So I think that's one of the scariest things I've had to experience...
An old flame is having troubles with her latest partner - incredibly poisonous relationship. Anyway, apparently my name alone is a trigger for the guy.
He's now going around, using her identity (he's reactivating all her old facebook profiles) and is trying to add me
Needless to say I've tightened my security a little.
I like how the middle square of my avatar looks like four white X-shapes or a blue cross, depending on whether you watch the "negative" or "positive" space.
I was just preparing the boss battle I brainstormed here yesterday. The evil Warlock uses their ritual circle to cast powerful spells, while the Barbarian and Paladin-themed characters mostly have abilities intended to keep the PCs away from the circle.
@kviiri You said you were growing more and more disillusioned with D&D anyway, so maybe you're dead and this is heaven; you don't have to play D&D anymore :p
@Adam heaven comes after the purgatory! I need to finish this campaign with pride!
And well, who knows... I might get enough rest for my nerves to try GM'ing the second part. It would be a shame to miss it, because that's the style of DnD I wanted to run all along.
(the first part of the campaign was supposed to be a tutorialish segment but has stretched and stretched...)
I'd still rather play it in 13th Age, though. Or Dungeon World, if I ever get the hang of the system.
Great RP moment(s) last night: the [5e] L2 party was chatting with a friendly wizard who was curious to trade info with the party. As we're talking around the table the paladin's player is silently mouthing "she's a LICH!!!" But Paladin's player is the only one who knows enough for that to be meaningful, so the conversation looks something like this:
PCWiz: So, what do you know about this floating stone we're standing on? Lich: I've been using it as a base of operation to do recon--keeps me away from the undead. The jungle's festooned with them. [smirks to self] PCPal [screaming silently]: /she's/ undead! Lich: hmm? PCPal: do we get fed? Lich: oh, sure, that'd a strange way to ask, but yes, let's share a meal. This will be lovely. PCPal [silent screaming]: don't eat anything she gives you! PCCl: oh, actually, we just had lunch. The paladin's always hungry--don't listen to him. What are you trying to say, pal?
@DForck42 I was approached by this consulting company that helps game developers (both video games and traditional) find publishers. I'm applying for a full-stack, but trying to wiggle in my machine learning stuff too.
@kviiri Do you mean "It didn't add much that I could customize my character's skills" or do you mean "It didn't add much that I had to grind several hours to get the XP to customize my character's skills" when you say that?
@ACuriousMind The first one, mainly. I didn't really feel much grinding pain in the Borderlands. Maybe I shot enough of those ant-spider things for leisure? :P
@kviiri Ah, okay. Yeah, I think they could've done a better job of making the skills more impactful. There are a few in each class that fundamentally change the way the character plays but most simply give percentage bonuses one doesn't really feel.
@ACuriousMind I didn't really have that problem, in aggregate. There were a few times when the transitional points didn't feel very impactful moment to moment, but the builds I played as and with definitely felt like I had made impactful build choices in them.
I had a Soldier(I think?) who specialized in high shots/sec, on-hit CD reduction for his skill, base CDR for his skill, and several bonuses while his skill was up. It *FELT* amazing.
With the sniper guy, it was a surprisingly effective strategy to rush in, go to 0 hp, and take a revolver potshot at a nearby enemy to recover.
Heh, I write this very elaborate application in English and they reply to me in Finnish that it's cool, they've already spoken to the HR about me and want to meet up :)
@godskook I don't think BL presequel should be called BL3 - it's just an expansion to me. Same everything, a little added verticality, lost a lot of the original charm...
@eimyr Agreed. I played borderlands 1 through once, played BL2 2 or 3 times with various characters, and played the pre-sequel for about 2 hours tops before quitting it.
@Adam Same here. I realise that movement speed is the same as in BL2, but it doesn't feel the same. It feels sluggish and there is some weird lag when turning. BL2 combat was a high-mobility deal, here you barely feel it, despite the oxygen jumping, slams and mid-air manoeuverability.
@MikeQ I stressed a lot over it, the figured out it's probably the best to have one "major" gimmick like the ritual circle and have the other enemies mostly support that with special attacks that help move the PCs outside the circle and keep them outside. But I didn't get to test it, because we had to cancel the session :<
It's meant to be a one-shot for players from party #2, as a sort of Intermission. Although if it turns out well, I can extend it.
