D&D V6 - Edition jokes don't really make sense anymore - Games

[QUOTE=Plattack;53082352]We were also planning to force feed a prisoner ball bearings, get a dragon to eat him, and then cast heat metal on the ball bearings as a makeshift internal fire damage. BUUUUUUT the dragon turned on us before getting to do so.[/QUOTE] I, as the bard, ran up a set of stairs, jumped on the young dragons back, stuck my rapier into it, and then cast heat metal on the rapier. I tallied, it up, and we've done ~104 damage to this thing and it hasn't died yet. It finally used its poison breath and immediately wiped 3 of our party, the one who didn't get downed has only a little bit of health left. I was away from the breath, but I took damage from getting thrown to the ground and getting smashed by a living vine. The other guy alive elected to pick up one of our downed allies and run away. I would do the same, except that there's a dragon between me and the doorway, so I may just have to Tiefling up and either hope I can kill it before it goes in rotation again, or accept the inevitable character death. I'm rolling a new character for next week just in case.

I recently picked up FFGs newest RPG, Genesys, and holy shit is the rulebook an enticing read. I'm already cooking up my first campaign, Dieselpunk space whalers/mariners/privateers/pirates with a healthy dose of Art-deco and old diving suits for space-suits. I've been away from RPGs for a year or so after burning out pretty hard, feels good to be back.

My current project is the rebuilding of the town we had our first session in, I made a letter from one of its residents that I printed out and gave to my group about how they needed cash to rebuild. My idea is to photoshop the development of the town as new buildings are built, is there any resource I could use with pre-drawn buildings I could use for something like this?

Have you already shown them the town map? If not, you could get away with finding one online and masking / photoshopping bits of it out, and over time re-add the hidden buildings and such. [editline]3rd February 2018[/editline] If you're playing R20 there's plenty of assets there too, but quality DEFINITELY varies for that.

[QUOTE=Smas;53106297]Have you already shown them the town map? If not, you could get away with finding one online and masking / photoshopping bits of it out, and over time re-add the hidden buildings and such. [editline]3rd February 2018[/editline] If you're playing R20 there's plenty of assets there too, but quality DEFINITELY varies for that.[/QUOTE] Yeah I guess I could just finding one but I prefer to make my own if possible. [editline]3[/editline] Cuz [I]I'd [/I]know.

[QUOTE=cyclocius;53102684]I recently picked up FFGs newest RPG, Genesys, and holy shit is the rulebook an enticing read. I'm already cooking up my first campaign, Dieselpunk space whalers/mariners/privateers/pirates with a healthy dose of Art-deco and old diving suits for space-suits. I've been away from RPGs for a year or so after burning out pretty hard, feels good to be back.[/QUOTE] For those wondering, Genesys is the generic game system that FFG is publishing based off of the Star Wars dice system (IE all those purple and yellow dice with fancy symbols)

