No.894[Last 50 Posts]
Thread for TTRPG discussion and organization.
#
What is a TTRPG?TTRPG, sometimes TRPG, stands for TableTop Role-Playing Game. It includes big names, like D&D, and much less heard of ones, like Song of Swords. The rule systems run from extremely thorough, with rules for things like how many Thai chilli peppers you can eat before getting ill, to so broad as to be nearly nonexistent, with only basic guidelines on how to play. In almost all systems, the key component that sets it apart from video game RPGs is the presence of the Dungeon Master, Game Master, Referee, etc. They help to adjudicate edge cases not covered by rules and create exceptions to the rules in favour of fun, meaning a TRPG has much more freedom of action than a normal RPG.
#
Where do I play?Generally, TTRPGs, especially niche ones without large player bases, are played in-person, but there are also sites and apps that allow you to play over the internet and find groups. The biggest one right now is probably roll20; signing up is free, and as a player, you never need to pay for anything. Other applications include FoundryVTT (paid for by a GM), Maptools (free), AstralVTT (free), and Fantasy Grounds (expensive, but very nice). Some groups even play on Tabletop Simulator, which has the added bonus of letting you play poker or Life before a session starts or if someone flakes.
There's also the potential to show up at a gaming store; if you live in the US, Canada, or Europe, there's plenty of those around too. Gaming stores are in-person, obviously, but they also often boast long-time, highly experienced and confident game masters who are knowledgable at how to best cater to newbies trying to enter the hobby. There are many websites online to help you find game stores near you.
#
Where do you get the rulebooks?You can buy them from places like drivethrurpg, or you can pirate them from
https://thetrove.net/. As a new player, you often don't need very many books; both Shadowrun and Pathfinder have relatively complete wikis online with all the setting-agnostic information you need, and Pathfinder even has a setting wiki so there's no reason to buy the books for their content.
No.895
#
I don't like medieval fantasy settings…Neither do a lot of other players! Many rule systems are relatively setting agnostic; Pathfinder, for example, has pre-published adventures that take place in WWI Russia, one that lets you play as pirates, and another featuring laser guns. Alternate settings such as Ravenloft and Eberron are compatible with the rules and feature entirely different settings. There are also dedicated systems, such as the fairly popular Shadowrun and Call of Cthulhu, that take place in a Cyberpunk setting.
#
I can't into roleplay!Everyone can roleplay! You don't need to be an amazing actor or even a passable one to roleplay, especially if you join a more experienced group. As time goes on and you become more comfortable with the system and setting, roleplaying comes naturally. Experienced players can also help to coax some roleplaying out of shy or uncertain players. Don't be scared to try!
Many groups don't even use voice or video chat, and many of those that do only use it for out of character or combat chatter.
#
If I wanted to play, where should I begin?D&D 5e has the largest ttrpg community right now, but is often considered too rules-light and rather boring to actually play. This same lightness is what makes it popular, though, and it is very friendly to new players trying to learn how to roleplay; the rules are extremely simple to understand and you can focus on the character more than the rules, although it is restrictive and some concepts are not viable in 5e.
Pathfinder is also very popular, and is based on an older, beloved version of D&D, 3.5e. It is rules heavy and sometimes considered difficult for new players because of the high levels of system mastery demanded for optimal play; however, many groups do not play at a high level. Pathfinder is notable for having somewhere between five times to twenty times the content of D&D 5e, depending on how you count, and extreme amounts of homebrew and third party add-ons. Because there is so much content and so much homebrew, almost any concept is viable in Pathfinder, with the right system knowledge to bring it to life. Pathfinder is not technically free, but nearly the entire game system is licensed under the Open Gaming License, which means it is essentially open source and free-to-use. The entire game rules, sans the organization of the books and setting details like gods, is available here:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/Shadowrun (5e) is a good choice for anyone looking for something besides bog-standard dragons and liches. It is a game that takes place in a cyberpunk dystopia in 2070 by default, and includes cyberware, car chases, and machine guns. It does not use a level system, which can give it a grittier feel than both D&D and Pathfinder.
