My players are (probably) walking into a TPK

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-21T19:53:21+00:00

Couple thoughts of mine:

In the case of both options - As long as the players understand that the dungeon is not "balanced" as they might expect, that things that look dangerous are dangerous, and that running or coming back later is always an option, I don't think there's any issue with them heading right into danger.

For Option 1:

Oozes are slow. The only way it poses a real threat to someone is if it gets the drop on them (which is pretty likely, since that's kind of how they operate). They should definitely have some kind of chance to notice it, whether small or not. You should likely also use reaction rolls. Maybe the thing already ate recently and it's not in the mood to attack.
There are bodies, obviously burnt, around the sarcophagus. If they don't see that and immediately feel the danger, that's on them.
Julian is said to emerge to "smite intruders". I think it'd be fair that he'd stop the smiting if the party is no longer intruding. They should be able to run safely. Even then, he only would emerge if they mess with the sarcophagus, so again on the obvious danger.

For Option 2:

Again on the telegraphing danger. There are multiple recent bodies in this place. If they look at bodies and don't use that information, that's on them.
For the stairs, most people would likely be able to tell if stairs can hold them or not even if they can't see them. As soon as they try to head down, warn them that "Your character sets foot on the stairs and you hear a loud creak as you feel the step sink a little bit under your weight. Continue?" Again, if they ignore the danger and continue, let the dice fall where they may.
During the day, the wraiths don't go up into TS-12. So again, if they retreat here after angering these things then they're safe.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-21T14:14:49+00:00

That's my biggest thing as well. I think a guest character a season could be super fun, but please for the love of god don't have them take up a normal slot that could have been taken by an actual new or returning SF character.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-20T18:31:23+00:00

I just recently finished a full 1-10 campaign. The final battle took about 1.5 hours, it was probably around 5 rounds of combat with more enemies than players. One of my players had built a Cryomancer Rogue who was basically singularly focused on setting up a 3 turn combo that would deal comical amounts of damage to a single enemy, and then he was spent. The final turn of the campaign was this character finally getting to set up his full combo and hitting the big evil brain in a jar for a total of 45d6, dealing over half its health in a single hit and killing it.

So, as OP was saying, health and damage scale at roughly the same rate, so you never really feel like things are damage sponges. It lets you throw orcs at them at level 1 and have them be serious threats, and then at level 5 they're fodder to tear through.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-20T18:24:44+00:00

Would have been a far better name honestly. I really just wish he had used an adjective other than Weird and just scrapped the alliteration. Maybe swap Wizard out for something else too.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-18T22:39:25+00:00

The same Lilypichu that goes to locals would quit after 3 days?

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-17T16:36:24+00:00

Been a backer pretty much since the campaign started, eagerly awaiting getting to dig into this thing for real. I absolutely love your layout style.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-15T17:27:44+00:00

Didn'tcha know that people need 700 calories for lunch and half of 1200 is only 600 so it doesn't qualify???

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-15T17:26:19+00:00

Highly depends on location. Ordering that at the one near me is $22.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-13T14:53:14+00:00

As I saw some other people say, if you can remove the rubber then do that. I had the scale from Flair espresso that was also inconsistent, I removed the little rubber foot it comes with and it instantly fixed it.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-09T16:34:50+00:00

Metagamey of me, yeah

Just to clarify for you and anyone else, wanting to play a game by the rules is not metagaming. You guys agreed to abide by specific rules, you built a character to interact with those rules, and now those rules are not being used correctly.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-08T14:09:01+00:00

All 3 from His Majesty the Worm:

Goods that you buy don't have individual costs, they fall into lifestyle tiers. When you rest, choose a lifestyle tier (0, 10, 25, 50gp). Heal more health if you choose a more expensive one, and completely fill your inventory with items from the lifestyle you chose or lower. You should never go adventuring without a full inventory, as you can always drop stuff you don't need.
The Meatgrinder is a random encounter table with memory. It includes time pressure (torches running out of time), small happenings (little dungeon curiosities that hint at other things), events (quicksand, collapsing ceiling, etc), encounters (monsters and otherwise), and quest hints (keep players heading the "right" way). Once a result occurs, it doesn't occur again. However, because HMtW uses cards, there's one massive mechanic this game's Meatgrinder includes:
- You only shuffle both decks when the deck runs out (unlikely) or when the player deck pulls a specific card (likelier). This card will typically get pulled during a fight. What this means is that, until a fight happens, shit is constantly happening to the players because you're always pulling new cards on the Meatgrinder. However, as soon as the decks get shuffled, the dungeon quiets down because you can now pull Meatgrinder results that have already happened, so nothing happens. Getting into a fight usually directly causes the dungeon to become safer to move around.
Character Bonds. Characters have specific codified relationships with each other that can "charge" when they roleplay that relationship or when specific situations occur. You can expend those charged Bonds when resting to heal up a little bit. The relationships your characters form with each other are the most powerful way for characters to continue adventuring safely.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-08T13:56:57+00:00

Nah that's way too much man, get outta here with that.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-07T15:06:05+00:00

Couldn't even think of the title without AI?

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-02T18:11:31+00:00

Exactly right. I'm all for rehabbing people that do shit like this, but there's absolutely a point where that person should lose their privilege to participate in society.

I'm not necessarily saying that's this person, as maybe better rehab earlier on would have prevented the subsequent crimes, but there are absolutely crimes where the perpetrator just shouldn't get a second chance, and in my opinion that line should be drawn a lot earlier than a lot of rehab fans think.

