TRPG General Chat

12:04 AM

I thought I wasn't going to like the expanse as much as I did- it came off as the grittier side of scifi to start, but partway through it took a nice turn towards... I dunno what to call it, 'we need to be better'? Optimism-in-progress?

Hot RPG Questions

12:18 AM

5

Q: Does a Mace of Disruption's Frightened effect override undead immunity to the Frightened condition?

Mace of Disruption states: When you hit a fiend or an Undead with this Magic Weapon [...] If the target has 25 Hit Points or fewer after taking this damage, it must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be destroyed. On a successful save, the creature becomes Frightened of you until the e...

Hot RPG Questions

12:38 AM

2

Q: How does Mercy remove conditions?

Is the creature affected by a Paladin's Mercy, immune from contracting the conditions another time during the duration of the hour long ability? (because those conditions wouldn't actually get eliminated but simply removed for an hour, according to Mercy's description) Does that mean that stacki...

pathfinder-1e paladin conditions healing

C. Ross

1:29 AM

What are your thoughts on bossy patrons? When does a bossy patron (quest giver) remove player agency?

nitsua60

Bossy patron strikes me as (and has been, in some of my game-running) the in-game manifestation of the GM's expression of "I've prepared a particular adventure I'd like to run, I'm not interested in running something else." As such, I feel like it's a player-level conversation/agreement that's needed there.

C. Ross

@nitsua60 Fair.

trogdor

Yeah to me that's definitely a "talk about this with the players first" thing

Lots of stuff should be though

I guess

C. Ross

How did we survive in the old days, when we didn't do all this explicit talking :-)

nitsua60

@C.Ross My older brother was the only kid in the neighborhood with the boxed sets. So you played or you didn't =\

trogdor

1:40 AM

Well I think mainly there were more fights

C. Ross

One of the things we agreed to in session 0 was "don't fight the adventure hook"

trogdor

Also what nits said too

What I mean by fights is wide ranging too

nitsua60

I, of course, kobayashi marued the whole thing: I didn't play with him (because he wouldn't let me) but I skipped school, hid in his closet with the light on designing dungeons and characters, and ran (badly) games for my friends "off-book."

trogdor

Passive aggresive jabs at each other, straight up arguments, maybe even a few physical scuffles

Falling outs

C. Ross

In all honesty, a few things happened:
- We did talk about it beforehand, just not formally. We spent hours talking about campaign ideas over lunch.
- A lot more campaigns crashed out.
- We shared a more common idea of what a D&D/fantasy game was about in the first place. We all read LotR, saw Labrynth, etc, etc.

trogdor

1:42 AM

All sorts of "nice" things we totally should miss right?

Joel Harmon

@C.Ross Do you mean a patron who is their boss, or a patron who has a demanding personality?

trogdor

@C.Ross I was going to mention the first thing too yeah

People don't just not talk about things at all times

C. Ross

@JoelHarmon In this case I have a patron who is their explicit taskmaster, and has sort of a bossy, over the top acerbic personality.

trogdor

But formalising it can also cut down on misunderstandings

C. Ross

The party also feels perfectly comfortable running off on adventures without consulting her, so I suspect it's not too overbearing :-)

@trogdor It can. I run session 0's now.

Joel Harmon

1:45 AM

@trogdor Right up until someone starts rules lawyering your social contract...

C. Ross

Sadly the more common failing I've seen is that one person assents to the social contract, but then flies in the face of it, claiming (honestly or not) that they thought they were abiding by it

Joel Harmon

@C.Ross I suspect this is key. If they just go "oh, she's talking again. We should probably pay attention until she's gone, then we can ignore her", that's different from "oh, the GM wants us to go here. I guess we have to."

MikeQ

@C.Ross Depends. If the unspoken assumption is that refusal means the warlock's player effectively loses their character, then it's sort of a forced choiceless quest. But if you subvert the trope then you could get some interesting plot hooks.

trogdor

@JoelHarmon well, this is where I say bad actors mess up any system because they don't care about it or are trying to

C. Ross

@MikeQ Sorry, in this case it's not a warlock's patron, was using it as a general term.

MikeQ

1:49 AM

@C.Ross Okay, then I'll use "warlock" as a substitute for the generic whatever equivalent.

trogdor

I'm sort of assuming a group that wants to be on the same page

C. Ross

@MikeQ :-D

MikeQ

Relevant personal experience: In a non-D&D game, the GM tried to give my character a superpowered NPC ally who wanted them to turn against the party. I said no in game, then we had to talk about it out of game.

C. Ross

The campaign hook was that the party was summoned to court for minor crimes they did or didn't commit, where they were sentenced to be the constabulary of a border town, and the bossy patron is basically their parole officer. She gives them great leash, but demands reports on their activities.

The players agreed to the hook before we started.

MikeQ

Ah, okay. You meant player agency in terms of the collective party? In that case it'll work if they're pushing the story in a direction that the players have already agreed to. Like a framing device. It's problematic if it suddenly changes momentum or forces the story in a direction the players don't want.

C. Ross

1:56 AM

@MikeQ yes. I totally agree if a warlock's power's are on the line ... that would be rough.

