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Author Topic: GM Support Hotline
Date Posted: 8/10/09 4:32pm Subject: GM Support Hotline
I'm currently running a campaign with a setting of my own invention. The problem is, I'm a first-time GM and I'm not really sure how to keep my players interested. I'm trying to draw them in with interesting NPCs and creative settings for encounters, and I'm trying to think of more. Does anyone have any ideas they could share with a beginning GM?

Also, I'm looking for a way to make my encounters more dangerous. The thing is, I'm terrible with numbers, so I don't really use a system with attributes like constitution, dexterity, or bonuses and such. At first I thought that the latitude this might actually help me in to long run, but I feel like my campaign is starting to suffer because of it. Any ideas on how I might deal with this.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

 

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Koohii 
Date Posted: 8/10/09 4:48pm Subject: GM Support Hotline
I sometimes introduce a super-tough NPC to tag along with the party for a while, then have him/her get stomped in the first 2 rounds by the nasty villain while the party deals with the minions. Have the party finish off the last minions just in time to see their friend/mentor/whatever get stomped into the ground (don't have to kill him/her off--just take him out of the fight and spend the next several months in recovery).

Get a really good, intimidating description together for your next villain. Practice saying it out loud for a bit until you really have it sounding right. You may feel silly, but that rehearsal can to a lot. Roll your eyes in the back of your head. Smile really wide to the point where it's almost painful.

Give villains a distinctive voice. grate your vocal chords, project your voice, shift to a deeper tone... Look how effective James Earl Jones was with a microphone in a diving mask... Or Eartha Kitt was with just her voice in Emperor's New Groove.

Don't know what theme or flavor you're working with.
Try some atmospheric effects. All the streetlights suddenly flicker and go out. Water suddenly turns murky, changes color, etc. Look at tv show "Supernatural" for some good atmosphere effects.

Pop you knuckles loudly, stretch your neck, and roll a whole bunch of dice behind a screen during combat. Make it look like you're really thinking before you deliver your dramatic description of the results of your "random" dice roll.

 

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Date Posted: 8/10/09 9:10pm Subject: GM Support Hotline
Make use of terrain and obstacles in combat to spice things up. Just like SW - Droid factories, lava, asteroid fields, useless laser doors...

 
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Blithe 
Date Posted: 8/11/09 7:06pm Subject: GM Support Hotline
You can go to Wizards.com for severa free adventures for D&D or SW settings. Even though you've got your own system, don' let that hold you back from gathering resources for ideas. In many cases, a lot of the great one shot adventures or adventure ideas from various websites can easily be adapted to your purposes. For the most part, all you have to do is replace various thugs, stormtroopers, goblins, orcs, etc. with your own baddies. I'd also recommend picking up a used copy of West End Game "Instant Adventures" book. While it is for Star Wars, if you're playing in even a remotely Sci-Fi or Sci-Fantasy setting, a lot of the adventure or adversary ideas are still great to use elsewhere.

Always remember to have the bad guys hide behind cover during a fire fight. If you've designed any combined fire rules of your own, put them to use. Squads concentrating their fire can make even the weakest cronies a force to be reckoned with.

When you work on designing a credible villain, one thing I keep in mind is a hero. I think hero. . . but a lazy hero. Of course, that's why he finds himself as a villain. In that sense, he has SOME redeemable qualities about him. That might be a lead-in to an adventure plot where the main villain tries to sway the heroes to cause and corrupt them. Also, any rivals the party has should be at least at their level of power, or slight higher. Their objectives should be a little greater, too. If the players find themselves with some great equipment, be sure to give their rivals and adversaries some great stuff, too. A nemesis should be essentially be everything the best of your group has, and slightly more. It'll keep you group on their toes and constantly gunning at their rivals to try and keep up.

Chase scenes almost ALWAYS work to keep the gamers' blood pumping. Players love it, so have daring escapes, rescues, or arrests, and bounties to often take place on boat, car, speeder, horseback, fighrer, starship, and etc. if at all possible.

Lastly, if you decide taht you don't want the hassle of designing your own game system, feel free to ask for advice on what system to try and use next. Not all of them are particularly math intensive. We'll also be sure to help you get used to the new games of course. We don't mind a bit, here.

 
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 Date Posted: 8/17/09 9:20pm Subject: GM Support Hotline
Ok, I'm running a campaign set in the earliest days of the republic... think 24,000+ years BBY. Now I don't have a problem with the setting from a story standpoint, but a technological one. Now I know Jedi will be using ancient lightsabers (possibly even just durasteel swords for the lower-ranking Jedi), and blasters are a rarity, hyperdrives will be limited to x10 at the highest end, but is there anything else I'm missing? Think I should halve the damage of primitive blasters, or ships fire slugthrowers or are equipped with railguns? Any ideas anyone wants to throw out would be awesome.

Remember I have no problem with this from a story standpoint I just want to know which technology I should/shouldn't include or modify for the era.

 

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Date Posted: 8/17/09 9:51pm Subject: GM Support Hotline
Lasers would pre-date blasters, but I don't see it making much difference mechanically.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Shields posted:
Deflector shields were first developed during the early years of space exploration, designed to absorb heat and radiation encountered in space and within a planetary atmosphere. Before the introduction of deflector shields, pilots had to rely solely on thick, armored hulls for protection against meteors and laser attacks. More advanced versions of the energy shield were developed centuries later, until eventually modern shielding was able to combine ray and particle protection. Eventually, shield technology improved enough to allow some ground vehicles to have dedicated shield generators


Those ancient lightsabers are in one of the d20 books, Power of the Jedi I think.

