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garhkal Sovereign Protector


Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 14323 Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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And if the baddie can requisition some, have them USE mines, booby traps and the like. _________________ Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk! |
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Admiral Tolval Cadet


Joined: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 24
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 1:51 am Post subject: |
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Couple of questions: (1) How long have these players been playing these characters? (2) How many character pts. do you give them after each adventure? (3) What's their lowest stat and highest stat?
If the answers are like (1) less than 2 years (2) 10+ and (3) 7D and 12+D, than you may need to cut back on the rewards. I find beginning players love high rewards so GMs will use that to keep players. But too much is a good thing. If this is your case, start lowering the pts given out. Why should an advance player (6+D stats) get the same amount of pts for defeating a foe as a beginning character? It should be less.
If this isn't your case, than try using these options:
(1) Elite troops. They don't have armor penalties. Their prime stats (STR, DEX, etc.) add up to be 18 just like the players. They have increased skill rolls equal to the players. Also special equipment. Why should a stormtrooper always carry a Stormtrooper One? What if he found a Verpine Scattergun was more effective in some situations?
(2) Use scenerios in which brute force is ineffective. If they are so powerful, assign them a diplomatic mission. Can't take heavy armor and Thunderer Hvy Blaster Pistols on those missions. Have them face an opponent in which they can only use their wits. Adv. idea: Have them kidnapped at one point and placed in a hunting reserve with pieces of their equipment spread out in the area. They are hunted and have to survive while finding their equipment. When they do find their equipment, it may not have full charges (see adventure Starfall).
I hope some of this helps. |
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garhkal Sovereign Protector


Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 14323 Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 2:56 am Post subject: |
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Another option, is that they get 'slapped' with a massive criminal charge, and not only have the bounty hunters after them, but the cops.. and so need to use their wits to prove themselves innocent. _________________ Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk! |
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Chandra Mindarass Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 01 Jun 2005 Posts: 152 Location: Hilden, Germany
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Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 7:35 am Post subject: |
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I think one of the first things I did, was differentiate the Storm Troopers into novice, experienced and experts. In my world the Storm Troopers have a very flat hierarchy, so you can't really know what you get, when you see white armour. The next thing was, that I increased the attributes for the major NPCs. There was an agreement in the group, that we do not change any of the events in the OT, but what is a Sith Lord, that you don't fear?
For any blaster with damage greater than 8D I use what I call secondary damage. A blaster of that size will heat the air, melt rock and metal and ignite combustible material, which could lead to further explosions. And then...it's Star Wars. Events will always gravitate towards the larger explosion.
One good tool to keep players on their toes has to be used wisely. Introduce new things. This is especially hard if you play in a "historical" scenario and care for continuity. Have the villain use something unexpected, something the players have no experience with, BECAUSE it's not part of the canon. _________________ RPGGamer (featuring a big portion of DLOS-stats!)
>-q=p--- |
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JT Swift Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 10 Oct 2009 Posts: 132 Location: Austin Texas
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Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 10:34 pm Post subject: |
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The fix I applied to all my Stormtroopers is as follows...
Based on the assumption that all Stormtroopers are clones of Jango Fett and the Boba Fett is a clone of Jango I gave ALL stormtroopers BOBA FETT'S attributes. So that's a full 18D of attributes! More Strength, More Dex, better Perception rolls. I kept the skills the same [as much as possible] but my Stormtroopers have a much stronger foundation.
The effect is surprisingly noticeable. _________________ - J.T. Swift
For Everything about the TARDIS check out
http://www.whoniverse.net/tardis/
For all things Gallifreyan check out
http://meshyfish.com/~roo/index.html |
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Chandra Mindarass Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 01 Jun 2005 Posts: 152 Location: Hilden, Germany
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:33 am Post subject: |
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I guess one thing I put more and more emphasis on over the years, were story-based complications. The Jedi can cut themselves through scores of battle droids, but when the real villain behind it used them only to divert their attention elsewhere, while he was stealing cookies, it just won't be of any use to them. Second, The Stormtroopers are surely an intimidating instrument against civilians and maybe semi-professional smugglers, but the empire might have some expert for especially hard cases, like, let's say your players. Former mercenaries/bounty hunters, who have a good contract with the empire and maybe even serve in their uniform, but who have the stats to compete. Even a relatively weak opponent can become dangerous, when he uses terror tactics. Dead man switch on his person, room full of civilians as hostages. They are meanies, so let them make low-blows. _________________ RPGGamer (featuring a big portion of DLOS-stats!)
>-q=p--- |
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Downstrike Lieutenant


