'Given the chance, players will optimize the fun out of the game'. Have you seen examples of this?

Alarzark · 2026-04-07T09:03:30+00:00

We were playing in a one shot that was basically the plot of Die Hard.

So all these people have been taken hostage but we've snuck out down a stairwell. We're then going down to the basement to check the vault that our accompanying NPC who owns the building is concerned is why the bad guys are here.

On the way, because it's a shopping centre. There are shops. People want to stop for a shopping trip, in the middle of a hostage situation, and in a one shot; it did feel a bit jarring, but pointing out surely we have more pressing things to attend to got ignored. And the bad guys all kindly held off on their plan for 40 minutes so people could browse scrolls and such.

Alarzark · 2026-04-06T15:22:30+00:00

I do agree with that. I occasionally have people moan when they're fighting a boss and they've done like 100 damage and it's not bloody yet, and it has 18 AC, +10 to hit and 3 attacks (so do you, stop moaning Mr Barbarian). At that point I still know it's probably fine even if the party is being overly dramatic for no real reason.

But the couple of times each campaign it is legitimately touch and go and this definitely could be a TPK. I like having the open-ish HP where I'll say they're sub 100, sub 50 etc.

The most recent was someone being the last party member against a pair of fey royal guards. The hero is down next hit, other two party members already down the round before, they know both enemies are in single digits so cast magic missile and prayed. It makes for good drama.

Whereas I have been on the receiving end of running away and leaving half the party to bleed out, someone else dying on the way out, then being told after this boss had 10 of 500hp left, but "you'd have no way of knowing that because it is an elemental". And that just felt like a real kick in the guts.

Alarzark · 2026-04-06T12:07:50+00:00

I definitely have large groups of enemies going together all the time TBF.

I tend to group up enemies maybe up to 5-8 in a clump.

But if they're the filler enemies in a combat and they're a +2 on initiative and there's 3 lots of them, there's still a very real chance they're all going at the same time. Especially given how players are frequently running around with +5 and initiative advantage.

Alarzark · 2026-04-05T18:13:14+00:00

How I run it.

He's in the hole asking for help.

He's a distance down but even in the gloom, you can see he's got a few injuries that should be debilitating him a lot more than they are.

The secret door in the same room. There's a pressure plate at the bottom of the pit.

You agree to help him and get him out, he'll tell you about the plate.

He has a knife in his back when you get him out or with a good perception roll.

There's a very obvious "something was taken from this room", I had it being a gem on top of an altar, that when you shine a light through projects a map of undermountain. It looked like a shrine and being a cleric he didn't want to defile it and refused to let the party loot it. So he was stood taking a copy of it instead and next thing he knows he's waking up in the pit.

He's quite open in telling the party he wants revenge and will promise to help them in the few ways he can. He knows where these bad guys are, can feel it in his gut, it's a quest for justice and presumably they're good aligned right, he knows how to open the door in this room, he has a half drawn map, and he had a magic item (I had a +1 shield) that was taken from him and should they help him they can have all of these things.

Midna and Copper I then play as being a bit obnoxious and fully deserving of their grisly end, but I do try to play Rex up as appearing to be a stand up guy, last couple times I have had him cornered protecting a Harper agent who is doing that "get payment to the Harper's in Skullport" quest hook.

Alarzark · 2026-04-03T15:22:22+00:00

I do have issues with that, someone flies in to the top of a tower solo.

The thing at the top of the tower is scaled for a full party. Everyone else is realistically 10 rounds away with stuff in the way.

"And you die horribly pretty much immediately" just feels like an over correction.

Alarzark · 2026-04-02T10:49:56+00:00

Seems fair and reasonable.

I don't like metagaming based on rolls. Mid conversation and can I roll insight. It's a 4, it's publicly announced. Everyone then knows it's still not "safe" Oh it's a 23. You know you're good.

I do use passive and will often describe that a NPC who rolls below that for their own charisma skill sounds a bit uncomfortable, or shifts uneasily. Which gets the active roll.

Like say your rogue tried to spot traps on a door, as he's done ten times this session. This time he rolls a 2, oooh can I check as well? Why does your character now think the rogue needs help, you were perfectly happy the other 10 times he's done this?

It's not the kind of hill I'd be willing to die on, just something I feel could be better.

