Tabletop RPG Catch All

Dang that spoiler is easily the set up for a years long campaign.

I'm not even scratching the surface! That's at most, half way through the campaign.

Spoiler:

after that point you finally get a boat that can travel on dangerous waters and have a massive archipelago of islands to explore. Then a SECOND 'underworld' sea area with more open world islands, before things funnel back into 'final battle' territory. They wont be able to explore 'everything' (there's an in-game time limit before the final battle begins) but you're talking dozens of islands, each with maybe one or two sessions worth of stuff to do.

Except it's not even the end once they reach the final battle...

ok...massive spoilers for the end-game of Odyssey of the Dragonlords - DO NOT READ THIS if you ever have plans on playing in this campaign, or even if anything i've posted in the spoilers above piques your interest. You have been warned.

Spoiler:

So...final battle. They kill the Titans who are the big bads of the campaign. They rise as close to godhood as they can get here, hitting level 20 with their own bronze dragon mounts and basically set up as rulers of the land. The end.

... Then there's a time skip forwards, and the Apokalypsis hits.

FOUR (count-em) Kaiju erupt out of the land and sea and start laying waste to everything: A Tarrasque, A Kraken, a Behemoth and the Nether Dragon (An ancient red dragon with some extra bells and whistles). The Pcs and their dragon mounts need to take each of them down IN TURN, with little time to rest in-between. Along with a few other minor encounters.

After THIS. They have to deal with an ancient pantheon of greek-style gods that engineered the whole affair and have to kill all of THEM as well. (well mostly, there's a bit more to it than that involving one of the big bads of the earlier part of the campaign and a sphere of annihilation that she's trying to establish as a "god of the null").

Technically that whole section is optional, you can end the campaign when they hit level 20 and leave it at that, but i am excited to eventually get to the point where i have to describe literally all of this happening and seeing how close to the floor my players jaws get.

By the end of this though, the players - if they do all the right things - literally rise to godhood themselves and become the new pantheon of Thylea

IMAGE(https://smackfolio.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/10-fiendship-bracelet.jpg)

Today’s session was a good one. We did some exploration and stuff, but my favorite part was when the PCs were in a goblin dive bar talking to a goblin adventuring party. Neither side could understand each other, so the party ended up talking to them via the goblin wizard’s familiar (a magical monkey that could speak both goblin and orc). My number one principle is “barf forth fantasia”, and I think I really nailed the weird with that encounter.

IMAGE(https://smackfolio.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/11-devilthorn.jpg)

IMAGE(https://smackfolio.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/12-vial.jpg)

I do like a flared base. Nice.

Paleocon wrote:

I have a question that may stray into P&C territory, so apologies in advance.

I am in a Mythic Odysseys of Theros campaign and playing a Satyr Bard.

10, 16, 10, 8, 14, 16

He's got a bit of trickster in him, but is generally good hearted. Nylea is his patron and I am aiming him toward College of Eloquence with an emphasis on non combat resolutions (e.g.: persuasion, performance...).

Anyway, considering the reputations of satyrs, I decided to base is RP on a combination of the following figures from popular culture:

Captain Jack Harkness (Doctor Who)
Klaus Hargraeves (Umbrella Academy)
Freddie Mercury (Queen)
Bill S. Preston (Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure)

Considering the above, I have decided to play him as promiscuous and pansexual (though redlining on consent so no Charm Person or Suggestion or Dominate). I have abstracted all of that by saying stuff like "I scan the room to find someone to seduce male or female" to which my DM has generally just chuckled and responded with "roll a persuasion check". It isn't played for laughs though there have been opportunities where the situation has led to unintended comedy.

Considering I am cis male het, is it insensitive for me to play it this way?

I think this was missed in the other conversation but honestly you should just be open in a conversation before the game and just make sure everyone knows it's not meant to be played up like a joke. IF you notice it always ending up in comedy situations then maybe step back and have a conversation about that with the DM. Romance and seduction can be VERY goofy and awkward so if it 'feels' natural despite the humor then it's fine. But if the sexuality of the character is the joke then that's never good.

