activities unique to your game
- Thread starter der_kluge
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Wombat
First Post
Hmmm, let's see...
First up, every session starts off with 15-30 minutes Schtick Time -- before the adventure really gets going (or continued), people bust out in character about what has happened to them recently, about new (non-adventuring) goodies they have bought, about their philosophies on life in general, and what they think about their fellow adventurers. This provides a great transition from the "real world" to the "game world" and it ends with, "Okay, guys -- Schtick Time is over!"
Gruumsh's Lapdance -- this means a totally screwed up plan that makes no sense even when you are trying to tell it to the party, yet you are determined to put it into action anyway.
Ve do de flitty-flitty -- this means that at least one member of the party will act extremely oddly in order to attract attention so that the sneaky person in the party has less attention paid to him/her.
hat -- verb. to be whacked across the head by the GM's old beat-up and stained fedora for saying or doing something grossly stupid or painfully punny at the wrong moment. Usually followed by the sound "WHAP!" by the group. Sometimes people attempt to hide my old fedora to avoid hattings.
Roleplaying point! -- anyone may call this out in honour of another character (who is pointed to) who has done a particularly fine job of playing their role, especially under stressful circumstances. That character automatically gets (level X 5) XP.
We also have odd minor rituals involving the serving of homemade salsas, holding breath while Kat rolls her dice, and other matters, but I think I have covered the big ones
First up, every session starts off with 15-30 minutes Schtick Time -- before the adventure really gets going (or continued), people bust out in character about what has happened to them recently, about new (non-adventuring) goodies they have bought, about their philosophies on life in general, and what they think about their fellow adventurers. This provides a great transition from the "real world" to the "game world" and it ends with, "Okay, guys -- Schtick Time is over!"
Gruumsh's Lapdance -- this means a totally screwed up plan that makes no sense even when you are trying to tell it to the party, yet you are determined to put it into action anyway.
Ve do de flitty-flitty -- this means that at least one member of the party will act extremely oddly in order to attract attention so that the sneaky person in the party has less attention paid to him/her.
hat -- verb. to be whacked across the head by the GM's old beat-up and stained fedora for saying or doing something grossly stupid or painfully punny at the wrong moment. Usually followed by the sound "WHAP!" by the group. Sometimes people attempt to hide my old fedora to avoid hattings.
Roleplaying point! -- anyone may call this out in honour of another character (who is pointed to) who has done a particularly fine job of playing their role, especially under stressful circumstances. That character automatically gets (level X 5) XP.
We also have odd minor rituals involving the serving of homemade salsas, holding breath while Kat rolls her dice, and other matters, but I think I have covered the big ones
Arkham
First Post
"Get in the bag"
Everyone in the party save one gets into a Bag of Holding type V so that the one person can teleport everyone somewhere.
This originated from a member of the group finding one of Halaster's Horned Rings in Undermountain which allows the wearer and his stuff to teleport to places he is familiar with in Undermountain. But normally he cannot take anyone with him. So everyone gets in the bag while the one with the ring teleports them back to safety.
Now that they are currently not in Undermountain and can teleport via more conventional methods, they still get in the bag out of habit.
The ranger even taught her animal companion a 'get in the bag' command.
"Stuff them in the bag"
Same origin as above, but it saves time when looting corpses. Just shove them in the bag, climb in after them, and teleport away before the attracted monsters show up.
Everyone in the party save one gets into a Bag of Holding type V so that the one person can teleport everyone somewhere.
This originated from a member of the group finding one of Halaster's Horned Rings in Undermountain which allows the wearer and his stuff to teleport to places he is familiar with in Undermountain. But normally he cannot take anyone with him. So everyone gets in the bag while the one with the ring teleports them back to safety.
Now that they are currently not in Undermountain and can teleport via more conventional methods, they still get in the bag out of habit.
The ranger even taught her animal companion a 'get in the bag' command.
"Stuff them in the bag"
Same origin as above, but it saves time when looting corpses. Just shove them in the bag, climb in after them, and teleport away before the attracted monsters show up.
Shadowdancer
First Post
"As far as you can tell" -- this is our stock answer to the question "How far can I (we) see?"
