@Mariano I run all homebrew campaigns so no one's going to know what I'm necessarily planning next, but I do have one friend in my online group who definitely cheats his butt off when it comes to to hit rolls and ability checks. He's a part time coder and he uses a dice roller on his PC that I'm sure is loaded with bs numbers in his favor. Everyone else rolls dice on camera, but oh no... And yes, everyone knows about it. It's like an open secret.

While he can have some main character syndrome going on, he's mainly just a power gamer. And at my experience at running these things, I know how to temper things discreetly if he leans too close to trying to one up other players.

So why do I put up with it?

For all his tough bravado in and out of game, he's had a hard life. He hides a severe anxiety problem by over compensating. Psychologically, the guy has a lot going on, from internal and external forces. I'm not ignorant of this.

Generally speaking, as long as he doesn't cross the line of making the game unfun for others (and again, we know him pretty well), I'm okay if he wants to play something bigger than himself. Someone powerful, charming, cool, etc. He can roleplay reasonably well and he doesn't need to be perfect. But he needs a friend or even several. That's my group. We've known him for decades.

When we get older, social quirks and dubious decisions that you might make regularly when you're younger become less charming and excusable. And older guys especially have trouble making new friends as men have families, which is often less time for hobbies and our peers potentially grow more aloof.

There's been some dangerous unstable people out there where he lives in the last few years that started getting his attention. Making him feel big in all the wrong ways. You can imagine who they are. But if the rest of us, his old friends, can remind him of who he is and that he has a place with us like he always did, then yes... I will look the other way a little for the game and for him.

I don't respect cheating at all. But if I can do this one little thing that might make his weekend and ease the fault lines in his soul, then I'll cop to having this motivation for the greater good. I always want to be a good a good gamemaster, but there's more to the gaming table than rules and rolling dice once you do it enough.

I apologize for the long answer that might be off the rails for a response, but I wanted to offer my own perspective on this.

Probably water. I grew up on the shore and I've always enjoyed that setting. Plus every bathtub becomes a jacuzzi when you're a water bender.

I was going over the legal terms the other day and I got to the part about not sharing IP content with competitors, which is perfectly sensible. But it got me thinking... who and what are they defined as by your studio?

I'm not entirely sure who is running a comparable project to the game's idea. It's not quite like something akin to Second Life, Utherverse, or a common rp forum. I figured I'd ask out of curiosity's sake.

It was a campaign that barely had two sessions before it collapsed. The DM was well intentioned, but needed way more experience. He was trying to run Strixhaven, which I was already not really a fan of in concept, but I went along with it with a few other players to give him a shot.

He didn't understand how to keep things moving or interesting. It was so ploddingly dull and one could tell he hadn't really studied the module. Right in the beginning, he had us trying to do an easter egg hunt sort of challenge, but he didn't bother explaining the layout of the mage's school beyond a quick four-second description. He also dumped a metric ton of forgettable NPCs on us before anything even happened. I'm not sure we got far beyond the starting lobby in Strixhaven over several hours.

We told him what was going on and he then switched to some brutally hard Darksouls type 3rd party module where we were to explore a haunted house. While I liked the concept, taking damage for no discernable reason and being given no clues during the mystery just made everything feel arbitrary and tedious. I don't think he's run since.

@mianngu I've got some new players in my Sunday group. While I prefer sprinkling in some players who know the game to help things flow and reduce rules burden, there are still things you can do.

The previous advice here is good. A lot of patience and I would probably lean on letting them choose pre-gens because the game throws a lot of unfamiliar blather at newbies. I'd also limit the pre-gens to less complicated classes. For example, I think if were talking 5e here, Monk is a little too much on managing and awkward rules explanations.

Have a helpful npc in the party who can either tank or heal. This guy can give in game guidance and direction while protecting the others. However, I wouldn't use Paladin since they can overshadow others as a sort of do it all class and newbies aren't going to remember the paladin's save aura gimmick.

Focus on role play and having fun before aggressive rules comprehension. Lead the players in on situations regarding how skill checks are done naturally so they get the idea and take initiative.

Give everyone a little something to do, via NPCs interacting with them or fun activities, but don't push players who are trying to learn or feeling the game out.

Give story but don't drown them with exposition and world building, those can come later. Don't ask for backgrounds or shoot for anything epic in scope... epic happens on it's own or not at all. Keep home brewed stuff in regards to rules minimal to none.

Are you running this from a house in person? Consider bringing snacks and drinks. It's more of a fun atmosphere than just staring at weird numbers on paper.

If you have minis and they don't, let them pick from a handful of ones you might think works best for their character. Choice and agency create attachment!

Keep the first few sessions as 'softball', meaning there is no serious chance of any serious failure or character death. Roleplay and describe often.

