Unpopular opinions go here

[Micah Sweet]

?

What is the difference between "adventure" and "situation"? That's the confusion on my part. When I prep an adventure, say my current Spelljammer campaign. They party has landed on an ice planet and are exploring. I have X number of locations they can explore. There is something of a story, although it's mostly background stuff and has little or nothing to do with what's immediately in front of them, just some background stuff that might come up later.

Now, to do this, I prepared the following locations:

1. Landing location where a mud monster tries to eat them.
2. Traveling locations - 3 or so for mostly random encounters
3. A snow tunnel maze created by yak-lemmings (don't ask) inhabited by a few other bits and bobs with maybe 7 or so encounters.
4. A field of magic crystals that are the reason the party is on the planet.
5. The home of a ship wrecked gnome who has been on the planet for a while and can fill in the blanks for the players.
6. A crashed Gift Bombard with a big cannon which the party used to destroy the psychic cloud monster that forced their landing in the first place.
7. Ice station Zebra - a ruin inhabited by a bunch of stuff where the answers to some of the lingering questions about the planet lie.

Now, there was no real "story" here in this adventure. Most of the encounters could have been done in any order, with a couple of exceptions. Is this what you would call "on the fly"? I sure don't. That's a very prep heavy adventure that took me rather more time than I like to get ready. There was virtually nothing "on the fly" about it, other than maybe one of the random encounters where I tossed it in at the last minute using the pre-prepped battle map and the baddies that I had prepped earlier.

So, what do you consider to be "on the fly"?

It sounds awesome!

 

[Maxperson]

2. We want the game to be believable. Fair enough. But, again, that level of believability is really subjective. And it gets rather frustrating when people will believe 6 impossible things, but, man, that's 7th. That's just too much. And the counter argument is, "well, you don't have a problem with these other six things, so, howzabout you let this one go too?" But, nope, we're going to use that "it's not realistic" as a huge bludgeoning tool to try to justify personal preferences as some sort of objective criticism.

That counter argument isn't a counter, though. Not even a little bit. I'm perfectly entitled to like 6 flavors of ice cream, but not the 7th. Similarly, I'm perfectly entitled to be okay with 6 unrealistic things, but not the 7th.

 

[Reynard]

?

What is the difference between "adventure" and "situation"? That's the confusion on my part. When I prep an adventure, say my current Spelljammer campaign. They party has landed on an ice planet and are exploring. I have X number of locations they can explore. There is something of a story, although it's mostly background stuff and has little or nothing to do with what's immediately in front of them, just some background stuff that might come up later.

Now, to do this, I prepared the following locations:

1. Landing location where a mud monster tries to eat them.
2. Traveling locations - 3 or so for mostly random encounters
3. A snow tunnel maze created by yak-lemmings (don't ask) inhabited by a few other bits and bobs with maybe 7 or so encounters.
4. A field of magic crystals that are the reason the party is on the planet.
5. The home of a ship wrecked gnome who has been on the planet for a while and can fill in the blanks for the players.
6. A crashed Gift Bombard with a big cannon which the party used to destroy the psychic cloud monster that forced their landing in the first place.
7. Ice station Zebra - a ruin inhabited by a bunch of stuff where the answers to some of the lingering questions about the planet lie.

Now, there was no real "story" here in this adventure. Most of the encounters could have been done in any order, with a couple of exceptions. Is this what you would call "on the fly"? I sure don't. That's a very prep heavy adventure that took me rather more time than I like to get ready. There was virtually nothing "on the fly" about it, other than maybe one of the random encounters where I tossed it in at the last minute using the pre-prepped battle map and the baddies that I had prepped earlier.

So, what do you consider to be "on the fly"?

My prep would be more like:

In this town the PCs are passing through there is a bodak hunting those that wronged him in life, there is a rivalry between the two inns and it is about to turn violent, and the recently arrived "retired adventurer" is actually a lazy trickster fae looking for wine and adulation. A few names, download a map of the town, and with a bunch of random generators we are off to the races. The most important prep is understanding the motivations of the NPCs, because they have to respond to the PCs.

 

[Hussar]

That counter argument isn't a counter, though. Not even a little bit. I'm perfectly entitled to like 6 flavors of ice cream, but not the 7th. Similarly, I'm perfectly entitled to be okay with 6 unrealistic things, but not the 7th.

