Damn. Our campaign of about a year just ended and I am lost. It was not a clean ending. The party (except for me and the second character of another player) were busy fighting against a very large horde of very tough monsters. The other party member and I were busy raiding the ship of the main enemy at the time, and trying to kill him and his crew that would try to kill our party if they got off the ship. In combat we had three players go down. One got a nat 20 after combat and woke up. One stabilized and was then brought back with some healing. One died. Luckily, the Druid was up and tried to cast revivify. The soul of the character decided not to come back. One dead PC. Then, one party member left us to go and attack the ship while he was still transformed into a grey slaad. He was quickly dropped to 0 hp and fell into the water. He saved on his death saves, but he was underwater and ended up dying anyway. Well, maybe. I’m not entirely clear on what happened with him. His character was a revenant homebrew race and he would be coming back in two weeks though. Two dead PCs. Then, at camp, one party member wandered off and almost died. No one else knows what happened because everything took place in a whispered conversation with the GM. He lived, but only barely. Another player had two characters and both stayed at camp. I and another player assumed that the others had taken care of the monsters in the town. Not only did we as players believe that, our characters believed it too. We got a good deal of loot and headed back, but we were ambushed after the Druid rolled poorly on stealth. We were both dropped to zero and the GM had us make our death saves. We both died. Four dead PCs. Two living players, three characters alive. We decided that there was no way to keep it going.
Now our GM is making a game from a couple hundred years before. While we wait I’m running the prequel to my summer campaign or a pathfinder module, whichever one the group votes for.
The lesson of this story: Do not split the party. I don’t care how safe it seems. Never do it. It killed our party.
Rest in peace Jack, Tom Hindiddle, Sparks, Raven the Broom Witch, and (other PCs gone from the party) that one warlock, Declan Armand, Kirin, and Morthos.
And to Seven, Hogson, and Vlad Domir: Live a good life my friends. Keep Alaria and Grobda safe.
Damn. Our campaign of about a year just ended and I am lost. - Snip! Snip - Now our GM is making a game from a couple hundred years before. The lesson of this story: Do not split the party. I don’t care how safe it seems. Never do it. It killed our party.
Yeah, splitting the party - especially if it's an end fight - is never a good idea. An end fight is probably the one time most DMs will definitely not hold back. It's the accumulation of the entire adventure so going easy at the end - after the players have leveled and gained powers and magic weapons - cheapens the experience. So definitely, never split the party. However, sometimes, players think that they can get away with it - they want to either "get the loot", or be "edgy" and wander off on their own, etc., thinking it will have no consequence on the rest of the party.
Now I will say, it's almost a shame the DM is doing an adventure that takes place a couple hundred years before - I think the more interesting go would be to play a campaign 10 to 20 years after - the heroes have lost. What is the impact to the DM's world? Has evil gone unchecked? Has the face of the world changed somehow? This would be a fantastic opportunity for the players to experiences these changes with the new characters.
Well, this wasn’t the end fight… Just a large issue and kind of a final farewell to the island.
I actually prefer to go before, because the world has been seriously impacted by our actions, and tbh, we all (except one player) wanted new stories that weren’t connected to the old. With the shattered god of ruin warning me that the end of the world is coming, an elder brain emerging from its ancient lair in the city the existed before time, and a whole host of pirates expanding their functions, I’d say that it’s better to be in the past.
Well, this wasn’t the end fight… Just a large issue and kind of a final farewell to the island. I actually prefer to go before, because the world has been seriously impacted by our actions, and tbh, we all (except one player) wanted new stories that weren’t connected to the old. With the shattered god of ruin warning me that the end of the world is coming, an elder brain emerging from its ancient lair in the city the existed before time, and a whole host of pirates expanding their functions, I’d say that it’s better to be in the past.
You can - and definitely should have new stories - even if it's after the events. The new stories wouldn't have to center on whatever the big event was.
However, as you transverse the land on your various quests - you might see impacts of your final battle. Did Keep Neverfall collapse beneath the enemies' might? Maybe you need to do something near Keep Neverfall, and your characters see the ruins of a once glorious town that former heroes failed to protect. None of the new stories would need to tie into the previous adventure - but seeing the consequences, I would have figured might be fun. But, definitely, to each their own.
I think the downside to "pre-adventure" is you know certain things are going to happen. You meet Lord Faithkeeper, lord of Keep Neverfall. And you met him with your previous characters in the adventure that happens after this one. Well, if he was alive then you know nothing is going to happen to him now, no matter how perilous the danger (unless the DM doesn't tie the world's history and each adventure is it's own thing - which would nullify even doing an adventure post the original adventure).
