Help Me My Game Is Starting In 3 Hours!

[pyrobug]

I need some experienced GMs to give me some tips on how to keep a game moving, and also if you ahve played in an underwater game, PLEASE tell me what worked and what did not work!

Help me awsome helpful GMs, you're my only hope!!!!!!!

[Call Me Siggy]

1)...Underwater. You're in for a hell of a time, I'll give you that. I wish I was in your group, as I have never done underwater before.

2)Just. Relax. If you have anything planned out, stick to it. However, since running a game is harder than herding distracted kittens, you may have to improvise.

3)If your group meets up regularly, then you'll probably have no effort in keeping it moving. Just keep making situations in which the players feel that they are al useful.

4)Can you give some details about this group, such as how new you all are, what their personalities are like, what characters they tend to play?

[ndragonsbane]

To keep a game moving, write everything out for monsters, npc's, treasure, etc... that you could be using the books for, that way you've already been forced to look over the basics of the stuff you'll be using and won't forget to include HP or equipment or something else major you'll have to stop the game to reference. This can create extra bookkeeping in big sessions/groups though so if you're not organized enough to manage this you may want to simply skip this section (but DO NOT skip treasure, I know the one thing that really ticks me off is when the DM has to roll up random treasure in the MIDDLE of the adventure because of poor planning...you also tend to get less stuff the party can use this way and they'll probably try and pawn off more of their items).

Look up and either write down, bookmark, or make notes on page numbers of rules you will be using in your session. The underwater combat rules would be a good example of something you are going to be using a lot and it wouldn't hurt to bookmark that spot in the DMG so you can close it or reference something else without having to re-lookup the rules. I generally do this for aerial combat, swim checks, balancing, etc...things I haven't already memorized the rules for. I find bookmarking xp charts and the EL table, treasure tables, and the beginning of the magic items section of my DMG saves me a lot of time.

For the underwater combats, I've run two or three encounters underwater and just remember to keep that table accessible or you'll regret it. Frankly, I didn't find it all that much different than normal D&D with the only exception being 3d movement is possible (which you can easily disallow in certain situations to speed things up).

[pyrobug]

Sure.

Basically I know everyone very well, as we are in a gaming club together ( hudsonvalleygamers.org ) and here is the adventure outline, taken from the webpage's description of my game:

You play members of an explorers guild known as the Mystra. the Mystra have recently been experimenting with gnommish underwater submersibles. As the G.E. Sparklebolt (a newer sub) takes a exploration test run in mostly uncharted waters, a disturbing report comes in from the magical communications deck, telling of the horrors encountered in...the Unforgiving Sea. (1st level, normal starting gold for a 1st level character, no evil characters, and characters of nonstandard races, such as most options from the book Savage Species, are subject to disapproval at Isaac's discrimination. In addition your character can't naturally have the ability to breath under the water indefinitely).

Ok.

The PCs are sent to investigate the sunken sub, only to find it partially filled with water, and infested with curious Locothahs.

They can either parley with the Locothahs,(unlikely, given the play style of my group)fight their way through to find survivors, or ignore the pleas and explore the ocean.(cant rule that last one out, they can be weird like that.)

that enough info?

[Quietus]

Step one : Ask for advice three days in advance, not three hours.

Step two : Remember that slashing and bludgeoning weapons do 1/2 damage underwater, unless their wielder is under the effect of Freedom of Movement.


Aside from that, good luck, hope your game goes well!

[pyrobug]

thank you all for your helpful comments, (keep them coming!)

I just want to point out a typo.

I hit the "3" instead of "6" on the keypad on the keyboard.

FYI.

[Efstrofos]

Don't get bogged down with rules. Just temp house rule everything you don't know and then look it up after the session to correct it.

Have the players figure out their initiative and keep track of it it, rather than just yelling it out to you.

Write down any of your players stats that you'd want to keep secret (spot, listen, sense motive, whatever else), that way you can roll them all in private to help the players not metagame. This probably applies more if you have certain kinds of players. I have one guy who always asks "I try to sense motive!" on everyone he talks to, and if he doesn't roll high, he won't't trust the NPC. He's slowed down now that I don't let him see his roll.

Similar to the previous one, just roll dice randomly sometimes, and pretend to write the results. It keeps players on their toes, and makes situations less predictable.

