The Nerd Fitness DM's Guild

[Oramac]

Well, myself, @Starpuck and @RhiaWolfe were talking about D&D and realized we were basically just helping each other with DMing our own games, so here we are!  I'm sure I'll miss a few people, so tag whoever you know that is a DM.  

 

@Laghail @Gainsdalf the Whey @DarK_RaideR @imprimis5 

 

I know all of my limited DM experience is with 5th Edition D&D, but I'm sure other editions or games are fine too.  

[Rostov]

*subscribes to your newsletter*

 

I've run a whole variety of stuff... mainly D&D of various types up to 3.5 and then Pathfinder, nothing more recent. I've also run a lot of 7th Sea (first edition) and I'm now trying to get my head around second edition. I think running a Traveller campaign might be my next DMing challenge, especially as I want my own setting. Well, I say my own, it'll be a combination of Eve Online, Mass Effect, Faster than Light and various other influences. The challenge with running sci-fi games is finding a technology level that makes sense and is internally consistent and allows characters to have the skills without making problems rely on players guessing the right technobabble. But this means suggesting courses of action, which may look like railroading. Worth an experiment anyway...

 

[DarK_RaideR]

I think you missed @Strickland5

[imprimis5]

Do I still count if being an adult means I get to roleplay maybe once every couple of months?

[RhiaWolfe]

I've played and DMed a lot of different games from D&D 3.5 to cWoD to Palladium to Shadowrun. Right now I'm running a Pathfinder game. Pathfinder is new to me, so I'm still learning, however, it seems very similar to 3.5. 

[RhiaWolfe]

7 minutes ago, imprimis5 said:

Do I still count if being an adult means I get to roleplay maybe once every couple of months?

 

You totally count! Damn adulting gets in the way. 

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

My DMing experience is D&D 2.5, mostly home brew worlds with play by post, which is a lot easier since you don't have to come up with stuff on the fly, and simple modules on tabletop, once again, so I have a guide to go by. Hoping to get a gaming group back together with a few friends in the near future, haven't played in forever,

[cracked_belle]

I've played all kinds of games and systems.  but I'm DM'ing for the first time recently.  it's the "Supernatural" game.  but I'm having trouble knowing when to reign in my characters, and when to let them redirect the story a little.  apparently they're loving it, so I guess I'm doing well enough.  but I think I would benefit from chatting with other DMs (who aren't in that campaign, lol), so I'm following this thread.

[DarK_RaideR]

So what's the point of this thread, besides connecting rebel GMs? Sharing info on running games?

[Fenyx]

Subbing. Been DMing since 2.5 in D&D myself, and spread into other games such as Wolrd of Darkness. Always good to have a network of other DMs.

[Strickland5]

On 5/3/2017 at 1:47 AM, DarK_RaideR said:

I think you missed @Strickland5

 

Hey that's me!

I've run D&D from 2nd thru 5th ( skipped 4th as a GM though), also Rifts, Deadlands, Savage Worlds, old World of Darkness ... have read/played FATE, Ars Magica, Call of Cthulhu, Ninja Burger, Paranoia, d6 Star Wars, and probably many other system which I can't recall currently

 

if you're a net new DM I recommend Matt Colville's Running the Game YouTube series, heck I watch it from time to time cause his info is GOOD

[Oramac]

On 5/4/2017 at 3:26 AM, DarK_RaideR said:

So what's the point of this thread, besides connecting rebel GMs? Sharing info on running games?

 

All of the above, basically.  I've been in several challenge threads with rebel DMs asking questions "how do I...?" and the like, so I figured a thread for DMs to bounce ideas off each other would be useful. 

[Strickland5]

22 hours ago, Oramac said:

 I've been in several challenge threads with rebel DMs asking questions "how do I...?" and the like, so I figured a thread for DMs to bounce ideas off each other would be useful. 

 

Wait ... wha? When did we start playing D&D in challenges? Or are people trying RPGs and have questions?

[Oramac]

12 minutes ago, Strickland5 said:

Wait ... wha? When did we start playing D&D in challenges? Or are people trying RPGs and have questions?

 

Haha.  I wish!  Mostly it's people (myself and some others) who are running their own games and asking questions about said games.  Or just giving cool reports about the game. 

