Ask the DM (2/14/13)

Welcome to the first session of "Ask the DM"

We'll be answering your questions from the comments and from email!

Question 1:

I have a question regarding the "always say 'you can try'" point you explained at the start of the post. In my previous campaign, the PC's arrived at a village where the 'mayor' was long-absent, without the knowledge of the people. When they decided to search for him they first went to his mansion, and after receiving no response broke in, only to find it abandoned and dilapidated, though still full of belongings. And so, they proceeded to raid the mansion, in search of magical items.

So, how do I react to this? I had not at all thought of this, and found it quite creative, albeit amoral, and so I let it pass giving them a few magical items. In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't, since it felt like an extremely cheap way of acquiring them, and some of the items I gave were a bit out-of-context for a mayor (although he wasn't exactly ordinary).
Should I reward their idea and let them have their items, give them another challenge before letting them find the equipment (in which case, what challenge?), or just deny it outright?

Personally, this is why I say "you can try". In this situation, can they search the Mayor's house for magic items? Sure they can, that doesn't mean he had any. If it doesn't make sense for the Mayor to have any magic items, then the heroes don't have to find any.

Another way to handle this, now that you've given them items they found in his house, is to make it part of the story. Why did the mayor of a small village have powerful magic items in his home? Was he in with some organization? Why did he leave them if he left of his own accord?

By having them find things that don't belong, you have a way to perhaps pull them into a larger plot or story...


Don't be afraid in the future when they search something like this to say "you find mundane items, but nothing really exciting". Just remember, allowing them to attempt something doesn't mean it has to be a success, they can search and not find things.

Question 2:

Death becoming a VERY easily overcome obstacle only a few levels into the game, how can I make it an actual considerable consequence, without completely removing the raise dead ritual and company?
I suppose my question is how can I make life or death consequential for the players?

There are a couple of options here. One is to have players lose a level or lose experience from dying and resurrecting. Losing experience you worked for is not fun and generally players will avoid it.

Another option is to make the components for the resurrection spells very hard to find. Perhaps the local religious group holds a monopoly on the market so they can charge exorbitant prices for resurrections (this should be beyond what the characters can afford)

Yet another option is to have the soul of the character not be there when the others try to resurrect him, perhaps they have been resurrected by some bad guy and have to be rescued, or perhaps they are trapped in the underworld by some evil thing...

Another fun option I've seen is to have death/resurrection take a mental toll on the characters. Every time they die and resurrect, the DM assigns them some sort of mental problem. Perhaps they now have multiple personalities, or perhaps they have some other crazy condition... Imagine how traumatizing it could be to die and be brought back... perhaps the PC didn't like what they saw...

Question 3:

Concerning DM-run characters:
The last adventure I ran was for a small group of only 3 PC's, which soon became 2. Not wishing to make combat encounters too small, I decided to make a character for me to run, having read a bit on the subject, and deeming 2 characters per player a bad idea.

I made an actual PC-type character, with a character sheet and all, with all the powers, equipment, etc. I was very careful, however, as to make the character as unnoticeable as possible:
Albain was a human shielding cleric, with essencially nothing but support abilities, making him very easy to run. Also, he was much less noticeable in combat, dealing very little damage, but filling in the much-needed leader role (and very well, for that matter; his healing word restored the bloodied value of the party's striker). 

I was able to make much more interesting encounters, with a larger exp budget, all the while leaving the PC's in the limelight. Albain spoke very little, only when the PC's were stuck or silent, and usually only made perception and diplomacy checks, as demanded by the other characters.
He was however, still a somewhat complex character, at least compared to NPC's, and took some effort to manage. Also, his minimal contributions might have been a bad thing in some ways, since the party size felt like only 2; maybe I could have milked this character a bit more.

I am now starting a new campaign, with players unfamiliar with roleplaying games. Is this the best choice in this situation? Would an NPC be better, contributing a bit more and possibly acting as an an walking "quest hub", or is the very discrete and easy-to-part-with cleric the way to go?

This is a tough question. Most people are pretty split on the idea of the DM having a "member" of the group. I've found that having an NPC be part of the group can be a blessing and a curse. You want to make sure that NPC (or PC if you choose to run a full PC) is not becoming the star of the group and you don't want your PCs constantly looking to them for the "right answer".

There are a couple ways to do this, one of my favorites is to have the "scared healer" approach. If your group needs a healer, you can make an NPC healer who is perhaps afraid to fight. He will always suggest the least violent or dangerous course of action if asked and will try to shy away from fighting. If you give them some personality, this NPC can become a quirky and beloved member of the group.

It is possible to run a full DM PC, but I would recommend treading lightly, and I wouldn't recommend it for new DMs, you already have a lot to keep track of without having to worry about a full character as well...



That's all for today,  a special thanks to Lucas for the great questions...

Post below or email me (thedmsjourney452@gmail.com) with any questions you might have or topics you'd like to see discussed!

Until next time,

Your Humble DM,
-Zach

Quick PS - For those who haven't tried it, I'm absolutely hooked on Fire Emblem: Awakening - great game, check it out if you get a chance!