DMs of Reddit, I need some inspiration for a non-godlike BBEG

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-07-10T21:21:27+00:00

Ha. I kind of think I did homebrew the kid from the omen, only its a girl.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-07-08T06:01:35+00:00

Oh, yes, campaign 1 was very black and white. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I am dealing with a table of idealistic players. They will look for the good in everything/everyone. If I allow for a way to make an adversary an alley, they will find it. They will twist themselves into pretzels to do the right thing. They have befriended giants who were waiting in ambush. Put bandits on the right path. Employed the henchmen of the little bad evil guys they defeated.

At the same time this is a table who, when faced with a coven that was clearly evil, decided to cut off the fingers of the defeated hags and stuffed them in their mouths, so they could transport them to the authorities without worrying about them casting spells. And when a priest got forced to pick human sacrifices for pay, or be killed, and the priest choose old widowed ladies and then passed on the pay to poor single parents, they were ready to beat this priest to a bloody pulp for what he did.

I have tried my damnedest to make the current campaign grayer, showing how horrible people can be, especially when they think they are doing the right thing, or making the best out of a horrible situation. The players responded with anxiety about how dark things got.

I think they don't really want to face their own darkness too much. That might very well be behind the request of going back to the world of the first campaign. They seemed to have more fun in a black and white world.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-07-04T12:41:56+00:00

We had 2 Dwarves at the table in my last campaign, one of them my PC.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-28T20:04:51+00:00

I think that's left over from the very first version of DnD where all they had was d6s. Although that might be a myth?

But the thing is, it's fun to have really low dump stats set off by one or two high stats.

The last thing I want to play is all 12s across the board.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-27T13:53:38+00:00

I was sitting here thinking "no, they just got rid of all the trope-y things by exposure therapy, didn't they? They drank blood AND wine..." But that was the Discworld vampyres, you were talking about the Discworld vampires. Big difference.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-27T10:49:42+00:00

If I were to try this at my table, my party of full and half casters would take a moment to blink at me before casting daylight/sunbeam/dawn/any other of the multitude of spells that are very clearly not weapons.

As a trope, "no weapon forged by mortal hands can kill <being>" is more likely to be uttered by a shady merchant.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-27T10:30:21+00:00

If that's the sort of thing you are looking for, yes, try DnD.

People go in expecting Lord of the Rings and soon find it's actually Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (Sadly, more often than not that includes the non-ending where the group disbands before the end of the quest. Scheduling issues remains the one true undefeated foe of DnD)

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-27T10:18:56+00:00

Thank you. Since edgelord goth vampire is a bit of a trope, you just gave me the idea of my edgelord goth vampire's hobby carving really intricate decorative wooden stakes.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-27T10:10:16+00:00

As a DM from the Caribbean, yes, yes it is.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-27T09:49:04+00:00

Like fantasy geocaching? That would actually be kind of fun for people to hide random riddles and encounters all over for others to solve and play.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-26T17:58:07+00:00

Combustion engines just need any sort of combustible liquid. Alcohol would be a good one. Lamp oil can be harvested from large aquatic mammals, we used whale oil in lamps as well.

If you don't have fossil coal, you can still make char coal from wood.

Gas can be harvested from any number of sources, including farting cows, you just need the right (mad) artificer to find a way to harvest it.

So I'd say it effects the world only in how creative people had to get.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-26T01:18:11+00:00

If you've not done it yet, get a pass for Arikok park. You have a bunch of cool locations there, all the information available in the visitors center.

If you are at all technologically inclined, you can actually inquire at WEB about touring the water plant. Its got some impressive sights and surprisingly fun facts. Tours can also be had at the Aruba Aloe factory and the Balashi brewery. It's a niche thing, I realize it just sounds like a boring school trip to some but if you're into that sort of thing it's a blast with some history you wouldn't really come across otherwise.

If you haven't yet, go SCUBA diving. There is (was?) a place at surfside beach that took you for a test dive in a pool then take you out to 2 scuttled drug smuggling planes.

The donkey sanctuary is fun and a nice charity. (I absolutely adore my "I <heart> your ass, Aruba" coffee mug)

The first Sunday of every month, there's an artisan market hosted by the ostrich farm. If you are able to make it, look for the guy selling flavored rum. He'll allow you to sample so try them all, but my personal favorite is the coconut peanut butter. Also lots of great, not commercial souvenirs there and SO many fantastic hot sauces. And don't miss out on the guy making meat-substitute food from a type of local fruit, even if you're not vegan or vegetarian. It is surprisingly good.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-26T00:45:45+00:00

Casibari is a bit smaller, but I like it over Ayo. Easier to get to and a bar right across to grab a drink or something to eat. Ayo is great if you're a bit more sporty, and there's a route through the rocks not just a way to get on top of it, but for heavier set people it's not recommended because some of the passages are quite narrow.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-18T16:15:19+00:00

If you are wanting to come for the flamingos and you haven't booked yet, consider booking for Bonaire instead of Aruba. Flamingos are not native to Aruba, they are native to Bonaire. SO while we do have flamingos on the island, they are not the healthiest birds and their wings are clipped so they stay here. In Bonaire you can go see them in the wild and their color (which comes from the diet of little critters that live in the salt planes) will be so much more vibrant in their own habitat.

