Tag Archives: characters

Cheating Players: 8 Ways to Deal With Character Sheet Cheats

Posted on 8 January 2012 | Leave a comment

You would think that in a game without winners or losers, players wouldn’t feel the need to cheat. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. There a more many ways players cheat during game sessions. That’s unfortunate , because cheating violates the GM-player trust so necessary for running a good game.

One common way players cheat is by using false or misleading character sheets, or by lying about what’s on their sheet. They “forget” their character sheets, or suddenly decide to spend experience points in the middle of session (usually just before combat), or they “misremember” a skill score (always in their favor, of course).

It’s usually a good idea to create some firm rules about character sheets:

  1. Require players to use easy-to-read character sheets. You can choose to require everyone to use the same type of character sheet, or you can let players use one of their choosing. You just want to make sure that you can find the information you need on it quickly and easily.
  2. Keep a copy of every player’s character. This gives you a couple of advantages: you have PC information at hand when you’re planning the next game session and you have a copy to loan in case a player forgets his.
  3. Require all experience and character advancement to be done between game sessions. Or, alternatively, you could set aside part of game session for everyone to up-date their characters at the same time and then start play.
  4. Make a firm rule that your copy of the character sheet overrides a player’s. It should be a player’s responsibility to notify you of any changes to her character and to do so between game sessions. Once play starts for a particular session, if it’s not on your copy of her character, it doesn’t count.
  5. Require all character changes be approved by you before they’re used in play.
  6. Add all static modifiers in advance. Have your players write their static modifiers clearly on their character sheets. Check a player’s math from time to time–one sheet per game session until you’ve checked them all, is a good rule of thumb.
  7. Do the math for the players. Have them give you the “raw” die roll result and add all the modifiers yourself.
  8. Remind the players of their numbers. At the beginning of each game session, read off the PCs’ critical numbers (initiative, AC, hit points, blood points, etc.) as you currently have them.
  9. Watch to see if a player has more than one copy of character sheet. Some players have multiple versions of their characters, each “optimized” (read “fudged”) for different situations. A player may have one copy of his character for combat and another (slightly different) for social situations. If you think a player is using more than one version of a sheet for a single character, ask to see all copies and then make them correspond to your copy.

Of course, all of these are suggestions only and you certainly don’t have to use them all. Pick which ones you think will work best for you and your group and, as always, fold, spindle and mutilate to your heart’s content.

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Writing the Adventure: Begin at the Beginning

Posted on 27 December 2010 | Leave a comment

Humble BeginningThe purpose of the beginning of an adventure is to draw the players into the story. You want them to develop and emotional stake in the game. The more emotionally invested a player is in a game, the more motivated he’ll be to play it out to the end. But how do you get your players emotionally invested? This is where you need to know your players: what make them game? Why do they come back session after session? Is it the excitement of combat or the chance to pretend to be someone else for a while?

If you’ve been gaming with a group for a while, you usually have a good idea of your players and what they most enjoy about gaming. If not, ask them, then make sure you include that in your beginning. The worst thing that can happen to a GM is to present the adventure to your players and have them either totally ignore it, or completely reject it. If you read much about GMing at all, you’ll hear about player “hooks”. Hooks are things that motivate a PC, that grab the player’s interest and pull them into the game.

The best hooks come from a PC’s background. This is where writing your own adventurers becomes truly useful, because you can write hooks for each character into the plot of the game itself. If a published adventure, you can be stuck trying to invent convoluted reasons for your PCs to take on the adventure at hand. An example: one of group’s PCs is a fighter who discovers that she and her party are taking shelter with the widow of an old army buddy of hers and that this friend’s widow is in distress and needs help.

There’s no limit to the types of hooks you can create. You can also create hooks that refer back to unfinished business earlier in the campaign. Say that your party encountered a priest early in your campaign; later they get word that this priest has started delving into forbidden lore. The now PCs have a connection to what’s happening with that priest. And if they had confronted the priest about other less-than-holy behavior, but let the priest go during that earlier encounter–or the priest escaped their custody–the PCs are likely to feel a responsibility to set things right. Nothing keeps a player more invested in a game than a responsibility he assumes voluntarily.

You want to keep your beginning short. Try to open with an exciting scene that draws players immediately into the story. You want your beginning to communicate to your players that things are not as they should be and that the players have the possibility of putting things right. Your opening encounter should immediately convey what’s wrong and give a hint that it could be fixed by the PCs. Without that hint, you run the danger of your players feeling that the problem is too big for them to tackle themselves. So your opening encounter should be challenging, but the PCs should be able to overcome it without too much difficulty. Remember that this is the warm-up for the entire adventure.

In many ways, the beginning can be the most important part of your adventure. You need to establish from the start that things aren’t as they should be, while drawing the PCs (and the players) into the adventure by tying the action into their background–whether that’s their own character background or something that happened to the party during an earlier part of the campaign. If you can get the players to care about what’s happening in the beginning of an adventure, they’re more likely to see it through to the end.

