D&D General JMISBEST's questions. Most of them about campaign ideas that either he or A GM he knows has and wants to know what people think

[CreamCloud0]

I have a question about a 2-part habit I had when I was A GM and as I'm thinking about becoming A GM once again I need to know, should I get out of this 2-part habit

The 1st part habit is that when my players create theirs characters I always ask those players whose characters knows 1 or more extra languages if I can choose the extra language or languages they know, but I only do this to ensure they have access to languages that I know will be useful

For example in every 1st edition Dnd Campaign I've GM'd their are 10 monster types that have appeared in all of them, hence I try to ensure they know as many of those 10 languages as possible

The 2nd habit is that when the player that has the magic user reach's certain levels I ask the players whose playing The Magic User if I can choose his characters Spell or Spells but I only do that to ensure that his or her character has A Spell that I know will be useful in a upcoming adventure

Here are a few spoiler free examples of me choosing A Spell that I know will be useful in a upcoming adventure and to those that are wondering? yes the 4 adventures I've mentioned are the only 1's I've used in every 1st edition Dnd Campaign I've ran

At 4th level its Darkness 15 ft radius in preparation for Sethotep

At 6th level its Dispel Magic in preparation for Shedu's Hall

At 7th level its Fear in preparation for The levels 7 to 9 version of The Mound in The Ring

At 9th level its Monster Summoning III in preparation for The levels 9 to 11 version of The Marsh Idol

To those that are wondering both The Marsh Idol and The Mound in The Ring were 2 of 3 adventures from A Old Roleplay Magazine that could accommodate a wide range of player character levels, with the higher the characters levels the tougher the foes but at the same time as the levels got higher the loot greatly increased

yeah no, in the way you're describing this i would definitely say don't do this, mostly for the fact that by basically telling and giving them solutions to problems they haven't yet encountered, it ruins the fun and satisfaction of the players working it out themselves and of having thought to take it in the first place.

on languages i would give them a shortlist of the 'potentially useful' languages that includes all the common ones and/or a list of the 'explicitly unused' languages in your world that trims out the choices that definitely won't turn up.

for spells make them available in story, not directly in their path but findable if they look around a bit, spell scrolls or wands/casting items in the shop alongside a few others that aren't nesaccary (so it isn't just the one spell they need), maybe there's a local NPC adventurer they can hire who has limited spellcasting and it's one of their few spells.

but the bottom line is this: you should never be telling your PCs that they will need 'X thing' to solve a problem if it doesn't have a fixed solution (and that doesn't mean you shouldn't be letting them figure out some of those themselves), you must let yourself accept that sometimes the players will simply miss the 'solution' to some problems or maybe even never had the tools to solve them that way in the first place, and the old saying, if the players aren't allowed to fail then they shouldn't even be rolling in the first place.

 

[Reef]

And besides, having the players come up with insane, completely off-the-wall solutions to problems they don’t have the tools to solve normally is one of the best parts of the game (for the DM and the players).

In my humble opinion, of course.

 

[General_Tangent]

I've just realized something, my copy of the 1st edition Advanced Dnd Rulebook says you can't cast 7th level spells until you reach 14th level rather then 13th level like every other edition of Dnd. Is that true? or is that a error in my copy of the 1st edition Advanced Dnd Rulebook

Out of curiosity I found my 6th printing January 1980 PHB from the box in the loft and the table does match with your findings; you need to be a 14th level Mage to cast 7th level spells.

The 14th level requirement also seems to carry over to AD&D 2E as well.

