Li Shenron
Legend
I stand corrected because I said long ago that I really didn't get the point of watching series with a group of other people playing D&D, that it seemed dumb when I could spend that time running and playing D&D myself... probably I was just watching the wrong shows (which I still cannot stand nowadays as I find their participants largely irritating - no point to mention which shows, you can guess which ones they are), but eventually I found myself watching the first Viva la Dirt League campaign until the end and having fun doing so! I wasn't even a fan of their comedic sketches to be honest, but somehow combining playing D&D with the occasional sketches (not all of which are great) made it work for me somehow. The rest of the family was already watching it, so I started because I had no choice, and deciding to watch it only while having dinner got rid of the feeling that I would better spend the time playing (or preparing my next DMing session) because well... I can't do that while making or eating dinner anyway!
So congrats to the VLDL cast to win me over the genre, and for giving me a proof to share about how the game is ABSOLUTELY PLAYABLE despite all the attempts of people online trying to prove it isn't due to its multiple unreedemable flaws. In fact at VLDL they largely play 5e as it is, with only a small number of house rules, but (with the exception of a couple of spells being boosted to make them stronger) none of the house rules is there really to "fix" something perceived as wrong, but just to increase their fun.
I've taken some of these ideas and have already used in my games since the beginning of this year:
1) DMing standing up: this is not even a house rule, but why haven't I thought about it before? I've always been DMing sitting at the end of the table, but standing up has several subtle benefits... I can see better and the players can see and hear me better as well, I can move more quickly around the table if needed and operate the map more easily. Most importantly, I stand above the players which grants me more authoritativeness!
2) "Describe the kill": the player of the PC who deals the killing blow gets to describe it as they wish (just narratively, no mechanical consequences), because why do I always have to do all the jobs?
3) Stretch rolls: sometimes an action falls just a little short... why not granting occasionally an extra chance to making it, if the player accepts the risk of a drawback? Most often, in VLDL they used this when someone's movement was just 5ft too short to reach melee, with an option to roll an Acrobatic check to make it but becoming prone if you fail.
4) Travel checks: to make travel interesting but also relatively quick, in VLDL they rolls on a small table to determine one travel complication per PC (such as "weather" or "food shortage", but "nothing" is also an option), then the DM comes up with the specifics and the player is asked how their PC will try to deal with the challenge, and finally the DM asks for an appropriate roll (for example, the table roll results in "terrain obstacle", the DM decides that since this travel is through a forest this might be a fallen tree blocking the road for their carriage, and the Fighter PC chooses to just deal with it by strength and attempts to clear the way, so the DM asks for an Athletic check; had it been up to the Druid PC maybe she would have tried to call animals to help and the check would have been a Nature check instead); advantage or disadvantage may be granted if the idea is particularly nice or otherwise boring or weak; each PC gets a challenge, and if less than half the party succeeds, they all suffer a point of exhaustion.
There are other house rules I haven't taken but I am sure other DMs would appreciate, such as critical hits being max damage + a second set of dice rolled (instead of just doubling all dice), or healing potions being drinkable either as a bonus action (for normal effects) or as a full action (for max effects) at player's choice. Thanks for DM Robert Hartley and the rest of the VLDL team for inspiration!
So congrats to the VLDL cast to win me over the genre, and for giving me a proof to share about how the game is ABSOLUTELY PLAYABLE despite all the attempts of people online trying to prove it isn't due to its multiple unreedemable flaws. In fact at VLDL they largely play 5e as it is, with only a small number of house rules, but (with the exception of a couple of spells being boosted to make them stronger) none of the house rules is there really to "fix" something perceived as wrong, but just to increase their fun.
I've taken some of these ideas and have already used in my games since the beginning of this year:
1) DMing standing up: this is not even a house rule, but why haven't I thought about it before? I've always been DMing sitting at the end of the table, but standing up has several subtle benefits... I can see better and the players can see and hear me better as well, I can move more quickly around the table if needed and operate the map more easily. Most importantly, I stand above the players which grants me more authoritativeness!
2) "Describe the kill": the player of the PC who deals the killing blow gets to describe it as they wish (just narratively, no mechanical consequences), because why do I always have to do all the jobs?
3) Stretch rolls: sometimes an action falls just a little short... why not granting occasionally an extra chance to making it, if the player accepts the risk of a drawback? Most often, in VLDL they used this when someone's movement was just 5ft too short to reach melee, with an option to roll an Acrobatic check to make it but becoming prone if you fail.
4) Travel checks: to make travel interesting but also relatively quick, in VLDL they rolls on a small table to determine one travel complication per PC (such as "weather" or "food shortage", but "nothing" is also an option), then the DM comes up with the specifics and the player is asked how their PC will try to deal with the challenge, and finally the DM asks for an appropriate roll (for example, the table roll results in "terrain obstacle", the DM decides that since this travel is through a forest this might be a fallen tree blocking the road for their carriage, and the Fighter PC chooses to just deal with it by strength and attempts to clear the way, so the DM asks for an Athletic check; had it been up to the Druid PC maybe she would have tried to call animals to help and the check would have been a Nature check instead); advantage or disadvantage may be granted if the idea is particularly nice or otherwise boring or weak; each PC gets a challenge, and if less than half the party succeeds, they all suffer a point of exhaustion.
There are other house rules I haven't taken but I am sure other DMs would appreciate, such as critical hits being max damage + a second set of dice rolled (instead of just doubling all dice), or healing potions being drinkable either as a bonus action (for normal effects) or as a full action (for max effects) at player's choice. Thanks for DM Robert Hartley and the rest of the VLDL team for inspiration!