Oh no, our GM is bribing us to a very distant time where no one and nothing connected to our adventures exists. In fact, I think we’ll be on another continent. Our adventure was enjoyable, but we felt like having a different story that didn’t feel like just dealing with the consequences of our character’s actions. We can still return to that adventure one day too. Some PCs survived and we’ve got some other characters hanging around too. And the consequences of our actions are kind of everywhere. Plus, our we’ve agreed with our GM to start learning more about world lore and the best way to do that is going back in time and experiencing it, rather than getting a lore dump, even a well done one. I’m excited, but until then we’re messing around in Eberron for my prequel campaign.
I've never seen Wizards but I saw Fire and Ice back in the VHS days.
Fire and Ice is pure perfection.
Wizards was a little weird for me. It was like... if I wanted to watch Thundarr the Barbarian on drugs... with ... like, He-Man humor at times (specifically Orko)...
I'd much rather just watch Thundarr and He-Man sans any drugs. lol
I've never seen Wizards but I saw Fire and Ice back in the VHS days.
So...
ok, I am a wizards fan. I *still* quote "those dirty rotten yellow bellied faires" and mutter about how they killed Fritz.
However...
Wizards is a fascinating example of how bakshi could and would willingly cross a line and burn people. Vaughn Bode (who I also like and now am even closer to thanks to a mutual friend) also had a lot of influence on early D&D stuff (surprise) and for years there was a lot of bad blood between Bode's family and Bakshi's family because of Wizards, which has characters that look an awful lot like Bode's shockingly similar creations -- and the development of Wizards is a wild ride.
That lasted until shortly before Bakshi's leaving animation, during pre-production on Wizards 2 (2013 to 2015) (lost in the aether along with many other things), when Mark *finally* got a call from Ralph and said he was sorry and even sent several things back and added some of the old Wizards animation cels.
Wizards is arguably bakshi's best known work -- he never got to finish the LOtR stuff because Tolkien's estate killed that deal, he had a hard time moving forward on a lot of stuff, and after Cool World bombed, he was really kinda dropped from anyone (and it didn't help that the Rock and Rule film that copied his style died as well, or that he's lived with people dragging Fritz the Cat his whole life).
Should note that animation today would be shockingly empty without him: Bruce Timm, Andrew Stanton, Dave Marshall, John Kricfalusi, and Jeff Pidgeon all worked closely with him. That covers Pixar, WB, Star Wars, Nickelodeon, and more.
Last bit of trivia about Wizards: it was originally called something like War Wizards, iirc, but it was being produced and funded by Fox under Alan Ladd at the same time as a another movie by a guy who was friendly with Bakshi. That film was something called Starry Warfare or something, but it had a little known talent named Mark Hamill who the director of the other film, a guy named George Lucas, had agreed to let record some dialogue for Wizards. As the two productions were wrapping up, Lucas called Bakshi and asked him to change the name -- so it just became Wizards, so that there wouldn't be another film with War in the title coming out at that time, and it happened because Mark Hamill was allowed to record lines.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Should note that animation today would be shockingly empty without him: Bruce Timm, Andrew Stanton, Dave Marshall, John Kricfalusi, and Jeff Pidgeon all worked closely with him. That covers Pixar, WB, Star Wars, Nickelodeon, and more.
Speaking of animation today, has anyone caught any of Season 2 of Star Wars Visions? I know season 1 is controversial among Star Wars fans (I personally like much of it, and the stuff I didn't care for wasn't horrible just missed my taste); but I'm really liking Season 2, I'm only 4 eps in. Anyway I bring it up because like AED's lecture on animation, I can say I really like animation but don't know a lot of the "inside baseball" of it, so I really appreciate anthologies like Star Wars Visions because, like a good written anthology, it exposes me to studios I wasn't familiar with and gives me motivation to look up more stuff.
Ok, so of the four episodes, I was familiar with Cartoon Saloon (and never thought of them doing a Star Wars but so glad they did) and Aardman (which wasn't what I was expecting from them but still true to their style and I think worked). But I had never heard of El Guiri Studios who probably put the most beautiful animation I'd seen in some time, inside or outside of Star Wars. Good stuff.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Question(s) of the Day: Do your PCs dream? And of what?
