I’ve definitely gone through versions of Carlos thought process in the past. I want my players challenged, and I want them to know they face consequences, but above all, I want them to have fun (which is highly group, and campaign dependent).
Brian has shown us some pretty dark and death-filled games in the past with Karthun, and *especially with the IGS. I don’t think they shy away from it, but this game seems a little lighter in tone.
And also, consider that these are all different DMs. This is the way Carlos leans. Same leans more neutral while Carlos seems to mechanically lean toward the players’ benefit while narratively nodding to the fact that it wasn’t a good draw and Matron very, very much wants to put Bronco in her place.
And @Aita, I definitely struggle with it, though I’m new and still “figuring it out”. I wan to let the dice fall where they will, buuuuut…if it’s a lame direction, I knee-jerk fudge it sometimes.
Plus, it’s okay to have bad plans with bad rolls have bad consequences… further along. Just as good things can have delayed payoffs, so can bad things. I can’t say I would have thought of this… but now that I’ve seen this example, it gives me… Ideas.
As for how I’ve handled things in games I’ve run… honestly, the players have really consistently trounced whatever I throw at them. I do like to run pre-made adventures, but the usual crew are great at combat and struggle with traps/puzzles… until they realize we all overlooked a get out of trouble free card. I’ve taken to bumping the number of foes up… but keep falling short of the party’s capability. They one-round killed a thing that should have been a struggle… burning resources they would need for the boss… and didn’t need them there. Actually interrupted his teleport escape. (Always give them one chance in a face-to-face encounter.)
There’s a balance to strike, but I don’t know how to hit it with combat threat in a lot of systems. I think, when we do get together again… (schedules! Ugh… IF we do) I’m not going to throw in more so much as smarter foes. “Fuck, it’s the Agents!” and have them throw out some obnoxious special grenades or threaten the macguffin with an unknown device. “You came for this, right? So did we. Either we all fail today, or just you. Maybe you steal it from my boss in a week. I don’t care. I have vacation time. But the thing that you don’t get to have is this today. You don’t get to murder my people AND take the power of [thing]. So what’s more important to you? Killing your competition, or whatever you want this for?” (insight checks reveal he’s nervous and rambling a bit, but you don’t think he’s bluffing.)
I typically find that, unless the players in question are big fans of other death-filled mediums of entertainment (Lovecraft, Dark Souls, Battletech, and other darker settings that don’t play with kid gloves), the “be nice and fair to the players” mindset really depends on the combined experience level of the players and the GM: if it’s the first game for a group or the first campaign the GM is running, everyone tends to take it a little slow and steady at first.
Once everyone understands the rules and is fleshing out their character beyond a simple murderhobo?
Anything can be accepted and expected by everyone at the table, so long as there is some kind of precedent set.
Your game is likely going to kill them in the first few minutes, and death is going to be within breathing distance the entire campaign? Don’t make them spend 2 days creating the first casualty, have them fill out an entire army platoon with alternative characters (see: the infamous “The All-Guardsmen Party” d4-chan story, as read via audio playlist here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvXz4ii9fJ82n17FZn1v5AJa_kyGFur3g ).
Your setting is going to be built with as much realistic interaction and lifelike characters as possible? Have the players come up with decently-detailed backstories (complete with story hooks for later integration into the quests), and make the group face severe in-game punishment for a relatively-minor form of character-breaking early on (usually good to allow the players some easy way to talk OOC without causing in-character issues).
You’re putting the story in a low-magic or a high-tech universe? Tell your players that before character creation starts, so that someone doesn’t make a wizard in a world without any magical ingredients or a druid in the middle of Mega-City One.
Even with a bit of self-doubt peeking through the cracks, the way Carlos weighs every factor shows the mark of a good GM. And the way he’s ending it on a high note… perfection. I love Carlos, too.
Honestly I love the look into the thought process, and an idea that would absolutely be in my version would be “Ok, Bronco, and for the results of your attemp…Well, We’ll have to wait till next time to see how it turns out”
Yeah that was pretty much the gamut of my thought processes the whole time when creating my homebrew 6 week one shot. I’m still going through my materials thinking if stuff fits the fluff and crunch and will challenge them enough.
