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I like the Batman riff. It feels appropriate to the Underdark, and being an enemy of your own parents is enough of a twist to make it more than a carbon copy.

For me, the important distinction is something I think of as "divergent evolutoin." Use the inspiration as a template, but then letting the personality diverge naturally through play. When you stick unswervingly to the inspiration, it can indeed get old.

With Last Airbender getting popular all over again, I find myself once again excited to play a kineticist. However, all my old self-consciousness about ripping off an existing character is creeping back on me. When you're running a PC inspired by pop culture, how do you make sure it's an...

Nice. I especially like the notion of adding this to the list of "manipulate object" options rather than taking your full turn. Optionally, they could be like pushes in that they could replace an extra attack during your attack routine. In my view, anything that can break out of the "full attack...

I feel like folks are getting hung up on the examples. :/ In this case, it was a drow ambush. We were trapped inside a cave by darkness / black tentacles, and the enemy casters were on the far side. The options were "hit low level mooks," "try your luck charging through the black tentacles,"...

This is more or less what I'm talking about. In this scenario, the "normal weapon attack" is ineffective. I've seen too many players throw up their hands in a "well I guess I can't do anything" sort of attitude and just delay their action. It's these cases where I think doing the...

For a lot of builds, there's ONE THING they want to do over and over again. Maybe it's eldritch blasting. Maybe it's laying down a full attack. If you're into making the hp go up instead of down, you might consider yourself a dedicated healer. But whatever that ONE THING is, I've seen entirely...

I think it's important to acknowledge that the drawback is real: It does strain credulity when you have a five minute conversation during a combat round or while buffs are ticking. It's just that it's worth the tradeoff.

“Guys,” I said out-of-character, “Our rounds-per-level spells are ticking. Should we maybe hurry and—” “Dude,” said the DM. “Rounds spent monologuing don’t count towards spell duration.” Has this mess ever happened to you? Have you ever "suspended time" while a villain or a hero breaks into a...

That's one that I struggle with personally. Especially if the group finds itself in the midst of a sessions-long arc that my guy doesn't have stakes in.... Pontificating at length can really draw the old "GET ON WITH IT" out of me. Weirdly though, I think that one is more on the GM than the...

Weirdly, I think the same can be said for a horror game. Asking players to tone it down for the sake of mood can make a big difference in achieving a sense of creeping dread. Nervous laughter is a tricky opponent to pin down, but enlisting the group's aid in maintaining a "horror atmosphere" has...

Heh. I actually have one about that issue. Comedy is one of the hardest things, because breaking the 4th wall can sometimes be the highlight of the evening. By the same token though, stepping on someone else's big dramatic moment for the pop culture reference is not so great. Is there better...

Under COVID, most of my games have moved to Roll20. We use Discord for voice, but there's also the text chat. And it's interesting to me how posting funny junk where everyone can see it seems to work better than doing the same in a face-to-face game with a personal device. In a weird way...

When it comes to "spotlight moments" for other players, the conversation usually boils down to "let them have their moment." I think that's a good start, but there's more to being a good audience than not upstaging your buddies. This applies to exploration and character interaction just as much...

Nice! Two follow-up questions. 1. What is this villain like that they would build a funhouse dungeon? Are they presented as sinister or silly? 2. What's in the dungeon? Asking for a friend. >_>

“You must never imagine, that just because something is funny, it is not also dangerous.” ― Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere There's something oddly sinister about this trope. I dig it. Cracking wise while doing actually evil things after being just-for-fun-silly seems like a solid turn, especially in...

Well now you've got me curious. What became of the gang leader? Did her comic overtones make her a redeemable villain, or did she get tossed onto the dead bad guy pile with the rest of 'em?

I think the concept of dynamics is interesting here. You set a baseline and then break it for additional effect. That might be the key in making the comedy work: it's exceptional when it does come up, so it doesn't have a chance to become played-out.

That's the issue in a nutshell. It seems like you can either let them get it out of their system and then steer the campaign towards a more serious tone (see also slappy), or you can just join the fun and go the Xykon route. Weighing the pros and cons of the approaches is where I'm at right now.

Dark Helmet from Spaceballs. Jesse and James from Pokemon. Some of the sillier incarnations of the Joker. There are plenty of comic antagonists in fiction, but I've never tried to use them in a game. I guess I worry that they might ruin the tone of heroic fantasy, breaking down the barrier...