I've taken the training wheels off for my party (and myself, tbh) as the DM in our 5e game, and man have things gotten more interesting. Cool story time: My party is working their way through a "dungeon" built between the towering walls of a massive glacial fissure. Lots of precarious ledges, jumps, rickety bridges, etc. A tribe of hostile half-giants (custom made monsters) has built paths and camps through the fissure, carving into the ice to create chambers and tunnels where needed. My party has been seriously taxed by this place after a few moderately difficult combat encounters, traps, and falls. They're hanging in there well enough for a couple of decent fights, but get nervous when their NPC ally scouts the area ahead with his familiar and tells them he sees Axe Maidens -- half giant warrior women wielding large stone hatchets. They come up with a pretty clever plan to bypass their village by tunneling through the ice. My Druid turned into a badgermole (another custom beast, with a large size and a burrow speed) and managed to carve a tunnel and sneak the party past. Immediately past the village, they have to cross a long bridge of natural ice to reach the other side of the fissure. As the begin to cross, they see a hunting party of five half-giants returning with fresh kills -- which they might have known to expect had they not bypassed the village to avoid the Axe Maidens. Now, they're stuck. They are moments away from being spotted by the Giants on the bridge, and still have the Axe Maidens at their backs. I'm biting my nails a bit at this point. They come up with a plan that had me screaming internally - open an eversmoking bottle and run across the long bridge in the confusion -- directly towards the hunting party, and alerting the Axe Maidens. I very nearly stepped in to save them, because there was just no way they could kill TEN of these things in one fight. BUT, I said, "it's not my job to save them. It's my job to run these giants true to their nature." So, my party pops their smoke bottle, alerting the giants on the bridge. The brutish leader, an extra tall fellow with a massive club, lets out a war cry, alerting the Axe Maidens just behind my party, and charges into the smoke. Two spear-wielding Giants take up a defensive position to protect the archers behind them, and all four begin launching ranged attacks. The Axe Maidens throw axes into the smoke as they run towards the bridge. Then, my party does something cool. My Eldritch Knight asks me if shatter can break ice, and I immediately understand where he's going with this. "The bridge is tough, but it can be broken. It may require more than just casting shatter, though. Also, it's a 150 foot fall to the ground below." I quickly bullshit a number in my head. How much damage to destroy this bridge enough to make it collapse? I decide, somewhat arbitrarily, that 200 total damage ought to do it. I don't tell my players this number. I also rule that the brutal swings of the larger giant's massive club will hit, and damage, the bridge if they miss a player character. I start tracking that damage, and describe the sounds of cracking and stress in the ice with each heavy blow to communicate the danger to my players as the next few combat rounds pass. A quick shit show takes place. My players are trying to cross the bridge, while defending themselves from the giants, and are slowing to help each other as the giants close in. Meanwhile, it's becoming more and more unstable as the damage from the club giant ticks closer to that 200 mark. Finally, everybody gets across the bridge, except one person. Our poor little druid gets knocked out of her wildshape, and onto her ass, by the club giant. She is completely surrounded, halfway across the bridge, alone, and it is on the brink of collapse. One good hit is all that's needed to bring the whole thing down. I think she's fucked. She thinks she's fucked. Everybody thinks she's fucked. But I'm pulling no punches. I don't want her character to die, but this whole situation was created by them. I can't Deus ex this one Her turn rolls 'round again, and she considers her options. The way forward is blocked. The way back is blocked. Suddenly, her face lights up. "Can I get to the side of the bridge?" "Yes, but you'll take opportunity attacks from three of the Giants, including the big one. The bridge is making a loud crunching noise, and chunks if it are breaking away." "Okay. I turn into a giant spider, run to the edge, and crawl onto the underside of the bridge." Oh, shit! That might actually work! If the bridge survives, at least. The Giants make their opportunity attacks. The club giant swings, and slams the bridge. I roll damage, gulping. It's a low roll, but I can tell it's still going to be close. The total damage dealt so far ticks up to 197... [I]Three points[/I] are all that stand between my Druid surviving, or plummeting to the depths beneath several tons of ice and ten Giants! THREE POINTS! The druid's form holds after suffering the other hits from the opportunity attacks, and she climbs beneath the bridge. She uses her action to dash, and reaches safety at the end of the bridge. My Eldritch Knight's turn comes next. "I cast shatter." My players won an unwinnable fight, and it was fuckin' awesome. I'm glad I ignored my moment of panic and elected to play this out without pulling any punches. It was easily one of the best moments from our campaign up to this point exactly because of what a close call it was. Had I jumped in to save the day by easing up on things, it wouldn't have been nearly so cool. Credit to my players too, because I have clearly been underestimating their resourcefulness. They don't NEED saving -- they can come up with a clever plan to take out much stronger enemies, and adapt it when things go tits up, without any prodding from me. I am the proud papa.

In todays Stars Without Numbers session, we stole 20 tonnes of mining charges, modified them for impact charges, and punted them out the side of a shuttle door in a suborbital trajectory towards an asteroid security checkpoint, not accounting for that the explosions from the first charges that'd land would scatter the rest. Resulting in what should have been a surgical strike, to carpet bomb the entire colony killing pretty much everybody. "Oops"

So our group is starting the "Tomb of Annihilation" campaign. Does anyone have any advice or tips that won't spoil it? (For a player, not a DM) If it matters, my character is a power hungry rogue who seeks weapons of mass destruction.

[QUOTE=Marton;53070527]I've been playing DnD for years but lately I've not been into it at all. In our main campaign nearly everyone has forgotten what the main quest is really about (We've been playing the campaign for a long time). Right now the DM is brewing a Star Wars campaign, which I'm mixed about. I appreciate the effort, as he creates custom races and classes, but I feel it restricts creativity as his goal with the campaign is to follow the story from the movies. I just don't feel excited for the game anymore, not sure how to say this to the group as they are super devoted to DnD. Is there anything I can do get back the excitement?[/QUOTE] I know it's stupid to reply to my own post, but just wanna say I played DnD last weekend and it was super fun. I've been absent from the group a while, meeting them again made me really happy.

