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Older Activity
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Yesterday, 03:52 AM
I don't use it. I started off trying to use it, but it's just gotten forgotten. Same with backgrounds, ideals, bonds, flaws, etc. We just roleplay our characters. I've tried re-writing the inspiration rules, giving out tokens to remind the players, all to no avail.
I'm just chalking it up to a "fiddly bit that doesn't really matter" (similar to diagonal measuring in 3.x).
Next time I start a 5e...

56 replies | 1045 view(s)
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Yesterday, 12:58 AM
By this definition, would gamers who didn't play 4e and went to PF because its similarity to 3.5, also be considered grognards? What about those who play 5e wanting a more nostalgic experience and traditional gameplay?

82 replies | 2418 view(s)
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Monday, 18th February, 2019, 02:22 AM
They just released a 5th edition version and have a Facebook group. Maybe someone on there can help?

10 replies | 368 view(s)
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Sunday, 17th February, 2019, 10:20 PM
The adventure module I'm running?
If not that, I'd say Xanathar's followed closely by Volo's Guide. Just recently picked up Tome of Foes and haven't used it much.

26 replies | 794 view(s)
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Sunday, 17th February, 2019, 08:39 PM
I ran a few sessions of the 3.0 Rappan Athuk paperbacks and a few sessions of the 3.5 Rappan Athuk Reloaded (RARE). I have not run it in Pathfinder, but I guess the feel is largely unchanged, which is really the only advice I have. I would say: make sure the players know what they're in for (a deadly, old school megadungeon). I wiped out a party with the green guardian gargoyles just getting to...

10 replies | 368 view(s)
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Sunday, 17th February, 2019, 08:34 PM
"Gondor has no Alignments. Gondor NEEDS no Alignments."
(Or backgrounds, flaws, bonds, ideals, inspiration, etc.)
11 replies | 366 view(s)
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Saturday, 16th February, 2019, 06:51 PM
I normally switch between 2nd person and 3rd person when I DM. However, I sometimes during combat refer to the creature in the first person, e.g.: "I'm gonna move over here to flank you."
As a player, 1st person.
48 replies | 7795 view(s)
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Saturday, 16th February, 2019, 05:10 PM
As long as we're talking about PF2's playtest, I think it was overall pretty poor. So many of the chapters in Doomsday Dawn were things like "keep track of how many rounds the characters can fight this unending horde of zombies until they die." That is the kind of mechanics that need to be handled in-house, not shipped out to customers who are going to be judging this as a preview of your...
20 replies | 1061 view(s)
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Wednesday, 13th February, 2019, 11:37 PM
It's great to read about others' experiences running this series. Do you have any other suggestions as I go further into the series?
25 replies | 913 view(s)
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Wednesday, 13th February, 2019, 05:31 PM
My world has a very political landscape with the different races having their own nations, power structures, and alliances. It's based off Europe and the Near East in the 1600-1700s (but without gunpowder).
If I'm running a political game, I show a world map and briefly discuss the politics. But when doing a hexcrawl in the Elven nation (for example), I just show a regional map and focus on...

24 replies | 575 view(s)
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Wednesday, 13th February, 2019, 05:59 AM
For me, Beyond has too many broken links (just trying to navigate the Basic Rules). But the worst feature is when I use my phone's back arrow it just exits the app and takes me back to the phone's homescreen.

82 replies | 2418 view(s)
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Wednesday, 13th February, 2019, 03:46 AM
We were trying to run it "by the book" to have the "official Wizards of the Coast 4e experience." We got a few encounters into the Keep's dungeon, and we decided to change up things after another slog combat with goblins that had no bearing on the rest of the adventure that engaged no one. We had a group discussion that since we meet only twice a month for 3 hours a session, we'd need to trim the...
25 replies | 913 view(s)
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Wednesday, 13th February, 2019, 03:40 AM
My hate is because no one uses searchable PDFs and it's a matter of "wake up my device, find correct document, open document, scroll through pages of text, wait for the device to populate pages, etc." Also tends to be the players who are less inclined to purchase content and are the same to less knowledgeable about their characters and their abilities.
I've yet to see any online service (D&D...