Tabletop RPGs are a good way for a person to experience other forms of sexuality and gender in a safe way, but you definitely want to take it serious and not make light of it. Most importantly being pan shouldn't be their entire identity, but one of many aspects of themselves that make them a complete being.

b12n11w00t wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

I have a question that may stray into P&C territory, so apologies in advance.

I am in a Mythic Odysseys of Theros campaign and playing a Satyr Bard.

10, 16, 10, 8, 14, 16

He's got a bit of trickster in him, but is generally good hearted. Nylea is his patron and I am aiming him toward College of Eloquence with an emphasis on non combat resolutions (e.g.: persuasion, performance...).

Anyway, considering the reputations of satyrs, I decided to base is RP on a combination of the following figures from popular culture:

Captain Jack Harkness (Doctor Who)
Klaus Hargraeves (Umbrella Academy)
Freddie Mercury (Queen)
Bill S. Preston (Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure)

Considering the above, I have decided to play him as promiscuous and pansexual (though redlining on consent so no Charm Person or Suggestion or Dominate). I have abstracted all of that by saying stuff like "I scan the room to find someone to seduce male or female" to which my DM has generally just chuckled and responded with "roll a persuasion check". It isn't played for laughs though there have been opportunities where the situation has led to unintended comedy.

Considering I am cis male het, is it insensitive for me to play it this way?

I think this was missed in the other conversation but honestly you should just be open in a conversation before the game and just make sure everyone knows it's not meant to be played up like a joke. IF you notice it always ending up in comedy situations then maybe step back and have a conversation about that with the DM. Romance and seduction can be VERY goofy and awkward so if it 'feels' natural despite the humor then it's fine. But if the sexuality of the character is the joke then that's never good.

Tabletop RPGs are a good way for a person to experience other forms of sexuality and gender in a safe way, but you definitely want to take it serious and not make light of it. Most importantly being pan shouldn't be their entire identity, but one of many aspects of themselves that make them a complete being.

Yeah. I am being very careful about that last part. We aren't playing with player alignments, but it is pretty clear that the motivation behind him is to champion freedom and reduce suffering. His sexuality is mostly just an expression of that as it challenges traditions or expectations.

In one encounter, we had to bring a sacrifice to some oracle hags and managed to find an abandoned caravan camel along a river bank. The rest of the party was all set to just grab it, but I insisted that we follow the tracks back to make sure that the owner wasn't hurt and in need of assistance. It set us back a couple hours and turned up inconclusive, but it just felt like what the motivation would drive him to being a being that values life, freedom, autonomy, and kindness.

new thing (that i had a hand in - i did all the maps) is out!

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/331842/The-Heart-of-the-House

IMAGE(https://smackfolio.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/331842.jpg)

Once upon a time, an old house sat perched upon a hill, its crumbling facade overlooking the town. Weeds grew in the yard and gardens, overtaking what once was beautiful flowers and a stunning landscape. The wrought iron fence creaked when Mother Nature sent gusts of wind to play, and shutters slammed against the rotting siding. The house had passed through many hands throughout the years. Now, decades after the last owners left under mysterious circumstances, it stands destitute and alone. But that is not the end of our story; it is only the beginning.

An old house sits atop a hill and has gained sentience throughout the years of ownership and abandonment. Something is alluring about this house like a siren’s call, so much that the village below warns children and those that wander through not to “get too close.” The house draws people to it, and once they have crossed the threshold, they cannot leave. It plays tricks with its victims, confusing them when they step from one room to the next, never allowing them to find the “exit.” The house turns these people into husks of their former selves, feeding off the memories of the life that they bring with them like a vampire. These thraws wander the corridors, wailing, and searching for something lost that they cannot remember. The house’s hunger can never be quenched. It longs for more memories to consume, attempting to fill the void that its former inhabitants left by abandoning it so many years ago.

Can your characters survive the mysterious of the House long enough to escape?

A spooky Halloween themed adventure for three to five 10th level characters

Included in this Halloween Supplement:
Over 8-12 hours of new content
A mini-campign setting inside a spooky haunted house
20 unique battle maps (both in 2D and 3D format)
8 player handouts
Both printer friendly and VTT assets

IMAGE(https://smackfolio.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/13-fey.jpg)

Please tell me that a bound edition of your campaign module is a possible Sekrit Stan gift.

