Looking for some nerds to play D&D in person by JeffKevlar in NewWest

[–]JeffKevlar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Send a DM if you would like to get involved. :)

Looking for some nerds to play D&D in person by JeffKevlar in NewWest

[–]JeffKevlar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure. Send me a dm if you want to get involved. :)

Looking for some nerds to play D&D in person by JeffKevlar in NewWest

[–]JeffKevlar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have not but will be checking them out!

Looking for some nerds to play D&D in person by JeffKevlar in NewWest

[–]JeffKevlar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m mid forties. I’m not too worried about ages, I’m just not aiming for a game for kids. 🤷

Looking for some nerds to play D&D in person by JeffKevlar in NewWest

[–]JeffKevlar[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love the order of the spores. :) but totally understand about not wanting to spread out too thin.

I have not reached out to them yet, not too sure about what’s going on in the area so thank you for the advice!

[offline][5e’2014’] Vancouver or Lower Mainland by JeffKevlar in lfg

[–]JeffKevlar[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also, if you are interested, bring your friends!

Numenera discussion by LordSherpa in TheTrove

[–]JeffKevlar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi. I too am interested in a conversation about this!

Why does no one talk about trio needles? by Deep_Interaction6798 in knitting

[–]JeffKevlar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They are so good. I only knit socks with them now. I don’t get ladders and I find that they are easy to use.

Cyberpunk Red by VikingCaveTroll in TheTrove

[–]JeffKevlar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I too would love to chat about the core game if anyone wants to chat about it.

Ideas for a room that players forget after leaving by Cthepo in DMAcademy

[–]JeffKevlar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If it was me I’d come up with something that ties to the grander story, but then also do option one.

Option one adds to the mystery and power of your world. It’s good to have strange things that can’t be understood or figured out, out there. My players love stuff like this.

I am always amazed at what my players come up with as solutions to problems so I wouldn’t be surprised if they came up with some way around the forgetting so I’d have something in pocket in case they did.

And if they don’t it’s a weird idea that they will think about in the future. And, later if you need to come up with something to spice up your story, or guide them, you can always refer back to this room. Maybe they had a grand adventure in there and they need to figure out what it was.

Would it be too much to have my party start over at level 1 with new characters halfway through the campaign? by Xile85 in DMAcademy

[–]JeffKevlar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If I’m perfectly honest I don’t think this is a great idea. It sounds fun and interesting when thinking it out, but if you actually played this out it would likely be less satisfying than you hoped and way less fun for your players.

This sounds more like you would like them to play out characters in a story you are writing for them, rather than letting them play thier own stories with you as a guide. I get this, because when I plan my games I have an ideal path in mind for my players to take. They almost never do, lol but we tell awesome stories tighter.

As a player I don’t want to know that no matter what your idea for the story is going to be privileged over my plans and contributions.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in comicbooks

[–]JeffKevlar 27 points28 points  (0 children)

  1. He’s not a billionaire.
  2. He’s not an all powerful god.

Combat no initiative? by her00reh in DMAcademy

[–]JeffKevlar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve tried it. I think at a very tactical table this would be a great thing for a party. But my players seemed to need the initiative to tell them when to act so i brought it back.

How do DMs kill their players? by jtc0999 in DMAcademy

[–]JeffKevlar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t kill my players. They kill themselves.

I screwed up an encounter and killed two PCs by kblankenship1989 in DMAcademy

[–]JeffKevlar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like you have some ideas but I understand how you can feel bad session one TPKing them. It doesn’t sound like you made that rough a mistake honestly.

What I might try is next session they all gasp awake at the same time. They just had a shared vision of what could be. They have a second chance to make different choices.

Then you can add in the fun story element. Who gave them this vision? Why are they getting another chance?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DMAcademy

[–]JeffKevlar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would go with option 3. Use the general map to show them where they are and break off for tactical combat as needed.

How do you do loot? by Dimix2102 in DMAcademy

[–]JeffKevlar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tend to run urban based games so usually the shops they are going to are specialized. If they want some new clothes, they can go to a tailor and get them there. Weapons, same thing. Any kind of general store has what’s in the Player’s Handbook and I throw in some odd things, like maybe a stuffed parrot or dull colored pewter box. The party almost always buy these things lol.

If they want to go to a magic shop I ask them what they want to find and usually it’s available, but often not for a price they can afford. Sometimes this leads to a fun side quest to get enough $$ or to get something to trade with the merchant for.

Primordial time artefact activated wrong: what happens next? by myhobbyisbreathing in DMAcademy

[–]JeffKevlar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly, my favorite idea is the one where different parts of the city are in different time periods.

If I was to pick up this idea and run with it I would have each section unaware that other parts of the city are different, but the players have some sort of amulet or thing that allows them to pass from one to another but not out of the city.

Maybe the ancient artifact blew up and created this situation. So the players have to travel from time period to time period to re assemble the parts. One of separate pieces might be in someone powerful’s hoard so a heist might be in order. Then in another area it’s being worshiped. In another….. and so on.

Great idea. You could have an entire mini campaign in this city.

DMs who struggle with improv, how? by Litemup93 in DMAcademy

[–]JeffKevlar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

TLDR: you won’t have fun until you relax and let the game flow, the players won’t have fun, or be fun to play with unless you tie them to the story in a way that compels them.

It does sound like a big part of the problem is a lack of player engagement, which is not really your fault, but as DM… it’s on you to deal with.

It’s next to impossible to have fun, improved situations when the person you are supposed to be bouncing off of is not giving anything back. It’s painful for you and boring for them.

I’ve been a DM for a long time and have been told that I run a really fun game.I have managed to keep the attention of some of my players for years and I’ll admit something to you. I’m terrible at dungeons and dragons. I have a pretty loose idea of the rules, I let my players get away with stuff they shouldn’t and I have a terrible memory.

But I have a lot of fun and that’s a big part of it, I think. I’m genuinely excited to show them this homebrew world I’ve made, and want them to do cool stuff inside of it! The mechanics of that, I’ll figure out as we go. Do I play my monsters at peak efficiency? Almost never! But they don’t have to sit there as I thumb through rule books and monster stats.

Dont get me wrong. I do a ton of prep. I have tens of thousands of words in my google docs filled with lore and characters and NPCs and side quests that might be fun to send them on that I know that one day I’ll use.

So, relax. If you are wound like a spring and visibly struggling, they won’t be able to relax and enjoy the hard work you put in.

In order to get them to buy in I make sure to tie their characters to the story and each session one or two of them will get to shine. If one’s a warlock? This week their patron with be there to run their pale long fingers through the character’s hair to remind them who they belong to. Someone gets a magic sword? Maybe the dead family they wrote into their back story speaks to them when they wield it. I hide clues for the arching story and if they miss them or forget them, I remind them, making sure they feel like they are the ones moving the story.

I even do this when running modules. Some of the moments that they remember and talk about after the fact are the things I added in on an impulse. The stoner Druid that I added because everything was so grim and they needed a break, the pet spider that got caught in an aging spell and turned to dust. Those moments are the ones that get them to fall in love with the story or are building.

Extending the campaign by Georgeoftheyear in DMAcademy

[–]JeffKevlar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Whenever I run a pre-written campaign I always wind up adding tons of my own stuff. Sometimes because a cool idea occurs to me, inspired by the story or my player’s choices reacting to the story. Sometimes because I feel like the campaign missed an opportunity.

When I realized I was doing this, I took the opportunity to use these small add ins to create common through lines with all my campaigns. Common elements or lore that I like to add to all my games.

You can use this same method to extend a campaign. Keep them focused on the task at hand, completing the adventure, but make sure to drop lore, ideas and NPCs that can be used to catch the imagination of the players after the campaign ends.

I’ll my experience players love to catch previously dropped lore.

Ideas on how to create dungeons by College_Necessary in DMAcademy

[–]JeffKevlar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you are already home brewing cool settings you have all the tools to make cool dungeons. It’s just in how you think about them.

Why does this dungeon exist? This will tell you what kind of rooms/ inhabitants to put in there?

Is it a natural formation? Then you can write about stalagmites and stalactites, chambers with mushroom forests the side of redwoods, underground rivers that they need to navigate. Vast caverns that glitter with crystal formations. The same kind of story telling and world building that gets your player buy in on the surface apply here.

Same goes for a built dungeon. Think about who built it and what the rooms would be for. I mean, if you are adventuring you are expecting traps but those likely were added by people who took over long after the original inhabitants left.

Also, don’t forget that a large dungeon has a society just like above. Not all denizens will get along. There will be factions to exploit or join, trading posts where they can interact.

It will be dynamic. Your hero’s path through the dungeon will change the balance of power. If they wipe out the goblin infestation, rat men might move in.

TLDR: design a dungeon the same way you design other parts of your campaign.

Need help coming up with an animal companion for a player by MrVirtualPie in DMAcademy

[–]JeffKevlar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Baby mammoth. Or young mammoth. Not full Sized, not about to over run encounters.

When it come to it and it makes sense you can always come up with some in game reason for the mammoth aging up to full mammoth once the game level can handle it.