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

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Quote from AEDorsay >>

”Can we eat the monsters?”

 
You can certainly try. I mean, technically anything is edible at least once.

 True that. in one of my games I once tried char-broiled elf arm, pretty good, a little on the skinny side

Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from AEDorsay >>

”Can we eat the monsters?”

 
You can certainly try. I mean, technically anything is edible at least once.

 True that. in one of my games I once tried char-broiled elf arm, pretty good, a little on the skinny side

I'm excited to watch Dungeon Meshi, but I don't wanna start until at least the whole season is out. My friends have been trying to eat monsters for years though.

Quote from AEDorsay >>

Dear heavens, it happened.

I knew it would, eventually. It was inevitable when you have a group like mine. I just hoped that it wouldn’t.

as we are preparing for our zero session, the Very First Question is…

”Can we eat the monsters?”

DAMN YOU, NETFLIX! 

 That show is kind of hilarious. It’s called “Delicious in Dungeon” for those who haven’t seen it. Japanese animated. Really entertaining. And gives some ideas for interesting homebrew monsters. 

Quote from SpiderTrapper >>

Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from AEDorsay >>

”Can we eat the monsters?”

 
You can certainly try. I mean, technically anything is edible at least once.

 True that. in one of my games I once tried char-broiled elf arm, pretty good, a little on the skinny side

 
My old Thri-kreen character from 2e used to love elf flesh!

It is better to be over prepared than it is to be underprepared.

It appears I will be running a game most weekends, lol.  Starting groups are all 6 players each.

The call on eating monsters was “yes, you can try” (I mean, I am a Cook. How can I say no?).

Although I haven’t finished the write ups for the Witch, Wizard, or Warlock for posting or inclusion in the book, I have one of each.  Indeed, I have one character from all of my classes, lol. 

Next week is the new players.

Probably two more sessions to make sure all the PCs are where players are happy and to finish off what we already started (the storytelling of how they all meet). Turns out that of the 18 PCs, 9 know each other and will be spread among the different games. So, once more, a west marches style will happen lol.

I am so glad I put all that work into the website — it was used while it was in progress (and some oof them did follow along), as well as during character creation. I never had to suggest it, either — benefit of playing witht he folks for a long time.

It is dark and quiet here. I am just enjoying the feel of happy that comes from a good session.

So, it is a certainty that anything that reaches a certain level of popularity will have a mention in my games — often shot down, lol, but not out of spite. 

And I have to watch the Netflix show now. I hadn’t planned on it, but I learned to watch such things early on. Fair is fair, though — several of them are now going to be watching BOFURI, lol.

QOTD: what is your main "overarching conflict" of your games. the War between the Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty in Wildemount, for example in Crit Role, but also stuff like the thing in dragon-lance that sunk Istar (Tawmis, you probably know) I think it was the cataclysm or something along those lines, where the gods forsook the world.

In my homebrew world, the Lord Of The Arcane has had their mind split into two pieces, and so magic is wonky, as well as the Volians (my version of Elves, which are infused with the power of the Weave) are trying to take over the world. Oh yeah, The Overgod of my world has been corrupted by beings and is now seeking to subvert the world into its twisted vision.

I already know that AEDorsay is going to have some insane plot line involving super-complicated plot line involving all this crazy awesome stuff and it will probably involve food. or it should involve food, at least. Man, I'm hungry. 

Quote from SpiderTrapper>>

QOTD: what is your main "overarching conflict" of your games. the War between the Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty in Wildemount, for example in Crit Role, but also stuff like the thing in dragon-lance that sunk Istar (Tawmis, you probably know) I think it was the cataclysm or something along those lines, where the gods forsook the world.

Oooh, fun.

Most of my game world is dominated by the Great British Empire, a world-spanning coalition of foul ghouls and other assorted ghastly creatures. The whole world is a sort of dark-fantasy twist on the Renaissance era and Golden Age of Piracy, in which the planet’s geography and peoples are subject to the whims of a frightful moon called the Redlight. So the overarching conflict, at least in the eastern regions, consists for the most part of the Empire’s attempts to oppress the surrounding nations and assert naval dominance — a task they accomplish with the assistance of the United Merchant Conglomerate. Similar to the Victorian-era corporations like the East India Company and Hudson’s Bay Company.

