There are a lot of discussions on these forums where people forget that every game group is different. What's right for one group might not be best for another. Some groups like a very serious game. Some like it silly. Some like it realistic, and some people like it fantastical. Some want it to be beautiful and some want it to be horrifying.
If people don't want to take your advice, just move along. Princess Bride, Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones are all good shows in their own way.
You mean everyone's adventure is NOT a combination of Princess Bride, Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones because mine sure seems to turn out that way. Then again, while they may give me headaches, I think my group is pretty awesome.
This is a point worth making. I just started using this forum this week (my circle plays bi-weekly, and this is one way to get a D&D fix on off weeks), and so far, everyone is helpful and non-toxic, but people have very strong opinions on how games "should" be run. Of course, every group has to find their own fun.
My group and I just got back into D&D last year, and I have found that things can even change significantly from one campaign to another within the same group. My buddy ran Lost Mines of Phandelver for us, and after that I homebrewed up an evil, gangster themed campaign.
In the former, everyone rolled (reasonably) heroic characters and acted (reasonably) heroically. In the latter, they rolled up some killing machines, and they generally act like thugs, which is totally appropriate. Stuff that made one campaign work doesn't work in the other and vice versa. This is how it should be, IMHO.
Also, my head is now spinning trying to imagine a campaign that is a combination of Princess Bride, LoTR and GoT.
This is a point worth making. I just started using this forum this week (my circle plays bi-weekly, and this is one way to get a D&D fix on off weeks), and so far, everyone is helpful and non-toxic, but people have very strong opinions on how games "should" be run. Of course, every group has to find their own fun.
My group and I just got back into D&D last year, and I have found that things can even change significantly from one campaign to another within the same group. My buddy ran Lost Mines of Phandelver for us, and after that I homebrewed up an evil, gangster themed campaign.
In the former, everyone rolled (reasonably) heroic characters and acted (reasonably) heroically. In the latter, they rolled up some killing machines, and they generally act like thugs, which is totally appropriate. Stuff that made one campaign work doesn't work in the other and vice versa. This is how it should be, IMHO.
Also, my head is now spinning trying to imagine a campaign that is a combination of Princess Bride, LoTR and GoT.
It's a sequel to Lord of the Rings. Frodo and Gandalf have both gone into the West. Every day, Sam Gamgee tells Rosie Cotton, "As you wish." But Rosie is abducted by Geoffrey Lannister and Sam must learn piracy to rescue her.
Speaking of diversity what I have a bad problem making my world filled with just humans.
There are so many wonderful diverse races in D&D and especially in the Forgotten Realms where my game takes place, I keep on saying "You see a human (insert profession)." It's like I need to have a random race selector by me to roll against and define the NPC with more flavor.
This is a point worth making. I just started using this forum this week (my circle plays bi-weekly, and this is one way to get a D&D fix on off weeks), and so far, everyone is helpful and non-toxic, but people have very strong opinions on how games "should" be run. Of course, every group has to find their own fun.
My group and I just got back into D&D last year, and I have found that things can even change significantly from one campaign to another within the same group. My buddy ran Lost Mines of Phandelver for us, and after that I homebrewed up an evil, gangster themed campaign.
In the former, everyone rolled (reasonably) heroic characters and acted (reasonably) heroically. In the latter, they rolled up some killing machines, and they generally act like thugs, which is totally appropriate. Stuff that made one campaign work doesn't work in the other and vice versa. This is how it should be, IMHO.
Also, my head is now spinning trying to imagine a campaign that is a combination of Princess Bride, LoTR and GoT.
It's a sequel to Lord of the Rings. Frodo and Gandalf have both gone into the West. Every day, Sam Gamgee tells Rosie Cotton, "As you wish." But Rosie is abducted by Geoffrey Lannister and Sam must learn piracy to rescue her.
I could totally see an overlap between the Greyjoys, Iron Islands and Dread Pirate Roberts. And I'm not even that well versed in GoT. Nice.
Bron deserves a walk in in Princess Bride. I'm just not sure where to place in this crossover. I sort of see Bron maybe as Faramir's profane right hand man, but leaves him when Eowyn starts going Cersei in a heel turn, maybe even blowing up Minas Tirith. He's always considered piracy....
Arya and Inigo Montoya are basically the same person. She's _definitley_ considered piracy.
I find that this site, Fast Character, is really helpful in forcing me to diversify NPCs. Even when I don't need a stat block, I often just plug in a class or other detail, and let the RNG come up with the rest. Sometimes I alter the results a bit, other times I just take whatever if gives me just so I have one less decision to make.
I clicked generate with all the fields blank just now , and it spat out a level 4 High Elf battlemaster named Arien Solkir. Probably not my first choice for a character build, but for an NPC, why not?
