Nightcloak
First Post
themind said:
Blade of Desecration said:
If it's any consolation to you, these are the same mysteries the fabulous Mrs. Nightcloak wrestles with daily.
The Essential Guide to a GM’s Notebook *Updated 11/10 - Chapter 12*
- Thread starter Nightcloak
- Start date
If it's any consolation to you, these are the same mysteries the fabulous Mrs. Nightcloak wrestles with daily.
Nightcloak
First Post
Blade of Desecration said:Well, there's no way he's human, that's for sure. I think he's an illithid, only they have that kind of intelligence score.
Dammit. I would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for you meddling kids!
Well, since the secret is out, I might as well come clean. It is true, all of it. I am indeed an illithid. Just so you don't think I'm the monster people think I am, here are some pictures from the family album:
1. The first is me as a little guy back in 1977...
2. Is me at a frat party when I came of age. Watermelon isn't the only thing that absorbs Vodka well
3. This is me dressed for Halloween back in 90. I went as MC Hammer.
4. After dropping out of school. I worked as an RN at an Alternative Healthcare Center. It was very fulfilling work.
5. A wonderfully romantic picture of me proposing to the beautiful and fabulous Ms. Nightcloak.
Attachments
Nightcloak
First Post
Ahem.
Moving along and back on topic...
Moving along and back on topic...
Nightcloak
First Post
GM Notebook Essentials #6: Price Lists (Part 1)
This one is quick, easy, and another great time saver. Just the title probably got your mind running and putting the pieces together.
Players go shopping. It’s a fact. I’ve seen guys spend enormous amounts of time equipping their characters, planning for every little detail, and working every ounce of encumbrance they can out of the weight charts. In fact, they spend more time doing this than have done real shopping in real life…
It seems I have spent whole game sessions with the player’s handbook popped open to the equipment chapter with occasional page flipping through the magic prices in the DM guide. If you are like me, you’ve included additional cool items from other sources; items from the Arms and Equipment Guide, weapon templates from Arcana Evolved, ideas from Dragon articles, and on and on. This is great for individualizing the game, but gets real annoying and time consuming flipping through umpteen books every time a player asks a question about an item.
Of course, it’s the GM Notebook to the rescue. We are going to put all those cool things you want or need from many sources into several pages. At the bottom of the page is a link to the SRD. There you will find everything you need to get you started.
First and foremost, get comfortable at the computer and open a word document (or your equivalent). Then open the link to the SRD and go to the equipment section; you now have access to 21 pages of equipment information already formatted into tables. Just remember, the SRD is for your personal use. If you tried to circulate this information without following the Wizards legal requirements you could get into trouble.
1. Weapons
First, copy the weapons table and paste it direct to your word document. You can shrink the table down to fit on the page better if you like. You don’t need to bother with the actual weapon descriptions unless you think you might need them, then I would copy them and place them after all of your other price charts.
The neat thing about the table is, you can just click were you want to add some cool weapons from another book, go to Tables>Insert>Row Above (or Row Below) on the menu bar and bam, instantly formatted space to add the cool weapon of your choice. For example, if you like Elven Thinblades then you can add it into the Exotic Weapon Table under One-Handed Melee Weapons.
Repeat for any other weapons and soon you will have a truly complete weapon chart from all of your sources on one or two pages!
2. Armor
Do the same thing you just did for the weapons. Also, if it applies to your game, copy the Armor for Unusual Creatures table (for those characters who equip horses with barding).
3. Weapon & Armor Templates
Here is your pricing and details for masterwork items and special materials (like mithral or dragon hide). This is also your chance to add extras from other sources, like the dire weapon template from Arcana Evolved.
4. Goods and Services
Same thing. Copy and add any odd things you want from those extra books. You’ll most likely add to the Tools section or the Special Substances and Items table. However, cut out the section on food, drink, and lodging. That, in my honest opinion, deserves its own section and fill be covered next in part 2.
5. Spell Casters
List simple spells your players may need to pay someone to cast for them (or on them). The cure series, identify, contact other plane, heal, lesser restoration, resurrection, and anything else common to your game. Take a minute and think about what your players may need, then add it to the list.
6. Common Magic Items
Same thing but with magic items: Potions of healing, lesser restoration, and scrolls, that kind of thing. You will probably add to this list as your players advance in level and find new things they commonly want to buy.
