The D&D thread

If I knew it would be with a good group of people I could be talked in to playing any of them again. With tabletop RPGs its the players that do all the heavy lifting to make it enjoyable - not the game system.

That's where 1st edition is at its strongest - bunch of cracker farmboys hear in the local tavern that some orcs are causing trouble and head off to find fame and fortune. It also lends itself more to combat light city campaigns than more numbersy later editions.

Locnar said:

What others said, campaigns almost never keep going past 10 or 12th level, so many of the non-human level limits don't even come into play as much as one would think.

I've drawn comparisons to early CRPGs and early D&D before. In both you start out as a nobody and you die a lot. Remember in EQ if you picked troll SK the game itself told you this race/class combo is "High Difficulty". Some people are drawn to that, hardmode , self challenge. It makes their success richer. So having lets say, a half-orc cleric in 1st edition that can only get to 4th level and a low max wisdom allows that type of player to pick a less powerful character and still try to excel with it (in whatever way they want to excel)

Modern games and modern RPGs EVERYONE is a dragonkin child of a demi-god, destin to save the world!!! Sorry I can't get into that as much.

As for Tolkiens influence on the D&D, when you've read Tolkien as much as I have including all the histories (10+ volumes) and different editions and drafts, you start to see that influence all throughout D&D. Obvious in your face examples are the player character races themselves and their descriptions.

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Cool story bro.

Arbitrary said:

If I knew it would be with a good group of people I could be talked in to playing any of them again. With tabletop RPGs its the players that do all the heavy lifting to make it enjoyable - not the game system.

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Came here to say this but I am also the DM 90% of the time. Not sure I could ever be talked into playing 1st edition even as a player my brain would muddle so many rules and actions. I doubt I could have fun.
If my group wanted to move away from modern DnD or Pathfinder I would just switch to Heresy 40k or Savage Worlds I think.
Anyways my point still remains “play what is fun”, that is what makes any pen and paper RPG so awesome it only takes a small group of like minded people to turn a night into something talked about for decades.

Monte Cook kickstarting a online based Haunted House app thingy. Looks interesting.

Anyone own the new Candle keep book? Can it be played as a chain of encounters or are they just plots to insert in to random campaigns.

Guess this is a good spot for this


Fuck 38 dollars tho

Also, anyone have experience with the KS or in alpha with this for worldbuilding??


Looks fucking awesome and I need a place to kind of keep everything together. Not sure to wait for this or just use World Anvil right now

Fyff said:

Anyone own the new Candle keep book? Can it be played as a chain of encounters or are they just plots to insert in to random campaigns.

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Had mine a few days and they're intended to be sprinkled in or run individually. You might be able to string them together but it'd take a lot of work and still it'd feel contrived. Not to mention, I'd balk at playing Medieval Scooby-Doo for a year straight.

So they would be good one shots?

Fyff said:

So they would be good one shots?

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Yes.

Experienced my first tpk yesterday. The druid survived and he was like it's not over! I can summon elementals and dig you out. I can cast reincarnate. We have ten days to find the bodies.

DM was shook like he had overtuned the adventure

but really, it was an epic loss. I drove a member home and we excitedly talked about it the whole way. We remembered the characters and discussed their story arcs. We were level 9 and had been on this campaign about a year in real time from level one.

This morning I'm still feeling it. The odd thing is the world around me is moving on like nothing happened. Sitting here in the break room after passing two coworkers gossipping about like my party hadn't just defeated an elder brain by caving in an intricate tunnel system, to only barely not escape

In a month or so I'm going to start a new 5E campaign using Fantasy Grounds Unity so I'm looking for 1-2 additional players (for a total of 4-5).

Here's the rough outline and requirements:

1. Attendance. We'll play once a week for 3.5 to 4.5 hours. The specific day will be decided by the group once formed. Sessions can also be rescheduled within the same week if life interferes. All said, I want players that show up consistently and show up on time. Also, I'm U.S. Central time so regardless of day, the game will be run sometime between 5pm and 11:30pm CST.

