Hi to all at MSL.
I have a small concern of formatting books regarding Monsters (i.e. the Encountered). Would it be possible in future to put a 1 verses 1 CDP reference in the monsters as I seem to be spending inordinate amounts of time balancing monsters to PC’s. (I am still in trouble over one early encounter). I ask this because currently I have to open one Character sheet then play them off against a monster before play to access respective power magnitudes. I want this as a guide only and understand you cannot control all permutations. I.E. 1 over powered monster v’s a party or conversely lots of little monsters verses a party, this I can work out based upon CDP parity if it were available.
Thanks, and still loving this game. So much so, I was designing my own Non-level RPG game and gave up you guys used similar ideas like Uses, non-level progression, field skills (Profession bonus) at CDP cost etc.
Thanks again!
Always remember that it’s your game and if you have a whoops moment and realize the npc you have your pc’s against is out of their league either have some way to help the PC’s such as an environmental factor (explosives, chemicals, etc.) or just alter the NPC so it’s not so powerful, you do NOT have to keep everything exactly by the book. I’ve done this in all kinds of different systems, even if everything is cut and dry sometimes a GM wants to challenge his group and overdoes it a bit, maybe there’s a factor he didn’t realize such as a special power that will give the party alot of trouble, or the character just doesn’t look as bad on paper then it is once combat starts. What I usually do when this happens is knock off some of health of the npc, knock down it’s damage, or if it’s a special power that’s the problem i’ll either knock it down a bit or limit the amount of times the npc can use it. Do NOT let your party suffer b/c you accidentally put them against something they shouldn’t be up against.
All well and good. I and agree with the devices you mentioned to diluting a potentially lethal situation into a challenging situation, and have used them. I was more asking upon the pheasability of a quick comparison guide as I run an open campaign with a lot of random encounters and therefore would appreciate an “on the run comparison system” so I dont have to spend time comparing all details of every foe before hand.
All well and good. I and agree with the devices you mentioned to diluting a potentially lethal situation into a challenging situation, and have used them. I was more asking upon the pheasability of a quick comparison guide as I run an open campaign with a lot of random encounters and therefore would appreciate an “on the run comparison system” so I dont have to spend time comparing all details of every foe before hand.
Agreed, the system is a bit “GM heavy”. It takes quite a bit of prep time currently, and those old school D&D tables where you can see that 5 players of this level (CDP max) can handle 4 monsters of this rating would be very useful. There may be other GM aids which could be added into an AO GM helper compendium.
I’m really missing a GM forum on these boards as well, since some of my players are finding their way here.
I guess I’ll see what you guys are talking about whenever my copy of the encounted comes in…STILL WAITING!!! . I ordered an extra core and the encountered and i’ve had the core for about a week now.
If I could get a response from anyone I would. I resorted to messaging them here on the boards as they weren’t responding to phone calls or e-mails. I’ve heard good thing about this customer service, i wish i could see some.
If I could get a response from anyone I would. I resorted to messaging them here on the boards as they weren’t responding to phone calls or e-mails. I’ve heard good thing about this customer service, i wish i could see some.
I know a few of the guys are in Europe right now, and it IS a small company, so I guess they’ll be back ASAP
Sorry for the delay getting to this one… Germany was excellent. Anyway, the Category system employed in The Encountered will definitely help balance creature encounters. We haven’t quite made it to that degree of refinement on the NWSEC Collaborative Workspace, but it will come. A straight CDP conversion for creatures is pretty difficult in AO, mostly because skills and special attacks for creatures are not tied directly to CDP, but that is certainly something we’ll consider. Nonetheless, I think you’ll find the category 1-10 model speeds GM planning and helps balance random encounters with creatures. You can also apply creature templates to expand the useability of creatures, beefing up low category creatures or softening up high category creatures.
. I ordered an extra core and the encountered and i’ve had the core for about a week now.
