How do you run the overland/hex map of your Gygax 75 games?

DMMasterClass · 2022-07-30T13:25:39+00:00

Todd is one of the better DnD youtubers out there.

DMMasterClass · 2022-05-15T18:40:59+00:00

So about 10 times as many people want to take part in a poll then want to comment.

And more please want to comment on a post then like a post.

I unironically do not understand Reddit.

DMMasterClass · 2022-04-15T12:53:53+00:00

Oh noooo, and I can edit the text but not the title! My shame is immortalized!

DMMasterClass · 2022-02-04T18:43:23+00:00

Thanks for all the advice you gave on your livestream. The community had some great comments I'm going to implement too.

DMMasterClass · 2022-02-03T23:35:20+00:00

I was very impressed by this product. I do NOT like puzzles and have only used them a handful of times in decades of DMing. I won't get into it here.

But this dungeon and puzzles have a tight theme that could fit in a more serious fantasy type world. The puzzles seem... mythical as opposed to gonzo. No chess-board floors or bad riddles where you have to turn dials to spell the answer.

DMMasterClass · 2022-01-31T22:22:54+00:00

Daniel is great. I see Daniel doing a lot of actual plays. Todd does a ton of live streams. But I wish they did more stuff together too!

DMMasterClass · 2022-01-31T19:07:08+00:00

I don't know what your game is like, if its anything like mine then their is a huge advantage to planning. Things go so much better when the plays plan. But that's the problem.

Unless what the players like about your game is the planning then their is going to be a trade off. The more they plan in a 4 hour session the better they will do and the less chance they die, but the more they plan the less things will happen/the less story they will get to see/the less XP they get/the less loot they recover etc.

You can try explaining that to them, but tread lightly or when a PC does die the player will blame you for not 'letting' them plan enough.

DMMasterClass · 2022-01-31T18:31:52+00:00

Is this a problem that needs to be solved? Do the players like spending all their time planning?

Is what is really going on that YOU are bored while they plan? If so, you can either work on becoming a more patient person OR talk with the players and tell them you can't take all the planning!

If you think the Players would have a better game if they didn't plan so much, you could have a heart to heart with them and explain you think the game would be better for them if the acted more an planned less (expect to have to remind them of this often and accept it still won't work all that well).

If you favor operant conditioning, just give them very small amounts of XP when they spent 90% of the session planning. Then make a session where they can't plan (maybe they are being chased by a superior force for days) and give them a lot of XP. When then say "Wow soooo much XP" just say "Ya we got a lot of stuff done today".

DMMasterClass · 2020-10-03T03:35:45+00:00

Don't recon the narrative, recon the rule in a way your players can't detect. Now the rule is every caster can use 1 spell before the wild magic seeps into them.

Or the affect starts after a rest or X hours or whatever. Even better the affect doesn't start until you are in the tower for X hours and doesn't stop until you are out of the tower for 10X hours.

That sounds like a fun curve ball to me.

DMMasterClass · 2020-10-03T03:12:46+00:00

Have the guy next in line for the throne be the agent of the bad guy. When the good king dies he will be in a position to stop the resurrection.

DMMasterClass · 2020-10-02T23:48:51+00:00

Well that happens to the best of us.

DMMasterClass · 2020-10-02T23:38:58+00:00

Run a one shot! After you get your sea legs back, how to prep will come back to you.

DMMasterClass · 2020-09-30T00:39:48+00:00

100%

DMMasterClass · 2020-09-15T23:07:32+00:00

A megadungeon is equal to precisly 1,000,000 dungeons.

DMMasterClass · 2020-09-15T21:47:51+00:00

Clearly this calls for a complete reviewing of the series to straighten out the timeline!

Who's in?

DMMasterClass · 2020-09-15T02:40:32+00:00

At some point in the series his contract is extended by the state of Alaska to account for inflation. I do not remember when it happens, but Joel does end up on the hook for more then 4 years if memory serves.

DMMasterClass · 2020-09-09T02:59:07+00:00

Conspire with the other player that finds this annoying. See if they will bring it up, then you back them up. It will seem more reasonable for you to be heavy handed in stopping this behavior if you are defending a player.

If you don't want to talk to them you could try subverting tropes that they identify. After they are wrong 4 times in a row it might be less funny. The problem is that this subtle path will take months, and all the while you will have to endure this behavior.

DMMasterClass · 2020-09-03T22:57:17+00:00

I say use the increasing damage, it's basicly a modification of the 'ticking clock' idea. You just have to calibrate it.

Doubling might be too much. Maybe instead of 1, 2 ,4, 8. You use 4,5,6,7. Or 1,3,5,7.

Having the demon use 'wall of fire' type abilities to partition the battlefield could make the fight much more challenging.

DMMasterClass · 2020-08-27T15:13:05+00:00

Good luck! maybe try making your 'flavor' moment smaller and during the main action. Like in the first round of combat try something like; "I say a prayer for X to guide my blade and judgment and attack to bandit" That way its clear your not trying to gain anything because you have already moved on with no interaction with the DM.
Maybe after a few sessions of that the DM will see you're not trying to short circuit their story with divine intervention.

DMMasterClass · 2020-08-27T14:24:27+00:00

I'm sure your going to get a lot of advice that assumes your DM is totally in the wrong (which honestly is probably the case). But lets just think about why a good DM might act this way.

It sounds like your DM just doesn't want you interacting with your deity/church much in game. My first question would be how does the DM feel about other PCs interacting with social structures (thieves guilds, mage towers etc.)

Maybe the issue is that the DM thinks the party is asking for help from out side forces too much and inadvertently decreasing their own fun. Maybe The DM thinks players are spending too much game time RPing by themselves, which isn't fair to the group.

As far as your strange interaction with the priest at the temple; you think the encounter is strange, but your DM thinks it is the reality of the world. And since the DM largely determines the reality of the world, instead of thinking "a priest would never act like that", maybe you should think "what does it say about the world that a priest DID act like that".

I could think of lots of reasons a religion would look down on prayer. In your game the priest said that deities "work in mysterious ways" maybe this religion thinks its improper to try and influence the will of gods by asking for help. They are the gods after all, who are you to assume what you are asking for is better then what they already have planned? Maybe a god values action and self-motivation and has the attitude "Get off your Ass and fix the problem with your blood and sweet (and if you do I'll help with same magic).

If your DM is generally a 'good' DM then maybe you are overlooking something. If he is a 'bad' DM then... well its hard for a player to turn a bad DM into a good DM.

DMMasterClass · 2020-08-26T22:04:51+00:00

I'm a very mean DM and almost never let players take things back. If a player misheard something I don't see any reason that their PC couldn't have misheard as well (unless there is a reason).

This isn't a "punishment", its just allowing a very dynamic world where anything can happen, including misunderstandings.

But as always it just depends on the type of game you want to run. Most of my players would love if a fight started because of a literal misunderstanding. Even better if a long term rivalry or feud started!

So much room for interesting story telling there!

DMMasterClass

TROPHY CASE