The Gaming Den

For those of you who read up on the Tamarask thread where Cynic and I regaled you of DM horror stories, this is a semi-continuation of the group.

We still have multiple groups, only this time I'm one of the DMs, and I have a new set of players (the prior set are with the other two DMs).

For connectedness, we're pretty much running Pathfinder's Beta document whole-cloth, in their setting and everything. I'm the only person out of the group that doesn't love 3.P, so it was a serious majority overruling.

My group consists of...
* Tribal human druid
* Elven generalist wizard
* Human transmuting wizard
* Human monk
* Human barbarian

The monk and generalist are brand-new into the game, and are barely aware of the rules, but seem to have been getting into it well enough.

The other wizard wants to be HEAVILY specialized into polymorphing spells. Fortunately for him, I don't like 3.P's polymorph mechanics, so I've been working with him to make a better set. He's made two custom-morph spells, working much like the mono-morph spells (standard action cast time, 10min/lvl duration, CR = SL*2 - 3) except that he gets to keep his skill ranks and his initial stats (calculate the new form's stat mods and remove his old race's).

For example, he has a 1st level spell that turns him into a cat. He keeps his feats & skill ranks and base stats (sans the human bonus), gaining the stat mods of the housecat (Str -6, Dex +4, Int -8, Wis +2, Cha -4), and otherwise getting everything else. Also, all magical gear worn at the time is rendered inert and melded into the new form. I'm tempted to allow a wilding clasp to supercede the gear part, but that isn't decided yet.

He's also got a 2nd level version that turns him into a pseudodragon.

The elven wizard lives with the transmuter, which means help is provided for build and understanding the rules. I was given free reign with the details of the wizard's background (all they decided was 'runaway from controlling parents'), despite the warnings of players and I, which warms the cockles of my DM's heart.

The barbarian is an ex-pit-fighting-slave, and RP-ed fairly well as an overly aggressive violent type.

The monk player is a wallflower, which I'm used to.

The druid is fairly good, but will have replaced his character with a wizard in short time. More detail when I give info on the last three sessions.

May I ask why didn't you bully them into playing something balanced, at least for the game you'll referee? Also, really no Cynic on this?

No.

My gag reflex activates a little too quickly these days. . Also, even if I had the ability to repress said gag reflex, times and monies have me left sorely wanting for the ability to play in this game. Suffice to say I'm not too sad. :-D

Crap. I, on my turn, am still unable to reliable take part in online gaming ...

Bigode wrote:Crap. I, on my turn, am still unable to reliable take part in online gaming ... :(

I haven't found a reliable online game to take part in as of yet.

That's me problem.

A_Cynic wrote:

Bigode wrote:Crap. I, on my turn, am still unable to reliable take part in online gaming ...

I haven't found a reliable online game to take part in as of yet.

That's me problem.

Same here. I was running a couple of solo games, but then one of my players got in trouble for fighting with his brother (the player was 18 and living at home, and the brother is...13, I believe, and likes to think of himself as 'hardcore cool'), the other said he needed to focus on other things, and my prospective player is unsure about what she wants to play.

Sigh.

When it comes to convincing others my way, I've got terrible Charisma. The only people IRL who share my views on RPGs, besides A_Cynic, are the players who have experienced almost no other DM besides me in their gaming career (comparatively). As a result, it's difficult to get other players to accept my d20 system of choice, to say the least.

The set of players I have, frankly, are mediocre. The best one among them, the transmuter, honestly believes evokers to be one of the power players. As a result, I'm not all that worried about intra-party balance being a problem (barring the monk). I'm quite capable of designing/running encounters that will still challenge them without overwhelming.

As for events that have gone on thus far...

Session 1: Pure RP, discovering a murder, investigating it down into the sewer while also looting the victim's stuff.

