>player makes a curveball, major suggestion to an NPC >have to simultaneously consider what the NPC thinks and what would be best for the story/plot from both the players' and my perspectives.
>that player then immediately asks that NPC what another NPC thinks about that suggestion >have to simultaneously figure out what that second NPC thinks, what the first NPC thinks the second NPC is thinking, whether what the second NPCs predicted thoughts would change what the first NPC is thinking about the initial suggestion, what the first NPC is willing to tell the PCs about both what he and the second NPC are thinking, and what would be best for the story/plot from both the players' and my perspectives.
Please don't do this to your DMs. I was frozen for about ten seconds like an awkward loading screen.
>don't make your DM think >just ride the railroad user
End ya life, famalam.
Camden Rivera
Just throw in a few stalling phrases like "That's interesting" or "I have to think about this for a moment" until you figure things out. It's not a big deal at all.
Leo Diaz
That's why you predict fucking everything. I used to have flowcharts and decision trees for almost anything. I was only surprised twice in four years.
Alexander Hernandez
Just tell your players that you in real life need a little time to think, but that the NPC responds immediately. Take a minute to come up with something. The players can be patient.
Elijah Wright
>he doesnt phrase it as a yes or no and then rolls a dice Bad sim
Brandon Wilson
Your players weren't very imaginative in other words.
Joseph Torres
They were, given that they picked up nodes with a 1% ir less chance of happening, it's just that I planned for EVERYTHING, including the what if die x drops at y value when situation z...
Matthew Price
>he doesn't give the vague response immediately and then change the specifics retroactively once they come up Shit GMing, senpai, everyone knows that quantum ogres is the way to go.
Colton Sanchez
So you're a victim of severe OCD instead.
William Morales
It isn't severe OCD but a degree in management with a specialization in decision making and risk management.
Chase Roberts
>Calculating the probability of decision-making in a social environment to prevent surprises you're not prepared for
No, it definitely falls under OCD.
Elijah Hughes
You're retarded. You basically just said "My players asked me something totally fucking normal, and I was too stupid to think of an answer"
Connor Murphy
Just get in character. Think as rhe noc would think not as you being the DM. I had to do this when I DMed a one-player setting for my wife to introduce her to the game.
I fucking enyojed being 4 pkayers at the same time thinking different for each of them while they where camping in thw middle of the night.
Also this
Levi Miller
That's almost sad, what I love about dming is to improvise and see things unfold before my eyes, not prewritting everything : where is your own entertainment here user ? (True question, it's not rhetorical)
Blake Hernandez
>The NPC furrows his brows and leans back in his chair, and pauses for a moment Pause for a moment "for dramatic effect" >Gives answer to his own views
>Ask them first why they want to know the other NPCs views >If they don't give a proper answer, draw it out a bit
Joshua Cooper
Just be honest with your players, come on.
>Ah, shit, sorry guys, just give me a sec, I need to work out how they'll respond to these.
It's easier than being awkward as sin is, for everyone involved.
Mason Allen
I knew you would say that. I have had this conversation 5 times in my head as I typed my response down. Now, to get on your good graces, I admit that maybe it is OCD, but I prefer being the goddamned batman than a schmuck.
Kevin Kelly
I love the preparation. If someone manages to surprise me, they get a case of beer.
Nicholas Barnes
>Spending fucking HOURS doing work where you ultimately use ~5% of your work.
Can confirm he's a manager
Luis Jones
See >>Spending fucking HOURS doing work where you ultimately use ~5% of your work
>I prefer not being a schmuck I have some sad news for you.
Joshua Hernandez
It's okay. I can use and reuse my charts for a lot of stuff. Fuck, I could make an epic CYOA book.
Andrew Ortiz
The party is charged with assisting the general of an army dealing with an invading orc army. What's the first question they ask? Probablilities are not required but I want to see your work.
Brody Hall
From the top of my head >how many men do we have? >can we survive the night? >may i raise the fallen? >i forgot my wallet at the castle, mind if i run back to get it? >who put you in charge? >are there orc women on the other side? >who farted? >do i get a bonus for every orc ear i get back? >why is it always orcs? There are more important questions, but I have put together what seemed the most probable in thos short time. I don't have a context.
Julian Walker
When do I get my beer
Daniel Long
I think the first thing I'd ask is; "Do we know WHY they are attacking?" Other good options: "Our strength vs their strength?" "Who is their leader?" "Give me a rundown of the logistics. Food and army supplies of our own, and theirs. Where are the major orc camps, where are our castles. Do we have any allies anywhere?"
Sebastian Butler
Many people have a hard time juggling portraying an NPC while also having to make important plot decisions simultaneously, and it gets even more complicated with far-reaching agendas and multiple NPC's.
It sounds like a simple question, but you can end up having to pour a lot of computation power into it.
Kevin Evans
You should
Connor Powell
That's what I just said, OP's too retarded to do basic GM stuff.
If you're an IQlet, there's no place for you in Veeky Forums stuff, I'm sorry.
Kevin Phillips
for real tho if this ever happened to my DM i'd just want them to let me know they need to pause things to think out a good answer, i value a cohesive world and character info that will be useful going forward over the illusion that my dm is an all-seeing god.
plus it just feels good to know that A) your dm is putting legit work into this sort of thing, and gives a shit, and B) that you've stumbled upon a path that wasn't originally intended. imo those two facts mean you're both doing your respective jobs to make the game fun.
