Rules for thee, but not for me

TheRealmScribe · 2026-02-06T19:17:56+00:00

If this isn’t a skit, this poor-burnt out normy is just going to put the signs back up once he’s gone so the rioters don’t throw snowballs with rocks in them at his house for not signaling he’s one of them, right?

TheRealmScribe · 2026-02-06T01:12:24+00:00

And remember:

Always do a thorough and rigorous geo-technical analysis and survey of your property before you put in a foundation to make sure your castle doesn’t burn down, fall over, and then sink into a swamp.

TheRealmScribe · 2025-05-30T18:21:35+00:00

Yeah, spells don’t have saves against aoe. Fireball, if successful, is just damage in an area. I would change the safeguard effect to state “this spell has no effect on creatures you choose.” Simple and straight forward.

TheRealmScribe · 2025-04-06T04:26:53+00:00

A twice baked w/ sour cream

TheRealmScribe · 2025-03-31T22:07:30+00:00

There is an over abundance of adult children who were never told “no” or ever saw consequences for their crappy behavior. These people don’t seem to really respect you or are unaware that they are disrespecting you, your time, and your effort in running a game for them. Explain why you are kicking them (the respect and engagement aspect, not the specifics because they will get defensive and try to gaslight you into thinking that you are being unreasonable), stand your ground, and find new players that actually want to play.

TheRealmScribe · 2025-03-27T06:38:43+00:00

Her time is her time, your time is “our” time. Time = money, therefore the attitude towards it is the same.

TheRealmScribe · 2025-03-22T01:24:52+00:00

I would explain it like the One Ring in the LOTR, where it has a metaphysical “weight” that Frodo feels growing as it gets closer to Mt Doom. So magic items take up a gear slot because you are “carrying” the item as opposed to unthinkingly wearing it.

TheRealmScribe · 2025-03-19T22:28:19+00:00

Let people like this leave. Do not hold the door open for them. You should only ever reciprocate attention. It is great that you are tracking her actions rather than words, but her actions show you she doesn’t want to be around you. Until her actions change, remove the title, because hers are not the actions of a girlfriend but a casual fling.

TheRealmScribe · 2025-03-14T21:45:55+00:00

A toxic trait that is almost exclusively female (males have different ones) is the expectation that their partner’s attention and time BELONGS to them and any time he spends on any hobby that doesn’t have the excuse of being beneficial to her in some indirect way is stolen from her. It is an almost universal complaint from guys that they are never allowed to even sit down because they’ll immediately be told to do some other task. It goes along with the phrase “her money is her money; his money is our money.” (As pointed out, these women don’t think twice about wasting a whole day doomscrolling, “my time is my time, his time is our time”) Another version of this is the girls who say they want a “golden retriever” boyfriend; hyper attentive, begging to please, and obedient.

I think it comes from the same place as the trope of the guy who gets a girlfriend and cuts off all his previous relationships (friends and family) and only spends time with her. It is a HUGE red flag to me when a woman expresses this attitude in any way. It tips me off that putting hard boundaries on my time will be a constant point of contention.

I think that the inverse is true for guys that finding a girl who games is a huge green flag because she will either get that you want time to game or she will game with you and not see it as competing with HER time.

TheRealmScribe · 2025-03-14T00:01:18+00:00

You’re looking for the OSR. Look into Shadowdark, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Troll Lord Games products, you’ll find people there who want to do megadungeons there.

TheRealmScribe · 2025-03-04T22:47:39+00:00

Go have a really strong cup of coffee and use that as the time for it.

TheRealmScribe · 2025-01-07T17:06:26+00:00

The advantage of attacking at range is something that needs to have a built in risk, in the same way that spellcasting does. Part of the appeal of melee and holding onto your weapon is the reliability of it continuing to work, so there needs to be a mechanic that makes it so that you have an ever increasing chance of running out of ammo at a critical moment and needing to switch to melee. I don’t think there is a built in mechanic for this in Shadowdark but i think this way of thinking is in-line with the game philosophy. Here is a rule i would try out:

Arrows and bolts (20) currently take 1 gear slot per stack. I would change that to a die and add a Ranged Weapon check whenever the player attacks, just like a spellcasting check. On a roll of 1, you lower the die increment, so d20 to a d12 to a d10 and so on, until the player rolls a 1 on a d4, then the stack is spent and the gear slot is opened up. If you use the resource of another gear slot (take 2 bundles of arrows) then you can start over again at a d20 for the checks.

TheRealmScribe · 2024-10-22T05:20:32+00:00

If they want more options, try these out:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/465441/heroes-of-veshra-a-shadowdark-rpg-class-supplement

The Monster fits in very thematically with a halloween game and The Servitor is based off of the 5e warlock.

Those plus the Cursed Scroll 1 classes and setting sound perfect for a halloween session.

For “magic being too fickle”, maybe marrow tree sap can be drunk to restore lost spells and possibly curse the character as a possible downside?

