Just Started

[BigSteveUK]

Just started a new campaign. Which is going very well, have started with a tweaked version of Baptism of Fire.

Took a while for some of the players to get there heads round some of the rules and what all the various + or -'s where for.

It has turned into a funny game with 3 of the judges trying to be the best cadet. They even had a reflex check to see who sat down first when they where told to by the senior judge in the briefing. The female PSI cadet is taking things a bit more chilled.


They also had a great encounter with the Hunters Club, which lead to one cadet being knocked unconscious by the blast from a fellow cadets HE round. He was then nearly killed by a falling robot hound (don't ask), which landed on his lawmaster!!!

I love this game.

L8R,

Steve

 

[Arabin]

Sounds like you had a lot of fun and your players are pretty good at roleplaying. It's nice when you all participate to make the story more enjoyable for all. I suffer from most of my players being power gamers, and my games never sounds as crazy and fun as the ones I read about on here. I'll have to work on improving my GM skills. I'd love to hear more about how your games progress if you feel like posting them here

My game gets held up when trying to do unusual things, simply because I have no prior experience of running games. Things like... my players, rookies, were in pursuit of an ambulance... one of them pulled alongside, made the save versus getting side-swiped, and tried to jump on the roof of the ambulance. It took me ages, and with much discussion, to come up with a suitable DC for the attempt.

Any suggestions on how you find information more quickly or how you come up with things like that without holding up the game?

Arabin

 

[Dredd Times]

Hi Arabin,
The best way to run any roleplaying game is not to let yourself be overly concerned about the actual game mechanics and let the game flow naturally. When you start worrying about hit points, to-hit bonuses, DC's and such it can detract from the gaming experince dramatically, and wont be as rewarding for both yourself and your friends.

Another thing to think about is that rules as the saying goes are made to be broken and if something isnt working or you can quite get your head around then dont bother with it. You can really spead up your games if you cut through all the waffle, as after all its the roleplaying experince of immersing yourself and friends in situations that you would normally (well hopefully) never come across in real life, so have fun with it.

Of course if you do want to stick closely to the rules thats great, but some new gamers can be put off by all those little numbers on the character sheet, and after all god only invented dice to give us gamers something to do with our hands!

BTW off topic here but tomorrow is my birthday, I will be 41 years old and it also happens to be the anniversery of my first ever roleplaying game (Dungeons and Dragons of course) way back in 1975 so its 29 years as a roleplayer for me tomorrow

Cards and congratulations are of course always welcomed

Marc
Marc

 

[BigSteveUK]

Firstly belated birthday greetings, hope you had a good time. Manchester is an excellent night out.

I concur with Marc, I have been running games for some time and like he says, don’t worry about the rules so much. Just try and make the game fun, referencing books can really slow things down. I think one of the most important skills for a good game is improvisation. You can never guess or force a player to take a certain action, when ever you run a game there is always a quantity of the unknown. Trust me it is impossible to plan for players, they are a law unto themselves. The best thing is to keep running games and listen to your players, find out what they did and didn’t enjoy.

Power Gamers, tricky, I don’t know the age of you group, but it gets easier the older you get. Younger players tend to want to be powerful and indestructible, I did, I was the classic gun bunny. Let them have fun, but don’t let them rule the game, Judges are powerful, but even they have to answer to some one (SJS). Also don’t make them gods, I hear a lot of GM complaining they have lost control of there group, if you give a PC a +5 holy avenger he is going to use it, be sensible in there advancement with what equipment and gear they get, if they get something special make them realise it’s not an everyday occurrence.

Hope this helps,

BigSteve

 

[Golem2176]

Damn, DreddTimes! You've been a gamer longer than I've been alive! But only by a year, I was born in May of 76! I'll be 28 next month.

 

[Arabin]

Thanks for the advice guys, and belated birthday wishes to Marc. I hope you had a great time celebrating.

I will try to lay off the rules a little and focus more on the story and see where that gets me. I'm always having to improvise, and I think I'm getting better at it, but 2 of my players are far more experienced with table-top gaming than I am. The average age at my table is about 29, myself being 30.

The power-gamer judge is actually 30 and shows no signs of ever changing. He plays that way in every type of game he plays, and is very much a number cruncher. That's one of the reasons that it's hard to deal with all the numbers and he starts memorizing things. I think he learnt his lesson last session though. Typically, judges do not have much to fear from standard pistols, knives and clubs. Sure they can be hurt, but it's hard to manage it with average perps. My power-judge (tm) was fighting in the back of a moving vehicle, and I finally had something that could slice through his armor like knives through butter... las-knives. I had a medical driod with 4 of these knives... and the judge tried to grapple it! Two rounds later, he was down and bleeding profusely. I ended up having to have a nearby senior judge assist them as I really didn't want them to die so early.

Arabin

 

[BigSteveUK]

Sounds like you've got a gunbunny for life there.

Yeah a good kicking every now and then makes them remember there human.

I had the same problem with knives and clubs, but as someone said give them better better strength. A good few perps with +3/+4 STR bonus, should break a few ribs, but not kill em.

Sounds like you doing a good job.

You run anything else or is this your first system?