Night y'all

trogdor

Night

Ben

Morning

trogdor

2:11 AM

Lol

You got me, I lied , it's noon now

Ben

Hahaha

How be everybody today

MikeQ

2:32 AM

Approximately average, I'd say

Ben

I'd say the same. Yesterday was... not great. Today is better, but not better than normal.

Just been thinking about some things for my Corruption system. It's very bare bones atm. So needs a little more development

Got a minor bit of balancing issues, etc.

Speaking of, when was the last time @linksassin dropped in? Haven't seen him for a while

trogdor

Same actually

Although I've also been less active here lately

Ben

Aug 24 '15 at 23:26, by Ben

Agh! Life! The bane of fun!

Hot RPG Questions

4:15 AM

9

Q: Is a Centaur considered an animal when calculating carrying capacity for vehicles?

I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but I wanted to double check. Mounts and Vehicles. An animal pulling a carriage, cart, chariot, sled, or wagon can move weight up to five times its base carrying capacity, including the weight of the vehicle. If multiple animals pull the same vehicle, they c...

dnd-5e encumbrance centaur

trogdor

@HotRPGQuestions you gave me so much ammo on this one I can't even

XD

Hot RPG Questions

4:54 AM

5

Q: Can a DM change an item given by another DM

If a player received a specific end reward and doesn't like it, can the new DM change that item's traits (whether or not the item was created differently than in the book)? We are playing home games, and the group has been changing DMs after each campaign, so it isn't going by strict Adventures L...

dnd-5e gm-techniques treasure

3

Q: Will allowing a Dex-based barbarian to multiclass based on Dex instead of Str cause any future balance issues?

A player of mine plays a dex barbarian and multiclassed into fighter for a fighting style. I didn't understand at that time that he can't do that without a strength score of 13 (which he doesn't have). I am leaning to houserule the multiclassing requirements for barbarian to be as the fighter, 13...

dnd-5e house-rules multi-classing ability-scores barbarian

kviiri

5:15 AM

@HotRPGQuestions This reminds me of a round robin campaign where the first GM gave our party a magic ring that caused a d100 roll every day and for results 96-100, "<Ominous Name> will come forth". 95 and below had no effect.

I was frankly quite miffed by this

We played DnD again yesterday and this campaign is... perplexing

Ben

@kviiri Was <Ominous name> a good thing or bad?

kviiri

@Ben Well that's the thing. That's all the GM divulged

Ben

Ah

Were you forced to roll?

kviiri

So it was like "whoever's the GM at the time shall decide" which is a bit of an annoying move

@Ben No, but I think it was tried at least once a sesh

Ben

Right.

I'd still prefer if my <Random effect> was still defined by <Random effect list>

kviiri

5:29 AM

In our current campaign, we had a really insanely hard encounter in session 2. The GM likes lifting old school maps with lots of choke points that really stalled the fighting and prevented our druid from effectively using their AoE magicks.

We only survived it by barricading ourself in the chamber we came in through and having a short rest. After we emerged and fought the rest of the baddies we won but the Bad Guy had already escaped with our objective

trogdor

@kviiri that's all kinds of messed up

kviiri

So the last session (session three) had us give chase on boat. And there was some boarding action against even worse odds. We were given the opportunity to stealth kill a few bad guys but the problem with conventional stealth mechanics means you have to succeed every time, and the bad guys have to succeed only once, for your stealth kills to work or fail.

trogdor

Really?

You don't get one takedown per success at least?

Ben

@kviiri My last session was exactly like that, and not even by our own will. We ended up in a situation that was just each of us (spilt up) waiting to die. The DM had to dig us out of the hole he dug for us.

kviiri

@trogdor Our GM gave us one attack roll per successful stealth check, with advantage and all, but as soon as you fail the stealth check or attack roll he had them scream alert. There's no rigorously defined course of action inbuilt for this in 5e so this is one of the legit courses-of-action for the GM RAW-wise

So, we had to fight. There was about fifteen bad guys but most of them were below the decks so they emerged slowly. We were trounced before everyone was even out.

trogdor

5:38 AM

Eww

I mean to be fair, I've messed up DMing D&D before

Killed a bunch of the PCs when I didn't intend to

But it's still gross to hear about an incident of an incredibly unfair fight

kviiri

My character got hit once, for thirteen damage. My character is a L2 rogue with +3 con, so I was left with six hit points. Then I got hit by a friendly fire thunderwave for five more damage.

trogdor

What's the point of that, at least if done on purpose, other than to flex your control over the game?

@kviiri ouch

kviiri

Yea I dunno... I could get it if it was legitly something we made an informed choice about but the GM just led us there

trogdor

Yeah

kviiri

It wasn't the Fort Knox we decided to assault for giggles

Anyway

MikeQ

5:42 AM

Sometimes it's a DM style thing. The DM equates big numbers = more challenge = more fun, so they just try to kill or otherwise negate the PCs.

kviiri

I moseyed off the battlefield using Cunning Action ti disengage. Our fighter and monk got KO'd almost instantly. Our druid (who is in-character my character's mother-in-law) refused to flee so I spent a turn trying to beg for them to follow

She decided she'd rather surrender, I decided I'd rather flee. Now the GM messaged me that since my character is now effectively in party split I can choose between him trailing the now-imprisoned party or rolling a new character also on the slave ship they're on.

