Re: roleplaying experience, a solution that has worked for groups I've been in is to go around the table at the end of a session and have the players nominate a fellow player for an extra XP award, either for doing something particularly cool, acting out a character's flaws in an interesting way, or setting up another player for a spotlight moment. That makes the connection to "your roleplaying is making the game experience better for everyone else" more explicit - and more objective, in a way, because the players are the ones deciding who made their game experience the best that session. Pros: takes the burden (and blame) off the GM, may refocus some players' attention on making the experience better for other people, which is the whole point. Cons: kiiiiiiind of requires some maturity on the players' part to work well. This would be in addition to extra contacts/information for people who go out of their way to RP to get it, not replacing that.
Apologies for the long post here. @Arxon's dillema got me inspired to consolidate some notes and write a bit about them. A method i've started building into my XP systems for my own designs and houserules is what i call the "XP Cookie." A cookie is worth a small amount, say 10x the character's level (so at 5th level it's worth 50 points), and I have a list of things that are worth cookies. When a player does one of the things on the list, i give them their cookie right away (although they can't actually level up until the end of the session and/or they return to a safe zone). To avoid the possible slowdown of players having to add to their xp in the middle of combat or something, you could even grab some cheap tokens, like poker chips or beads, or print out sheets of 'cookies' on light cardstock, and give the players these physical tokens. At the end of the session when xp is being awarded, they can turn in their cookies for the bonus xp as well. One example list of ways to get XP Cookies: Clever, useful idea or action Quick thinking Deductive reasoning Stumping the DM Avoiding unnecessary violence Avoiding violence you expected to be necessary Daring/bravery (even if it isn't wise) Giving everyone a laugh or a smile Character moments Obviously several of these are pretty subjective. What is a clever, useful idea or action, for example? Since your group seems a little dysfunctional, it might be good to use something like "Surprising the DM" instead. I would also recommend that you encourage players to nominate each other for cookies (but not to ask for themselves). This way, although the reward is still a bit subjective, you at least have some clear guidelines that the players can refer to, and by inviting their input you increase their buy-in to the system. "Character moments" is the category for the roleplaying stuff. The point of this is to highlight and reward decision-making that illustrates a character's personality, background, values, or worldview. For example, a Lawful Neutral character thinks the party shouldn't take the murder victim's money and blame the theft on his unknown killer. The player whose charcter is supposed to be naive expresses frustration that they can't call bullshit on an NPC they think is lying, but whom their character would inevitably trust. The generous paladin buys meals for a group of urchins. As far as I'm concerned, it's bad form to demand acting skill or performance, bc some players just are never gonna be good at it; but everyone can make decisions about their character's actions. If you find players give each other a hard time for bad luck, like blaming someone who gets a crappy roll for failing to contribute to a fight, you might also use XP Cookies as a kind of consolation prize to take the sting out of failure. In this case, i'd suggest something like "When a player rolls a natural 1 on a d20 roll (such as an attack, skill check, or save), every player gets a cookie." That can change player attitudes around real fast. Optionally, at the end of each session you can invite the players to vote for one player they think should be recognized for an additional cookie (perhaps ruling that players can't nominate themselves). This way players are not only thinking about ways to earn these bonuses while playing, but after each session they are thinking about ways their fellow players made the session a little more fun. This could subtly help everyone move away from their current salty feels. Another possible variation, if you are using the cookie tokens to be traded for xp at the end of the session: whenever a player makes a d20 roll (such as an attack, a skill check, or a save), they can trade in a cookie to add 1d6 to the result before you rule the result. Limit one cookie per roll. Unused cookies can't be saved between sessions and must be traded for xp. * * * I also second @Wiwaxia 's suggestion that if a player decides to do something that is likely to cause bad consequences that the character would probably know to expect, it is totally legit to point this out and give them a chance to change their mind. Like, "I just want to make sure you realize that if word gets around that you are threatening merchants to get discounts/free swag, you could run into trouble with authorities or something later on. Are you sure that's what you want to do?" for example.