I just started running Curse of Strahd for my players, and long story short, the Barbarian got bitten by a werewolf. (Three time to be exact) I spoke with the player about it, and he said his character would probably not embrace the curse unless he really needed to. I'm not worried about the other players for now, as they're a mixed bag of different alignments and stuff, but the problem lies somewhere else. When they were preparing to leave, they decided to visit the local temple, and ask the Cleric of Bahamut NPC they had traveled with a few times to come with them. She also happens to be an Inquisitor, and the priesthood deemed an invitation to Barovia to be a pretty just cause, and sent her with the party. I'd like to ask if anyone knows how someone in this position would react to the Barbarian shifting. They are friends, but i'm not asking how the character would react, only i know that, i'm asking what her duty would be. Would she be obligated to destroy him? Might she simply arrest him and attempt to remove the curse later? I understand its my setting and i have free reign, but i'd like to know what the normal reaction would be.

I’d say if they know a cure exists then arrest and attempt to remove seems reasonable, or keep secret and attempt to remove depending on how well they know each other. If no cure exists to their knowledge then I’d say if they are friends then telling the barbarian to live in exile might be a good compromise if killing him isn’t a good option. Also depends on how much they see it as an abomination, as conflicting emotions can always cause the more immediate destroy attempt

Anyone else ever bothered by video games that actually use DnD's rules almost verbatim. I've been trying to get into the Neverwinter Nights series but I can't stand the how clunky the systems are

I mean NWN isn't just mouthing along, it is straight up a D&D game, in a D&D settng But 3rd does not translate all that great to a video game format, though how much that is due to it already being almost needlessly clunky as a tabletop system is probably up for debate

[QUOTE=SiberysTranq;53113865]I mean NWN isn't just mouthing along, it is straight up a D&D game, in a D&D settng But 3rd does not translate all that great to a video game format, though how much that is due to it already being almost needlessly clunky as a tabletop system is probably up for debate[/QUOTE] It is only even remotely playable in a quick way via Nwn (and KOTOR, while I'm at it). Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale were even better for all that they cut out of the old rule set, leaving enough to be recognizable and even serve as a primer to the rules which nwn didn't do.

[QUOTE=cdr248;53113795]Anyone else ever bothered by video games that actually use DnD's rules almost verbatim. I've been trying to get into the Neverwinter Nights series but I can't stand the how clunky the systems are[/QUOTE] More like you're used to house rules and gm fiat which can't be incorporated, but that's where the magic lies anyway.

Probably has more to do with my unfamiliarity with DnD in general its just that combat feels so fucking slow, casting is weird, I hate resting after every encounter, and i have an itching feeling that I built a useless character on accident.

[QUOTE=cdr248;53114085]its just that combat feels so fucking slow, casting is weird, I hate resting after every encounter, and i have an itching feeling that I built a useless character on accident.[/QUOTE] Sounds your average 3.0 campaign to me.

I've wondered a lot if I'd enjoy a video game with 5e's combat mechanics.

[QUOTE=TectoImprov;53114347]I've wondered a lot if I'd enjoy a video game with 5e's combat mechanics.[/QUOTE] It's called WoW.

[QUOTE=TectoImprov;53114347]I've wondered a lot if I'd enjoy a video game with 5e's combat mechanics.[/QUOTE] God knows if they'll ever do that. That's what everyone wanted Sword Coast Legends to be - the Neverwinter Nights of this decade. Too bad that kind of game seems to be dead anymore.

[QUOTE=TectoImprov;53114347]I've wondered a lot if I'd enjoy a video game with 5e's combat mechanics.[/QUOTE] It's easy to imagine, just picture playing DnD without ever making dice rolls yourself and not being able to argue with the DM that your halfling would totally be able to seduce an undead beholder

I've only found D&D combat interesting when I care about what's going on behind the fight. I care if my party gets hurt or I care about the consequences of winning or losing. That's more interesting to me than the actual combat mechanics.

Not gonna lie I don't know why anyone plays DnD other than the sheer amount of fucking same-y content

WotC have been paring down combat mechanics and focusing more on roleplay since 5e. Maybe they've realized that themselves.

