Attack of Oppurtunity #1
One of the most difficult tasks in life is breaking into an established group. When you add breaking into a group of the opposite gender and not knowing the rules, it starts to sound impossible. That's what most "girls" experience when they start playing Dungeons and Dragons. My personal experience was better than most I've heard. However, there is something I've noticed in almost every group I have observed: lack of respect for new blood. It is easy to get set in your ways, to think "this is the way it's always been done." Male or female, the newbie will still get a jaded glance if they question the set rules of the group. I have this advice: Let them question you. Listen to them. Step back for a second. Has your game play seemed stale? Are you as excited about it as you were when your group started? That's what I'm here to question. This is where I'm going to air those strange new ideas from newcomers to the game, so that the older players might see something they're doing, and try to get out of bad habits. So I haven't played that much, I'm still planning my first campaign as a DM because I want to see what some of my ideas will do. The first tip I offer: Don't kill my cat. I'm currently playing a druid with a dire lion as her animal companion. My lion is my weapon, with a much higher attack rating than I could hope to have with my shortspear, and a much lower armor class than anyone else in the party. Anala, the lion, has almost died in all but one adventure she's been in. This druid was written around the cat, and would likely die as a result of a grief-stricken rage against what killed her companion. The result would be two character deaths. What purpose would that serve? Sure, I'd be reminded I was mortal. Yes, it would be easy to ressurect us and we'd only lose a level. Bt we would lose abilities, spells, and XP. What a frustrating and completly boring story element. D&D was written tohelp groups create stroies. So apply some Intro to Creative Writing to character death. Would it enhance your story to deal with this death? Would the character stay dead? How would they be ressurected? Dying and coming back wthout story reprecussions serves no purpose but to anger the player. Sure, a random dungeon crawl can kill a character that was made for a Saturday worth of roleplay. But if you're playing a long lasting campaign meant to span months, then think about where this is going to affect you a month down the road. If it won't, then why are you doing it? A Dungeon Master should not be a rulebook or an unmoving force. Villians and monsters shouldn't be created just to be strong enough to kill the characters because the DM wants to prove something. Threat of death is fine, a challenge is fun. But as a DM it is your job to make sure that a character death always serves a purpose to the story. The DM is a storyteller whose characters talk back. Remember the story, and don't kill my cat.
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