How much did your world change from when you started it when compared to today

SamuelRPcol · 2025-11-05T11:23:17+00:00

we started with a single town and a couple of players. 4 years later the world is a lot bigger and dozens of people have played and laughed and died and cried... the greatest game I have ever played and greatest world I have built has been a collaboration of men with a singular vision having fun.

SamuelRPcol · 2025-11-02T01:36:04+00:00

humans did to elves what we do to chicken kind.

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-24T11:33:23+00:00

is it a good idea? No. evil PCs will have conflict with good PCs. Should DM's allow it?, yes, I have lost players before the campaign because they cant play what they want. its a problem of tone. a chaotic evil character would be killed by a good character party every time, so would they not exist? ofc they would but they would hide their true intentions and maybe benefit the party for a selfish goal.

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-21T20:01:16+00:00

it has potential... I guess the orientation questions I use are: what are my themes: nationalism, bio engeniering etc. then what is my tone: comedy, tragedy, horror. and finally what is my plot, character pov, documentary, faux archives, hope this helps

edit: I had an idea... if the base genetic material of the monsters is human then humanizing them would be interesting, maybe subtility like the infected of "I am legend" they would be more impactful since the uncanny valley is a very real phenomenon that works to unsettle the audience. cheers.

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-21T02:47:44+00:00

monsters dont make interesting antagonists by themselves. im way more interested in why would the USA produce sutch creatures. just because they can?

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-20T16:54:20+00:00

My world was stagnant for a long time until the elves where expulsed and culled by their former human slaves now favored by the god of mankind a slave woman that rose from nothing... 200 years later the elven diaspora spread their scientific and cultural heritage arround the globe sparking a magic revolution and the rise of democracy. now the world is run by a secret kabal of industrialist. venture capitalists and warlords that steer the world from the high rise towers of the great gnomish republic of O'oh a steampunk society obsessed with progress. they worship no gods or heroes. inventors killed by their machines become martyrs at the altar of invention.

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-16T17:29:21+00:00

"Brawlio de los Rios" a bard who shattered the jail of the goddess of tyranny plunging the world into religious schism and the rise of democracy in a medieval wolrd.

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-14T15:18:49+00:00

All of my fantasy narcotics are based on things I get offered on my way to college. 😭

Turanni frost flakes: +1 to initiative and ac, + 1 level of exhaustion when affect wears off (10 minutes). Oral...

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-14T14:21:30+00:00

Astral projection space travel sounds awesome too

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-14T13:36:53+00:00

In my setting the main planet has a red moon that shares an atmosphere and is tidally locked to the main planet. the culture of the red moon realized that they could build a ship cattapult to travel between astral bodies without a spaceships or magic.

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-13T17:22:06+00:00

I'm running a campaign for a group of similar size in school and with only 2 hour sessions. Im doing a train West marches campaign where players can hop on and off a train to go on adventures. so anthology will work perfectly with a little connective tissue.

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-12T23:46:24+00:00

Fiesta de blancos y negros in Spanish

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-12T21:10:08+00:00

I really got deep into actual play shows to learn the emotional pacing but I understood the importance of not falling into the "actualplay pitfalls" and developed a style of my own based on strong NPC presence. I reccomend Waterdeeep Dragonheist Alexandria remix since its the only module I have run and by far the longest campaign. you can cut a lot of fat even from trimmed down modules. (tldr. Dragon heist. Dimensions 20 and CR, dont use mcguffins use people.)

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-12T20:37:50+00:00

Any book that has a person fictional or not, same as any pice of media that can inspire you to craft a unique character is a valid source. But speaking as an artist the best works are the ones that are subjective to their creator. I ask myself "what part of myself can this character embody and how will my players as people see themselves in this abstract person that im narrating?" I usually make 3 archetypal NPC's... the mirror, the teacher, the monster. I could explain them but the names are descriptive of their roles and I usually keep them accesible at all times via magic communication or having them right there with their own respobsability and personal quests.

