Best way to vet players...

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HWalsh
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Best way to vet players...

Unread post by HWalsh »

So I'm thinking of doing a new Roll 20 campaign for Rifts, but I'm not sure I want to deal with the headache of players combing through a bazillion books to find the absolute best gear available or, alternatively, pestering me for crazy over powered monstrosities.

Why would someone in a North America game themed around protecting small communities and dealing with things like Deebee threats, CS patrols, and Rogue Glitterboy pilots want to play a Titan or a Demigod or a Kittani Refugee from Atlantis?

Your guess is as good as mine to be honest, but dear lord does it happen.

I'm thinking of asking people to stick only.to content found in RUE at the time of creation.

So how do you vet your players and reign in that level of insanity?
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Slight001
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Re: Best way to vet players...

Unread post by Slight001 »

Why? Because power is tempting no matter the 'setting'?

The first step is limiting the books and setting down clear guidelines that ALL of the players abide by. Most importantly no picking a single, or select group of, 'trusted' 'better' player(s) for a class/gear/spell/power that you wouldn't give to the stranger off the street. That last bit is a pet peeve and a strong reason I don't play much anymore.

Doing this goes a long way to making the players understand that they are not in a competition with each other. Also make sure it isn't a GM vs Player situation as that can quickly compel the players to hunt for that 'mythical' superitem/power that will let them survive/beat you rather then just enjoy the game and story.
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Re: Best way to vet players...

Unread post by eliakon »

Since Palladium is basically unplayable with out house rules I have formally written up most of my house rules and rulings.
This has allowed me to share them with people and show them exactly how I have ruled on various things at the start.
One of the things I have in it is that I have already listed out what races/classes/spells/super powers/whatnot that are banned, and what are restricted in my games.
I have also made it clear what I expect for people in the way of picking gear, skills, spells and the like
And I have formally enshrined my "Gander Rules" so that it is clear

The result is that players have a clear idea ahead of time what sort of GM I am, and combined with my tendency to write out a 'spec sheet' for my games what sort of game I will be running.
This helps cut down on 'mismatch' greatly.
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Re: Best way to vet players...

Unread post by Colonel_Tetsuya »

Well, the Titan fits SQUARELY into your campaign... as they wander around protecting the innocent.

So... not the best example in that one. As for the rest...

Dont disagree. Just limit what books people can use, and limit races to “you can play it if it is in RUE” - so.. Humans, Dragons, Psi-Stalkers and Dog Boys.
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Re: Best way to vet players...

Unread post by Father Goose »

On roll20 it's easy. People post their character for consideration before they are permitted to enter the game. Any character that doesn't fit is rejected. If your guideline are clearly posted and you maintain a "first come, first serve" it should be easy to weed out problems.
taalismn wrote:Hey, you came up with a novel, attention-getting idea, you did the legwork, you worked it through, you made it fit the setting, even though initial thought might be 'nah, it can't work, it's too silly/stupid/lame', and you posted something that only required a little adjustment, yet can be added to, without diluting its original concept. How can we not give you due support and credit?
HWalsh
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Re: Best way to vet players...

Unread post by HWalsh »

Father Goose wrote:On roll20 it's easy. People post their character for consideration before they are permitted to enter the game. Any character that doesn't fit is rejected. If your guideline are clearly posted and you maintain a "first come, first serve" it should be easy to weed out problems.


You would think that, but even when I put up very clear guidelines I get inundated with requests for the most ridiculous silly stuff.

Titans, demigods, rogue kittani, demons, anti-monsters (anything from SA2 it seems) it just gets overwhelming over time.
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Re: Best way to vet players...

Unread post by Father Goose »

HWalsh wrote:
Father Goose wrote:On roll20 it's easy. People post their character for consideration before they are permitted to enter the game. Any character that doesn't fit is rejected. If your guideline are clearly posted and you maintain a "first come, first serve" it should be easy to weed out problems.