"Song"? Now there's an idea! Good thinkin'

I'll have to have a word with a local printer i know...

We just need a few more sales before the "Heart of the House" hits Copper Bestseller status!

If you're interested in a cool higher level haunted house adventure with a lot of randomisation and replayability (plus a lot of room maps by me) , why not grab a copy while it's still discounted for October!

This is turning into the "me blowing one's own trumpet" thread, so apologies, buuuuttt....

Dreadful Realms: Caverns of the Wise Minister is on kickstarter now!

Not only do they have some amazing writing talent involved but they (might) also have me! Since i'm stretch goal no 1

Dreadful Realms: Caverns of the Wise Minister

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything is out today; there's a huge bunch of new subclasses and class options for you D&D players, and adds some customization to races and the ability to swap ability scores around a bit to begin to move away from the "all Orcs are dumb" thing that has some less than pleasant cultural implications. Have run through the book and some interesting stuff there, coming from the hardcore 5e fanboy I am.

Yeah I'm pretty happy with it, lots of fun new options for DMs and players alike.

There's a magic item that's just a bag of miscellaneous teeth that you can either plant to summon monsters, or you can start replacing your own teeth with weird magic monster teeth to gain special tooth powers. It's weird and gross and I love it.

muttonchop wrote:

Yeah I'm pretty happy with it, lots of fun new options for DMs and players alike.

There's a magic item that's just a bag of miscellaneous teeth that you can either plant to summon monsters, or you can start replacing your own teeth with weird magic monster teeth to gain special tooth powers. It's weird and gross and I love it.

Yeah, that's a hilariously weird item, and I think the magic items in general are intriguing. A whole series of Wizard spellbooks that let you trade spells in and out and use them as a focus, which is really handy but balanced out by the fact it requires an attunement slot and doesn't give hit/damage bonuses. Those items are really fun.

I think they've finally made Rangers decent with some of the class ability options, and find myself really wanting to play about 10 of the subclasses. None of them have that immediate "oh sh*t this is overpowered" feel at least on initial read, but there's some fun looking builds, and I'm pretty pleased so far.

Getting in some mushroom cave practice, so here's a random battle map

IMAGE(https://smackfolio.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/mushroom-cave-web-friendly.jpg)

MilkmanDanimal wrote:
muttonchop wrote:

Yeah I'm pretty happy with it, lots of fun new options for DMs and players alike.

There's a magic item that's just a bag of miscellaneous teeth that you can either plant to summon monsters, or you can start replacing your own teeth with weird magic monster teeth to gain special tooth powers. It's weird and gross and I love it.

Yeah, that's a hilariously weird item, and I think the magic items in general are intriguing. A whole series of Wizard spellbooks that let you trade spells in and out and use them as a focus, which is really handy but balanced out by the fact it requires an attunement slot and doesn't give hit/damage bonuses. Those items are really fun.

I think they've finally made Rangers decent with some of the class ability options, and find myself really wanting to play about 10 of the subclasses. None of them have that immediate "oh sh*t this is overpowered" feel at least on initial read, but there's some fun looking builds, and I'm pretty pleased so far.

I really want to run a Simic Hybrid path of the beast grappler.

Does anyone have any good mods for the 5e grappling rules? As a jiu jitsu practitioner, I have always been frustrated by how gimpy they. Grappling someone should result in something a bit more consequential than the grappled condition which still allows the victim to conduct pretty much business as usual with the exception of movement.

IRL an experienced grappler with any training at all would easily be able to absolutely mess up someone who doesn't have a specific grappling skill. Just about any BJJ blue belt I know would be able to take someone with no specific grappling skill and dump him to the ground in 6 seconds (one round and knocking the victim to prone). In the next 6 seconds, he should be able to advance position to side control resulting in the restrained condition. And another successful grapple check should result in executing either a choke or joint lock resulting in, at the very least, levels of exhaustion or damage. All the while, anyone unable to counter would not be in a position to reply with physical attacks or spells.