Session 2: Rummaged in the sewer a bit. The wizard turned into a cat and tried to fight the big rat near the throne of the Rat King (his highness was elsewhere), only to discover it was an imp after a couple rounds, while the other wizard got attacked by a grey ooze (lost both longsword and clothes). They stuck around to wait for the Rat King, and the invisible imps turned visible around the barbarian so that the Rat King could rise out of the sewage for a sneak attack. His mouth glowed and dripped with flame, where he then unleashed a gout of flame that would've one-shot anyone else in the party (CL 5 potion of energy substitution shocking grasp). The barbarian took the Rat King down to 7hp (~1d8+18), while the rest of the party took out an imp.

The king dove into the sewage to try and swim away, warning them of the coming of the queen, but the wizard turned into a pseudodragon and pointed him out for the barbarian to jump in and crit. The imp barely managed to get away.

Session 3: Turned into the murder's body for a reward, did some other RP, and searched out the Queen; who had twisted several hobos into nightmarish things to attack the party. They eventually found the Queen inside a Sarcophogaus that had Mordenkainen's Magnificient Mansion cast on it. Flavour, the Queen was a Fiend of Nightmares, its form being that of the most physically despairing terror, and is able to entrap others in a waking nightmare that lasts for days. Stat-wise, a 2HD advanced fiendish sea hag with it's type changed to Outsider (evil) for spell effects.

The two wizards were sick that day, so I was running a three-man party, so I didn't have the 'smoke fiend' join in the attack (Spider Swarm stats).

I proceeded to kill the druid and 3-day daze the monk & barbarian. The druid player was planning on switching out his characters anyway, so he already had a prepared sheet.

* Goblin Necromancer

The other two took some effort, but I decided they were rescued by the goblin wizard, having been stored and tortured for a few days for the fiend's devices.

Since you can't bully them into something balanced or using different rules, could you trick them into using the "full" beta playtest? Just including the modifications Paizo's still making on their boards would be a good opening to get them thinking about bigger game issues, and could bring some of your melee guys up a bit. Plus, your group would be helping make Pathfinder a better game, and that's the best thing of all right?

I'm still lurking there (mostly because I expect to run into the same problem you currently have, and I want to know what to expect) and some of the proposed options aren't awful. They aren't real "fixes" for stuff either, but it's better than the current beta stuff. Alternate rage mechanics come to mind as being a relevant change, unless that player really enjoys psychic warrior style resource tracking. I think the monk complaints are scheduled to start next week.

are you still running your dm item management scheme for the weaker players?

It's going to be difficult, because in-game the characters are going to split the treasure evenly in terms of value, so attempts to have nice monk things drop without it costing money...

I've worked partway around it, actually, because as far as I can tell set items don't include their set bonuses in their GP value.

Well, the next session turned out interesting. The transmuter and elven wizard quit the game due to scheduling (late night game, early morning classes for them) and minor claustrophobia (~20 people in a three game extravaganza). The transmuter's girlfriend (another player in a different group) decided to revert to highschool by announcing there were additional reasons, but wasn't going to say what they were because she didn't want anyone to get offended.

Meanwhile, the party remaining attended the beginnings of a shindig to talk to a captain in the interests of travel. The event was a gathering for a viewing of a new play titled "The King in Yellow", but my party was busy and left before it started after they got approval to load their cargo onto the captain's ship.

Slight background. The party liked the Sarcophagus w/Morden's Mansion on it from last session, and decided to take by hiring a team of dwarves to excavate it along with enlarging the barbarian (~2 tonne weight).

They carried the 'cargo' onto the ship. The play had, by that point, reached its crescendo and the collective nightmares triggered something in the super-dreamcatcher to turn the sarcophagus into an interdimensional rift to the city of Carcosa. There was other flavour text, such as the pier swarming with mist, monsters flying through the rift, etc.

The party jumped through as soon as they could, and began swimming through Lake Hali and its liquid air, wanting to see what was in that alien city beneath the twin suns; and never looked back to see the rift closing by the time they reached shore close to the city.