The Bad Guys Are...

So every good roleplaying campaign, as well as story, needs a well thought out bad guy.  Oh, you are going to have those bad guys you just throw in, the thugs, the bandits, etc.  But to make a campaign come alive, and a book, for that matter, you need a good protagonist.  Here are some ideas that might help you.

1)  Flesh the main bad guy out.  Not just the main bad guy, but some of his henchmen, as well.  Where did he or she grow up?  What is his motivation?  Did he yearn to be Knight, but was scorned because of his low upbringing?  Give him or her some depth.

2)  Think of a good name.  You do not want your bad guy named George, (no offense to those of you named George).  In the Princess Bride, Wesley makes the point that no one would surrender to the Dread Pirate Wesley.  The name is very important.  It should drive fear into your players, or at least get them to sit up and take notice.

3)  Description.  You don't have to make him or her look creepy, but the description can give a clue or two about the protagonist.  Does he limp?  Carry a sword?  Walk with a staff?  And some bad guys are going to carry something to fool their enemies.  Who would believe a wizard walks around in chainmail?

4) Think out when you want to bring the main bad guy in.  He might make a cameo appearance at the beginning, but afterwards may not show up for awhile, but instead send out his minions.  Does he always seem to be one step ahead of the party or taunting them from near by?

Happy Gaming!

The Death of a Character

In real life we tend to get attached to our family, pets, even objects and when bad things happen to them, we tend to be upset, sad or become detached from the world for awhile.  So it shouldn't seem strange when a person loses his character to death or some powerful curse that they also get a little detached.  The good thing about roleplaying games is the character could always come back with a little magic (depending on the genre), but the lose is no less.  Here are some things as a DM you might do.

1)  Talk to the player after the session.  Talk to him about why the character died, that it wasn't personal.  This is a biggy.  Some players may think the GM is out to get him and think it has become personal.  Talking to them about why the death happened may ease that tension.

2) Ask the player what he wants to do with the character.  Not all players what their characters "rezzed".  We had a college friend who was actually upset with us that we had his character raised from the dead, so make sure they actually want the character to be brought back to life.

3) Plan some nifty way for the character to come back.  Perhaps the rest of the party has to go in search of some magical artifact or do a favor for the person doing the magic.  At the same time have a mini-adventure for the player as he fights his way back to life.  Maybe the character died saving some godly item and the god himself comes down and resurrects him.  Perhaps the king of the area orders him brought back to life because his sacrifice saved the kingdom.

4) Don't gloss over the death.  In this day and age where video games just allow instant resurrection, make a big deal about the death.  Make your players feel upset, sad, or scared for their own lives.  Make it real.  Don't trivialize the moment.

Happy Gaming!

Making those Strongholds

Eventually your players will gain enough money that they need for nothing but a place to stay.  A place of operations is actually a good idea.  It gives its own possibilities of adventures and someplace for your players to store their stuff.

Here are some basic things to keep in mind:

1) Location.  Where they want to build it, is it near a place to get people/supplies easily?  If it's not, materials and people are going to cost more.

2) Did they get permission from the local lord?  Unless they are out in the middle of absolutely no where, there will be a lord or lady who rules the area.  They will not want someone squatting on their land.  Perhaps if the party does some small deed for them they might get a place to put their stronghold.

3) Supplies and money.  This is a little more subjective.  If the place is near a stone quarry, then obviously a stone stronghold will be acceptable.  The money is a little harder.  There are some good roleplaying books with costs, like D and D's Stronghold Builder's Guidebook, but ultimately it's up to you whether the characters have the money.  In my current Pathfinder campaign we found an old ruin that we are fixing up.  Plenty of stone, we just had to supply manpower and a few other things, so the price is lower.

4) Treatment of people.  If they don't treat their workers well, things may go wrong.  Hey, why did that wall fall over?  Why is the water foul?  On the other hand if the workers are treated well they may work far better.

Happy Gaming

That Little Added Touch

For those running a campaign, your players will appreciate when you go that extra mile.  Here are a few things you can do to add just a little more realism to your fantasy campaign.  (Good laugh on that!)