On the species/iineage diversity front, for true randoms, in a city I either read it over (and check its encounter tables, some are more thoughtful than others) in a published work or look at my own notes, then work up a table "representative" of the local population. Sex is literally a coin toss (unless they're in an environment with strict hierarchies of biological sex, which are actually uncommon in the game world). Gender expression I don't bother with rolls but sort of do some mental calculus and assignment on the fly if that proves necessary.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
This is a point worth making. I just started using this forum this week (my circle plays bi-weekly, and this is one way to get a D&D fix on off weeks), and so far, everyone is helpful and non-toxic, but people have very strong opinions on how games "should" be run. Of course, every group has to find their own fun.
My group and I just got back into D&D last year, and I have found that things can even change significantly from one campaign to another within the same group. My buddy ran Lost Mines of Phandelver for us, and after that I homebrewed up an evil, gangster themed campaign.
In the former, everyone rolled (reasonably) heroic characters and acted (reasonably) heroically. In the latter, they rolled up some killing machines, and they generally act like thugs, which is totally appropriate. Stuff that made one campaign work doesn't work in the other and vice versa. This is how it should be, IMHO.
Also, my head is now spinning trying to imagine a campaign that is a combination of Princess Bride, LoTR and GoT.
It's a sequel to Lord of the Rings. Frodo and Gandalf have both gone into the West. Every day, Sam Gamgee tells Rosie Cotton, "As you wish." But Rosie is abducted by Geoffrey Lannister and Sam must learn piracy to rescue her.
Arya and Inigo Montoya are basically the same person. She's _definitley_ considered piracy.
So G.o.T. is a prequel to Princess Bride. Arya is Inigo's origin story.
Speaking of diversity what I have a bad problem making my world filled with just humans.
There are so many wonderful diverse races in D&D and especially in the Forgotten Realms where my game takes place, I keep on saying "You see a human (insert profession)." It's like I need to have a random race selector by me to roll against and define the NPC with more flavor.
I kind of have the opposite problem. I make every artificer a gnome, every miner a dwarf, every tavernkeeper a halfling and every magic dealer an elf. What jobs are left for the humans?
My players seem to have the same problem, because despite humans being one of the three most common races in my world, precisely zero of my player characters are human. Two aarakocra, a dragonborn, a dwarf, a tiefling, and a warforged former elf. All but one of those races are uncommon races in my world, and three of them are very rare.
This is a point worth making. I just started using this forum this week (my circle plays bi-weekly, and this is one way to get a D&D fix on off weeks), and so far, everyone is helpful and non-toxic, but people have very strong opinions on how games "should" be run. Of course, every group has to find their own fun.
My group and I just got back into D&D last year, and I have found that things can even change significantly from one campaign to another within the same group. My buddy ran Lost Mines of Phandelver for us, and after that I homebrewed up an evil, gangster themed campaign.
In the former, everyone rolled (reasonably) heroic characters and acted (reasonably) heroically. In the latter, they rolled up some killing machines, and they generally act like thugs, which is totally appropriate. Stuff that made one campaign work doesn't work in the other and vice versa. This is how it should be, IMHO.
Also, my head is now spinning trying to imagine a campaign that is a combination of Princess Bride, LoTR and GoT.
It's a sequel to Lord of the Rings. Frodo and Gandalf have both gone into the West. Every day, Sam Gamgee tells Rosie Cotton, "As you wish." But Rosie is abducted by Geoffrey Lannister and Sam must learn piracy to rescue her.
Arya and Inigo Montoya are basically the same person. She's _definitley_ considered piracy.
So G.o.T. is a prequel to Princess Bride. Arya is Inigo's origin story.
This is possible ... though I'm not sure, I thought Arya knocked off most if not everyone on her list by the end of the series and then took to the sea. Did she get the actual ax man? I mean he could have gone across the sea too and Arya pursues him after the axman takes up with the Prince in the Prince Bride. Of course, her dad was not a swordsmith but a King, but you know retconning myths, faceless identity confusion etc. Could work. I guess Andre the Giant is the Giant in the Battle of Bastards?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
This is a point worth making. I just started using this forum this week (my circle plays bi-weekly, and this is one way to get a D&D fix on off weeks), and so far, everyone is helpful and non-toxic, but people have very strong opinions on how games "should" be run. Of course, every group has to find their own fun.
My group and I just got back into D&D last year, and I have found that things can even change significantly from one campaign to another within the same group. My buddy ran Lost Mines of Phandelver for us, and after that I homebrewed up an evil, gangster themed campaign.
In the former, everyone rolled (reasonably) heroic characters and acted (reasonably) heroically. In the latter, they rolled up some killing machines, and they generally act like thugs, which is totally appropriate. Stuff that made one campaign work doesn't work in the other and vice versa. This is how it should be, IMHO.
Also, my head is now spinning trying to imagine a campaign that is a combination of Princess Bride, LoTR and GoT.
It's a sequel to Lord of the Rings. Frodo and Gandalf have both gone into the West. Every day, Sam Gamgee tells Rosie Cotton, "As you wish." But Rosie is abducted by Geoffrey Lannister and Sam must learn piracy to rescue her.
I could totally see an overlap between the Greyjoys, Iron Islands and Dread Pirate Roberts. And I'm not even that well versed in GoT. Nice.
