|
My group was pretty fond of Sunless Citadel, though it was edited for use at level 5. I think several people in the D&D thread have voiced fondness for that module, which starts at level 1 normally. It might be a bit longer than your time frame, though.
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 00:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 2, 2024 22:22 |
|
|
As sombody that is running it right now, i'm not quite a fan of how little combat there is at first. Plus all you're fighting is rats and twig blights, assuming your players don't start poo poo with the kobolds and go the "intended" path it's going to be a bit before there is actually any interesting combat. Random encounters and adding some extra encounters in is a must. That said though, it is a very good starting point for both players and DM's so maybe try that out. The Shame Boy fucked around with this message at 00:47 on Jan 10, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 00:44
|
|
|
Probably better for the 5e thread, because I would recommend another system
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 00:44
|
|
|
Nephzinho posted:. An enchanted, intelligent axe; blessed by the mountain lords it was once wielded by a powerful barbarian who embarked on a bloody quest for vengeance. Though the barbarian slew his rival, his quest for bloodshed only instilled more violence in the region and led to the destruction of their entire village and the grim death of it's former owner. Having seen the vicious cycle of violence, the axe now wishes to push it's new owner towards pacifism, as it is the only way to not continue the cycle it has witnessed (perhaps many times before)
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 02:06
|
|
|
poo poo, quote is not edit. Could also be possessed by it's former master(s) a ghost barbarian constantly urging them towards peace and nonviolence.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 02:07
|
|
|
Nephzinho posted:tl;dr what is an interesting frenzy barbarian item that isn't necessarily good, but is at least interesting, helpful, and has a downside/sidequesty nature? Give him a powerfully enchanted but ineffectively tiny axe, like pebble-sized, that slowly grows when he meets some absurd or counter-intuitive criteria.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 02:10
|
|
|
TheTofuShop posted:An enchanted, intelligent axe; blessed by the mountain lords it was once wielded by a powerful barbarian who embarked on a bloody quest for vengeance. Though the barbarian slew his rival, his quest for bloodshed only instilled more violence in the region and led to the destruction of their entire village and the grim death of it's former owner. TheTofuShop posted:poo poo, quote is not edit. I would do this if I hadn't just given him a +1 axe that heals him every time he frenzies (0 healing group), I do think I'm going to do something similar. Either a belt or helm of similar enchantment/personality, or do gauntlets that maybe each have their own personality along the same narrative (kind of angel/devil on the shoulders). e; What is a powerful enough effect that this player would want to use the gauntlets and deal with the sentient reigning in his behavior that wouldn't be OP at level 4? +1 to STR modifier? (he is 15 STR atm so it would be weaker than Ogre Strength) Maybe +1 to CON modifier seeing as that would boost his AC with Unarmored Defense? Nephzinho fucked around with this message at 04:50 on Jan 10, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 02:11
|
|
|
Nephzinho posted:tl;dr what is an interesting frenzy barbarian item that isn't necessarily good, but is at least interesting, helpful, and has a downside/sidequesty nature? A talking horse, or some other badass barbarian mount?
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 10:12
|
|
|
A horse that can talk, but is currently not talking to you.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 12:29
|
|
|
My party fought the dragon, and while the two fighters distracted her the rogue climbed the outside of the ruined tower she was in, tied a rope round the biggest stone and threw it down. Then they all pulled and toppled the tower down on her. I let them roll a big handful of dice for damage to keep the fight moving on, but are there D&D 5e rules for a massive lump of stone falling on a dragon? I also tried to give them a tiny taste of a Whybird-style moral dilemma by having the druid tell them that although he considered the zombies dealt with, he would never allow the town to be resettled because of the danger of the new townsfolk digging up the zombies and re-spreading the blight. Resettling the town is the archer's personal objective and he's a bit murder-happy so I assumed his response would be to off the druid and resettle the town anyway. They actually responded by going back to where they buried the zombies, and using the stone and wood from the ruined tower to lay a lovely patio and a nice deck over the top. I had no idea how to make them roll for that so I just let them get on with it...