Not quite the same thing though. No one’s asking you to like it. Just not repeatedly oppose it being offered to other people.

 

[Hussar]

My prep would be more like:

In this town the PCs are passing through there is a bodak hunting those that wronged him in life, there is a rivalry between the two inns and it is about to turn violent, and the recently arrived "retired adventurer" is actually a lazy trickster fae looking for wine and adulation. A few names, download a map of the town, and with a bunch of random generators we are off to the races. The most important prep is understanding the motivations of the NPCs, because they have to respond to the PCs.

My prep for that would be to grab the encounters for two taverns in Ghosts of Saltmarsh, complete with stats for all the people in those taverns, lighting and Line of Sight already pre-set and any of five or six towns that have been presented in various modules.

Not sure what the difference between an adventure and a situation is.

 

[Maxperson]

Not quite the same thing though. No one’s asking you to like it. Just not repeatedly oppose it being offered to other people.

I don't care what flavors are offered to other people, but I'd like to have flavors I like as well.

 

[Maxperson]

Name a setting other than Star Trek that uses a universal translator (and HGttG doesn't count, as they point out for ridiculously convenient the Babel Fish is).

Midnight at the Well of Souls ~ Jack Chalker

 

[Maxperson]

?

What is the difference between "adventure" and "situation"? That's the confusion on my part. When I prep an adventure, say my current Spelljammer campaign. They party has landed on an ice planet and are exploring. I have X number of locations they can explore. There is something of a story, although it's mostly background stuff and has little or nothing to do with what's immediately in front of them, just some background stuff that might come up later.

Now, to do this, I prepared the following locations:

1. Landing location where a mud monster tries to eat them.
2. Traveling locations - 3 or so for mostly random encounters
3. A snow tunnel maze created by yak-lemmings (don't ask) inhabited by a few other bits and bobs with maybe 7 or so encounters.
4. A field of magic crystals that are the reason the party is on the planet.
5. The home of a ship wrecked gnome who has been on the planet for a while and can fill in the blanks for the players.
6. A crashed Gift Bombard with a big cannon which the party used to destroy the psychic cloud monster that forced their landing in the first place.
7. Ice station Zebra - a ruin inhabited by a bunch of stuff where the answers to some of the lingering questions about the planet lie.

Now, there was no real "story" here in this adventure. Most of the encounters could have been done in any order, with a couple of exceptions. Is this what you would call "on the fly"? I sure don't. That's a very prep heavy adventure that took me rather more time than I like to get ready. There was virtually nothing "on the fly" about it, other than maybe one of the random encounters where I tossed it in at the last minute using the pre-prepped battle map and the baddies that I had prepped earlier.

So, what do you consider to be "on the fly"?

@Reynard I have to agree with Hussar and the others. On the fly means little to no prep at all. What you described upthread about prepping situations is the opposite of on the fly, even though there may be a lot of improvisation that you have to do. The presence of improvisation doesn't equate to being on the fly.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

They don't undersalt their food. Restaurants OVERsalt their food. They cheat with more salt, fat and sugar than you need. Tastes good but is very bad for you.

There was an interview with a chef who was asked about that flavor difference mystery. The response was,”We use criminal amounts of salt and butter.”. And I’ve seen video evidence of that.

Tyler Florence had a series where he went to someone’s house to help them learn how to cook things, one in one. The episode I remember, he was teaching a woman how to cook an oven-baked shrimp dish for her planned tapas evening. What stood out was that he salted the shrimp nearly every time he touched the baking sheet they were on- sometimes on both sides- including right as he put them in the oven.

Similarly, I’ve been watching the series on the recipes of the Dooky Chase restaurant as presented by the family that owns & operates it. The last episode I watched, a pan sautéed shrimp dish had to contain about a half stick of butter per serving between what was used in the sauté pan and the seperately prepared sauce that was poured over it on the plate.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

McDonalds requires use of only approved hardware in the stores. This results in some seriously overpriced under-reliable shake and ice cream machines... which has broken more than a few franchisees, especially since the provider doesn't believe in right to repair, and has specific anit-repair features....

Yeah. There’s some litigation on that right now.

As I recall, “right to repair” positions have been getting some support in US courts over the past year.