How Do You Let The Players Be Cool?

[JoeGKushner]

After reading the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, I was impressed with the way that several of the characters with the power of Mistborn (a slew of nifty abilities), still had a lot of obsticles but the author managed to write them in a manner that potrayed them as impressive, almost super heroic, or minor gods in their own right, while still giving them plenty of enemies.

How do you let the players in your campaign be cool?

Do you use lots of minions?

Give them bonuses when they use the environment appropriately?

Design little sidebars to showcase their strengths?

 

[diaglo]

i write the next session based on the characters the players use.

part of this starts at the beginning of the campaign.

roll 3d6 in order. is a misnomer in a way. it generates the basis of the character but not the persona.

i ask the player what (s)he wants to play. that is a two fold question. mechanical and fantasy. i don't let them know how they are answering or influencing the game until after they discover in play. and then i only drop hints or clues.

that way. i get my player to be the character. what would the character do is more of a what would you do question they should be asking. and if they have played my campaign they don't even think about rules. they just roleplay.

 

[diaglo]

this can mean beer and pretzels. the players want to roll dice, kill things, and take stuff. some puzzle solving some talking to npcs to find leads.

or this can mean minutae. one pc took time elemental as a language. another took a made up God as his deity. now we have to make time an element of the campaign. and the God has to have sway. even the God of snoring.

so i write that in. whether they follow up on the leads or not.

but when they find them. it makes it cool.

a dwarven paladin pc died. i made his body parts (those that remained) holy relics. they were used in a resurrection to bring back another pc later in the campaign.

 

[Kimyou]

Using a lot of minions is a good way to make players feel awesome, but I find the best way is to gear the battlefield to allow them to be awesome easier.

I love having pits and deathtraps wherever I stick my PCs, because most of them will go far to push a bad guy down a cliff. Let them do so and encourage creativity in the use of their enviroment (statues should be toppled, dealing solid damage, perhaps a save ends condition).

On top of that, make over the top description of every blow and don't be afraid to exagerate. Stage your encounters in insane locations, they will love you for it (on a airship assaulted by sky-pirates riding a giant flying snake, for example)

 

[maddman75]

If you want the players to feel their characters are cool, you've got to let them do Their Thing.

That is, whatever that character is made to do. Fighting lots of minions? Well, if they took powers to let them deal with multiple opponents that might do it. If they were a scholar interested in ancient empires, then the plot should involved uncovering those secrets. If they are a lothario, give them chances to seduce the information they need out of the governess's daughter. If they put all their resources into being an awesome archer, set up fights that give them a chance to shine.

Take whatever they focused their characters on, and come up with a challenge for that concept. Don't take their word for it on what their character is, make them show you.

"I'm the best archer there ever was!"
"Really...you hear the Evil Duke is sponsoring an archery contest"

"My guy is an expert at ancient languages."
"This scroll you found last adventure - it doesn't appear to be any known language. But you think it shares an alphabet with Ancient Elonese, and if you had access to the Fashir Tablets you think it could be translated"

And it doesn't just have to apply to abilities

"My character is noble and charitable to a fault!"
"You're heading toward the moneylender's to pay off a debt, when you see a group of 5 crying children and a woman being carried off in chains. Her husband died and she's being hauled off to debtor's prison, leaving her children to fend for themselves. The guards say that this isn't a happy duty, but unless someone pays her debt, their hands are tied."

Another thing is that none of these are meant to 'screw over' the group, they're meant as an opportunity for conflict and adventure. The archer and his friends get caught up in the ambush everyone who has seen Robin Hood was expecting. The scholar convinces his group to help him go into the Tomb of Ankh-Topet after the tablets he needs. And the charitable character gives all his money to the poor woman, and now must flee town in search of more treasure or end up in debtor's prison himself!

