Ran 1st session and now have some questions

[Danimal66]

I finally ran my first session last night after buying the Ultimate License and had 5 players connect all of them with free licenses. I have some questions. I should note this is using the purchased D&d 5e PHB and also Hoard module.

1. We ran into some connection issues. One person was fine for 45 minutes, then his game kept disappearing then after 30 minutes was fine again and we didn't do anything. Weird thing is while his game disappeared he was still in the game from my view point. We did use Skype audio with me hosting both FG and Skype so not sure if that was an issue. Also 4 of my players are on Mac's. At another point people lost the map and it took various amounts of time for them all the synch again.

2. I had one person who when he targeted creatures the attacks rolls weren't against the creatures. The weird thing is if he did the targeting and I did the rolls from his sheet it worked. He was the only one having this problem and it drove us nuts trying to figure it out. I basically had to have him drag his attacks etc onto the creature tokens on the map.

3. Using the cast button for spells didn't check off the sorcerer or Warlock spell slots. Simple enough to check them ourselves but I thought I recalled it should do that automatically.

4. One combat encounter took the whole evening using the map. I assume this will get better with experience but the one thing I notice is as DM it' hard to fudge something if the combat is not going the players way.

Probably my biggest issue is figuring out what is automated and what isn't. Example my Paladin cast Seering Smite which is a complex spell in this game for me right now. First he cast it which essentially isn't doing anything with the cast button as far as i can tell.

Then he attacks using normal attack. Then he rolls damage from seering smite spell, then I apply effect from spell entry on to the target a troll. Then on the trolls next turn I was sure I would need to drag the icon off the player sheet to the troll for him to save but the effect automatically expired. I really have no clue if I did that right or why it expired.

I think learning what is automated and what isn't is going to be a huge challenge for me.

[damned]

Hey Danimal66!

Firstly - well done on taking the GM plunge! Kudos to you.

You will have lots of questions. Ask often!

1. Was your player on a WiFi connection? FG can be sensitive to poor quality connections. The players computer might be working "fine" for web browsing or streaming (buffering can hide connection quality issues) but the encrypted data can be much more sensitive.

2. Its possible something was "lost in translation"? Dragging attacks on to tokens on Map or CT has exactly the same effect as targeted attacks. It is a strange one...

3. It does not seem to tick off spell slots.

4. Combat absolutely will get faster. Combat will run quickly once the players and you learn how things work and are prepared when it is your turn.

Spells are incredibly hard to automate. They have so many differing effects, ranges, saves, exceptions etc. Some have some automation. Some have great effects that can be cooupled with them and some need to be handled manually. For this spell at its simplest you might create an effect called "Searing Smite" and add it to the Target so that each roound you will see it and be reminded. Have the player roll 1d6 and drag it to the Modifier box and then do their damage roll.

Do not let the automation (or lack of it as it may be) get in the way or intimidate you. The players will remember that these spells are in effect. The players can roll dice and add them to teh modifiers etc. Effects are very powerful but can be quite daunting. Concentrate on Story and Encounters/Combat first. When you are ready to add some more of the platforms power then try it again. Dont try to "do it all" on your first few sessions

[Griogre]

1) I suggest you don't host Skype and FG at the same time. Skype can be a bandwidth pig and FG needs all the bandwidth it can get when you are sharing maps. Have a player with the best internet connection host Skype or use the free remotely hosted community TeamSpeak server (details in LFG board).

4) If some unfortunate PC has been Crit twice in a row - you can give him a hand, but not be obvious about it, by just giving the monster a -5 to hit before rolling the attack (click the button next to the mod box). Its not perfect because the unfortunate might still get crit again but it will usually cause the monster to miss.

[Andraax]

I had one person who when he targeted creatures the attacks rolls weren't against the creatures. The weird thing is if he did the targeting and I did the rolls from his sheet it worked. He was the only one having this problem and it drove us nuts trying to figure it out. I basically had to have him drag his attacks etc onto the creature tokens on the map.

I bet he had his "roll against targets" turned off. There is a targeting reticle in the upper left corner of the modifiers box to turn targeting on or off.

one thing I notice is as DM it' hard to fudge something if the combat is not going the players way.

Turn off your targeting, then make your rolls. If you don't like the result, do it again, until you get one you like. Then, drag that roll onto the player's token. The players don't see any difference (other than some extra shadow dice, but if you're doing some extra hidden dice rolls all the time anyway, the players quickly start to ignore those). You can also have a few extra rolls done "ahead of time" and just scroll back to one of those and drag / drop it.

I think learning what is automated and what isn't is going to be a huge challenge for me.

Just takes time and experience.

[Danimal66]

Wow great tips, thank you.

[damned]

Oh yeah - another thing you can do if the combat isnt going the way you want it to - manually increase or decrease the monsters HP and you can also manually increase/decrease their combat effectiveness.

[GunnarGreybeard]

1) I suggest you don't host Skype and FG at the same time. Skype can be a bandwidth pig and FG needs all the bandwidth it can get when you are sharing maps. Have a player with the best internet connection host Skype or use the free remotely hosted community TeamSpeak server (details in LFG board).

I would second this. Definitely have a a different players than the GM host the Skype part.

[Danimal66]

Sorry for bumping my own thread. One other issue I encountered with the purchased Hoard module is the npc / monster tokens came in really large. Several people told me to make sure Map Grids are on. Aren't the maps in the purchased modules set with grids? It was no problem just resizing the tokens but I'm clearly not understanding something.

[Nylanfs]

Or you know, use the user supported TS server.

[damned]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjtnAhWkaSQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx7CtPsdNbA