Help the new DM

I don't like CC either, and I'm from Norway......

 

As someone who works at a gasstation, I must say creditcards are a blessing. Just swipe the card through, have the customer approve of the amount by pressing 'yes', get their signature, and voila. All done. No getting grannies jar o' pennies, no forgotten PIN codes, no paying a 75 cent piece of chewinggum with a 100 euro bill. (I kid you not)

I just wish they were more common around here... Though personally, as someone who never forgets his PIN, I'm just fine with that system as well.

 

I don't know how exactly the CC works but from what little I know here is an example. Correct me if I am wrong.

Say, I get a credit card. I buy anything I wish(not really anything, since not all shops have a credit card machine). But when I go to the bank to repay the CC, I will pay more than I would if I bought by cash.
And what if someone steals my CC and use it?


Oh, and something else. I am not an adult and my parents are not in favor of CC.

 

Just to clarify what Tal wrote: Not all cards have an annual fee. Some cards require you to pay the full balance every month, others will allow you to pay a minimal amount and carry the balance forward, but charge an interest rate of sometimes astronomical proportions.

My personal card has no annual fee, but charges 12-13% interest monthly, if I have a balance. For that reason, I make sure to pay it off in full every month.

Another option that you may have available to you is a debit card which taps the funds directly from a bank account. I.E. - You can't spend more than you have in the account. If you have a checking or savings account you may be able to get one of these. The laws protecting you in case it is stolen should be similar to the credit card protections.

[EDIT] - Yeah, what BTA said.

 

Is it just me or is this going waaaaay of topic. And even BTA and Tal are into this. Lol.

 

I was just about to suggest a move to Whatnots

 

I had 3 credit cards -- now I am so deep in debt it's not even funny -- I'm about THIS close to declaring bankruptcy. I could blame all sorts of people for this disaster, but I'll be a big man and admit that it was my fault for not controlling what was put on the cards. That's one reason (actually, about 17,359 reasons) not to use a credit card. Of course, it's not the card that's the problem . . .

 

A 17359$ BILL? Man, you are in a greeeeeat trouble.

 

Hmmm. At least you knew you were digging yourself into a pit.
My wife ran up >10,000 before I found out about it when refinancing our mortgage. Then after I paid that down, she ran up another 4000+ which I had to pay down again. It's really hard to trust that she's not doing it again, now.

 

*ahem* my problems also started after I got married:

Average bill for one credit card before marriage: $50

Average bill for one card after marriage: $600

Number of cards before marriage: 1

After: 3 + some store ones.

How easy is it to reason with a woman who "wants the best for the kids": Not very bloody!

How much I want to die every time a bill collector calls: LOTS

But I DID get the cards cancelled. So she can carry the plastic everywhere she goes; she just can't use it!

 

That's good. I am happy I am dating a socialistic g/f that is just like me against all cc in the world. I am all cashy, hands up.

 

Ρθτκοςσκι, ισ τηατ ὕοθ?

Δο υοθ ςαντ με το οπεν α τηρεαδ ιν ΑοΔΑ ορ ΅ηατνοτσ αβοθτ ψρεδιτ ψαρδσ

 

No, I am from Sweden, not Russia.

 

I am fluent in over 6 million forms of communication, that was an imperial code...

Anway mind if I return to the toppic?
A) I keep a black book with records of previous playing session for my players. Next to each note of something they've accomplished, I put a group XP award. I give xp for much more than just killing the monsters. I made the XP system for this up myself. If you are an inspired DM you make a lot of changes and rules yourself to make the game better. Heck, they spit out new versions of D&D handbooks, so no book is godly and unquestionable yet, right? The notebook makes sure you don't forget or accidentally alter what happened in the past too.

Don't give independant XP, give group awards for anything they accomplish as a group. This is an easy way to spot if your players are really into the spirit of roleplaying games or not, if they start complaining a lot. And it gives you more time for game preperation!! . They are a group fightning to repel the forces of evil taht threatens at every corner together. They are not greedy competitiors fighting to get a gain over the other...(Unless you have an evil party. Which can be fun too, but not recommended as a first time DM group.) From what I see it, your gamers aren't really taking their share of the chores. I mean they sneak peaked into your adventure. Don't they want to have fun? If it is not as good an experience as you guys had hoped, it can't be your fault alone.


Random DM suggestions
PS: You have to make up with yourself that preparing adventures and getting a hang of details and rules is just as fun for you as playing the game itself. If you can't, you'll just end beeing a DM doing most things on the fly at each game session. It works, but nothing more. Dungeon masters are creators. Prepartions and making ready for the game sessions are very important aspects of the overall mission. To have good quality time both off and on the set. Good preperations also make it possible to improvise when needed.

PPS: Do yourself a favour and let the game happen in the well established world Faerun. Don't make your own. Toril, the planet on which Faerun is placed, offers many Uncharted settlements for your creative mind. More so, Faerun offers tons of genious twists and plots, you would never have figured out yourself in a few months. Further keep the game in the official timeline. Right now we are around the winther 1372. (year one was the raising of the standing stones by the elves of Cormanthyr and the dalesfolk. The start of the Dalereckoning Calender). Staying with the official planet Toril, and the official calender, makes it so much more easy to adapt official adventures you buy or download legally from semi official fan sites. I tried my own world, it was far obsolete next to Toril settings, once I found out how extremely consistent and faithfull every official or semiofficial piece of material was to the Toril world. It will make adapting random adventures found at random places on the net easier to adapt too.

I could keep talking for ages about good advice for dungeon mastering, but that would be like summing up on more than a decade (Scary number) of dungeon mastering with one gamesession almost every week. I must have had some success, with all the stuff I ramble about

[ June 13, 2003, 15:36: Message edited by: Nobleman ]