 

[maddman75]

On top of that, make over the top description of every blow and don't be afraid to exagerate. Stage your encounters in insane locations, they will love you for it (on a airship assaulted by sky-pirates riding a giant flying snake, for example)

Also, the John Woo Principle should be in effect. Every attack destroys something. If it misses it doesn't destroy the target. But arrows should be sticking into wooden beams, ax-blows should be cutting pieces off statues, and missed spells should be starting small fires and knocking over dishes.

 

[GnomeWorks]

Using a lot of minions is a good way to make players feel awesome...

I really find this hard to believe. Unless your players are unfamiliar with the minion mechanics, there's really not that much to feel awesome about when taking out minions.

 

[Scribe Ineti]

I really find this hard to believe. Unless your players are unfamiliar with the minion mechanics, there's really not that much to feel awesome about when taking out minions.

My players would beg to differ. The ability to slice through mooks on the way to the tougher baddies empowers my players in ways I haven't really seen before. They get to be like Boromir cutting swaths through orcs and Leia and Chewie blasting stormtroopers left and right.

Using a power or ability that allows them to whack 2, 3, or more minions is a Neat Moment in an encounter, one that my players appreciate.

So to answer the OP, I build encounters that will challenge the PCs while at the same time enabling them to use their abilities in a cool and fun manner.

 

[Ktulu]

How do you let the players in your campaign be cool?

Ideas are always given a chance of success. If it's particularly inspired, it may get an automatic success. I push players to think outside their powers, outside their optimized character sheet. A wyvern is flying out of reach? Attempt to use that smaller tree as a catapault, launching you up to its height (that's an athletics check allowed as part of the move. If successful, he's launched up to strike or attempt a grab to keep from falling)

Do you use lots of minions?

YES!!! Minions represent the henchman, the guard and the bandit. They are many, but they go down quickly. The more powerful characters are recognized. They speak, they shout orders, they use minion's aid. The heroes know when they're encountering minions or more dangerous foes.

Give them bonuses when they use the environment appropriately?

Up to and equaling absolute success. If someone comes up with a clever idea based on some terrain, or they've got the high-ground, they'll notice the shift. In some areas, primal characters gain bonuses for being near ancient trees...

Design little sidebars to showcase their strengths?

I'm not sure I follow, exactly...



Other things I do - the more my group "investigates" before they attack, the more they learn. If they run willy-nilly into a fight, they'll only have what they see on the map. If the warden checked out the land, however, he'd notice that there's a strong primal connection near that pool, and any slide effect is increased by +1...or the rogue may notice that most of the trees above could be easily traversed stealthily, allowing sneak attacks from above...

I also tend to ensure combats are rarely purely "Attrition". Sure, the players can just kill everything, but that doesn't gain them the same benefit as stealing the leader's sending stone that was hidden during the ambush. Alternatively, just stealing the sending stone would allow them to bypass the enemy and damage their communications...

In the same vein, harder encounters almost ALWAYS reap an instant reward. For instance, in a recent encounter with undead "that appeared to be random" the party defeated the creatures and discovered it was a mystical trap, housing the eye of vecna from would-be theft. Of course, the players now have the eye and can choose what to do with it...

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Also, the John Woo Principle should be in effect. Every attack destroys something. If it misses it doesn't destroy the target. But arrows should be sticking into wooden beams, ax-blows should be cutting pieces off statues, and missed spells should be starting small fires and knocking over dishes.

Really like this comment - will bring it up at my next game!

For me, it comes back to the Say Yes principle. Example: last week, D&D 4e game, we were fighting a Tiefling cook in a kitchen (do NOT ask what that red stuff boiling away in the cauldron was...). I asked if my PC could jump on a handy table, run along it, swing round using a hanging pot and slice into him with my axe.

His response: "Sure! Make an athletics check, and if you succeed you gain +1[w] damage!"

Then I got a crit. Bwahahahah.

Was it balanced, or 'fair', or RAW? Probably not! Was it awesome, and would it inspire me to try and pull off similar stuff in the future? Damn right!