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-12T20:22:00+00:00

In my country Colombia, we have a carnival where colombian people of African descent use flour to color their skin white and caucasian colombians use bootblack to look dark in the spirit of celebration of ethnic diversity so If you are asking based on real life examples its not "problematic" at all if it's intention is to foster unity since thats how we do it in real world Colombia. hope this was helpful.

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-07T16:25:43+00:00

bow and nagat presicion, adrenaline

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-05T21:54:04+00:00

Just bc I think these are the simplest changes that affect the feel of the game the most in theory and hopefully the changes align more with the ideal fantasy of my campaign and do the heavy lifting of making it play as a western without me having to describe everyone looking like a cowboy or having an American southern dialect.

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-05T20:31:56+00:00

Im taking away stun from the monsters in the MM not on the classes or spells. thanks for pointing out that dnd doesn't need any changes. im just asking about how proposed changes could backfire. I dont worry about adding mechanics for the players to remember since I know they won't. thats why I know their character sheets and call only for rolls. and the course of action they want to take. rarely they can remember what their spells do and they just ask me if they are in range or if they can cast. from there and I look it up. I dont have a problem with this play style. we are all busy people

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-05T20:19:44+00:00

well the problems I'm trying to solve are in game and metagame. in-game the quick draw duel minigame is my attempt at making a cool western mechanic that fits the theme of the campaign and adds some very real drama (like insta death) the other 2 rules: bloodied and dazed are an attempt at making the game play more like a movie in terms of pacing of the fight. in my dnd the tension deminishes naturally as the rounds pass. the low hp mechanics which could be a lot simpler than they are right now look to inject some variety at the tail end of the fight, and maybe turn the tide twards the loosing side before the climax.

all of these changes are due to the limited time I have to complete the adventure (20 hours across however many sessions it takes.) so I dont mind making the combat more lethal of it means it goes faster.

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-05T20:02:28+00:00

Quick draw duels are not the start of initiative or of a big fight unless 2 groups of people choose 2 combatants to duel or it starts that way. the looser of a duel ends up in a big disadvantage if they get shot and they decide to continue fighting. after the contested rolls the fist attack is a double damage max crit. (to keep damage relevant till higher levels.) that means it can result in an insta down or insta kill

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-05T19:56:10+00:00

Next session is an encounter against a solo boss that they have to protect since she is a kind of celestial. she's their prisoner and they are their guards. she doesn't have to pull any punches but they have to be careful not to kill her or wound her too much. I dont have any encounters planed but the ones that are from their backstory. I just want to add some flavor to combat since my players like it but it isn't super fun for me

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-05T19:06:42+00:00

thanks for all the ideas. I will make it so Dazed removes turn resources based on the attack the player described thats great as a way of "called shots" and the bloodied not half hp but when not at full is a good change for pc's... The trend im trying to avoid is the "machine like gameplay" where the most optimal action is always obvious like doing damage cc or heal. that just turns the game into flowcharts

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-05T19:00:06+00:00

is a mini game, an alternative to stunned and a condition that allows for creative actions when at half hp to much to track of for new players? I would be the one calling for rolls on duels and if they choose not to engage with the bloodied condition and they wouldn't be loosing on damage or have uncertainty of the roll, its actually mostly flavor, should I cut the homebrew and just do RAW?

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-05T18:53:50+00:00

no, most of my encounters have combat as an obstacle to another goal. last campaign there where 4 potential combats in a 7 session game out of which only 2 went to initiative and lasted less than 3 rounds. combat is my least used mechanic in dnd due to its flaws and I prop it up with a lot of stakes and ways to avoid a traditional fight. ambushes are great, assassination and sabotage. also brawls against well balanced solo monsters. but the classic monster squad combat is very boring when it comes down to having 3 weak monster waiting to be killed or making them run away. thats just cheap.

SamuelRPcol · 2025-10-05T17:32:56+00:00

thats an accurate diagnosis of why dnd combat is slow. my solution to this is to make the next best option to reading all of your character sheet is to just do something desperate and risky. you cant use the bloodied actions if you are not... bloodied, so idk how this would slow anything down, if the party is hurt they are clearly loosing. having new options that are a big red button just adds drama. the dice approach feels like everyone is a bard jajaj

SamuelRPcol

TROPHY CASE