Yeahhhh that makes sense. I think I've been frustrating people with not wanting to say things about consequences that might happen, so I'll def start trying to offer multiple things that could happen God I am so scared to be arbitrary and capricious I get passive aggressed at enough. I really like the laugh out loud and death ideas, though. I thiiiiink I can make that work with these guys. Maybe I'll try it these next couple sessions and see how it goes? I really like this. It also works really well with the system I am building rn, which is more of a point buy situation. Yeah I really try not to work off acting skill or performance (I am the sovereign queen of 20 minutes of OOC deliberation for one sentence in character. Anxiety is a hell of a drug). The problem is, esp with a couple of them, they tend to change character traits at will to justify whatever they want to do, or they claim their character is one way and act completely different (i.e. a character describes herself as a good leader and a good friend and literally ignores the others and acts with open contempt and says she attacks them, then gets made when we're like they will be angry at you if you attack them) This is a reeeeeally good idea, thank you I like both of these too! Yeah I really should have done that for, for example, the "player impersonates a god" situation, but I thought I didn't need to because you are impersonating a god ahahaha like "there's a 1% chance they go grimdark here?" [silently dies]
The paladin tried to Divine Sense a decrepit-looking dog to see if it was undead. When her player asked "Are there any other undead in the area?" I rolled d100 as a joke...
as opposed to sandbox gming, which is desperately shoveling sand in all directions around your players, and strategically putting piles of it elsewhere so it looks like the sandbox is already full
Hey I'm looking to get into... Pathfinder for now because I'm a broke bitch and pfsrd exists (though if someone were to PM me a means to acquire DnD materials for free or seriously dirt cheap I would be grateful) Most games seem to be up and running already and/or are DnD, but if someone ends up looking to start up a Pathfinder game for wee newblets I'd be willing to join. (Preferably over the forums because I keep inconsistent hours.)
free D&D you say? What edition strikes your fancy? If you cut your teeth on the old Basic game, i recommend Labyrinth Lord, a free retro-clone that accurately recreates the original game. If you prefer the Advanced rules, 1st or 2nd edition, LL also has the Advanced Edition Companion. Both of these books are available in free no-art versions at the above link, and print version can be ordered online or at the better brick-and-mortar stores. There are in fact a number of other retro-clones worth looking at! Swords & Wizardry is a little different in style, being based on the original edition (0e) compiling the rules expansion publshed in the 70s before the line was split into the Basic (or Classic) and Advanced games. [at that link, select the PDF format and the price tag drops to zero - bam, a second free game for you!] There is a comparison between these two retro-clones at http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/14309/how-does-swords-wizardry-differ-from-labyrinth-lord which might give you ideas about which is more appealing to your gaming style - or it might be a bunch of minutiae that means nothing to you, idk. Another nifty game that is only kind of a retro-clone is Lamentations of hte Flame Princess. This game tweaks the old-school D&D rules a little, customizing for early modern era (a little more 3 Musketeers than Lord of the Rings) and a weird fantasy/horror tone. [follow the link and look to the right side of the page to see an index of links to free version of the LotFP rulebooks and free adventures] If you want to get in on the fantabulousness that is 5th Edition for free, you are also in luck! Wizards of the Coast maintains free pdfs of the "Basic Rules" for 5e, both a Players' document and a DM's document. These don't give you all the options (the races and classes are trimmed down a little, and each class is presented with only the most common 'default' archetype instead of all the archetype options available in the printed book) but this should be enough to run a game with any group that enjoys a mix of simple gameplay and moderately robust rules. WotC also has an ongoing column called Unearthed Arcana that presents new optional rules, typically in beta form, totally free. The archive is worht perusing, as there are new races and new spells and rules for radically different campaign styles (no magic? Modern? Gothic horror?Adventures in Magic: the Gathering settings? all sorts of stuff). At the time of writing this, the most recent articles are a series of new archetype choices for a variety of classes, so if the limited selection in the Basic Rules feels restrictive, you've got some free material here to expand on it. [that link might not lead directly to Unearthed Arcana, but if you select 'articles' on the menu and select 'unearthed arcana' on the 'narrow by type' field you should get where you're going] There you have it, four free version of D&D, three complete and one limited but usable.
