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Skyl3lazer posted:So I want to give rewards to my PCs who actually do things like submit character sheets in advance, do more than the bare minimum of backstory prep, etc. Are there any magic items which wouldn't completely unbalance level 1-3 play but would be good cantrip-esque rewards? It's hard to tell in 5e what a 'good' magic item is based on its rarity and I don't want to accidentally give out something too powerful. Give your fighters a weapon that has 1-3 daily charges of a cantrip that fits the backstory they've created, or your casters a staff/runed glove that has a single consumable charge of Shield or sandles with Misty Step, etc.
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Nov 29, 2018 18:10
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| # ? May 29, 2024 00:57 |
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Skyl3lazer posted:So I want to give rewards to my PCs who actually do things like submit character sheets in advance, do more than the bare minimum of backstory prep, etc. Are there any magic items which wouldn't completely unbalance level 1-3 play but would be good cantrip-esque rewards? It's hard to tell in 5e what a 'good' magic item is based on its rarity and I don't want to accidentally give out something too powerful. Healing pots and cantrip scrolls are always good.
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Nov 29, 2018 18:40
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Check out the common magic items in Xanathar’s. Lots of them are cool, and none of them are going to stick around past level 5.
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Nov 29, 2018 19:10
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Gonna run Death House tomorrow, my first time out DMing since middle school. How is the mid-dungeon leveling up generally handled? Hint that the players take a long rest in the attic? Should they get all their level 2 features, or just their HP bump? I'm a little hesitant bring the game to a standstill halfway through the session so that 6 players can choose their archetypes and learn their new mechanics, especially because some of them are new players. Of course, the basement is pretty punishing, even if I shave off some of the monsters.
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Dec 1, 2018 02:50
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Always give players their fun things as quickly as possible unless you have serious narrative reasons not to (and you have vocal buy in from the players). If you're worried about pacing have them do it in advance, possibly with some help from you, and then if they change their minds give them a bit to decide. Also if you hate respeccing and retconning PC's so players have more fun you are definitely 100% a Bad DM, full stop. It's a game and everyone having fun is the most important thing above all else. If anything gets in the way of that, ignore it.
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Dec 1, 2018 03:23
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Xiahou Dun posted:Always give players their fun things as quickly as possible unless you have serious narrative reasons not to (and you have vocal buy in from the players). You need to chill out because that's not what he said at all.
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Dec 1, 2018 03:26
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I'm all for players (particularly the new ones who I generated characters for) getting to respec. I'm more concerned about the pace of the session becoming boring for them, because not everyone enjoys poring through books and adjusting their stats like we do. But doing it in advance is actually a pretty solid idea, especially because one guy said he'd be coming late, so we will likely have some time for people to work on that as they trickle into my apartment.
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Dec 1, 2018 03:35
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Toshimo posted:You need to chill out because that's not what he said at all. I must be coming off harsher than I mean to because I didn't mean to sound aggressive. Sorry, still getting over from a hell death 30 hour flight yesterday so I might not be as clear as I wanted to be. I was trying to emphasize that if one is worried about pacing that they should just do the level up in advance and that gating character abilities isn't fun unless you have very, very good reasons to do it, and then only if the players are also into it and have said as such. Like, ideally, if you have the time and you're worried about the newbies, grab a beer with them and do the level up together. It's my go to for doing character generation with someone new to RPGing or any system ; we chill, we drink a little, we take some notes about what they want out of the character and it let's them get excited about what they can do while I (or anyone else familiar with the given system) can help them make a character that'll do what they are excited to do. Bonus as I DM I get a thousand hooks. I literally just did this as a session 0 for a Blades in the Dark game two weeks ago and it was a lot of fun. If something happened in the session to make them rethink this, either give them a minute to rethink things, or, if that would gently caress up the pacing, tell them they can respec really soon and just tell them overtly that you want to keep the pace up (and keep this in mind and don't gently caress them over in the interim). And if they picked things that won't come up in the second half or are otherwise irrelevant, might want to flag that to them overtly. Again, sorry if I came off too hot in the first post. I blame being tired and quitting smoking. I really am just saying that everyone should be cool and chill and have fun, so if my tone conflicts with that, it's me being a lovely writer and not intentional.
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Dec 1, 2018 04:04
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Flip Yr Wig posted:Gonna run Death House tomorrow, my first time out DMing since middle school. How is the mid-dungeon leveling up generally handled? Hint that the players take a long rest in the attic? Should they get all their level 2 features, or just their HP bump? I'm a little hesitant bring the game to a standstill halfway through the session so that 6 players can choose their archetypes and learn their new mechanics, especially because some of them are new players. Of course, the basement is pretty punishing, even if I shave off some of the monsters. You're over estimating how quickly they will run through it. Lvl2 as they hit the attic will likely coincide with the end of the session anyway if they play anything like my group did (we werent newbies though).
