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Do dragons normally use the magic items in their hordes? I'd thought they just coveted and hoarded the wealth without ever using it? I thought that was sort of the thematic point.
Jack B Nimble fucked around with this message at 21:06 on Mar 11, 2024 |
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Mar 11, 2024 20:33
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How’s a dragon going to kill me with 20,000 electrum coins?
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Mar 11, 2024 21:02
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OSE does do dragons that way, where the breath does damage based on current HP. We thought our best bet might be hiring dozens of longbowmen and luring the dragons into a prepared place for an ambush, probably with treasure. Bless can help a little bit in helping some of the arrows hit since they aren't immune to mundane weapons. Mercs aren't very expensive for the utility and if you roll enough dice, some are going to hit and lower that breath damage. I was thinking our gnome and illusionist could possibly put some work in, given something like phantasmal force could create an illusion of a monster that might bait a breath attack. There isn't a save vs spell for the illusionary monster use of the spell, which is cool. It seems reasonable if it looked like we'd gotten some dangerous looking monster on our side that it would swallow at least one breath attack. As far as I can tell, dragons don't get a special save vs illusions or anything. A hypnotism to try to lock one dragon down seemed like it might be worth the risk because even if the spell save succeeds, the gnome doesn't have any other really significant way to contribute, and the save is probably around 50% if I had to guess. My illusionist has an opportunity to learn the level 2 hypnotic pattern, which could affect all 3 of the dragons potentially as well. Even if two passed their saves, keeping one out of the fight until we'd dealt with the active ones seems really valuable and we could alpha strike it down to break the hypnosis at the right time. And if the DM shits the bed on the spell saves, well, it just got a whole lot easier.
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Mar 11, 2024 21:25
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OSE Hypnotic Pattern affects up to 24 HD, so just barely enough to ensorcel a trio of copper dragons. I also overestimated the magic item chance in a Type H hoard, it's actually only 15%. Copper dragons have a 30% chance to speak, and if they can speak they can also cast spells. I think they're intelligent and can understand language even if they can't speak, because the book says all dragons are susceptible to flattery. But what the book says is secondary to what the guy running the game decides, and that I can't predict.
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Mar 11, 2024 22:46
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Halloween Jack posted:How’s a dragon going to kill me with 20,000 electrum coins? Reverse Gravity + Dispel Magic, of course
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Mar 11, 2024 22:59
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Considering Copper Dragons are Neutral in alignment it probably wouldn't be all that hard to parlay with them and hash out some sort of alliance instead which would probably be a useful thing to have if your party is beginning to enter Domain level play and while not exactly a cheap thing to maintain is probably still cheaper than potentially risking your party over a nonessential fight with three dragons
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Mar 12, 2024 00:03
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So this went real good. Guy in canoe on left, "I'll get you to safety for a gold!" Guy in canoe on right, "I'll get you to safety for 8 silver!" Guy in canoe straight ahead, "Don't trust them, they seek to rob you. I will get you to safety for 20 gold, an exorbitant rate, and so having already robbed you, you'll have nothing else to fear from me." The group ended up on a giant barge full of merchants on one end and rich weirdos on the other. Four of them hired the party for a job. I think this setting will work out.
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Mar 14, 2024 18:50
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dwarf74 posted:So this went real good. LOL, that's wonderfully Vancian logic! Looking forward to more updates.
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Mar 14, 2024 19:25
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Hey. When y'all are playing a "3d6 down the line" type game, with significant randomness in what kinds of stats you get, when do begin to have a vision or plan for the character? Do you say "I'm playing a dwarf fighter" at the very start, and the stats just tell you what sort of dwarven fighter you might be? Or do you roll the stats and, think "I see a fighter here", then pick dwarf to compliment that? Or maybe do you start off thinking"the group needs a fighter/I agreed to play one, and these are the stats I've got, and I'm seeing a dwarf here"? This kind of question doesn't really arise as much in later editions: the mode now is to envision your character first and then realize them through the character building rules. How and when does that change for y'all in a game with more random character creation?
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Mar 15, 2024 15:05
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after the roll. that's when i'm like "oh this could compliment this" and then i think of what kind of person they are. in regular, longer form games, i consider party composition more.
Ominous Jazz fucked around with this message at 15:33 on Mar 15, 2024 |
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Mar 15, 2024 15:17
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After the roll. Makes for more interesting characters. Currently playing BFRPG PBP with a player who rolled a low-CON fighter and now roleplays as a sickly character who has chronic disease.
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Mar 15, 2024 15:20
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I mean, in some versions, it's possible to roll too low to actually choose a given class. Or any class.
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Mar 15, 2024 15:46
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Halloween Jack posted:I mean, in some versions, it's possible to roll too low to actually choose a given class. Or any class. Somewhere out there is a DM who makes people that roll all below 9 be a 0th-level Normal Man
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Mar 15, 2024 18:22
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Yeah, I roll and then consider the spread. It's harder when everything is decent because you have a lot more choices. We periodically all roll up characters for future retainers to add to the pool, so those might lean towards classes that are underrepresented; even if their higher than average con might suggest a fighting career, their average int allows them to be a hearty illusionist or whatever.
