D&D 5E Legends & Lore 4/21

[Henry]

Sounds like everything i wanted to hear. If pnly Pathfinder had a similar metric built in from ground up.

 

[Mistwell]

also, there is quite a bit of difference between what you and I are talking about though. namely, that you're talking about a VERY specific st of tables built for a VERY specific purpose: one town.

Not really. It's the Vorheim supplement. It's not really one town, it's more like a town-generation supplement. Kind of. It's difficult to explain, but it's definitely not intended as just a "this specific town" type supplement. It's a toolkit.

i even said so in the post you quoted "I can see a few random tables being helpful when used sparingly and judiciously" but the page-filling and bad-parenting "random item nature/creator" serves little purpose to me... to me that's just filler.

Well, I love it, and so do my players. And it seems many others do as well. So, hard to describe it as page filler (which implies few want or use it).

...but remember that this is content for the DMG. a DMG should be teaching the reader how to be a better DM as it is the "dungeon master's guide" after all. leave the tables for web enhancements or applications so the people who really want them can get them with little hassle, but let the DMG focus on making better DMs, especially the newbies who just need a nudge or two in the right directions to get them started and excited.

Yeah I see good tables as part of how to be a better DM. Seriously, you should check out Vornheim to see how tables make you a better DM. I also think the 1e AD&D DMG tables taught a lot of DMs how to be a good DM, with education on how to draft rareness probabilities tied to balancing the power of the item, the uniqueness of the item in the setting, inspiration for how to create interesting items, even setting elements.

 

[Iosue]

I'll give you an example: the Vorheim city kit (which is an excellent book from the author of Lamentations of the Flame Princess) is full of random tables for the city he describes in that handy book,

I 100% agree with what you wrote, but to clarify, LofFP was written by James Raggi, while Vornheim was written by Zac S. of D&D with Pornstars/I Hit It With My Axe fame and published by Raggi. I think your post could be read that way, but just to avoid any confusion...

 

[Halivar]

i never plan things out so carefully that if the players go left instead of right I call it a night and lose some sleep over it. i prepare things by simply taking notes on player actions, knowing the area the players are in and what is happening in the area. between that and keeping things consistent, little more then that is required as i'm well prepare to react to their actions. that you think the options are "tables" or "railroading" is what baffles me. there is more to preperation then laying down a railroad.

To complete my conversion from railroad DM to sandbox DM, I stopped planning anything at all. Expository DM'ing, if you can manage it, it fulfilling for DM and players alike.

So my needs are a bit more niche; I need to be able to cobble custom monsters and dungeons together in my head on the fly. In 3.X this is downright impossible. In Savage Worlds it's a cinch. 4E splits the difference and gives me a way to fake it with Page 42. The players don't notice, but I do. Having layers of templates I can put together in 120 seconds or less would be optimal. Random dungeon generators I can stick on my DM screen, so that's sweet.

 

[Mistwell]

I 100% agree with what you wrote, but to clarify, LofFP was written by James Raggi, while Vornheim was written by Zac S. of D&D with Pornstars/I Hit It With My Axe fame and published by Raggi. I think your post could be read that way, but just to avoid any confusion...

Whoops! Right, thanks for the clarification. Credit should be given where credit is due.

 

[ExploderWizard]

View attachment 61356

It was because the d12 got so little love, that we have always used it to roll for treasure picks just so the poor little guy would feel important.

 

[Remathilis]

It was because the d12 got so little love, that we have always used it to roll for treasure picks just so the poor little guy would feel important.

My half-orc barbarian weilding a greataxe loved that little dodecahedron...

 

[TarionzCousin]

My half-orc barbarian weilding a greataxe loved that little dodecahedron...

One of my players noticed I was setting several d12's out before the start of a 3.5 game and said "We're fighting orcs this session."

 

[pemerton]

If you play any kind of sandbox style adventuring rather than railroading, you will at some point want some good tables. You cannot possible prep for everything your players will come up with - they WILL mess with your well laid planning at some point, and unless you want to pause the game a random table is one good option to turn to when that happens, at least for instant inspiration if nothing else.

To complete my conversion from railroad DM to sandbox DM, I stopped planning anything at all. Expository DM'ing, if you can manage it, it fulfilling for DM and players alike.

So my needs are a bit more niche; I need to be able to cobble custom monsters and dungeons together in my head on the fly.

I've got nothing against a DMG with tables for those who want them, but I don't agree that tables, and table-driven sandboxing, are the only alternative to railroading.

One other alternative is to follow the players' leads in introducing and/or improvising new content.

 

[Halivar]

I've got nothing against a DMG with tables for those who want them, but I don't agree that tables, and table-driven sandboxing, are the only alternative to railroading.

One other alternative is to follow the players' leads in introducing and/or improvising new content.

Well, of course. The question is, when the players point at the map and say, "What's here? Let's go there" and you haven't planned it out yet, your choices are (a) draw from your boundless, unending creativity blush and just make it up on the fly, (b) open up a published module, or (c) roll on some tables and never stop the game.

I'll draw from A as much as I can, but my creativity has limits. Tables results, especially the odd ones, can spur creativity and make cool gaming memories.