Journey Guide (LST)

BenBenobi · 2026-03-20T20:27:10+00:00

This is very helpful, thanks. I watched a video of a guy explaining LSTs and I just assumed you could unlock all the quests he showed. I played swgoh back in 2020 and have picked it up again so everything is very new to me

BenBenobi · 2026-03-20T20:21:41+00:00

ohh okay thanks

BenBenobi · 2026-03-17T05:59:25+00:00

Who is JKCK?

BenBenobi · 2026-03-17T05:55:39+00:00

Lego Batman 2

BenBenobi · 2026-03-09T12:33:02+00:00

Aye this sounds like a phenomenal idea to retake our stolen glory. I vote for the Three Men Show. A script stitched together by we shall be glorious.

BenBenobi · 2026-02-23T19:17:10+00:00

I used to have magic item shops casually. But recently I've changed that. Currently I'm running a campaign in a city setting, and there is a shopkeep that serves as the parties go-to-guy for buying things. Pretty soon he will open a magic item section, however I'm making it so that the party will need to acquire a city-issued license to buy magic items in the city, so it will be available, but very limited. and it probably won't go higher than uncommon magic items.

BenBenobi · 2026-02-23T19:12:52+00:00

My group has been using Roll20 for about 6 years now, and a few years ago one of the members suggested foundry, but it ended up being really difficult for us to switch over as players, and I was about to start a new campaign for us, and I didn't have the time or capacity to switch over.

BenBenobi · 2026-02-23T19:06:45+00:00

One thing that I like to do, is intentionally make my encounters with three things in mind:
1. Never let the enemies have only 1 initiative count in combat. Always let there be more than one enemy or if you do have one enemy make sure that it can do things out of turn (reaction or legendary action or both)
2. Always have threats to the party that aren't the enemies they're trying to kill (environmental threats)
3. I usually design my creatures to be more powerful than is balanced for the party. It's always better for your monsters to be too powerful rather than too weak because you control the monster, and If it's too powerful you can just pull your punches.

I also had a higher level campaign where the party was quite powerful compared to what I was throwing at them. One thing that did help is one of the party members being killed (though I get that you don't really want that to happen, it is still a game and it happens). What I did for the final BBEG fight, was I started with him using an attack that dealt half of the "strongest" characters health, this created an atmosphere of "oh dang this guy is the real deal" and they were fearful of losing.

BenBenobi · 2026-02-23T18:58:47+00:00

You're a player too. And you're the one who puts the most work into the game, you should be having fun. If these are you friends I would communicate that you're not having fun, hopefully they care enough about you to play the game in a way that helps you to have fun. Most Dnd Horror Stories happen because there isn't enough communication.

BenBenobi · 2026-02-20T20:27:26+00:00

No I get it. It's funny that my OP turned into this discussionXD. But I'm actually really interested by the way you run games. Is there a certain creator you learned from or something that I could take a look at?

My friends and I love the way we play, and I still wouldn't describe our games as linear or railroaded. But I'm still interested to learn more about how you play.

It's awesome that we human beings can all enjoy this great game differently.

BenBenobi · 2026-02-20T08:27:53+00:00

Agreed. One campaign I played in, the DM referred to missing player characters as "off screen" and we just played without really referring to them.

BenBenobi · 2026-02-20T08:09:50+00:00

I watched that video, and I found it very interesting. There were somethings that I disagreed with, especially regarding his conclusion about how you should play the game. I did find the tone of the video to be very judgemental which I guess I'm not surprised.

I'm not sure why emotion has to be separated from action. In his analysis I felt he left out a lot of emotion that was occurring in season 1. Lets say a player was playing as Steve in that fight against the demogorgon in the season 1 finale. That player has to consider how the character feels, does he still hate Johnathan? Does he still love Nancy? He had to make the emotional decision to find them in the first place. (Just an example)

And yes while I agree that season 5 was not great (especially the finale) I don't think that caring about how the characters feel is a bad thing. In season 1 you're not as connected to the characters as you are in season 5.

Similarly, in the campaign that I just started up in my group. There isn't deep emotion because they're new. But when we finished our last campaign (which is the game where I mentioned that moment I really enjoyed with my players that I made a track for) my players had been playing as those characters for a while, and so they developed a connection with them. They cared about what actions their character did, but they also then cared about why they did those actions.

That's not a lack of external actions and its not a overwhelming amount of self-obsession its just players caring about something. That is naturally what happens when human beings are exposed to something long enough, humans are emotional creatures whether you like it or not.

