First Time Judge

[Raven_Crowking]

Remind the halfling that, for creatures which can be hit, 2 1d16 attacks, where only two "1"s is a fumble, and any 16 is a crit, makes her a whirling ball of death.

[GnomeBoy]

... -though the experienced from DnD 4th e players bemoan the lack of healing potions ( i just think they need to be more cautious).

I have sometimes asked players if they'd just like to forgo hp altogether, as in they can't die from combat nor any other hp loss. The answer is always no. Then I ask how much difference is there between always being able to instantly regain lost hp and not tracking them at all... Sometimes they see what I'm getting at, and try to join me in facing a world without healing sources available at the drop of a hat.

My advice is don't worry about balancing the challenges - focus on really varying the challenges. I'm trying to recall if I have anything on my blog that would back-foot the Warriors, while letting the Halfling shine, but it's not coming to me. The Damned Thing might come a close, given two attacks are going to be better than one. But the point is in a straight fight, the Halfling is being outshone by TWO Warriors -- so don't make it a straight fight. Maybe sometimes there's terrain the Halfling is better suited to... maybe a creature ignores the Halfling, while concentrating on the Humans... Maybe there are many, many low-AC and low-hp foes, which the Warriors can only take out one at a time, while the Halfling can take out two at a time... Sometimes the fight is won by the person that has the best idea along the way, not the strongest arm.

Mix it up, and keep mixing.

[Riposite]

Well Happy Holidays everybody


so the halfling player rerolled as an elf and she seems much happier (only one game so far so we will see) but she seems to enjoy the flexibilty of having magic and melee-even with magic being a bit unpredictable ( i think the real issue for her was she just had probably the worst stat rolls-and while she was a goddess of luck -her low strength with its penalties didnt let the two handed fighting shine for her-and she felt she was just a luck battery-not how the rest of the party saw it but as a first time player i can understand her wanting to feel she was making an impact with her own swings -the elf seems to be a good fit so far-spells to cast give her a bit of flexibilty-so she can directly impact things)

the 2nd warrior also rerolled as a mage -so now the party has a bit more of a magical bent than it had, and the mix of thief, cleric, warrior, wizard, and elf seemed balanced...

except now warrior #1 wants to reroll too....as a wizard or cleric, claims he's bored with the warrior -which not wanting anyone to be bored or not having fun I'm fine with the reroll except i think it is just a case of the shiny/wanting to be center of attention....I can handle rebalancing around a warrior less party but i can expect him changing again i n a few weeks...which on the one hand if he's just tryign to find the best fit for his style I am cool with-but if his style is "must be focus" then i might have an issue with it. The cleric an warrior2 (now wizard) were kind of shining in the role play aspects; and I get the impression warrior #1 wants to be the party leader but they're not buying it...so my fear is he wants to be a flashy spell caster now so he can be the star that way--in which case he's still going to be disappointed, and i feel bad about it but i don't think i can help. What i am trying to find is a way to maybe engage him before he flips through 3 or 4 characters and gives up.

[GnomeBoy]

Can't save everyone.

Maybe alternate with a few funnels, and they can all attain two or three leveled characters, and swap in and out as needed/desired?

[kleefaj]

Tonight I lost my "judge" virginity: I ran The Portal Under the Stars for two-thirds of my regular GURPS group. Also, I've never refereed a game before so it was a twofer. We're almost through the whole thing. Comments so far: "Wow, we got a lot more roleplaying, a lot more story this game." "It's great learning who the characters are as we play instead of coming up with who we are before the game starts." That kind of stuff. I'm just sitting silently, smiling, thinking, "Yes! YES!" I'm psyched. I'm wide awake. I can't wait to do this again!!

I do like GURPS but this was really, really cool.

[Riposite]

Glad to hear they had fun! With my group I have found that without so many powers and rules to manage they are getting more into the interactions with each other

[soulcatcher78]

Might be a little late to the game with this but on the question of how to make the Halfling shine:

Use the character size as a benefit (i.e. facing smaller foes in their home environs). Big dumb humans can't follow the Kobolds into their warren to recover the mcguffin but the Halfling can.

Challenges that are specific to the strengths of the class (i.e. luck). Instead of a combat resolution the party is faced with a contest in which luck (or cheating at cards which those shifty little #$%*^*&@s are known for) where the Halfling is a logical choice to represent.

Build the plan around the character (both of the above). The Halfling has to sneak into the fortress through a small pipe and avoid detection to get everyone else in through another point of entry which can't be unlocked from the outside.