>when your players kill the starter villain in 3 rounds so you have to quickly compress all the foreshadowing dialogue before they diemy hag lost a lot of her mystique and mannerisms last sunday
>>97815397>my hag lost a lot of her mystique and mannerisms last sundayEnough about your "girlfriend". Tell us about your game.
>>97815397maybe instead of killing them, have the villain gasp in amazement about how its impossible the party should be this strong and have them run away
>>97815403
>>97815407Maybe you should just shit your pants retard.
>>97815397>my hag lost a lot of her mystique and mannerisms last sundayCorpses tend to do that, yeah.Really, the take away is to not have the villain immediately make themselves vulnerable if you want the bastard monologuing. Not like a vidya cutscene, but maybe sending messages on the wind, through servants, or just plain old letters. The standard player response to a long-winded villain is a sneak attack.
>>97815397Assuming it's dee n dee the game doesn't lend itself to such theatrics. Imagine describing how a demon manifests through an eldritch spiral of red fire and smoke, rising up like fucking satan in fantasia and then the wizard "lul i cast grease under him", turning the scene in a benny hill sketch.
>>97815556"you cant see the floor under him because of the crater he pushed up from the ground, so you cant cast grease"alternatively he passes his DEX throw and then berates the party for trying something so infantile
>>97815565Yes i know there are ways around and it's very unlikely to work, however players will push this kind of shit and, sometimes, they succeed in it.>t. I did exactly that
>>97815514That's good advice. The next villain has a sattelite phone, so there'll be more opportunity for conversation.
>>97815397>StoryshittingWhy do they need to have this 'foreshadowing dialog'? If it's that important let them find it out in other ways.
>>97815648>Why do they need to have this 'foreshadowing dialog'?to foreshadow, obviously
>>97815397You fucked up by not having them ground down by her minions. Hags are weak as shit in direct conflict, they are best when they were tricking people and picking them off one by one.
>>97816068Reading lore for intended tactics, what a concept
>>97815491I will.
>>97816068Yeah really. Having any creature act as a 'boss' solo is just going to have them get power fucked by action economy. Much less one that isn't really meant to be a direct fighter.
>>97815403FPBP
>>97815397Why? Do retarded zoomers understand that adventures can be unrelated? You don't have to make LE EPIC SAGA 100k pages long, a collection of short stories is fine too. I'm not saying you have to do it, I'm saying just think for at least 5 seconds what is better and more comfortable for you.
>>97815397>starter villain>foreshadowing>dialogueWhat?
>>97816068They took a shortcut through random encounter forest to reach her before her main attack squad was back, and then convinced her personal guards to defect. It was a whole thing.I'm fine with the encounter itself being trivialized, since they worked for it, I just wanted to connect a player's backstory complication to hag magic.>>97816399The point of the game is to have fun, and connecting the bits is fun.
>>97816486>The point of the game is to have funSo why is retard OP going on about unfun things like foreshadowing and dialogue?
>>97816500Because then the players can recognize shit and connect dots, which is fun!
>>97816515>guessing what daddy DM is thinking is totally fun !!Nope.
>>97815397The trick I like to use is that restless spirit of NPC which got killed with unresolved business lingers on and keeps haunting the party with loredumps or quests, so that the material doesn't go to waste.What's good enough for Shakespeare should be good enough for any other story...
>>97815397While it can be fine for you to have some ideas of what’s coming down the pipeline for the players, it’s best not to decide on a single source of that information for the PCs--and one of the worst things you can do is pre-write the dialogue.Even given those mistakes, you had a few options.>if the information is of value to the party but not otherwise useful to the hag, she could have tried to bargain for her life with it in a cowardly fashion>if she didn’t try to bargain with it, she could have uttered a curse with her dying breath that resulted in an image of her haunting one of the PC’s dreams and uttering cryptic hints, with the implication being that they need to find a way to break the curse or the PC will eventually turn into the hag>some other fey bullshit
>>97816486>I just wanted to connect a player's backstory complication to hag magic.You can still do that.Now that the hag is dead, their "backthtory complicathion" could be reduced, removed, or resolved somehow as a direct consequence.
>>97815407Yeah, railroading lines up with the rest of the storyshit OP seems to think is fun, so yeah, great idea!
>>97816559>if the information is of value to the party but not otherwise useful to the hag, she could have tried to bargain for her life with it in a cowardly fashionyeah, that's what happened
>>97815397Why do you think you had to do that?
>>97815556Yeah, imagine the players being able to affect things in the world by making decisions. Imagine if the game was different from every formulaic boring trash novel you've ever read, and you couldn't predict events in advance, so your mind was actually engaged. Awful.
