Bonus: Fixing the Beast Master

While I greatly enjoy D&D 5th Edition, it isn't without its issues.  One of those is the Beast Master Archetype for Rangers.  My players have some major issues with it and what what I've seen my group isn't the only one.  I will say right off the bat that if you like the Beast Master as it is there's nothing wrong with that and keep using it as written.

Game Masters Class Lesson 3 "Turning It To 11"

Last week I talked a bit about the Power of Gods and how they shouldn't ever be a fair fight against heroes.  In that post I mentioned how heroes can however get a "taste" of that power themselves.  Now as it only being a taste obviously this is something an entire campaign can revolve around gaining the ability to do once, but being used once needs some mechanics under the hood so you know the limits and abilities of this power.

New Month New Poll: Story

So looking over the polls so far I have a pretty good idea of what the game is going to look like with a bunch of race options, multiclassing, rolling stats, and high magic, but now it's time for what the actually campaign will revolve around.  The official poll will go up tomorrow morning, but I figured I could write about the options now.

Ask the GM's Table July 30th: Choosing a Setting

So about a week ago I posted offering to answer any questions or problems you might have dealing with gaming and got some responses.  Anyone who missed it thought feel free to keep the emails coming at gmtableblog@gmail.com I'll do my best to answer emails in need of priority of the information, but to start things out I figured I would do "first come first severed" and first up is an email from Dave Lane:

How Ordinary: Running a Non/Low Magic D&D Game.

After reading a post on Roll20 from a player needing help with classes in a very low magic setting for their D&D game I was inspired to try my hand at a few options.  I'm going to note right up front this would be for a game where magic is not in the hands of the players and right off the bat that means Wizards, Sorcerers, Druids, and Warlocks are 100% off the table.  Designing a Wizard without spells is called crumpling it up and throwing it out completely.  So that leaves us with classes that would still have a place in a world without magic: Bards, Barbarians, Clerics, Fighters, Monks, Paladins, Rangers, & Rogues. I also want to note that this is given the options available from the 5th Edition PHB and nothing else.

Races of Ashen Grey: The Scale Born (Dragonborn)

Of a different land.

The Scaleborn are a direct product of the expansion of Ashen Grey as their lands were swallowed by the city itself. They now life in ghettos and communities commonly known as "Dragon Towns".   Most dragonborn are incredibly reclusive deeming their homes its own land within the city usually with their own laws and customs.  Occasionally a scalenborn is born with a sense of exploration and a desire to interact with the other races, but those are seen as odd balls among their kind.

Survey Time

His wanted to remind you all the it's time for the Wizards D&D Monthly Survey.  On that note don't forget that OUR monthly survey kicks off in a couplays and this one is gonna be a big one.

One of Us: Bringing New Players into Gaming

This Weekend I posted about D&D Kids and it got me thinking about the hurdles of introducing none gamers to the hobby.  The game I talked about in the earlier post actually holds a lot of the tricks I use when I'm trying to get someone to give table top rpgs a try.  The thing is since it's already put together as a single game those individual parts kind of blend together and become invisible to the whole.  This exactly what a good game should do, but not too helpful if we're going to break down how to make a game easy to learn.  Some of these are more obvious than others, but for the sake of comprehension I'm going to cover them all.

Monday Meme 7/27

D&D&Kids

I don't normally post on the weekend but after seeing the latest podcast from WotC (here) about gaming for kids I felt like I should share. You see, I'm a dad of a wonderful 2 year old little girl and the day I can share my passion with her is one of the bigger days I look forward too. She already tries to steal and read all my gaming books.

I don't know how I missed it but in June WotC actually released an adventure for 6 year olds that they linked (here). I know my little girl isn't quite old enough yet but maybe some  you guys out there can use it to bring in some kids (or people that hate math) into the hobby.

Gaming Masters Class: Lesson 2 "By the Power of the Gods"

I'm going to be blunt here, I am not a fan of "God Killer" games.  In fact while I find reading the stats a bit interesting once they started showing up in D&D 3.5 is when I started to worry about weather I'll keep liking the game.  Once I heard my friends talking about going toe to toe with gods and winning I knew things were heading down a slippery slope.