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 17:14
|
|
|
You decide narratively if the dragon is still alive. That's badass as hell so let it work, describe the scene in terms that aren't HP damage, and come up with something cool that happens. I'm a new GM still but, when my players try to do something, my instinct is definitely not "try to find a way for them to roll for this". I make them roll when I think of two interesting outcomes of something - if there's only one and it's "build the patio" then maybe a fluff roll for how nice it looks is fine but come on, they build the patio.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 17:18
|
|
|
Sanford posted:They actually responded by going back to where they buried the zombies, and using the stone and wood from the ruined tower to lay a lovely patio and a nice deck over the top. Way to set up a future Dread Gazebo. 
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 17:35
|
|
|
Sanford posted:They actually responded by going back to where they buried the zombies, and using the stone and wood from the ruined tower to lay a lovely patio and a nice deck over the top. I had no idea how to make them roll for that so I just let them get on with it... Good idea from the players. Comedy reply is that only stops the townsfolk from digging up the zombies until the town takes off and some developer decides to make a noble a country house.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 18:27
|
|
|
Sanford posted:My party fought the dragon, and while the two fighters distracted her the rogue climbed the outside of the ruined tower she was in, tied a rope round the biggest stone and threw it down. Then they all pulled and toppled the tower down on her. I let them roll a big handful of dice for damage to keep the fight moving on, but are there D&D 5e rules for a massive lump of stone falling on a dragon? This is a good group.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 18:47
|
|
|
Sanford posted:My party fought the dragon, and while the two fighters distracted her the rogue climbed the outside of the ruined tower she was in, tied a rope round the biggest stone and threw it down. Then they all pulled and toppled the tower down on her. I let them roll a big handful of dice for damage to keep the fight moving on, but are there D&D 5e rules for a massive lump of stone falling on a dragon? So, can you just hurry up and port your game over to PbtA (probably Dungeon World) already so you can stop having to deal with DnD rolls? 
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 18:51
|
|
|
My next DW campaign is most likely going to be about a group of dapper gentlemen-scholar-mages that travel through a fantasy version of Africa to find the source of a massive magical river. I'm thinking of non-stereotypical cool setpieces to show them, and what kind of dungeons they could come across? Right now I'm thinking: Some massive pyramid/crypt place near the river, like the Valley of Kings A palace that's corrupted or completely chaotic because the old king/emperor there thought it'd be fun to let a magical stream of raw mana go through the aquaducts and lavatories of his palace Some sort of Great Mosque of Djenne place? Like a centre of learning and culture and religion in the desert? Any more ideas are appreciated. There's clearly going to be some "scramble for Africa" type leanings to the surrounding story/context but I'd like to have some cool African history factoids, setpieces or whatnot and not reduce this fantasy version of it to natives and jungle.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 19:11
|
|
|
Deltasquid posted:Any more ideas are appreciated. There's clearly going to be some "scramble for Africa" type leanings to the surrounding story/context but I'd like to have some cool African history factoids, setpieces or whatnot and not reduce this fantasy version of it to natives and jungle.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 19:32
|
|
|
My group and I were very much in agreement that this is pretty tongue in cheek and that the "native" places they passed through would be just as advanced as their own countries, if not more. Prompting them to probably dismiss all of this and look for proof that there were aliens who made these grand structures, until it's revealed that no, this was all on the people living here, the party were just too proud to admit it. I'm currently trying to think of natural or architectural wonders for these fine gentlemen to dismiss.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 19:38
|
|
|
Make it so that the only things that are the fault of aliens are actually the big architectural disasters of the ancient world, like Woodhenge. Or that one half-collapsed in on itself pyramid. They were trying to imitate humanity and were bad at it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 19:42
|
|
|
