seven wrote:
Yeah i checked out the weapon book, and I didn't like it. I found a book with a listing of every gun/weapon (apc's-jets-ships) made between 1980 and 2000. and one guy has a listing online as well.
I am looking to do a game with a real feel, not to gritty not to fantastic. when I was bringing up the subject to the guys they wanted to know if I would allow MDC and dimention hopping for their rifts people with glitter boys and magic and such... this is already becoming a nightmare.
If they're asking that, they're missing the point. A very loud "Hello NO!" is in order.
since I haven't done any real GMing, just been an assistant so to speak, I am not really sure on how games go and flow. I have a few ideas for adventures lined up but don't know how to execute them in a good manner or have NPC's pop in and out. stuff like that.
Typically, what I do is a build the campaign around the characters that the PCs have made up. I also make sure that they have a full understanding of what this game is about. With the introduction or removal of NPCs, particularly ones that are important to your game, take a look at literary and film techniques, not to mention the role of the NPC. Is this guy the main villain? Don't introduce him in the middle of the PC's first battle. Have them confront his grunts and lieutenants first. The bad guy generally doesn't die until the last reel. Is the NPC a friend of one or more of the characters? What does the NPC do? Where does he live? Does he adventure? If so, why? If not, why?
Try to stay away from certain rote stereotypes of role-playing games.
"You all meet in a bar," while sometimes appropriate to this game, has been done to death since RPGs were played with paper chits instead of dice.
"Nobody knows his past," is cop-out, especially for PC's. PCs and major NPCs NEED a history. Even if the other characters never learn that history, it provides adventure hooks for the GM. If the player can't think up a history for his character after rolling him up, that's okay. Ideas may suggest themselves during role-playing and the character and GM need to jot them down.
"His parents were killed..." again, while sometimes appropriate to this game, this is all too often a cop-out by the player. For an NPC, this is fine and probably a very common background trait.
Try to divide NPCs into three groups.
1. The scrubs/mooks/puds... these are the low-level (many times no-level) characters the PCs meet. They have no purpose other than to obstruct the characters and can be killed without affecting the game. Typically, they'll have no more than 2 or 3 attacks per melee. This can also be unimportant friendlies like a local farmer, a schoolteacher, a little kid, and so on.
2. This second level is characters that are more powerful and challenging to the PCs. They are typically within the same level of skill as the PCs and can represent a rival, an old friend, and so on. While more detailed, these characters still aren't central to the campaign and can be killed with little effect on it.
3. These characters represent IMPORTANT NPC allies and enemies.
