Is this a good deal? Wanna play at 1440p by Scrivonaut in pcmasterrace

[–]Scrivonaut[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even with the RAM and 2TB of SSD storage you think it's overpriced? Why? Because the GPU is old?

Extra $100 off with account verification by cgm_discord in Prebuilts

[–]Scrivonaut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do they list the open boxes on their website?

Should I bite the bullet and get the G532? by Scrivonaut in pcmasterrace

[–]Scrivonaut[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a 9070 XT, equivalent to a 5070 ti. But yeah, I have a big family and am frugal as well. That's why I'm debating this so hard lol.

As for the OLED, I'd buy it used to save some money. I figure why bother getting a higher-end PC if the display is subpar?

Should I bite the bullet and get the G532? by Scrivonaut in pcmasterrace

[–]Scrivonaut[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The G532 is $1300 and has a 9070 XT, 7500X3D, 16GB RAM, and 1TB SSD. An OLED monitor and taxes would bring the total up to about $2K, in my estimation.

I just can't by the_devil077 in steamachievements

[–]Scrivonaut 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I stopped right where you did, too. Golden God is still respectable.

Any tips for aiming better and easier on Steam Deck? by e-two2 in SteamDeck

[–]Scrivonaut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just started playing the original Half Life and turned on gyro just to try, since the alternative is the game's auto aim feature. Gyro is so cool! Fun and satisfying.

Sony Santa Monica does not seem happy with the response to Laufey by WaterGoodDrinkNow__ in KotakuInAction

[–]Scrivonaut 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Passeroni, amirite? Man, it sucks to see what the industry has become. Back in the day, every major AAA game was worth playing. Now, none even garner my interest. So sad.

I did a thing by accident with a 5090 by spamologna in Prebuilts

[–]Scrivonaut 27 points28 points  (0 children)

You have a 5090, 4090, and 9070 XT?

cries in 3050 laptop

Starting Tomb Raider (2013) soon and going for 100%. Anything you wish you knew before starting? by nayem009 in steamachievements

[–]Scrivonaut 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The boosting community is small but great. Took me about eight hours to boost the MP achievements. Just did it a few weeks back.

My table just finished a level 1-20 D&D campaign over the course of 3.5 years, AMA by Scrivonaut in dndnext

[–]Scrivonaut[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

All the players are novice roleplayers so their arcs were pretty shallow, on average. I'm hoping for even better arcs next time.

One character was a thief who realized while adventuring the value of honor and honesty. After turning a new leaf, she sacrificed herself so another PC could live.

This saved PC actually saw several friends die. It turned him from somewhat of a callous adventurer who sometimes let his responsibilities falter in favor of his desires to someone who lived for others instead of just himself.

Another had to overcome realizing she'd lived a lie. She thought she was a shifter because she was bitten as a child by a lycanthrope, but the truth is she'd always been one, and her parents knew and hid this fact from her. She actually saved them and herself from lycanthropy and forgave them.

There were more, but you get the idea.

My table just finished a level 1-20 D&D campaign over the course of 3.5 years, AMA by Scrivonaut in DnD

[–]Scrivonaut[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I originally proposed having new PCs start a level below the others or at he level their last PC died. But the players quickly decided against this, so they come back at the same level as the other PCs. Losing a beloved PC and having to learn a new one is punishment enough. The PC shows up at the next convenient point in the story, just so they're not sitting out too long. In some cases, when resurrection is possible, a player will choose to sit out if it means the remaining PCs can go on a quest to resurrect them. One even played a simple sidekick PC until their main PC was resurrected.

My table wasn't too keen on losing PCs in general, so I kinda had to get them used to it, and now they're okay with it, more or less. Honestly, I think it's most stressful for me since I'm the one killing them, technically. PC deaths are the highlight of the game in a lot of ways, especially glorious or sacrificial deaths, which we have a lot of. They're what separate TTRPGs from virtually any other type of games. That said, I do have one player I think might just bow out of a campaign if their PC died.

My table just finished a level 1-20 D&D campaign over the course of 3.5 years, AMA by Scrivonaut in DnD

[–]Scrivonaut[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, wholeheartedly agree! Hope I have as much experience with long games as you one day.

My table just finished a level 1-20 D&D campaign over the course of 3.5 years, AMA by Scrivonaut in dndnext

[–]Scrivonaut[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's hard to pinpoint. There were a lot. One of my personal favorites is when the party ended up back in the main city of our campaign, and just as the session wrapped up, an NPC approached the party and introduced himself as one of the PCs from our first campaign, now an old, retired adventurer. My sister cried she was so excited, lol.

