC to room in the mansion and says have fun
>Guard steps aside and PC enters
>Its the governors wife tied to a chair
>After interrogation tries to shoot her and misses
>Things escalate till he is apprehended by billionaires guards
>gets knocked out and moved to jail cell and is chained up
>after he awakes to the billionaire asking why would he do this
>Starts shouting at billionaire but the billionaire just says we wont meet again as he leaves room
>Later PC awakes to Hanako 2.0 being thrown in the room and then shot in front of him
>Player genuinely sounds sad
I think I broke my player
Pic related

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>>36015661

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How do you folks come up with names for things? I don't think I have the knack.

>>36015555
I think he misinterpreted the job. the main target is the elusive person, but part of the description is to leave no witness. except he killed him before the accomplice even knew what was up.

also, the lead that got killed came with two goons, both of them elven. the second accomplice was described as elven in the info they got. I think he got confused and thought that there's three people, I have three targets, there's an elf, one of my target is also an elf, IT'S THEM! and went to town. but he didn't ask me anything during the session, and I only found out he got things mixed up by asking him after the game.

my original plan was to have the first guy snitch about the second guy, and he will snitch about the real target, but now I don't know how to introduce the second lead into the game. but not giving them another chance altogether because of this stupid mistake is bad practice, correct?

>>36015707
Probably should have just made it a bit more clear that it was the guy that probably had info regarding the location of the guy they were after. Like, spell it out pretty obviously that this guy is the one with information. I would say something like, "You recognize this guy as probably being the accomplice guy" or whatever, and made it clear that his two goons just look like hired thugs rather than the other accomplice and main guy. But making mistakes like this is the kind of thing that should happen occasionally. The information the PCs get isn't always going to be perfect and accurate, and they shouldn't assume it is all the time. Maybe if you are feeling nice you leave some paperwork with him saying like, he's meeting the other guy at x place at y time, or just some information they find about the other guy. And if they don't even search the place after realizing they just killed their lead, they're shit detectives and probably shouldn't be taking jobs like this.

Any tips on handling inter-party conflicts? I think I'm about to have to run one that's potentially party-breaking.

>>36015793
let the bodies hit the floor

>>36015349
...I just photocopied the Combat Actions page of my DM Screen for DH2e, because of this advice. Thank you, sir.

>>36015775
see, that's the funny part. one of the thug went so far as to mention the lead's full name within earshot, and it matches with the name they were given. I used the same token for him as the sketch they had of him as well. for the goons, I didn't even realize they were elven since I just grabbed the first pic on my goons folder. they had the same, generic token, so it's not like I was trying to play mind games with them deliberately.

the paper idea is great though, I didn't thought of that. I'll try prodding them gently to do some detective works, and if they don't catch on, whelp, tough luck.

>>36015847
Dammit anon, I'm talking about RPG adventuring party, not your immoral whippersnappers hedonist drug-fueled parties!

>>36015902
Some people just don't really 'get' doing detective work. Even if you make things obvious enough that even a shitty novice detective should realistically be able to put the clues together, they'll just completely miss things you tell them and make completely wrong assumptions. Whether it's through them not paying attention, getting bored, too long between sessions and they forget things, or they just base all their assumptions on tropes and misinterpreted information, it just doesn't work with some people. If the whole group is like that, I'd sadly just not do detective type stuff. Although that's not even really detective stuff that's just like... there's a guy with information you need, go get it from him and don't kill him first because that's common sense.

>>36015935
one of the player (different from the murderhobo) basicly told me afterwards that he thought it'll be fine since I'm supposed to spoonfeed them plot convenience and shove important NPCs their way, even if they're not seeking them. yeah, I'm blaming modern videogames for this one.

>>36015698
Look at maps of foreign places, put minor tweaks on the names. Get foreign language books and use meaningful words from them (Like say, if you want a town that's corrupt and full of poor people, you could use the French word for 'filth' as the town name). Or, my personal favorite, just start randomly pushing keys on the keyboard until you get something to work with.

