Overwatch gameplay settings and a few quick tips

Overwatch menu options, gameplay settings and a few quick tips

I don't claim to be GOOD at the game, or anything, but I can hold my own in the matchmaking.  These tips are from my own matches, and from watching through Seagull's twitch video archives (https://www.twitch.tv/a_seagull).  Most of these are questions and answers that he answers about two or three times every hour or so.

• Enable kill feed.  This shows who kills who, and when, in the top right of your screen.  No one knows why this is turned off by default. gameplay>kill feed display>on
• Disable windows mouse acceleration.  This may already be off in the Overwatch settings, which supposedly use raw mouse input, but it is useful for any PC gamer who doesn't know about it.  Here are instructions and even a tool that can do it automatically for you.  http://donewmouseaccel.blogspot.com/2010/03/markc-windows-7-mouse-acceleration-fix.html
• You can customize the crosshairs, globally and individually hero-by-hero.  You can change the crosshair color, such as to green for contrast on more backgrounds.  You can also change the shape, such as to a dot for easier aiming.  You can turn on or off the crosshair bloom, to show the weapon spread or recoil.  These are customizable globally or hero-by-hero, if you would like. controls>reticle>bloom/type/color
• Increase your FPS as much as you can, lowering your graphics settings if necessary for better performance.
• • You can view your FPS and performance stats by enabling the following video>display performance stats
• You can switch voice chat from "push to talk" to "always on", if you are grouped with a few friends but also matching up with random people. sound>voice chat mode>push to talk/always on
• You can turn "skirmish while finding match" on or off.  Some love it, some find it annoying. gameplay>skirmish while searching>on/off
• melee key <default is V>
• crouch key <default is CTRL>.  Crouch walking mutes your footsteps.
• Stand on the objective on defense, as well as offense.  This can push the timer back on assault, and halt or move the payload backwards on escort.  On offense, having more people on the payload moves it faster, and the payload also provides passive healing to nearby heroes.
• Shoot the shields.  A Reinhardt shield has 2000 HP, and a Winston bubble only has 600.  You can break them, but not if you don't shoot at them.  (Do NOT shoot the Zarya shields.  This gives her energy!!)

The following are general gameplay tips.  You can learn these much more in-depth by playing the game, watching streams, watching youtube guides, and playing the game.

• Learn the maps
• • map paths and chokepoints
  • locations of health packs
  • how yourself and enemy heroes can move around the map
• Learn the heroes
• • Movement abilities, map-specific movement options
  • • Genji double / triple jump plus dash, genji/hanzo wallclimb
    • Junkrat, Pharah, Soldier 76, Bastion during tank-mode, and a few others have rocket jumps
    • Lucio wallrun.  Also note that his speedboost amp it up is one of the most powerful abilities in the game with proper team coordination
    • May's walls can let you reach some interesting places if you cast them below yourself or an ally.
  • Unique game settings for particular heroes.  controls>click the 'all heroes' tab> view an individual hero A few examples:
  • • Mercy guardian angel and healing beam targeting options
    • Soldier 76, Zarya, and others should enable viewing allied health bars (off by default for some reason)
    • Widowmaker's zoom reduced sensitivity is adjustable
  • Some heroes have unique headshot / critical locations, notably Bastion's glowing back panel when he is in Configuration: Sentry.
• Learn the audio queues
• • You can hear enemy footsteps (and mute yours by crouching)
  • The same goes for gunshots or other attacks.  You can hear them hitting or missing and determine enemy locations.  For this reason, sometimes, spamming from long-range will give away your position in a negative way, even if you do hit for a few damage with it.
  • Enemy ultimate audio cues are louder than teammate ultimates.  Hearing them can give you time to change tactics, such as knowing that Widowmaker has activated Infra-Sight and the enemy team can see through walls as you move around corners.
• Be willing to switch heroes mid-match
• • You must be able to play something useful to your team in every role (dealing damage, tanking, and supporting).  You almost always need at least one healer and at least one tank that can absorb damage for your team.
  • You don't have to play ALL the heroes, just a selection that can fill all roles.  Something that can take out an entrenched Bastion or Torbjorn turret with its support.  Something that can deal damage at range, something that can skirmish in close quarters.  Something that can flank, or anti-flank.  Something that can provide useful team healing.  Something that can absorb damage for your team.  Something that can deal with enemy snipers.  I specifically avoided the Blizzard default terms "offense / defense / tank / support", as those are not as useful.  There are only three main roles - dealing damage, tanking, and supporting.
  • Different sections or points of particular maps, or whether you are on offense or defense, may necessitate a hero swap.  Don't stick to one hero just because you want to; do what is best for your team, and be flexible!

