Anything BUT whatever dumb ass 💩 WotC has recently done or is currently doing, literally ANYTHING

Just so we're clear, I make homebrew for fun without intending to use all of it in game. In referencing Demon Slayer, I wasn't so much trying to play out a power fantasy, and like I mentioned, I don't really care much for anime tropes in general. What I am pondering is a reasonably balanced way to bring some variety into the way martials play. I know you're not really accusing anybody here of anything, but I feel I should clarify why I brought it up.

The more I think of this topic, the more I feel toxic nostalgia for 4e. Lol.

Quote from Gnomarchy >>

Just so we're clear, I make homebrew for fun without intending to use all of it in game. In referencing Demon Slayer, I wasn't so much trying to play out a power fantasy, and like I mentioned, I don't really care much for anime tropes in general. What I am pondering is a reasonably balanced way to bring some variety into the way martials play. I know you're not really accusing anybody here of anything, but I feel I should clarify why I brought it up.

The more I think of this topic, the more I feel toxic nostalgia for 4e. Lol.

 
Not speaking for anyone else, but I certainly didn't think otherwise.

I just got sidetracked with anime I watch, lol.

But, also, I do tend to try and think of approaches to solve a problem. 

But, you sidestepped around one of my pet peeves, lol.

Variety in martials is something that is really hard to do, and really hard to come up with, and that's why I turned to the anime stuff -- as a way to give them something to work on and grow with.

But, I also did so without the goal of trying to "balance" martials and casters, lol.

That is the pet peeve.

You ever type up a passionate six-paragraph response in a thread, quickly switch tabs to find a relevant link, and when you switch back to the page you see that it decided to refresh itself and get rid of all six of ‘em?

Yeah, me too.

Okay, that’s not really a lot of writing, but still. The sheer audacity of my browser! I never should have trusted you, Chrome!

Just felt like venting here because I know a lot of you folks can relate ;)

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

You ever type up a passionate six-paragraph response in a thread, quickly switch tabs to find a relevant link, and when you switch back to the page you see that it decided to refresh itself and get rid of all six of ‘em?

Yeah, me too.

Okay, that’s not really a lot of writing, but still. The sheer audacity of my browser! I never should have trusted you, Chrome!

Just felt like venting here because I know a lot of you folks can relate ;)

 
That's about 30% of why I don't often write long posts haha. The other 70% is that I accept the fundamental truth of the world, which is that nobody really cares what I have to say. If I have to write a lot, I start in notepad and copy/paste.

Quote from AEDorsay >>

Quote from Gnomarchy >>

Just so we're clear, I make homebrew for fun without intending to use all of it in game. In referencing Demon Slayer, I wasn't so much trying to play out a power fantasy, and like I mentioned, I don't really care much for anime tropes in general. What I am pondering is a reasonably balanced way to bring some variety into the way martials play. I know you're not really accusing anybody here of anything, but I feel I should clarify why I brought it up.

The more I think of this topic, the more I feel toxic nostalgia for 4e. Lol.

 
Not speaking for anyone else, but I certainly didn't think otherwise.

I just got sidetracked with anime I watch, lol.

But, also, I do tend to try and think of approaches to solve a problem. 

But, you sidestepped around one of my pet peeves, lol.

Variety in martials is something that is really hard to do, and really hard to come up with, and that's why I turned to the anime stuff -- as a way to give them something to work on and grow with.

But, I also did so without the goal of trying to "balance" martials and casters, lol.

That is the pet peeve.

They aren't supposed to be "balanced". Martials do martial stuff, mages do mage stuff; it is supposed to be a trade off -- you can do one or the other really well, and then everything else is sorta doing less well in some way with either of those, and the Cleric splits the difference.

But I've been playing since those were the only classes, so imma grouse and grumble and shout get off my rocks -- since I am not allowed to have a lawn.

but meh, they want to nerf the hell out of mages or make fighters into mages, fine, I can help do that too.

Quote from Wysperra >>

I love SAO. I have the first book of Shield Hero but have yet to read it. 

Bubblegum Crisis

Madoka Magica

Sailor Moon - which I found surprisingly entertaining for a time

Appleseed

RWBY

Blade and Soul

I effing LOVED RWBY!!!

Also, Rosario + Vampire. “Know your PLACE!”

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

You ever type up a passionate six-paragraph response in a thread, quickly switch tabs to find a relevant link, and when you switch back to the page you see that it decided to refresh itself and get rid of all six of ‘em?

Yeah, me too.

Okay, that’s not really a lot of writing, but still. The sheer audacity of my browser! I never should have trusted you, Chrome!

Just felt like venting here because I know a lot of you folks can relate ;)

 
All the times.

Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

You ever type up a passionate six-paragraph response in a thread, quickly switch tabs to find a relevant link, and when you switch back to the page you see that it decided to refresh itself and get rid of all six of ‘em?

Yeah, me too.

Okay, that’s not really a lot of writing, but still. The sheer audacity of my browser! I never should have trusted you, Chrome!

Just felt like venting here because I know a lot of you folks can relate ;)

 
All the times.

Ditto there was this one time when

Quote from SirTawmis >>

Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

You ever type up a passionate six-paragraph response in a thread, quickly switch tabs to find a relevant link, and when you switch back to the page you see that it decided to refresh itself and get rid of all six of ‘em?

Yeah, me too.

Okay, that’s not really a lot of writing, but still. The sheer audacity of my browser! I never should have trusted you, Chrome!

Just felt like venting here because I know a lot of you folks can relate ;)

 
All the times.

 

Ditto there was this one time when

 
Reminds me of when I taught at a university. For those of you who currently write essays or will in the future: for Pelor's sake it gets exhausting to read through the following:

"In this essay I will..."
"Since the Cold War/Great Recession/Dawn of Time, *broad unfalsifiable statement*. (Usually found at the beginning of an introduction.)
"incentivize"

I blame teachers more than students for teaching fourth graders a single uniform way to write, and failing to amend that understanding at any point up until (and including) college.

Quote from Gnomarchy >>

Quote from SirTawmis >>

Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

You ever type up a passionate six-paragraph response in a thread, quickly switch tabs to find a relevant link, and when you switch back to the page you see that it decided to refresh itself and get rid of all six of ‘em?

Yeah, me too.

Okay, that’s not really a lot of writing, but still. The sheer audacity of my browser! I never should have trusted you, Chrome!

Just felt like venting here because I know a lot of you folks can relate ;)

 
All the times.

 

Ditto there was this one time when

 
Reminds me of when I taught at a university. For those of you who currently write essays or will in the future: for Pelor's sake it gets exhausting to read through the following:

"In this essay I will..."
"Since the Cold War/Great Recession/Dawn of Time, *broad unfalsifiable statement*. (Usually found at the beginning of an introduction.)
"incentivize"

I blame teachers more than students for teaching fourth graders a single uniform way to write, and failing to amend that understanding at any point up until (and including) college.

 
That’s part of why I always got decent grades on my papers, I wrote them like speeches. Very refreshing amid all of that drivel.

Quote from IamSposta >>

 
That’s part of why I always got decent grades on my papers, I wrote them like speeches. Very refreshing amid all of that drivel.

 
Yeah that should work in some settings. What's funny is how among academic publications, the quality of writing varies pretty dramatically across fields. In my experience the best writers are actually legal scholars, which is a bit shocking. In my field it's almost a benefit to be as opaque as possible.

Quote from Gnomarchy >>

Quote from IamSposta >>

 
That’s part of why I always got decent grades on my papers, I wrote them like speeches. Very refreshing amid all of that drivel.

 
Yeah that should work in some settings. What's funny is how among academic publications, the quality of writing varies pretty dramatically across fields. In my experience the best writers are actually legal scholars, which is a bit shocking. In my field it's almost a benefit to be as opaque as possible.

 
I appear to be cranking hard today, lol.

It is funny that you mentioned quality of work in pubs, because it is Friday and my little side gig is on deck and now I am going through a stack of seven papes and I swear, if I could just get the EIC to approve a few minor stylistic things....

What folks don't always realize is that most peer reviewers get paid squat (if at all -- average is about 125 bucks a paper), get a ton of crap on their desk (nothing from today's batch is getting my approval), and have to spend likely an hour just writing up their peer notes.

Uness they have a sub-specialty, in which case they will be dealing with likely two to three hours. Per document, 6 to 10 documents a week at least.

And that is why I am cranky.

Well, that and I just realized i forgot to eat today. I should splurge big and have it delivered so I don't throw my darn pots and pans around...

Welp, got around 300 posts worth of stuff up on the site, after breaking it all down. That completes a huge chunk of stuff that was waiting. Pleasant "new look', at least to my eye, and my player group loves it (after telling me to do it more like DDB, lol).

I simply could not stand to go as granular as DDB. I would like to stop c/p into new documents in this lifetime, lol.

ten days left of my final extension, and I am please. As boring as the rest of the stuff is, right now everything would work with using default classes.

Surrendering to our new AI overlords sucks, although I am glad I was able to create a lot more images of folks that are hard to find otherwise.

Finally was able to read through most of that. 

Anime: I don’t watch a lot of it. I liked Pokémon a lot when I was younger. I did watch the Boy and the Heron, a Studio Ghibli film. It was incredible and now I have to watch more Studio Ghibli.

Speaking of Japanese films, Godzilla Minus One was amazing.

