Recent content by Benjamin Olson

I mean, I think if you read the thread that becomes relatively clear. Common reasons to choose to pay for a DM (many of which we've touched upon) are 1) wanting a game at a particular time that works for your schedule; 2) wanting a DM who is less likely to be flaky, unprepared, etc. and a game...

Potato quality is a direct function of how much fat and salt as been coaxed onto or into them, with more equaling better (within reason). I'd rank any fried potato (competently executed) over any that has not been fried.

I was a paid DM for (I think about) 35 sessions of 5e D&D a couple years back, and am looking into getting back into it (I had to wind down my DMing business when I got hired for a more than full time teaching job in rural Alaska which was an amazing experience but which I have since burned out...

I think the original sin of 5e ritual spellcasting, and feats and abilities that grant it, is that there just aren't that many ritual spells available, and many that are available don't play very well as rituals or were allowed to have the ritual tag simply because they are not very useful or...

I'd really like to see an eggman like creature who is a Walrus Lycanthrope, cat people who somehow put out fires with gasoline, and whatever the hell an Aqualung is.

Well there's a lot of people who came into the hobby with 5e, struggled through learning that one system reasonably well, and just don't want to learn a new system (not unreasonable, people have lives and varying interest in learning ttrpg rules). I doubt many of them would personally know or...

Well, well, well, a celebrity in our midst!

In 5e Classic Eldritch Knights didn't get arcane foci of any kind, much less get to use their weapon as one. They used component pouches. Foci were a perk of being a full caster. I can't say if this was intentionally held over into New 5e, or an oversight. Honestly I don't even know or care to...

Yeah, I don't know. As I remember it, in the short stories there's a bit of "fantasy James Bond" vibe so far as his luck with the ladies goes. People seem to be drawn to him despite him being gruff and making little social effort. It feels more like he has a 20 in Charisma and is being played by...

The comical thing about anti-colonial backlash aimed at Thanksgiving is that the annual holiday in the United States was actually created to give thanks for the Union winning the Battle of Gettysburg (something I for one am still thankful for) and generally to promote the idea that the future...

A creature attuned to this writing desk immediately becomes fluent in 1d6 non-existent languages and gains an irresistible impulse to worldbuild. Any writing the attuned creature creates at the desk will eventually be published, no matter how trivial or incomplete.

Yep. It only worked for me because I often brought in battlemaps, sometimes even when there was no battle, which meant that I could provide the visual clue of having the gargoyles as "room decor" without actually saying "you see gargoyles" and that the players didn't immediately assume as soon...

One of my coolest encounters was gargoyles. I had mentioned that one of the temples in town had become so rich they covered their large dome in sheets of gold and the party decided to go up there and heist it. Amazingly nobody reacted to the many gargoyles on the battlemap, presumably because...

Well the one I think we need to raise awareness of is the Bonnacon: It is a cowardly bull-like creature who runs away from its enemies, but beware pursuers, for when chased it will spray its trail with fecal matter which has the power to burn you like like a sort of fire, and it can lay down...