Search results

  1. Lanefan

    D&D General Highest level PC you've achieved.

    Pardon the terrible pun, but that would be a messy poll as you'd have to list each level by each edition. 15th level in 4e ain't the same as 15th level in 1e.
  2. Lanefan

    D&D General XP: How Do You Like To Earn It?

    The big thing milestone xp doesn't do is reward individual characters for what they do and-or not reward them for what they don't do. Everyone gets the same reward at the same time, which (unintentionally, I hope!) encourages a mindset - particularly in a larger party - of letting others take...
  3. Lanefan

    D&D General XP: How Do You Like To Earn It?

    Are you talking as a player or DM here? If yes, does this mean as a player you count the number of encouters your character has had this level? The thread is asking your xp preference as a player.
  4. Lanefan

    Best practices for easy-to-run modules [+]

    Anything I do is still done as if being printed on paper, usually 8.5x11 or close. Similar to the classic adventures, I'll put as many area write-ups on a page as happen to fit. The map is detached so you can always see how an area or room relates to the others around it; your thumbnail idea...
  5. Lanefan

    Natural 20/1 Crit fails and Crit successes, How do you handle them?

    Crits and fumbles are fine in principle. In practice, however, having each occur 5% of the time is too frequent meaning confirm rolls of some sort are needed. I do like the idea that the worst roll you can do always fails (in D&D, a nat 1) and the best roll you can do (in D&D, a nat 20) always...
  6. Lanefan

    Best practices for easy-to-run modules [+]

    Too much white space for my liking (to me white space = wasted space) but I really like having the thumbnail map at the top corner of each page. Brilliant idea.
  7. Lanefan

    Best practices for easy-to-run modules [+]

    To a point this is fine, but the obvious risk is crossing the line into advising the GM to lead the players by the nose such that the situation or scenario works as intended. And far too many GMs by default need the opposite advice! To the thread topic: while writing a module as a hard...
  8. Lanefan

    Best practices for easy-to-run modules [+]

    Huh. I've got some modules here that are worth a fair bit of money (relative to their purchase cost) these days in part because I didn't write in them when I ran them. I also unknowingly at the time cost myself somewhat dearly by writing in some modules that turned out later to be worth a fair...
  9. Lanefan

    Best practices for easy-to-run modules [+]

    So, disposable rather than collectable?
  10. Lanefan

    Best practices for easy-to-run modules [+]

    Hard, hard no. If I'm paying for a printed module I don't expect to then have to pay again to print or photocopy it, thank you very much. Again, hard no. If you make a module easy to run from a book (i.e. minimize page flipping because everything you need right now is right there) you're also...
  11. Lanefan

    Best practices for easy-to-run modules [+]

    This is a flaw in a lot of modules - they don't deal with any of the obvious "what if"s. The classic example of this: pretty much any D&D module intended for PCs of 5th level or higher never goes into any detail about how to handle PCs who approach from the air, even though Fly is a 3rd-level...
  12. Lanefan

    Modules: Made to Read vs Made to Run?

    Which is fine for a big outfit like WotC but doesn't do much for a DM banging away in his kitchen at home, which is what I thought this was about.
  13. Lanefan

    D&D General Mike Mearls says control spells are ruining 5th Edition

    Ah, but if one does what D&D has for some inexplicable reason failed to do ever since day one and make casters roll to aim their AoE spells, ray spells, and any other spells that aren't on self or by touch, then... :) This time, yes. In the past I've seen casters die outright due to fumbling...
  14. Lanefan

    D&D 5E (2024) GMs: How long should it usually take to go from level 1 to 4?

    Indeed, though it seems people's results vary on this. I'm with you, in that IME playing online is way slower and less efficient than playing in person. But others have recently posted that their online play is in fact more efficient than in-person play, so :🤷: .
  15. Lanefan

    D&D 5E (2024) GMs: How long should it usually take to go from level 1 to 4?

    Were I running it I'd want - and expect, going in - the campaign to have a potential lifespan of ten years or more, played weekly (i.e. about 45 sessions a year allowing for the odd one getting missed). Also assumed and expected would be some player turnover during that time, as well as...
  16. Lanefan

    D&D General Mike Mearls says control spells are ruining 5th Edition

    Ah, OK. Depends. Are you merely getting the same aggregate number of attacks in fewer rounds (i.e. going through the same total number of bullets each day)? If the weapons they're using are unreliable enough to misfire on average once per 20 shots taken, then yes. The argument is valid from...
  17. Lanefan

    D&D General Mike Mearls says control spells are ruining 5th Edition

    Why are you assuming fumbling only applies to martials? Casters should be able to fumble or mess up their spells as well.
  18. Lanefan

    D&D 5E (2024) GMs: How long should it usually take to go from level 1 to 4?

    Did not vote as I don't run 5e (or 5.5); were I to, I'd tweak it such that each level took numerous sessions to achieve in order to spin the campaign out longer. I'd be unpleasantly surprised if we got through 4th in the first year of the campaign (i.e. 45-ish sessions).
  19. Lanefan

    D&D General Highest level PC you've achieved.

    As player: From raw 1st and adventured all the way through? 11th, over a 6-year career in a 3e game (the level-advancement speed was intentionally slowed down greatly by the DM in order to make the campaign run longer). Any character? 13th, in a 1e-adjacent game. Started in late 2011 at 6th...
  20. Lanefan

    Best practices for easy-to-run modules [+]

    I should probably note that all my views above assume the module is printed on actual paper and sold as such.
Top