This started because when I would DM, I would frustrate the rogues in the group whenever they would try to detect a trap or disable a trap. I would make the roll behind the screen (percentile dice, since this started back in 1st ED) and say "As far as you can tell, there is no trap" or "As far as you can tell, you disabled the trap."
So when the PCs were mapping a dungeon, I would often use the phrase "as far as you can see" when describing long corridors, tunnels, etc. "It's a 10-foot wide corridor that stretches as far as you can see. There is a door 20 feet away on the south side and another door 25 feet away on the north side" etc.
One night in the middle of a pretty intense session in a complicated dungeon filled with traps, the rogue (actually a thief back then) was doing lots of checks. And I kept giving my stock answer. The person playing the thief was also the group's mapper. So at one point when they entered a new corridor, she asked, "How far does it go?" And out of habit I said, "As far as you can tell," rather than "As far as you can see."
It has become a running in-joke that has lasted 15 years.
"Bullet-proof pantihose" -- this usually gets uttered by someone any time the PCs go shopping for new items to improve their AC.
It started in a Cyberpunk2020 campaign in which one of the PCs, who always wore leather miniskirts, seemed to always get wounded in the leg during shootouts. Her legs were the only part of her body which had no armor. So she kept asking for bullet-proof pantihose.
Much to her surprise, one night I told her, "Yes, you can buy some pantihose made out of a lightweight kevlar-reinforced thread." I had bought a new equipment supplement that day that actually had armored pantihose and stockings in it. They didn't give much protection, but every little bit helped.
So now, even in D&D, when the PCs are searching for a way to improve their AC, someone will usually ask, "Can I buy some bullet-proof (or armored) pantihose?" Even the male dwarf asks this.
"War protester" -- This is the phrase used whenever a party member takes damage from friendly fire, including by his own hand.
This was inspired by the Vietnam War protesters in Asia who would set themselves on fire. One night the group's wizard cast a fireball spell in a room too small to contain the full blast. The backlash blew back into the hallway, frying the entire party. So someone asked the person playing the wizard if he was a war protester who wanted to set himself on fire.
We used to use critical hits and misses when playing D&D. A natural 1 was a critical miss, and carried a percentage chance for something bad to happen, such as a broken weapon or a blade stuck or damage to the wielder. So any time someone would roll a 1, followed by a DM roll that resulted in them inflicting damage upon themselves, someone else would say something like, "Are you one of those war protesters? Why don't you just set yourself on fire next time, it'd be a lot faster and more effective."
We also use it if someone gets hit during combat by a fellow party members, usually occurs when someone outside melee fires a missle weapon into the crowd or a poorly placed spell goes off with a party member inside the area of effect. The victim will ususally say something like, "Hey, watch it. I ain't no war protester."
This started because when I would DM, I would frustrate the rogues in the group whenever they would try to detect a trap or disable a trap. I would make the roll behind the screen (percentile dice, since this started back in 1st ED) and say "As far as you can tell, there is no trap" or "As far as you can tell, you disabled the trap."
So when the PCs were mapping a dungeon, I would often use the phrase "as far as you can see" when describing long corridors, tunnels, etc. "It's a 10-foot wide corridor that stretches as far as you can see. There is a door 20 feet away on the south side and another door 25 feet away on the north side" etc.
One night in the middle of a pretty intense session in a complicated dungeon filled with traps, the rogue (actually a thief back then) was doing lots of checks. And I kept giving my stock answer. The person playing the thief was also the group's mapper. So at one point when they entered a new corridor, she asked, "How far does it go?" And out of habit I said, "As far as you can tell," rather than "As far as you can see."
It has become a running in-joke that has lasted 15 years.
"Bullet-proof pantihose" -- this usually gets uttered by someone any time the PCs go shopping for new items to improve their AC.
It started in a Cyberpunk2020 campaign in which one of the PCs, who always wore leather miniskirts, seemed to always get wounded in the leg during shootouts. Her legs were the only part of her body which had no armor. So she kept asking for bullet-proof pantihose.
