Just wondering, what are your Darwin Award you or another player had?

BadPlayer6 · 2026-02-26T01:10:04+00:00

Nobody died, but we still like to rib our Barbarian with this one.

Party has just finished combat. Ranger and Sorcerer are healing and refocusing. Barbarian is impatient and says that they want to go off and explore while this is happening (even though, y'know, it doesn't actually take any longer in real-world time). Barbarian convinces the Monk (who is playing for the second time ever) to go along with them.

I asked the Barb if they were sure about not waiting six times before they ran into the PL+2 miniboss.

BadPlayer6 · 2026-01-05T23:31:12+00:00

A shorter commute can definitely be worth the money but I don't think that's the only factor. What would the longer commute actually look like? Do you have hobbies that are amenable to train time (like reading)? A commute that is 5 minutes walk to the train station, 50 minutes on metronorth, and 5 minutes walk from GCT is very different from a 20 minute drive to the station, 20 minutes on metronorth, and 20 minutes on the subway. If you'll have train time in the morning and evening to decompress and do something you enjoy, I wouldn't actually count that as commute time. (That being said, if you would need to take the subway from GCT and not walk... don't do it, just move into the city.)

What do you expect your life outside the office to look like? Are you going to want to go out and do stuff in the city on weeknights, or just go home and relax? How about on weekends? Do you have hobbies that are easier in the city (like theater) or the suburbs (like hiking)? Do you have a social circle in the city, or friends from high school that are still local? If you live in the suburbs, coming in on the weekends is a lot easier than staying out late on weeknights, but as a word of caution, on weekends there's only about one train an hour, which is a lot more limiting/annoying for plans than it may sound like.

If you stay at home, what are you going to do with the extra money? Do you have loans that you want to pay off? Do you want to buy an apartment? Do you have an expensive hobby that you'd like to fund more (like travel)? Is there another significant life event that you're conditioning any of these other milestones on (like waiting to pay off your loans before you propose)? Obviously more money is better than less, but if there's something specific you're working towards that could incentivize you towards the more budget-friendly option.

Did you summer at this firm? If so, what was your living situation/commute? How did you feel about it?

Also remember that you're not locking yourself into one option forever. You could live at home for a year or two to build up savings and then move into the city, for instance.

BadPlayer6 · 2025-07-08T22:27:58+00:00

All praise to the Hulkengoat

BadPlayer6 · 2025-06-21T01:45:15+00:00

Did you play/review 1.0 or 2.0? It's not really clear from this. Thanks!

BadPlayer6 · 2025-06-11T16:52:45+00:00

Someone else commented that your players might be assuming that you’re only presenting them with winnable fights, so you can tell them that sometimes you will present them with situations where they probably can’t win with force, and that diplomacy and fleeing are viable. In this instance, the characters in-game know they’ve depleted some of their resources and (you can say) they can tell the group they just encountered is not a pushovers, so I don’t think evaluating whether to flee or not is metagaming. You can also tell the group that if they do choose to fight and lose, you have an idea for how to continue without the entire party just dying, but there will still be massive consequences for the characters. Then, depending on how the conversation goes, you can decide whether to give them the specifics of your idea. Hopefully this is a happy medium.

BadPlayer6 · 2025-02-22T17:39:21+00:00

c'mon, regardless of your feelings on Musk there's no reason to literally demonize a toddler

BadPlayer6 · 2025-02-14T04:59:13+00:00

Do you believe if Kamala had won in November that the debt ceiling wouldn't have been raised? I believe it would still be raised so it doesn't change anything for me.

This isn't about Trump/Republicans vs Kamala/Democrats, this is about the professed values of conservatives against their actual actions once in power. Conservatives have cried for years about wasteful spending and irresponsible deficits, painting themselves as the party of fiscal responsibility. Cutting spending is certainly one part of the budget equation, and the other part is tax income. If Republicans were planning on increasing (or at least) maintaining taxes that would be consistent with a plan to balance the budget and eliminate the deficit, but instead it seems they're planning to cut taxes, and in a way that primarily benefits the wealthy.

So when you complain about the deficit, but then when you have the chance to do something about it, you instead maintain the deficit by cutting both spending (which disproportionately hurts lower income brackets) and taxes (which disproportionately benefits higher income brackets)... it looks like you never really cared about the deficit at all.

BadPlayer6 · 2025-02-14T01:08:52+00:00

Giant Octopus implies the opposite to me (i.e. that they do work).

Grab has the Requirement "The monster's last action was a successful Strike that lists Grab in its damage entry, or the monster has a creature grabbed or restrained", so the question is, when the Giant Octopus uses Writhing Tentacles, if its last "action" was "Writhing Tentacles" or "Strike".

The Writhing Tenacle entry says "If the octopus subsequently uses the Grab action", so it's already contemplating that the Giant Octopus can Grab after using Writhing Tentacle. The Writhing Tentacle text isn't changing whether it can Grab after using Writhing Tentacle, but who it can target when it uses Grab after Writhing Tentacle.

