#bringing my dnd party into the future was a mistake | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

noncombativednd · 3 years

Text

DnD 101: How to Encourage Role Playing

I’ve gotten a lot of compliments over my time of being a DM, and It’s almost always been followed up with something close to “How do you make your game so much more about the story and role playing?” Most people already know DnD does not need any help to make people want to fight monsters, but it gives absolutely no help for role playing. So, that tends to be what everyone is amazed by in a good DM. Honestly, it’s not that hard to learn, it’s just nothing that’s been written down in any of their books. I’ll go over them in brief here, but I’ll go in detail another time.

So here’s how I do it. I play to find out. I make sure everyone trusts each other, talks to each other, and loves each other. I make sure everyone plays inherently good characters. I make sure no one interrupts each other’s actions or thinks that the game is made to break every rule in society free of punishment. I remind them that representations in important and that there are limits to what violence will be shown. Last, I also help make sure they keep distractions limited.

Want to understand these a little more? Keep reading!

First, I make sure to “play to find out”. Yep, even I the DM am playing to find out what happens next. You plan too much, you’re going to be removing any chance for your players to help create the story and they’ll just stop trying. Your players also should realize that their character is going to change and grow. Their background is not their character. Let them grow!

Second, I make sure that everyone trusts each other. Now, this means players trust each other and also that their characters must trust each other, too. That might seem odd, as if removing player agency, but it’s that the characters have to be able to trust that the other characters are always doing what they think is best for everyone. No one can take risks if everyone can’t allow others to make mistakes, and that goes for in character and out of character.

Third, I make sure everyone talks to each other. This is mostly player to player. It’s important to know they can and should talk about things with each other. This can help out with the whole trust thing above, and it helps make sure no one unintentionally ruins another player’s time. It helps MUCH more than you think to just ask “Hey, is it okay if I try to block you from killing our hostage?” just as much as “Hey, is it okay if my character kills our only hostage?”

Fourth, I make sure that everyone loves each other. Okay! Yes, this one sounds cheesy, but it’s very important that everyone cares about the other players, about their characters, and about the shared story. You can’t feel safe to share without friendly love between everyone. Role playing is about opening yourself up, and being vulnerable while sharing things. Love helps remove a lot of this anxiety, and help players try things out they were afraid to do.

Fifth, I make sure everyone plays as inherently good characters trying to do good things. Again, this one might sound like “player agency removal”, but it’s actually to stop party break ups. If every character is not trying to do what they at least think is the “good” thing to do, the party will start to want to split. You don’t have to be morally good, just doing what you think is the right thing.

Sixth, I make sure they know not to interrupt other players, but it can be okay to consider trying to enhance someones idea. Basically this just means don’t steal the spotlight and don’t step on other people’s toes. You don’t like getting your ideas stepped on, so don’t do it to others. However, you can at right times try to enhance their idea; like flexing in the background of someone intimidating or after they attempt something you can maybe argue a bit about how “risky” their idea was. Key word, after.

Seven, I remind everyone that DnD isn’t there for you to break every rule in society in or out of character. This seems like a silly thing to have to remind people, but there is always one in any group that needs to be reminded that you can’t just break laws without consequence. Worse, don’t bring you law breaking problems to the group. Why? They will kick you out of the group. To be clear, this doesn’t mean “don’t do crime”, it just means “criminal beware!” Consider making sure the risk is worth the reward.

Eight, I remind them that representation is important. It’s crazy how many times when I run a public game and put in the title “LGBT+ Friendly” I get a ton of people giving me horror stories about past games. I also can tell you how many games I’ve been in that don’t even have female characters except that bar wench or the rare princess. A LOT. And, don’t get me started on PoC characters; I’ve had games with zero. You can’t have trust and love without making sure you and the players understand that everyone needs to be represented.

Ninth, There are limits to violence and we should respect everyone’s personal limits. Safety tools have grown, but it’s important to make sure that your players know that they can set limits before, during, and after games. If you think your games NEEDS to have spiders more than it needs to stop one of your players from feeling bad, then you REALLY need to look at your priorities. Worse case scenario, if something can’t be removed from your game then this is a good way to make sure they can know in advance before investing all that time in the game.

Lastly, I make sure that everyone knows to keep distractions limited. The worse thing that can ruin a good story groove is someone needing to be constantly reminded and repeated events, questions, etc. You can never remove all distractions, but limiting them shows you care about the game. To help out, I make sure to note how breaks will work so we can all take a moment to get distracted before getting back into the game.

Phew! Long post, but I wanted to get this out early. I’m probably going to continue to adjust these guidelines as I go, but I think It best to share some of my best practices. These guidelines are far more important that future tips as without this base to build on... no grand story will every stand up. This is the foundation to good role playing, not any silly improv skills, amazing lore, or exciting adventure. I promise I’ll go into detail on each of these guidelines in future posts, but for now soak in what you can.

#dnd #dungeons and dragons #ttrpg #5e #Honestly I think the love each other part is the most important #You'll be surprised how much good role playing gets missed out on because of a lack of trust

8 notes · View notes

macgyvertape · 4 years

Text

I wish i liked turn based combat

With the announcement of Baldurs Gate 3 I was thinking about turn based combat games I played. Tides of Numeria is on my to play list, but I was trying to think of a turn based combat game I liked:

Dragon Age Origins: my first introduction to turn based combat games, first rpg, and 2nd triple AAA I played (Halo CE was my first). I did a mage build, did a bad build, and soft locked myself in Archdemon fight where I ran out of potions and my weak party couldn’t do enough damage. I’ve tried to replay it through atleast 2 other times, but gave up partway through, which brings me to my main point

Turn based combat fucking draaaaags.