82 replies | 2418 view(s)
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Wednesday, 13th February, 2019, 03:24 AM
I've converted two of my groups from 5e to 4e. One campaign is highly tactical and combat-oriented (following the H1-E3 campaign). The other has a good mix of role-playing, story, etc., with limited combats. Both are enjoyable.
25 replies | 913 view(s)
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Wednesday, 13th February, 2019, 02:22 AM
On Sunday I was running the second session of my "new 4E" campaign, and one of the players commented that "we finally got the Skill Challenge right." This brought a smile to my face, as he has always been a critic of Skill Challenges.
Basically, the party was needing to sneak from one district of town to the next. One player had to use a Charisma skill to find a guide, the party had to succeed...

140 replies | 8069 view(s)
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Wednesday, 13th February, 2019, 01:36 AM
Maybe I'm looking more at myself since I turned 40, but I'm wondering what traits led me to become a grognard?
1) Not using projectors for maps at the game table
2) Backing off from 4E to play Pathfinder a decade ago
3) Backing off from 5E to play 4E currently (haha)
4) Not following Critical Role
5) Not active on Discord or Reddit but preferring message boards like ENWorld
6) Using...

82 replies | 2418 view(s)
2 XP
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Friday, 8th February, 2019, 08:05 PM
I've mentioned before on here that I am running 4 campaigns. I'm trying to cut down my workload for obvious reasons. I have started creating a setting (being used across all 4 campaigns) and I have a good deal of the meta plot, nation, and factions. What I have trouble with is the population of adventure sites, towns, etc.
Are there any good resources for this, even if I split apart existing...
5 replies | 368 view(s)
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Friday, 8th February, 2019, 05:30 PM
I can speak only to my feelings about PF2 and anecdotes. I'm not a current PF player and haven't been since 5e was released. I've tried the playtest both at conventions and in a home game. I'll probably pick up the core rules because I'm a RPG collector and might give it a few sessions to test drive it. However even the PF fans I know don't plan to use it regularly (if at all). I think it runs a...
20 replies | 1061 view(s)
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Thursday, 7th February, 2019, 04:22 PM
I'll copy most of the suggestions that Pogre made. I like Vallejo, and I also use Citadel if I need a specific color. Also the Citadel washes are awesome. The paint pots are terrible, however, and I vastly prefer dropper bottles.
I read reviews of Army Painter and decided to buy a set when it was on sale. I don't like 'em, and the other hobbyists in my area feel the same. They're thick,...
8 replies | 231 view(s)
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Thursday, 7th February, 2019, 04:16 PM
I've downloaded it and skimmed over it. Overall, very excited about it. Thanks for the tip.

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Wednesday, 6th February, 2019, 09:29 PM
I get that you can't provide enough details for every situation, but how about providing DCs for these basic checks?
Climbing a cavern wall?
Climbing a rope?
Swimming calm water?
Swimming rough water?
Balancing on a narrow ledge?
Picking an average lock?
Breaking down a wooden door?

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Wednesday, 6th February, 2019, 08:27 PM
The problem is that there are no guidelines on how to do this. The rules assume you do nothing of the sort. (If so, there would be examples already in official published adventures.) You're using the skills you developed in more robust editions to breathe life into what's in effect a shallow version of the game.
Even the rules for skills leave much to be desired. There are no rules for checks...

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Wednesday, 6th February, 2019, 06:12 PM
I watched the first hour of it, since I'm a fan of Matt Colville's and Kickstarted the stream. This is still longer than I've watched Critical Role or any other D&D stream.
I liked that it "felt" more like a real D&D game than a bunch of actors doing voices. I had to stop listening due to real world obligations, and was planning on getting back into it until I started reading the negative...
14 replies | 1116 view(s)
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Wednesday, 6th February, 2019, 05:55 PM
I disagree. I have had to create house rules and my own content to get around these various issues. Here is a quick list of what I've done, and I'll be happy to go into more detail if anyone is interested:
1. Broken CR system. I fixed this by completely re-writing every monster that I used in the campaign encounters. I took my characters and averaged their vital statistics: HP, Save Bonuses,...