I really don't know what were the intended outcomes of the fight, but I find anything other than death/capture of our party or retreat. Or a bit of this, a bit of that.

I guess it's essentially again a case of a GM being overly infatuated with movie style twists and turns and hardships while insisting on a system that supports such hardships poorly.

But anyway, I think it's otherwise an improvement over earlier sessions

Our first session was mostly about opening doors.

Ben

6:57 AM

Quick question: I was under the impression that there was a time limit before you could accept your own answers; i.e. on self-answered questions. However I was recently proven wrong. Is this a rep thing or am I thinking of something else?

Derpy

7:18 AM

@Ben As far as I know, it should still be 48 hours UNLESS you post the answer at the same time of the question, in which case it is immediate.

Ben

@Derpy Yeah so did I. But I was just able to accept my own answer (on my own question) immediately after posting it gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/350615/…

Nyakouai

Hi all

Ben

Heya

Derpy

@Ben .... I think you may have linked the wrong question here? It was posted 4 months ago, back in April. Unless I am missing something ^_^'

Ben

@Derpy Yeah, that's the right one. I thought the window applied to the time between posting the answer, and accepting it.

Derpy

7:27 AM

@Ben nope, the limit should be only on the question age

Ben

Ohhhhh right!

That makes sense

Derpy

937

A: How does accepting an answer work?

What does it mean to accept an answer? The system allows you to mark an answer as "accepted", in order to indicate which answer solved your problem or most thoroughly answered your question in the end. Accepting an answer is important as it rewards posters for correctly answering your question, ...

> Can I accept my own self-answer?

Yes; if you've self-answered your own question, you can mark your answer as the accepted answer. There are some differences, though, that exist in order to ensure everyone gets a fair shot at answering:

Accepting your own answer won't award you any reputation.
The question must be at least 48 hours old before you can accept a self-answer.
Self-answers that are accepted won't be pinned to the top.

Pierre Cathé

Good morning

Ben

Riiight. It all makes sense now haha

Hot RPG Questions

7:50 AM

6

Q: Does the Reduce option from the Enlarge/Reduce spell cause a critical hit to do 2d4 less damage?

The rule for critical hits states: When you score a critical hit, you get to roll extra dice for the attack’s damage against the target. Roll all of the attack’s damage dice twice and add them together. Then add any relevant modifiers as normal. To speed up play, you can roll all the damage d...

dnd-5e spells damage critical-hit size-scaling

BESW

8:22 AM

....I'm really mad at myself because I've got a game design that doesn't work because I can't figure out the rules can let people share their crayons.

trogdor

huh?

BESW

I had some really good ideas for Surgadores, but it's still... not working.

trogdor

oooh

BESW

I've made it so each round everyone must WRESTLE DEATH until someone succeeds, and then everyone who's left gets to STABILIZE THE PATIENT. And when you do either, you declare which ASSET (your best wrestling move, your best surgical equipment, or the reason you became a surgador) you're using.

You roll 1d6, +1d6 if you're using the ASSET that's especially suited to the action you're performing. If you fail your roll, you can mark the ASSET you're using in order to automatically succeed--but each ASSET can only be marked once. So you have a reason to switch up which ASSET you're using, if you've already marked the one that gives you +1d6.

I still want to use successful STABILIZING checks to color in the masks and have the win condition be everybody's mask is filled in.

I've added a thing where if your mask is filled in, you can PASS ON YOUR LEGACY by giving up all your turns for the rest of the game in exchange for giving one other player +1d6 on their current roll, and +1 for the rest of the game as you cheer from the sidelines.

But the practical aspect of an easy way to describe and keep track of mask-coloring as a countdown clock is eluding me unless everybody picks their own crayons at the beginning of the game and I don't want to have "three crayons for every player" be part of the equipment. I want a game where people can share crayons.

Someone_Evil

8:50 AM

Each mask needs to be coloured with X different colours? You only need X total crayons, but having more will give more variety to the masks.

BESW

Mmm. It's keeping track of the coloring in that I'm struggling with. I want a physical clock that signals when it's run down, like running out of crayons would.

Someone_Evil

Actual pictograms of masks to be filled in? Or better yet actual masks

Becomes more of a counting up than down, but still distinctly visual

BESW

Originally I had people starting the game by drawing the outline of their own lucha libre mask. For the next version I'm going to include outlines to select if people don't want to draw one from scratch.

BESW

9:12 AM

But unless I have specific "area 1, area 2, area 3" coloring outlines, it's not going to guarantee a clear "you're done here" signal and I don't want to force a color-in-the-lines attitude either.

Derpy

9:53 AM

since you probably will still need to quantify the number of times someone has to color in the mask before it becomes "complete" (otherwise a player could just claim that the mask is a green circle).... isn't it simpler to just have a shared box of crayons and set the rules as "the mask must have at least # distinct colors to be complete"?