Yes, of a bunch of nerd sitting around a table.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny. Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
Damn. Our campaign of about a year just ended and I am lost. It was not a clean ending. The party (except for me and the second character of another player) were busy fighting against a very large horde of very tough monsters. The other party member and I were busy raiding the ship of the main enemy at the time, and trying to kill him and his crew that would try to kill our party if they got off the ship. In combat we had three players go down. One got a nat 20 after combat and woke up. One stabilized and was then brought back with some healing. One died. Luckily, the Druid was up and tried to cast revivify. The soul of the character decided not to come back. One dead PC. Then, one party member left us to go and attack the ship while he was still transformed into a grey slaad. He was quickly dropped to 0 hp and fell into the water. He saved on his death saves, but he was underwater and ended up dying anyway. Well, maybe. I’m not entirely clear on what happened with him. His character was a revenant homebrew race and he would be coming back in two weeks though. Two dead PCs. Then, at camp, one party member wandered off and almost died. No one else knows what happened because everything took place in a whispered conversation with the GM. He lived, but only barely. Another player had two characters and both stayed at camp. I and another player assumed that the others had taken care of the monsters in the town. Not only did we as players believe that, our characters believed it too. We got a good deal of loot and headed back, but we were ambushed after the Druid rolled poorly on stealth. We were both dropped to zero and the GM had us make our death saves. We both died. Four dead PCs. Two living players, three characters alive. We decided that there was no way to keep it going.
Now our GM is making a game from a couple hundred years before. While we wait I’m running the prequel to my summer campaign or a pathfinder module, whichever one the group votes for.
The lesson of this story: Do not split the party. I don’t care how safe it seems. Never do it. It killed our party.
Rest in peace Jack, Tom Hindiddle, Sparks, Raven the Broom Witch, and (other PCs gone from the party) that one warlock, Declan Armand, Kirin, and Morthos.
And to Seven, Hogson, and Vlad Domir: Live a good life my friends. Keep Alaria and Grobda safe.
Yeah, splitting the party - especially if it's an end fight - is never a good idea. An end fight is probably the one time most DMs will definitely not hold back. It's the accumulation of the entire adventure so going easy at the end - after the players have leveled and gained powers and magic weapons - cheapens the experience. So definitely, never split the party. However, sometimes, players think that they can get away with it - they want to either "get the loot", or be "edgy" and wander off on their own, etc., thinking it will have no consequence on the rest of the party.
Now I will say, it's almost a shame the DM is doing an adventure that takes place a couple hundred years before - I think the more interesting go would be to play a campaign 10 to 20 years after - the heroes have lost. What is the impact to the DM's world? Has evil gone unchecked? Has the face of the world changed somehow? This would be a fantastic opportunity for the players to experiences these changes with the new characters.
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
Well, this wasn’t the end fight… Just a large issue and kind of a final farewell to the island.
I actually prefer to go before, because the world has been seriously impacted by our actions, and tbh, we all (except one player) wanted new stories that weren’t connected to the old. With the shattered god of ruin warning me that the end of the world is coming, an elder brain emerging from its ancient lair in the city the existed before time, and a whole host of pirates expanding their functions, I’d say that it’s better to be in the past.
You can - and definitely should have new stories - even if it's after the events. The new stories wouldn't have to center on whatever the big event was.
However, as you transverse the land on your various quests - you might see impacts of your final battle. Did Keep Neverfall collapse beneath the enemies' might? Maybe you need to do something near Keep Neverfall, and your characters see the ruins of a once glorious town that former heroes failed to protect. None of the new stories would need to tie into the previous adventure - but seeing the consequences, I would have figured might be fun. But, definitely, to each their own.
I think the downside to "pre-adventure" is you know certain things are going to happen. You meet Lord Faithkeeper, lord of Keep Neverfall. And you met him with your previous characters in the adventure that happens after this one. Well, if he was alive then you know nothing is going to happen to him now, no matter how perilous the danger (unless the DM doesn't tie the world's history and each adventure is it's own thing - which would nullify even doing an adventure post the original adventure).
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
Oh no, our GM is bribing us to a very distant time where no one and nothing connected to our adventures exists. In fact, I think we’ll be on another continent. Our adventure was enjoyable, but we felt like having a different story that didn’t feel like just dealing with the consequences of our character’s actions. We can still return to that adventure one day too. Some PCs survived and we’ve got some other characters hanging around too. And the consequences of our actions are kind of everywhere. Plus, our we’ve agreed with our GM to start learning more about world lore and the best way to do that is going back in time and experiencing it, rather than getting a lore dump, even a well done one. I’m excited, but until then we’re messing around in Eberron for my prequel campaign.
I've never seen Wizards but I saw Fire and Ice back in the VHS days.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Fire and Ice is pure perfection.