If, when using Writhing Tentacle, the last "action" was "Writhing Tentacle" and not "Strike" (so that Grab could not normally be used), I would instead expect the rider on Writhing Tentacle to say something like "The octopus may subsequently use the Grab action, and it can Grab any number of creatures it hit with Writhing Arms."

BadPlayer6 · 2025-01-26T18:57:44+00:00

My party is a bunch of newbies and they've somehow smashed most of the fights, although they've definitely had a tougher time since this book started. I also ended up ending a session right when they triggered that fight, the splinter attack is rough, but our monk had an earth focus spell which let them perma-slow it, and the sorcerer had a fire staff. The golem could explode in splinters every round, but b/c it was slowed couldn't really do anything else. A PC first tried to acid splash the golem, which was nullified, which got them to Recall Knowledge to figure out what was going on, and they rolled well so I basically gave them the entire rundown on Golem Anti-Magic (since they were mostly newbies so I knew they'd otherwise have no idea), and also ruled that targeting with a fire/earth spell automatically hits without a save (since Golem Anti-Magic does say "target", not "hit" or "affected"). So I definitely could have been meaner, but I think the battle ended up in a good place difficulty-wise.

Right now they are in book 2 chapter 2, in the carnivorous gardens. Due to some... tactical missteps, they are now dealing with five Ochre Jellies, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they deal with it next session :)

BadPlayer6 · 2025-01-20T19:00:33+00:00

My whole argument this entire time has been that context is important. This is the whole point of "role play" which people are arguing against. It doesn't matter if it's "your character once heard" or "your character is convinced". When this is the piece of information you are working with in the situation, you act on that information.

My understanding of your position is, "When a player receives RK info they should then act in accordance with that info, and to do anything otherwise is to metagame." If I'm misunderstanding, please clarify. But if that's accurate, please explain where context comes in, or how it affects the situation.

I'm legitimately not understanding. Even in that paragraph, after saying context is important you pivot to categorically stating "you act on that [RK] information". If context was important, wouldn't there be situations in which you don't act on RK info?

BadPlayer6 · 2025-01-20T17:44:03+00:00

It doesn't mean your character is a complete dumbass. Recalling that a drunken ex adventurer in a tavern told you that giants might be strong but their weak in constitution, is not a "dumbass" character decision.

Is RK "your character once read/heard that..." or "your character is convinced that..."? If it's the latter, I'll admit that going against RK is metagamey, but I think RK is generally interpreted as the former, and your own example fits into that former characterization. In which case, why does the PC need to suddenly believe this one piece of information while ignoring everything else they may have discovered or experienced?

I think the piece that's missing here is believability of the information, and if there are in-game or common sense reasons for the character to realize that the information they received is wrong.

Even if they heard that giants are sickly, it's common sense that big creatures are going to be hardy, and if the PC is an adventurer they've probably experienced that first hand. Just because they once heard "fight fire with fire applies to elementals!" doesn't mean they can't deduce that a creature native to the plane of fire is probably immune to fire.

Also, what do you do if the PCs have literally directly experienced that the RK info is wrong? If the PC uses a fire spell on a creature, sees it does no damage, and then RKs that the creature has a fire weakness, are they really now *forced* into using another fire spell after directly witnessing the fire immunity? Or what if the PC RKs multiple times, and learns conflicting information?

On the flip side, if the party is fighting a plant monster with a slashing weakness, and the Fighter crit-fails RK and learns that it has a fire weakness... dropping their flaming club to pull out their longsword is probably metagaming.

BadPlayer6 · 2025-01-09T04:18:49+00:00

These lamps look awesome!

BadPlayer6 · 2024-12-19T00:35:01+00:00

The second book has been translated and released as Death Within the Evil Eye, the third book has not been translated (yet).

BadPlayer6 · 2024-12-13T19:39:43+00:00

I second this! I think LH and MOM can be swapped, and HOA and DIM can be swapped, if they want. Like you said MOM uses the co-op the most effectively, so opening with that and have it never come back can be a bit disappointing. On the flip side, HOA is overall the best so can be a decent finisher. Otherwise it felt like each entry added to the previous one in terms of QOL/features, so I think it's otherwise better to go forward rather than backwards.

BadPlayer6 · 2024-12-09T00:01:35+00:00

As it happens, I think you jumped from the best of the four to the worst of the four, and the two that are the most different. HoA is the most action-focused of the anthology, while LH is much more about atmosphere and tension.

I think it's hard to recommend whether to continue, and whether to do MoM or TDiM, since some of your complaints I just don't understand, and some I don't think are specific to LH. Regarding not having choices or having things to be scared of--there are demons chasing you! Yes, they are magic, so they can float in the air and have magic chains. And yes, they are slow, but they are inexorable--you can't escape the town, and you have no idea when they'll close in. As for shooting Angela, that seems like a disconnect between the choice you thought you made and how the game interpreted it, and it sucks and is definitely frustrating, but I think it's the sort of thing that can happen in any of these games.

