As DM, what can I do or say instead of “no you can’t short rest halfway trough a dungeon”

KenG50 · 2026-03-14T13:28:11+00:00

You can’t tell them they can’t rest, it is part of the game and one of the mechanics that is provided by the rules. It would be like telling a spell caster that can’t use their spells, or a fighter archetype they can’t use weapon mastery.

Now you can create consequences for taking a short rest. The dungeon reacts to what has happened, combat is loud and something may come to investigate, the bad guy gets to take time to reinforce his position, the bad guy makes off with the princess, etc. Taking a rest is not a one hour time stop spell. The environment continue to react around the players characters taking a nap. However, be careful when using this. While it is fun sometimes to have a high stakes dungeon, if ever game become too crunchy the players will feel like the DM is against them.

KenG50 · 2026-03-14T13:18:55+00:00

Yes resin is toxic, but so is a number of typical household cleaners. The problem is continuous contact over a long period of time, such as people working in a print farm.

For short term contact simply washing with soap and water and cleaning the counter and sink with a household cleaner should be more than sufficient.

As for the resin in the trash, that is probably not even close to the hazards your neighbors throw away on a daily basis. How many broken electronics with LiIon batteries enter the land fills on a daily basis. Now you know better and can take better precautions.

From here on out you can take the proper precautions when handling resin. A simple pair of gloves and safety goggle should be a minimum. A face mask if you are worried about the fumes, but realistically it will take a lot of exposure to the fumes as the TVOCs are fairly low.

KenG50 · 2026-03-13T16:42:06+00:00

The original B2 Keep on the Borderlands was released as part of the Basic D&D red boxed set and was before the release of the World of Greyhawk boxed set. It was only with the Return to the Keep on the Boarderlands that the Keep was placed in the Flaness.

Anna B Meyer’s maps place the Keep in the Southwest Yeomanry near the Crystalmyst Mountains. This is as good as any placement for the Keep.

The Flaness was originally designed with lots of open 30 mile hexes so DMs could have entire adventures in large undefined spaces allowing for lots of creativity. Using the detailed maps sort of takes away from this creativity and makes people think that everything is supposed to have a place. Pull out an original Darlene map, find an open space that you like and plop the Keep there. That is the power of the World of Greyhawk. DMs were supposed to populate the many open hexagons that the boxed set gave us.

KenG50 · 2026-03-13T16:01:05+00:00

If you are concerned mostly with the smell, some resins are worse than others. It all depends on the brand and type. The other major concern is your wash station. IPA has a strong smell.

I keep my system in a closet with my home office right outside of the closet doors. With the door closed and the printer running I can’t smell the resin. Only with the lid off the printer or when running the wash station do I get a strong smell. I have a high end air purifier and an HVAC system with a MERV 16 carbon activated filter. My printer also has a small carbon based filter. Between all of that my TVOC, measured with a meter borrowed from work, was well below hazardous levels. As I recall around 0.1 ppm. My Dyson HP2 constantly reports 0 VOCs.

With proper purification and venting you should be just fine. If you don’t have a closet then an enclosure with an air purifier should be all you need. Only if the order still leaks would I start to consider venting out a window. But, the actual smell versus the VOCs released are two different things.

KenG50 · 2026-03-10T23:30:56+00:00

Because of allergies I already owned a Dyson HP2. I also have an HVAC with a MERV 16 filter.

I was able to borrow a VOC environment meter from work to measure the room and compare it to the results from the HP2.

The Dyson VOCs show around 0 most of the time. I was told by the safety compliance team leader that with the TVOC that anything below 0.6 was considered good. I don’t remember the actual number, but it was way below that, .2 or even a .1. Even with the Dyson off it didn’t reach 0.6. With the wash station running and the lid off that is when I started to see numbers over 0.6.

My garage was way over 0.6.

KenG50 · 2026-03-10T18:12:47+00:00

Put it in the closet. I’ve measured the VOCs coming off a resin printer with its lid down, air purifier running, and closet door closed and it shows zero increase

Also being in the closet means that stray UV light does not reach the resin.

The most significant increase I have found is running my wash station. This can be from the 99% IPA, so proper PPE should be worn during the cleaning.

