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Glimm posted:Anyone ever use a service like https://startplaying.games/? Thinking of getting a game going soon with a bunch of newbies (including myself - I played years and years ago but never DM'd). The one time I paid for a D&D game was at a local tabletop store that rented out the space and organized games. It was my first D&D 5e game, and we had 4 other new players. The DM threw a bunch of level 12 character sheets at us and ran the entryway to the Tomb of Annihilation. It was loving terrible.
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Oct 23, 2020 20:04
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I don't see anything wrong with the pay2play tabletop RPG model, as long as people aren't being straight up tricked and defrauded. GMing, especially well, takes time and effort and preparation and requires a skillset, a lot of people can't or are unwilling to do it (or the legwork necessary to start a group, or whatever). It doesn't strike me as some kind of egregious capitalism-run-amok thing because, uhh, if you don't want to buy it you just don't buy it; it's an extremely inessential service. And a lot of broke nerds need incomes right now, so anything that funnels money from white collar fake job guys to them is good.
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Oct 23, 2020 20:18
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:In the abstract DMs are providing a service but it feels deeply wrong, like a director charging his actors a fee. i used to dm for pay, my paid games were a lot more power fantasy and less emotionally crushing than my home games. a lot of people want to play but have no idea where to start and want an experienced person to do cool voices and have pretty battlemaps and lavish descriptions . no idea if those dms are good though
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Oct 23, 2020 20:23
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:In the abstract DMs are providing a service but it feels deeply wrong, like a director charging his actors a fee. I think there’s a niche for paid DMs. Like hockey has rent a goalie services because you need a goalie to play and very few people can/have the equipment to play. So if your goalie cancels last minute then up to 30 other people can get screwed out of a game they’ve been looking forward to. So I can see scenarios like that when you have a group where the DM is sick or something and they still want to play because it’s the only time their schedules work out for the next month going “hey, stranger, here’s $x because my friends really want to play and we don’t have any other options”. But charging people you know and presumably have fun playing (and I don’t know if I’d want to play with a DM that isn’t having fun) with seems weird.
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Oct 23, 2020 20:28
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I wonder when DnD will start appearing at Vegas casinos.
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Oct 23, 2020 20:30
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Azza Bamboo posted:Awesome map Thanks for this, my river locked players will get a kick out of this one. Reddit sucks rear end but their battlemap subreddit is pretty good. I’ll go through a few times a week and grab some nice ones.
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Oct 23, 2020 20:46
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pseudodragon posted:But charging people you know and presumably have fun playing (and I don’t know if I’d want to play with a DM that isn’t having fun) with seems weird. How much is that actually happening, tho? And in those groups how many are "we're paying Danny to run a weekly game for us because Danny is an unemployed freelance writer and two of us have $70k salaries and it's a way to show we appreciate him and help him out without making it feel like charity?" The thing that would convince me there was something wrong with this model existing would be some kind of proof that it's reducing the availability of non-p2p games, and I just don't see any reason to believe that's true. In a world where this service didn't exist, most of the people buying it would probably just not be playing tabletop RPGs and most of the people selling would just be running fewer games.
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Oct 23, 2020 20:49
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Glimm posted:Anyone ever use a service like https://startplaying.games/? Thinking of getting a game going soon with a bunch of newbies (including myself - I played years and years ago but never DM'd). e: I guess that particular site doesn't have much for PF but there are a number of them on Roll20 Syrinxx fucked around with this message at 21:08 on Oct 23, 2020 |
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Oct 23, 2020 21:04
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Syrinxx posted:I'm dying to learn and play PF2e but have no good means by which to find a group especially during covid https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3495776&pagenumber=1
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Oct 23, 2020 21:17
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Infinite Karma posted:I don't feel like it's "wrong" for a DM to set up a payment scheme when they're recruiting strangers, but in my experience 10 out of 10 of these DMs are not particularly good at their jobs, and it's just an exploitative ripoff using generic stuff like the Adventurer's League content. I've met two guys who told me their were paid GMs and they were both massive assholes, but that's a small sample size.
