DM-ing: Questions, Tips and Tricks

So i thought I would create this thread for those of us who are aspiring young dungeon master, so here we can ask eachother for help. ideas with how to deal with scernario's and help nail down the minutia of game mechanics. Plus reference and opinions in anything to do with DM-ing.

lets-ago

Hey so I was hoping for some tips. Do i literally construct my npc's as if there playable characters? (obviously not noobs unless aplicable:p)

and is there a good reference for how to construct boss character mechnically speaking, I mean conceptionally i know exactly what I want but in order to make it stong enough, i presume in some way you can scale stats for the amount players and role in the game?

did you just pull there stats from you proverbial ass or is there a book/reference which helps with this area?

anyone?

I will be packing today for the move tommorow so I can't reply much today but there are no boss stats or NPC stats , its best to so it in regards of 2 in a attribute and skill for weak mobs then scale it from there, boss Chars will be in regards to how many are fighting it. 5 is max stat for human and skill 5 . BUT supernaturals can have a lot more, health is really the only thing that needs to scale with amount of players as there could be 5-7 attacks on the boss before the boss can have his turn . Bare in mind no body sees a DM roll so if they are not as or resiliant as the story needs you could in theory add a dice or two here and there or add health boxes , just rekmember to be fair, as a lucky roll could cause 7 of your bosses 20 HP in one hit BUT the next load of hits could just be normal successes of 2 etc so if you upped his HP to 40 players would struggle / die. The main bit for bosses is the abilities they have , use them in creative ways and you may find a 12 HP boss could be even tougher than a 20 HP boss and players will enjoy it more as the boss actually is taking dmg and injuries. I will post more when I get the chance

hmm okay i guess that makes things easier than mapping out all the npcs :p thanks

Its really hard to judge, because I don't know how many people will be present and for those characters that are present I don't the extent of their individual combat skills especially the new characters. And even if i did, its hard to know how lethal they could be working as a cohesive unit.

hmmmm lots to think about.

That's the skill of DMing , altering story , attributes ,skills ,rooms, events etc on the fly while keeping it all cohesive . It takes a little getting used to but it will come in time if it doesn't suddenly manifest in your first time as gm

If everyone would like I can do a list /table of NPCs , creatures ect to help base the attributes on?

I wouldn't say no!?

would be nice just so i can gauge how close/far away i am as far as atributes are concerned

I have made so much progess on my scenario today, I'm really excited, there are so many cool things i have planned, and know you lot I probably won't be able too do half of them lol but i guess i can always recycle unused/unseen ideas

"i would say no!?" <<< what was that in reference to?

i will try to set up a list but cant start till wednesday as we are moving in to our new place tommorow

I must admit, I was expecting my 30hp mega-wolf to do more damage with the stats I gave it, but that's just the luck of the dice, and having another massive wolf to fight didn't help!

Luck of dice is a big factor and he did do quite a bit of damage he almost K.Oed me, I'm not sure on the others though . Having so many players meens a boss only gets 1 in 5-7 turns which takes down their effectiveness so I would urge further DMs to add multiple monsters / 2 bosses in the same room etc . If you guys want I can create a quest that will showcase the difference it makes of you wish (also another idea is for super fast bosses such as a fully fledged vampire have them attack every time a player does.... but that would probably decimate the party quite quickly.)

ha I am being pretty experiental as far as boss(es) go, it could be great or seriously fuck up should be fun anyway lol

You could always alter the bosses stats half way through if it turns out to be OP

Sim wrote:I must admit, I was expecting my 30hp mega-wolf to do more damage with the stats I gave it, but that's just the luck of the dice, and having another massive wolf to fight didn't help!

He was pretty tough to be fair. We got lucky with a few rolls, Tyrex sacrificed his eyes and Tom nearly had his arm ripped off!

from what i could tell from joining watching at the end, he seemed quite hard and def powerful. just you need the luck on your side in either case (defeating or the boss being powerful)
atm not everyone has all their skills/abilities they want and some aren't too sure on rules still so i dont think it matters too much if things go a lil different from planned as its all helpful and learning ^^
besides, do you want a full dead player base? lol

and martin asking about new characters, im not too sure on jo's abilities but i know i havent learned almost half of the skills i want, and i only have like 2/3 i could use atm that arent a great deal of help other than protecting me like making myself comfortable around elements that i usually dislike or cloaking myself in a manifestation of an element to armor myself and to damage ppl/things that touch me.
and my other is an ability to talk to/understand animals.