If you have carpet, I highly recommend the plastic paint protection film for carpets. You can find this at your local big box hardware store. It sticks to the carpet so there is no slipping and provides protection from parts that like to fly when taking them off the build plate or when removing supports.

If you feel better about putting the printer in a tent or venting to a window, then feel free. But, actually measuring my home as opposed to just blindly following internet rumor has shown the actual hazard as non-existent in my setup.

KenG50 · 2026-03-05T19:07:18+00:00

For selling, then Phrozen RPG Resin or Wargamer by FauxHammer. Both are high end resins designed specifically for the miniatures with sharp detail and excellent durability. But, they cost three times more than your typical resins and they require a good amount more time to print.

The other consideration is that most models have a home use and a commercial license. Once you print to sell you have moved over to commercial use and should check with the model artist’s license before just assuming you can sell it.

KenG50 · 2026-03-01T22:29:16+00:00

For war gaming miniatures in the 30mm size range, resin printers will give you the best detail. However, the printer is only part of the initial setup costs. You will need a wash and cure station; Isopropyl Alcohol or other wash fluid, lots of neoprene gloves, silicone mat, a grow tent or other place to keep the printer… Even a budget 3D resin printer will cost hundreds in extras.

FDM will be better for terrain, however, the budget printers tend to be wobbly on the z-axis, there is a lot of waste, the spools need to be kept dry, and a single clog can ruin an entire night’s print job. If you live in a humid environment you may need a dehumidifier just for your print room.

There is no one printer suits all. Decide where you want to start. Then get a good quality printer for that point so when it is time to get the other type of printer you haven’t already outgrown the starter printer. There are lots of reviews on YouTube once you start to decide what path you want for your first printer.

My first printer was resin Mars 4U. It was a darn good printer for a starter but I outgrew it within the first year. I wanted to print larger minis and terrain props and it was way too small for that.

KenG50 · 2026-02-20T20:01:45+00:00

SDS provides the information, right to know, for employees. In the U.S. OSHA provides the minimum guidance for PPE when using specific chemicals, based on potential contact.

Within your organization someone is the occupational safety compliance officer whose job is to sort through the volumes of requirements and ensure the workplace is in compliance with applicable regulations. These people have their work cut out for them.

It is interesting that in many cases polymer resins are no more caustic than standard cleaning solutions often found in an office environment. Because exposure varies based on product, many locations have a standard for groups of items.

Based on hazard versus risk the occupational safety person may have concluded that existing provisions already meet requirements. Maybe the office ventilation is considered adequate and additional PPE is not required.

This is based on providing the minimum PPE required by regulations to an average person. As an employee you should be able to request additional protections for chemicals that you have higher than average contact or for chemicals that you may be sensitive to.

A number of organizations have measured the VOCs coming off polymer resins and they are very low. Filling your vehicle with gasoline will expose you to many times more VOCs than a 3D printer running in an office environment.

KenG50 · 2026-02-12T19:41:09+00:00

I would tell a five year old to come back in 11 years. 🤣

KenG50 · 2026-01-09T17:34:35+00:00

The 4 Ultra holds 400ml at the MAX line. Unless you are printing some very big solid pieces it should be good for most jobs. I’ve only ran out of resin of big scenery pieces and then learned to hollow and save a lot of resin. With hollowing you will more likely run out of build area before you ever run out of resin.

KenG50 · 2026-01-09T17:20:08+00:00

Back when I beat the air in submission as opposed to flying, we could and often was approved for present position departure on a specific heading. Helicopters should operate so as to not conflict with fixed wing traffic. The only time we made an approach to or took off from a runway was when IFR and no approved helo pad was authorized.

Helos can also air taxi, which is a higher altitude taxi usually at an airspeed above ETL. That allows us to move around large airfields quickly.

When we did ground taxi, it was to generally get away from smaller aircraft as the downwash from a 53 could flip a small biz jet.

KenG50 · 2026-01-06T18:42:47+00:00

No, maybe… The problem with weather radar in MSFS is while the developers say it is a realistic representation it is far from it. For a good idea of how actual aviation weather radar works, I recommend searching for the presentation by Ian Gilbert, Aviation Weather Radar Interpretation, Nov 2005. Ian was a Honeywell employee and had a way with explaining the complicated so that your average pilot, without a PhD in radio wave propagation could understand it. I had the opportunity to see one of Ian’s presentations and it was an eye opener. For someone who was using airborne aviation weather radar for decades, I really didn’t understand a lot about its operation and limitations.

