Recent content by Koloth

Some players just don't have much self initiative. Kind of like real life. Some may benefit from standing game life requirements like monthly taxes/rent/upkeep on the thing to overthrow the enemy. The Bard* has to spend X hours per Y days performing to earn enough. The Rogue* has to 'earn'...

In early D&D, I played several Hobbit/halfling thieves and fighter/thieves. Early 80's college. Most folks wanted to play either Conan the Mighty or Gandalf Spell Flinger. The small thief, even though type cast, filled a needed purpose in the party. Plus inspiration from Bilbo. Finding a...

I found the illustrations in the AD&D(1e) books to be some of the best in book artwork of the game's run. Most were on point, educational (sometimes in a humorous way) and didn't take up a whole page. Sure, a full page color image is often cool, but many are just there and don't really tie in...

Keep in mind that NPC opponents should get the same advantages against the PCs. This will make attacking the goblins in their home lair a much more dangerous affair. The goblins know about all the dead ends, the location of traps, and the very special pets. Also very possible that goblin...

Depends. If the party is some variation of 'in town', it is fairly easy to just assume the missing character(s) are sleeping it off or studying or similar. The rest of us go do interesting stuff. If party is already in a scenario, we either ghost the character(s) or someone runs them. Or we...

Some VTTs allow the player to roll hidden where only the GM sees the result. Or both the GM and player but not the rest of the party. For an at the table answer, use a dice tower where the player drops the dice into the tower but the output tray is GM view only.

One thing to keep in mind with group checks is how many characters can reasonably attempt the task at the same time. For opening a stuck/locked/etc door, the limit may be how many can fit next to the door. For many doors(think the standard modern house/apt front door), 1 or 2 may be the max...

Which post? Not seeing a mention of no game wanted posting board. At least not in this thread. But anyway, if your local game stores are D&D only, time to try elsewhere. There are a LOT of folks playing games other then D&D. Seems this forum has a Gamers seeking Gamers section. I know that...

As I mentioned in my post, wasn't sure about books. But websites are a different matter. Whether ADA proper or follow on legislation, websites are covered to some extent. When I worked for a US state agency, website accessibility was one of the things we in IT had to consider. Article with...

On one hand, count yourself lucky that you have FOUR! game stores nearby. There is one here and it is a 60 mile round trip away. The next nearest is a 100 mile round trip. But I don't get the game store attitude of D&D only. The one here is pretty much play what you want during open gaming...

The already mentioned Monopoly. Card game of Spades, every group has its own set of house rules. A lot of current RPGs are ran as an almost constant combat but with minimal real risk of character death. It seems that we just go through the motions. What ever happened to the social side of...

Have you sent your request to the game publishers? In the US, there is the Americans with Disabilities Act. Businesses have to accommodate folks with disabilities to some extent. Poor vision is one of those things. This includes websites but is often mostly ignored. Maybe you can get...

You joined the game to help your friend deal with a divorce and be a GM. Sounds like mission accomplished. You were unemployed at the time and presumably had time to burn. You don't now. IMO - time to call it and leave the game. Emphasize your new job hours and current lack of sleep...

For extra excitement, the ringing artifact bell attracts the interest of <something> that shows up wondering who is ringing its bell. Might give you a way to remove the artifact from play assuming the party succeeds in capturing the spirit back into the vessel. Or trade for something useful in...

Bourne - Plot Twist - Bring Matt Damon(Jason Bourne) back as the leader of <program name here>. After all, Bourne has a lot of knowledge about how the thing can go wrong. Maybe the direction change is trying to do the program in a good way but things still go wrong. Would allow a new actor to...