The pause -> select abilities -> watch both sides do damage -> pause again

it just kills my enjoyment. Sure you can do it on no pause but then that leads to my next problem

KOTOR 1/2: they’re turn based combat games that want to be real time strategy games. So then the stats of your gear and the stats of your build start to matter much more than positioning and skill sync from DA:O. Honestly to finish either game I just turned on god mode by the end. Trying to optimize gear and weapons just felt like a waste of time because nothing was a clear “do a bigger damage number”. For Kotor 2 especially all the different blaster shots felt like they did the same thing, so you might as well just stick to which ever one you leveled the highest the entire game.

so then when you get to the point that you can’t figure out what gear is better:

Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2: Baldur’s Gate 1 is extremely unforgiving, I only beat it on my 3rd try by just keeping a guide open. Baldur’s Gate 2 I said “fuck this” and ragequit after the asshole paladin who was carrying my party through combat left when there was no option for me to go recruit new party members. For both games I just picked what reddit said was the easiest build, which isn’t exactly fun, but it’s so easy to make trap builds in that game and run into problems if you don’t have good gear according to the archaic DnD rules where lower number better.

Really the only turn based game I liked was:

Divinity Original Sin 2. That was fully turned base, no blend of real time elements. If I made a mistake with a build I didn’t feel like it was unrecoverable, because for fights that I started, I could bait the enemies into bad positioning. It was annoying that I felt like I could never use Source abilities, because I was always saving them for a suprise bossfight, after that one necrofire zone from hell near some giant platform. I remember having to go back to a save like an hour earlier, and walk away from that zone and go back later, the fight was that bad after several attempts. However, DOS2 is that it’s one of the few games where I just went “this is too long, I’m tired of playing this” and just never got to the ending. But thats partly a pacing issue, and partly that the combat never felt fun that I would want to do it for several hours on end.

Overall I think one of my problems with turn based combat is it’s easy to fuck yourself over in the future and not even realize it, when you are new and unfamiliar with the systems. If you’re struggling in a fight, it’s partly a question of skill, knowing what to do when. But there’s a bigger part where skill doesn’t matter, the numbers do, and so practice can’t do anything to close the gap like it does in first person shooters, or action adventure games like Witcher of AssCreed, or soulsborne games where munckining is advantageous but technical precision is also needed.

#mac plays video games #turn based combat

3 notes · View notes

cloudybookash-blog · 5 years

Note

k b 1-25

100 Warm Up DnD Character Questions

1. If your character wasn’t an adventurer, what livelihood would they lead?

Well she’s royalty so I guess she’d go on to be Queen if she stays in her country, but if she forfeits her rule and moves - maybe she’d like to be a politician.

2. Who in the party would your character trust the most with their life?

hmm… to be fair I don’t think she’d willingly trust anyone with her life, a real ‘I’m in charge of me and you’re in charge of you’ type. Though she does on numerous occasions rely on others to save her life one way or another.

3. What are your character’s core moral beliefs?

I would say before her character arc she firmly believes in Good vs. Evil trope, where she believes you’re either good or bad - there’s no moral middle ground. Go big or go home I guess. The only thing I know that over rides this belief is her loyalty, but I’m not sure that’s a moral belief.

4. What relationship does your character have with their parents and siblings?

I think I’ve answered this question before, loves her mother, admires her father, cherishes her older brother, one-sided love with her little sister, and wary but unconditional love for her younger brother.

5. Does your character have any biases for or against certain races?

I would say yes, before her character arc I think she internalises a lot of negativity towards her own people, and others that come from her planet. As well as a select few others that she meets on the new planet. obviously after he character arc, this changes.

6. What is your character’s opinion on nobility? On authority?

As nobility herself I would assume (lol, I say like I didn’t create her tf??), she would firmly believe in being knowledgeable in places of authority or leadership to better the community, country, and/or the people. She’d be very, VERY against corruption in political/authority areas. But otherwise, I think she’d outright assume all people in a position of power are there to do the best they can by the people they serve.

7. Describe your character’s current appearance: clothes, armor, scars they’ve picked up along the journey, etc.

This is actually the hardest thing to me, I have no idea what this bitch wears unless its armour or ceremonial but she’s on a new planet and needs to hide her identity so can’t walk around in clothes more suited to her country and the title she has there. I honestly default her to some type of shorts (probably board shorts for the quick drying) and a t-shirt or singlet with some type of covering garment for when it gets cold. BITCH DOES SHE EVEN WEAR SHOES? idk.

8. What location encountered in the campaign has your character felt the most “at home” in, or just generally liked the most?

… Actually haven’t thought about this… it’s because i’m a shit writer.

9. What deity, if any, does your character worship? What’s their opinion on other people’s worship?

I think, due to her home-planets current political sphere that she doesn’t have or believe in any deity. However, her friends on the new planet have like a million religions. I think broadly speaking she’s accepting as she does know what religion/worship is and its personal importance but doesn’t KNOW know. And then it’s just a lot of confusion having never been taught any religion or worship outside of royal gossip. So confused, but happy about it.