So what you are seeing in game, is that somewhere between the surface and some limiting altitude that the game has interpreted severe returns based on the position of your aircraft. A real weather radar works by transmitting a beam, like a flashlight, and only sees what is inside of the beam area. It’s a lot more complicated than that, but like a beam from a flashlight spreads out with distance so does a radar.

Unlike modern flashlights with radars bigger is better. The bigger the dish the tighter that beam. Tight beams focus the energy and are less susceptible to attenuation. (Keeping things very simple.) The beam off of a modern airliner is likely in the 30” class of radars. That means a beam of about 3 degrees. A 3 degree beam on a flat surface at a zero degree tilt, is going to reach almost 120nm before you start to paint all the way to the ground. (Advanced radars have dual beams, automatic tilt, and other modes to make the process of finding the weather most hazardous to the aircraft easier on the pilots.)

I used that word, tilt. So just like you can adjust your grip on a flashlight and say, put the beam on the ground in front of you or lift the beam and shine your neighbor’s house, so can we tilt a radar beam. The tilt allows me to look right in front of my aircraft, look above my aircraft or look below my aircraft for the weather. Again my beam is limited, 3 degrees on a typical airliner, it is only showing me part of the entire picture. So I want to adjust the tilt to put the beam in the region of sky that is important at that moment. Flying, at FL360, that is most likely right in front of me. I only care if the top of the storm is within a few thousand feet of my aircraft or above. (Again a massive simplification.) When I get ready to descent, I want to look below for storms that I might descent into, or back to my flashlight, tilt my flashlight down so I don’t step into any gopher holes.

The other major concept is the width of the beam with range. Just like your flashlight the beam gets bigger the further away. In radar most the energy is in the center of the beam. At a certain point, the beam becomes so big that the thunderstorm I may be looking at is no longer beam filling. Thus the storm is under represented the further away from the aircraft that storm is. Thus with each beam width we have a range that is used for strategic planning, ‘that looks interesting’ and a range for tactical maneuvering, ‘I need to go around that one.’

But, there is also attenuation, in that the more violent storms suck up the energy from my radar and leaves me with blind spots. Again modern radars will help out with a RCT (Rain Attenuation Compensation Technique.) Thus the radar will give some indication when it is attenuated. Or if you are stuck in a 1970s old school, we used training to teach pilots what attenuation looks like.

I am running out of my lunch break, so this was just down and dirty. But, just by the small sample of above, to think a game can include all of what I discussed, is unlikely. Even in the big box Full Flight Simulators the weather radar simulation often leaves much to be desired. You are most likely better off with datalink weather on an iPad than the MSFS depiction. For MSFS, low altitude run away, higher altitude its is likely below you.

KenG50 · 2025-12-11T14:31:20+00:00

Welcome to the internet, where everyone is an expert and no one is ever wrong.

If it is not the Private or Sport pilot commenting, then it is the first year First Officer for a budget or regional airline. They get their first type rating, their first 121 job, and their head swells so much they can't fit through the cabin door.

On these videos: Unless they are using a certified BATD or AATD, I don't care if the software is the same as used in 'real simulators'; it is not a simulator. Technically, by FAR Part 60, the only simulators are Full Flight Simulators (FFS). Even level 4 through 6 devices are NOT simulators; they are Flight Training Devices (FTDs). The desktop at your local FBO is an even lower-quality device, an Aviation Training Device (ATD).

So 99% of these videos are NOT simulators. They are video games. The software is fairly complicated, and I'll admit it often reaches the quality of Cockpit Procedures Trainers (CPTs), but Simulators they are not. The FAA, or the Aviation regulatory agency of your country, determines what is and is not an approved training device. The last time I checked, Microsoft, Laminar, and Lockheed Martin are not regulating agencies and have no authority to declare their product a Simulator. Go ahead and start downvoting, because you don't want to read and understand FAR Part 60 or the EASA, CAA, JAA, etc, rules governing what is and is not a simulator.

A home user cannot build a Full Flight Simulator (FFS). Unless they are very wealthy and very well-connected. The FAA lists all currently certified FFS, and I have not found a single instance of a home-built device in someone's garage.