>>36016000
The best part is coming up with fishpeople town names since you can just make random gargling noises and take that as the name

>>36015997
PUNISH THEM FOR THEIR TRANSGRESSIONS.

Seriously though you need to do the DM version of beating that out of them. Actively set up reward and punishment systems for good and bad behaviour. And by that, I mean if they just sit around in a tavern waiting for a bounty board to show up, have absolutely nothing happen. If there is some sort of plot going on that they are aware of but not really doing anything about, make them hear about shit happening which they are not a part of. Like, a few towns over there's a lich attacking and they don't do anything about it. They hear about a town getting overrun with undead. But then later on, if they don't deal with it, have someone else deal with it. Not the greatest example, but basically make it clear that they are not the center of the universe until they are level 20 wizards. And if they are following some leads and they murder their leads, feel free to just not give them anything to go on if they do it more than like, once. Hell, even the first time, don't give them a note to follow at first. Make them think they fucked up. Then have something show up at random later on, maybe, so they sort of get a second chance purely on luck. If they fuck that up too by doing the same shit, have the bad guys win in some way. Maybe he gets away and ends up killing some people later on if he's a serial killer or something.

Haven't read the rest of the thread yet because I'm tired from work, but I'd still like to contribute before I read everyones advice.

Now your mileage might vary on this one, but one thing that seems to be going well for me is doing DM prep work and world building with my players. So instead of only me creating pre-session content, I also involve one of my players about half the time.

What this does is give them some idea on how your though process works, and it gives you an idea how your players thought process works. Also you'll have two minds thinking up creative and fun things for everyone.

For example: A few weeks back I invited a player over to my house because I was considering running a Halloween game. My original plan was just do to a small graveyard encounter, but thanks to my friends input we came up with a pretty nice Adams Family like mansion with a ton of homebrewed magical / mechanic curiousitys, and a few homebrewed creatures.

Of course I'm going to change some things around to keep it fresh for him too, but generally he's very exited to play in something he helped make.

Besides making your players exited to play in their own creations, it also gives them a nudge to give DMing on their own a try.
Also this gives you a great insight in what your players want, what their thought process is and what they might be interested in. Also it can increase their skills as a player too, becoming better RPers / better with rules.

Another example: one of my players is very geared towards combat. So we spent some time working on a small dungeon with (potentially) very interesting terain features and original monsters with stat blocks specifically geared to give the party a challenge. However I insisted we include some lore and an NPC too, and had her come up with that NPC's motivation and personality. She had fun doing this and became more involved with the roleplaying instead of just sending texts or reading the player handbook.

>>36016118
While I've been worldbuilding with my players for my current game and it's been a blast, I have my reservations about preparing sessions with players. Namely, wouldn't that ruin the surprise and tension for them? Did you ever encounter this issue?

>>36016233

Most don't really mind, and I tend to switch some things around. To them it's never really been an issue.

Try to do the following to make it less predictable:

Change the motivation and manerism of an NPC to something else
Do not prepare loot of actual vallue with them"
Do most numbers / DC's later or change them around
Move smaller items around, or change their function slightly
Move rooms around
Add in one more room / item they do not expect
Remove one or two rooms or items you did prep and use them later.

Don't prepare loot or gold pieces with your players
Don't prepare riddles with your players
Only prepare puzzles with your players if you can change things to create a different answer

Seems like a lot of work but it's maybe 10 minutes tops.

In fifth, is the "adjusted exp per character" which is based off challenge rating refer to the pure exp gained or the challenge based exp (with multipliers)?

Also, is me having an NPC illusion wizard (who is known to be the best illusion wizard in this world) create a false image on a town out of bounds? She'll be in a zombie filled town as she raised all the zombies but will make them appear like normal human beings and the NPCs will have to pass a large dc to notice something is off.

>>36016341

Shouldn't be a problem unless she is a direct antagonist of the party. Because in that case she'd probably be way out of their league to take on. Just don't reveal it in a stupid "Gotcha assholes!" kind of way and it should be fine.

Don't play 5e so can't help with that.

