The D&D thread

bigmark268 · Oct 5, 2019

Kovaks said:
Even better read is al the crybabies on Twitter bitching about how Critical Roll Betrayed them by taking on a slave trading trump loving anti lgbtretard sponsor. I was hungry for Wendy's but now am sustained on their salty tears

Damn interweave babies crying about shit lol. I think it hillarious. And it's totally going to be my Nov dnd night. I even have some old food fighters as bad guys lol

Onoes · Oct 6, 2019

Throw the Aqua Teen Hunger Force in there for good measure.

Unrealated, pretty sure my party is going to be fighting actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf in my next 1 shot.

Locnar · Oct 10, 2019

Conefed said:
And the players weren't that distracted by phones/laptops to have a good game.
but For the first time I had to call out a player. He was getting upset that his gf wasn't paying attention to him - well the DM was actively dialoguing with her privately. Her rogue successfully did a thing and this intrigue was her reward.. Eventually bf stood up, turned his back to DM and bent down to her face and continued talking (at just loud enough for everybody to hear but soft enough to be unintelligible to me).
DM tried to talk through it and she tried to ignore him looking at DM. but when DM gave up and stopped, and bf continued, I called him out. "I was just quickly telling her I was stepping outside for air." - No. nothing about that was quick.
Of course I was the bad guy and she got up with him and they hung outside for a good 15 minutes - which feels like forever when you're into it and waiting..

I have not seen this kind of nonsense in the 2 years i've been playing D&D again (after a 20 year break).

Anyways, if anyone is in central florida, we have three different campaigns running on different nights with solid mature peeps. 1st edition, old school. PM me for deets if interested.

Conefed · Oct 10, 2019

Group is doing 3.5 Pathfinder next (from 5th). they want to do an intrigue-based campaign and track encumbrance. I'm still very much the new guy and I want to play something, but after last campaign, I don't know. Extra things to track and a new system to learn feels very much like ain't got time for that.
and as I've expressed previously, their game handling is weak. I think they're biting off more than they will chew but I'm the type to care and get bothered while they'll pleasantly blunder through. I'd trick myself into choking it down while grinning under the excuse it's social skills building.

Edit: In RL, I'm day 3 into being a librarian and there's a surprising amount of stuff for DnD. Like there's marketing templates for making posters and other creative materials. There's both youth and adult programs and they hire a "professional DM" - although I haven't participated in either yet, being day 3. My boss calls it "Dungeoneering."

Koushirou · Oct 10, 2019

So I had started playing DnD about a year back now and had just gone to play at my LGS where they were doing Adventurer's League shit, I think just before S8 came out. Played with 2 pugs and on the third night managed to get seated at a full table that just lost a player and just finished a campaign.

I got lucky as fuck. This DM is amazing. Guy is an amateur author and his narrative chops for our new campaign were goddamn great. We kind of started off the Dragon Heist book, but quickly just went on our own tangent and story line. The rest of the table is pretty damn awesome, too. Everyone else was very experienced while I was the big noob, but everyone was incredibly helpful with advice for builds, catch me up on 5e lore and backstory, encouraging me to get more into the RP (I'm still a bit uneasy and shy with the more RP elements, but I've gotten a lot better), and just overall were more than happy to welcome me into the group and show me the ropes.

Sadly, next Wednesday is the last day with our DM, as his fiance took a (quite good) job out of state. Happy for them, because it'll be a big improvement in their general situation, but goddamn I'm going to miss him and our crazy campaign. We've had so many memorable moments and just super weird and funny shit happen. My DM loves to throw me random insight rolls, since my character is kind of oblivious to shit and very socially awkward, and my dice without fail will only roll 5s and under on those damn insight rolls, it's perfect. We're currently in the middle of a massive airship battle, and me being a paladin and kind of wanting to go do some hero shit ask how many people I see on the main enemy airship. Damn if I don't nat 1 my perception roll and the answer is "just a couple." So I get my druid's flying dinosaurs to fly me over there to go wipe out that crew and it turns out there's over 40 mother fuckers on that boat and I'm just there by myself looking like a dumbass now (and sadly that's where we had to stop for the night and then I missed this week's get together due to a work trip. Dunno if I'm dead!).

I'm pretty fuckin' bummed now, as S8 and 9 of AL kind of seem pretty shitty in general and I just can't imagine playing straight book with some pugs again in the format. Not sure what everyone's going to do when our DM leaves, but sucks we won't see the end of his campaign that he worked a shitload on and had crazy threads for all of us to explore for our characters. Not sure I'm going to keep playing with pugs or not and I definitely don't have anyone else to play with. Would suck not doing any DnD after getting into it this past year, it's been so goddamn fun. Feels bad.

Arbitrary · Oct 10, 2019

Koushirou said:
So I had started playing DnD about a year back now and had just gone to play at my LGS where they were doing Adventurer's League shit, I think just before S8 came out. Played with 2 pugs and on the third night managed to get seated at a full table that just lost a player and just finished a campaign.

