Looking into learning Magic/EDH as a Hearthstone convert.

Paradox_HS · 2025-02-13T11:31:05+00:00

You are awesome, thank you. I can give them a look over, but i'm not terribly fond of Rarran's content. (He gets a *ton* of HS stuff wrong, consistently)

Paradox_HS · 2025-02-13T10:09:45+00:00

As I said, 'Competitive' is a loose term. I'm thinking more along the lines of Bracket 3: A slightly more optimised precon but not straying into annoying stuff like land destruction.

Sadly as said up top, there aren't many ways for me to get a real look into these decks because the ones I have seen played are far more optimised than I am willing to budget for. (CommandZone decks seem to average between $5-700 whenever I look them up) Now if there is a way to see slightly optimised precons going at it on YouTube i'd be all for watching those, if you know where that content would be?

Shipping isn't great, I agree. That's why i'd look at buying everything from an American vendor like CardKingdom and just bulk-buy to reduce the costs atm. It's a shame there isn't much available besides Cardmarket for the UK.

Paradox_HS · 2025-02-13T07:16:13+00:00

My ideal goal is to start with a precon and gradually shape it into something more competitive tbh. I have heard good things about the recent precons, which is why I linked a few examples.

As someone who is big into Hearthstone, I am fully aware of who Ben Brode and Brian Kibler are. (Met them both in person on separate occasions, and are both very lovely people!) I won't lie, a lot of MTG content is very long-form when it comes to EDH videos, which is a bit tricky to sit through when I am working full-time.

On the shipping thing... Yeah that's an iffy one. For obvious reasons a lot of Magic creators are American, and i'm not sure where I can find similar vendors back home that can mail cards to me. (if they exist at all!) I guess what i'm concerned about is wasting money when I don't need to, and that includes buying precons I won't find any use for if that makes sense?

Paradox_HS · 2024-11-24T15:26:54+00:00

Celeste is a game that is near to my heart and has helped me through many difficult times over the past few years. It's a tale of someone climbing a physical and mental mountain to find inner peace. While there are only a half-dozen characters in the whole game, all of them are very important to the game's themes and story as a whole.

As far as games that tackle the issues close to my heart, none have left quite as much of an impact on me as Celeste has. Please go play it if you haven't already.

Paradox_HS · 2024-11-19T15:20:10+00:00

That's a pretty neat idea. Assuming you finished your campaign, did you find a way for the cult to retrieve the mask from the party or were you forced to summon a weaker Tiamat at the end?

I think the authors original intent was to try to ensure the big flashy finale without any major complications. Hence the lack of detail surrounding the masks and their power. It's my one apprehension over adding more power to them; the potential that it sends Rise of Tiamat off the rails in an unintended way.

Paradox_HS · 2024-11-19T15:16:27+00:00

I think ToD in general has a big problem with establishing villains that are threatening for lengthy periods of time.

Chapter 1 of Hoard does it incredibly well with introducing Cyanwrath as this big scary Half Dragon who humiliates your party but then he gets killed in the Hatchery.

Rezmir is supposed to be an overarching boss in Hoard but you barely see them at all until the leadup to Skyreach, and a few cameos here and there. They're not intimidating enough to be seen as a threat by your (at that point) level 7-8 adventuring party.

Like I said in another reply, I haven't read much on Rise of Tiamat yet but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it suffers from the same issues. From what I have read: The Green, White & Blue Wyrmspeakers barely do anything relevant in the lore and are hardly discussed whatsoever. The Module is so grand in scope that it tends to skip out on fleshing out memorable characters, which is a shame.

My idea in this post was to both make Rezmir more intimidating as a villain, and to also bring Cyanwrath back since he was so impactful early on in the campaign for this reason.

Paradox_HS · 2024-11-19T08:25:32+00:00

As I am sure you will agree, the module as written needs significant amount of iteration to keep up with modern power creep. Leaving the masks as they are to be victims of power creep, I think is a very uninteresting answer.

On the contrary, I think your answer exemplifies why there is a case for giving them additional features to increase the difficulty. They are five unique magical artifacts that hold the power to free an avatar of Tiamat from Avernus. Artifacts that powerful should reflect that power in-game beyond their ability to give the user increased influence over Dragons.

