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[Megalosaro]

Picked up the new Adventures in Middle Earth Player's Guide.

Looks good, excited to get it on the table. I always wanted to play The One Ring but many of the supplements are out of print, plus people don't want to purchase a lot of new books and materials.

I hope the publishers find success with Adventures in Middle-Earth, would like to see more crossover properties use the D&D5E ruleset.

I've been thinking about picking it up. I don't think is play it,but I lI've a well designed rulebook.

Speaking of which I have the new volo's guide. It's p good. The new races are eh though

 

[TonkatsuAddict]

Where do you guys keep up with RPG news? I've always just gone to shops or picked up recommendations through the grapevine. And I listen to a couple podcasts.

Just grapevine for me. I have so many games I've only been able to play once, if at all, that I don't go out of my way to look for new stuff anymore.

 

[Megalosaro]

Where do you guys keep up with RPG news? I've always just gone to shops or picked up recommendations through the grapevine. And I listen to a couple podcasts.

Pretty much just the dnd reddit. Or searching google.

To expound on my previous thoughts on Volo... I don't think I'd let my players use any of the new player races except maybe the monster races in a side campaign being run adjadent.

It'd be kind of cool to run a villain campaign to run in conjunction occasionally in order to offer a different perspective.

The lore and new monsters ate pretty near. I like the orc that explodes

 

[Keasar]

I find it a bit funny how some seem to be hailing the new D&D Monster Guide as "revolutionary", when we Swede's have done the whole lore bits in monster books for 15 years with the book Jorge's Bestarium that I have mentioned before:

Spent the evening reading the book Jorges Bestiarium for Drakar och Demoner. My oldest DoD book in my collection. It is an absolutely fantastic read for a bestiary. The book is built so that each monster is first introduced with a story told from the perspective of the traveling bestiary writer Jorge Gronfjard, often quite exciting or horrifying tales of his encounters with the various creatures, some just told as a second-hand stories as he have heard from other travellers (often followed by him finding some proof of the creatures existance). This is then followed by images and then by the more describing stuff for roleplaying game purposes. I remember reading this book about ~10 years ago down at the local gameshop and bought it shortly after, not because I had the rules or wanted to play the game, but because it was such an exciting collection of tales about monsters that closely resembles scandinavian folklore.

Some image examples of the creatures. A Forest Giant, a Kingstroll, a Logedragon (Loge or Logi, meaning flame, was the giant who ruled over fire in scandinavian mythology) and lastly my favourite, the Icetrolls.

Nice to see though that D&D takes notice of how much it improves the monster book if you also get a feel for each individual creature using a story as base inspiration.

 

[Dreavus]

Where do you guys keep up with RPG news? I've always just gone to shops or picked up recommendations through the grapevine. And I listen to a couple podcasts.

I am deep into Dungeon World, so I mostly just hang around in the google plus community for that game. It's surprisingly active, and people post resources/announcements for stuff all the time. The subreddit is decent as well.

General news? No idea. I only know about half of the RPGs that I do (many in name only) because of cross talk, lol.

 

[shingi70]

Never played one of these, and I want to convince a group to try dc adventures.

Any good new player assets.

 

[Bear Force One]

Never played one of these, and I want to convince a group to try dc adventures.

Any good new player assets.

I believe there is a free QuickStart for DC Adventures.


Yup. Here it is.

http://freeronin.com/3e_files/DCA_Quick_Start.pdf

 

[Keasar]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/tales-from-the-loop-roleplaying-in-the-80s-that-ne

I. Fucking. Love. Simon Stålenhags' Tales from the Loop books.

 

[Triteon]

So I went to pax AUS in early November and ended up playing a lot of D&D with a friend of mine. Now he wants to play something and I have been able to wrangle three other people into a game. So we are going forward but because I'm the only one with experience I'm going to GM or ST or DM depending on system.

However Its been more than 10 years since I ran anything (last this I ran was a mage the ascension game before there was a NWOD) and I have to admit I'm a bit afraid. I want to make sure the guys that are interested but a little sceptical have a good time and I want to make sure I don't get flummoxed.

I'm thinking of running savage worlds with a Drifters anime theme, its a bit complex but I just cant do regular swords and sorcery so adding in people from different parts of earth's past seems doable without getting too complex in that system.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to tailor a game where a few players are interested but kind of need to be sold and a few players who are down? how do you stop those players who are really invested from just running everything?

