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  1. Benjamin Olson

    D&D General The ph icon characters

    While I don't see much value in "iconic" characters, I guess I'm just not that into official established characters in D&D. My least favorite part of published adventures is how they always want to shoehorn in some character from some other published adventure nobody at my table has played or at...
  2. Benjamin Olson

    D&D 5E (2024) How excited are you for the 2 upcoming Forgotten Realms books?

    Only interested because of character options. I'm sure the books will be fine, and I like setting books in principle, but when I'm prepping for Forgotten Realms D&D I always end up just using the Forgotten Realms wiki and my own imagination, and I already have several books of Forgotten Realms...
  3. Benjamin Olson

    Ranking the Star Treks

    Sure. The context is that I was creating a hypothetical for the premise that even if it were perfect I'm done with paying a monthly fee to the Paramount Global / Skydance Media conglomerate after this season finishes, not proposing that perfection was actually achievable.
  4. Benjamin Olson

    Creating some form of address courtesy titles for lowest nobility, and question about addressing strangers of unknown rank

    Since prefacing names with "the Honorable", is the real world Anglosphere formal address for such people, I'd just come up with some variation on that that flowed off the tongue better as a title. "Honored", or such. Alternatively I'd just insist they always be called Mr./Miss by people of...
  5. Benjamin Olson

    Ranking the Star Treks

    I think I'd cautiously put Strange New Worlds on top, after considering how many middling episodes there really are in all the series made for broadcast television. I mean TNG is my nostalgic favorite and it barely has any good episodes until season 3. But Strange New Worlds could blossom into...
  6. Benjamin Olson

    D&D 5E (2024) Opinions on the Topaz Dragon Reverse Wings?

    I have nothing against impossible dragon physiology, but the number 1 rule for dragons is that they should look cool, and this just looks like an AI rendering mistake.
  7. Benjamin Olson

    TSR Example from the worst TSR adventure module(s) ever published

    I really like that, and needed a short forest encounter for my next session. The party recovering other people's lost memories seems like a great exposition or quest hook opportunity. Of course the AI dropped the ball by not having the tree preserve memories in amber.
  8. Benjamin Olson

    Purple Dragon Knight Retooled as Banneret in D&D's Heroes of Faerun Book

    Seems like a prime opportunity for some sort of Waterdeep Griffon Calvary themed subclass.
  9. Benjamin Olson

    D&D 5E (2024) Forgotten Realms book trailer

    Back in the day I traded a couple dual lands for a Shivan Dragon, a Royal Assassin, and I think another uncommon card or two, which was not a bad trade at the time (in terms of contemporary listed values I think I got the better side). A couple months back I learned that the dual lands are...
  10. Benjamin Olson

    Purple Dragon Knight Retooled as Banneret in D&D's Heroes of Faerun Book

    I guess I care more about the default setting being straightforward and accessible than being deep and meaningful, or not "juvenile" (whatever that means for this elf game that I've often played with literal children). Once again, to me the whole appeal of the Forgotten Realms is that it is a...
  11. Benjamin Olson

    D&D General Whom keeps the torches lit?

    Well in the Skyrim scenario the real question is how there is any treasure at all in all the little barrows that are within sight of settlements or roads, have insanely easy puzzles, low level enemies, and convenient shortcuts from the treasure back to the entrance. Does nobody else do anything...
  12. Benjamin Olson

    Purple Dragon Knight Retooled as Banneret in D&D's Heroes of Faerun Book

    I find it ironic (though of course unsurprising) that some people are so concerned about Forgotten Realms lore, when to me the whole reason I play in Forgotten Realms is that it is a kitchen sink fantasy setting with lots of lore but very little I or anyone I play with care about, such that it...
  13. Benjamin Olson

    Does Anyone Care? (Cosmere RPG)

    I'm just not that jazzed for any game setting known primarily through novels (or particularly sprawlingly long media franchises of other sorts). Aside from the wide disparities in lore knowledge most tables are likely to encounter, I also don't want to be corrected on lore by a superfan when I...
  14. Benjamin Olson

    WotC D&D branded game table

    I appreciate the modularity, but it all seems fussy to set up and probably not very durable. The basic form would probably make the most sense for someone who played lots of different games occasionally and wanted lots of set-up options, which makes it sort of a silly thing to give D&D specific...
  15. Benjamin Olson

    Replace AI art with real art and charge for it? Looking for advice.

    I'd rather buy a product with a coherent visual style representing a coherent vision even if it is (well-curated and edited) AI art than a random hodge-podge of whatever art an underfunded creator could assemble on a low budget. Which is to say in most cases I'd probably agree with the "replace...
  16. Benjamin Olson

    D&D General D&D Releases New Japanese Campaign 'Oni’s Right Hand'

    Hey I'm all for them using space to explain their thinking on the hybrid extermination or to, I don't know, just include half-elves and half-orcs! I just think the "Kermit and Miss Piggy's children all have the stats of either a frog or a pig" solution floated in playtest was so stupid and...
  17. Benjamin Olson

    D&D General D&D Releases New Japanese Campaign 'Oni’s Right Hand'

    Indeed, but then again when the level of rules support they are providing consists of "you can choose one parent's stats or the other's but make them look however you want" they are basically just giving a homebrewing tip so obvious it starts to be a waste of book real-estate.
  18. Benjamin Olson

    D&D General D&D Releases New Japanese Campaign 'Oni’s Right Hand'

    Well I don't know any Japanese, but the end of the video seemed to show covers of 2014 core books. Perhaps the Japanese localization of the 2024 rules is not out yet.
  19. Benjamin Olson

    D&D General Belts of Giant Strength?

    I dislike the 5e belts of giant strength (and some other comparable items) because instituting a fixed strength ends up making the PC's actual ability score irrelevant. Unlike the gauntlets of ogre power, which set it at 19, the various giant strength ones set strength to scores the character...
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