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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(Psi)SeveredHead" data-source="post: 3055923" data-attributes="member: 1165">Start slow.Don't think you can use the computer to actually run encounters right off the bat. Computers can be very frustrating if you're not 100% competent with them.In one group I was in, the DM was going to university and taking computer courses (that was his specialty there). So one would presume he knew what he was doing when he used DMGenie. First he used it to make monsters, then to run combats.That thing was a pain. There were minor irritants and two major incidents. Pretty much everyone was suffering encumberance penalties they shouldn't, because the program couldn't handle things like "dropping that bag" properly. One time I had a camel carry a hundred arrows for my ranger, but my ranger character wouldn't carry more than 20; either the program couldn't, or the DM didn't realize, that you could stat up the camel and have it carry the arrows. Instead he insisted on cataloguing every copper piece and arrow on the computer, and of course I suffered encumberance for that. I literally couldn't spend money fast enough, and on those occasions I managed to trade cash for gems and other such things, there was still that problem of a hundred arrows I wasn't actually carrying. Grr... but that was a minor irritant. Also came dice rolling. He rolled on the computer (a good thing... I swear that green d20 was unbalanced to roll high) but we still rolled dice. Sometimes we were supposed to state our "natural" roll. Other times, it was the whole thing ("does AC 29 hit?"). Seeing how we were university students, maybe you would think we were intelligent enough to remember which convention to use, made easier since we were always supposed to use the same one. But of course that didn't work out. We got contradictory signals, and sometimes the computer made math errors, too. Fiddling with magic bonuses also got annoying. If it's annoying keeping track of who is getting bonuses from the Bless spell, it's three times as annoying when the computer has to do the same thing instead.One time, the DM statted up some classed NPCs. However, apparently their equipment disappeared. I don't know if this was a computer bug or his fault. Whatever. So he just told the computer give them this AC (with large untyped bonuses). Later the equipment was added on, doubling their AC (double above 10 at any rate). He didn't notice this massive jump. Even when combat started and we would roll a natural 17 and still couldn't hit the opponents, he didn't realize there was a problem. Such an error couldn't occur with pen and paper. The battle became long and boring rather than something interesting (magic had changed dramatically due to a plot event; we fought our first druid, and so forth).Another time, the DM statted up some orc-ogre crosses. I don't think he used the half-ogre template (fortunately?); in any event, he messed up their stats (they basically had 10 for everything before adding +6 Strength/Con). So instead of tough monsters we basically fought wimpy orcs. Never mind the overly-low CR, that's not the fault of the computer. (It was supposed to be challenging.) These monsters were new to the world, and were a huge plot event. Instead, the program gave them -3 to all their saves (and the low stats didn't help). Our cleric stunned four out of five attackers with a single 2nd-level spell, then they got blenderized so fast my character only got to Rapid Shot once before they all died. I had my character throw away his spear that battle. He had a spear all the way from level one 'til now (he was at least 6th-level by this point and less than 11th); the orcs started the battle with a charge, so of course I was hoping to stick one, but instead the only unstunned monster was killed too quickly to do that. Of course, that saved me a few pounds, not that it made much of a difference with those hundred arrows.So I guess I'm saying make sure the computer doesn't slow you down, and make sure you know how to make NPCs as well on a computer as on paper, etc. The computer doesn't actually arrange stats for you.</blockquote>

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