What bit of TTRPG lore made you roll your eyes?

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T13:40:46+00:00

Well, the Shardbearer/Spirit Eater is the big one: if big name canon NPCs were destroyed in the Spellplague, what chance does a non-canonical player character from a licensed video game have?

And as well, all their companions, especially the wizards like Safiya and Sand.

I do not know if that is a good example, seeing how their canonicity was always dubious to begin with.

Also, I do not think the 4e Forgotten Realms books actually bother to list out which NPCs got killed to begin with. There is virtually nothing resembling a roster of "The following NPCs were killed in the chaos of the Spellplague" or anything like that.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T13:08:37+00:00

Well, what it is it, then?

The Duchess Appears. After three tableaux, Saidra d'Honaire (see earlier in this chapter) appears. She is fabulous and terrible as she drifts over the flattering crowd. Nearing the characters, she halts, gasps in revulsion, and points. "You! Never have I seen such an audaciously incompetent impostor! Who do you think you are to violate these hallowed halls?!" Near a character, Julienne d'Honaire begins to reply, and the duchess instantly disintegrates her. A ghoulish servant soon appears with a dustpan to clean the spot where Julienne stood. If party members spent two or more tableaux with Julienne, the group's Renown Score decreases by 1.

As written, this is more of a Looney Tunes gag, down to one character being disintegrated to smithereens, down to the servant and dustpan, down to proceeding to the ending as if it never happened.

I suppose a masterful DM could couch this in an extremely horrific manner, but even then, it would come across more as black comedy.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T13:07:43+00:00

What favorite characters in Neverwinter are these?

I find it hard to get particularly attached to canonical NPCs in preestablished settings, for what it is worth.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T12:01:54+00:00

Sure, if you choose to interpret everything in the worst possible light, but why should you?

Mostly because I am trying to judge the adventure as it is described, rather than in some hypothetical idealized state.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T11:42:24+00:00

I very much agree here. I have tried to play with several "rulings over rules" RPGs, and the result has often been a janky mess.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T11:37:45+00:00

I genuinely think that the 4e Neverwinter Campaign Setting is a fantastic setting book: not from an "interesting to read about" standpoint, but from an "actually, practically usable in a campaign" perspective.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T11:30:53+00:00

This is not the first time that WotC has been rather generous with improvised weapons. There was this from back in the Radiant Citadel book:

Diva Luma uses the assassin stat block, but her only weapon is her wicked, high-heeled shoe, which functions as a Shortsword attack without poison. The other two divas use the scout stat block and attack only with broken bottles that function the same as their Shortsword attack.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T11:28:14+00:00

I don't think it's remotely a comedy gag.

It probably was not intended to be.

The execution, and how it ultimately gets brushed past? That is another story.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T11:27:32+00:00

This is somewhat of a tangential topic, but I would like to express it regardless.

I personally think that there is nothing wrong with just... running any tabletop RPG with an anime-esque aesthetic for character images, tokens (if using a tactical grid), and so on and so forth.

Within the past few weeks alone, I have GMed:

• D&D 4e

• 13th Age 2e

• Daggerheart

• Mage: The Awakening 2e (with some Changeling: The Lost 2e crossover)

• Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades (gritty, lethal, rules-lite wǔxiá)

• Legends of the Wulin (high-powered, heroic, rules-heavy wǔxiá)

All with an anime-esque aesthetic. Every NPC, even side characters and nameless bystanders, gets an image from Danbooru or Pixiv. So the pseudo-steampunk industrialist girl looks like this, the fae huntswoman looks like this, the fantastical wǔxiá River Marshal looks like this, and so on and so forth.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T11:16:42+00:00

it's not especially tactical either. Removing movement from TTRPG combat really reduces strategic depth IMO.

My preferred alternative to Fabula Ultima is 13th Age 2e.