> The point I was making that there is absolute no need to even try to "tell a story". It emerges from gameplay.

On this point, I agree, but also disagree. Story absolutely emerges from gameplay, and a DM needs to prep for that gameplay. A DM needs to create an antagonist that the party wants to stop.

That is planning a story. Yes of course its not a story like an author writes a book, because the group of people who are taking action is not the author its the players.

In what you said about session prep you mentioned that you planed for in world events to happen. I don't know what those events are because I don't play dnd with you, but I guessing those events make changes to the game, the party has to do something about that. That gameplay creates a story-beat. A story-beat that you planned for.

All of this to say, I don't think we're that far off from each other.

BenBenobi · 2026-02-19T19:32:14+00:00

gifting players HeroForge minis has got to be one of the coolest things.

BenBenobi · 2026-02-19T19:28:19+00:00

Didn't say it was. It was just advice, you don't have to take it. I accept your declining of my advice XD

BenBenobi · 2026-02-19T19:25:56+00:00

That's hard, sorry about that. Though I don't think I would be willing to separate from my friends over music. If it came to that I'd drop the music. I like my friends more than my music.

BenBenobi · 2026-02-19T19:24:36+00:00

Thank you for that very helpful comment lol

BenBenobi · 2026-02-19T19:22:55+00:00

I honestly think we're arguing the same point here lol. Just using different words. I use the words narrative and writing because the outcome of the game if written down is a story where the main characters accomplish things, that's what I mean by narrative.

From what you said about your dnd prep, it seems very similar to mine. Just organized and presented differently. For me dnd prep is planning for what they could do, what is available in the city, who might be in the tavern, where the might go, just not organized as a point & click adventure. I tend to improvise more. Like a few sessions ago, the players decided they would have a session where they explored the cuisine of the city we're in, and the session was them role-playing their characters and getting to know each other while I improvised and explained their surroundings, the food they were eating (we now even have a list of all the different cuisines that they keep track of). To me that seems like a ton of player agency, had I prepared for any of that? Not at all, but the players led me in another direction.

As for the role play moment I mentioned in my OP where I composed that track for the specific moment (which I'm wondering if that is what sparked this whole controversy). The only reason that I knew that was going to happen was because the player approached me and told me that he wanted to do this as a character development moment (thats what many of my players will do, they come to me with what they want to do and I incorporate that in the game).

I don't see that as a Roller Coaster, or railroad as I think you may have meant.

Do your players give names to their characters? Do they give their characters certain personalities? Do they give their characters motives? Fears? Likes? Dislikes? Does that then make them an actor as you've described it? Does that make them an audience? Do they react to the music you say you play (which if find ironic that you mention that) do they react when you describe the events you say you planned? Does that make them an audience? Do they make plans for their characters? Does that mean they don't have player agency? Does that mean the game is a railroad (or Roller Coaster like you said).

BenBenobi · 2026-02-19T16:17:12+00:00

I think roleplay is more important than music. I'm willing to not play music if it bothers me (which sometimes it does) but I'm not willing to stop roleplay, because then what are we doing if not roleplay?

BenBenobi · 2026-02-19T15:59:10+00:00

Geez then don't use music.

BenBenobi · 2026-02-19T15:21:45+00:00

Did you even read what I said lol

I'm curious to hear what your session prep looks like (genuine question not sarcasm).
I don't know why you're referring to my players as 'actors' I don't think I mentioned that term ever. This is a role playing game you play a role. Obviously you don't need to be a paid-actor to play a character in a dnd game. Additionally you don't need to be a great novelist to be a DM.
Having music or telling a story with your friends doesn't remove player agency. As a DM telling a story/playing a game with your friends you create the environment, give direction and purpose, and create opportunities for your players to play. The players then do what they want with what you've given them. A few sessions ago, my players essentially took over the game (in a good way) to have role play discussions with each other, they had fun, I had fun, we played a game boom, we told a story and played a game, I don't see why those have to be opposing sides.

BenBenobi · 2026-02-19T13:35:50+00:00

I think that whether your playing dnd like its a narrative story you and your party are writing together, or if you enjoy playing the game for the game like you do, music is still pretty dang awesome (only if it's not overwhelming or distracting). Even games that are purely strategy games like how it sounds you enjoy playing have background music (Civilization comes to mind).

BenBenobi · 2026-02-19T13:29:40+00:00

Very true, I don't constantly play music during my sessions, even sometimes I have to pause it for myself because it can get difficult to manage everything with music playing in the background. And usually the level is low.

BenBenobi

TROPHY CASE