Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

I've never played a PnP RPG before, and this is where I'm starting.
I don't really have a group to play with or learn from, I'm winging this on my own as my daughter wants to learn how to play.
I've read through the main guide and all related info....but...I have some possibly stupid questions.

Let me start with a few...

MAPS - So, does only the DM know what the full map looks like? Do the players literally draw their own map based on what the DM is explaining?

MOVEMENT - How do players move? Especially if the above is correct? How does the DM determine how much or little they can advance?

TURNS - How many 'turns' equal one day?

SAVING THROWS - I have to say I still don't quite understand what these are...

Thanks!!

Maps: the DM is the one who draws the maps, at least in the games I've DMed or played in. Only the DM has the full map, and he/she draws a copy for the players.

Movement: in most TTRPGs (table top role-playing games), one square on a piece of graph paper equals 10 feet. Each character and monster has a movement rate, which is usually how many feet they can move in a turn.

Turns: well, each turn equals 10 minutes, so 144 turns equal a day.

Crothall wrote:I've never played a PnP RPG before, and this is where I'm starting.
I don't really have a group to play with or learn from, I'm winging this on my own as my daughter wants to learn how to play.
I've read through the main guide and all related info....but...I have some possibly stupid questions.

Let me start with a few...

MAPS - So, does only the DM know what the full map looks like? Do the players literally draw their own map based on what the DM is explaining?

MOVEMENT - How do players move? Especially if the above is correct? How does the DM determine how much or little they can advance?

TURNS - How many 'turns' equal one day?

SAVING THROWS - I have to say I still don't quite understand what these are...

Thanks!!

Maps - depends on how you want to run your game. Usually the DM has the master map with all the locations numbered and a keyed description but there are DM's that don't use maps. There are DM's that require the players to draw their map as they play and again there are DM's that don't. BFRPG is a system that doesn't require you to use a map but lets you choose to use them if you want to. All you have to do is describe it enough for the player(s) to see it in their mind and let their imagination run with it.

Movement - That is based on what race they are and how much they are wearing and carrying. Combat move is based per round which is about 10 seconds, I kinda forgot which, in time but again the DM could just go descriptive with it and say that the bad guy or creature is about 50 ft away and it would take you 2 rounds to reach it or something like that.

Turns- turns are 10 minutes for counting purposes so you would have to go 6*24 =144 turns per day.

Saving throws = They just represent a chance to reduce or negate a negative effect that could affect the character, example: you have a thief that trips a trap and it is poisoned. They would need to make a save vs poison or be affected by that poison.

Metro, your math doesn't add up. I think you're talking about the number of minutes in a day. Not trying to be offensive or anything. Sorry if I am.

I may be wrong.

Metro's math adds up, but the explanation is a bit rough. In general, I only use turns as a "standard unit" when things that take time (finding traps, searching for secret doors, etc.) are being done. I keep time very roughly in hours, but honestly... they don't have watches, and once in a dungeon they can't use the sun or moon for time, so I intentionally get sloppy about timekeeping.

In my games, my players do most of the map-drawing for themselves. I have a shorthand description method I use with one player who's been in my game forever, and so I mostly draw strange rooms or hallways. This is why I hate "natural" caves.

I don't think his math is incorrect. I think what he calculated isn't the number of turns in a day.

I too hate natural caves.

there are 6 turns in an hour and 24 hours in a day. so its just 6 x 24 which is 144.

To the OP. Don't get overly wrapped up in the rules. The rules are basically just guidelines. Remember playing cowboys and indians in your backyard with your best friends. Well this is the same thing except there is no more, "I shot you first" no "I shot you first". The rules take care of those types of pesky details, but the game is you and your friends (or daughter) using your imagination to just play.

Until recently I had always played that the players draw their own map using the Dungeon Masters description of what they see. But now that I play online on Roll20 where the DM can put the map on the screen, I usually get the map from the DM as he slowly reveals more of it as we explore.

About movement. In my opinion don't worry about it too much as you learn the game, just play and as you learn then start playing it closer to the rules. There are two types of movement rates - normal is when the players are in game and nothing is happening TO them. If you were playing cowboys and indians this is when you are just moseying along across the prairie driving them cattle or walking through town looking for a saloon. This happens in 10 minute increments. If nothing happens in the next hour, then you would just say an hour has past and its getting noon time. Or "You enter the town, its a shabby wooden structure one horse town. People watch you ride in but no one stops you. You reach the front of the saloon. Do you tie up your horses and go in?"

An Encounter rate is when stuff is happening to (or about to happen to) the players. A bunch of indians suddenly appear on the hill next to your herd or the sheriff steps into the street and says, "Crothall, you were told to never come back to this town." Now you are in individual actions taking place in 10 second increments. the player can move anywhere from 10' to 40' (depending on their weight and armor type) and take an action. Or they can run twice that rate and not take an action.

Saving throws are how you find out if a player dies from that snake bite, or that lightning strike, or that stampeding herd of cattle.

Thanks for clearing up my point Hyway.
I'm glad I'm not just horrible at math.

Yeah my math was way off. Sorry I was thinking one thing and typed something else while dealing with 3 other things at the same time.

It's ok. I shouldn't have pointed it out.