Recent content by bloodtide

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    Runes of Hoarfrost

    Wilhird Oldgate "I am over joyed that father will recover. Still, the barony must run. I can't just leave all this to father. And too many demand acts and answers. They won't take a 'wait a couple weeks' for father. A traveling dwarf alchemist cam to town, and within hours people were...
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    Runes of Hoarfrost

    Joachim Burser, Herblore, Lord of Soro "Of course. I need very little, but should I have a need. " Joachim gives a slight head nod. Wilhird Oldgate is found downstairs and across the hall in the map room With the rugged and sun-swept features of someone who has been outside too much...
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    How do you like to start a campaign

    I start with a BANG! My now classic is to have the PCs meet at a tavern for roughly two minutes..... then have the tavern explode and fall into the Abyss. It is a great way to jump start a game. To just have the PCs falling through a Vortex of Infinity always works out great. Having the...
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    Runes of Hoarfrost

    Joachim Burser, Herblore, Lord of Soro "My travels will not take me south for at least two moons. I'm not one to bespeak of a family, but you might want to send a family member."
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    Runes of Hoarfrost

    The Dvargrfell Mountains Stretch up and down the Western coast of the Northern Peninsula of the Veld, far enough to enter the perpetually icy lands of the far north. The Mountains themselves are an imposing natural barrier, striking up hard from the sea where there are dozens of inlets and...
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    D&D General Wild Magic, Yea or Nay?

    I love random chaos in a game. My game houserules always make magic dangerous and wild. I'm not a fan of the "things always work exactly as the rules say" Most rules don't do good wild magic. Like the 5E wild magic sorcerer gets a 'wild surge' once in a while...and, odd, "luckly abilities"...
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    D&D General A Rant: DMing is not hard.

    It is like any other skill. But you can't just "do it a lot" and get better by only randomly doing it a lot. You need to actively take real steps to be better at a skill Everything? I would measure it against average
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    D&D General A Rant: DMing is not hard.

    Well, just "being" a DM is not overly hard. Nearly anyone can do the basic DM actions of "just say stuff" at random. Of course, it IS hard to be an average or good or great DM. It's marketing. And it's not new...... Sure anyone can just "do it", the same way anyone can write a book. Of...
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    D&D General Wildly Diverse "Circus Troupe" Adventuring Parties

    There is a Complete Guide to Gnomes and Halflings...... This is also true of most high school kids and collage kids. As always for the last dozen years, a lot of young people really focus on Tieflings as they have the wacky "Anime" esthetic and they are "bad". After that, many young girls...
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    Should traps have tells?

    I'm Team Hard Fun, with a side of Unfair!
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    What makes setting lore "actually matter" to the players?

    I sure have seen a lot of Homebrew Setting Fatigue in the last year or so. So many DMs over the last 20 or so years have really doubled down on the idea of making "their perfect setting". The DM takes the default fantasy setting and then tweaks things to their whims. The "My elves are so...
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    Player skill vs character skill?

    Or have them cooperate with each other like a cohesive team. Or solve a big problem without a combat answer. Or even just role play (the acting kind). It is not the default. An average or less INT character can make smart tactical decisions. You don't need to be "smart" to do "smart...
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    Player skill vs character skill?

    If the player just says whatever, and the dice control what happens....this is just a dull mechanical game. The player can never say nothing. This goes back to the problem, a big one for me, of just having the DM take control and play the character. If the player is just going to sit there...
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    D&D 3.x [Rule questions] Surprise, Teleportation & Invisibility

    Well.... 1. RAW does not say how teleport interacts with surprise. In general, someone in combat can't be "surprised" by things in combat. Teleporting in is not any different then a summons or even tactical teleportation. So, no surprise. 2.This would get the invisible ones surprise, the...
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    (Almost) Forever DM Looking to be a PbP Player

    I'm open to running a solo....one DM(me) one player (you) game via PBP. Let me know....
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