12 Games July: Deadlands (Week 4)

Well the time has come again for my overall thoughts on this month's game.  Given what all I had to say LAST WEEK it shouldn't come as a surprise, but for those of you that wait till now to see what I think here it is. Get this game.

Predicting the Future of D&D

Well it seems like the plat books for the newest edition of D&D are finally starting to roll out, starting with what seems to be the go to Forgotten Realms player's guild :Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.  Back in March WotC released (for free) a similar book: Elemental Evil's Player's Companion and I was already really impressed with what it had to offer.

To me it's seemed like the entire system was designed with these kinds of books in mind.  The fact that every class has dedicated sub classes means they don't have to reinvent mechanics from scratch or worse release something that claims to be new and it jsut a resin of what's alread out there.  The same holds true with sub races as it allows for boos to exists that don't need to reprint information a player already knows.  For example, all Elves get a bonus to Dex, but only High Elves get a cantrip because of their magical nature.  Foresight like this lets designers play with ideas and minor mechanics without reinventing the wheel.

Sadly Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide isn't free as the last offering was, but I understand it is a business that needs to be run.  From what I can tell there will be a lot to offer for the price tag attack ($35 not exactly cheap, but for WotC not a bad price).  Check out what exactly is being offered HERE in Wizard's latest article on the topic.

The Races of Ashen Grey: Humans

The numerous of the city.

Human are easily the most common race living within the city as they adaptability lefts them to any and all walks of life.  It is the humans the rule the city with their king on the throne and it's their laws that are considered the laws of the land.  While many see humans as bringers of peace by uniting the many races under a single city, there are others that seem them more as a plague simply looking to do nothing more than spread. 

Don't be mislead by their average nature.  Humans are smart and cunning, able to blend into most situations.  They range the most in varied talents and skill sets and as such it can be hard to tell what a person's true skills are with just a glance. The Ashen King works hard to portray himself and the race he represents and the bringers of order to the land even if those who resist may require special attention.

Mechanics: 

D&D: Humans in Ashen Grey use the Variant rules presented in the D&D Player's Handbook granting them a free feat at level one, a free skill proficiency, and +1 n two ability scores of their choice.

Savage Worlds: The world of Ashen Grey is a dangerous place and heroes need to be capable.  Because of this Human's start with an additional Attribute Point in addition the the free Edge they normally receive.

The Stuff In-Between: Downtime

One of my players always asks me f they can do a session where the players go on vacation somewhere.  The problem is while a character would definitely like a break from time to time between saving the world an entire session would get old fast.  Yea it sounds nice being able to stretch out on a beach, but here's how it would go if an entire session were made of it. "You relax on the beach, things are quiet at last and you have a chance to gather your thoughts." That's it, yea you might want to do this or that, but if it's nothing that's a challenge to your character or of any actual significance then it's going to be ten minutes tops and saying how great a time you had and that's it.

I'm sure some of you might be saying that while on vacation you could have something happen or uncover some clue to what the heroes might have been looking for, but that's not a vacation that's an adventure with a vacation theme.  A key point is this is a player asking about having time off, not thinking they get time off to just have it turn into a job.  With that said I do, however, want to make it very clear I'm actually all for down time, just not how that one player asks for it.

I use the above as an example of what I feel a lot of GMs worry down time will become and what a lot of players seem to think they want down time to be, a grinding halt to the life or death heroics for a while.  Instead I'm going to try and cover some of the broad issues I've seen people have with down time then talk about how I've come to interpret it.

"I'm here to help"

So, I don't know what happened in the last week, but I can't help but feel grateful as the site's views are averaging over 500 a day now.  I know that's nothing huge in the grand scheme, but it's still more than I'd ever expected.  Now that it seems like there's a fair amount of you guys out there I figured would open my doors to all of you guys and start taking questions.

If there's any advice, tips, or even just my feelings on things feel free to email me at gmtableblog@gmail.com .  As for reviews, I would love to hear about games worth trying, but I'll probably be holding onto those till the new year as the roster for 12 Games in 12 Months is already set.  Also if you have any requests on gaming or GMing topics you'd like to see me cover let me know.

