tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post5879855181083115056..comments2023-10-14T03:58:59.333-06:00Comments on The Tao of D&D: War StoriesAlexis Smolenskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-77679514898989681062009-01-22T09:04:00.000-07:002009-01-22T09:04:00.000-07:00Could be you're right, Alexis.I may have enforced ...Could be you're right, Alexis.<BR/><BR/>I may have enforced too much egalitarianism on my players. That was a response to one player who tended to hoard at the expense of the rest of the group. I probably should have let that go and forced the group handle it on their own.<BR/><BR/>Game balance has been tricky. When one character would gain a 2 level advantage it meant that she breezed through fights and the rest of the party got their asses handed to them. One or two sessions like that is one thing, but after a while the rest of the group got sick of it. One character gots all the treasure, plus whatever was left behind by the dead PCs and survives to collect the experience. That makes a great game for one person, but not so much for the other 6. I never found a good way to deal with it, so I tried to make sure one character didn't get too much more powerful than any other.Original_Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03521777462227997158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-65968573735028451322009-01-21T19:05:00.000-07:002009-01-21T19:05:00.000-07:00"The players first looked dumbfounded at the cards...<I>"The players first looked dumbfounded at the cards then they looked at me as if waiting for permission. "</I><BR/><BR/>Gotta tell you Carl, that speaks towards a lack of trust. Of you, I mean. Could it be that you're putting too many breaks on the natural competitive instincts between your players? That is, "Why play cutthroat if the DM doesn't like it?"<BR/><BR/>Most campaigns would prefer a minimum of vicious competitive in-fighting. I would like a little less in mine, but, well, I won't play nanny.Alexis Smolenskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-71816583774798863592009-01-21T16:04:00.000-07:002009-01-21T16:04:00.000-07:00Late responding. So again..."100% what Chgowiz an...Late responding. So again..."100% what Chgowiz and Carl said." I find such stories far more useful to my gaming than long-winded theoretical stuff.KenHRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11613789646908929989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-74330746023252069902009-01-21T15:37:00.000-07:002009-01-21T15:37:00.000-07:00That's not bad -- there's a lot of potential comed...That's not bad -- there's a lot of potential comedy in there. Personally, I find how those kinds of things go down around the table more interesting than the In-Game perspective. In-game is nice, but I read stuff like this to understand how the players and the DM handled the various haps and mishaps, which tasks were resolved with dice and which weren't and why. I'm a complete gamist whore, I know.<BR/><BR/>When you described distributing treasure on 3x5 cards by casually tossing them into the middle of the table -- well, I still giggle when I think about that. I tried the same thing in my game hoping for something similar, but it didn't pan out. The players first looked dumbfounded at the cards then they looked at me as if waiting for permission. After a long pause one of the players scooped them all up and then handed them around the table so everyone could have a look before they selected, as a group, who would benefit most from the possesion of a given item. It was anti-climactic, but made me proud that I game with such a mature group. Still, I was hoping at least two of them would get into a shoving match over the magical sword.Original_Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03521777462227997158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-3417531486455800052009-01-21T15:29:00.000-07:002009-01-21T15:29:00.000-07:00Most definitely. I'm getting away from the ramblin...Most definitely. I'm getting away from the ramblings as well, just pointing out what worked and what lessons I or players learned during a game, or something really neat or funny or sad if needs be.Michael S/Chgowizhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02052820400496340137noreply@blogger.com