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Mar 15, 2024 22:05
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Jack B Nimble posted:Hey. When y'all are playing a "3d6 down the line" type game, with significant randomness in what kinds of stats you get, when do begin to have a vision or plan for the character? In DCC you wait to see who survives the first adventure and first then start thinking about whatever class they're most suited for, generally. If they're a human that is, other races are just that.
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Mar 15, 2024 23:48
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Roll and choose accordingly, but also depends on what resources the group has and what they need. A 10 int wizard with a ton of scrolls and spellbooks beats a 16 str fighter with no magic weapons or armor. Particularly if you're planning on going into, like, The Arcanstle of the Thaumic Puzzlemen rather than the Muscle Pits of Grott.
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Mar 16, 2024 07:27
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Shanty posted:The Arcanstle of the Thaumic Puzzlemen rather than the Muscle Pits of Grott. I am actually disappointed neither actually exists.
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Mar 16, 2024 10:02
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snail posted:I am actually disappointed neither actually exists. They both now exist in my game; fantastic, and the sort of answer I'm hoping to get my players to buy into; I want to see "ordinary" characters succeed through perseverance, not because they were objectively optimal
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Mar 16, 2024 15:06
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I was so dead set on a wizard in our Worlds without Number game that I ignored rolling an 18 for strength (3d6 down the line) and just had him be a v strong wizard
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Mar 16, 2024 15:24
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I wanted a gnome in our OSE campaign but it's sort of biting me in the rear end now. I thought Papa Longropes would be a good protégé for the Master Hu Li, my level 4 illusionist, but because the gnome's intelligence is only 10, he only has a 50% chance of learning a spell. So despite trying to teach him more spells, he's now permanently unable to learn Phantasmal Force and Wall of Fog due to failed rolls. He succeeded on Dancing Lights and Hypnotism at least. Really a gnome is good for being able to hide in woodlands at 90%. He started with Color Spray, so when we're exploring a forest hex, he can generally get the drop on stuff we run into. He also knows the secret language of burrowing animals but it hasn't come up yet.
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Mar 16, 2024 16:03
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Empty Sandwich posted:I was so dead set on a wizard in our Worlds without Number game that I ignored rolling an 18 for strength (3d6 down the line) and just had him be a v strong wizard That 18 only gets you a +1 in WWN, right? That’s the one thing I appreciate about his games, ability scores don’t matter very much.
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Mar 16, 2024 18:08
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fidgit posted:That 18 only gets you a +1 in WWN, right? That’s the one thing I appreciate about his games, ability scores don’t matter very much. 18 is +2, 14-17 is +1. they really don't matter much and it's great
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Mar 16, 2024 18:13
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Empty Sandwich posted:18 is +2, 14-17 is +1. I legitimately rolled some insane spread for a BECMI game, like 18 18 17 16 14 12, on 3d6, and it was almost completely worthless lol
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Mar 16, 2024 19:58
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Jim Ward passed away
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Mar 19, 2024 03:13
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alg posted:Jim Ward passed away He produced 2e? I'd appreciate an article or anything more folks could say about him.
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Mar 19, 2024 03:45
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M._Ward One of the other influential people to early RPGs in the 1970s that our culture has generally just attributed solely to Gygax.
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Mar 19, 2024 05:46
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Aww. Drawmij himself.
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Mar 19, 2024 14:17
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For sure. I can't remember for certain, and he's not credited, but I think he worked closely with Zeb Cook on the AD&D2e rules. But I'll always think of him as one of the two guys behind Metamorphosis Alpha/Gamma World (Gary Jaquet left the industry long ago) and the guy who worked on the Gold Box video games and their associated spinoffs.
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Mar 19, 2024 15:16
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dwarf74 posted:Aww. Drawmij himself. Guess he got... Instant Summoned...
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Mar 19, 2024 23:24
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Random thought: Gygax's remarks about Tolkien being a fairly minor influence on early D&D are a weird mix of truth and lies. I think the Lord of the Rings had some influence on early D&D but less so than "pulp" sources, and The Silmarillion none at all as far as I can tell. The Hobbit, on the other hand, gives us:
So what do we get from LotR (in early D&D; obviously it's a bigger influence (not always for the better) beginning with Dragonlance)?:
Actually, that's a bit more than I thought. Anything I missed? I guess you could tie "domain play" to Aragorn and even Sam ending up in positions of power, but that's a stretch. (Actually, I think an OSR blogger has pointed out the lack of literary precedents for domain play; becoming king is usually the end of the story.) Silver2195 fucked around with this message at 00:56 on Mar 21, 2024 |
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Mar 21, 2024 00:53
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Maybe mythril chain shirts and "schools" of wizard magic (the wizards all seem to be divided by color, which seems to indicate the kind of magic they're generally interested in)? Also orcs, obviously. I have no idea if Treants existed elsewhere, but that's probably just a Norse or Celtic mythology thing. Also the feeling of everyone in your party being jealous of you because the magic item you got was too cool.
