Game night, and the party completed the dungeon (all except one friend who couldn't make it. It was suggested I take on his role but I just decided for an unexplicable reason he wasn't there) and defeated the guy at the end. It went well.
The party managed to set fire to a room filled with dry rags and two giant moths (it started as one moth which Multiplies on attack). Elisa (our thief) decided to set fire to one which then began bumping round the round. Crackly, smokey fun ensued.
There then followed a massively clumsy fight with three Skellingtons, with all sides swinging their swords about and missing each other. It ended with a magnificent spear chuck by Grumlore the Barbarian as one Skellington ran to escape, pinning him to the ground. Actually, despite the previous farce of a fight, Grumlore is pretty effective at killing things. He literally squashed a Skellington in a later battle and sliced a Skellington Chef in two.
It ended nicely, with all the prisoners being released and the main foe being killed. All the party suffered at his hands, but they just about pulled it off.
I'm excited because now this first dungeon is behind them, they can now go out and explore the world I'm putting together for them.
What I learnt.
It seems I becoming the sort of GM who is enjoys the role-play rather than the dice roll. If a PC tries to pull of something that should be completely dictated by a dice roll or correct round play, I'd much rather them just go for it for dramatic purposes and an exciting game.
Saying that, I enjoy rolling dice for fights. I try to get through this as quickly as possible as it makes for a more dramatic and fun fight. Again, I have a feeling I skipped a few rules but no-one complained.
I also really need a better way of keeping track of stuff, and making sure I have everything to hand.
I really enjoyed the night and came home with my head buzzing with stuff.
Showing posts with label actual play. Show all posts
Showing posts with label actual play. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
Tuesday, 20 August 2013
Silver!
Tonight's second session was great.
Without the character gen we were able to dive straight in with things.
A Character "Caerphilly the Swashbuckler" received a fatal wound, failed two saving throws, so the other PCs carried him back up through the dungeon (they hadn't gotten that far in) and back to the Inn to see if there was a doctor in the village to help in. There was, but sadly it was too late and the character died.
The new character "Joe" is great, he seems to rush in without thinking. I hope he doesn't die though there's a high chance he will.
The rest of the group are also brilliant, with a bit more play time their characters are starting to come out. Grumlore the Barbarian is quiet yet slightly grumpy, Scape Goot the Wizard is getting more drinky and Elise the Thief really loves her silver and, as it turns out, is rather handy with a whip.
They seemed to enjoy rampaging round the rooms I've put together.
I had set up a room of jars, each containing a random nasty/pleasant suprise. As the first jar that was opened ( I say opened, Grumlore smashed the jar onto the ground) seemed to be full of silver, Joe decided this is what all the jars contained and with a shout of 'Silver!' he took his club and smashed a load of jars in one fell swoop. Chaos, as it does, ensued.
Things I've learnt.
Seeing the players actually going through the environment you're creating is the most fun thing to watch.
Unpredictability in players is good, do not be afraid of it.
Draw and create more things to give to the players, they seemed to like it.
Learn to listen to everyone talking.
If I stop worrying about what is happening, I can make stuff up on the spot and let the players run loose.
I must remember to write down stuff I've made up on the spot and weave it back into the game.
Trust in the basic framework.
Because the world I'm playing in is being made up as I go, it seems the best way to get information about it is to listen to the players. Tonight I discovered that Magic Users have Masters and that the main city (Crow) has a library (actually, I learnt this from an NPC but still…I hadn't thought about it before).
Just because a magical item is placed, don't assume the players will use it.
Don't make little happy noises when players head towards a room that you really like. It sort of gives things away…
We're not gaming for a little bit, due to holidays and the like, which means I can crack on with world building and thinking up more campaign ideas. Essential, this is all just means I get to make things up and do some drawing, which is part of the whole fun of this.
Without the character gen we were able to dive straight in with things.
A Character "Caerphilly the Swashbuckler" received a fatal wound, failed two saving throws, so the other PCs carried him back up through the dungeon (they hadn't gotten that far in) and back to the Inn to see if there was a doctor in the village to help in. There was, but sadly it was too late and the character died.
The new character "Joe" is great, he seems to rush in without thinking. I hope he doesn't die though there's a high chance he will.
