I'm at a loss after our groups first session... story inside

[Lorddenorstrus]

I recently started a group with 6 people and told them ahead of time it's supposed to be a good guys save the world campaign. First session I get a Draconic template human Warblade. Wings attached human archer / sorcerer. the Targeteer snow elf with some weird elf bow. the Barbarian (insert homebrew race he's effectively a walking talking cow, like a Tauren from WOW) who really doesn't know what he's doing. An ogre fighter who's scared the entire party in minutes. and our comedy relief. Our rogue who after getting captured at the start of the game pissed the Orc guards off and ended his night with a sore ass (Literally he did that intentionally.. idk why) The party saves the rogue from the Orcs and everyone gets to know each other.. after resting at an Inn they decide to explore.

Our extremely odd as hell group ends out exploring ruins they find and the comedy relief has no ideahow to play a rogue in the slightest, his skill point distribution was abysmal. He almost set one trap off but the Ogre noticed the trip wire and they disabled it. Realizing this was going no where the ogre picks up the halfling rogue.. and rolls him down the corridor to set off the traps. I look at the rogues player and all he says is "I accept my fate, hopefully it's a value roll and i set off a lot of traps." This triggers a magical one that activates the nearby undead who where effectively set in 'stasis' within catacombs. As the fight rolls on.. our cow barbarian gets the idea to ram into a pillar to try and collapse the entire ceiling.. not caring that it would kill everyone... the ogre knocks him on his ass obviously.. the rogue tries to sneak up and attack the ogre because the Cow barbarian was his friend he fails.. the rest of the party changes their deity to Vamok (the Ogre fighter) after that display. Then they ask me if they can roast and eat the Cow barbarian because he betrayed the party.. I am at a complete loss how the first session went from normal to absolutely insane.

Sincerely the very befuddled DM. (Side note 3.5)

[Metahuman1]

For the playground, that sounds like tuesday night D&D. You did remember to run the theme to Benny Hill, right?






Ok, for real now.

So, you said you spoke to the party and told them "good guys save the world." was the game here. how did they respond?

Next question, did they do character creation as a group?

Third question, did you give them a bunch of free racial hit dice or LA or something? Cause, I can't figure how there playing some of that otherwise.

[Lorddenorstrus]

For the playground, that sounds like tuesday night D&D. You did remember to run the theme to Benny Hill, right?

Ok, for real now.

So, you said you spoke to the party and told them "good guys save the world." was the game here. how did they respond?

Next question, did they do character creation as a group?

Third question, did you give them a bunch of free racial hit dice or LA or something? Cause, I can't figure how there playing some of that otherwise.

As for good guys save the world I basically got a shrug and a lot of people planned to be C-G or Neutral. The ogre is Fighter lvl 1 as the race is LA 3. Starting at lvl 4 was what I told them. The Warblade is lvl 3 with a LA 1 template. So is the Winged sorcerer. Everyone else legit started at lvl 4. Nobody made their characters with any knowledge of what the others were doing as far as I know. (they could've done it behind my back) Is there an error here I'm not seeing? The only one who should've gotten racial hit dice is the Ogre everyone else is frankly a lot weaker than him.

And no I don't remember Benny Hill, im actually a little new to the forums.

[Doctor Awkward]

And no I don't remember Benny Hill, im actually a little new to the forums.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6TXMsvgQg

Also known as "Yakety Sax"

Honestly if the players are having fun, I'd roll with it. Ask them once, "Hey I got this story I'd like to do. Or do you want to just do goofball stuff all night?"

Even if they choose the latter, they will probably get bored eventually and ask for some story.

[Galen]

I suggest getting more player involvement at setting the themes and tone of the campaign. Clearly the involvement level of "you tell them something, they shrug" is not working. Start by taking it a step back and asking, well, guys, what kind of game would you like to play? That doesn't necessarily mean, by the way, that you are indentured to their wishes, but merely having some influence on the game will often make players more dedicated and less prone to cause mischief.

[WhamBamSam]

My party diplomacied a group of Hill Giants into crapping in the road a few months back. No ****, except, you know, the opposite of that.

So this sort of thing doesn't really surprise me, though there does seem to be a bit less rhyme and reason to your party dynamic. But yeah, if they want to be a little silly, just roll with it so long as everyone's having fun. For example, if the cow player's characters getting killed and eaten starts to become a thing, then work out whether they're particularly put out about it. If it results in them getting frustrated, then you should intervene and try to remedy the situation. If they find it entertaining, and it's amusing to the group, you start running encounters with monsters that have the Swallow Whole ability.

If you want to tell a more serious story, maybe try talking to the players and/or easing them into it.

