Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="ProfessorCirno" data-source="post: 4219794" data-attributes="member: 65637">Maybe I'm just lucky, as I've never had any of those problems.  That's not an issue with the game, that's an issue with your players.Really, I've found the most effective way to provide a challenge is to think WAY outside the box.  I've mentioned it a few times, but I once threw a freaking HUGE giant at the party at one point for storyline reasons.  And it was killed almost entirely by one player, not because he had buffs and was overpowered out the wazoo, but because I didn't expect the paladin to put on the crappy belt of climbing and re-enact Shadow of the Colossus.Side note - that paladin earned his Holy Avenger rip off.I think the problem is, the players ARE going to notice they're getting ripped off the second they try to buy an item after selling one.  As for controlling their items, we rarely use the Magical Walmart approach; if a player can give me a good and believable story as to how they're going to purchase the item they want, we'll roll with it.  If they just say "I want a new sword of flaming awesomeness," no go.  On the other hand, if they (and this is an example that happened) talk it over with the rogue, and the two of them tell me that the rogue got in touch with some old contacts and hooked the first player up with a disenfranchised wizard hoping to make a quick buck, I'll start going with it.  And the best thing is, they're all but tripping over themselves to give me more ideas for plot hooks <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />.  Later on, that same wizard found himself much more powerful, and was feeling a bit irritable that he let his awesome sword go, and goes after the party.  Or maybe I nudge the fighter while they rest at the inn and say "Hey, roll Listen."  And of course, later, "You notice your sword is missing."  Of course, I leave enough clues to allow them to look after it, while not so many that there's a big neon sign saying "ROGUE STOLE IT, MET WIZARD HERE."I suppose the idea of taking control away from the players just doesn't seem right with me.  The game isn't supposed to be about the DM playing the game by himself, nor is it about the players just dully responding to yes or no questions, followed by combat.  Again, there's video games for that, and they do it better.  You've got a group of people sitting around you - let them really get involved in it!</blockquote>

Verification