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Dec 1, 2018 08:54
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Flip Yr Wig posted:Gonna run Death House tomorrow, my first time out DMing since middle school. How is the mid-dungeon leveling up generally handled? Hint that the players take a long rest in the attic? Should they get all their level 2 features, or just their HP bump? I'm a little hesitant bring the game to a standstill halfway through the session so that 6 players can choose their archetypes and learn their new mechanics, especially because some of them are new players. Of course, the basement is pretty punishing, even if I shave off some of the monsters. Change the last monster or make it very clear they should run. Reduce the encounters overall unless they're system masters. I leveled them up on the spot but we talked about character progression beforehand so they had stuff picked out already
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Dec 1, 2018 08:58
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Also level 2 for most classes doesn’t have a lot of options so it shouldn’t actually take very long for them to level up.
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Dec 1, 2018 17:19
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Alright, so for the purposes of triggering a bonus action attack (using either TWF or the one from Polearm Master, or Monk Martial Arts) can "shove" count as "an attack with a weapon"? Assume for simplicity's sake that you're not using a character where Extra Attack is even a consideration (i.e. you're a rogue, or maybe you're just low-level.)
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Dec 2, 2018 22:22
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P.d0t posted:Alright, so for the purposes of triggering a bonus action attack (using either TWF or the one from Polearm Master, or Monk Martial Arts) can "shove" count as "an attack with a weapon"? No.
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Dec 2, 2018 22:29
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Last night characters were granted a wish. So after giving them 5 minutes to table talk it out one of them blurted out “Peace on earth with goodwill towards all men”. Trying to think up a creative way to interpret this since the name of the world is not earth.
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Dec 2, 2018 22:58
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Bonnono posted:Last night characters were granted a wish. So after giving them 5 minutes to table talk it out one of them blurted out “Peace on earth with goodwill towards all men”. Trying to think up a creative way to interpret this since the name of the world is not earth. Earth has unified in peace, allowing it to focus on threats from other planes. As such, a diverse, well prepared, well funded army is invading the plane in order to bring Earth's peace here. In order to achieve a lasting peace, all children must be born of it and as such only women from Earth are allowed to survive, all women from all other planes must be destroyed.
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Dec 2, 2018 23:03
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Nephzinho posted:Earth has unified in peace, allowing it to focus on threats from other planes. As such, a diverse, well prepared, well funded army is invading the plane in order to bring Earth's peace here. In order to achieve a lasting peace, all children must be born of it and as such only women from Earth are allowed to survive, all women from all other planes must be destroyed. *Monkey's Paw does a fist pump*
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Dec 2, 2018 23:04
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Bonnono posted:Last night characters were granted a wish. So after giving them 5 minutes to table talk it out one of them blurted out “Peace on earth with goodwill towards all men”. Trying to think up a creative way to interpret this since the name of the world is not earth. With the time of year this seems like a perfect opportunity for a special feelgood Christmas session. Such a selfless wish should be interpreted according to its spirit in my opinion--you can't change everyone in the world's natures, but maybe peace really does reign on earth/planet/wherever for a week or two, maybe some wars do end when people fighting agree to share or settle, maybe some hatreds run deeper and those conflicts reignite when the wish expires. For the PCs, a nice little festival in the nearest town, gifts exchanged, Merry Christmas.
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Dec 2, 2018 23:08
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Bonnono posted:Last night characters were granted a wish. So after giving them 5 minutes to table talk it out one of them blurted out “Peace on earth with goodwill towards all men”. Trying to think up a creative way to interpret this since the name of the world is not earth. For additional fun times, all this also affects animals
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Dec 2, 2018 23:09
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Reveilled posted:With the time of year this seems like a perfect opportunity for a special feelgood Christmas session. Such a selfless wish should be interpreted according to its spirit in my opinion--you can't change everyone in the world's natures, but maybe peace really does reign on earth/planet/wherever for a week or two, maybe some wars do end when people fighting agree to share or settle, maybe some hatreds run deeper and those conflicts reignite when the wish expires. Yeah, I agree with this. I think you could even have a Christmas-themed adventure, it would just have to focus on non-combat stuff (puzzles, hazardous environments, etc)
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Dec 2, 2018 23:43
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Bonnono posted:Last night characters were granted a wish. So after giving them 5 minutes to table talk it out one of them blurted out “Peace on earth with goodwill towards all men”. Trying to think up a creative way to interpret this since the name of the world is not earth. The abolition of slavery on the Elemental Plane of Earth has driven the Dao to seek out plunder and form a settler state on the plot-relevant plane of your choice.