Bron deserves a walk in in Princess Bride. I'm just not sure where to place in this crossover. I sort of see Bron maybe as Faramir's profane right hand man, but leaves him when Eowyn starts going Cersei in a heel turn, maybe even blowing up Minas Tirith. He's always considered piracy....
Arya and Inigo Montoya are basically the same person. She's _definitley_ considered piracy.
Nah. But I'm pretty sure Bronn of the Blackwater was the Dread Pirate Roberts for a while...
There are a lot of discussions on these forums where people forget that every game group is different. What's right for one group might not be best for another. Some groups like a very serious game. Some like it silly. Some like it realistic, and some people like it fantastical. Some want it to be beautiful and some want it to be horrifying.
If people don't want to take your advice, just move along. Princess Bride, Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones are all good shows in their own way.
You mean everyone's adventure is NOT a combination of Princess Bride, Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones because mine sure seems to turn out that way. Then again, while they may give me headaches, I think my group is pretty awesome.
This is a point worth making. I just started using this forum this week (my circle plays bi-weekly, and this is one way to get a D&D fix on off weeks), and so far, everyone is helpful and non-toxic, but people have very strong opinions on how games "should" be run. Of course, every group has to find their own fun.
My group and I just got back into D&D last year, and I have found that things can even change significantly from one campaign to another within the same group. My buddy ran Lost Mines of Phandelver for us, and after that I homebrewed up an evil, gangster themed campaign.
In the former, everyone rolled (reasonably) heroic characters and acted (reasonably) heroically. In the latter, they rolled up some killing machines, and they generally act like thugs, which is totally appropriate. Stuff that made one campaign work doesn't work in the other and vice versa. This is how it should be, IMHO.
Also, my head is now spinning trying to imagine a campaign that is a combination of Princess Bride, LoTR and GoT.
It's a sequel to Lord of the Rings. Frodo and Gandalf have both gone into the West. Every day, Sam Gamgee tells Rosie Cotton, "As you wish." But Rosie is abducted by Geoffrey Lannister and Sam must learn piracy to rescue her.
Speaking of diversity what I have a bad problem making my world filled with just humans.
There are so many wonderful diverse races in D&D and especially in the Forgotten Realms where my game takes place, I keep on saying "You see a human (insert profession)." It's like I need to have a random race selector by me to roll against and define the NPC with more flavor.
I could totally see an overlap between the Greyjoys, Iron Islands and Dread Pirate Roberts. And I'm not even that well versed in GoT. Nice.
Bron deserves a walk in in Princess Bride. I'm just not sure where to place in this crossover. I sort of see Bron maybe as Faramir's profane right hand man, but leaves him when Eowyn starts going Cersei in a heel turn, maybe even blowing up Minas Tirith. He's always considered piracy....
Arya and Inigo Montoya are basically the same person. She's _definitley_ considered piracy.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I find that this site, Fast Character, is really helpful in forcing me to diversify NPCs. Even when I don't need a stat block, I often just plug in a class or other detail, and let the RNG come up with the rest. Sometimes I alter the results a bit, other times I just take whatever if gives me just so I have one less decision to make.
I clicked generate with all the fields blank just now , and it spat out a level 4 High Elf battlemaster named Arien Solkir. Probably not my first choice for a character build, but for an NPC, why not?
On the species/iineage diversity front, for true randoms, in a city I either read it over (and check its encounter tables, some are more thoughtful than others) in a published work or look at my own notes, then work up a table "representative" of the local population. Sex is literally a coin toss (unless they're in an environment with strict hierarchies of biological sex, which are actually uncommon in the game world). Gender expression I don't bother with rolls but sort of do some mental calculus and assignment on the fly if that proves necessary.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
So G.o.T. is a prequel to Princess Bride. Arya is Inigo's origin story.
I kind of have the opposite problem. I make every artificer a gnome, every miner a dwarf, every tavernkeeper a halfling and every magic dealer an elf. What jobs are left for the humans?
My players seem to have the same problem, because despite humans being one of the three most common races in my world, precisely zero of my player characters are human. Two aarakocra, a dragonborn, a dwarf, a tiefling, and a warforged former elf. All but one of those races are uncommon races in my world, and three of them are very rare.
This is possible ... though I'm not sure, I thought Arya knocked off most if not everyone on her list by the end of the series and then took to the sea. Did she get the actual ax man? I mean he could have gone across the sea too and Arya pursues him after the axman takes up with the Prince in the Prince Bride. Of course, her dad was not a swordsmith but a King, but you know retconning myths, faceless identity confusion etc. Could work. I guess Andre the Giant is the Giant in the Battle of Bastards?
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Nah. But I'm pretty sure Bronn of the Blackwater was the Dread Pirate Roberts for a while...
Is Inigo Montoya's sword Velarian steel?
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
If you want a lot of diversity, you could make a new race or new monsters. Takes a LOOOT of time though. (Well, mostly for races.)
"Hero of the Heavens" (Title by Drummer)