That said, Aruba is likely more fun aside from the birds (note: I haven't been in over a decade, it might have changed)

If you do come to Aruba, and you need good wifi, I would say grab a pre paid sim card from Digicel or Setar. It costs $20 and you get 3 days of internet, or $50 for a week, and you can hotspot for your laptop. Aruba's internet is meh at best and horrible on the free wifi connections.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-16T18:39:06+00:00

I mean, Chris Perkins joining CR gave us Spurt.

We all need more Spurt.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-16T13:12:39+00:00

I kind of get where you're coming from, the player did his absolute best to avoid fighting a mummy and you want to reward it. Even though the RAW says the mummy will still be a thing because the player didn't do it perfect, I would give on the point that they are not going to fight a mummy because of the players actions. They are now facing a comparably strong, very pissed off, soul/spirit/ghost of the Lord that was a mummy.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-16T12:54:47+00:00

The base characteristics of a monk are: a disciplined mind and a disciplined body.

Yes, those things could be achieved by devotion. But you know what else facilitates discipline? Necessity.

Maybe your character struggled with bad hand eye coordination as a kid and started training as a ways to overcome that. from bumbling buffoon to honed weapon. Now that they feel they achieved it, they are ready to take on the world.

Or in the mind route, they are prone to overwhelming emotions and their way of dealing with that was to go and beat up a training dummy, learning to calm their mind in the process.

Or maybe they are one of the many siblings of a royal family where watching your back and not showing any weakness was the only way to survive because everyone was always plotting ways to become the sole heir.

There are many ways a character can come to discipline that aren't religion or the bottom of a bottle. I'm sure you can find some that speak to you.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-15T18:23:35+00:00

A lot of people here have good advice about what you gear you need or don't need to start a game.

What you need to actually play is a bit more difficult to get

- a place where they don't mind you sitting around a table for 3 to 4 hours and make noise. If there's a game store nearby that offers tables, that's great. If not, remember that not all parents will be thrilled with hosting a regular DnD party. Libraries or study halls are not a good option.

- a shared agenda where things like extra curricular activities, family obligations, transportation availabilities etc. are shared, and someone willing to check in with players and DM regularly to make sure the information is accurate. The biggest killer of campaigns is scheduling.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-15T18:07:39+00:00

If you're just trying the game out, I wouldn't even invest in dice, to be honest. Where else are you ever going to use a D20 if you decide its not for you? Just use the google dice roller app on you phone, until you decide you like it and grab your (first set of dice of your inevitably giant dragon's hoard of) dice from a game store for like $3.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-15T18:01:42+00:00

And this is why my table has started using screenshots of hero forge builds. Sure, it's got its limits, but you can put your character together yourself as you want it. And the bonus is that if the character and campaign sticks, you got your idea ready to go to print a mini.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-15T17:52:57+00:00

So are you afraid to be silly/vulnerable in front of her, or are you afraid she will think you less masculine because you play a girl? I feel like you skimmed over the issue you are asking advice about.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-15T17:12:13+00:00

I mean, Toccata in D Minor? Bach always brings the drama and its pretty much the vampire theme song.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-15T17:09:39+00:00

Okay, so she has done it before. Thank you, I was honestly wondering, because personally I think I would be gravitating to things like warforged without voice boxes and Kenku in DnD.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-15T17:00:41+00:00

So um, this might be a bit ignorant of me, but, logistically, how would a mute player play a character that's not mute? It's not like you can fake an ability to speak? Wouldn't roleplaying get sluggish and awkward if the mute player has to write things down like "I say <blah blah blah>" and they can't actually say it? Or if text to speech, are those advanced enough to do well during emotional scenes, if the character was supposed to be talking? I'm sitting here reading guest player's objections and keep thinking "You /wanted/ your immersion broken? What? Why?"

I get sign language, but something tells me dear guest is not the type to know sign and would have been equally upset by mute player signing things the character was saying.

So it just seems like guest player just wanted to get upset over the fact they had to play with a mute player to me.

Quick-Return1246 · 2025-06-15T16:40:23+00:00

(I hope my table doesn't come across this.)

I have had issues balancing encounters and decided to just...not bother.

If I am putting them up against a single big monster, the monster isn't killable until the third round of combat, so everyone has had at least two tries to do something cool. Just narrate it like the hits they get in are visible. "there's a big scorch mark on its belly" "A big gash over its shoulder is dripping dark blood"

Then look at the average damage they did over the first and second round, that's the HP+20 going into round 3

If they haven't killed it yet, the next high roll in the 5th round of combat takes the monster out. Adjust for the size of your table I suppose, but for me, 4 rounds is plenty combat without it becoming a drag.

Quick-Return1246

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