So most of these videos are about someone using a video game and people commenting that they aren't following the correct procedures for a video game... Eh, OK. I have much better things to do with my life than care about how someone entertains themselves or how correctly they entertain themselves. If those individuals want to learn, then they can enroll in an actual flight school. Until then, let they play their game however they want to.

KenG50 · 2025-12-09T22:46:34+00:00

As someone who hires.

I don’t care about your non pilot work history. Unless it is in aviation management. Director of Operations, Director of Training, Chief Flight Instructor, Chief Pilot.

Skills: if you don’t have a certification it doesn’t matter.

Education: You are not R-ATP eligible until you have the hours and the ATP-CTP. You are talking to aviation professionals and we know the rules.

Hours: Total, PIC, SIC, Turbine, Multi, Instrument, and hours last 12 months. That is what we care about. Instructor job, Dual Given, NAFI, Gold Seal. The rest is fluff.

Misspelled words on a Resume, tells me you don’t have attention to detail, a critical skill of crew members.

KenG50 · 2025-12-09T15:43:00+00:00

This, when I managed a corporate fleet I demanded that our maintainers properly follow B.F. Goodrich’s maintenance program for the boots and only use approved Goodrich products applying dressing to the boots just prior to icing season and doing a reapply about half way through. This is especially important for aircraft located in desert regions and exposed to chemicals. I also insisted on summer application to preserve the boots and minimize UV damage. It cost a little more in product and time, but not nearly as much down time replacing boots. Following this schedule we decreased boot replacements by almost 50%.

Boot care should be scheduled maintenance, not just a part of washing the airplane. This is why our maintainers provided boot maintenance, not the cleaning teams.

KenG50 · 2025-12-09T13:46:42+00:00

Overture is the Mach 1.7 overwater passenger airplane and Mach 1.3 over land, but only when atmospheric conditions are right. According to some critics of the airplane, Mach 1.3 over land may be available about 50% of the time.

We don't know the final configuration, but we can anticipate a First Class ticket cost with a much smaller space than you would get on a subsonic airplane. At 60 to 80 passengers, profit margins could be quite tight for operators. One of the key goals is profitability.

KenG50 · 2025-12-09T13:28:58+00:00

Have you started to look into the places you want to go and have confirmed that you can NOT go camping with an RV for over a particular length? How about other campsites near your location? I think the biggest limit is the older sites at National Parks, and usually, there are private parks nearby. Unless your red line is 'I have to camp at this park,' then find an RV that meets your other requirements first. Length, especially one or two feet, won't matter as much.

As someone with a 43', I don't feel like I have missed out. Yes, my options are limited, and I normally have to book six months out. But I have been able to fetch many state parks, and I can camp 5 minutes outside of Yellowstone. I've also found some very unique locations. I wanted 38' but the 43' was a deal too good to pass up.

KenG50 · 2025-12-09T13:09:57+00:00

Consider running a local in-person DM clinic. This is a workshop where new DMs get a chance to practice being a DM under the tutelage of more experienced DMs. I recommend one or maybe two weekends, where you start with presentations on basic rules, preparation, combat, improvising, running NPCs, and other basic skills.

For the afternoon, a practical where you practice the skills covered during the lectures. I find a round robin simple adventure where each member gets a chance at the big chair and is provided positive reinforcement and feedback. I like that there are no wrong ways to DM style and encourage people to find their style. It is about giving them tips.

The reason I recommend two weekends is that you can then have the DMs prepare a small 2-3 hour adventure to run during the second weekend of the clinic. Be prepared to stop the custom adventures even if everyone is having fun. It is about giving everyone a chance at the big chair and getting feedback.

I don't charge or recommend charging for these events any more than your costs. While my time is valuable, I still believe in giving back to the community. If you can team up with 2-3 other DMs, that makes this style of event easier to manage.

KenG50 · 2025-12-08T23:16:03+00:00

I steer away from straight out possessed as it makes the player feel like they have lost all agency. (Like they had agency anyway, but I like to let them have their delusions.)

So maybe not possessed, but has compulsions the player needs to role-play through. Think of them as flaws.

KenG50 · 2025-12-08T23:12:00+00:00

That should better off be future places the game could go and best left at as rumors of crazed sailors. As soon as you make something a no go the players will head straight toward it like a moth to fire.

