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A question for DMs more experienced than myself - aka everyone
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<blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 5144708" data-attributes="member: 15470"><p>Jydog, a couple thoughts.</p><p></p><p>15 sessions played is plenty of experience to think about running your own session; a one-off session is perfect as you don't have to worry about your incorrect rulings setting a lasting precedent that break a game world. </p><p></p><p>DM'ing is kinda like dating: approach it with confidence - <em>justified or not!</em> - and you'll have better success. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>Your grasp of the rules is probably not perfect. Neither is mine, and I've been DM'ing for 20 years. The key is, basically, "keeping the session fun" is more important than "getting the rules right". </p><p></p><p>Quick: the dragon is flying and out of reach. My fighter uses my L7 Encounter power "Come and Get It" to pull the flying dragon down 2 squares and adjacent to me! Ruling: allow it, or no?</p><p></p><p>[sblock]Answer: RAW = not allowed, however many DM's including myself would allow it. The "right" answer is "whatever your first instincts told you to rule". The "wrong" answer is "stop, look it up for five minutes, then get into a discussion with the player about whether its allowed for another five minutes ..." by which time, you've lost your players.</p><p></p><p>The point is, its not the <strong>ruling</strong> that matters, its the fun and fairness of the ruling, and the speed and confidence with which you made the ruling, that matter ... and bonus points if you describe whether it works or not <strong>in terms of the dragon's actions in response to the power</strong> rather than in rules terminology.[/sblock]</p><p></p><p>You don't have to pre-plan to tweak the modules. Your players will run right off the "expected" train tracks, anyways. </p><p></p><p>The key is being able to adjudicate, adapt, and improvise to provide challenging fun for your players anyways. </p><p></p><p>My last two sessions, my players have scampered quickly beyond the encounters I'd prepped and mapped for the session ... but if they could tell that, it was only from the fact that my "set up the encounter" descriptions were a little less detailed. I still "knew" - or appeared to! - what was off the map where they'd gone, and there were still encounters, conversations, and challenges which beset them there. </p><p></p><p>Improvise, improvise, improvise! </p><p></p><p> . . . </p><p></p><p>As for "things to watch out for", the thing I'd say is "force your characters to be specific" - and remember its always okay to buy time with questions!</p><p></p><p>For example, orcs have just attacked the village to the north. The PCs have escaped to the next village south. I describe them arriving at the outskirts of the village, describe a fairly empty street, and ask what they want to do .. fully expecting and prepared with material for answers like "I demand to see the mayor," and "I try to find the captain of the guard", but also prepped for "I find an inn", "I go to the store to buy provisions", even "I look for a saucy wench".</p><p></p><p>One of my players says "I make a Diplomacy check to try and convince the people to start building a wall! The orcs are coming!"</p><p></p><p>So. If I allow him to roll the dice with that, I'm doing the entire game a disservice: he's using "diplomacy" to talk to .. whom exactly? And he's offering them .. what exactly?</p><p></p><p>If he's a high-charisma, trained-in-diplomacy character, allowing him to roll the dice risks him coming up with a great roll, and then him expecting that that means that he's got the people energized in building a wall. </p><p></p><p>So you need to stop him before he rolls - or tell him before the dice stop rolling, "hold on a second" .. and then ask him questions. Ideally, ask him who he's talking to. Describe the scene in more detail. Take a moment to drill down, to get more specific - he can't simply mobilize a major wall-building initiative with a single Diplomacy die roll!!</p><p></p><p>While he's getting specific, you're thinking about how you want to run this unexpected side encounter. You're on the spur of the moment, so you might decide, "<em>Uhhh .. skill challenge, .. 6 success before 3 failures ... fairly hard I guess? ...bluff, diplomacy, intimidate, and .. history? .. sure .. uhhh.. failure results in somebody reporting the rabble-rousing to the local authorities, success requires getting some big men mobilized, and .. maybe when it gets to 2 failures, or 5 successes, I bring the mayor or the captain of the guard into the conversation, kinda like I have already prepared.</em>"</p><p></p><p>By the end of his more-detailed description, he's gotten specific, he's talking to one specific housewife he sees in the street, and you've got an idea of how this is going to work mechanically.</p><p></p><p>If he rolls high enough, maybe you have her tell him she'll send her son over to help him. If he fails, she hurries off in fear. Either way, he's still standing in a fairly empty street trying to roust up wall-building ... and you move on to the next character - "And what do you do, Bob?" - so as to prevent our rabble-rousing wall-builder from dominating the session for the next.