For the sake of completeness, I'll relate the issue that sparked the discussion. Basically, there was a water tube coming out the side of a mountain that led into a dwarven citadel (I think this is the scales of war path so this could possibly be a spoiler). The citadel was occupied by orcs or something. The tube was originally for getting rid of waste from mining and forging. Every so often they'd open the valves and dump a load.
So anyway, the PC's split the party. One half thinking it'd be a great idea to climb up the tube to get into the citadel, the other half thinking that's just dumb. The half that went up the tube spent quite some time clawing their way to the end of it, only to discover it was locked and there was no way through.
I tend to reiterate the same descriptions over and over.
Also, I sometimes have a hard time finding the balance between leading players along to the next event and letting them run wild with no purpose.
Then again, this is something all GMs face I think.
I even ran a horror-themed Exalted game once. Most of the players I know don't like horror as much as I do, so it ends up bad sometimes.
because I think out of the box
Another time, they were doing some reconnaissance on an enemy occupation of a town. The PC's that went in are very stealthy, in about the +14 range, and they knew the town better than the occupiers. They were sticking to the roofs of all of the nearby buildings and discovered what building it looked like the enemy commander had taken over to make his own for the duration. This is not a big town, nor is it a rich town. Most of these buildings have poor locks if any. And the windows don't even have any as a rule. Sensing an opportunity, the PC's decided to see if they could get inside. They proceeded to roll nothing under a 15 on the die the entire time. They get in, find the commander sleeping and coup-de-grace him. We are using the pathfinder system, which is basically 3.5, so if you are familliar, you know how easy it is to kill someone in their sleep. Needless to say, I hadn't anticipated them rolling so well, and I don't like to allow basic guards who are 20 feet away at night with no light source (cloudy sky) and at most a perception bonus of +6 to see players when they are tolling over 30. It makes the players feel like their skills don't matter. But this outcome was not one I had anticipated fully. The players were happy (they had to leave behind almost all of the possessions since they wouldn't carry them back out the second story window) as they had just decapitated the enemy, but I was dissatisfied with the result as I hadn't really anticipated them being able to pull it off. It was an excursion that didn't involve the whole party so that is my main problem with it - the battle with the big bad guy was denied to half the players.
Top Corner: Primary Trait. In protagonists and antagonists, this is the quality that makes them "good" or "evil". In an NPC, it should be the thing that is most obvious about them. "Lazy" for the Leonard the Guard.There's even a random character diamond generator HERE (http://aii.lgrace.com/documents/html/character_diamond_generator.php) that you can use if you're totally stuck for a minor character's traits. Something I always keep open in my laptop alongside the Fake Name Generator.
Bottom Corner: Opposing Trait. This is a trait that directly conflicts the Primary trait. The interplay between these two would be the main source of conflict for the character. Let's give Leonard "Kind".
Left corner: Supporting Trait. Something that modifies or harmonizes with the Primary trait. Oftentimes, you will find that this trait arises out of the conflict between the Primary and Opposing traits. It should not directly conflict, but it should also not be a repeat. "Stressed" might be a good one for Leonard, as he constantly battles between his desire to do good and his lack of motivation to do anything.
Right Corner: Disruptive Trait or "Shadow Trait". This should run counter to the supporting trait. Oftentimes it will amplify the issues that the supporting trait causes, or make the effects of it worse. It should almost always be a negative trait for the character. So let's give Leonard "Inept"
At the end of the day, Leonard's character diamond looks like this:Lazy
/ \
Stressed Inept
\ /
Kind
Ross switches characters without necessarily switching voices and it works well. They have their own personalities, and feel distinct.
: malyss
Ross switches characters without necessarily switching voices and it works well. They have their own personalities, and feel distinct.
Ross was especially creepy as Jim from the Fear Itself game. (I think that was his name.) I get echoes of that character when Ross does the Water Spirit from the New World.
My absolute favorite, though, is Ross speaking as King Sea-Moss. Damn, he's totally awesome.
I suck at coming up at names on the fly. Personalities, physical descriptions, etc are all fine. But names?
Just two sessions ago, the PCs wanted to talk to a priest. For the people they were talking to I had been using Roman sounding names like Ajax, Titus, Lucioious, Hermese etc.
Pc: "So what's the priests name?"
Me: Ummm uhh his name is ...... ummm, Raùl (even said with the Spanish accent)
Thankfully Raùl did not become very prominent.
I suck at coming up at names on the fly. Personalities, physical descriptions, etc are all fine. But names?
Just two sessions ago, the PCs wanted to talk to a priest. For the people they were talking to I had been using Roman sounding names like Ajax, Titus, Lucioious, Hermese etc.
Pc: "So what's the priests name?"
Me: Ummm uhh his name is ...... ummm, Raùl (even said with the Spanish accent)
Thankfully Raùl did not become very prominent.
Same here. I fucking hate coming up with names.
Same here. I fucking hate coming up with names.
Same here. I fucking hate coming up with names.
I often reply "He doesn't have one" and then continue on, ignoring anything else the player who asked says.
Same here. I fucking hate coming up with names.
I often reply "He doesn't have one" and then continue on, ignoring anything else the player who asked says.
Your players are pussies then. If Ross pulled that shit with me, I would continue to insist until he caved. That's the way I roll though.
Cody absolutely hates the fact that Locke's best pupil in his wizard school is named Anakin. HATES.
I'm considering dipping into popular culture and news for names on the fly. My players will likely find it funny, but I bet they'll remember.
Cody absolutely hates the fact that Locke's best pupil in his wizard school is named Anakin. HATES.
I believe there should be a badass Ranger in all D&D games named Myke Hawk.
If you watch the Soup then you know what I'm talking about.
Say it aloud if you don't get it.