[Lorddenorstrus]

My party diplomacied a group of Hill Giants into crapping in the road a few months back. No ****, except, you know, the opposite of that.

So this sort of thing doesn't really surprise me, though there does seem to be a bit less rhyme and reason to your party dynamic. But yeah, if they want to be a little silly, just roll with it so long as everyone's having fun. For example, if the cow player's characters getting killed and eaten starts to become a thing, then work out whether they're particularly put out about it. If it results in them getting frustrated, then you should intervene and try to remedy the situation. If they find it entertaining, and it's amusing to the group, you start running encounters with monsters that have the Swallow Whole ability.

If you want to tell a more serious story, maybe try talking to the players and/or easing them into it.


I've somehow managed to keep the story together... somehow... They got an extreme kick from the eating the Cow guy <_<... He in particular laughed as his character got eaten. I've usually stuck to more serious games so this extremely silly style is going to be different. I'm almost tempted to let them keep derailing things and go wild because the story is still happening they're just.. doing it in a different manner I guess.. Rather than seek out the insane old dragon that's being used by another dragon and is making an army they're .. causing chaos.. and mayhem.. Which ironically put them on the path of that army they're still going to fight the dragons.. just not with the intent to save the world..

(The ogre asked me if he could eventually become a Deity to because he has followers.. lol)

[JW86]

I feel ya.

At our last session, I rolled a new character (Lesser Aasimar Paladin Saint) who upon meeting the party, heard their recent exploits in "freeing some angel from hell" - upon hearing this, my character received a religious epiphany (and Sainthood) from his God, declaring that the Time of Prophecy is upon us, etc. Queue my character becoming incredibly rightouesly incensed, declaring that we must at once inform the order.

So we head off to a nearby temple, where I speak with the head Priest/Cleric, I nat 20 my diplomacy role to ask for aid, supplies etc. and accompany it with a mighty, impassioned declaration of righteous purpose. The Cleric immediately removes his own armor, mace and shield and hands it to me whilst scurrying off to fetch further supplies in aid of our Holy Quest. He then returns and tells us of the ancient prophecy where a Saint, in combination with (He then continues to list the race of each of the other five party members) meet upon this fateful day after an angel is freed from hell, beginning the Prophecy of Ages.

Unfortunately, one of the party members (the Psion) doesn't like the country my PC is from (due to my country having killed his family during an invasion), and is constantly bitching. My character apologises to his for the bloodshed, affirms him he was but an acolyte at a temple and not involved in the war, and that if we can fulfill the prophecy there shall be no need for war between our nations, etc.

We go to close off the adventure from the previous session involving some illlegal mining operation. As we head into the mine, his character starts spitting venom (figuratively) at mine again...

Then the LN Ranger who just secretly turned Evil and became an Outsider picks up his rifle and shoots this angry guy directly in the back of the head. Without warning.

:smalleek:

I smack the Ranger upside the head once with my Mace, declare him a murderer, and announce I shall have no part of this morally ill-defined adventuring party. I leave the cave, followed by the Psion (who has actually survived the gunshot, but with a severe head wound) who is in shock, stumbling after me firing ineffective Energy Rays (Saintly Immunities and Energy Nimbus).. we both disappear into the distance.

Meanwhile, the NG Exalted VoP Totemist/Barbarian with Touch of Golden Ice grapples the Evil Outsider Ranger (Who just turned Evil unbeknownst to the Totemists) and becomes Ravaged with Dexterity Damage.

This leaves the single remaining party member, an Awakened Raven Druid, looking on in bemusement.

Oh, and then the "Cave" closed its mouth...

So long for the "Prophecy".

:smallbiggrin:

[Comet]

First session roleplaying is always hard. It's kind of awkward to pretend to be an elf and, simultaneously, it's exciting to dive into a world of infinite possibilities. Humour is an easy way to deflect attention from the fact that you haven't quite gotten into your character yet and it's also a powerful way to explore the "do whatever you want" nature of roleplaying games.

Does it get better with time? Possibly. Or, rather, I'd say it inevitably gets better with time but the amount of time required varies hugely. If you're still having fun, just stick with it and they might come around.

I personally tend to run the first one or two sessions as pretty light hearted to begin with. This applies even to games like Call of Cthulhu, where you're trying very hard to hit certain somber moods and horrific themes. Start out slow, let the players have their fun, introduce elements that are going to be important later on and persistently nod towards them every now and then. Don't bludgeon the players with your undoubtetly impressive world and characters, find ways to allude to them while letting the players have their own fun for a while. Eventually they will find that one character, location or event that really speaks to them and which you can use to introduce them to what's actually going to be the meat of your campaign.

