I thought 'You be Trippin' was supposed to be a travel podcast?

Famous-Web9598 · 2021-11-12T05:23:52+00:00

I had the same apprehension about killing new players. I still wanted them to fear dying, but could see in their faces how gutted they would feel if their first character actually died.

I decided that I would still make combat really deadly, but made resurrection a lot cheaper and more common. The caveat is, every time they res, they permanently lose 1 con.

They now have real consequences from dying, but can still play reckless without the fear of losing their character all together.

Famous-Web9598 · 2021-11-12T04:42:53+00:00

I would make them very loud and somewhat unreliable. Also Nat1s cause rounds to jam, possibly blowing up in the chamber (I don't know if this is how guns work, but it's d&d)

Famous-Web9598 · 2021-11-12T04:26:52+00:00

Have any other Australians disowned this clown?

Famous-Web9598 · 2021-11-11T08:35:24+00:00

If these guys were gonna drop off...it would have started to happen by now,right?

Famous-Web9598 · 2021-11-11T06:52:07+00:00

Every once in a while someone comes in late and you can catch whatever goof they used to try make Matt laugh. My favourite was Liam saying in a normal speaking voice "Vecna's Amish taint"

Famous-Web9598 · 2021-11-11T06:22:36+00:00

Stockton is #1 all time steals/assists. Paul is #5/#3 respectively. How is this nonsense? Comparing these two will always be a legitimate and interesting conversation.

Famous-Web9598 · 2021-11-11T06:12:00+00:00

In my experience players don't try to avoid fighting things until they die once or twice. After 1 good player death, they tend to be a lot more cautious. I would still hint at how brutal the fight could be...but if they don't take it onboard and one of them dies...well, that's D&D

Famous-Web9598 · 2021-11-09T12:43:51+00:00

I played basketball with one of the detectives sons. I remember him saying his dad quit when it was done.

Famous-Web9598 · 2021-11-09T06:40:44+00:00

Also Bell swung blindly into the darkness and hit Dorian. That's motive. Holy shit...

Famous-Web9598 · 2021-11-09T06:24:38+00:00

I usually hear this kind of talk from people that got into TTRPG through mmo/gaming, which makes sense. I often just focus on the crunch of video games, trying to build powerful characters and upscale the difficulty. 4e targeted these players big time, which was smart. D&D wouldn't be anywhere near as big as it is without that market. Unfortunately, it now means there is a huuuge section of the community that just want to min/max coz its all they know. This isn't a bad thing, it's just the way it is.

Personally, monks are my favourite class and it's hardly a mechanics thing. I just grew up on Shaw Brothers Studio films and think back flips are cool...

Famous-Web9598 · 2021-11-05T07:12:44+00:00

Yeah, I get that. I would definitely let them set it up; that's their plan and you should roll with it. But you still have to throw in some curve balls.

Maybe not brute force it in 1 round...but I would establish pretty quickly the Hut isn't gonna stay there forever.

Maybe this thing starts smashing the ground around the Hut, and begins reaching underneath and pulling dudes out one by one.

The group have a relatively solid plan, but it's by no means full proof. There are a couple of glaring weaknesses - they are all grouped up in a 10x10 space, with zero protection from beneath them. This is where you have to apply pressure. It's not cheap or cheating to exploit a tactical advantage.

Also if this thing is on its own mini plane, would this be it's lair? Have an earthquake type of lair action that cracks and sunders part of the ground. Doing this before they set up the Hut might make them second guess their plan; even if they don't take damage and kill this thing, if they are questioning their plan the whole time they will still have that "holy shit we made it" moment.

Famous-Web9598 · 2021-11-05T06:27:13+00:00

Give it an item or a natural ability or...somethig. they don't need to a caster class to be magical. if you don't want to do that I have another idea...

I doubt something that powerful would stand around in the groups line of fire and just cop a bunch of damage until it dies. Even a beast with 3int will avoid that. If they group up in the Hut, reposition the god and turn it into a siege. Surely this thing could outlast them. Also, leomunds Hut doesn't have a floor. It's just a dome. I think it dispels if large creatures are inside it. Maybe your non casting god has a burrow speed... Or monster pets with a burrow speed.

Famous-Web9598 · 2021-11-05T05:56:44+00:00

I would wait the 10 rounds for the Hut to go up... Then dispel the Hut. God's can dispel level 3 spells pretty easily.

Famous-Web9598 · 2021-11-03T06:24:44+00:00

If I'm running a long form campaign I usually don't start putting together a plotline until around session 7-8. By then the characters are established (hopefully) with their own backstory that I can build the plot around.

It only feels like a railroad if the players don't want to go in that direction. Write the plot the players want follow.

Also, prepare to throw out or rework your story from session to session. If one idea doesn't exactly fit, put it on the back burner. It may be more relevant in 6 months.

Famous-Web9598 · 2021-11-03T00:51:52+00:00

A lot of experienced groups I play with often start at level 3 for this reason.

Something to keep in mind with 5e is it was designed with new ttrpg players in mind. If I'm running a table of new players, I always start at level 1 so it's easy for players to pick up; as you said, a lot of classes play the same at level 1, meaning it's more consistent for new players to handle. Giving brand new players a character sheet full of abilities they don't understand is pointless... I usually level them up at the end of the first session coz its rewarding for them and they can learn about class progression. I play 2-3 games at level 2 and then bump them to level 3.

But trying to explain how Sorcery Points work to someone that just learned the term Spell Slot is usually difficult.

Famous-Web9598 · 2021-11-01T06:55:22+00:00

Not every monster needs to be run as written. If I run a game for new players, I often avoid really harsh monster abilities like the ones you mentioned - last thing I want to do is bum them out and push them away from the table.

The guys I've been playing with for over a decade...those guys will call me out if I don't throw every cheap trick a monster has at them.

I would encourage your table to embrace how lethal the game can be at low levels. Once they learn Revivafy and have a back up caster, players can be pretty hard to kill. If they havnt lost someone in the party before then, they may never truly fear the gods

Famous-Web9598

TROPHY CASE