Ethan Parker
desu not them but I've always wished I could do that. planning out potential reactions to various actions scratches the same itch as general worldbuilding for me, which I enjoy way more than DMing anyways.
Luis White
"How do I get out of this chicken shit outfit?"
Gabriel Lopez
>Please don't do this to your DMs. I was frozen for about ten seconds like an awkward loading screen. So flap your lips for twenty seconds without really saying anything. Big deal. Try repeating the questions back to them to give yourself a second to think. Con men have been doing that trick forever.
>If you're an IQlet, there's no place for you in Veeky Forums stuff, I'm sorry. Bullocks. There's always beer and pretzels, mate. I've played traditional games while drinking till I was too stupid to think straight and we still all had fun. That's not my preferred method of play, mind you, but it can get the job done. And there's nothing wrong with it if everyone's onboard.
But if you can't find two brain cells to rub together, it's true you shouldn't be tackling the more thought intensive pursuits.
Leo Hughes
>My players are used to my loading screens by now. >They use them to check their phones.
Lucas Adams
Dude, if you've already got years of shit all planned out, make a fuckin Zork like. Or a full on Vidya. You've done the massive legwork part already.
I'd play it, desu.
Joseph Cook
>I'd play it, desu. >five pages of dialog options for every conversation.
Lincoln Martin
He didn't. He specifically didn't, you fucking knuckle dragger. He said, "...curveball, major suggestion..." verbatim. In what world doesn't that mean he was asked a difficult question?
Like, you're not supposed to judge him based on the question. You don't know the actual question. All you know was that it was difficult. So, whatever that means for you, all you can do in terms of empathy is be like, "Yep, sometimes questions are tough, I've been there."
Christopher Moore
I want inside this awful thing you've done, as fast as possible.
Jaxon Rivera
>I want inside this awful thing you've done, as fast as possible. Just FYI, that last post wasn't that user, but I knew as soon as I typed it that it would be one user's horror show and another's fetish.
Eli Scott
Confirmed Australian
Alexander Powell
Is that why his laptop is upside down? Like the reverse toilet thing?
William Butler
My group is... unpredicatble
As a DM i've never been able to predict what players will do, at least when it comes to random shit they decide they want to try.
Goblins terrorizing a town? they ended up hiring them as an adventuring support. United the goblin clans after that to help murder the big bad.
Plot beyond a portal that demons just spilled out of? They decide to combine their various powers to nuke the other side before they go through, do enough damage (because of a few crits and multipliers going out of control) to kill the planet, They arrive to a crater, and a planet breaking apart, murdering millions and killing about 12 hours of plot. They paid for that one
Once we had one character decide he had had enough and burst some raptors out of someones chest (a VERY unique use of that power). This was right before they decided to strip nude and ride a raptor through a hospital, preceded by another character opening a portal to go and retrieve another fighter. Who was at home, watching tv. Said player brought the couch with the fuck still sitting in it.
Or the time hey decided to resurrect the big bad because it wasn't a fun enough fight and wanted a do over. Most died the second time around, but the last standing convinced (with an EPIC roll) the big bad to resurrect the other party members. They then curb stomped the fuck otta him.
Or the guy who stealth played a terrifying clown the entire game, only to show up to the last session in costume. Speaking like his character does. Holding a very large Knife (his characters weapon) and grinning.
They are fucking loons and i love them.
Jace Sanchez
>Or the guy who stealth played a terrifying clown the entire game, only to show up to the last session in costume. Speaking like his character does. Holding a very large Knife (his characters weapon) and grinning.
Nathan Cruz
Does not accurately describe the horror, but close enough.
Charles Gonzalez
>stealth played a terrifying clown the entire game How does one "stealth play" that?
Jonathan Smith
>Once we had one character decide he had had enough and burst some raptors out of someones chest (a VERY unique use of that power). This was right before they decided to strip nude and ride a raptor through a hospital, preceded by another character opening a portal to go and retrieve another fighter. Who was at home, watching tv. Said player brought the couch with the fuck still sitting in it. Why the fuck can't the guys I DM for do crazy crap like this?
Elijah Sanders
He only described what he was wearing vaguely, how he looked vaguely.
The players never really caught on, mostly because the plot kept them from questioning it, and it never came up as a plot hook (Nobody questions anything in post apocalyptic). I was DMing, and he did really really good job of not being obviously a clown.
When the penny dropped, we fucking lost it.
That game is 'You wake up in a dark room' something i do before a session to get everyone going. It's literally 'You wake up in a dark room, what do you do?"
The results are always amazing.
Also i refuse to play with power gamers, so i have to put together groups of noobs (usually people that 'old hats' tend to ostracize, or the type of people that get intimidated by overbearing neck beards, or women i play with a lot of women). They often surprise me.
Ethan Sanchez
I can't tell if this glorious or stupid. Probably both at once somehow. Do you mind posting those flowcharts? I'm curious
David Young
Go back to Africa, spear chucker
Asher Price
Boxcar Joe?
Joseph Morgan
I got really good at coming up with shit on the fly. I don't even create a story anymore I just create characters and let the PCs interact with them to create a narrative.
Jose Perez
I do the same in my Shadowrun sessions. My players will never do anything standard anyway so it's actually much easier to shape the world around them as they do what they do.
Josiah James
Someday user you'll meet that special player that's to retarded to predict.
Excellent example of unpredictable tardkings Did you happen to see the DBZ Kai parody episodes? >Goku goes super saiyan 1st time >Freeza: Ok so what's going on here? >I AM A SUPER SANDWICH!!!
