The General State of my Game

[RoninFrosty]

Hello all,

Just have a couple things about my game that I'd like to discuss with some other DMs (input from players is welcome, as well). I've got several things I'd like to discuss.


Tailored Treasure - Not really sure how to handle this. My players want treasure they can use, so the temptation is to tailor the treasure to the characters, but it has this really manufactured feel to it once I cross that line (oh, the gnolls you fought HAPPENED to be carrying equipment that all of you can use). My thought is to keep treasure randomized, and maybe hand out tailored treasure as a reward for fleshing out their characters (tying up loose ends in their backgrounds and the like). Thoughts?
Engaging the Dice Rollers - This is something I'm having issues with. Most of my players get extremely bored during anything other than combat, which sort of limits what I'm able to do. As a DM, I find the combat aspect of the game probably the least appealing of all, as I'd rather introduce narrative and history and have them interact with it, but several of my players seem to want nothing to do with it. How can I get these guys to want to do anything other than cut things in half?
Festival - There is going to be an in-game festival soon, and I'm not exactly sure how to make it come alive. I'm going to make it an Earth festival, and we have an earth cleric, so that should be fairly easy, but how can I engage the rest of the players? What sort of festival activities can I have them engage in that, again, doesn't involve cutting someone in half?


Just looking for general feedback and suggestions. Not trying to come off as frustrated or whiny (as it sounded when I reread) but I'm having trouble articulating what the problems are. Thanks :)

[Godskook]

1.Don't tailor treasure, but keep in mind that all the most useful stuff is 'common'. Stat bonuses, Rings of Protection, etc, etc. Your players want the rare stuff? That's going to require a crafter or questing.

2.Also, keep in mind that similar people have similar wants. An enemy Wizard should have things like spellbooks, headbands of intellect, and rings of protection. An enemy Barbarian should likewise have things like a belt of strength, a good weapon(that makes sense), and other relevant magical items.

[RoninFrosty]

So far, they haven't fought a lot of humanoids. It's been mostly demons and monsters, so I guess I'll have to give them some humanoid foes to loot :P

[Lord Il Palazzo]

Regarding the festival, you might take a cue from Assassin's Creed II, a chapter of which is set during Carnival in Venice. I'm spoilering this just in case, but there's nothing particularly plot-relevant in here:
There are various games going on, all of which are built on skill the player's been using the entire game. There were a race and a game of capture the flag that used the game's free running system, a boxing match built on unarmed combat and a game where the player used his pickpocket skills to collect ribbons from women around the carnival area.

Perhaps you could do similar. Have a boxing contest revolving around unarmed (and non-lethal) combat. Maybe send them on some kind of scavenger hunt and let them figure out where in the city to find various doo-dads and trinkets (with some kind of minor but handy magical item as a prize if they find a certain number.) Hope this helps.

[Deadtissue]

Demons and other non-human baddies usually keep the loot of the humanoids they kill so thats one way to deliver the staple magical treasures the party requires like Godskook suggested.

Tailoring treasure can be a good way to get the players to interact and roleplay a bit more. Drop hints, with stories, ballads by bards, rumors from other adventurers of named or special items that will interest your group. Then make them research the location/current owner/and history of the item so they can track it down.

The DMG has a section on treasure and WBL. It suggests that its perfectly ok for the group to sell the loot they find and use it to buy more specific gear but I find that takes alot of fun out of the DMs job of generating treasure so I like to intersperse some Tailored stuff once in awhile. Those tailored items can have special abilities and histories that make them far more interesting than even a player wizard or cleric can produce.

[shadow_archmagi]

Everything is useful. If your players believe otherwise, they are simply being inept.

[Big Fau]

1: Give them an NPC Artificer. Have him turn useless items into more party-oriented items. Have him act as a quest-giver too.