[This is an excerpt from the upcoming Adventure Creation Handbook].

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Before You Write: What Do Your Players and PCs Want?

Posted on 20 December 2010 | Leave a comment

Motivation quoteAs you’re preparing to write your adventure, think about your players. You want to try and put something in your adventure for each of your players. Try to find something, no matter how small, that you can connect back to you each of the PCs. Perhaps you can use an NPC from a character’s background or can place an item another PCs been wanting as the MacGuffin for the adventure.

As you write, also think of your players. A number of books and blogs have talked about the various player types, so I won’t go into it here. But take a moment to think of each of your players. What do they enjoy most about roleplaying? One player may love digging around in political intrigue, while another won’t be happy unless there’s a rollicking fight. Jot down one thing for each player. You’ll refer back to this list later as you write to make sure you’ve incorporated these items into your adventure. If possible, try and tie that piece of action for the player into their character.

Of course, this isn’t the only way to brainstorm adventure ideas. You can also pull ideas from your PC’s character backgrounds or something that happens during another adventure. If you have a method that already works for you, by all means use that. The important thing is to come up with an idea that excites you. If you don’t find the idea exciting, if you’re disinterested, unhappy, or bored with an idea, you’ll communicate that to your players, whether you intend to or not. If you’re not excited about an idea, your players won’t be either. Remember, you’re part of this game, too and if you’re not having fun, no one else will, either.

[This is an excerpt from The Adventure Creation Handbook, currently being written].

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Famous Richichi Adventurers

Posted on 21 July 2010 | Leave a comment

While adventurers are rare among the richichi, they are not unknown. Below are two of the more famous ones:

Babila Makika Thintail (Bard)

Even as a small child, Babila loved to travel. Her parents were a rare kind of richichi: traders who earned their living traveling from one market fair to another, trading in various rare and imported curios along the way. Home for her was small caravan wagon pulled by the family’s two ponies.

Babila has continued her parents’ footloose ways, only her stock-in-trade are songs and stories. She has a minor aptitude for magics, small spells to make everyday life on the road more comfortable. Her collection is also her profession: Bablia collects songs and stories from the lands she passes through, carefully recording them to preserve them for future generations. Her many friends say she has one other collection: languages. She learns languages quickly and easily and is always eager to practice what she knows.

She considers herself a pacifist and would rather talk her way out of situation, but if push comes to shove, she is quite capable of defending herself. She carries a short sword (small sized) and a short bow as well as her favorite instrument, a lap harp.

Kakio Shakka Blackfur (Knight)

Few richichi adventure. Even fewer of these become warriors. Still fewer achieve any renown for it. Only one has ever been knighted. Many legends talk of Kakio Shakka Blackfur, the man who saved the life of a prince.

The Blackfur family has traditionally served as valets, stewards, ladies-in-waiting, and companions of several families in House Kotish. While growing up, Kakio showed an early and unusual (for a richichi) interest in weapons and warfare. His mother, Shakka Malika Blackfur was steward of House Kotish at the time and thus in a position to indulge her only son. Kakio was allowed to train with the younger sons of House Kotish and soon showed great skill with a wide variety of weapons.

During that training, Kakio became friends with Katsir,  the youngest son of the then Lord Kotish, Shatim, and baby brother of the Kotish heir, Klimia. As the youngest child with five brothers and one sister in-line for the throne well ahead of him, Katsir was left to do pretty much as he wished. As a teenager, he set his mind on exploring the world and seeing all the marvelous things in it. Despite extensive arms training, Katsir wasn’t as skilled a warrior as he thought, so Kakio went with him, acting as a bodyguard. Kakio was a reluctant explorer, but he swore to do all he could to protect Lady Klimia’s favorite brother.

One evening, in a tavern far from Kotish lands, Katsir found himself the target of a drunk’s insults. To save face, Katsir demanded satisfaction via a duel. Kakio, knowing that the drunk was a fighter of much greater skill than Katsir, offered to fight in his friend’s place (“He’s not worthy of your attentions, my lord. Let me take care of him for you…”). Katsir agreed. The actual duel was long and grueling and nearly killed Kakio. He survived and defeated his opponent, but lost his left eye in the process. He refused to have it restored, saying it was a reminder to himself not to be so rash in the future.

The story of the duel spread, eventually reaching Lady Klimia, who’d just succeeded her father to the Seat of Leadership. She was impressed by how Kakio had not only saved Katsir’s life, but his honor as well. She knighted the young richichi for his bravery and loyalty.

Kakio finally retired from his adventures in his late 40′s — well advanced in years for a richichi. By that point, in addition to his eye, he also lost half of one ear and gained many battle-scars, giving him the look of a grizzled warrior in his later years. He lived to the almost unheard of age of 51 (average lifespan of a richichi is 35-40 years). His only child, a son named Taktako, now serves as Lady Kotish’s personal assistant. Kakio was pleased at his son’s choice of profession and the honor it brought to the family, saying that he was happy his son had more sense than he did.