</p><p></p><p>(<em>IMO, the "original flaw" in this example was not the player deciding to try to get a wall built - that's awesome! The flaw was, him telling me "I make a diplomacy check to ..." ... as the DM, you want that transaction rephrased, so that he tells you what he </em>wants<em> to do, and </em><strong>you</strong><em> tell </em><strong>him</strong><em> what skill check that is, when to roll dice, etc.</em>)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Amaroq, post: 5144708, member: 15470"] Jydog, a couple thoughts. 15 sessions played is plenty of experience to think about running your own session; a one-off session is perfect as you don't have to worry about your incorrect rulings setting a lasting precedent that break a game world. DM'ing is kinda like dating: approach it with confidence - [I]justified or not![/i] - and you'll have better success. :) Your grasp of the rules is probably not perfect. Neither is mine, and I've been DM'ing for 20 years. The key is, basically, "keeping the session fun" is more important than "getting the rules right". Quick: the dragon is flying and out of reach. My fighter uses my L7 Encounter power "Come and Get It" to pull the flying dragon down 2 squares and adjacent to me! Ruling: allow it, or no? [sblock]Answer: RAW = not allowed, however many DM's including myself would allow it. The "right" answer is "whatever your first instincts told you to rule". The "wrong" answer is "stop, look it up for five minutes, then get into a discussion with the player about whether its allowed for another five minutes ..." by which time, you've lost your players. The point is, its not the [b]ruling[/b] that matters, its the fun and fairness of the ruling, and the speed and confidence with which you made the ruling, that matter ... and bonus points if you describe whether it works or not [b]in terms of the dragon's actions in response to the power[/b] rather than in rules terminology.[/sblock] You don't have to pre-plan to tweak the modules. Your players will run right off the "expected" train tracks, anyways. The key is being able to adjudicate, adapt, and improvise to provide challenging fun for your players anyways. My last two sessions, my players have scampered quickly beyond the encounters I'd prepped and mapped for the session ... but if they could tell that, it was only from the fact that my "set up the encounter" descriptions were a little less detailed. I still "knew" - or appeared to! - what was off the map where they'd gone, and there were still encounters, conversations, and challenges which beset them there. Improvise, improvise, improvise! . . . As for "things to watch out for", the thing I'd say is "force your characters to be specific" - and remember its always okay to buy time with questions! For example, orcs have just attacked the village to the north. The PCs have escaped to the next village south. I describe them arriving at the outskirts of the village, describe a fairly empty street, and ask what they want to do .. fully expecting and prepared with material for answers like "I demand to see the mayor," and "I try to find the captain of the guard", but also prepped for "I find an inn", "I go to the store to buy provisions", even "I look for a saucy wench". One of my players says "I make a Diplomacy check to try and convince the people to start building a wall! The orcs are coming!" So. If I allow him to roll the dice with that, I'm doing the entire game a disservice: he's using "diplomacy" to talk to .. whom exactly? And he's offering them .. what exactly? If he's a high-charisma, trained-in-diplomacy character, allowing him to roll the dice risks him coming up with a great roll, and then him expecting that that means that he's got the people energized in building a wall. So you need to stop him before he rolls - or tell him before the dice stop rolling, "hold on a second" .. and then ask him questions. Ideally, ask him who he's talking to. Describe the scene in more detail. Take a moment to drill down, to get more specific - he can't simply mobilize a major wall-building initiative with a single Diplomacy die roll!! While he's getting specific, you're thinking about how you want to run this unexpected side encounter. You're on the spur of the moment, so you might decide, "[i]Uhhh .. skill challenge, .. 6 success before 3 failures ... fairly hard I guess? ...bluff, diplomacy, intimidate, and .. history? .. sure .. uhhh.. failure results in somebody reporting the rabble-rousing to the local authorities, success requires getting some big men mobilized, and .. maybe when it gets to 2 failures, or 5 successes, I bring the mayor or the captain of the guard into the conversation, kinda like I have already prepared.[/i]" By the end of his more-detailed description, he's gotten specific, he's talking to one specific housewife he sees in the street, and you've got an idea of how this is going to work mechanically. If he rolls high enough, maybe you have her tell him she'll send her son over to help him. If he fails, she hurries off in fear. Either way, he's still standing in a fairly empty street trying to roust up wall-building ... and you move on to the next character - "And what do you do, Bob?" - so as to prevent our rabble-rousing wall-builder from dominating the session for the next. ([I]IMO, the "original flaw" in this example was not the player deciding to try to get a wall built - that's awesome! The flaw was, him telling me "I make a diplomacy check to ..." ... as the DM, you want that transaction rephrased, so that he tells you what he [/i]wants[i] to do, and [/i][b]you[/b][i] tell [/i][b]him[/b][i] what skill check that is, when to roll dice, etc.[/I]) [/QUOTE]
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