Be Totally Excellent! Help Out a New DM!

[The Whistler]

So, news! Because my experience in the EoA campaign has been so consistently awesome (How awesome? SO AWESOME.), and because I've had a few story ideas kicking around in my head for a couple of months, I've made the extremely ill-advised decision to DM a PbP Ravenloft game of my own, played by a few of my buddies from off the boards.

No wait, come back!

Okay, so here's the kind of neat bit: all six of the players I've recruited are amateur writers--and a few of them do it for a living--but only two of them have ever actually played D&D, and *none* of them have done it in our favorite campaign setting. They're all in it as a creative writing project, more or less, which is great; that's one of the things I like most about the game. More than that, though, I'm really looking forward to introducing them to role-playing in general and Ravenloft in particular: spreading the good word to newbies is always a rewarding exercise.

Anyway, my point was in here somewhere. Right: I'm a first time DM. A *very* first-time DM. And for the three years or so I've been playing this game, I've always fell into the role of "dude searching frantically through five separate sourcebooks trying to find what his attack bonus is again." I feel pretty confident about actually setting up the story structure and writing the thing, but other than that...I really need all the help I can get.

Well, I always say that when in doubt, throw yourself on the mercy of people more talented than you--hence this post. If anyone on the boards would like to help me out with this project, I'd be extremely grateful: I could especially use a cartographer and people good at "crunch", but I'd really be happy with anything.

Details-wise, the campaign's a straight romp through the Western Core and some of the Islands, with a serious emphasis on story over combat and lots of psychological suspense, flashbacks, and mystery solving--3.5 edition rules. It's a bit lower-impact than EoA in terms of post quantity, but still pretty regular; I'm basically asking my players to contribute five paragraph-or-two posts a week, though I'll personally be putting in more time than that.

Ooh, also: since a lot of the plot twists hinge around Ravenloft's particular planar peculiarities (remind me never to alliterate like that again), I'm actually running the game on one of those free-to-set-up independent boards. As awesome as this forum is, I've told my players next to nothing about the campaign setting (not even the name), and I don't want them to ruin the surprise by poking around the FoS site and picking out all the Big Bad Evil Guys.

In any case, though, if you're interested in helping me out, just drop me a PM or comment on this thread, and I'll give y'all more information. I'm not planning to kick this off properly for another month or so, but I'm going to start sending out emails to my players soonish. Thanks so much!

[Isabella]

I know a guy who's good with crunch. He says he's willing to help out on occasion, and I can easily ask him rules questions - what exactly did you need, crunch-wise?

[NeoTiamat]

I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Well, I would be glad to help in any way I can, keeping in mind that EoA is also a first-time effort. (My secret: Luck, copious posting, and taking credit for everything that happens)

Feel free to use any EoA NPCs that strike your fancy. By this point you know the backgrounds of most everyone except Cavendish and Yellow-Eyes, so cherry pick any that you like.

Might want to ask Lostboy about mapping. I'd be willing to give him some EoA XP for it (provided my maps get done first of course. )

[Kaitou Kage]

If you need pretty pictures, I might be able to help out!

[The Whistler]

I know a guy who's good with crunch. He says he's willing to help out on occasion, and I can easily ask him rules questions - what exactly did you need, crunch-wise?

Off the bat? Maybe some advice on how to tweak the firearms rules (looking to make them cost-effective for lower-level PCs and a bit more powerful damage-wise, with the benefits balanced by an extremely long reload time--if that's even feasible), and just some general guidelines on how to effectively structure combat for larger parties, since I've got six players and a few allied NPCs in the mix.

Other than that, I'm basically just looking for someone to bounce tactical scenarios off of before I implement them. Since it's a low-fighting campaign, those won't be happening more than once every couple months, but I'd definitely appreciate a second pair of eyes once I get each battle plan drafted--if only to make sure that they won't fall totally flat.

Thanks so much--and thank him for me, too!