 

[ThLunarian]

So I went to pax AUS in early November and ended up playing a lot of D&D with a friend of mine. Now he wants to play something and I have been able to wrangle three other people into a game. So we are going forward but because I'm the only one with experience I'm going to GM or ST or DM depending on system.

However Its been more than 10 years since I ran anything (last this I ran was a mage the ascension game before there was a NWOD) and I have to admit I'm a bit afraid. I want to make sure the guys that are interested but a little sceptical have a good time and I want to make sure I don't get flummoxed.

I'm thinking of running savage worlds with a Drifters anime theme, its a bit complex but I just cant do regular swords and sorcery so adding in people from different parts of earth's past seems doable without getting too complex in that system.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to tailor a game where a few players are interested but kind of need to be sold and a few players who are down? how do you stop those players who are really invested from just running everything?

Before the game starts, during character creation, make your players get invested in their characters. Make sure they have solid backgrounds and core values. Don't let them slide by with "I am a barbarian. I like killing things." Make them figure out that they were actually kidnapped as a baby by their barbarian tribe during a raid on a village, where one of the raiders took pity on him because the rest of his family was slaughtered. Maybe he learns this at the start of the campaign or shortly before it, causing him to shun his tribesmen and strike out on his own, which leads him to meeting the rest of the party.

Or whatever. But anyway, if they get invested in their character then they will stay interested in the game. And if they know their character's background and core values, they will be more likely to chime in during a discussion because they will have a blueprint for how their character might respond to a given situation.

Fortunately, the 5e rulebook is very good at guiding players to do this. They put a heavy emphasis on character background and personality. So it should serve you well.

 

[A Grizzly Bear]

Is there a trick to finding a newbie friendly game on Roll20? Finding a lot just flag their game as "Welcomes New Players, but then turn you down when they find out you're completely new to D&D.

 

[TonkatsuAddict]

Is there a trick to finding a newbie friendly game on Roll20? Finding a lot just flag their game as "Welcomes New Players, but then turn you down when they find out you're completely new to D&D.

I've never looked for a game, so I unfortunately can't help, but I have to say, that's a shame. I'd love to run a game with some eager newbies, especially if all the players are new. Unfortunately, I just don't have the time, but good luck to you!

 

[ThLunarian]

I am taking the plunge and running a real, plot-heavy game in person soon, using the GURPS system.

It's going to be a space-faring adventure that uses analogs for Star Trek's Federation, Cylons, the Star Wars Empire, and the setting for Firefly as the major powers of the quadrant. Also a healthy dose of strictly regulated time travel.

The PCs will be the senior staff on this setting's version of the Enterprise.

I've never really run a serious game with players at an actual table before. I'm pretty excited! Already got all my books together and I've ordered a GURPS 4e GM screen. I've created various godbooks and player guides for the setting and I probably have the first three or four sessions all planned out and ready to go.

The only thing I'm worried about is that I am not the very good at improvising on the fly. Hopefully this will give me the practice I need to get good at it though.

 

[Bear Force One]

Looking forward to your campaign updates!

 

[Nappuccino]

More or less a cross post from the Board Game thread, but I'm wanting to bring a Cthulhu-based game to my game night group and I'm trying to decide between Call of Cthulhu and Arkham Horror. Are there any strong optinions about either game?

The group is a DnD focused bunch for the moment, and they really like the role-playing and character building aspects of DnD (also the phobias and manias sound amazing), so I'm leaning a bit toward CoC. I'm trying to put a CoC game together using the Quick Start guide, so that should help us know. But I've heard mostly great things about Arkham Horror too. I guess both are good options, but I'm curious as to which might be best.

 

[ultron87]

I mean CoC is a tabletop RPG and Arkham Horror is a board game. They're super different.

If you want a board game I'd actually play Eldritch Horror which is the Arkham Horror "sequel". I think it's a much better designed game. Or there's Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition which is a little closer to an RPG, since your exploring an area and trying to solve a mystery, but still at its heart a strict rules based board game. None of these will give you the improvisation and storytelling opportunities that Call of Cthulhu will give you.

CoC does require a prepared gamesmaster and stuff like that so if you don't want to do that or want everyone to be on the same "team" that could push you towards the board games.

 

[Mike M]

Anyone pick up or have impressions on Kobold Press's Tome of Beasts? Is it worth picking up? I vastly prefer additional creatures/spells/classes etc. over adventure modules, and at the very least it must be better than Fifth Edition Foes because most anything would be.