You would think that, but even when I put up very clear guidelines I get inundated with requests for the most ridiculous silly stuff.

Titans, demigods, rogue kittani, demons, anti-monsters (anything from SA2 it seems) it just gets overwhelming over time.


I can appreciate that. I would post clear guidelines and with those guidelines I would make a statement to the effect that any submission not conforming to the posted guidelines will be ignored.
That way, you don't have to fret about the people who can't follow directions.
I know it's not a perfect answer, but it should act as a filter of sorts.
taalismn wrote:Hey, you came up with a novel, attention-getting idea, you did the legwork, you worked it through, you made it fit the setting, even though initial thought might be 'nah, it can't work, it's too silly/stupid/lame', and you posted something that only required a little adjustment, yet can be added to, without diluting its original concept. How can we not give you due support and credit?
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Re: Best way to vet players...

Unread post by Hotrod »

HWalsh wrote:So I'm thinking of doing a new Roll 20 campaign for Rifts, but I'm not sure I want to deal with the headache of players combing through a bazillion books to find the absolute best gear available or, alternatively, pestering me for crazy over powered monstrosities.


Setting some clear guidelines from the outset would be useful here. You could limit the character class and initial equipment selection to a particular faction, a particular book or set of books. If you really want to keep a tight control on character creation process, you could just create your own library of characters and let the players choose from them.

HWalsh wrote:Why would someone in a North America game themed around protecting small communities and dealing with things like Deebee threats, CS patrols, and Rogue Glitterboy pilots want to play a Titan or a Demigod or a Kittani Refugee from Atlantis?

Your guess is as good as mine to be honest, but dear lord does it happen.


Consider the problems your players will be dealing with. Many Debee threats are insanely powerful. CS patrols of more than a couple of grunts bring serious firepower. Glitterboys can take out most dismounted people in a single shot. Any of those can pose an existential threat to most parties. The published books are chock full of high-level mega damage threats that will paste an average person with little to no effort. Even the human N.P.C.s in the books tend to come with implausibly high stats, equipment that I'd never let a character start with, and combinations of skills, powers, and perks that are straight-up illegal or unavailable to the player characters.

Consider that point about the N.P.C.'s you find in the books. That's the measuring stick against which your players will measure their characters. Your players want their characters to be able to take on and defeat mundane threats without a major risk of death. They also want to be able to go up against those N.P.C.'s with a decent chance of winning. Beyond that, most players want a character who is interesting to play. So let's look at the classes you describe.

Titans tend to wander around and protect the innocent, so the role you describe is quite plausible for them. Demigods may take a similar approach depending on their background (and are they really that much more powerful than, say, a dragon hatchling?), and Kittani Refugees are quite plausible in a North America game. This is a fairly high-power group you're describing, and scaling up your adventures to meet that threat isn't difficult. What's hard is when you have wildly disparate ability levels within the same party (vagabond + demigod, for instance)

HWalsh wrote:I'm thinking of asking people to stick only.to content found in RUE at the time of creation.

So how do you vet your players and reign in that level of insanity?


Frankly, I think you can still have the problems you mention with your "RUE only" approach. How do you pair up a Dragon Hatchling with a C.S. Grunt? Both from a "don't let any character become too dominant" perspective and a "try to keep things plausible within the context of the setting" perspective, it's a nonsensical combination.

Instead, I'd give your group some guidelines like these:

+"This is a Coalition-centric campaign. Please keep your race selections to Human, Psi-Stalker, or Dog Boy, and limit your starting weapons and armor to old-style, standard-issue Coalition gear in RUE."

+"I intend to GM adventures in which your characters' non-combat abilities, skills, and characteristics are more important than how well they can defeat enemies in a fight. I try to reward players who find creative ways to avoid combat when possible. Players should avoid races, equipment, and abilities that would tend to attract attention."