Monday Meme 7/20/2015

Gaming Masters Class: Lesson 1 "As Challenging as it needs to be."

Welcome to a new series of articles I like to call Gaming Masters Class.  While I'm still going to be writing for the GM's Toolbox (man I need to update that list) these are tips are tricks  for GMs with experience under their belts.    I'm not saying a new GM can't learn anything here, but be warned that these tips are for making richer but MUCH more challenging games.  This also means inexperienced GMs or Players can lead to character death and even TPK. If you're scared of that then you have been warned.

Now on to our feature presentation, a little discussion on CR or Combat Ratings.  I will be completely honest here, I've never been a huge fan of the idea of CR when it comes to writing stories.  Why does the bandit leader that is organized enough to put an entire town in a panic only have two lackeys with him when the heroes arrive? Because that's what the CR says they can handle.  I'm sorry but that's dumb unless those lackeys are his best of the best for some reason.  He should have whoever would be around him and if that's a fight the players can't win then they better find a way to thin the herd or get him alone.  To me this is just another part of the challenge the adventure brings and something the players can choose to be smart about or run in head long and hope things work in their favor.

This is actually a big reason I'm such a big fan of D&D 5e and Savage Worlds.  They both have systems for CR (Yes even Savage Worlds though its optional), but as long as you don't become flat out unfair players at least have a chance to pull off fights that are leaning heavily against them.  This is also why I became disillusioned in games like D&D 3.X and Pathfinder as DCs, Armor Classes, and Attack Bonuses inflate so much throughout the game that unless you play in their CR system players ether walk through low end fights without a threat or faces obstacles that are utterly impossible.  I want to make t clear, I have nothing against people who play these kinds of games and see their appeal, especially for the players, but they don't offer the kind of game I want.

Now on to the part that keeps this from being a slaughter.  If you noticed the example I gave involved how many of a relatively low end (At least compared to how powerful epic monsters and what not can get) enemy there are an not something like "Well why can't the bandit captain have a red dragon pet?"  The CR systems do have their place, it's just not as big of a place I feel they've taken.  CR is a good way to quickly look and see if a single enemy is going to squash your players.  There is no thinning the herd when it's a massive dragon, that's just called pissing him off.

Most games suggest not to let players face a CR higher than them (Either their current level in the case of D&D or their combined calculated CR in Savage Worlds) and while not a bad rule of thumb if you're just throwing things together it's still not really true for a well trained group of players, but I do take that as advice.  Instead though I try not to have more than one enemy in a group (and no I don't mean a fight but the actual group that includes people that can be pulled into a fight via alarms or run away goons) that's higher, but not more than a couple points of CR higher, than the players and no more than two if they are directly on part with the players.  Anyone considered below them however I put in as many as there should be.  Yes this can make things dangerous and deadly, but it also forces players to think and be smarts.

There s one last piece when it comes to this to make sure things play out as far as possible.  If you're more or less ditching CR and just putting what make sense then have you enemies make sense.  They have motivations and agendas and smart players should be able to exploit those.  Most threats don't just mindlessly rush a threat and whale on it till ether they are it is dead.  Thugs can be bribed or scared away, monsters can be tricked exploiting their base instincts, and even smarter enemies can be reasoned with and possibly made allies if they players put n the effort and succeed.  Sometimes that means you're going to have to wing a few things like if Greg the Barbarian just lopped off the bandit king's leg in his first swing the entire fight can change.  The bandit king is probably on the ground not wanting to die, his bandit followers just saw their leader just crushed in one on one combat are no probably ether respect the player, fear the player, or ONE OR TWO OF THEM might think this is an opportunity to get to the top.  Yes I did all caps because not every bandit will go for this, that would just mean if the leader falls anarchy breaks out.  Ok some situations this might happen but they are fewer and far between, plus that anarchy doesn't mean they rush the heroes it means it's not a last man standing with anyone gong to the place of power being a threat and that means bandit on bandit action.

