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Verisimilidude posted:Lol I did, but I’m asking for advice from other people who may have experienced this or have some insight into it. In that case I'd second sebmojo's advice Ain't no shame for either a GM or a player to say "look this clearly isn't working, d'you wanna try again?"
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May 6, 2022 03:23
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May 6, 2022 04:58
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Verisimilidude posted:Lol I did, but I’m asking for advice from other people who may have experienced this or have some insight into it. Ok, non-flippant answer: The way I read your post seemed like you were saying you asked them about it when they generated their character, and they were confident they could make it work, but you haven't asked them since -- just noticed that they didn't seem to be having fun. So to me the first step has gotta be asking them again -- because you're no longer in the same situation. "Hey, I know you said you were confident playing this character, but I've gotten the vibe you're no longer having fun with it and you're struggling to work out what to do. If that's the case let's talk about it and maybe I can help you figure something out". But the solution you come up with is gonna be hugely dependent on what the player's problem actually is, and trying to second-guess that is a fool's errand. Hell, could be you're completely misreading the situation and they're having a blast.
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May 6, 2022 07:09
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My group has solved a problem somewhat ingeniously. They had a problem with orcs occupying a village, and they had a dragon to face, so they tricked the dragon into thinking he was being attacked by the orcs, and he went to gently caress their poo poo up. This works very well for me because I was looking for a way to tie up the somewhat stale orc plot thread with minimal actual playing time. On the other hand, the village is established to be next to a forest where friendly elves live, and I'm now about to have a village on fire plot thread. I can think up mystical magic poo poo all day long but I'm not sure what a small group of people - say around 15 - would actually do to stop a wildfire from spreading to the forest. The village itself can be sacrificed. Setting is your usual semi-medieval fantasy, and the location is established to be quite remote, so they'll have to be self-sufficient about it. I'm not opposed to pulling something magical out of my rear end, but I do want this to be a small challenge, and I'm also just curious what a good mundane way to do this would be. although also well aware the actual medieval response might well be "pack your poo poo and go, it's gone"
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May 6, 2022 08:20
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My Lovely Horse posted:I can think up mystical magic poo poo all day long but I'm not sure what a small group of people - say around 15 - would actually do to stop a wildfire from spreading to the forest. The village itself can be sacrificed. Setting is your usual semi-medieval fantasy, and the location is established to be quite remote, so they'll have to be self-sufficient about it. I'm not opposed to pulling something magical out of my rear end, but I do want this to be a small challenge, and I'm also just curious what a good mundane way to do this would be. A firebreak sounds like a good option -- cut down and remove the foliage between the village and the forest so the fire has no way to spread. That also brings in fun complications because maybe some of the foliage is sentient and needs to be persuaded to move, or even to help out by shepherding frightened trees out of the way. I always feel mystical magical poo poo is best when it's a means to a mundane end: so "create a firebreak (mundane end) by persuading the trees to move (fantastical means) is better than just "shoot magic at the fire to stop it burning"
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May 6, 2022 08:46
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My Lovely Horse posted:My group has solved a problem somewhat ingeniously. They had a problem with orcs occupying a village, and they had a dragon to face, so they tricked the dragon into thinking he was being attacked by the orcs, and he went to gently caress their poo poo up. This works very well for me because I was looking for a way to tie up the somewhat stale orc plot thread with minimal actual playing time. On the other hand, the village is established to be next to a forest where friendly elves live, and I'm now about to have a village on fire plot thread. Realistically a medieval village is not going to move even if all their houses burn down. Their crop fields are why the village exists in the first place and those are still there. Their important stuff like metal tools would also not burn. They might even enjoy the fire spreading to the forest, it would clear more land for them to farm!  Getting the animals away from the fire would make a good mini challenge.Building a new village would be labour intensive, but not especially difficult. Everyone would be living in wattle and daub cottages anyway, and those don't take long to build (especially if you have magic lol) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCKkHqlx9dE
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May 6, 2022 08:56
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My Lovely Horse posted:My group has solved a problem somewhat ingeniously. They had a problem with orcs occupying a village, and they had a dragon to face, so they tricked the dragon into thinking he was being attacked by the orcs, and he went to gently caress their poo poo up. This works very well for me because I was looking for a way to tie up the somewhat stale orc plot thread with minimal actual playing time. On the other hand, the village is established to be next to a forest where friendly elves live, and I'm now about to have a village on fire plot thread. Bucket brigading, making firebreaks, and demolishing buildings near the fire have all been used at various times. If there aren't enough people or water to douse the fire by bucket brigade, then the next best thing is probably to let it burn down and deny it fuel to spread further by clearing out any nearby combustibles. Also, I would probably be more worried about the town than the forest, since living trees are full of water and don't burn as easily. Spontaneously catching on fire is just one of those facts of life that a tree or other plant has to inevitably accept and live with, and some might go as far as welcome it, if it wipes out their less fire-resistant competitors and leaves fertile ash for their seeds to grow in. Ultimately, it's probably more of a problem for the humans than the non-humans. As for what the players can do, directing or participating directly in the firefighting efforts seems good, and so would treating the injured, calming the panicked, and rescuing little Timmy stuck under a burning beam. If it's as small a town as you say, then there probably isn't the population or building density for things to get really out of hand anyways, so I'd think it's more an issue of damage control.