After Kakio’s death, his body was given a place of honor with the Kotish family crypt.

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Best known for their beautiful gardens and abundant fruit and nut orchards, the Richichi have well earned the nickname “homebodies”. While other races,such as the satyrs and centaurs keep to themselves, the Richichi frequently build their towns near (or within!) … Continue reading →

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Posted on 12 April 2010

A Taste of Intrigue: Dramatis Personae

Posted on 25 January 2010 | Leave a comment

The free adventure is in the final editing stages. It should (barring unforeseen disasters) be available for download near the end of next week.

Seeing it’s a stand-alone adventure using pre-generated characters, I thought I’d include a brief summary of those characters here:

A Note on Names

The standard naming practice in Guang Keshar is [First Name] [Last Name] ( for example: Brian Kendari) except for the names of members of the Imperial and Great Houses. These are listed [Last Name] [First Name] (for example: Kukuri Kanalen), unless the person’s title proceeds their proper name. These are known and “Imperial Style” names. Thus, the current Lord Kukuri, Hashayan, could be listed as “Kukuri Hashayan, Lord Kukuri” or “Lord Hashayan Kukuri”.

The Characters

While each of the members of House Kukuri has their individual opinions of each other, here’s how each of them is viewed overall by their relatives:

Hashayan (HA-sha-yan): Known to his family and friends as “Shaya”, Hashayan was a major juvenile delinquent who gotten himself expelled from more courts and lands than anyone could count. The youngest child of Lord Shakim Kukuri, no one was more surprised than Hashayan himself when his father named him the heir to House Kukuri. Even though he didn’t want the job, since Lord Shakim’s assassination at the hands of House Hoten, Hashayan has tried hard to settle down and be the best ruler House Kukuri has ever known.

Bashya (BAASH-ya): Short for Bashami. Serious, imperturbable, “no dirt on my armor please”, Bashya is either stoic or pretentious, depending on who you ask. As Kukuri’s Mistress of the Hunt, she’s always been more comfortable in the wilds of Kukuri than in the Kukuri Court; consequently, she’s seldom seen there. She has a special bond with her sister, Lumel, who is the only one able to get Bashya to agree to anything. A fact Lumel uses to her own benefit, when her plans require it.

Galetsen (GAAL-tsen): Unquestioningly, the physically strongest member of House Kukuri … perhaps even of the Empire itself. Galetsen’s loyalty to the Emperor and to Kukuri is equally unquestioned and he seems to be one of the few people in Empire with no enemies. He generally stays out of politics and doesn’t take sides in family quarrels.

Kanalen (KAA-na-len): Though universally regarded as cold, arrogant bastard, Kanalen gave his all to protect Kukuri when Hoten invaded. Though not terribly liked by his relatives while alive, he will still be sorely missed, especially by Hashayan.

Kayan (KAA-yan): Charming and cavalier, Kayan’s as good with a bon mot as he is with his sword. The eldest of the Kukuri siblings, he’s said to be the second-best swordsman in the Empire. With his incredible skills and winning smile, he can sometimes charm even his siblings to go along with his schemes. While they don’t generally trust him, most of them can’t help but like him. Which makes him the perfect hand for Lumel’s mind.

Limani (LEE-ma-nee): Quiet and reserved, Limani leads Seafarers’ Guild, as her mother did before her. She prefers her ships to any court, making a her a rare presence at Kukuri Castle. Her loyalties and motives are unknown, but her general absence and lack of interest in either finances or politics has caused her family to disregard her as a player in the political games.

Lumel (LÜ-mel: Sorceress extraordinaire. That’s the one thing all about Lumel all her siblings can agree on. She is the undisputed expert in arcane matters among House Kukuri and her talents are said to rival even those of Ling Kenlo, the Harbinger of Sorcery. Personal opinions of her range from “manipulative, opportunistic witch” to “Kukuri’s rising star”.

Malik (ma-LEEK): Hashayan’s illegitimate son. Raised in Hoten because neither of his parents wanted him, Malik has the sympathies of much of Kukuri Island’s populous. His family, however, is more cautious. After the invasion attempt, Hashayan brought live in Kukuri Castle. From all reports, father and son were getting along well with Hashayan doing his best to become the father he should have been all along. Until a month ago, that is, when the two had a serious falling out, though no one seems to know over what. All that is known is that Malik stormed out of the castle and hasn’t been seen since.

Tsalim (TSA-leem): Kanalen’s illegitimate son from a brief affair with Lady Marlani Seleni, Lady Hoten. Since the assassination incident, Tsalim has cut his ties with House Hoten and sworn fealty to House Kukuri and to Lord Hashayan personally. Lord Kukuri seems to have a special fondness for the lad and he and Malik were raised almost as brothers. The rest of House Kukuri is more restrained, staying just short of calling him a Hoten spy. Though very close before the invasion, he and Malik seem to have had a cooling of relations since. The fact that Hashayan is very open regarding his affection for Tsalim doesn’t help the youths’ relationship any.

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