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>>36015661

Urge to fall to chaos: Rising.

>>36016365
Well she's a necromancer and using that town as kind of an experiment to test her abilities. The zombies may attack the party, but she won't if unprovoked. I just think it'd be cool for them to encounter a town like that, and it makes for an interesting "outskirt" town.

Ah okay, thanks. It isn't very clearly explained, so I'm having trouble leaning either way

In a similar vein to >>36016118, I found having the character mentioning what the player wants in the form of rumors a good way of both getting the player involved via impromptu worldbuilding as well as giving players what they want.

So the next time your group visits a tavern, have THEM be the ones telling the rumor. That magical sword the fighter's player have been asking you about outside the game? Surely the fighter can recount the rumors he heard during his journey about the fallen dorf city containing treasures of blades forged by the earth itself! The same fallen city that - the ranger interjected - contains the beast he has heard to be beyond the measures of mortal, and thusly a worthy challenge to test his skills with.

Those kinds of things.

Is giving your players a better reward for taking the "good" path wrong if the path is more arduous? I'm going to give them saber tooth cubs to raise, sell, kill, whatever.

>>36016397

If the PC's kind of walk in on it and they aren't the interceded target / she is their designated antagonist (BBEG), then it shouldn't be a big issue. Sounds like it could be an interesting event for sure.

>>36016482

What kind of story are you trying to tell?

Does your world value the goodness in man?

Should hard work be rewarded? Or are good trade skills and luck on equal level with hard work?

Keep these things in mind when it comes to issues like the one you're having. It's your shared world.

I know it's a bit vague, but it all comes down to the story you're trying to tell and the world you want your players to be a part of.

Also if it's a fairly minor reward then don't really stress it. A good outcome of things could be a reward of it's own.

Lets say some person is burning down an orphanage and will pay the players 100 gold pieces to pretend they don't see the arsonist.

Now they could take the money and walk away, the orphanage burns and they'll be 100 gold richer.

Or they could rescue the orphans while the arsonist gets away. Now the orphans don't have 100 gold, but they do really like the PC's for saving their lives. So now every time they come into town they have a litle cheer group following them around. And a few towns over they talk about some group of heros that saved an orphanage, and will buy the PC's a round of beer if they find out they're the ones that saved the orphans. Which reward would the players appreciate more?

>>36016850
Well, the empire takes a more chaotic good/neutral stance and would probably have killed the woman instead of cure her (which is what leads them to the cave/saber tooth). They take a longer, harder, road so I wanted to reward them a bit better. Not because it's the good path, but because it takes more effort to do this than to slay some lady.

Something i never see stressed enough:

You should always try to setup combat encounter in such a way that the goal is NOT kill the enemy team.

Save the orphans, deactivate the death ray, capture the mcguffin, distract the guards... whatever

>>36017109

Well from a pure gameplay perspective, more time invested usually results in more growth and progress. So it's justifiable from that position.

When it comes to your world I meant more if it's a world where good always prevails evil (eventually) or more a might makes right type of deal. From what I understand it's the latter.

Your players are insane. Relish it.

I like this thread.

>>36013629

So he was strapped with dynamite...so what? Like >>36013505 said earlier, explosives don't normally explode when you shoot them. I guess if the guy had a deadman switch...but honestly, trying to shoot someone in the head in a car, where they have very limited range of movement...yeah, I'd rather chance taking out the crazy bomber dude before he had a chance to set off his crazy bomb.

>>36013364
>One of them has his character sleep through everything that's not a combat encounter.

Have one of those turn into a combat encounter (trapped puzzle box, failed diplomacy, whatever) and murder his character in his sleep.

Let then know that just because you're not fighting a challenge with your sword doesn't mean it isn't deadly.

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Oh boy, wall of text incoming:

As a GM how do you guys choose which player to target during combat? It's easier when the players are fighting a boss and there's some chemistry between them, then there's personal reasons for attacking someone, but against enemies with no prior history there's only so many logical ways to base things (ie melee attacking melee and vice versa, prioritizing someone who's contributing a lot).