There’s a whole lotta other things happening in the Americas, but I’m afraid I can’t speak about them here quite yet . . .

Quote from SpiderTrapper >>

QOTD: what is your main "overarching conflict" of your games.

I already know that AEDorsay is going to have some insane plot line involving super-complicated plot line involving all this crazy awesome stuff and it will probably involve food. or it should involve food, at least. Man, I'm hungry. 

So, I don't really have a big overarching plot. I have a lot of different plots, all happening at the same time, and this is why I have a calendar.

The biggest ongoing things that are happening in the world at large as the campaign opens up:

Now, those are the "big events". Different hooks at different times will be baited and cast out among the assorted parties, with the biggest effort beng set up around the invasion of the dragons. One of the most respected Dragons will keep running into the parties. How they deal with things will determine if he holds the war off, cancels it entirely, or speeds it up.

There are also a lot of side quests and general adventures that tie into the above, and at least a dozen PC backstories tie into one or more of those events (heh, I was very good).

But this is the dark secret to running a sandbox: they might not do anything about any of the above -- and so will have to deal with the fallout of all of those things if they don't, or if they fail when they are drawn into something.

If I am successful in my overall efforts to get them to go along with the assorted plans:

And that's the broad outline of big stuff. 

Each of the "modules" above (two per tier) is composed of three parts -- so six parts per 4 levels, with the 9 - 12 being a complex one of seven parts -- so 35 "adventures" in total, interlinked within the whole. Estimated in-game time will be about five years, play time is guesstimated to be three years.

Key Side adventures include a Magnificent Seven derived one, a Die Hard derived one, an Oceans # derived one, and then some odds and ends also drawn from favorite movies that are being tied into back stories. Overall, the first campaign is kinda playing my "greatest hits"; this is why I suddenly had a bunch more people hop in. And yes, Stephen King's IT is indeed a major part of the whole (first and then Pencewit's revenge).

Regardless of outcome, a time skip of five years, and then the next campaign (which is, yes, still based on the combining of Bond, Bourne, Mission Impossible, and assorted other acton spy films). New peoples that will be eligible for play will include a giant heritage, a centaurian heritage, and goblin heritage.

I don't concern myself with such things. My focus is on the dungeon.

In the Candlekeep adventure I play in, I'm fairly sure there aren't any major world conflicts happening. If there are, they're not affecting us.

Quote from ChoirOfFire >>

I don't concern myself with such things. My focus is on the dungeon.

In the Candlekeep adventure I play in, I'm fairly sure there aren't any major world conflicts happening. If there are, they're not affecting us.

 
in the "New to D&D" session, there is no great plot at all. I am strangely looking forward to it.

That one is "find out about the dungeon, get to the dungeon, survive the dungeon, get back home". After that, we will see what that group wants to do (I have a lightly prepped world build, but no real plans).

I am working on the write up for that dungeon as well still -- but I needed a week of no worldbuilding as a break.

Quote from SpiderTrapper>>

QOTD: what is your main "overarching conflict" of your games. the War between the Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty in Wildemount, for example in Crit Role, but also stuff like the thing in dragon-lance that sunk Istar (Tawmis, you probably know) I think it was the cataclysm or something along those lines, where the gods forsook the world.

For years, Emperor Bratteator (bad Latin pun), a hero born of Mars, has been claiming his birthright to everything and conquering all the nations nearby. Everything West of Mount Olympus now falls under the banner of Ensis, the Red Imperium. The nations to the East are understandably fearful, even though there's a giant mountain range and arguably the world's most powerful nation between them and Ensis, so one day they all came together in Aoyios, a city-state central to the East that is renowned for its people of logic. There, they formed a federal government called the Aoyios Consortium to face the inevitable attack from the West with as much strength as they could muster. The Consortium was made just a few years ago, and Ensis has yet to attack. Nobody has any doubts that they will, though.