[QUOTE=cdr248;53115230]Not gonna lie I don't know why anyone plays DnD other than the sheer amount of fucking same-y content[/QUOTE] I've played and ran more different systems than I could honestly count, easily over two dozen, at the end of the day it's because D&D (3.5/5e that is) is still pretty great. It's got a nice mix of combat and roleplaying, is simple to learn but you can get a lot of depth out of it, and the amount of content there is *super* useful for GMing. It's easily the easiest game to GM because theres so much stuff to draw from.

[QUOTE=cdr248;53115230]Not gonna lie I don't know why anyone plays DnD other than the sheer amount of fucking same-y content[/QUOTE] Because it's babby's first RP, it's flat as fuck in terms of progression and mechanics, so once you learn the system you don't have to think about "advanced mechanics" or "combining methods" or averaging anything out if you stick to the base rules. There's enough differentiation in those mechanics to recognize for both players and GMs what's going in a given scenario without the GM having to work at setting it up or getting it resolved mechanically if they can't or don't feel like it, and the company has spent literally twenty years refining that same type of formula to apply to almost any setting, mechanic or gimmick. Those same twenty plus twenty more have been given to settings, realms and genres, so if you have the creativity of a desk lamp, someone, somewhere has done the work for you and you don't have to. DnD also ensconces the GM as an absolute focus for driving everything around the players, so the players who can't worldbuild can still contribute to both individual sessions and the overall happening in any given setting, as much as the gm allows them to. Other systems like GURPS have much greater power and flexibility, but rely on the GM and players alike to be smart, creative and quick on their feet in terms of world building and setting-change, and atmosphere essentially trumps a very straightforward and simply clean set of universal mechanics at all times, and other other side stuff like WHFRP go the opposite, with a very static if dense universe to operate in and a giant set of differing mechanics and stats for everyone to keep track of which makes those mechanics engaging, but you're spending a giant chunk of time and energy doing focused things repeatedly, like combat or gearing up and there's no latitude for remixing the content without having issues with the setting. DnD sits on the fence close to the middle ground of these, and has a metric shit ton of preproduced content that while being limiting after time is pretty much perfect for learning how rp stuff works, and learning what stuff to keep or toss as a group.

My biggest problem with DnD is that it's, as you say, "babby's first rp". When I play a different system there's a good chance that everyone's "hardcore" enough that they'll make good characters, the GM will have some experience and'll get people good into the setting if they haven't tried that particular RPG. When you play DnD, that chance is less. Even if you think you're good with your friends, you could find that some of them are the worst players/GMs either due to being inexperienced or flat out retards, and even if most of your group is fucking fantastic, one or two people being shit'll ruin things because they're somehow actively shit. Now most people start somewhere, and it's pretty common for people to make first characters that are bad in some way, but I think some people don't learn. Also DnD seems to be the game that people bring their particular friend to play, and you somehow [I]know[/I] that person isn't going to be good at it, everyone knows that they aren't going to be good with it, and their character'll still be bad even four or five sessions in, and the game's just gimped by their very presence. The player'll be there till the game [I]ends[/I], but mostly because the game ended quick.

[QUOTE=The Jack;53116020]My biggest problem with DnD is that it's, as you say, "babby's first rp". When I play a different system there's a good chance that everyone's "hardcore" enough that they'll make good characters, the GM will have some experience and'll get people good into the setting if they haven't tried that particular RPG. When you play DnD, that chance is less. Even if you think you're good with your friends, you could find that some of them are the worst players/GMs either due to being inexperienced or flat out retards, and even if most of your group is fucking fantastic, one or two people being shit'll ruin things because they're somehow actively shit. Now most people start somewhere, and it's pretty common for people to make first characters that are bad in some way, but I think some people don't learn.[/QUOTE] Well yeah, it's the single most widespread intellectual property associated with the hobby in the entire world, of course it's going to have people that are new to the hobby trying it. Also everything you've described are problems with people that play D&D, not with the system itself.

I had an idea for this one off that's ostensibly supposed to be inspired by Mindhunter, with the players taking the role of FBI agents visiting a small town and becoming involved in solving a murder. Except the central and secret gimmick is that it's actually a Lovecraftian inspired conspiracy based around The King in Yellow play that's being put on by the local high school and the players won't know this until supernatural elements begin to crop up. I was going to use 5e as a sort of generic template since we're all familliar with it alongside the expanded rules for firearms. Any good resources online for writing mysteries for tabletop games? I was thinking about looking into Call of Cthulu but I was iffy on buying a ruleset my players might not want to play with again.