My main concern is targeting a weak player. It makes sense that an enemy would want to finish someone who's progressively taking damage, but I don't want to bully the PC either. At the same time though, if I decide to switch targets, I'm afraid my players would realize I'm "sparing" a PC (not that I think they'd really mind). Should I just trust my players to notice when someone is being focused?

Advice for controlling supporting/party NPCs would be appreciated too. I don't want them to end up dominating the game and stealing the spotlight, but I don't want it to be obvious they're holding back or just not doing anything.

Lastly, I've got two players that want to interrupt every enemy they can. The bad guy is pushing a button? They want to be able to stop him. A boss is drawing his sword before the fight? They want to try to disarm him. Pilot is boarding his assault helicopter as they reach the roof top? They want to try to kill him before he can get in. I don't have a problem with allowing players to be able to take preventive actions but at the same time it makes it difficult for any enemy to do anything. I'm using FATE if it matters, so should I just give guys like the aforementioned high notice as a partial safety net?

Thanks for any replies in advance. I appreciate all you guys have to say.

>>36013208
I know this is old but if anybody's wondering what makes my life as an Eternal GM easier:

Have ideas for the game that you want to share. You don't have to propose ideas for things, just when I ask "what kind of game would you me to run" have something to say. Even if it's a little thing like "I like beardy drunk dwarves."

Interact with the world, and build on it. Ask what the local guilds are, and be from a part of the world. Make it up if you want to, I don't care, just don't be a homeless murderer with no real goal other than "levels."

Understand that I'm human and I'll fuck up rules. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't be a dick about it. Help me run the game, don't derail it with your own needs.

Understand that there are like, six other people here beside you and be cool with that. Help each other (and me!) shine with our ideas and thoughts. When we're all working together to make a sweet-ass story, we all win.

That's about it. Happy gaming, bro.

>>36011210
When I DMed on 4e I timed the PC turns. If they failed to act in time I'd skip them. I hated when people took forever to plan out every little step and action

>>36019942

If you have an even number of players you could just roll a dX where X=player number.

>>36019942
>The bad guy is pushing a button? They want to be able to stop him. A boss is drawing his sword before the fight? They want to try to disarm him. Pilot is boarding his assault helicopter as they reach the roof top? They want to try to kill him before he can get in.

All of these are legitimate interrupts. If you want to avoid this sort of thing, have the villain trigger the button before the PCs arrive, get the villain to take his sword out before the PCs arrive, have the pilot in the assault helicopter already.

PCs rarely respect movie logic; they'll shank the guy if he's giving a long-winded speech if they have the opportunity. Grand showdowns of this sort are generally a bad idea. If you must do them, put some sort of obstacle in the way that the PCs have to get through first - a bunch of mooks, a bulletproof glass wall, weather conditions that levy a penalty to the shot, etc.

Generally however, if you are doing something within the PCs immediate ability to influence, expect them to try and influence it. If you don't want them to shortcut a Hind-D battle by killing a pilot, don't give them the opportunity.

>>36019942
>My main concern is targeting a weak player. It makes sense that an enemy would want to finish someone who's progressively taking damage

Remember that while the players and the GM generally have an omniscient awareness of what's going on; NPCs will vary in terms of their perceptiveness and intelligence. A goblin might very well be much more engaged with the warrior slashing at him with a big sword, rather than a rogue bleeding out in a corner. A wild beast will probably focus on what's immediately in front.

Most intelligent mooks aren't telepathic either, and will call out commands/orders to team-mates - this can also clue in your players.

>Advice for controlling supporting/party NPCs would be appreciated too. I don't want them to end up dominating the game and stealing the spotlight, but I don't want it to be obvious they're holding back or just not doing anything.

Consider adjusting their abilities or bonuses to rolls to make them weaker than the PCs, and again, have them contribute in a way that makes sense for their intelligence level and morale. A city guardsman would probably run before fighting it out to the death.

How can I get my players to not just attack and do mundane shit? I give them abilities and magic items that can do cool stuff but they can never think outside of the box. I want to see some interesting things happen.

