D&D 5e, starting a game soon, any DM's have tips?

No1newts · 13 Feb 2017 at 12:11

Pookie Bear;30497893 said:
I've not forgotten - we have six in the group and there just isn't space, physically to fit another in. If you're up for it, maybe the next time we're a man down, I'll give you a shout for a one-off? We often play Call of Cthulhu or random games on weeks off (usually at least once every couple of months). That's how our last member joined, actually - he came along for a one-off game and RP'd a farmer with delusions of grandeur who nearly killed our cleric throwing a sword. Good times - it was before we blogged our games, so no written records, sadly.

Yeah I would appreciate that

My group will probably miss a session this month sadly, one of our players has a two week window (he works abroad) each month and last weekend was a nightmare for me then this weekend being valentines weekend I'm struggling to pull it together.

As a side topic are there any good pen and paper rpg's with an investigation sort of focus? I'm struggling to pull together a coherent investigative/murder mystery session for the story continuation. I'm going to chuck in a couple of sidelines and one shots to keep thing ticking over whilst I try and sort out something fun for them. Really keen to do it but yeah, struggling a little.

Pookie Bear · 13 Feb 2017 at 14:22

Just for the record, we only play Thursday nights, from half 7 to half 10 - and we usually play at my place, which is in West Moor.

As for investigation, I can highly recommend Call of Cthulhu. The main game is set in the 1920s, but you get a modern supplement. The players are actually called investigators, and while most of it is occult-related, there's nothing to stop you just putting in a normal mystery. If you haven't played before, everyone plays someone normal who just happens to find themselves thrust into a world they never knew existed - and you all slowly go insane - it's inevitable that the entire party dies one by one

Our last CoC groups was made up of a journalist, an ex-boxer, a retired air force pilot, an antiques salesman and an archaeologist. Good times.

No1newts · 13 Feb 2017 at 14:53

Pookie Bear;30499118 said:
Just for the record, we only play Thursday nights, from half 7 to half 10 - and we usually play at my place, which is in West Moor.

As for investigation, I can highly recommend Call of Cthulhu. The main game is set in the 1920s, but you get a modern supplement. The players are actually called investigators, and while most of it is occult-related, there's nothing to stop you just putting in a normal mystery. If you haven't played before, everyone plays someone normal who just happens to find themselves thrust into a world they never knew existed - and you all slowly go insane - it's inevitable that the entire party dies one by one

Our last CoC groups was made up of a journalist, an ex-boxer, a retired air force pilot, an antiques salesman and an archaeologist. Good times.

West Moor is no bother, about 10-15mins from my work so I would just work late one night

I'll have a little look at Call, I think you can get the quick start free on PDF. Is it inevitable you lose? So you can't continue on with characters?

Pookie Bear · 13 Feb 2017 at 22:39

You can continue, but there's no high levels in CoC. Each time you see something horrible, there's a chance you'll fall a sanity check, and it's a downhill trip. Of course, could skip the occult stuff, but you'd be missing out.

No1newts · 13 Feb 2017 at 23:15

Had a read of the quick guide, seems quite cool though in an rpg I find it strange there's no long term character progression but I guess I'm used to DnD where it's all about progression.

I've just had my game called on for the weekend and I'm very tempted to test drive the Call investigation attached to the quick start especially when I'm horribly unprepared for this weekend

Either that or go with a side yarn I've been spinning on a zombie overtaken town (4 of my 5 players and walking dead nuts)

Pookie Bear · 14 Feb 2017 at 08:24

No1newts said:
Had a read of the quick guide, seems quite cool though in an rpg I find it strange there's no long term character progression but I guess I'm used to DnD where it's all about progression.

I've just had my game called on for the weekend and I'm very tempted to test drive the Call investigation attached to the quick start especially when I'm horribly unprepared for this weekend

Either that or go with a side yarn I've been spinning on a zombie overtaken town (4 of my 5 players and walking dead nuts)

Well, the entire group I mentioned above is dead - and not all at the same time. There's no resurrection, so they slowly trickled away until my character, the journalist Wally Winkelstein, was the last to die - even though he was the least trusted (his paranoia meant he took notes on everyone and left them in safety deposit boxes stashed around the city

).

No1newts · 18 Feb 2017 at 00:52

Well we played Call tonight and possibly had one of my best RPG experiences ever

It may not have had as so much to do with Call and more that the slightly more relaxed and exploratory game style just led to complete insanity which tends to happen with my group. We had a Hit(wo)man who declared how much they were a cold bloded killer and ended up blubbing like an emotional wreck at next to anything, a hobo, an 84 year old scientist who wanted to wail on everything with his slipper, egghead the senator & an explorer/environmentalist who was obsessed with finding "the earth spirits"

We were playing the "Haunting" investigation from the quick guide and it was pretty poorly wrote, my group were off to see a morgue (which wasn't written in and led to a 'Allo 'Allo style conversation between my created French mortician and the scientist who was mirroring all my accents) the Jail (where my Scottish governor met cheat mode player senator who thought saying "I'm a senator" would unlock everything and the escape artist with a spoon which stopped the game for about 10mins of laughter) and Rastafarian salesman who I inserted to move along the story. The Sanitarium went somewhat off peice as well with the receptionist being an evil genius with Giggles the Kitten and the environmentalist screaming at the patients "have you seen my eye!" I was making so much up off the cuff we were just off on (amusing) tangents all the time.