How to successfully write an LFG submission or application

Constructive criticism for a lot of people trying to find a game. If your LFG post is merely a three-sentence short paragraph, it usually... sucks. A LFG post or application, whether on https://www.reddit.com/r/lfg, https://roll20.net/, or elsewhere should be treated with the same care and attention to detail as a job interview, or a job application.

You need to stand out. You need to prove yourself to be a high-quality and fun person to play with. When I offered to start DMing a game, I flat out ignored the people who sent me a one or two sentence private message, in favor of those that sent a few paragraphs and actually answered the questions I asked in my application post. When I have joined IRL games from reddit that did not cull the weeds at all and accepted any incoming applications, I have had much worse experiences. The games were less fun for me.

Go read the top twenty posts on the LFG new queue, https://www.reddit.com/r/lfg/new. You will see what I mean, how the applications start to blend together, and how the low-effort and high-quality ones differ. Use proper grammar, proper use of paragraphs, sentence breaks, bullet points where appropriate. (How to use reddit's markdown formatting - https://www.reddit.com/wiki/commenting. Reddit Enhancement Suite is also useful, found at https://www.reddit.com/r/enhancement)

Off the top of my head, here are the kinds of things you want to put in a successful LFG post or application:

• Online vs Offline
• Time zone and any key availability. (US West coast / US east coast / Europe; not available weekends / not available weeknights; available during the day; etc)
• Experience level with rpg game systems (5e, 3.5, 4e, PF, Shadowrun, Paranoia, Star Wars, Exalted, Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG, total newbie, etc.)
• Alternatively, the specific game system you are looking to play.
• Looking to join a game as a DM, looking to join a game as a player, looking to start a game as a DM, looking to start a game as a Player, etc.
• What type of game are you looking for? Hack-and-slash diablo style dungeon crawl, mystery and intrigue, high fantasy, horror, theatre and immersive roleplay, Bobo-the-Clown DND where everything is 100% ridiculous and hilarious and random, steampunk, gritty high-danger realism...?
• Why are you awesome? Why do I, reading your post, want to invite YOU to MY game, over the dozens or hundreds of other randoms on the internet? Keep this part brief, but it is important. Show some personality!

Et cetera. Stuff like that. If you are offering to DM, you need to post a little more information to go with the above:

• Information about your world. ONE PARAGRAPH MAXIMUM. Indicate if it is homebrew, an established setting, a published module, etc.
• Questions for your potential players to answer. (This will weed out low-effort versus high-quality applications). Here is an example questionaire I have used to great success - https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/37js39/i_frequently_run_games_for_players_with_no/
• Any basic homebrew rules and restrictions you might be using. EX: No Drow, no Evil characters, minimum cursing allowed in my game because it intended to be PG-friendly, etc.
• What source books are allowed, how open are you to homebrew or customizing races/classes/etc.

I hope all this helps, I hope you find a game! :D

dasbif one-shot ground rules

dasbif one-shot ground rules.

I will refer to my own personal Rule Zero for DND:

> Rule Zero:
>
> All players must play characters who have some kind of in-character reason for both A) being with the party and B) being on the current quest, adventure, and/or campaign. Feel free to play an edgy loner; paranoid hermit; kleptomaniac thief; or ten-pages-of-backstory-guy. However, all players have an obligation to do it in a way that is fun at the table for the rest of the party, too. Discuss this with the group as needed!
>
> All players at the table should be having fun, and if someone is not, that is the only way you can play DND incorrectly.