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Wednesday, 6th February, 2019, 05:24 PM
My experience with Neverwinter has been strange. When I tried playing it on PC it was smooth, fun and seemed to capture the feel of 4e. But I couldn't get it to work with my controller, and I never felt at home with the mouse and keyboard control scheme (I'm a console gamer primarily). Then I got it for my Xbox One, and it runs like hot garbage. Staggering frame rates, incredibly long load times,...

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Wednesday, 6th February, 2019, 05:05 PM
True. I could make 5e a great fit for my style of game with extensive house rules (which I have done for a previous campaign), but it amounts to re-writing the system when maybe a better fit already exists out there.

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Wednesday, 6th February, 2019, 05:34 AM
Yes. It is OOP but lives on in the spiritual successor, After the Bomb.

6 replies | 289 view(s)
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Wednesday, 6th February, 2019, 04:59 AM
I'm the opposite. I can do story on my own (and rarely follow the modules exactly). Because the CR system of 5e doesn't work for me, I'm more dependent on encounters that have been tried and tested.
15 replies | 595 view(s)
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Wednesday, 6th February, 2019, 03:05 AM
This was my first RPG back in the day. I had no idea how to play it, but the art was so evocative. Something about it hooked me into the idea of gaming, even though I didn't understand it.

6 replies | 289 view(s)
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Wednesday, 6th February, 2019, 02:42 AM
I was talking to my friend a couple days ago and we were discussing Star Trek, Unity, and Forbidden Lands as well as our fizzled out campaigns in Shadowrun, Numenera, 13th Age, and 7th Sea. We both collect a lot of RPGs, but mostly as curiosities rather than for actual play.
Our group has seen successful, long term campaigns (say 6 months of regular play), but only in a few systems: AD&D...

44 replies | 1288 view(s)
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Wednesday, 6th February, 2019, 02:23 AM
While I am a 4E apologist, the explanation and implementation of Skill Challenges (both in the Core Rulebooks and in the Essentials line) make my eyes want to pop out. I've been running 4E since the beginning and I still can't get them to work or feel natural. I can't design them. I can't herd my players to following the structure.
I've abandoned them in lieu of simple skill checks that I'm...
10 replies | 413 view(s)
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Wednesday, 6th February, 2019, 02:13 AM
I'm so glad I read this. I've been looking into 3pp 5E stuff, and I had a suspicion that FFG's stuff would be rush-job conversions of old content. These reviews just solidify that reaction. Especially at their high price point, it's hard to justify these premium adventure modules. Which is a shame, because the Necromancer stuff was a highlight of my 3.x edition experience.
15 replies | 595 view(s)
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Wednesday, 6th February, 2019, 12:02 AM
Not yet. Just mid Paragon Tier. Though I can see Epic Levels being even longer.

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Tuesday, 5th February, 2019, 09:55 PM
With 4E, I don't think there is an option other than having one or two combats per session. Haha.
I'm running the H1-E3 series, and we're finding a lot of the combats are slogs. I'm also creating a campaign that is built to be like you describe - and it's so far going much better.

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Tuesday, 5th February, 2019, 09:40 PM
I am now running two 4E games - so half of my gaming is in 4E and half in 5E. After an exhausting 2 hour combat on Sunday - that wasn't even that important of a fight - I'm left wondering: what is the happy middle ground between the two systems? I've run 13th Age, and while I was okay with it, my group overall despised it. (I think it was the damage inflation of 1D per character level).
So I'm...

