TRPG General Chat

Yuuki

03:07

@Mithical I apologize, this has been pointed out to me before and I'm still working on correcting my terminology/usage.

Hot RPG Questions

07:11

8

Q: Strategy to roleplay conversations between groups of NPCs?

I'm a newish DM, and I'm having a hard time coming up with a strategy to roleplay conversations between NPCs. For example, in the game I'm currently running, there is a "town council" consisting of 5 members, each of whom has their own agendas and motivations. The part I'm having a hard time with...

SmokeDetector

07:32

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in link text in body, potentially bad ns for domain in body (71): ImpactR - Best data-driven Commercial Property Leasing in India‭ by Impact R‭ on rpg.SE (@Rubiksmoose @ThomasMarkov @linksassin)

Hot RPG Questions

08:52

3

Q: In One D&D, what are are all the ways to gain inspiration without relying on the DM?

One D&D has introduced a concept of gaining inspiration without the DM awarding it. What are all the ways to get inspiration besides having the DM award it?

inspiration one-dnd-playtest

The Oracle

09:06

1

Q: Do we need a new tag for the "D20-test" terminology?

The new playtest material introduced the new terminology "D20 test", which encompasses attack rolls, saving throws and ability checks. This question asks for all rolls that do not fall under the "D20 test" umbrella: a new tag called d20-test has been created. Do we really need this new tag? Or on...

discussion tags dnd-5e dungeons-and-dragons

Matthieu

12:44

Is there any list or other resource for premade, newbie-friendly campaigns for 5e? A group of friends has been asking me to DM for them in a premade campaign, and they've never played a TTRPG before. Having never looked into premade campaigns before, I'm a bit stumped, and would love to have some tips from people that have DM'd those before.

Something not too complex would be great, since I'll be teaching them about most mechanics and just about the entire system during this campaign.

Someone_Evil

Phandelver's the classic/common/official one

Are you in the never DM'd before category, or just not DM'd premade (if so, is there a reason you're specifically looking at premade?)

Matthieu

12:59

I've DM'd before, mostly on other systems, but a few times on very short 5e homemade oneshots. Never used premade before, and since I'm looking at something longer than a simple oneshot, and it was a suggestion of the to-be players, I considered it to be a good idea.

I'll look into Phandelver's tonight, thanks for the suggestion.

NautArch

14:06

@Matthieu How long of a campaign are they interested in? What sorts of things does your table like?

Matthieu

@NautArch to be fair, I'm unsure, but probably more of the classic "fight monsters, explore dungeons" kind of adventure. That's something I wanna make sure of in a session 0, but I'd definitely want to check out some possible campaigns beforehand in order to prepare the one that makes the most sense for our group.

As to how long, it'll probably last at least a few sessions. The global opinion seemed to be "at least 3-4 sessions, if people like it then keep it going for as long as possible".

NautArch

@Matthieu I've played a few published campaigns now and I'd definitely suggest understanding length as a factor.

Rime took about a year of almost weekly sessions of 2-3 hours.

I don't know how long PHandelver takes.

Matthieu

Mhh that's definitely something I'll need to discuss with them then.

NautArch

Tales from the Yawning portal has some shorter things you can use, but I'd very much recommend staying away from Tomb of Horrors and White Plume Mountain.

I've been running Dungeon of the Mad Mage as a biweekly whomever shows up game, and it's been really easy to do that.

Levels are mostly self-contained in that dungeon and it is generally possible to go back out.

Matthieu

I'll definitely look into these

Thanks for the tips

NautArch

14:19

And just asking...but if y'all like Rick and Morty, then that's a very fun little adventure.

If you do run White Plume, make it entirely self contained. It's got artifacts in it.

KorvinStarmast

16:24

@NautArch I had the quest goal to be 'return these legendary items to this place to close the rift through which all of these extradimensional beings are coming who are wrecking places all over the place' and my players got on board with that. I called them the Knife, the Fork and the Spoon. (It looked like a shovel, but in the hands of a dwarf transformed into a hammer)

Hot RPG Questions

4

Q: When do you roll a d20 that is not a ability check, attack roll, or saving throw?

One D&D introduces the term "d20 Test" for ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws. Notably d20 Tests have critical success and failure, and award Inspiration for nat 20s. I know there are some d20 rolls which do not fall into this category, for example the Divination Wizard's Portent fea...

dnd-5e one-dnd-playtest d20-tests

NautArch

17:04

@KorvinStarmast My players weren't really the "let's give these back" type. :P

Thomas Markov

17:41

We've just had an answer providing a One D&D answer to a 5e question...that seems like something we shouldnt have, generally speaking. Am I thinking correctly about that?

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov Not without some caveating?

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage My thought is that you should be able to delete all the One D&D material from your answer and still have an adequate answer for the question. Obviously mentioning it is fine, but an answer needs to answer the question.