Use index cards if there is ever anything you need to tell a player secretly, or if they want to tell you something secretly. This works in my group because most of the PCs have not told each other their classes, so they often just hand me cards to say the exact spell/manuever/power/feat they are using, and then they get to describe their actions theirself.
edit: For you this will probably be especially helpful for players with darkvision, as I imagine the sunken submarine has no light.

Find good atmosphere music.

Remember its not DM vs. players. The PCs are supposed to beat your encounters.

On the flip side, its ok to give them a good thrashing every once in a while to let them know they aren't invincible. (its probably actually a good idea to do)

Also I have no experience with underwater playing, but it sounds fun. Good luck.

Last, relax. DMing is supposed to be fun for you too!

edit: fixed typos

[pyrobug]

I want to post a little more background info on why im flipping out.

The reason?

The last game I GMed.

I was running the Dark Sun adventure that was in an issue of Dungeon.

All was going fine...Until we finished the written adventure and there were 3 more play sessions scheduled!

I decided to push on.

It was a disaster.

NEVER EVER EVER gm without a plan of some sort.

My players went from entertained to pissed in a period of 15 minutes.

They ended up in the Forgotten Realms being killed by a Mind Flayer.

To this day, whenever something unexpected happens in a game, we yell out:

"And then a MIND FLAYER!!!!!!!"

I am worried that I do not have enough prepared for the game.

So that, you see, is my problem.

[Efstrofos]

You should be able to tell in advance if you're going to be finishing things early, especially 3 sessions early. Once you realize its going to happen, just prepare more stuff to do. Maybe buy a module, or another one from dungeon. The only real problem is trying to link them together, but if you can start throwing adventure hooks 3 sessions in advance, it shouldn't be a problem.

That said, I know its too late for todays session, but if your players haven't played any of the 1-20 campaigns arcs (Age of Worms, Savage Tides, etc.), just use those. I promise they won't finish early, and from what I've seen these campaign arcs (at least Age of Worms for sure) are very well written.

[pyrobug]

You should be able to tell in advance if you're going to be finishing things early, especially 3 sessions early. Once you realize its going to happen, just prepare more stuff to do. Maybe buy a module, or another one from dungeon. The only real problem is trying to link them together, but if you can start throwing adventure hooks 3 sessions in advance, it shouldn't be a problem.

That said, I know its too late for todays session, but if your players haven't played any of the 1-20 campaigns arcs (Age of Worms, Savage Tides, etc.), just use those. I promise they won't finish early, and from what I've seen these campaign arcs (at least Age of Worms for sure) are very well written.

If I did not say so in the last post, the Dark Sun game was my first GM experience.

I was actually considering purchasing the Worms campaign, but I decided that I needed the practice in writing content.

[Efstrofos]

If I did not say so in the last post, the Dark Sun game was my first GM experience.

I was actually considering purchasing the Worms campaign, but I decided that I needed the practice in writing content.

I definitely recommend Age of Worms. If you're new and want practice writing, I still recommend Age of Worms. The way it is set up (at least early on), there can be a lot of down time between adventures. You can use that time to try something you've written, and if it flops or finishes early you can still just get back to Age of Worms. Eventually you'll get a feel for what works better, and can decide to just finish Age of Worms, or go off totally on your own written campaign.

edit: Age of Worms even takes place on a coastal town, so it wouldn't be hard to get them there after the adventure you're doing now.

[pyrobug]

Where can I buy?

[pyrobug]

I have to go, everybody helpful enough to come to my rescue.

Send me a Private message later and I will tell you what happened!

Thank you all!

[Matthew]

How did things turn out in the end?

[GoblinJTHM]

I want to post a little more background info on why im flipping out.

The reason?

The last game I GMed.

I was running the Dark Sun adventure that was in an issue of Dungeon.

All was going fine...Until we finished the written adventure and there were 3 more play sessions scheduled!

I decided to push on.

It was a disaster.

NEVER EVER EVER gm without a plan of some sort.

My players went from entertained to pissed in a period of 15 minutes.

They ended up in the Forgotten Realms being killed by a Mind Flayer.

To this day, whenever something unexpected happens in a game, we yell out:

"And then a MIND FLAYER!!!!!!!"

I am worried that I do not have enough prepared for the game.

So that, you see, is my problem.