+"All characters will all hail from the same Millennium Tree community in Rifts: England. OCCs available include the druid O.C.C.'s from that book, Mystic Herbologist, Wilderness Scout, most psychic O.C.C.'s, and other magic O.C.C.'s subject to my approval. Optional races are humans and ogres. Starting weapons and body armor are the weakest, most basic Triax exports. Vehicles will begin as horses with no high-tech augmentation."

+"I'm creating adventures set in the Chi-Town Burbs where the player characters are living the long wait to be admitted in. All characters will be normal humans with no more than major psionics, and players should choose O.C.C.'s or equipment that is unlikely to attract un-wanted attention from the Coalition authorities. Suggested O.C.C.'s are City Rat, Cyber-Doc, Rogue Scholar, Rogue Scientist, Juicer, Operator, Vagabond, and Headhunter. I may allow other OCCs on a case-by-case basis."

+"Players in this campaign will be working as agents for Northern Gun, making arms sales, demonstrations, deliveries, and dealing with thieves/delinquent payers. There will be a heavy emphasis on high-tech combat and cooperative tactics. Player characters will all hail from Ishpeming and should be human or a similar S.D.C. debee with no intrinsic major powers. Most OCCs from the Northern Gun books are acceptable, as are high-tech fighting classes like Headhunter, Borg, Robot Pilot, or other mercenary soldier class. Other classes that compliment such classes (operator, psi-tech, cyber-doc) are also welcome. Starting equipment is all Northern Gun."
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Re: Best way to vet players...

Unread post by Shorty Lickens »

You vet players by playing with them.

You vet characters by looking over their sheet well in advance of the session.
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Re: Best way to vet players...

Unread post by Incriptus »

Hotrod wrote:Instead, I'd give your group some guidelines like these:

+"This is a Coalition-centric campaign. Please keep your race selections to Human, Psi-Stalker, or Dog Boy, and limit your starting weapons and armor to old-style, standard-issue Coalition gear in RUE."

+"I intend to GM adventures in which your characters' non-combat abilities, skills, and characteristics are more important than how well they can defeat enemies in a fight. I try to reward players who find creative ways to avoid combat when possible. Players should avoid races, equipment, and abilities that would tend to attract attention."

+"All characters will all hail from the same Millennium Tree community in Rifts: England. OCCs available include the druid O.C.C.'s from that book, Mystic Herbologist, Wilderness Scout, most psychic O.C.C.'s, and other magic O.C.C.'s subject to my approval. Optional races are humans and ogres. Starting weapons and body armor are the weakest, most basic Triax exports. Vehicles will begin as horses with no high-tech augmentation."

+"I'm creating adventures set in the Chi-Town Burbs where the player characters are living the long wait to be admitted in. All characters will be normal humans with no more than major psionics, and players should choose O.C.C.'s or equipment that is unlikely to attract un-wanted attention from the Coalition authorities. Suggested O.C.C.'s are City Rat, Cyber-Doc, Rogue Scholar, Rogue Scientist, Juicer, Operator, Vagabond, and Headhunter. I may allow other OCCs on a case-by-case basis."

+"Players in this campaign will be working as agents for Northern Gun, making arms sales, demonstrations, deliveries, and dealing with thieves/delinquent payers. There will be a heavy emphasis on high-tech combat and cooperative tactics. Player characters will all hail from Ishpeming and should be human or a similar S.D.C. debee with no intrinsic major powers. Most OCCs from the Northern Gun books are acceptable, as are high-tech fighting classes like Headhunter, Borg, Robot Pilot, or other mercenary soldier class. Other classes that compliment such classes (operator, psi-tech, cyber-doc) are also welcome. Starting equipment is all Northern Gun."


I agree that is probably the best approach, don't ask them to "Justify" there choice, because you can justify nearly anything. Tell them the kind of game you're running, and tell them what you want. Another possible option is to put in place raw mechanical check points.

No weapons that do more than X damage on a burst
No armor with greater than Y MDC
No races with greater than Z MDC/PPE
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