And a strictly One D&D answer to a 5e question is not an answer.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov it really hinges on how WotC eventually treats ODND, they're making it sound like once it's out it's still going to be 5E, but updated (which, lets be honest is 5.5e at least)

but if they pull a oWoD/nWoD -> WoD/CofD on us, and insist it's still 5E it's going to get awkward

Someone_Evil

@AncientSwordRage Arguably it hinges more on how the D&D community at large handles the distinction

AncientSwordRage

@Someone_Evil perhaps

I'm not sure how much community handling went into the example I gave

Thomas Markov

17:49

I just dont see a world where every question about a rule that is modified by One D&D needs a new or revised answer.

AncientSwordRage

I'm thinking if it does get 'merged' into this is closer to experimental features in programming languages that become the norm, and it's not considered a breaking change

Someone_Evil

Those aren't wholly distinct, a lot of folks will follow WotCs word on things

Though we simply don't know how much of a 5.5e it'll turn into

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov Also, I was wondering (which is also why I asked for your discord earlier) what you and others thought about putting extended OD&D conversations into their own chat room?

@Someone_Evil that's true

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage If you add me on discord you are automatically subscribed to Thomas Memes ™.

2

Someone_Evil

@AncientSwordRage We have a standing thing for moving conversations, and while normally that's moving Dragon topics into Dragons, if a convo about 1D&D (ambiguous abbreviations suck) takes up too much space here there's a low bar for moving it into a dedicated room

So far I haven't seen much need for it, and excessive dedicated rooms like that have a habit of just collecting dust bunnies

(In my experience)

NautArch

18:06

@Someone_Evil I don't see a need to move a topic that's directly related to the main site to another room at all.

Someone_Evil

@NautArch I'd mainly expect it if there's multiple multiuser conversations happening at the same time, which can make the conversations hard to follow. This doesn't happen very often

NautArch

@Someone_Evil And we've never really had a problem doing that before :) It's kind of the nature of this beast.

@ThomasMarkov I'd very concerned if that ends being what happens here.

Thomas Markov

Speaking of, should we consider a couple more room owners?

Miniman and Kvirri have been awol for a while now

NautArch

I'm definitely not around that much anymore and BESW seems about as consistent now as I am :P

But I don't know the process.

Thomas Markov

@NautArch This answer has a "Looks OK" in review.

@NautArch Been in the game so long, he doesnt even know how he got here.

Someone_Evil

18:13

@NautArch Process for what?

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov I'm the delete vote. It's not a 5e answer, it shouldn't be on there.

@Someone_Evil Deciding who should be added to room owners. I mean, when I was asked Im

pretty sure it was just BESW, and then Kviiri, miniman, and I were asked and added. But I don't know why the three of us or who picked.

Someone_Evil

@NautArch There isn't really one. I mean, there's automated one built into the site (which is unlikely to be relevant to this room) and mods can assign new ROs to rooms

IIRC from some spelunking I did at some point, asking you three was a judgement thing at the time (that's as much as I'll say). The reason to do it is to ensure sufficient RO/mod capacity for the room, and at least my feeling is that capacity here is fine rn

NautArch

@Someone_Evil Short on owners, high on mods.

I guess the question is, and it sounds like we have an answer, is do we want room owners or just mods present?

Someone_Evil

That's fine? A room is moderated by the sum (bar certain actions that are mod only). I think I'm failing to spot what value ROs would have over mods

NautArch

@Someone_Evil That's why I said it sounds like we have an answer!

But that was the only question I had. I think we did have mods here before, too, so it seemed relevant.

NautArch

19:08

I'm still not sure how to handle the playtest questions. Only having a small section of rules material puts in a very awkward spot.

Thomas Markov

@NautArch I'm maybe gonna write a meta about them, to the effect of "please be abundantly clear what you are looking for in answers".

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov I almost think we need specific questions about issues and not general because we simply don't have the data. We're going to be chasing our tails constantly if we don't.

I also find this partial release of rules kind of odd. Hard to playtest an unclear system.

It works like 5e, except when it doesn't. And the new stuff doesn't. /shrug.

Thomas Markov

So, I think there's three question types here, two of them are fine, one of them is problematic.

"How does 1DD rule work in the context of 1DD rules (and not 5e rules)?" is just fine. We might not be able to answer it later, but I think it's okay.

"If I use this rule in my 5e game, how does it interact with this feature?" This is fine, and we can answer it right now.

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov It's fine until we start answering it. Which we will.

Thomas Markov

The problematic question is one that deals with the interaction between 1DD and 5e that will evolve over time as more 1DD material is released.

NautArch

19:28

I wasn't around for dnd-next release, but I don't have any memory of them releasing it piecemeal. But maybe they did?

Thomas Markov

A right answer today could be wrong tomorrow.

NautArch

And that's a HUGE issue.

I think the "how have you dealt with this inconsistency/issue at your tables" is really the only possible clean path.

Unless a clear reading of ONE rules works for it.

Glazius

21:11

There was always a completely playable D&D Next when it was expected to be played. There wasn't another edition it wanted to present itself as an incremental change from.

AncientSwordRage

21:51

@ThomasMarkov perfect

@Someone_Evil I think with regular content drops, it could be good to have a dedicated room as it wouldn't be as likely to collect dust

Too much D&D, as well as Dandone/ODND is already driving a few people away

Someone_Evil

@AncientSwordRage What's the regularity scheduled/expected to be?