Paleocon wrote:

Does anyone have any good mods for the 5e grappling rules? As a jiu jitsu practitioner, I have always been frustrated by how gimpy they. Grappling someone should result in something a bit more consequential than the grappled condition which still allows the victim to conduct pretty much business as usual with the exception of movement.

IRL an experienced grappler with any training at all would easily be able to absolutely mess up someone who doesn't have a specific grappling skill. Just about any BJJ blue belt I know would be able to take someone with no specific grappling skill and dump him to the ground in 6 seconds (one round and knocking the victim to prone). In the next 6 seconds, he should be able to advance position to side control resulting in the restrained condition. And another successful grapple check should result in executing either a choke or joint lock resulting in, at the very least, levels of exhaustion or damage. All the while, anyone unable to counter would not be in a position to reply with physical attacks or spells.

Grappling utterly sucks in 5e, and I suspect one of the reasons is understanding the rules of grappling in 3.5 and Pathfinder more or less required an advanced degree in mathematics with all the modifiers. The problem is if you make grappling any notably better such as restraining automatically after a second grapple, it gets really, really effective, as your burly Barbarian with advantage on STR checks can take anyone out pretty easily just by winning a pair of contested checks against somebody's crappy attempt to escape, and that Barbarian or, say, a Rogue with a decent STR and Expertise in Athletics could just shut people down really effortlessly.

I haven't seen any homebrew rules for grappling that felt good, and most of them wound up making grappling incredibly effective. My take is D&D's not vaguely representational, and, sure, many things should be different. Anybody should easily be able to move more than 30 feet in six seconds, attack more than once, and all sorts of other things, but it's not trying to be real, it's just trying to be fun. I'd say make a spellcaster who "casts" Hold Person by pushing on pressure points (hence the WIS save), and, if they fail, well, your target is super-grappled.

You have my axe, bo staff, shortsword, longsword, bastard sword, war pick, morningstar, glaive-guisarme, and Bohemian ear spoon.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

Does anyone have any good mods for the 5e grappling rules? As a jiu jitsu practitioner, I have always been frustrated by how gimpy they. Grappling someone should result in something a bit more consequential than the grappled condition which still allows the victim to conduct pretty much business as usual with the exception of movement.

IRL an experienced grappler with any training at all would easily be able to absolutely mess up someone who doesn't have a specific grappling skill. Just about any BJJ blue belt I know would be able to take someone with no specific grappling skill and dump him to the ground in 6 seconds (one round and knocking the victim to prone). In the next 6 seconds, he should be able to advance position to side control resulting in the restrained condition. And another successful grapple check should result in executing either a choke or joint lock resulting in, at the very least, levels of exhaustion or damage. All the while, anyone unable to counter would not be in a position to reply with physical attacks or spells.

Grappling utterly sucks in 5e, and I suspect one of the reasons is understanding the rules of grappling in 3.5 and Pathfinder more or less required an advanced degree in mathematics with all the modifiers. The problem is if you make grappling any notably better such as restraining automatically after a second grapple, it gets really, really effective, as your burly Barbarian with advantage on STR checks can take anyone out pretty easily just by winning a pair of contested checks against somebody's crappy attempt to escape, and that Barbarian or, say, a Rogue with a decent STR and Expertise in Athletics could just shut people down really effortlessly.

I haven't seen any homebrew rules for grappling that felt good, and most of them wound up making grappling incredibly effective. My take is D&D's not vaguely representational, and, sure, many things should be different. Anybody should easily be able to move more than 30 feet in six seconds, attack more than once, and all sorts of other things, but it's not trying to be real, it's just trying to be fun. I'd say make a spellcaster who "casts" Hold Person by pushing on pressure points (hence the WIS save), and, if they fail, well, your target is super-grappled.

Yeah. The best estimation of this I have seen so far has been the monk class ability to stun an opponent with a melee strike.