Fate is an extremely lightweight system that has the advantage of being legitimately free for those averse to pirating, as it is pay-what-you-want. It is not friendly to new game masters, but its simplicity means that it is easy to learn and teach for players. If you can find a group playing Fate that welcomes new players, it isn't a bad place to start.
Call of Cthulhu is exactly what it sounds like, and is probably the system here that has the least ability to be lifted from its setting. It is the originator of SAN points and has an aesthetic that is very rare outside of CoC. This also means that groups can be harder to find outside of dedicated fansites for the game and setting.
No.896
Just going to point out to the admin that the markup codes theoretically possible according to the FAQ don't work and now my posts look dumb instead of cool and formatted
No.897
>>896Three single quotes, not two double. I edited it for you.
No.898
>>897Oh crap what the heck I guess I'm the dumb one here
thank
No.904
>>895>Pathfinder, for example, has pre-published adventures that take place in WWI RussiaAnything simulating the march of the czechoslovak volunteers?
No.905
>>904Not in particular, no. There's mechanics to simulate travel hazards, cold weather, etc. and I believe there's an alternate ruleset to represent stress. If you want really gritty down-to-earth stuff, though, Pathfinder is probably not the system because like all iterations of D&D it's very much based on the high fantasy genre.
No.906
I'm running D&D for another imageboard currently so I guess I can ask stuff here and hope they don't see it.
We were playing a one shot and without getting into unnecessary details they ended up using a random magic item I rolled for to travel to another plane to escape a bad situation, which I think is really cool even if I didn't plan for it. We ended the session there since it was about the time we normally stop anyway. They said they wanted to travel to the feywilds, which is something I had to look up since I don't really know much about D&D lore like that. Apparently it's some forgotten realms thing, but I'm not running forgotten realms so I don't really have to use that plane as is.
So basically I need to make up a plane that's more or less my world's equivalent to the feywilds (or the next closest thing), and somehow figure out if and how they can get back and how to make that interesting. So does anyone here have any fun ideas on how to have an adventure returning from another plane?
No.909
>>906For plane-travelling, you could always go the Planescape: Torment route. Any one place can be a portal to another plane: a doorway, someone's basement stairs, the space between two buildings, etc… Anything can be the "key" to open it. Humming a specific song, holding a specific item, feeling a specific emotion.
it's basically a scavenger hunt, but as a player I think it would be pretty fun No.910
>>906Wow people are actually discussing stuff! I was worried the thread would just kind of fall flat haha
>somehow figure out if and how they can get back and how to make it interestingA very important question here is actually what level the PCs are at and what the party looks like. If they're low level I would just straight up recommend using mundane hazards like unpredictable weather, areas of reversed gravity, and so on on the path to a fae gate. If they're high level you can make the fae realm very easy to leave, but difficult to control where you end up, so they need to go find someone who knows how to form a stable gate. Hell, Gensokyo is pretty much the Feywild, so just plop Cirno in as an enemy and make Junko the sage.
No.911
>>908The problem then is the players can just kill the witch. But there can be other ways to get back, and I think there definitely should be inhabitants here that know how to travel across planes so this is a good idea. The people here would probably be pretty eccentric and interesting and probably high level
>>909This seems cool but could also spiral out of control, if there's more portals to more planes that's more planes I have to figure out. It sounds super cool in theory but a lot of work maybe, although I guess it depends on how you do it. I'm tempted to make a mini hex-crawl style thing with a small area of hexes figured out so there can be hidden portals around in some hexes.