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Tuesday, 5th February, 2019, 07:06 PM
My biggest problem with D&d Beyond is that I can't sign into my account. It's paired with Twitch, which is tied into my Amazon account, but there's something mysterious going on that Amazon won't let me sign into Twitch. Twitch won't let me create a new password, etc. It's just a mess. One of my groups I'm DMing has created a campaign on it, and I can't even sign in to it.

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Tuesday, 5th February, 2019, 07:00 PM
Since many of you are recommending I look into DM's Guild content, are you aware of anything that would serve as a tactical add-on to 5e? Something that would grant battlefield maneuvers to characters, revise monsters to give flavorful abilities in combat (as well as raising the effectiveness of solo creatures), and maybe provide guidelines to using terrain (this is what happens when you drop a...

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Tuesday, 5th February, 2019, 04:33 PM
Sometimes (in the case of Tomb of Annihilation) it is a random encounter. Sometimes the party gets farther in the adventure than I was planned for (in the case of Yawning Portal). And sometimes the tactics caught me off guard (as in the homebrew). One of the observations from many of my groups is that I over prep, but you can't be ready for every situation.
I guess the answer is to download and...

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Tuesday, 5th February, 2019, 04:28 PM
I've been a librarian myself for 23 years, so now you see my hesitance. Haha
As to what more do I need regarding other adventures? I'd like some vetting process or reviews. I used a lot of 3pp adventures in the 3.x era, but these days I have no idea what adventures are good. Sorting through those 3,000 adventures is a big task. In the day you could go to reputable publishers to find decent...

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Tuesday, 5th February, 2019, 02:34 PM
Yep. I've had some players buy the module after I ran it, write long emails saying "that's not the way the module said to handle the tactics" or "that's not the way some streamer" does it. While I try to correct this behavior, it's still very frustrating.
Definitive answers would help my personality type and give me a better leg to stand on against these players.

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Tuesday, 5th February, 2019, 02:30 PM
There are many symptoms, which I've noticed from running 3-4 simultaneous campaigns. Granted these latest nitpicky frustrations are just the most recent (from last night's game, when I made the post).
Here are more serious complaints I've accumulated:
1. A broken CR system that creates boring or impossibly deadly encounters in equal measure.
2. A poor selection of official adventures to...

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Tuesday, 5th February, 2019, 02:15 PM
One was a homebrew adventure in the sewers, another was Forge of Fury (lots of water in the caves, there) and another in Tomb of Annihilation. Maybe just a fluke, but it's happened a bit recently.

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Tuesday, 5th February, 2019, 02:13 PM
This is true. I know it, as a DM. But my players tend to not frequent boards and read up on DM empowerment threads. When there are official rules in the books that you can't find, it's frustrating. If it were just a matter of making rules on the spot for obscure situations, I wouldn't be as annoyed.

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Tuesday, 5th February, 2019, 08:26 AM
Yeah. I was hoping to avoid repurchasing them. And I'm always hesitant to write in books. But honestly they feel really not user friendly.
I suppose a custom DM Screen would improve things. But why? I mean, shouldn't there be something made that's more useful?

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Tuesday, 5th February, 2019, 04:40 AM
It's the heat of battle. You need to quickly look up the rules for jumping. You look in the index. The entry for jumping says "see movement, jumping." So you have to cross reference, look at another section, go to the movement chapter, etc.
Why in the holy hell can't you just list a page number? It would take less text to put a page number than "see movement, jumping." Then you have underwater...

98 replies | 3152 view(s)
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Monday, 4th February, 2019, 05:21 PM
I'm using Raging Swan Press's "GM's Miscellany: Dungeon Dressing" to add some of those little details. It's a solid book, as are Urban and Wilderness Dressing.

5 replies | 317 view(s)
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Sunday, 3rd February, 2019, 11:41 PM
She's been playing for about two and a half years, but is kinda nervous about sitting in the DM's seat. I told her I would play the whole party while she gets her bearings with the rules, etc.
11 replies | 414 view(s)
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Sunday, 3rd February, 2019, 09:29 PM
I remember an article somewhat recently. I think it may have been written by Jeremy Crawford or another well regarded DM. In it, he outlined how to use note cards to describe various rooms in a dungeon and show the relative position of the characters within the dungeon.
My Google research skills have failed me. (Embarrassing to admit from a librarian.) Do any of you know what I'm talking about? ...