 

[JMISBEST]

I had A Dnd Dream last night and I have a question about it

The Campaign was basically A Dnd Version of The war between England and Spain during The 17th Century and The Pcs were the Captain and 4 most Senior Officers on A English Privateer Ship

On The 25/7/1,648 they captured 1 of the richest prizes A English Ship had ever caught, so they set sail for A English Port and reached 1 of The 11/8/1,648

The thing is that the war ended on The 5/8/1.648, which means that attacks on Spanish Ships would count as piracy and The Pcs were worried that they'd be hung for piracy

So what I want to know is is the fact that even though The Pcs captured The Spanish Ship 10 days before the war ended is the fact that they didn't get it to A English Port, where they could claim the prize, until 6 days after the war ended enough to get them hung for piracy

 

[Zardnaar]

I had A Dnd Dream last night and I have a question about it

The Campaign was basically A Dnd Version of The war between England and Spain during The 17th Century and The Pcs were the Captain and 4 most Senior Officers on A English Privateer Ship

On The 25/7/1,648 they captured 1 of the richest prizes A English Ship had ever caught, so they set sail for A English Port and reached 1 of The 11/8/1,648

The thing is that the war ended on The 5/8/1.648, which means that attacks on Spanish Ships would count as piracy and The Pcs were worried that they'd be hung for piracy

So what I want to know is is the fact that even though The Pcs captured The Spanish Ship 10 days before the war ended is the fact that they didn't get it to A English Port, where they could claim the prize, until 6 days after the war ended enough to get them hung for piracy

I can't recall the specifics there but there was a Privateer that got hanged in a similar situation.

Can't recall if it's the scenario you describe or if peace treat got signed without the privateers knowledge they kept raiding until they found out and got hung anyway.

It's plausible they coukd get pinged for piracy in tgat situation or they might have to return the ship.

Depends on what the law says or how much pressure the Spanish can apply to the Englush.

 

[JMISBEST]

I xant recall the specifics there but there was a orienteering tgat got hanged in a similar situation.

Can't recall if it's the scenario you describe or if peace treat got signed without the privateers knowledge they kept raiding until they found out and got hung anyway.

It's plausible they coukd get pinged for piracy in tgat situation or they might have to return the ship.

Depends on what the law says or how much pressure the Spanish can apply to the Englush.

The situation you describe isn't what happened in the dream. Rather in the dream they attacked and captured The Ship 10 days before the war ended but by the time they got the captured Spanish Ship to A English Port, were they could claim the prize, the war had been over for 6 days

 

[Zardnaar]

The situation you describe isn't what happened in the dream. Rather in the dream they attacked and captured The Ship 10 days before the war ended but by the time they got the captured Spanish Ship to A English Port, were they could claim the prize, the war had been over for 6 days

Depends what the law says. Something similar did happen irl i can't recall the specifics. I'm not an expert on 17th Century Englush law nor 17th century international law as such.

So there's several things going on.

1. The Ship was seized before the ceasefire. Letter of Marque you should be fine. No letter you're a pirate and can face the death penalty.

2. Do you have to return to Port with the Ship? Depends on the law if yes no they can't keep the Ship. No then they can.

3. Does the law matter or is unclear? Can the Spanish kick up a big enough stink or is the exact dates unclear or the law doesn't mention specifics?

4. Do the English decide to make an example of you perhaps due to Spanish pressure?

So there's no answer to your dream it's ask the DM or find someone who knows 17th Century law and how enforceable it can be?

 

[GuyBoy]

In August 1648, Cromwell’s Government was somewhat occupied with mopping up the Second Civil War, so the returning privateer could probably get away with landing their loot and dispersing it.

 

[haakon1]

So what I want to know is is the fact that even though The Pcs captured The Spanish Ship 10 days before the war ended is the fact that they didn't get it to A English Port, where they could claim the prize, until 6 days after the war ended enough to get them hung for piracy

Hanged, but no. Get them a good barrister, I suggest based on Rumpole of the Bailey, and play out the trIal keeping in mind the English don’t really mind what they did.

Correction - didn’t notice the 1648 detail. It entirely depends on whether the port they land in is loyal to Charles I, Cromwell, or someone else, and who issued the Letter of Marque. I say sail for Cornwall and find someone willing to fence the ship - you want get top money, but you’re unlikely to get arrested.

 

[General_Tangent]

Hanged, but no. Get them a good barrister, I suggest based on Rumpole of the Bailey, and play out the trIal keeping in mind the English don’t really mind what they did.

You can't find a better barrister than this one :

Edward Marshall Hall - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org