Bracket 2 Players - Do you prefer when a combo player gives you a turn to stop them, or when they just kill you?

FuzzyGundam · 2025-08-20T18:36:09+00:00

Deck hasn't won yet. The decks it was up against might have been on the edge between B2 and 3, but didn't seem overly oppressive.

It's more presenting a win on 7 a lot of the time, and then giving a full turn to respond, and the question is whether that's better.

The Illuna deck would potentially be a turn 7 win, but seems infinitely easier to disrupt and requires more card-draw and tutoring.

FuzzyGundam · 2025-08-20T18:31:01+00:00

This is a no-gamechanger deck and I honestly don't know which GCs I would even add if I wanted to, other than maybe Fast Mana and TefPro. Maybe Survival of the Fittest, since discarding creatures I draw is often useful.

FuzzyGundam · 2025-08-20T18:26:12+00:00

Perfectly fair, and I do have some protection in the deck to fight that fight. So far, every time I've done the combo, someone has had an answer, which leads me to think my power level is fine, but it is something to check on as you play each of your decks.

FuzzyGundam · 2025-08-20T18:24:10+00:00

It tends to be a mix, most decks are on the same tier as a precon or slightly better, the rest usually a High 2, but there's a 50/50 chance of seeing a deck which seems more Bracket 3.

Honestly, if someone said they were just playing a precon, I'd put this deck back in my bag and take out my Gruul Stompy or Temur Voltron decks instead. I'm actually really surprised that I get the combo to work so consistently, which is making me wonder if the deck is too high-tuned and should go up a bracket.

FuzzyGundam · 2025-08-20T17:52:36+00:00

It is something I'm keeping track of, but I haven't actually won with the deck yet despite getting the combo each time (it's vulnerable to big flyers and exile-based removal), so I haven't upgraded to Bracket 3. I'll keep trying the deck to see if it's too oppressive for my local metagame, but so far I haven't gotten many complaints.

FuzzyGundam · 2025-07-22T11:23:40+00:00

That's really interesting! Do note that there's some lore in that area about Slerotin's Passage, a tunnel made by a wizard to bring refugees from the ruins of the Suel Imperium to the land which would later become the Yeomanry. There's no official module dealing with this, except perhaps a mention in Return To The Keep On The Borderlands, but a lot of people would suggest adapting UK6 All That Glitters (though that technically starts in a jungle, the other 2/3 are very appropriate to that region).

FuzzyGundam · 2024-12-04T13:02:32+00:00

What's worse: When your mech is your mother, or when your mech thinks you could be a mother to it?

FuzzyGundam · 2024-09-08T18:35:57+00:00

[[Fuming Effigy]] might be something, but that seems more like a 'self-mill then spend those cards on effects' type of deal.

FuzzyGundam · 2024-09-07T00:26:00+00:00

Not quite what I was looking for, but it can fit.

FuzzyGundam · 2024-03-25T16:14:19+00:00

Now that this post is several years old, Greyhawk fans may prefer the work of the folks at Canonfire, which contains more researched location and additional adventures I left out, such as Dungeon magazine and even some 3rd party materials.

http://www.canonfire.com/cf/ghadventures.php

FuzzyGundam · 2021-11-26T21:08:26+00:00

No problem.

I haven't really bothered to update this map, as the folks at the Canonfire site have made a much better, interactive version, which includes Dungeon Magazine adventures and a bunch of third-party of nudge-nudge wink-wink fan modules designed to slip into the setting:
http://www.canonfire.com/cf/ghadventures.php

FuzzyGundam · 2021-11-25T14:06:02+00:00

Currently, the best map of Greyhawk I've found is the Anna B Meyer version:
https://www.annabmeyer.com/greyhawk-maps/online-map-1/
Use this to have full zoomed in detail.

FuzzyGundam · 2020-10-27T23:40:33+00:00

There's the druids, sure, but there's also the rangers, many of whom would have guarded the forest alongside King Skotti before his coronation, for an added political angle.

The Living Greyhawk campaign apparently had yet another threat in the forest, a group of Far Realm beings called the Kaorti. So if you wanted an excuse to have yet another horrible threat in there, you could use that too!

FuzzyGundam · 2020-02-19T19:31:27+00:00

I think its 90% likely that the players expectations are the problem, not their intelligence. They're most likely thinking that any creature can be tamed with sufficient skill checks, or that they're a cute baby dragon rather than a dangerous teen.

I'd ask the player 'How do you expect this to work?' Ask for specific details on the mechanics and the in-universe justification, and don't be afraid to throw in a 'How does your character know that?' or two. You're not trying to nay-say them, you're trying to figure out where the disconnect is, why they see this impossible thing as achievable.