BESW

Yes, that's pretty much what I'm doing right now.

But I think I'm gonna fiddle with the endgame condition.

If I decouple the number of colors on the mask from the endgame, and just let it enable a bonus feature, then I don't need to make sure people notice the moment it happens.

Though, I'm not sure I have any other endgame trigger that's half as elegant.

BESW

10:31 AM

...Oh dear, Maths.

Derpy

?

BESW

I'm trying to figure out how to do (a) difficulties and (b) auto-wins, for a fun game experience.

Let's see. There are two kinds of action a player can take, A1 and A2. In each round, only A1 is available until one player succeeds, then all other players use A2 for the rest of the round. The game is lost if a full round passes without an A1 success. The game is won when every player has succeeded at A2 three times each.
As the game progresses the difficulty of A1 decreases while the difficulty of A2 increases. Each player has two features which increase their chance of success on one or the other action and can be sacrificed to give a single automatic success on any action, as well as a…

That feels okay? I just need to set the success/failure difficulties appropriately.

Joel Harmon

11:02 AM

Those on the perpetual lookout for online tabletop simulators may be interested in keeping an eye on tale spire.

It looks really nice, but I lack the experience with kickstarters and online tabletop simulators to sufficiently judge.

BESW

11:23 AM

Need a more evocative word than "asset" to describe the category of things "your best wrestling move, your best surgical equipment, and the reason you became a surgador."

Pierre Cathé

signature ?

Anaphory

The first two are definitely Strengths.

Pierre Cathé

Core

Hot RPG Questions

3

Q: Would Epic Heroism be an acceptable rule variant for a small, first-time group playing the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure?

I'm DMing a group with 4 players. For all of us, this is our first D&D experience. We'll be playing the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure from the Starter Set. I'm concerned about the survivability, especially given how green the players are. At first level, they'll have 10 or 12 hit points, fac...

dnd-5e published-adventures new-players optional-rules lost-mine-of-phandelver

Anaphory

Trademark is the wrong term, but feels more able to stand alone even without a noun after it than signature.

BESW

11:27 AM

"Core" would be a decent pun for a wrestling game.

Pierre Cathé

@BESW I don't get it

Is that a wrestling term ?

Identity could work too

BESW

"Core" muscles are the abdominal, back, and pelvic muscles. "Core exercises" is a common workout term for activities that strengthen those muscles.

Pierre Cathé

@BESW Gotcha ;)

BESW

Oooh, "trademark" works perfectly if I phrase the motive as backstory.

Joel Harmon

@BESW Your Hands, Head, and Heart together could be your Hattributes (the 'H' naturally being silent).

BESW

11:32 AM

Yes, Nosey Parker.

BESW

11:52 AM

Okay, if I'm calling them "trademarks," then I can't use "mark" to describe what you do to indicate on the sheet that you've used their one-time abilities.

> If none of your dice roll greater than [target difficulty], Death has overpowered you and is still advancing on the table. If you’re using an unmarked TRADEMARK, you may mark it to successfully halt Death anyway.

goodguy5

12:27 PM

@HotRPGQuestions I thought we had a "5e is deadly at low levels, what to do?" question, but I couldn't find it

@BESW oh man! robot wrestling, where their power cells are called "core"s

BESW

@goodguy5 Haaah.

Miniman

12

Q: How to adjust Hoard of the Dragon Queen for a 1st-level party?

TL;DR: I've already 'cheated' a lot to help the group survive the first mission, and it seems like I'll have to cheat even more if they'll make it to the Keep. Did I do something wrong? What can I do to not 'cheat' (i.e., if the party 'deserved' TPK, then allow it), while being fair? Newbie GM...

dnd-5e combat published-adventures gm-preparation hoard-of-the-dragon-queen

Ish?

BESW

If I said this, what would you expect the "tickbox" to look like and what action would you imagine "ticking" means?

> Note that there is a tickbox next to each of your TRADEMARKS. Unticked TRADEMARKS can be ticked for effect, and ticking them also changes the difficulty of your actions.

Someone_Evil

12:47 PM

Ticking it sounds more like I'm choosing to be (extra) good with this one or something, it doesn't feel as clear as marking it

Miniman

1:01 PM

@BESW My guess would be that ticking them is a one-time only action that lets you do something big with them, but increases the difficulty of things you do with them going forward.

BESW

Would it sound different if I said "checkbox" and "checked/checking"?

Miniman

That makes it sound like you're using them up somehow?

Someone_Evil

You could say the ability is striked off/out, would that work?

BESW

Welp, I sidestepped the whole thing by finally remembering that the darn things are called gimmicks so I don't have the checkmark/trademark problem anymore.

...anydice gives me hives.

Carcer

1:35 PM

anydice is lovely

what's wrong

BESW

It's not shaped like my brain.

Carcer

that's a common problem for computers

in fairness there are plenty of mechanics it's not simple or even realistically possible to sim within the limitations of anydice

Pierre Cathé

use python :p

vicky_molokh

@Carcer You say problem, I say the whole point of computers is that they are shaped differently and are thus suited to solving things that are hard for a humanoid brain. ^_^

BESW

Okay, I didn't expect to do this today, but...