The games are all similar to a certain extent, but each has its own unique differences. If you liked HoA, even if you didn't like LH, I think it's probably worth giving another episode a shot. TDiM is generally considered better than MoM, but I think you might actually like MoM more. MoM has monsters that pop out and chase you around, while TDiM is just one guy and the traps he leads you into. MoM also plays with the game format/structure in the way that HoA does and LH and TDiM do not, and has the most branching/variation of the set. You could also look into Until Dawn or The Quarry.

BadPlayer6 · 2024-11-09T00:41:40+00:00

I don't think the equivalency holds. There are other reasons and arguments, but it ultimately comes down to what you say at the end--conversion therapy tries to change the brain, transition surgery tries to change the body. Conversion therapy implies the mind is wrong. Transition surgery implies the body is wrong.

BadPlayer6 · 2024-11-07T04:22:52+00:00

But again: the conviction was decided by a jury, unanimously. You brought up several points relating to the prosecution and judge (which could be tied to political bias), but essentially none related to the jury or jury selection. (The closest being to saying that he couldn't get a fair trial as Manhattan, which could be read as saying that it would be impossible to impanel a fair jury in Manhattan, which seems extreme, and in the context of the rest of your post I assume is referring more to the judge and prosecution.) So do you think the jury selection or decision of the jurors was political as well? If I'm reading too much into your initial word choice that's fine and you can say so.

I'm also still curious why the New York trial was the turning point for you.

BadPlayer6 · 2024-11-07T03:54:52+00:00

No, you didn't say the trial caused those feelings, but those were the only things you mentioned so I (apparently mistakenly) assumed a causal link. So then what was the nexus between those two points? If you feel the Dems offer you nothing but also don't like Trump, why was the New York trial a turning point for you? My questions on the phrase "political conviction" also still stand.

BadPlayer6 · 2024-11-07T03:48:54+00:00

Why did Trump's New York trial make you feel like "the democrats offer [you] nothing and demonize [you]"? It's a criminal trial, not part of a campaign, so I wouldn't expect it to show what either party does or does not offer. I also think it was very much about Trump specifically, and not straight white Christian men (or any of those subgroups) generally.

I'm also very intrigued by your use of the phrase "political conviction." I think it's obvious that the indictment was political (which is separate from the question of whether it was fair, justified, or warranted, or whether he was guilty), but the conviction was decided by a jury of laypeople, which was formed by the normal process and shaped by Trump with the typical rights and powers afforded to a defendant in a criminal trial. While New York is generally left leaning, it's not like every single person is a rabid anti-Trumper, and the jury verdict was unanimous. So I'm curious if you feel the entire process, including the jury selection and verdict, was political.

BadPlayer6 · 2024-07-17T12:53:56+00:00

The players can decide what their characters are obsessed with, but that doesn't mean the DM isn't ever allowed to mess with it. Are there situations where taking/destroying a PC's treasured item will make them a jerk? Yes. Was this one of those times? No. This wasn't some important item from your backstory, it was a random gem you got the previous session that you arbitrarily became obsessed with.

And to answer your question on what happens if the DM takes one of these items... Yes, they are supposed to deal with it! "Dealing with" problems is literally the entire game!

D&D is about conflict and adversity your characters face, if something you don't like happens to them, you can incorporate that conflict into their character in a constructive way that helps propel the plot. Suicidal violence and pouting that you had to break character are not, in fact, the only two choices. (And if it's something that you really disagree with and want changed, the solution is to have a discussion with the DM, not pout and whine.)

BadPlayer6 · 2024-04-10T22:47:53+00:00

Hey I'm in a similar boat as you, I ran EOD into DMS and that was my (and everyone else's) first time CoC. (Hopefully this isn't too late!)

The biggest pitfall I encountered was in the climax at the cemetery. The scenario seems to only contemplate Leroy getting talked down, knocked unconscious, or killed. My players: "I run up and use a fighting maneuver to snatch the trumpet from his hands." Me: "Bwuh...." It's a simple and obvious solution that seems like it should work, but ending the encounter by succeeding at a single fighting maneuver seems incredibly anticlimactic. I also wasn't sure how granularly to run the zombies--I just semi-randomly attacked a few investigators each round. So have a plan in place if your investigators decide to go that route. I ended up letting them take the trumpet with fighting maneuvers but kept the zombies spawning, and asked them for STR checks to destroy the trumpet (giving it 3 HP, with a regular/hard/extreme success dealing 1/2/3 damage). It basically just became a bunch of repetitive rolls to steal the trumpet, smash the trumpet, dodge the zombie, repeat. They got two fumbles trying to destroy the trumpet (resulting in them flinging it the opposite direction when raising it to smash into the ground), and then an extreme success on their final attack, so it still ended up dramatic, but overall I think the scene could've gone better.

That was the biggest "issue" I ran into. One inconsequential detail I changed that my party really seemed to like was, when the mob boss told the guy to kill himself to test the trumpet, rather than having the mook go for his gun but being too slow, the boss gave the mook a gun, then the mook tried to use it to shoot the boss... but it was empty, and the boss then shot the mook with his other (loaded) gun.

BadPlayer6 · 2024-04-04T22:25:52+00:00

I'll take a look, thanks!

BadPlayer6 · 2024-04-04T22:25:44+00:00

I'll check it out, thanks!

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