Israel vows to ‘destroy’ Hamas. What happens to Gaza at the war’s end?
tissek @ tissek @ttrpg.network Posts 25Comments 135Joined 2 yr. ago
tissek @ tissek @ttrpg.network
Posts
25
Comments
135
Joined
2 yr. ago
I love the "happy backstory" characters and love GMing for them. Having an auntie the next village over is just wonderfully quaint. A couple of siblings whose mess has to be cleaned up. Cousins that have to be bailed out of trouble. That is just the low stakes. Turn up the heat a little and put some conflicting interests in the mix and you have a recipe for character drama.
And then there are all the larger and societal issues that become personal. Those affected by the situation are those that matter for the pc. While out killing goblins the bank took the farm. Auntie with an anarcho-syndicalist streak is accused of witchcraft.
Or mr edgy edgelord number fifteen who cares about nothing and none. My taste is clear - homebaked apple pie and an afternoon in the hammock.
If it is OK to have the idol fall you can always have them be a Henry Ford X Saruman. A titan of industry and a learned scholar but peeling the facade they are just absolutely vile. Let the first act be about the artificer gaining their idol's attention. Perhaps a showcase/competition for up and coming artificers with the grand prizes being internships. Unpaid and have to fund their personal projects of course. But they get mentorship. Act two then is unpeeling the facade as they get more insight into the idol's work and actual person. Let there be a schism. Act three then is with the realization that the idol is either actively working with the BBEG or knowingly profit from them.
But this isn't closer to figuring out their craft. However since we don't need to know the leggy yet, only the fair item. Still excellent and awesome but can be of lesser power.
10th level I imagine a year from now. A lot can change in that time, including but not limited to character and player desires. What I would do is that if you have questions ask the player about their character and use those answers. Why are they an artificer? What do they need to protect themselves from? Also what does the player find cool. Use that to find the reward. Doesn't need to be "real" until it is handed out.
Also look at what class options they take and supercharge those. Thunder gauntlets mk2 now allows the wearer 1/day to cast chain lightning without spending a spell slot. Homunculus Servant revision R upgrades it to the equivalent of a ranger's pet.
Onto this statement
They have stated that their character’s dream is to create a legendary item
In my book a legendary item cannot be created as its history and past users is what gives it power. Like everyone having added their evilness to the Book of Vile Darkness. A legendary item without a pedigree is just a powerful doo-hickey. I would turn the statement back to the player - Why. Why does their character want to create a "legendary" item? Is there something they need to prove?
Have a look at GOG's library. Many are older but have been fixed for modern systems, patches and fixes already applied etc. Linux version not uncommon. Best part is that most are without DRM (wink-wink)
It's a good technique but one that can be abused. As most techniques. Using it as a tool to funnel the group into the content that has been prepared regardless of group strategies is one of the worst. In such cases I'd be much happier and excited if the GM comes out and says only the ogre path is prepared.
I would also like to divide the quantum ogre into two parts - the quantum obstacle and the quantum reward. Quantum obstacle being that regardless of path A or B the same encounter will happen, like a group of ogre bandits. The quantum reward being that regardless of path the same reward waits for them. Like they went after the ogre warcamp instead of the orcs' and found leads to the greater conspiracy. Same leads that would have been in the orc camp. The quantum reward I love to use as it keeps the game going forward, as each (equal) path leads to the same rewards there is no need to do multiple.
Because it hasn't been posted yet...
Indentured servitude - The age old question of what to do with the one who cannot pay their debts? If they are killed you don't get it back, if they are punished in a way they cannot work you don't get it back. So instead they are offered a payment plan of providing their creditor a certain amount of labour.
Serfdom - generational bondage to the land. Not belonging to the landowner but to the land and the obligation to tend it. The more common the worship of the Earth Mother and her thousand daughters are the the more sacred this duty becomes. Some legal systems recognize the serfs possibility to move, but only if they find someone else deemed of similar of better quality to take over the land.
Work as rehabilitation into society and paying one's debts to it - This was a spur of the moment choice I made in one game where a player or two went straight to execution for crimes. But that didn't jive with me so instead it is a more common practice for criminals to pay off their debts to society through work while undergoing rehabilitation and reintegration. Also prisons are expensive, unless we are talking about inhuman stuff, so them not being a financial black hole helps keeping them human.
Chattel slavery - only if I want to showcase a culture as vile to the bone pretty much without any chance of redemption.