I'd also like to bring up the 52 page rules (basically od&d rules converted into stripped down visual form and as compact as possible). Only goes through level 5 and doesn't have a whole lot of monsters or the like, but is a very serviceable base and should see you through for long enough to get comfortable enough to build stuff once the rules run out
@Arxon this proooobably isn't relevant to your particularly situation, since you're using @Wiwaxia's lovingly handcrafted SBURB system (which may not have the relevant mechanics) and since you've gotten good advice from a bunch of other folks. :) but re: rewarding good roleplaying in general, D&D 5e has a means of doing so built right into the core rulebooks. it's dependent on 5e's advantage/disadvantage system for d20 rolls (if you're rolling with advantage, you roll twice and take the higher, and with disadvantage you roll twice and take the lower, basically), and it's called inspiration. whenever the DM sees a player RPing well, they can award the player inspiration, and the player can make a later roll of their own choice with advantage. oh, and inspiration doesn't stack; you use it or lose it. but if players have unused inspiration and see another player roleplaying well, they can give their inspiration to that player, so it also has the whole teambuilding thing going on. @The Frood Abides in his capacity as DM recently gave inspiration to all of us Kintsugi 5e campaigners for being willfully ignorant about an NPC. :D
sorry for doubleposting and cluttering up the thread, but this is not at all related to my previous post, so I don't think editing that to add this would make much sense. I am just very excited about a wide assortment of D&D things today! :3 so I was reading through the 5e Monster Manual in alphabetical sequence, as one does, and I came across the entry for kenku. they're Medium humanoids who don't seem to be too overpowered, at least to my inexperienced eyes. (please find the aforementioned entry attached below.) and the thing about kenku is that they used to be... oversized sentient ravens? probably? the entry doesn't make it clear whether they were literally just giant smart birds, if they were bipedal with wings instead of forelimbs, if they were bipedal and had arms and wings, or what. anyway, point is they had wings but weren't able to talk, and when they learned the secret of speech from a book in their master's library, said master took away their wings. and now they are sad and bitter and still have issues talking. all very tragic and full of gross generalizations about an entire sentient species, as such entries tend to be. (I'm getting somewhere with this, I promise. :P) as the poor unfortunate souls stuck in the Kintsugi 5e OOC thread with me know very, very well, I am sort of entirely obsessed with warlocks as a class. part of that is their general prowess at offensively magicking the fuck out of everything, I'll admit, but the whole bound-to-patron thing is also a big part. so much potential for conflict and morally dubious choices! so many roleplaying opportunities! and in kenku I saw a very obvious hook for drawing a warlock into a dangerous pact: "give me the wings I want, and I'll be your agent on the Material Plane." like, c'mon, it's built in, and I haven't come up with any other situations in which someone not a) incredibly power-hungry, b) knowledge-crazed, c) detached from reality, or d) cartoonishly evil would knowingly and deliberately make a pact with a malicious (fiendish) or at the very least dangerously unpredictable (fey) entity. character-building opportunity!!! (also I kinda just love ravens, but that's beside the point.) the thing about character-building is that if you want to make a PC (which I do), you kinda need to start with a race whose members could reasonably be PCs. I think kenku definitely have that potential, but I am, like, a negative expert (nexpert?). I realize that would ultimately be the DM's call, but I'm not even experienced enough to know if it's a reasonable call to ask a DM to make. so, people who actually have experience DMing and/or homebrewing: whaddaya think? would it work with reasonably few adjustments, and what might those adjustments be? (I bet there are other people out there who've homebrewed kenku into a PC race, but again, I can't tell if those homebrews are viable.)
@esotericPrognosticator that is a neat character concept. Fly is on the warlock spell list, which wouldn't be hard to re-flavor as sprouting shadowy wings appropriate to your patron. And I believe there's an official kenku PC race in Volo's Guide to Monsters, which I'm reliably informed I will receive for Christmas from my IRL D&D group. :P
Well, the first thing that sprang to mind when reading the entry was, "A PC of this race would make a killer bard!" All you would really need is a good backstory. From a DM's standpoint home-brewing a PC from this race wouldn't be too difficult. They have the advantage of not having any game-breaking special abilities. A first level mage has a few spells that can do the mimicking that they do naturally. The greed for pretty baubles nicely offsets this ability, add the fact that the bauble just needs to be pretty, not necessarily valuable monetarily. And you have a fairly balanced PC race.