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Dec 3, 2018 02:22
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We stumbled into a ridiculous state of affairs and nuked the gently caress out of a deadly encounter in an extremely short time, including a goddamn mind flayer. I got to counter Plane Shift with my piddling level 3 counterspell! Also in like 2 years of playing this is the first time I was able to make a Hexed ability check matter because instead of begging my party like "hey guys, if you grapple or restrain him it's a check, not a save!" I was playing our absent warlock and my wizard so I could finally set up a combo my own goddamn self. I hope that mind flayer wasn't important to the plot because apparently he's supposed to gently caress off out the door or via plane shift.
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Dec 3, 2018 02:32
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It really sucks when party members have abilities that combo with yours, but they're too bad at the game for it to ever happen.
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Dec 3, 2018 02:34
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Don't be a dick with wishes. Obviously probably don't grant world peace because that's not conducive to adventure but like, give them something nice. The temporary reprieve from all conflict, having a one day like Christmas kinda thing is a good idea, I like that. A good excuse to have some light fun.
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Dec 3, 2018 02:35
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If you don't appreciate dickish responses to wishes as vague as that, why even play this game.
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Dec 3, 2018 02:37
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World peace doesn’t mean that it’s ever-lasting. Give them world peace for a brief spell, and then create alliances and rivalries that turn the game world on its head.
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Dec 3, 2018 02:41
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Unrelated to the monkey paw wish discussion, I've been reading Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica and I'm wondering how the hell Rakdos can even work in lore, and in a roleplaying game. Like, I know the main conceit of Ravnica is there's a literal magical contract that forces everyone to not outright go to war and exterminate each other and all the guilds have a job to keep the city running but the lore on Rakdos seems really inconsistent. They say they run the entertainment sector and do shows where they publicly ridicule the elite that people enjoy apparently... But then in the next paragraph talk about how Rakdos parties have like a 50/50 shot of turning into a blood orgy. Like, why would anyone ever go to one of these when you might have a few drinks and see a show or you might end up getting ripped apart by a demon. Are they supposed to be secretive about the darker poo poo they do? Because the lore makes it sound like they are extremely up front about their murder parties. Then the source book says that players should maybe be one of these guys. I have no idea how that would even work.
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Dec 3, 2018 02:47
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Glagha posted:Unrelated to the monkey paw wish discussion, I've been reading Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica and I'm wondering how the hell Rakdos can even work in lore, and in a roleplaying game. Like, I know the main conceit of Ravnica is there's a literal magical contract that forces everyone to not outright go to war and exterminate each other and all the guilds have a job to keep the city running but the lore on Rakdos seems really inconsistent. They say they run the entertainment sector and do shows where they publicly ridicule the elite that people enjoy apparently... But then in the next paragraph talk about how Rakdos parties have like a 50/50 shot of turning into a blood orgy. Like, why would anyone ever go to one of these when you might have a few drinks and see a show or you might end up getting ripped apart by a demon. Are they supposed to be secretive about the darker poo poo they do? Because the lore makes it sound like they are extremely up front about their murder parties. Then the source book says that players should maybe be one of these guys. I have no idea how that would even work. I like to imagine that most guilds have concentric zones of territory, with core regions where they can push their beliefs to their logical conclusions and outer areas where they generally play nice with other guilds, normal people, and common sense. It's been a while since I've read anything specific, but my impression is that there are public thoroughfares and markets and guildless housing projects that are pretty much neutral and outside of any specific direct guild control. In other words, murder parties happen in the murder party district, while normal carnivals only sometimes end with exploding clowns. I also think it makes more sense for players to be guild-affiliated and working as a contractor or temp hire and not as a fully-initiated Guild member, since being in a guild is sort of A Big Deal, and not being in one gives them more reason to be interacting across party lines. More importantly, guild people are supposed to have full-time day jobs, which doesn't really work for adventurers.
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Dec 3, 2018 03:08
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Yeah they do provide some reasons for people in different guilds to work together. A lot of them have mutual interests they'd want to work towards. But then the Rakdos chapter seems to make zero effort toward making a Rakdos player want to play nice, despite presenting it as a background choice. I'm sure that they have SOME legitimate businesses which is how they have any sort of people outside the cult that would be willing to attend their performances but then it says that part of your benefits for being a member is that people don't gently caress with you in the street because they're afraid you'll flip out and murder them. It's just a little inconsistent on how scary the cult is supposed to be.
