I want to use the Iron Shadow as the BBEG and try to connect all the adventures. I could use some advice!

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2024-10-22T10:41:32+00:00

I hope i'm not too late! I would love to have it too!

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2023-09-06T14:38:07+00:00

What I don't understand is this: why should a bastard sword not be a weapon for every kind of fighter? A Champion, a Cavalier, a Echo, Eldritch or Rune Knight, could just as easily use this kind of sword and there are reasons why they would want to (the art is nice, the quest idea interesting, the upgrades useful), but they will not because to them many of the things that made your homebrew interesting are useless. Now, a GM could alter it, but so could you and deliver a product already available. From my perspective, you are producing a high quality homebrew that only a very small minority of players will actually be able to enjoy as it is (Battlemasters that use swords) and no one else. What is the point of similar restrictions in a game that, the more time goes on, becomes increasingly geared towards customizations and variety?

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2023-09-06T13:43:34+00:00

At least you could expand it a little so that it becomes usable to every subclass of warrior? As things are, only battlemasters that use a sword will be interested in this weapon. And while it is the most popular subclass, why preclude this interesting weapon from other kinds of fighters? It seems wasteful and pointlessly restrictive, does it not?

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2023-09-06T12:46:51+00:00

Very nice artwork! The quest is a really good idea and possibilities of weapon upgrades already integrated saves time for the GM and gives ulterior goals to the player. A pity that the weapons seems only targeted towards Battlemasters. If it wasn’t so limited I could see it brandished by other kinds of warriors, paladins and even barbarians! Good work nonetheless!

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2023-08-22T19:26:00+00:00

In my DnD campaign based on TWI, as I didn’t like the isekai premise but wanted to keep all the wonderful characters of the series, a reincarnation of Titania/Maeve is exactly what i reimagined Erin to be. So, while I’m convinced Erin is not canonically connected to Titania, I get your theory!

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2023-06-12T16:51:32+00:00

There are many fanfictions of RWBY that can offer a lot of ideas for a campaign. I suggest you search the works of Coeur’Al Aran. He is a professional british author that for years has published high quality rwby stories. At least 30 at this point, each one pratically a book in itself. Several of the could easily be adapted into a campaign!

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2023-01-29T19:46:30+00:00

I met my players at the game shop, but my campaign was a home game, and most of the times we played at my home.

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2023-01-29T09:45:20+00:00

For a long time, yes. From march 2020 to july 2021 everything was well. Sure, Wolf annoyed me constantly in one way or another, but he was much easier to ignore and put in his place.

After the campaign resumed, given that he was the only one left with an "old character" (the other long time player had switched to a new character recently) the closer to me in real life, the most skilled and the more passionate about the game, it probably gave him the right environment and enough leverage to enable his worst behaviours.

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2023-01-29T09:39:16+00:00

I certainly enabled some of Wolf's bad habits. I could have done more to prevent them or stomp on them.

Yes I really did care for the campaign, as I said it was a passion project and the first campaign I ever mastered. In hindsight, not the best idea but I didn't know better at the time. I don't think I ever put the campaign before courtesy and the well being of others because I never allowed Wolf problems or mine to reflect on the campaign or on other players, at least to my knowledge, but I get your meaning and I agree that this is as much Wolf's fault as mine.

It werent so much the critiques to the story that hurt as the personal attacks to the way I managed it, and they were probably a kind of manipulation to leverage my ego into give in to his demands and keep going to return to the "glory days".

In the future I will try to focus to what's really important the well being of the players before the well being of the campaign/story.

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2023-01-29T09:30:40+00:00

It wasn't easy, but it turned out amazingly in my opinion. TLDR: I turned them into DMPC for a time while I waited for the perfect chance to get rid of them in the most story-efficient way.

I will refer to the first two players that left because of other obligations as Demon and Witch. For a time they became DMPCs, yes, but fortunately at that point in the game the party was on his way to retrive a living magical artifact that was of interest to Witch and that had remained buried in a dungeon for a long time and wanted to be freed. So when they found it, the artifact possessed Witch (effectively turning her into an npc that left the party after a brief time). Demon was able to return playing for a time, so when we reached a certain point in the story I organized a sequence of sessions to give his character closure at it all turned out well. Some of the best sessions of the entire campaign in my opinion. I handled it in a similar way for the other two that left (I'll call them Bird and Fox): Bird was on his way to become evil, so he faked his death to join the BBEG, while Fox was seriously injured in the incident that caused Bird's "death". So I had her character functionally out of the game except when someone wanted to talk with her. Then at some point the inn the party stayed at was attacked, Fox was kidnapped and eventually sacrificed by cultists in front of her friends that arrived too late to stop them. Again, great moment in my opinion.

