- Joined
- Aug 16, 2017
- Messages
- 16,670
- Reaction score
- 36,347
Man some people spring for the luxury vacay's!Look what I found at the rental on the coast this weekend.
View attachment 15785
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature currently requires accessing the site using the built-in Safari browser.
Man some people spring for the luxury vacay's!Look what I found at the rental on the coast this weekend.
View attachment 15785
I liked the first view you posted better!
My DM from childhood who was pretty awesome but apparently stopped D&D after he left for college. Anyway he found out his daughters were playing something like D&D at school. He reached out to me to ask what to do. I also recommended BF and that apparently went over as well with his kids as it did with the ones you're working with. It's a great starting point.Yesterday I did more gaming during a 12-hour period than I have since last century.
The evening had our usual DCC game. Dealing with the after-effects of our trip to the Deathlands, and my wizard Tianna's return to life. Then winged gorillas showed up, which led to us prepping for invading a wizard's tower.
The earlier part of the day was a bit more noteworthy, at least from my perspective. A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by someone who was looking for a DM for a half-dozen teenagers who had never played any RPGs before. He's the father of two of the kids, who had ran across his old copy of the old Basic player's book (the one with the Elmore cover); between that and having seen stuff like Critical Role they were interested but didn't know where to start. The father had only played a little bit back in the day, and didn't feel comfortable trying to run something for them.
One of the ladies from our regular gaming group who knows him through work mentioned me as a possible solution (she just happened to be wearing one of her old Pathfinder t-shirts at one point, it hadn't come up to him before that she was a gamer). So we grabbed some coffee and talked for a bit. I figured out pretty quickly that he was feeling me out, trying to make sure I would be okay in dealing with said kids - as it turns out several of them are GLBTQ, and a couple of them are quietly looking into a religious path that isn't Christian. After I reassured him that none of that would freak me out, we also talked about how most of these kids aren't exactly swimming in money, and they wanted to see if this was something that they really wanted to get into before investing in ordering the current Player's Handbook off of Amazon. I suggested to him that since some of them had already read through the old Basic book, that I could run something using a similar ruleset, and that they wouldn't need to get any new rules just yet (since I don't know enough about 5e to run it anyways).
So I ordered from Amazon enough copies of the Basic Fantasy rulebook to give a copy to each of the kids. BF is probably my favorite of the Basic clones (there are changes, yes, but the changes made are ones I actually don't mind), and since they're sold at cost they're cheap enough that I was able to get a half-dozen copies affordably. Printed out some of the extra options I would allow (like rangers and illusionists), hashed out some basic house rules (which I tried to keep to a minimum), and mocked up a homemade DM screen using a couple of three-ring binders.
When we all met up at the father's house, the kids were thrilled when I gifted them with the copies of the BF rulebook. We chatted for a bit while I tried to make sure that they felt at ease around me, and also tried to manage expectations a bit (spoiler alert - I'm not Matt Mercer). I had them roll up characters, and then proceeded to run them through a slightly-tweaked version of Tomb Of The Serpent Kings. We got not quite half of the way through when one of the characters died, and they decided to return to town so that they could return the body for burial and get a replacement character to join them.
We'll pick things up next week, where we should be able to finish the adventure. They seemed pretty enthusiastic, but we'll see if they want to continue on after that.
Being the nice, kind soul I am, I'd have recommended DCC or something similar...My DM from childhood who was pretty awesome but apparently stopped D&D after he left for college. Anyway he found out his daughters were playing something like D&D at school. He reached out to me to ask what to do. I also recommended BF and that apparently went over as well with his kids as it did with the ones you're working with. It's a great starting point.
Don't think I didn't consider it! Actually, the art I used for my DM screens came from some of the b&w illustrations inside the DCC rulebook.Being the nice, kind soul I am, I'd have recommended DCC or something similar...
The first hit is free!I'm glad Basic Fantasy (which I'm not familiar with) worked for you two, though!
Sorry, poorly phrased on my part. What I meant was that the last time I did that much gaming in a twelve hour period was back in the 90's.I'm just not sure how Tulpa Girl managed to do "more gaming during a 12-hour period than since last century"...but I'll assume that was just a turn of speech!
It really is. Not only are the PDFs free and the books dirt-cheap, but they're reasonably clear and well-written, and cover pretty much everything you need for a wide range of adventures.My DM from childhood who was pretty awesome but apparently stopped D&D after he left for college. Anyway he found out his daughters were playing something like D&D at school. He reached out to me to ask what to do. I also recommended BF and that apparently went over as well with his kids as it did with the ones you're working with. It's a great starting point.
Yeah, I know this feeling...except for the part with wanting to use something they're familiar with .Don't think I didn't consider it! Actually, the art I used for my DM screens came from some of the b&w illustrations inside the DCC rulebook.
But besides some of them having at least an inkling of how Basic works, I wanted to use something that they could all have the rulebooks for. BF was the obvious choice, since I don't have a lot of excess money to burn.
The first hit is free!
Seems like a time-tested strategy for getting new buyers to your materials...And the second, and the third, and the fourth...
Eh, I wasn't asking about an explanation! After a bit of deliberation, I decided you probably mean something like "so much intensity", or something of the sort.Sorry, poorly phrased on my part. What I meant was that the last time I did that much gaming in a twelve hour period was back in the 90's.