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Oct 23, 2020 21:40
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Otoh I’d totally pay 25 bucks a month for good monthly games, so I might check out that site GMing is a lot of work
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Oct 23, 2020 21:43
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pseudodragon posted:But charging people you know and presumably have fun playing (and I don’t know if I’d want to play with a DM that isn’t having fun) with seems weird. the charge is for experience. if a group of people wants to play a game but doesnt know where to start, they can absolutely bumble through the way i learned it(and they dont even have to deal with the utter horse poo poo of 1st edition rules) but some people just want to play the game and see how they like it. a group of people getting together, splitting 60 dollars get an entire day of entertainment, all the prep work done, and get to have a satisfying and smooth experience. i do not do it anymore mostly because clients were too self conscious most of the time making for awkward experiences(no truly bad horror stories except some guy justifying racial ability score modifiers with real life racism) but i know why. home games are better anyway because if i do evil poo poo to my players and they paid money i feel like a jackass
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Oct 23, 2020 22:05
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VaultAggie posted:Thanks for this, my river locked players will get a kick out of this one. Reddit sucks rear end but their battlemap subreddit is pretty good. I’ll go through a few times a week and grab some nice ones. Thanks! It's good to know that the map could be getting some good use. I'll definitely check out that battlemap site too
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Oct 23, 2020 22:20
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There's a bunch of paid DMs advertising on Roll20. I never tried hiring one, but here's a few observations from what I've seen: The typical fee is about ~$10 per player per 4 hour session. There are some DMs asking for ~$15 per player. I've also seen $20, but I don't know if these DMs actually end up getting any players. Most DMs offer a free one-shot session to see if you like their style. I'd probably suggest asking for one even if the DM doesn't mention it.
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Oct 23, 2020 22:32
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I've played in a paid game before. Nobody wanted to DM anymore so we reached out to a few guys and ended up picking the one we liked most. It was probably the best DnD game I've played in, looking back, and the twelve bucks per session didn't break the bank or anything. I don't think I'd ever charge my own players, being as they're my friends, but good DMing is a lot of work.
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Oct 23, 2020 23:21
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Yeah my paid DM game was probably my best game I've been in as a player lasted almost 2 years until some drama happened and it all fell apart but the DM was pretty good. It extremely seems like something you'd want to be able to vet first
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Oct 23, 2020 23:23
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I made a map from a heavily edited Greyhawk Map. It was originally intended for a hex crawl game for Roll20 , but it never got off the ground but a few times. Anyway it was a lot of work.
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Oct 24, 2020 00:18
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Does anyone have a good resource for some cool monk weapons/items? I'm sure i've seen it in the thread but I was not able to find it. One of my players is a monk and she's feeling the sting a bit so I wanted to give her some cool magic items that suit the class. I've tried making my own items in the past but I kinda hosed it up so i'm happy to buy a supplement.
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Oct 24, 2020 00:46
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Robiben posted:Does anyone have a good resource for some cool monk weapons/items? I'm sure i've seen it in the thread but I was not able to find it. What's she feeling a lack in? Does she want more Ki points for Monk poo poo or does she feels she's lagging in damage?
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Oct 24, 2020 02:23
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What level, because it's hard to go wrong with a Belt of Giant Strength
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Oct 24, 2020 05:00
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cowboy
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Just hit level 5 so maybe i'm worrying too much, but I just feel like there isn't a bunch of good monk options? Its damage she's mainly feeling and it seems like she burns ki points quickly trying to make up for it. It could be a symptom of the encounters so far, it feels like Ghosts Of Saltmarsh's big set pieces so far have not allowed for short rests so she has to deal with the other players having all their long rest stuff at the ready. Gonna try to fix that issue. I was not prepared for how open ended GOS ended up being, its weird to have these cool campaigns in one book but it feels like there is hardly any connective tissue.
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Oct 24, 2020 07:01
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Monks don't actually do appreciable damage.
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Oct 24, 2020 07:15
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Why not give a magic item that throws out a couple of extra ki points?
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Oct 24, 2020 07:16
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This video covers some of the pitfalls of hiring a DM https://youtu.be/2AJOqx6_UKQ Talk about rolling the dice!