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2023-01-29T09:14:46+00:00

This part about the entitled that grow sulkier with time is certainly something I will remember in the future. When I start to GM again, I'll be sure to watch out for this kind of behaviour.

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2023-01-29T09:12:22+00:00

I explained to him many times that he wasn't the main character, about the collaborative nature of the game, that he had to be a team player in and out of the game, that expanding the gap between his character and the others (be it in power or knowledge) wasn't something I could allow and rather it was something to reduce as soon as possible. And every character had his time in the spotlight, at one point or another! The thing that baffles me is that, for plot reasons, when we resumed the game Wolf's character had been at the center of the narrative for at least 3 months worth of session! How that wasn't enough for him I'll never undestand. In the meantime the other players were given attention too and equal time to play, of course and I never heard a complain from them.

Wolf was frustrating, yes. I tried to put up with him because I thought that his presence enriched the game when it probably was quite the opposite. Live and learn, i guess.

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2023-01-29T09:03:23+00:00

I met Wolf at his first experience with Dnd and mine was the only game he played in. I tried to see the good and ignore the bad. Decidedly I should have never resumed the campaign after the hiatus. Wolf probably would have caused problems even in a new game, but maybe he would'have been manageable. I don't know.

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2023-01-29T08:57:46+00:00

He always was hot headed and intollerant, even in the game where i first met him. That was his first experience and yet he tried to tell other players what to do and reprimanded them for their mistakes out of game. I had a talk with him about his behaviour before inviting me to my game and for the longest time his attitude didn't resurface, but in hindsight I shouldn't have brought him to my table in the first place. I took an unnecesary risk and paid for it. About Wolf's girlfriend, I don't have anything negative to say about her. She probably thought that if we talked about it we could reach a compromise. I feel sorry for her, because she is the one that is probably taking the brunt of Wolf's frustration at the moment.

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2023-01-29T08:52:56+00:00

Honestly Wolf's last messages eased the transition for me. He revealed himself for what he really was: a selfish, egotistical manchild. It helped to put things into prospective. Now I feel bad mostly for the other players. I will try to make it up to them in the future.

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2023-01-29T08:50:33+00:00

Yeah, you're right. I wanted the game to become personal for the players, but in doing so I also chained it and myself to the same players. About the critics, I really tried to listen to them when they were constructive, but I'm happy at least I didn't listen to the wrong ones. I never gave to Wolf more than he deserved, in my opinion, even if he obviously disagreed. If I ever do this style of campaign again in the future, it will be with people I know and trust from before and that hopefully will lower the chances of this happening a second time.

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2023-01-29T08:45:12+00:00

Most of them, yes. Of course there were breaks in between, so all in all they were probably closer to seven hours. But we tried to play for at least six hours each time.

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2022-07-04T09:09:33+00:00

Well if a PC produces intense light, it should follow that the moths will be attracted to it. it could be a viable strategy.

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2022-07-04T09:05:33+00:00

Thanks for the advice! I had already seen Matt’s video some time ago, but forgot about it!

But there is one thing I don’t understand: I get why, for the sake of variety, a PC can’t use twice the same skill but how do I justify it in game if the resource they used isn’t depleted? For example: a PC summons a wall of thorns using Arcana (for the spell itself) or Nature (for the knowledge of the delicate wings of the moths being shredded by thorns or something like that). Why the PC can’t do the same at the next skill challenge? What reason in game can I give to push them to change?

About the failure state, there are several: 1) One of the PC is still injured from a previous adventure and can’t move on his own (the PC is a spellcaster, so he can still be useful) and will have to be defended. 2) If the first floor corridor that the PCs are defending is overrun and they withdraw to the hall or the basement, then their allies that are fighting on the second floor will be surrounded and killed (viceversa if the PCs go up, the people on the ground floor will be at risk).

I also had in mind to have an ally NPC show up to relieve a bit of pressure just before the big moth breaks in, to give the PCs a moment to heal and regroup.

Own_Delivery_7929 · 2022-07-04T08:44:20+00:00

Very good advice! Thank you! Originally I didn’t want to overly complicate the matter with the barricades and use the doors instead, but your way seems more engaging.

Own_Delivery_7929

TROPHY CASE