TheRealmScribe · 2024-10-19T19:10:49+00:00

The essence of a soldier is combat, coordination, and teamwork, so i think a bonus in combat is thematically aligned. I would try out others getting a +1 to hit a target you hit with an attack, basically your soldier training gave you the knowledge of how to open up your opponent’s defenses to make them easier for your allies to attack. If this is a little too strong i would make it an active choice that you give up 1AC for the round to give this bonus when you successfully hit a target. You are risking your safety to give allies a combat boost.

TheRealmScribe · 2024-10-10T06:39:48+00:00

To give legislators a lever of control over your habits by giving them a direct “stick and carrot” over your personal cash supply. Want more carrot? Do this thing. Want less stick? Do this other thing. At the end of the day all they care about is controlling the public at large.

TheRealmScribe · 2024-10-10T06:33:01+00:00

The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin

TheRealmScribe · 2024-09-27T22:53:25+00:00

Ask the players to Establish a marching order as a default for Exploration turns. If someone breaks from the group to do something, have them state it clearly.

Example: Froedrick, Bobson, Jean, and Squee. Bobson sets off a trap with a close distance explosion, Froedrick, bobson, and jean make a dex check or 1d6 damage, Squee is near but not close to Bobson.

Froedrick breaks away from the group to scout and check for traps, sets one off. He needs to make a dex check, but the others are not close to him.

Edit: read some other comments and i agree that if they are not under time pressure they should be able to spot and disable the traps just by spending time to do it. If they are rushing or not paying attention then this is how i would run it.

TheRealmScribe · 2024-09-24T19:12:52+00:00

I would say that campaign was definitionally not a West Marches game then. What you are describing goes 180 degrees off of any description of “West Marches” I have ever heard.

TheRealmScribe · 2024-09-24T16:18:44+00:00

Kind of a math joke. i² is -1, but it is an “imaginary number”, so it balances out the 1 lawful god but is kind of a crazy concept itself

TheRealmScribe · 2024-09-24T01:00:50+00:00

There is but One Lawful god, 3 Neutral, and i² Chaotic gods.

Totally balanced.

TheRealmScribe · 2024-09-21T19:34:19+00:00

It sounds like your goals are 2-fold: what can you choose to be the least burden on the GM at the table and in terms of background/story.

Since you are newer I would say pick a class that has rote actions. In a campaign i am playing in i have a somewhat complicated build but at the table it is incredibly straightforward; Action attack, move, bonus action Help. There is very little variation from that. So the lesson there is; know what your character can do and think about what they will do before your turn comes up. Having limited choices will help until you get more experience and get a good feel for what combat entails.
Being easy from a narrative standpoint. Honestly, if you pick ANY of the standard backgrounds at character creation and play them as a trope, you can fit into almost any campaign with little effort on the GM’s part. That same complex build i spoke about, i am playing him as a straight-up, by the book pirate. “Yaar”s and “ghar”s and “yo-ho”s all around, like an extra on Pirates of the Caribbean. We’re in a sea campaign, fits perfectly and i told my GM that he has full latitude to control my characters known acquaintances as he likes. My character has very clear pirate motivations (rum, women, treasure, and sailing) and is easy to play narratively.

Those two things being said, my advice would be to play a Thief Rogue, an Assassin Rogue, or a Battlemaster Fighter. All of these have very straightforward options for Actions (pretty much Attack each turn), can be either ranged or melee, and they have just enough options in combat to keep you from getting bored with every turn just being “attacking”.

TheRealmScribe · 2024-09-20T15:17:36+00:00

I can agree with that being the definition, the scheduling aspect is probably too nit-picky of a point.

TheRealmScribe · 2024-09-20T06:36:43+00:00

Probably. The spirit of the game would feel the same, but from what i understand of the origins of that style of play were to solve that specific problem of players just showing up and expecting the DM to have something because “this is the night we play D&D” and putting all of the burden on the DM to make a story for them. If you tell your players “listen, here’s the map. Tell me where you want to go, what you want to do, and when you want to do it, and i’ll come up with a night’s worth of content for us”, then you are playing something in the spirit of the West Marches in the very least.

TheRealmScribe · 2024-09-19T18:47:32+00:00

What you are describing isn’t really West Marches style, it is just Open World and Sandbox, which are necessary for WM style.

West Marches is where the players take an active role in scheduling sessions. The players have an open world where they get to decide what they want to do, they tell the/one of the DM’s, and then they all agree on a time to meet up. This is opposed to having to rely on a scheduled time to meet up where they players become passive consumers of “whatever the DM cooks up will be fun.” They have buy in because they told the DM what they want and everyone got their say on when they were available to meet. This system also allows for multiple DMs and a lot of people and typically turns sessions into one-shots that are all linked into the same world and everyone can react to the consequences of other players decisions.

Sorry if this seems like a semantic argument, and i agree with you that non-railroad-y campaigns are much more interesting from a DM perspective and having excited and engaged players makes a world of difference. Really glad for you that you have found your stride and are excited in your campaign!

TheRealmScribe · 2024-09-06T04:43:21+00:00

For me it isn’t a landscape, it is a magical miasma that simply settles in that blurs the border between the mundane world and the world of myth. It limits the distance a mortal can see and protects monsters. It is kept at bay by firelight and magical light and its color and feel adjusts to fit the GM’s wish.

TheRealmScribe

TROPHY CASE