[Godskook]

So far, they haven't fought a lot of humanoids. It's been mostly demons and monsters, so I guess I'll have to give them some humanoid foes to loot :P

You'll note that I didn't say a type in that example. Mind Flayers are Aberrations, but they still want headbands of intellect(XPH versions), and Dragons will pretty much take any of the others.

[Fitz10019]

I don't tailor treasure, but I have two players who expected it (because of a former DM). They wanted items without buying and selling (the whole sell at 1/2 price, purchase at full price rule really rankled them). They thought it was a DM's job to tailor treasure. I established a rule that every time they leveled, Wealth by Level would be enforced (according to the established purchase price of items), so now it doesn't really matter how they acquire items (found, bought, stolen, inherited, etc.). It is all the same ultimately. I know WBL is only a guideline, but I like it. No one feels underequipped, or favored v. unfavored, and we focus on the story more than the wealth.

Maybe you can introduce the narrative and history elements in an email a day or two before the session. Those who are interested will read it, and the others won't. When the narrative point comes up in the session, you can skip over it or recap it, so it takes up minimal table time. Over time the readers will become the party's decision makers, because they are the most informed. The non-readers will either be okay with that, or start reading. Having emails will make it easier for them to catch up, if they want to.

I had an in-game festival recently. The party met a caravan of entertainers headed to the festival, and travelled with them (singers, jugglers, fire-eaters, etc. and a few vendors). I think that helped them start to picture a festival. When they arrived at the burg, I asked them what they wanted to do. I just rolled with whatever things they expected there to be at a festival. I added a jousting tournament (not unlike the boxing suggestion, above). We used the active defense rolls to make the joust feel different than normal combat (AC was d20+Armor+etc.). The tournament was the morning after an all-night police interrogation, so when the captain of the guard was a contestant, it made him an instant rival (had the police been trying to sabotage their performance in the contest?). I think making a rival helps keep everyone interested in the outcome (a nobleman who was obnoxious to the party the day before; someone breaking the no-spells rule; a braggart).

[Kol Korran]

Hello all,


Tailored Treasure - Not really sure how to handle this. My players want treasure they can use, so the temptation is to tailor the treasure to the characters, but it has this really manufactured feel to it once I cross that line (oh, the gnolls you fought HAPPENED to be carrying equipment that all of you can use). My thought is to keep treasure randomized, and maybe hand out tailored treasure as a reward for fleshing out their characters (tying up loose ends in their backgrounds and the like). Thoughts?

some suggestions have allready been made- use items that can be used by both monsters and them, use items that are have more general use (such as ability/ skill boosting items, or potions and the like), and either let them party sell and acquire items/ or have an artificer ready to "make things better".

in my game i decided to selll items and buy them at their full worth. a bit unrealistic, but it gets over the whole "recalculate" WBL issue, and no one really find the sell/ buy part of the game any fun, so what the hell

however, i do try to tailor "some of the treasure" in an adventure. this is about... a quarter of the treasure? these fall under 3 broad categories:
- things that are tailored specific to the characters. thee are the rarest of items in my campaigns, and often quite unique and useful. often as special prizes or given by prophecy and such.
- things that enhance the setting in some way, often with either slight curses/ conditions/ special effects (if someone who belongs to the house of X wears the cape, it also grants Y") or symbols that add prestige with certain groups and so on. beyond the mere mechanics. to tell the truth, not all players appreciate that... :smallwink:
- items that are not of the regular kind, a bit quirky to use, or call for some decisions making (grants soem bonus, while also granting some minus for example, though a fairly boring one). again, some players like these, some don't. most of my current players often choose to sell these quite immediately :smallsigh:

i'd suggest to check this article by the alexandrian (http://www.thealexandrian.net/creations/misc/magic-items.html) it has some interesting advice, though not strictly refering to your question.