>>910They're level 5, except a multi-class who's 4/4 (this is 2e so it works differently). The thing they used to plane travel was a staff of the magi, which in theory can cast plane travel again but it's out of charges. I did say to them that for simplicity and balance reasons we'll just say that the staff can't be recharged even though it normally can, but they seem to want to try recharging it anyway so maybe they forgot I said that. I'm unsure if I should let them, if they do then it wouldn't be hard for them to return but I'd have to figure out where in the prime material plane they end up in, since I'm not sure if they can just pick a specific location like a teleport spell
Also thinking of the Feywild as like Gensokyo makes me want to use it much more, I'll have to read more about it
No.912
>>911Oh wow 2e, for some reason I imagined you were in 5e.
Well if they want to recharge it, I don't see why they can't be allowed. Just say that yes, you can recharge it, but it's not as easy as you think because here in this highly magically charged realm you have to go to this place with these materials and the help of these people to do this ritual which requires so-and-so skills.
No.944
>>943>I wanted to avoid this actuallyHow come? I was considering saying something about it if nobody else did.
No.946
>>944'cause this is a thread for TTRPGs in general and I didn't want to clutter it with announcements about one specific game.
No.960
>>946It's fine. A thread about only RPGs in general would be kind of boring. Posting more about something doesn't hurt anyone.
No.984
The last thing I posted in the server holds, unfortunately, so go ahead and start the pirate run, and we can decide next week which direction to go from here.
No.1039
How many pb for pirates?
No.1040
>>103920 PB, any race below 15 RP (all standard races)
Background Skills and Elephant in the Room is in effect, no other houserules; 2 traits, 1 campaign trait (see the player's guide).
Standard starting money; note that the gear you buy will be taken from you at the beginning of the game until you get it back, except for one small, easily hidden item such as a single lockpick, a spell component pouch, or a holy symbol.
I'm not banning SoP/SoM but I'm also not encouraging it, so it's up to you. I encourage *not* playing PoW, because from last campaign I've found that people don't always remember what everything does.
Post your sheets and your character art (not the token, the full art) in the thread and I'll work on importing the stats into Foundry.
No.1051
Whoa sudden activity itt
No.1053
>>1051Using it to organize a pirate game
Speaking of organizing things, here's the activities list.
No.1062
Fernanda's player, it looks like you've changed your art on your mythweavers sheet? Do you want to upload it here so I can make the token match, or do you want to keep your old token?
No.1064
So it appears that Foundry's broken right now, the system update fucked everything and the server is also going to be under maintenance tonight (today)
So we're going to have to delay to next week due to serverside issues.
No.1065
>>1062I want to keep my old token, the one in the sheet looks too evil
>>1064Shit
No.1086
Birdroll here. I might be an hour or so late today.
No.1094
>>1093Alright
No changes to the schedule so far so if anyone can't make it speak up
No.1098
Sorry, can't make it this week. Feel free to play without if you want. This is Minato's player.
No.1099
>>1098Would changing the time help?
No.1100
>>1099Nah, I'm not really sure when I will have time to log on for more than a couple minutes. I don't want everyone waiting only for me not to be able to show.
No.1113
>>1111Fernanda is not looking so hot right now, if i am more than 30 minutes late then i couldn't make it.
No.1114
>>1113Argh
I will try to run if that's ok to keep up the pace
There are ways to more or less seamlessly make you miss the planned events today
No.1115
Well since nobody's here yet and lump couldn't make it anyway I guess there's no game this week
For future reference: this post is when the game is meant to be. DST I assume fucked you guys up.
No.1117
>>1115DST got me too
You assumed correctly
No.1118
By the way, if any sushifriend would like to join you're welcome to. We're playing Skulls and Shackles in the Pathfinder system.
No.1120
I hate rats
No.1129
Sorry, my power was out yesterday.
No.1134
>>1129I forgive you for not showing up but you put sage in the wrong field so I'm afraid you're on the naughty list again :^)
No.1145
Play game this time okay pls maybe???
No.1147
>>1145I think i am going back to sleep
No.1150
No game?