The reason to make your own tables in a document is the ability to save and edit as need be. If a month later you remember a cool weapon or buy a book with some great new armor all you have to do is update your document and print a new copy.
When you are done you will have all the prices in one easy place. No more wasting time flipping through multiple books to get the information you need. As a bonus, the weapon and armor tables have all the stats for easy access in a pinch.
Great Links:
On Line SRD
This one is quick, easy, and another great time saver. Just the title probably got your mind running and putting the pieces together.
Players go shopping. It’s a fact. I’ve seen guys spend enormous amounts of time equipping their characters, planning for every little detail, and working every ounce of encumbrance they can out of the weight charts. In fact, they spend more time doing this than have done real shopping in real life…
It seems I have spent whole game sessions with the player’s handbook popped open to the equipment chapter with occasional page flipping through the magic prices in the DM guide. If you are like me, you’ve included additional cool items from other sources; items from the Arms and Equipment Guide, weapon templates from Arcana Evolved, ideas from Dragon articles, and on and on. This is great for individualizing the game, but gets real annoying and time consuming flipping through umpteen books every time a player asks a question about an item.
Of course, it’s the GM Notebook to the rescue. We are going to put all those cool things you want or need from many sources into several pages. At the bottom of the page is a link to the SRD. There you will find everything you need to get you started.
First and foremost, get comfortable at the computer and open a word document (or your equivalent). Then open the link to the SRD and go to the equipment section; you now have access to 21 pages of equipment information already formatted into tables. Just remember, the SRD is for your personal use. If you tried to circulate this information without following the Wizards legal requirements you could get into trouble.
1. Weapons
First, copy the weapons table and paste it direct to your word document. You can shrink the table down to fit on the page better if you like. You don’t need to bother with the actual weapon descriptions unless you think you might need them, then I would copy them and place them after all of your other price charts.
The neat thing about the table is, you can just click were you want to add some cool weapons from another book, go to Tables>Insert>Row Above (or Row Below) on the menu bar and bam, instantly formatted space to add the cool weapon of your choice. For example, if you like Elven Thinblades then you can add it into the Exotic Weapon Table under One-Handed Melee Weapons.
Repeat for any other weapons and soon you will have a truly complete weapon chart from all of your sources on one or two pages!
2. Armor
Do the same thing you just did for the weapons. Also, if it applies to your game, copy the Armor for Unusual Creatures table (for those characters who equip horses with barding).
3. Weapon & Armor Templates
Here is your pricing and details for masterwork items and special materials (like mithral or dragon hide). This is also your chance to add extras from other sources, like the dire weapon template from Arcana Evolved.
4. Goods and Services
Same thing. Copy and add any odd things you want from those extra books. You’ll most likely add to the Tools section or the Special Substances and Items table. However, cut out the section on food, drink, and lodging. That, in my honest opinion, deserves its own section and fill be covered next in part 2.
5. Spell Casters
List simple spells your players may need to pay someone to cast for them (or on them). The cure series, identify, contact other plane, heal, lesser restoration, resurrection, and anything else common to your game. Take a minute and think about what your players may need, then add it to the list.
6. Common Magic Items
Same thing but with magic items: Potions of healing, lesser restoration, and scrolls, that kind of thing. You will probably add to this list as your players advance in level and find new things they commonly want to buy.
The reason to make your own tables in a document is the ability to save and edit as need be. If a month later you remember a cool weapon or buy a book with some great new armor all you have to do is update your document and print a new copy.
When you are done you will have all the prices in one easy place. No more wasting time flipping through multiple books to get the information you need. As a bonus, the weapon and armor tables have all the stats for easy access in a pinch.
Great Links:
On Line SRD
Mr_GrinReaper
First Post
Great work Nightcloak-
I love this stuff, its gonna make my life easier...
p.s why does your skin keep changing color in the pics?
I love this stuff, its gonna make my life easier...
p.s why does your skin keep changing color in the pics?
Nightcloak
First Post
Mr_GrinReaper said:
Well, ah...
The first picture is before we had color. The second was a rave party and the blue lighting shaded everyones skin. In the he third I was wearing make-up do to it being a Halloween costume. Ah...
Never mind.
Next!
Nightcloak
First Post
GM Notebook Essentials #6: Prices Lists (Part 2) - Food, Drinks, and Lodging!
