I Have the Best Players in the World
- Thread starter Hussar
- Start date
Storminator
First Post
I have the best players in the world. Half of them took over GMing, because it's such an awesome group.
We've decided two pages printed from an NPC book and a half-baked idea is over preparing. The game runs itself!
PS
We've decided two pages printed from an NPC book and a half-baked idea is over preparing. The game runs itself!
PS
Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
Wait, are you calling the imperious IncaDile - half crocodile, half Incan mummy - a "half-baked idea"?
Oh, yeah.
It is a fabulous group!
My current group? Most of the guys in it resemble this:
Stick in the Mud
But to their credits, they're FUN sticks in the mud. They're not much interested in anything beyond D&D, but within that narrow scope, they're a blast to game with. I can honestly say I've rarely found myself enjoying a group more- especially when things descend into a comedy of the absurd (as things often do)- in my 30+ years of gaming. In fact, the only group that springs to mind were the guys at "Henchworld" in Austin (a group hosted by one Alan Hench).
We're less likely to metagame- if things are going to go "pear shaped" because of the course of action a PC would likely take, we let them. Two sessions ago, we almost had a TPK...with the party doing most of the damage to the party! (A few failed saves vs Charm effects, a few BAD tactical decisions, and a PC under an as-yet-to-be-revealed curse with a party of 11th level PCs makes for an exciting combat.)
In addition, almost everyone in the group has run a campaign or 2, so its rare for someone to get stuck behind the screen.
Stick in the Mud
But to their credits, they're FUN sticks in the mud. They're not much interested in anything beyond D&D, but within that narrow scope, they're a blast to game with. I can honestly say I've rarely found myself enjoying a group more- especially when things descend into a comedy of the absurd (as things often do)- in my 30+ years of gaming. In fact, the only group that springs to mind were the guys at "Henchworld" in Austin (a group hosted by one Alan Hench).
We're less likely to metagame- if things are going to go "pear shaped" because of the course of action a PC would likely take, we let them. Two sessions ago, we almost had a TPK...with the party doing most of the damage to the party! (A few failed saves vs Charm effects, a few BAD tactical decisions, and a PC under an as-yet-to-be-revealed curse with a party of 11th level PCs makes for an exciting combat.)
In addition, almost everyone in the group has run a campaign or 2, so its rare for someone to get stuck behind the screen.
Last edited:
Player backgrounds include AD&D, W:TA, V:TM (both tabletop and Mind's Eye Theatre) but when I said "I'm starting up a Cyberpunk game set in a Dark Future Corporate-Controlled dystopia" they said "Right on! Count me in."
I said "I'm making the characters as pre-Gens so I can get the skill mix right for the game, but you can choose which one you have":
Player 1: "I want a scout".
No prob - I wanted a military specialist, giving it a Reconnaissance flavour with a hint of sniping actually made it better.
Player 2 picked the Techie. (Sadly, he later had to drop out of the game due to work and family commitments)
Player 3 was given the choice of Pilot or Medic and said "Surprise me." He got Pilot.
Player 4 was told: "There's only the medic left - ex CasEvac paramedic" - his response was "Cool!" and immediately wanted all the notes he could get on the equipment and drugs with which his character would be familiar. Thanks to this site, he had plenty to learn from.
Most the beginning of the campaign was a train trip to set them up in a place with which their characters are totally unfamiliar (kind of like the players, really) and have to start from scratch and they took it as an opportunity to settle into their characters and explore their personalities (left it up to them to decide how they were going to portray their characters).
All the players are friends I've known for years.
They look forward to playing and launch themselves into the setting with enthusiasm and humour.
If they're not the best players in the world, they certainly are "way up there".
I said "I'm making the characters as pre-Gens so I can get the skill mix right for the game, but you can choose which one you have":
Player 1: "I want a scout".
No prob - I wanted a military specialist, giving it a Reconnaissance flavour with a hint of sniping actually made it better.
Player 2 picked the Techie. (Sadly, he later had to drop out of the game due to work and family commitments)
Player 3 was given the choice of Pilot or Medic and said "Surprise me." He got Pilot.
