Tips for new DM& group?

[Bayonet_Chris]

some questions about combat:

3) Should i RP the monsters in combat, as in, a buncha kobolds would likely think the guy with the big sword is the real threat, but a dragon would be smart enough to worry about the warlock 1st.

4) how should i convey to them they need to use tactics?

As for the second part (both 3 and 4), if you play the monsters intelligently and use tactics, the players will respond in kind. Having the kobolds flank will introduce that tactic to the players, as will other things that might help out.

Use one of the earlier fights to teach them to survive the more difficult ones later.

 

[malraux]

Don't encourage them to be suspicious of each other. Inter-party conflict can wreck the game even with very experienced players. With newbies it can leave everyone unhappy and bitter. Give them solid back stories but make it so that they really have a reason to trust and like each other.

a big THIS! You might even want to be explicit about this. No stealing from the party, stabbing each other in the dark, etc. Its hard for old players, much less newer ones, to distinguish between character animosity and player animosity. To go along with this, you might want to add in no chaotic stupid alignments.

For tactics, you might just want to point out the basics and point out when a character is about to do something really crazy or missing something obvious. But most players will pick up on tactics pretty quick.

 

[deathdonut]

One of the bigger problems with using pregenerated characters is that your players won't have any emotional investment in them initially. This takes alot of work to get around if you want roleplaying.

Help them get some personality in their characters early. If they are inexperienced in roleplaying, you might have to cater a bit to the PLAYER's personality and not just the character's.

Do you have a player who'd go nuts if he was taunted? Have an NPC taunt him!

Do you have a player who's very cautious? Suround him with some reckless NPC's and encourage him to reign them in!

Got a softhearted dog lover? Nothing like a puppy following him around to keep him motivated!

These are the sort of things that make it easier for a player to transition into character. Eventually you end up with a character with a code of honor, a calculating general and a player/pet bond. Use these types of tricks to get the ball rolling, but be careful to help them mold the types of personalities they want to play and not simply the types you want to see.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

1) am i forcing it if i pull the cler and pally aside and say a bit about why they should distrust the warlock?

Yes. I actually do the complete opposite. I require my players to explain why their characters trust each other and want to go on adventures together. It saves me dictating a background to them, and also enforces group cohesion. Group cohesion is essential to your players not derailing the campaign with infighting. I also have an "I backstab the paladin" rule, which boils down to: no directly or indirectly messing with the other characters. You can have a rivalry, or an argument, but you can't kill them in their sleep, or secretly pocket the diamond you found, or spread nasty rumours among the local paladins.

2) do pregen chars come with backgrounds or RP tips? should i have them make a backstory and "introduce" themselves in character to the others, or will this be awkward?

Not usually. If they don't, you can try two things that have worked well for me. First, sit down with the players and come up with a backstory as a group. Allow players to suggest bits of cool stuff for each other, but let each player have final say on what gets included. The goal is to have the players write themselves a background that brings the party together and provides lots of good roleplaying hooks. Second, you can write down a list of short background items and throw them in a hat, and let the players randomly draw 3. Things like "your home village was razed by orc raiders," "you believe you are carrying around a very powerful, but currently dormant, artifact," and "you are the heir to an hereditary title that you do not want to inherit, and are fleeing from your family to avoid that responsibility." Afterwards, give each player ten minutes to pencil in the details, and have each player read out their story.

Both of these methods can help get players interested in a new pregen character on short notice.

3) Should i RP the monsters in combat, as in, a buncha kobolds would likely think the guy with the big sword is the real threat, but a dragon would be smart enough to worry about the warlock 1st.

Yes. Monsters are reasonably smart, and they know that the PCs are there to kill them.

4) how should i convey to them they need to use tactics?

"Hey guys, you're going to need to think about using tactics." Seriously, just tell them that no matter how kewl their powers might seem, they have to learn to exploit each other's abilities as a team in order to succeed. If they don't get your drift, they'll figure it out after they get their butts handed to them, and start to work out some strategies to avoid that in the future.

 

[DM_Blake]

1) am i forcing it if i pull the cler and pally aside and say a bit about why they should distrust the warlock?

Forcing it, and even ruining it. Don't invite your players to fight among themselves.

If the paladin's player is a fairly decent roleplayer, he will catch on to this on his own, and maybe even roleplay it well without destroying party unity. If he isn't a fairly decent roleplayer, then telling him not to trust one of the other characters is basically handing him the loaded gun and giving him a motive.

Bad idea.

What I would do is strongly encourage the warlock to imagine himself as a fallen hero of sorts, trying to be a good guy and throw off those chains of evil warlockiness. Sure, it's old hat, been done before (shades of Drizzt), but at least it justifies him being heoroic rather than dastardly.

3) Should i RP the monsters in combat, as in, a buncha kobolds would likely think the guy with the big sword is the real threat, but a dragon would be smart enough to worry about the warlock 1st.