Then we can get into the issue of raising, trading and slaughtering livestock as the difference between the soul in a beast and a human is that the beast is much more strongly affiliated with the Beast rune. But in essence they are the same. And yes that leads to widespread veganism and/or sacrifices to and worship of the Mother of Beasts.
So you are saying that isn't already the case?
Considering it's the norm when you aren't doing something genre typical to take two ir more genres and just smoish the names together. This way you get things like blackened death metal (black plus death) or epic gothic power metal (take a guess). Now smoosh those teo examples together and you get something like blackened gothic melodic death metal. See that there, now we get into the transformative properties of metal subgenres. Death metal with a bit more melody and structure, which power metal has in spades, becomes melodic death metal.
Fun isn't it? Also I may have bullshitted together half of the above. But it is a real thing
Funeral Doom Metal is too occupied walloping in a blacked pit of despair to join the chat
Scarlet heroes sounds interesting. I'll put it on the "shortlist". The tome on the other hand... I have plenty of tables. But then mire is better. By its drivethrough description it appears questing beast did some reviewing of it.
Or you could just take some ready made package, deactivate things you don't need and accept what you are left with.
Why shouldn't they be allowed to secede? Let the inhabitants of each state vote under international supervision to make sure the vote goes by according to western standards. I see no reason why any community should be barred from seeking independence and self rule.
how would you characterise dominate person cast with indefinite duration?
As "your character is now mine until the spell is broken, here is a new sheet for you". Reread the spell and if I would be the recipient of it I would be very uncomfortable. Agreeing with jjjalljs that when it is used on a PC is really sucks.
upcasting dominate [...] difference in power between [...] heightened metamagic plus [...]
Mechanical stuff. Permanent Dominate Person feels like the realm of a Wish spell so saying it is the equivalent of a ninth level spell sounds appropriate. Unless it was cast in combat, in front of the players and their characters I wouldn't really bother with exact rolling mechanics. Things happening behind the scenes I just let happen. But if it was in front of them, with the saving throw called for it was in front them, I'd say it would and should be fair to ask the DM what powers were behind the roll. Especially since it is practically a save-or-die (-for-a-while) spell.
Rant about enchantment spells
I personally really don't like many enchantment spells, particularly those about mind control and domination. They make me uncomfortable. When DM-ing I wouldn't use any unless I would have gotten explicit permission from the player that it would be OK for them and general permission from the table at large. They can be triggering and I always have "Mind Control/Alteration" as a topic on my Lines&Veils document I ask my players to fill in. Play safe, take care of eachother and push boundaries only with consent in safe spaces.
End rant.
No I won't.
What you are saying sure does highlight an impalance in the system, one that is probably hard to solve without removing what is "core dnd". Decoupling skills from attributes is one step. Maneuvers for all another. I don't know what else to do without starting to make it not dnd. And honestly I don't really need to do anything. There is apparently something out there called Advanced 5e for those that want "dnd but more". For me there are a thousand and one systems out there for me to like.
Why not just communicate with the rest of the group that you want to play something else? Let the group help you "write" them out of the narrative.
The problem is that the only way a fighter can interact with the world is by murdering people
Pretty much the only mechanical way to reliably interact with the world. Since the results from skill checks aren't defined the point that comes across is that they matter less. Why can't the Fighter "suggest" to the ruffians to drop their weapons through their skill in Intimidation? They can of course but nowhere it is written as clearly as having the spell Suggestion.
To help non-spellcaster have reliable ways to interact and change the world there needs to be more details regarding skill check outcomes.
Starting up the first D&D game is the hardest game to start, especially if one isn't used to nomenclature in the hobby. How obvious is it that a "one-shot" is a scenario made to be played and completed within a single session? This time and age though there are so many resources out there that is easy to get that foot in the door.
That said D&D is a hard system to get started with. You mention it yourself - maps, foes, encounters etc. It can easily become overwhelming. And the system doesn't do any favours in this department as it between the lines urges towards perfection. If you have the time I can recommend you to read (the GM chapter of) Apocalypse World. It has its special tone but it is so good. Really help me to get out of "prep hell" and to embrace Play to Find Out.
Two GM toolkits I also would love to recommend you, and both are free, are Kevin Crawford's "Worlds Without Numbers" and Shawn Tomkin's "Ironsworn". While they are full, playable and great systems they contain so many tables for inspiration and use. Especially love Crawford's One-Roll tables.
Think of all the new beachfront properties!
/s