 

[Arabin]

I used to play the original D&D (red box before AD&D), then didn't roleplay for years after a nasty DM vs. Player experience. Once I moved to the US, I found a number of friends who are gamers and started casually playing D&D. Once I saw Judge Dredd had released a d20 rpg, I thought it was finally time for me to take the plunge and educate America.

In other words, yeah, this is my first experience with DM/GMing. The only real advantage I have is that I know Judge Dredd better than any of my players. I still hit a lot of problems though... like when the question comes up about whether catch wagons would be able to resupply the judges with cuffs... and whether there are holding posts everywhere or just on ground level... etc.

I had a funny experience when I had made all the elevators be faulty or break done when they tried using them. They ended up on about the 100th level in the block and had done a lot of walking. After conducting their business, they were left with about a dozen perps on the 100th floor. I realized that they couldn't simply call for backup and walk off since they didn't have the cuffs needed and the catch wagon couldn't get there easily. I ended up blagging it, and making them wait about 15 minutes longer than the catch wagon was supposed to take. When they enquired with Control, they were told that the catch wagon had arrived on scene, but had needed to call a Tek-squad out to fix an elevator. They then had to mess about carrying the perps in two shifts since the catch wagons only come with 2 judges in them, and there was only a single elevator working.

Anyway, the point is, I'm rapidly realizing that although it's fun to make things up on the fly (which you have to do) it always seems to come back to bite you. That's probably the most fun part about GMing though...

Cheers,
Arabin

 

[Matt Sharp]

In other words, yeah, this is my first experience with DM/GMing. The only real advantage I have is that I know Judge Dredd better than any of my players. I still hit a lot of problems though... like when the question comes up about whether catch wagons would be able to resupply the judges with cuffs... and whether there are holding posts everywhere or just on ground level... etc.

Don't worry, Arabin - you'll soon get the hang of it!

As for the handcuff issue - yes, catch wagons would certainly have spares. If all else failed, they could always take the judge's cuffs off the perps and give them back. It's their equipment, after all.

As for the holding post issue - 'ground level' doesn't really mean very much in Mega-City One. As an example - go to the Sears Tower (or whatever it's called) in Chicago. Stand at the bottom of it and look up. An average sized City Block in Mega-City One is at least three times the size, and every Sector contains dozens, surrounded by a tangled web of roadways and pedways suspended up to a mile in the air...

People rarely visit the ground level unless they can help it!

However, there are holding posts on the pedways, plazas and in the interior of the Blocks (probably on corridor junctions).

 

[Arabin]

Thanks Grim. I was getting caught up on rules before and didn't want to fully resupply the judges in the field or they'd never have need to go back to the sector house. But, as I'm fast learning, non of that really matters... what matters is the story about them catching the perps and foiling a criminal plan... and of course, fun. I'm actually looking forward to the next session when I'll try to let the players do more, and just let the rules help out occasionaly.

The Sears Tower is a good example. I realize most citizens never see city bottom, and in fact, a lot of them never even need to leave their block. I haven't had the time recently to read The Rookies Guide to the Undercity yet but I'm going on a business trip this weekend so I should be able to catch up then.

Cheers for the support. The Dredd-Heads here may be few in number, but they are great people and I really enjoy returning to this forum.

Arabin

 

[Daithi O'an tSionnaigh]

Well I was all keen on running Slaine and then my players really want to play Dredd first. I was in shock since they were all keen as well then something changed their minds. I think I was talking to them about it and hyped it that I was thinking of running it after we had a few sessions of Slaine under our belts.

Then they turn around and are keen on the whole Judge Dredd game so I will finish writing the last part of my Slaine and get underway of penning my Dredd game. Not sure of a whole concept yet but thinking new recruits who have just graduated from the Academy and are assigned their first patrol mission which ends up being bigger and more twists and turns than you can shake a stick at.

But will have to see what happens..... :lol:

 

[Arabin]

Well be sure to keep us posted. If you end up writing up your adventures, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would appreciate seeing what you come up with. At the moment, I'm still finding my way in the GM arena, so I like to use adventures that others have created. As I get a feel for how adventures work best, I might try my hand at a completely custom one... but not just yet.

Good luck with both Slaine and Judge Dredd.

Arabin

 

[Daithi O'an tSionnaigh]

Yeah I may post it up here so you folks can check it out. See what ya think? And good luck on the GMing it can be rather daunting at first but as long as you have a focus and a passion to run a delightful game the players will thank you for it.

Not only that you can ask them what they like as far as themes or the type of game they are after. Another option I use is after a session I will ask the players what they liked and disliked. I usually ask them on an individual basis. That way that cannot all say the same thing. Thus giving you some variety in what they like and dislike about the current game and hopefully that helps too.

But really just alot of practice is the only way honing your craft and find a style you enjoy. There is no real right or wrong way as long as the players are having fun. Another option is to sit in on someone elses game and watch how they run it and ask other GM's questions it helps as well.

 

[Arabin]

I'll be prowling around GenCon - Indy to see if anyone is running anything for Dredd... and I'll try to either join, or just watch. I really hope that somebody does something as I don't have the confidence to try and run something myself just yet.

I wish I did know more people who played Judge Dredd in Chicago, but so far the only people I know of are me and my players.

Arabin