No.1152
My internet ate shit sorry, literally couldn't even connect to my own email for while. Had to get the internet company on the phone this morning.
No.1153
Right so
This is Holiday season which means scheduling is a nightmare. I am very busy this weekend. Technically I have time on Christmas but I doubt anyone else does, and the week after that is New Years. So, if possible, can everyone report on their availability on Christmas and new years? I expect no game for 3 weeks, but maybe I'll be wrong.
No.1154
>>1153New Years should be fine, Christmas maybe..? -Minato player
No.1157
>>1153Shuko here
Christmas is a no go cuz I'm gonna be with family but New Years should be alright
No.1160
>>1154I'm good to go Christmas and New Years.
But more importantly I'll be traveling for several months after January so I won't be able to play anymore, or at least not for a while.
No.1161
Can't play neither on christmas nor new years.
No.1162
>>1160Right, I can plan around that. Do you know how long it'll be?
>>1161That's what I expected. You ok if we go ahead without you for one session?
No.1164
>>11623-4 months at least. I don't really know exactly when I'll be back but I'll still be around on sushi now and then.
Is
>>1147 still interested?
No.1165
>>1147Is just me, not a new player
No.1166
>>1165Oh I thought it was that one guy
No.1167
>>1164Alright, well you have my contact info and you know when the games are so just give me a heads up when you're coming back.
When are you going? End of January?
No.1168
>>1167Yeah, the last week.
No.1174
>>1168OK, no problem. I can work around that easily. Thanks for the heads up.
Considering we're decent to go on New Years, we'll have a game then, Enjoy your Christmas everyone.
No.1214
Is the game today? I'm stuck with family.
No.1215
>>1214Raaaaaaaagh
Fine then we can't do anything with two people missing I guess
I'll just run longer sessions until birdboi needs to go to make up for it I suppose
Good thing I actually checked the thread
No.1230
Birdboi, what exactly is your animal companion? I need to add it as a separate PC for you to create.
No.1234
>>1233Got it, should've checked there first probably.
>>1231Assuming nobody bails, yeah.
No.1235
Internet's being slow but I'll load in eventually just wait a bit if you're early
No.1250
Oup
Rest in peace
I can still deal with that since we did get far enough, though. Tell me a week or two in advance when you get back and I'll work you in. Also for the rest of you, prepare to go to level 2.
No.1255
There was but nobody showed up for half an hour so I left. Dunno why, only the birdboi said he wasn't coming. Guess people got bored or something.
No.1256
>>1255Isn't the start time at 16:00 GMT? We all showed up at that time. When
>>1253 was posted we were in the server.
No.1258
>>1256???
I was there the whole time. Nobody there and nobody posting?
No.1259
>>1258I don't know what happened, but we were connected and posting in the chat, I'm sure the messages are still in the log. Just some technical difficulty I guess, but we didn't bail on you.
No.1264
I might be late tomorrow
No.1265
>>1264It's fine
I'm loading in right now but it's taking a while so yeah
No.1266
uhh Fernanda where is your sheet
It's apparently nonexistent on Mythweavers? What happened?
No.1275
>>1269I still run them on a table for other groups, but it's a bit hard to run RPGs on a table when people are oceans apart.
In any case it's a different experience. I wouldn't say better or worse but you run the game differently in both forms.
No.1276
>>1269No because my friends IRL don't have an interest in it ;_;
No.1289
My stay at the game tomorrow will be short lived.
No.1290
>>1289ok
I'm coming, it's just being slow as usual
No.1300
I will be out of town on DnD day ;_;
No.1310
buy your items >:(
No.1311
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TWj_QVB4C3iLhWnbA566WxYfOvqzQFpMZf5UPZ_CAH8/edit#Here's the item guide I promised.
There's other guides for 3.5 out there but this should be good enough for most purposes.
No.1326
Seems like there's unscheduled server maintenance this week?
