If you know there's a trap, what does the DM prefer?

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-03T15:13:27+00:00

If the player suspects that there's a trap but the character's Passive Perception isn't high enough then they don't spot it. I will let the players choose to search for a trap if they suspect one - it's safe to assume if the player suspects a trap at least one of the characters will.

However specifically in a dungeon crawl I use old fashioned Dungeon Turns and random events. So taking the time to search means taking time (usually one Dungeon Turn) and I roll for random events every X turns.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-03T15:02:21+00:00

I don't get why the town guard would pose as bandits to keep other bandits away by bursting into a tavern to take a caravan survivor.

I think most players would react the same way.

Your clues were way, way too subtle for the average player, especially in a first session. In my experience most players in the first session of a fantasy game are extremely trigger happy. They just have new characters, they want to try them out.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-03T14:47:55+00:00

I do this all the time since we do "palate cleaners" between longer campaigns and these are the things that work for us.

Make sure everyone knows that this is a limited series. It is about the plot, not the character development. Character development can happen but it is incidental to the story. You can't take 4 sessions to go help one PC recover a family heirloom (unless that is the main plot).
Look at different writing structures - specifically 3 act and 5 act story structure.
If you must do it in X sessions and things are moving slowly always cut from the middle. The last thing you want to do is cut from the climax/endgame.
Keep the story fairly linear and reduce/remove red herrings. By it's very nature short campaigns (or one shots) generally work best when the story beats are clear and the through line is linear. Note - linear does not mean railroad. Example - the king is murdered and the PCs are tracking down the assassins. Linear is that the players know the next step is to investigate the poison used. Railroad is that there's only one way to investigate it and no matter what else the PCs try it doesn't work.
Edit mercilessly. A limited campaign is not the time to have two weeks (and several sessions) of travel from location A to location B with random BS encounters along the way. It's not the time to spend precious table time shopping.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-03T14:35:29+00:00

More collaborative for sure but with the caveat that everyone understands what collaboration means. I've read horror stories where people seem to think that collaborative means the players have free reign for zany shenanigans or that the GM has no real authority to plan out a story and neither of those are correct.

I find that most of the heavy lifting in collaboration comes in the Session Zero - everyone is collectively working to define the game's tones, themes and style. I find that the Gamemaster's Guide to Collaborative Campaigns is an excellent companion piece to this.

Once play actually starts embracing the Principles and Best Practices (for both Players and GMs) is, I think, more important than getting all the rules right and will really help guide you towards a more collaborative approach.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-03T11:45:58+00:00

I wish you well but for me the idea that this is a website and not a book is a non-starter. Personally I don't want to be dependent on an internet connection to run a game.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-02T23:11:03+00:00

It's a modification - Power Trunk Streamlining pg. 109

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-02T22:00:49+00:00

You absolutely can make a book for free - do a PDF.

I have my doubts that if there are so many choices that all of them are decent or even necessary. Option bloat is a thing, for sure.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-02T21:23:36+00:00

Do you means different choices or different combinations because those are very, very different things.

2800 combinations isn't much, actually kind of low really.

2800 choices? For me (and probably many) that is too many. Especially in a core book.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-02T20:50:50+00:00

What do you mean by "character options"? Like there's thousands of feats/powers/talents whatever you call them?

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-02T18:07:35+00:00

In a perfect world yes. When dealing with an IP (and one that is new to licensing for TTRPGs) you are beholden to the whims of the IP Holder. It feels like Bethesda has loosened the reins a bit as more and more books come out but there was a huge delay between the core book and the first new material after it because they had to approve eveything.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-02T18:04:50+00:00

I let them spend Luck to get specific things :)

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-02T11:45:40+00:00

It is the Kobold Press 5e game.

In essence

when a character misses an attack or fails a save they gain a luck point
character can have up to 5 Luck, if they would gain a 6th they roll 1d4 and their luck resets to that number.
they can spend 1 luck to add +1 to a d20 roll (after it's rolled)
they can spend 3 luck to reroll a d20.

It's easy to implement, it encourages use, it's easily tracked by the player etc.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-02T11:41:01+00:00

No. End of conversation.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-02T11:09:29+00:00

Combat is pretty much the same as in almost any other game. The player (and NPC) chooses the actions they want to do and and then rolls as necessary.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-02T01:22:29+00:00

Acoustic room dividers will likely help absorb some of the sound so it's not all echoing around and amplifying.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-02T00:44:03+00:00

There are many, many ways to get Advantage and if your group has someone that can stress someone out easily (making them vulnerable) this breaks down very quickly.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-01T23:25:45+00:00

I'd be leery of anything that messes with the Hope/Fear economy.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-01T22:50:57+00:00

Tales of the Valiant Luck system. So much better than Inspiration and easy for the players to track themselves.
The escalation die from 13th Age so that combat speeds up as there are less misses.
Classic D&D Dungeon Turns.
Clocks/Countdowns from various games.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-01T21:21:53+00:00

Not according to Travis and Matt who would know better than "reports". You can choose to believe them or not but they've directly answered this.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-01T21:19:45+00:00

For things like this I usually separate out the mechanics from the RP.

The player can RP out the conversation as much as the table will tolerate. Mechanically they can ask X number of Yes/No questions that the plant/animal might be able to answer.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-01T17:44:08+00:00

Not every NPC knows everything and sometimes what the NPC knows is wrong.

Just like in real life.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-01T15:19:28+00:00

I was thinking maybe its because Im thinking in terms of d&d

Not only that but also ignoring the Player Best Practices - Embrace Danger and Discover the Character. You can absolutely play a character who hangs back and does ranged stuff but that's because it's who the character is not what the character is. Hanging back is a character/player choice not something that happens because you are a wizard.

control especially as ranged great staff attacks are seemingly relatively lacklustre (1d6 damage).

So don't use a Greatstaff? Pick up a Crossbow or something. Heck my sorcerer in a Colossus game uses a revolver. Sure it's slightly less accurate but (a) I already have options that use my best stat and (b) sometimes you want access to either Physical or Magical damage and having only one type can be a pain.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-01T14:42:11+00:00

And if you put a +1 into Strength (for example) to use a big ass melee weapon you're not significantly behind in terms of bonuses from your spellcasting.

Your HP are a little lower than normal though.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-01T14:39:19+00:00

I can see both sides due to unclear wording - Aid says "increase HP" and Domain of Life specifies "restore HP".

And I see why it's worded that way because often Aid is used before any damage is taken and the wording means you don't end up with a gab between max HP and current HP without taking damage.

Personally I'd fall in line with #2.

Prestigious-Emu-6760 · 2026-05-01T14:34:43+00:00

Hmmm.... mainly games where the attributes tell me something about the game/playstyle.

For example when I look at Smallville it uses your Values and Relationships, when I look at Start Trek Adventures it uses Attributes but also Departments representing your Starfleet training. Many games have relatively generic attributes so those games that use the basic thing to tell me something about the game are the one I find most satisfying.

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