@mianngu The paladin is definitely going to be a fine line exercise in how useful it will be as team backbone (tank, heal, and burst dps in one highly survivable package) versus some players wondering why their characters don't seem to have as many powerful dynamic options and abilities, ala the super simplistic auto attacker that is the Champion Fighter. Power levels are pretty uneven at early levels which might give erroneous impressions to new players.

I have a rule called Cascade and it's been pretty popular for a long time.

Starting at the second level in 5e, whenever you roll new maximum hitpoints for your level, I roll against you as the DM. We take whoever has the higher number. This raises the average of getting a non-garbage result while keeping it random.

However! If we both roll the same number, then we keep that and roll the next lowest die type down from that, following the same rules as before, until the dice don't match again. When we no longer match, you take all those matching numbers and add them together, with your Con mod only added once. This makes for some hilarious results and the players get to enjoy a bit of free gambling for a big permanent prize. This is 'cascade'.

First Example: You roll a cleric's d8 hitdie for your level. You get a 5. I roll a 7. You take the 7 instead of the 5, adding your Con mod as normal, and that's it for the level. Not a bad result, but not a 'cascade'.

Second Example: You roll a cleric's d8 hitdie for your level. You get a 5. I roll a 5! Keep that handy. Now we both roll a d6, the next descending die type.

You roll a 3. If I roll a 3, we continue cascading, until we get down to a d2. Add all the matched numbers, add Con mod once, and there ya go. Crazy hitpoint boost for the level and the player is pretty happy.

Alternatively, if I rolled 4 or whatever, you'd take that 4, take the 5 from the previous roll, add Con mod once, and we're done. Still, some nice chunky hitpoints to gain.

Why did I make this?

Outside of being something of a mad scientist with D+D rules for fun, the Cascade homebrew offsets trash rolls. No barbarian in existence wants to roll a 1 for their new hitpoints. It's horrid. And we like rolling at our table. Chaos is always good. It adds excitement that doesn't exist through averaging hitpoints or taking a single crummy roll.

It's also amusing to have something like a Wizard with some modestly tanky hitpoints. Cascade protects squishy classes from deadly crits.

Also, because squishy classes have lower hitdie types, they have a better-than-average chance of getting a higher roll or a cascade roll than the tank, who still has the chance, but just less need for it.

We've been doing Cascade for at least a decade now and I've never heard complaints about it.

"So, who's feeling lucky? Roll dem beautiful hitpoints, sir."

@FlamingUnicron That works, thank you.

@mianngu I think I would enjoy healing more but I'm rarely in a situation where it gets appreciated, if that makes sense? Yes, the support roles I prefer aren't showy either, but I find people tend to like someone around who acts as a quiet backbone, so to speak.

As far as healing goes, it's mainly been wedged between D+D 5th edition and World of Warcraft. In the former, healing doesn't really keep up as easily in battle compared to older editions, I find. The players I've been with have regarded it as generally a poor use of an Action unless they're downed or floating around death's door on their last knee. So healing often becomes a yo-yo mechanic of getting other players out of death spiral or an out of combat thing.

In WoW, it was just DPS rudely screaming their heads off at the healer to constantly spam every bit of recovery while they ignored their threat levels. Not fun for me in that scenario.

I guess I just haven't found the right situations to enjoy the process.

Non-healing support. Or at least support roles that aren't solely healing.

I enjoy using control-type abilities from a distance to steer the battlefield to help my companions. Failing that, I like off-tanking where I play the secondary frontliner to take pressure off of the main tank. Lastly, I enjoy mitigating damage to my companions. In D+D terms, that's usually an Abjuration Wizard's role or a melee type who can block damage on a reaction. I generally don't care to be a gloryhound, but I like quietly enabling others to succeed when I'm around them.

Aesthetics-wise, I like nature-y characters or those with a gift for music.

@mianngu I'd go with the dryad. It sounds like a beautiful if tragic existence. I think there's something hauntingly enchanting about fighting back against what seems like futility and being a nature spirit in the process sounds amazing.

You have a curse that acts up randomly for a continuous 24 hours every week! Would you choose to be uncontrollably addicted to consuming any form of soap, despite the taste, or to only hear everyone else around doing convincing Gilbert Gottfried comedy routines, despite whatever they're actually saying to you?

@mianngu I'm not really afraid of any of them, it's more like... a sense of intense revulsion. I can easily deal with spiders, centipedes, and wasps, with no issue. But there's something about tomato hornworms, a type of caterpillar, that really disgusts me. I found some dying in the cold rain on my then-roommate's tomato plants a long time ago. The pitchers that held the tomatoes were flooding and the caterpillars got caught in the storm. I tried to lead them off with another surface, but they weren't having it and made this weird rapid twitching motion that just set me off somehow.

Roaches disgust me a lot, having lived in several infestations when I was very young.