No.1331
>>1326Oh. I was wondering why I couldn't connect…
No.1334
>>1331Yeah I couldn't start the server either, it'd just boot me back to the main page.
No.1345
Vivi player here, I can't make it to D&D tomorrow, sorry.
No.1346
Crud I didn't see that until just now
Ok, a bit unfortunate. Also Vivi, send me your sheet again, either I have the wrong sheet or you haven't updated yours in ages. I'm trying to migrate the content on the sheets onto Foundry so you guys don't need to keep track of five things at once. And remember to buy items, if you haven't yet.
No.1350
Vivi, you can summon Deep Ones, but not Grioths; the stacking psychic damage on Grioths is only really balanced for NPCs.
No.1351
Remember DST was yesterday. The game's time doesn't respect DST, please keep that in mind.
No.1352
>>1351This time surely I will not forget
>>1350Cool
While I'm asking questions, I don't understand Deific Obedience, I can't find the entries for what it actually does for anything except very few gods. Does this mean I can't use the Exalted/Sentinel/Evangelist prestige classes?
No.1353
>>1352Obedience is a trap, it's flavorful as hell but it's total garbage and also the GOOs don't have any Obediences because it was introduced in a splatbook and was immediately forgotten about.
No.1354
>>1353Oh, that's a shame. I was looking at Evangelist because it's pretty much all upside since it advances your normal class features along with the prestige stuff. I'll probably take Selective Channel or Channel Smite then just to help out with our DPS problems.
No.1364
Will be late tomorrow
No.1365
5 hours from this post for people who don't know how DST works
>>1364ok
No.1370
>>1369How late are you going to be? Last time I gave up after 1.5 hours, if it's going to be 2 hours again it'll be ded game again today.
No.1371
>>1370Should be around 1.15 hour late
No.1372
>>1371ok then I'll start the server an hour later than usual
No.1383
Today's a long weekend here so there's no game
I'm not even actually home
For some reason I was sure I posted this last week but then I com to make sure it's been acknowledged and it's not here
Ghost in the machine?
No.1384
>>1383Good because i forgot about DnD and stayed up late
No.1390
I am dying AND i have work tomorrow
No.1391
>>1390Can you not make it?
No.1394
>>1391I still can't make fully this week, but i can be there if we start around 90 minutes earlier
No.1396
>>1394I don't mind waking up earlier for the game
No.1397
>>1394>>1396Vivi here, I'll wake up early just in case
No.1398
>>1397>>1396>>1394I'll start early and we'll just aim to finish book 1 today.
No.1399
Sorry my actions crashed the server (´・ω・`)
No.1408
Crashed??? Wtf is happening to the server?
No.1409
>>1408I tried to speak and it crashed. Sorry (´・ω・`).
No.1410
>>1408Not sure, I can't connect either
Try restarting the server maybe?
No.1411
>>1409>>1410I've been trying but I can't connect to it myself
Can any of you get on?
No.1412
>>1411>Can any of you get on?Nope, it just sits and tries to connect forever
No.1413
Maybe restart your computer/internet? I don't know how the program works tbh
No.1414
>>1412>>1413I think the servers are borked
I need to ask the host, for now I guess we can't play rip
No.1415
It's a holiday today so no game
On the bright side I figured out what kept crashing the servers and managed to keep a test run on for 48 hours so unless life is trolling me there shouldn't be anything bad happening next week
No.1416
AAAAA I WOKE UP
No.1419
>>1415Still having server issues?
No.1424
No game today?
No.1429
Game status for tomorrow?
Hope everything is going okay with DM-san
No.1431
>>1429Game today yes, last week the thing that happened the week before was still ongoing
I'm really starting to regret a pirate game lol but whatever I can cope
Skulls and Shackles is so poorly written, I never realized how uninspired it was until I actually had to run it
No.1433
>>1431Well if it isn't enjoyable to run or you think it won't be enjoyable to play I don't really care if you take it off the rails or if we did something else, but obviously I don't know how the other players feel. I have fun regardless just playing the game
No.1434
>>1433I don't mind too much, it's fine. I'm already doing what I can, the storyline is just uninspired and it's like Paizo only knows how to stuff combats into a session to force interaction instead of any sort of useful characters.