Much to her surprise, one night I told her, "Yes, you can buy some pantihose made out of a lightweight kevlar-reinforced thread." I had bought a new equipment supplement that day that actually had armored pantihose and stockings in it. They didn't give much protection, but every little bit helped.
So now, even in D&D, when the PCs are searching for a way to improve their AC, someone will usually ask, "Can I buy some bullet-proof (or armored) pantihose?" Even the male dwarf asks this.
"War protester" -- This is the phrase used whenever a party member takes damage from friendly fire, including by his own hand.
This was inspired by the Vietnam War protesters in Asia who would set themselves on fire. One night the group's wizard cast a fireball spell in a room too small to contain the full blast. The backlash blew back into the hallway, frying the entire party. So someone asked the person playing the wizard if he was a war protester who wanted to set himself on fire.
We used to use critical hits and misses when playing D&D. A natural 1 was a critical miss, and carried a percentage chance for something bad to happen, such as a broken weapon or a blade stuck or damage to the wielder. So any time someone would roll a 1, followed by a DM roll that resulted in them inflicting damage upon themselves, someone else would say something like, "Are you one of those war protesters? Why don't you just set yourself on fire next time, it'd be a lot faster and more effective."
We also use it if someone gets hit during combat by a fellow party members, usually occurs when someone outside melee fires a missle weapon into the crowd or a poorly placed spell goes off with a party member inside the area of effect. The victim will ususally say something like, "Hey, watch it. I ain't no war protester."
"PC, the Other White Meat"
Waaaay back when I ran Traveller, I had a group of misbegotten rogues and reprobates for PCs who did not understand that when it came to things like, uhm fuel and supplies, that paying attention to them was as important as paying attention to the number of RAM grenades you can launch at your foes.
In FRPGs, heroes forage. In war settings, an army pillages its eats. In space, nobody can hear you starve.
Anyway, the heroes of this comedy of errors failed to stay on top of the maintenance of their ship, preferring instead to avail themselves of Startown's pox-ridden fleshpots and serial bar fights. The Chief Engineer was too drunk or stoned to stay on top of his maintenance . . . and I decided right then and there to beat a little prudence into the crew of the rustbucket free trader Freedom's Lady: a pirate attack they had to weather by surrendering . . . or dying.
Said ship ran into a pirate cruiser -- a ship both faster ans better armed then the Lady and close enough to engage before the Lady could activate the stardrive and jump out. The Captain of the Lady, outgunned and out-maneuvered, refused to heave to and surrender. The pirate opened fire on the hapless free trader, and damaged the jump drive. The engineer sobered up and worked frantically to fix the drive while the Captain attempted the only escape maneuver he could think of -- initiating Jump within 100 planetary diameters of a gravity well (a bad thing in Trav that causes ships to misjump -- to make interstellar voyages of unpredictable length and direction). All this with a bad jump drive. OUCH.
Even better, I thought. I rolled for misjump -- the ship misjumped. Six weeks of flight toward an enemy-held empire...and the ship had enough food and life-support supplies for two weeks, max. Not only that, they sold off their cryogenic berths for booze, floozies and gambling money, so no taking to the low berths until this blows over.
They go on half rations, but you cannot half-ration air. The air aboard ship became hard to breathe as the environmental plant starts dying. Space suits do not provide enough endurance. One of my players blamed another for the mess and decided then and there to kill that character as messily as possible in order to save supplies. The target was a paranoid who went into the shower armed . . . and the ensuing firefight on the Lady's bridge managed to kill the assailant's character and badly wound the other one. The extremely hungry characters, told that it was eat PC flesh or die, ate Paul's character and survived the trip.
Thus ended the Flight of the Donner Party.
The episode has been known since then as "PC, the Other White Meat." The tasteless, jokes continued for months. It almost ruined the flavor of the campaign. The PCs got the message that I would no longer spoon-feed them and got cooking on the maintenance and bookkeeping for the Lady.
The phrase survives today to refer to times when iron rations run low in the current DnD party. The player whose character saved his fellows by serving as rations moved on to college shortly thereafter. He had a lot on his plate after that. I hoped he was not too badly scarred by the experience.