Meh. I don't know how many systems I've played in about 40 years, starting with AD&D. Let's see . . . high school was largely AD&D and Villains and Vigilantes with a smattering of TSR's other gaming attempts (Gamma World was pretty good, Gangbusters, Star Frontiers, and the others weren't). College was a down time, a bit of D&D, but really got into Shadowrun 1e in grad school (my favorite gaming world ever, but the game was garbage, and it's always been a great setting in search of an even vaguely decent ruleset). Fell hard into HERO System/Champions with 4e and played that loads and then HERO 5th, and I still could build any character in any genre in that game off my head (6th edition was so bad it killed the entire HERO System from orbit). I know I tried Traveller, Twilight 2000, and a bunch of other games in high school/college, and occasionally things afterwards. D&D, I largely skipped 2e and 3/3.5, and picked up 4th when my son was young, and then 5e when it hit.

I have played loads of systems, and none of them are as good as 5e D&D. Not even close; it's the best TTRPG I've ever played, and it feels like the basic game philosophy comes down to somebody looking at rules, asking "is this fun", and, if it's fun, shrugging and saying "good enough". Sure, having five kinds of advantage canceled out by one disadvantage doesn't make perfect sense, but, meh, good enough. It just works, and I've got a bit group of friends, almost all of us who are longtime gaming veterans, and there's this almost universal sense of relief than we can sit down at the table (well, virtual table), and we're going to have a few hours fo fun where we're not fighting the system or bickering over little rules. So, no, sorry Bernie, 5e hit my sweet spot years ago, and I still haven't run out of characters I want to play or adventures I want to put together. The game just works.

Paleocon wrote:

Does anyone have any good mods for the 5e grappling rules? As a jiu jitsu practitioner, I have always been frustrated by how gimpy they. Grappling someone should result in something a bit more consequential than the grappled condition which still allows the victim to conduct pretty much business as usual with the exception of movement.

IRL an experienced grappler with any training at all would easily be able to absolutely mess up someone who doesn't have a specific grappling skill. Just about any BJJ blue belt I know would be able to take someone with no specific grappling skill and dump him to the ground in 6 seconds (one round and knocking the victim to prone). In the next 6 seconds, he should be able to advance position to side control resulting in the restrained condition. And another successful grapple check should result in executing either a choke or joint lock resulting in, at the very least, levels of exhaustion or damage. All the while, anyone unable to counter would not be in a position to reply with physical attacks or spells.

Any character with Extra Attack can use their two attacks to grapple a target and shove them prone in a single turn. Once they're prone they're stuck until they break the grapple, since standing up costs movement and grappling reduces their movement speed to 0.

If you really want to build a dedicated grappler Tasha's also added the Unarmed Fighting style that lets you do damage at the start of your turn to a grappled target, and the Grappling Strike Battlemaster maneuver.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

I have played loads of systems, and none of them are as good as 5e D&D. Not even close;

I have to take issue with that. Not that you enjoy D&D5: if you do, awesome.

But every game has to be assessed against what you want to play. D&D5 does *not* do the best job in every circumstance. If you want survival horror, or a comedy of manners, or superheroes, etc then there are hundreds of games out there that are focused on those styles and capture elements that D&D does not.

On top of that there is personal preference. A game that works great for one person, or group, may totally bomb for others.

Conclusion:
There's no best rpg, just a range of good options for a particular group to play a specific style game.

Well, yes, D&D 5e does one thing well; telling fun, cinematic high fantasy stories, and it only does that well. I've seen loads of people try to shove it into genres like sci-fi or modern day, create a gritty feel to it, and loads of other things the mechanics don't support, but, yes, I am not making an objective, scientific statement on some kind of quantitatively measurable quality on a game, because, of course, it doesn't exist. I mean, every "I think this is best" statement ever made is, you know, that.

Fair.

My perspective is a bit different: I'd say D&D5 just does the genre of "D&D," and for me it's not even the best at that. I find it's too focused on combat ability builds and tactical effectiveness to feel cinematic to me.

For my D&D style fun, I get a lot more out of games like The Nightmares Underneath (for a game where dungeon crawling is built into the world and feels natural), Electric Bastionland (for total weirdness and character stories), or Agon (for over the top movie-style action).

Feelings on Dungeon World?