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Thanks for the Realm tips; my party is now merrily off to find The Crown of Horns/Myrkul to release his power back into the world. They are going to be so surprised, because I found out they are just as clueless as I am.
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Apr 30, 2017 03:04
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that seems like a cursed magic item, wow
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Apr 30, 2017 03:54
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Just ran a game and brought my most deadly opponent yet to the players... A guy with a combined +8 to Str (Athletics) checks who spent the entire fight standing near a hole, grappling player characters, and trying to throw them in the hole. Unstoppable until the players realized they could use an attack action to shove him into his own hole.
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Apr 30, 2017 04:00
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That reminds me, our party of lvl 4 adventurers encountered another of our most hated foes; natural fauna. This time an alligator snapping turtle that almost ate our Triton Cleric, until they escaped back onto the shoreline with 3 new gaping holes in their plate mail, having thought that surely they can solo a turtle underwater where no one can see or help. The Barbarian promptly flexed, drank a potion of giant strength, waded into the water and was out grappled. Then the rest of the party, except my bard who was too busy trying to assuage the podunk pleb that 'no we are competent I swear', nuked it with all their most powerful spells. Cassa fucked around with this message at 04:52 on Apr 30, 2017 |
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Apr 30, 2017 04:23
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Two session ago my party decided to try and fix a snail racing gambling ring. The Druid wildshaped into a snail to cheat. (Being intelligent he would win) But another group had the same idea to cheat. So a lot of poo poo happened.
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Apr 30, 2017 04:37
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Thalantos posted:Are there any decent retroclones that aren't made by complete garbage persons? Can you clarify which era of "retro" (since that technically now includes stuff like 4e)?
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Apr 30, 2017 05:42
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I don't know anything about the person who made Dark Dungeons so I'll recommended that one.
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Apr 30, 2017 05:46
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Trast posted:What I am really looking for is well liked campaigns or modules. The reason is I want to read them learn what makes for better encounters, stories, etc. I really enjoy DMing but I am still pretty new to table top rpgs so I am still learning a lot of nuts and bolts stuff. Babylon Astronaut fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Apr 30, 2017 |
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Apr 30, 2017 05:46
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If interested in Ravenloft. Curse of Strahd is a good book to get. Tales of the Yawning Portal also has a bunch of dungeons updated to 5e with nice new maps and such.
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Apr 30, 2017 06:16
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Garl_Grimm posted:Thanks for the Realm tips; my party is now merrily off to find The Crown of Horns/Myrkul to release his power back into the world. They are going to be so surprised, because I found out they are just as clueless as I am. Not sure when your game is, but here's some more details on the Crown of Horns. Its best game description is in Volo's Guide to All Things Magical. In 2e, it was on the brow of Nhyris D'Hothek, a yuan-ti pureblood mage who lived in Skullport. In late 3e (so about 1373 DR), the Crown itself decided to leave Nhyris for unknown reasons. (This is from Serpent Kingdoms, which also has 3e stats for Nhyris.) 4e returned the Crown of Horns to Nhyris' possession. The Crown twisted him during the Spellplague, and the Crown is now permanently part of Nhyris' flesh. (This is from Backdrop: Skullport in Dungeon #200.) You could use this as the starting point for where it is in 5e. And there's a nice juicy twist for 5e games: Laeral Silverhand, the new Open Lord of Waterdeep, was once dominated by the Crown of Horns and almost became a new Myrkul herself in the 1360s. She tried to destroy the Crown before and almost succeeded, and she'd be very interested in whatever happened to it. @Retroclones: Never heard anything bad about the Labyrinth Lord people. The DCC people hate 4e, but for good reason, and they're good in general. Frog God Games prints Swords and Wizardry, and they're good people. They're actually grog pariahs right now, because the latest version of S&W they redid all the art and brought women creators on to make it more inclusive. However, on the mixed front, the person organizing that effort was Stacy Dellorfano (of ConTessa and past Zak S defender.) I mean the OSR scene is just so intertwined you really have to take it case by