>be DM >setting up an ambush in a tavern >player rolls

>>48980569
shit I meant a nat 20 on a spot

That player spots them?

If the ambush was too difficult for them to spot even by rolling a 20, I wouldn't have made them roll.

>>48980569

person who rolls nat 20 automatically at top of initiative sheet

OR

Let him get attacks of opportunity even though he'd usually be flat footed in an ambush situation

To spot what? What's with this vague horseshit?

"Shit dog, you're rolling the wrong dice."

>>48980569
Other than saves and attack rolls, 20s have no special qualities. If he rolls a 20 with a +5 it is the same as someone rolling a 10 with a +15. All that matters is beating the DC.

They spot the ambush

Although technically
>>48980671
Is correct.

>>48980569
Depends on what the player's Perception modifier is and what the ambush's Stealth check is.

Because this really needs to be beaten into the heads of some of the stupider greentexters here:

NATURAL 20s ARE NOT MAGIC.
NATURAL 20s ARE NOT MAGIC.
NATURAL 20s ARE NOT MAGIC.

Rolling a natural 20 with +5 perception is THE SAME FUCKING THING as rolling a natural 10 with +15 perception.

>>48980649
This. Not every nat 20 needs to be some "LOL so epic you actually discovered their ambush before they entered the town so I'm going to let you ambush them" thing. I mean if it involves removing the last hit point or wound from an enemy or some sort of diplomatic check I might think of something suitably epic to describe but even then I'm not going to chance what happens in the rules unless I have a reason to.

>Fighter spams a ton of attacks on an enemy last one is a natural 20 and kills them
>Fighter effortlessly dashes around the opponent slicing them apart with precise cuts, severing tendons, major blood vessels, and puncturing organs. As the enemy attempts to regroup the fighter drives their blade under the chin of their opponent and into their skull, withdrawing their blade as their foe crumples to the ground.

"You suddenly realise that everyone around you is armed and they know you know."

File: welcome to die!.jpg (142KB, 422x422px) Image search: [Google]

142KB, 422x422px

>>48980569
Initiative and surprise are both rolled with a d6 in ACKS. I tell him to roll the correct die (1d6) to determine surprise, albeit at -1 because ambushes suck like that.

>>48981501
>"You suddenly realise that everyone around you is armed and they know you know."
Also this. It's kind of an awkward moment before you roll initiative.

>Fighter walks in
>Nat 20 spot check
>You notice that although there are plenty of people in the bar nobody is talking, no food is on any table, no drinks are served, and everyone appears to be on edge.
>You notice one customer give some kind of signal.
>Roll initiative at advantage.

>>48980569

NOT

TODAY

>>48981185

I find it way more fun when they are magic.

>>48980569
>what do you say?
Why are you rolling a d20? This isn't D&D sport.

>>48980569

They're discovered and the players get initiative in the cycle of actions.

>>48980569
What the player was spotting exactly?

Because if players declared shit in tune "I spot for traps/ambush/valuables" - they can roll nat 40 and still see shit.

>>48980569
>>player rolls a nat 20
a nat 20 to do what?

>>48981185
I like it better as a guaranteed success. It's more fun

>>48981501
>>48981531
if it were me, i'd either call off the encounter and make it a negotiation, or just not give the enemy whatever surprise round they would have gotten

>>48980569
That depends. Did I tell the player to make the roll or did he just declare that he was rolling ?

If I told him to roll something, see >>48980671


If he declared that he was rolling something (eg, spot) just before I tell the players to roll that same thing, the roll counts. See above.

If he rolled the dice without me asking him to, and I wasn't planning to ask ask him to roll for whatever he rolled, I'm ignoring the result. But I might make a show of taking note of it.

If he rolled the dice before declaring what he was rolling for, I will tell him that the roll doesn't count.

>>48980657
The pricks attempting to ambush the party

>>48980569
>You become aware of every ambush that ever occurred and will occur across infinite parallel universes. The rush of knowledge is too much for your mortal brain to handle, so you explode into a fine mist. Roll a new character. LOL NAT 20 AMIRITE!

ITT: CUNTS.

>>48980655
This is good.

>>48985663
more like
>ITT: /tg/ backseat GMs again, except most people here are incompetent as both GMs and players

Usually GMs who come here are in the right if they stick to their gut instinct. Every now and then you have someone who enters knowing he fucked up, but that's just part of improv. If you're good at improv, you know to trust your gut, but sometimes you try something and you know immediately you can't pull it off and should have done something else, and are simply asking how to fix the situation.

>>48981709
"DM" at least implies D&D of some kind.

>>48980569
Does a result of 20 plus their modifier beat the Stealth roll of the ambushers? If yes, then that player sees the ambush in time and gets to act in the surprise round. If not, then they don't.

The fuck kind of question is this, have you not even read the rules?