AncientSwordRage

@Someone_Evil I don't know

But they're definitely going to release more playtest content

So when it's released we'll have a room for it, that's my logic

Once the playtesting settles or after official release we won't get as many spikes of conversation taking over chat

Someone_Evil

But the room isn't for the content itself, it would be for any discussion(s) users here have as a result of it

AncientSwordRage

@Someone_Evil currently content and conversation are going hand in hand from what I've seen

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage got it

@AncientSwordRage Chat has been pretty inactive the last few weeks, so moving the activity to another room seems like a weird solution.

Someone_Evil

22:02

And I'm not quite willing to follow the leap that culling OneD&D discussions necessarily opens up for more other games. The occasional (honestly normal length) convo doesn't drown out other topics. This room is still pretty quiet

AncientSwordRage

@Someone_Evil I'm not taking about a cull — that makes it sound like we want OneD&D discussions to be taboo. But having a side room as like a safety net, means there's space for other conversations to flourish here

It's possible it's quiet because people are anticipating that the main things discussed here (and asked on main) are D&D anyway

Someone_Evil

I'm seeing nothing to indicate OneD&D is hampering the space for other topics. If you want more discussions on other topics, start those. We don't get them unless folks start them

3

And I say cull, because that's how I understand a dedicated side room to work, including all the arguments given about overshadowing other topics etc.

If you just want the possibility for a given to discussed to happen in another room, that's already available to you. Creating a room is a privilege at 100 rep

AncientSwordRage

22:18

@Someone_Evil I have been doing my best

But I got no responses to my Urban Shadows discussion

And the Fate one sort of petered out once I got the help I needed

Someone_Evil

Yup. Most conversations do keep to end and topics cycling is healthy and good

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch understood, I remember your chat comment about how that module was not a good fit for your table

@ThomasMarkov yes, you are correct. It's playtest/UA, not 5e

@AncientSwordRage dnd-next answers were not good for D&D 4e questions. That's a parallel here.

@AncientSwordRage Brilliant Plan!

@AncientSwordRage That's fine, actually.

@Someone_Evil That's a fair minded response, +1

NautArch

22:34

@KorvinStarmast but I love your solution!

KorvinStarmast

Thank you, it worked well for us and I had no desire for that sword to start a PvP thing ...

Someone_Evil

And just to clarify a point that maybe gets lost in the above, you (or anyone) feels like opening a One D&D room for any particular discussion, go ahead. My stance is mostly on moving them out of general.

NautArch

Thankfully we didn’t have that, it was more of why we can’t we take these with us on the next adventure?

Someone_Evil

And much of this is based on an assumption that there won't be much to discuss that isn't also related to some site-issue, at least until there's new material released and then probably for a day or so. If that changes, I'm happy to revisit/revert

NautArch

@Someone_Evil I'm having a very hard time understanding why we'd need to move an TRPG discussion out of the TRPG main chat that isn't going over problematic issues. It's just a regular TRPG discussion about a new edition coming up - we should be encouraging more use here, not discouraging.

It does sadden me that both the stack and the chat aren't as active anymore.

KorvinStarmast

22:40

@NautArch I modded the cube of force feature of Wave to regenerate once every seven days, like horn of valhalla

Someone_Evil

@NautArch It would have to seriously drown out other conversations, which would take a lot

@NautArch Me too :(

NautArch

That new question on using silent image to extend frightened after you leave is super clever

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast true, but we've got back 4E's arcane, divine and primal keywords...

GcL

Did any of you all play 4e?

AncientSwordRage

Also they explicitly said something about doing away with editions, which is why it's called One D&D

Someone_Evil

22:55

@AncientSwordRage Which will last until they publish the next edition :p

AncientSwordRage

@GcL I played more 4e D&D on paper than any other edition until last year

GcL

@AncientSwordRage What are some good things about 4e?

AncientSwordRage

@Someone_Evil either that or they'll go truly subscription centric

Someone_Evil

I seem to remember something about Windows 10 being the last version of Windows?

AncientSwordRage

@GcL personally I felt I could make a character with fun choices that didn't work against holding my own in a random group of players

GcL

22:57

That sounds like a nice feature.

AncientSwordRage

@Someone_Evil that's one possibility for D&D

@KorvinStarmast is driving away people fine?

NautArch

@GcL I’m interested in trying it.

GcL

@AncientSwordRage Depends. Is the bus air conditioned and are we driving to a better place instead? /S

Hot RPG Questions

6

Q: Has there ever been any class with the ability to smite neutral?

In the history of D&D and Pathfinder, has there ever been any class with the ability to smite neutral? We know about the smite evil of the paladin, the smite good of the blackguard, and I can imagine some expanded classes that might have smite infidel, but what, if any thing, has had or could hav...

dungeons-and-dragons lore divine

Thomas Markov

23:15

@AncientSwordRage This isn’t a fair question without qualifying it further.

It’s akin to the “have you stopped beating your wife yet” question.

It depends what activity is driving them away

And why they are responding that way

GcL

@ThomasMarkov That got dark quick.

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