AriochQ
Member

The DM AriochQ in the one campaign I actually play in has the players award inspiration to each other. Players award inspiration for excellent roleplay and it seems to work very well. I am thinking of using the same system in my campaigns, because it eliminates something for the DM and keeps inspiration in the game. He also allows the accumulation of inspiration, but we spend the points freely and it really does not present a problem.

Sorry, talk of whitewashing in a D&D movie is fundamentally ridiculous. As implied by AriochQ, what does it matter is a racially Mandarin Chinese plays a Oeridian or if a racial Thai does? There are no Mandarin Chinese, or any other real life races in D&D settings. Who's to say what is a better representation of someone from Calimshan or Waterdeep or any other fantasy setting? It's a fricking FANTASY setting.

It has been a very long time since I have played in a campaign. I'm nearly always on the other side of the screen. Last fall, an acquaintance of mine invited me to play in a 5th edition D&D campaign. I knew the other players, but had never played a game with them. I thought I would give it a try. At worst, I figured I could chalk it up as an experience that confirmed my view my natural position at the table was as a DM. The Dungeon Master AriochQ has done a really nice job with the campaign and I have enjoyed it very much. Having been on the other side of the screen for so many years, I endeavored to be the best player I could. Someone I would want at my table for every campaign. I have not always succeeded, but I thought we could share some tips on being a player who adds to everyone’s enjoyment of the game. Here are my thoughts: 1. Be Consistent: Make the agreed play time a priority. Show up on time. Bring all of your necessary materials. Be ready to play. 2. Be Flexible: Use a character concept that fits the DM’s campaign world vision. Play a character that lends itself to story hooks. Create PC obligations tied to the campaign world. Give the DM anchor posts to use if they wish to. Orphaned barbarians from wiped out villages are OK, but ask yourself: Is your PC background giving the DM something to work with? 3. Be Creative: Don’t be afraid to offer adventure ideas, but don’t be offended if the DM does not use t...

@AriochQ The point of backing this Kickstarter is bringing these creatures to the tabletop. The only way you are going to see any of these monsters for use in game is through Effincool Miniatures. For all of teh reasons that I have already covered, we just cant do what Reaper does. :-) That does not mean that I do not value everyones input on this project! thanks for taking the time to comment. I also would like to add, that if you pledge for $360.00 and this project unlocks all of the stretch goals, that works out to $6.00 a mini, and includes 2 dragons and several larger pieces. I know this is not near the value that Reaper is able to afford, but it is the best we can do.

AriochQ A puzzle spaced throughout different parts of the castle that require simultaneous interaction to open a vault door. Falling portcullises or even stone doors. Or mimics ;) A pit with water flowing thru it with multiple aqueduct tunnels the water flows thru. Before anyone makes checks to jump across clarify that the consequences of a low roll mean falling into the water and getting swept away...somewhere. A coffin or an iron maiden with a built in teleporter. Include with a monster that Shoves or causes forced movement. Gargoyles that grapple characters and fly off with them to perches throughout the castle. Valuable treasure in a dangerous place to lure treasure-hungry PCs away from the party. Naturally guarded by a trap separating them from the party (e.g. chute). Provide a side solo mission for a PC - if they accomplish it then the party (or just them) benefits. However, it requires them to go it alone due to (a) ethical differences with the party, (b) need for s...

Oh yay. More halflings with gigantic heads... Seriously, that is the worst artwork in the entire PHB and they decided to stick with it in a supplement? It’s so bad!

Oh yay. More halflings with gigantic heads... Seriously, that is the worst artwork in the entire PHB and they decided to stick with it in a supplement?They have stuck with the playtested design for every other book released for 5E, doubt they will stop now.

"Alex says that "Pen and paper is a dying art. Computer games, video games, they’re the next generation, the next wave of games and I’ve always wanted to see them on that new medium and I’ve always wanted to be working with someone who’s excited as I am about it.”" Not sure about this. I keep seeing more and more young people show up at the FLGS for AL on Wednesdays.Yup, that's patently wrong. Just yesterday I watched the latest episode of the 'Tracks Magazine' (it's a weekly magazine about pop-culture on Arte) and it had a feature story about the resurgence of pen & paper. Board games are also on the rise. Of course they don't sell as many units as video games, but they're far from dead; they're thriving!

"D&D is a game of imagination. If some group wants to battle or play fictional characters, more power to them." Was the first line of my response. I am not so presumptuous as to tell others the correct way to play D&D. If they want to play Gandalf and Frodo, and have fun doing it, then I say go for it. If everyone is on board, who cares? D&D isn't the system I would choose to do so, it is pretty clunky. I would think Middle Earth Role Playing would be more appropriate (for obvious reasons!). People can "have fun" doing all sorts of things. I do not believe attempting to recreate fictional characters is a sound way to do that for the majority of play. You'll usually end up disappointed.

