/rrg/ GMing general - Back from the dead edition

Welcome to /rrg/ - Railroading General - A space for GMs and DMs to discuss and ask for advice

Back from the dead Edition

Previous thread

Pastebin: pastebin.com/64rt8Nvn

So I kept bouncing between /wbg/ and /gdg/ thinking there needs to be a general for DMs and GMs actually starting or running games. Since /meta/ is not allowed I'm not asking if this is a good idea I just started making the thread.

If you have DM/GM thoughts, are planning an adventure, need trap ideas, want to ask or answer DM/GM questions, or just hang out with other anons with a God-complex, here is the place. Please respect DM and GM are interchangeable as this is not intended to be system based and not a place to argue the obvious superiority of the one.

Feel free to list resources you think belong in the pastebin.

Thread Question
>What was the spookiest game you ever run?

Subsidiary Question
>Couldn't we change the general's name so it is easier for beginners who don't know Veeky Forums all too well to find it?

Other urls found in this thread:

thealexandrian.net/wordpress/13085/roleplaying-games/jaquaying-the-dungeon
mega.nz/#!DxYCEI7A!rmtrX8uMCPUhHtNNJJW276one4gYDmZBdfVcJcfxQFI
mediafire.com/folder/5yf71laq43c3z/References
twitter.com/SFWRedditVideos

>sub question
Yeah probably. GM advice general would probably work better for the goal I guess.

As for spookiest game, probably my current EP game rife with exsurgency

I have a question for all the GMs here. GMPCs. Are they alright? When are they alright? In the first game I ever joined, the GM cockblocked me from playing what I wanted to play so he could play that class instead. After that, I swore I'd never use a GMPC in any game I run. Recently, I've been putting together a Dragon Age game using the AGE system and I'm kind of tempted to throw in a guy to cover some gap in the group because I kind of want to play and I'll never find a group. Should I stay strong or give in to temptation, brothers? I'd play something super basic so it wouldn't turn into a gary stu stealing the spotlight.

Second question. One person playing two PCs. Would you ever allow it? I've read in different rulebooks that some players want to do that, but I've never encountered that at any of my tables.

Stay strong brother.
If you want to play, try to find a club, or make your players try GMing. Maybe with a GM-less game like Fiasco. If you can't, talk to people you know who play boardgames, vidyas, cardgames... there are more people interested in RPGs than one might initially think there are.
It's okay to have an NPC assisting the party. It's not okay if the GM has a character that is part of the party. If you do it you'll soon realize it's not at all the same thing as being a player, and you're not going to have as much fun.

>second question
Depends on the context. Can you tell us more?

A gmpc and an npc who travels with the party don't have to be the same thing.
If you want to throw them a healer (for example), don't write up a fancy character for it. just have them be an understudy apothecary from the local church who knows some shit but is shy, unremarkable, and not prone to doing anything much other than tagging along and helping.
Basically just an npc hireling who patches a hole, rather than a gmpc who actively plays a role.

As for a player with two characters, I've never seen it happen.
I might be okay with it depending on the character concept and the person playing, but generally I'd probably avoid it

Bumping with a pretty good series of articles about creating dungeons and how to make them more fun and interesting for the players to explore.
thealexandrian.net/wordpress/13085/roleplaying-games/jaquaying-the-dungeon

Oh. I always thought these were actually railroading generals, not just a funny name for gm threads. Huh. Well good to know I suppose.

What, threads for a railroad-based Veeky Forums-made setting perhaps?
Anyway, that's why I'm asking if we should keep the name or change it for something more explicit.

I don't know, I only saw the first one like a week ago and thought it was a joke thread.

Im thinking more explicit i entered the last thread because i thought it was for miniature railroads.

Yeah, that's what I thought too the first time I saw it.
I suggest we rename it /gmg/, for "Game Masters General".

I run Numenera at the moment and after in the 3rd session I introduced my GMPC, because I wanted also to throw some dice from time to time.

It's a quite dumb but curious golem that basically does what the party is telling him and points out some hints occasionally. The only way he progresses in any way is when the party decides to strap some items on him and he only regenerates only if the party is taking care of him.

Don't know if this really qualifies as a GMPC, it feels more like pet.

/gmg/ makes the most sense.

Been doing bit of homebrewing this week, and decided to try hand at magic system of sorts.

The first page is mostly fluff/progression, but 2nd page is more mechanical description. Anything that pisses into your eyes?
I guess it is bit hard to say since you don't know much about surrounding system.
It's more of concept than actual rules document.

oh fuck I am retarded.

Wrong upload?

The one thing that's jumps into my face is that the tier list seems a bit random. Could you provide a complete tier list for one aspect of magic, fire for example?

Probable along the lines of;

>I: Small sparks
>II: Small flame enough to start a campfire.
>III: A bolt of fire that can set flammable objects ablaze.
>IV: Flamethrower
>V: Exploding fireball.
>VI: A column of fire.
>VII: Incendiary Cloud
>VIII: An incinerating ray.
>IX: Firestorm
>X: A massive ray of fire, enough to melt a part of side of a mountain.

I was also thinking of making quick rule about specialization, like "specialize in narrow area, reduce tier of related spells by 1 and increase tiers of every other spell by 1".

Here is the lazy DM guide
mega.nz/#!DxYCEI7A!rmtrX8uMCPUhHtNNJJW276one4gYDmZBdfVcJcfxQFI

and here is a bunch of other stuff that can I found that can be helpful mediafire.com/folder/5yf71laq43c3z/References

>Subsidiary Question
Sounds like a good idea /gmg/ sounds like a fine name

I put the 2nd one in the pastebin, just updated to add the Lazy DM separate

>change the general's name
TOO LATE
also if you put DM or GM into the search it comes up. making it /gmg/ is redundant and is too close to /gdg/. It and excludes those of us who would search DM. in any case it's not ironic humor.