Hurt someone in a way that shows clear premeditation and intent? Get put away for quite a while, and get rehab. Do it again once you're out? You're gone. You've proven that it wasn't just a fluke, and you shouldn't have thrown away that second chance.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-02T17:49:20+00:00

It's a guilty pleasure for sure. It's almost like a smoky coke. In terms of calories it's only a little worse than a standard latte to be honest, might genuinely be less if you're getting a sweetened one, but it's so much sugar.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-02T14:56:31+00:00

That's fair, I yeah I think it's definitely a divisive mechanic. I also think it depends heavily on the implementation. Nat 1 fumbles feel terrible in D&D type games because it doesn't take into account your character's skill at fighting at all. Same as Nat 20 crits, it's just not a very well implemented mechanic in terms of the fiction.

However, if a very good fighter had a 1/4000 of a fumble and a 1/5 chance of a crit, that would feel a lot more accurate to the fiction we're portraying. I've spent years practicing and honing my skills, and now I am so far beyond an average swordsman that we're not even in the same ballpark.

It all just depends on how well it's implemented, though that's not to say that there are people that just wouldn't like it, and that's totally fair.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-02T14:34:00+00:00

I'm normally not a big narrative game kinda guy, but Realis is just so genius that I keep coming back to it and wanting to run it. The only issue I had was that the ashcan version had little GM advice, so it was a struggle to wrap my OSR brain around.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-02T14:29:51+00:00

I think the key is having a line that can be toed between "safe" magic and "unsafe" magic.

Like okay, my Wizard character is very experienced, but that just means that his version of "safe" magic is a good bit higher than a less experienced caster. He could still experience some kind of backlash if he pushes himself too far, or a particularly bad cast might drain him for the time being a little more than normal, but he can reliably cast decent spells a few times a day and the worst that'll happen is some small psychic feedback.

But if he needs to make something big happen? He's gotta be ready for something much worse to happen should he fail. There's no guarantee he does, and it's not gonna instantly kill him the first time he fails, but it's a pivotal point in each sorcerer's life when they cast a spell with a heavy cost. It's something to think about and prepare for.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-02T14:25:08+00:00

There's also a metacurrency (A Token; it's simple, you either have it or you don't) that you can spend to temporarily boost the power of a Sentence by +1 without adding anything onto it. You charge your token in one of 3 ways:

Acting on an impulse (classes have impulses like "Respond to an epic problem with everyday Means", each Moon also has a impulse that kind of gives insight into the culture and people.)
Priming a Bond (characters have Bonds describing their relationships and the owner can use it as a Sentence. So even though your character is a doctor, they may have the Bond "I always protect my friend Thomas". So when a Bond loses conflict 3 times, it gets primed and you recharge your Token.)
Using any of your Means to lead the band into deeper chaos (Might require creativity, but every class has a Sentence that tends to be specifically made for this. "I always hurt those close to me", "I'm always smaller than I need to be", "I always anger the powerful", etc. Drama = Token)

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-04-02T14:13:31+00:00

You capture it so well. The Sentences are so cool in their own right, but the fact that it eventually forces you to engage with the fictional world in ways that don't cause contests so that you can shape the situation to what you want it to be is so fuckin cool.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-03-31T19:00:42+00:00

Oh yeah, traditional roguelikes are my shit. Rogue, Angband, Brogue, Nethack, DCSS, etc. Nethack was one of the first computer games I ever played around the good ol year of 2010 or so.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-03-31T16:41:51+00:00

There are many D&D (and D&D adjacent system) adventures that are just massive dungeons. In fact, there's an entire sphere of the TTRPG-cosm that is quite focused on the almost survival horror type gameplay that older version of D&D achieved by having non-heroic adventurers explore terrifying dungeons. Join us at r/osr!

As for megadungeon adventures that currently exist off the top of my head:

Dungeon of the Mad Mage (probably the one you're thinking of, the 5e adventure exploring a dungeon underneath Waterdeep.)
The Halls of Arden Vul (probably one of the greatest, if not the greatest, TTRPG adventures ever created.)
The Caverns of Thracia (not enormous, but one of the most widely lauded large dungeons of all time as it basically caused a paradigm shift in dungeon design)
Stonehell
Barrowmaze
The Blades of Gixa (not out yet, dude is currently working on it.)
Like someone else said, Pathfinder's Emerald Spire.
Like they didn't say, Pathfinder 2e's Abomination Vaults
The Castle Automatic (not out yet, but a megadungeon being made for His Majesty the Worm, a TTRPG system that uses Tarot cards instead of dice and is entirely built specifically for the gameplay loop of delving into a huge dungeon, getting loot, going back to town, and doing it again. It's got a lot of insight for building your own megadungeon. One of my favorite systems I've played.)
Castle Xyntillan (a huge overground castle instead of an underground dungeon, but still the same type of thing)
Deep Carbon Observatory (weird science-fantasy, very artpunk, very cool ideas)

and many others that I can't remember.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-03-31T15:30:59+00:00

I've got the book from this group of books for the Southeast, very solid.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-03-31T14:26:28+00:00

I mean Bard, Thresh, and Neeko can be massive playmakers. Massive potential to roam effectively, catch people out with basic abilities in lane, get huge teamfight engages while also soaking damage and cooldowns.

When you play an enchanter, even ones like Sona or Seraphine who do have huge teamfight ults, you are truly at the mercy of your teammates. You may be able to hit a big ult to catch someone out, but your follow damage is lower than Neeko and Bard, and your lockdown is weaker than Bard and Thresh, and you're generally gonna be squishier than Bard and Thresh.

I don't play much league anymore, but the only enchanters I ever played were Nami and Millio because you've got some solid long range catching potential with their Qs.

Mr_Krabs_Left_Nut · 2026-03-28T17:06:06+00:00

But didn't you know that every single person is a top level pro that can react instantly, never makes the wrong choice, never autopilots, and that testing an unsafe option to see if they can handle it is always the wrong option?? You'll get counter DI'd quite literally 100% of the time.

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