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May 6, 2022 09:03
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I looked it up (https://allisondreid.com/tag/medieval-firefighting-methods/) and the basic idea was that the surrounding houses would be torn down by hooked poles to starve the fire. Bucketeers would try to quench any escaping sparks, but there wasn't enough water in most places to fight the fire in the modern sense. Every house had a bucket of water at the door to try and control the damage as soon as possible. The same link claims that especially fire prone or important buildings were fire proofed. Losing all the clothing in the village to a fire would be a disaster. A straight up dragon torching everything is game over. Villages are built where they are for good reasons. The villagers without a trade are probably going to be desperate to sell their services as guide to "a great place to settle." A good way to introduce new conflicting factions if they both got sold on the same spot. A halfway solution between the historical and the magical might be fire fighting tools from the elves. A wood totem that burns instead of the attached property, cathodic protection style. Bizarre branches that burst into smothering leaves and flowers when tossed on a flame. Or just unnaturally water saturated wood that acts as an instant fire break. The dragon needs to be driven off before the tools are exhausted. The villagers are desperate to replace these extremely reassuring tools, but they were from a one time gift. The elves don't sell the stuff, but they could reward adventurers that...
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May 6, 2022 09:19
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Firebreak sounds like a good idea. There's really no one but the orcs squatting in the village, driving them away has been the ultimate goal so this is all about saving the adjacent forest. (They will have to deal with the fact that their patron would have preferred to not set the village on fire if that had ever come up as an option, but that's not the immediate concern.) So the way I picture it they'll emerge from the dragon's cave to find the skies thick with smoke and the elves already frantically at work to make a firebreak, and they have to join in the effort. Maybe they'll even encounter some orc stragglers. That should work nicely without us spending an inordinate amount of play time on it. Although I do like persuading the sentient forest to go out of the way and will keep that in mind. Thanks everyone!
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May 6, 2022 09:31
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If the elves are already working on a firebreak then a fun one to do is have one of them show the PCs a map and be like "we think we can manage all this, maybe, but if you want to lend a hand here are the three areas of the forest we think will be dangerous -- this one has a mischievous nymph in the nearby lake who lures the unwary in, this one is full of vengeful ghosts, this one is technically the land of a different tribe and they've always hated us. We were gonna send our own adventurers to keep the workers safe in each one but they'd be spread pretty thin, so if you wanna fill in for one of them that'd mean the world".
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May 6, 2022 09:41
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Whybird posted:I always feel mystical magical poo poo is best when it's a means to a mundane end: so "create a firebreak (mundane end) by persuading the trees to move (fantastical means) is better than just "shoot magic at the fire to stop it burning" Not to be pedantic (he said, going on to be pedantic as only an autistic guy can) but I think the point you're making here is the opposite of what you technically said. The goal is ordinary: create a firebreak to limit the damage to the forest. The complication is fantastical: the trees at the forest's edge stubbornly refuse to moving and resist being cut down. The solution could be magical, mundane, or a mixture of both. In my humble opinion the best such problems, like the best speculative fiction, reflect reality closely enough to be relatable to an audience of 21st century humans. The trees have been in the exact same spot for centuries, they've burned before, they will burn again, why should they change the way things are done? This is just how the cycle of life goes. The elves will understand, if they are truly in touch with the forest and natural order. A druid can use magic to convey their feelings directly to the trees, making it clear just how important this particular cause is to them. A character studied in history could point out how a dragon on a rampage poses a much larger threat to the ecosystem, beyond the mere creation of dragonfire. A persuasive hero might convince the trees that they are out of step with the natural order: all things undergo change, and the longer they postpone the inevitable, the more drastic the necessary measures will become, until eventually the forests is beyond saving. If you take the fantasy elements out of the equation, this challenge is still relatable: The heroes need a group of opinionated elders to undergo a minor inconvenience. I personally value story beats that work this way, because your bigger meta-plot and BBEG almost certainly won't. fake e: anyway thanks for coming to my TED talk
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May 6, 2022 17:24
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With my D&D group we are gonna play a Strixhaven campaign, using the book adventure as a starting point for an original. We all like the school setting for a D&D game, and I was wondering if any of you has DMd a Strixhaven campaign and has any tips for me.