*Surgadores playtest v2 is up and running. Character sheets aren't available yet but the game text makes it clear what to write/draw on a piece of paper.

Whoops, too many asterisks.

Rubiksmoose

1:47 PM

@BESW There's * never ** too *** many *** asterisks ****.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch I am resisting the urge to edit some stuff into Theo's answer since I'd rather he take a look at the damage reduction stuff and see how he thinks it fits. Good points all in your comments, two thumbs up.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast You too! nice find from the PHB. I think Theo is right, they just need to better support it.

I'm also trying to nudge ant_aoe to start supporting their answers. THey've got some good content, but it's too far in the realm of idea generation for me.

but you may disagree :)

KorvinStarmast

@C.Ross We didn't over analyze stuff. We just played. And we rotated who was running a dungeon every few weeks to one person wasn't stuck being DM the whole time.

@NautArch I'll take a look, your encouragement to improve answers is rarely off the mark.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast But we sometimes disagree on subjective support :D

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch Depends on the topic and what the question is asking for. I will point to the meta about what is an expert for RPG.SE.

BESW

2:09 PM

(Feedback on Surgadores is welcome, of course. That's what playtesting is for.)

Rubiksmoose

@KorvinStarmast I do like that Meta a lot. I feel it supports what seems to be the trend in enforcing Good Subjective answers nicely.

> All it takes to be an expert is actual experience playing RPGs

NautArch

@Rubiksmoose I'm going to add that as a related to the other subjective meta questions!

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch I think your encouragement to ant_aoe is spot on.

Rubiksmoose

@NautArch :) Thanks!

Carcer

3:04 PM

@vicky_molokh "problem" not meant in a literal sense here, indeed

JohnP

4:04 PM

@Rubiksmoose - I realize this is a historical question, but aren't questions that produce link only answers frowned upon?

Rubiksmoose

@JohnP Yup absolutely

Luckily RS is active so maybe they'd be willing to update it :)

KorvinStarmast

Actually, those answers are great but I think it's a tool shopping question.

Rubiksmoose

(although maybe that question could be a shopping question and just closed actually)

Beat me to it lol

KorvinStarmast

@Rubiksmoose great minds think alike ... and ours too, sometimes. :)

Rubiksmoose

@KorvinStarmast hehehe :)

JohnP

4:21 PM

Huh. I didn't know you could make an answer community wiki without the question being one.

Someone_Evil

@JohnP If you're still on the question from above, that happens to posts when they are locked as historic (I believe)

NautArch

The enlarge/reduce critical hit question is trickier than it looked.

JohnP

@Someone_Evil I just checked, you can make your own answers CW. Doesn't necessarily have to be on a CW question. Never noticed that before.

Xirema

4:43 PM

@NautArch My instinct is that the most-highest-upvoted answer is correct, but I don't think it justifies its reasoning well enough.

NautArch

@Xirema I keep flip flopping, but I think you're right (in that Hi-Tech is right, but not well enough supported.)

JohnP

5:10 PM

"That seems unlikely. Got a source to back it up?"

"Why yes, see these peer reviewed, published studies here, here, here. And oh yes, here too."

NautArch

@JohnP fakenewz

JohnP

inorite?

However, I can assure the poster that protein intake is irrelevant to mitigating or preventing DOMS.

NautArch

Friend of mine trying to get the ISO standard for QR codes. You have to pay for the standard. So you've got to follow the standard, but you also have to pay to find out what it is.

@JohnP diuretic obfuscation-meme syndrome?

JohnP

5:35 PM

@NautArch delayed onset muscle soreness. That feeling like you want to die 2 days after starting a new workout plan.

NautArch

@JohnP ah, lactic acid buildup?

Rubiksmoose

@JohnP What's it called when you get that, but 2 days before you start any exercise plan? ;)

@NautArch That's what we were told in high school was the cause at least.

NautArch

I remember I specifically joined indoor track so that I wasn't as out of shape for spring season crew so that I could walk up stairs at the start of the season :)

Rubiksmoose

Hah! Did it work?

NautArch

It did! I was in enough shape that while sore, I could still go up the stairs the first week of crew.

Rubiksmoose

5:40 PM

Very nice.

JohnP

@NautArch Mmm...lactic acid causes you to not be able to exercise the day of, but isn't a cause. DOMS is basically just all the muscles you abused yelling at you. Gets less and less the more you work out. The more cynical among us would liken it to cigarettes.

NautArch

I even got 3rd place in a race once (because 4 other teams got disqualified for crossing over too early.)

Rubiksmoose

5:56 PM

hahaha. Hey, a win is a win!

NautArch

damn skippy

JohnP

@NautArch You were racing against ghosts? Dayum.

NautArch

@JohnP Didn't know until it was over. Got called up to the podium to get the third place medal and was very confused.

Um, i finished last. No, sir, you didn't. Have a medal.

Hot RPG Questions

7

Q: Does trying to charm an uncharmable creature cost a spell slot?