Some rules and notifications:

• The game will be theater of the mind, no battlemaps/minis/tokens.  If you are confused, ask me to re-explain the scenario.  Short-term rewinds are allowed if you misunderstood something important, and it is my fault!
• If you are getting bored and fidgety and want to move on to another scene (such as if one person is scouting ahead alone for too long), pop up and mention it.  There is a fastforward button (called "exposition") to the narrative if this happens.
• Your character name cannot be something stupid.  I don't enjoy playing what I refer to as 'Bobo The Clown DND'.
• I am the DM.  Please don't roll a check or a save unless I ask you to roll it or it is patently obvious that you need to roll.  Feel free to debate a ruling I make if you have the source at hand, but don't take excessive time to do so.  Look it up while I continue with another player's turn, and point it out to me when it gets back to your turn.  Rule of Cool may override the books.
• If you are new to DND, joining last-minute, and/or cannot build a character in 5e in Roll20 in 30 minutes or less, you can pick one from the premade ones on this list.  https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/character_sheets
• Natural 1's and Natural 20's on any rolls will be autofails/autosuccesses at my discretion.  Sometimes I still need to know your total modified roll, other times good/bad things will happen to the narrative.
• variant human is banned because it is overpowered
• the lucky feat is banned because it is boring
• multiclassing is banned without approval because this is a one-shot and it gives me a headache
• Drow are banned because this is a one-shot and they are a monster race
• Evil characters are banned because this is a one-shot, (unless this is an Evil Session)
• PHB only.  No Unearthed Arcana, DMsguild, SCAG/EE content, etc. and don't even think about asking for a few other homebrew websites that shall not be named.
• No, you may not have a pet _____.  You may not have a permanent pet, mount, animal companion, familiar, hireling, or any other non-spell class feature with its own brain / game statistics without clearing it with me ahead of time.  I call them "PC-NPCs", and I have a personal bias against them, they are rarely fun for me when I DM.  No offense.  But all players at the table should be having fun, and people forget that the DM is a player at the table, too!
• DM inspiration = 1d6 bardic inspiration that you announce you are using BEFORE you roll a D20 for something.  Lasts until used.
• Intimidate and Persuasion are the same skill during character creation, unless you are taking expertise in one or the other.  If you take proficiency in one, you get it in the other as well.  (Chris Perkins suggested this, I figured I would try it out!)
• A reminder that Darkvision is only 60' (the distance from the Pitcher's Mound to Home Plate on a baseball diamond).  If you are standing on the pitcher's mound, you cannot see the backstop at all, and to read the numbers on the batter's uniform will require a perception check with disadvantage.  Darkvision is dim light, black-and-white, and everything is lightly obscured.  This is not even homebrew; this is Rules As Written (PHB page 183-185).  Bring a light source.
• If you are being a dick; If you have other tabs open and are constantly reading or typing; If you spend unreasonable amounts of time whispering me or the other players; If you are playing with your phone; or if you are otherwise unreasonably distracted by other things within your own control, you may be asked to leave. 
• Please close all unnecessary and unrelated extra tabs and turn off your phone, as if you are at the theatre with someone you really want to impress.

Introduction to DMing

So, you have expressed interest in becoming a DM?  Wonderful!  Here are a few introductory tips.  At the bottom of the page I have posted a load of resources I personally use, or recommend for you to use to do more research.

It is easier than some people imagine it is.  Being a Dungeon Master.  The rules are merely guidelines, and can always be bended, altered, or broken in the interests of everyone having fun.  This is stated on the first page of both the Player's Handbook and of the Dungeon Master's Guide.  As long as you are all having fun, you are doing it right!

This advice is written with 5e DND in mind, specifically, but many of the concepts and resources can apply to any RPG system.  In fact, many of the great DMs/GMs recommend playing multiple different games, to be able to draw concepts as a DM from them where necessary in your game.

***

When world building, start small.  Don't try to recreate Exandria or the Forgotten Realms or Middle Earth or Hogwarts from a blank slate.  Start with a single small town, flesh out a few shops and businesses.  Some key NPCs, anywhere from a handful to a few dozen.  A few key factions, such as a Carpentry Guild or a shadowy underworld of fences and criminals.  Continue worldbuilding as your players explore - don't try to front load it all, or your brain will crash like a computer.  Like an overtired toddler.  Like someone skiing in lava.  Start small, expand it out later.

You don't have to world build at all.  You can just string one free module after another together, or purchase a published adventure, and focus entirely on running your players through those modules/adventures.  Google "list of free DND modules", or search on DMsguild or reddit for some.  I will be recommending reddit a lot.  It is a wonderful resource, even just to look through subreddit wikis for resources and advice.

