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<blockquote data-quote="Grandpa" data-source="post: 5390482" data-attributes="member: 560"><p>Thanks for the replies. Yesterday was busy but all of the responses really help.</p><p></p><p>Thanks, I plan on removing it now. It sounds like an overreach on my part to make the games seem unpredictable and deadly but may just be too much for my newbies. I also hoped it would get me out of a bind because I revealed the enemy before the PCs made it out of the caves and the intended battleground is out there. I can bring up the poor vision within the cave (isn't the torch-like light spell -2 concealment?) but this might also seem harsh; I'll probably just deal, as my first unintended sequence of events.</p><p></p><p>Your comments on railroading made me feel much better about how the game is starting. It can be difficult to parse which aspects of the game are problems my players would have with any DM and which are due to my inexperience. Simply focusing on enjoying the role of DM will probably be the most helpful, and being able to think out loud here helps. </p><p></p><p>This strikes me as both true and easy to forget in the middle of things. For the first fight, just keeping several enemies together provides some fodder for both the dragonborn and the wizard. Actually, those two are playing a couple in-game (in addition to real life), so focus on her in narrative might be fun for the couple if the dragonborn gets a higher initiative and wipes out the minions with his dragon breath. Maybe I'll be sneaky and fudge the initiative position of the minions so at least 3 of them wind up in a good blast position for him.</p><p></p><p>This is so true, and something I think my group is still grappling with.</p><p></p><p>This stuck out at me, almost like per-battle "achievements" that in turn help them learn the game. I could honestly even set one for each party member (wizard blasts-multiple, leader does some helpy-thing (uh...), rogue does sneak attack damage, healer heals, paladin marks) that highlight their core abilities. In fact, since they might already be swimming in XP for doing their backstories, I can probably use Karma Points as incentive. These points are my only house rule (to combat bad-roll frustration and discourage needless rest) I added that lets them earn points for not hitting anything (earn 1) with an attack roll or finishing encounters (earn 4, then 3,2,1) that can be exchanged for +1 roll bonuses (cost 1) or an action point (cost 5), and the players like getting glass beads.</p><p></p><p>I agree. I'm glad I'm not the only one. Your combat insights are appreciated. And...</p><p></p><p>Skill challenges also strike me as awkward and underdeveloped. My impression from reading all over the web is that their usefulness varies drastically by group and approach, and in the game I <em>play</em> skill challenges come with hiccups and disappointment.</p><p></p><p>That said, gutted, they strike me as a handy skeleton for improvisation. When a situation worthy of a challenge arises, all I have to do is dream up a worst-case scenario for the situation and wing two stages of deterioration (I now have 3 failures), and the players flesh things out with ideas for story-and-rolling through the event. The only remaining job is coming up with reasonable DCs.</p><p></p><p>What I like about skills is giving players a safe way to participate in storytelling. Role-playing is intimidating but just describing, "you're free to do anything, but whenever you're not sure what to do or say, skills are ideas for interacting with the world," already has my players asking if they can use History checks to learn about the Hunger Games, or Intimidate to make sure Meeka stays at arms length from their girlfriend. This brings me joy.</p><p></p><p>I also worry about players sitting back in challenges, and am still trying to dream up a satisfying mechanical incentive that motivates the behavior I want, like group XP bonuses for each player that participates. For these situations a skill challenge needs an announcement, but I suspect my players will love writing down quests (like the Red Box has you do) and noting challenges like "Persuade the King" or "Win the Race" with the above stipulation will probably be okay.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Grandpa, post: 5390482, member: 560"] Thanks for the replies. Yesterday was busy but all of the responses really help. Thanks, I plan on removing it now. It sounds like an overreach on my part to make the games seem unpredictable and deadly but may just be too much for my newbies. I also hoped it would get me out of a bind because I revealed the enemy before the PCs made it out of the caves and the intended battleground is out there. I can bring up the poor vision within the cave (isn't the torch-like light spell -2 concealment?) but this might also seem harsh; I'll probably just deal, as my first unintended sequence of events. Your comments on railroading made me feel much better about how the game is starting. It can be difficult to parse which aspects of the game are problems my players would have with any DM and which are due to my inexperience. Simply focusing on enjoying the role of DM will probably be the most helpful, and being able to think out loud here helps. This strikes me as both true and easy to forget in the middle of things. For the first fight, just keeping several enemies together provides some fodder for both the dragonborn and the wizard. Actually, those two are playing a couple in-game (in addition to real life), so focus on her in narrative might be fun for the couple if the dragonborn gets a higher initiative and wipes out the minions with his dragon breath. Maybe I'll be sneaky and fudge the initiative position of the minions so at least 3 of them wind up in a good blast position for him. This is so true, and something I think my group is still grappling with. This stuck out at me, almost like per-battle "achievements" that in turn help them learn the game. I could honestly even set one for each party member (wizard blasts-multiple, leader does some helpy-thing (uh...), rogue does sneak attack damage, healer heals, paladin marks) that highlight their core abilities. In fact, since they might already be swimming in XP for doing their backstories, I can probably use Karma Points as incentive. These points are my only house rule (to combat bad-roll frustration and discourage needless rest) I added that lets them earn points for not hitting anything (earn 1) with an attack roll or finishing encounters (earn 4, then 3,2,1) that can be exchanged for +1 roll bonuses (cost 1) or an action point (cost 5), and the players like getting glass beads. I agree. I'm glad I'm not the only one. Your combat insights are appreciated. And... Skill challenges also strike me as awkward and underdeveloped. My impression from reading all over the web is that their usefulness varies drastically by group and approach, and in the game I [I]play[/I] skill challenges come with hiccups and disappointment. That said, gutted, they strike me as a handy skeleton for improvisation. When a situation worthy of a challenge arises, all I have to do is dream up a worst-case scenario for the situation and wing two stages of deterioration (I now have 3 failures), and the players flesh things out with ideas for story-and-rolling through the event. The only remaining job is coming up with reasonable DCs. What I like about skills is giving players a safe way to participate in storytelling. Role-playing is intimidating but just describing, "you're free to do anything, but whenever you're not sure what to do or say, skills are ideas for interacting with the world," already has my players asking if they can use History checks to learn about the Hunger Games, or Intimidate to make sure Meeka stays at arms length from their girlfriend. This brings me joy. I also worry about players sitting back in challenges, and am still trying to dream up a satisfying mechanical incentive that motivates the behavior I want, like group XP bonuses for each player that participates. For these situations a skill challenge needs an announcement, but I suspect my players will love writing down quests (like the Red Box has you do) and noting challenges like "Persuade the King" or "Win the Race" with the above stipulation will probably be okay. [/QUOTE]
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