Mind you putting a CR3 party against a CR 7 monster (Black Pudding for those who know their D&D lore) was a slightly dick move but they beat it in the end with a little dice fudging, it was their only combat that day, and an Aasimar NPC was basically protecting their arses (acid resistance FTW plus given the class it fit the fluff well so it wasn’t just crunch) by putting themselves between the monster and them.
It was a real close call but they enjoyed it so I’m happy.
As a note, the Fate deck also comes with little qualifiers on each card. So you can use them as fodder to decide what kind of success or failure you have. It’s a cool feature.
That said, I just find them unsatisfying. I have to chuck dice. It’s how I, well, roll.
Tsk, tsk, Carlos. Always start by quirking an eyebrow and asking if they want to spend a Fate point on that. Even if you’re going to give it to them anyway.
Pro-tip: Nobody ever wins a fight against an Omega-class telekinetic. Particularly one that is probably invulnerable, so the usual “take them out with a sniper rifle” trick doesn’t even work.
Signature move: toss your massively powerful enemy about four hundred miles into space, preferably at escape velocity. Unless they have actual control of their mass and inertia like Superman, they’re basically stuck.
It was probably related to her debut (namely, saving that bullet train from taking a dip in a lake). A rather good one that I saw in the comments of that comic was “Starcatcher.”
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“A look into the mind of every GM” Amen to that!
I love that “Trevor is drunk” is one of the bigger considerations.
“My muscles cash the massive checks I write with my mouth” is a long, but good Aspect for Bronco.
Do most GMs struggle with things like that? Can’t say for sure if I’d have done things differently, but I wouldn’t have struggled over it…
Dunno. I usually run pretty dark games, though, and my players tend to appreciate death as a common aspect in my worlds.
I’ve definitely gone through versions of Carlos thought process in the past. I want my players challenged, and I want them to know they face consequences, but above all, I want them to have fun (which is highly group, and campaign dependent).
Brian has shown us some pretty dark and death-filled games in the past with Karthun, and *especially with the IGS. I don’t think they shy away from it, but this game seems a little lighter in tone.
I’m digging the variety.
Right?
And also, consider that these are all different DMs. This is the way Carlos leans. Same leans more neutral while Carlos seems to mechanically lean toward the players’ benefit while narratively nodding to the fact that it wasn’t a good draw and Matron very, very much wants to put Bronco in her place.
And @Aita, I definitely struggle with it, though I’m new and still “figuring it out”. I wan to let the dice fall where they will, buuuuut…if it’s a lame direction, I knee-jerk fudge it sometimes.
Plus, it’s okay to have bad plans with bad rolls have bad consequences… further along. Just as good things can have delayed payoffs, so can bad things. I can’t say I would have thought of this… but now that I’ve seen this example, it gives me… Ideas.
As for how I’ve handled things in games I’ve run… honestly, the players have really consistently trounced whatever I throw at them. I do like to run pre-made adventures, but the usual crew are great at combat and struggle with traps/puzzles… until they realize we all overlooked a get out of trouble free card. I’ve taken to bumping the number of foes up… but keep falling short of the party’s capability. They one-round killed a thing that should have been a struggle… burning resources they would need for the boss… and didn’t need them there. Actually interrupted his teleport escape. (Always give them one chance in a face-to-face encounter.)
There’s a balance to strike, but I don’t know how to hit it with combat threat in a lot of systems. I think, when we do get together again… (schedules! Ugh… IF we do) I’m not going to throw in more so much as smarter foes. “Fuck, it’s the Agents!” and have them throw out some obnoxious special grenades or threaten the macguffin with an unknown device. “You came for this, right? So did we. Either we all fail today, or just you. Maybe you steal it from my boss in a week. I don’t care. I have vacation time. But the thing that you don’t get to have is this today. You don’t get to murder my people AND take the power of [thing]. So what’s more important to you? Killing your competition, or whatever you want this for?” (insight checks reveal he’s nervous and rambling a bit, but you don’t think he’s bluffing.)