I got lucky as fuck. This DM is amazing. Guy is an amateur author and his narrative chops for our new campaign were goddamn great. We kind of started off the Dragon Heist book, but quickly just went on our own tangent and story line. The rest of the table is pretty damn awesome, too. Everyone else was very experienced while I was the big noob, but everyone was incredibly helpful with advice for builds, catch me up on 5e lore and backstory, encouraging me to get more into the RP (I'm still a bit uneasy and shy with the more RP elements, but I've gotten a lot better), and just overall were more than happy to welcome me into the group and show me the ropes.

Sadly, next Wednesday is the last day with our DM, as his fiance took a (quite good) job out of state. Happy for them, because it'll be a big improvement in their general situation, but goddamn I'm going to miss him and our crazy campaign. We've had so many memorable moments and just super weird and funny shit happen. My DM loves to throw me random insight rolls, since my character is kind of oblivious to shit and very socially awkward, and my dice without fail will only roll 5s and under on those damn insight rolls, it's perfect. We're currently in the middle of a massive airship battle, and me being a paladin and kind of wanting to go do some hero shit ask how many people I see on the main enemy airship. Damn if I don't nat 1 my perception roll and the answer is "just a couple." So I get my druid's flying dinosaurs to fly me over there to go wipe out that crew and it turns out there's over 40 mother fuckers on that boat and I'm just there by myself looking like a dumbass now (and sadly that's where we had to stop for the night and then I missed this week's get together due to a work trip. Dunno if I'm dead!).

I'm pretty fuckin' bummed now, as S8 and 9 of AL kind of seem pretty shitty in general and I just can't imagine playing straight book with some pugs again in the format. Not sure what everyone's going to do when our DM leaves, but sucks we won't see the end of his campaign that he worked a shitload on and had crazy threads for all of us to explore for our characters. Not sure I'm going to keep playing with pugs or not and I definitely don't have anyone else to play with. Would suck not doing any DnD after getting into it this past year, it's been so goddamn fun. Feels bad.

Have you considered DMing yourself?

Locnar · Oct 10, 2019

I don't know anything about adventure league or anything past 2nd edition. But from what I gather it seems 5e is more RP and story telling driven. I play 1st edition (anyone else?) and its MUCH closer to the wargame roots that Gygax built D&D from. You also die a ton in 1st edition. In two years I've had to reroll maybe 8 characters??

And as Arbitary said, sometimes you have to step up and DM yourself to grow the hobby in your area. I started out as a player in our guild but as the membership and people wanting to play increased I became a DM to support the growth.

Koushirou · Oct 10, 2019

I’ve thought about it, but I feel severely unqualified to do it. The DMing side of things is still a big black box to me and I have 0 idea how to design encounters, how to figure out strength of creatures, where the fuck does loot come from and what’s an appropriate amount, adjusting for group size/level. I still struggle with RPing my one character, I can’t imagine having to try to handle RPing a bunch of NPCs. Overall, I’d just hate to be responsible for wasting 5-7 people’s night from being slow, inexperienced, etc. and not giving the table a good time.

Kovaks · Oct 10, 2019

Koushirou said:
I’ve thought about it, but I feel severely unqualified to do it. The DMing side of things is still a big black box to me and I have 0 idea how to design encounters, how to figure out strength of creatures, where the fuck does loot come from and what’s an appropriate amount, adjusting for group size/level. I still struggle with RPing my one character, I can’t imagine having to try to handle RPing a bunch of NPCs. Overall, I’d just hate to be responsible for wasting 5-7 people’s night from being slow, inexperienced, etc. and not giving the table a good time.

For your first time DMing I would suggest running something from a module, it will guide you until your comfortable creating your own encounters and story. As you get more comfortable you can mold it with your imagination and eventually go your own way or start something new. D&D beyond or kobold fight club can help with encounter building. Also listen to podcasts or streams of games, you learn alot about the rules and if you focus on the DM you might get an idea of how to deal with different scenarios, but In your own way.

Locnar · Oct 10, 2019

Go with a 1st level adventure model. The combat should be simple enough at first level and the encounters and places already made for you. I plug old school modules from back in the day into my campaign. Most of us never ran most of them back when we were kids, so its kind of like a historical experience running them now.

j00t · Oct 10, 2019

also, don't be afraid to fudge the dice. i mean there's definitely an argument to stay as true to the roll as possible, but as the DM you can give your creatures more or less AC/HP/damage to make the encounter feel right. i'm not saying you should cheat... i AM saying that if you created an encounter too difficult or too weak, you have the power to adjust the difficulty on the fly to be more appropriate of a challenge to your players

Arden · Oct 10, 2019

Koushirou said:
I’ve thought about it, but I feel severely unqualified to do it. The DMing side of things is still a big black box to me and I have 0 idea how to design encounters, how to figure out strength of creatures, where the fuck does loot come from and what’s an appropriate amount, adjusting for group size/level. I still struggle with RPing my one character, I can’t imagine having to try to handle RPing a bunch of NPCs. Overall, I’d just hate to be responsible for wasting 5-7 people’s night from being slow, inexperienced, etc. and not giving the table a good time.

