For a Metamorphosis Alpha campaign all the players did up pics of their characters in HeroMachine. Sadly all that was lost. Think we'd do it in HM3 which looks alot better. (It was not around at the time)

Quote from: Saladman;800698Also, to the "fired for missing two consecutive games."  I don't have a formal rule like that, and I do assume family and work come first and second, with gaming third.  Nevertheless, I broadly agree with the sentiment.  If you can't make a majority of game sessions with a known day and time, free up the slot for someone who can.

Agreed: real life commitments come first. Of course.

I've just been burned too many times by friends who do not have kids and who work monday-friday jobs. And who routinely go out for beers, movies, paintball games and other such activities. I mean, if you're not THAT interested or committed, don't join my game and stop wasting my time!!

(Insert obligatory joke about how maybe i just suck as a GM and my campaigns are horrible. Indeed that is possible: all of my players may indeed have been flat-out lying to me when they praised my skills and said that I was the best GM they'd ever had. Oh well, maybe they were just being nice and I'm just a fucker.)

Quote from: jibbajibba;800684We did a weekender once where we all dressed in character.
For that I got a guy in to cook us a roast suckling pig and the meal actually took place in real game time with us all staying in character throughout.
Of course because of Murder Mysteries I actually don't think that is wierd at all as all MMs involve us eating a meal in character/costume.

I can't help but think of Gamers II Dorkness Rising whenever I read about dressing up in character.

Due to an evolution of an old tactic I used on my children, I have a little chicken and duck figurine. When players are asking me stupid questions, and the answer is an obvious "no", I raise the duck above the screen. The players know the duck means no.

It's usually raised when a player wants to abuse a power or ability in some outrageous way. But every once in a while, the chicken comes up instead. Chicken means yes.

It's a thing.

Quote from: Coffee Zombie;800955Due to an evolution of an old tactic I used on my children, I have a little chicken and duck figurine. When players are asking me stupid questions, and the answer is an obvious "no", I raise the duck above the screen. The players know the duck means no.

It's usually raised when a player wants to abuse a power or ability in some outrageous way. But every once in a while, the chicken comes up instead. Chicken means yes.

It's a thing.

OK. That is odd. And maybe a little weird.

Also, is it just me or are other people envisioning Coffee Zombie's players sadly saying in unison, "No," whenever the duck appears and high fiving each other on the rare occasions when the chicken makes its appearence?

Quote from: TristramEvans;800534Well, I draw pictures of all the NPCs and then attach them to popsicle sticks and hold them up when they're talking sort of like little puppets...


Here's an example of some I did for a Cthulhu game pre-sticks...

I love those illustrations!

Some interesting ideas here.  I might have to implement the one about the D6 die and initiative!

i was recently infromed that it is odd that i do not assume that somebody who tryed to open a door and found it locked will open it as soon as it is unlocked i wait for the player to try and open it again instead

I will roll a die, say "You have just been surprised by," and then fart loudly.

Quote from: Old Geezer;801434I will roll a die, say "You have just been surprised by," and then fart loudly.

A gas spore?

On occassion, when playing with a matt, I have used snacks as tokens for monsters. You kill it, you eat it.

I prefer musik, played at an barely audible volume. Where it gets unusual, is that I tend to avoid movie theme and (pseudo-)medieval stuff (from what I gather, what most people use in fantasy gaming. I've used elektronik stuff before, but these days tend more towards using jazz or rock (instrumental, vokals tend to distract people).


Not from me, but one of my old gaming buddies, when DMing, would take an extended toilet break when he got stumped by us doing something unexpected.

Quote from: Justin Alexander;800653Have the players roll initiative at the end of combat and use the results the next time they fight.

Using this method, by the time combat starts, initiative is already completely resolved. As a result, there's no delay while you ask for initiative, the dice are rolled, your players tell you their results, and then you sort the results into order. This allows you to start combat off with a bang and keep the ball rolling with that same high intensity. It means that when the players are ambushed, you can maintain that adrenaline rush of surprise instead of immediately undermining it with the mundane task of collecting initiative.

This method also means that initiative results are generally being collected at a time when other bookkeeping chores are being done anyway: After the heat of battle, wounds are being healed; corpses are being looted; equipment lists are being updated; and options are being discussed.

This is great. Collecting initiative often brings my game to a screeching halt, which is the last thing one wants at the start of a combat. I'll try to remember bringing this to my table.

ive never found inititive to take very much time it has always confused me when people say it brings the game to a stop it really only takes about 20 seconds

I wear pants.

Unintentional. But I had this odd knack for appearing right behind one of my players when they were not expecting it. Theyd eventually notice and freak out. They were kinda squirrely. :eek:

It blows my mind that all you guys having players roll for initiative before combat don't get your group planning around that - "Ok, I rolled low for initiative in the upcoming fight, whenever that is -  I'll move back away from the front of the marching order for the next section of exploration."