During the discussion on price lists, I mentioned that you should remove the price list for Food, Drinks, and Lodging and save it for later. Later is now. This little table is going to be a fun exercise in creative campaign development. Of course, you could just leave this list alone and move on. There is nothing wrong with that option.
But trust me, you won’t regret taking it to the next level. I guarantee it.
First, paste the Food, Drinks, and Lodging table into a document. But more importantly, start adding extra rows immediately to each of the three parts. Your job is to add more to the list than the plain old beverages and sleeping accommodations listed. The idea is to add colorful and detailed items to the list for you players to use. Just as you wouldn’t develop a campaign with the only armor options being “poor”, “good”, and “excellent”, nor should you offer “good” wine or “excellent” sleeping accommodations.
Part of a character feeling alive in the imaginations of everyone is the choice of weapons and armor. You have "Dashing rogues with rapiers versus thugs with clubs versus knights with massive two-handed swords versus barbarians with axes." That sounds interesting compared to: “Dashing rogues with good weapons versus thugs with poor weapons versus knights with good weapons versus barbarians with good weapons”. And of course, every player would only have a “good” weapon. Who in their right mind would pick a “poor” weapon unless the rules forced the issue? The same principle can apply to mundane services.
Why am I spending all of this time for you to add some basic services to these mundane prices? Swords are great, but drinks?
Well, I think this is a great way to enhance the flavor of the game. This is where you can add all kinds of new drinks and other services unique to your world.
The best way to explain how much fun you can have with this is by an example. Lets assume an in-game moment: There is you (the DM), a player who has been playing in your game for a while, and a new player to your game:
First Scenario:
DM: “The waitress asks what you want to drink.”
PC (long time player): “I’ll just take an ale.”
PC (new to your game): “Yea. Me too.”
Second Scenario:
DM: “The waitress asks what you want to drink.”
PC (long time player): “I’ll see if they have any Dwarven Hammer and Anvil.”
PC (new to your game): “Hey! What’s that?”
PC (long time player): “It’s a top dwarven dark stout ale. It gets its name from how you feel in the morning if you drink to much of it.”
PC (new to your game): “How’s that.”
PC (long time player): “You feel like there is a small army of dwarves in your room hammering your head like an anvil.”
PC (new to your game): “Cool. I want one!”
In the second example, the players are into your game and they are not even slicing anything open. For them, the game is unique and fun before they roll the dice. More importantly yet, they are into your game. They can’t go across the street or even to GenCon itself and have their characters order a “Dwarven Hammer and Anvil” or a “Blood Orc Brew”.
So have fun and create some unique ale, wines, rums, meads, or any other drink you want. Racial drinks (Dark Elf Ale), regional drinks (Breeland Brew), and magical drinks (Sorcerers Stout) flesh out your game world wonderfully. New foods are great too and can add a lot of flavor. Unique lodging is harder but still good: “Hey, we just killed a dragon. I’m going to spoil myself and get the 'Kings Suite' in Capital City. In room bath, food service, pages to run errands, and free armor cleaning! It’s expensive, but I deserve it after that battle.”
Maybe assassin vines in your world have seeds that make expensive but yummy nuts when dried (or berries that make an exotic wine!). Or dried basilisk meat makes a jerky that is far superior in taste to plain old rations. Who pays 50 gp for a bottle of apple juice? Probably your PCs when they learn that Woodshire Apple Juice made by the Halflings is so good and so full of nutrients that anyone who drinks a cup gets a +2 bonus to spot and listen checks for an hour.
Of course, all these unique items cost more in most cases. A nice way to: A) Unload extra gold from rich characters and B) Make the players feel good about their characters. A player may not spend his gold on things like an extra magic weapon “Just in case I need a cold iron weapon”, but most will offload their gold and brag how they could afford the Kings Suite for a month.
If you play your cards right, certain items will develop a reputation (like the dwarven ale above). If your players associate Dark Elven Ale with shady taverns full of cutthroats (a hive of scum and villainy!) and Kobold Kettle with cheap dives, then your world is suddenly alive for you and the players.
The price list of services is important to have. Placing it into your notebook will save you time and hassle. But open up that list to your world. Make it your own and bring your world alive.
It will make that price list priceless.
During the discussion on price lists, I mentioned that you should remove the price list for Food, Drinks, and Lodging and save it for later. Later is now. This little table is going to be a fun exercise in creative campaign development. Of course, you could just leave this list alone and move on. There is nothing wrong with that option.