>>36024241
Are they having fun?

>>36013364
Losing hitpoints and dying is the most boring thing you can do to your PCs. TPKs are shit.

Make them lose face. Lose honor, lose friends, lose connections, lose hideouts, lose gear, lose whatever. They can lose trust in each other.

You didn't cover up? There's FBI on your ass, constant surveillance.

Besides this, talk to them. That guy who sleeps through everything is being a dick. Tell them this is not how you want to play, boot him off the game or whatever. I don't care if he's your best bud IRL. He's shit at the table.

>>36024311
Eh, one of them isn't. One of them is. And the other is more or less dedicated to screwing over the others in the midst of things, like annoyingly so.

>>36024241
Two things.

First, you need to create an obstacle. It can be a monster, an impassible, barrier, whatever, but the important thing is that they can't overcome it with their normal strategies. They're never going to try something new if nothing makes them deviate from their normal tactics. They'll rely on what they know until circumstance forces them to do otherwise. Create that circumstance.

Second, lead by example. Show off clever uses of similar abilities in the hands of their foes. If those foes put up a good fight the players will take notice and adopt their tactics.

>>36024439
In combat, I mean. They have more fun in the rest of the game

>>36015793
Get mature players that can differentiate between OOC and IC and won't get IRL salty.

>>36019942
>As a GM how do you guys choose which player to target during combat?
Think like the monster.
Goblins attack the biggest guy or smallest, Orcs attack the Ranger/Paladin/Warrior, Hobgoblins take down the Cleric/Wiz first, and professionals silence/gag the Wizard and the Cleric, blind the Archer and immobilize the Knight.

That's because Gobs go by brute force alone and guess the big guy is the biggest threat, or try to frighten their foes by taking the runt.
Orcs attack the most familiar/hated target. Hobs know the Cleric does the healing and the buffing, and the Wiz flings fireballs, so they're priority targets.

Pros know specific weaknesses and have a wider variety of tools on hand. They can cast Silence on the casters, throw bombs on the tanks and charge and cut archers up.

>My main concern is targeting a weak player.
Natural selection. Your players will win. Their PCs will win.
Make them work hard for it, and charge a hefty blood price.
Don't be a bitch and let them go off with just a wound, but don't disallow chances to get out. You can't just go "20 ninjas with poison darts focus the Cleric", you have to give the Knight the chance to soak up that damage and the Ranger a chance to sniff them out before they strike. Make them pay every victory.

>Advice for controlling supporting/party NPCs would be appreciated too.
Don't use much. Use very little. Be ruthless to your NPCs.

>Lastly, I've got two players that want to interrupt every enemy they can.
You can't interrupt what you can't reach. High balconies, see-through bulletproof glass and so on if you need your villain to be badass for the camera.
You can't interrupt 20 enemies at once.

>>36015698
I use random generators and then sort similar sounding words with the same cultures.

>>36019942
Have the players play the NPCs, in combat at least. That way, they incorporate them into their strategy, and whatever spotlight the NPCs get is shared with the players. Just don't make them too strong and you should be fine.

>>36024803
>High balconies
The wizard casts a long range spell and the villain dies

>>36010306
>four-sided rubix cube

Do you mean four squares per face, 4x4 per face, or something else?

>>36025301
Seriously? You're seriously going for the "Wizard can do it" angle? You're the fucking DM. Whatever the Player Wizard can do, you can do it better with no fucking prep time. A Player Wizard will never get better tools than those that are shoddily written in splatbooks, but you can make entire universes.

Use a high balcony if your party is low level, doesn't have long range capabilities and no long range spells. The party is preferable in shackles or already focused on fighting mooks. That shit's dramatic and intense.

Use bulletproof magi-glass or whatever if the party is midlevel, and has trouble with the space-deal (meaning the Wizard is still space/location's bitch). They can't shoot through it, they can't cast through it, and they're getting deadly gas pumped into that room. That shit's intense even if they're good with combat.

