Recent content by haakon1

For Downton Abbey, I imagined Evelyn Napier was a spy. Based on his cagey answers about what he did in the Great War - something about being in Navy offices in London, yet someone else mentioned he was wounded in action - along the lines of Ian Fleming and his fictional creation James Bond...

Not until now with your link. From a quick read, I think I agree with and already do most of it. I agree with the concept that PC actions x with prepared materials x dice rolls is the way to go as a DM. I also agree that illusion of choice (“one of these doors has a demon behind it, ooh, you...

B2 is the first thing I played, but B3 is the first thing that I didn’t write that I DM’d. Good stuff.

I think we may agree, if what you’re saying is the method of determining whether you run into trouble when “gambling”, or run out of ammo, should not be DM fiat. Predetermined encounters or random determination are both OK. But the DM saying “haha, the archer is out of ammo” or “you decide to...

I missed that. My bad. My bad. I focused on the “I think ration counting sucks” theme, rather than the WHY do you think that question. Agree. I think what you said in the original post was close to answering your own question. Namely, it can be tedious and accounting-like. Most folks...

Yup. There are many scenarios where guessing right or wrong what and how much you carry can be interesting. I haven’t seen this particular scenario. But trapped or lost or under siege without possibility of resupply, I have seen as a player and used as a DM. As D&D becomes more its own...

Make it a plus thread if you want no one to disagree with you.

Disagree on 5e. Agree on whatever is your favorite should work.

Seems like everyone on the thread so far agrees logistics don’t matter. I disagree with that. Why? I think D&D should still show its wargaming roots. And the maxim comes to mitt mind: amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics. In a campaign where food, arrows, torches, tents, and...

AD&D (1e), 3e, or 3.5e. All were built for dungeons.

I’ve seen it. Environmental encounters - storm comes up in a mountain pass, Air Node is cold and windy - are things I throw at my players every once in a while. That’s talking Leomund’s Tiny Hut and Leomund’s Secure Shelter in AD&D and 3x. Not sure if it’s something different in 5e.

My world isn’t scaled to player character levels. Partially because I usually have two parties going in the same world, but also because I’ve used the same setting (my lived in version of Greyhawk) for many campaigns with many players. I like the continuity, where retired PC’s become NPC’s fir...

I’ve run it for one player. How is it for a group?

The one time we got to truly high level characters (20-21st level) was in AD&D, when we did all of G123D123Q1 without leveling up, because our DM’s rule was you could only level up in a safe space with time and resources available. Jumping from like 11th to 21st and then retiring isn’t so bad...

Sneaking in and placing barrels - smoke powder, fire wine, oil, or water - to enhance your spells once the fight starts.