unseenlibrarian posted:Make it so that the only things that are the fault of aliens are actually the big architectural disasters of the ancient world, like Woodhenge. Or that one half-collapsed in on itself pyramid. They were trying to imitate humanity and were bad at it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2018 20:28
|
|
|
There's a piece of Welsh folklore about an English king's representative arriving in Wales during the feudal era, and his guide dressing in rags, grabbing handfuls of grass from the roadside to eat as he walked, taking him through the worst and twistiest roads to the middle of nowhere, and proudly introducing a tiny farming village as their capital, all in order to convince the English that Wales was savage and untamed and didn't have anything worth taking. This is totally a trick that canny NPCs can and should play.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2018 01:15
|
|
|
Whybird posted:There's a piece of Welsh folklore about an English king's representative arriving in Wales during the feudal era, and his guide dressing in rags, grabbing handfuls of grass from the roadside to eat as he walked, taking him through the worst and twistiest roads to the middle of nowhere, and proudly introducing a tiny farming village as their capital, all in order to convince the English that Wales was savage and untamed and didn't have anything worth taking. This is totally a trick that canny NPCs can and should play.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2018 06:04
|
|
|
Example: England.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2018 13:28
|
|
|
Consider a massive city on the edge of a desert that is regularly subjected to huge wind events (like haboobs). The centerpiece of the city is a huge turbine that captures the energy of these giant wind events and stores it in either in a massive torsion spring or an enormous flywheel. The people and businesses of the city line up throughout the week to charge their smaller spring/flywheel assemblies from the main device, and use the energy to power sophisticated machinery in their daily lives (check out the Gyrobus for an idea of how this might work). The city operates on a sort of boom-and-bust cycle that is heavily dependent on regular giant wind events, and if it's too long between haboobs things get grimy and difficult, but after a giant dust storm the whole city lights up in a frenzy of productivity.
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2018 01:45
|
|
|
I could use some help with my next session of Shadow of the Demon Lord. It'll be 3 highlight scenes covering 5 years (during a time of famine, economic crisis, and public dissent). I'm also going to run them in reverse so that the players start with the end of a story and work back a bit: 1. Hanging (year 10) - The scene is an execution of the infamous outlaw Scarborough, an anarchic warrior and demagogue that terrorized the country-side for years. 2. Riot ( Year 9) - The capital city is consumed in a bloody riot, vengeful and desperate veterans fill the streets, repeating and propagating a recent speech by a well known former infantry commander, Scarborough. 3. War ( Year 5) - The final battle of the Ogre War will see the remaining elite of the military collation storm the Ogre King's last fortress; Scarborough is a dedicated but war-weary leader of men. I need help turning each of these into a single scene with interesting choices for the players. I want the action to ramp up as the session goes on, with the hanging being the shortest scene, entirely social; the Riot would be longer and involve lots of conflict but not actual combat mechanics - players dealing with mobs, saving/escorting people, checking in with various NPCs they know in the city. And then the final Scene is no-holds-barred-combat. My biggest concern is the Hanging. It's going to be slow, mostly social, but I'd also be asking the players to role play an event they won't entirely understand. I'd appreciate any tips on choices/situations I could present to the players. Also, I'm always trying to bring more player world-building into the game, anything jump out as good questions I could ask the group during the scenes? I thought of maybe in the Riot have the crowd accuse the party members of things, some of which are false, some of which are misunderstood, and some of which are true.
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2018 02:35
|
|
|
You could ask them how they relate to Scarborough, why're they watching the execution, do they lock eyes and share one last gesture of respect, are they throwing tomatoes or getting into a scuffle with someone whom is? What do they do when Scarborough's friends try to free them? I'm running Fragged Empire for some mates, and most of them are pretty new to RPG's, so I'd like to make it as rewarding for them as I can, has anyone been in this situation before, and what sort of questions have you asked? I'm more than happy with them setting the tone, or even varying one up, same with how heavy or lethal the combat can feel.
