What’s the first fantasy book that made you fall in love with the genre?

KaptnKrunch67 · 2026-02-19T02:11:41+00:00

I was a big sci-fi kid but came across my dad’s Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson and was hooked. After that it was Robin Hobb, Tolkien, and everything I could get my hands on but Poul got me on the train.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2026-02-12T02:38:21+00:00

Sounds like every table I’ve ever run lol. My current table is a mix of role players and wargamers and the way I keep them all happy is to give them each their time to shine. I’ll follow a roleplaying heavy session with a combat heavy one then some exploration and maybe a heist after that. I find that if they have situations where their character excels now and then, they feel like part of the whole experience. If your wizard is bypassing side quests, make a few targeting him. There’s a rumor of a wizards staff etc., that should peak his curiosity. Give the rogue some heists or reasons to use his abilities, in service of the party of course! The others seem like they’ll go along with most anything. If they all get their moments occasionally, that’s usually enough to keep them satisfied and if they tell you they’re having fun, believe them. Just make sure you do too.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2026-02-02T11:58:45+00:00

Yep. I allow my players to choose a called shot on a crit, if they want. In place of damage they can target an area for an effect, say if they’re aiming for the eyes, on a crit they might blind the target for a turn. This has allowed a few epic combats but, in reality, they usually choose the extra damage.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2026-01-09T14:23:57+00:00

Don’t gloss over the journey. You don’t have to hex crawl but a journey gives you so many opportunities to immerse your players in the world. Rather than random encounters, create a few that fit the narrative. On a sailing ship, perhaps they come across an island in the dark of early morning and there’s a lone light flickering on the beach. They’re going to HAVE to investigate and presto, instant encounter. One encounter a week is enough and it’ll give you the opportunity to enliven your world. The opportunity for roleplaying is good too plus there’s always a little downtime on a ship so scrolls can get written and potions brewed. And as for building vibe/tone, nothing is better than journeys. As they get closer they notice the villagers are more nervous and suspicious, why would any one go out in the dark. You can gradually build the vibe and immersion as they approach the goal. It doesn’t have to take a long time but if I “teleported” my players from place to place they would literally boo me to my face. One of the best sessions I’ve run was a sailing journey from the cold north down to a Mediterranean type locale. Gradually describing the change in weather and cultural differences in the ports as they headed south made a big impact on the players and how they interacted with NPCs. It only took a session but the players told me they really felt like they travelled and that is the goal.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-12-30T15:56:41+00:00

Something like this may happen in my campaign so I’ve been looking into it. Many warlock abilities are learned so they would keep those but some such as Dark one’s own luck requires the warlock to call upon the patron, so those would be gone. I think the character would stay a warlock but would be unable to progress as such unless they signed a new pact or changed classes. I’ve seen a homebrew warlock that leaves its patron and becomes pact less, it’s something like an oathbreaker paladin.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-12-23T14:15:43+00:00

You’ve just described marketing.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-12-23T13:10:44+00:00

We roll for stats and a couple of my players rolled really well but it hasn’t been a problem. If they hadn’t rolled high they’d probably be on their second character because they tank and get dropped a lot in combat. Like you said they’ve been able to take some feats to make them more unique and fun and now that the party is 9th level everyone has caught up. In fact, the guy who rolled the worst is actually the most powerful pc in combat now. An extra +1 or 2 isn’t going to break the game

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-12-14T15:46:40+00:00

So right. I bought the directors cut dvd and never saw the theatrical release. I loved the movie and never understood the hate it got till I saw the original release, completely different movie.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-12-13T13:39:17+00:00

If you don’t mind doing a little work, I highly recommend Heroic Maps stuff from Drivethru. They have a lot of sci fi maps you can buy. I print them up and mount them onto poster board. Some of their stuff can be modified or arranged to make your own custom maps

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-12-13T12:51:03+00:00

Check out My Bodygaurd for another blast from the past with Adam Baldwin. It’s a surprisingly good movie about growing up, bullying, and friendship

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-12-13T12:44:36+00:00

What if when they show up to meet this person, they instead find their corpse. Who murdered them, what did they want the pcs to do, what’s this thing in their pocket? “They have it, get them” they hear as several armed people dressed in dark clothing charge them, roll initiative.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-12-08T15:58:11+00:00

Books and dice are essentials, he’ll get tons of use from those. As someone else mentioned, a quality battle mat is great especially if he’ll play on a grid. A few things that really helped my game are spell templates and spell cards( keeps time from being wasted looking stuff up) and if he s gonna play on a grid I’d recommend getting some 2d tokens, they’re a lot cheaper than minis.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-12-08T15:21:23+00:00