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Dec 3, 2018 03:28
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I kinda think monkey paw wishes are boring. "Peace on earth with goodwill towards all men?! Well, the Earth gets a GUN, which is a PIECE, and it starts SHOOTING NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS at ALL OF MANKIND, everyone is DEAD, YOU IDIOT CLOWNS" But, chummy holiday episodes are always cool.
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Dec 3, 2018 04:09
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he made two wishes, thats not really fair
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Dec 3, 2018 04:13
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Bonnono posted:Last night characters were granted a wish. So after giving them 5 minutes to table talk it out one of them blurted out “Peace on earth with goodwill towards all men”. Trying to think up a creative way to interpret this since the name of the world is not earth. Sunnis, princess of the good earth creatures, rides across the land in a massive iron sleigh pulled by eight xorn and an umber hulk with bright glowing red eyes. (they're actually goggles to block the confusion gaze) She enters every city willing to receive her, passing carved stone trinkets to the children, tools to the workers, and to the wealthy and connected only overtures of alliance. (Occasionally to someone who angrily demands it she'll gift a gem, and then one of the xorn inevitably manages to snatch and eat it.) Is this just some caprice of hers? A play for power in the mortal realm the other elemental rulers will move to counter? A hope that this well-wishing will be returned in kind, to blunt the rise of the evil earth creatures or the machinations of the dao? I don't know, you're the GM.
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Dec 3, 2018 04:19
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Glagha posted:Yeah they do provide some reasons for people in different guilds to work together. A lot of them have mutual interests they'd want to work towards. But then the Rakdos chapter seems to make zero effort toward making a Rakdos player want to play nice, despite presenting it as a background choice. I'm sure that they have SOME legitimate businesses which is how they have any sort of people outside the cult that would be willing to attend their performances but then it says that part of your benefits for being a member is that people don't gently caress with you in the street because they're afraid you'll flip out and murder them. It's just a little inconsistent on how scary the cult is supposed to be. I'd guess that the primary profession for the legitimate Rakdos are entertainers. I imagine it as half-demon cult and half-entertainer's union. Like if SAG-AFTRA was openly affiliated with the Church of Satan and publicly into human sacrifice.
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Dec 3, 2018 04:22
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Glagha posted:Don't be a dick with wishes. Obviously probably don't grant world peace because that's not conducive to adventure but like, give them something nice. The temporary reprieve from all conflict, having a one day like Christmas kinda thing is a good idea, I like that. A good excuse to have some light fun. This. Don't dick them over when they made a selfless wish. Give them peace on Earth. All peoples currently at war spontaneously make peace with each other. Bandits retire. Dragons go to sleep. Owlbears lay down with kobolds. Swords get hammered into plowshares. But, the underlying reasons for conflict are still there. Can the adventurers keep the fragile peace they made? Have a Christmas themed adventure based on this magical moment of peace and love, then have an adventure arc based on their desperate attempts to keep the peace between some major groups as the magic enforcement fades (maybe even through violence, they are adventurers). The world is now in a much better state than before the wish, and this new start could lead to something permanent. But only if they keep it that way.
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Dec 3, 2018 06:03
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I would give one night of peace. A silent night if you will. Play it out like the Christmas truce of the first World War where the troops independently decided to stop fighting and sing songs instead.
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Dec 3, 2018 06:33
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Nehru the Damaja posted:We stumbled into a ridiculous state of affairs and nuked the gently caress out of a deadly encounter in an extremely short time, including a goddamn mind flayer. I got to counter Plane Shift with my piddling level 3 counterspell!
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Dec 3, 2018 06:55
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It's fun and by fun I mean dumb and arbitrary that the rules for Summon Lesser/Greater Demon both just ignore the focus/component rules per Crawford.
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Dec 3, 2018 08:02
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Mr. Prokosch posted:Owlbears lay down with kobolds.
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Dec 3, 2018 10:06
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I'm pretty sure that wish is just a reference to the movie Sneakers, where the heist crew gets to ask for anything they want. https://youtu.be/S0sEWM_cx5Q
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Dec 3, 2018 11:43
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nelson posted:I would give one night of peace. A silent night if you will. Play it out like the Christmas truce of the first World War where the troops independently decided to stop fighting and sing songs instead. All leaders, mitary or political, that were driving conflict spontaneously die. A Christmas Truce forms in the shock of it. In the resultant power vacuum, let human nature play out.
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Dec 3, 2018 14:14
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Nehru the Damaja posted:The abolition of slavery on the Elemental Plane of Earth has driven the Dao to seek out plunder and form a settler state on the plot-relevant plane of your choice. I actually like the idea of Peace on the elemental plane of earth. It doesn't need the twist of them banding together to plunder, and they get to on a nice fun holiday to the elemental plane of Let's All Be Nice To Each Other
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Dec 3, 2018 15:01
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