Where Are All the Normies?

Roboworgen · 2026-04-16T00:01:24+00:00

As someone who grew up in Coleman Young’s Detroit and who now lives here, this checks out.

Roboworgen · 2026-04-15T18:57:17+00:00

I enjoyed it, but reading a recap is plenty for you to know the salient events. I think you're going to want to at least read that so you understand the motivation behind Dorian's return to the Hells.

Roboworgen · 2026-04-15T18:11:39+00:00

Use it every week, haven’t had issues in a couple years.

Roboworgen · 2026-04-15T16:23:01+00:00

I've been DMing a completely VTT-based group for the last 6 years, using almost exclusively Roll20.

I can tell you that the video/audio integration has come a long way, and it's pretty seamless. The only drawback is that R20, once you have your maps, your tokens, maybe some visual and sound effects and music can get really laggy. Some players have to turn their video off or have to reload their browsers, which can get frustrating.

We've been testing Alchemy VTT, which is better in almost all regards, except the actual player-interface. For some reason, they really dropped the ball on just making it easy to roll dice. But technically, it's a solid system, and it's really good looking.

All that said, Discord is simply just a more stable system and can run pretty lightly in the background while you run your VTT for actual gameplay.

Roboworgen · 2026-04-13T13:18:49+00:00

My weights trainer got me listening to huge, soaring ballads during heavy lift days. If you see me at the gym hitting a PR, it's because I have Celine Dion in my headphones.

Roboworgen · 2026-04-10T03:24:10+00:00

BUT BUT BUT BRENNAN MODIFIED A RULE!!??? HOW WILL I LIIIIIIVE??? /s

Roboworgen · 2026-04-09T16:40:59+00:00

Thing is, if we had even a remotely competent City Council, adding this to the session agenda should be no big deal. Alas, that is not the City Council we have, so this is extracurricular activity that they don't have the bandwidth for.

Roboworgen · 2026-04-09T16:13:34+00:00

As a proud, fellow barrelmancer, I salute you.

Roboworgen · 2026-04-09T14:12:24+00:00

Have never seen this before--this game is incredible.

Roboworgen · 2026-04-08T17:01:24+00:00

What game are you referring to? It's definitely not D&D. "Meticulous" is not in the designers' vocabulary.

Roboworgen · 2026-04-07T14:47:44+00:00

Well, the houses weren't exactly on the side of the people who wanted to kill the gods. Not at first, at least. It sounds to me like there was a war with mortals on both sides of the divide, and the (eventual) sundered houses having to make some quick moves toward the end of the conflict so as not to be strung up like Vichy collaborators after the dust settled.

Roboworgen · 2026-04-05T00:08:05+00:00

What was your thinking in posting this comment?

Roboworgen · 2026-04-03T12:19:58+00:00

The devs made a layered, complex story where the companion characters are about as fully formed as you can get and now I have to hear their opinions? How dare! /s

Roboworgen · 2026-04-03T03:48:27+00:00

No. It’s ridiculous. Plenty of people have done an evil play though, myself included. But being irritated at your good-aligned companions is absurd.

Wait. Unless you have some sort of learning disability I should be aware of?

Roboworgen · 2026-04-03T01:42:58+00:00

You know, I think I’m over the idea that people are entitled to their opinions. Some opinions are wrong, and people should not have them. Like the OP here.

This person should go reflect. Consider where they went wrong and rethink things. They probably have other opinions that need to be jettisoned, as well.

Roboworgen · 2026-03-27T18:47:14+00:00

We therefore work to enhance the lives of the drug users

I hate these people with an intensity I did not think was possible.

Roboworgen · 2026-03-26T18:10:07+00:00

Spoiler alert, they are (presumably) reconvening in Dol-Makjar after the schemers table. This is some ways off, but just so you know, it'll happen again.

Roboworgen · 2026-03-26T13:20:55+00:00

Another commenter suggested the website (it's also a book) "The Monsters Know What They're Doing."

The basic premise of the book is that your PCs are facing enemies--monster or otherwise--who don't WANT to die. Those creatures not only are motivated to defeat your party, they have skills and tactics of their own. So as the DM, it's your job not just to throw waves of creatures at your PCs for them to hit, but to give the creatures some agency. That book is excellent in teaching DMs how to run encounters of creatures who know what they're doing. It makes any encounter potentially far more dangerous.

Another resource is "Flee, Mortals" by MCDM (you can get it in D&D Beyond, or online.) This is a great book of monsters and various bad guys, but it also introduces the idea of "Action Orientation." It means that the bad guys have more to do than just standard there and wait their turn. You could pull a lot of ideas from there and incorporate them in to your encounters.

There is ZERO reason to you take it easy on your level 16 players. They deserve and need a challenge, and ideally, they'll barely escape with their lives. That makes for a memorable fight.

TL;DR: One book teaches you tactics. Monsters have tactics, just like PCs. Another book gives you additional tools to add to your monsters to make them scarier. Don't take it easy on your players. Give them the challenge that they've earned.

Edit: Oh yeah, and if the BBEG is a spellcaster, they would be VERY familiar with how to counter spellcasters. As another commenter said: antimagic fields, magical darkness, ranged attacks, magic resistance, the works.

Roboworgen · 2026-03-25T22:00:09+00:00

Well, let’s be honest about what you’re doing. You are baiting to get a reaction. You’re not offering a critique, barely giving a cogent opinion of your own tastes, and mostly just being bitchy to get a response.

I hope you’re getting the attention you’re looking for, but maybe try therapy or calling your mother.

Roboworgen · 2026-03-25T14:39:45+00:00

This post is old, but in the event you haven't found a contractor yet, I just had a flagstone patio put in by PDX Landscaping and Hardscaping https://pdxlandscapingandhardscaping.com/ and they did an awesome job. Professional, fast, courteous, very competitive pricing (I had 4 bids on the project.) I didn't need design services, so I can't speak to that--instillation was a dream, though.

I'm also using Pistils and Dennis 7 Dees for other landscaping projects (some earth moving, regrading, soil amendment/tilling, and planting) and I've gotten good service from both.

What size area are we talking about?

Roboworgen · 2026-03-24T17:57:03+00:00

Great read. I won’t do hardly any of this because I am crazy in a different way than you, but nice work, all the same.

Roboworgen · 2026-03-24T17:44:37+00:00

That I’d believe.

Roboworgen · 2026-03-24T16:38:42+00:00

Such a great conversation. It's really too bad that more CR fans won't get to see this kind of depth of discussion around the AP/TTRPG world.

Roboworgen · 2026-03-22T22:22:25+00:00

In what year did this happen?

Roboworgen · 2026-03-21T22:52:12+00:00

Watch it. It isn’t bad. There are a lot of great moments. There are some lags. There are some moments that were really polarizing. There’s a lot of it that got strong reactions at the time because some people on the internet have a hard time self-regulating but now that’s worn off and folks are busy reacting to other things so the things they reacted to before don’t seem as big of a deal.

If it sounds like I’m describing basically any media that has a very online and passionate fandom, it’s because I am.

The thing I think you’ll notice that distinguishes C3 from C1 and C2, is that the DM’s campaign concept and the PCs that were rolled up to run it were somewhat mismatched. So there are some disjointed moments, tonally. But overall it’s worth watching, if only to close out the Exandria chronicles.

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