I can just see it now:
player1: this is boring, lets fight something harder!
DM: like what?
player1: like a mindflayer!
player2: no, we're in darksun, mindflayers are from FR
player1: lets go to FR!
DM: what? well, are you guys sure?
player2: sure
player1: I cast planeswalk!
DM: ... alright, sure. you teleport to FR and land in front of a mindflayer

1 total party slaughter later

player1: man those things are a lot harder than I remember
player2: dude we're level five

[pyrobug]

It was great!

apart from when one of my lower intelligence players almost killed himself by not putting a seatbelt on, everyone was alive and entertained.

Thanks for all the help everyone!

[valadil]

With just a couple hours left you're not going to be writing any major changes. Just bookmark everything that may come up (I usually have 4 or 5 things marked in the MM and you'll probably want to mark the DMG pages that discuss underwater action until you learn those rules better).

Just try to be energetic and enthusiastic. A good game run by a bored GM is gonna suck for the players. A bad game run by a fun GM may very well suck, but if the players pick up on the GMs energy they'll be able to get into it.

[Xuincherguixe]

Since you have little time, I would say the encounters should be really simple.

You can come up with plot later.


So that being said? The group squares off against a very large group of uh... Deep Orcs. They're like regular Orcs but more fishy. Some of them can have class levels, and templates. Like a Half Dragon Deep Orcs. Since every underwater campaign MUST deal sanity damage. Were wolf deep orc!

I have no idea if such a creature exists. I know their are Auqatic Orcs, but they're probably called something else. And maybe you just don't feel like using them and the only substantial difference is that Deep Orcs can breathe underwater.

They might get bored of just fighting Orcs all day but hey, easy to improvise.

Next session you can extend the plot. Come up with a reason why the Deep Orcs were to lay seige to the hapless fish people the party is defending. Plot is the thing you come up with when you have time :P

[Fawsto]

Make a small list of the important pages where you will find important items, PrCs, treasure, experience, etc. This always helps me.

For underwater, try the book: Stormwarck, if you can have access to it. If not, improvise. Monster Manual has a lot of undewater cool encounters, but if you can access MM2 and MM3, this will be even better.

Keep calm... Before starting anything, take a good look at your PCs, check what they can do. If teh group is more hack 'n slashing one, make a Hack 'n slash adventure. If the group is composed basicaly by specialists (bards, rogues, etc), make a more social campaing. The key to a good adventure is to make every PC useful in a determinated situation. Note that sometimes the Barbarian won't be able to help, like when the Bard is trying to convince the Noble to not kill them. Well If the noble says "Pahh, you loose", let the Barbarian Hack 'n Slash at will.

Want a Plot? Maybe a race of Half Man/ Half assassin wales Brabarians is trying to take some part of the ocean to become theyr domain. You insert the rest here.

[Brue]

Want a Plot? Maybe a race of Half Man/ Half assassin wales Brabarians is trying to take some part of the ocean to become theyr domain. You insert the rest here.

Welsh Barbarians? Who'd understand a thing they say, and how did they get underwater in the first place?

[Runolfr]

I am worried that I do not have enough prepared for the game.

So that, you see, is my problem.

Create some random undersea encounters so you'll have a way to keep them busy if they wander off plot.

Have at least a general idea of what's going on in the wider world. That way, if you have to make up something on the spur of the moment, it will at least be consistent with the rest of the world.

[crimson77]

NEVER EVER EVER gm without a plan of some sort.

I would have to disagree with you. I often DM without a plan. I like how the players and the DM can co-create a world/campaign. My most memorable campaigns have been more on the fly. They might just start with a small plot hook and then let some of the characters back stories flesh out the game.

My struggle is keeping things interesting and spontaneous with a written out adventure.

[magicwalker]

I would argue that having some kind of solid structure, e.g. a world, can give the players scope and a sense of realism that going by the fly can not... I mean they weren't born at character creation, these people ahve been around for a while.. and if you keep introducing otherwise obvious details into the world it's more distracting that enjoyable.

[Bassetking]

Welsh Barbarians? Who'd understand a thing they say, and how did they get underwater in the first place?

Actually, While underwater, due to the quantity of vowel-sounds in the language, the Welsh get bonuses to diplomacy.

[Fixer]

By now their game has started, if the original post is accurate.

Hopefully they will come back and tell us how it went.

[Inyssius Tor]

they did.

read the thread, people.

It was great!

apart from when one of my lower intelligence players almost killed himself by not putting a seatbelt on, everyone was alive and entertained.

Thanks for all the help everyone!

[pyrobug]

I am back!

next session is today!