Use illusions, anti-magic fields, body-doubles, clones, planar projections, mirror images, possessed bodies, dimensional anchors, hidden demiplanes, bullshittium-enchanted gear (like Shields that break and explode but you don't take any damage, or a Voodoo doll that dies in your stead and teleports you 50 kilometers away), a mind link to telepathically be a dick to the PCs, time-wardens and fucking neutronium golems if you absolutely, fucking have to have your big bad make his badass fucking speech and make your players listen and not attack him.

Your BBEG will never fucking die, and you don't even need to cop out. Shit, he can die and return as an Undead, even fucking worse.

Never ever make a fucking BBEG and not give him escape options or anti-one-hit-kill bullshit.

Get the players to dismantle his escapes, and slowly enough, they'll get him. They'll hunt him down eventually.
Don't be an ass, let them have his head, but make them work for it.
Lucky crits are for Captains (not even Lieutenants) and mini-bosses.

>>36026113
Those are all GM fiat shit and as an occasional player I find encounters specifically made to combat a specific PC to be bullshit and unfun. Anti-magic especially so, why not just make the whole goddamn floor out of it and render the PC(s) entirely useless and kill them? Yeah that's fun for everyone alright.

The better option is to make the players *willing* to listen to the BBEG. If said villain speaks about things that piques the PC's interests then they'd listen for a while. The key is to make it such that the PC empathize with the BBEG for that moment. But that takes roleplaying skills and not arbitrary GM rollplay asspulled solution so it might be difficult for some ;^)

>>36026571
Or the big bad just leaves evil notes and letters in easy to find places. That's also usually foolproof. You can't generally kill a guy through his written notes.

This whole >>36026113 shitty, angrily written pointless post is how the GMs aren't powerless against players, ever, and shouldn't act like bitches.

And you don't need to make the PCs empathize with the BBEG. Make them want to listen.
They have a choice; they could kill him now, or they could listen to his bargain and hope to find where he took the kidnapped princess. Killing him is so simple as fuck, and so good, but they'll be hunted down and killed by the King if they fail to bring his daughter back. Even if they escape that King, their reputation suffers greatly, and they're not welcome in many places. Their lawful Gods abandon them, their luck turns, there's a bounty on their heads, and so on.


I'd be ready to roll with both, whatever they choose. If they choose to listen, they get to save the Princess and the campaign goes that way. If they choose to kill, they get exiled and must now clean their name up, or fuck off to the Northern Wastes and play pen'n'paper Monster Hunter.

>;^)
Go fuck yourself.

>>36026949
U mad brah ;^)

>>36027079
I am.

On with some tips; BBEGs should usually get, at the very least, as much work as an PC would.

Get their stats done, abilities, spells and all that shit. That's baseline unless your BBEG is some sort of cosmic-power genie or Titan which has only one specific weakness (doesn't have Health Points but his heart is hidden in a cave atop the highest mountain, etc.)

Get their backstory. Start off small; Who are their parents? What kind of childhood did they have? Where are they from? Does that country still exist? Where do their loyalties lie? Are they insane? How far are they willing to go for what they want in life (answer: usually very, very, very fucking far).
What do they like? What do they hate? What is their most dominant trait? Other traits? What is their worst trait (weak-willed, easily scared, too angry, non-humane, no friends, only minions, etc)?

Give them a love interest (or more, or none), close friends, rivals, outright enemies and shaky truces. Contracts with Devils, cults devoted to them, etc.

What's their motivation? What's their end goal?
What would be their reaction to getting delayed/thwarted in their pursuit? Would they go all Skeletor and curse the heroes in a nasal-y voice?

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Maybe the "evil" King that wants to save his country has no problem taxing them to fuckall trying to gather funds to wage war with the Undead.

What's their stance on honor? Utilitarian or religious? Practical or mystical? How do they treat their minions/mercenaries/allies?

Do they rule through fear or through money/power? Do others follow them for their charisma and personality or out of fear?

You can have "evil" Paladins scouring the land and killing anyone not chaste enough. ISIS-y, they believe they're doing God's own will, but they're killing off people left and right.

