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Ome

Ome

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So around 30 or so years ago I had this friend who wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed aka Jerry Gump. A few of us were together trying to explain to him what D&D was in a nutshell. We used words like imagination, and role playing etc. In the end he points at the TV and says, well turn it on. Laughter followed at his expense.
 
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Hoss

Hoss

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How long does it take to unattune an item? There are detrimental effects that only take effect when the item is attuned, so I guess it's intended that you can choose to unattune if needed. I see it's typically 60 minutes to attune, but it looks like unattuning is instantaneous since it's automagically done if you try to attune too many items.

The item is the axe of the dwarvish lords, so there's no curse preventing unattunement.
 
Grabbit Allworth

Grabbit Allworth

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Hoss said:
How long does it take to unattune an item? There are detrimental effects that only take effect when the item is attuned, so I guess it's intended that you can choose to unattune if needed. I see it's typically 60 minutes to attune, but it looks like unattuning is instantaneous since it's automagically done if you try to attune too many items.

The item is the axe of the dwarvish lords, so there's no curse preventing unattunement.
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I don't remember the RAW, but I think it's a minute and that makes sense because it keeps players from hot-swapping magic items in combat.
 
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slippery

slippery

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Djay said:
I first started playing D&D senior year of high school...we only got about 2-3 sessions done. Then a group of friends while I was in college...we played a lot more, but the DM was constantly rebooting or switching games. Several years ago, a friend of mine wanted people for a LMoP campaign that he was streaming on Twitch. We actually completed that one, did a One Shot, and then the group collapsed.

All that to say that I thought that good, long-term groups were a myth or something. A couple years ago I found the r/LFG subreddit and figured I'd give it a try. I got into a Curse of Strahd campaign and there was one guy that was making so many bad decisions early on that I started thinking the DM intentionally planted him in the group to mess with us, but I stuck it out because the DM and other guys were fun. We eventually beat CoS and about 3/4 of the way through, the DM invited me and one other guy to his main game where they were doing Rime of the FrostMaiden.

I had also taken a shot at DMing once in a play-by-post and it ended after a wipe, partially because one of the more experienced players kept second guessing every ruling I made. After RotFM, I asked them if I could try running a small module called Frozen Sick for them, the same one that crashed and burned before. They agreed and it went so well, that we transformed it into Call of the Netherdeep, which I should be wrapping up in the next couple months.

Anyway, TLDR, it took 20 years, but I finally found a good D&D group. Such a better experience when you have a group of people that are reliable and invested. Helps that 3/5 of us can DM a campaign to take the burden off the others, too.
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Man, it's funny, reading this I had the exact opposite experience. In high school I got into a group that was older guys, late 20's and early 30's. That group was fucking excellent and I was there for several years until I joined the military. A group I found in the military (group was half civilian) was decent, but problematic since I deployed a lot. Every since then I've been chasing that first group and never really found a good group.

That first group tended to have really long and very productive sessions, and was also a fun group at the same time.
 
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bigmark268

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So how long are yous guys sessions normally? And how often do yous meet?

I tend to do about 5hrs. And we meet about every 6 weeks.
 
Palum

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bigmark268 said:
So how long are yous guys sessions normally? And how often do yous meet?

I tend to do about 5hrs. And we meet about every 6 weeks.
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I don't see how you can progress meaningfully with something like that? I was doing 3-4 hours once a week. But that includes dinner.
 
Indyocracy

Indyocracy

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About 5 hours every other week, rotate between 2 dms myself and someone else every other month so progress is slower. It does help some with dm burnout
 
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bigmark268

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Palum said:
I don't see how you can progress meaningfully with something like that? I was doing 3-4 hours once a week. But that includes dinner.
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Well. We start after lunch and end before dinner. So we get s solid 5 hours. I also try to design the nights events based on a 5hr time frame. Sometimes we'll do something that can be done in 2 or 3 parts.

Were also all about 40 with kids. So time is hard to come by lol.

But my group is also unique. None of us are really rpers so they gang tends to go at "content" strong
 
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bigmark268

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The beat is when I make a puzzle or something. And I think ok this "puzzle room" is gunna take a good half hour or 45min. 3min later done. well I didn't see that coming. Bit then I just spur of the moment make something up. Or if they wander off to do whatever I end up making it up as I go along.

So many nights are just I have zero notes. And I'll start with. "Tell me where you all are and where you'd like to go" that's when they panic the most. Not when they fight a huge size dragon or a lich and his beholder thralls. No they panic when I ask them to think outside that box. My one friend literally starts sweating like he's on a stage.

And the best part is. There is no wrong answer.
 