Actually, their various adventures follow the same model of free PDFs and being printed at cost. They don't seem to be interested in making money off of it, just getting their particular flavor of OSR out to as many people as possible.https://www.basicfantasy.org/downloads.html
Seems like a time-tested strategy for getting new buyers to your materials...
Well, except for the part where the second and subsequent hits are also free! But I guess they're selling adventures and supplements?
Now that's dedication!Actually, their various adventures follow the same model of free PDFs and being printed at cost. They don't seem to be interested in making money off of it, just getting their particular flavor of OSR out to as many people as possible.
Got invited to play Mōdiphiüs' Star Trek Adventures next weekend, so I'll get to see whether the much-derided 2d20 system is all about. Watched a YouTube tutorial to get an idea of what to expect.
Arr! How do ye have a game called Pirate Revenge in yer photo and not know that be of far greater interest than yer shiny box of chess and checkers, ye scurvy lubber?Kids had the day off. Played a lot of games
View attachment 15845
Shiny box in the middle is chess & checkers.
Pirate Revenge is a game where you torture a cat by dressing it up in pirate clothes, the revenge part coming later when the cat pisses on your bed.Arr! How do ye have a game called Pirate Revenge in yer photo and not know that be of far greater interest than yer shiny box of chess and checkers, ye scurvy lubber?
Care to share more about its failings?Been playing in a 5e Ravenloft game. I've watched and read a bunch of reviews (after I started playing), I don't care what they sayCurse of StrahdRavenloft is a horrible module.
Whomever wrote that module needs fingers broken. It's downright stupid.
With an experienced DM nearly all of it wouldn't have been an issue. An Experienced DM would be able to recognize when things are not jiving.Care to share more about its failings?
Thank you!With an experienced DM nearly all of it wouldn't have been an issue. An Experienced DM would be able to recognize when things are not jiving.
Take for instance if you start at level 1 they have a 'Death House' that is used to get the group up to level 3 where it's supposed to be started at? If the Death House is run by a DM who doesn't pull punches, roll in the open, them be the results type. It would be a revolving massacre.
That is how you have to get out (at level 2) once outside you gain level 3.1. All the windows are bricked up; the bricked-up windows and the outer walls are impervious to the party's weapon attacks and damage-dealing spells.
2. All the doors are gone, replaced by slashing scythe blades. A character must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to pass through a blade-trapped doorway unscathed. A character who spends 1 minute studying the blades in a particular doorway can try to take advantage of a momentary gap in their repeating movements and make a DC 15 Intelligence check instead. Failing either check, a character takes 2d10 slashing damage but manages to pass through the doorway. Any creature pushed through a doorway must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take the damage. The blades can't be disarmed.
3. Every room that contains a fireplace, an oven, or a stove is filled with poisonous black smoke. The room is heavily obscured, and any creature that starts its turn in the smoke must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or take 1d10 poison damage.
4. The interior walls become rotted and brittle. Each 5-foot-section has AC 5 and 5 hit points, and can also be destroyed with a successful DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check. Each 5-foot section of wall that's destroyed causes a swarm of rats to pour out and attack. The swarm won't leave the house.
That is after having to engage with a Shambling Mound at level 2. The Shambling Mound is, if played decently by a DM, a TPK for a level 2 group.Here's the rub. To exit your start in the cellar and go up in one of two spots, both spots have condition #3. heavily obscured = blind condition.
So you are blind, having to make DC10 poison save every round or suffer 1d10 damage, if you find the door make an immediate DC 15 Dex save or suffer 2d10 damage.
You can study the blades having to make 10 DC 10 poison saves...wait it's heavily obscured which is the blind condition. that wont work.
The exchange rate is horrible, items in Ravenloft cost 10x the normal price or 5x if you know the right people.
If you are a stickler for material components i.e. Revivify need diamonds worth 300gp which are consumed, that makes it 3,000gp to cast if having to purchase the diamonds.
Was the Blood Shaman a PC ?Ran my Silk Road adventure last night. The PCs are traveling in a caravan and acting as part of caravan security. During second watch, a Blood Shaman sacrificed his last servant and gained quite a bit of power thereby. The Kshatriya Mage PC, whose name I always forget heard the servant's dying scream and went to investigate. Neither Ivan nor Narita heard the muffled scream but they saw their colleague head purposefully toward a tent and moved to back him up. Roxanne, having seduced the princess they were escorting, was busy.
The Blood Shaman sensed that someone was coming to investigate and released the spirit of his murdered servant to delay them while he prepared something more elaborate.
The newly-made Undead was easily dealt with while mesmerized by the Mage's "Distracting Sight or Sound" and Narita rushed into the Blood Shaman's tent before the ritual was complete. For his trouble, he took a crossbow bolt in the chest but he did cut down the Shaman. Then, the venom hit him and he was lying beside the Shaman. He recovered, with the help of the Mage and a saving roll.
Why shouldn't they stick to sacrificing their enemies ?No. I've only had one blood shaman PC and she was an apprentice who rejected being a blood shaman, helped kill her master and free the tribe from him and became a Sun Shaman, without the massive power of a blood shaman but also without the need to sacrifice small animals, your enemies, your friends, relatives and lovers.
Why shouldn't they stick to sacrificing their enemies ?
Interesting find in Russia.