>>97815397How?I know you said they "took a shortcut through random encounter forest to reach her before her main attack squad was back, and then convinced her personal guards to defect" and "it was a whole thing", but how?What are their classes?What tools did they use?What measures did the hag take to protect her life in the event her initial contingency was bypassed?Did you even know what the party was capable of at that point?Did the party hide her scrying eye in a stupid dark cave?Did the party kill one of her sisters, so she couldn't manifest her most powerful spells?
>>97817485lol you think this actually happened
>>97817496I don't think I'll get an earnest answer.
>>97817472I mean there are games that do lends themselves to theatrics because they somewhat enforce them through rules (for example in Hero you can "attack" with presence), i would assume you can use some optional rule (like some advanced fright check from some horror splat) even in d&d but as is there's nothing enforcing the pc to simply sitting there listening to the bbeg monologuing.
>>97817485I mean are you actually interested or are you doing a weird purity test?We can do storytime if you want, maybe there's someone here who's interested.>long lasting DnD 5e group>not meeting up much anymore since foreverDM went to live abroad>I offer to GM, but only get 2 people interested from our group of 7>I want to try something different, stuff like fabula ultima is too exotic for the group, draw steel is too crunchy (and I think MCDM's worldbuilding sucks) so we do DC20>it's in beta, but the combat is basically feature complete, that's the only part that matters anyway>plus it's all about customization, so I can create races and magic items that suit my world, which is a fun creative outlet for me>order 50 blank catan hexes from a spare game shop and draw a map>create a setting intro image (see pic)>my idea is for the setting is human-centered, but I create a non-human player race as a compromise for if they want to play as a dwarf or beastman or something>one player comes with the idea to play a living set of armor, and together we adapt it into a person permanently trapped into a magic suit of armor, a natural fit for the pact armor warlock in DC20>the other plays as a non-human hunter>meanwhile, I reach out to the old DM and another friend who couldn't be players, to make a "villain chat" on whatsapp, where they could still be a bit part of the campaign by roleplaying villains, and be sources of external shake-up for the campaign setting, they come up with a conspiracy inspired by the "Protectorate" from terra incognita, basically extreme appeasement strategy against the fey
>>97817775the story:>most of the once-proud barony of Nebeloort is overgrown and forgotten>what remains of human civilization is sequestered to the greenpaths of the witch Thuja>through some magic, the wild beasts and monsters that plague the forest can not step foot on this green spring grass, and all who leave the path risk death>Thuja is a hag who steals infants, and eats them to unnaturally extend her lifespan>she has a small army of homunculi, made out of "spare parts" of stolen children>however: there is a community that resists her, the adoptive family of Mr. and Ms. Hildebrand>they are kind people that have adopted outcasts from other settlements>among which are; Harald, a homunculus deserter, and Ida, a young woman that had gotten trapped in a magical harness after straying off the greenpath as a teenager>Once in an un-determined stretch of time, the communities of Nebeloort trade with the smuggler Koenraad for vital supplies>However, trouble starts when one day, Koenraad declares the prices have gone up, and the Hildebrands can't pay>Ida's player now has to content with the first of several of my gimmick systems: diplomacy>Inspired by negotiation in Draw Steel, I have two meters. Patience and interest. Interest can go up and down, patience can only go down.>Ida tries to raise Koenraad's interest in granting a discount, but she's not a charisma focused character (in DC20 you can pick any of the four attributes to be your "prime attribute" on which your class are based, so she's a Might Warlock. Which is kinda flavorful with the hp as resource mechanic) so she can only get a compromise, Koenraad offers to forgive their debts if they can get him some of the magic beans that are rumored to be in Nebeloort before he has to fly out at sunset>Ida knows that if there's any place to get this, it's Thuja's
>>97817792>she looks at a map of the known greenpaths, knowing that a person can cross 4 hexes in 24 hours she calculates that she won't be back in time if she follows the path to Thuja's hut, but there's a shortcut through the woods which she decides to take>since she travels off the path, Ida encounters a random encounter>a monstrous atelid (goblin) wielding a boa constrictor as a weapon>it throws the snake on her and pilfers one of her things while she's distracted: a spell focus, climbing a tree with it>luckily, that's when she runs into Harald, who helps her take down the menace, and they make it out of the forest none the worse for wear>within the region of Thuja's hut, Ida and Harald run into Harald's rival(tm)>Knoet and his two lackey's, Lefty and Snitch, are homunculi that enjoy a relative high esteem under Thuja and lord it over the others>Harald knows that Knoet carries magic beans with him>magic beans can shift the tide of battle, they're sources of unpredictable chaos magic>since Harald has kept it a secret from Thuja that he's no longer loyal to her, he has the opportunity to convince Knoet that he brought a human to their home for a good reason>I remind the players that when trying to gain interest in the diplomacy, you have to appeal to the particular values and desires of your interlocutor. Harald knows that Knoet cares about status and pride, but fails to find the right words to capitalize on this.>The evil homunculi try to take them captive and a fight ensues.>The pair quickly take down Knoet himself before he can use the beans. Then Lefty...>Snitch surrenders.>This is a moral quandry. They'd rather not have any witnesses of their crimes against Thuja, but are they going to kill a surrendering opponent?>He swears he won't tell anyone, but they can tell he's lying. His name is even Snitch (Praatgraag, actually), which I didn't plan, happy coincidence.>Ida smashes his head with a hammer and they loot the magic beans
>>97815403oh, you
>>97817541Yes, and that's good. The players should never be forced to do anything with the exception of some game effect against which they get a defense roll, to the extent and in the manner determined by the rules of the effect.
