Don’t even say “Make a spot/perception check”, just say “Roll a 20”. And, of course, make sure to let the players know when the group forms that sometimes you’ll be looking for a high number, and sometimes a low number will save them. It also helps if you can giggle for a few minutes.
That’s actually a point of slight soreness for me in a hack ‘n slash *Pathfinder *campaign I’m in - I play a Druid/Monk and some of my bestest combat forms are Huge (15’x15’ space, or three squares). Obviously that’s not practical to use in most places, but it’s okay, I got others for tunnelwork. Still, I’m always itchy to use those massive forms, because they’re so cool ! Now we’re in the end stretch of the campaign, tackling nigh-epic opposition. Last dungeon we did was a stone giants’ fortress. Now we’re in an ancient ruin that used to belong to basically the giants’ *gods *; and has been partially colonized and tunnelled by at least one elder ice dragon since.
And the fucking corridors are *still *2 squares wide :mad:.
People have to build dungeons in 10’ increments, that’s the scale of the graph paper.
Jumping is often faster than running.
If you find a save point after a long but not very difficult trip, beware! There’s probably something nasty just up ahead.
There’s a scrawny mook standing among the brawny badasses and doing something that isn’t hurting you. Kill him first.
A little friendly fire–with an actual flamethrower–is a good thing, and your allies will applaud your sensible tactics.
The Inverse Power Law: it’s not just for ninjas anymore. The more foes you face at once, the more vulnerable they are. A vast horde can be wiped out by a case of the sniffles. Conversely, any single opponent has spent years getting vaccinated, developing an iron will, and building a tolerance for any poison you happen to have on you.
Frail-looking, elderly men and cute little girls should be assumed to be insanely dangerous until proven otherwise. Little boys may be invulnerable, but rarely have any other superpowers (unless they are visibly or audibly creepy in some way).
Alice: Madness Returns does this all the time.
That’s not wonky video game logic, that’s Rule Number One ! “Do not act incautiously when confronting little bald wrinkly smiling men”. You’ll apply it in real life if you know what’s good for you, mister.
This has become as close to a rule as you can get in video games, assuming the game does in fact use save points. It’s hard to think of any counter examples, in fact.
Before you become a marine, you are expected to learn to crab-walk in a circle while bunny hopping and firing your weapon.
You also learn that pulling your weapon up to eye level, even for the briefest of glimpses, dramatically increases its accuracy and lowers its bullet dispersal.
Advanced training includes Popping Your Head Out Of Cover 101 ; the 26 Tactical Uses of the Combat Roll ; If You Can See Them They Can’t See You (Yet) ; as well as a course in adapting to battlefield terrain & the art of finding or improvising cover and concealment. The full text of the course reads: “Don’t bother, there’ll be chest-high walls”
For reasons too technical to get into, people who live and work on spaceships need a lot of chest-high walls that automatically pop up when you get near them.
Apparently whomever wrote it wasn’t familiar with Little Old Ladies… shudder
Nah, it’s just that in games, there are usually warning signs if a little old lady is uber–diadems, witchy regalia, and so forth. They carry their power more openly. You don’t usually have to be told to take them seriously.
The little old man in shabby clothes, feeding the pigeons, is not so obvious. Genre savvy, however, tells us that he can almost certainly disarm your entire party with his pinky finger. It’s even worse if he’s sweeping–he’s armed, and may the gods have mercy on the battered remnants of your soul if you pick a fight with him.
Yeah, the sweeper in The Thief of Time was uber. However, I don’t think that either Granny Weatherwax or Nanny Ogg went in for the witchy regalia, other than the pointy hats, it was Magrat Garlick who wore the amulets and charms and carried the athame, and she was the least powerful of the three, being the Maiden for most of the books. Hell, the dwarves are terrified of Granny. And Granny only plays by the rules for as long as it’s convenient for her.
I don’t know who would win in a fight if Granny and the Sweeper (and I’m completely blanking on his name now) got into it. I suspect that neither one would try to pick a fight with the other, though.
Sort of on the same page: If you and your friends meet a party of three wizards, you can probably count on both Gagratoth and Bathorak to be completely harmless, naive intellectuals, but beware of Daniel. He’s probably big trouble.
One point I always try to keep in mind: A good DM never forgets.
Lu-Tze.
I’d say they’re on relatively equal footing, actual power-wise and stripping away the respective headologies. Granny Weatherwax out-willed Death, but then again Lu-Tze straight beat up Time.
There’s a small cardboard box blocking my path? Well, better find an alternative route, then. nothing you can do about it.
Anything waist height really, it’s impassible.
Also, if you see a wheel valve, turn it. Every time.