I'm soon going to DM for the first time, we'll be playing 5e. If my players try to charm a creature with a condition immunity to being charmed, will they still lose a spell slot? They are all first level so it feels a bit cruel to, but I'd like to hear other people's opinions first, especially si...

dnd-5e conditions spellcasting charmed

Ludoss

6:37 PM

What is a good gamemaster guide for dnd5?

NautArch

@Ludoss what do you mean?

Ludoss

I am unexperienced gm and will gm soon, so I need a guide or book or sth like that to improve.

Xirema

@Ludoss I'm assuming the aptly-named "Dungeon Master's Guide" is insufficient for the purpose you're thinking of?

Ludoss

I have already read the DnD5 DMG.

*DnD5

Xirema

@Ludoss You get 2 minutes after posting a chat message to edit your message, if you change it we'll pretend it was always like that. ;)

Ludoss

6:40 PM

I also read "Return of the Lazy DM" and "Good Gamastering"

NautArch

@Ludoss What more are you looking for? The DMG covers quite a bit.

Ludoss

How to generate good ideas for an adventure?

NautArch

@Ludoss Ah! That's a stickier wicket :) Do you not want to start with a module?

Ludoss

No, I don't want to start with a purchased module.

Yuuki

Any particular reason why? Official modules are generally good places to start with DMing.

Xirema

6:46 PM

@Ludoss Is the module the sticking part, or the "purchased" part? I've had a good run so far with my group of relatively newer players with LMoP, and it's completely free to download.

goodguy5

I cannot highly enough recommend Matt Colville @Ludoss.

His youtube series about DMing is hugely informative.

Ludoss

hmm, I don't want to play a whole campaign, like LMoP. And we are not inFR.

goodguy5

aside from that, I also wonder "why not modules?"

inFR?

Ludoss

Forgotten Realms.

goodguy5

figured it out

Yuuki

6:50 PM

There's shorter modules. There's one book that has a bunch of one-shots, IIRC.

And you can chain those.

goodguy5

define "whole campaign".

LMoP is .... 5 or 6 sessions tops, I think?

Ludoss

And the pcs are level 4, because another gm already did some adventures.

In my group LMoP is so 8-12 sessions I think.

NautArch

@Ludoss Do you/your table prefer single day one-shotsif you don't like camaigns?

Ludoss

I prefer mini campaign 4-8 sessions.

goodguy5

hrm. I guess we ran through it quickly.

Ludoss

6:52 PM

I have seen some of Running the Game by Matt Colville

NautArch

@Ludoss What about some of the DMsGuild modules? There may be something in there if you don't want to write your own. Or start with writing a short one-off.

When I write either 2-3 session story-arc one-offs or larger campaigns, I very much draw from things I've read/seen.

goodguy5

I keep a list on my computer of DMsGuild modules that looked good and what levels they were for.

KorvinStarmast

@Ludoss I suggest you pick 5 CR 4 monsters and figure out a way for the players to encounter them all in one adventure day ... :) Just figuring out how to string those encounters together will get your creative juices flowing.

Ludoss

I want to write my own adventure.

KorvinStarmast

@Ludoss OK, 8 sessions is twice as many encounters as 4 sessions.

Ludoss

6:57 PM

I have some ideas for short 1-2 session adventure hooks.

Yuuki

Conversely, 4 sessions is half as many encounters as 8 sessions.

KorvinStarmast

@Ludoss here is an idea. Make 3 1-2 session adventure hooks, that lead to session 7 bbeg boss fight.

Ludoss

I want to play 5 session.

goodguy5

Are you going to track XP or use milestones?

I ask because defining a number of sessions and tracking xp are hard to put together.

KorvinStarmast

Build the first one, and as you are finishing that one you make a hook for the next one, and then the end of that one leads to session 3/4. Then, session 5 is the Big Reveal/BBEG Boss Fight.

Ludoss

6:58 PM

session count for level up or milestones.

KorvinStarmast

What I tend to dois pick the monster first, and then pick its environment.

Once that is done, answer this question" why is this monster/NPC causing trouble such that adventurers are needed?

Ludoss

Then the adventure will have a lot of combat.

I'm not sure if my group likes this.

goodguy5

Then you should talk to your group about what they like

it's never too late or early for a session 0

Yuuki

@goodguy5 I dunno, "when the air raid sirens are going off" seems like you're either too early or too late for a session 0.

goodguy5

Nah, it's the only way to pass time while waiting under your desk

KorvinStarmast

7:05 PM

@Ludoss Suggest you had to a web site called 1 page dungeons. Some great ideas there. If you want to build an adventure path that has a lot of non combat stuff, you need to write the outline of the story first. Then, start looking for selected spots to have encoutners/battles.

It's your story, there is no shortcut.

Be prepared for your players to run your plot off of the rails. :)

Yuuki

> "I'd like a campaign where I'm shooting down enemy flying units."
> "Don't you think that's a bit too on-the-nose, Bob?"

goodguy5

@KorvinStarmast *head to

KorvinStarmast

@Ludoss Also, if you have not yet seen it, the Alexandrian has some good ideas on building various kinds of adventures. Check him out

Of his many advices, I find myself falling back on the three clue rule time and again ...