I'll wrap this up with two recent examples of fights that by the numbers were unwinable, but cleaver players not only got through, but got through without a single death.

The Yeti Cave:
This is a group of three level five characters, to give you some idea on CR ratings the book says fighting two CR3 monsters is a hard fight three of them is deadly and a single CR7 monster is deadly.
They were ambushed by incredibly cleaver Yetis (CR 3 EACH) that used harpoon ballistas to tether their air ship as it passed by their mountain.  The initial combat was just two yetis climbing the harpoon ropes to get on the ship.  The yetis knew what they were doing and can climb faster than most players can walk to this is on their turf and it didn't matter because players were sky pirates and this is just up their ally too. So the playing field was level but the CR was "hard". Those yetis died in about three rounds and the players got little more than a scratch or two.  Fast forward through more fights that should be deadly to impossible (That one was 6 yetis they snuck past) and the players are hiding as the cave is finally alerted to the dead yetis outside and go on alert waking up their king (CR7 and deadly by himself).  The players ambushed him from the shadows before his followers could get there (You know those 6 more yetis they snuck past).  He went down n two rounds dealing some hurt, but nothing deadly, that's also when the 6 Yetis came in.  They could have gone into a rage and bum rushed the heroes, but all they knew is their family on guard is dead and now their king is dead in the time t took them to run to him called for a meeting.  That's enough to make a few think twice.  When you add n that the heroes were waiting and too out three of them as they came in the survivors knew this isn't a fight they would win and fled.

The Wyvern Nest
That same session the players got to a Wyvern(CR 6 EACH) breeding grounds looking to steal an egg.  They encounters 4 full grown wyvers and an alpha (Counts as two with double the actions and double the health).  This s not a winnable fight, but they weren't looking for a fight.  Our sneakiest players zips in unnoticed, but sadly the party had picked up a tribal paladin of only level 3 that didn't think stealth was necessary.  He got swooped in on hit and dropped to dying on one stroke.  Notice I say dying and not dead because that's a big difference.  The more experience party rushed in but not under the stealth of shadows.  Instead they used spells and magic items to simulate a massive storm and trick the beasts into protecting their nests from lightning.  At that point they could rush in much easier and save the more brash character. I point this one out in particular because it both shows how clever players can get around threats while unprepared ones with face the wrath of such a challenge.


I know these sound like playing in a punishing game and you aren't wrong.  The CR system is designed for fights that can be tough, but all in all are winnable.  More importantly the system is designed for players fighting three or four times a day and if you're in a dungeon that can happen easy, but if you're exploring or playing a story the involves social or political conflict then that might not be the case.  As long as you don't make the fight literally impossible and let the players have of make ways to get out if things get too tough then go for it.  If the players then choose to rush in without planning and fight to the death rather than regroup that's their choice and can either learn to not do it again or that games that actually test them over rewarding them simply because they are playing might not be their thing.  I know this isn't the type of game for everyone and that is exactly what it's a Master's Lesson and not just a general GM Toolbox item.

12 Games July: Deadlands (Week 3)

It's finally here the time where I can talk about mechanics and oddly enough I have both a ton to say and very little to say about them at the same time.  At its heart I feel like Deadlands shares a lot of ideological similarities with a game I reviewed earlier this year, Star Wars D6.  Now before I hear a thousand corrections about how this and that are nothing alike I'm not referring it a mentality that I feel like a lot of older games actually have or were house ruled into over the years.  What I'm talking about is the very basic idea that there s a single list of DCs ranging from very easy to near impossible, if you want to do something your GM tells you what to roll and if you hit it you succeed if you don't you fail.

The Races of Ashen Grey: Halflings

Halflings: The soul of the city.

Halflings have found a home where they can thrive in Ashen Grey. Many have found a stable comfortable life as bakers and merchants (Stout) while others are the thieves and grifters (Lightfoot) of the cities underbelly.  Almost as numerous as humans halflings migrated to Ashen Grey in droves.  With no homeland of their own they were more than willing to join the city,

Building a Better Trap

So I will fully admit that I was inspired to write this article after reading another article from The Angry GM called Traps Suck. I say this because all in all he has a lot of good advice on the topic of traps as a whole and well I like to give credit where credit is due.  With those observations in mind I figured I'd set out a few guidelines and tips for making traps that are just damage with a description.

