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Sometimes winging it is the best strategy
  • How fast can you pull an interesting battlemap and an interesting encounter ?

    Because I had DMs making me wait while they cobbled something last minute that we couldnt avoid, meaning they could have planned it in advance with 0 chances of wasting the preps

  • On Character Death and Long-Term Play
  • A game can be challenging without involving character death. And the funny thing is, I'm not sure being able to die is what makes it challenging. I think it all comes down to : how much did character actions and player decisions mattered into the character surviving or dying ?

    I do love the possibility of dying myself because I know that if I don't act right or do something stupid, I won't be saved and will suffer the consequences of it. But this implies that it's my choice that kills me. If my choice doesn't kill me, then it sucks. If it's the choice of another character, then it's akind to pvp and fuck that. And if it's the choice of a NPC or a God, might as well tell me that I shouldn't have come to play.

    Note, I said CHOICE, not actions. A NPc can choose to try and kill me, if I also have choices to get me out of there.

  • Squad goals?
  • Someone said : careful with your boss, they have power over you.

    You said : silly, my boss is awesome

    So now here is my obvious question. What if said boss isnt awesome ? Worst, what is DND turns sour a good relationship like countless others ?

    Forget your awesome boss lucky dude and think about bosses in general. Think

  • Me to my players tonight, they deserve it

    For context, they managed to successfully accomplish an impossible task (defeating a Lich with it's minions) to save their tribe's armoury and magical item stash. So their master, an Ancient Red Dragon, will give them an item from his own collection

    67
    Everyone loves to roll 1 die every 30 minutes (/s)

    If you check my comment, I will show you my current Dying condition that I have been able to test on the field.

    It's 80 % the one from XP to level 3, with a few things changed and actually used in a DND game :)

    Enjoy

    53
    Don't do too much, or you will waste time and efforts

    You can of course plan the big lines of the campaign, but the more precise you get and far ahead of the present, the more you will either lose or railroad to not lose. Both suck

    28
    The Dying condition (but in French) from XP to level 3, upgraded, field tested and fun

    So, this is my own version of XP to level 3's idea to let player play until they are completely dead. I.e., they can still do stuff at 0 hp... for a price. Enjoy.

    Condition Dying

    Pas pour les NPCs, le but est de garder les joueurs en vie.

    Quand les points de vie atteignent 0, le personnage tombe Prone et devient Dying

    Au début du tour, on commence par les Death saving throws.

    Ensuite, le personnage peut soit :

    Bouger (prone = moitié de mouvement). Coût : gratuit

    Parler en mourrant. Coût = gratuit

    Action. Coût = 3 niveaux d'Exhaustion

    Bonus Action. Coût = 1 niveau d'Exhaustion

    Réaction. Coût = 1 niveau d'Exhaustion

    Il n'est pas possible de se relever.

    Exhaustion :

    Sur les d20

    1 = -1

    2 = -2

    ... ...

    9 = -9

    10 = mort

    Récupération

    Premier short rest = - 1 Exhaustion

    Long rest = - 2 Exhaustion

    2
    Yeah, this will do nicely

    So, I found the PERFECT theme song for when my boss fight will start. Let's play a game. Here it is. Can you guess what my boss is ? Hints : they are level 14, they are 4, and it's still deadly. Answer :

    divulgâche

    A Lich

    8
    Ask Game Masters @ttrpg.network sammytheman666 @ttrpg.network
    Homebrew item : bottled inspiration

    You know that situation. You have a player or players doing something awesome. You give them an inspiration. And they say : I already have one.

    It sucks because the system is made that you can only have one at a time. Sure it encourages them to use them, but not always. And if a player is awesome twice without a big die roll he just won't have the time to use it.

    One time I was fed up and made this item on the fly : the bottled inspiration.

    Its an item that you gain when you get an inspiration and already have one. Its weightless. It takes an action to "drink" it and regain an inspiration, so you cannot do it back to back. And there is no limit to how many you can carry. One of my players made it to 8 one time.

    I never had the displeasure of not being able to recompense a player and its been over 2 years using them without drawbacks.

    I highly suggest to think of this next time you hear that sad response of already having one.

    7
    I have my priorities and what my players want to do is usually on top

    Based on recent posts, I believe that what the players WANT to do should always be number one on so small details. Since you know, they are the ones doing it

    8
    It's both weird and a proud moment of my players :)

    Titre, nothing to add, it's just as weird as it sounds but fucking hilarious :)

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    Ask Game Masters @ttrpg.network sammytheman666 @ttrpg.network
    Giving your players a time-out at the right moment

    You know that place in Dragonball, the time temple near God that gives a fighter 1 year of training for one day outside ?

    I kinda did this for my players.

    I gave them permission for the full week to interact through roleplaying on the Discord channel of roleplaying as if it was happening instantly.

    Why ?

    Because we were at a very very very important crossroad for everyone and there wasn't a single second to discuss it at the start of the next session, which was starting with a battle that included 4 dragons, one of which was an ancient red.

    And... well, it's both important and just fun to discuss in character of what to do when shit hit the fan, especially when you see a few ways the whole campaign could go to and you don't know for sure which is the actual good one for everyone.

    It worked... sorta. Not everyone was on the same side, 2 of them prefered to leave the group and 2 joined with the bad guy that was their boss at the moment. And since the direction the campaign took then didn't really satisfied anyone, in the end I retconned before the very first big "oh no" happened.

    But yeah, that metagaming bubble is a tool I'm glad that I have used, even if the result wasn't perfect. Highly recommand it, if you want to give your players a small hiatus of talking between sessions.

    7
    Ask Game Masters @ttrpg.network sammytheman666 @ttrpg.network
    First post here

    Hello there fellow ex-DM academy scholars, Just left Reddit for good, so I'm here with a question that wasn't answered in under spez's shadow, so I might try it here if I can.

    I would like to know if you know of magical items or spells for 5th or similar that would attract ghosts and other spirits : ghosts, banshees, souls, etc.

    I would like to take example from an existing item for what I am preparing in a currently used dungeon that I made.

    Thank you in advance, and fuck spez

    9
    InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)SA
    sammytheman666 @ttrpg.network
    Posts 18
    Comments 442