Game Master 101 has a lot of what you may be looking for

Ludoss

bookmarked it.

KorvinStarmast

@Ludoss While I like AngryGM, he has too high of a signal to noise ratio for a lot of people. Justin Alexander's stuff is very accessible.

NautArch

7:14 PM

@KorvinStarmast Heh, I do the opposite. I figure out my story and where it is. Then look for monsters in that environment .

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch But you've been doing this for a while, amirite? :) Granted, you can do it from either direction, but I think that given Ludoss' scope and needs, that may be a somewhat quicker build model to use.

NautArch

@Ludoss WHat ratio of roleplay to combat do you like?

@KorvinStarmast Maybe? i often come up with my terrain and then use online tools like donjon monster list and filter by terrain.

Ludoss

hmm difficult

Depends of the pc I'm playing.

NautArch

@Ludoss NOt as a player, since you're the DM. What ratio of combat:rp does your table seem to like. You responded that you felt that Korvin's idea was too much combat.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch I could probably save myself a great deal of time by using more on line tools. I still do a lot of pen and paper sketching out of things ... old habits die hard.

Ludoss

7:25 PM

As gm I prefer combat, because I can handle it better, it is just abstract rules crunches some descriptions and dice throwing.

so 7:3 for combat.

NautArch

@Ludoss That's about what I run as well. I generally use RP to help set up the story and allow that to direct when/where/what combat is.

Ludoss

I want an abstract, reactive, cb oriented game.

But I don't think, that is what the other players want to play.

JohnP

I know it's all RP and fantasy, but the question about eating people to heal makes me feel a bit oogly.

Ludoss

7:40 PM

?

NautArch

@Ludoss I'm not 100% sure I understand what you're saying. And what's CB?

Ludoss

combat

NautArch

what do you mean reactive and abstract?

KorvinStarmast

@JohnP I am avoiding that question lest I post a Joe Cartoon link ... :)

Someone_Evil

@Ludoss JohnP is talking about this question on main

Ludoss

7:42 PM

reactive= the pcs should follow the storyline and don't follow own impulses

abstract is the level of descriptions, not to detailed, playing every shopping tour in 3 h length.

Someone_Evil

@Ludoss Finding this out is arguably your most important job. Asking them is a great start, but a little bit of trial and error and careful observation might be necessary

NautArch

@Ludoss I'm reading this as you want to run a more scripted/on-the-rails story. Is that right?

JohnP

@KorvinStarmast ...creepy little dog...

Ludoss

What I really want is to run a detailed, active, medium combat scenario.

NautArch

@Ludoss wait. detailed/active is opposite of what you just said. i'm confused.

Ludoss

7:52 PM

I rethought it.

NautArch

and what do you think your players want?

Ludoss

Detailed, reactive, combatless

Someone_Evil

Does 'combatless' mean little or no combat?

NautArch

@Ludoss okay, so you think both want detailed, but that they're more interested in on-the-rails and RP than combat and story influencing.

Ludoss

yes, I think so.

NautArch

8:07 PM

Given their lack of interest in combat...are you sure 5e is the right system?

Ludoss

We have played 5e some adventures before and 1-2 players are really excited for it. and I don't want to change the game system.

KorvinStarmast

@JohnP snert and that hamster/lemming ... "I was shaved against my will by Michael Jackson's monkey!"

Ludoss

But one player dislikes D&D5 because he missed the first adventures.

JohnP

@NautArch I was thinking something like Changeling, Wraith, almost anything int he WoD realm.

NautArch

@Ludoss It's not that 5e doesn't do RP well, but there are much better systems for tables more interested in that than combat. But you can work within 5e, it just takes some more effort probably from you.

JohnP

8:13 PM

@KorvinStarmast I have not looked at JC in years...

Ludoss

I played with Savage worlds and a homebrew world in another group and it was a success.

Rubiksmoose

@Ludoss oof. Yeah 5e doesn't have a whole lot of stuff t0 help a DM outside of combat.

KorvinStarmast

@JohnP As sophomoric humor goes, heh, it was OK

NautArch

Are there stories they like? Or that you've liked with them previously at tables? Maybe start with something more 'obvious' in terms of storyline. LIke rescue the X.

The overall story theme can be saving X, but you can develop some relevant NPCs and let the players interact with them. THen you improvise off of those interactions to figure out what happens next, but let them try and be clever and find non-combat ways of rescue. THey'll come up with more ideas than you will - the hard part is improvising your next steps.

KorvinStarmast

@Ludoss If they start at level 4, your climactic fight can be a Young Dragon ... the trick is getting from 0 to X in five sessions. Am I following you here?

Ludoss

8:17 PM

Young Dragon

KorvinStarmast

Yes, CR 6-10, ish.

Ludoss

They like to be evil and selfish and choosing hard choices like Vampire players.

KorvinStarmast

White is a 6, Red is a 10. Other colors are in between.

Young Silver Dragon is CR 9, and I think would be a tough fight for a part of 5th level chars.

And is a lawful Good opponent to boot.:)

Ludoss

Not everyone wants to be evil. Just the half.

How does the rescue X thing work with a silver dragon?