***

As a new DM, start your first session at level one.  Feel free to reach level three by the end of the third session if you want to accelerate, but start at first level.  I recommend you use milestone leveling, don't award XP.  This takes a lot of strain off of your brain, for your first time out.

Ban all content that is not part of the core rulebooks.  If it isn't in the PHB/MM/DMG, it is not allowed.  Maybe allow official WOTC (Wizards of the Coast) published works, but absolutely no homebrew or classes/races/spells that a player found online.  Some of those websites are not trustworthy, nor balanced or fair.  You can always homebrew that stuff in later.  Don't allow it at the start.

Choose between "theatre of the mind" vs using miniatures and battlemaps.  Use whichever works better for your brain as the DM in combat.  Your players will get used to either one, and both are equally good.  I don't use miniatures at all, when I DM - I find them distracting as a dungeon master.  You don't need music, but if you want it, a good place to begin is video game soundtracks.  Elder Scrolls and Pillars of Eternity should be a good place to start.

***

Advise your players: carefully read in the Player's Handbook everything about your Race, Class, Background, and any Spells you cast or prepare.

Also, carefully re-read Chapter 9, "Combat.", in either the PHB or the Basic Rules.  Request that your players do as well.  Players woefully under-use things like stabilizing a dying creature with a DC10 Medicine check, or actions like Disengage, Dodge, and Help.

Make them write down the page numbers on their character sheet for their relevant abilities, spells, or rules!

***

Always keep a list of setting-appropriate names on hand.  This is probably the most important piece of advice I can give.  If you can scratch dozens of brief nonspecific NPCs on notecards or in a text file, that is even better, but a list of names is mandatory.  Your players will attempt to grab random passerbys for stuff, and may ask for their names.  If you have a name already picked out, you will look like an omniscient god as a DM.  (Quickly note who the NPC was after naming them - maybe they will come back into the story some day in the future).  There are examples in the Player's Handbook sections for each of the races, or you can use a fantasy name generator such as donjon.

When planning an NPC (or, more often, making one up on the spot) here is a tip.  Imagine a character or an actor that portrays your NPC.  Don't say this out loud, this is for YOUR notes, for the DM only.  It is another magic trick.  The suave badass NPC played by Pierce Brosnan is different than the one played by Samuel L. Jackson. The bumbling fool played by Wayne Knight is different than the one played by Jack Black. Use what you know - whatever media you consume, make a note - "This NPC is played by Bellatrix Lestrange" or "That NPC is played by Kaylee from Firefly" or "This NPC is played by that drunk guy I met on the train three years ago".

Suddenly, having this actor/character in mind for your NPC can bring them to life.  It can give them mannerisms, expressions, personality, and opinions of how to react to circumstances you didn't plan for them.  Imagine Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow asking someone to tell her what she wants to know.  Now, imagine Ross from Friends doing it.  Do you see the differences in your mental image for how the NPC will approach the scene?

***

How to organize your notes: do it however it makes sense to you.

Some use pen and paper notebooks.  Others use a series of word documents and folders.  Personally, I use Evernote (https://evernote.com/), a free application.  It is great - searchable, tag-able, available in-browser, as a desktop, and as a mobile app on all mobile devices or tablets.

I use a laptop while I DM in real life, using evernote.  I post monster statblocks in there that I might use, I take notes on NPCs that I plan or invent on the spot, I note key decisions my players make... I make a new note for each session's pre-planning, and a second note for notetaking during and after gameplay of anything I need to remember.

You can also share notes with other people, for collaborative projects.  I actually used it for work that way.  You can add and annotate images, it is an extremely flexible and customizable application for your creative workflow.  I actually have started using it for everything, from cooking recipes to work to DND!  :D

Use whatever system works for you.  I use and recommend Evernote, and apparently Microsoft Onenote (https://www.onenote.com/) is also free, high-quality, and has similar functionality.  Or Google Docs would work, too!

***

Have fun yourself.  Everyone forgets that the DM is a player, too!