case. Take James Raggi, the LotFP guy. Raggi himself has bad friends who produce gross poo poo (Zak S, the Carcosa guy), but he has some of the best production politics in the RPG industry and a lot of good people that work with him too (Kenneth Hite, Vincent Baker.) @Adventures: Read the original Ravenloft, not Curse of Strahd or Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. Tales of the Yawning Portal isn't a good update of any of the modules in it, and the only ones that are really notable therein is the Giants series anyway. If you want some more modern stuff, Red Hand of Doom for 3e, Madness at Gardmore Abbey for 4e. Pathfinder's adventure paths shadow modern adventures and the poo poo 5e does. Rise of the Runelords really set the standard; Kingmaker is the go-to "kingdom building" adventure path of the last decade, and Carrion Crown is the horror one. Definitely read Keep on the Borderlands. Oh, and for a good Forgotten Realms adventure, check out Haunted Halls of Eveningstar. Arivia fucked around with this message at 06:53 on Apr 30, 2017 |
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Apr 30, 2017 06:51
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I only mentioned Castles & Crusades because I was responding to "AD&D without THAC0" specifically. * Swords & Wizardry is based on OD&D (+ supplements) * Dungeon Crawl Classics is based on 3e Dungeon Crawl Classics * Dark(er) Dungeons is based on BECMI/Rules Cyclopedia * 13th Age is based on 3e and 4e * Beyond the Wall is based on B/X * Sine Nomine's games are based on B/X Outside of C&C, there's really only a couple of other AD&D-based retroclones: * OSRIC, which is based on AD&D 1st Ed, but still has descending AC. It technically doesn't use THAC0 insofar as AD&D 1e didn't in favor of the original hit matrix, but that's not ascending AC * Labyrinth Lord is based on B/X, and even if you also used the Advanced Edition Companion to make it more resemble AD&D, it still has descending AC * For Gold & Glory is based on AD&D 2nd Ed, but is a direct clone such that it still uses THAC0 I acknowledge that C&C isn't great on the creator front, and I'd just about rather recommend anything else (S&W's latest reprint, Beyond the Wall, Spears of the Dawn), but the question was specific.
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Apr 30, 2017 07:04
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Arivia posted:Not sure when your game is, but here's some more details on the Crown of Horns. Its best game description is in Volo's Guide to All Things Magical. In 2e, it was on the brow of Nhyris D'Hothek, a yuan-ti pureblood mage who lived in Skullport. In late 3e (so about 1373 DR), the Crown itself decided to leave Nhyris for unknown reasons. (This is from Serpent Kingdoms, which also has 3e stats for Nhyris.) Your FR info is good, helpful and interesting. @Retroclones I don't see the point in getting these weird tabletop politics involved. @Adventures. Curse of Strahd has the entirety of the original Ravenloft in it updated to 5e which is what is being used. Plus a bunch of cool extra stuff. There is no reason to get the original over it unless you just want to save money. Same with Tales of the Yawning Portal. Which is a fine update to everything, due to the fact that it is an update to all the dungeons and rules, and it has new maps and art. All the other ones you mentioned are good suggestions.
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Apr 30, 2017 07:21
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So, that post brought up something I've been wondering about for a while: what's the deal with the canon FR timeline? Is it a case where each edition covers a slightly different period, or do the various editions count as different versions of the history? I know it's kind of splitting hairs from a practical perspective, but I've always noodled with the idea of setting a campaign either in the distant past or distant future of the established timeline, and I wonder if anyone's done anything like that.
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Apr 30, 2017 08:10
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Petr posted:So, that post brought up something I've been wondering about for a while: what's the deal with the canon FR timeline? Is it a case where each edition covers a slightly different period, or do the various editions count as different versions of the history? I know it's kind of splitting hairs from a practical perspective, but I've always noodled with the idea of setting a campaign either in the distant past or distant future of the established timeline, and I wonder if anyone's done anything like that. Each individual edition of the FR has been part of an evolving timeline. The original Forgotten Realms Campaign Set started in 1358 DR, and the timeline was advanced with new publications. There are gaps of varying sizes that contain editorial-directed changes to match the setting to the new edition of D&D. Sometimes these are short (1370-1372 DR for 2e to 3e), sometimes they are very long (1375 - 1475 DR for 3e to 4e.) I believe 5e is around 1479 DR now? The Arcane Age products for 2e were for setting campaigns in the gloried past of FR. Netheril: Empire of Magic is very bad; Cormanthyr: Empire of Elves is very good.