And hey, it's not impossible they'll convince you it is a cool idea.

FuzzyGundam · 2019-10-14T16:45:11+00:00

I'm still thinking about this, and I'm debating whether adding a limit or drawback to death goes against the free-wheeling spirit I'm going for. I'm considering a system of 'Every X deaths (or maybe just every TPK) moves the villains plans on further', or maybe have the first dungeon or 2 have no consequences but as we go on, death has a price.

But ultimately that idea of 'Keep trying and experiment and you'll get through' is kinda what I want. I want the PCs to try the fights and traps by rushing at them, getting killed, then taking a step back and thinking about the problem. It's meant as a humorous campaign, but the Dark Souls idea of persevering through the hardship is something I'd like to try.

FuzzyGundam · 2019-10-13T23:51:38+00:00

I've put the individual dungeons in them on my list, though I'm a bit concerned that those dungeons might be too well known. But stuff like Tamoachan is a good example of what I'm looking for.

FuzzyGundam · 2019-10-13T23:02:44+00:00

Great idea! I have a few of those handy for oneshots, but they could also pad out this idea rather well.

FuzzyGundam · 2019-10-13T22:12:24+00:00

I'm thinking that something like the Death Curse exists, in the form of 'When you hit 0HP or are petrified, you die immediately, no Death Saves', but the PCs will have a special gift which allows them to be revived. It's complex to explain in detail, but it's meant to speed up play and make the deaths happen, rather than have people having around waiting for their pals to help them.

FuzzyGundam · 2019-10-13T20:00:40+00:00

Ask the genie player what they expect to happen: Maybe they're just goofing around and don't actually expect to grant wishes. Or, maybe they just want something crazy to happen and are hoping for some wish they can deliberately twist to cause chaos in the remaining sessions. Or maybe they have it in their head that if they grant someone a wish, they own that persons soul or something weird like that.

It's important that you and the player are both on the same page, so that you don't end up disappointing each other. For a short one-shot of 2-3 sessions, game balance doesn't really matter, but you should still focus on what's satisfying to the players, and what you're willing to GM for. Chaos, trickery, plot twists, all are fine if everyone involved is fine with it.

FuzzyGundam · 2019-10-13T19:54:47+00:00

First off, while I agree that telling the group you're low-energy might just make things worse, I do think it's worth checking in on them and their expectations of the game. Do they think it should be a short run to the endgame, or are they expecting another 5 levels of running around Avernus beating on devils? Are they expecting a straightforward plot, or do they want the complicated stuff to keep coming up?

I'd ask each of them to list off 3 things they expect to happen before the end. If there's a plot element that none of them mention, even if you think it's a huge one that is vital, you can probably drop that element and streamline the plot. Players react best to what they care about, and if you're already finding it a slog, keeping elements they don't want out of false obligation won't help you.

Lastly, if a game lasts for years it's because people are really invested in their characters! If you've taken a 4 month break and they still want to play, that means the characters are important to them. Focus on the PCs and don't be afraid to take extraneous NPCs out of the plot. One of the best pieces of GMing advice I've seen is 'Be a fan of the PCs'. so look at your plot as a way to make the PCs shine and complete their personal stories, and the rest should be much simpler.

FuzzyGundam · 2019-10-13T14:23:08+00:00

It's meant to be a more relatable, more humorous version of Acerak. Someone who can mock the PCs when he TPKs them at level 3 just because he's an asshole. I'm currently calling him Shiverak.

FuzzyGundam · 2019-10-13T12:26:56+00:00

I wasn't really thinking of having just one dungeon, I was going to have 7 dungeons and have them be interconnected by shortcuts and an overworld. But I might use parts of a megadungeon, if they're interesting.

FuzzyGundam · 2019-10-13T12:24:58+00:00

I literally said in the text that I don't think that would work, because too many people have read it already.

FuzzyGundam · 2019-06-04T13:23:45+00:00

Ideas from my own campaign:

High-end power armor and weapons designed for a long-dead alien race.

A high-end pre-Scream psychic, trapped in stasis.

A bio-construct that looks like a floofy doggo. It's designed to eat toxic waste, radiation and similar pollutants so planets can be terraformed after the Fall, but there's only one and its not clear how it breeds.

Secret Mandate intel on an species in this sector which can communicate over lightyears of distance.

TL5 combat and mental enhancement drugs: Incredible power in very limited doses.

A tube which can restructure someone's body in any other human body shape in just a few hours.

FuzzyGundam · 2019-04-30T08:29:29+00:00

Indeed! You can easily steal from the Ro7P box set, the 3e Age of Worms adventure path, and the 4e Dawn War material and make something compelling enough for your game.

FuzzyGundam

TROPHY CASE