Make sure all your players are having fun, but this is not your sole responsibility.  It is the groups responsibility to all work together to keep having fun.  This is collaborative storytelling - not Players versus DM (unless you want it to be, in which case state that up front).  Your job is to make the players into Heroes, to present challenges for them to overcome.

Talk to the players, and keep an open dialogue.  Some want to min-max and dungeon crawl for some hack-and-slash kill-monster-get-loot.  Some want political intrigue, mysteries, and theatre as they roleplay their characters personalities.  Make sure you are all on the same page, or agreeing to a happy medium.  Talk about what you each expect and want out of the game before you start playing.

***

I had a DM for a one-shot game steal and use the following trick from a different RPG system.  Go around the table and ask Player #1 "How did <Player Character #2> save your life, and why do you owe <Player Character #4> a favor?"

Remember, the characters know each other, but the players might not know how or why. The characters have spent days, weeks, months together, but the players have spent mere hours. This should probably be backstory, or history, and make very little reference to any events that have transpired during your sessions and adventures.

Don't give them time to plan it out beforehand, make them tell the tales in character (or from their characters perspective/interpretation of events.). Have them all make stuff up. On the spot. Improv it. It does not need to be deep, or detailed, or make a massive amount of sense. "Our caravan attacked by bandits and Yam gave Zeke a hand in the fight, that's actually how we met." "Zeke was being framed for a murder, and Trebor discovered the true assassin and cleared Zeke's name".

This should build a sense of camaraderie, companionship, bonding. It should help them form attachments to each other, and by extension the world around them. It can tie into their personalities, their super secret headcannon backstories, or just be a light piece of character fluff. It will be harder to improvise for some players, easier for others, and that is okay. You, the DM, should not be interjecting much. Let them make stuff up and interact as characters talking out these stories. 

It should only take ten or fifteen minutes of game time, I highly recommend it!

***

KEEP A LIST OF FANTSAY NPC NAMES HANDY.

MAKE YOUR PLAYERS WRITE DOWN PAGE NUMBERS ON THEIR CHARACTER SHEETS FOR THEIR ABILITIES.

ALL YOU NEED TO RUN A SESSION FOR THE FIRST TIME IS A STACK OF PRE-GENERATED CHARACTER SHEETS, A FREE MODULE, AND PLAYERS.

***

Lastly, I will refer to my own personal Rule Zero for DND.

Rule Zero:

All players must play characters who have some kind of in-character reason for both A) being with the party and B) being on the current quest, adventure, and/or campaign. Feel free to play an edgy loner; paranoid hermit; kleptomaniac thief; or ten-pages-of-backstory-guy. However, all players have an obligation to do it in a way that is fun at the table for the rest of the party, too. Discuss this with your group as needed!

All players at the table should be having fun, and if someone is not, that is the only way you can play DND incorrectly.

***

RESOURCES

Basic Rules, the completely free and official Player and Dungeon Master rules from Wizards of the Coast - https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules

Blank and pre-generated character sheets from WOTC - https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/character_sheets

donjon random generator (names, monsters, encounters, dungeon maps, entire NPCs, towns, treasure/loot, everything you can imagine) - https://donjon.bin.sh/

Watch Critical Role, where professional voice actors live stream themselves playing DND - http://geekandsundry.com/critical-role-episode-1/  (compilation of DM advice from Matthew Mercer - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/wiki/matthewmercer)

The Angry GM, a great blog - http://theangrygm.com/category/how-to-gm/

Matthew Colville 'Running the Game' youtube series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlUk42GiU2guNzWBzxn7hs8MaV7ELLCP_

Adam Koebel and Steven Lumpkin 'Being Everything Else' youtube series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuGFF6RJgaMrlxVxEB7XsBerrIFgnqZIa

DMs Guild, an official WOTC website where you can download adventures or homebrew content - http://www.dmsguild.com/

Kobold Fight Club, Encounter builder / generator - http://kobold.club/fight/#/encounter-builder

All of the various DND subreddits.  I recommend /r/dnd, /r/dndnext, /r/askgamemasters, /r/dndbehindthescreen, and /r/rpg to start.  All of them have wiki's filled with hundreds of great resources, make sure to check them out!

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/wiki/index

https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/wiki/index

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskGameMasters/wiki/index

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/wiki/index

https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/index

Good luck!

-Dasbif