Conspiratiorist posted:

Which is frankly a good thing, because vagueness keeps DMs on their toes, reinforcing creativity by reminding them rules are fallible and that they're themselves the ultimate arbitrators of what happens at their tables. Remember, the map is not the territory!

Plus let's be real: my players and I have full time jobs so we just don't have the time to read all these rules. Look how thick the PHB is! You'd have to be some kind of no-life internet grognard who doesn't actually even play the game to bother with it.



_{gently caress matt colville}

Conspiratiorist posted:

He made a video where that was his main argument: vague rules are good so it's better if the system is poorly written, and anyone who disagrees isn't a 'real' D&D player and probably doesn't have a life.

I honestly feel this video is peak bad design apologism and nerd snobbishness. Like, how do you top it?

Nehru the Damaja posted:

I'm pretty ambivalent about the guy. Some of what he says I think is helpful. Some is not. He wants to run a different game than I do most of the time. But anyone building a giant mountain of cash in a single day on a kickstarted DM supplement is a big goddamn deal. I can't help but wonder what WotC will do when they realize all the money that they don't get their hands on. They've killed golden geese before.

Darwinism posted:

I love how silly real combat gets when it's purely about being practical and self-protection instead of looking good

CubeTheory posted:

I don't want to become the Matt Colville apologist in this thread but literally in multiple videos, including a stream he ran tonight, he talks about how there is no wrong way to DM if everyone who played has fun. In that same stream people tried to tell him he was the best DM and he shot them down. I don't want to argue against how you feel, your feelings are your own, but I also don't want people to be scared off when the principles of his advice are "Do what's fun" and "If it works, it's right"

gradenko_2000 posted:

I'm trying to do A Thing:


It should be fairly obvious what it is, but before I get too deep into it, I'd like a check on my natural language:

* Is "make a melee attack" even the correct way to phrase it?

* Is "roll your weapon damage twice and take the total" clear enough, or should I make it even longer by clarifying that the Strength modifier is still only used once?

Nickoten posted:

I think it might be better to turn these into "make a melee weapon attack" because then it includes only weapons and unarmed strikes. I also made a couple edits using some of the language from existing stuff:

MTV Crib Death posted:

For me, all the shine came off of M Colville's apple when I watched him actually DM a game. All that scripted, edited, polished video content is worthless if he sits at the table like a bored lump when it's game time.

mastershakeman posted:

How does that Kickstarter 5e supplement work legally? Does that guy need official permission to market it as such?

mastershakeman posted:

How does that Kickstarter 5e supplement work legally? Does that guy need official permission to market it as such?

doctor 7 posted:

Matt Colville offers really good advice to bed DMs

Kaysette posted:

gradenko_2000 posted:

Thank you so much for the help! This is just the encouragement and uniformity that I was looking for.

Rigged Death Trap posted:

Is there a style guide that you have to follow

Or could you just say: gently caress natural language

gradenko_2000 posted:

Thank you so much for the help! This is just the encouragement and uniformity that I was looking for.

CubeTheory posted:

So, anyways, how is D&D Beyond?

gradenko_2000 posted:

gradenko_2000 posted:

The point of this thought exercise is to plant a Trojan horse

gradenko_2000 posted:

If it misses, you deal damage equal to half your Strength modifier.

gradenko_2000 posted:

The point of this thought exercise is to plant a Trojan horse

Elendil004 posted:

If you use the message cantrip on an unsuspecting guy, like a guard, do they know who/where you are?

Elendil004 posted:

If you use the message cantrip on an unsuspecting guy, like a guard, do they know who/where you are?

Baronjutter posted:

Hi I've been playing 5e for a few months now and only just today learned that cantrips don't take up any casting slots, you can cast as many times as you want!

AlphaDog posted:

That being your goal, you might want to consider changing this:


to something more like this:

If the attack would normally miss, it instead hits and deals damage equal to...

Splicer posted:

Loads of stuff keys off hits. So e.g. GWM is now 10 + half str garaunteed damage.

Baronjutter posted:

Hi I've been playing 5e for a few months now and only just today learned that cantrips don't take up any casting slots, you can cast as many times as you want!

Caphi posted:

What were you using before, some number of 0-level slots from somewhere?

Down With People posted:

Have you tried talking to the swashbuckler player outside of the game about the problems you're having

Gridlocked posted:

Honestly its easier to leave him alone and let the other players brimg him into line. All they players are good friends of mine outside the game too. He just happens to be.... rough around the edges in terms of how to DnD ad part of a group.

It's not that I'm try to be passive agressive about it. I just don't want to have to call him out like "Hey man I think you're playing the game wrong."

I complain that he is trying to swindle and steal but he is playing a rogue when it comes down to it. And hell if his alignment is just a box to fill and he either a) belives his in game antisocial behavior is "good" or b) is just playing an over metagamed self insert without moral constraints it really is up to him what is the right way to play.

I will just sculpt the world in a way that the other more focused roleplayers and myself think is good and fun. Amd he can either loosely play like its Fallout 4 or he can join in with them. It sure as poo poo isn't worth me calling him out on it because it will definitely lead to him getting upset.

And he's a bit of a sore loser. Theres a reason I avoid playing video games with him now days.

Mendrian posted:

Listen man. You're not going to want to hear this. But that's a problem.

Let me try to summarize what you're experiencing in an abstract kind of way. Hopefully this will help you reframe the issue.

*) He is playing in such a way that other players are being annoyed.
*) He is playing in such a way that you are getting annoyed.
*) You feel you cannot tell him this because it will make him more upset than you want to deal with.

Imagine this behavior at any other kind of social gathering. Like some guy in your poker game keeps throwing chips at other players. Or somebody at the pool keeps making jokes about their wang. You cannot rely on them to learn their lesson on their own; realistically, they don't even know they're being annoying yet because nobody has told them. "Randy doesn't like it when you teleport into all of his social scenes. I don't want you to feel left out, so tell me why you do that and maybe I can find a better way to keep your entertained" is a perfectly valid thing to say and ask. If you cannot even make this kind of basic negotiation - equivalent to, "Hey Mitch, could you stop throwing chips in my eye, thanks" - then this person is going to eventually ruin your game.