BBEGs are Anti-PCs, and require equal or more fleshing out. BBEG's friends and allies require similar fleshing out.

>>36027301
You might want to have their theme song on a loop while writing/thinking about them.

The more you flesh them out but don't tie them down to a specific location, the better you're off.

Remember to be free. If your BBEG is a Necromancer laying siege to a town searching for corpses, and your PCs fuck off to have a pirate campaign, just reroute the Necromancer to scavenge the sea bottom for sunken ships and corpses. Always keep the BBEG close enough to the PCs to make their life hell, but far enough so that they can't harm him.

Give him allies (usually). Everyone has friends, and everyone has that one friend that is most likely to walk into a school/bar/workplace/theater with an AR15. If you don't have that friend, it might be you.

Having allies fleshes him out even more. What did the BBEG and his best buds go through? Where did they meet? Why do they like each other? Would this ally resort to treason to obtain his own goals (usually, yes, evil is selfish, and is ready to go fucking far to get what it wants)?

And one last piece of advice...
"The secret to creativity is hiding your sources."

Rip a bad guy off something no one else knows, or combine 3-4 well known bads/characters into an abomination that can pass off as original.
A Mister Freeze meets Dracula meets Hannibal Lecter is a frightening combo.

Vampire super-intelligent, curious man-eater (or even better, preferably eats only other vampires) that is driven to bring his dead wife back to un-life.

Read comics, watch movies, read books, anime, dickbags you might know in real life, anything is an inspiration.

>>36013246
I do this, but I subtly encourage players to ask questions and look for details on their own, so most of the time that they're helping me build the scenery, they're unaware of it.

>>36015698
I wing it. Something evocative or ironic, usually, sometimes with a half-assed reference.

Blacksmith's name is Jordan Smithson.
Hedge-Wizard healer is named Butcher Cass.
Far-away land you must journey to is Ovadur.
Dark thing from the depths is That Which Crawls Beneath.

>>36015793
Shared hardship works.

I once had two players who's characters didn't get along right from the start of the first session. They didn't like or trust each other (for good character reasons). The party had to break into a secured compound, and they split into teams to handle different aspects of security.

The two characters went to disable the electric fence. One was really good with machines, the other was handy with a gun, so the latter was sent to guard the former.

I see an opportunity here: while the techie was working on the control box, I had them make a skill check. I told her she just baaaaarely failed the check, and got shocked, but it wasn't too serious. Their hands, however, were completely numbed by it. So the techie player asks if she can talk the fighter through disabling the box.

A couple more skill checks, and the electricity is down. The characters high-five, and after that, always had each other's backs.

Of course, unless some truly incredible roll happened, the techie was going to fail the roll no matter what, leading to the bonding.

Improvise. Cheat if it's going to make everyone's experience better.

When is it alright for NPC to succeed on a task without rolling? What about getting an NPC killed via cutscene death, is that ever acceptable? Talking about striking the killing blow without rolling, the PC can try to save the victim from dying afterwards of course.

>>36007446

Let your players know who's the final arbiter on all rulings, but leave all agency completely in their hands.

>>36016233
The key is more to have them participate in the worldbuilding. Let's say they make a PC; the player can give lots of details about what society the PC is from. Then you can tie that into the session or even have them visit it.

>>36030712
Always.
You don't have to roll for NPCs, they can just cinematically die.

>>36034037
Only shit GMs do this. You're a shit GM, anon.

>>36034152
Woah, that's a quick insult.

You never have to roll for any NPC. They're yours. Only the PCs aren't your property, and they should get to roll for whatever their character can do.

NPCs can roll 4 20s inna row if you want them to (but that's a shit thing to do because it breaks the immersion).

Don't abuse this, but make combat and so on a lot faster instead of playing a video game server calculating how much damage/HP the NPCs have.
I usually roll 1d6 (and maybe a mod) for both NPCs in combat and the higher roller gets to instakill the other one, regardless of health due to lucky crit, because I was a PC in a three way battle that had about 20 actors and had to sit there with my thumbs up my asshole watching the DM roll against himself.