But trust me, you won’t regret taking it to the next level. I guarantee it.
First, paste the Food, Drinks, and Lodging table into a document. But more importantly, start adding extra rows immediately to each of the three parts. Your job is to add more to the list than the plain old beverages and sleeping accommodations listed. The idea is to add colorful and detailed items to the list for you players to use. Just as you wouldn’t develop a campaign with the only armor options being “poor”, “good”, and “excellent”, nor should you offer “good” wine or “excellent” sleeping accommodations.
Part of a character feeling alive in the imaginations of everyone is the choice of weapons and armor. You have "Dashing rogues with rapiers versus thugs with clubs versus knights with massive two-handed swords versus barbarians with axes." That sounds interesting compared to: “Dashing rogues with good weapons versus thugs with poor weapons versus knights with good weapons versus barbarians with good weapons”. And of course, every player would only have a “good” weapon. Who in their right mind would pick a “poor” weapon unless the rules forced the issue? The same principle can apply to mundane services.
Why am I spending all of this time for you to add some basic services to these mundane prices? Swords are great, but drinks?
Well, I think this is a great way to enhance the flavor of the game. This is where you can add all kinds of new drinks and other services unique to your world.
The best way to explain how much fun you can have with this is by an example. Lets assume an in-game moment: There is you (the DM), a player who has been playing in your game for a while, and a new player to your game:
First Scenario:
DM: “The waitress asks what you want to drink.”
PC (long time player): “I’ll just take an ale.”
PC (new to your game): “Yea. Me too.”
Second Scenario:
DM: “The waitress asks what you want to drink.”
PC (long time player): “I’ll see if they have any Dwarven Hammer and Anvil.”
PC (new to your game): “Hey! What’s that?”
PC (long time player): “It’s a top dwarven dark stout ale. It gets its name from how you feel in the morning if you drink to much of it.”
PC (new to your game): “How’s that.”
PC (long time player): “You feel like there is a small army of dwarves in your room hammering your head like an anvil.”
PC (new to your game): “Cool. I want one!”
In the second example, the players are into your game and they are not even slicing anything open. For them, the game is unique and fun before they roll the dice. More importantly yet, they are into your game. They can’t go across the street or even to GenCon itself and have their characters order a “Dwarven Hammer and Anvil” or a “Blood Orc Brew”.
So have fun and create some unique ale, wines, rums, meads, or any other drink you want. Racial drinks (Dark Elf Ale), regional drinks (Breeland Brew), and magical drinks (Sorcerers Stout) flesh out your game world wonderfully. New foods are great too and can add a lot of flavor. Unique lodging is harder but still good: “Hey, we just killed a dragon. I’m going to spoil myself and get the 'Kings Suite' in Capital City. In room bath, food service, pages to run errands, and free armor cleaning! It’s expensive, but I deserve it after that battle.”
Maybe assassin vines in your world have seeds that make expensive but yummy nuts when dried (or berries that make an exotic wine!). Or dried basilisk meat makes a jerky that is far superior in taste to plain old rations. Who pays 50 gp for a bottle of apple juice? Probably your PCs when they learn that Woodshire Apple Juice made by the Halflings is so good and so full of nutrients that anyone who drinks a cup gets a +2 bonus to spot and listen checks for an hour.
Of course, all these unique items cost more in most cases. A nice way to: A) Unload extra gold from rich characters and B) Make the players feel good about their characters. A player may not spend his gold on things like an extra magic weapon “Just in case I need a cold iron weapon”, but most will offload their gold and brag how they could afford the Kings Suite for a month.
If you play your cards right, certain items will develop a reputation (like the dwarven ale above). If your players associate Dark Elven Ale with shady taverns full of cutthroats (a hive of scum and villainy!) and Kobold Kettle with cheap dives, then your world is suddenly alive for you and the players.
The price list of services is important to have. Placing it into your notebook will save you time and hassle. But open up that list to your world. Make it your own and bring your world alive.
It will make that price list priceless.
Nightcloak
First Post
Catavarie said:Another Great source for NPC names that everyone has access to is a phonebook, just open it up and randomly point to names and then jot them down.
That is a good idea. Insperation abounds!
I think I'll add an extra appendix when I'm done with all of the great ideas people are mentioning. A sort of GMF quotable quotes to put everything in one place.
Similar Threads
