[-] sirblastalot@ttrpg.network 4 points 1 hour ago

Yeah, in that case I think you did everything that could reasonably be expected of you.

[-] sirblastalot@ttrpg.network 1 points 1 hour ago

A war could always just end by the bad guy (from your perspective) winning decisively.

[-] sirblastalot@ttrpg.network 1 points 1 hour ago

I think as a teenager I played a lot of Bards because being likeable and everyone doing what you say is kind of nice when you're an awkward disempowered kid, but nowadays I mix it up. Mostly just because playing the same character repeatedly would get kind of boring for me, and I want to explore different territory, even if it's on the level of "original the hedgehog donut steal"

[-] sirblastalot@ttrpg.network 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

That's kind of funny in a terrible way when you consider that a lot of security research is pentesting.

Therapist: "Also you're fat"

Patient: [incoherent sobbing]

Therapist: "Ok so you're insecure about that too, try to work on that..."

[-] sirblastalot@ttrpg.network 2 points 1 hour ago

I only implement restrictions when there's actually a problem. Haven't needed to in a long time

[-] sirblastalot@ttrpg.network 1 points 1 hour ago

Some people, especially kids (no shade, I'm mostly talking about myself when I was younger) have difficulties focusing on the game when the distraction machine is in front of them, leading to DMs restricting or banning their use.

[-] sirblastalot@ttrpg.network 3 points 1 hour ago

I think that was the right action, but you could have explained better. Instead of just "Ok, you stay at the tavern" something like "Ok, you can stay at the tavern if you really want to, but you do understand that will mean you're sitting here bored all afternoon while the rest of us play, right?"

[-] sirblastalot@ttrpg.network 2 points 1 hour ago

Everybody's gotta learn some time

[-] sirblastalot@ttrpg.network 2 points 1 day ago

There are lots of places that will print for you (eg https://www.shapeways.com/), but it's cheaper and easier than ever to print your own right now! You can get a cheapo chinese printer for a hundred bucks, or an excellent Bambu for $250 (https://us.store.bambulab.com/products/a1-mini) Then you feed your model into something called a Slicer which will let you adjust all those parameters to your heart's content (Flashprint is beginner friendly, Cura or Orcaslicer are more advanced options, all free) You'll also need a roll of filament ($13-$20 for one roll, enough to print hundreds of minis) and then you just hit start and see how it goes! If your print fails, nbd, it's like a fraction of a cent of plastic, just tweak and try again!

The material you want to use is called PLA, it's cheap and easy to work with. Note that all the above prices are in USD, it's likely more expensive to get shipped to Australia, but a lot of it comes straight from China so you never know. Feel free to message me with any questions or troubleshooting help

[-] sirblastalot@ttrpg.network 4 points 4 days ago

Listen, if Bashir can casually turn Sisko into a klingon in an afternoon, outpatient, I'm pretty sure ~~becoming my fursona~~ gender transition is nbd

[-] sirblastalot@ttrpg.network 6 points 4 days ago

My boring dayjob is to sit in front of the holodeck and shoot anything weird that comes out.

[-] sirblastalot@ttrpg.network 3 points 5 days ago

I’ve always just treated it as a natural 3D extension of the 2D grid rules

I believe that's how it's handled in D&D too, or at least how my table has always done it. I meant more as a practical matter, you're very unlikely to have a vertical wall grid and some kind of stand of the correct height for your minis, so you can't just count squares like you would for horizontal movement. That's when the Pythagorean Theorem comes up in my experience.

42

Perhaps obvious to everyone else, but I've hit upon a little trick for better coordinating game time. Instead of announcing "Game will be at 1 o'clock" I've been doing something like "Doors open at Noon, Game starts at 1." This way, the people that want to hang out, level their characters, decide what they like on their pizza, etc all show up at noon, and the people that are running late or decide to come at 1 arrive with the expectation that they're going to walk in the door and immediately start playing. It also provides a natural transition point from the arriving/hanging out mode to game time, which otherwise makes me feel kind of uncomfortably teacher-y, calling the whole class together and whatnot. Try it out, maybe it will help you too.

15

You see something similar in the entranceway to public bathrooms that don't have doors, where it kind of zig-zags for privacy. I'm trying to figure out what this kind of architectural feature is called. Thanks!

64
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by sirblastalot@ttrpg.network to c/rpg@ttrpg.network

I recently started a new campaign. Two players (one who has played in my games before and their SO, who has been begging me for a spot for years) unexpectedly dropped out, moments before our first session. Their reason was somewhat baffling; they said they didn't want to spend "all day" on this, despite the game only going from noon to 3PM. They seemed to think this was a totally unreasonable expectation on my part, despite them previously having stated they were available during that time. This puzzled me.

I've been musing on this, and the strange paradox of people that say they want to play D&D but don't actually want to play D&D, and I've had an epiphany.

A lot of people blame Critical Role or other popular D&D shows for giving prospective players misplaced perceptions, often related to things like your DM's voice acting ability or prop budget, but I don't think that's what's going on here. My realization is that, encoded in the medium of podcasts and play videos, is another expectation: New players unconsciously expect to receive D&D the way they receive D&D shows: on-demand, at their house, able to be paused and restarted at their whim, and possibly on a second-screen while they focus on something else!

I don't know as this suggests anything we as DMs could do differently to set expectations, but it did go a long ways to helping me understand my friends, and I thought it might help someone here to share.

8

I've got an unholy-water fountain, a human chessboard, and an evil hedge maze. I need 1 more thing to put in the last corner of the square courtyard/garden thing. Any suggestions?

view more: next ›

sirblastalot

joined 2 years ago
MODERATOR OF
rpg