Besides, it's not like insane heroes are exactly alien to a lot of fantasy stories. You could just run with it and see if these madmen can't save the world by accident.

[atemu1234]

Well, it sounds here like the GM and the players want separate things; the GM wants heroic fantasy. The players, slapstick. If you don't like it, try talking to them.

[Metahuman1]

Well, this, isn't that bad actually then. Let them run it comedic, and just tell them "Hey, when/if you wanna change tone, let me know, ok?" and then if/when they want to change tone, accomidate.


Apart form that, just maybe say "hey, listen, next game, I wanna tone down the slap stick a bit and try to have a slightly more serious heroic fantasy game. Alright?" and point out that you accomidated them in the first game, now it's there turn, and then they'll get another in the game after that.


Oh, and don't worry about the Oger. He'll fall behind soon enough.

[LoyalPaladin]

No one wants to hear this answer, but it is a DM's job to deal with the unexpected.

-Sincerly, the DM whose party decided to hunt down Strahd as soon as they started the Ravenloft module.

[Geddy2112]

Sounds like a normal night in my gaming group. Your players are either new, young, immature, legitimate psychopaths or all of the above. A fair amount of people think that the point is to roll up some ubermench and go around doing whatever you want because you are the most awesome and always right. This generally leads to chaotic stupid, or just flat out insane evil, which is totally okay if the group and DM are on the same page.

You should probably sit them down and explain what good and evil are in your campaign, and make sure they want a "good guys save the world" campaign. Evil and morally questionable people can still save the world, and be silly stupid in the process. Let the players do what they want, but just let actions be organic and have organic consequences. Most players won't do half of the things they do in a game, because of consequences. Most players keep playing like that because they are in a game setting where there are no consequences. If you are going to do this, explain to them that the game world has consequences so they don't suddenly think you are against them the next time they just go off the rails insane.

[Maglubiyet]

A cow barbarian would probably be a little too tough and gamey, but a wizard cow...mmmm...

[daremetoidareyo]

Roll with it.

This sounds like a scenario that just craves a deck of many things. Maybe a rod of wonder (http://www.traykon.com/pdf/The_Net_Libram_of_Random_Magical_Effects.pdf),


A crew like this really needs to encounter totally unhinged fey. Gremlins redcaps pixies all with super weird goals. Can you imagine what a fey scavenger hunt would look like? Quick and dirty plot: player x gets geas by unseelie/seelie (your choice!) satyr to help with a scavenger hunt. The winning team of the scavenger hunt (seelie or unseelie) becomes the ruling party in the fey courts for the next 100 years. The items that the fey need are:
* tears of xxxx (aboleth? dragon? gorgon?)
* 1,000 fake gold coins
* A poem written by a lich
* a king's thumb
* a will o wisp in a jar
* an ogre's heart
* etc.

This is a crew that is still exploring the unhinged imagination of total fiction autonomy. You won't pull off horror or gravitas at all.

So just give up on that and give them access to do all of the fun things that an imagination can do so that they love you as a DM. This frees you to change up the structure of D&D WBL and all other considerations. Make them sheriffs for a town that will perpetually forgive them. Give them a map to the fountain of youth, when they get there, it is surrounded by baby humanoid skeletons, and then don't be surprized if you have the psion want to be a baby tended to by your ogre. Make one of them disappear, to the pit of hell, as a devil there is experimenting with a new "summon prime ally" set of spells. The devil wants the pc to run down the hallway setting off traps. When he "dies," he pops up back at home. Have the devil do this at various points amongst the PCs and NPCs. (They may eventually want to stop him...or summon him to do the same, who knows?)

The next campaign, however, if you want it to be serious, you have to broadcast that to them at the outset.

[WeaselGuy]

I once shot a doppleganger kid in the face with a hand crossbow, because I was *sure* he was some sort of bad guy, trying to lure us into a trap. Turns out, this young doppleganger had legit managed to get himself stuck in a cave in, but since nobody liked the way he looked naturally, he made himself look like a human kid. Our party comes into this cave system, hear some kid calling for help, and we're in super high-end paranoia mode. I (as a Shadowcaster) manage to deduce that there is some sort of Illusion aura in place, but can't figure it out, so I naturally assume this is some BBEG or something, trying to pull one over on us. Cue one crossbow bolt to the face. My DM informed me that I was no longer LN, but NE. I managed to push myself towards LE, eventually, but yeah. Fun times.

[(Un)Inspired]

Well the term "good guys" is rather nebulous. Perhaps give them more precise instructions on how you intend them to play their characters next time?

The halfling's stoic fatalism as he's rolled down a dangerous hallway is hilarious.