10. If your character had time to pick up any artisan’s tools, game set, instrument, etc., what would it be?

A flute maybe? idky, coz I said so, I guess.

11. Describe your character’s current relationship with the player character sitting to your right.

Not applicable?

12. What is your character’s current goal, summed up in one sentence?

Bring peace.

she’s the avatar, apparently.

13. Does your character ever want to “settle down” with a spouse, children, house, etc.?

I guess, maybe faaaaaar in the future though.

14. Has your character ever been in love?

Ya, the kind of love you don’t realise until the person is gone.

15. What battle in the campaign has been most memorable to your character?

I’m translating this for a book so I’d say maybe the first battle that’s fought on page, just because so much goes wrong and that’s where she finds out who/what she’s really facing. Either that, or whatever ‘battle’ went on off page as she was previously banished and I’m just trying to figure out ‘exactly’ what happened, did I mention i’m a terrible writer yet?

16. If your character wasn’t whatever class they are, what would they be instead?

So like, if they weren’t born into royalty?? Ah, I guess the bitch would be poor then… or a soldier, though I guess still poor.

17. What is your character’s favorite season?

Think I’ve answered this before and said winter, so … Winter!

18. What would your character’s Zodiac sign be, following stereotypical astrology?

Okay, so I just had to read through a list of personality traits for the zodiacs to answer this question and now want to answer for all five mains, so:

Z: Gemini.J: Ophiucus (he’s that bitch).ME: Scorpio. (surprised? same.)HH: Pisces. Though he acts like a Leo most of the time.M: Aquarius.

19. Where in the world does your character most want to visit?

Travelling is like a really easy thing to do in my book so... I wouldn’t know... maybe the Pixie Palace (it’s not as cliche as it sounds I just can’t figure out a better name).

20. What is the biggest mistake your character has ever made?

oooooooh, idk fuck, I’M SUCH A BAD WRITER!

21. Does your character have any noticeable scars? If so, what are their stories?

Her eye? fucked up ‘transport’ during escape.

22. What animal best represents your character?

am i allowed to say idk, idc? coz - idk and idc.

23. If your character could go back in time and change one thing about their life, what would it be?

I feel like this is a question I’ve already answered but I can’t remember... Maybe she might change her banishment (so she doesn’t get banished) although I feel like whatever she got banished for would have to have something to do with her immovable morals so?? Man, idk i’m a crappy writer who doesn’t think about the characters enough to know all this. Maybe she’d take back the fact that she screwed up the transport during her escape which got almost a hundred of her allies killed for nothing, or change who she brought to the first battle/how she went about preparing everyone for that moment so even more meaningless death didn’t happen (ooh, did I just answer q.20 on accident???)

24. Which other player character does your character find themselves having the most in common with?

I think she’s very different to the other characters, both in upbringing and personality. Of course there’s some intersecting like being as aggressive as ME, or being immature and prone to lapses in judgement like HH, or wanting nothing more that to help everyone like M. I would say the easier(/better?) question would be who she has the least in common with being Julian, I just think they don’t really have a lot in common, age is diff, hobbies are diff, perspectives on life are diff, goals are diff etc...

25. Does your character regret any particular choice the party has made?

Everything that took place before the first ‘battle’, just because they didn’t screen their inductees better, didn’t teach them properly or make sure everytone was on the same page and communicating with one another, lots of logistics problems before the first battle and the cost of those mistakes were pretty big so, I’d say she regrets that.

#writing #writing ask #wip #cloudybookash #booklr #bookblr #sorry for the long ass wait mon #I dont know how to prioritise my shit

2 notes · View notes

shtish · 5 years

Note

Just do the whole 1 through 35 of the dnd asks, you know you want to

@alextblue said: “For the DnD ask: 1, 2, 31, 32, 33″

So you’re both getting what you want, let’s get into this thing! I’ll put it under a readmore, because holy shit will this thing get long.

1. A favorite character you have playedIf I really have to choose… I loved playing Thora Snowfoot, my 11ft tall, draft horse-based centaur. Started out as a life cleric, but in the end killed her goddess and became one herself. (Long story short, the original goddess was basically lying to part of her worshippers and also causing the world to die, so Thora and the rest of her party decided to put a stop to it, and succeeded!) Although I’ve also recently enjoyed playing Bottle-O-Wine, a grumpy Kobold who has a drinking problem and a giant rivalry with another party member. Also Margret, the escaped biological experiment (dragonborn but reflavored) and a bardlock whose idea of being smooth when teleporting into a room she shouldn’t be in is saying “I was looking for the toilet?” before teleporting out again.

