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Hypothetical questions ITT, answers needed.

Started by Sister Fracture, February 04, 2011, 08:32:42 PM

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Telarus

#15
February 04, 2011, 10:49:30 PM
IMO, if the PCs interrupted the Villain or directly prevented him from accomplishing one of this goals (or a step towards one of his goals), then the party gets "Defeated/killed XP". If the Villain wasn't totally set back, but just had to run to figure out another plan or because he didn't want to press the fight right then, give half XP.

If the villain managed to accomplish his goal in that scene, and then got chased away, give a token "you role-played a scene" award.

I've stopped running XP as a one time goal (when you 'kill' the NPC). If the PCs can beat the Villain in a social contest, and disrupt the villains plans, they get full XP for "Defeating" the villain, but he's still out there, and will probably be back. So they can earn XP for each time they "Defeat" the villain, and probably a bonus for when they finally Kill him.
Telarus, KSC,
.__.  Keeper of the Contradictory Cephalopod, Zenarchist Swordsman,
(0o)  Tender to the Edible Zen Garden, Ratcheting Metallic Sex Doll of The End Times,
/||\   Episkopos of the Amorphous Dreams Cabal

Join the Doll Underground! Experience the Phantasmagorical Safari!

The Good Reverend Roger

#16
February 04, 2011, 10:56:14 PM
Quote from: Telarus on February 04, 2011, 10:49:30 PM
IMO, if the PCs interrupted the Villain or directly prevented him from accomplishing one of this goals (or a step towards one of his goals), then the party gets "Defeated/killed XP". If the Villain wasn't totally set back, but just had to run to figure out another plan or because he didn't want to press the fight right then, give half XP.

If the villain managed to accomplish his goal in that scene, and then got chased away, give a token "you role-played a scene" award.

I've stopped running XP as a one time goal (when you 'kill' the NPC). If the PCs can beat the Villain in a social contest, and disrupt the villains plans, they get full XP for "Defeating" the villain, but he's still out there, and will probably be back. So they can earn XP for each time they "Defeat" the villain, and probably a bonus for when they finally Kill him.


This.  It allows recurring victims that players love to hate.

A better idea is to decide how much XP it's worth to stop the villian's plans, rather than awarding experience based on "killing" the villian.  If they stop him by killing him, they get both.

Incidentally, at our level, the bad guys have access to raise dead, too.  Don't forget that.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Requia ☣

#17
February 04, 2011, 11:10:22 PM
That's what large vats of lye are for.  :lulz:
Inflatable dolls are not recognized flotation devices.

Don Coyote

#18
February 04, 2011, 11:11:45 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 04, 2011, 09:22:57 PM
Freeky:

1.  Evaluate our character sheets, and determine our chances of survival against the bad guys. 

2.  Add the bad guy's loot to our characters with 8th level BABs, etc, and then compare it to the NEXT adventure's bad guys. 

3.  Scale the treasure up or down based on that.  The PCs should have to roll a 14+ to hit any level's boss, if the boss doesn't have DR or regen (or a miss chance).

There's quite a bit of number crunching involved.  The other option is to look at the cash value of our gear vs the book's suggested cash value of a party of the same size.

Dude, that is awesome.

The Good Reverend Roger

#19
February 04, 2011, 11:29:11 PM
Quote from: Canis latrans eques on February 04, 2011, 11:11:45 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 04, 2011, 09:22:57 PM
Freeky:

1.  Evaluate our character sheets, and determine our chances of survival against the bad guys. 

2.  Add the bad guy's loot to our characters with 8th level BABs, etc, and then compare it to the NEXT adventure's bad guys. 

3.  Scale the treasure up or down based on that.  The PCs should have to roll a 14+ to hit any level's boss, if the boss doesn't have DR or regen (or a miss chance).

There's quite a bit of number crunching involved.  The other option is to look at the cash value of our gear vs the book's suggested cash value of a party of the same size.

Dude, that is awesome.