[The Whistler]

Well, I would be glad to help in any way I can, keeping in mind that EoA is also a first-time effort. (My secret: Luck, copious posting, and taking credit for everything that happens)

Wanna guest-write Prof. Ramsay? I was planning on using him briefly in Chapter Two, he's your dude, and you know how to chew scenery...

Might want to ask Lostboy about mapping. I'd be willing to give him some EoA XP for it (provided my maps get done first of course. )

We're PMing as we speak.

If you need pretty pictures, I might be able to help out!

That would be totally hardcore!

I'll be sure to send you guys the forum website and stuff when I get it set up fully--and thanks!

[DocBeard]

I'm mostly proficient in building settings, which you seem to have handled, and crazy ideas for adventures.

That said, good luck! This is a brave project.

As far as firearms go, "Shooting really rarely." is, honestly, not a method D&D of any edition carries well, let alone one accurate in relation to actual firearms. Bows will always dominate crossbows and guns in D&D as long as it sticks to that outdated 'Mildly bigger boom, but longer to load." paradigm.

Just make a gun do a d8's worth of damage, and enhance the boom through magic bullets or rifles, like you would any other weapon.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Off the bat? Maybe some advice on how to tweak the firearms rules (looking to make them cost-effective for lower-level PCs and a bit more powerful damage-wise, with the benefits balanced by an extremely long reload time--if that's even feasible), and just some general guidelines on how to effectively structure combat for larger parties, since I've got six players and a few allied NPCs in the mix.

Well it's been a while since I looked at the details of firearms vs. other weapons, but a good first start that a lot of people use is to make firearms a martial weapon instead of exotic for characters from the more modern domains. Getting rid of that "wasted" feat is a big step toward making them cost-effective.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Well it's been a while since I looked at the details of firearms vs. other weapons, but a good first start that a lot of people use is to make firearms a martial weapon instead of exotic for characters from the more modern domains. Getting rid of that "wasted" feat is a big step toward making them cost-effective.

Heck, if you want to be realistic, make firearms simple weapons and longbows exotic weapons. This is a lot more reflective of the real-world preparation it takes to use one. (You can teach just about anyone to shoot a black-powder musket in a day. It takes years of work to be able to draw a longbow, much less shoot anything with it.)

[steveflam]

If I'm not mistaken, in MotRD if you roll a 6 on the damage roll, you roll again and so on. That's a nice way to get more damage out of a firearm no matter what level you are

[Kaitou Kage]

If you need pretty pictures, I might be able to help out!

That would be totally hardcore!

I'll be sure to send you guys the forum website and stuff when I get it set up fully--and thanks!

Let me know when you're ready and I'll send you a GoogleDoc that has the template I gave Neo for describing characters to be drawn.

[DocBeard]

Doc Beard's Quick Guide To Awesome Combat Scenes
Intro: I've been doing this since I was ten. This is the benefit of that experience, and having made every mistake in the book and learned from them all.

1: Strong Central Concept: Before anything else, you need the heart of a planned fight. What are you trying to do? Is the experience supposed to be a frightening brush with death, a slasher-movie style slog through the shadows, an esoteric experience against beings who need to be fought with words and concepts instead of swords? For example, I wanted my players to fight a dragon amid the ruins of a bandit fort, with the dragon burrowing from hollowed out hut to hollowed out hut, using the remains of the houses as body armor. It seemed like an awesome visual, and I had something to shoot for.

2: Know Your Monsters: For my scene, I wanted to use a brown dragon. So I spent some time going over the stats, the suggested tactics, and other pertinant information. You should have some idea of what you are doing before you start. If you are making up the monster, write out the stats in detail here. You don't have to know it by heart, but nothing kills a combat scene like pausing to open the book and check something: If at all possible, write down the most needed stats(HP, initiative, ect.) on a seperate sheet of paper for quick reference and record keeping.