 

[Nappuccino]

I'm trying to get a handle on the CoC character sheets. What do all of the percentages in parenthesis mean? Does every character have access to these skills in a basic way, but the occupational skills/hobby skills just make them better? If so, do they still get half and fifth percentages?

I guess I'm wondering how someone would, for instance, do a library check or fight without the skills picked.

Edit: question answered

 

[Bear Force One]

Anyone pick up or have impressions on Kobold Press's Tome of Beasts? Is it worth picking up? I vastly prefer additional creatures/spells/classes etc. over adventure modules, and at the very least it must be better than Fifth Edition Foes because most anything would be.

Quality release. Here's ENWorld's lust of user reviews. - http://www.enworld.org/forum/productforums.php?do=matches&productid=357

 

[Nappuccino]

Played our first Call of Cthulhu game and I ran The Haunting from the quick start guide. Everyone but one person died. She ran from Corbett's basement in horror. I'm not sure it could have gone better.

 

[Megalosaro]

My group voted on our next campaign. They picked Strahd.


I was thinking of having the party first encounter a wolf upon arriving in Barovia. The wolf would howl before turning into mist.

Thoughts?

 

[Bear Force One]

My group voted on our next campaign. They picked Strahd.


I was thinking of having the party first encounter a wolf upon arriving in Barovia. The wolf would howl before turning into mist.

Thoughts?

Very atmospheric. I love an evocative opener.

 

[Megalosaro]

My players are giving me tons of material to work with. I'm going to pay up strahd as a seducer. One player is a paladin. That's an obvious target. Another is a Druid who is morning her dead child. Potential there too

 

[Keasar]

Soooo, Im watching Stranger Things.

Both Tales from the Loop and Stranger Things are both about weird 1980's, one of the included settings in the original book art book (which is from 2014) was a American town called Boulder City (now included as a campaign city in the RPG), and they just used a lie that "El" was from Sweden.

Im not saying it's aliens but...

 

[Speely]

Any Cypher System fans in here? (Rules system for Numenera, The Strange, and Gods of the Fall.)

I am building a campaign setting that uses it right now and I marvel every day at just how much it makes doing so easier in every conceivable way (which is saying a lot since design of this type can be a fucking nightmare in my experience.)

I am sort of selfishly-psyched about running this system since it speaks directly to how I like to run games: focus on narrative, power to the players, and fast resolution of action-based encounters so that we can cover more ground per-session.

 

[Keasar]

I have some confusions regarding Cypher, like Might in Numenera, does spending Might for actions mean you spend health? Or is health a separate pool?

 

[Speely]

I have some confusions regarding Cypher, like Might in Numenera, does spending Might for actions mean you spend health? Or is health a separate pool?

It means spending "health," technically. Your Might pool is what most physical damage received subtracts from, but not all. PCs don't have a "health" stat (npcs do) but instead both spend points from their stat pools on "effort" and for special ability use, and take damage to one of their pools (Might, Speed, or Intellect.) There are lots of ways to recover points for your stat pools, though, and aptitude does not diminish because a relevant pool is low, as opposed to empty.

There are Edge stats that reduce this cost for ability use and effort. So some abilities can become free to use, or very cheap. Since there are a lot of low-cost abilities for new characters that remain relevant as they progress, this means that a lot of go-to abilities become free/cheap for moderately-powerful characters unless they want to pour a bunch of "effort" into an ability use.

 

[Nappuccino]

Two quick questions.

Has anyone played the new Delta Green? I'm thinking of picking it up since my friends liked CoC so much, and the out of mission life stuff sounds neat. Is it still compatible with the old coc supplement scenarios? Is there any reason to pick up the old basic book?

Are there any new PnP games worth checking out? I've been trolling gene stores lately and they have a handful of PnP game systems I've never heard of. While I'm probably going to stick with CoC and maybe Delta Green for a while, I might pick up a few books before long just to get a feel for the game.

 

[TheWorthyEdge]

Hey guys, Happy New Year's!

Was wondering how I could do a Yakuza type DnD and what system I would use? Pathfinder? Cypher?

 

[Speely]

Hey guys, Happy New Year's!

Was wondering how I could do a Yakuza type DnD and what system I would use? Pathfinder? Cypher?