Engaging the Dice Rollers - This is something I'm having issues with. Most of my players get extremely bored during anything other than combat, which sort of limits what I'm able to do. As a DM, I find the combat aspect of the game probably the least appealing of all, as I'd rather introduce narrative and history and have them interact with it, but several of my players seem to want nothing to do with it. How can I get these guys to want to do anything other than cut things in half?

the idea with the emails can work but... you can't really force people to start reading and interacting wit the culture, history and society of the world if they don't want to. they have their preferences, andtheir reasosn for joining the game. best you could do is introduce them to these aspects ofthe game, but if they rejected it, you can try a few more times, but if they dislike it, well.. that's it. you can either try to play their game (hoping you have some taste for battle yourself), try to get them to play your game (wit the possibility of alienating your players), trying to find some middle ground (in which everyone has sometime they enjoy, some times they are bored), or find a more compatible group (which is a hard hard thing to do)

hhhmmm... you might try the following, though i doubt it would work, as D&D is a bit ill equipped for this- you can have them facing somewhat overwhelming organized forces- a demon army, a resistance group, necromancer hordes and the like. have several different groups all vying for some obscure goals the party isn't yet aware of, but that are quite hard to beat. in order to gain some advantage, the party needs to delve into the world's history, politics and so on, just so they can gain some edge in battles, tactics, but mostly- strategy.



Festival - There is going to be an in-game festival soon, and I'm not exactly sure how to make it come alive. I'm going to make it an Earth festival, and we have an earth cleric, so that should be fairly easy, but how can I engage the rest of the players? What sort of festival activities can I have them engage in that, again, doesn't involve cutting someone in half?


a few ideas:
- a small gorup of stone giants come to the festival, having some peculiar ware to sell (elixirs that harden armor? or that grants the imbuer with some hardiness or such) however, they would deal and converse only with people who respect their odd customs, language (make it that they speak in either their own special form of sign language, or by writing hoeroglyphs on a piece of leather, or the earth), or maybe barter mostly for services from the party- they need them to deal with some official in the city, or gain some favor from the temple (who dislikes them for some reason), or gain a favor from the town's mage (same deal)
i wrote some info on my take of stone giants in my "monster's compendium" link if you're itnerested, not a must.

- a peculiar seller of information, a sort of a blind goblin seer, or a child who speaks wit hthe voice of thuinder, and the like. she will tell you something of great import, if you tell her something of great import as well. a secret, or something else? however, not all she tell you you might like (think a bit the oracle from the order of the stick perhaps?)

- some games of skill! groups "just" the size of your party (or a bit less) are competing in whacky games of skills (no magic or only minor magic allowed) against other groups, for a certain prize. the test must not include only skill roles, but some inginuity and quick wit as well.

-colorful NPCs, colorful NPCs! a petty filthy merchant that really tries to sell everyone he sees all kind of useless junk, that he SWEARS is actually powerful relics! "why this broken mirror? it is actually the mirror of the lost empress of Xii! it makes you more beauitiful the more you look into it!" "this turtle shell tells the secrets of the ocean dwellers! allowing you to navigate any storm safely!" " this broken staff is half of the legendary staff os Izus! if you decpiher it's secrets it would lead you to the other half, and then you can have it's immense power!" the guy keeps bothering the PCs, seeing their wealth. try to playing only partially obnoxious and he might be fun! who knows, maybe some of his stuff is actually worth something, and even he doesn't know it?

a similar character is what i call "the wench" some woman (or man, depending on your party's genders, and sexual preferences) who decides that she really, really likes one (or more?) of the PCs, and decides to make her moves on him. aggresively. only she's... how to say... not quite appealing, though she is certain she is. the second complication is that she is the wife/ daughter/ lover of one of the town's hot shots, perhaps even a patron? turning her down too harshly might be a problem, accepting her advances might be a problem. hillarity ensues.

thieves or a con- someone pulls a fast one on the PCs (now sure how, not good at his and not knowing our world or PCs)most probably not something harmful, but something funny, at the character/s expense. preferably by some trickster sort of personality. the part needs to now deal with this (and their hurt pride), but outright violence might seem a bit too much... a more subtle approach is needed

a bit tired, late here, hopefully these help.
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