3: Terrain Is The Game: An often overlooked feature is terrain. To continue my example; how do I represent an abandoned bandit villaige? I decided that, because of the circumstances of my game, I'd have the monster have two 'phases', one where he is inside a building, and one where he is burrowing between them. Inside the building, he gets a strong cover bonus and a bonus to ranged attacks, as he's in a superior position, whereas in transit he has a lower than usual AC and can only make attacks of opportunity or counter attacks because he is busy burrowing. There's a lot of junk around, so I make sure to anticipate my thief player bouncing around like the Prince of Persia, and my witch player hiding behind any cover she can find.

4: Know Your Players: This leads into the terrain bit. How are your players built? What heroic actions could they make? Do you want a specific action to happen? Consider your players OOCly and how to best pull their leavers-one person might refuse to do a narratively obvious action out of sheer cussedness, while another needs that big blinking arrow sign to get past a natural shyness and nervousness about taking the spotlight. Don't be afraid to challenge your players, but remember that unless it is a very specific style of game, a TPK is usually not a failure of the party, it's a failure of the encounter.

5: Know The Rules, Break Them: You are the DM. Your word is law. If you make a call, it doesn't matter if it is supported by the rules or not, because even if you are wrong, right that second, you are right. Do not be unreasonable, because power is not something you want to flaunt, but always 'reconsider your call' instead of making a final call and then waffling at the last second. Generally you should know the rules fairly well, so that you are not unfair, but never ever ever be afraid to break the rules. Generally you will be doing it to make a game more fun, an encounter more exciting, or just to fudge a roll a little when the party is having a bad dice night and it's three AM and time to go to bed. If a really great post misses, maybe you want it to hit-or maybe you don't! I try to mix and match depending on how frustrated my players are. But D&D is all about heroism edging out over the forces of an uncaring, mundane world, and you should always remember that when DMing.

Conclusion: Know when to end a fight. Sure, the crunch might not hack it, but if your players are fatigued, find a way to get the win condition done sooner than later. Remember, bad guys can always retreat.

[The Whistler]

OK, firearms comments first--only so much I can write on a lunch break.

I was actually looking towards something like Nathan and Gonzoron's ideas here, if only because one of the main ways I'm tweaking the setting is to de-medievalize the medieval bits, bringing most of the domains up to the Baroque period or later--my players have made it clear that they'd prefer ripping off Conan Doyle wholesale to ripping off Tolkien wholesale. It's actually made for some neat tweaks: I'm modeling Falkovnia off of Central Europe during the Thirty Years War (with Drakov's advisers dragging him kicking and screaming into the seventeenth century), and part of Rokushima Taiyoo has been Industrial Revolutioned, making for a Late Edo/Early Meiji feel and plenty of what-hath-technology-wrought horror opportunities.

Anyways! Point is, I'd like guns to be common and easy to use (probably simple weapons), but I'd like them to work relatively like they did before people started rifling 'em: that is, as more or less single shot weapons. You have a pistol on you, you can take one powerful shot at a decent range, and then either close to melee or switch to a crossbow or something. If you want any staying power, you need to go with the "brace of pistols" route--which I definitely want to make feasible, if pricey.

I'm starting my PCs at first level, incidentally, so bringing the price down is a serious issue. Tentatively, I was planning on going with something like ewancummins' houserules in the Mists over the Musarde campaign: IIRC, pistols are 50 GP and have double the critical threat range, but they take a full round to reload and Rapid Reload doesn't help. I'd actually be inclined to double that reload time, since even trained musketeers took fifteen seconds between shots IRL.

So, whaddaya think? Balanced? Unbalanced? Neither, somehow?

DocBeard, I'll respond to you after work, since something that detailed deserves more than 5 minutes.

[Kaitou Kage]

I'd advise against trying to be too realistic. Making firearms take too long (more than 1 round) to load makes them untenable and not generally worth using in combat. Suffice to say, a lot of realism in D&D is sacrificed for the sake of enjoyable and gameplay mechanics. I know you've got new players who probably won't know the difference, but if a player has to take two full rounds to reload, that's an AWFUL lot of time in D&D combat terms, and for a relatively little gain.

[The Whistler]

Fair enough. You think it'd work if I made reloading a full-round action but kept the other modifications like I mentioned above?