From: tob@world.std.com (Tom O Breton)
Subject: Re: REC.GAMES.FRP.DND part 2 - Frequently Asked Questions - Read before posting/2
Keywords: questions,hints,faq,info
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 23:41:25 GMT

I'd like to add a bit to the DM's hints section in the FAQ file:

>6:  A player wants to bring in a character from another
>    campaign.  What do I do?

Before the problem occurs, create a set of rules for character creation that
you're satisfied create characters of equal power.

(For instance, in my campaign characters start at 3rd level with 1500 GP
worth of stuff. Origin is freeform except that any significant status or
acquaintances are gone: defunct or dead. Here I'm omitting how special cases
are handled.)

Then insist that characters be made that way. If they happen to have the same
name, class, physical description, as a character they've played elsewhere,
and buy copies of their old stuff (insofar as money allows), fine. Nothing
wrong with an attachment to a favorite persona.

I've only had to overrule proposed two overpowered characters out of some 15,
and then it's been easy to just point to The Rules that everyone else
followed.

It also deals effectively with:

>7:  How do I deal with a player who wants to have a stronger
>    character than the characters in the party?


>8:  How powerful should a dragon be?

Death incarnate. I should know, I am one.

Besides ignoring AD&D1 Monster Manual, I also rule that even if you slay a
dragon, it'll be back, as if it were a demon slain off its' own plane.


>10: How often should a DM tell players "what to do"?

As little as is consistent with player survival. When you must, try to let
the game tell them. If that doesn't work, then let the game itself handle as
much as it can, and don't allow your comments in your own voice to be
instructions.

Worst situation I've ever handled: Our characters decided to climb up the
side of a mountain via a steep path in the dead of night. One had a ring of
flying, two had rings of feather-falling, none were wearing them. They
obviously anticipated a much more carefree climb than I thought it was.

The game I run is not real-time, so I couldn't say, "You can barely see the
path," and roll dice every ten feet while exclaiming "Whew! Kept your footing
this time!" I feared I was about to have a dead party.

So I had the monk in the party fall over the side, onto a lower part of the
path. Being a monk, he was able to avoid falling damage. Then I ended the
episode, remarking that I had ended it early to give them a chance to think
it over. They rethought and got up a safer way.


>16: What happens when someone teleports into solid rock?

I've another idea: _Teleport_ is like an instantaneous _Gate_ that the
teleportor is automatically thrown through. So if there's solid rock on the
other end, they are knocked against the rock and fall back out, bruised but
alive. The _Gate closes immediately in any event.

Instant unexpected death is simply game-ruinous.

>17:    How do I deal with pregnancy in my campaign?
>
>A:   Either if you use the sex rules or not you might allow female character
>     to become pregnant in your adventures.                 ^^^^^^

Whoops! In my campaign, everything is very egalitarian. Male characters are
equally likely to get pregnant. (one male former PC who had retired to get
married currently is) In a magic world, a DM can work around the physical
details.

I rule (for simplicity) that in game terms, pregnancy's only effect on the
character is to add a number of pounds encumbrance equal to the number of
months pregnant. Why make it more complicated?

>It is likely that the baby gain magical power and might be able to cast spell
>early or even have inate magic power or resistance to certain spells etc...
>However for game balance, there should also be a risk that the baby

<Ahem> If someone is really playing a newborn infant, I can think of more
obvious game-balancing liabilities. }:)

I would rule simply that a baby is either born normal, or if the parent
carrying it goes down to 0 HP, is lost entirely. This is simple and avoids
deformed babies, which you possibly may not want to introduce into your
campaign.

        Tom
        (DM of The Burning Tower message-based campaign)

-- 
The Tom spreads its huge, scaly wings and soars into the wild sky...      
up...       up...     out of sight...   (tob@world.std.com)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd