Recent content by MarkB

  1. MarkB

    D&D 5E (2024) Help Me Fill Out a Treasure Hoard

    A full 80-piece set of Heroes of Faerun dwarven-crafted figurines, still in their original packaging, scattered across several floors and tucked in amongst a whole literal hoard of other stuff. Worth an absolute fortune to the right collector, but only if they can gather up the full set.
  2. MarkB

    D&D 5E (2014) Building a Better Ankheg

    Only when talking about it tunneling through solid rock, which is understandable. Through earth I'd tend to consider it optional.
  3. MarkB

    D&D 5E (2014) Reverse Time Combat

    Unrumble! The first thing that occurs to me is the players trying to game the system - i.e. if any of the guards start out dead or badly wounded, the players avoid attacking them so that they don't get healed. This is going to require a lot of player buy-in - quite often players are more...
  4. MarkB

    D&D 5E (2014) Building a Better Ankheg

    Boosting its speed and burrow speed would be a start, these things should be using ambush tactics, rising up to spit some acid and then burrowing away, but they don't have the speed to do so very effectively. The trickiest part of fighting them should be pinning them down before they retreat...
  5. MarkB

    D&D General Am I crazy (BBEG idea)

    That also allows for some playing with the concept - is he a centaur cursed to turn into a nightmare, or a nightmare cursed to think he is a centaur?
  6. MarkB

    D&D General Converting Bg3 to Tabletop

    I'd fall back on the old "soul must be free and willing to return" clause. Once infected by the parasite, your soul is bound inextricably to the Absolute and the only way it may freely return is if you allow the parasite to be resurrected along with the body. You could even make it that a live...
  7. MarkB

    D&D General How would you do a fantasy mall?

    Reminds me of Skyrim, where simple potions are easy enough to make that you see health and stamina potions set out at peoples' dinner tables. In D&D healing potions are too expensive to be so ubiquitous, but maybe these are diluted versions that only heal a hit point or two - that'd be good...
  8. MarkB

    D&D General How would you do a fantasy mall?

    Not the OP and I don't remember which book it is, but at one point Pratchett likens out-of-town malls to parasites, feeding upon the cities they adjoin and slowly sucking the life out of them (with the whole thing becoming disturbingly more literal within the setting of the Discworld...
  9. MarkB

    D&D General How would you do a fantasy mall?

    "Fantasy mall" makes me think "bazaar" and there are plenty of historical examples of those. Set it up as a large plaza or promenade, with the buildings bordering it containing the most prestigious and long-standing shops. But what used to be the open ground between them has gradually been...
  10. MarkB

    D&D General Converting Bg3 to Tabletop

    The first question is, would you do the whole "de-powered by the tadpoles" thing to knock the party back down to low level after DIA? That happens in BG3 to characters like Wyll and Karlach, and is a good way to reconcile their high-level backstories with their current low levels. But that sort...
  11. MarkB

    Godzilla minus Zero teaser

    I don't think it will change your mind about Godzilla movies in general, but it is an excellent examination of post-war Japan that happens to make very good use of a giant monster to help explore its themes.
  12. MarkB

    D&D General Converting Bg3 to Tabletop

    It varies a lot. Some encounters are very self-contained, others are in larger areas. Even in places that are one large area, like the goblin fortress interior, while it's possible for fights to spill into each other it's also possible to keep them fairly isolated. The main thing that tabletop...
  13. MarkB

    Payn does a 7 day trial of MGM+ so you dont have to...

    "And they have a plan."
  14. MarkB

    Streaming services, which do you have or are you getting rid of?

    It's going to be even harder in my case - I get the service as an add-on via my phone provider. Last time I wanted to change it (after they automatically upgraded me to premium when Disney+ went to split pricing) it took the better part of an hour just to find the add-on on the provider's...
  15. MarkB

    D&D General Converting Bg3 to Tabletop

    I wouldn't make them full-on pre-gen characters, instead I'd package their backstory elements into optional backgrounds/backstories for players to pick (similar to the Secrets in Rime of the Frostmaiden) with the promise that taking one will give them some deeper roleplay elements and storylines...
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