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On a side note, this statement also leans more into the railroad for many players. So now, the players are just acting on impulses you provide (not them), and they have to appease and succeed whatever veiled solution (that you don't even have) in order to get out. If you had specific ideas in...

A fun encounter in my opinion. But that's good. Because dice are swingy. It is a good litmus test.

Yeah, that seems like it might work. I don't know the environment or character abilities or the players' tactical knowledge, so it is hard to say. But, I know any group of five at that I've run wouldn't find this encounter too difficult. Again, there are variables.

Then I can see why a few players might find it railroading. Again, I do not agree with their take. And personally, I like the concept behind the adventure you set up. But listening to posters on EnWorld, I can see quite a few who would think of this as railroading. All players are different...

Nice. I was just curious, because it goes against the conventional norm of character creation these days. Are these characters you're stuck with for a long time?

Perhaps trying 1-2 combat encounters per long rest? That way, the party's not going to be in too much danger, but you can stretch and flex your creative impulses.

I know I am in the minority here, but it is railroading IF you as a DM didn't set up a reason as to why and how all the exit points are blocked. And by that, I mean, if this was something that just kind of appeared out of nowhere, without interconnecting threads ting the big-bad in your climax...

I am curious: Who is still doing ordered placement?

I actually just got done reading Draw Steel!'s advice on encounter building, and I think they summed it up nicely for any D&D style RPG. It read something like (not verbatim): It's not science. There are too many variables to create encounters using any system design. Too many monsters. Too...

I understand. But a skill check is the same thing as an attack with a sword. It's all the same. One uses dex and proficiency, and the other uses dex/strength and proficiency. Combat just has one little extra step, damage. The overall way you determine success is the same. Add up the numbers and...

To answer this question, I think it would take a very deep dive into a lot of different mythos and stories. It seems a lot more reciprocal to me, ideas flowing back and forth, alternating slightly, and then being put back out into the zeitgeist.

I 100% agree. Combat is a lot more granular. I just mean, that in the big picture, it is all the same. Disarming a trap vs convincing a shopkeeper to lower the price vs swinging a sword. There is a bunch more variables in some as opposed to others, but it still resolves the same way. As I said...

I actually think that is one of the beauties of D&D and PF, all three modes can use the same rules. Yes, there are subtle shifts, but not really. Whether in combat or exploration or role playing, you are still having to roll to determine some outcomes. The turn based is a little more rigid...

I have not run astral travel in D&D 5e. Back in 2nd edition we ran it, and we had built a time graphic/chart that all of us agreed to beforehand. It had time in other places go by at different rates, and sometimes, we aged at different rates too. It is why my human fighter had to retire - he was...

Oh good lord, now this thread is going to break down by not being able to define what "creative" or "young/old" is! In the words of Charlie Brown, "Good grief!" (If any wants, we can also argue about what Charlie Brown actually meant when he used that phrase. ;)

I 100% agree.

We finished a year-long campaign using Infinite Staircase about four months ago. The entire table, all seven players, and the DM found it fun. That said, our DM did do a lot of work. He altered the "homebase" and gave it a lot of interesting NPCs that interacted with our backstories/interests...

The last campaign I ran (D&D 5e), I kept track of time through seasons. At the end of each section, I had them focus on long term goals and then used a random table chart to show what happened during the month or two of downtime. This also allowed me as a DM to move time forward. A typical chart...

I went MtG. I think with some of the more well known voices gone from the company, the higher ups in Hasbro will insist they know better than the creatives in the company. So they will try to do something that maximizes crossover. They'll use words like synergy and cross-pollination. But what...