There's also another little project I want to try... a tongue-in-cheek game where the players are agents of a criminal organization about to make a huge deal (like buying a suitcase nuke). However, everyone of them is also a double agent of a different legitimate intelligence organization under strict rules not to let any of their terror plots succeed.
Some of them might even have instructions that "we have managed to infer there is also another double agent inside the organization. You must not allow them to come to harm! Try to find out who it is and make sure nothing bad happens to them!"
and then it's like a sitcom of people who are bumbling in really simple but crucial tasks, with some of them also going the extra mile to defend the others for just having bad luck!
I'm experimenting with some pen-and-paper role-playing involving characters with hidden agendas. To foster a proper sense of paranoia, I want these hidden agendas to be unknown to not only the other PCs, but the other players, too. A PC's hidden agenda is known only to the GM and their player.
O...
@DForck42 And I'm glad you like the idea :) I'm only sad the first thing I did after coming up with it was saying "hey, wouldn't it be silly if..." to my friends and spoiling the opportunity to pull if off with them.
@ACuriousMind Yeah, except I'm going to break my usual habits and won't even let the players know everyone has a hidden agenda (I've come to understand that in Paranoia, everyone knows everyone has one)
@DForck42 Just working on this new campaign stuff, listening to some music and enjoying life :)
Nuclear warfare left the world facing a new ice age. A distant northern outpost struggles at the edge of the surviving world, only spared from the chilling winds by the virtue of a nuclear-powered something heating the place up. Now the community is being torn apart by power games between the man who controls the guns, the oppressed grotesques tending to the reactor core and the only doctor around who has favors to call in with almost everywhere. This ought to be a fun one-shot.
@JoshuaAslanSmith well, it's actually a process I need to do with several players. One wants to run a psion, I trust KRyan here when he says that psions are ok. Another guy did this thing that I tought was OP once, which is persistent divine power (that was it. He just was a warrior with healing)
@JoshuaAslanSmith That's a thing I need to decide. I'd like "everything, magazines included" or "what I use in my other game, so I can use your builds if I happen to like them", but that's probably too much work for me (updating NPCs and thinking what to do with monstrous enemies that would just stay at their initial power level)
Recently I made an edit on a one-year-old answer. The content of the answer is excellent, but it had many typos and grammatical errors, so I fixed them. In my mind I thought I was doing a nice thing: (1) The post reads better, particularly for people like me who get distracted by such errors; (2)...
@Zachiel What I like to do is identify the individual "too good" advantages. If I judge judge that they would trivialize the effort I put into designing the game, then I would label it as overpowered
For example, a single really powerful trick that has limited usability, that just means I'll have to be prepared for the PC's ability to overcome certain challenges
But if they are significantly better than average in many ways (too much HP, AND too much damage output, AND too high AC, AND etc etc) to the point where I can't challenge them at all, then they are too powerful
@MikeQ eh, I'm historically bad at drawing those lines. How much is too much? What's the expected baseline? (Hard to say, this is D&D 3.x after all, where no two groups play the same game.)
Last time I played that adventure, a slow spell that got in despite spell resistance in a lucky roll trivialized a fight with a dragon, the archer fighter never risked death because of high AC and his damage output was good because he could full-attack without the need to move - but I also had 6 players that time, this time they will be 4 (worse start, better once they ramp up on XP? No idea.
@ACuriousMind to be true, it wildly depends on optimization levels. I'm infamous for playing a melee cleric who's not as equipped as he could be, being better than that is trivial. Being better than an optimized cleric? I have no idea how one of those is built (I've seen some in action, they're dangerous. But I also overestimate them because they're not being played by me.)
Just try to imagine running a "difficult" encounter for them. How many enemies can a single PC drop (from max HP) in 1 round? What, if anything, would the PC need to struggle with in order to complete the challenge?
How does their individual damage output and effectiveness compare versus the other PCs? How about their saves and HP?
If their saves, HP, AC, and damage output are double or triple the average of the other PCs, then I would at least raise an eyebrow
But really, the most important two are: 1. "How well can I challenge this PC?" 2. "How well can I challenge the players if this PC is among them?"
Thanks. One of the hardest parts about being a GM is finding a balance, between letting the players feel powerful, and making the players feel challenged.
For the archer example, they can feel powerful by dishing out obscene amounts of damage, and can be challenged by facing enemies with high AC, high HP, and spells that don't require attack rolls.