I typically find that, unless the players in question are big fans of other death-filled mediums of entertainment (Lovecraft, Dark Souls, Battletech, and other darker settings that don’t play with kid gloves), the “be nice and fair to the players” mindset really depends on the combined experience level of the players and the GM: if it’s the first game for a group or the first campaign the GM is running, everyone tends to take it a little slow and steady at first.
Once everyone understands the rules and is fleshing out their character beyond a simple murderhobo?
Anything can be accepted and expected by everyone at the table, so long as there is some kind of precedent set.
Your game is likely going to kill them in the first few minutes, and death is going to be within breathing distance the entire campaign? Don’t make them spend 2 days creating the first casualty, have them fill out an entire army platoon with alternative characters (see: the infamous “The All-Guardsmen Party” d4-chan story, as read via audio playlist here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvXz4ii9fJ82n17FZn1v5AJa_kyGFur3g ).
Your setting is going to be built with as much realistic interaction and lifelike characters as possible? Have the players come up with decently-detailed backstories (complete with story hooks for later integration into the quests), and make the group face severe in-game punishment for a relatively-minor form of character-breaking early on (usually good to allow the players some easy way to talk OOC without causing in-character issues).
You’re putting the story in a low-magic or a high-tech universe? Tell your players that before character creation starts, so that someone doesn’t make a wizard in a world without any magical ingredients or a druid in the middle of Mega-City One.
This is me almost every game! I love this comic so much…
YAY! I love Carlos and I want him to be my GM forever.
IN the OL world’, we call this success with a twist. Probably got it from elsewhere, but I learned it in Open Legend.
Yeah, this is a good look into a GM’s mind…
The key thing with this is to make sure your players know that the DM giveth… and the DM taketh away.
Even with a bit of self-doubt peeking through the cracks, the way Carlos weighs every factor shows the mark of a good GM. And the way he’s ending it on a high note… perfection. I love Carlos, too.
Honestly I love the look into the thought process, and an idea that would absolutely be in my version would be “Ok, Bronco, and for the results of your attemp…Well, We’ll have to wait till next time to see how it turns out”
Yeah that was pretty much the gamut of my thought processes the whole time when creating my homebrew 6 week one shot. I’m still going through my materials thinking if stuff fits the fluff and crunch and will challenge them enough.
Mind you putting a CR3 party against a CR 7 monster (Black Pudding for those who know their D&D lore) was a slightly dick move but they beat it in the end with a little dice fudging, it was their only combat that day, and an Aasimar NPC was basically protecting their arses (acid resistance FTW plus given the class it fit the fluff well so it wasn’t just crunch) by putting themselves between the monster and them.
It was a real close call but they enjoyed it so I’m happy.
SOOOOO true
Holy crap I wanna run a date game with the deck that is such a cool mechanic
FATE game ducking auto correct
No, hang on. You might be on to something there.
As a note, the Fate deck also comes with little qualifiers on each card. So you can use them as fodder to decide what kind of success or failure you have. It’s a cool feature.
That said, I just find them unsatisfying. I have to chuck dice. It’s how I, well, roll.
I think my fave fist full o’ dice game is oldschool Deadlands. Plus, it has exploding dice. (max roll grants reroll + add…)
Tsk, tsk, Carlos. Always start by quirking an eyebrow and asking if they want to spend a Fate point on that. Even if you’re going to give it to them anyway.
Fun fact: I actually had that in the original script but decided to drop it to showcase that Carlos is a brand-new GM. He’ll learn in time.
Pro-tip: Nobody ever wins a fight against an Omega-class telekinetic. Particularly one that is probably invulnerable, so the usual “take them out with a sniper rifle” trick doesn’t even work.
Signature move: toss your massively powerful enemy about four hundred miles into space, preferably at escape velocity. Unless they have actual control of their mass and inertia like Superman, they’re basically stuck.
Mind Control/Possession would be a cast-iron bitch
So now my brain goes wait codename “Matron”. I want to know what her codename was originally, because you aren’t a young kid/adult with that codename.
It was probably related to her debut (namely, saving that bullet train from taking a dip in a lake). A rather good one that I saw in the comments of that comic was “Starcatcher.”
ff.. so awesome. perfect.