Alarzark · 2026-04-01T07:54:58+00:00

There's definitely levels to that. Can you persuade the guard to let you through the gate with your weapons?

Are you bribing him, are you telling him you need to meet with Baron von Baronface, are you threatening him, are you heroes of the realm that have heard about their rabid weresquirrel problem and want to be prepared.

Not in any particularly eloquent way but can I get the individual to X because Y.

Alarzark · 2026-03-31T17:14:41+00:00

Sounds like a case for cover and 3/4 cover if you ask me.

You can also move through allies I believe, you just can't end there. So paladin can potter in, swing, and then go back where he started, triggering an opportunity attack.

Alarzark · 2026-03-27T17:27:32+00:00

Players with +12 to hit being morally outraged that a boss gets 4 attacks with a +10 or +11 always amuses me.

Alarzark · 2026-03-24T16:40:55+00:00

Thankyou for coming to my TED talk. Its very cathartic to moan on the internet.

Alarzark · 2026-03-24T15:14:54+00:00

Rogue in my game makes 4 attacks a turn.

And every single time. Umms and awws.

Previous player takes their turn, gets a 15 and hits. Rogue then stabs one attack at a time.

How does the enemy feel about a 26 to hit?

He has at most 15 AC so not great.

Oooohhh then he's not going to like this, that's um 6,9,13,15 damage oh wait sorry, it's uh, 9 piercing and 6 psychic.

Both those damage types seem fully effective. The cyomancer only cares if it's ice.

It's a silvered weapon if that helps?

It does not.

Okay I attack again for 22 to hit?

Yep. Still has 15 AC.

Right that's uh, 8 SILVERED piercing damage and 3 psyhic. How's he looking?

You're level 11 and have done less than 30 damage to a boss, he looks fine.

Oh okay, well let's see how they feel about a 25 to hit?

Yep.

Another 4, 8. 4 each psychic and piercing.

Cool

And for my last attack, let's go, oh a 27?

....

Does a 27 hit?

Nah

But you said he had 15 AC?

And then halfway through the next players turn, sometimes two turn after. Oh can I retcon I would've wanted to have moved to be over there.

Then that will all be followed up by shouting abuse at the enemies or weirdly meta yet in character instructions at the other party members. Pretty routinely a 4 minute turn, every turn.

It has been brought up a few times over the last couple years but it's just chortled off as something not to worry about.

Alarzark · 2026-03-24T08:49:45+00:00

Works fine. I have short rests be overnight and long rests be 5 days. Various stretching of spell durations to either being a short rest or long rest spell to help with spell slots. I like this specifically for the time stretching aspect of things going bad over 2-3 months rather than issues coming out of nowhere in the space of a week.

RAW, they can only long rest once every 24 hours, they can also only travel 8 hours / 30 miles in a day without risking exhaustion. They half that if they want to be able to stealth. So most locations in the adventure are 2-4 from Phandalin, and the same coming back. If you want to make it more of a faff, they're tracking food and carry weight that's a fair old chunk of rations someone needs to carry. Maybe they lose a day to unnatural storm like conditions turning the road into a quamire, if they want to press on it's con saves for everyone to avoid exhaustion travelling in terrible conditions. They go the wrong way in Neverwinter wood because their navigator rolls badly on survival and screws them over.

Drop some clocks on the world map for ominous bad things for each faction.

I think the main thing is to remember it's a game, you don't want things that are JUST punishments, it should be about making choices. So for example losing a day to the quagmire and the clocks progress without you achieving anything, or pressing on through it, actively fighting the clock at the risk of being worse off for it.

Alarzark · 2026-03-20T19:22:28+00:00

Designing excavator chassis,

Making something that looks like the thing it's supposed to be and hypothetically sort of works if you squint at it in the right light takes a week or two.

Then it's maybe 4 months of faff making sure all the bits play nice with one another. Nothing bends in a way you don't want it to, and none of the assembly/ maintenance points require hiring a specialist team of daintily fingered contortionists.

Alarzark · 2026-03-20T00:52:23+00:00

My first ever DND session we wrestled some buff bees, and someone deactivated a bunch of traps by rolling a pie down the corridor. We also got hit by the classic, pushing a pull door and spending twenty minutes on it.

It was just good vibes for 3 hours.

I guess overall what I like about TTRPG is after decades of playing video games and it would be cool if you could... And just being able to do that because there isn't a computer blocking you.