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Apr 30, 2017 08:19
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Petr posted:I've always noodled with the idea of setting a campaign either in the distant past or distant future of the established timeline, and I wonder if anyone's done anything like that. It can be a good idea to pick a significant point in a setting's history, then base your campaign around your own party's attempt to be the people that caused it. You already have the background for it, you already know what should happen and can happen, and you don't have to worry about later metaplot invalidating your efforts.
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Apr 30, 2017 08:31
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Cool. I think I read the first Arcane Age novel a million years ago, but I wasn't sure how it fit into the timeline.
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Apr 30, 2017 08:57
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gradenko_2000 posted:It can be a good idea to pick a significant point in a setting's history, then base your campaign around your own party's attempt to be the people that caused it. This is one of the really good uses for the Grand History of the Realms, a late 3e product that is just an exhaustively detailed timeline. Ed Greenwood knew that this was valuable for play. As such, earlier FR products contain "Current Clack" timelines with about a year or so of history going FORWARD, so DMs can shape the events to come to fit their game.
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Apr 30, 2017 09:01
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New subclass idea: Cleric of Karsus. Once per lifetime, you can cast one spell five levels above your normal maximum spellcasting ability, but afterwards you have to immediately re-roll your character.
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Apr 30, 2017 09:13
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MonsterEnvy posted:@Retroclones I don't see the point in getting these weird tabletop politics involved. We have had this discussion before about you being a weird broken person with no sense of morals or responsibility. Please be quiet and let the adults talk about things that matter. quote:@Adventures. Curse of Strahd has the entirety of the original Ravenloft in it updated to 5e which is what is being used. Plus a bunch of cool extra stuff. There is no reason to get the original over it unless you just want to save money. Same with Tales of the Yawning Portal. Which is a fine update to everything, due to the fact that it is an update to all the dungeons and rules, and it has new maps and art. All the other ones you mentioned are good suggestions. If you're looking at the design, you want to look at the original design itself, and not second-hand adaptations by later designers with their own interpretations. Curse of Strahd isn't just I4 - it's a rewriting and expansion, which might be good on its own merits, but isn't a replacement for looking at the original adventure. The adventures in Tales of the Yawning Portal are even worse, since they're just half-assed updates to 5e with little care or attention paid, as we've discussed before. Therefore, neither of those books make for a good examination of prominent adventure designs in D&D's history.
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Apr 30, 2017 10:49
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re: Retroclone Crypts and Things seems pretty cool, and has Ascending AC as an option.
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Apr 30, 2017 11:23
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MonsterEnvy posted:@Retroclones I don't see the point in getting these weird tabletop politics involved. It's one thing to say that you, personally, don't think that whatever goes on outside of the literal printed book is worth passing a value judgement on the printed book over. It's quite another to say that you don't understand why other people might consider it an issue for them. Angrymog posted:re: Retroclone Crypts & Things is a spin-off of Swords & Wizardry redone for a Conan-esque setting, so yeah it does support ascending AC insofar as S&W itself also does. I personally think that the magic system is a little too punitive, but it does capture the theme very well.
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Apr 30, 2017 11:56
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gradenko_2000 posted:It's one thing to say that you, personally, don't think that whatever goes on outside of the literal printed book is worth passing a value judgement on the printed book over. I never said I don't understand. Like you said I personally don't think what happens outside the printed book matters to the book, because lovely people have made a lot of the stuff we use all the time in life. Arivia posted:If you're looking at the design, you want to look at the original design itself, and not second-hand adaptations by later designers with their own interpretations. Curse of Strahd isn't just I4 - it's a rewriting and expansion, which might be good on its own merits, but isn't a replacement for looking at the original adventure. The adventures in Tales of the Yawning Portal are even worse, since they're just half-assed updates to 5e with little care or attention paid, as we've discussed before. You never read Tales of the Yawning Portal. Other then the few clips I brought in that you complained about. So I can say you are wrong there. And yeah Curse of Strahd contains the entire original ravenloft adventure in it. So it can be used in it's place if someone wants to. MonsterEnvy fucked around with this message at 18:38 on Apr 30, 2017 |
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Apr 30, 2017 18:33
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MonsterEnvy posted:You never read Tales of the Yawning Portal. Other then the few clips I brought in that you complained about. So I can say you are wrong there. You're wrong. I've read it. It's really just a collection of half-assed updates because Mearls can't do anything better. Also you're blind, willfully or not. We're not talking about using the adventures at the table. The original request was for notable adventures to study and learn from. That critical approach means that Curse of Strahd is an unsuitable replacement for the original. Read and think before you continue your endless stream of unhelpful boosterism shitposting, thanks.