2. Your favorite character that someone else has playedEmmmmm… I think Tizen would be my favorite. Also from the Thora campaign (which was called Sever btw), but he was a very edgy warlock, whose patron was Thora’s goddess in her not-lying form. We called his race Fiends, basically a fancy way of saying “satyr” (minus the horny connotations… Well technically he had horns BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN)

3. Your favorite side questOkay, so this wasn’t technically a side quest in the traditional sense, but it was one of the most emotional moments from the Sever campaign to me. You need to know a bit of background about Thora for this: Thora became a cleric of Epona because of her mentor Rotlaus, an elderly centaur who saved her after she pissed off a moose. The animal broke her hind leg, and if it hadn’t been for Rotlaus stepping in and scaring it off she would have died. He then introduced her to Epona, and she learned pretty much everything from him. This was all fine and dandy, until the mindflayer invasion happened, and we all needed to storm a castle to get to the next barrier. We made the mistake of storming the wrong one, and Rotlaus died a horrible death while our party was teleported to safety. But what we did not know, was that the Stillborn God (god of death) gave Rotlaus the choice to return as a revenant, and to go around the country killing people to create a mindless undead army. Thora learned about someone killing entire villages, and heard murmurs of this killer being Rotlaus. She tried to contact him through Sending, which worked, but not well enough to actually have a long conversation. So she went to him on her own, to understand what had happened. It was at this point she learned he was a revenant, and she could not get him to stop murdering whoever was around to create this army. She left very distressed and feeling super guilty, and Rotlaus took his army to the city of Aesengaard. Thora swore to herself that come what may, she would find the way to fix this, asking her goddess for help. Epona went “No can do, he’s the Stillborn God’s property now”, and Thora got more determined to Fix This Shit.Fast forward to a few months later, when she learns that Epona is also Shub Niggorath, who used to be a powehungry Alhun named Glyoc. Thora gets very fucked up about this because she’s spent almost all of her life serving a lie, loses most of her magical power, and has to realize that she is her own power. Goddess or no goddess, Thora is the one that protected her friends, not Epona. She undergoes a ritual with the help of her friends (fucking emotional moment as well, as they have to give their favorite memories of Thora to help her stay grounded and herself and UGH MY HEART), which ends in her ascending to fucking godhood on her own.-This is where the favorite side quest comes in. Because Thora goes back to Aesengaard. Back to the army of shadows, back to her revenant mentor, and stands before them all. And she offers them a choice. Because they were murdered where they stood, and raised again to become an army to fight an enemy without getting a chance to say no. Because Rotlaus was given a choice with strings attached that he did not fully understand. Because he would never have gone around murdering people if he had had a proper choice. Because it was not fair. She could now offer them the choice. No strings attached. If they wanted to continue and fight, they could. If they wanted to go home, they could. No conditions. No fine print. “Under whose authority?” asks her mentor.”Mine.” Thora lifts her staff, and brings it down on the ground. A wave of energy comes off of her, weaving through the crowd of silent shadows, rippling outward through the ruins of Aesengaard.Nothing stirs. Until something does. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a shimmer of color come back into the form of a shade. And slowly, flesh starts to knit together. Some figures hesitate, but then they too begin to materialize. Clothes are torn, but visible. Hair flutters in the soft breeze, and feet shuffle on the floor. She is surrounded by a crowd of breathing, living people. There is no divine presence here. It’s just her, and them. An army of former shadows. Who have a choice now. And then someone collapses. And another. And another. They stop breathing and close their eyes, and simply fall to the ground. Her heart stops in her chest as she looks at what is happening around her. Has she done something wrong? Is Shub behind this? Did she make a mistake?And then she looks at their faces. They are peaceful. And as Rotlaus sinks to the ground, he looks up and smiles at her. His old smile. The one she hasn’t seen in a long time.”Thank you…”-Thora Snowfoot lifts her staff and brings it down on the ground again, harder. The earth begins to rumble as the buildings of the abandoned city begin to collapse into fissures that pull apart all around her. The bodies fall too. A perfect 200 foot circle of rubble forms around her, finally bringing the dead to rest. She lifts her head, smiles, and sends a message to her home.There is peace in Aesengaard.

4. Your current campaignThe newest one we’re playing and planning on keeping going long term is called Four Color Engine, but we’re also playing one called Happy Trails (which is underwater, pirate-ish, and definitely dark in many places). Another friend of mine is also running one placed in the MtG universe, which is also great fun.

5. Favorite NPCI think that spot goes to Tezzeret in the Kaladesh campaign (the MtG one). In that campaign, we had a joke session where we would NOT deal with the boss, due to some of our players being out. So the rest of us decided we’d use magic to pretend to send him a letter from Tezzeret’s future self, so he would allow our super powerful allies to join us in a dinner at his place. He gets the letter, kiiind of believes it due to our swashbuckler’s mad forgery skills, and casts commune with planes… And promptly loses his entire memory because the spell misfires. We took him in, then some random vampire ripped his arm off, and my first character gets to the scene first and frantically tries to stop the bleeding. Later that evening, she brings him a cup of tea and they have a long talk about how you can change for the better, even if you have done terrible things. This later turned into her becoming his secretary, them fleeing from the cops, and eventually settling in a cottage with goats on another plane… Only to promptly get targeted by an assassin and having to find Tezzeret new legs due to assassin-removal. /The shenanigans of Suki and Tezzeret caused him to shift from evil to neutral, and I really love that development. He’s great in our campaign.

6. Favorite death (monster, player character, NPC, etc)The best death was Shub Niggorath’s (lying goddess from Sever). Bitch cast invulnerability on herself when she was almost down, but Thora ripped it away with a dispel magic. AND THEN WE MURDERED HER WITH THE HELP OF THE COMPUTER PROGRAM RUNNING THE WORLD!!! Very satisfying to finally murder that one and save the entire world to boot.