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Oct 24, 2020 07:59
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Robiben posted:Just hit level 5 so maybe i'm worrying too much, but I just feel like there isn't a bunch of good monk options? Its damage she's mainly feeling and it seems like she burns ki points quickly trying to make up for it. Traditionally monk items would be something like the Bracers of Defense or the Belt of Giant Strength. There's also the Insignia of Claws from the Hoard of the Dragon Queen, or the Staff of Striking and Staff of Thunder and Lightning at higher levels. These are all fairly boring stat bonuses, but end up being fairly potent in combination. I've also had success giving monks one-off ability items that can give them more flexibility or interesting things to do, for example one player really loved using his Decanter of Endless Water as a fire hose to jump extra high or push people around - something with lots of narrative effect despite not being too mechanically different from things a monk does already. If you want homebrew items, check out this person's assortment. Lion Wraps, Belt of Emerald Mastery, Iron Rain, or the Staff of Vaulting would be nice additions for any level 5 monk. https://www.brandesstoddard.com/2020/04/new-magic-items-for-monks/
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Oct 24, 2020 08:44
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There's Insignia of Claws from Tyranny of Dragons if you want just as basic of a Monk item as you can get. You can probably houserule it give some extra bonuses. Edit: Didn't read the above post 
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Oct 24, 2020 13:11
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Toshimo posted:Monks don't actually do appreciable damage. Treantmonk had a point. Monks kinda feel like the redheaded stepchild of 5e, they don't quite fit anywhere and they're less good at everything. They do have versatility so they're a good pick for random pick up games or the like but once you have a regular playgroup you're better off with a specialist character in a designated role (striker, controller, whatever). It's a shame because they have great flavor, it just feels like the designers didn't really know what to do with them. They're great fun up till about level 5 or so but they just have a low "ceiling" as it were. They don't scale well and they give up too much (especially magic item range) for what they get. If I were homebrewing magic items for monks, I'd do kung fu weapons, like the Rope Dart. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 13:48 on Oct 24, 2020 |
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Oct 24, 2020 13:36
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Glimm posted:Anyone ever use a service like https://startplaying.games/? Thinking of getting a game going soon with a bunch of newbies (including myself - I played years and years ago but never DM'd). It's an incredibly easy and lucrative way to earn money, if you just lie and say everything went as planned while you just do improv.
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Oct 24, 2020 14:25
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I don’t think d&d monks have great flavor at all. They’re bland packages of vague mysticism and some kung fu.
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Oct 24, 2020 15:04
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please knock Mom! posted:I don’t think d&d monks have great flavor at all. They’re bland packages of vague mysticism and some kung fu. Class flavor isn't about what's in the straight text, it's about what they provide as a springboard, and monks let you bring kung fu flavor into the game in a clear way. Lots of room for cool kung fu action etc. I agree you have to bring more to the table to make them work even as a RP class though yeah.
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Oct 24, 2020 15:18
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A magic item that makes all monk maneuvers cost one less ki.
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Oct 24, 2020 15:52
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Ki dynamo. It generates 1 ki point every 40 feet you move and every 4 attacks you land. Tenik fucked around with this message at 17:38 on Oct 24, 2020 |
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Oct 24, 2020 17:22
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For a while now I've been wanting to play an RPG where you accumulate points with basic attacks and spend them to launch your big attacks. As I type this I realise I'm describing rage in WoW.
