Recent content by The Sigil

I always enjoy your well-researched threads, Snarf, and can appreciate that you would prefer to "go the primary source" as much as possible rather than get information from secondary sources like Mr Welch (I happen to be a big fan of his, but I'm not going to try to convince you to like him...

In the earliest days of 3e, I ran a campaign that was extremely heavy on prep. Every monster and NPC had lovingly crafted statblocks. Every DC for traps, challenges, etc., was carefully tuned. I always had detailed notes to refer to when the PCs encountered something. My players loved it. Same...

Well, Training For Maximum Speed Takes Patience And Recovery suggests that three sixty-meter sprints (which take less than 10 seconds each) is strenuous enough to degrade performance. "Performing three runs at near maximum speed could mean taking anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes between each of...

I agree. It takes an hour OR combat to interrupt a long rest. ;) I know you actually meant "an hour OF combat" - but again, I ask, that's a 60-round combat... have you ever actually had a combat go that long (or even close to it)? Because if the answer is "yes" then your combats are probably...

Sounds like you are reading the list as follows: "Interrupted by a period of strenuous activity - at least 1 hour of walking fighting casting spells or similar adventuring activity" I read it as: "Interrupted by a period of strenuous activity - at least 1 hour of walking fighting casting...

I would probably go along the lines of the following... 1. When we are not actively involved in the game, time passes in the game world at a rate of 1:1 with real time. 2. A "long rest" is only possible in an environment where you are 100% certain you are safe and secure. In other words...

What's the quote? "It is difficult to make a man understand something when his salary depends upon not understanding it"? (Upton Sinclair)

I don't really want to debate the moderative merits of this point or clash with the Moderators here, that's not what this post is about. It is about "saying no" in a game. It's not tyranny. If your DM has created a world with, say, no dwarves in it, just because "dwarf" is a race in the PHB...

Perhaps I'm oversimplifying things here, but it's the internet, why not? I like alignment; however, I think it works best when used in one of the following situations: 1. The Players and the DM are almost always in agreement about what "morality" means so when a character (PC or NPC) commits...

So, I'm in probably the same predicament as most on this site. When I got into RPGs, I was young, which meant I had time and energy, but no money. So I borrowed a 1e DMG from a friend, a Basic/Expert set from another friend, and ran from those until I could finally scrape together to buy my...

There's more truth to this than we'd like to admit, and unfortunately I think in too many instances we see players that want to play "themselves, but divorced of consequences for actions they know would carry consequences in the real world."

I like the idea of the cosmic wheel and a campaign where moral forces can be capitalized - a few creatures (outsiders) are avatars/incarnations of a particular supernatural expression of a moral force and can be "capital letter" Good or Evil or Lawful or Chaotic (or Neutral), but for the vast...

Wait, I thought I was done milking the cow jokes in this thread. No, it's fine, I won't do more. But this seems like as good a place as any to drop this: Oh, wait, we stopped the zombie talk too. Crud.

I would ask them if they have live worms first... if they do, it's probably a bait-and-switch.

Hence Matt Colville’s suggestion that when you need unambiguous enemies, use zombies. No will, no moral ambiguity, you aren’t going to convince them to change their minds, just a simple and unambiguous threat.