7. Your favorite downtime activityGetting to know my party members and the NPCs around us is definitely my favorite thing to do. ^^

8. Your favorite fight/encounterHmmmmm… We had a very funny one with a wizard called Tavorlin the Passable, who was a fan of our party and gave us all nicknames. That was a fun one. I also really like ones where I can work around the encounter and turn it into not-a-fight. The one with the monster that Giggle and Bubbles had would qualify as well. We chose to talk to it instead, and Giggle even wrestled it for fun.

9. Your favorite thing about D&DI think my all time favorite thing is exploring the relationships between characters, and seeing them grow and overcome obstacles.

10. Your favorite enemy and the enemy you hate the mostMy most hated enemy… Anything that can kill me or my party with no save. My favorite ones would probably be the ones that I don’t need to kill to win.

11. How often do you play and how often would you ideally like to play?Depends on the campaign. We’ve got one currently going once every week, and a bunch of others that happen whenever there is time. I’d love to play twice a week though, or even more often, but alas. University is a thing.

12. Your in game inside jokes/memes/catchphrases and where they came fromThere’s a bunch of them, but the one that was written on my door due to poor timing is the following:Tezzeret: -struggles to put coat on due to having lost an arm-Suki: “Do you need a hand- I mean help?” There’s also the “[X] happens. “Tizen squints”My friend who plays Tizen tends to squint suspiciously a lot. So now when someone squints at something that happens, we say “Tizen stop possessing them”.

13. Introduce your current partyLet’s introduce the Happy Trails one, since that’s what I’m playing every week!1. Jack. The Pirate captain of the ship we all sail on. 16 years old, somehow the owner of a ship, dumbass who finds everything cool and does not take the responsibility as captain very seriously. He’s damn good at stabbing shit though, and tends to find everything his crew does just fine. Very chaotic neutral.2. N’chastacha Atsee (me). A piebald Yuan Ti Fighter/Pugilist, who takes pride in her position as Quartermaster. Speaks with long “s”, uses the rigging to grapple and throw her enemies overboard, and defends the NPC crew fiercely (although she might hang people from the rigging for a night if they offend her, so it’s best to tread cautiously). Probably one of the more responsible people on the ship, and does not seem to have a whole bunch of humor. Used to date a princess, but only learned about her ex’s identity recently. Probably lawful neutral in alignment.3. Paranoia (played by @creepygoblin). A Tiefling Rogue with tight leather pants and a very heavy French accent. Most likely to use weird ritualistic sacrifice or sell people into slavery with Jack, and has given the captain drugs and too much alcohol on multiple occasions. But hey, she’s very good at what she does. Alignment wise she’s some sort of evil, but I can’t quite remember what. 4. Theo. Our Triton Ranger, who used to be a whaler. He’s a bit racist towards Knotsmen, but otherwise one of the more stable people on the ship. He is up for adventure, as long as he does not need to leave his best mate Otto behind. Very good at shooting harpoons and setting chocolate factories on fire. No clue what his alignment is, but I think Neutral.5. Otto Kuchenheim. The ship’s cook, human Emergent/Physician, and with a very boisterous laugh that is used about every other sentence. Also the host to a weird creature that telepathically yells “REAP BREAK SOW” every time it gets out and rips our enemies apart. Which happens when Otto gets too fearful, generally. It’s a bit touch and go with him, but hey, he’s part of the crew now, and the thing hasn’t taken an arm from anyone of the crew… yet. Some sort of Neutral as well I think.

14. Introduce any other parties you have played in or DM-edThat will take forever tbh… I’ll introduce the Sever one, since that is over now and probably the most fun. 1. Thora Snowfoot, Clan of Blacksock (me). Life Cleric Goddess, originally worshipping the Goddess of Life, Epona, before learning she and Shub Niggorath were the same and deciding to become her own god. Snowfoot centaur, a bit on the serious side, but fiercely loyal and protective over those she considers close. She spent most of her life with her family, but had to leave them on their treks due to a bad hind leg. This is when she got roped into trying to stop first a Mindflayer invasion, and then a Beholder invasion, and then ultimately saving the world from Shub Niggorath. She spent that time keeping the group together, making sure her friends survived the fights with her healing, and make sure to not give up on the world. It was never an option to flee and leave it to die.2. Aelin Naïlo Xylia and Fayre. Played by @alextblue. Aelin was a Hideling (homebrew race) Ranger/Druid, with Fayre the white panther as her beast companion. Aelin lost her family when she was very young to a big abberation they tried to slay, and spent most of her life around the small village of Sigrholm in Sever, borrowing books from the library and carrying out some hunting for the villagers on occasion. Arguably the most “childlike” in her enthusiasm about many things, but also the one that ended up imprisoning Cthulhu in a vault that she controls. She also managed to get her feet turned into hands over the course of the campaign. In the end, took the role of goddess of nature, and started a giantass wildlife sanctuary.3. Rin Velvetmane. Rogue Trickster Cleric Falabella-based centaur. She got kicked out of the community that she lived in under the mountains, and found her way to the surface very angry, distrustful, and only moments away from stabbing people’s kneecaps. A pro at hiding for at least 33, and later learned she used to be a mountain elemental who joined a pact to reincarnate continuously to attempt to save the world from the corruption Shub Niggorath brought to it. This also led to us discovering that Rin used to be Aelin’s mother, a plot point that we then all refused to further investigate because it was Hella Weird. Rin ended up usurping the god of death by forcing him to take on her form through evoking duplicity on him, and basically turning him into herself permanently. She still visits her parents, and actually told them (almost) all about what happened. They’re supportive of her, but she has left out that she now rules death itself.4. Tizen. The vampire goatman of Eldritch Warlock-ness. He’s part of the Fiend race (homebrew), which was cursed by Shub Niggorath to have infertile females, and males that could only mate with humans. The race is bound to her so tightly, that there is an entire organization of warlocks that have her as their patron, called the Favored. Tizen is part of this group, however unwillingly, and is highly suspicious of many things. He is sarcastic, a touch arrogant, but also came to care for the world throughout the whole “saving it” business. When Thora died, he chose to take curses upon himself to save her, and had to be turned into a vampire in order to not lose his mind and become a monster. In the end, he killed the creature who had ruined the lives of many Fiends, took her realm for his own, and became the shadow ruler of the city of Kvidbelgr. What kind of a god he is is unknown, though we all refer to him as the god of sass.

15. Do you have snacks during game times? Fuck yeah, snacks are the best. We have all kinds, although we do try to make sure there are low-sugar options since one of us has to watch that. Hummus and carrots are usually there, along with chips and chocolate.

16. Do you play online or in person? Which do you prefer?In person all the way. Although since we all go to an international university, and some have graduated/dropped out, and the rest is graduating in a few weeks, it’s highly likely we’ll have to move to online. But in person is the best, there are so many ques that you miss when you play online. I have a character called Ink-And-Blade and he communicates through message and not much else. We have a list of the words he spoke out loud. It’s 22 over 3 multiple hour sessions. Ink is impossible to translate satisfactory to online, because so much of his communication is non-verbal.

17. What are some house rules that your group has?Ummmm… The rule of cool is one we employ every now and then. I don’t think we have strict ones, we tend to go with the very Barbossa attitude of “The PB and DMG are more like guidelines anyway”, plus our DM is always homebrewing things and changing the rules around. So I suppose our house rule is that if you can justify it, you can try.

18. Does your party keep any pets?Hmm… Familiars I guess. And we recently picked up a Cambriman who doesn’t really do too much. He’s kinda sentient, but not the brightest. He keeps calling everyone his “prisoner”, even though he’s tiny and made of soft flubbery goop. He’s cute.

19. Do you or your party have any dice superstitions?Oh hell yes. Some of us are worse then others, but I’ve had dice roll consistently below 10 and switched over for the session. A friend of mine has a dice jail that she puts bad rollers into (for the duration of a session). We all tend to switch dice around if they keep rolling low.

20. How did you get into D&D? How long have you been playing?I wanted to play DnD for a long time, but I did not have the right people around me so my first exposure to it was through podcasts. The first one was something called TableTop RPG, though I can’t currently find it. After that I got roped into actual DnD at my university, about 2.5 years ago, when the gaming society held an introductory event. I played for a bit with a very old school DM in 3.5, which was hard and confusing, and then fell into Sever with my friends, which was a 5e game. So I’ve been playing for 2.5 years, and I will not stop any time soon.

21. Have you ever regretted something your character has done?Oof… Well, yes, I very much regret taking the luck feat after I forced a boss to reroll a nat 20, which rolled up as another nat 20, and then attempted to reroll a nat 1, which came up as ANOTHER nat 1. I regretted that a lot. Other than that… Hmmm… In character, I think Margret really regrets teleporting into a dragon’s room. OH, WAITSo Bottle-O-Wine the kobold was very angry at a party member, and threw him into the harbor. Then, as he was running away, he accidentally set the crowd on the rest of the party. He didn’t realize the crowd became a mob of racists who wanted to murder them all. The party got away luckily, and Bottle has since apologized. For the first time in his life. So yeah, that was regrettable, if very fun for us all OoC.

22. What color was your first dragon?I think the first ones I ever had to deal with were two green and red hatchlings, who were playing with coins. My character spoke draconic at the time, so it did not end in bloodshed but instead with me polishing the coins and being led to their parents, who were metallic dragons. Because adoption.

23. Do you use premade modules or original campaigns? I mean, most of what I’ve played has been homebrew, although I am attempting to run the Tomb of Annihilation, and we played a bit of Curse of Strahd. But I think I love homebrew the most.

24. How much planning/preparation do you do for a game?Depends. I do think out my character’s backstory and develop it further between sessions, but sometimes I do small RPs with my DM pre-session to get a feel for my character a bit more.

For DMs

25. What have your players done that you never could have planned for?My players decided to go shopping when I had not prepared any type of store due to it being a small oneshot. They then decided to try and steal a dress, which the shopkeep nat20 noticed, the tried to flirt her way out of it only to learn the shopkeep was a gay elf who had the hots for the dragonborn fighter. They got the dress by paying him “in natura” with the Dragonborn taking his shirt off and playing a little tune on his lute. He got pulled into the backroom and had a lovely few hours, came out with a sparkly costume, and it had the table in stitches. Me included.

26. What was your favorite scene to write and show your charactersI haven’t written that many scenes myself yet, but I had great fun portraying an Eyewitness who had been locked up for 100 years, and who just couldn’t wait to get out. She was slightly… well, she talked to floating lights and really really REALLY wanted to go see the world. She made a deal with the adventurers that if they could wait a day, she would let them take the treasure she was watching over for free, since her contract would be over at that point. I pretended my hands were eyestalks for that one and portrayed her body with my head. That was a good time.Another good one was when I had Gnoll NPCs who attacked the party with wild laughter, acting out the motions while screeching at the top of my lungs was fun. Freaked my table out pretty well too. :P

27. Do you allow homebrew content?Hell yeah, I love homebrew. I try to keep it balanced though, but I am all for coming up with your own stuff.

28. How often do you use NPCs in a party?Not that often? I started it up in the ToA, but I haven’t gotten to actively use the guide yet.

29. Do you prefer RP heavy sessions or combat sessions? RP heavy sessions definitely. Combat can be fun to run, but I much prefer atmosphere over crunching numbers. Although describing finishing moves is really good.

30. Are your players diplomatic or murder hobos?Most of mine are diplomatic, I think the closest I got to a murder hobo was the flirting bard who tried to undress everyone. So actually, all of them prefer not to fight.

For Players

31. What is your favorite class? Favorite race?I honestly loooooove the beast races. All of them. Class-wise I love me a caster, although monks are also good. I haven’t played every single class yet, so I’m still seeing whether there is one I truly dislike.

32. What role do you like to play the most? (Tank/healer/etc?)Healer. But tank is also fun.

33. How do you write your backstory, or do you even write a backstory?I write backstories for every character I’ve got. How they come about varies, sometimes it’s the idea that comes first and then build a character around it, and sometimes it’s “I want to play this” and I continue from there. I generally come up with it myself, but I have rolled up a backstory with Xanathar’s guide as well. The importance of the backstory depends on what kind of campaign I’m playing though. One of my DMs is really fucking good at making backstory matter in-game, whereas others I’ve played with didn’t work it in that well.

34. Do you tend pick weapons/spells for being useful or for flavor?A mix of both. Margret used to chase a thief around, so her pre-party spells are very much useful for this purpose, but fit in with her backstory as well. Thora has all her spells, but she picked whatever was most useful for the situations they were going to be in.

35. How much roleplay do you like to do?ALL. OF. IT.

#Anonymous #Alextblue #Ask #Whew that took me three hours to answer #I hope you all have a good time!#:D #DnD #Shtiya talks #A LOT #A whole lot #like 4k+ a lot #fuck if I had spent this much time on my essay I'd be a lot further along #XD #oh welllllllllllllllllllllllll #If anyone wants pictures of my characters hit me up and I shall provide

2 notes · View notes

robynhill · 7 years

Note

yoooo buddy i hvae plans of doing a love live d&d server but first i need to learn how to dm and practice dming with some friends. i know ur a dm, so can you like, teach me stuff or at least give some advice and pointers on what to do when i'm dming?

this ask didnt show up in my notifs but i’m here now so

i think the biggest thing is what you need to learn depends largely on the system youre using. if it’s actual D&D, what edition? if it’s another tabletop system, what does the handbook stress? how heavy is it on mechanics? stuff like that.

there are roughly two types of DMing i’ve come across:those dms who just play hard and fast with the rules and learn about classes and all that as they play, generally referencing the books when absolutely necessary(me)and those dms who will actually sit down and read through the DMG, Player’s Handbook, and Monster Manual, make notes of things to use in the future, and plan out their dungeons.there’s generally some mix and match.(like two of my friends who also play dnd)

from personal experience, it takes a combination of these two styles.know what you want to happen in a session: have plot points you want the party to reach, but also be ready for a ton of workarounds. if you play with people like my friends and i, then you need to constantly think on your feet.

you can also run a roleplay-heavy campaign, or just run one light on being in-character, that lets you focus on building your skills with the mechanics. however, when you DM in the future, people will be expecting more roleplay than just “pls roll this....ok u do this”

this also depends on the type of storyteller you are. do you want the party to make it up as they go along, with you setting the scene, or do you have a grand tale you want them to explore indepth? how willing are you to spend on certain areas, how much worldbuilding will you do?and, i think most importantly: what are your players’ characters like, what elements of their backstory can you bring into the plot, or address for character development, and how can you make sure the game is, overall, fun. you can have intense moments, give your players some real emo hours - but remember that they have plenty of stock in what happens in the story. fun doesn’t have to be light and happy, they just have to come out of the session feeling like they’ve grown in this world a bit, yknow?

other considerations about your players are, in general, who they are and how new they are to the game. if one of your pals has DMd in the past, maybe ask them to check you for any mechanical mistakes. since three of my friends also DM, and i play with them, they’re generally always ready to offer help or corrections when i misjudge a check to be made.but don’t let that turn into them running the show - remember, you’re still the dm, and if they make a shitty roll, that’s on them and their dice. and also, for your sanity as a dm, don’t let your players metagame - and if something’s a secret, unless they reach a god-willing DC to get some grand plot point, don’t let them have it until they’ve reached the actual point in the plot.there are a few things i like to ask my players when they’re doing something IC:“are you doing this in character/did you say this in character?”(can i do this) “do you have dice/do you want to roll for it?” - at your discretion, it may not need a rollupon a critical hit that deals a killing blow, OR a killing blow to a boss/difficult enemy: “how do you want to do this?” - this allows them to add their own dramatic flair to a kill, and also it gives you an idea of how they like their character narrated.

when PCs have downtime, i like to do a few of these things:if they’re in town, i generally say they have x amount of time until sundown, and that they can do pmuch anything. maybe have certain “if x then y” things set up at stores for each PC(if the bard goes to the pub and sings, then he’ll get offered an assassination job - this can be plot relevant or not)if they’re taking too long to make a decision, and they’re in a hostile zone, i just keep throwing enemies at them.if things get quiet during downtime between party members, i hint at some plot thing, or something that’s happened between two characters. OR, if a character’s looted an important item, i have something happen to them.generally, anything you’ve planted that can keep the plot moving, but won’t wear down your players too bad, is a good call.im pretty sure i have more to give but this is all that’s come to mind right now - hmu through like, discord or smth if you want to talk this out more, ya?

