D&D 4E Running player commentary on PCat's 4E Campaign - Heroic tier (finished)

[Sagiro]

Yeah, those were late-night typing-while-sleepy mistakes. Fixed!

Thanks,

-Sagiro

 

[Piratecat]

Comments:

Q: How do you have a 2nd level party play a major role in the invasion of a town, at the end of a day when they're already exhausted and running out of resources?

A: Damned if I knew.

The answer, I decided, is to have them to target an aspect of the invasion that no one else would have known about except their commander -- and then, only because they confessed their suspicions to her. Helping protect the governor against an assassin already in place allowed them to be the focus of the night's adventure, instead of one group amongst hundrweds of defenders. There's a place for that scene too, but I didn't want it for this game.

My quick-n-dirty reworking of monsters continues unabated, and i'm still surprised (a) how easy it is, (b) how fast combat is going and (c) how high level monsters the group can handle. The howling hag variant was very nasty, and it was an extremely fun fight.

I need to think about how I want to handle skill challenges, though. I'm not sure yet hoe to bring out the drama if I'm making them explicit.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

I think the drama can be there if you're making the SC explicit -- the important thing is that the characters need to make choices that matter -- and it's better if the choices are based on RP elements, and not which skill they have the highest score in. But giving them tough choices that matter, even if the SC is explicit, will keep the drama level up.

I think. Maybe. It's working for me . . .

-j

 

[Seule]

There's one place where I've seen lots and lots of attempts at making skill challenges work well, by many authors: Living Forgotten Realms. Each mod has at least one skill challenge (usually more), and they span all types.
I particularly like ones that are hidden from the players, but that's just me. Have a look at some of the mods, and see what strikes you as interesting skill challenge types, is my advice.

--Penn

 

[Blackjack]

Two minor corrections:

Sadly, between the two of them, I think we're out over 400 gp worth of money and supplies

Actually, we're out about 400gp apiece, meaning we've lost about 800gp for the party.

Keep in mind that we were soaked in blood, and Caldwell was wearing what was basically a loincloth scrounged from the armory when his clothes vanished.

...along with a full suit of leather armor, and boots. Let's not make this any more salacious than it needs to be.

 

[Plane Sailing]

...along with a full suit of leather armor, and boots. Let's not make this any more salacious than it needs to be.

Thank goodness! I was getting flashbacks to this, uh, strip Girl Genius Online Comics! (just with a different gender involved...)

Cheers!

 

[Rel]

Thank goodness! I was getting flashbacks to this, uh, strip Girl Genius Online Comics!

My name is Rel and I approve this flashback.

 

[Ashrum the Black]

Comments:
I need to think about how I want to handle skill challenges, though. I'm not sure yet hoe to bring out the drama if I'm making them explicit.

I guess the first question you have to answer then, is do they need to be explicit? Are the players and yourself having fun with the skill challenges being an organic flow of the story instead of being bolded out?

I'd honestly ask the players what they would prefer. Maybe stick on an encounter with their boss to try and convince him to not send them to Outer Wescrewedupestan for letting the weapons get away, and announce it. Let them decide what they prefer.

Some skill challenges can be thought through in advance pretty easily. Such as how will they get up the cliff you know they'll come to. Those can be planned out and called out without breaking the flow to much, but ones such as diplomatically diffusing the situation with the govenor sometimes can't be seen more than a few minutes or seconds ahead. So, those need to be more organic.

I think so far most of your skill challenges have been caused by folks "thinking outside the box". But I could be wrong. From the sounds of it folks are having fun so you're doing something right. And that is why we play.

(sorry about re-railing the de-railed thought train )

-Ashrum

 

[davethegame]

I know, which is why I've been looking for a good in-game excuse to start using the female pronoun instead, and thus make our brains hurt less.

Quote from a game I was in recently:
Ranger: What gender are you?
Warforged: I have both male and female personalities installed.
Ranger: You're running Eunuchs?

 

[KidCthulhu]

My name is Rel and I approve this flashback.

Golly, there's a surprise!