Recent content by Arilyn

Of course there are classes dedicated to combat. You need them because combat as a fail state does not mean you can completely avoid it. You will get noticed, fail in your negotiations, etc. The point is you want to have things in your favour as much as possible. If you have to fight, set things...

Exactly. There are luck tokens, characters don't automatically die at 0 hp, spells may fizzle but they can also go on streaks and characters start with more than one spell. The game has modes of play for dialing the difficulty up or down. The book heavily encourages the modern take on old school...

I sometimes do this. I try to track down the creator's actual plays if I can. Watched some of Kelsey's walkthroughs and definitely sought out a couple of Brindlewood Bay streams because I was nervous about running it.

I never liked D&D back in the day because of the rapid character death, the horribly boring dungeons and the slow crawl of hitting every square with the 10 'pole and thoroughly investigating every square inch for traps and lurking "gotchas." I remember the days of Bob the 2nd, 3rd and 4th. I...

If this is how your GMs are running SD, no wonder you had a frustrating time. Kelsey wrote great advice for running the game in the text. If it's followed the game will be challenging, but not super deadly, and a lot of fun.

That's rough? You are good! 💪

It's vital that SD not be played like 5e or even 2e. Danger should be telegraphed so players can make informed choices. Combat will happen, of course, but players should have chances to avoid it, bluff or intimidate their way through. Yes, you lose spells on a failed roll, but if you succeed...

It's good. I like short, evocative descriptions. I hate long descriptions with a charging monster tucked in at the end, almost as an afterthought. Found a typo. You have is instead of if in the scorpion burrow tracks description. 🦂

We had plenty of other novels to read and definitely didn't have more time! 😂 Tolkien had become a huge fad during this time period. There were "Frodo for President" signs, if I'm remembering correctly. Gygax preferred Sword & Sorcery but couldn't ignore the Tolkien love at the time. I didn't...

Well, that's not allowed! 😏 I remember when 5e first came out, someone was admiring a particular art piece and how it was so much better than that awful 4e art. Turned out the 5e picture was a reused 4e illustration!

I read Tolkien well before I started rpgs but I also read a ton of other fantasy. My games were more influenced by other authors, even though I love LotR.

Congrats on earning top badge in D&D nerdom. 😂

Yep. Can you imagine what would happen in superhero comics, if actual physics suddenly kicked in? 😂

Real world science and superhero science have nothing in common.

We start at max hp. The two of us who have run longish campaigns make sure to telegraph danger, use the monster morale rules and have critters/factions that can be negotiated with. The players are careful and usually play smart. The high lethality is often exaggerated, as long as there is not...