I'm going to start writing a column here on proper number-crunching for 3.5/pathfinder, I think.  I've just got the hang of it myself, and it's actually a really interesting exercise.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

The Good Reverend Roger

#20
February 04, 2011, 11:30:28 PM
Quote from: Requia ☣ on February 04, 2011, 11:10:22 PM
That's what large vats of lye are for.  :lulz:

Most players just leave the bad guys in a pool of blood.

Airshafts, people.  Use them.

Also, raise dead only works if the person wants to be raised.  If you have enough fun with them, they'd rather stay in the abyss.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Don Coyote

#21
February 04, 2011, 11:34:10 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 04, 2011, 11:30:28 PM
Quote from: Requia ☣ on February 04, 2011, 11:10:22 PM
That's what large vats of lye are for.  :lulz:

Most players just leave the bad guys in a pool of blood.

Airshafts, people.  Use them.

Also, raise dead only works if the person wants to be raised.  If you have enough fun with them, they'd rather stay in the abyss.

:horrormirth:

The Good Reverend Roger

#22
February 04, 2011, 11:42:12 PM
Quote from: Canis latrans eques on February 04, 2011, 11:34:10 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 04, 2011, 11:30:28 PM
Quote from: Requia ☣ on February 04, 2011, 11:10:22 PM
That's what large vats of lye are for.  :lulz:

Most players just leave the bad guys in a pool of blood.

Airshafts, people.  Use them.

Also, raise dead only works if the person wants to be raised.  If you have enough fun with them, they'd rather stay in the abyss.

:horrormirth:

I was running an 11th level cleric once.  I cast pro/acid and resist/acid, and then went ahead of the party into the lair of a black dragon we'd tracked.  The dragon was invisible, so I didn't see it.  I started shoveling loot into my bag o' holding, and it became enraged and breathed acid all over me.  Due to the spells I had up, it did no damage.

So I shrugged and kept shoveling.

It attacked in a fury, and did some damage (lol, stoneskin from the mage), and then the fighters ran in and owned the fuck out of it.

Ambushes work both ways.

Now, do you think that dragon wants to come back to life and face its peers?  Hell no.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

The Good Reverend Roger

#23
February 04, 2011, 11:42:53 PM
Anyone who says D&D isn't a competitive game isn't paying attention.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

The Good Reverend Roger

#24
February 04, 2011, 11:46:51 PM
Also, monster of the day is on its way.  I'm going to start a thread where people can dump the basic idea (fiendish vampiric moose, lol), or even a complete write up.  I'll provide a template that can be used for that.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Telarus

#25
February 04, 2011, 11:56:24 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 04, 2011, 11:29:11 PM
I'm going to start writing a column here on proper number-crunching for 3.5/pathfinder, I think.  I've just got the hang of it myself, and it's actually a really interesting exercise.

That'd be cool. I might actually be interested in Pathfinder at that point. The 3.0 encounter math was fucked and turned me off of the 'recent' D&D editions. 3.5 was marginally better, but not woth memorizing so I could design scenarios.
Telarus, KSC,
.__.  Keeper of the Contradictory Cephalopod, Zenarchist Swordsman,
(0o)  Tender to the Edible Zen Garden, Ratcheting Metallic Sex Doll of The End Times,
/||\   Episkopos of the Amorphous Dreams Cabal

Join the Doll Underground! Experience the Phantasmagorical Safari!

The Good Reverend Roger

#26
February 04, 2011, 11:58:44 PM
Quote from: Telarus on February 04, 2011, 11:56:24 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 04, 2011, 11:29:11 PM
I'm going to start writing a column here on proper number-crunching for 3.5/pathfinder, I think.  I've just got the hang of it myself, and it's actually a really interesting exercise.

That'd be cool. I might actually be interested in Pathfinder at that point. The 3.0 encounter math was fucked and turned me off of the 'recent' D&D editions. 3.5 was marginally better, but not woth memorizing so I could design scenarios.

Pathfinder is what 4th should have been...3.5 with all the suck pulled out, and the classes balanced.  They even made the bard and sorc not suck balls.

AND they FINALLY put out the creature creation rules, so you can make your own and have the CR right, so that it's useable by anyone.

Added advantage:  With just a little work, the engine works twice as well for modern/future games, as 3.5 did.  No more D20 Modern clunk.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.
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