2. Social interaction. I don't care if you're weird or eccentric, but if you think Orcs being inherently evil is racist and/or you melt down because Drow beat slaves..my table isn't for you. We'll keep real world politics (of any kind) off the table and I COMPLETELY expect for you to keep your social justice activism to yourself. Zero tolerance.

2b. 'Controversial' topics. Rape, slavery, abuse, etc...they exist and I'm not going to dance around the topics. Besides, if you're ok with with chopping a Goblin to pieces with an axe, but lose your shit when I narrate - "The Galleon glides across the water in near-silence; the sole exception being the rhythmic cadence of the slave crews "stroke!" emanating from the bowels of the hulking ship," you're a fucking moron. However, I will not describe 'controversial' topics in gratuitous detail.

3. Communication. We'll use Discord, but only for voice. There is no video streaming. Discord is a great platform but obviously doesn't function as well as speaking in-person so please try not to interrupt each other. In-game PMs to me and other players can be utilized. There is also a chat box in-game.

4. Cost. As mentioned, the platform we'll use to play is Fantasy Grounds Unity, but it will cost you nothing as I have an Ultimate License. I also have all the necessary sourcebooks that I can share during sessions so you don't need to purchase anything. Furthermore, you don't need to be an experienced user of the platform. We can help you get started and It only takes a few sessions to get a functional understanding.

4b. I have an extensive Fantasy Grounds library, but there are literally hundreds more options that I do not own. If you'd like to incorporate one of the books into our game we can discuss it and depending on cost I may just purchase it myself or we could do a cost share across the group. A $30-$60 option is a lot easier to swallow if it's divided 5 or 6 ways.

5. Campaign tone. In a word - serious. Comedy is great and offers a necessary pressure release when appropriate, but if you're the guy/girl that is constantly doing or saying stupid shit, this isn't the game for you. I understand that everyone plays D&D differently, but at my table D&D is a cooperative game where a party works together to achieve their goals. Douchebags that intentionally creates meaningless strife or hardship for the group won't last long. That fact is especially true for the folks who attempt to justify their actions because "It's what my character would do." My response? "Oh, Ya?...rocks fall...."

6. Campaign setting. Forgotten Realms, but I carve out most of the whimsical trash, heavily homebrew, and make use of entire world rather than focus on the Sword Coast as much of the official WoTC material does.

7. Changes to the rules. I have a fairly large number of changes to the core rules that alleviate the complaints that 5E has no risk, combat is boring/repetitive, etc. I HEAVILY draw from:
a. Grit and Glory (6.01)
b. Stormchaser's
c. Giffyglyph's Darker Dungeons (4.0)
d. Hamund's series
e. Armorer's Handbook

and many others. I've greatly expanded systems for combat, injuries, exhaustion, travel, crafting, poisons, herbalism, alchemy, downtime, fame/infamy, owning property/businesses, as well as a number of other systems. Everything is modular and if the group decides as a whole that they'd prefer to cut something, we can. The flip-side is that we can also add systems as we go.

In summary, my game is more dangerous, immersive, and players have significantly greater agency with corresponding consequences (good and bad).


If you're interested, PM me and we can go over the details. If you decide you want in, we can make your character on Fantasy Grounds so it'll be ready when the campaign launches.

Conefed said:

Experienced my first tpk yesterday. The druid survived and he was like it's not over! I can summon elementals and dig you out. I can cast reincarnate. We have ten days to find the bodies.

DM was shook like he had overtuned the adventure

but really, it was an epic loss. I drove a member home and we excitedly talked about it the whole way. We remembered the characters and discussed their story arcs. We were level 9 and had been on this campaign about a year in real time from level one.

This morning I'm still feeling it. The odd thing is the world around me is moving on like nothing happened. Sitting here in the break room after passing two coworkers gossipping about like my party hadn't just defeated an elder brain by caving in an intricate tunnel system, to only barely not escape

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The meaning of life is that it ends.

Only need 1 or 2 more players for my 5E FGU campaign. However, it won't launch for a month'ish.

Sounds like a good time but I already got 3 games going. Good luck