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DM Guide - Official
#2
Commands
Accessed with 'F1'
  • Narrate - Where you post your narrations for the party to respond to. Narrations ping players that are tabbed out

  • Spawn Item - Only spawn items needed for the event, in the appropriate quantities! 

  • Spend RPP - To let your ECs purchase spells, give them a minus amount using this command, which increases rather than spends

  • Ghost - You can move around quickly with this and through objects. Keep in mind that others can still see your sprite while ghosted.

  • Teleport Mob - Use this to get to event areas (the mob names begin with . for ease of access).
Enemy Balance - NPCs, Spawned Mobs
  • Make sure to test your NPCs in advance. Their damage output and HP can vary wildly. Somewhere between level 250 and level 1000 tends to be good. Only adjust the level of NPCs, the rest doesn't do much.

  • Some archaic mobs spawn unused items that have a high sellback value, so be careful here. This doesn't apply to the daemons, yokai, and stinnox.

  • Usually, it's best to attack in waves with NPCs once the party is ready. They shouldn't really be more of an appetizer before the main confrontations. To do this, move around as a ghost, spawn in batches of NPCs. The fun part here is you can adjust as you go along since you decide when the wave ends, and it lets you get a feel for the party's strength.
Enemy Balance - Player Controlled ECs
  • Use health_max and health to set Event Character HP. Avoid using vitality as you have to take into account an increased HP regen from a large amount of vit, and editing the variable directly also makes things like the EC needing to re-equip an item to assign their new HP unnecessary. 1 vitality is equal to 224 HP, and a 200RPL character generally has around 40k or so.

  • You might need to use the 'tuning' command in edit to get your sprite's alignment right. Creature sprites are 32x32, 64x64, and 96x96.

  • If against a strong party of 4 or more, give your EC at least 400 force and a minimum of 150k HP to be a challenge. This varies depending on your EC's theme, spell kit, and intended difficulty. Experience is something that definitely helps here.

  • Never redo due to EC strength being too much or under-powered. Instead, work it into your narrations. Maybe after a poor showing in the first round they power up!

  • Justify your EC's strength. Generally, a lone magi isn't going to be able to take on a strong party, so maybe they have backup support in the form of henchmen ICly, or they're being supercharged by something? (This is less of a plot issue if it's a big monster/boss)
Punishments
  • Cumulative punishments are preferred. The more injured someone is, or the more times they've been knocked down throughout the event, the higher their chance for permanent injury or death should be.

  • Punishments should feel deserved. If no one in the party is knocked down in the round, no one should roll. If a trap is sprung, it should be due to a specific action and the follow up RPs should be taken into account. 

  • To injure or kill someone, send a 6-cap RPB, have them type /surrender, and interact with them via X.
  • Temporary Injuries: These are mostly to increase the difficulty of the event for the person (battles and future rolls). As a DM, you can also specify conditions like 'This injury cannot be healed via medical treatment or potions for at least a year', if desired.

  • Permanent injuries: No higher than -10 vitality per injury, unless it's very deserving. You can edit injury values, such as the description and amount (edit > injuries).

  • Death: This should naturally be climatic and reserved for high stake events, and experienced DMs. It is a powerful plot tool that must be used carefully.

  • Failure: The character can no longer continue the event, they're exempt from all future rewards. For events that are meant to be difficult, this is a nice alternative to death as the person being disabled isn't losing anything but time & potential loot. You should make sure to fit it in the narration - maybe the party brought along NPC aid that takes the defeated person back to their camp or boat.
Rewards
  • Risk vs reward is important. If it's a high risk event, then multiple characters failing the event and not gaining loot is perfectly fine, if the judgements made were fair.

  • It is very unlikely you'll be approved for mechanical rewards (such as custom items) if you're new to DMing. We also prefer that DMs run events for groups of characters they're neutral towards if they've yet to earn the administration's faith.
  • Development Items: These are custom items that provide no direct benefit but aid in a character's development (such as a rare crystal, herb, or tome). Example. Make sure the description is detailed and provides direction!

  • Public Items: Potions, enchantments, ore, etc. Something like arcanium is event only and very rare, only to be given in small amounts in high risk events.

  • Custom Items: A weapon or equip item with custom stats. These should generally not be better than standard gear unless they're the highlight of the event. Minor custom items are more acceptable to be used as rewards by experienced DMs (such as an amulet with an extra 2 power, or a ring with +2 ele power). The lore and flavor of the item is important here, they shouldn't really feel like little stat boosts with just a line or two of description.
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Messages In This Thread
DM Guide - Official - by Chance - 12-16-2019, 10:27 AM
RE: DM Guide - Official - by Chance - 12-16-2019, 10:28 AM
RE: DM Guide - by Chance - 03-06-2021, 02:59 PM
RE: DM Guide - by Chance - 05-23-2021, 05:47 PM
RE: DM Guide - Official - by Chance - 07-13-2023, 12:30 AM
RE: DM Guide - Official - by Chance - 10-23-2023, 11:36 PM
RE: DM Guide - Official - by Chance - 10-06-2024, 07:52 PM

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