NPC Spotlight: Crazy Eddies Discount Magical Items and Relics

Now that I've crested over the triple digits in articles I felt like doing something a little excta and offer up an NPC that has come to life in one of my more recent campaigns and who I thin might stick around for quite a while, Crazy Eddie.  On the surface this is one of those go to NPCs that is simply a merchant to drop in when my players are looking to sell off they plunder or stock up on supplies, but then I realized he could be much more.  I realized that by adding some flair and mystery to him I could actually say a lot about the world without spelling it out.

Monday Meme 7/13/2015

100th Post!

It's hard to believe I've already done 99 of these, but according to blogger I have.  Hopefully I've been able to help some of you guys out there or at least inspire some awesome games.  I'd personally like to thank each and every one of my regular readers for coming in daily, weekly, or some where in between.  Thanks to you guys at the time of writing this we're closing in on 19,000 views and getting about 1,800 a month.  I wasn't expecting to even get 5,000 by the end of the year and it's only July.

 I know this hasn't been an article that's too helpful in any games, but my wife had surgery today and sadly that pushed what I was working on back a bit.  Because of that on top of Meme Monday I'll have a second post of a very special NPC Showcase for "Crazy Eddie's Discount Magical Items & Artifacts".

12 Games July: Deadlands (Week 2)

So last week I talked about the incredible amount of flavor the original Deadlands books had.  This week is the week we go into character creation and in all honesty they found a way to give even that a wild west flavor and no I don't just mean root'n toot'n edges or something like that.

The Races of Ashen Grey: Elves

Elves: A race divided.

While the High elves sit in their Ivory Tower studying arcane lore and tradition between elegant banquets the wood elves till the farms to feed the people.  While there isn't a level of animosity to break out into any form of war it is very clear that neither side has any liking for the other.

High Elves

The magical autocracy of Ashen Grey the high elves run and almost exclusively live within the city's arcane university known as The Ivory Tower.  One of the first truly grant buildings to be constructed in Ashen Grey this town symbolized humanity's allegiance with the elves as they welcomed them into the city that was now under their control.  It's quite uncommon to see a high elf outside of the tower, but it has been known to happen from time to time.

Wood Elves

Originally a group of elves un-trusting of the humans the wood elves chose not to wall themselves up in the Ivory Tower.  Instead they originally kept to themselves within the forests that surrounded the city, however after the city walls began to expand the wood elves saw this as but a temporary solution.  Knowing they alone could not fight a city full of soldiers they instead agreed to join within Ashen Grey on the condition that they tend to the farmlands surrounding the city and that those lands would never be industrialized.  It's this agreement that has lead for expeditions to find new locations to start secondary cities rather than simply expand the walls as had been done before.

Mechanics

D&D: As with the Dwarves, mechanically the elves of Ashen Grey are identical to those found in the PHB.

Savage Worlds:

• Agile: Elves are graceful and agile. They start with a d6 in Agility instead of a d4.
• All Thumbs: Elves have an inbred dislike of mechanical objects, and thus have the
All Thumbs Hindrance. They shun most mechanical items and designs.
• Low Light Vision: The character’s eyes amplify light like a cat’s, allowing him to
see in the dark. He ignores attack penalties for Dim and Dark lighting.
• Sub Race: Being as divided as they are the sub-races of elves not only grant separate abilities, but also separate common knowledges as well.
High Elves: Know a single Novice level power.  Casting this power requires a Smarts roll with a penalty equal to the normal power point cost listed within the power's description.  This power costs no power points.
Common Knowledge: High Elves may make common knowledge rolls regarding arcane texts, rituals, and runes.
Wood Elves: Wood Elves gain the Woodsman Edge for free
 Common Knowledge: Wood Elves can use common knowledge when pertaining to plant and wildlife as well as any  situation involving farming and agriculture.