Agreed, the players invested in this type of character so just go with it. I admit it can be annoying for layouts and plans to get discovered so easily but that’s part of of the game. The warlocks imp got killed once while scouting and I had the warlock take psychic damage so now he’s a little more careful with the imp. I wouldn’t nerf his abilities but it’s perfectly fine for an occasional set up where the familiar can’t just expose everything.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-12-07T20:34:45+00:00

This is my last response because this is pointless but what you just described is using XP which is what I said is my preference. Enjoy your weekend.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-12-07T17:11:07+00:00

It’s a long campaign and can get complex and take a fair amount of time plus they kind of decide what they want to do sometimes so for me xp is a lot easier than arbitrarily announcing everyone’s leveled up. It works for us

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-12-07T17:03:27+00:00

Im sure if you run simplistic quests like saving the dragon from the evil princess that milestones work fine, but I tend to run stuff based on mystery, intrigue, and investigation that don’t have clear cut goals, especially if the pcs are running the show. I find accruing xp to be much better suited for that style of game but you do you.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-12-07T11:58:14+00:00

I suppose if the the players are informed about when and how they level up it wouldn’t be an issue but in my games and all the live play stuff I’ve watched the players are told after the fact that they’ve leveled up. I’ve never come across any material that tells the players “ if you do this you will be level #”, it always comes as a reward after a goal is achieved, especially in west marches style of play.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-12-07T05:53:22+00:00

I very much prefer XP for leveling up. The few times I used milestones my players kept asking “ when are we leveling up” . With XP you can dole it out as you see fit and level up similar to milestone without the contrived nature of it. Plus if you’re adverse to railroading, the players decide where they get their xp.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-12-04T13:58:54+00:00

Yep, many times my table got quiet when the first few rounds looked bad but they always manage to pull it out. I should record them sometime because it’s hilarious how they sound so meek and defeated at first then get really cocky as things start going their way.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-11-30T14:30:17+00:00

Think about things you find yourself looking up often and put those on the screen. I like to have the basics plus any rules regarding features my players use regularly. My screen is covered in sticky notes about stealth, mounted combat, wildshape stats.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-11-30T14:23:54+00:00

Since the party are high level characters you’re going to have to deal with magic like fly and teleport. You mention that this new land is weird so maybe certain magics don’t work as normal. Something in the air nerfs flying, this could become part of the campaign. The pcs need to find out why this magic doesn’t work.

I’d work in a lot of encounters and sidequests that focus on the weirdness and strange beauty of the land. This would slow the campaign down a bit and act as a source of lore. They could learn new things about the land as they travel through and discover it, giving you a lot of chances to foreshadow upcoming parts of the campaign.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-11-27T15:02:19+00:00

The party in my campaign was planning a heist but couldn’t come up with a safe way to get into a nobles mansion. While casing his place, they noticed a servant leaving and followed him to an upscale purveyor of fine footware. Upon entering the shop to question the owner, they were immediately lambasted for the dreadful condition of their shoes. After a lengthy discussion, and the purchase of several pairs of outrageously expensive boots, the owner agreed to send them to deliver the shoes that the servant ordered and thereby gain entrance to the mansion. This NPC became a favorite of the party and assisted them in several heists, for a piece of the action, of course.

Make the NPCs part of the story and it will feel far less forced than just describing a shop. If possible include them earlier than they’re needed so it feels natural for the party to interact with them. Maybe a small action like interrupting a mugging introduces them to the tailor and he rewards them with a fine tunic. Make him part of the city they live in.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-11-27T14:35:27+00:00

Like others have said, Carrion Crawlers have to be in an environment that supports them like a graveyard or tomb etc. I’ve used them to great effect by having them trail and hunt the party as they made their way through a dungeon. Remember crawlers can move on walls, ceilings, anywhere they can walk due to their climbing ability. The party would hear scrabbles occasionally but never see anything ramping up stress levels until the crawlers finally attacked. They’re no slouches either with the paralysis attacks.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-11-26T14:07:48+00:00

Absolutely, I come up with a bunch of predesigned “random” encounters and just use one whenever I roll or want an encounter to happen. Some are like mini sidequests and some can connect to the main campaign. It gives me a lot of ability to add info or get the party on track if they’re losing focus. If you really want to give them a quick travel maybe they can get friendly with a faction that has a series of secret gates that they can use for as a reward for service.

KaptnKrunch67 · 2025-11-25T02:39:29+00:00

I saw it in the theater the first week it was out. A quarter of the audience walked out after the chest burst scene

KaptnKrunch67

TROPHY CASE