Bullshit. You're just as qualified as anyone else who has ever tried GMing for the first time. It's not like there are degrees or training programs out there that give you a certification. I won't say it's easy, because it's not, but the fact that you have participated in the game as a player before and you've experienced a good GM (and maybe a bad one or two) makes you plenty qualified to try. Pick a good low level adventure and give it a shot.

If you do decide to try, here's some advice I posted years ago on the first page of this thread (linked here for convenience): The D&D thread

Locnar · Oct 10, 2019

j00t said:
also, don't be afraid to fudge the dice. i mean there's definitely an argument to stay as true to the roll as possible, but as the DM you can give your creatures more or less AC/HP/damage to make the encounter feel right. i'm not saying you should cheat... i AM saying that if you created an encounter too difficult or too weak, you have the power to adjust the difficulty on the fly to be more appropriate of a challenge to your players

I do all my rolls in public view, except things that must be hidden like success or failure in a trap detection. I think its necessary for things to feel real and tense for the players. I quickly lose interest in a game when I sense the DM is fudging rolls and hand holding so we "win".

Going back to the original game, players were expected to die fairly often.

Kovaks · Oct 10, 2019

Locnar said:
I do all my rolls in public view, except things that must be hidden like success or failure in a trap detection. I think its necessary for things to feel real and tense for the players. I quickly lose interest in a game when I sense the DM is fudging rolls and hand holding so we "win".

Going back to the original game, players were expected to die fairly often.

I do this too, what I roll is what I roll if you die or one shot the big bad so be it, but for someone new and learning it might be easier to start behind the screen. If you do fudge though never tell the players, ruins their experience and sense of accomplishment, and also makes it feel like their roles dont matter.

j00t · Oct 10, 2019

like i said, there's definitely an argument to be made for letting the dice be what they are... just remember that your job as the DM is to curate the adventure for the players. it's not about refusing to kill a player or not letting them one shot the BBEG. if you plan out an encounter and the players come up with some crazy, out of left field way to end the encounter before the enemies even get to act, well, that in itself can be a cool moment for the players.

if the players are fighting a dragon and the dragon, by the luck of the dice, gets it's breath attack back every round... well... that can kill a party in short order... maybe that's fine. maybe the dragon decides it has the upper hand and wants to play around with it's food a little. that's also fine.

i guess it all depends on the type of adventure that you are playing. some players really want that brutal, meat-grinder playstyle. some players are more interested in story beats. some players get extremely attached to their characters and the more real the threat of death, the less risks they want to take. i think it's incredibly important to establish what kind of game you are actually playing before hand. if the players aren't looking for a challenge and you give them one, that's not fun for them. if the players WANT a challenge then one shotting the BBEG isn't fun for them. the bottom line is that this is a game we all play for fun. if someone isn't having fun, that's a problem and it generally relies on the DM to sort that out.

edit: mercer rolls behind the screen and it allowed him to do something amazing back in campaign one. i don't quite remember when it was, towards the end... so spoilers for that, i guess... but he created a ruse encounter where they were fighting an illusion that was being controlled by someone they thought was a friend. the illusion kept missing on it's attacks specifically because it had no way of actually damaging the party. but he would role the dice and just arbitrarily give it low numbers and ask if it hit them. "oh man... does an 13 hit? no? bleh..." "ugh. that's a 2 on the dice, he misses..." and "bah you suck, monster... that's a natural one. this guy can't hit for shit tonight!!" if you roll in front of the players, that kind of encounter can't be done. it's too easy to meta-game that for the players. i'm not saying everyone has to play like mercer, just that transparency with rolls isn't always the best. though, i get it that some players inherently mistrust the DM.

anyway, my point is just that the dice are a tool to be used to make the game fun. and as the DM, you have discretion on how best to use those tools.

Locnar · Oct 10, 2019

There is a tabletop miniature and role-playing convention happening this weekend (fri-sun) in Orlando called Crucible 8. Check it out if you are in the area, yeah i know this is short notice. There will be several 1st edition adventures being run and also some other vintage RPGs like Call of Cathulu and Paranoia.

Koushirou · Oct 10, 2019

Shit, funnily enough I’m in Orlando right now for work but leaving early tomorrow afternoon. Poop.

Rime · Oct 10, 2019

One of my biggest issues with 5th edition now that I am used to the mechanics/classes/etc, is that everyone likes/wants to use the Milestone system instead of XP.

I understand it. It is easier, it sort of makes sense. But if you are in a group that chews the scenery and does a lot of role playing... spending 11 hours at level 1 is... a bit extreme. (This is going by a module, where it tells the DM when to award levels - Waterdeep: Dragon Heist)

Kovaks · Oct 10, 2019

I always take that into account and adjust accordingly, as someone who really enjoys the RP part I like to reward that, encounters can always be adjusted if the players level early.

pharmakos · Oct 10, 2019

okay, i have a handful of people interested in D&D, but none of us have actually played the P&P game. most of us have gained enough familiarity over the years from various non-P&P D&D stuff that we should be able to pick things up pretty quick...

but none of us want to DM

how crazy would it be if we took turns DMing? probably just going to run modules and whatnot so won't need a whole lot of creative cooperation

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The D&D thread

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