Happy New Year!

The Cypher System could work very well for a game like this, whether as a more realistic modern setting or a more urban fantasy kind of setting (it's easy to just not use the magical stuff, for example.) Actually sounds like a fun setting for this, imo.

However, while it can swiftly handle the combat and social interactions a Yakuza game would almost certainly have in abundance, there might not be enough crunch to it to provide a deep martial arts system, if that's important to you. Combat mechanics here are pretty simple (but flexible,) so if you wanted a more detailed representation of fighting styles, you would prolly have to plug it into the system yourself. Gunplay is fast and simple in CS, so that part is good-to-go out of the box.

If you want more of a narrative focus with some combat crunch, it could work great. If you want some narrative with a lot of martial arts-y combat crunch, it might not be the best choice without doing some design work of your own to create things like fighting styles, stances, etc.

GURPs 4th edition with the Martial Arts supplement is said to be great for detailed martial arts combat rules. I've not used GURPS in forever, though, so I can't really speak to anything other than its reputation.

As a more general commentary, a Yakuza setting sounds interesting. I could see someone making anything from a gritty, realistic game to something with a bit of a supernatural undercurrent operating behind the scenes. The possibilities for cool social narratives seems huge, with all the ranks and types of scams and relationships between different syndicates and different roles within them, etc. I would probably make it a more narrative-focused game with some big, dramatic set-piece combat scenes. The discovery of secrets and leveraging them would play heavily into it, and the general premise of a "secret war going on all around us" would be a big focus. That's just spitballing, though, since I don't know a lot about the Yakuza.

I wouldn't be able to resist having some supernatural elements, personally. Flaming fists, shadow step, premonition, etc, but that's just how I roll.

 

[Nappuccino]

Any tips for a new Call of Cthulhu keeper? Ran The Dead Light today because I researched for single session scenarios and it was pretty highly recommended.

Once I started prepping, I was worried my group would have trouble finding the game's focus and setting the pace (this scenario, if you haven't played, is a bit open ended, yet scripted at the same time. A monster comes and ppl drop one by one).

At times, I tried to give them a glimpse of the beast, well before they understood it at all, and they completely shifted their game plan in a way that would have killed them. I had to play the bit more scripted than I wanted, trying to get them to the cottage where some answers lay. But my team just did not want to go to the cottage. Maybe a bit too interested in self preservation lol. Any thoughts for keeping players active and instigating action?

In the end, my players enjoyed themselves (they came close to defeating the dead light several different ways, before they finally got it taken care of), but I can't help but feel the session was clunkier than I'd like.

 

[One Foul Note]

But my team just did not want to go to the cottage. Maybe a bit too interested in self preservation lol. Any thoughts for keeping players active and instigating action?

The best bit of advice I got for being a Keeper is make sure your investigators are always aware of the time and feel like their is a time limit to finish their investigation, even if their isn't. Announce what day it is and if the days start to tick by through the investigators inactivity then make small event occur to keep them on their toes. Bodies piling up, mysterious disappearances, weird sightings, bricks through windows, oddities like that can make an investigation team feel unsafe and that the world is increasingly turning against them if they delay and so spur them into completing their mission asap. I'm not familiar with that campaign so I don't know what kinds of event you could introduce, but their are a lot of options if you set your imagination to it.

 

[Keasar]

It means spending "health," technically. Your Might pool is what most physical damage received subtracts from, but not all. PCs don't have a "health" stat (npcs do) but instead both spend points from their stat pools on "effort" and for special ability use, and take damage to one of their pools (Might, Speed, or Intellect.) There are lots of ways to recover points for your stat pools, though, and aptitude does not diminish because a relevant pool is low, as opposed to empty.

There are Edge stats that reduce this cost for ability use and effort. So some abilities can become free to use, or very cheap. Since there are a lot of low-cost abilities for new characters that remain relevant as they progress, this means that a lot of go-to abilities become free/cheap for moderately-powerful characters unless they want to pour a bunch of "effort" into an ability use.

Aha. Thanks, clears it up more.

 

[Nappuccino]

The best bit of advice I got for being a Keeper is make sure your investigators are always aware of the time and feel like their is a time limit to finish their investigation, even if their isn't. Announce what day it is and if the days start to tick by through the investigators inactivity then make small event occur to keep them on their toes. Bodies piling up, mysterious disappearances, weird sightings, bricks through windows, oddities like that can make an investigation team feel unsafe and that the world is increasingly turning against them if they delay and so spur them into completing their mission asap. I'm not familiar with that campaign so I don't know what kinds of event you could introduce, but their are a lot of options if you set your imagination to it.