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Apr 30, 2017 18:41
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Arivia posted:Also you're blind, willfully or not. We're not talking about using the adventures at the table. The original request was for notable adventures to study and learn from. That critical approach means that Curse of Strahd is an unsuitable replacement for the original. Read and think before you continue your endless stream of unhelpful boosterism shitposting, thanks. How is it unsuitable. It contains more stuff then the original. So you can study and learn more from it then you could the original. Yawning Portal is also useful if you want updates to a bunch of adventures. Almost all of which are solid ones. With new art, maps and better formatting. Don't get how you can call that half assed. Unless you simply think making a book of updates is half assed. But whatever our views are clearly incompatible with each other. MonsterEnvy fucked around with this message at 19:50 on Apr 30, 2017 |
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Apr 30, 2017 18:49
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MonsterEnvy posted:How is it unsuitable. It contains more stuff then the original. So you can study and learn more from it then you could the original. I explained it in one of the posts you quoted, for gently caress's sake. Look, if you're not prepared or don't want to think about things critically (and it's obvious you don't), then okay. It's elfgames. Being shallow in your hobbies isn't a crime. But don't stink up conversations involving people who are being critical when you aren't prepared to contribute on the most basic level. You're right. They are incompatible (not incomparable.) That's why you need to learn to shut up when people are having discussions and you don't have anything to contribute.
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Apr 30, 2017 19:09
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Arivia posted:I explained it in one of the posts you quoted, for gently caress's sake. Look, if you're not prepared or don't want to think about things critically (and it's obvious you don't), then okay. It's elfgames. Being shallow in your hobbies isn't a crime. But don't stink up conversations involving people who are being critical when you aren't prepared to contribute on the most basic level. You're kind of a poo poo head.
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Apr 30, 2017 19:14
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Regardless of all the slapfighting, I think it's quite useful to read over old modules in the context of the old rules and see the evolution of design philosophy. e.g. tomb of horrors would go over like a lead balloon in the age of actually making backstories for characters. I'd love to run through keep on the borderlands and tried doing a return to the keep on a play by post using 2e rules but that failed , sadly.
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Apr 30, 2017 19:18
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Been running curse of Strahd out of my bookstore lately and we started the campaign for realzy last night (we did Death House before that). I'm really enjoying the campaign. It's so open ended that it provides a lot of wiggle room, and it helps that my players listen to me when I just straight up tell them when things are a bad idea (within certain strictures, obv). Last night they went to bury Ireena's father and had to go to the local chapel, only to discover the town's priest had gone pretty much crazy after locking his now-vampire son in the basement. Naturally, being adventurers, they decided death was a mercy for the young man and ended up killing him. However surprisingly for me, they put a lot of real effort into trying to help the father grieve and move on, so after so pretty interesting roleplaying and a few rolls I decided that the priest had begrudgingly moved on and has redoubled his efforts to repair the chapel and help the people of Barovia. It'll end badly because it's Ravenloft but I thought it was a pretty cool direction that wasn't really mapped out.
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Apr 30, 2017 19:57
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mastershakeman posted:Regardless of all the slapfighting, I think it's quite useful to read over old modules in the context of the old rules and see the evolution of design philosophy. e.g. tomb of horrors would go over like a lead balloon in the age of actually making backstories for characters. You are right about this in a lot of cases. And Tomb of Horrors is very much a module that is not for everyone. Honestly I agree with looking at old modules even if remakes have come up. I just came across as the opposite in my zeal to defend my point. (My apologies there.) There is nothing wrong with comparing I6 and Curse of Strahd. Though with stuff like Yawning portal were it's a straight conversion and not a remake i don't see looking at the old version as needed. Also yes Keep on the broderlands is cool, shame your game could not take off. Arivia posted:
I was contributing they asked a question and I brought up some stuff I thought would be helpful, but you disagreed. And I tried to defend my point. Which I have realized is useless at this point.
