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Realgr27
Pie
(11/19/02 7:06:15 am)
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Who I am and question(s) to prepare a game session
Hi !
Thank you all a lot again for your reply to my questions .
I'm from a small town of Greece which it's name is Florina .
I like very very much the roleplaying games but unfortunately I have a very little experience as a player ( I have played 4 1st edition adventures ) and as DM 
I don't know any one which is a DM in my town !
With a result that I can't play an RPG even as player !
So , I have decide to take the difficult part to became a DM for my friends .
The worst thing is that I don't know English very well and I have to read 3 books ( PHB , DMG , MM ) at least to become a DM to a group ... Finally I have read those .
So , you can imagine how difficult is to me to make or play an adventure as DM 
YOUR help is VERY IMPORTANT to me ...
Well , now that I have introduce my self we can proceed with my question(s) for today
1) How long is a game session that you prepare for a day ?
2) what preparation do you do for a game session ?
3) How exactly do you use the adventure's information ?
3a) Do you write the whole session as a part of a movie to a piece of paper with everything on it ( describes , NPs's words , situations ... ) ?
3b) Do you read the adventure's information for this session and then you just improvise everything which happens to the game ?
3c) Do you use another way and what is that ?
4) Do you share the xp's to the PC's every session ?
5) If a PC(s) from the start of the campaign buy some equipments that gives him/them an AC=25 there is a chance to a monster or NPC where is in the begin of the adventure to make a hit on him/them ?
6) what I have to notice to keep a balance in the RttToEE ?
7) From your experiance as DM's , what else I need to know to prapere a good session for every one ?
(if any one want , he can send me an e-mail to : Real75gr@yahoo.gr with an answer to that question )
How long time do you play as DM's ?
Thank you all for your time and keep the good work .
Ohh ! I have read the game sessions that you all have write to that board and I'm astonished !!!
It is like watching a movie or to read a great epic book , my congratulations to all of you !
But after that I had read those I was dissapointed because I saw how poorly and simple was my game as DM ... ((
"... I hope that some day I'll look alike you ..."
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HeresDaryl
Pie
(11/19/02 7:25:58 am)
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Re: Who I am and question(s) to prepare a game session
1. My group plays quite regularly, so we tend to have pretty short game sessions...about 4 hours on average.
2. Read the section your players are going to do very carefully (even if you wrote it yourself!!)...have lots of note paper handy - and the basic hit points, AC etc. of any monsters or enemies that you think it is likely that your players will fight. If you have a good idea of locations that your players might explore, have some rough maps drawn out in advance.
3. Mostly 3b, though as a part of No. 2 you can write notes to yourself, to remind you how certain characters act or react, what spells NPCs like to use, and what important information each NPC has.
4. I give out XPs every session - that just the way I've always done it, so its what people are used to.
5. I think it would be tough for any 4th level PC to have a permanent 25 AC, but if they do and it is visibly obvious, then most enemy spellcasters are likely to target the very well armoured character, to help their allies. That character will probably be hard to hit in battle by the common enemies though.
6. Remember that almost everything your players do will have some consequence...some one will notice it and not be happy with them!
7. Make sure there are no distractions where you are playing - no TV, DVD, PC, PS2 etc etc - if players start playing with these things it will make it very difficult to get anything done!
GOOD LUCK!!
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Andorax
Orc
(11/19/02 8:00:12 am)
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Re: Who I am and question(s) to prepare a game session
One thing I might suggest...you might want to ask these same questions (well, except for the one about Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil) in another forum, perhaps the "DM's Only" one.
Please do not think that it's because we're not helpful. We ARE helpful. However, you will get more advice from more people by posting in other forums. Our best advice, and most of our advice, is specific about Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil (RttToEE), and we are not going to always be as helpful on other subjects.
As to your questions:
1) My group usually plays for six hours.
2) I re-read my own post in my campaign log here, read ahead in the module to the areas I think they'll encounter, and write notes to myself about things ahead (spells in effect, things I'll be casting, and so on).
3) I stay very close to what the module describes for each encounter. It tells you what is in each location, and usually gives you an idea of how they think. This lets me present the author's idea of how the world works and how things interact with each other.
3a) Not usually.
3b) That's closer to the mark. I will read descriptions out of the module (the highlighted areas are description text that's meant to be read to the players), but from there I usually just make up the dialog myself.
3c) see above.
4) Usually. If it's not too late at night when we quit, I'll take a moment to add up the XP and hand it out.
5) I'd like to know what equipment a 4th level character has that gives him a 25 AC (it's not impossible, but it might be someone is making a mistake in the rules).
However, yes, there are a few things that can hit that:
Utreshimon (the dragon in the Moathouse) has a +15 to hit, so he has a 50/50 chance with his bite attack.
