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#1 iserith May 28, 2013 11:51:15	(Mods: I'm cross-posting this from What's a DM to Do? to get more perspectives from the player's side of the table. If this is by some chance against forum rules, please delete this thread and leave the other.) I'm quoting from a conversation I was having with another DM on another forum while seeking to find out more about the game being advertised. I'm mentioning no names and I've edited out anything that refers to other topics in the conversation for the sake of clarity: Well, how I do it is, I have the players create a character and back-story, then I come up with a starting point that relates to the character back-stories in some way or other. Then from there the plot writes itself. When I say plot, I mean 'story-line' rather than any of the word's other meanings. Best described by example I suppose. The three adventurers in one of my campaigns were wanted by the local guards. They were spotted by the guards and I placed the guard tokens on the table top. I spoke as the Guards and asked nicely if they would come quietly. The PC's could make any choice they wanted here, I would just adjust the story as we went along anyway. They decided to make a run for it rather than fight and cause more trouble in the village they all grew up in. Now people are looking for them, and they are worried about being caught in the village, but they are also wanting to know why they are wanted. So they need to come up with a plan to find this information, who knows what they will do next! I sure don't! I have plenty of NPCs that they could approach, though they don't have many allies left in the village and most would alert the guards. There was hardly any combat, but the players had tense moments and decisions to make throughout the game. Now you might be thinking, "Oh whaaat!? Guards are wools they should have bashed 'em! At least for the XP" Well if they had attacked the guards, being level 1 would not have helped, since these guards were much higher in level. The guards wouldn't have killed the adventurers but they would have knocked them unconscious and taken them to the prison cells. They would have found out why they were wanted but, they wouldn't have the advantage of being free!
#2 Ogiwan Jun 01, 2013 8:53:05	It sounds about right. The goal is to have fun with the story, and tension certainly helps with that. As for clocking the guards to get XP.....wouldn't escaping them get them XP too?
#3 ravenbrand Jun 01, 2013 12:52:30	Our Adventure is pretty much like that, The DM gives us a scenario, and sort of lets us work out our own way from there, its had some really surprising outcomes, one being my character turned into a vampire (he didn't see that coming at all), one big bad vampiric boss being headbutted off of a 200ft tower and being killed by the fall (due to the 9 damage of the headbutt pushing him over the damage reduction threshold) one character (who hulks out occasionally) dieing, and me cutting off his leg for later resurrection purposes, only to find out that triggered regeneration!, another character becoming sworn to the raven queen after being resurrected by her artifact! Myself being banished to the infernal plane, making a deal with an ifreet for three wishes) Meeting a Gnome ranger (new PC) who loves killing goblins, and is able to guide us through the wilderness! Resurrecting a Paladin at a church, (whilst the vampire was in a coffin at the local inn) in the same night, drow trying to kidnap a family, our ranger failed to save one of the family members due to snapping a bowstring! The Monk chasing a drow onto the roof in a grapple to the death whilst the paladins mount fights a giant vampire bat overhead! Same monk then got drained to 0HP and taken away by another drow riding a vampirebat, so we naturally go to help, only for my character to lose his head to an intelligent enemy! (threw it into the underdark) This is where the most decision making came into it, they wanted to save me as a vampire if they could, because, who wouldn't! So decided to go down to get my head, first sending the paladin's mount down to scout around, it found... a purple wyrm! Flew back up, and after a lot of deliberation, the artificer/hulk created a location device. Then he and the ranger, rode the paladin's mount down (finding the location of the head) And failed listen checks. The dm at this point, knowing those two characters were only level 8, provided a whole host of possible means of escape! But due to some poor decision making the mount got eaten (and returned to it's existential plane) they had an objective - my head (They grabbed my head, good), the artificer turned invisible, grabbed the gnome ranger under his cloak, turned and ran to the wall (wearing slippers of spiderclimb) not realising the wyrm had tremor sense! (The artificer has tenzer's floating disc, would've made them completely invisible to the wyrm) After this failure, they took on the wyrm in a desperate fight! 50ft in the air, the disc now was the onlything stopping them from being swallowed! so the gnome used a smokestick to make it cough! Was deft enough to cling onto the mouth and climb onto it's back (Gargantuan), The artificer was not, and took enough damage from the fall to cause an involuntary hulking! Needless to say, they got the wrym down to 8HP before it turned and fled! That was just two level 8 characters, against a level 12 Wyrm! You can't plan that.