Gotcha, that sounds like a good idea. The scenario in question has a specific end time, but the investigators didn't know it by that point. Might be something I'll have to think through for each new scenario, even if it's not in the book . . .

 

[Zocano]

Hello all,

friends and I have been long interested in DnD and we've done a handful of sessions with some of us trading off DMing to try out and I probably latched on to the most (as others either just lost interest or just had other things come up).

I ran them through Feast of Ravenmoor (Pathfinder Module) and it was fun but I had a lot to learn from and probably could have handled things better. I followed it up with a small little combat dungeon type thing as I tried to create my own world. I feel like I enjoy playing in a sandbox of my own design as I would be more invested in knowing every single part of it and I know a lot of modules/adventures suggest trying to use them as tools for your own campaigns rather than strictly sticking to the module.

Anyway, as still a relatively newbie DM, I'm unsure how to balance these reference materials and running with my own things. I guess my main question is, I have a strong desire to build and run within a more personalized world, is it reasonable for me to do so? Or rather, how would it be best for me to approach doing so?

I feel like I *could* build entirely from scratch but I feel like it wouldn't help me build good DMing experience. Currently, I have been creating my own world but just stealing the Forgotten Realms pantheon because it's a tiny bit much and there are certain other parts of the creation mythos I'd like to stick to rather than branching into multiple levels of gods and demigods and would like to just get something going for my group. And then I'm not sure what good modules/adventures I could even reference since there's such a huge plethora of them for DnD (not just looking at 5e to references although I am playing with the 5e ruleset).

Any suggestions one way or the other? Should I steer clear and stick to an adventure? What are good modules/adventures that I could reference that some of you might be more familiar with that aren't exclusively DnD 5e?

 

[Fou-Lu]

Is anyone on GAF interested in starting up a new play by post game? I know some guys are already doing one, but there's room for more if we could get the players!

 

[Megalosaro]

Is anyone on GAF interested in starting up a new play by post game? I know some guys are already doing one, but there's room for more if we could get the players!

I've never really played pbp before. I've tried following the other one but it's odd. How does it work.

Hello all,

friends and I have been long interested in DnD and we've done a handful of sessions with some of us trading off DMing to try out and I probably latched on to the most (as others either just lost interest or just had other things come up).

I ran them through Feast of Ravenmoor (Pathfinder Module) and it was fun but I had a lot to learn from and probably could have handled things better. I followed it up with a small little combat dungeon type thing as I tried to create my own world. I feel like I enjoy playing in a sandbox of my own design as I would be more invested in knowing every single part of it and I know a lot of modules/adventures suggest trying to use them as tools for your own campaigns rather than strictly sticking to the module.

Anyway, as still a relatively newbie DM, I'm unsure how to balance these reference materials and running with my own things. I guess my main question is, I have a strong desire to build and run within a more personalized world, is it reasonable for me to do so? Or rather, how would it be best for me to approach doing so?

I feel like I *could* build entirely from scratch but I feel like it wouldn't help me build good DMing experience. Currently, I have been creating my own world but just stealing the Forgotten Realms pantheon because it's a tiny bit much and there are certain other parts of the creation mythos I'd like to stick to rather than branching into multiple levels of gods and demigods and would like to just get something going for my group. And then I'm not sure what good modules/adventures I could even reference since there's such a huge plethora of them for DnD (not just looking at 5e to references although I am playing with the 5e ruleset).

Any suggestions one way or the other? Should I steer clear and stick to an adventure? What are good modules/adventures that I could reference that some of you might be more familiar with that aren't exclusively DnD 5e?

The DM'S guide for 5e is a wonderful source that would provide insight into a lot of those questions. Particularly with regards to your world building questions. I recomend taking a closer look at Part 1.

In my experience as a DM, players don't really care too much about the world and story as much as what they can do in that world and story. My suggestion. Don't worry about coming up with too much detail, at least right off the rip. Paint in broad strokes and give your players room to fill in the details.

 

[Fou-Lu]

I've never really played pbp before. I've tried following the other one but it's odd. How does it work.