Can't find any info on when repulsors came into wide use, but it must be out there somewhere. Something to think about

 
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Koohii 
Date Posted: 8/18/09 1:26am Subject: GM Support Hotline
I was under the impression that lightsabers were supposed to predate blasters (kinda like swords predate guns). That way, it used to take over a decade of devoted training to be a proficient warrior, until the era of the blaster changed everything.
You can also adjust the scale of travel by changing hours to days. 1st ed SW had hyperdrive travel listed in days. 2nd ed changed that to hours to keep with the pace of the movies.
Rail-guns for ship mounted weapons would be good. Also drones instead of torpedoes or missiles. No hyper-space capable snub-fighters--they all need carriers (z-95 headhunters, Delta-7 Aethersprite fighters, etc)
Also, armor should be bulky and cumbersom compared to "modern" equivelents. Not sure if you're using D6 or D20, so won't bother with stats for stuff.
You might also include the LightFoil from the Tapani sector. It was a weak lightsaber that was unrelyable and "dangerous", mass produced by a corporation instead of custom made by a Jedi Knight.

 

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 Date Posted: 8/18/09 1:20pm Subject: GM Support Hotline - Date Edited: 8/18/09 1:26pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Rogue_Thunder
Hmm, you just gave me a story idea, Koo. I can't say because my players post here though. Feel free to PM me though if you want to know.

Repulsors are something to think about too... Maybe ships land and take off with attitude thrusters, or even need a running start like our planes. Maybe even massive disposable booster rockets for larger vessels?

The cool thing about this era is maybe the PC's are responsible for the discovery of a lot of these things...

Now what planets do you think would be a part of the embryonic Republic? I think it would basically be Coruscant, the Corellian system, Duros and maybe a double handful of others. I thought one of the neat aspects of Star Trek Enterprise (one of the few) was watching as the crew brought familiar races into the fold of their future federation. I think it would be kind of cool to have the party become involved in negotiations with the Wookies, the Rodians, the Twi'leks to bring them into the Republic as new signatories. What planets do you think would not be aligned with the Republic, or perhaps part of pre-existing alliances that pre-date the Republic? I have a few ideas, but if anyone knows of any that'd like to throw in their opinion.

 

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Date Posted: 8/19/09 11:12am Subject: GM Support Hotline
Berx, sorry if you've tried this already, but have you had a look at the Galactic Republic page on the Wook?

The 'Early History' section gives quite a bit of info.

Personally I think blasters pre-date lightsabers, based on the fact that I think it'd be easier to find a use for a naturally harvested gas as opposed to designing something quite as delicate and precise as a lightsaber.

According to the Wook (again) Lightsabers didn't come into fruition until 15,500 BBY, and by 4,800 BBY the cordless & most modern varieties came in.

Meanwhile blasters were found on Rakatan droid technology that pre-dated the Galactic Republic.

Can't find anything about vibro-weapons...

 

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Date Posted: 8/19/09 6:35pm Subject: GM Support Hotline
Republic Founder worlds - They included Alderaan, Alsakan, Anaxes, Axum, Brentaal, Caamas, Chandrila, Corellia, Corulag, Coruscant, Duro, Esseles, Humbarine, Kuat, Rendili, Shawken and Tepasi (among others)

Other than those, I think its up to you. Anyhing Core or the Colonies might or not be. Or be in the process of joining (who knows how long that takes)

 
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Date Posted: 8/19/09 7:16pm Subject: GM Support Hotline
If I remember correctly, the Tapani sector is near the core without being the core. Maybe the party will be in on the founding days of the Noble Houses.

 

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 Date Posted: 8/28/09 10:27pm Subject: GM Support Hotline
Could use some help coming up with something at short notice--I've been working on a game in a custom setting. The players will be crewing a smuggling/merchant ship. A few players want to do an introductory session before I start off with everyone, which should be fun.

Their ship is wrapping up the end of a year in drydock and half of the crew hasn't arrived yet. I was thinking about having the players do some digging into a possible cargo lot they may end up transporting and discovering it's a large batch of very dangerous and very illegal weapons. Will they inform the authorities for possible favors later? Take it and try to sell it to a higher bidder (as they won't be offered nearly as much as its worth for the job) ?

I've got a few ideas like that, but could use some help coming up with some twists or more interesting points to throw in. This is pretty last minute and I'm having trouble brainstorming.

Thanks!

 

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 Date Posted: 8/29/09 10:20pm Subject: GM Support Hotline
Do you have the Scum and Villany book? There's quite a few tables to generate cargo and jobs there.

 

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 Date Posted: 8/30/09 8:18am Subject: GM Support Hotline
So, a Smuggler, Transportcrew story? There are certain elements to spice things up then . . .

Firefly, Brian Daley and Cowboy Bebop and Afterburn give some good ideas for adventures and elements, actually.

 

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 Date Posted: 8/30/09 3:24pm Subject: GM Support Hotline
You could take them to Point Nadir. I am going to take my players there, someday.

 

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