4) how should i convey to them they need to use tactics?

Monsters should always be played as if they were living, breathing creatures (except when they're not) with goals, ambitions, dreams of their own (unless they're mindless), who will do everything in their power to survive and/or win the encounter.

This means they will always use their best abilities as much and as effectively as they can. Even a dog would rather bite than scratch, and even a dog goes for throats and genitals as perferred targets. If a dog is that smart, then figure any monster as intelligent as a dog will use it's best abilities to their best advantage.

Monsters will set traps, lay ambushes, choose advantageous terrain, play for home field advantage, focus fire, gang up, overpower and overwhelm anyone and anything they can. And when the monsters are losing, they will pull out all the stops, drink their potions, use their emergency supplies, and go all out to regain the advantage. And when all that fails, they will flee or surrender and hope to survive to start a new life somewhere else.

Of course, not all monsters are like this. Mindless or otherwise extremely stupid monsters just bash away until they are destroyed. Some monsters are controlled by something else, such as a necromancer controlling undead, and even if the controlled monsters are intelligent, their actions are dictated by their controller, who may not care at all if they survive - but he will still want them to win so he won't have to face the PCs himself.

Ultimately, if you do everything you can with your monsters to utilize every tactic they are capable of using, it won't be long before your players are utilizing the same tactics.

 

[Irda Ranger]

My biggest question is: how should I encourage RPing?

Step 1
Once you've read through KotS enough to have a feel for the world/setting, sit down with each player and discuss 2-3 in-game goals that PC wants to achieve. At least one goal should be related to their race or class. At least one should not. Some examples:
1. Fight a stronger foe in single combat (fighter, paladin).
2. Steal a rare flower from the garden of the BBEG and sacrifice to Pact-Creature (warlock).
3. Go into a dungeon, kill some orcs, and bring their ears back to Uncle Pete. Who's a coward now, you jerk?!? (anyone).

Step 2: Award XP equal to 10% of what they need to progress to the next level if they attempt any one of the above goals (regardless of whether they succeed - failure is a learning experience too). If they succeed, pick a new goal.

Step 3: Before play starts, everyone reads aloud their goals to everyone else. Secrets between PCs begets politics within the game, which is fun, but secrets between players begets politics at the table, which is not.

1) am i forcing it if i pull the cler and pally aside and say a bit about why they should distrust the warlock?

Yes, but pulling them aside and asking them to flesh out their church's position (one way or the other) on Warlocks could help. Also, do they agree or disagree with the official church position? And has that agreement or disagreement caused them any problems?

2) should i have them make a backstory and "introduce" themselves in character to the others?

Yes, although they don't have to speak "in character." Some people will do that naturally, and some people only speak in the 3rd person even after years of gaming. It's a personal thing and doesn't help anyone to force someone to speak in 1st or 3rd person.

Make sure the back-story has a recent reason for why the PC is here, but that the events are still unfolding (so you play them in the game). An example might be "I'm a city boy recently arrived in this small town because I'm hiding from a Dragonborn loan shark whom I owe 2,000 gp."

3) Should i RP the monsters in combat, as in, a buncha kobolds would likely think the guy with the big sword is the real threat, but a dragon would be smart enough to worry about the warlock 1st.

Yes. Always provide a good example.

4) how should i convey to them they need to use tactics?

A retired castle guardsman at the tavern tells them the story of two Sergeants he used to know: one was careful and always watched the terrain; the other less so. Did I mention only one of them is still alive? The careless one lost lots of men, patrol after patrol, due to his stupid insistence that "A brave charge always demoralizes the enemy" and then one day his men "lost" him while on an extended trek through the mountains.

 

[phil500]

Wow, lots of great stuff here, i am glad i asked.

i was thinking since a cler is divine, a warlock kinda demonic there should be a little room for RP there but looks like you guys are pretty unanimously against it.

I will go over this when i have more time and ask for some elaborations.

 

[malraux]

Wow, lots of great stuff here, i am glad i asked.

i was thinking since a cler is divine, a warlock kinda demonic there should be a little room for RP there but looks like you guys are pretty unanimously against it.

I will go over this when i have more time and ask for some elaborations.

The flavor for the warlock is more of pacts with powers from other planes than explicitly demonic, at least as near as I can tell.

 

[Irda Ranger]

i was thinking since a cler is divine, a warlock kinda demonic there should be a little room for RP there but looks like you guys are pretty unanimously against it.

Three things ...
1. There is room for RP. But it's the player's job to decide on what that RP is. Our objections, specifically, is to you telling your players to not trust each other.

2. There are no demonic warlocks, as far as we know. There are infernal, shadow and fey pact warlocks. Infernal probably refers to Asmodeus and his devils, and Asmosdeus is a god just like the the god the cleric worships; he's not a demon. Shadow and Fey refer to powers of the Feywild and the Shadowfell, neither of whom are necessarily evil.

3. Clerics and Paladins can be evil.