I'm not quite certain how dice would work on Neogaf as I don't believe we have a dice roller, most forums where people PbP do have one. Otherwise it's more a matter of DM makes a post, players react to it, repeat. You still play using the ruleset of D&D or Pathfinder or some other tabletop RPG. Combats are often done using either theatre of the mind or combat maps through google or roll20. In some ways it misses out on a lot of the fun of being in person, but in other ways it adds new depth because players have a chance to think out their actions and write them to the best of their abilities and the DM has time to sit and think about what his players do and how to react to it instead of having to improvise on the spot. It often gives a PbP game more of a storytelling feel and at least to me usually feels more cooperative than my in person games have. Typically people post at least once a day on week days. Sometimes more.

 

[Jest Chillin]

Is anyone on GAF interested in starting up a new play by post game? I know some guys are already doing one, but there's room for more if we could get the players!

I'm definitely interested. I have zero pbp experience but I haven't been in a game in awhile due to schedule difficulty. Pbp seems like it would offer more flexibility in that regard. So I absolutely would play if people would be willing to put up with my learning how it works as we go.

 

[Megalosaro]

Oh man...

Today, I found out my players text behind my back, discussing the plot of the adventure were doing and theorizing.

One of the things I like to do is have them roll a d20 at the start of the session. Those who role lowest has to summarize last time. If they do well, I start them off with I inspiration I found out today they have a Google Doc they share where they all write in the summary and memorize it before.

As a DM... I feel so proud. It's hard to explain. Sometimes, it's hard to get a read about their level of enjoyment. But by doing stuff like that.. I dunno, it shows they are invested.

 

[ThLunarian]

I'm definitely interested. I have zero pbp experience but I haven't been in a game in awhile due to schedule difficulty. Pbp seems like it would offer more flexibility in that regard. So I absolutely would play if people would be willing to put up with my learning how it works as we go.

I've DM'd two of these things and played in two more. Everyone starts out feeling like they don't know enough about the rules, and it always ends up being fine. If you're considering playing, then don't let a lack of rules knowledge or procedural knowledge stop you

 

[One Foul Note]

As a DM... I feel so proud. It's hard to explain. Sometimes, it's hard to get a read about their level of enjoyment. But by doing stuff like that.. I dunno, it shows they are invested.

That's cool, and I totally understand the pride in knowing that your story is resonating with your players. It can be tough sometimes getting a read from your players how much they are into the world or not. That's a cool idea with the recapping, I generally do it myself or let someone else if the story revolves around them at the moment. But I might steal the concept of giving out inspiration dice for quality recapping.

Is anyone on GAF interested in starting up a new play by post game? I know some guys are already doing one, but there's room for more if we could get the players!

Depends a little on the system and time commitment required. But if anyone is interested in running one I would certainly be interested in potentially playing.

 

[Keasar]

For anyone interested, Coriolis have been released in English.

Quickstart rules are available online for free to peruse to get a quick intro to the setting and gameplay (roll a number of D6, a six is success, more sixes are bonus success).

Got my box copy last year, probably one of my favourite books in my collection because how much I love the mystical sci-fi setting and the lovely art. Still haven't had a chance to play it sadly (among many of my other games) but still love reading it.

 

[Banzai]

Hi guys, just wanted to check in.
I recently became interested in trying DnD so I bought the starter edition and am currently setting up the first session. I got myself the Player Handbook, the official 5e DM Screen and 7 set of dice with bags (for only 10€).

I'll be the DM and the group will consist of 5 close friends that are also interested in trying it out. They want to make their own characters and so far the party will consist of a dwarf barbarian, elf sorcerer, half elf cleric and gnome rogue. #5 hasn't decided yet.

I've already had a session 0 and told them I don't expect (but welcome) heavy roleplay beyond making up a decent backstory and using character names instead of real ones. We'll be running Lost Mines of Phandelver and I'm still reading through it, but I think I'll do a decent job. Only worry so far is that some of the players won't be able to get into it, being anything but the typical 'nerdy' people, but we'll see.

I'm honestly not looking for first time DM tips or anything, I've already read up on A LOT of stuff. Just wanted to share.

Still need to compile a decent soundtrack, though. Any Suggestions? I feel like this might be THE opportunity to bust out some videogame osts.

 

[Jest Chillin]

Hi guys, just wanted to check in.
I recently became interested in trying DnD so I bought the starter edition and am currently setting up the first session. I got myself the Player Handbook, the official 5e DM Screen and 7 set of dice with bags (for only 10€).