Festrath (the insane priest by the obelisk) has the spell Tharizdun's Touch, which is a touch attack (and likely ignores most of that AC).
Wat and Kella (a Ghost and an Allip, both from Nulb) are both incorporeal, and thus can usually ignore armor as well.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
Zenon
Pie
(11/19/02 11:37:56 am)
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Re: Who I am and question(s) to prepare a game session
Quote:
1) How long is a game session that you prepare for a day ?
We play once every two weeks on a Friday night. I try to run for as long as I can, usually between 6 to 9 hours.
Quote:
2) what preparation do you do for a game session ?
I try to have read up on everyplace near the characters. Also, I have index cards created with all the monsters out of the Appendix written out ahead of time.
Quote:
3) How exactly do you use the adventure's information ?
Think of the module information as a guideline instead of written in stone. (I think this is what you mean)
Quote:
3a) Do you write the whole session as a part of a movie to a piece of paper with everything on it ( describes , NPs's words , situations ... ) ?
No, in fact this is what they call "railroading" - the game is about letting the players tell you what they are doing. My players know that at any time they could choose to leave and do something else (in the game).
Quote:
3b) Do you read the adventure's information for this session and then you just improvise everything which happens to the game ?
Before I ran it, I read the whole module a few times so I understood the story and flow of what has happened, is happening now, and will happen if the players did nothing.
For each session, I reread the sections of the modules which relate to what I think my players will do.
Quote:
4) Do you share the xp's to the PC's every session ?
I use the time in between game sessions to total up what they fought and what they did (referencing notes taken by me during the game), then figure out the XP and award it at the beginning of the next session before we start playing.
Quote:
5) If a PC(s) from the start of the campaign buy some equipments that gives him/them an AC=25 there is a chance to a monster or NPC where is in the begin of the adventure to make a hit on him/them ?
A role of 20 on the dice (called a "natural 20") should hit them regardless of the hit bonus of the attacker, the same way a roll of a 1 will always miss.
Quote:
6) what I have to notice to keep a balance in the RttToEE ?
This is very hard to answer. Mostly it is up to you as a DM to monitor how the game is going. You have to look at the following:
Are your players having fun?
Are you (the DM) having fun?
Does the module challenge them?
Note - not every encounter should be a fight to the death for the PC's. Some encounters will be easy, some will be hard.
Quote:
7) From your experiance as DM's , what else I need to know to prapere a good session for every one ?
How long time do you play as DM's ?
Things to make a good game:
You need to know the rules.
If you are unsure of a rule, you must be able to make a quick judgement (think of it like a sports referee). You don't want to spend 30 minutes looking something up in the middle of a big fight.
Your players must be able to accept these judgements without arguing during the game. This requires you to explain how this will work to your players before the game.
Everyone should have fun during the game! The game is for both you (the DM) and the players both. If everyone is having a good time, then you have a good game. If everyone is yelling at each outher, pouting because something bad happened to their character, etc., then this doesn't make a good game.
Good luck! The more you DM, the better you will get at it!
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Realgr27
Pie
(11/19/02 2:15:23 pm)
Reply
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Re: Who I am and question(s) to prepare a game session
Thank you all again .
And no Andorax , the thing that you are not helpful have not cross my mind even for a second , all you are much more than helpful to me
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Andorax
Orc
(11/19/02 2:19:13 pm)
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Re: Who I am and question(s) to prepare a game session
I'm still curious what your 4th level PC has to have a 25 AC.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
Realgr27
Pie
(11/19/02 3:38:19 pm)
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Re: Who I am and question(s) to prepare a game session
Hehehehe , No Andorax he has not an AC 25 he can make an AC 22 ( Full Plate mail ( +8 ) , Large Shield ( +2 ) , DEX(+1 ) , Ring of Protection ( +1 ) ...
I told you if had an AC 25 , to be prepared for the worst lol
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smetzger
Pie
(11/20/02 6:33:14 am)
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Re: Who I am and question(s) to prepare a game session
I'll second the suggestion to post rules and DM questions in a more appropriate group. I would suggest the EN World boards enworld.cyberstreet.com/ probably the rules forum would be the best. Also, reading through other peoples questions and answers will be helpful.
Also, RttToEE is a difficult adventure to DM. You may want to start of with the Sunless Citadel. Although I haven't read it thoroughly I think it has extra notes for beginning DMs. Then if you wanted to skip ahead to RttToEE you could then just let your players take their existing characters and advance them up to 4th level and let them pick a few more magic items.
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Realgr27
Pie
(11/20/02 7:51:29 am)
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Re: Who I am and question(s) to prepare a game session
Smetzger thank you for your opinion/advise .
We have played the adventures Plight of Ethir and the Dead of winter but the players want something big enough and exciting too ... So , we buy the RttToEE ...
But we are with very little experience , I thought that we learning through the adventures and the advices all of you .
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