I don't really have any plans to do anything with the whole situation, but I figure it's there if I need it.

Quote from SpiderTrapper>>

QOTD: what is your main "overarching conflict" of your games. the War between the Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty in Wildemount, for example in Crit Role, but also stuff like the thing in dragon-lance that sunk Istar (Tawmis, you probably know) I think it was the cataclysm or something along those lines, where the gods forsook the world.

I don’t really do the whole “overarching plot” thing for a whole campaign. I like to present smaller adventures to my players and let them choose the one(s) that interest them the most. So each adventure will have a “plot(ish),” but over the course of a 1-20 campaign they may go one a dozen or so of those adventures. So far the biggest, longest adventure I’ve run took 2½ years IRL and got the party from 10th — 14th levels. That’s as close to an overarching plot line as I typically get.

Now, for my own personal homebrew world the “major source of conflict” is progressive v conservative values, or chaos v order depending on how you look at it. And for the “setting” I’m developing with a friend it’s literally a great war along the urban/natural divide. It’s about how neither side is wholly right or wrong, and that the only really wrong part about it all is the war that’s been going on since forever, and about how the only true answer is peace through mutual respect and coexistence, but some of that’ll probably go over some people’s heads.

Quote from SpiderTrapper >>

QOTD: what is your main "overarching conflict" of your games. the War between the Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty in Wildemount, for example in Crit Role, but also stuff like the thing in dragon-lance that sunk Istar (Tawmis, you probably know) I think it was the cataclysm or something along those lines, where the gods forsook the world.

For Dragonlance it was indeed the Cataclysm. But it wasn't the gods who abandoned, but mortals (who through vanity, pride, and a mess of other things that the gods tried to warn them and give them a chance to redeem themselves - I'm looking at you, Lord Soth! - that they failed, and were punished).

For my world - I run several games that all intertwine, really.

So there's the "Work Game" (named such, because when it started, it was mostly people from work - ironically, no longer the case). Their main story is chasing down a Beholder who has gotten a hold of a relic that bestows endless - nonstop - secrets - in doing so, it drives the bearer insane - because the secrets it unfolds escalate - and the Beholder has learned how to ascend into godhood - and that has to be stopped.

There's the "Ben Game" (named after the brother of one of my players in my Work Game, who had asked me to DM for him and his friends). Their current main story is learning that dragons are amassing - and that recent events (from the various other games) - has caused the scales to tilt in the favor of evil (a very powerful dryad killed, a fallen angel of dark power released, etc. etc.) - and they've uncovered that the "Dragon Goddess" is on the verge of awakening. All she needs is a foolish Beholder to open the portal between the mortal realm and the realm of the gods and she will rise to great power - in the meantime, she's amassing her dragons to be ready for war.

In the "Off Week" game (which is a very small group from my work game) - this game takes place in an undisclosed amount of time in the future. They're stranded on an island, that's cloaked in eternal darkness (by a magical cloud that blots out the sun). They discovered that on the island once you reach 'mature age' - you simply cease aging. They also discovered that ships - if they get too close - are magically drawn by the tide to crash into the jagged rocks around the island. Once on the island, there's a magical riptide that pulls you back to the island. They've learned the 'new' lord of the land murdered the previous lord (who was well loved) - and are uncovering that the new lord is a vampire - this is why he keeps it eternally dark, has magic to pull the ships to the island (more food), and magic to keep everyone eternally young (no one dies of old age... they simply ... disappear).

In a game that's mostly a one on one (it's mostly when me and one of the folks from the work game are bored for the night, or just need to get our mind off something) - that one is rarely run. So no real big picture there yet - other than so far a coven of hags has been at work on this island that's ripe with magic (story goes a Storm Giant was attacked by a red dragon - and all kinds of power and magic was unleashed creating instability in the magical energies on this island - so various portals to the various realms will mysteriously open and close randomly, all over the island).