Wizards was a little weird for me. It was like... if I wanted to watch Thundarr the Barbarian on drugs... with ... like, He-Man humor at times (specifically Orko)...
I'd much rather just watch Thundarr and He-Man sans any drugs. lol
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
Question: What would you think of a Minecraft server tavern thing?
Hi, I’m DrakenBrine, here’s my Sig and characters
I am The Grand Envisioner!
Not many of the people here use taverns. This might be better to ask on Last Comment Wins.
For myself, I don't play Minecraft and I barely know what a server is.
Quote from wiki “A Minecraft server is a player-owned or business-owned multiplayer game server for the 2009 Mojang Studios video game Minecraft.”
Hi, I’m DrakenBrine, here’s my Sig and characters
I am The Grand Envisioner!
Ha, that uses its own word in the definition.
Thanks for that but I don't think I would join.
Never got into Minecraft, myself.
What do you mean? Taverns are great for opening adventures! lol
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
Of course. But there is a thing on the forums called taverns where you create characters to roleplay. You have probably seen them.
So...
ok, I am a wizards fan. I *still* quote "those dirty rotten yellow bellied faires" and mutter about how they killed Fritz.
However...
Wizards is a fascinating example of how bakshi could and would willingly cross a line and burn people. Vaughn Bode (who I also like and now am even closer to thanks to a mutual friend) also had a lot of influence on early D&D stuff (surprise) and for years there was a lot of bad blood between Bode's family and Bakshi's family because of Wizards, which has characters that look an awful lot like Bode's shockingly similar creations -- and the development of Wizards is a wild ride.
That lasted until shortly before Bakshi's leaving animation, during pre-production on Wizards 2 (2013 to 2015) (lost in the aether along with many other things), when Mark *finally* got a call from Ralph and said he was sorry and even sent several things back and added some of the old Wizards animation cels.
Wizards is arguably bakshi's best known work -- he never got to finish the LOtR stuff because Tolkien's estate killed that deal, he had a hard time moving forward on a lot of stuff, and after Cool World bombed, he was really kinda dropped from anyone (and it didn't help that the Rock and Rule film that copied his style died as well, or that he's lived with people dragging Fritz the Cat his whole life).
Should note that animation today would be shockingly empty without him: Bruce Timm, Andrew Stanton, Dave Marshall, John Kricfalusi, and Jeff Pidgeon all worked closely with him. That covers Pixar, WB, Star Wars, Nickelodeon, and more.
Last bit of trivia about Wizards: it was originally called something like War Wizards, iirc, but it was being produced and funded by Fox under Alan Ladd at the same time as a another movie by a guy who was friendly with Bakshi. That film was something called Starry Warfare or something, but it had a little known talent named Mark Hamill who the director of the other film, a guy named George Lucas, had agreed to let record some dialogue for Wizards. As the two productions were wrapping up, Lucas called Bakshi and asked him to change the name -- so it just became Wizards, so that there wouldn't be another film with War in the title coming out at that time, and it happened because Mark Hamill was allowed to record lines.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Speaking of animation today, has anyone caught any of Season 2 of Star Wars Visions? I know season 1 is controversial among Star Wars fans (I personally like much of it, and the stuff I didn't care for wasn't horrible just missed my taste); but I'm really liking Season 2, I'm only 4 eps in. Anyway I bring it up because like AED's lecture on animation, I can say I really like animation but don't know a lot of the "inside baseball" of it, so I really appreciate anthologies like Star Wars Visions because, like a good written anthology, it exposes me to studios I wasn't familiar with and gives me motivation to look up more stuff.
Ok, so of the four episodes, I was familiar with Cartoon Saloon (and never thought of them doing a Star Wars but so glad they did) and Aardman (which wasn't what I was expecting from them but still true to their style and I think worked). But I had never heard of El Guiri Studios who probably put the most beautiful animation I'd seen in some time, inside or outside of Star Wars. Good stuff.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Question(s) of the Day: Do your PCs dream? And of what?
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Yes, of a bunch of nerd sitting around a table.
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
Question #2: using these rules,https://********/adventure.html#bgdia,11,stat blocks, how would you make your infernal war machine?
Mine is a Devil’s Ride with Canian Armor, AC of 26, Infernal Screamer, average damage of 13 on a successful save, and a teleporter.
Hi, I’m DrakenBrine, here’s my Sig and characters
I am The Grand Envisioner!
Not really
Hi, I’m DrakenBrine, here’s my Sig and characters
I am The Grand Envisioner!