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Oct 24, 2020 17:28
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Robiben posted:Does anyone have a good resource for some cool monk weapons/items? I'm sure i've seen it in the thread but I was not able to find it. Give them something (maybe a Battle Bracer? Shouldn’t be a weapon imo) that gives them a maneuver from the battle master list that they can expend ki to use
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Oct 24, 2020 17:42
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change my name posted:Give them something (maybe a Battle Bracer? Shouldn’t be a weapon imo) that gives them a maneuver from the battle master list that they can expend ki to use IMO, the problem with monks isn't that they don't have interesting things to do; they already have a ton of options on which they can spend Ki that fall under other classes' purviews. The issue is that they are just straight up worse at those things than the other classes they're copying. So when the monk's turn comes up in the initiative order it becomes a question of, "Do I spend my Ki on doing my unique Monk Stuff like running real fast, flurry of blows, etc.?", or, "Do I spend my Ki to be a mediocre-at-best imitation of another class?" Giving them the option to spend their one limited resource on being yet another a poor copy of yet another class is just going to make the monk's problem worse. And besides, Open Hand monks already get a few maneuver-like effects on their Flurry of Blows anyway, so there's a chance they could be spending Ki on something that's mechanically very similar to something they're already spending Ki on as it is. Tenik posted:Ki dynamo. It generates 1 ki point every 40 feet you move and every 4 attacks you land. I think this is a perfect example of a good magic item for a monk. It allows them to do their bread and butter Monk Stuff pretty much indefinitely without worrying about burning through all their Ki, which then gives them the freedom to spend lots of Ki on their other options like Stunning Strike, Deflect Missiles, Patient Defense, and whatever else their subclass gives them. Honestly, I think something like this shouldn't be a magic item, it should just straight up be a base class feature. It would go a long way towards making monks more in line with the other classes. Moose King fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Oct 24, 2020 |
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Oct 24, 2020 18:58
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Meanwhile I've met multiple people who think the RAW 5e Monk is busted and needs nerfed. I did not stay in games with these people for long mind you, but man was I just trying to figure out the jumps in logic you take for that conclusion.
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Oct 24, 2020 19:40
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T1 the monk is pretty powerful RAW They scale like poo poo tho
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Oct 24, 2020 19:48
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FrozenPhoenix71 posted:Meanwhile I've met multiple people who think the RAW 5e Monk is busted and needs nerfed. If I had to guess, I'd say that logic is probably a combination of: "Monks get FOUR attacks at level 5! Fighters don't get that until level 20!" and "Stunning Strike is OP" while ignoring the fact that a Fighter of comparable level also has Action Surge on top of Maneuvers/Expanded Crits/Magic and that Stunning Strike is a Constitution save which most monsters an adventuring party would be fighting are pretty likely to save against. These people also tend to ignore that the monk's four attacks are doing an average total of like 30 damage to a single target (if they hit all four attacks, and spend their resource on Flurry of Blows), while at the same level most of the full spellcasters are spending their resources on things like Fireball which deals about the same average damage to everything in a 20-foot radius. But people clamoring to nerf martials while spellcasters reign supreme isn't a new topic in this thread by a long shot. Moose King fucked around with this message at 20:00 on Oct 24, 2020 |
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Oct 24, 2020 19:56
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IMHO, the main issue with monks is that its current design just doesn't mesh well with most DMing styles. Brennan Lee Mulligan (the DM on College Humor's actual play show, Dimension 20) uses a ton of encounters with large physical set pieces that require a lot of movement, and enemies are in advantageous positions. Monks on the show have a ton of amazing opportunities to run up walls, jump between buildings, and leap across floating platforms as they navigate the set piece to reach their target. Those types of large three dimensional set pieces allow monks to make the most of their abilities, which is great! They are never the group's main damage dealer, but they can usually pull off a clutch move and change the dynamics of a fight, just like a spell caster can. But most campaigns don't have fights like that. They have one or two big baddies in a tight lair, or they have a lot of little encounters spread throughout a dungeon crawl, or they have a flat, easy-to-draw battlefield that's just 100 ft x 100 ft with most of the action in the exact center. These types of encounters work great for most of the classes in the game, and they are easy for DMs to run, but they don't create the types of situations that make monks shine in combat. Now add in the other problems: they are a short rest class competing with long rest classes, monks' special moves can only target common saves so they are more likely to be resisted, their special moves have strong effects so DMs will negate them with legendary resistances, there are very few role play focused features for them, they are MAD, they have low average damage, etc. You can fix some of these issues with magic items and adjusting their resources, but that just feels turning monks into fighters. Tenik fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Oct 24, 2020 |
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Oct 24, 2020 20:00
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Dexo posted:T1 the monk is pretty powerful RAW yeah this was my experience in AL. stunning strike and flurry of blows are great when you get them but i can't remember anything similarly powerful after level 5. Tenik posted:Brennan Lee Mulligan this sounds dope and i really need to start watching D20. i love NADDPOD so i know i'd love it, too.
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Oct 24, 2020 20:09
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