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2018 07:16
|
|
|
Kenning posted:Consider a massive city on the edge of a desert that is regularly subjected to huge wind events (like haboobs). The centerpiece of the city is a huge turbine that captures the energy of these giant wind events and stores it in either in a massive torsion spring or an enormous flywheel. The people and businesses of the city line up throughout the week to charge their smaller spring/flywheel assemblies from the main device, and use the energy to power sophisticated machinery in their daily lives (check out the Gyrobus for an idea of how this might work). The city operates on a sort of boom-and-bust cycle that is heavily dependent on regular giant wind events, and if it's too long between haboobs things get grimy and difficult, but after a giant dust storm the whole city lights up in a frenzy of productivity. That sounds super cool, thanks!
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2018 11:46
|
|
|
I have a bit of a question regarding whether I'm being a dick with this or not. I'm running a campaign in SOTDL and one of my PC's has a feature that allows them to "know when someone is lying to them", and they've been relying on it constantly in social encounters, which is fine, it's what the feature is for. But in the near future they're going to be meeting sort of a spymaster type character, and I'm going to have him probe the party's ability to detect lies by saying a lie that would otherwise be impossible to know about, and if it's detected, he will proceed to speak in half-truths and lies of omission and the like, which I feel aren't contained within the feature's scope to detect. I just am not sure if I should just make this a pure roleplay challenge to detect, or if I should give the player a roll to notice the trickery in place. I kinda really don't want to give a roll so that the player becomes aware of the blind spots in the feature in an organic fashion, but I don't know if that's a dick move, basically. I wouldn't have another character be so tricky, but this IS a spymaster type individual, so I figure they're both paranoid enough to probe for lie detection and crafty enough to speak past it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2018 23:31
|
|
|
Well if the player was smart, he wouldn't let on that he knew the spymaster's lie had been detected. Anyhow, I agree, the power shouldn't cover someone being evasive. That's not lying. "Did you kill him?" "No" *BZZZZT* vs. "Did you kill him?" "Why would I do that?!"
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2018 23:35
|
|
|
I'd have the lie detector ability be very literal. It detects someone lying, which means a) what they're saying is not true, and b) they know that what they're saying is not true. If you say something that you believe to be true but is actually false, you're not lying, you're just wrong*. Or if you think that narrows its scope too much, have the spymaster be such a good liar that the above is how it works when you try it on him. *e: Think about compartmentalisation in intelligence agencies. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 00:11 on Jan 13, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2018 00:01
|
|
|
Any better ways of starting combat than saying “roll for initiative”? Even if its a dramatic moment, it goes “Suddenly the dragon tires of talking. Its head snakes towards you at lightning speed and mighty jaws snap closed inches from you... and roll for initiative”. I need a standard way of letting the players know it’s happening but saying the words is boring and repetitive and spoils the flow. It’s like holding up a sign that says “THE ANSWER HERE IS VIOLENCE” and generally calls a halt to more inventive resolutions.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2018 00:32
|
|
|
Sanford posted:Any better ways of starting combat than saying “roll for initiative”? Even if its a dramatic moment, it goes “Suddenly the dragon tires of talking. Its head snakes towards you at lightning speed and mighty jaws snap closed inches from you... and roll for initiative”. I need a standard way of letting the players know it’s happening but saying the words is boring and repetitive and spoils the flow. It’s like holding up a sign that says “THE ANSWER HERE IS VIOLENCE” and generally calls a halt to more inventive resolutions. I mean, you already said one of your players was playing a wrestler. https://youtu.be/I6eQ78HCGEA
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2018 00:52
|
|
|