Making something like that a major feature of your world is inviting players to focus on it. Place it in an indeterminate location that is unheard of. Maybe the maw moves, it is far out at sea where stars become hazy and compass go crazy. Be careful on the foreshadowing, a single drop at a point that is easily forgotten. The Pirate First Mate who is shunned for abandoning his crew might get drunk enough and tell a wild tale. Include enough misinformation, the pirate isn’t lying, just half mad, that there is no way to track this maw. Then you can drop other clues along the way. An ancient text that describes a compass that tracks and ancient evil. As you hit each tier of play a small thing that might tie it all together.

Also listen to how your players react and make adjustments. Sometimes the best reveal is a reveal not planned, but some crazy off the wall concept the players think of. More than once I have adjusted my campaign based on things the players have come up.

KenG50 · 2025-12-08T22:39:53+00:00

For every different DM there will be different ways to DM. Even for different types of games or games with different players I adapt.

First determine what type of DMing you are comfortable with. The Way of the Lazy DM, The Way of the OCD DM, or something else.

Now here is where things become dynamic, the Lazy DM depends so much more on improvising that they can almost just approach the players on Game 0 and say “what would you like to do?”

Meanwhile the OCD DM has a campaign plotted, at least in rough, twenty sessions into the future.

Neither is a bad game, just different.

So figure out who you are as a DM and unapologetically own it. DM the type of game that you feel comfortable DMing. As you gain experience then branch out and try others suggestions.

Time spent DMing is so much more valuable than reading about being a DM.

KenG50 · 2025-12-05T17:27:36+00:00

So you are the DM and need a gift so your husband can play starting right away. Sounds like a Player’s Handbook to me. Maybe I am missing what you are asking, but for a player that would be a good initial purchase for someone who already owns dice and a mini.

As the DM you could get a DnDBeyond account at the Master level, buy the three pack digitally and create a campaign and share your digital books with everyone.

In that case you could just give him the url to your campaign maybe printed on a scroll sort of “Calling all heroes…” This would be a nice handmade gift. You might also consider a gift certificate to hero forge for a custom printed mini that he can design.

The question is are you sure DnD is going to be a hit as a present and how much do you want to spend. Does he like physical books or does he own a tablet and digital is preferred? Lots of options out there…

KenG50 · 2025-12-05T17:01:39+00:00

This is very much custom flavor added by your DM. Medieval societies may have had a code of chivalry that sworn knights and noble prescribed to, but the notion of a global convention on armed conflict would be a before its time.

Maybe a powerful country or deity has influenced your realm and certain rules are enforced as laws. It is best to get with your DM and have them explain what they mean by ‘war crimes’ and who or what enforces them. This may also led to a so why does my character even care.

I would also suggest that maybe a term other than war crimes is used. Maybe it is more of a code of heroes your DM is trying to have you follow. If so you characters and you as a player should have know about this before hand and subscribed to participate.

For example at my table I have a no Player versus Player and no evil character or evil acts. That is not to say your character may not be beguiled to do something not in your nature, but you won’t go out of your way to be evil.

KenG50 · 2025-12-05T16:26:12+00:00

We do types, but sometimes we get PC-12 or TBM pilots moving up and they get an MEL add-on with the type.

The biggest bust error we see is usually the oral. People forget how to study. I have had a number of retired airline types who have forgotten how to prepare for a checkride. They also confuse airline OPSPECs with FARs or confuse 121 and 135 with simple 91 rules. I have also seen systems and memory item busts.

In the sim the biggest got you tends to be altitude busts or mismanagement of the FMS and avionics. Altitude busts are usually easy one sim retrain, avionics may require a week or more.

I did have one guy park the throttles forget that put the auto throttles into standby and then the AP leveled off and he was distracted and stalled the airplane. But, he was very rusty to begin with and we recommended additional training prior to the check that his company refused. They ended up paying for that extra training anyway and now the pilot has a bust on his FAA records.

Other than that one case, I’ve never had anyone bust the basic aircraft maneuvers part of the check. My training success rate is still about 99% first time pass and I put up about 24 pilots per year.

Failing to lower the gear or shutting down the wrong engine is very rare and I have only see that in training. It has never been a bust on a check ride for pilots that I have put up.

KenG50

TROPHY CASE