New Conan GM tips?

[Supplement Four]

So, being a new GM to Conan, I'm wonder about the little tricks of the trade others have developed to make their games go easier.

You know...this is d20! It's complicated! There's a lot of learn, and a lot to remember.

What steps do you take to make it easier on yourself and keep the game flowing smoothly?

For example, I'm going to write up a combat cheat sheet for NPCs (or maybe just notes next to the NPCs in the module) reminding me of which combat maneuvers the NPC can use. So, at a glance, I can see his feats and skills (which I've already reviewed, pre-game) and combat maneuvers by just looking at the page.

What about you? What tips and short cuts and "helpers" have you developed for your game?

 

[Style]

More on cheat sheets:

* I would include monsters in the cheat sheet. Be sure to note special abilities you might otherwise forget.

* When at all possible, have everyone who you'll be controlling in a given battle on one sheet.

* I would also jot down a line or two on strategy to take advantage of the strengths/hide weaknesses of the combatants.

 

[bradius]

Write down feats and combat manuvers the antagonists can use. For years, I had failed to do so and simply forgot to use PA (among other things). When I did start using it, it was such a shock to the party that they accused me of cheating and proceeded to engage in a massive whine-fest (well, maybe just one or two players).

Write down (flow sheet maybe), other options in case the party veers off in an unexpected direction, or gets stuck or blows through your encounters. Has happened to me that the party so efficiently (???) blew through the challenges that I had to shut the game down early.

get a large whiteboard with a stand and some grease pens. great for keeping track of things. Had I to do it again, I would have set up a spreadsheet for each character to track Reputation and other scores.
Set up a yahoo group for the game. great for keeping in touch.

 

[sgstyrsky]

Let a player keep track of initiative

 

[flatscan]

I use a laptop at the gaming table with a word document that has all my scenario notes and an excel sheet with all the combats and tactics for NPCs in the adventure's encounters (Init bonus, Spd, DR, Attack bonus, Attack Damage, Feats and a round by round breakdown of likely tactics). I also run music off the laptop as well and Basil Poledouris' score to Conan the Barbarian gets the blood pumping every time. Finally, I have my Campaign wiki open on the laptop, so if any specific questions are asked about past events they're just a click away.

 

[flatscan]

Let a player keep track of initiative

QFT

 

[Style]

Write down feats and combat manuvers the antagonists can use.

My cheat sheet has one area for feats, one for special abilities/attacks, and one for strategies.

 

[Zeke73]

Would anyone like to share those cheat sheets with the rest of us? I think it sounds like great ideas but I'm a lazy git... :lol:

 

[Supplement Four]

One of the things I do when I GM is take advantage of Google Image search.

For example, we're about to start the Kovag-Re scenario. The end of that scenario finds the PCs traveling along a narrow, rocky, path on the side of a mountain.

In order to put the right image in the players' minds eye, I did a quick search and found these three images to help me bring the atmosphere to the game.

...Plus, I sometimes find some cool images I just keep. I'm not sure where I'm going to use this, but it's perfect for a Conan adventure. I'll just keep this in the old GM folder until I need it.

 

[Style]

I also, I wouldn't spend a ton of time stating out pcs and making cheat sheets unless you're reasonably sure they're going to come into play and get use.

This is general advice for any D20 game really, but all this talk of cheat sheets made me think of it. While cheat sheets can help save time mid-game, you can spend a considerable amount of time on prep like this out of game, and if it doesn't get used then that time was wasted.

 

[Supplement Four]

While cheat sheets can help save time mid-game, you can spend a considerable amount of time on prep like this out of game, and if it doesn't get used then that time was wasted.

Back in the early days of my gaming career, when all me and my group did was play D&D and nothing else, it wasn't so bad because we all "knew the rules". We automatically knew that a dart can be thrown 3 times a round with each doing 1d3 damage. We knew double specialization got you +3 attack and +3 damage. We knew that STR 16 meant +1 damage, but no bonus to-hit. We knew bastard swords did 2d8 damage, daggers did 1d4, and a good mace or flail or short sword would do 1d6. We knew that bows could be fired twice in a round doing 1d6 per arrow.

Gods, it's been, what, 20 years since I played D&D? I know it's been over 15. And, I still remember a lot of that stuff (from AD&D and AD&D 2E).

My point is: The d20 game system is the most complicated pnp rpg on the planet, with its tons and tons of books. But, if you play it long enough, you learn it, like you learn anything else.

And, learning the game cuts down on prep time for the GM.

The problem is, there's so many different things to learn with this game--it's a lot to chew. I can't fit it all into my mouth.

But, if we play long enough, the learning curve (and memory curve) begins to flatten some.

As I start my campaign this weekend, I totally expect to be looking things up...or make a quick call to keep the game going only to look things up in-between sessions.

One "pro" to playing Conan is that its rules really aren't near as large as the D&D game. Conan fits most of the rules in one, big, book, and the number of supplements out for Conan is nothing compared to what has been published for the various d20 versions in the past.

So, in that sense, there's not as much to learn.

But, it's still quite a big bite to chew on, I'll grant you.