Other ingroup expressions:
Ding -- the EQ devotees say this when they level or refer to levelling: "3K XP till I ding!"
Life Insurance -- buying the DM's snacks / soda / beer / gamebooks
Cluster Pun -- when punning (an actiuvity I encourage in moderation by rewarding with nominal amounts of XP) gets out of control and the XP rewards stop (20-200 per player per game)
Misunderstood -- Taken from a cleric describing the party's evil wizard. Used as follows: "OK, you Detect Muisunderstanding followed up by Smite Misunderstanding, Mr. Paladin"
Waaaay back when I ran Traveller, I had a group of misbegotten rogues and reprobates for PCs who did not understand that when it came to things like, uhm fuel and supplies, that paying attention to them was as important as paying attention to the number of RAM grenades you can launch at your foes.
In FRPGs, heroes forage. In war settings, an army pillages its eats. In space, nobody can hear you starve.
Anyway, the heroes of this comedy of errors failed to stay on top of the maintenance of their ship, preferring instead to avail themselves of Startown's pox-ridden fleshpots and serial bar fights. The Chief Engineer was too drunk or stoned to stay on top of his maintenance . . . and I decided right then and there to beat a little prudence into the crew of the rustbucket free trader Freedom's Lady: a pirate attack they had to weather by surrendering . . . or dying.
Said ship ran into a pirate cruiser -- a ship both faster ans better armed then the Lady and close enough to engage before the Lady could activate the stardrive and jump out. The Captain of the Lady, outgunned and out-maneuvered, refused to heave to and surrender. The pirate opened fire on the hapless free trader, and damaged the jump drive. The engineer sobered up and worked frantically to fix the drive while the Captain attempted the only escape maneuver he could think of -- initiating Jump within 100 planetary diameters of a gravity well (a bad thing in Trav that causes ships to misjump -- to make interstellar voyages of unpredictable length and direction). All this with a bad jump drive. OUCH.
Even better, I thought. I rolled for misjump -- the ship misjumped. Six weeks of flight toward an enemy-held empire...and the ship had enough food and life-support supplies for two weeks, max. Not only that, they sold off their cryogenic berths for booze, floozies and gambling money, so no taking to the low berths until this blows over.
They go on half rations, but you cannot half-ration air. The air aboard ship became hard to breathe as the environmental plant starts dying. Space suits do not provide enough endurance. One of my players blamed another for the mess and decided then and there to kill that character as messily as possible in order to save supplies. The target was a paranoid who went into the shower armed . . . and the ensuing firefight on the Lady's bridge managed to kill the assailant's character and badly wound the other one. The extremely hungry characters, told that it was eat PC flesh or die, ate Paul's character and survived the trip.
Thus ended the Flight of the Donner Party.
The episode has been known since then as "PC, the Other White Meat." The tasteless, jokes continued for months. It almost ruined the flavor of the campaign. The PCs got the message that I would no longer spoon-feed them and got cooking on the maintenance and bookkeeping for the Lady.
The phrase survives today to refer to times when iron rations run low in the current DnD party. The player whose character saved his fellows by serving as rations moved on to college shortly thereafter. He had a lot on his plate after that. I hoped he was not too badly scarred by the experience.
Other ingroup expressions:
Ding -- the EQ devotees say this when they level or refer to levelling: "3K XP till I ding!"
Life Insurance -- buying the DM's snacks / soda / beer / gamebooks
Cluster Pun -- when punning (an actiuvity I encourage in moderation by rewarding with nominal amounts of XP) gets out of control and the XP rewards stop (20-200 per player per game)
Misunderstood -- Taken from a cleric describing the party's evil wizard. Used as follows: "OK, you Detect Muisunderstanding followed up by Smite Misunderstanding, Mr. Paladin"
Jdvn1 said:
I usually do an after-action report on any session. Makes me a better DM and the players better players.
I'm definitily going to try the "vote for best roleplayer" bit. How much extry XP do you grant? I'm thinking of going variable with this: if the player is just a few xp short of levelling, then "ding" otherwise maybe 10% of what is needed to gain the next level. I'd like to encourage a lot more roleplaying...
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