D&D is a game of imagination. If some group wants to battle or play fictional characters, more power to them. I have never ran, or played in, a campaign based on fictional characters but I have based many NPC's on fictional characters. Having a well developed mental image of a character helps make them more realistic. I will also base an NPC's on someone I know in real life. The trick is to change them just enough that the players don't realize who you are basing them off of. Styling an NPC to be like Gandalf is absolutely NOT what the OP was talking about and is a completely unrelated endevour.

I do something similar, PC's get max at 1st level then roll each level thereafter. If they roll less than the die average, they take the average. I think it works out the same as your system mathematically. Very close - within a point per level or so, based on the averages.

You should also read this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musashi_(novel) It's a great book. There is a little story in there, about a Swordmaster that Musashi wanted to meet. This master cut a tulip with his saber, and send it to an annoying student as a gift and a test. The annoying student was ashamed by such a sissy present, and leave town. But some hazardous event make Musashi saw the cutted tulip too. He was fascinated by the cut and wonder how it was possible to make such a cut. Finally it is him who met the swordmaster. 18 wisdom. At least. I've heard it's a great book and I've definitely seen movies based on it, but you're referring to a work of historical fiction (made during a period of government-sponsored mythologization of samurai). If you don't feel the need to be constrained by the rules though, give him a Wisdom of 18. :) In the interests of reading suggestions, I strongly recommend checking out Musui's Story (which gives a really eye-opening account of historical Japan and...

I'm pretty sure Mike said Joan of Arc is next, though I'm not 100% sure. I have a build for her that I like and think people will get use out of, just working on the extra text right now. :D Enjoying the wrote ups. Quick question...he came up with the 2 weapon fighting style with the swords mentioned above but nothing stat wise shows this fighting style. Thanks! Aye. He came up with it but he's not really known for that being his style. I just came across that during my research and (for the like dozenth time in my life) been like "Whoa, Musashi. Whoa." Had to mention it. If you want to make it a thing for him, you can swap out the Defensive fighting style (drop his AC by 1), add in bonus action attacks with a shortsword (include that damage add), and lower his katana down to 1d8. :) I would increase the AC bonus for Master of the Sword to at least +2 and possibly higher to bring it in line with other reactions that do the same thing (e.g. Gladiator has Parry that adds +3 as a reaction) ...

Played? The homebrew setting of my DM in college. Eventually Forgotten Realms may catch up through Adventurer's League play, but it isn't really the same as a 'campaign'. DM'd? Greyhawk. I have run every one of my campaigns since 1980 in Greyhawk. Dm'd - Almost exclusively homebrew. Played - The only campaign I have played in for any length of time is AriochQ's - so, Greyhawk.

That would be an awful choice. As if D&D wasn't niche enough, you now set the movie into a niche within D&D. Eberron would probably fly well with the Asian market, but my feeling is that 80s retro is popular at the moment, and it might be useful to try and tap into that vain of nostalgia. Eberron wasn't around in the 80s. The setting does matter - most people will come to a D&D movie expecting to see a Genericfantasyland(TM) asthetic. That could range from GoT style grit to something more like the Hobbit, but it doesn't include steampunk and Final Fantasy (outside Asia) which is the what comes with Eberron. In addition, Eberron was only promoted as the main D&D setting for a relatively short period: it might have some nostalgic pull for some who came to the game in the early naughties, but that is narrower than most other settings. Dragonlance, Chrystal Shard (FR) or Moonshae (FR) seem like the best options to me. You guys keep bringing up the idea that it matters at all how ...

That would be an awful choice. As if D&D wasn't niche enough, you now set the movie into a niche within D&D. The setting literally only matters for what tone and themes it provides. If they aren’t going with the Dragonlance Chronicles, the setting serves literally only that purpose, and Eberron is the best setting for hitting that tone they were talking about before the production moved to paramount. If paramount isn’t interested in that same idea, then setting only matters if, again, they have a specific type of story they want to tell. How niche the setting is doesn’t matter. They could never mention the name of the world, and never use the name of the setting in marketing, and it would make absolutely no difference. Eberron would probably fly well with the Asian market, but my feeling is that 80s retro is popular at the moment, and it might be useful to try and tap into that vain of nostalgia. Eberron wasn't around in the 80s. Eh, broad 80’s nostalgia is only going to help i...