We actually somehow completed the scenario taking probably 3 hours longer than it should but had a great time, I don't think it was so much Call than it was being able to play in the more relaxed/exploratory game style RPG & everyone had such a good time I am tempted to hunt out a good collaborative story teller game to trial with the group.

It doesn't look half as funny written down but it was amazing fun, the French scene perhaps the highlight with;
"he was dead... by gun"
"by gun?"
"by gun"
"not shot?"
"by gun"
"So he hit him with the gun?"
"Zitalore do you not understand French?!?!"

Pookie Bear · 24 Feb 2017 at 14:55

gradyhawks said:
Pictures man, we need pictures!

Here you go!

In person, the viewing angles are not a problem and Infinitas DM is a great program for our needs.

Pookie Bear · 24 Feb 2017 at 15:01

Also, since those photos, I've touched up the corners with some filler, fixed one corner which poked up a bit, and varnished the entire thing. Just needs a perspex cover and it's good to go.
Planned upgrades are some cooling (although heat isn't an issue at the moment), fitting a carry handle, internal cable fittings and extending the HDMI and power ports through holes in the side for ease of use.

Bickaxe · 24 Feb 2017 at 15:26

I like that. Might re-visit my ideas but not sure which one to go with. I do like the fact that its easily portable as we don't always game at home. On the other hand, I like to make things complicated so the mac mini would be integrated into the DM end of the table and hooked up to a projector on the ceiling to beam onto the table (might need a projector that can beam onto the wall as well so I can watch stuff when its not being used to game with)

Pookie Bear · 25 Feb 2017 at 21:31

I considered a projector option, but it would be no use if we played elsewhere, and it would mean playing in the dark - which would be difficult half of the year (and make paper records less useful).

No1newts · 26 Feb 2017 at 07:17

Good stuff pookie, nice setup!

I run with a whiteboard and markers

somewhat lower tech than yours haha.

Pookie Bear · 2 Mar 2017 at 12:10

No1newts said:
Yeah I would appreciate that

You may be in luck. One of our group is missing two weeks at the end of April as he's off on holiday. Now, assuming that I'm not also on a last minute holiday (it's half-term), then we will have a seat at the table free.

No1newts · 2 Mar 2017 at 20:19

I'm away on holiday 9th-13th but apart from that I'm about.

Trust me dates and contact details if you want and we can sort something out!

Pookie Bear · 13 Mar 2017 at 08:59

No1newts said:
I'm away on holiday 9th-13th but apart from that I'm about.

Trust me dates and contact details if you want and we can sort something out!

I'll get to you with details as soon as I know more. I'll probably get definite dates on Thursday.

We're playing our "high levels" - a squad of level 12-ish who have been through Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Tyranny of Dragons together. Unfortunately, they failed and Tiamat is on the Material Plane and her forces are decimating the Sword Coast, so the entire world is a bit fubar. Fortunately, this was in the days I blogged all our games, so we have records of some great memories - I'll send you the link once I have dates and stuff. Just so you can see what you're teamed up with - the party is serious, but hilarious.

No1newts · 13 Mar 2017 at 09:31

Pookie Bear said:
I'll get to you with details as soon as I know more. I'll probably get definite dates on Thursday.

We're playing our "high levels" - a squad of level 12-ish who have been through Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Tyranny of Dragons together. Unfortunately, they failed and Tiamat is on the Material Plane and her forces are decimating the Sword Coast, so the entire world is a bit fubar. Fortunately, this was in the days I blogged all our games, so we have records of some great memories - I'll send you the link once I have dates and stuff. Just so you can see what you're teamed up with - the party is serious, but hilarious.

Aye sounds good, I'll read up and I'm sure I can write something in that doesn't jar with what is going on campaign wise.

We've a reduced group next week as the lad who works away is on a swing shift. I've been making up a game of my own which is a very open ended system to allow them to do pretty much what they want as that's normally where we end up anyway. With us missing a player I'm tempted to trial the system as a play test to see what occurs and how the rules work out. Could be interesting

Pookie Bear · 21 Mar 2017 at 12:01

No1newts said:
Aye sounds good, I'll read up and I'm sure I can write something in that doesn't jar with what is going on campaign wise.

Trust message sent with details for you.

No1newts · 22 Mar 2017 at 15:09

Pookie Bear said:
Trust message sent with details for you.

Saw it buddy, I'll get back to you.

Bickaxe · 5 Apr 2017 at 02:27

We usually have a Sunday evening session (4 players) and my missus is the GM. Currently its a Dwarf version of Stargate but she now has ideas for a modern day setting only the world has been invaded by monsters so its a bit apocalyptic. She goes mad on prep and its always fun.

However, in order to give her some time to do all this, I run a few one-shots. I had a bunch of pre-gen characters so the players just pick whichever they fancy playing that session.

With Easter in mind (I usually run a themed session at various times of the year) does anyone have any suggestions for a plot?
They have in the past fought the Easter Bunny and been on a egg hunt. I'd like something silly and also to hit them with a few surprises that I/we may not have come across before. I'll be making new characters for them (we use Pathfinder rules).
Lich Jesus or man-eating lambs maybe? Struggling to think of anything easter related.

No1newts · 7 Apr 2017 at 10:38

You could base it upon the (rumoured) pagan origin of Easter where Ishtar goes into underworld to try and rescue her dead husband Tammuz from the underworld. Could have the PC's helping Ishtar as a pretty simple quest. The actual myth is a fair bit more involved than the above but using that as a basic run through could be fun.