#dungeons and dragons #dnd #d&d #bewitchingidol

4 notes · View notes

bookwormguri · 7 years

Text

I’m just gonna gush about DnD and my players for a min. Don’t mind me. (There will also be mild bitching because it's not me if I’m not bitching)

So I only started playing DnD a little over a year ago and it was so fun! I honestly had a good time when I started, but little comments from some of the guys (hell, all of the guys) in the group still piss me off when I think about them.

Now, these guys have been playing FAR longer than I have. They know the perfect build for each and every class paired with the optimal race. I, being a new player, did not, and admittedly made some rookie “mistakes.”

I got bitched at because my sorcerer had low Dex and Con, making them VERY easy to hit. (Let’s not mention in that game I got half of the kills, enabled the party to make a sneak attack with a fog spell and was the only one able to read an important plot hook note. But GOD FORBID my stats not all be optimal)

I got told that a certain online DnD game’s rouge was the “perfect rogue” as I played my rogue as the exact opposite of that broody and sullen personality.

I got talked about behind my back because I put “too much of myself into my character” because that actually makes a lick of sense. /s

I thought the games at the time were fun, but looking back now, I never want to play with that group again. I’m not saying their way of playing is bad or wrong, but it’s just not for me. I would have been fine to leave it at that until I found out about the gossiping they did. That told me that they didn’t respect me and my playstyle like I did theirs. They were essentially telling me that my way of having fun is wrong.

So I said fuck them. I decided to DM instead of play. I gathered some good friends and strangers (for all of them it was their first time playing) and ran the oneshot Death House from Curse of Strahd.

I’m never looking back after that. I may want to play again in the future, but right now, DM-ing is SO much more rewarding to me. As the DM, no one can tell me my fun is wrong because my fun is the player’s fun.

But onto my players: My CoS group is so varied and amazing! The Cleric is so precious (even tho I know the player struggles hardcore to be the Good OneTM). She honestly has carried the team sometimes. More than once we’ve voted her as MVP. She’s sooooo good with the NPCs and has saved the party from having unneeded encounters more than once because of her kindness.

The Fighter quickly became the impromptu leader, but the player is so good about propping up the others up, remembering their strengths, and giving them their time to shine. She plays the fighter as a gruff bear that really just wants to keep the kids safe. (I’ll never forget how panicked she got trying to catch the Rouge from falling from a third story window)

God the Rouge is something else. I can’t wait to slowly bring out her backstory into the campaign. She’s unhinged in the best way (aka: carrying children’s skeletons in her sack for GOOD REASONS, stealing spellbooks for her mom the Cleric, and wearing a necklace of teeth). She has honestly given the campaign some of THE FUNNIEST moments.

Now for my current group:

I decided that I hated myself and tried my hand at homebrewing a campaign: Escape the Brothel. My current group is just FUCKING amazing. They are always sure to make me feel appriciated.

Our Sorcerer honestly rivals my other group’s Cleric as top cinnamon role. The player worries so much about how she plays and meta-gaming, but honestly, I can’t find any fault in how she plays. She’s gotten so attached to NPCs that I never even considered to be recurring characters after this arc (isn’t that how it always goes?). Her backstory is SO RICH and well-thought out. I will definitely include it in the campaign because it would be a CRIME to let it be pushed to the side. She plays the character so well and sometimes I’m honestly concerned if I hurt the character or the player’s feelings. The player is so creative and shows such appreciation for the world I built, wanting to ferret out all my secrets (good luck). As a player, the breaks in character for a good joke or references makes it so it’ll forever be impossible for me to obtain a classic DM Stoneface. :D

Our Barbarian.... he’s... indescribable. Honestly, the player roleplays him whereas each and every one of his actions has weight behind them; each one as a reason. The player’s devotion to the barbarian’s story and character development blows me away. He’s constantly surprising me! Any attempt to predict what he will do is for naught (although I think he’d say the same for me :3c). He embraces his failures and seems to thrive off conflict (although I think he’d say it “just happens”). The player’s investment in the game outside session time inspires me to do my best and work hard so everyone can continue to have fun.

Annnnd... our Bard, the initial inspiration for this whole mess. First of all, fuck them. Second of all, fuck them. Maybe third of all, I’m glad you talked me into this. But no, really, fuck them.

It’s nice being able to talk to people about this game. Like I’m sure a lot of DMs get, I’ve gotten a lot of requests to run games for other people. I wish I had more time so that I could run one for everyone and feel this fulfilled and content-ness that I get every Saturday night for other games.

For now, I’ll be happy just to gush about my players and the awesome things they do every week.

#nats gabs #nats dms

3 notes · View notes