[Gnomasz]

Originally Posted by Dingle

Assuming your players are ok with getting free advantages, you could give everyone a free Common Sense [10] and just tell them every time they are about to charge in without thinking.

Well, I generally feel like that should be the norm, because many stupid choices on players' part could be results of GM failing to present the world and situation properly, but I struggle to make a habit out of it.

Originally Posted by trooper6

So, setting question regarding your player who didn't see a reason to belong to a school. Is it even possible to be a magic user and not be part of a school in your game world? […]

*I wanted to say something about drive. Your player said he needed drive for his character. I think you would do well to mandate that each PC must have a short term and long term goal. Not all drives should be handed to the players on a plate by the GM...the players should also be doing some of the work to motivate their characters. Telling them that they need a short term and long term goal for their PC at character creation actually will help you craft interesting interactive adventures, but it will also place some of the generation of "drive" in the hands of the players...which will result in more buy in from them and a better game long term.

I'll have to think about it more, I might have been selling those schools badly. But as for the player in question, I don't feel he'd be interested in in-game reasons to join a school, only in the mechanics. I guess sacrificing some time to make characters in person with hard copies of books would be the only solution here.

I think I need to grow some spine to demand a drive from each player.

Originally Posted by ArchonShiva

TYou could try the Mega Man approach: have the bad guys very obviously use ability X or option Y, and make sure to quickly describe what it does specifically:

• He uses an Imbument to make his sword burst into flames, adding 1d6 fire damage!

That sounds a bit silly, but I actually like it!


As much as I love Ocean's Eleven, I'm not aiming for that feel right now, but for some carefulness in action. For now I think I need to learn asking questions like "are you bashing that door right now or are you trying to eavesdrop what's behind first?".