>>48983792
You are the kind of DM that everybody hates. Please never run a game again.

>>48980569
Well, lots of things happen. First I say "woe great roll anon!" Because it really is and it should be noted. Then I roll some dice behind my screen. Now, i do this a lot, for random shit - what mood a shopkeep is in, what colour a person's hair is, the weather forecast, etc
Sometimes i just roll dice around meaninglessly. Net result, the players never know what the fuck I'm doing or if dice rolls mean anything, which increases tension.

Now, a 20 on a skill check isn't an auto success. However because I am not an asshole, I will have determined what the enemies ambush/hide DC is already. I may impose modifiers based on time of day, whether or not the players are alert and wary (if they're rolling spot checks before going into a tavern, they probably are). IF this players 20 + skill modifier surpasses the detection dC, I give them something -you notice the tavern seems eerily still and quiet from the outside, as if all behind the door was taut and motionless. Or, you notice the glint of polished metal in torchlight playing on the floor through the crack of the door, or out a window. Maybe they hear men shuffle quietly.

If the skill check does not beat the DC, I look at them, smile, and say "you don't notice anything unusual right now"

Then I drink their fear

Have them realize an ambush is about to occur and can act in the surprise round.

Add in some fluff like, "you notice one of the patron's hands reach for something at his waist. Another is slowly encroaching on the door. A third has been cutting the same slice of meat for almost 5 minutes, and the bartender looks anxious about something. By themselves it isn't too suspicious, but seeing this all at once gives you the sudden realization of a rat in a trap as the metal arm is about to swing down and slam into it."

>>48987266
20s do not create automatic success except with saves and attack rolls.

>>48987035
>congratulating a guy for random chance that he had no control over

why though

>>48987370
Are you even a human being? Or are you just autistic?

"Where'd you get a d20 from bro?

Roll the fucking 3d6 already."

>>48987450
I don't know man. All I think of when people cheer for dice rolls is people cheering when they were the lucky 1,000,000 visitor to a webpage, and now they get to click here for a prize.

>>48987470
Good post retard.
>using "DM" outside of D&D

>>48987477
Well if there are stakes involved, like with rolling any dice, people feel tension. That tension is resolved in a positive way so people have a positive reaction.
If there is no tension, an unlikely roll coming out of nowhere surprises people in a good way. That is if the players aren't depressed or devoid of all emotion.
When something like that happens near you and you care about the person a similar reaction occurs: it's called empathy.
Even if you don't like the person but are the DM you still feel something as you are in some way responsible for that player or engaged in a game.

Reason has nothing to do with it, healthy people have something called emotions. Humans evolved to feel good things when good things happen to them and etc.

Is that clear enough?

>>48981646
I laud your approach to gaming. I laughed very very hard.

File: laughing freedoms.png (23KB, 657x600px) Image search: [Google]

23KB, 657x600px

>>48987503
>b-but this word is exclusive to MY system, nobody else is allowed to use it! waaah!

>>48988106
"Dungeon Master" is trademarked you know.

http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4805:5ayxln.2.7

>>48980569
>trying to ambush your players

stop

>>48981691

"Fun" is not an indicator of quality.

File: images.png (5KB, 224x225px) Image search: [Google]

5KB, 224x225px

>>48988267
あなたはこれが餌であることを知っていますか?

>>48980569

>"OH GEEZE I WONDER IF WE WILL GET AMBUSHED IN THIS TAVERN HERE, FOLKS. BOY IT WOULD BE VERY UNFORTUNATE IF WE WERE ATTACKED WHILE HAVING A GOOD TIME, AM I RIGHT OR AM I RIGHT?"
>Do this while looking at the specific direction of the ambush

>>48988190
But that doesn't stop it being a generic term understood by the subculture here. Not using it INA published book =/= not using it as casual shorthand for "guy who runs the game".

File: vc ambush rules.png (27KB, 472x130px) Image search: [Google]

27KB, 472x130px

>>48988230
>allowing PCs to always dictate the terms of the engagement

You must run fun games when you don't even change the structure of an encounter.

>>48980569
That depends at which stage of the ambush you allow him to make a spot hidden check. As the trap is about to spring or way ahead?

>>48988441
except that a "guy who runs the game" is more accurately the "Game Master," which is the general term used within the rulebook of most other systems.
"Dungeon Master" explicitly specifies the type of game being run (dungeon crawls) and implicitly specifies the system being used.

There's a difference between using language poorly, but still passing on the intended meaning, and using language correctly. See: "broken" languages. If a woman approaches you with "me so horny me very good time," you can tell she's a prostitute, but you can also tell that she's probably doing the work out of desperation, because she has no other way to make money. She probably won't be as good a lay as a secretary who "works" evenings because she wants some excitement in her life.

>>48980569

It's a skill check dingus. You don't crit skillchecks.