/blushu I hadn't thought of re-flavoring anything, actually! as-is there's a nice progression of eldritch invocations that form a very neat character arc without the kenku having to expend their precious spell slots on fly. (I mean, obviously they would still cast it as much as possible, but when they get their first 3rd-level spells, they only have two spell slots. two.) anyway, they can get Mask of Many Faces at second level (disguise self whenever you want it, and that ought to at least produce illusory wings), Sculptor of Flesh at seventh level (polymorph once per day, expending a spell slot, so that'd be a short period of real wings), Ascendant Step at ninth level (levitate cast on self whenever you want it, so they could kinda just float everywhere), and Master of Myriad Forms at fifteenth level (alter self whenever you want it, so real wings whenever they can maintain concentration). they could also get true polymorph as their 9th-level Mystic Arcanum spell at seventeenth level, but that wouldn't be any better than polymorph for their purposes. and I guess eventually a wish spell could give them their own real, permanent wings without too much shit going wrong. so yeah, pretty good as it is! also if you do get the official kenku PC race info could you send it my way pls + thank yeah, I had that thought too! it also fits very well with the kenku origin story. bards don't get many flight or shapechanging spells, though, so it didn't quite fit my wing-wanting concept. still room for a performer background, though! I was thinking of the mimicry as a potential handicap, actually? I mean, in and of itself it's an asset, but then they can't speak without mimicry. there aren't any official sign languages, but I don't think it would be too unreasonable to start off a kenku PC with sign language fluency? the problem with that would be that a lot of people wouldn't understand what the kenku was signing, anyway, so they'd have to train up a friend to act as translator or something. maybe just carry slate and chalk around—they can write in Common, I'm pretty sure, and that's better than nothing. for my potential warlock I was thinking that if I went the Pact of the Chain route, most of those familiar options (imps, sprites, and quasits, but for this character concept I'm leaning toward imp) can speak. I'm not entirely clear on how familiar-warlock telepathy is supposed to work—can they transmit words or what?—but even if the kenku warlock couldn't telepathically send their words for the familiar to speak, the familiar could probably learn sign language and translate. the kenku still wouldn't quite be able to speak for themselves, but they'd communicate a lot more easily. yeah, that seemed a lot like the innate dwarven attraction to gems and gold, and dwarves are standard PCs, so. and yeah, it doesn't even have to be expensive, they can just pick up bits of bright cloth or shiny metal, etc.
My copy is on loan to a friend, so I won't be able to copy down any of the stat blocks, but Volo's Guide to Monsters has the Kenku as a PC race. It's also just a pretty great book in general. Other races it fleshes out: Tabaxi (cat people), Lizardfolk, Tritons, Goliaths, Firbolgs, Aasimar (angelic version of Tieflings, but with a fallen angel option). It also has stat blocks for Goblins, Hobgoblins, Bugbears, Orcs, Kobolds, and Yuan-Ti Purebloods, but those are all explored more in the "in-depth look at different kinds of monsters" section rather than getting a standard PC race outline.
@esotericPrognosticator Educate me. I'm stuck in the dark ages of second edition AD&D. I have, over the years, home-brewed a system based mostly on 1st&2nd edition rules, and good ideas. I built a solar system, a couple of planets, and hundreds of NPCs and monsters based on those rules, and the thought of converting it all is daunting. So, my question is: Don't most spell casters have to vocalize in order to cast spells? Wouldn't the inability to do nothing other than mimic handicap a spell caster, a lot? It would certainly leave out the possibility of original spells. Or is this not a concern with the Warlock class?
The class still has verbal components, but it would be easy to flavor that when the kenku warlock gets their new spells, their patron speaks the verbal incantation for them so they can mimic it later (idk if that would work with their mimicry restriction, I haven't looked at the MM)