Someone_Evil

Beware high CR monsters with recharge abilities. They can be viciously dangerous.

@Ludoss Rescue the X who is captured by the silver dragon?

NautArch

8:22 PM

@Ludoss That may be an issue. I highly recommend running a session zero and here are some tips on DMing it

Rubiksmoose

@Ludoss Yeah all good(ish) and all evil can be straight forward (though evil is tougher normally) but mixed can be really tough

@NautArch ^

NautArch

I think before we can even help guide you, you should do this and figure out what you and your players are looking for.

JohnP

@Ludoss I would really look at more narrative based games, White Wolf has a bajillion that would fit. If they like vampires, Vampire:The Masquerade is fun, although it's a bit older.

KorvinStarmast

@Ludoss depends on who the Silver Dragons prisoner is

@JohnP Lud is stuck with a D&D group that finished LMOP and he's picking up DM for the next adventures, or that's how I understand it

JohnP

I'm trying to remember the changeling type game we played, I don't think it was WW. Narrative based, semi horror, the character sheet had movie film on it (?) IIRC.

@KorvinStarmast So... make an "escape the room" type game in a haunted forest. :p

KorvinStarmast

8:27 PM

@JohnP Ooh, cool idea, and a green dragon ... in a forest ... yeah.

And some awakened trees .... and an angry druid ...

.. and a partridge in a pear tree that is really the familiar of a warlock trying to rob the green dragon once the party distracts it ...

JohnP

@KorvinStarmast ... -_-

Why not throw in a vorpal bunny that the dragon adopted as a pet?

"Dem treez is woked!"

KorvinStarmast

@JohnP slaps forehead Of course, how could I forget? (You did bring the holy hand grenade, didn't you Brother John?)

JohnP

@KorvinStarmast Of course, and three shall be the number thou shalt count

KorvinStarmast

@Ludoss did you list class and level of each PC already?

JohnP

Dangit, Why can't I remember the name of that RPG?

KorvinStarmast

8:31 PM

@JohnP five is right out

@JohnP Panzerfaust?

JohnP

@KorvinStarmast No, it was more changeling type. Very story based, kinda creepy horror/ghost. The character sheet had stylized reel film around the edges. I've got a char sheet at home, but you know immediacy.

Ludoss

hu Pala 4, hu barbarian 4 *2, elf sorc, hu bard

all level 4

KorvinStarmast

Level 4 Elf Sorcerer, human Paladin, Bard, and two barbarians. As I see it, there's nothing they can't handle ;)

NautArch

@Ludoss heh, only one darkvision race. PUt 'em in the underdark and watch 'em squirm.

^that's a joke...don't do that.

Ludoss

oh late, got to go, thanks for the advices.

BESW

9:18 PM

Sandwich County is a cozy solo sandwich-making RPG by Swords and Flowers. You play it while making a sandwich, and the way you make the sandwich is the randomization mechanic!

inthemanual

27 rep short

KorvinStarmast

9:34 PM

@BESW But do you eat the sandwich? (can't open the link)

BESW

Eating the sandwich is the coda, and its details are determined by the dominant taste of the sandwich.

KorvinStarmast

@BESW sounds like a fun game, I'll take a peak when I get to where I can open the link. (And if a game like that is what gets my wife to believe "hey, role playing games are OK" that would be progress ...)

Yuuki

@BESW Does this accommodate my tendency to make weird sandwiches?

in The Bridge, May 22 '14 at 17:19, by Yuki

Like my roast beef with peanut butter, mayo, and pickle sandwich.

KorvinStarmast

@Yuuki That's not weird, that's a normal sandwich. (I made stuff like that when I was a teenager)

Yuuki

Ah, a kindred spirit.

FuzzyBoots

9:46 PM

In my Mutants and Masterminds game, one guy who can walk through walls is standing on the roof outside the tower containing the reactor pressure vessel.

He says he's sticking his head through the wall to take a look... I told him the walls are five feet of concrete to give him an out. But should I let him do it?

BESW

@Yuuki You've got more than two ingredients so your visit to Sandwich County is a surprise. There's two spreads, so you meet two residents from the woods and leaves. There's a vegetable so you meet a resident from the sky and mountains. There's a meat so you meet a resident from the rivers and creeks. No cheese, so you don't meet anyone from the fields and burrows.

FuzzyBoots

And what rank of damage should be take for sticking his face into 300 degree Celsius steam?

Yuuki

Would a meat-based spread (like sausage gravy, for example) count as a spread or a meat or both?

BESW

@Yuuki I think that's left to the player.

Personally I'd try to think of a resident that's associated with both.

Hot RPG Questions

10:13 PM

2

Q: Which meaning of "must" does the Slow spell use?

The word "must" can have two different meanings, both of which are showcased in the crown of madness spell which states: The charmed target must use its action before moving on each of its turns to make a melee attack... On your subsequent turns, you must use your action to maintain contro...

dnd-5e spells

trogdor

10:30 PM

@HotRPGQuestions you must slow down, obviously

MikeQ

11:41 PM

@FuzzyBoots Depends. Has the player been given any clue that the tower contains a reactor inside?

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