No.1441
DnD tomorrow, yes?
No.1442
>>1441Vivi player here, I'll be there
No.1452
>>1447Servers are totally fucked
If you're interested you can attempt to log on at the normal time but if you can't that means the server is constantly crashing and unfixable
Was just on voice with the server admin, the new software update is bugged af
Maybe it will be hotfixed
No.1455
I'll try to make it, but my internet's pretty shoddy and I might have to leave early.
No.1456
>>1452Any updates on this?
>>1455Bummer but I'll show up regardless. Hope we can make something work soon
No.1457
>>1456I reverted to an old version
It will still be buggy and we're likely to lose any chatlogs we've created, but I'll save it and upload it to discord for reference.
It's my birthday this weekend so I didn't have too much time to troubleshoot but from what I can tell it's entirely serverside, nothing to do with my configuration or file integrity.
No.1459
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA my fucking shit ass phone died while I slept and my alarm never went off
I hope you guys were able to get everything working for next time at the very least, really sorry
No.1462
everyone can make it this week?
No.1465
>>1462Vivi player here, I can, yes
No.1467
Are the servers weird or am I the only one connected?
No.1468
>>1467They're still fucked
I'm crashing out
I think we need to figure out a way to deal with this shit
No.1469
>>1467I'm connected too but I only see myself.
No.1470
>>1468Damn. It looked like it went through fine for me but now I'm just sitting alone in a room where the game is paused
We could go back to me hosting on whatever that software was called. Or roll20. Not sure which you prefer from a GM perspective
No.1471
Or tabletop sim or whatever else lol
I'm willing to install whatever
No.1472
>>1470>>1471We will see
Let's do it this way: next session is Jul. 10, and I will test it extensively with bot computers in the US and EU, and then we can talk about how to deal with the fact that we've had like four sessions of this pirate game I don't know how to run anymore in the past four months.
No.1473
>>1472Sounds good to me
If you're suggesting you run something else I'm fine with it, the fates have conspired to stop us from playing enough that I'm not singularly attached to it at this point. I just miss playing with everyone.
No.1486
DnD status?
No.1490
>>1486On, if everyone else is here.
No.1496
ddb, you going to be here next week?
if so please answer if you're looking to continue pirates y/n
No.1502
bumping thread just in case
>>1496 wouldn't be seen otherwise
No.1503
>>1496Yes, I'll be there. I'd like to continue pirates. Apologies for last week.
No.1504
computer's updating, give it a bit
No.1520
>>1519Starting as a GM by running a homebrew setting is like starting as a sculptor by creating a marble statue of yourself. It can be done, but it takes a lot of work and you're going to feel bewildered. Best advice I can give is to try to run a little less homebrew. Focus more on writing the setting and less on designing the game. Aesthetic and lore changes to the game are great and can make your game feel unique, but once you start to change how the game plays, it can fall apart very fast.
Instead of thinking "how could I change the racial traits of elves", think about "what gods could I connect the elves to?" Start with what the game gives you (elven weapon training and trance) and work backwards. Perhaps your elves are holy warriors blessed by a god of conquest, and this blessing gives them a natural feel for melee weapons and the ability to spend less time asleep (more time punching). Perhaps your orcs are partially undead or fungal, so the half-orc "relentless endurance" feature is more like a "back from the dead" feature.
5e is… not a great system, but it is fairly robust and balanced. I'd say work with what the game gives you and change the flavor text.
No.1521
>>1520Thanks for the advice, I'll probably put a hold on the cultures and races and history stuff and focus more on like… "here's a goal and here are some obstacles, go wild".