Joined: 03 Mar 2012 Posts: 80
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 12:15 pm Post subject: |
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Not everybody is infantry, have a hidden Forward Observer call in artillery or the Tac P’s call in CAS. I don’t care who you are, a modern day Mk 84 is going to mess up ur day.
Have the government freeze any assets they have because a Hutt is miffed at them and that Hutt has connections with the imperials and the republic/alliance.
Have the warranty go out on the more expensive equipment. You bet that washer and nut is out of stock….man, they stopped making that years ago.
Start killing off love interests, family, friends, or pets. What was the name of the rifle in Firefly? Vera I think? Have Vera get taken hostage [metaphorically].
Have the PC get sick ,old or cursed. All the Dex in the world will not save you if you lower someone’s move to 1 when the Star Destroyer is crashing.
Have them get lost, real lost, run out of food and drinking urine lost. Then find out that all the indigenous wildlife grazes on a fungus that makes their meat poison (I want to say this is true with box turtles and I took the idea over the top). Str starts to waste away after every meal. Give physical effects like their hair starts to fall out or whatever.
Worst of all, have someone put them in charge. And then everyone else messes up.
Cheers all
DS |
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garhkal Sovereign Protector


Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 14323 Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 6:04 pm Post subject: |
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Downstrike wrote: | Not everybody is infantry, have a hidden Forward Observer call in artillery or the Tac P’s call in CAS. I don’t care who you are, a modern day Mk 84 is going to mess up ur day.
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Done that before, man you should have heard the howls of being a killer gm!..
Downstrike wrote: |
Have the government freeze any assets they have because a Hutt is miffed at them and that Hutt has connections with the imperials and the republic/alliance. |
Tried that, but since many prefer to keep hard credits, that is harder to do.
Downstrike wrote: |
Have the warranty go out on the more expensive equipment. You bet that washer and nut is out of stock….man, they stopped making that years ago. |
Interesting idea..
Downstrike wrote: |
Have the PC get sick ,old or cursed. All the Dex in the world will not save you if you lower someone’s move to 1 when the Star Destroyer is crashing. |
I love this one.
Downstrike wrote: |
Have them get lost, real lost, run out of food and drinking urine lost. Then find out that all the indigenous wildlife grazes on a fungus that makes their meat poison (I want to say this is true with box turtles and I took the idea over the top). Str starts to waste away after every meal. Give physical effects like their hair starts to fall out or whatever. |
NICEE!@ _________________ Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk! |
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cheshire Arbiter-General (Moderator)

Joined: 04 Jan 2004 Posts: 4865
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 6:16 pm Post subject: |
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Ya know, I'm starting to like this Downstrike guy.  _________________ __________________________________
Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind. |
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Bobmalooga Commander


Joined: 13 Sep 2010 Posts: 367 Location: The south...
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Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 9:20 pm Post subject: What I typically do is this... |
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I know the game says to fudge in their favor, but forget that Jack! My main villains and higher-end lackeys are on equal footing with the PCs. When that fails give the villains FP to use, I had a player whine about it once and I made the comment "Well you use force points on them, why can't they on you???" and when your players decide to shop out of the various tech manuals (Gee, I want a deck-sweeper, but can I modify it to do MOOOOORE damage???) tell them sure and then have the Imps start using the equipment after a game or two. I find a humbling experience is when you have a Jedi PC who thinks that he's the top dog, just cut a hand off or put an eye out...that's usually suitable to stop that nonsense...LOL
Keith _________________ No matter where you go, there you are... |
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Chandra Mindarass Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 01 Jun 2005 Posts: 152 Location: Hilden, Germany
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Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 9:54 am Post subject: |
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Deep down players want their characters to get hurt.  _________________ RPGGamer (featuring a big portion of DLOS-stats!)
>-q=p--- |
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Downstrike Lieutenant


