Stephen's GM introduction, modeled after those he's seen of old.
GM Name:[/b] Apparently GM Stephen, at the moment. I'll come up with something more creative.
Login name:[/b] Stephen Zuckerman. I don't plan on coming up with something more creative.
Forum name:[/b] StephenZuckerman (with the occasional change for fun's sake).
Timezone: US Eastern Time, e.g. Georgia, but I work 9-5, Monday-Friday, so expect me on at OTHER times.
Bio:I've bounced around in northern Georgia all my not-quite-twoscore years, and currently reside with my grandparents and father, working as Receiving Manager at Le Gourmet Chef (a specialty cooking-supply store which actually caters more to the layman than you'd think). While the rest of the details of my life are an intricate tapestry of failure and woe, it's a fairly bland tapestry of failure and woe, so nothing worth writing a ballad over.
I've played D&D in PnP for about six years or so - I've memorized all of the 3.Xe core rules. (I don't have much of a life, what do you want from me?) I've DMed for PnP for about three of those years, and played NWN online for about two and a half - all as a player. I have zero experience DMing NWN, and will be starting that as of now. Hope you enjoy some of it.
GM Style:[/b]
In PnP, my RL friends will say I am the single most ruleslawyering piece of scum to walk the earth, but that I (given proper time and effort) can put up a pretty darn good story. For NWN, my focus is narration. While the characters make the story, I fill in what they can't, adding to the world around them until it lives and breathes - and the players hang on every plot turn as if their characters' lives are as important as their own. As a player, I've had some success with this on other servers - as a DM, my aim is to really bring out the depth and character of the world, in whatever quest I'm running. For now, many of those quests will be -adding- things, rather than building upon existing NPCs/plots, but that's a matter of familiarity with the world.
There's a reason I'm only a tryout/training DM at the moment.
I will ask for skill and ability checks. I will ask for saving throws. I will ask for quite a few dicerolls, and I will expect you to play your abilities(!), alignment(!), and race. While a half-fiend may well have the possibility of being good, you'd better have a DARN good reason if they don't feel the call of the Abyss.
House rules: [/b]
(And yes, I know this makes me seem like a horrible ruleslawyer. In a lot of ways, I am. However, the majority of these are - hopefully - common sense. The rest are my preferences as a DM, and, honestly, as a player... Though you're not obliged to follow my preferences when I'm just a player.
)
I will e'splain...* The Calem rule will always apply:
Stupidity will get you killed.*
You can (and mayhaps will) fail my quests. I won't always hand the answer to you on a silver platter, though of course my earlier quests will be simpler.
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Your actions have consequences. I'll not shy away from Booting from Grace a Paladin who gets his kicks slaughtering children, to give an extreme example.
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You are expected to play your abilities and alignment. While the INT 20 wizard could likely chew through puzzles that the INT 6 orc would blink mutely at, that same wizard (whose CON is on par with the orc's brainmeats) won't likely keep up a jog so long as our CON 18 greenskin. Don't expect to continue to be considered Good if you kill a terrified and cowering being, goblinoid or not.
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Metagaming is a very bad idea. Not only are many things that glow blue actually very hostile, many things that glow red aren't going to hurt you one bit. Acting purely based on the names of creatures will also frustrate me.
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Refrain, as much as possible, from public-channel (i.e. not in Tells) OOC when on my quests. One of my aims is immersion. Hard to get that when says "lol guitar hero is the bomb" (which is admittedly very true
). I can understand the occasional //afk bio, or //oh, rats, got to log - good luck!, but needless chatter's kinda rough.
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Don't abuse the NWN system. There are a lot of things different in NWN from PnP - pacing, for one. AI (or lack thereof) for another. If you abuse things that NWN allows, that wouldn't be possible in a realistic system, the system WILL abuse you back. Hard.
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If you plan to do something that could have serious consequences, emote it, or at least let me know beforehand. I've been on a quest or two where a player decided he'd kill THE major NPC. So he just right clicks and attacks, then runs off, without letting any of the players, OR THE DM know about it. There were several characters close enough by that should have had the opportunity to attempt to reflexively stop this guy... But this putz decided to ruin it for everyone. This goes hand-in-hand with Don't abuse the system.
And finally...
No, there is too much. I will sum up.*
To sum it up, RP is expected. I will never penalize you for typing an action out - whether it's doing a detailed search of an area, lunging suddenly for someone's throat, or any other action that your character carries out. Now, admittedly, if the quest idea is "take the box to Alvar," I'll expect you to actually take the box to Alvar, but you (hopefully) get the jist.
Many things can be done just as well by emoting and dicerolls - often better. The DM client allows me to bring about the effects of those emoted actions, so don't limit yourself to what NWN can do on its own!
Think
outside the screen.
That's enough for now. Let's get to the game.
Edit: Yes, I realize that it should technically be that a half-fiend would feel the call of the Hells (lawful), rather than the Abyss (chaotic). Shush.
*Starts working on the various extended voice commands.*