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Apr 30, 2017 20:02
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Mendrian posted:Been running curse of Strahd out of my bookstore lately and we started the campaign for realzy last night (we did Death House before that). I remember 3e's expediton to Ravenloft were the priest is a straight villain. Who animated his son as a horrid type of undead and unleashed zombies on the town that can spread a zombie disease. In I6 I think he is just a priest, but I have not looked at it in a while. Glad your players are having fun.
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Apr 30, 2017 20:04
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I soured on 5e Strahd because of a bad GM. It could be fun with a better one, I feel. Not sure how much of the "Strahd shows up and fucks over the players" was in the book though. We also killed the Deva disguised as a priest at level three or four.
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Apr 30, 2017 20:14
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If you're taking about his lair actions and waltzing in through the walls to have some fun, that is deffo in the book.
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Apr 30, 2017 20:21
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Admiral Joeslop posted:I soured on 5e Strahd because of a bad GM. It could be fun with a better one, I feel. Not sure how much of the "Strahd shows up and fucks over the players" was in the book though. He is supposed to bug you every once in a while for a round or two (Mainly by sicing wolves on you and such). But it should not be overused until you are actually in his castle. As the DM gets to pick when he attacks. MonsterEnvy fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Apr 30, 2017 |
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Apr 30, 2017 20:22
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Anyone around these parts played any/many 5e modules beyond your typical level 6ish range? Does it turn into gonzo 3.5, like in my nightmares? The modules themselves seem fairly softball at the lower levels; I think PotA is the only one I've played where it felt like we needed some severe  bullshit to not get flatout wrecked.
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Apr 30, 2017 20:25
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P.d0t posted:Anyone around these parts played any/many 5e modules beyond your typical level 6ish range? So far it seems fine in my current PotA game. I can report how it goes. My players also don't have an arcane caster.
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Apr 30, 2017 20:30
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Yeah, Strahd is interesting because a lot of his difficulty comes down to how the DM uses him. He's unlike a lot of other endbosses in that his stat line and listed attacks aren't that impressive, he just has some gently caress-with-the-players abilities that require the DM to be creative (and also know when to knock it off for a bit. Maybe.)
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Apr 30, 2017 21:04
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Admiral Joeslop posted:I soured on 5e Strahd because of a bad GM. It could be fun with a better one, I feel. Not sure how much of the "Strahd shows up and fucks over the players" was in the book though. The thing about Strahd, and the campaign book is pretty clear about this, the players are more entertainment/potential heir/potential paramour material than they are rivals, from his perspective. Strahd is more than functionally immortal and doesn't view the players as a threat until, perhaps somewhat obviously, they could potential kill him. "Strahd shows up and fucks with the players" is supposed to be as much about him attempting to woo or test them as it is about him trying to kill them. If Strahd shows up and straight up attacks the PCs long before he's meant to your DM is being a dick. The book is very clear about his motivations and what those encounters should look like. EDIT: I've already engineered an encounter I want to run for my group where Strahd actually saves the PCs (from a thread of his own devising, of course) just to see how they respond to it.
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Apr 30, 2017 23:07
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Yeah, if he's actively guerillaing you guys before you're in the lair that's bullshit
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Apr 30, 2017 23:23
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Yeah he is even looking for an heir within the PC's that could replace him as Barovia's ruler so he can leave. So he messes and screws with them trying to figure out which one is best to succeed him. Eventually due to his arrogance he decides that none of them are worthy which is when he decides to just kill them. Probably around the time they could possibly threaten him. So like level 7 or so.
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Apr 30, 2017 23:24
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The best retroclone is Godbound because it is both free, and also barely a retroclone since it layers its own HP, damage, and special power rules on top of the DnD basics because it's about playing demigods instead of schmucks. But Dark[er] Dungeons is fine too since it's just BECMI with some of the words changed and BECMI DnD is pretty cool, and it is also free.
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Apr 30, 2017 23:40
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