[Strickland5]

So what Qs have folks got? Been running/playing 5E since playtest so have a solid grasp of the rules 

[Oramac]

1 hour ago, Strickland5 said:

So what Qs have folks got? Been running/playing 5E since playtest so have a solid grasp of the rules 

 

Awesome!  5e is the only edition I have any real experience with.  A question for me since I have two in my game.  As a new DM, how do you handle new players? 

[Terinatum]

Hey All,

 

It's been a long while since I've DM'd anything, but I love D&D and world-building. Like this thread idea, Facebook has a 'DM Only' page that I'm on that also does this kind of thing, if you're interested.

 

Are there any Play-by-Post games going on now here in NF? I've been away for awhile so I'm not up-to-date.

[Strickland5]

1 hour ago, Oramac said:

As a new DM, how do you handle new players? 

Usually by saying "Yes you may, how do you wanna to try?"

 

Slightly more seriously 

 

Have em watch this 

 

Give em a choice of pregenerated characters and get with the gaming 

 

Whats the issue with new players?

[DarK_RaideR]

5 hours ago, Terinatum said:

Are there any Play-by-Post games going on now here in NF? I've been away for awhile so I'm not up-to-date.

We started a game on February based on Shadowrun:Anarchy rules, but it seems to have stuck. The system supports a co-narration thing and with people not being that familiar with the world (plus real life issues keeping them busy) progression is difficult.

 

I tossed an idea around Starpuck's thread about running a Play-by-post 5e D&d here, either Out of the Abyss or Curse of Strahd. She and Jarric seemed interested but it never went anywhere from there.

[Fenyx]

I'm slow to the game thanks to a big move in progress, but if there ends up being a 5e D&D campaign I'd be down. Husband plays as well, could easily tag him in too. Always been a DM, finished campaigns, but never a player in a campaign that's ever finished. Would be fun

[Strickland5]

8 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

I tossed an idea around Starpuck's thread about running a Play-by-post 5e D&d here, either Out of the Abyss or Curse of Strahd. She and Jarric seemed interested but it never went anywhere from there.

Issue with running CoS, OotA or similar modules is that those are LONG games, meant to take months to complete. Unfortunately play by posts (pbp) drag on for a while. A game session that might last 4 hrs at the table is 4 weeks (or more) in a pbp.

 

I've a short intro module i could run if folks wanna get their feet wet in the pbp arena. 

 

How would we handle dice rolls?

[Terinatum]

Dice rolls can be done on an online dice roller that sends the die roll to the DM or by trust if that's comfortable for the DM. I'll post the site link when I find it again.

Would definitely be up for some PbP.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

21 hours ago, Strickland5 said:

Issue with running CoS, OotA or similar modules is that those are LONG games, meant to take months to complete. Unfortunately play by posts (pbp) drag on for a while. A game session that might last 4 hrs at the table is 4 weeks (or more) in a pbp.

 

I've a short intro module i could run if folks wanna get their feet wet in the pbp arena. 

 

How would we handle dice rolls?

 

That PbP timeline is way aggressive in my experience. I've had simple 1 night modules last well over a year with posting twice per week guidelines. A single 8 round battle takes a month for example. Anything with higher posting rates than that tends to have players dropping out a lot due to not being able to keep up unless you find that rare group that can handle it.

[Strickland5]

2 hours ago, Gainsdalf the Whey said:

posting twice per week guidelines

Yeah my PbPs have a 5 post per week post rate so things are semi-faster. 

 

At the end of the day PbP is slow but can allow for good writing exercises and RP if folks want to . 

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

13 minutes ago, Strickland5 said:

Yeah my PbPs have a 5 post per week post rate so things are semi-faster. 

 

At the end of the day PbP is slow but can allow for good writing exercises and RP if folks want to . 

It's definitely in the writing, that's the entire point to play that way. For battle I'm a fan of instead of doing battle the typical way of player  1stating their action, DM responding with results, then player 2, then DM responding, etc, of everyone instead stating their intentions for each round at once. Preferably they do it in initiative order, but it's not entirely necessary. The DM then does a narrative write-up of that round with all the rolls and fleshing out him or herself. You get a round done with the DM only having to make 1 post per round instead of posting after each person's turn. It also let's the DM provide some nice writing.