If I did have to make a D&D movie, I might consider adapting the Darkwalker on Moonshae novel. It's not actually very good, but it conforms to a good many "Young Adult" genre tropes - good looking late-teen protagonists with sexual tension, etc. Quite an achievement, since it pre-dates the invention of YA! It also has a fairly stereotypical adventuring party with recognisable classes. I'm not familiar with it, but that sounds like a way to go that would be different for big, blockbuster action or action-comedies. It's been 15 years since the LOTR movies and...I'm not sure the Hobbit movies count ;) but do they want the D&D movies to have that kind of tone? I doubt it. I imagine a lot more comedy, a much more straightforward or focused narrative, a bunch of characters thrown together who don't get along but have to work together in the 3rd act, and more romantic entanglements. A DnD movie has to, first and above all, focus on telling a good story. Any thought of setting has to serve that....

What he DIDN'T say is that most human characters don't take feats. This would be false (if he had said it, which he didn't). Most humans are variant humans. Most players take variant human for the feat.Unless I missed something with the update, he didn't actually say that most humans have feats. We don't have data on that. We don't actually know whether most humans are variant humans, or even whether most humans are played in games that allow feats. It was misleading to suggest that most characters are humans without feats, but we don't know what the breakdown is on how many games allow feats. It would make sense to me that humans are more frequently chosen in games that allow feats, but we don't actually know that for certain. All we know is that humans are more popular than any of the other options, and most characters don't have any feats. If the true reality is that only thirty percent of characters are human (with each other race showing less than that), and seventy percent of al...

My initial reaction to Crawford was one of doubt, but once I re-read what he was saying it was reasonable. My initial (incorrect) interpretation was that most groups don't use feats. I think most groups do use feats. What he actually said is the most popular race in Human. I could see this being true. I have more human characters than any other individual race. He also said the majority of characters do NOT use feats. I also see this as true. Most non-humans rarely take feats until higher level and most characters never reach those levels. What he DIDN'T say is that most human characters don't take feats. This would be false (if he had said it, which he didn't). Most humans are variant humans. Most players take variant human for the feat. In my case it wasn't a resistance to having my preconceived notions challenged, but rather a misreading of his statement. Given the update status on the thread, I was not the only one. They tend to put a bit of spin on it and peop...

You could go with peanuts and just dip a couple levels of popcorn. That’s what the Cracker Jack subclass is there for!

You could go with peanuts and just dip a couple levels of popcorn. Seems a little MAD to me. You want to power-game your popcorn you got to put some chocolate in there. Not M&Ms you want something a little melty like a broken up kitkat, or snowcaps. Takes it to a whole nother level. Popcorn + Chocolate would fit the Snack+1 rule. It would make for extra messy fingers though. Unless I eat it with chopsticks, like I do with cheetos.

Brief update... The retail store in question has updated their Facebook post about D&D night. They took out any mention of Adventurer's League and deleted the sentence about buying exp. I guess someone spoke to them about it. My assumption is they didn't really understand AL when they wrote the original posting. The black market for pay to win AL XP is going to start getting very expensive very fast!

I meant to the topic to be interpreted more broadly, in terms of the impact on the entire community. I currently do run AL games at my FLGS when they need a fill-in DM (usually twice a month) as well as at several local conventions. Most of my DM'ing is spent on my three home games, one of which is AL legal. Ironically, if I want to run at my FLGS in season 8 players will be charged $5/game (which I don't have a problem with, store has got to make money) and I will receive that money in the form of store credit (which I do have a problem with). The concept of a paid DM is distasteful to me as a long time D&D player/DM. I understand other's may feel differently.I stand by what I said, in the boarder sense. If there aren't enough free games for everyone, then paid games may take their place. Its not like you can quit your job just to run a dozen campaigns for everyone in your community.

I meant to the topic to be interpreted more broadly, in terms of the impact on the entire community. I currently do run AL games at my FLGS when they need a fill-in DM (usually twice a month) as well as at several local conventions. Most of my DM'ing is spent on my three home games, one of which is AL legal. Ironically, if I want to run at my FLGS in season 8 players will be charged $5/game (which I don't have a problem with, store has got to make money) and I will receive that money in the form of store credit (which I do have a problem with). The concept of a paid DM is distasteful to me as a long time D&D player/DM. I understand other's may feel differently. Can I have your store credit?

What does everyone else think about this apparent trend in our hobby? It means only D&D is getting popular enough that people are willing to pay money. Otherwise it's not anything to get worked up about, it's just things working as intended. You can always not play in any non-free games. What you can't do, is demand that things should remain as they have always been or that games should remain free for ever, unless you like going back to the time when nobody had heard of D&D.