My title sums up my question fairly well, how do the rest of you who GM games handle prolonged games with high level players?
I currently am running a game that has spanned the bulk of my college years, with roughly the same group as I started, and some players are up to around 500 earned xp, while others are roughly 400. We have gone through a number of campaign arcs beginning in the years before and after phantom menace extending to current in the early to mid clone wars, and so far they haven't gotten bored enough to cease. So I am l left with the problem of NPC's from the books that are wholly under powered for my high level players, who also barring campaign reasons have pretty decent well modded gear. I've come up with some ways to manage to keep Nemesis level fights interesting, but I was curious what the rest of the GMs on this board do to keep high level games interesting.
High Level Games; 300+Xp; How do you keep the balance in Boss fights?
52 minutes ago, wiljamesroe said:how do the rest of you who GM games handle prolonged games with high level players?
Custom NPCs. Lots of Minions. Squad rules to protect the BBEG with the lives of the minions. Status effects (stagger, immobilize, disorient), environmental changes (difficult terrain, hazards that call for resilience/vigilance/discipline checks).
Give the player group a goal beyond just shoot the dudes to death. Sure people are fighting against them but what purpose to the players have in engaging that fight? Are they there to capture someone on the run? Are they trying to save innocent lives? Are they there to do something else and the combat is a distraction for the enemy? This gives them more than 1 goal which means they have to consider their options more thoroughly than just "ok lets just hit the thing til it's down".
Above all, I do not make the player group face 1 NPC, ever. I always make them face another group. Basic action economy says 1 NPC vs a group of 4+ means the NPC is severely disadvantaged, even if that NPC has 36 wound threshold, 10 soak with cortosis weave, coordination dodge with 5 ranks and a disruptor rifle... (speaking from an end campaign experience, group was at 1000xp earned).
17 hours ago, GroggyGolem said:Give the player group a goal beyond just shoot the dudes to death. Sure people are fighting against them but what purpose to the players have in engaging that fight? Are they there to capture someone on the run? Are they trying to save innocent lives? Are they there to do something else and the combat is a distraction for the enemy? This gives them more than 1 goal which means they have to consider their options more thoroughly than just "ok lets just hit the thing til it's down".
This, really. Give the player characters a goal. And not "kill everything". Sure, sometimes "kill everything" is the goal, but if you want it to be interesting, the goal should be "negotiate with the BBEG", "escort the refugees to safety" or "extract a person of interest".
Sure, they can shoot their way to the BBEG…but they won't be willing to listen, since the PCs just massacred the BB's people.
Sure, they can use big guns while escorting the refugees…but the more violence they use, the more violence the opposition will use and will kill a lot of innocents.
Sure, they can shoot their way in to find the VIP. But that means the adversaries are aware of the party and might move the VIP or call in a starship to protect the planet!
31 minutes ago, c__beck said:This, really. Give the player characters a goal.
Just to add to this, the goal should have a clock. Just about every dramatic scene in Star Wars has tension based on the characters having to do X before time Y, or else terrible Z will happen.
Also, 300XP isn't a "high level game". Well, it can be, if your PCs are monolithic one-trick ponies. But if you encourage your players to go for breadth (by shaking up who gets what challenge and ensuring they have to do things outside of their comfort zone) you can play well past 1500 or more. (I only say 1500 because that's as high as we've gone so far, but it's still fine.)
Limit access.
Seriously, go watch Star Wars and tell me how many times is there even a "Boss fight"? How many times does it include more than one player? More than 2 players? There ya go.
That said, you should also be building to the players. If you need an elite bounty hunter or inquisitor you'll find that constructing one tuned to your players abilities will probably yield a more interesting outcome than some generic block yanked from a book.
So, split the party, by mission, story, geography, or injury. Then drop in an opponent tuned to fight them. They big raged fighters? Meet Mr. Defense+Reflect. Melee monsters? Ms. Cortosis Parry should be interesting. Force everything? Cardinal Willpower is an option. All of the above? David Xanatos, nice ta meet ya, I surrender because I win anyway.
42 minutes ago, Ghostofman said:All of the above? David Xanatos, nice ta meet ya, I surrender because I win anyway.
I am glad you're not my GM! lol