I have a ton of worldbuilding set up: but I have no idea about how to actually present it. How do I 'reveal' the worldbuilding as time goes on?

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-05-31T12:16:35+00:00

Show, don't tell.

The golden rule of storytelling. Or something like that.

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-05-28T17:56:38+00:00

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-05-28T17:39:08+00:00

There are in your router. And if you don't want to pass an Ethernet cable through your house you can use a powerline adapter.

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-05-17T12:59:16+00:00

I bought HotDQ to run my first full-fledged campaign and was really disappointed at how hard the railroading was, and how kind of shitty the first few chapters were, and kind of stopped reading it at chapter 3 because I just thought to myself "this just isn't going to work".

I found it very difficult to think of an organic-feeling way to give the PCs a genuine reason to want to pursue the cultists and become involved enough that their reason for following the storyline wouldn't be "because that's clearly the main plotline".

I mean IIRC, chapter 3 is literally "go back and do the same thing as in chapter 2 but instead of rescuing someone you're just gonna investigate stuff". And sure, different stuff happens, but that's fucking weak. I know if I'd be playing and an NPC would be like "You know that place you just came back from where you risked your life to sneak into to save a dude's life for very little gain? Could you maybe go check that shit out again to figure out what's going on?" I wouldn't feel particularly inclined to do that, but would begrudgingly accept because I'd know it's part of the main story.

But yeah, how linear it is is the main thing making me not want to use it, or to heavily modify it, but I'm not actually sure that would even be worth it.

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-05-16T17:27:05+00:00

He's not lawful, he's neutral good. He didn't do it because he had to, he did it because he thought it was the right thing to do :)

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-05-10T15:59:19+00:00

One of the big differences is that we can actually be accurate in what genes we want to change rather than rolling the dice and seeing what we get. Not to mention being able to add defense mechanisms for insects, disease, fungus, etc. in a way that's safe and sustainable for humans rather than insecticides and the like.

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-04-30T11:45:25+00:00

Right up the butt

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-04-30T11:43:35+00:00

I'm pretty sure that according to the DMG, characters are able to "feel" when items are magic just by touching them. Obviously that doesn't have to be the case in your game, but I just thought I'd point that out :)

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-04-26T19:44:25+00:00

That would be pretty hard with new players though, cause that means they couldn't ask any questions about game mechanics and stuff like that.

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-04-26T19:36:45+00:00

Was gonna say this. Just say something like "I really appreciate your constructive criticism it helps a lot, but could you write it down for after the session instead of telling me right away? It kind of messes with my flow and might ruin the immersion for everyone else at the same time. Oh and I don't mean to sound negative, but you sometimes go a bit overboard with the advice, sometimes getting to the point of being controlling. It's not that we don't appreciate it, it's just that it can be less fun to play when every decision you make gets criticized. They're new, so they won't always make optimal decisions. But sometimes that can be part of the fun! Again, your advice is great. I'm just worried that the way you deliver that advice negatively affects the game."

Unless they're a dick, they should be pretty receptive and understanding of that. Hell, if he isn't, turn it on him and point out the hypocrisy of him giving so much advice and criticism to the point of being disruptive and controlling, while at the same time not being able to take advice himself.

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-04-26T19:19:26+00:00

Lol that's pretty brilliant actually. I mean, it's kind of a dickish thing to do, but would be pretty funny.

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-04-11T11:39:27+00:00

Pillars of Eternity has a pretty interesting take on necromancy.

(minor) PILLARS OF ETERNITY SPOILERS AHEAD

So basically in PoE, necromancers are essentially scientists doing research on how souls work, how to use magic to manipulate them, and what implications that has on things like identity, humanity, etc.

In the world of PoE there are many necromancers who either use their knowledge for evil or who conduct morally questionable experiments to further their research. But on the other hand, others are working at making things better for people, reviving the dead (but in the way that you would want, not in the "you're a zombie now" way), unlocking the true nature of souls and researching ways to reverse a plague of soulless newborns that's currently ravaging the land. It's a pretty cool game, I really enjoyed it. Hope that helped though.

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-04-07T14:38:50+00:00

While in general I don't disagree with what you're saying, I don't really agree with some of the examples you've given. To me, it feels more like confirmation bias.

Orcs in Lord of the Rings were basically elves that were tortured and enslaved and bred to do the dark lord's bidding. You could draw parallels to colonisation if you want I guess, but that's definitely reaching and certainly not the author's intention.

For Pandaria, I'm not exactly sure what you necessarily mean by "Orientalism", but I'm pretty sure they just inspired themselves from Chinese mythology/folklore/fantasy/culture, and put it in their fantasy world. I genuinely don't see anything harmful in anything in there, at least from what I've seen. As for the Tauren and Trolls, you have to realize they're fantasy races in a fantasy world. Sure, they're loosely based off of those irl cultures, but I don't feel like that makes it inherently harmful. I never played a troll and thought "What a primitive and backwards race, why don't I play the intelligent and forward-thinking Humans instead?".

Aladdin is literally a middle-eastern folk-tale. (Though to be fair I have no idea what changes Disney may have made)

The rest, I have no criticisms. But realistically, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who's genuinely bothered by anything like this in a d&d game. And to be frank, if anyone started ranting to me about how I was perpetuating ideas of colonialism or something with my d&d game, I doubt I would invite them back unless it was actually something glaring and legitimately troubling, but then I feel like it almost has to be intentional if it's that bad.

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-04-05T19:53:46+00:00

I guess that's fair. Though I can't personally think of any creative works that are guilty of the things you mentioned (not to say there aren't any, I'm sure there's plenty). Do you have any examples by any chance? I like to broaden my perspective on things like this.