1) Make sure you have NPC names and short descriptions.  If you plan on having them interact with your characters they need to have some sort of descriptions to make them more then 2 dimensions!

2)  Have descriptions of where the characters are going.  Even if you just mention the stones of the hallway under the keep are slick with slim and moisture, you've helped to add a bit to your ambiance.

3) Individualize rewards.  Don't just have the Duke say, "And here is your reward".  Have him had the fighter an etched sword, the mage a new book or the cleric an enemy holy symbol to crush.

4) Make sure to have something for each character's abilities.  Don't forget the thief when you go into that dungeon.  Throw a few traps in for him to disarm.  Undead in there?  Clerics can turn them.  How about something the mage has to dispel to work?

Happy gaming!

The Fudging of Dice

In most roleplaying campaigns, every GM/DM comes to that time where fudging the roll is probably a better idea then letting them lay...thus why most GM's have a screen to hide behind.  But beware the fudging too much.  There is a time and a place and let's look at those.

1) Character creation.  My daughter, all of nine years, wanted to play a Pixie Fairy in Hackmaster, a system which is known for it's "let them lay" policy.  But this is a nine year old...how do you explain to a 9 year old that their pixie fairy has a Strength of 1 and about 10 hit points at 6th level?  So in this case, let your players roll up a few different sets of stats and let them pick the best set (not best scores).  Make sure, as a the GM, that you watch because some players like to roll and roll until they get a great set.

2) When your player missing would so mess up the mood.  Say the party has been having an epic battle and the player in question is about to make the final blow in spectacular fashion.  And they miss, technically, by 1 or so.  How unfair is that?  Let it land, what does it matter.  Obviously the main bad guy was about dead anyway, let the party have something awesome to talk about later.

3) When a player character is about to die.  Not something you should do every time.  Making them rez on occasion will keep them cautious.  But if we were once again in that epic battle, down to the last hit points of both character and bad guy and the bad guy lands a spectacular blow and would kill the player and thus end the campaign badly, let it be glancing, leaving the character at 1 or 2 hit points.  The alternative is to let both the bad guy and the character hit at the same time and let them die at the same instant.  Still really cool!

My best advice is to not fudge too often and think hard before doing it.  Don't let your players get away with everything but let them have fun!  That is the point, after all.

Happy Gaming.

To Track or Not to Track

Way back in the beginnings of time, when my husband, our college friends and I roleplayed we usually didn't keep track of how much rations we had or other supplies unless we were trekking somewhere that might bring us short on our supplies.  But we had one GM that loved to know that stuff, so we dutifully kept track of rations, days, supplies, feed for horses, etc.  It was time consuming and worst of all the GM could use such information against us!

So as a GM you should think on these factors before tracking every little thing:
1) Is it relevant to game play?  Like crossing a desert.  There are penalties for not having enough water and supplies in this case, so it would be relevant. Traveling on a road where there is an inn every night, not so relevant.

2) Are you just doing it to be a pain in the rear?  We once had a player who liked to say he was living the high life, even though our GM rarely charged us for food/drink/inns.  Thus the GM turned around and started charging what this "High Life" would cost.  The player finally realized how much money he was losing and stopped living the said high life.  But we also had a GM who liked to make the men in the party pay for inns, but for some reason he never charged me... Not exactly fair and I did mention it, several times.  So think on why you are doing it.

3) Does it slow down play?  Book keeping is never fun in the best of times, but if you are spending five minutes of ever hour keeping track of money/arrows/food your players may not have as much fun and may not come back.

4)Do your players want to do it?  Most players aren't cheep, they just don't want to take the time to keep track of it.  Some games have a monthly rate of how much it costs to live a certain life style.  I suggest you go with this.  It takes some of their gold (muhaha) but doesn't slow down game play deciding whether they have enough.  Very few players want to keep track of every little waterskin and apple they have in their pack.

Just remember this one firm rule: You are roleplaying to have FUN!
Happy Gaming