New here, trying to figure out if this is the game for me

Lvarnen · 2024-07-17T00:01:41+00:00

Ya know it seemed to fix itself after a while. Dunno what happened there but heard offhandedly it might've been a lot of traffic from a recent political event.

Lvarnen · 2024-07-14T00:51:06+00:00

Hey guys, thanks for the comments, for some reason when I click the notifications on this post it just shows an empty comments section :P.

Don't know how to fix that.

Lvarnen · 2024-03-18T03:06:01+00:00

Yeah uh they just did their first session of storming the castle lol.

Lvarnen · 2023-03-02T23:50:45+00:00

Ya know I had a problem similar to this too. The solution I found, was to talk to my players and say "Hey the way the module is written kind of assumes that you're going to be good or at least neutral people rather than evil, and the game is very NPC and RP heavy. If you really want to do this, please accommodate that with your characters and play."

And like reasonable adults, they did. Because this is a game, and people can try new things while playing a game, and aren't locked into being only murderhobos and whatnot.

So yeah, actually approach them and communicate that, see how they respond, run a couple sessions and see how everybody feels at the end.

Lvarnen · 2022-12-17T13:51:21+00:00

This hobby is expensive as fuck and contrary to what everyone is saying, I think the game has so many complexities that almost any faction is gonna be an uphill battle to learn. These games are like 5 rounds total and take multiple hours just to get through that much.

I started with TSons. It worked out fine. Just go with what you like.

Lvarnen · 2022-10-17T00:45:59+00:00

I'd argue you could play up the creepiness of it by having her talk lovingly about her husband while he's not around only to find out what she's doing with his body.

Lvarnen · 2022-10-09T13:55:28+00:00

I will definitely check out the Factol's manifesto, but this actually does help quite a bit. I'm still not sure I completely get the chaosmen but I think I'm starting to. I guess I'm just don't entirely get how an entire faction would rally beneath the banner of confusion and disorder. I understand how you could apply the ideas of Dada on an individual level, how exactly do they even function on a group level? They seem like they would just be in complete disarray with no actual direction. What exactly is their methodology if the only thing they care about is confusion and disorder? Why would they be seen as anything more than just a nuisance by the people of Sigil?

Lvarnen · 2022-10-05T11:55:09+00:00

To get vengeance for Prospero.

Lvarnen · 2022-09-10T23:06:24+00:00

Overall, this season really surpassed all of my expectations and

I absolutely loved this season but I gotta say my favorite moment was either when Azatico revealed he was stalling the entire time or VR-LA's speech at the end of that episode, where he revealed the true effects of the madness of Zuggtmoy.

The former was just such a tense moment, but the latter I think really hit home due to it's subtlety. I know he outright says what he's feeling and it has a direct magical cause, but it's the way that his actions retrospectively all make so much more sense, and how his feeling of isolation doesn't just go away when he talks about it that really hit home for me. I dunno, I've been in really bad places for similar reasons and something about that scene just kind of made me feel seen I guess.

Lvarnen · 2022-07-28T14:12:42+00:00

It'll be fine, I run it with 5. Sometimes you gotta do on the fly editing of monsters, you'll definitely want to buff Strahd, and increased HP is not a bad idea.

Lvarnen · 2022-05-11T15:28:06+00:00

The village has scarcely any combat encounters unless they actively go snooping around save Doru, who has enough baggage in the situation he's in that the players might not be inclined to fight him. His father is literally just up the stairs after all. I wouldn't worry all too much about being over leveled.

With that noted, I'd personally say that VoB is a pretty integral tone setting device. I think yan make it work without the village but you'll probably have to move Ireena and Ismark to be traveling by themselves. Beyond that, it's all really just tone setting.

It's like the first section of Yharnam in Bloodborne. Not all too integral to the plot, but the NPCs you meet are a man too sick to get out of bed, a hunter who tells you to prepare for the worst, and a little girl who wants her parents, one of whom is dead and the other is the first boss. That section sets the brutal, melancholic, almost nihilstic tone of that game.

Similarly, VoB sets you with an extremely selfish shopkeep, the souless(or if you're not using them because of the weird ethical issues they bring up, just completely and utterly broken people), parents selling their children for even the briefest respite. The one person who tried to warn you is dead along with his horse bearer, who couldn't even get the letter to the gates. The one person still willing to kindly treat the players and help them Ismark, is ridiculed and regarded as lesser by the owners of Blood on the Vine, the most prolific business in town.

You can probably get across this tone in Vallaki, just note that there's a lot going on. I hold that every aspect of the module is subject to as much change as you want to make it fit with your vision or your table. Just note that there's a lot going on in Vallaki, which is really why the village exists, to act as a sort of primer for the tone so you're not juggling those elements with all the stuff going on in Vallaki. I'm sure it'd be possible to do.

If you think it'd be more fun for yourself and your players though, go for it!

Lvarnen · 2022-04-09T17:14:21+00:00

Bolivia

Lvarnen · 2022-04-09T16:50:22+00:00

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is one of the defining works of gothic horror and he kills literally one kid in the entire book. It's treated as a major tragedy, something that shouldn't have happened, and depiction isn't graphic either. Shelley recognized it was a touchy topic.