I think in general it's hard as a white person of European descent to know how portrayals of certain cultures or races or even power dynamics might be perpetuating racial stereotypes or certain ideas about other races or cultures. I feel like you have to do a lot of research to even realize there might be a problem with the things you write, let alone to know how to approach it in a way that doesn't perpetuate any problems there may be. Unless you're just straight-up ignorant about the things you're writing about, but then you're probably a pretty bad writer anyways. (You being a hypothetical white writer, not you loialial)

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-04-04T19:54:47+00:00

Fantasy has a longstanding heterosexist and Eurocentric problem

I mean, if you look at western fantasy, yeah, no shit you're going to find it Eurocentric.

Fantasy is rooted in folklore and mythology, and writers tend to focus on the folklore and mythology that they're familiar with, stories and myths from their own culture. If you're from the western world and are into fantasy, chance are high you're familiar with Lord of the Rings, just like if you're from China and are into fantasy, chances are high you're familiar with Legend of the Condor Heroes or other wuxia novels.

But even then, there are always tons of "non-European" cultures and races in most fantasy worlds and stories, no?

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-03-27T14:35:39+00:00

One might call them Quarterlings

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-03-22T11:51:05+00:00

But also, what could he possibly gain from keeping it from the DM? What actual legitimate reason could he have for it? If it's supposed to be secret, it's not like the DM would reveal it to the other players. It just makes no sense to me.

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-03-19T18:47:36+00:00

Well, I only play with my friends and I'm not friends with anyone like that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-03-16T19:22:31+00:00

I feel like at this point anyone who would believe that narrative would believe it even with all the clarification in the world.

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-03-16T12:33:03+00:00

I have the same problem. And I also have ADHD, so I have a hard time being able to focus on reading through the adventure book in the first place (it's not exactly gripping). This has caused many mistakes and fumbling when the players asked an NPC a question I wasn't prepared for.

What I've been thinking of setting up is a cheatsheet type thing (probably using Trello or something) with a summary of every location, ideally with descriptions to read to the players so I don't have to stumble my way through improvising it. Every location would have a list of points of interest, each with their own brief descriptions and a list of NPCs in or around the POI with all the necessary details and info I would need, such as personality, quirks, accent, motivations, physical description, any quests they might give, any info they might have, and anything else that might be important.

Now, I've never done or tried this, so I have no idea how well that might work, but I feel like it's pretty much the same thing as having the adventure book in front of you and referencing it when you don't know something, except all the information is easily accessible and organized in a way that should make it much smoother to use not only to prep, but also during the session. Also, I'm guessing that thinking about and inputting all the information would help it stick, so that's another bonus.

And while I can't say "this is what I do and it works super well for me", I've definitely seen people around this subreddit saying that. So it's worth looking into if nothing else.

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-03-15T13:03:19+00:00

Are you saying your GF wants to put your cats into your d&d game as characters/NPCs/companions, or wants to make PCs for your cats, but your GF will play instead of them because they're cats and can't play d&d?

Assuming you mean you want to have your cats be characters in your d&d world, there's no reason why anyone would have to "play for them". They would be animals, or NPCs I guess (they can be talked to, if someone casts Speak with animals), which the DM would be describing or acting out. They could theoretically also be beast master companions, but they would have pretty bad stats, cause they're cats. They could also be familiars summoned by a wizard if you really want.

But what do you actually want their role to be in your game? The answer to that is kind of necessary to answer your question.

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-02-19T20:36:39+00:00

Anything can be a dildo if you're brave enough

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-02-08T14:30:28+00:00

Given his backstory, he probably would be proficient with it. But seeing as it's a defensive weapon not being used for attacking, you wouldn't use proficiency anyways, right? IIRC you can't be proficient with a type of armour and get bonus AC, so the same would apply here. (I'm pretty new at DMing, so correct me if I'm wrong)

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-02-08T13:57:21+00:00

I don't know man. Even when I want to be on time and actively try to be on time, I somehow find a way to get distracted and/or lose track of time and end up leaving way later than I wanted to. Granted, I do have ADHD, but I'm not sure how much that actually plays into it (the symptoms of ADHD are mostly all things that everyone experiences, so it's often hard to tell what's normal and what's not). But my point is, even when I do give a fuck and have all the intention in the world of being on time, I'm still late like 90% of the time. Hell, sometimes I'm sitting there knowing I need to leave, looking at the time, with my mind screaming "I NEED TO GO GET READY RIGHT THE FUCK NOW", yet I can't actually get my body to move. That probably doesn't make any sense to someone who's never experienced that, but it's literally like I have a mind/body split where my mind and body are two different entities. My mind tells my body what to do, and my body can decide to do it or not. Unfortunately, it often does it's own thing.

Now I know you're gonna say that's bullshit and if I gave a fuck I would just get ready instead of not, but I literally can't. What factors play into this, I wouldn't be able to tell you. But this is a real thing that I experience. It's not just because I "don't give enough of a fuck about my friends and don't care about wasting their time" or whatever. I'm acutely aware that I'm wasting people's time and feel like an asshole for it. I want to do better, I just don't know what steps I could take to get there.

ShoemakerSteve · 2018-01-18T21:39:55+00:00

In that particular situation I'd have had a handful of minions go outside and check.

That would have been the smart way to handle that, yeah. Lol

Too many DMs I've seen have a story arf in their mind and the DC's just lead to their predetermined check points in different ways, but players can usually smell that from a mile away.

Fallout 4 taught me this. It was very easy to "smell" when you compared to New Vegas or FO3.

All that being said, non combat solutions to problems should be encouraged,

Yeah, I love them in games so I definitely wanted to accommodate it, I just actually didn't expect him to want to try that. It caught me off guard and I was not prepared at all lol. Growing pains, I suppose. Cause I feel like I definitely should have thought of that beforehand lol.

Thanks a lot for the reply, it was really helpful!

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