DM fudgin' [Archive] - Wizards Community - Pages Merged by Solauren

DM fudgin' [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
DiamondKing
10-02-06, 07:24 PM first off, 'fudge' is not a euphemism for anything. in this case it means to mess things up a little bit to make things work, without having to put a large amount of effort or thinking into it.

secondly, this is how -my- eberron is doing it, if you dont like it, do it different.

ok, i just felt like relating one of the more obvious 'DM fudge' things that i use.

i am starting The Red Hand of Doom, and when looking for placement of Elsir Vale, i decided upon the northeast corner of Karrnath, based upon the map of Karrnath in the ECS.

when i later looked at the Mror Holds map, i realized that there was quite a large city very close to this vale. this was Koruna's Gate, the seat of power for house Kundarak, as well as(i figure) the placement of a large amount of vaults. this messed everything up, because i needed this vale to be isolated from anything that can field a sizable army(and a dwarf city this large and this important would most certainly have a decent, well-drilled, veteran army, that could smash flat anything that the goblins in RHoD can field).

so what i decided is that on the fabled 'Day of Mourning' there were several other similar(though notably more contained) disasters nearly identical to the mourning.

when i thought of this, i realized that, whenever i needed to, i could use it, over and over again,(so long as i dont depopulate the continent completely) as much as i needed.

so my rules for this are:

1) any populated site(town, fort, city, valley, etc.) that i need to be 'not there' or 'haunted' i can wipe off the map. i'm going to try to keep it to a very select few major sites, and tell the players 'lots of other places'

2) with this particular anomaly, im going to try to keep it tied to areas of concentrated, powerful, dragonmark populations(like the numerous cannith installations, Koruna's Gate, etc.) and i might let it get to dragonshard deposits, as well

3) this does not have to be permanent, the way "Cyre's catastrophe" seems to be. it can go away all by itself. you can have the PC's undo it. it can be permanent, if you like. for Koruna's Gate, everyone died, and those that moved in have made it little more than an overdone vault and a traditional meeting place of Kundarak's leaders, some bits of the city are still 'misty' as i like to say, meaning similar to the mournland.

4) now this is speculation, as i have not started yet, but i think my players will look at that, give me the look of "oh, you have got to be kidding me, do you have to make it that obvious?" and i will return with the look of "rule 0, i win, while playing with a handful of damage dice"

-i have to go now, so any comments? any other common fudgings?
Artector
10-02-06, 07:28 PM Ok, it may work...

As you said make it temporary, perhaps have the PC's figure out how to repair many of them.

But it does seem like a cop out. I don't know the Red Hand of Doom, but why not Xen'drik?
Gurog
10-02-06, 07:59 PM If you are sticking with the goblins and hobgoblins from RHoD, why not put the army in Darguun, and have the civilized goblinoid tribes of Llesh Haruuc threatened by the savage goblinoids who happened to be bolstered by an unknown (draconic) party?
There's a lot more potential for diaster that way.
Also, a DM should fudge within reason to get his point across and to make everything better for everyone involved. Your idea should work fine if you plan it well.
On_the_wings_of_TPK
10-03-06, 11:03 AM Thats some pretty good fudging alright. I personally would have maybe moved the location a little. the Eldeen reaches is fairly isolated...Xen'drik is a good catach all for everything. I could use Darguun. Or maybe I could have through up some mountains, a hydra or two, and a large fence with a sign that says, " Keep out this means you." to keep the area in isolation

Perhaps the dwarves have no interest in marching a large army into Karnath. I mean is smashing some goblins really worth a war with Karnath, and probally Breland?

Lets see what else would cuase less plot holes then what your sujesting, while still being defendable by I'm the DM so there?

Oh I know, The Zentrium, from Fariun, and the Sith, have joined forces, and forged an alliance with the power rangers. They have used the time machine, from back to the future, to travel interplanrily through the space time continuemuim to Ebberron. They set up shop between your location, and the Moor holds. There they have a secret plot to do stuff, but that is time for another story. How are they keep Kuiose away? They threaten him with Buffy, from Buffy the vampire slayer. Or maybe they bribed him? You decide its your story.

