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 Post Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 6:15 pm 
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Nope, but now I've got the Rake's Song stuck in my head. God, I love that album. Only the Decemberists can make songs that catchy while going for full-on Jethro Tull levels of progginess.

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 Post Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 12:27 am 
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weatherwax wrote:
I know the voice you're talking about. It's the one kind of screaming, right? I can't quite make it out.

Right, I think we're talking about the same thing. It sounds like the second and third syllables are the same, almost like some kind of stutter. Assuming it's English, the closest guess I have is "I'm in-in love," but I don't know why the word "in" would be repeated nor how the phrase would relate to the song, and it seems like a really creepy way to say "I'm in love."

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 Post Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 3:57 am 
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AlternateTorg wrote:
weatherwax wrote:
I know the voice you're talking about. It's the one kind of screaming, right? I can't quite make it out.

Right, I think we're talking about the same thing. It sounds like the second and third syllables are the same, almost like some kind of stutter. Assuming it's English, the closest guess I have is "I'm in-in love," but I don't know why the word "in" would be repeated nor how the phrase would relate to the song, and it seems like a really creepy way to say "I'm in love."

Is Max Headroom involved somehow?

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 2:13 pm 
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Can you help me find a movie?

I think it was made in the 90s. Set in 1940s Britain during the Blitz, from a little boy's perspective. There are scenes I remember quite well - the family finding jam in a river or on a beach or something, and wanting very much to eat it due to rationing, but fearing that it's poisoned jam from the Germans (Dad takes a big spoonful and eats it to prove it's okay); The oldest sister getting pregnant from an American GI; the family moving from London to the country; cricket is played at some point; at the end, the little boy and his grandfather are crowing in the car because the boy's school was bombed out.

Family is made up of Mom, Dad, oldest sister, little sister, and the boy who is the main viewpoint.

Ring any bells?

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 7:18 pm 
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Sounds like Hope and Glory from 1987.

I couldn't find a very in-depth plot summary anywhere, but all of them together, points to this movie.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 11:33 pm 
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That's exactly it! Thank you!

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 1:12 am 
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Anyone have any tips for a first-time DM? I've taken on the rather ambitious project of teaching my friends to play D&D and I feel like I'm WAY over my head.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 1:16 am 
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The DM is always right? I've never been able to successfully pull off that side of the game before so I wouldn't be able to give any sort of pointer.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 3:19 am 
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Have fun with it, and don't get too tight about the rules. If someone wants to try something crazy, discuss with them how it would work, and if it sounds plausable, roll the dice. Role the dice anyway even if it really is nuts, just up the difficulty. Some of the best moments are when someone pulls off the impossible. Stay flexable. Players have a tendancy to find unconventional solutions to problems, and that may radicaly change your plans for your campaign. So stay flexable and improvise. If neccesary, toss a quick adventure at them to keep them busy while you reformulate your plans. And mix it up, variety is the spice of life, and anyone can get bored with nothing but kicking down doors and slaying orcs for tresure to keep them occupied.

And I said it before, but it bears repeating: the goal is to have fun. If fun is being had, then you are doing it right, no matter what anyone else may say.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 3:44 am 
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Keep the first story simple. Both you and your players are learing to use a new medium, you can try to be ambitious later. For the same reason, do not use complex optional rules yet.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 7:17 am 
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Find out if any of your local comic/games stores run DnD Encounters. If they do they may have some old adventures they don't need and (if they are nice) give to you. They are simple games which last about 2hrs per session and are designed for first time players.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 11:12 am 
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If you are making this a campaign and you are doing your own story, take notes. Write down names you come up with, remember even the most inocuous of characters you have created for possible use later. The party might latch on to a small town you created just to give them a place to sleep that night. It helps to remember who they have met there.

Also remember that if the characters have done something reasonably memorable, that will get out and they may become local or regional heroes. That could lead to all sorts of other side things. People seeking them out because they are known monster killers, or They have a powerful cleric among them, or wizard etc. Thieves might attract the attention of local guilds. You want to have fun, but remember that the characters may be doing stuff that actually has an effect on local lore.

Remember there is a reason that Aragorn concealed his identity as Strider in the LotR series. Aragorn heir to Isildur and king of Gondor is a lot more well known than Strider, the Ranger.

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 Post Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 9:14 am 
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Never underestimate the ability of a party to completely bypass plot hooks you've painstakingly given them. Sometimes it's because you made it too subtle, sometimes it's because you were randomly describing something and got carried away only to find your players getting a bit too interested, and sometimes because players are players and want to go with whatever seems the most interesting.

In such cases, just roll with it. DnD and Pathfinder (which, right now, I prefer over DnD unless I'm going with prior to 4.0) both have Bestiaries and random encounter charts - use those and build off of them.

...

Gah. I miss my game. I had a fun time running the Skulls and Shackles Adventure Path until my players slowly dropped out on me due to real world issues.

Anyways, get a feel for your players. Are they all roleplayers, making characters to fit how they imagine their character being? Or are they the kind of person who delves into the rules, making characters as strong as possible? The former tends to be weaker mechanically than the latter - if you run into a situation where that is happening, try to adjust. If you do see a character that just seems unusually strong, a lot of times it's because the player is actually playing it incorrectly - either intentionally or accidentally. Usually what I do is ask to see my player's character sheets after they level - that way I'm always up on what new abilities, skills, and spells they're taking and I'm not caught by surprise.

When GMing, I am a firm believer that your players should fear what you are doing. Oh, not all the time, but if your players are waltzing through combat after combat with no problem at all, then you need to up the ante. This is especially true of boss encounters. The party should feel like their lives are being threatened. This is especially true as players get up to higher and higher levels.

Also, be careful of when you decide to allow them to rest. Resting is where they get spells and abilities back. If they have a once-a-day I'm awesome! ability and you get them to use it before the boss fight, then excellent - the boss fight just because that much harder... unless you allow them to rest. If they do, make it harder on them. If they rested in the middle of a dungeon and have had prior encounters, think of what those prior encounters might have triggered. Say they're going into a cave fighting goblins, and kill a patrol outside of the cave before resting. What happens when the goblins realize that patrol hasn't come back?

One of the things as a player I have enjoyed seeing is the repercussions of my actions in game. So pay attention to what the players are doing, and don't be afraid to expand on them.

And, finally, as others have already said... the most important thing is to have fun. That, more than anything else, is the best advice out of the pages and pages I could add to this.

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 Post Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2013 9:34 am 
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Don't give away too much. Don't dangle powerful allies just out of reach.

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 Post Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2013 12:34 am 
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I've just found out that baristas in America allegedly don't know how to make a flat white. I'm so stunned by this notion I don't even know how to phrase a question.

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