Back-story is your friend

I had a great moment last weekend that, at least for me, proved the maxim that "A solid backstory is more useful than a million stats."

We only had two encounters:  One, a random encounter while journeying... and the dice (well, an online random encounter generator) selected... a young green dragon... I quickly decided his motive was simply hunger, quickly read his stats, and we're fighting... and I'm reviewing stats.... and we're fighting... and I'm looking over abilities... and we're fighting, and I'm trying to decide if my players creative solution might work... back and forth, back and forth.

The second encounter was the one I "planned."  And by planned, I mean I knew my players would be heading to talk to NPC-Z, to get information about Macguffin-X*... I wanted to use the lego bride minifigure, and I wanted an NPC that was probably friendly, but had a weird twist and could go badly for the players... I remembered another bride (Zack Smith's Hollow Bride), so I stole a lot of the idea from that, and decided that NPC-Z had been replaced by an interdimensional traveler who really really wanted to socialize and make friends, but who had a really nasty temper and would freak out and revert to her natural form (the hollow bride) if the players offended her.

The face of evil-ish.

So of course the rogue looked up her dress.  And got caught.  And couldn't bluff her way out of it.

Battle ensued.    

There were 7 creatures involved in this battle, and figuring out what they'd do and why, was about 100x easier than the "simple" dragon battle.  And in both situations I spent about 30 seconds looking over their stats, but in the latter, I knew why the monster was doing what she was doing, and that meant the stats were secondary to the story I wanted to tell, and I worked less.

So note for self:  Next random encounter, spend an extra minute and make up a quick backstory.

*The gang found an elvish wizard, he managed to open a planes gate between earth and fairy.  They managed to kill him and steal his tome, but they don't have the skills to understand it.  They took it to the NPC who explained she needed 3 other tomes to figure out how to close the gate (of course.)   I know, Troperific.  

Chess

I just saw this chess set over at my favorite DND blog (NSFW, sometimes) and it really threw me... it's a completely normal chess board (same number of squares) but the varied heights make it look much more complex, and my brain defaults to "higher is better."  It would be interesting to make (and play) on a board with the actual important squares higher (ie, highest at the center) and see how that changes people's play.

Best Lego MOC ever

If you're any kind of Lego fan, you have to go check this out:  Mini-Fig Scale Serenity.

If I ever manage to build anything that awesome I'll be able to keel over and die afterwards in complete satisfaction with my life.  Make sure you flip through all the pictures (there are many), the interior shots of the kitchen, cockpit, and bedrooms are absolutely fantastic.

Great table for when a player misses a session

I'm putting this here, so I never ever lose it again.  (Zack's site is generally not safe for work, but this direct link SHOULD be okay... no blaming me if you just can't wait to get home and open it at the office and get fired... although, if you do, can I have your job?)

Er, sorry, anywhere, here it is:   Where the Hell have you been Flake Table, at DnD with Porn Stars

Review of Shelob Attacks

Eurobrick has a great breakdown of the build, so I"m going to skip it, and jump right into talking about it as a DnD mini's set.

So, first off.  Hobbits.  Well, Halflings, since we're playing Pathfinder or DnD, but let's not quibble.  The important thing here is that we have short little guys with curly hair.  That makes me happy.  I don't have anyone playing a halfling in my current campaign (sadly), but now that I have a dozen of these little guys, they may meet some.  

The set comes with 3 minis.  2 halflings, and Golum.  Golum is pretty... I dunno, strange.  Kind of harmless looking and withered and strangely adorable.  I'm sure I can find some purpose for him (for some reason he reminds me of the treasure goblins from Diablo 3, so maybe I'll make my players chase him around a map for ages?)  

The Hobbits are hobbits.  The new curly hair is great, and I'm always up for some new capes and short legs. They each have a sword, although Frodo's is curvier.  I'm pretty sure "sting" isn't a unique model, but I'm always happy to have more stabby bits.

There is also a little "cave" thing.  Yay map flavor bits.  Nothing to write home about, but it won't go unused either.

The real joy here is the spider.  Shelob is awesome.  I almost passed on this set, because I have two of the spiders from the Harry Potter series, and why have another big spider?  Giant spiders are a little "meh" in my mind to begin with, so I wasn't sure I wanted to invest in another one.

But check it out... it's HUGE.  And scary looking.  It could eat the Harry Potter spider (whose name escapes me) for lunch.  I'm going to have to save this bad boy for a truly epic encounter somewhere down the line, because it's just too awesome to waste.  

Shelob towers over Sam and Frodo, and the ruins of our last game.

Shelob is making a light snack of the Harry Potter spider.

DND 4E Tonight

I gotta say my buddy Andrew does the best role-play voices ever.  Fat Marlon Brando as a disturbingly sexy 600 lb fishmonger?  Yes please!

On the DND Starter Box

I'm playing DnD 4E with some friends on Sunday, and using the starter box to roll up a new character...

The "Choose your own Adventure" thing is cute, but can also be a little confusing, and I think it would be easy for new gamers to miss important stuff...

For instance, my rogue apparently gets "Bump and Run" which does normal damage and moves my opponent 5 feet away from me... so far so good... but then it also tells me I can move half my normal distance away from my opponent... is that part of my regular move action?  or part of Bump and Run?  It's unclear in the book... maybe it's clearer on the little cards?  Would a new gamer think to look there?

Hmm... okay, healing surges, fine...

Alignment... man... if Alignment and I were on a long drive, and she (alignment) was bitching about her boyfriend (Wizards), and showed me this, I'd tell her to break up, move on, he's just not that into you... For the record, I'm of mixed feelings on alignment myself.  I see it as a role-playing aid.  That is, if noting down on your character sheet that you're "evil" reminds you to stretch yourself and "be evil," then more power to you.  But as a DM and player, I'm not going to enforce (or even set up) your evilness.   Which brings up something else... check this out (I scanned it, because I want to make sure you believe me...)

Okay, I understand that, for new players (and new DMs) Good characters are (a lot) easier than Evil ones.  And I understand that some players read "evil" as "I get to be an asshole at the table and nobody can call me on it," but that's got nothing to do with evil pcs, that has to do with assholes at the table.  If you have asshole at the table, ask them to leave.  Evil PCs can work way more often than rarely.  Poor, poor alignment.  You just aren't loved anymore.

Okay, fewer skills than Pathfinder, but they make sense, the book explains them well enough I guess... no problems there... the little skill check in the book is cute enough (poor dying goblin...)


Hmmm... my rogue gets 12 Reflex save + my dex modifier... but the character sheet says the base is 10... I assume the other 2 is a class bonus?  No way for me to know for sure... 


Hey, I get 2D6 added to my attack rolls when I have combat advantage!  I wonder what that is...


I guess I'll figure it out when I play...


Okay, so the Choose your own adventure thing is cute, but it took me an hour to wander through, and I did it ALONE.  The Pathfinder starter is less cute, and sometimes a little more confusing, but at least it wasn't designed to isolate you from your friends.  It just seems odd to me, to make something that's designed to be done alone, to kick off such a social activity as DnD.  That said, it works, I have my rogue ready to go for Sunday night!