Waiting in the Wings: Player NPCs

NPCs have a huge role in RPGs.  Obviously the GM is known to be in charge of this wide cast of characters while the players worries about being the heroes and stars of the show.  Some games gives players the ability to control a few of them as their back up or maybe followers, but I think that could just be the tip of the iceberg.

Monday Meme 7/6/2015

Where to Start

Another month has come and gone and that means another poll has ended.  When it comes to generating our future heroes stats it looks like everyone wants them to be rolling 4d6 and dropping the lowest one.  Its a classic choice and the version of stat generation I first learned.

This time around we're going to look at where to start and by that I mean levels.  Since 5th edition is a funny little beast that openly states that heroes don't gain the full breadth of what their class will offer until 3rd level opting to introduce mechanics little by little during that time.  I'm personally a fan, especially for getting new players involved without them feeling overwhelmed.  Now with that in mind no matter what we're going to meet our heroes somewhat early in their career as I'm not looking to just jump into an epic campaign or anything crazy, but that doesn't always mean level one.  Here are the options provided for this month's poll:

Rags to Riches: Heroes start at level 1.
Early Heroes: Heroes start at level 3.
Local Heroes:  Heroes start at level 5.

This basically breaks things down into starting from the ground up, starting with all their core mechanics and some extra health, or starting with their first big ability and either ability bonuses or an extra feat.

12 Games July: Deadlands (Week 1)

Getting back on track with a new month we're gonna be looking at the original Deadlands game for July.  I've personally been really excited to check this out as it's more or less the father of my favorite system Savage Worlds.  As with a fair amount of my games I do have a player in my group very familiar with this one and while he raves about how great this game is he also warned me not to be in the Savage Worlds mindset when looking at this because while a lot fo the mechanics are similar none of them are the same.

The Dwarves Of Ashen Grey (D&D and SW)

As I had mentioned last week each Wednesday we will be taking a look at each of the major races of Ashen Grey.  First up is a fantasy staple, the Dwarves.

Dwarves: A proud and noble race.

 These craftsmen are the heart of Ashen Grey as their smithing and stone work built the foundation that the city rests.  While no longer the rulers of Ashen they were the first to build on its land.  Much of the center of the city now lays on ancient ruins built by those long lost dwarves.

While most would think losing control of such a sprawling city to be cause for resentment or strife the dwarves of Ashen Grey are instead content with their standing.  The kingdom gives them the freedom to build, trade, and mine as they please and the growth has led to the importing of rare and luxurious materials they would never had access to alone.

Mechanics

D&D: If you're using the D&D 5th Edition rules, then mechanically the dwarves of Ashen Grey are identical to the ones presented in the Player's Handbook.

Savage Worlds: For you Savage Worlds players out there dwarves are very similar tot he ones presented in the Fantasy companion, however a few changes have been made.  Dwarves in Ashen Grey have the following abilities:

• Low Light Vision: Dwarven eyes are accustomed to the dark of the underearth. They ignore attack penalties for Dim and Dark lighting.

• Slow: Dwarves have a Pace of 5”.

• Tough: Dwarves are stout and tough. They start with a d6 Vigor instead of a d4.

• Sub Race: While very similar in many ways and both uniting under a single culture, Dwarves actually belong to two sub races depending on their lineage.  When creating a dwarven character you may select on of the options below:

Hill Dwarves: You gain an additional +1 Toughness.

Mountain Dwarves: They start with a d6 Strength instead of a d4.

Common Knowledge: Can make common knowledge rolls regarding stonework, mining, precious metals, Hammer Weapons, and Metal Armors.

Steampunk Class Option for your D&D Game

I want to give a big thanks to Nerdarchy.com for letting me have a guest post on their site.  They have tons of great D&D 5e tips as well as custom material that in everything I've seen is some  of the most balanced out there outside of official WotC stuff.  Anyways I got the chance to write about some archetypes for the Rogue and Fighter as well as a new college for Bards for a steampunk setting.  Fitting with my Ashen Grey stuff, these are all options I have for that setting, but you guys can check them out HERE.