Kränted Powers

I think it would give some nice flavour to a campaign if each of the islands would be known for its own Martial Arts tradition. So, at character creation, 1 …they would get a bonus if the choose the local tradition. 2 …each islands has 2–3 traditions to choose from 3 …the island has only one tradition – they will choose it And then continue like you suggested; finding a new master would be a good objective for an adventurer.

Yes, that sounds reasonable. I think it might be more interesting for the players, if they start with a Martial Arts Tradition of their own home island, and later "collect" the other traditions from other islands.

Aah, ok, I mean this: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/411738/Korolan-Islands-Hero-Wars-in-the-East-Isles--Volume-1?term=korolan+ The campaign seems to be inspired by South Pacific islands like Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti, Bora Bora and New Zealand – something else than "Tolkien Fantasy".

New Korolan Islands campaign book looks pretty interesting and inspiring, especially the Martial Arts Traditions. How do you guys handle "learning different Martial Arts Traditions"? Do you allow players to choose whatever Tradition they want or only the traditions that are available on their home island?

Thanks Alex! I agree. When the synopsis of the encounter is ready, the crucial point is how a Game Master will direct the scene? How will you deliver your story? How do you build tension? How do you make a scene exciting? How do make sure the game is entertaining? How do you make NPCs live on the table? Etc. Just like a movie director who plans how and in what order the story is presented to the audience, the Game Master must direct the roleplay scene. “You are in a 30 x 30 feet corridor. The corridor walls are made of stone. There are four ghouls in the corridor. They are approaching you.” The above description only has the ingredients for directing a scene, but it’s not yet finished. The scene sounds like a board game – you will need to direct it. There are many easy GM techniques that will make the scenes more entertaining. Sometimes the script for the encounter doesn't have to be very clever: it's not what you direct, it's how you direct. In addition to your links, here is another one about directing the game.

Very good point of view. I think the GM is the entertainer and guides the show.

This discussion is getting interesting turn; "talkative players" vs "silent players". Punishing somebody? What is this? One of the Game Master's jobs is to give every player their share of attention. Many silent players are good roleplayers (talking less, creating a memorable character with few words) or creating great ideas for solving challenges. They will get their XPs for that. So are more talkative players too. Who will define; who is too talkative or too silent? I think this kind of a problem is somewhere else than the rules or the XP system. One of the Game Masters' Black Belt techniques is to guide the style of the play by rewarding XPs.

No worries, as you mentioned, this works nicely for our group of RPG veterans from the '80s. I recall that the box-ticking mechanic resulted in players desperately trying to use every skill during a session. And if you ROLEplayed well ("created memorable character with recognizable persona"), we did not know how to reward that. At least, this was a roleplaying game and not a board game, right? 😉 And some players got annoyed because he always came up with the plan while others waited until it was time to roll the Attack dice. Then… …we bought WFRP 1st edition and our eyes opened wide. The XP system endorsed different kinds of roleplaying than just …skill checks. Anyways, RQ III+ is my favorite game engine.

Moro! I think this is not so complicated at all. XP system is just like playing WFRP in Good Ol' '80s. Player "acts" using the logic of his PC in given circumstances. Yes, I got the idea. I have never had that kind of a problem. We have always solved them. I encourage my players to creative roleplaying – the stats of the character (or the game mechanics) will limit the actions. This is very simple: e.g. the party is attacking a tower. The objective is to conquer the tower. The battle will occur, bloodshed is inevitable. The defender is ready. Then, one of the PCs gets an idea of how to make the defenders surrender and open the gate without bloodshed. XP is rewarded for the PC for the great idea for meeting the objective. This was a very "Dnd-ish" sample. Nowadays, when our games (or plots) are more like Game of Thrones (compared to DnD Hack'n'slash -style), the roleplaying is much more creative. The solution is not to "deal a ridiculous amount of damage". It is more like diving deep into the motivations, needs, and weaknesses of NPCs/monsters and manipulating the situation with those elements.

Yes, I understand. I think the opposite way – it is not fair to punish the players who actively participate and contribute to the story, only if one of the players happens to be the more passive type of a player. Rewarding the players for many various things gives them more options to "shine". I have good experience with rewarding; a silent guy who used to solve all the challenges nowadays seems to enjoy bringing his character to live on the table etc. And sometimes the challenge is solved without any dice or skill rolls. Then the reward system works nicely. But, hey, everybody has their own style.

Sorry, I didn't explain it. I wrote it on some other topic…, here we go: We've been using opposed rolls like this: the one who succeeds better wins. Attk skill 80 > "60" (D100) = +20Def skill 50 > "29" (D100) = +21, defender wins.Or even when failing:Attk skill 80 > "90" (D100) = -10Def skill 50 > "59" (D100) = -9, defender wins.And of course, Special will win Normal Success and Critical win Special. If it is a tie with 2 Specials, the higher skill wins. So, the player can use points from the XP Pool to increase the level of success after the roll. So, if you lost your Attack roll vs the Enemy's Dodge roll by 5 %, you can use 6 points from XP Pool to win. But, it will never change you Normal Success to Special or Critical. You can use it only to increase the difference between numbers. I don't usually like the "Pools", but this seems to work, and the players like it. It's kind of Fate point, which is nice. There was a situation once, where the players were fighting each other …and that was exciting because the players saw each other's Pools getting used, hit by hit.

How do you award players for good roleplaying? or good ideas?

I'd like to hear your house rules for XP. I'll share mine: Instead of box-ticking, we use a system similar to WFRP (1st ed) in our RQ campaign. After a session the players are rewarded XPs: 3 pts for joining the game 1–3 pts for roleplaying your character 1–3 pts for ideas that solved challenges 1–3 pts for surviving "a scene" 1 pt for the best D100 roll in a session (this rule is for our board gamers) 1 pt for beating an enemy (physical or social combat) + 2 pts for each player who voted you as "The Best Player" of the session. (The Best = best acting, best description, best idea, etc) After collecting all the points, the player continues with the normal advancement system of RQIII (rolling D6 for the amount of the increase and D100 for successful increase), with exceptions: you can increase whatever skill you want (yes, unlogical sometimes, but fun) and you do not lose any XPs; the points "lost" in unsuccessful increase, will be collected in XP Pool. Points in XP Pool will be used later to increase the level of success (skill rolls). The players seem to enjoy the system very much. And your system?

Yes, I don't know if there's any real-life logic there – sometimes a competitor who fails less might win. 😉 Anyway, it has saved time a lot.