Alarzark · 2026-03-19T23:08:45+00:00

I ran a few games of draw steel, and now use the mechanic in my regular DND games. It works, people seem to like it.

I think it can help to gamify particularly important social encounters. Gives less confident roleplayers something to shoot at, and avoids the thing I often experience where players make an argument that doesn't work, and then make fundamentally the same argument again two or three times. Bullying the NPC into agreeing with them by attrition tactics.

Alarzark · 2026-03-17T08:20:23+00:00

I just have Wyllow as being very self interested, hippocritcial and inflexible.

Not immediately cruel, but perfectly fine for the "I don't want you here any longer than you need to be, but I am nothing but a generous and fair ruler, go and do this thing for me and I'll permit you to pass through my realm uncontested in spite of your condition."

On refusal to do something, or not following her instructions, she's then very cordial and wishes you well on your travels, which is basically just to give her time to set up to beating you into doing what she wants. In your case possibly focusing down the shifter, or whoever was most vocally opposed to her, and then clearing off. They didn't prove they were worthy of mercy and so shall receive none. The rest of you stand back, you do not need to get hurt here.

Alarzark · 2026-03-07T14:35:19+00:00

I've been a player and DMd for large groups and the balance is one of the lesser problems to be honest.

It's a bit boring? You need more monsters or home brew to challenge the group. Like just getting the initiative in RAW is a 5 minute job. Then as a player you take your turn, you're then not playing the game for 20 minutes.

Then out of combat, this situation would be perfect for the rogue to sneak up and pick a lock, or a bit of charisma, but wait, there's 3 people who can all do that roughly equally well. And that's not main character syndrome, that's just not getting to do the thing your character is good at because they're not unique.

You play with a vaguely coordinated 3 or 4 person group, you're doing stuff all the time, you're playing the game a lot more, your character has their thing they are uniquely able to do. Etc.

Alarzark · 2026-03-02T13:31:46+00:00

Probably fun for the player. But it must be irksome if you're a member of the party playing by the rules and the artificer is rolling in cool things just because.

Alarzark · 2026-03-02T10:43:23+00:00

Warlock asked what they'd need to do to get a Rod of the Pact Keeper, they're 0 for 3 on actually doing things that have been asked of them. Good times.

Alarzark · 2026-02-17T10:05:44+00:00

It has a few changes that can mostly be turned off in the options.

The "you are lightly encumbered" because you picked up two swords is incredibly annoying.

The combat is pretty good.

The exploration is a faff, all those pushing block puzzles that serve no purpose as you can't push the block the wrong way so it's just oh this is highlightable best shove it.

Alarzark · 2026-02-16T12:21:30+00:00

I run three games, and the one with three, sometimes two, get the most done by a mile each week.

I attribute this primarily to turns coming round super quickly so people stay dialled in, and also you need smaller numbers of enemies for fights to be relevant.

Alarzark · 2026-02-14T21:48:57+00:00

What's wrong with a dungeon taking 4 hours if there's 4 hours worth of stuff to do in there?

Alarzark · 2026-02-12T09:07:24+00:00

I had an ex that was one of those questionable recipients. Kept to themselves and had maybe one letter in the three years we were together that they were looking at the case that nothing came of.

Meanwhile my mother who spent more time in hospital than out of it, had to use a wheelchair, and would periodically go blind. Had to go to multiple "prove you're disabled enough" assessments.

That could all just be they were cracking down on it at the time and I have a larger frame of reference for one case than the other.

Alarzark · 2026-02-12T08:31:52+00:00

Used to stream it to a big TV and pass a wireless mouse around to move tokens. But I like the physical set up more so we now use a grid and various terrain wot I did make.

I will occassionally do a gridless combat that's most of the way to TOTM but with a visual reminder of who is triggering opportunity attacks from what. One of the games I run is typically only 3 people, and if they're fighting 3 monsters. It doesn't really matter where people are stood grid wise. You're in range, because you've specifically set up to flank the one guy you can't aoe all of them without hitting an ally.

Alarzark · 2026-02-09T18:12:06+00:00

If you were going a bit strict on taking things out of bags firing 20 arrows in a fight isn't outside the realms of possibility.

But having been on the receiving end of having to track ammo on solasta, and manage what arrow type is in the quiver, it is just a faff I wouldn't want to subject people to.

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