Sanford posted:Any better ways of starting combat than saying “roll for initiative”? Even if its a dramatic moment, it goes “Suddenly the dragon tires of talking. Its head snakes towards you at lightning speed and mighty jaws snap closed inches from you... and roll for initiative”. I need a standard way of letting the players know it’s happening but saying the words is boring and repetitive and spoils the flow. It’s like holding up a sign that says “THE ANSWER HERE IS VIOLENCE” and generally calls a halt to more inventive resolutions. Finish your description, then ask "what do you do?" Get initiative when (if) it becomes relevant. Also, it sounds like the issue you're having is not so much with calling for initiative as it is with your descriptions. If you describe an violent attack you should be expecting the players to react with violence rather than other methods. Violence is what you're pushing in your narrative, so you'll get violence in return. e: Even when violence is imminent, you don't necessarily need to do an initiative roll. If the players describe the PCs as panicking and falling back, or trying to leap to safety, or diving into the water to swim away, or trying to protect the townsfolk and get them to safety, you don't need to go to combat rounds and initiative, you can keep playing it out narratively. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Jan 13, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2018 01:35
|
|
|
AlphaDog posted:I'd have the lie detector ability be very literal. It detects someone lying, which means a) what they're saying is not true, and b) they know that what they're saying is not true. If you say something that you believe to be true but is actually false, you're not lying, you're just wrong*. This isn't really narrowing its scope - it has to work this way or the player would be able to advance science tremendously by asking rival schools of thought whether their theories are correct. The question is more whether deliberate misdirection without outright lying should be detected, which is probably something to ask that player and the group as a whole. Do they want the character to be really awesome in that sphere, keeping in mind that it'll take most stories where their characters get deceived off the table? There's also the option of limiting the detection to actual lies, but giving them a bonus to sensing misdirection in general.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2018 07:23
|
|
|
I meant that there's a difference in scope between "can pick up misdirection, deception, and lies" and "only detects actual intentional lies". I kinda like the second one, it would give me a lot to play with as GM. Even if that's more restrictive than what the OP was thinking for the general use of the ability, they could treat it as if it worked like that on this one NPC who is supposed to be a master of deception.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2018 07:51
|
|
|
i think it would be okay to have the power usually detect any misdirection but the spymaster is so good the power will only ping if he tells outright lies
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2018 09:15
|
|
|
An alternative: once the spymaster has confirmation that their party contains someone who can detect lies, he starts researching a drug that blocks the lie-detection effects. When they encounter him, his pupils are dilated and he's twitching, but otherwise lucid, and the lie-detection power is obviously broken: it flicks back and forth between 'lying' and 'truthful' mid-sentence. If they research the symptoms of the drug, they'll learn that it works by breaking down the person's perception of reality: the spymaster doesn't himself know what's true and what's false, just what he's decided to tell them. The downside to this is that during the comedown, the spymaster is weakened and suggestible, so if they can find out where he's riding out the effects of the drug and break in then they can easily interrogate him there.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2018 11:16
|
|
|
Whenever I run a game, unless the ability specifically says it picks up vague misdirection, it will only ping outright falsehoods. So saying things that are misleading but technically true would ping as true.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2018 13:10
|
|
|
Whybird posted:An alternative: once the spymaster has confirmation that their party contains someone who can detect lies, he starts researching a drug that blocks the lie-detection effects. When they encounter him, his pupils are dilated and he's twitching, but otherwise lucid, and the lie-detection power is obviously broken: it flicks back and forth between 'lying' and 'truthful' mid-sentence. This is that good stuff.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2018 23:18
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 2, 2024 22:22 |
|
|
Infinity Gaia posted:I have a bit of a question regarding whether I'm being a dick with this or not... So I would allow the ability to detect half-truths and lies of omission. It's completely reasonable to keep these revelations to "there's something they aren't telling you" or "it's true, but there's more they haven't said." But I would actually make it a point to have the ability provide useful information, and in fact highlight it a bit. I would also avoid having something that completely gets around the ability. Blanking it entirely is really the least interesting approach, and the one most likely to frustrate players. It's cheap. You can have there be something that blocks it, but it should be very rare, probably have a significant downside, and the lie detector character should be able to tell immediately when it's being used. That makes it hard to work with from a GM angle, but it should be. To demonstrate the spymaster's own capability, I would do four things: play it straight with the central matter, never lie in a way that reveals the truth, tell some lies that aren't needed, and use the truth as a weapon. 