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  1. Ralif Redhammer

    Missing players and other players running their PCs

    I can say that I've never seen a player take over another player's character in their absence. We generally just fade out that character and they rejoin when they show up. As far as what the threshold is for absent players and cancelling a session, I think it depends a bit on the system. Some...
  2. Ralif Redhammer

    D&D General Need Nightime Creature concept.

    Making one of the oozes only come out at night could be pretty creepy.
  3. Ralif Redhammer

    It's GM's Day! Tell us about your first GM!

    A definite point, that. I first read the OD&D books when the deluxe reprints came out. I have a strong doubt that I would've been able to make sense of OD&D at all without either someone to explain it to me or the years of gaming knowledge I came to it with. I did run a game of it a few years...
  4. Ralif Redhammer

    You're approached by a Hollywood exec...

    Yeah, as @billd91 pointed out, even doing that is fraught. It might be possible to pull it off, but there are so many landmines inherent in the character. As influential as Tarzan is, his time may have passed. I'd be down with another go at adapting Pellucidar. If I recall correctly, it would...
  5. Ralif Redhammer

    It's GM's Day! Tell us about your first GM!

    Energy drain was a beast back in the day. My experience was, yes, without a cleric, the best strategy was running away. The risk of losing a hard-earned level was just too much. Backstab was hard to pull off (in part made more difficult by the vagueness of the wording, and the difference in...
  6. Ralif Redhammer

    It's GM's Day! Tell us about your first GM!

    True enough. Thieves also had a bad time of it, with them being terrible at the things they were supposed to do in the beginning. And with poison being save or die, being terrible at finding and disarming traps was not great for life expectancy.
  7. Ralif Redhammer

    You're approached by a Hollywood exec...

    I quite like Monarch...until you said something, I didn't think of the Pellucidar connection, but yeah, it's totally got a bit of that in its DNA. There are definitely some inherently problematic elements of Tarzan. Not sure what Sony is thinking on their approach, but we shall see (if the...
  8. Ralif Redhammer

    Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks Is Talking About AI in D&D Again

    I want AI to help me with drudgery. When I can't figure out why my code at work isn't working, asking AI for help is a whole lot faster than spending 30 minutes combing Stack Overflow for the answer to that question. I do not want AI to replace my creative efforts. Those are a joy, and one of...
  9. Ralif Redhammer

    You're approached by a Hollywood exec...

    Tarzan has, until relatively recently, been cyclical in the public eye. Apparently Sony now has the rights and is planning on having another go at the character. Like John Carter, Tarzan's stories influenced more than just genre fiction. Will ERB's stories have their time in the sun again...
  10. Ralif Redhammer

    White Dwarf Reflections #9

    Looking up her art, she's done a bunch of cool illustrations. She gives me a bit of a Virgil Findley / Sidney Sime vibe.
  11. Ralif Redhammer

    D&D General No One Reads Conan Now -- So What Are They Reading?

    I really enjoyed Nine Goblins and Minor Mage. Both are very, very charming.
  12. Ralif Redhammer

    White Dwarf Reflections #9

    Thanks! Still heckin' creepy.
  13. Ralif Redhammer

    D&D General No One Reads Conan Now -- So What Are They Reading?

    I've loved all the T. Kingfisher stuff I've read, and have enjoyed Sarah J. Maas' books (my wife loves the Court of Thorns and Roses). LitRPG won't necessarily kill the fantasy genre, but I could see too much of it making the genre less respected as a whole.
  14. Ralif Redhammer

    D&D General No One Reads Conan Now -- So What Are They Reading?

    I think in getting older, we can find our tastes crystallizing, oftentimes towards the stuff of yore. Which, if a person wants to just read old stuff, fine. But I would say that it is a deep mistake when "I like older stuff" slides into "new books are garbage." It's okay to have preferences, but...
  15. Ralif Redhammer

    What are you reading in 2025?

    How the Malazan Book of the Fallen series connects and weaves so many threads together impressed the heck out of me. It struggled a little bit towards the end, but still managed to thread the needle. The elder peoples of its world all mostly in decline or trapped away, were very well-written...
  16. Ralif Redhammer

    It's GM's Day! Tell us about your first GM!

    Playing a first level magic-user back in the day was rough. It was a real trial by fire to get out of those low levels. The "max HP at 1st level" concept is a good one, one I didn't come to until it was codified in the rules of 3e. But I also didn't make anyone start off with a character with 1...
  17. Ralif Redhammer

    D&D General No One Reads Conan Now -- So What Are They Reading?

    So by that standard, Conan's stories are adventure novels with a fantasy background, The Lies of Locke Lamora is a heist novel with a fantasy background, The Black Company is a war series with a fantasy background. Genre has ever been a fluid thing. Now, there is a ton of shovelware romantic...
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