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iserith

May 28, 2013 11:51:15

(Mods: I'm cross-posting this from What's a DM to Do? to get more perspectives from the player's side of the table. If this is by some chance against forum rules, please delete this thread and leave the other.)

I'm quoting from a conversation I was having with another DM on another forum while seeking to find out more about the game being advertised. I'm mentioning no names and I've edited out anything that refers to other topics in the conversation for the sake of clarity:

Well, how I do it is, I have the players create a character and back-story, then I come up with a starting point that relates to the character back-stories in some way or other. Then from there the plot writes itself. When I say plot, I mean 'story-line' rather than any of the word's other meanings.
Best described by example I suppose.

The three adventurers in one of my campaigns were wanted by the local guards. They were spotted by the guards and I placed the guard tokens on the table top. I spoke as the Guards and asked nicely if they would come quietly. The PC's could make any choice they wanted here, I would just adjust the story as we went along anyway. They decided to make a run for it rather than fight and cause more trouble in the village they all grew up in. Now people are looking for them, and they are worried about being caught in the village, but they are also wanting to know why they are wanted. So they need to come up with a plan to find this information, who knows what they will do next! I sure don't!

I have plenty of NPCs that they could approach, though they don't have many allies left in the village and most would alert the guards.

There was hardly any combat, but the players had tense moments and decisions to make throughout the game. Now you might be thinking, "Oh whaaat!? Guards are wools they should have bashed 'em! At least for the XP"

Well if they had attacked the guards, being level 1 would not have helped, since these guards were much higher in level. The guards wouldn't have killed the adventurers but they would have knocked them unconscious and taken them to the prison cells. They would have found out why they were wanted but, they wouldn't have the advantage of being free!

Ogiwan

Jun 01, 2013 8:53:05

It sounds about right. The goal is to have fun with the story, and tension certainly helps with that.

As for clocking the guards to get XP.....wouldn't escaping them get them XP too?

ravenbrand

Jun 01, 2013 12:52:30

Our Adventure is pretty much like that, The DM gives us a scenario, and sort of lets us work out our own way from there, its had some really surprising outcomes, one being my character turned into a vampire (he didn't see that coming at all), one big bad vampiric boss being headbutted off of a 200ft tower and being killed by the fall (due to the 9 damage of the headbutt pushing him over the damage reduction threshold) one character (who hulks out occasionally) dieing, and me cutting off his leg for later resurrection purposes, only to find out that triggered regeneration!, another character becoming sworn to the raven queen after being resurrected by her artifact! Myself being banished to the infernal plane, making a deal with an ifreet for three wishes) Meeting a Gnome ranger (new PC) who loves killing goblins, and is able to guide us through the wilderness! Resurrecting a Paladin at a church, (whilst the vampire was in a coffin at the local inn) in the same night, drow trying to kidnap a family, our ranger failed to save one of the family members due to snapping a bowstring! The Monk chasing a drow onto the roof in a grapple to the death whilst the paladins mount fights a giant vampire bat overhead!

Same monk then got drained to 0HP and taken away by another drow riding a vampirebat, so we naturally go to help, only for my character to lose his head to an intelligent enemy! (threw it into the underdark)

This is where the most decision making came into it, they wanted to save me as a vampire if they could, because, who wouldn't! So decided to go down to get my head, first sending the paladin's mount down to scout around, it found... a purple wyrm! Flew back up, and after a lot of deliberation, the artificer/hulk created a location device. Then he and the ranger, rode the paladin's mount down (finding the location of the head) And failed listen checks. The dm at this point, knowing those two characters were only level 8, provided a whole host of possible means of escape! But due to some poor decision making the mount got eaten (and returned to it's existential plane) they had an objective - my head (They grabbed my head, good), the artificer turned invisible, grabbed the gnome ranger under his cloak, turned and ran to the wall (wearing slippers of spiderclimb) not realising the wyrm had tremor sense! (The artificer has tenzer's floating disc, would've made them completely invisible to the wyrm)

After this failure, they took on the wyrm in a desperate fight! 50ft in the air, the disc now was the onlything stopping them from being swallowed! so the gnome used a smokestick to make it cough! Was deft enough to cling onto the mouth and climb onto it's back (Gargantuan), The artificer was not, and took enough damage from the fall to cause an involuntary hulking!

Needless to say, they got the wrym down to 8HP before it turned and fled! That was just two level 8 characters, against a level 12 Wyrm!

You can't plan that.