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May 14, 2022 05:50
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I haven’t looked into it really but is Strixhaven basically Hairy Potter DnD?
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May 17, 2022 02:28
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Nash posted:I haven’t looked into it really but is Strixhaven basically Hairy Potter DnD? Yeah thats the premise. If I was running it I would lean heavily into strict school schedules and timekeeping. OSR Strixhaven 
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May 17, 2022 02:49
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Rutibex posted:Yeah thats the premise. If I was running it I would lean heavily into strict school schedules and timekeeping. OSR Strixhaven lol just make the headmaster a thinly veiled gygax "You cannot have a meaningful curriculum if strict time records are not kept."
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May 17, 2022 07:52
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And don't let them have any pudding if they don't eat their meat
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May 17, 2022 08:45
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The hook: the deity of boundaries, distinctions, and borders, whose holy symbol is a knife’s edge, personally defended a kingdom from The Tarrasque a long time ago— stabbing said knife into the beast’s heart and losing it there. The party has been tasked with retrieving the knife from deep within the beast’s insides. The problem: my players have started discussing amongst themselves as to what cool artifact qualities this deity’s knife possesses. When I sketched out the adventure, I only had in mind something like The Subtle Knife from the golden compass trilogy, but they’re speculating things like “can sever essential natures, like splitting Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde apart” and I have to admit, that’s much cooler. I would take that idea and just run with it, except I don’t want two tarrasques wandering the world (and besides, even if I did take their idea I’d want to build on it somehow)… but this is a divine knife, previously wielded by an actual deity with the portfolio of seperation— my initial “cut anything” idea probably isn’t going to meet expectations anymore. Brainstorming help, anyone? For context, this is a 4e game, the players are lvl 20, about to hit 21 (and gain their epic destiny) once they finish this dungeon.
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May 19, 2022 07:08
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Iunnrais posted:I would take that idea and just run with it, except I don’t want two tarrasques wandering the world (and besides, even if I did take their idea I’d want to build on it somehow)… What if the Tarrasque is just the Mr Hyde side of the personality: blind, brutal, unthinking force, and removing the knife causes it to re-merge with the Dr Jekyll side (who turns out to be, I don't know, Asmodeus or something) to create something new.
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May 19, 2022 07:27
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Of course it can cut anything, but it also makes the things it cuts apart two wholly different and distinct things in the process. If you cut the Tarrasque in half, you don't get "two Tarrasques", you get one thing that is a Tarrasque and one thing that isn't and might be worse. Or you might introduce a distinction into the concept of the singular Tarrasque - maybe you create a male and a female Tarrasque. Good job, now they can breed. If you use it to cut mundane things, all bets are off. Cutting a rope would result in one rope and one thing that isn't a rope. Maybe it literally turns the half-a-rope into something different that's ropelike (snake?), or maybe you're introducing whole new concepts into the world. It can definitely cut Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde apart. I refer you to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen for what happens to Mr Hyde without Jekyll's inhibitions. It could also resolve political conflicts like border conflicts once and for all. You draw a border with the knife and that will be unequivocally the border, no discussion. Whether people like the border is a whole other matter. For an actual tactical power, in combat you might use it to literally draw a line in the sand where bad things happen to any enemy that crosses it.
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May 19, 2022 07:33
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Whybird posted:removing the knife causes it to re-merge with the Dr Jekyll side (who turns out to be, I don't know, Asmodeus or something) to create something new. I’ve already pulled a “you’ve been tricked into releasing a bigger threat into the world” in this campaign. Might lose impact to do it twice. (The tarrasque itself was locked inside a book. An evil trickster dragon talked them into unwittingly releasing it— they didn’t know the tarrasque was in there— in an effort to weaken another enemy of theirs)
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May 19, 2022 07:35
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Maybe the tarrasques are pretty chill now that they can finally get laid
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May 19, 2022 07:37
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actually, it seems a key part of this is: who has tasked them to retrieve it, and what do they want to do with it? Gotta be something big if it's worth un-defeating the Tarrasque.