Talos

Talos

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bigmark268 said:
So how long are yous guys sessions normally? And how often do yous meet?

I tend to do about 5hrs. And we meet about every 6 weeks.
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3 hours every other week. This is my first time DMing so the off week helps me a lot with prepping.

Running Curse of Strahd. It took 6 sessions for my players to get to Vallaki. Not sure how typical that is but they're having fun. The fucking dwarf player got himself arrested right away but his prisoner scenes have been hilarious. The burgomaster is planning to use the "fat, greasy dwarf" to make The Festival of the Blazing Sun a hell of a spectacle.
 
Djay

Djay

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4 hours every week for us. Every so often we'll get a 2nd session in if everyone is available.
 
Djay

Djay

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Talos said:
3 hours every other week. This is my first time DMing so the off week helps me a lot with prepping.

Running Curse of Strahd. It took 6 sessions for my players to get to Vallaki. Not sure how typical that is but they're having fun. The fucking dwarf player got himself arrested right away but his prisoner scenes have been hilarious. The burgomaster is planning to use the "fat, greasy dwarf" to make The Festival of the Blazing Sun a hell of a spectacle.
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Not sure how long it took us, but that doesn't sound too far off. Maybe 2 sessions to get through the Death House, 1-2 in Barovia, 1 with the Vestani, 1-2 with the Windmill, then finally got to Vallaki.
 
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Hoss

Hoss

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bigmark268 said:
So how long are yous guys sessions normally? And how often do yous meet?

I tend to do about 5hrs. And we meet about every 6 weeks.
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Every week nominally (it gets called off a lot, especially during football season because we meet sunday). 3-4 hours each session.

Indyocracy said:
About 5 hours every other week, rotate between 2 dms myself and someone else every other month so progress is slower. It does help some with dm burnout
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how does that work? Are you running 2 different campaigns? Are both DMs doing the same campaign? Or is it just one shots?
 
Indyocracy

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Hoss said:
how does that work? Are you running 2 different campaigns? Are both DMs doing the same campaign? Or is it just one shots?
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Two separate campaigns. Its all good until we miss weeks then people start to lose track of what happens. Then the dms have to do recap episodes at the start of sessions heh, I mean yes players should take notes but when its been 2 or 3 months since you've been in a game world AND you did ttrpg shit in a different world shit starts to merge
 
Hoss

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Indyocracy said:
Two separate campaigns. Its all good until we miss weeks then people start to lose track of what happens. Then the dms have to do recap episodes at the start of sessions heh, I mean yes players should take notes but when its been 2 or 3 months since you've been in a game world AND you did ttrpg shit in a different world shit starts to merge
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I should take notes. My wife takes notes of everything but I just can't make myself do it.

So do you use the same characters? Do the DMs coordinate on leveling and what kinda gear will be available?
 
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Indyocracy

Indyocracy

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Hoss said:
I should take notes. My wife takes notes of everything but I just can't make myself do it.

So do you use the same characters? Do the DMs coordinate on leveling and what kinda gear will be available?
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Everything is completely separate, no coordination. I was running a completely different game system for a while, I tried open legends for a bit.

I have wanted to run a Westmarch campaign where multiple dms could run in the same connected setting but so far that has not materialized.

With Westmarch the idea is a single point of light on the map (Think point of intrest in Assassin's creed) can be self contained. So as long as you have explained your world lore to your players they can build a sandcastle in your sandbox without issue typically.
 
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bigmark268

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It's funny. I've played d&d for years. Only played with strangers maybe 3 times. Rest has always been with my friends.

But one of my friends also has a game with coworkers. And he's always saying how bad his coworker dm is. Real rules stickler. And his style really keeps his players on the rails. Coincidentally him and the other folks groan about him lol.

But he also does like a "blog" for each character. And updates it after sessions with what they did. But the players don't get to touch it themselves. Which I find weird.
 
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Hoss

Hoss

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bigmark268 said:
It's funny. I've played d&d for years. Only played with strangers maybe 3 times. Rest has always been with my friends.

But one of my friends also has a game with coworkers. And he's always saying how bad his coworker dm is. Real rules stickler. And his style really keeps his players on the rails. Coincidentally him and the other folks groan about him lol.

But he also does like a "blog" for each character. And updates it after sessions with what they did. But the players don't get to touch it themselves. Which I find weird.
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Tell your friend we all appreciate him giving that psychopath a harmless outlet for his disorder. If no one played D&D with him, he'd probably be out on the street kidnapping people and forcing them to play.

No but really, he sounds like he has issues and I hope DM'ing is therapeutic for him.
 
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