Search results

  1. K

    D&D 5E (2024) Bastions in the 2024 DMs Guide

    See, I feel 5E notably is less godlike than 1e. Let's take a common fireball target: the troll. A 1e & 2e troll was 33hp (hd6+6), 3e was 68hp (6d8+36) and a 5e troll is 84hp (8d10 + 40). A 1e fireball from a 5th level caster is 33hp so ~50% of a troll's hp, A 5e fireball 28hp is 33%. A 5th...
  2. K

    D&D 5E (2024) Bastions in the 2024 DMs Guide

    I have always liked property as rewards. I mean, if heroes are in a town, something bad likely happened and there are some empty homes. Odds are, they will dump some coin into making it nicer and, as a lord/mayor, if you can get the heroes to be around it may deter some BBEGs from showing up...
  3. K

    D&D General When and where did the idea of Ranger as "wilderness rogue" start?

    This is a huge part of it. Between most campaigns being short lived and even long running ones having some lag due to dual/multiclassing, there's not a ton of tables who saw spell casting rangers. And even when they did the spells were rarely memorable. To me, Ranger would be a good choice for...
  4. K

    What towns have you fleshed out?

    I ...uhh... made a 65 page Shadowrun write up for Louisville and...I don't run shadowrun games...
  5. K

    TSR How Did I Survive AD&D? Fudging and Railroads, Apparently

    Is it all the players who did this or just your friend? If it's just your friend, this becomes part of a "you had to be there" kind of situation and those other people may have a completely different take. Which isn't to say don't run it, but get an email list for the rest of the players...
  6. K

    D&D General To Prep or Not to Prep - A Players Perspective

    No one knows whats going to happen when the players are present. Did the players stop the fights? Maybe they kill Tybalt themselves. Or Paris. Or Romeo. Are the players here because one of them is Paris and had no idea anyone was planning on marrying him off? Is there a player who likes...
  7. K

    D&D General To Prep or Not to Prep - A Players Perspective

    Depends on the scenario. Is it a Romeo & Juliet? Then the only thing I know will happen is there is a ball, the kids meet & fall in love, and everyone else is gonna get mondo upset. The Capulets want Juliet married & the Montagues to burn; the Montagues want the Capulets to suck it but dont...
  8. K

    D&D General To Prep or Not to Prep - A Players Perspective

    As a GM, I find the social/intrigue work better with the least prep. If I try to plan out a lot of things, they are doomed fail (or I might try to force it, which has never gone well). Stick with a short list of motivations and resources for the major players and then wing it based on the...
  9. K

    Worlds of Design: Why Buy Adventures?

    Nah, I didn't. They had found a magic item (wand of wonder, I think) and had created a hige ruckus in a forest. Noises and a huge smoke cloud I think. I decided yep, somethings gonna show up, flipped through MM, picked out troglodytes and had a war band show up. Figured it would be a nice...
  10. K

    Worlds of Design: Why Buy Adventures?

    Oh man, I wish that were true. I'd say at least 30% of material is come up with at the table and that is often far more important than the other 70%. The enemy they decided to deal rather than fight, the place they went to without warning, which random npc they decide to "adopt", plus the...
  11. K

    Worlds of Design: Why Buy Adventures?

    Ugh, that blows. Our group tends to announce supplements being used so the compulsive game buyer doesn't buy it or the two or three of us who have a humble-bundle addiction can avoid reading it if it comes in a set.
  12. K

    Level Up (A5E) Followers Best Practices?

    You may be using them as intended. "...followers never participate directly in encounters. They fade into the background and come to the fore occasionally when their particular skill is needed. ..." Followers are always in that rough zone of needing to not be stars but also not forgotten. Not...
  13. K

    Worlds of Design: Why Buy Adventures?

    This. I hate adventure paths because player deviation (and gm improvisation) creates too much work later. And I hate forcing adherence to rails for more than 2 or 3 sessions. Rails are fine for short stretches but over the course of a year or more they leech out the fun. However I will...
  14. K

    Embracing AI in TTRPGs - Enhancing, Not Replacing, Creativity

    As a person with minimal artistic ability, if there was an art AI that was trained exclusively on out-of-copyright material I would use it for personal projects. But it doesn't exist because curation requires effort and no one wants to do that work when they can scrape the whole internet and...
  15. K

    D&D 5E (2024) D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide (2024)

    Henchmen occupy all of page 151 and half of page 152 In my copy of the 2e dmg. Several paragraphs of it is a conversation where a player has their henchman volunteer to be a troll's dinner. The 2e phb says "Henchmen can come from any source. Most often they are at first mere hirelings or...
  16. K

    D&D 5E (2024) D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide (2024)

    Do you remember the 2e henchmen rules? Because I do. There were no rules. It was a page of "at some point, a hireling will probably become a buddy. How? You figure it out. When? When somebody feels ready. Just make sure they are a few levels behind. Make 2 character sheets for them, give...
  17. K

    D&D 5E (2024) D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide (2024)

    Hirelings are in the PHB, Equipment chapter, Services heading, same as in 2014.
  18. K

    D&D General Stuff 5E Did Right

    I suspect the magical spy potion brewery and the teleporter will be dropped. It will be the libraries, gardeners, zoos and whatnot that can periodically produce minor consumable items, provide a mechanism for acquiring magic items, or act as a way for GMs to drop hints about plots.
  19. K

    D&D General Stuff 5E Did Right

    If you took 3e Leadership at 6th level then yeah, you only got a few followers unless you were a bard or sorcerer with high charisma. You get to 2e's 9th level, have at least a house, a bit of reputation and some charisma and you should have 2 dozen followers (the charismatic types will have 3...
  20. K

    D&D General Stuff 5E Did Right

    It was a mix of opt in and controlled by the DM. Most of the rules were in the DMG, and probably for good reason. it's not something all players or DMs want to deal with. Over 15 years of 1e and 2e gaming, I had never been in a game with strongholds or followers. Well, that might be a fib. I...
Top