Darths & Droids

Episode 385: With Sugar on Top

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 10:10:03 +0000

Imagine if Yoda was your high school principal. Seriously, no kid would be caught dead misbehaving in that school.

Another important tip for players is to blame anything you can on NPCs. Someone forgot to check the basement for bombs? NPC. Someone did't bother to spike the door to prevent orcs from rushing in? Must have been an NPC. Someone was careless and inadvertently caused the downfall of the kingdom? You guessed it.

Episode 384: Death Is Underlined

Sun, 7 Mar 2010 10:10:02 +0000

There are right ways to make your villains sympathetic, and wrong ways.

Turning your PCs against one another so they start wanting to work with their enemies is...

Actually, that could be kind of fun.

Episode 383: Fly, You Fools

Thu, 4 Mar 2010 10:10:03 +0000

The Arrival of the Cavalry is a time-worn fictional trope. You all know it. The heroes are beleaguered and staring down the barrel Of Doom, and just in the nick of time the cavalry arrives over the nearby hill to charge into battle and turn the tide. All very dramatic stuff, and thus its repeated use in all forms of fiction.

The problem in a roleplaying game is that you need to have the cavalry justified in some way, preferably by the actions of the PCs. They need to have set something up so that they can reasonably expect to be rescued by the cavalry. If they have, all well and good - they probably deserve to be rescued dramatically at the last second.

If they haven't set it up ahead of time, having the cavalry arrive becomes a deus ex machina, and thus an unpalatable method of extricating characters who really deserve to die through lack of planning.

So if you're playing characters who might need rescuing at some point in the future, let someone know what you're doing. Before heading off into the lair of the Evil Despot who has been terrorising the kingdom, let the king and his guard know where you're going! Before launching a frontal assault on the volcanic island base of the League of Extraordinarily Evil Supervillains, send the police an e-mail!

And if you're running a game in which the PCs are likely to do something suicidal - and let's face it, that describes every game, ever - drop some large hints that it might be good to let their academic friends back at the gloomy New England university know that they're taking a field trip out to Innsmouth, and to expect them back by nightfall.

Episode 382: The Wonderful Jedi of Oz

Tue, 2 Mar 2010 10:10:02 +0000

Rousing speeches on the spur of the moment require truly inspired roleplaying. But they can be crowning moments of awesome in a campaign, if you manage to pull it off.

For this reason, you should keep a notepad of suitably rousing speeches, sorted by context, handy in case your character ever gets the opportunity to deliver one.

In a personal anecdote, I (DMM) once ran a game in which it became clear that a significant NPC would have the opportunity to give a rousing speech during a future game session. So I actually did write one. Furthermore, I timed the speech to match a particularly rousing piece of music - it was many years ago and I honestly don't recall exactly what piece it was any more, but it was timed so the climax of the speech hit the crescendo in the music. I read the speech out carefully, in time to the music... and it was seriously awesome.

Give it a go next time you have a chance.

Episode 381: Send in the Clones

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:10:01 +0000

Never admit to your players that they've managed to convince you of something through logical argument. That way lies madness.