Lastly, I'm adding ticks to the list. I caught Lymes twice in my late teens and it really did serious damage to me for a long time. It felt like dying for two weeks straight and I was so weak I couldn't even push in the button on a vending machine without collapsing against it. I never take them lightly anymore.

My question is this. You can learn the truth behind one historical or pop-culture mystery that no one has fully explained. For example, it could be something that occurred during a time when records were poor, an unsolved crime, a disappearance, or something that is seemingly anomalous (ala The Man from Taured story). But it has to be something that people aren't entirely sure about regarding what happened. What mystery do you reveal to yourself and why?

@mianngu Interesting. What happens during true fumbles in that game? Just weapon drop?

I'm a night owl in all capacities. I find I focus better in that sweet spot within the hours before I pass out around 4am. The air is cooler, it's quieter, and I have the least amount of distractions. Tis the daydreamin' hours... but at night!

I also have a tendency to churn out creative material during my 9pm lunch break (I've got a pocket in my duffel bag devoted to keeping my notes made at work). I think it's a release from my boredom though, and less to do with the time. But I can definitely say I almost never do any writing or illustration in the immediate hours after waking up. My mind just isn't there at that point.

There's no shortage of modern games that look great and are overall well made. But sometimes an old favorite keeps coming back into your rotation. Maybe it doesn't look the best and there's some outdated design to it, but it's like comfort food. Or maybe you find that despite the higher end production of modern games, there's something not clicking about them? What's your poison?

For me, it's Left 4 Dead. I get out after a long late solitary shift at work and it helps me decompress. I enjoy the cooperative nature of the PvE modes and the game director AI that keeps the horde encounters dynamic, so it feels fresh. I'm also big into the voicework as the characters chatter in a way that makes them feel a fun mix of real and absurdist in a dooming scenario. So while they all play the same, their personalities are distinctive and yet fitting. I like the approach the game has to being a roving survivor and scavenger, and not some ridiculous tough talking gorilla/cool guy with a tude who isn't in any real danger. The special infected monsters all feel specific and tactical, with none of them stepping entirely on the role of the others.

I have a rule called Cascade and it's been pretty popular for a long time.

Starting at the second level in 5e, whenever you roll new maximum hitpoints for your level, I roll against you as the DM. We take whoever has the higher number. This raises the average of getting a non-garbage result while keeping it random.

However! If we both roll the same number, then we keep that and roll the next lowest die type down from that, following the same rules as before, until the dice don't match again. When we no longer match, you take all those matching numbers and add them together, with your Con mod only added once. This makes for some hilarious results and the players get to enjoy a bit of free gambling for a big permanent prize. This is 'cascade'.

First Example: You roll a cleric's d8 hitdie for your level. You get a 5. I roll a 7. You take the 7 instead of the 5, adding your Con mod as normal, and that's it for the level. Not a bad result, but not a 'cascade'.

Second Example: You roll a cleric's d8 hitdie for your level. You get a 5. I roll a 5! Keep that handy. Now we both roll a d6, the next descending die type.

You roll a 3. If I roll a 3, we continue cascading, until we get down to a d2. Add all the matched numbers, add Con mod once, and there ya go. Crazy hitpoint boost for the level and the player is pretty happy.

Alternatively, if I rolled 4 or whatever, you'd take that 4, take the 5 from the previous roll, add Con mod once, and we're done. Still, some nice chunky hitpoints to gain.

Why did I make this?

Outside of being something of a mad scientist with D+D rules for fun, the Cascade homebrew offsets trash rolls. No barbarian in existence wants to roll a 1 for their new hitpoints. It's horrid. And we like rolling at our table. Chaos is always good. It adds excitement that doesn't exist through averaging hitpoints or taking a single crummy roll.

It's also amusing to have something like a Wizard with some modestly tanky hitpoints. Cascade protects squishy classes from deadly crits.

Also, because squishy classes have lower hitdie types, they have a better-than-average chance of getting a higher roll or a cascade roll than the tank, who still has the chance, but just less need for it.

We've been doing Cascade for at least a decade now and I've never heard complaints about it.

"So, who's feeling lucky? Roll dem beautiful hitpoints, sir."

@K-O

Well, you can't really see him, he's about the size of a large rice grain, but I have a single brine shrimp named Dewey who lives in a self contained ecosystem as seen on the left side of the photo. If you're not familiar with those, it's a closed habitat that perpetuates it's own balance so long as you allow it some indirect access to sunlight. Inside, algae grows that offers oxygen and food for Dewey.

Dewey originally belonged to the building manager at my work. During a QA session where I was feeling rather slap happy, I asked him about it and if he named it. He said no and challenged me to do it. So I drew a picture of Dewey in the process and his response was what you're seeing there.