I was thinking maybe all the PCs live in the same small village/town, and some kind of big monster has been encroaching on it, wrecking peoples houses. It's proved too much trouble for the NPCs in town to manage. In order to save their own homes from being destroyed they decide to take it into their own hands, and discover that everyone is blaming an eccentric wizard who lives up on the hill. The players can head straight into the monsters lair/dungeon and kill it themselves, or they can trust the townsfolk and kill/drive the wizard out of town. Either option will result in the monster leaving them alone. But if they investigate with the wizard they will find out that he has, in ignorance of what they actually are, been using the monsters eggs (which are laid in trees and look like fruit) to make potions. This has been what prompted the monster to attack the town, so a peaceful solution can be obtained where they simply convince the wizard to knock it off. If they discover the truth of the eggs and still decide to kill the beast they'll get some cool potions made for them, in exchange for the moral cost of killing an endangered monster.
>5e is… not a great systemYeah I don't like it much compared to pathfinder/3.5 but the people I'd be running for have zero TTRPG experience, and 1 of them particularly "just wants to have adventures and play the game" ('play the game' meaning not read rulebooks and have to do lots of chargen) so, I think it's an alright compromise.
No.1522
>>1521This is a really good way to start a campaign! It gives the players a common goal that cannot be avoided, a reason to work as a group, and it sets up immediate action for them to dive into. Great first adventure, let us know how it goes!
No.1524
>>1519>>1521There's a trap for new GMs that is to homebrew a ton of setting and make an original world. The secret that nobody wants to tell you is essentially that nobody cares unless you make them care, and the way to make them care is actually to set aside the homebrew and worldbuilding for a second and think about the campaign you're looking to run.
Your starting idea is actually pretty good, I like it, it's very nice for a new GM. Before starting though I would make sure if your players are all looking to play heroes or whatever. It changes what sorts of generic adventures you can give them.
5e is not a good system but it is an incredibly good beginner system for players because the basic logic in use carries over to most crunch-based systems. With that said it's actually pretty hard to homebrew for as an inexperienced GM because the numbers are so incredibly tightly constrained that changing them at all creates problems. If you're going to homebrew I recommend doing nothing but giving advantage/disadvantage for now.
A bit of advice: when in combat, past the first few fights (when the main focus needs to be to make sure the players know how their abilities work), add in wind-up attacks. As in, on the turn of the PLAYER being targetted, tell them "the orc chief roars and heaves his axe above his head with both hands. His veins bulge in exertion as he prepares to bring the axe down…", giving the player the choice to either fuck off out of the way (and not attack) or attack but get hit with a heavy blow that e.g. knocks him back if he fails a strength save. When you're more experienced you can probably start making more advanced homebrews but these are fairly easy to balance and simple to create, while being more engaging than just "I walk up and hit you, oh, I hit, you take uhhh 8 damage." At the same time, don't overdo it; speed is absolutely the most important thing in combat, esp. in 5e where there's just not too much decisions about the character sheet going around.
No.1534
Game tonight, yes?
No.1535
>>1534Vivi player here, to my knowledge yes.
No.1536
>>1535>>1534If I don't faint before then then yes, for a few hours anyway.
No.1537
Actually no
Turns out you actually have to sleep after a surgery
Go watch some shows or something
No.1539
>>1522>Great first adventure, let us know how it goes!Thanks! It went pretty well, I ended up prepping way more than I needed to since getting everyone's characters made and explaining how everything works took a long time. Group said they had a great time, which is all I care about. I fell into first-person RPing for most NPCs fairly naturally, but it's very hard for me to ad-lib dialogue for certain characters. People seemed to enjoy interacting with each other and the NPCs, and one of them is already attached to the town blacksmith. I'm glad I picked 5e because even with the simplified rules, I still am doing a lot of reminding people of things. Which dice to roll where, what's a skill, what's a save, what's the difference between attack and damage rolls, nudging people towards using their bonus actions in combat, etc. etc.