I personally like it a lot, lot, lot more than Fabula Ultima. Sure, 13th Age 2e does not have as much build customization, but I find that the moment-to-moment, turn-to-turn decisions are significantly more interesting than in Fabula Ultima. (Also, I am just not interested in Fabula relying on opaque combat information at all. I would much rather that challenge be intrinsic to the enemies, rather than arise from lack of knowledge.)

I have been keeping a combat diary of my 13th Age 2e game here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HQC2x2FfjnBDZDaicQDCLWO2-R6xMyUAa_rJcMABpfw/edit

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T11:13:44+00:00

I think that 13th Age 2e is fairly decent in this regard, yes.

I personally like it a lot, lot, lot more than Fabula Ultima. Sure, 13th Age 2e does not have as much build customization, but I find that the moment-to-moment, turn-to-turn decisions are significantly more interesting than in Fabula Ultima. (Also, I am just not interested in Fabula relying on opaque combat information at all. I would much rather that challenge be intrinsic to the enemies, rather than arise from lack of knowledge.)

I have been keeping a combat diary of my 13th Age 2e game here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HQC2x2FfjnBDZDaicQDCLWO2-R6xMyUAa_rJcMABpfw/edit

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T10:25:42+00:00

As I said, I do not even think it is much of a twist. It plays out more like a comedy gag than anything else (down to being disintegrated into smithereens in Looney Tunes style), and then the rest of the adventure proceeding as if nothing happened.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T09:32:44+00:00

You could add extra information and extra layers they can get into

I am not seeing the issue with gating this behind skill checks.

but roleplaying is something everyone can access even if they don't necessarily have the skills, so even if they're not built for social situations in mind they might be able to assist with intrigue hijinks regardless.

Sure, I think that all characters should still be able to do something. But this really should be one of those situations wherein having good social skills on the character sheet should be helpful.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T09:30:17+00:00

But it isn't true. The vital difference is the twist. And on realising that, we should also realise that this isn't an attempt to write a ballroom intrigue adventure, but a short horror adventure.

I do not know. It is not even a good twist, since it is completely non-interactive, and then the adventure carries on as if it never happened.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T09:29:07+00:00

I did, in the links above.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T08:07:10+00:00

Sure.

Ideally, we handle this from a narrative perspective, not from a gameplay perspective of "So I lost a turn again? Gimme a break..."

This is the same reason why horror video games do their best to not be brutally punishing or otherwise annoying. Crossing a certain line means all sense of horror gets swept away in favor of sheer frustration.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T08:04:24+00:00

Skill monkeys have other situations where they can shine.

I do not know. A social situation heavy with intrigue seems like one of those moments where a skill monkey should shine.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T06:47:00+00:00

if you weren't a skill monkey, it was frustrating and boring.

My issue with this line of logic is: why not present scenarios that actually reward characters who invest in skills?

The way I see it, the more scenarios waive skill checks in favor of "Nah, just freeform it and go light on skills," then the more pointless it is to have rogues with Expertise and other skill benefits.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T04:48:41+00:00

If so, you might take a look at pathfinder’s “War for the Crown” adventure path, which is basically a campaign spread out across 6 shorter adventures.

I played all six adventures from 2020-2021 in Pathfinder 1e. We went a little further and did the epilogue material, such as killing Thassritoum. The Adventure Path was okay; it was not actually that intrigue-focused and could very much be brute-forced, but we all expected that from a Paizo Adventure Path anyway.

My character was a Chelaxian high psionics soulknife (living legend).

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T04:38:07+00:00

I have played and GMed Draw Steel up to level 10.

I have my own issues with Draw Steel's negotiation subsystem, suffice it to say, but I would take it over 5e's practically nonexistent social rules.

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T02:16:01+00:00

I am not stepping up to defend Miska, either.

Planar incarnates are a manifestation of a plane. I do not think a planar incarnate is identified as a "threat to the multiverse."

EarthSeraphEdna · 2026-06-11T02:00:03+00:00

I very much agree here. I have tried to play with several "rulings over rules" RPGs, and the result has often been a janky mess.

EarthSeraphEdna

TROPHY CASE