5 replies | 317 view(s)
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Saturday, 2nd February, 2019, 05:36 PM
I'm looking for a straight forward 5e dungeon based adventure for my gf to run. It's her first attempt at DMing, but we're looking for something we haven't already played (i.e. Most of the official Wizards stuff).
11 replies | 414 view(s)
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Thursday, 31st January, 2019, 06:46 PM
One of the big selling points for me about 4E is that all classes have functions to serve, so it's easy for a player to know what his or her role in the party is. It's also easier for a DM to plan for. So I'm not sure about getting rid of the classes and roles. It almost seems like it would be easier to graft some 4E design elements to 5E rather than the other way around.

34 replies | 1594 view(s)
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Wednesday, 30th January, 2019, 11:31 PM
I'm running two 5th edition campaigns for two groups of players, each consisting largely of new players with one more experienced gamer. Each game has been lasting about 9 months, and there are a few rules that trip up both groups across the board, nearly every session. And while I know the rules, these are the ones that come up literally every session.
1) Inspiration - it's forgotten nearly...
29 replies | 1244 view(s)
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Wednesday, 30th January, 2019, 11:20 PM
I agree it's an easier edition than Pathfinder, but I'm finding that I still have to constantly explain action economy, how basic spells work, opportunity attacks, etc., to my players who are new to RPGs (even though some have been playing with us for over a year).
There are some "fiddly bits" to 5e that could have been simplified to make the edition even more newbie friendly, IMO.

49 replies | 2451 view(s)
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Wednesday, 30th January, 2019, 11:14 PM
For adventures I liked Madness at Gardmore Abbey and Reavers of Harkenwold. I'm trying to use the Monster Vault as the primary monster resource in my new campaign, as it has a good representation of opponents and the math is right (unlike MM1 and MM2).
The D&D Essentials Line in general had good material. However, its lack of inclusion in my offline Character Builder means that none of my...
39 replies | 1799 view(s)
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Wednesday, 30th January, 2019, 12:28 AM
New 4e Campaign in Practice
My original point of starting this thread was to share the experience of starting a new 4E campaign with players new to the system in 2019. It's kinda jumped off the rails with people discussing the verisimilitude of minions and the design paradigms of AEDU powers. So I wanted to let everyone know that it went amazingly well.
We began with table expectations and...

140 replies | 8069 view(s)
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Friday, 25th January, 2019, 10:42 PM
I think that arguing that minions are not realistic is a strange argument to make. If you want to discuss realism, think that most creatures in reality would have 1 hp. A solitary blow that actually lands on your epic fighter should kill him or her, regardless of them having 230 hp. All HP are an abstraction and a game element. 4E was just willing to acknowledge this for what we fans think is a...