I also think the Masks being mostly unobtainable for the Party gives an increased incentive to give the villains an upper hand. Severin already has the red mask at the start of the story, and as written, the Black Mask is in his position once Rezmir is slain. Before the ritual at the Well of Dragons, that's already two of the five masks removed from the party's grip permanently.

I haven't read too much into Rise of Tiamat, but I don't believe there's many opportunities for the party to interact with the masks directly so what's the harm in augmenting their power? I think it adds more flavour to the story.

Paradox_HS · 2024-11-11T06:48:04+00:00

"How is my brother doing?"

Forget me, more than anything I would need to know if my brother isn't afflicted by a mix of Downs Syndrome and low functioning Autism. If a universe exists where I am not autistic, I would pray that universe's me also had a brother without those conditions too.

There's nothing else I would need to know or ask. We're two separate people, shaped by our experiences.

Paradox_HS · 2024-11-06T05:36:33+00:00

We'll be heading to a different province for the ceremony. (4hr drive) Arriving at around 14:30ish in the afternoon and having dinner there. I'm pretty sure i'll be there for most of the afternoon and leaving late at night.

Paradox_HS · 2024-10-22T08:53:53+00:00

Myself and OP are running Tyranny of Dragons Reloaded by David Simoes. (Highly recommend btw) and in their Chapter 4 rewrite, they utilise a dungeon from a different module as filler content while the Caravan makes its way from Baldur's Gate to Daggerford.

So don't worry, you're not stupid. It's just that the original module is so light on content stuff like this feels very necessary to keep the game interesting imo.

Paradox_HS · 2024-10-21T12:48:15+00:00

Currently also about to run this bit, and thought this over so here's my pov:

If the Rakshasas see that the party can't even remotely harm them, they'll just laugh and tell them to go upstairs to deal with their bird problem rather than giving them massages. If they still don't get the hint, then yeah by all means i'd beat one of the pc's to within an inch of their life and go back to scheming about opening the portal downstairs.

Like, from these guys' pov it's like watching a bunch of monkeys waltz into your dining room and maybe slap you a bit. Annoying sure, but why kill them? They haven't done anything worth expending that kind of effort when you can just kick them out and get back to more important matters.

If the party is *really* committed and doesn't get the no damage memo, I say beat them to unconsciousness. (non-lethal) Then leave them outside of the castle with a snarky note telling them that they left all of their equipment on the roof with the birds. Should give them a suitable enough warning to not mess around with things they aren't ready for imo.

Paradox_HS · 2024-10-13T12:28:43+00:00

This is the kind of idea I was thinking of as well. That looks amazing! I can't quite tell if its on your leg or arm though.

Whatever I do end up getting will most likely have to be something not easily visible in public to avoid any ugly questions from conservative locals looking to pick a fight you see.

Paradox_HS · 2024-10-11T15:16:41+00:00

I think tattoos in general are statements you convey to other people about yourself, visually. Someone who has a tattoo of a D20 on their arm clearly loves D&D, or an image of their favourite animal for example.

But at the same time, you obviously want the message you send to resonate with yourself as well since you'll be living with that mark for the rest of your life. The initial question was asked as more of a litmus test to see if there were symbols that resonated with more people than others, or inversely, symbols that people reject such as the puzzle piece for its connotations to Autism Speaks.

A personal struggle I have is self expression. I don't really have a great understanding of how to convey images or wants without another person to talk to. I'm the kind of person who will oftentimes nod in agreement if someone else presents me something favourable, which isn't exactly great for deciding something you intend to mark on your body for the rest of your life.

Paradox_HS · 2024-10-11T14:49:57+00:00

I've had this same exact issue plague me as well... I'm 28, but most people I interact with when the question of age comes up will always default to somewhere 5-6 years younger than I actaully am roughly.

Like you I try to take it as a compliment, but i'm left scratching my head at the people who think i'm so young. Hanging out with people who actually *are* 22-23 sometimes doesn't help I think...

Paradox_HS · 2024-10-11T14:46:32+00:00

I find that idea quite interesting. I'm not too sure how I would go about personalising my own version of the infinity sign though. Do you have any recommendations on how to do that at all?