Joined: 03 Mar 2012 Posts: 80
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Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 5:10 pm Post subject: |
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Chandra Mindarass wrote: | Deep down players want their characters to get hurt.  |
Get hurt and come out victorious.
I had a friend who loved to weed thru the nobodies but had to be beaten near death with the final bad guy to have a great game.
Another friend [who introduced me to rpgs back in the 80s] gave me advice to make all the minions what we now call glass cannons but with poor aim. Out of the whole army only two land hits in the whole of combat; but, when damage is rolled, everyone looks at you like you are a terrible person.
Another thing is let them fight their specialty. You got a character that's a judo god, throw the character a whole mess of cultists armed with sacrificial knives while the other players deal with the monster they are worshiping. Got a character who spent everything on mechanics and wants to soup up the ship by like 8 dice, no problem….don’t do a lot of ship combat after that but let it happen. When I play, it’s a failed Jedi. You know what I like to do? I use TK to switch all the blasters to stun or just drop the magazines. It’s in sight and its an easy roll. I don’t pull out the light saber and start messing up stuff, I just press buttons and throw levers and switches.
Never let a good plan by players fail. If they have a plan that doesn’t involve some loophole in the rules, you need to not only let it happen but you need to make sure it happens. They should only do the plan once or twice and if it involves a player saying “well according to the rules if I do this than…” you need to have the moon detonate under their feet explaining that their was an extreme magnetic shift which tore the campaign apart. So assuming your players are not trying to be jerks, let them park the cargo freighter so the speeder of the harassment player can get by but the bad guy in his limo is stuck while the players open up with their ship’s lasers on the limo. Let the players cut down trees in hopes that they can take out an AT-ST and then have a AT ST walk right where they need it to. Don’t want the big bag guy in the limo to die, have some unknown element swoop down and grab him/her but make it apparent that injuries were incured.
My players always loved when I would knock out teeth or cut a finger off the bad guy, they would heckle the crude out of um until I rolled dice letting them know talking had ended and combat had started. Have a player who is handicapped cripple a bad guy and see some of the swill that will come out of their mouths, I think it might be cathartic or something?
You can kill everyone but if they know they took a testicle from a bad guy, that’s a glorious death. Really, try it. Male or female players, we all love to castrate the big bad guy. Take your most annoyingly min/maxed been playing since 1984 character, let them take your main bad guys junk out…bad guy still alive, kicking and planning….and then kill off that player’s character. Your most erudite white wolf fan will say “did you see me hit im in the n)+5!”
Well back to box o wine
Cheers
DS |
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garhkal Sovereign Protector


Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 14323 Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 5:52 pm Post subject: Re: What I typically do is this... |
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Bobmalooga wrote: | I know the game says to fudge in their favor, but forget that Jack! My main villains and higher-end lackeys are on equal footing with the PCs. When that fails give the villains FP to use, I had a player whine about it once and I made the comment "Well you use force points on them, why can't they on you???" and when your players decide to shop out of the various tech manuals (Gee, I want a deck-sweeper, but can I modify it to do MOOOOORE damage???) tell them sure and then have the Imps start using the equipment after a game or two. I find a humbling experience is when you have a Jedi PC who thinks that he's the top dog, just cut a hand off or put an eye out...that's usually suitable to stop that nonsense...LOL
Keith |
Good point. One of the GMs in our ongoing campaign keeps heckling the heck out of me when i have baddies use force points to actually do more than just take damage.. And woe betide me if i have the baddie quad up. _________________ Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk! |
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Downstrike Lieutenant


Joined: 03 Mar 2012 Posts: 80
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Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 6:26 pm Post subject: |
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Well don't get me wrong but tell that petty officer to shut up, He/she may be good on a backhoe but ur runnin the game and if you want to say poison gas from a foot fungus of one of the characters starts droppin everybody, thats the way its gonna go! There a ARMY EOD SSG that has ur back, pm me with this jerks number and i'll give um what for.
Cheers
DS |
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Esoomian High Admiral


Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Posts: 6207 Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:13 pm Post subject: Re: What I typically do is this... |
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garhkal wrote: | Good point. One of the GMs in our ongoing campaign keeps heckling the heck out of me when i have baddies use force points to actually do more than just take damage.. And woe betide me if i have the baddie quad up. |
In my mind quading up is a GM exploit. It seems like a rules oversight rather than something you're supposed to be able to do and it has the potential for multiple DSPs
If a player pulls that they have a good chance of having to hand over their character to the GM and becoming an NPC but if an NPC pulls it it's fine, no downside. _________________ Don't waste money on expensive binoculars.
Simply stand closer to the object you wish to view. |
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