QotD: It’s late at night. A friend texts you, saying they have some friends that want to try D&D and their DM bowed out unexpectedly. You offer to run a quick one-shot.

The campaign is tomorrow afternoon, so you don’t have a lot of time to prepare.

Do you use a published campaign setting or a homebrew world? Likewise, do you use a published adventure or something you made yourself?

Bonus question: if you choose something that’s been published, what world and what adventure do you use?

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

QotD: It’s late at night. A friend texts you, saying they have some friends that want to try D&D and their DM bowed out unexpectedly. You offer to run a quick one-shot.

The campaign is tomorrow afternoon, so you don’t have a lot of time to prepare.

Do you use a published campaign setting or a homebrew world? Likewise, do you use a published adventure or something you made yourself?

Bonus question: if you choose something that’s been published, what world and what adventure do you use?

 
I’d run ‘em through Kobold Tower. It’s a little thing I threw together for exactly this kinda situation. It’s nothing special, some kobolds and their shenanigans and some random monsters (giant spiders, etc.) in an old, forgotten wizard’s tower. It’s perfect for situations such as you describe.

It starts out that the party have all heard about this tower in the old swamp and independently decide to investigate for whatever motivations the players come up with for their PCs. They all meet up in the swamp that surrounds the tower, and after introductions they are beset by some giant mosquitoes and a swarm of regular mosquitoes. Then, onto the tower proper where they must first gain access somehow, before finding a desiccated kobold in a giant spider cocoon nearby wherever they find ingress. Then they can go either up towards the observatory or down into the laboratory. There are some typical kobold traps, some kobolds being led by a pair of dragonborn,* and of course some wandering giant spiders. There are some random magical items scattered about, and a few collected by the dragonborn. By the end of the dungeon they should all be 2nd or 3rd level depending on how many PCs there are and how they decide to proceed through the tower. (If they skip areas they’ll obviously earn less XP.) I find it just about a perfect intro to D&D.

*In my world dragonborn and kobolds are related like goblins and hobgoblins are related.

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

QotD: It’s late at night. A friend texts you, saying they have some friends that want to try D&D and their DM bowed out unexpectedly. You offer to run a quick one-shot.

The campaign is tomorrow afternoon, so you don’t have a lot of time to prepare.

Do you use a published campaign setting or a homebrew world? Likewise, do you use a published adventure or something you made yourself?

Bonus question: if you choose something that’s been published, what world and what adventure do you use? 

Well, are they already at a set level they wanna play at? I like using a lot of the Candlekeep Mysteries adventures with some modifications to make them shorter. Though there are a couple that I really don't use from that book, such as Mazfroth's Mighty Digressions, Book of the Raven, Book of Cylinders, and Lore of Lirue. A Wild Sheep Chase is a nice one and a while ago, I made an adventure that can work as a one-shot called The Missing Sage.

Basically, I use premade adventures lol. I find that cooking one-shots up on short notice is hard for me because even if i have a neat idea, it'll probably burn and die when I try and turn it into an adventure to be honest.

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

QotD: It’s late at night. A friend texts you, saying they have some friends that want to try D&D and their DM bowed out unexpectedly. You offer to run a quick one-shot.

The campaign is tomorrow afternoon, so you don’t have a lot of time to prepare.

Do you use a published campaign setting or a homebrew world? Likewise, do you use a published adventure or something you made yourself?

Bonus question: if you choose something that’s been published, what world and what adventure do you use?

 

 I would use Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, set in the Forgotten Realms (near Neverwinter).

Quote from BoringBard >>

Well, are they already at a set level they wanna play at?

Let’s say 1. They’re new, so they want the full experience and want to level up naturally.

Thanks to both (edit: all three) of you for the responses. 

Initially it depends on how much time you have. I think every GM should have a folio of premade characters for when there is not time for dice rolling and figuring out stats in addition to holding a regular session zero. If you have time for the players to do rolling or array dealing, yay!

I have a go-to dungeon that I often use with new players. It is based on Wally DMs Prismatic Owl. Seeking shelter from the elements, the party finds a cave. I don't lock the party in and only use three rooms. I use blue gems first which rewards the party with yellow gems. Finally there is a green light on the third wall. Hopefully the party figures out you need to use one blue and one yellow gem in the eyes to open the door.

The encounters are often some sort of locked box, a slime, and a spirit guarding a dead magical tree. The party can set the ghost free by dropping the gems into the dirt (or water) around the tree. After the gems are dropped, the tree revitalizes and bears fruit - food for a day or healing or some other potion effect.

After the tree, the party can continue on their journey and decide if they want to play again.

Do you notice that players often hold on to consumables for forever? They seems to be so reluctant to use a spell scroll or potions or magical fruit. Why do people do that?