Player 4 was told: "There's only the medic left - ex CasEvac paramedic" - his response was "Cool!" and immediately wanted all the notes he could get on the equipment and drugs with which his character would be familiar. Thanks to this site, he had plenty to learn from.
Most the beginning of the campaign was a train trip to set them up in a place with which their characters are totally unfamiliar (kind of like the players, really) and have to start from scratch and they took it as an opportunity to settle into their characters and explore their personalities (left it up to them to decide how they were going to portray their characters).
All the players are friends I've known for years.
They look forward to playing and launch themselves into the setting with enthusiasm and humour.
If they're not the best players in the world, they certainly are "way up there".
Mine are definitely "right up there".
In the current game, they've just moved to a strange town to work as specialised couriers. Spent the first couple of days settling in, third day they had a lengthy job that paid quite good money so they went shopping, bought more weapons, had a good night at the pub buying drinks for their new friends.
Fourth day they turn up at work to discover that their boss has been murdered.
Did they think "hell, we're stuck in Australia with no work, how do we get home to New Zealand?" Did they say "alas, alack, what can we possibly do for work?"
"No", on both counts.
They managed to convince the Detective Inspector to give them the last number that called their boss' phone, contacted the company and said, "there's been a bit of a tragedy but we're still in business, what's the details of the delivery?"
They also called their fixer and netrunner to get whatever information they could about the business, and called everyone they knew saying that they need work - "does anyone know someone who wants to shift something too sensitive to trust to regular couriers?"
Then they set to the task of costing out a courier run and came up with a price - which was actually 500 Euro cheaper than what I had figured would be acceptable to the client. Needless to say, they got an automatic success on that transaction. (and that figure was higher than what they had calculated they would actually need - so they had room to drop the price if the client seemed unwilling).
Practical upshot is that by midday, they had one guaranteed job that would cover the next couple of days and are well on their way to taking over the operation - because they basically said "Screw this, we're gonna keep this team running and get the goods delivered."
They, as players, moved from this stunned "that bastard just pulled the rug out from under us" to "let's work out how we can do this" in less than a minute. The youngest (and least experienced) player just leapt to the fore and took the initiative, starts phoning 'round and getting things rolling. The others were throwing in suggestions for other things they needed from each of the NPCs he contacted and it just came together.
Told them afterwards it was excellent role-playing, minimal dice required as they played in character.
As I already had the NPCs' motivations well worked out, I had a really good idea of what it would take to get them on side. The young player made appeals to the NPCs' need to earn a living and pitched his scheme as a win-win for the team and them - effectively told the netrunner "we need to keep going so we can continue our business arrangement and you won't lose a paying client".
Giving up and going back to New Zealand where they might have support didn't even get discussed.
They've grabbed the reins in both hands.
In the current game, they've just moved to a strange town to work as specialised couriers. Spent the first couple of days settling in, third day they had a lengthy job that paid quite good money so they went shopping, bought more weapons, had a good night at the pub buying drinks for their new friends.
Fourth day they turn up at work to discover that their boss has been murdered.
Did they think "hell, we're stuck in Australia with no work, how do we get home to New Zealand?" Did they say "alas, alack, what can we possibly do for work?"
"No", on both counts.
They managed to convince the Detective Inspector to give them the last number that called their boss' phone, contacted the company and said, "there's been a bit of a tragedy but we're still in business, what's the details of the delivery?"
They also called their fixer and netrunner to get whatever information they could about the business, and called everyone they knew saying that they need work - "does anyone know someone who wants to shift something too sensitive to trust to regular couriers?"
Then they set to the task of costing out a courier run and came up with a price - which was actually 500 Euro cheaper than what I had figured would be acceptable to the client. Needless to say, they got an automatic success on that transaction. (and that figure was higher than what they had calculated they would actually need - so they had room to drop the price if the client seemed unwilling).
Practical upshot is that by midday, they had one guaranteed job that would cover the next couple of days and are well on their way to taking over the operation - because they basically said "Screw this, we're gonna keep this team running and get the goods delivered."
