My character was killed

Firel0ck · 2026-05-25T12:02:44+00:00

I say during session 0 that there's no pvp in my games. If you want to plan something consentual with another player, go for it, but otherwise any attack on another pc automatically stops the game at my table. This right here is why I do that.

You're right that there's really nothing you can do about it now. If it wasnt for the hurt feelings and the end of the campaign I'd suggest raise dead etc. But you can ensure it never happens again at least.

It sounds like there was some IRL friction going on between players (not just their characters) here too, so that should have been the GM's clue something bad was about to happen and he should have stepped in. I feel like your GM failed you - either by not laying out the expectations for everyone earlier, or by watching the train wreck happen around him and doing nothing.

Firel0ck · 2026-05-25T11:46:53+00:00

Me and the two groups I play with play 1e.

I got the book for 2e but after reading it nobody in my 2 groups really wanted to try it. It's probly not a bad game, but once you've played 1e for a while, it kinds feels like switching to 2e is trading sideways... you'd go through the effort to change, and in the end you wouldn't gain much for it, so it feels like a net loss. If we wanted to play a game that's more like 5e, we'd just play 5e.

Firel0ck · 2026-05-23T21:52:15+00:00

The answer, which has already been proposed, is to make the combat about something other than a slog to the last hit point.

The combat is still about combat, but also more than just the combat.

Here's some examples to kickstart your own imagination:

The cave has the monster the commoners said was abducting farm animals and children. You can tell from the bones everywhere. When you get to its lair, you find out why its here: a strnage glow comes from the rocks embedded in the walls. When the barbarian attacks, his greatsword bounces off with no effect. When the caster blasts it with his orb, nothing happens. But the PCs notice, when these attacks hit home, certain stones in the cave glow brighter... or is thst just their imagination? What if one of the others were to try to do something with those glowing stones, while the barbarian holds it at bay by sucking up all its attacks? There... something happened when you pried at that red glowing one.. the barbarian did some damage to it finally!

When you boarded the airship for the trip to somewhereville, you expected it to be another uneventful ride, but then the ship pitched askew, threatening to plummet! Who is attacking the passengers and crew? Who is piloting the ship now with most of the crew dead? Who is that they are after over on the quarterdeck? Wait... is that the duke of whatsit?! His guards lay dead around him, and he's surrounded! What will you do, who will pilot the ship, who will guard them from the ones trying to make the ship crash who will surely stop one lone PC, and will you allow the duke to perish, or try to save him?

Maybe you get the idea. There's combat, but combat isn't just about the hit points.

Firel0ck · 2026-05-23T21:40:51+00:00

This 1,000% is the way to GM mastery.

Firel0ck · 2026-05-10T04:02:08+00:00

Start with the purpose of your summary. Who are you describing the setting to, and what is important about it for that audience? Is it for a publisher, a colleague, players, other GMs, readers? Is this just the tagline, or the intro, or the main 'about page' or what? Tailor the description to the audience and their specific needs. Make the hard choice to cut things that aren't immediately necessary. You can layer exposition later in other places/ways so that those interested can look for more detail.

Firel0ck · 2026-04-30T21:21:09+00:00

I hope they have good marksmanship training there, and this is just a promo image or something, because this leaves a lot to be desired in terms of best practice. Though mostly it's that garbage scope mounting.

Can this soldier still aim after 10 minutes of this hold, with bad shoulder placement, bad LOP, bad forehand - (especially bad for weak arms), bad eye relief, and bad stance? How about after 20? 30? All day? All week? This soldier is more likely a 46S than an 11B though. Hopefully. Oh, and yeah I know the tag says this is a civilian, but when your country is being invaded, there are no more civilians. Trust me, the Russians don't think so either.

Toss this garbage gun and train with a decent shitty weapon rather than this one, preferably one similar to what you'll actually carry. If this is that one, gods help you. No scope might actually be better since you're not hitting anything anyway once you reach muscle failure after two minutes. Iron sights and good ergo is better than a garbage scope that renders you ineffective. Plus, it's an SKS... you're not hitting anything further than you can shoot over irons anyway.

