sirblastalot

joined 1 year ago
MODERATOR OF
rpg
[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

I like to use the weird spells that players rarely take due to being less than optimal. That way they still get to use them situationally, without having to "waste" a slot.

The exception is when there's a particular story reason for a certain type of item to crop up; for instance, a group of assassins hunting a powerful mage might have a lot of dispel and antimagic type things.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

There are probably legitimate uses out there for gen AI, but all the money people have such a hard-on for the unethical uses that now it's impossible for me to hear about AI without an automatic "ugggghhhhh" reaction.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I didn't overlook it, I specifically used the term "plagued" in reference to that.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (5 children)

And America wasn't actually empty frontier, either. It was full of the native people that had been living there since time imemorial, and the ex-europeans slaughtered and plagued their way through.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (3 children)

If I wanted to do that part of the story for you, I wouldn't have asked you to do it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago

I'm done with self care, it's time for others harm.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

People just don't like homework. (Which is perfectly understandable) And for most people most of the time, learning a new system is homework.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I don't know who Shelyn is but I love their lil gay bird

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

I was going to say no, dwarves drink beer, but then I realized that elves would absolutely be Insufferable IPA Guy.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Then the US flag will become Jeffrey Combs.

Not like, a picture of Jeffrey Combs. Just a spare one, clinging to a flag pole.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Elves just get really into coffee for a couple centuries. Their covid bread-making phase lasts until at least 2400.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

"You go to ask your Grandpa about it. He tries to explain but is so fucking racist you can't even tell if he's still speaking common. In between gibberish that's probably old-timey slurs, you pick out something like 'follow the quest hook' and 'the dm already told you where to go'"

 

You see something similar in the entranceway to public bathrooms that don't have doors, where it kind of zig-zags for privacy. I'm trying to figure out what this kind of architectural feature is called. Thanks!

54
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

I recently started a new campaign. Two players (one who has played in my games before and their SO, who has been begging me for a spot for years) unexpectedly dropped out, moments before our first session. Their reason was somewhat baffling; they said they didn't want to spend "all day" on this, despite the game only going from noon to 3PM. They seemed to think this was a totally unreasonable expectation on my part, despite them previously having stated they were available during that time. This puzzled me.

I've been musing on this, and the strange paradox of people that say they want to play D&D but don't actually want to play D&D, and I've had an epiphany.

A lot of people blame Critical Role or other popular D&D shows for giving prospective players misplaced perceptions, often related to things like your DM's voice acting ability or prop budget, but I don't think that's what's going on here. My realization is that, encoded in the medium of podcasts and play videos, is another expectation: New players unconsciously expect to receive D&D the way they receive D&D shows: on-demand, at their house, able to be paused and restarted at their whim, and possibly on a second-screen while they focus on something else!

I don't know as this suggests anything we as DMs could do differently to set expectations, but it did go a long ways to helping me understand my friends, and I thought it might help someone here to share.

 

I've got an unholy-water fountain, a human chessboard, and an evil hedge maze. I need 1 more thing to put in the last corner of the square courtyard/garden thing. Any suggestions?

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