First GM running his First game with some new players. (Intro)

    This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy.

    • First GM running his First game with some new players. (Intro)

      Alright, since I SEEM to be getting nowhere trying to get my group to read the darned book and get inspired to RUN it so that *I* can play this awesome game, it would seem that I have to step up to the pitchers mound and throw this game at them (though, if you go by that analogy, then I guess I'm secretly playing for their team, as I want them to hit a home run...). I wanted the players to play their own characters, and I wanted to think up something unique that didn't require the pre-made characters. This sounded like it might be hard, but thankfully I had an ending thought up for a short campaign type thing. I knew they were going to be fighting a massive demon that was stuck in a gate and weak enough for them to take out/send back to the abyss/wherever those things come from. But where to start.

      This is when I asked the players what kinds of characters they wanted to play. One wanted to be an apothecary type/ex-assassin (as they all, ALWAYS are :rolleyes:...), a master of medicines, but more importantly, poisons. Employed by some lord for his knowledge in both medicines and poisons, using his abilities to aid this lord in anyway possible.

      The Next wanted to be a spy. Someone to learn information without being caught, someone who would learn a great deal by the way you said "Hi." And, when it came down to it, someone who could take out a target without them even knowing he was there. Another assassin type.

      Finally, seeing the trend, the last guy in the group decided to just go full-fledged assassin, with the first guy as an ex-member of this guild, they were able to make a connection.

      It was simple enough to find out HOW we were going to be playing this game, as they all had a decent connection with some lord, I just merged it all into one lord. This helped out a bit because I wanted to make the game a bit mission based so that I didn't feel like I had to continue it, so that it felt like there was going to be an end, and so that if the game went belly up (as most of our games seem to be doing now), at least I had a good place to end it.

      With all this in mind, I had the set-up for the start of this 3 part campaign.
    • First GM running his First game with some new players. (part 1/3)

      ((Players will be: Gecko "Assassin", Monkey "Poison-master", and Rabbit "Spy"))

      So, how was I going to start this shindig then? I knew that the three of them were stealthy, so I knew I had to incorporate that somehow, but how do I make this interesting? I figured there was some sort of war going on, an anonymous war that didn't have to do anything with anything, but it was a war nonetheless, and the lord that these guys were to work for needed them to do things. But what would they need to do?

      So I got it into my head that they'd probably be hired to infiltrate a base and get some sort of war documents. Then I thought it would be even better if they were trying to infiltrate their OWN base, one that had already been taken over by the war, to get some war documents that were left there from when the fort was taken! I could deal with this, it took a simple stereotype and threw a slight wrench in it, and I figured in order to make the game more interesting, and slightly more engaging, I'd start with some action first. Throw them into a bit of play, then tell them what's going on in a sort of "flash-back." I had 4 of these planned, give them some action, then "flashback" to the briefing, and tell them what they'll be seeing/what they're doing. They had to get into this fort, grab the documents that were left behind, and find out why an elite band of mercs. were used to take this, otherwise unotable, base. It turns out that the base had a secret hidden near it, and that the enemy wanted to dig something up nearby, a keystone of some sort, but the players figure this out later. In their adventure into the fort, they'll come across a mouse spy/thief that the lord had hired earlier and hadn't come back, he's being "tortured"/played with by an enemy cat elite unit, but can provide the information HE'S gathered, as well as help a little in a fight if need be.

      Total prep time? About 5 hours the day before the game. I quickly threw up some grunt type NPCs, and some Elite type NPCs, some rough map sketches, and a VERY rough draft of what everyone was going to say, knowing full well that I was much more prepared the more unprepared I was! Guess that shows the kind of GM I am, can't stick to a script to save my life, but I can go by the draft to a T.

      So we start out, and the game goes pretty well, the whole "flashback" sequence is working (I know it made an impression in a later game, when one of the other guys starts GMing, and does the same thing for the first game.) Things go smoothly until the first "real" battle.

      This is against said "cat torturer." The battle goes slow only because it IS the first battle with initiative and stuff. Interestingly enough, the cat is female, and Assassin has the disadvantage of "Unable to harm females," so, after a bit of failed persuasion checks, they're in combat. Assassin does his best to fight, but all without hurting the opponent, doing only grabs and holds, but no damage (I commend him for this). Sadly, though, the fight doesn't last too long, with the cat surrendering her life, and telling the players what they want to know, to the best of her knowledge (didn't plan for this, but I'm good at improving!). They, then, found a nice pickle barrel (in the storage room that they fought in, which held both the documents and the mouse) to fit her in, and they aptly named her "Pickle." It didn't go as I planned, as she was supposed to do more "damage" then she did, but whatev's. They got the information and the mouse told them more, and told them where they could find the dig site.