Rolls have their place in your arsenal, you don't have to obey every rule in a rulebook.

Quit the turbonerd dress-up tea party bullshit and play a tcg.

Best advice ever,

>>36034227
TCG are pay2win bullshit and only for little kids and kid-minded adults with stunted mental growth.

>>36034037
Have your players ever complained that doing it that way is unfair?

>>36034208
Oh, that's an interesting method and seems really quick too. But doesn't that mean you allow NPCs to get killed on their own turn?

>>36010792
A lot of systems do this. Think of it less like a pile of money in your wallet, and more like a credit score or class distinction.

Also, note that you should be able to burn your Resources stat itself to make big-ticket purchases. I forget how the rules work for FATE but it's like, for every point you lose add some amount to the roll, I dunno

>How am I supposed to reward people for doing things when money is an abstracted concept this doesn't make sense
Give them discrete items. Money isn't worth much in RPGs anyway. No one likes vendor trash, just give them a damn magic sword instead of making them go sift through a pawn shop for it.

>>36007446
I can give you a few simple ones.

Players will either consciously, by whim or by accident diverge from whatever plan you have laid out, trying to fight it will frustrate all involved.

Never plan too far ahead or make the plants to rigid, instead make some loose events with "keywords", don't hard-cast a fight as "knight, his squire, two archers and the high wizard" instead maybe say "bruiser, skirmisher, two ranges and a spellcaster" and then put a different hat on them depending on where the party takes it.

>>36034529
A DM's basic tool is smoke and mirrors.
You always cover your shit up, and most of the time, they're none the wiser. Never tell them that he Hellboar they just fought was just using the stats for a normal Bear. They fought a Hellboar, and they'll be none the wiser.

Sorry, but I don't understand the second question.
If an NPC attacks an NPC (they're both pretty unimportant, like a mook pirate attacking a mook demon/imp), then the higher roller survives (or the one who I want to survive, or that combat has exactly what I want to do with it, no need to roll).

Let's say the imp tries to scratch the pirate; the imp climbs on his back and scratches an eye out, but the pirate grabs his hand and cuts it off with his sabre, throws the imp on the ground and stomps on its head, killing it.

The pirate received a debuff (which I want him to have), and the imp got killed (I want less combatants on the field to quicken the game).
And the players had a quick, no-time-wasted action sequence they saw (this isn't actually a good thing. Have like, 2 of these per session. The players aren't here to watch you mumble to yourself but play and see how awesome their characters can be in times of hardship).

Only the PCs can use and abuse the mechanics. Everyone else operates like they would in the real world (unless they're facing the PCs in combat).
A Master Blacksmith doesn't roll a die to forge something up, he just does. (unless the GM wants to give him a chance to either fail or outrageously succeed).

The dice are a tool; a conflict resolving tool, and a random generator. You don't need to always use them, no matter how fun they are to roll.

Dungeon World for example has the GM pretty much never rolling, just handing out DCs.

disclaimer: This is just my personal (both bad and wrong) opinion and playstyle. It works great for me and my group.

>>36034273
poorfags btfo

>>36035784
I'm a rich anti-capitalist socialist. What now, nigger?

>>36035777
My group doesn't like rolling behind the screen so whoops there's one illusion gone for me lol. But we find it more dramatic and exciting to roll in the open and anticipate the result anyway.

And for the second one, I was asking if it's possible for an NPC to get counterattacked and die on his own turn, which doesn't usually happen as your own death usually occurs when you're being attacked instead of when you're atacking? But I forgot about things like opportunity attacks or held actions when I wrote that, so nevermind!

That's pretty nifty though. I have to steal that for my next session!

>>36036100
Oh yeah, they basically have 1HP until they face a PC, so they can die on their own turn.

My group and I always roll out in the open too.

>>36036163
Oh, that's even better. PCs killing things is always exciting for players. Good stuff!

>>36036247
If you let them get too complacent, they'll tire of combat. You have to always mix it up.

That's why I don't balance encounters, but I always leave escape as a viable option.