Yaa I think I'll stick with my own Ebberron, or at least try to keep it resembling something of the writen source material, and only twik the pure cheese crap.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DiamondKing 10-02-06, 07:24 PM	first off, 'fudge' is not a euphemism for anything. in this case it means to mess things up a little bit to make things work, without having to put a large amount of effort or thinking into it. secondly, this is how -my- eberron is doing it, if you dont like it, do it different. ok, i just felt like relating one of the more obvious 'DM fudge' things that i use. i am starting The Red Hand of Doom, and when looking for placement of Elsir Vale, i decided upon the northeast corner of Karrnath, based upon the map of Karrnath in the ECS. when i later looked at the Mror Holds map, i realized that there was quite a large city very close to this vale. this was Koruna's Gate, the seat of power for house Kundarak, as well as(i figure) the placement of a large amount of vaults. this messed everything up, because i needed this vale to be isolated from anything that can field a sizable army(and a dwarf city this large and this important would most certainly have a decent, well-drilled, veteran army, that could smash flat anything that the goblins in RHoD can field). so what i decided is that on the fabled 'Day of Mourning' there were several other similar(though notably more contained) disasters nearly identical to the mourning. when i thought of this, i realized that, whenever i needed to, i could use it, over and over again,(so long as i dont depopulate the continent completely) as much as i needed. so my rules for this are: 1) any populated site(town, fort, city, valley, etc.) that i need to be 'not there' or 'haunted' i can wipe off the map. i'm going to try to keep it to a very select few major sites, and tell the players 'lots of other places' 2) with this particular anomaly, im going to try to keep it tied to areas of concentrated, powerful, dragonmark populations(like the numerous cannith installations, Koruna's Gate, etc.) and i might let it get to dragonshard deposits, as well 3) this does not have to be permanent, the way "Cyre's catastrophe" seems to be. it can go away all by itself. you can have the PC's undo it. it can be permanent, if you like. for Koruna's Gate, everyone died, and those that moved in have made it little more than an overdone vault and a traditional meeting place of Kundarak's leaders, some bits of the city are still 'misty' as i like to say, meaning similar to the mournland. 4) now this is speculation, as i have not started yet, but i think my players will look at that, give me the look of "oh, you have got to be kidding me, do you have to make it that obvious?" and i will return with the look of "rule 0, i win, while playing with a handful of damage dice" -i have to go now, so any comments? any other common fudgings?
Artector 10-02-06, 07:28 PM	Ok, it may work... As you said make it temporary, perhaps have the PC's figure out how to repair many of them. But it does seem like a cop out. I don't know the Red Hand of Doom, but why not Xen'drik?
Gurog 10-02-06, 07:59 PM	If you are sticking with the goblins and hobgoblins from RHoD, why not put the army in Darguun, and have the civilized goblinoid tribes of Llesh Haruuc threatened by the savage goblinoids who happened to be bolstered by an unknown (draconic) party? There's a lot more potential for diaster that way. Also, a DM should fudge within reason to get his point across and to make everything better for everyone involved. Your idea should work fine if you plan it well.
On_the_wings_of_TPK 10-03-06, 11:03 AM	Thats some pretty good fudging alright. I personally would have maybe moved the location a little. the Eldeen reaches is fairly isolated...Xen'drik is a good catach all for everything. I could use Darguun. Or maybe I could have through up some mountains, a hydra or two, and a large fence with a sign that says, " Keep out this means you." to keep the area in isolation Perhaps the dwarves have no interest in marching a large army into Karnath. I mean is smashing some goblins really worth a war with Karnath, and probally Breland? Lets see what else would cuase less plot holes then what your sujesting, while still being defendable by I'm the DM so there? Oh I know, The Zentrium, from Fariun, and the Sith, have joined forces, and forged an alliance with the power rangers. They have used the time machine, from back to the future, to travel interplanrily through the space time continuemuim to Ebberron. They set up shop between your location, and the Moor holds. There they have a secret plot to do stuff, but that is time for another story. How are they keep Kuiose away? They threaten him with Buffy, from Buffy the vampire slayer. Or maybe they bribed him? You decide its your story. Yaa I think I'll stick with my own Ebberron, or at least try to keep it resembling something of the writen source material, and only twik the pure cheese crap.