      The next obvious point for them to go to WAS the dig site (bad, BAD railroading on my part >.<, it was bound to happen though), they get there with no problem, pickle barrel full of cat in hand (even then, they stealth by the tired guards with ease), and start looking around, once everyone is situated, a vulture man shows up. A Sir'hibasi type, accompanied by a monkey and bull, holding a keystone of sorts, and, of course, starting with the typical "looking for this?" quote.

      Not wanting to listen to some long-winded monologue that I hadn't planned for (thank god), the spy just opens up a shot at the guy, who's arrow shatters before actually impacting on the sir'hibas (I planned for that, and made of note of how much damage was "absorbed" by a magical pendent they didn't know about :P). Laughing, the Sir'hibas decides to just leave, and tells the Bull and Monkey to finish them off, and a fight breaks out. Initiative is rolled and combat actions are played. Early in the fight, the monkey (who's a master thrower, ambidextrous, and fast to draw) starts pelting people with throwing disks, while the Bull starts tanking. Sadly, early in the fight, the monkey takes out Assassin (unconscious), and I get a "well, that happened, I'll be downstairs if you need me." from him, not angry, but I did feel bad (especially since the monkey only had one more stamina, and Assassin saved that last action to defend against Monkey attack, who threw three disks, not one, at him). The monkey is then finished off quickly, and both players turn to the Bull-tank. None of whom can seem to either hit Bull, but are just able to drain him of his actions. I decide the combat has gotten boring, and throw out 4 "grunt" types, one range (duel-pistol raccoon), one more tank (High stam/def boar), and 2 melee (twin foxes wielding two scimitars.
      Grunts are meant to just make the fight a bit more interesting, so that the players have more to think about then "I try to hit Bull, I miss."

      Anyway, the Poison-Master decides to take on both the tanks (they're having trouble hitting him with his master "face-latch" technique) and the Spy takes out the rangecoon (one shot is all it takes to make the 'coon rethink his life, turn tail and run... Like I planned). Spy is then chased by hungry Foxes, up until the point where Poison-Master does a TON of damage to Bull tank, and drops him easily. The amount of damage strikes fear into the three remaining grunts (one of the of the foxes at this point badly wounded by a Rabbit with a bow that can run, and the other helping "fox A" out rather then pursuing solo.), and they leave. leaving our players to freely go home (with both mouse and "Pickles"), after patching up Assassin (who comes back at this point).

      In the end, I railroaded a bit, but the players could understand that and still gave me props to a game well played... And they all fell in love with how "Pickle" the prisoner turned out.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Stubs ().

    • RE: First GM running his First game with some new players. (Intro)

      Ha ha!!! I love how you're reserving the slots for the continued story... I've never seen that done before on a forum...

      As for the potential storyline concept you're considering running,...sounds fun! It'll be neat to see how you take what initially must simply be a campaign based on assassination plot stuff, and then weave it into a tale concerning a demon being driven back to the swirling hells of Narákah...

      Perhaps what could start out as a strange series of "random" murders of local notorious personalities (which the assassin/spy characters are sent to investigate by their lord) actually turns out to be the powerful trapped demon manipulating demonic forces and underlings in order to "harvest" those souls wicked enough so that they may be used by the demon to se itself free...(which could mean free to rampage across the land, or whatever)... Along the way the assassins could hook up with a holy-caste mángai priest (as an NPC perhaps) who might guide this unlikely trio toward the goal of banishing the demon forever... Perhaps the priest might reveal that the demon intends to "harvest" one or more of the players themselves for its terrible task, and that the assassin player (with a wicked past, perhaps) needs to see to the banishing of this demon to help redeem his own immortal duháma (soul)...

      Could be a fun scenario...

      Scottie ^^
    • RE: First GM running his First game with some new players. (Intro)

      Well... Sadly this has all already been done and dealt with, I'm now just basing most of this off of memory (to be honest, those three nights were rather memorable). I wanted to relay all of this before all it's grandness is lost to the vastness of memory and imagination.

      And you haven't seen people reserve slots on a forum before? Well... I guess I'm more of a forumite then most others, so I've seen it done when people start doing forum walk-throughs, and the like, they've got more to say, and in different chapters of they're walk-through, so they reserve the places afterwards.