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PBP Alt Univ: Clone Wars: Misc
EliasWindrider replied to EliasWindrider's topic in Star Wars: Force and Destiny Beginner Game
@Bellona @MrTInce @P-47 Thunderbolt @RuusMarev @SuperWookie get 25 xp as my parting gift. I wish you well, you should vote on a new GM. -
This new samurai recently bought the core rulebook, thinking that he might try and GM hi's a very first RPG game in the L5R setting, using 5e rules. I fell in love with the idea of L5R after discovering The One Shot podcast lets-play of the 4th edition with Jim Mcclure . Now, after reading... Attempting to read the 5th edition rules... I kind of feel stuck. Like... Should-I-commit-seppuku stuck? I am looking at the rulebook, and I have no idea how to tackle this beast as a new GM who wants to try and play this game with hi's board game friends who have never even played an RPG. Can anyone experienced in L5R give me any tips? Is there a way how to streamline the game or enjoy the game despite its complicated rules? I probably should be asking more concrete questions, but I think that that is the problem... TL;DR = I am so overwhelmed I do not know where to even start with learning and playing the game as a GM based on the rulebook. Can anyone help me get whelmed? -
This new GM is overwhelmed, can you help him get whelmed?
Magnus Grendel replied to Hollow Bonfire's topic in Houserules
The easy answer is 'the beginner box', but that's kind of a cheap shot after you've bought the core rulebook! Nevertheless, the point still stands; if you can get the Topaz Championship adventure, it comes with premade characters and an adventure which deliberately adds in the mechanics one at a time. Plus it comes with dice, tokens and a cool poster map of the empire. Genuinely; do just that. The game is designed on the assumption a GM will fettle it to taste. If you have the core rulebook, the first thing I would do, especially as a new GM, is tell you to turn to Chapter 7: The Game Master. The rest of the book can go hang for the moment. This chapter contains a lot of simple, sound advice for a new GM, regardless of system. I would strongly encourage you to look at the 'Story-first groups' box on page 286. This way of play deliberately cuts out most of the complexity - the techniques chapter, for example, becomes narrative effects, whilst conflicts are simplified to single rolls. At least until you and you players are used to the idea of rings and approaches - subtly different to the usual RPG stats of strength/toughness/charisma and what have you, along with how you pick Target numbers and how opportunities work, keep things as simple as possible. This goes double if it's the setting, lore and characters that's drawn you in, rather than a desire for a mindless dungeon crawl. The basic mechanic - as in, the stuff in Chapter 1 - is simple and elegant; don't get blinded by techniques and conflict scene rules till you've got you head round that, along with a rough idea of how honour, glory and status works . It's perfectly possible to play an interesting intro session purely with narrative and downtime scenes. If you want some more specific examples of each, I can talk you through a few. Let me know if that'd be helpful. Above all: DON'T PANIC. THAT'S THE PLAYER CHARACTERS' JOB. -
EASY WAY TO USE DODGE IN YOUR GAME Sometimes new GMs to 1E Star Wars struggle with Dodge--when to roll it. It can get a bit unwieldy if, as the game book says, that Dodge must be rolled before an attack, but the attack roll is also used for initiative. Dodges don't have to be declared. They are reaction rolls, used in reaction to an attack, and Dodges are not penalized if they are rolled before any other actions during the segment. So, here's my advice: Run your combat as if no character had Dodge. Don't worry about Dodge. Figure it when you check to see what the difficulty number of the shot will be. The rules say to roll the Dodge before the attack, but this is only because the Dodging character has to decide whether to use his Dodge skill BEFORE he knows whether the attacker will hit at unmodified range. The easy way I've found to play this is to assume a character will Dodge every time he is attacked. Even if the attack roll is made against the Dodging character before the Dodge is figured, the Dodger is committed. If the attacker fails to hit just by standard range, the Dodge must still be thrown. A player may decide, though, that the default for his character is not to Dodge. In either case, no matter if the default is to Dodge or not Dodge, the player must tell the GM that he intends to change his default (to not Dodge when the character's default is to Dodge) before an attacker makes an attack. Dicing the Dodge can come later, though. A SIMPLE DODGE EXAMPLE. We will assume that Sneaky Beet will Dodge (or Melee Parry) every time that he is attacked. To make this very simple, Beet sees a Stormtrooper at Medium Range. Both Beet and the trooper have their blasters out and readied. Beet will take two shots, and the trooper will only take one. We're not going to worry at all about Dodge. The default for both PC and NPC is that they will Dodge. I like rolling real dice when I write these examples, so I will do that here. I don't know how this will play out. INITIATIVE. This is an initiative situation. We roll both shots at each other. The higher total is taken as the first shot. See how easy that is? Sneaky Beet rolls Blaster 5D+1, but he's committed to two shots this round. That's -1D. Roll 4D+1 = 14. Stormtrooper has Blaster 4D, reduced to 3D for armor. He'll roll 3D = 15. YES! I rolled it! SEGMENT 1. This means that the trooper will act first, and Beet is committed to Dodge. The trooper's attack is 15. Beet rolls Dodge, now. Since Beet has technically already fired his blaster (he rolled for initiative), we've got to count that as a skill use. Otherwise, rolling Dodge will get wonky (the initiative roll will not match his attack roll, and that makes for uneasy figuring). So, the Dodge is made at -1D. His full Dodge is 3D+1. So, he rolls 2D +1. Roll = 7. It takes a 22 to hit Beet. The trooper's attack goes wide. Now, it's Beet's turn to fire He declared two actions, so that's -1D. And, he just used his Dodge, so that's another -1D. So, the second attack is made at -2D, which would be 3D+1. The trooper is committed to Dodge. Sneaky Beet rolls 3D+1 = 12. We don't need to roll the trooper's Dodge because there are no more attacks against the trooper this segment. But, the use of Dodge is considered to have happened and counts as an action for Segment 2. Sometimes, we get to skip rolls this way--which makes the game go faster. Segment 2. The only thing that is happening this segment is the Beet is firing at the trooper, and the trooper is committed to Dodge. Sneaky Beet rolls his second shot. He's at -2D (-1D for two actions, and -1D for using his Dodge last segment). He rolls 3D +1 = 7. Again, we don't have to roll the Dodge for the trooper. Had Beet hit for regular range, then the trooper would roll it. Still, the trooper was committed either way. End of combat round. SUMMARY. 1. Don't worry about Dodge when you are rolling initiative. 2. Consider characters to be committed to Dodging (or default to not Dodging, if the player chooses), regardless of whether the actual Blaster attack would score a hit at range. This forces the target character to decide on the use of his Dodge before he knows whether the foe can hit him at just the range difficulty. 3. When rolling Dodge, penalize it for any skill rolls that were rolled before the Dodge (and the skill rolls used for initiative count), but don't penalize Dodge for any actions declared for later segments. As in the above example, Beet's Dodge is 4D +1. When he first uses his Dodge, only the initiative throw is made, which is a skill use, which counts as an action for these purposes. Dodge is reduced by -1D. If Beet needed to use is Dodge in segment 1, then Dodge would be penalized further. 4. Note how the combat system allows you to speed up the game by bypassing some rolls, sometimes. Consider when a Rebel has initiative, fires, and stuns a troopers. Any actions that the trooper was going to perform are no longer rolled because the trooper is lying on the ground, in pain from the stun. He loses all actions for the round.