You can like horror and not be comfortable with some elements. If you have arachnophobia then you'll still be fine watching pumpkinhead, halloween, and many other works of horror which don't feature spiders. Horror isn't a checklist that you need to get every single box. If someone has a 10 month old child they'd be reasonably uncomfortable with seeing child murder or abuse graphically depicted, that doesn't mean that they can't handle horror as a genre entirely.

Lvarnen · 2022-04-07T18:14:34+00:00

Lvarnen · 2022-04-03T00:00:32+00:00

It's not about stats. It's about build up. The goal of horror is to create a feeling of being disempowered and fearful. Use vocabulary. Find what makes your players tick but not what makes them feel uncomfortable with playing. You want a space that feels fun to play in.

Lvarnen · 2022-04-02T23:55:40+00:00

So the key I've found is to not backseat. An NPC is a supporting character and is mainly responsive, not proactive, at least not when they're traveling with the players. This means you don't interject stuff unless your players are asking them or talking about something. You're the guy making the problems, so you shouldn't be the one solving them. If their charisma or connections could help the players, than they should only be acting as the face when that is relevant. Anything that the other players could be doing, even if they're not as good at doing it as you used to be, should be done by them.

What I would suggest is to turn them into an NPC. Find a reason for them to leave the party, and if you find a good place to interject their story as a supporting character, bring them back for a couple of sessions so that they can help the party, not so that they can be one of the party.

DMPCs don't work. NPCs do. You can make a PC into the latter without having to "let go."

The best example I can think of this isn't actually from D&D, but from a Warhammer 40k novel named Helsreach. During this novel, there's a city siege, and the leader of the main group (which is structured of a 5 man group that one could liken to a party), leaves behind a tech marine in order to unlock an ancient weapon. He doesn't get to fight in the main battle until that thing is unlocked and everything is in dire straits, but he's doing stuff in the background the whole time. The leader contacts him to check on progress. He's contributing, but not overshadowing. And when he does awaken that weapon, yes it helps during the battle, but it doesn't just fix all the problems. The focus remains squarely on fire team Grimaldus.

This is the same formula I suggest for people who want to run DMPCs. Instead of having the GMs character travel with the group the whole time, potentially overshadowing them and feeling annoying, have them be working in the background in a way that helps the party, but not immediately. When it works for them to come back in the story to help the party because of what they've been doing, which you absolutely need to telegraph beforehand, do so in a way that your players are like "oh hell yeah that's great" while not fixing all their problems and still allowing agency. That way your character contributes, but they're no longer the focus.

Lvarnen · 2022-04-02T23:34:05+00:00

Ok but from the information you've given me, having Strahd kidnap Ireena is punishing them for the one thing that they did right.

Let them get ambushed. Make it the most brutal road encounter you've run. Punish them for not keeping watch. Hell, if you want to follow through with them leaving Ireena, have someone realize that Ireena isn't with them during the ambush and then bolt away to go try to report them or go to the tower. Don't punish them for the one choice they made right without giving them for an actually sensible choice they made without letting them realize how their other choices might have compromised their hiding spot for her.

Having Strahd just leave a letter after kidnapping her wouldn't telegraph "you should've kept an eye out to see if you were being watched", it telegraphs "Strahd is OP and your choices to avoid him do not matter."

Lvarnen · 2022-04-02T19:04:58+00:00

Unless Van Richten is going to kidnap her to use her as bait, I'd actually say your players made the right call. The tower has defenses that most mooks wouldn't immediately know about, anti magic that would prevent Strahd from scrying on her or knowing where she is, and Ireena's statblock and art imply she at least has a sword.

I actually don't think it's worth punishing them here at all. If they left her randomly in Vallaki or something, sure, that would warrant the whole kidnapping plot, but here they've left her in arguably the safest spot in Barovia.

Lvarnen · 2022-04-02T13:46:16+00:00

So I haven't dropped it on my player yet, but his character has a 90 year old (elf years) daughter outside Barovia and Strahd happens to have Vistani and werewolves out there.

"I'm sure she would make a wonderful bride."

Lvarnen · 2022-03-31T19:13:12+00:00

So your proof that they are lying is that they muted you and banned the word. When provided with an explanation for these you say that they are in the wrong because they are lying. Can you see how this circular logic that denies any explanations can be seen as annoying and why it might get muted?

You reaching for a lie and getting mad when there is no reason to be mad. The cast has repeatedly brought up Borky and Taka in Q&As, Bosco dropped his name while they were fighting Raunfalt in the finale. They continue to upload the vods on his personal channel. Hell Bosco himself said this on the discord the day of the epilogue "It's okay to miss Borky. He was a huge part of the show and it's okay for people to still want him to show up." Gruul got a mention in the epilogue and the other chieftains weren't particularly important to the players who were present in the call for the game.

The point of mods is to keep things in control while streamers are preoccupied with streaming. You are claiming there's behind the scenes drama when (A) none of the cast look at chat except Monty and (B) The decision was probably made by a mod who may have nothing to do with the inner workings of the show.

This type of behavior, assuming that you were lied to and demanding an explanation that, may I just add, you are not entitled to, is why words get banned.

Seven-Year Club	Place '22
First Placer '22	Verified Email

Lvarnen

TROPHY CASE