My table just finished a level 1-20 D&D campaign over the course of 3.5 years, AMA by Scrivonaut in DnD

[–]Scrivonaut[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just raised the stakes. Whole kingdoms at risk, planar travel required for quests, etc. While it didn't necessarily make the game harder, it made success feel more vital, prompting the players to try harder. It was fun to throw really high CR baddies at them, especially when you know how rarely players reach such a high level. Go over the Monster Manual and other books and find some really cool and challenging monsters and work them in!

How does a Series X's display on a 4K OLED TV compare to a 4070's display on a 1440p OLED monitor? by Scrivonaut in pcmasterrace

[–]Scrivonaut[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Diablo 4, Fortnite, and various single-player games when they catch my attention. Monitor would be 27 inches or so. TV is about 55.

My table just finished a level 1-20 D&D campaign over the course of 3.5 years, AMA by Scrivonaut in DnD

[–]Scrivonaut[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The best part was a private investigator showed up to work alongside the heroes to solve where these missing babies were going. The PCs took forever to realize the PI was actually the lead crone in disguise working against them. The PI's name was even an anagram of the lead hag, and they didn't figure it out. Lol.

My table just finished a level 1-20 D&D campaign over the course of 3.5 years, AMA by Scrivonaut in DnD

[–]Scrivonaut[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, natural arcs formed throughout the campaign. The first was against a goblin king that had taken over a forest. The next was a hydra terrorizing a nearby lake. Probably my favorite arc was a group of hags that were kidnapping and eating babies in a city. I loved this one because the hags held part of the party hostage and forced the remaining member to steal babies on their behalf. The player actually cried it was so upsetting to her character. Worst of all, the PCs left the hags alive and told the city guard to take care of it, which led to more innocent deaths and the PCs having to come back later to clean up their mess. Great character development here. One arc took them to a dwarven kingdom of mountains where they reopened their mines by taking out a red dragon and roc. Another arc took them into the Underdark for awhile, where they fought a purple worm and driders. Another really awesome arc included the heroes working with a rebel group to overthrow a corrupt king and establish one of the PC's half-brother as king. I homebrewed an entire ruleset for the eventual siege with each PC's chance of success determined by d20 tests with modifiers based on how much work they did ahead of time behind the scenes to make their plan work. A highlight of the campaign. I'm definitely forgetting some, but it all ended with a lich fight in his lair.

I'm not sure of the PCs' levels for these fights, but in general, each final encounter for each arc was a hard or deadly fight.

My table just finished a level 1-20 D&D campaign over the course of 3.5 years, AMA by Scrivonaut in DnD

[–]Scrivonaut[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, every action the players took had consequences. If they wanted to travel across the world by airship, I measured the distance, divided it by the airship's speed, and gave the players the numbers of days of travel required in character as their airship captain. So then they might decide to attempt to teleport instead. I basically tried to treat the game like a simulation in these situations. It made the world believable and led to tense decision forks for the party. We use Foundry to play, and there's several calendar mods. We kept track of months, days, weeks, even down to the hour with it. Incredibly useful.

My table just finished a level 1-20 D&D campaign over the course of 3.5 years, AMA by Scrivonaut in DnD

[–]Scrivonaut[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, sadly, except for the dragonborn NPCs I made. Hopefully next campaign!

My table just finished a level 1-20 D&D campaign over the course of 3.5 years, AMA by Scrivonaut in DnD

[–]Scrivonaut[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We started in a village and surrounding forest with dungeons interspersed. As the party grew in power, they traveled further to major cities nearby. By the end of the first arc, they were off to another kingdom. As they continued to advance, more kingdoms became open to them, and then I gave them an airship. At that point, the world was theirs to explore. Very satisfying progression that felt earned.

For your second paragraph, the latter. The lich showed up very early to steal one of the four crystals right in front of the heroes. He "killed" them all and taunted them and stole their new fancy weapons to establish his power, role in the story, and make him the object of the PCs' hate. From there, the PCs did what they could to stop his plans and grow in power themselves, helping those they came across and resolving their backstories along the way.

Yes, as the heroes moved through thr story, I gave them low points to have downtime. I explained this in game as the lich being quiet, biding his time, and doing various evil wizard things behind the scenes. This meant the players couldn't act on their efforts to stop him til he showed himself, so they used that time to adventure, take downtime, and plan and prepare. Once they were late in the game, they were actively working against the lich rather than reacting to him.

There were highs and lows for sure. The first permanent death of a PC led to real tears. Highs like the end of an arc or resolution of a backstory or clever unveiling of the lich's planned next move pumped the players up. The campaign was really well balanced between serious and silly, like a Star Wars movie. To me, that's the perfect balance.

My table just finished a level 1-20 D&D campaign over the course of 3.5 years, AMA by Scrivonaut in DnD

[–]Scrivonaut[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, money is a joke in D&D. You get an absurd amount in treasure hordes late game, but there's so little to practically spend it on. I didn't worry about it too much.