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Mar 21, 2024 02:20
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SlimGoodbody posted:Maybe mythril chain shirts and "schools" of wizard magic (the wizards all seem to be divided by color, which seems to indicate the kind of magic they're generally interested in)? Also orcs, obviously. I have no idea if Treants existed elsewhere, but that's probably just a Norse or Celtic mythology thing. Also the feeling of everyone in your party being jealous of you because the magic item you got was too cool. Orcs are also in The Hobbit, though, although The Hobbit more often refers to them as goblins. (I'm not sure if D&D makes orcs and goblins separate things because they misunderstood Tolkien, to distinguish between Tolkien-style orcs and the goblins found in other fantasy stories, or just out of a general love of hair-splitting taxonomy.) I don't think anything about D&D spellcasting has much to do with Tolkien. It comes almost entirely from Jack Vance. (Vancian magic, incidentally, is one of those weird bits of over-specificity that keep D&D from being the "generic fantasy" people sometimes think of it as. It doesn't even feature that heavily in the Dying Earth stories after the first few stories in the first book, and I can't think of any other fantasy works not closely connected to tabletop RPGs that use it.) And the non-Gandalf Wizards aren't really fleshed out enough to derive any concept of "spell schools" from. Maybe you can argue that they correspond to different D&D classes (Gandalf the Cleric, Radagast the Druid, Saruman the Wizard)? Silver2195 fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Mar 21, 2024 |
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Mar 21, 2024 02:35
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Sitting down between castings, slowly watching a fight turn against your group in EQ always reminds me of Gandalf at the end of the battle of five armies. Is Tolkien's homely houses where we get the wilderness/town divide in early d&d or that reading too much into it? Is dwarves favoring axes and eleves favoring bows just Gimli and Legolas? They're all perfectly fond of swords in The Hobbit. Unrelatedly, I'd wanted to ask if anyone had links to articles or posts on OSR or 1E style games run for players only familiar with 3e or later play styles? I can find lots of posts about advice or questions, but not "I ran it and here's what happened." Edit - I found https://www.enworld.org/threads/running-a-session-of-basic-d-d-my-game-groups-experience.270979/page-4 Jack B Nimble fucked around with this message at 17:15 on Mar 21, 2024 |
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Mar 21, 2024 17:09
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28 episodes in on 3d6 Down the Line and people weren't joking when they said it ramped up. Basically from the moment the dwarf uses the plunger on has been an absolute rollercoaster. I just listened to the Scourging of the Shire and its aftermath, and--christ, what a gut-punch.
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Mar 30, 2024 05:13
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My only 2E experience comes from the Infinity Engine, but from reading deeper into the rules, it seems like that AD&D would be perfect fodder from a parody campaign where the players and DM compete to interpret the rules in whatever way would be the most absurd and hilarious while *technically* being a viable interpretation, including perhaps disabling certain sort of sanity checks (like making it entirely possible for a wizard with low CON to end up with 0 or fewer hit points, and thus instantly die of natural causes before the campaign even starts).
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Apr 1, 2024 23:37
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Woolie Wool posted:My only 2E experience comes from the Infinity Engine, but from reading deeper into the rules, it seems like that AD&D would be perfect fodder from a parody campaign where the players and DM compete to interpret the rules in whatever way would be the most absurd and hilarious while *technically* being a viable interpretation, including perhaps disabling certain sort of sanity checks (like making it entirely possible for a wizard with low CON to end up with 0 or fewer hit points, and thus instantly die of natural causes before the campaign even starts). I would listen to a Hackmaster AP podcast. Knights of the Dinner Table isn't far from what you're describing. Actually, does Hackmaster actively support this type of thing? I know the setting for it is a little tongue in cheek, but what's the system itself like? Actually actually, are there any D&Dish systems that lean into this? I know there are some RPGs where the procedure of play itself is meant to be a battleground (Time Wizards), but are there any OSR-ish systems specifically meant for short-term rules-lawyer comedy play? Maybe AD&D already fills that niche too well.
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Apr 2, 2024 01:16
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Absolutely hosed up an adventure to an island filled with undead by just… rolling well on turn undead over and over. Such a comedically potent ability in old school if you succeed at it.
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Apr 2, 2024 05:34
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OtspIII posted:I would listen to a Hackmaster AP podcast. Knights of the Dinner Table isn't far from what you're describing. Hackmaster was originally a nicely pitched parody of 2nd ed AD&D, but its later versions have gotten much more serious.
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Apr 3, 2024 15:14
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JonBolds posted:Somewhere out there is a DM who makes people that roll all below 9 be a 0th-level Normal Man Ah, the "I just used the core book" Rifts experience
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Apr 4, 2024 07:00
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piL posted:Ah, the "I just used the core book" Rifts experience I only ever had the core book in rifts but I seem to recall it was pretty wild even then. Like one of you would play a glitter boy and someone else would play someone much more like a normal d&d character.
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Apr 4, 2024 14:39
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