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May 19, 2022 07:41
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Iunnrais posted:The hook: the deity of boundaries, distinctions, and borders, whose holy symbol is a knife’s edge, personally defended a kingdom from The Tarrasque a long time ago— stabbing said knife into the beast’s heart and losing it there. The party has been tasked with retrieving the knife from deep within the beast’s insides. The Tarrasque has two natures. Its either sleeping or its destroying. If they pull the knife out it will create one tarrasque that sleeps forever, and one tarrasque that destroys until all of creation is destroyed  Iunnrais posted:I’ve already pulled a “you’ve been tricked into releasing a bigger threat into the world” in this campaign. Might lose impact to do it twice.  Aww
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May 19, 2022 07:47
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Maybe have the knife be able to cut out essential concepts from something? Like the reason it was used to kill the Tarrasque was because it was fundamentally unkillable and the knife rewrote reality to excise that. Then just think in terms of concepts that could apply to something. Get weird with it. Let them cut a rope with it and remove its 'unliving' nature and create a pet rope that follows them around and can do simple things. You cut a porcelain bowl and remove its 'fragility' and suddenly it becomes nearly impossible to break etc. Make the effects incredible. Then just have the limitation that it only rewrites reality as long as its currently in contact with the thing so it doesn't get too crazy and you have a hook for why no one else has ever removed it from the Tarrasque.
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May 19, 2022 07:47
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My Lovely Horse posted:actually, it seems a key part of this is: who has tasked them to retrieve it, and what do they want to do with it? Gotta be something big if it's worth un-defeating the Tarrasque. Ah, sorry. I really should have said from the outset and I’m sorry I didn’t: the tarrasque is already undefeated. It’s rampaging all over, with the knife still stuck in the heart— in fact the heart of the tarrasque, wielding the knife, is going to be the boss of the dungeon. The deity of boundaries is the one who tasked them to get his|her knife back, as a means to put the tarrasque back down (they’ll get to keep the knife in the end as a reward, and as a way to put them on their epic destinies). To get inside the tarrasque, they had to fight it to 0hp in the middle of a city it was destroying— that was an awesome fight last session. Once brought to 0 hp, the deity showed up in avatar form (possessing a party member to do it) and stabbed the tarrasque with a lighthouse so they could enter. (Yes, I dropped the 4e tarrasque to lvl 20– I also gave it a lot more abilities and nastiness inspired from all other editions to make up for it. The players loved it all.) Iunnrais fucked around with this message at 08:06 on May 19, 2022 |
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May 19, 2022 07:57
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Is someone taking the epic destiny that allows you to steal anything from someone? That seems like a good template to follow for "cut off anything from anywhere."
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May 19, 2022 08:21
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My Lovely Horse posted:Is someone taking the epic destiny that allows you to steal anything from someone? That seems like a good template to follow for "cut off anything from anywhere." Oooh, that’s a good one. They’re still debating what destinies they want to choose, but none of the players are really thief themed, so I highly doubt they’ll go that route. That said, this destiny feature might be acceptable as an artifact feature regardless of what they pick— it’s not like it’d unbalance combat, since it isn’t a combat ability. Interestingly, my last campaign had someone with that destiny… and the steal intangible things ability rarely came up. He was having too much fun being more of a “Carmen Sandiago” type, stealing monuments and landmarks. I imagine when given to the knife, the ability wouldn’t require a thievery check, but rather need the target to be helpless, or maybe hit on a crit. Iunnrais fucked around with this message at 08:34 on May 19, 2022 |
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May 19, 2022 08:28
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"Knife that separates body and mind" sounds like would be pretty on-brand for a god of boundaries, and also a pretty logical way of putting down the Tarrasque. The knife in the heart has already begun to work its power, so the heart is able to manifest some kind of avatar to wield the knife and fight the players. Once it's defeated, they can finish the job and sever the heart, completing the schism between body and mind. A disembodied yet living spirit probably shouldn't be left to float around freely, so to keep it from linking up again with the Tarrasque's comatose body, maybe it could be bound to one of the players, which could also explain the source of their Epic Destiny? The knife would also make an interesting catalyst for an Epic Destiny, if not for a roguish character than for a caster that does something with illusions or summoning? Since those both play off the boundary of the real and the unreal. Meanwhile, the tarrasque's insensate body sleeps, and waits, and dreams...