A month later, the building manager was transferring to California and asked for me. In short, he gave me Dewey and now the little guy lives on my lamp table where I can make sure he gets some light for his little home. I check on him daily.

@SwampCreature said in

If a wizard were really mad at you and cursed you as punishment, would you rather be transformed into a flightless bird or a really ugly fish? Bonus points if you tell me why the wizard is mad at you.

Flightless bird. While I wouldn't want to be a penguin, everyone loves a kiwi and I wouldn't be against becoming an ostrich or cassowary. As for the wizard, I probably stole his last slice of pie. In my last moments as a human before meeting his annoyed gaze, he'd probably ask me if I thought it was magically delicious.

Would you rather become a supervillain whose entire obsession was centered around the use of coleslaw as both a weapon and crime theme or a gritty film noir detective in a big city filled with high rises whose lower legs were permanently replaced by a single pogo stick?

Francis York Morgan from Deadly Premonition. A weird Twin Peaks style game with an amusing head case of an FBI Agent at the lead. He's just got this charming oddness about him and he has a lot of social chemistry with the town folks despite seeming quite awkward in some ways.

Dr Takuto Maruki from Persona 5. I can only say so much about him since he's very spoiler heavy, but wow, what a character. Maruki is very perceptive and understanding, possessed of a level of objectivity you don't see often in often in games. He's the kind of person I could see myself wanting to talk with often for his insight and theorizing. His ultimate role in the game made me wish I could talk him down from things, because he seems very reasonable if misguided in good intentions. I've also become interested in cognitive science based on his characterization alone. Also RIP Maruki's VA, because it was excellent.

Jarl Balgruuf from Skyrim. While I'm pretty sure he has a few skeletons in his closet in his deeper lore, Balgruuf is at least trying to keep a sense of peace and moderation in a land filled with racism and hotheads. He makes some mistakes, but they're often out of caution and concern for others. The fact he trusts a dunmer to be his bodyguard says a ton about him.

Brad from Lisa the Painful. No one on earth should ever want to be like Brad. He's a walking pile of barely held together trauma, over protectiveness, and self loathing. He can't do anything right. His entire journey is one of absolute pain, being hated, and suffering, but his gruff determination is also kind of inspiring. By the end of the game, when you can see circumstances have pushed this utter mess of a man past the limit both psychologically and physically speaking and he's about to stop holding back (while making things even worse for some), he delivers a short speech that just makes you feel for this slow building trainwreck of a man who just wanted to be loved and thought he was doing the right thing all along.

Mine isn't any one specific BBEG, but a group of three that pulled the ultimate carpet pull on epic level characters.

Okay, flashback to a 3rd edition era D+D campaign that's been going on for quite a long time. High power, very loose and frenetic style. It's one of my specialty 'evil campaigns', where the characters can only be of evil or relatively neutral alignment.

By this point, the characters reached a staggering level 22-23, and the players know they're hot stuff. The main antagonists are a loose confederation of home brewed giant three-headed humanoids called Horrors. They've scuffled with them individually a few times, but now they're in a tense stand off with three of them. Even at their level, the Horrors are a challenge, as each is effectively a boss type monster. They're well liked villains for their tenacity, unique lore, and challenge.

I decided to shoot for the moon out of nowhere.

The Horrors compliment the PCs on their prowess and so on. "We've watched the lot of you from the dawning of your misadventures and we must admit... we're impressed. So we've decided to present you an opportunity... true power. You have what it takes to go the mile. Become one of us."

Now, the lore on the Horrors was murky in places, but it was known that they could make others of their kind through unconventional means involving a spiritual transfusion.

One of the Horrors tosses the players a single rusty dagger. "Transcend your flesh and make the ultimate next step. Thereby, you shall become one of our legion."

Now, these players are utterly powerdrunk at this point. This is a crazy campaign, it seems like anything goes. And the idea of a PC becoming a Horror is just the kind of gonzo direction things could go... right?

Immediately, four of the five players is down for this. The last guy is a hold out, but he is ultimately tempted by the idea, edged further by everyone else. They go for it.

One by one... these epic level characters ended themselves with a rusty dagger. A solid year of actual gaming, often with double weekly sessions. And no one thinks to make an Insight check to determine if something is fishy. I couldn't believe it.
The Horrors thanked the now dead characters for their bravery and contribution.

Because no one made that one incredibly basic check to see if they were lying or telling some half truth, the entire party ended themselves only to wind up with their brains put into obedient robotic minions that the Horrors employed. Which fulfills what the bad guys meant... they could join their legion, which are all worded as 'Horrors' under a single banner. They just didn't get converted into the big brutal ones like they thought. One simple measly Insight checked could have avoided this. But noooo....

The campaign ends with uproariously laughter and facepalming on everyone's part and I gained the ultimate Dungeon Master TPK story thanks to those three BBEGs. Twenty years later and they still reference it.