LogFAQs > #879989837

Evil games are cool, but I've had some bad experiences. Usually will only play in them if the DM takes steps to ensure there won't be backstabbing, petty theft from other PCs, etc... Cause it just gets really irksome really fast. Being "vitriolic best buds" where the evil PCs insult and mock each other and come juuuuuuust short of coming to blows is really fun, though.

Lightning Bolt posted...

supergamer19 posted...

I hear DM's basically play way more than the players because they're constantly planning and thinking about things. It's like a daily thing, almost.

This is true. And not just for the story and NPCs and stuff. The freaking rules are what do my head in every time.
Here's a picture of my second monitor when all was said and done (we play online).
https://image.prntscr.com/image/7c40b139b70e479996441e6cc1cf2dc9.png
Every single one of the spells on those guys' lists has paragraphs and paragraphs of explanation. And I just ran a fight where the party faced 4 of these spellcasters. And I had to make sure to use all of their spells coherently to provide a good challenge. Which took forever to learn.

Seriously, **** spellcasters so much. >.>

I'm pretty relieved it's over. I did this campaign immediately after a different year-long campaign, so I am nothing if not burnt out.
Which frequently spells the end of the group, so it's super rad that one of the players was willing to GM next.

Tell me about it! My game's 3 1/2 years old now, and they just hit level 17 (started at level 3). Got a Druid, Psion, Warmage, and Cleric in the party (and also two non-casters) and damn has combat slowed to a crawl the last few levels! Now combats often take 1 hour per combat round, it's unbearable, but I'm not sure what I can do to fix it this deep into the campaign.

And yeah, it's a daily thing. Designing enemies for them to fight and battle maps is of course a lot of work. But if you have an idea for a plot and want to work it in gradually over time and drip-feed some foreshadowing, it's a lot of thought just to know what the players should hear and when and what's too much info / too soon, and not contradicting yourself (though in some cases, NPCs may be wrong or misled and thus give incorrect info they think is right and then you have to rationalize who should know what and...argh!).

I enjoy it, but I'll be relieved when the campaign's over. If I ever run a campaign again...I'm banning most of the casters. I tried to use carrot and stick method w/o being heavy-handed (giving improvements to noncasters and nerfing a lot of spells and caster prestige classes) and they still went 2/3 caster on me. Never again.