In the new face to face game, we're only about six sessions in - and haven't figured out their big story yet. But I've alluded (as it's leaked in the other games as well, Work Game, Ben Game) - that the giants see the dragons amassing - and at the Echelon - the giants are demanding action by the King and Queen of the Echelon - they need to strike at the dragons before the dragons strike at them. So there's rumblings of a war - not only between giant and dragon - but among the giants themselves. (It has a bit of a Storm King's Thunder vibe to it, in that regard that it's centered on giants).

In all my campaigns, I've mentioned this before, I like to flesh out things I've really not delved into. In the work game, there was a ... I think it went for 16 to 20?... session bit with the Drow and the Dwarves. A whole war between them I developed - which then went on to spread into the current (work game story) where after a long time of not encountering them - they find them on the Plane of Earth, at war with the Earth Genasi... when a new enemy is brought in, the Githyanki (which in my world, are elves who worship an evil serpent god whose destiny is to squeeze the world, once the gods are slain... so the serpent god has sided with the Beholder, on its quest to godhood - to weaken the gods).

So things like giants, I never explored really. Drow, never explored until that long Drow/Dwarf war I did. I have introduced Illithid as a potential enemy to the "Ben" game, alluding to that the Illithid have something to do with one of the monk's backgrounds (because I never touched Illithid in any of my games). I've never used Lycanthropy, or horror-type themed monsters, but the Off Week is full of it - so many people on the island are infected with Lycanthropy - but many have learned to control it.

So I am looking to use monsters I've not used and create some lore and story along the way.

Quote from SpiderTrapper >>

QOTD: what is your main "overarching conflict" of your games. the War between the Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty in Wildemount, for example in Crit Role, but also stuff like the thing in dragon-lance that sunk Istar (Tawmis, you probably know) I think it was the cataclysm or something along those lines, where the gods forsook the world.

 

 can’t say very much about my own campaign here because I run it on the Forums, but for my game Oak Road and Stone, set in the Ebon Tides, which is like a spooky feywild, the main thing that starts the conflict is the attempted assassination of the fey lady Yleira the Swift. So that’s gonna cause a whole lot of stuff to happen.

Question of the Day since the thread is sliding...

As a DM: What keeps you playing D&D, when there's so many other role playing games out there?

For Players: What keeps you playing D&D, when there's so many other role playing games out there?

For Lurkers: What keeps you lurking, when there's so many good posts here to reply to?

Quote from SirTawmis >>

Question of the Day since the thread is sliding...

As a DM: What keeps you playing D&D, when there's so many other role playing games out there?

For Players: What keeps you playing D&D, when there's so many other role playing games out there?

For Lurkers: What keeps you lurking, when there's so many good posts here to reply to?

 

 DM - Two things really. The people I DM for don't actually know how to play all that well, so I use the time to teach them, and I enjoy making my own stories.

Player - I like creating characters to test out mechanics I learn or created.

Lurker - I don't think there's a Call of Cthulu website. All I know is this one.

Quote from SirTawmis >>

Question of the Day since the thread is sliding...

As a DM: What keeps you playing D&D, when there's so many other role playing games out there?

For Players: What keeps you playing D&D, when there's so many other role playing games out there?

For Lurkers: What keeps you lurking, when there's so many good posts here to reply to?

 

 DM-- I mean, I'm not really that familiar with the other RPG systems anyways. I just remember some family members of mine thinking, 'You might like D&D', so they introduced me to it and I enjoyed it so I kept going. I know nothing about other systems and I'm not really interested in learning them as of now, especially since I'm starting to get the hang of D&D.

Player-- null, since I haven't gotten to be a player for a while.

Lurker-- I know I'm not a lurker on this thread anymore (though I still don't post here much tbh), but I'd say they're probably just nervous to post or something similar to that.

I love playing a lot, but sometimes I hyperfixate on a thread when I have a really good character for it

DM- I’ve never really played any other rpgs, my dad told me about it and my classmates sucky DM brother was my first DM, then I started DMing myself and it was fun, and I’ve never really wanted to try any other role playing games, because dnd covers a lot of stuff.

PLAYER- same answer. I’ve always enjoyed being a player more than a DM, though.

LURKER- well I’m posting right now, aren’t I?