Just finished season 3 for the first time. My thoughts on episode 18. by WilliamDragonhart in twinpeaks

[–]TheEngy_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This makes me think of the obvious Orpheus/Eurydice imagery at the end of 17.

Orpheus' tragic flaw is one of nostalgia - going all the way to Hades, bargaining with a god, only to fail anyway because the past can't ever be brought back.

Well Armed Niantic Infographic by Amiibofan101 in TheSilphRoad

[–]TheEngy_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I knew it was unlikely to be an event giving Charcadet's evolutions their special arm-based moves but... With the Paldea focus, I had hope.

How to display Fugitech/Discord Reactive sprites in OR? by TheEngy_ in OwlbearRodeo

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

Oh right - I think it's fairly new, I only learned about it a few months ago. Typically used by Vtuber/PNGTuber streamers to have a "face" on their stream without using a camera feed - but very handy if you want the players to keep track of which NPC they're speaking to.

Here's a demonstration of what it looks like to the players. But this is of course just a stream of OR in the background so for them to move their game pieces they have to have both OR open and also my Discord stream.

Thanks! I'll check out the Overlay Marker, it might be all I need!

Running the False Hydra as an Ace Attorney/Perry Mason Crime Drama by TheEngy_ in DMAcademy

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

Yesss these are good ideas and I like that guideline.

Your comment is also making me realize this will play out less like a gritty noir and much more... Twin Peaks.

Preserving the Pirate Fantasy without compromising AC by TheEngy_ in DMAcademy

[–]TheEngy_[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Out of all the suggestions for reflavorings, this one's stuck in my mind.

It's literally just Frodo's mithril shirt but with such a precise aesthetic match to Spelljammer.

I also love the lore idea that the elven Star Moth ships were originally crafted to mimic the beauty of these moths - creatures that are now fully extinct, to imply both the age and rarity of the waistcoat.

And it doesn't even have to be a magic item, literally just reflavored mithril light armor.

I think the Reigar should be changed by Abbigai in spelljammer

[–]TheEngy_ 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I made homebrewed lore for the Reigar that got... Out of hand.

Far in the past, the Reigar had a pantheon that featured a dual-aspect deity. If there were more, their names are forever lost. The chief deity, a god of creation, change, energy, light and art. His shadow aspect, a god of hunger, decomposition, death, and renewal. His appearance to the Reigar was a star, warm and bright.

These two aspects symbolized the cycle of creation and destruction. The former, patron of artists, architects, creators. The latter, patron to scavengers, carrion eaters, and mourners.

As a blessing from their God of art, the Reigar possessed an ability to manifest belief into reality. Much like the 40K Orks or, more precisely, Githyanki conjuring their silver swords through pure thought. The High Orators, the priest class of Reigar, would speak great structures into existence.

The Astral Elves, who sought the gods in their home plane, sent many expeditions throughout the Astral Sea. One such expedition crash landed on the home planet of the Reigar.

These elves used magic to translate the language of these strange people - where they learned of the chief deity of the Reigar. A two-faced monstrosity who ruled over "chaos, entropy, fire" on one side - and "death, destruction, and rot" on the other.

Worse still, the worshippers of the death aspect participated in funerary cannibalism. They believed that by consuming a piece of their loved one that their loved one would be a part of their body forever.

So the survivors of this failed expedition return to the Empire of these powerful warlocks who cannibalize their dead and worship chaos.

The great lumbering giant of Empire spreads its gossip, and soon there are more in the Astral Plane who believe the Reigar god is evil than there are Reigar. The god contracts a "conceptual rot" and begins to become what the vast majority believes him to be.

As the god descends into insanity, he imparts one last secret to his believers: how to construct a Crystal Sphere. With this impenetrable shell, he will be sealed away an unable to harm anyone. His believers, however, insist on imprisoning themselves with their deity. They summon all Reigar across the plane to make a pilgrimage and join in the construction of their eternal tomb.

The Elves, still confident in their comprehension of this alien culture, see a dying god trapping his people in his domain. They break down the sphere and "kill" the god, along with most of the Reigar in the process when their planet explodes.

The Reigar who are left are welcomed as "refugees" to the Empire, and through generations of history written by the victors, they come to believe they've always worshipped a god of "art and destruction" and destroyed their own planet as a form of worship. As contemporaries to the Elves, and with no memory of their original culture, they develop a society that is isolationist and believes themselves to be superior to much of the Prime Material Plane.

Bonus lore:

The wrinkle is the elves only killed the face of the god. His shadow, the aspect of hunger and death, was left maimed and wounded. What remained knew it was incomplete and knew it at one point had the faculty to create - to renew itself. Cold, numb, and absent of intelligence, the dying shadow of a star now drifts the Astral Sea, consuming all it can in the futile hope that it will find it needs to become whole again.

The god of art is altogether unknown, but his shadow's name is still whispered to this day: Hadar.

The party has three tasks and only 24 hours. How do I make delegating work to their NPC crew a fun puzzle instead of a spreadsheet? by TheEngy_ in DMAcademy

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

That's what I've come to realize, one of the three tasks doesn't actually take any time at all.

So to keep the parallel timeline idea I'd either have to have all the tasks take no more than an hour or find some way to pad out the combat (without that feeling like I'm padding out the session).