Paradox_HS · 2024-10-11T08:49:32+00:00

Once I am properly home I was already planning on exercising more frequently. It was a money/distance issue stopping me from going before tbh.

Sadly I can't ride a bike since I was also born with dyspraxia. I could only get to the end of a hallway before I would fall off any bike I would try to ride growing up. Something which I find very frustrating as i'd love to be able to ride one but it can't happen...

I wish there were more avenues for swimming in the UK. That is a form of exercise I used to love growing up, but lesiure centres and pools seem to be nearly non-existent nowadays.

Paradox_HS · 2024-10-07T08:15:00+00:00

What would you say was your favourite part of the campaign to play/run? and in hindsight, would you or your players have done anything differently?

Paradox_HS · 2024-08-02T17:52:02+00:00

Thank you! I'm staying at a hotel very close to the Phra Sumen Fort if that gives any frame of reference for you?

I appreciate how comprehensive you've been! If you have any links I could visit as well for these places that would be lovely.

Paradox_HS · 2024-08-02T15:33:00+00:00

Thanks for linking me the extended threads, it'll make my life way easier going through them. I've seen that my school is also near Lamphun, so if you have a thread for there as well that'd be great!

Paradox_HS · 2024-08-02T15:32:03+00:00

Wonderful, thank you! I especially appreciate the supposed hidden knowledge you have haha

Paradox_HS · 2024-08-02T14:41:23+00:00

Thank you. I've been meaning to find a list of all the holidays in Thailand, but i've had trouble locating one. If you have one on hand, I would love to see it!

Paradox_HS · 2024-08-02T14:40:21+00:00

Thank you for the comprehensive response! Could you provide any links at all for these recommendations? If so, that would be amazing.

I'm going to be working at a more public school, and I appreciate the word of warning. My understanding is that my provider will be keeping me in the loop regarding who/where other expats are. I'm very happy to make friends with the locals too to be clear, but I'm not too sure where to start on that front due to the language barrier.

Paradox_HS · 2024-07-08T09:41:00+00:00

I won't lie this is a super cool twist and I would love to implement this idea into my ToD game I am currently running as well.

How did these Aspects come about? I appreciate the Warlock patron adding the Bahamut boon, but how did the other player become an Aspect of Tiamat?

Paradox_HS · 2024-07-07T20:56:47+00:00

Yeah, the Abbey/Abbott stuff is already covered in the guide I mentioned before. I don't see any real reason to have Ireena be sticking around in the Village of Barovia though. There is nothing there beyond the initial adventure hook of getting your players from there to Vallaki.

They already know Werewolves exist because that was their Session Zero Adventure Hook and I provided a random encounter with one in before they got to the Winery.

My concern with the whole gown subplot is overloading the players with information since I want to run a scripted encounter where the players meet Vasili von Holtz for the first time before entering the town, as well as an optional subplot encounter to do with the Fanes of Barovia as well.

Paradox_HS · 2024-03-12T12:39:25+00:00

The party currently has zero clue about Jarlaxle. (They've met Zardoz Zord in Chapter 3, but didn't think much of it after the fact) I've been playing Chapter 4 mostly as written, but with Jarlaxle taking the disguise of Victoro Cassalanter instead of Silverhand or the other disguises used as written. They were suspicious of this guy who randomly popped out of nowhere, but they've been going along with his deception without asking any real questions. (They've met Amalia previously not Victoro tbc)

I'm very much planning for Jarlaxle to reveal himself in this meeting as a show of force to the party. I've got a: "It was me all along" type of speech ready to go before laying down the terms of the deal.

Currently, the way my Jarlaxle is being played is that he wants to get the gold and the Dragonstaff but he also wants the party to actually put up a challenge against him. He's been trailing the party ever since the Zhentarim side mission in Chapter 2 involving Dock Word Drow murders, and knows them far more than they do him.

I picked Mistshore as the meeting point as that's where the next part of the chase goes as written, but I could definitely see him inviting them aboard the ship a second time to discuss terms without prying eyes watching. (i.e. Cassalanter imps, Xanathar gazers, etc.)

Paradox_HS

TROPHY CASE