The rest of the group are also brilliant, with a bit more play time their characters are starting to come out. Grumlore the Barbarian is quiet yet slightly grumpy, Scape Goot the Wizard is getting more drinky and Elise the Thief really loves her silver and, as it turns out, is rather handy with a whip.
They seemed to enjoy rampaging round the rooms I've put together.
I had set up a room of jars, each containing a random nasty/pleasant suprise. As the first jar that was opened ( I say opened, Grumlore smashed the jar onto the ground) seemed to be full of silver, Joe decided this is what all the jars contained and with a shout of 'Silver!' he took his club and smashed a load of jars in one fell swoop. Chaos, as it does, ensued.
Things I've learnt.
Seeing the players actually going through the environment you're creating is the most fun thing to watch.
Unpredictability in players is good, do not be afraid of it.
Draw and create more things to give to the players, they seemed to like it.
Learn to listen to everyone talking.
If I stop worrying about what is happening, I can make stuff up on the spot and let the players run loose.
I must remember to write down stuff I've made up on the spot and weave it back into the game.
Trust in the basic framework.
Because the world I'm playing in is being made up as I go, it seems the best way to get information about it is to listen to the players. Tonight I discovered that Magic Users have Masters and that the main city (Crow) has a library (actually, I learnt this from an NPC but still…I hadn't thought about it before).
Just because a magical item is placed, don't assume the players will use it.
Don't make little happy noises when players head towards a room that you really like. It sort of gives things away…
-------------------------
We're not gaming for a little bit, due to holidays and the like, which means I can crack on with world building and thinking up more campaign ideas. Essential, this is all just means I get to make things up and do some drawing, which is part of the whole fun of this.
Tuesday, 6 August 2013
Cellar Exploration
Last was the first RPG night for about ten or fifteen years.
Overall I think it went pretty well.
We didn't get very far into the adventure, and probably spent about half an hour or so rolling up characters, but once we started it was enjoyable.
Things Of Note
I think my spell-caster may become a functioning alcoholic. He became very interested in the old bottles I had placed in one part of the cellar they were exploring and threw a few into his backpack, along with two bottles he had already purchased. He kept swigging from the bottle, so I'm going to keep an eye on it. If he has too much it might start effecting rolls. How many swigs in a bottle of wine anyway?
Things which I had just written in quickly suddenly became really important to the players, even though they were just throw away to me. I had forgotten that. I suppose I was so focused on what was happening in the dungeon, the back story and what's going to appear in the rooms I wasn't expecting to be asked by the PCs what the walls felt like, was it cold, etc.... I had to make that stuff up on the fly.
I need to watch what I'm doing and not get excited when the PCs are going in the direction I want them to, and not get all Railroady when they don't. It's entirely down to them what to do and I need to act non-plussed about whatever they want to do.
The next session is planned for two weeks time, which is great because I can now tinker with parts of the dungeon and flesh it out a little more. I can also start to think about expanding the world they're playing in, so if they do make it out, they will have something to do.
We didn't get very far into the adventure, and probably spent about half an hour or so rolling up characters, but once we started it was enjoyable.
Things Of Note
I think my spell-caster may become a functioning alcoholic. He became very interested in the old bottles I had placed in one part of the cellar they were exploring and threw a few into his backpack, along with two bottles he had already purchased. He kept swigging from the bottle, so I'm going to keep an eye on it. If he has too much it might start effecting rolls. How many swigs in a bottle of wine anyway?
Things which I had just written in quickly suddenly became really important to the players, even though they were just throw away to me. I had forgotten that. I suppose I was so focused on what was happening in the dungeon, the back story and what's going to appear in the rooms I wasn't expecting to be asked by the PCs what the walls felt like, was it cold, etc.... I had to make that stuff up on the fly.
I need to watch what I'm doing and not get excited when the PCs are going in the direction I want them to, and not get all Railroady when they don't. It's entirely down to them what to do and I need to act non-plussed about whatever they want to do.
The next session is planned for two weeks time, which is great because I can now tinker with parts of the dungeon and flesh it out a little more. I can also start to think about expanding the world they're playing in, so if they do make it out, they will have something to do.
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