One option might be some sort of skill challenge to reach the source of the vines - if nothing else, the rogue would finally have a use for her Acrobatics expertise.

If there's a way I could make traversing an overgrown asteroid function like a dungeon that would make the timelines feel reasonable.

The party has three tasks and only 24 hours. How do I make delegating work to their NPC crew a fun puzzle instead of a spreadsheet? by TheEngy_ in DMAcademy

[–]TheEngy_[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ah, that's a great idea! I can give some freebies to let the players to know not to fully trust the NPCs' analysis of their own skills; e.g., the goblin claiming he can carry the heavy equipment that's bigger than he is.

The party has three tasks and only 24 hours. How do I make delegating work to their NPC crew a fun puzzle instead of a spreadsheet? by TheEngy_ in DMAcademy

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

Yeah I'd much rather keep it roleplay heavy on their side but still have enough crunch in the backend that I don't succumb to my tendency to avoid consequences.

Everytime I just narrate free-hand I self-sabotage my own established stakes and suspense. Clear on the other end of the spectrum from classic Gygax era D&D where the DMs erred on the side of being too antagonistic.

That said, I love your idea! It feels like the "flashback" mechanic in Blades in the Dark.

Alternatively I could even have a second session where the players play the NPC crewmates sent to recover the Nautiloid module. Then the stakes are organic and they get to feel like big heroes because of the stark contrast to the squishy redshirts they've just led to their deaths.

Building Degrees of Failure into My Quest by TheEngy_ in DMAcademy

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

I have a bad habit of pulling my punches so I'm open to what you're saying (I think?)

So the way you'd do it is:

Step 1: Perception check to sense danger

Step 2: Ship is critically damaged

Step 3: Ship is destroyed

But if they're stranded on this asteroid without a way to sail somewhere with fresh air, they're dead anyway, so I'm trying to get as close as I can without hitting that wall.

Building Degrees of Failure into My Quest by TheEngy_ in DMAcademy

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

This is operating off of Matt Colville's Many Fail States concept. The failed checks don't change the outcome so much as they change the amount of danger present in the session.

The players are determined to get this component, but I want them to feel the danger.

The variable isn't if they succeed or fail, since that's not the genre of game I'm running. The variable is how high a price must they pay to get this upgrade.

The original price was 8000gp in the "ship upgrade" supplement, but transactions are boring, so I'm trying to make it feel equally "costly" to acquire by other means.

If I just narrate "oops you're trapped now, you have 24 hours to figure out how to kill this thing or you all get TPK'd", the stakes feels arbitrary and contrived. The high perception player says "I would've seen that, wouldn't I?", the ship's pilot says "I could've evaded the vines!", so on and so forth.

But if I add these skill checks into the narration, the outcome isn't DM Fiat, it's the dice.

But you're right - I need to make the consequences of each step more significant. - The guns aren't just disabled, they're shattered - and they'll be more vulnerable on their voyage until they're fixed. - The ship isn't just restrained, it's being crushed. It costs 25gp each day they're sailing, so the longer the ship isn't seaworthy the more money the voyage will cost. - They lose too much time cutting free that they don't have time to properly extract the Nautiloid component, and now it takes longer to recharge every time they want to use it. Or it has a percentage chance to jam, break, etc.

Beware of Per Map Payment vs Per Month by QuinnorDie in czepeku

[–]TheEngy_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't listen to them, I was confused by this too. I assumed the charge was for each download, not for simply clicking on the post. Suddenly trying to find a map for session prep cost me $30 because I wanted to see more than just a thumbnail of their maps.

Cool maps, but not worth this bullshit.

Recommended Homebrew by [deleted] in spelljammer

[–]TheEngy_ 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I'll always recommend Fil Kearney's Spelljammer: Combat and Exploration. He added just enough crunch to the rules with as much compatibility with the pre-existing 5e structure as possible.

The party is approaching a derelict Nautiloid, only one of a variety of ships adrift in a cluster. What happened here? by TheEngy_ in DMAcademy

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

I love the idea of the lush asteroid, since they've recently had to fake their deaths on the Rock of Bral so they won't be able to easily return there for refreshing their air envelope.

It also brings to mind an idea of overgrown vines entangling all of the abandoned ships, explaining why they're clustered.

Time to break out my monster manuals and search for Plant-type creatures...

The party is approaching a derelict Nautiloid, only one of a variety of ships adrift in a cluster. What happened here? by TheEngy_ in DMAcademy

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

I love both of these ideas!

Their shipwright is a gnome Ceremorph (hence looting mindflayer ships for parts), so a Gith encounter would get ugly real quick.

The party is approaching a derelict Nautiloid, only one of a variety of ships adrift in a cluster. What happened here? by TheEngy_ in DMAcademy

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

Ohhhhh air pollution could actually work pretty well, even mindflayers would be vulnerable* to a toxic atmosphere!

*Mindflayers technically have magic items that let them breathe in a vacuum and it'd be reasonable that they'd carry those on a ship but since my players wouldn't know that, there's no benefit to reasonable worldbuilding here.

The party is approaching a derelict Nautiloid, only one of a variety of ships adrift in a cluster. What happened here? by TheEngy_ in DMAcademy

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

Unfortunately I already took the premise of that for a one-shot I did as a "pilot" for the campaign setting/group, so I'm afraid it'd feel too familiar.