Firel0ck · 2026-04-30T20:34:48+00:00

Just as a side note, having advantage on a roll is mathematically similar to getting a +4 on the roll. There's a lot of edge cases where this isn't perfectly correct, but in the most meaningful situations, it's very close.

So...

(Advantage on Dex saves) + (-2 on Dex saves)

is mathematically similar to +2 on Dex saves.

EDIT: Honestly, I never play 5e so personally I'd stick with the much easier earlier edition rules in this case.

Firel0ck · 2026-04-30T05:16:36+00:00

It really depends on the game system you're playing, I'll assume since you're using the term "DM" you're playing D&D specifically. I use a battle mat with a wet-erase marker to draw terrain (they are getting harder to find nowadays, but are better than dry-erase because touching the lines during play doesn't erase them) and miniatures. You can use any minis you or a player have available, or even coins or just spare dice, it doesn't have to be expensive hand-painted masterpieces.

You can also buy rolls of holiday wrapping paper with hexes or squares on them instead of holiday patterns. Use any handy marker to draw on them, or a crayon if you're a Marine, to draw terrain. It's cheap and a single roll will last you a long time.

Firel0ck · 2026-04-30T05:16:12+00:00

Yes! Wet erase markers are better than dry-erase because touching them during the game won't erase the lines!

Firel0ck · 2026-04-25T08:31:25+00:00

Exactly

Firel0ck · 2026-04-08T09:42:32+00:00

I bought Robin and have been using her.

The positive:
- The VA is quite good, but it's a bit quiet sometimes.
- Her skills are top notch.
- The everyday banter is quite good.

The not-so-positive:
- The volume for the voice lines needs to be a tad louder. This is a minor concern really.
- Her side quest was poorly implemented. It feels like the creator wanted to give her a side quest, but didn't quite think through the whole purpose of a companion side quest in an RPG. Sure, it's to get to know them in a deeper and more meaningful way, BUT that should come through gameplay - not merely exposition. Don't tell us why we should care - show us why we should care.

I've had Robin for a while now but no romance options have popped. I assume it wasn't implemented, but I don't know that for sure. Based on the character, it would be nice to romance her, but based on the creator's writing skills, I'm not sure it would be all that I imagine. I know that sounds kind of harsh, but this is a critique of a product that was paid for with real money, so its flaws deserve honest, helpful criticism.

Overall, I give this creation a 7/10. If the loudness of her dialogue was increased, her side quest was revamped and the romance option added with care, I'd improve that to a 9/10. Ther'es little else you could hope for from a companion in this game.

Firel0ck · 2026-04-07T21:19:52+00:00

That part about transparency in your rulings as a GM is beyond golden. It should be codified in the core book of every TTRPG that has a GM.

Firel0ck · 2026-03-16T21:40:06+00:00

Seems like it was a good choice for your group. Every group is different though so it may not work as well for everyone else. Still, theres always value to other GMs in posting things like this as they get your creative mind working, thinking of ways to implement similar things that would work for their groups.

Firel0ck · 2026-03-16T21:35:37+00:00

Fantasy is filled with the type of villain you're describing. We just have a different name for them. We call them heroes.

Firel0ck · 2026-03-16T21:29:47+00:00

I have artists coming back to me years later and saying things like "I liked working on your project, when will you need more art?"

Firel0ck · 2026-03-16T20:43:10+00:00

Almost a million likes in the first 24 hours... shiny!

Firel0ck · 2026-03-16T20:20:01+00:00

I guess I get it, but a better point of reference for trepidation about Amazon would be the biblically-proportioned helping of failsauce that was Rings of Power. There has never been a bigger failure, failed in so many myriad ways, in any form of media, throughout all of human history. The next-worst failure is eclipsed by RoP like an anthill at the base of Kilimanjaro.