140 replies | 8069 view(s)
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Friday, 25th January, 2019, 05:53 PM
I'm a children's librarian who has run game programs before. Here are some ideas.
Try writing to the companies to get donations.
If you have a local gaming store, see about discounts.
Ask staff members if any of them or their kids used to play and have dice or anything they'd want to donate.
Libraries have a League of Librarian Gamers on Facebook. I wonder if teachers have a similar page?...
3 replies | 205 view(s)
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Thursday, 24th January, 2019, 11:44 PM
I'd love to start off with some stuff I just downloaded from Drivethru. Raging Swan Press released some Pathfinder Compatible books (that I'm actually using easily enough in 4E and 5E games) called Urban Dressing, Dungeon Dressing, and Wilderness Dressing. These are full of little details to give your settings life, help generate NPCs and random encounters to liven up travel, and are springboards...
14 replies | 817 view(s)
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Thursday, 24th January, 2019, 11:41 PM
This thread is sort of piggybacking off another thread. I'm curious about some of your favorite 3rd party 5th edition (or system agnostic) products? They can be print or digital. They can be adventures, player options, campaign guides, monster tomes, or other. What makes them good?
14 replies | 817 view(s)
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Thursday, 24th January, 2019, 11:17 PM
I've had this issue with every adventure I've ever run, in every edition of the game. I tend to cut out boring combats, skip over random encounters, etc. Or the party is too big and XP is divided too many ways. Or people missed a few sessions and fell behind in XP. Or didn't get a story award because they didn't look in the right spot. There have been various reasons over the years, and it has...
27 replies | 943 view(s)
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Thursday, 24th January, 2019, 08:24 PM
I am in the process of running ToA for two different groups. One group is about half the way to the Forbidden City while the first group is on level 4 of the Tomb.
Both groups have the same complaint. Due to the nature of the Death Curse, they felt rushed through the colorful, vibrant, exciting city of Port Nyanzaru and they weren't allowed to explore the lush continent of Chult. I would...
22 replies | 1156 view(s)
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Wednesday, 23rd January, 2019, 10:24 PM
I find running 4e to be so much easier. Like instead of treating NPCs like fully fleshed out characters with spells from various books to look up and keep track of, and spell slots, etc. So for me, since we're clearly playing a game, that's something I'm willing to sacrifice simulation for better gameplay.
At any rate, D&D is hardly the benchmark of simulation. And to say that a dragon can...

140 replies | 8069 view(s)
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Wednesday, 23rd January, 2019, 10:16 PM
I thought Dark Sun in 4e was the best version of it, and it certainly was grittier than the standard 4e game.

140 replies | 8069 view(s)
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Wednesday, 23rd January, 2019, 08:59 PM
I don't think Forgotten Realms was created in house by that definition.

51 replies | 3971 view(s)
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Wednesday, 23rd January, 2019, 07:39 PM
My opinion is that the main reason for playing a sorcerer in 3rd edition was spontaneous casting. Both 4e and 5e have changed wizards to be able to cast spontaneously. Both editions also have warlocks as a core class to fill the role of arcane blaster. The biggest reasons to play a sorcerer have been supplanted by other classes and rules changes. They haven't been relevant in over a decade in my...
105 replies | 5520 view(s)
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Wednesday, 23rd January, 2019, 06:07 PM
I did support Strongholds and Followers on Kickstarter. It's a good read, and I like Matt Colville's advice. I don't know yet how much use the book will see, as it's completely in the hands of the players if they want to add these new sub-systems to the game.
A lot of the side content you mentioned, I have no use for. I don't run on a VTT or have a 3D printer.
I think part of the issue,...

51 replies | 3971 view(s)
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Wednesday, 23rd January, 2019, 05:35 PM
I mean, the game still functions without minions if you don't like them or can't make them fit with the narrative.
Part of the point of this thread is how to take the good stuff from 4e and run it in 2019. For example, I'm altering Skill Challenges.

140 replies | 8069 view(s)
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Wednesday, 23rd January, 2019, 03:59 PM
I understand your complaints. I think any edition of the game - or any media for that matter - assumes a certain level of suspension of disbelief. Any edition of the game has had monsters/opponents who function under different rules and had different abilities. Even in 5E we see kobolds with pack tactics, hobgoblins with phalanx fighting, dragons with recharging breath weapons, liches with...

140 replies | 8069 view(s)
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Wednesday, 23rd January, 2019, 03:44 AM
I haven't played the current edition of the 40K RPG, and of previous editions I've played only Rogue Trader. I think it seems unnecessarily more complex than that game, but I hope others chime in with more experience.
7 replies | 552 view(s)
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Wednesday, 23rd January, 2019, 03:13 AM
"Bored" or "Board"?
Lack of engagement at the table has been a growing issue in my 5th edition games. And speaking of 5E, maybe I should point out that since the release of 5E, I've run for nine groups comprised of mostly different players, meeting regularly. In addition to homebrewed adventures, I've run Hoard of the Dragon Queen, Lost Mine of Phandelver (3 times), Princes of the Apocalypse...

