Random encounter shadows

Waterd103

Sure the dagger don't will change alone the flow of the battle, but with lay on hands and....
Ah, this history is done, right?
Well.
Ya know that there are an game option to flee the batle, right? Just runf far from the enemies just dont change anything! But the radial menu at the right side (combat options, I think) give ya a option to flee the battle. This thing is there for this kind of "loosed battle" situation. Go to the town, rest, regroup and charge again! I have understood that ya just don't have the intention to flee, but aparently, ya just don't know this option!

About time:
Realy, ya shall rest for 1000 years or more, without much changes on the game. But I believe that RPlayers just don't rest more than the necessary. Its a wast of RL time to go on the town and come again in the dungeon, and no player like to waste his time just walking around.... I play with non-spellcasters, full-armored characters, mostly, and I dont rest more than 3 or four days between a quest and another - or 16 hours inside of the Temple between levels. In the storyline of the game, ya have this time for rest! Its not a run against the clock - at least, not at the beggin of the game... And this is the natural flow of the game! Not each quest have this time question - Jason and Beowulf shall remember this for ya, if ya like to think about heroic quests - and this dont make'm better or worse. Its just diferent.

But just let me say that there ARE time questions in the game! Ya just dont have played enough.

 

I said multiple times that i couldn't flee from the battle gesh.

Btw i was enjoying hte game and everthign and now quests don't complete, i do all i have to do, the dialog seems to appear as i completed, but it doesn't log as cmpleted and certain things don't happen.
For example i told janitor that he was accepted in milita he accepted to do work and says that's "accepted" I got the fish for the pirate, but i can't even accept the quest, it doesn't appear in log. Also i cleared the moathouse, but in the log is still as "accepted" i think the game bugged, this is really upsetting.

EDITh i found the solution to the problem in the faq

 

It's not stupid at all. I would drop this game in a minute if they made all encounters easy. I like that it is possable to run into random encounters like this. We had them in our PnP games and it is nice to see that they don't cater to the 'Easy Mode' crowd. Why would you want to play a D&D game that was super easy? D&D should not be super easy or super safe it does not matter if it is PnP or computer game. And yes I've been in that situation in TOEE and in PNP and I liked it.

 

Our PnP group has one strict rule. And that is that the DM is not allowed to fudge dice or save the PC/Party unless there is a local reason game wise for it. All 5 players have been playing D&D for years and we all agree that the most irritating thing that we have all encountered playing D&D is when the DM cheats for the group. If an Ogre gets a crit and kills a player the roll stands. If the DM fudges the roll to save the player and the group finds out then he is no longer Dming. This goes for all rolls in the game. For us the roll is represents that random element in life and to fudge it just kills the challenge. We even have a very deadly critical hits/misses chart that we do use on monster and player alike. And our games are a lot more fun than the Easy mode DM style of play. And yes we do have insta-kill traps but they are few.

 

Then you have been playing DnD RPG's in easy mode.

 

I skipped most of the mundain quest in Hommlet (some are broken anyway) and only did the ones that send me abroad. And I still found magic items. Random encounters are a great source for gold and items, yes sometimes you may get more than you bargin for but have at lest one PC ready to flee and if you can't then go down swinging not crying like a little girl.

 

LOL so you want a god mode like cheat. Well I perfer the normal D&D rest model which this game does well. But then I like a littel challange. I'm sure someone some where has a god mode cheat for you.

 

Bellack I think the point is Waterd would like the option of "Clerics and Druids heal during rest" which happens. It takes 16 hours. Clerics and Druids or Paladin and Bard dump healing spells they prep to heal the party in minimal time. It is an option in many other D&D PC games.

Secondly, yes I agree easy encounters aren't fun. I dislike it when the DM fudges constantly but the DM has EVERY right to fudge anything they want. I have been told by ne Gamer that they prefer and play in gaming groups where there are NO Rules, NO Stat blocks or anything. They "fudge" everything, to make it best for the story. If it would be more epic to slay the foe on this roll, or more herrowing if your hero was crit on at this moment and felled, then they flow with it. Some people, however, especially when you have made characters who haonly gotten to 3rd or 5th level at best, get aggitated when they cannot "proceed" with character developement. If you lay out foundations for a 10 level game before you figure you'll be TPK'd then you might actually want to get there some time.

It is all up to the players and the DM who runs the show. It is a group effort, y'all have to AGREE if you want a 1st Edition style slaughter where you aren't very heroically powerful until high level and theres a good chance your going to have to deal with the guy in the party who will rehash his Ranger concept 12 times before he gets his Ranger to the level he wants him to be at to die before he makes a Rogue again, etc. I *gave* my one DM by best die and he kept it, but in the mean while a single Goblin crit 3 times in the same combat scene. It is logical that a 1st level Goblin isn't going to Crit 3 times in a row unless either you believe the Goblin was destined to level up killin parties to become a goblin King or if you think it is fair for kindness to kick you in the cack repeatedly.