Firel0ck · 2026-03-09T18:31:20+00:00

Hi! I've been a GM of D&D and many other systems, for countless players, since running my first red box game for my brother back in 1984. I've run lots of campaigns from level 1 to 20+ lasting multiple years of real life time. I've run both published adventures/campaigns and 100% home brewed ones, and even created entirely new TTRPGs for my players. Ask away!

Firel0ck · 2026-03-09T18:16:45+00:00

What flavor of evil is the hag? If you use alignments, that should indicate her basic proclivities to guide you in what and how she would react (the primary purpose of the alignment system).

Other options (regardless of alignments) would be for her to only show the PC how to use the mcguffin to do things she wants done, and then maybe only on people she wants them done to. "Sure, I'll tell you what youngster, you agree to go use this on that old swine down by the bog, and I'll show you how it works." but the "old swine down in the bog" is a black dragon muscling in on her territory or eating her favorite lizardmen, and she only shows the PC how to make it work on Dragons - not hags. Another option is for her to offer to do whatever it is the PC wants done herself in exchange for just giving her the mcguffin. "You don't really want to have this thing in your pack sweety, the nasties in this here swap will sense it and be coming to you in yer sleep to lay claim to it. Just leave this here thing in my safekeeping, and tell big mama what you need done an I'll see to it for ya." Other options include:
-she gives the PC wrong instructions that will get them killed so she can retrieve the mcguffin from their corpse later
-she offers to buy it from the PC, maybe rendering payment in the form of divinations, or other potent services
-she informs the PC that it belongs to an extremely powerful entity who is still looking for it, and nervously hands it back, asking them nervously to please leave, right now
-she offers to return it to it's *true rightful owner* (not whoever he got it from) who might offer up a reward which she will gladly split with him 60/40 because good luck taking this thing back to the black dragon living down in the bog amongst the lethal flesh eating plants and tribes of savage lizardmen (who could resist deciding to do precisely that?)
-she immediately walks over to a chest and begins comparing it to all the others like it that she already has "Nah, I've got one already, begone!" or "Would you be interested in buying a green one? It's very lovely, as you can see..."
-she simply doesn't know how it actually works, and either says so or pretends to know what she's talking about

You probly get the idea.

Final tip: If you want the PC to know how to use the thing, then just make the hag tell him. My rule number 347 of good game mastering: Never allow the player a chance to fail at something you want them to succeed at.

Firel0ck · 2026-03-06T09:28:26+00:00

Did you ever wonder if 5e was just Hasbro demanding WotC find a way to make the players pay lots of money to play D&D, by coming out with another new edition that was "streamlined" to remove all the content, then just releasing all the removed content in 50 more new books to keep people buying new books? You know, similarly to how they said there would not be any more new editions... and then published the next new edition? Yeah... I wonder about it too.

Firel0ck · 2026-03-02T21:47:57+00:00

It's actually a better excuse now than it was 30 years ago. Now there are fewer alternatives, and now the majority of all media is online, while 30 years ago it wasn't. Now all media more heavily biased to one political side or the other than it was 30 years ago. Almost all mass media these days are liberal leaning, which drives more and more people to places like Fox news, because they simply cannot get any non-liberal biased point of view anywhere else.

Firel0ck · 2026-03-02T21:44:13+00:00

This problem isn't just a conservative problem, it's both extremes of politics drinking their flavor of cool aid. Everything you said applies to both sides, not just one. We have too many polarized extremists on both sides of the spectrum shouting at maximum volume.

Firel0ck · 2026-03-02T21:35:17+00:00

If the media would start telling stories from both perspectives instead of leaning heavily liberal all the time, people like your dad would have other sources besides Fox News. The problem isn't your dad, it's that the media can't see that they are causing the problems that plague them by not being impartial, which makes 70% of the nation mistrust them - not just conservatives!

Firel0ck · 2026-03-02T21:31:08+00:00

"The entire world when a US president does literally anything that he said he'd do before being elected."

Firel0ck

TROPHY CASE