>spend 11 hours making a new OP in msPaint
>thread been up the whole time
nice. like the OP image too

here's mine if someone wants it for a future thread.

/gag/ - GM advice General

>I'm kind of tempted

go get a board and flagellate thyself upon the brain until it passes

BAD GM. BAD.

Has anyone ever run a gladiator arena? I was thinking of having an arena as a low level plot hook, 100gp entry different contests for the party or characters to try their luck at, increase their money. Does the fighter go brawl or the party do a team event? Do they bet on themselves?

I want a little more than just go do a random on demand encounter generator. Some intrigue, cheating, someone gets asked to throw the team match, in addition to "do we buy the ranger a spot in the archery competition or bet the gold on the fighter" dilemma.

It will be a side quest, a rumor that gives them an opportunity to make (or lose) gold even if they just travel there and gamble instead of fight.

Thoughts?

Yeah, I've done it, once, though it was a little more than just straight fights. There were the usual 1v1s, rarely, but most of the time events consisted of dangerous team games that just so happen to facilitate punching the other guy's face. Capture the flag between two teams, king of the hill, racing around using huge chariots pulled by demons and trying to take out the other teams while also winning the race, pretty much every event that you can imagine.

The terrain in the arena itself could change before each match, meaning that some would be in swamps and deserts whilst others would be in volcanic environments or simulated skies. The key is to keep the events fresh, unpredictable, and ensure that everyone at the table pulls their weight, else the group will lose. As for intrigue, the other teams can be pretty much any NPC you want from any region you can imagine.

Its ok I love your new OP too

>alright its time to find some tokens
>1 day later find 3 usable tokens
DIdn't know looking up zombies and finding some that looked alright was so hard.

Where do you guys for your art of bad guy tokens?

Try not to die

Played board games with one of my D&D players and someone else from board game group, the someone else wants to come watch the D&D game and I was like, yeah no. I mean I said sure but I fully intend to forget to mention it. It's not a damn spectator sport and I did offer to run a one shot if he wanted to try it, but no he just wants to watch to see if he likes. Yeah, NO.

I had a few people who wanted to watch me gm online it was a bit odd the only reason why I would think why is because they just want to see how the game works for research like they wanted to run it.

Never. Each player gets one Character. I won't bore you with my horror sorry of watching a DM let a player do that. Mostly because the story is lame.

Also don't GMPC. Just have an NPC in the party. And keep it at that.

I like the name /rrg/ railroad general. Keep it strong and keep it decent. They will come.

Also make sure your not the only person posting the thread.

I have never run an actual Arena campaign. But my party dose do arena battle with our Character sheets when the DM isn't looking.

It might be fun to have an economy based campaign where the players fight and gamble to survive or thrive.
>What's for dinner tonight? Nothing with a side of shit, or turkey with a side of axe to the face.

Don't you die on my watch!
I've been reading thealexandrian.net all day. I think it could be added to the pastebin. Lots of good advice to run sandbox games.

>One person playing two PCs

I grew up playing two PCs but only because dad-me-bro didn't make much of a party even with dad as DMPC (which was still awful) and we each wound up running double PCs.

And I could run two PCs effectively, keep their knowledge and motivations separate, however I've never met another player who could effectively run two PCs and I wouldn't ever ask or necessarily want to (the closest I get is if I run an absent player's PC) because it's munchkin tier to WANT to run two PCs, even if you CAN.

The only way I would allow it is if in some manner they were each half a PC. Like a split personality, or each had half stats when apart (I haven't thought the mechanics through exactly) but *something* that would effectively make it a single PCs power with at most two points of view, not unlike a familiar with a mental link. So like (again without working out the mechanics) they could have two attacks but both would be nerfed to slightly worse than if they were one PC, either could grant the rogue a sneak attack OR they could grant one to each other, but still it wouldn't equal one single PC attack.

one half the PC could get down behind someone and the other could push, but that's about the most OP thing. two conversations in two places at once, fine.

basically it would have to be a thematic "two PCs" and not a munchkin OP two PCs.

these threads are a joke
an inside joke
for GMs
and it's not funny
but that's why it's funny

Do it. Most of the times they'll either keep calm or integrate into the party by themselves. At that point you can give them an NPC, and at the end of the session offer them to turn it into a full blown PC and come to the next game.
If they're being disruptive, just kick them out.

>I wanted also to throw some dice
>and points out some hints occasionally
BAD DM. DOWN BOY. BAD.

google?

I mean the thing is you're not looking for round tokens with a border and shit that happen to be zombies, right? You're looking for zombies then circle cropping their head and adding a border?

I have 6 players already and if they guy couldn't take a hint about not coming in the first place he's not going to understand being a passive observer- I mean case in point I was trying to discuss the game with one of my players and he kept interjecting questions when the whole thing came up. I can just see it now, "why did that happen?" "what if I had X?"

I've had another guy drop in on a one shot that was full and I kicked him out right after passing out the PC sheets, because I started right off with a surprise, and if he was ever going to play it- thing was even though I'd explained that I was going to have to kick him out as soon as we started he still took it really badly and I've never heard from him again.

If either dude wants to learn to play they can play in a little one shot (I offered). If they want to watch he can fucking YouTube that shit. My games aren't a spectator sport.

If I was table-short a player I would hand them a premade and let them join the game temporarily but still not just watch

pic unrelated