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May 19, 2022 08:38
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lightrook posted:"Knife that separates body and mind" sounds like would be pretty on-brand for a god of boundaries So a guillotine?
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May 19, 2022 13:56
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The Tarrasque is a walking disaster, like a mobile earthquake or town-seeking volcano, right? Split it into Life and Hate. Make it split apart into a harmless ethereal creature that drifts across the clouds, and leave the hatred aspect embedded in the knife. Whenever you plunge the Tarrasque Knife into the earth, the curse descends. Stab the centre of a city square, and within a month that city will be ashes, through natural disaster, plague, or war. It's kind of power conquerors dream of, and would do anything to seize.
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May 19, 2022 15:51
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Knife that can cut a soul free from its destiny. Is this a curse? The warrior destined for greatness would say so. A blessing? The farmer destined to be conscripted into frontline gristle would agree. Either way the question remains, what now?
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May 19, 2022 16:21
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Dameius posted:Knife that can cut a soul free from its destiny. Is this a curse? The warrior destined for greatness would say so. A blessing? The farmer destined to be conscripted into frontline gristle would agree. Cutting destiny threads is very clearly the domain of the Three Fates. If I'm not mistaken the Greek gods are real in D&D. Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos are gonna be PISSED. Maybe just Atropos, she's the one with the scissors.
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May 19, 2022 16:32
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That's just another plot hook to me. Lots of gods have the powers to step in the domains of other gods but don't for whole number of reasons. The knife could do it but the deity never did. So when the players get the knife and if they use it in certain ways then you have some pissed off deities focusing their attention on the party.
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May 19, 2022 16:38
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Just offhand, some other things from which that the knife could cut you free, perhaps accidentally just by holding it the wrong way (because holding it unsheathed in just that way severs the mystical cord connecting you to the entry):
The quest for the scabbard for the knife could be an adventure in itself, and an urgent one because the knife can be hacking bits both large and small out of the PCs' lives but cannot be left out of their reach. (Maybe it's immune to scrying/ location-finding magic while it is possessed by an intelligent being.) Obviously, some of these would have to be carefully planned and require both player buy-in and maybe some sort of "D&D 4E-like power substitution" (thinking here of a character who loses access to their power source; they'd need alternate abilities to remain effective, like a Wizard who has access to a pouch full of indeterminate potions and alchemical substances that they can specify when they use them). ETA a couple of ideas. This could be the plot device that allows a respec if players aren't happy with their class/want to reenvision themselves for Epic tier Admiralty Flag fucked around with this message at 20:09 on May 19, 2022 |
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May 19, 2022 20:03
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I'm digging through my notes desperately trying to find a blog post where a guy lists hundreds of adventures he's run across all tabletop games and gives a brief 1 sentence review/synopsis of each. Anyone know what I'm talking about? edit: nevermind of course i found it instantly after posting, ive been looking for this all day gently caress me lol (https://tenfootpole.org/ironspike/?page_id=844) Jinh fucked around with this message at 22:53 on May 19, 2022 |
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May 19, 2022 22:50
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Randomly came across a table on Imgur, I enjoy these sorts of things, maybe you will too:
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May 20, 2022 01:39
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Bad Munki posted:Randomly came across a table on Imgur, I enjoy these sorts of things, maybe you will too: Impressive how far random table technology has come! Imagine the random courtesan tables we could build!
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May 20, 2022 03:28
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The most implausible thing about the table is that it has a miniscule chance of generating the same thing twice, which any visitor to one of 500 pubs in the UK calls The Red Lion could tell you is very common. But I think it will be useful nonetheless thanks!
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May 20, 2022 11:43
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Reveilled posted:The most implausible thing about the table is that it has a miniscule chance of generating the same thing twice, which any visitor to one of 500 pubs in the UK calls The Red Lion could tell you is very common. And yet my buddy rolled the Dog & Duck Tavern while I immediately rolled the Dog & Drunk Tavern, where is your god now??
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May 20, 2022 18:01
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Bad Munki posted:And yet my buddy rolled the Dog & Duck Tavern while I immediately rolled the Dog & Drunk Tavern, where is your god now?? At the Smelly Drake Club.
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May 20, 2022 21:39
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