No.1540
>>1539Yeah 5e is very good for new players since its actions and stuff are simple but clearly defined and there's almost no numbers to crunch
No.1546
>>1537Oh, I never saw this post. Hope you're doing okay. Are we playing tomorrow?
No.1548
Girls? Where are you?
No.1549
>>1547>>1548Vivi here, my graphics card (or my monitor) is fucking dead or something, I woke up and all I can see is static
No.1550
>>1549I thought the time was fucked somehow and DST became an entire day, since the server told me I was an entire day late
Oh well
No.1553
>>1549Update on this, I moved my hard drives to a spare (shitty) computer, so I'm good to play next week unless this one somehow dies on me too.
No.1557
>>1552Easy new player trap to fall into.
A whale person though, really?
Centaur and skeleton could potentially be the basis for a decent story ngl, especially if the skeleton rides on the centaur, but both races are broken as shit and also just weird.
If you want to go really balls to the wall have them roll for their character, like the entire thing, and then construct their backstory around what they rolled. Roll for race, roll for gender, roll for personality 3d1000 on
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/1000-npc-traits/ and hell why not roll for age. Only works if your players are accommodating but rolling for stuff on tables is its own sort of fun. The only reason I don't suggest rolling for class is because that's actually heavy mechanics and not everyone wants to play the same classes.
No.1558
I can't attend this week
No.1562
>>1560Human only is pretty damn strict unless the setting or campaign conceit demands it.
No.1563
Vivi player here
I'm not gonna be able to play this weekend due to some family stuff, really sorry. Especially since it's been so tough to get everyone together. As ever feel free to play without me or get together for a 1 shot or something, hope to see everyone next week.
No.1566
>>1562It's only until they get used to the system. Then the PCs can be whatever they want.
No.1567
>>1566Suppose so, though I guess it depends on the system
I've actually been running a human-only game but largely on the premise that the world basically is all-human in the first place.
No.1573
Vivi here again
I'm sick as heck but I'll be around for tomorrow. Apologies in advance if I'm not 100% cognizant
No.1574
Not Vivi here, i won't be able to play tomorrow.
No.1576
It may unironically be dead. I start my Masters program this week and am expecting twins in two more after.
We shall see. I haven't really been invested in pirates to begin with which probably explains a lot about why the quality of the campaign suffers (I don't know about pirates and don't care to find out). I don't like killing games but it's been quite a while since the original group got together and scheduling is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. Perhaps another timeslot works better.
No.1587
>>1576Congratulations!
I'm not really interested in continuing, I appreciate all the games and for introducing me to TTRPGs. It was fun.
No.1589
>>1587Yes, I did get that feeling. Unfortunately.
Since someone doesn't want to continue, I don't think I will be running, at least not for a while. Perhaps in a few months once things settle down a little I might see if anyone still on sushi is interested in a game, but for now, campaign is over.
I hope you continue to explore the genre (?). If you're ddb then I can really only apologize since you came on at a time when the original group was fragmenting, then I had neither the time nor the drive to focus on the new one. If not, well, still, I hope you at least enjoyed the first campaign.
There's plenty more DMs more skilled than me, especially in English, and plenty of players looking for GMs. I do encourage you all to be bold in trying to run if you're at all interested. Until next time.
No.1597
>>1589While it's sad for me to hear, it's totally understandable. As someone that was playing with you since the very start you got me back into a hobby that I only ever interacted with a bit in school with 2E, and since then I've been able to get friends IRL into it as well. I'm gonna have fun bringing in my old characters as NPCs when I DM. So yeah I'm very thankful for your efforts and I had a ton of fun with all the campaigns we did. I'm always down to play more if ever you're able to!
No.2287
Hey guys what do you think about OSR systems?
No.2290
>>2287They're alright to me
Does feel like modern ones have too little rules and the old ones have too many rules