>>97817954This sounds fun and I like the idea of getting the other people to think of villains.But I'm sorry to tell you that your thread has been infested by trolls, nobody who actually plays the game would froth from the mouth at mere mention of "story" or "dialogue". Don't pay attention to them.
>>97817954>the sun is low on the horizon when they make their way back to Koenraad's plane>unfortunately, the bandits Ida fought before are there and Koenraad's been tied up>(pretend I didn't forget to mention Ida fought some bandits in the morning, these are human ruffians and honestly the least threatening enemies in the region)>they demand the magic beans as ransom>instead, Ida tries using one on them>now she has to content with my second gimmick system, this one lifted from "Spell: the RPG">given a collection of scrabble tiles, she manages to create the words "fall", "jab", and "cob".>as the magic bean is crushed, glittering dust explodes outwards and covers the ground, when it disappates, it leaves behind an altered reality>one bandit falls into a sudden hole in the ground, one is jabbed through the torso by an invisible force, and one is transformed into a giant ear of corn>magic beans are consumables that let you trivialize an encounter>they hand one over to Koenraad, in accordance with the agreement, and he is extremely grateful, he asks them what they'd want him to bring along next shipment and they mention healing supplies, as Harald had gotten quite hurt over the adventure>they now have one magic bean left>meanwhile, the evil conspiracy that has infiltrated the upper echelons of society is having an evil conspiratorial meeting, where they learn their agent, Eldrich Greumpse, has made contact with a bandit leader in the isolated barony of Nebeloort>these bandits are easy to manipulate and make for an excellent proxy power in the region>they remember how 100 years ago, the Baroness Gothruun of Nebeloort and her knights, the Seven Silver Swords, were once the most vaunted heroes in the world, but even they were quickly snuffed out by the Schemergluiperd, who now rules the forest>they agree that these inhuman powers must not be further antagonized, and elect a wizard to travel to the region to make contact with the witch, Thuja
>>97818123>not too long after that a mysterious man shows up at the settlement of the Hildebrands>he claims to be Ida's brother-in-law>her younger sister, Gisella, had once convinced her to explore off the path, which led to her becoming bound to this magical suit of armor>after she'd become magically afflicted in this way, Ida was shunned by her community, and despite being partially responsible, Gisella participated>now she's asking Ida and her new family for help, not even coming in person but sending her husband>as it happens, their infant son has the black mark, signifying it has been chosen by Thuja as the next sacrifice>homunculi are besieging their home right now>they're begging for asylum, to save the infant's life>the heroes agree, selflessly, to save the annoying sister's baby, even if the black mark could potentially lead Thuja to them>it doesn't make sense, however, for the brother-in-law (who goes by the name Henrik) not to fight alongside them, so they put a weapon in his hands and recruit him to their party (this is the start of a trend)>as they make their way to the mother and child, however, they are stopped by a gaggle of bandits>these ruffians have had enough experience with the heroes to be wary of a fight, and they insist they don't want trouble, they just want Henrik>this leads to a fight>afterwards, Henrik admits he used to be part of the bandit gang, but had to leave because they became increasingly subverted>ever since that wizard arrived, it seems like they've been only serving the witch's interests, their leader Grimald COMMANDED him to hand over his baby to the homunculi, that's when he knew he had to defect
>>97817775>storytiem>OP deliversBased and /tg/-pilled.I couldn't have asked for better.
>>97817775Those are some really pretty pictures.I can't read the text, but I applaud you for being a polyglot.More than I can say for myself.