1. Play it straight with the central matter: This is the easiest but might be the least intuitive. If you want the spymaster to be someone the PCs continue to interact with and play a role in the campaign, they should - at least the first few times around - be reliable and upfront about whatever shared goal they have with the PCs. No betrayals, no traps. They should give the PCs everything they need to succeed on that goal - though no more than that. The reason is if the PCs just see the spymaster as a liar and untrustworthy, then they won't work with them at all. They'll avoid them. Now it can be fun to have a recurring NPC that the PCs hate and are forced to worth with through contrivance, that soon wears thin, so has to be used sparingly. If you want an NPC to show up regularly, then having them prove reliable makes it more likely the PCs come back to them. Even better, it will almost certainly lead to a much more exciting and rewarding moment to flip on the PCs. 2. Never lie in a way that reveals the truth: The reason lie detector abilities tend to feel so strong is most of the time, NPCs are responding to direct questions and are trying to get the PC to believe the lie. Because of this, when the PCs know something is a lie, it very quickly leads them to the truth. However, a spymaster should avoid telling those kinds of lies. If discovering that something is a lie would reveal what's true simply by the fact that it's a lie, then have the spymaster just tell the truth. The end result is the same. But if the spymaster can lie and it creates more possibilities and leaves things uncertain, then do it. It should make the PCs wonder and prompt them to dig further. This does raise an ancillary point that's important - the only way a character like this will work is if the PCs can't force them to keep answering questions for as long as they'd like. Some circumstance - time pressure, the need to act within the law, whatever - needs to be in play. 3. Tell some lies that aren't needed: As long as you keep in mind #1 and #2, you should trip the lie detector several times on purpose. A bit of a corollary with this is to tell obvious lies. Unlike most NPCs, the spymaster often isn't try to get the PCs to believe the lie. Their goal is to obscure the truth. To that end, lying about the seemingly inconsequential is a powerful move for them. They could claim to be a miller's eldest daughter, when really they're the youngest of a shoemaker. You want to create a lot of chaff to sort through. The PCs know the spymaster told them a bunch of true things that mattered, and then lied about a bunch of stuff that didn't seem to matter. That should make them wonder if there's something important hidden in there. But it also creates so many leads they'll have trouble chasing them all down, and potentially which ones they chase could reveal things to the spymaster they could use later. You can also always decide later that some of those lies are covering up actually important things about the spymaster, because that's a great bit of plot, but finding which ones will take time and effort on the PC's part. Additionally, it keeps the PCs off-balance - being told the truth on several important things and then being lied to on something inconsequential is weird and should help distract them. It's also useful on a metagame level. It demonstrates the lie detector ability is working as it always has functioned before. So if you tell them truth from the spymaster, they can't as players decide you're playing silly buggers with mechanics and just ignore what the spymaster says. They have to work with it, no matter how thorny it is. 4. Truth as a weapon: A spymaster also knows the truth can be even more dangerous than a lie. Revealing something true and important to the PCs that they didn't know is very effective. One way to do this is to have the spymaster tell them something that doesn't interfere with the spymaster's own plans. First, this puts the spymaster in the good graces of the PCs, and gives them some leverage or protection. Second, it will distract the PCs (and players!) with the import of this new fact. Meanwhile the spymaster can pursue their own agenda, and often the PCs/players won't catch how much they're giving up in the exchange. Another weaponized truth is the unwelcome one. This actually turns the lie detector ability back on the PCs. If the spymaster tells the PCs something they don't want to hear, but they know is true, then that puts them in a difficult position. Even if the spymaster leaves out context, if you follow the first suggestion, it still leaves the PCs in a complicated position. For example, if the spymaster reveals a dark secret about one of the PCs allies, even if the context is omitted, the PCs now have doubts and questions. They need to dig, because they don't know if there's an innocuous explanation or not. Human nature being what it is, even if they know what the spymaster is doing, it's hard to shake this off. And digging into someone else's secrets is always fraught. A well timed unwelcome truth can really throw the wrench in the works.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2018 22:18
|
|