They, as players, moved from this stunned "that bastard just pulled the rug out from under us" to "let's work out how we can do this" in less than a minute. The youngest (and least experienced) player just leapt to the fore and took the initiative, starts phoning 'round and getting things rolling. The others were throwing in suggestions for other things they needed from each of the NPCs he contacted and it just came together.
Told them afterwards it was excellent role-playing, minimal dice required as they played in character.
As I already had the NPCs' motivations well worked out, I had a really good idea of what it would take to get them on side. The young player made appeals to the NPCs' need to earn a living and pitched his scheme as a win-win for the team and them - effectively told the netrunner "we need to keep going so we can continue our business arrangement and you won't lose a paying client".
Giving up and going back to New Zealand where they might have support didn't even get discussed.
They've grabbed the reins in both hands.
Blackrat
He Who Lurks Beyond The Veil
I most certainly have the best players in the world.
They were boarding a pirate spacehip and managed to knock out the artificial gravity. Everything is floating around and they enter the mess hall. Ofcourse, I need to pull something out of the hat, as I hadn't anticipated the whole situation. (I didn't expect them to comply when the pirates ordered them to stop the engines, stand down weapons and prepare to be boarded. Ofcourse they turned the whole situation upside down.) So I say that few pirates had just been cooking and there was a blob of soup floating around:
Player 1: Is it Pea Soup?
Me: Whuh?! Well, okay, yeah, it's pea soup.
Player 2: What way is it floating?
Me: What?!
Player 2: Yeah, what way is the pea soup floating.
Me: I don't know, why?
Player 2: Well, it was just cooked right? So it's nearly boiling hot. I don't want to get hit by it.
Me: Okay... Let's see... (I throw d8 to determine random direction. It hit's the Player 1's droid character who was in adjacent square.)
Player 1: NO!!! I was hit by Boiling Pea Soup.
Me: Well lucky you're a droid. It won't damage you like it would the organics.
Player 2: Yeah, but now his vocabulator gurgles.
The rest of the session, whenever the droid needed to say something he just gurgled...
Another thing. This is a long lasting campaign. One of the players is quite a fan of My Little Ponies, and loves the customization sites. Other player orders a custom MLP for her as christmas present that's a MLP version of her character.
They were boarding a pirate spacehip and managed to knock out the artificial gravity. Everything is floating around and they enter the mess hall. Ofcourse, I need to pull something out of the hat, as I hadn't anticipated the whole situation. (I didn't expect them to comply when the pirates ordered them to stop the engines, stand down weapons and prepare to be boarded. Ofcourse they turned the whole situation upside down.) So I say that few pirates had just been cooking and there was a blob of soup floating around:
Player 1: Is it Pea Soup?
Me: Whuh?! Well, okay, yeah, it's pea soup.
Player 2: What way is it floating?
Me: What?!
Player 2: Yeah, what way is the pea soup floating.
Me: I don't know, why?
Player 2: Well, it was just cooked right? So it's nearly boiling hot. I don't want to get hit by it.
Me: Okay... Let's see... (I throw d8 to determine random direction. It hit's the Player 1's droid character who was in adjacent square.)
Player 1: NO!!! I was hit by Boiling Pea Soup.
Me: Well lucky you're a droid. It won't damage you like it would the organics.
Player 2: Yeah, but now his vocabulator gurgles.
The rest of the session, whenever the droid needed to say something he just gurgled...
Another thing. This is a long lasting campaign. One of the players is quite a fan of My Little Ponies, and loves the customization sites. Other player orders a custom MLP for her as christmas present that's a MLP version of her character.
Last edited:
wolfpunk
First Post
I would say my players are the best because we actually like to hang out outside of just playing D & D. In addition, we all take turns running games, and we play pretty much any system anyone wants to try running a game in. When no one has an idea for a game, we break out other games like Settlers, Dominion, etc until we have a new idea. I would trust any of them to watch my son, and I know if I broke down on the side of the road at 2 a.m. in a snow storm I could call them and they would come to my rescue.
Similar Threads