I'll be the DM and the group will consist of 5 close friends that are also interested in trying it out. They want to make their own characters and so far the party will consist of a dwarf barbarian, elf sorcerer, half elf cleric and gnome rogue. #5 hasn't decided yet.

I've already had a session 0 and told them I don't expect (but welcome) heavy roleplay beyond making up a decent backstory and using character names instead of real ones. We'll be running Lost Mines of Phandelver and I'm still reading through it, but I think I'll do a decent job. Only worry so far is that some of the players won't be able to get into it, being anything but the typical 'nerdy' people, but we'll see.

I'm honestly not looking for first time DM tips or anything, I've already read up on A LOT of stuff. Just wanted to share.

Still need to compile a decent soundtrack, though. Any Suggestions? I feel like this might be THE opportunity to bust out some videogame osts.

If you can get your hands on any WRPG or fantasy CRPG soundtracks, they work great. Pillars of Eternity and Skyrim are good ones. Maybe check for atmospheric music/sound on Soundcloud as well.

Hope you all have a blast!

 

[Megalosaro]

I don't recoend trying a sound board first session.

You're going to have your hands full with 5 people. The last thing you're going to want to worry about is djing.

 

[Jest Chillin]

I don't recoend trying a sound board first session.

You're going to have your hands full with 5 people. The last thing you're going to want to worry about is djing.

Playlist on a laptop isn't too hard to manage. Just change it with the atmosphere. Town music, travel music, suspenseful music (dungeons/lairs/etc), and battle music.

4 tracks. Easy peasy.

 

[Nappuccino]

Call of Cthulhu is incredible. I think it might be rather dependent on the group, but my investigators blew my mind and turned what I thought would be a simple little scenario into a completely epic and hilarious clusterfuck. I only had to soften one roll as well.

Spoilers for Dead Light and Servants of the Lake:

Spoiler

So the previous session, the investigators solved Dead Light by carving the symbol onto Jake Burns, throwing the urn into the back of their car, and driving off into the sunrise with a mythos monster under their control. They rested at the motel from Servants of the Lake. I added a human cult member, Henry, and my crew went out to lunch with him. He brought up his desire for eternal life, which they found odd.

When they returned, two went for walk around the wake with Henry. He lead them to the well on the far side of the lake. One fell, the other punched the shit on him. They dragged him back, bloody and nearly dead, to the motel. The one who punched Henry carved the Dead Light's symbol into Henry's head as a "Just in case" collateral plan.

Night began falling. Cue exploration of the Workshed. After the event with Henry, they found the trap doors, and made their way to the workshed early enough that the owners weren't present. They found the coffins, lined with the ragged, rotting flesh of the Smiths. Then, they opened the door to the hotel room where they found one of the Smiths naked and pinning an NPC to the bed.

The investigators opened fire, killing the creature just as the two brothers entered. A standoff ensued. One investigator opened fire and immediately had his arm blown off with a shotgun. Gla'aki used dream pull on the investigators, but none failed it. They awoke from the dream at the edge of the water, but behind the brothers and James, just as Gla'aki stabbed one of the guests with a spine. The investigators ran to their car, one tipped over the lamp-oil barrels back in the workshed and set the place on fire. They got to their car, released the dead light, and ran over James. They sped off into the night, the dead light slowly catching up the car and wedging itself back into the urn.

They have no idea what they just saw, and we're running Amid the Ancient Trees on Friday, so they'll get a second taste of Gla'aki. Hopefully they'll get a few more answers and probably die before it's over.

God, I loved running this. Any thoughts for good campaigns to run? I've been looking at Edge of Darkness, Fade to Gray, Escape from Innsmouth (but I think I want to run a few campaigns in Innsouth before getting to this one), and Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?--but I have access to a number of the Choasium books.

 

[Keasar]

Another Swedish RPG making it's way internationally now.

Riotminds, the people behind Drakar och Demoner and the english version Trudvang Chronicles, have a Kickstarter going for one of their other classics here in Sweden called Götterdämerung, this time now in English called LexOccultum.

A D20-based game set in the 1700's in a world of the occult, secret societies and mysticism. It had it's quite hardcore following here in Sweden until when Riotminds went down for a long time.

 

[dude]

It looks pretty cool but d20 killed my hype
The setting sounds amazing though, might back just to read it for ideas.