WATERD! Here is my suggestion! USE TURN CHECKS!!! Let the Paladin and Druid blast with healing spells when you can, kill the shows with Turn checks if possible and rely on that tactic. If not then I suggest you should flee the encounter or acquire the Bless Water spell use it alot for your own sake and finish the Flirting with Disaster Quest so you can get a Holy Sword to save your hide! I do NOT want to send Bellack on a tangent but that is my 2 cents as a DM for the last 7 years since I was 15 and got my DMG to run a few games with high scool buddies who were curious about the game. I make up my own Crits and I fudge rolls rarely but I like to have some comedy in a game to keep it fresh.

 

DMing a group can be a delicate affair. A DM has to understand the group's dynamics. If you are playing with friends fudging may or may not be appropriate. The group and the DM can decide. The group may decide to give the DM that latitude.

Obliviously, in a sanctioned affair the rules will be more strictly adhered. Even in friendly groups you will have people who want to see letter of the rule used. Somtimes the letter of the rule can run counter to the spirit of the adventure. The DM will have to decide which one furthers the experience.

If you are dealing with a group of first timers strict adherence to the rules could be a turn off. Somtimes killing off a character may not be in the best interest of this group. Instead of killing the party member, the member becomes unconscious. Another party member is given a chance to run to the fallen party member's aid. It may help to keep that person playing rather than telling the person to suck it up and roll up another character.

But, it depends on the group. If the group decides on strict adherence to the rules then so be it. The DM is obligated to run the adventure that way.

 

As far as someone wanting to use god mode or whatever in a single player game, I could care less. It has no effect on how I play. If a person wants to create the uber character or use save and reload to their hearts content so be it.

Multi-player on the other hand is a different story, now your actions affect other people. It would be viewed as cheating unless everyone in the multi-player game can use the same cheats.

Some people think there should be no random elements in a game. Only their decisions should affect the outcome. If that is the case, I suggest you play chess, go or xiangqi. The random element in role playing games represents fate, luck or whatever you want to call it. It represents the outside forces that cannot be controlled by your decisions.

Frank Shorter the marathon runner once stated that he could beat anyone, but he could not beat the rain. He won the gold medal in the 1972 Olympics. In the 1976 Montreal Olympics, he came in second. Fate took a hand and it rained that day. Shorter had to change the way he ran to compensate. A random event had thrown him off his game plan.

Random events in games represent fate and sometimes fate is cruel.

 

Agree that all D&D games, should have every time you travel a 5% chance that dozen of red dragons surprise your party.

 

Have you ever played the original Pool of Radiance (Commodore 64) or the Icewind Dale, several encounters (random and otherwise) with multiple colored dragons (black, frost, red etc). Gives new meaning to the saying Feet don't fail me now!

Darn my feet gave out! I'm toast!

 

Does anyone remember endless Red Dragons encounters in one of "... of Krynn" series of CRPGs?
They would appear at some point when party approaches evil fortress and chooses not to flee. Oh, that was fun.

EDIT: Now that I remembered, Pool of Radiance featured Ghouls and Wights, who would jump on the party at the Graveyard. And for low-level parties they were hard to handle, because they paralyse on hit and all. This may be considerer a Party - Killing encounter too. But hey, why else should New Phlan magistrate place a reward for just visiting the Graveyard if there were no dangers... The Vampire there was very strong too - always charmed party members and after that I did not know how to change them from "auto" mode... Ahh, this is irrelevant.


By the way, everyone had forgotten that you should only have One spell "Magic Weapon" or "Magic Fang" memorized to have a magical weapon ready anytime. One turn and your fighter has that much needed Greatsword +1...

Strangely, I myself had "shadows encounter" with level 2 party yesterday, but I chose "avoid" option, because I had no magical weapons (just killed frogs and bandits at moathouse exterior, went to Hommlet to sell stuff...)

(But I had a ranger and a druid with survival skill. Nasty cheating me. No person should have developed survival skill while playing ToEE... Do not take offence, that last comment is from EVIL me, I apologise.)

 

Yeah , cosnidering that i had both a ranger and a druid with high wisdom and as many point as i could on survival.

 

Lol Same situation happened to a party of mine once . 4 or 5 shadows and my party was mixed,some 1st and some 3rd.My wiz had one magic missle spell and I had Furnok's dagger.(I think it's ok to get furnok to join then loot him as payback for cheating at gambling as in a lot of places or depending on alignment he would be killed.) I had my cleric turn the shadows and I went to the corner of the map and tried to flee but was told it was invalid action .Under the circumstances I felt it was within the spirit of the game at that point to go to my last save rather than proceeding.In a single player game you can't really cheat,but I follow a spirit of the rules style.If this was pnp game and you turned undead and ran opposite way,most DM's would allow you to escape.