140 replies | 8069 view(s)
2 XP
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Wednesday, 23rd January, 2019, 02:31 AM
Complaints about 4E
If you've been in the hobby for a decade or so, you've probably heard all the usual complaints about 4E, which I'll try to address here from the perspective of a DM who has tried to sell starting a new 4E campaign in 2019 in the era of what's arguably the most popular edition of D&D ever.
Combats Take Forever
This is a hard point to argue. For example, I was recently...

140 replies | 8069 view(s)
3 XP
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Wednesday, 23rd January, 2019, 01:11 AM
My main issue about what to include with third party 5th edition is that I have no idea what is a quality product. During the d20 era, I felt informed. Necromancer Games had awesome, difficult adventures. Goodman Games had beer and pretzels games. Malhavoc Press had some good adventures and experimental rules. Dreamscarred had great psionics resources.
What is out there now? Most companies are...

51 replies | 3971 view(s)
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Tuesday, 22nd January, 2019, 11:59 PM
About Me
I don't want to crowd the thread with too much personal information. I want to get into sharing my experiences of prepping and running a current 4E D&D campaign, but I think a little background bio is in order. I started DMing in 1989 with AD&D 2nd edition and throughout that era, most of my campaigns tended towards narrative and literary driven adventures. I played and ran in...

140 replies | 8069 view(s)
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Tuesday, 22nd January, 2019, 10:42 PM
I really don't want to derail the thread - or start an edition war - but I'm seeing a lot of people mentioning dislike for 4e. As I'm just starting to get back into it (and I would say I'm creating one of my richest campaign settings), I think I might make a post in the past editions forum to discuss it with people who might be curious. Once I get it going, I'll post a link here.
74 replies | 3719 view(s)
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Tuesday, 22nd January, 2019, 07:56 PM
My take:
Much of 5E is mechanically unsound and requires substantial DM finesse to make it work, which is fine in the tradition of AD&D. However, I think players that learned the game in 3.x and 4E like a more codified game and expect rules for most situations. The same with newer tabletop players who come from board games.
By default, the various groups and players I run assume they are...

108 replies | 3964 view(s)
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Tuesday, 22nd January, 2019, 07:50 PM
While I'm still running two campaigns (!!!) in 5e, I've started another two campaigns (!!!) in 4e. I had fun with 4e in a "beer and pretzels" way with D&D Encounters and made many great friends through those events. Still, I never considered it a core D&D campaign - as I was into Pathfinder at that time.
All this changed last year at Origins. My gf and I played in a 4e game, and she loved it....
74 replies | 3719 view(s)
4 XP
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Tuesday, 22nd January, 2019, 06:35 PM
This is true. I have experience with tables this large (and larger). I plan on laying out my expectations for all the players before the dice start rolling (staying focused on the game to keep it moving smoothly, no inter-party conflict like stealing, deception checks, etc.)

27 replies | 1181 view(s)
2 XP
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Tuesday, 22nd January, 2019, 06:27 PM
1. Our session 0 was basically to get a feel of the characters the players are making and to make sure all the combat roles are filled. A few of the characters have inter-crossing backstories, but it's not so tightly woven that we can't work someone new into the mix or change things up later as the campaign develops.
2. Two players have sporadic attendance and a third is out for an extended...

27 replies | 1181 view(s)
0 XP
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Tuesday, 22nd January, 2019, 04:48 PM
Looking for some interpersonal advice for a situation that might be too complex to get into here.
The basic situation. My gf has another long running D&D game with a DM (and good friend) who is very enthusiastic about the game, but doesn't have a lot of gaming experience (both in years, different systems, and different types of players). This lack of experience sometimes manifests in what most...

27 replies | 1181 view(s)
0 XP