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It’s from Thor. Dr. Selvig and Jane discuss it. It’s the Rainbow Bridge/Bifrost.

I mean…I don’t like Dark Souls but I like Elden Ring. DS was too hard with no other options than to move down the predetermined path and bash your head against the wall until you win. Elden Ring has the same difficulty but you have options and can control the engagement far more, or choose to go...

Got to enroll in a Dragonbane game! Met Monte Cook, Sean Reynolds, and Bruce Cordell and got them to sign my Ptolus DM screen

Very true, there are an overwhelming amount of options. I think there’s a sense of trust out there, likely at least for newer DMs, that WotC’s guidelines are rules are the one true way to play, and would more readily follow those and believe they’re the “right” way to play without altering them...

Is it so bad to hope and want for the designers to provide variant rules for different levels of challenge? Different encounter building guidelines for different types of players? Additional combat rule variants for each of those? This isn’t an earth shattering request, and it’s what NEXT sounds...

Cool, wonder what he’ll be doing next.

It wouldn’t be a con without con funk. Let’s see if we can pass our CON save.

If anything I’ll be there on Thursday (maybe Sunday’s possible…) - I hope there’s as much going on that day.

Not at all, but it can and does come to the detriment of DMs due to missing the potential of a fleshed-out game. The default play style has changed, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting it to be better/different or at least provided with solid variant rules to tailor it to different desires...

How does it compare to Gencon? I went to that pre-COVID, but it’s never as RPG-centric as I’d like (though there’s still a lot). Is it still fun if I’m not able to sign up for any games?

The problem is that players will always outnumber DMs if it’s a popularity vote for rules, and given the opportunity, will optimize the fun out of the game. People, and consumers, are notoriously unreliable at presenting fixes to things they see as problems.

Is something special occurring, or just because of the 50th anniversary?

I’m considering going - I’ve never been before, and I won’t have as much free time in the coming years where I’m confident I’ll be able to go again anytime soon.

I agree as well. I’m not in it to play nor DM an arcade game of D&D; I want it to feel and be as real as possible for my players, with all the highs and lows that comes with.

I absolutely agree…my wallet is sobbing today. I’m debating cancelling some of them.

If you like the GM Fantasy Toolkit, I saw that Roll & Play just dropped a new Kickstarter today (I backed it).

Oh, in 2e, yes, but my comment was directed at the 2014 DMG as I’m not aware of any alternate death rules there. I’m thinking I’ll just do a “stand and fight” kind of death now and have them make death saves while still fighting. Any hits taken could seriously impact their chances of survival.

Alright, so I’ve been noodling around running Ptolus as a new 5e game (it’s been a few years since I ran it), or running Dungeons of Drakkenheim. I own both books, but Ptolus is a hefty chonker and I’ve barely gotten through the first chapter. What makes it so compelling?

It slows them down, but it doesn't change encounter balance by much (some buff to short-rest characters aside). It's not like now they'll be getting 6-8 encounters per day but only able to long rest once per week. My players like a roleplay, slow burn kind of game, but again, the perception of a...

I think if WotC presented a higher difficulty as a default, those players wouldn't necessarily know any better. But since the difficulty is lowered by default, altering from the baseline is frowned upon.