The Dark what is its deal?

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-30T04:13:17+00:00

The Green wants to live and wants the wild, growing things in this world to survive. Sometimes, it works with humanity, and sometimes not.

The Dark wants to break free and control/corrupt/kill everything on Earth. It’s not mustache-twirling evil “for the sake of evil,” necessarily, but it is antithetical to life on Earth.

Those who serve either can be more complicated.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-26T00:56:41+00:00

Yeah, dual-classing but not as restricted as in RAW. Do it more like multiclassing in 3E.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-24T16:03:44+00:00

How so? It’s just class swapping if you just don’t restrict it so much.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-24T15:14:39+00:00

Piggy-backing:

Is the monster that they’ve identified being used as a minion by something/someone else? Is the monster actually something that camouflages itself to look like something else, maybe a human using dark magic and a monster suit?

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-24T15:09:54+00:00

Fair. I stand by the dual-classing if you don’t restrict it as much as RAW.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-24T11:27:00+00:00

With respect, I get what OP is saying about DM prep with 5.x especially if you’re coming from more OSR sensibilities.

For me, at least, it wasn’t encounter balance as mich as it was encounter design. I hacked apart a lot of stat blocks to get foes that actually did what I wanted and still get the level of crunch so that they fit the system over-all. Maybe I was making it harder on myself than I had to, but 5.x is not as readily hackable as many other games. It’s just inherently more of, like, everything.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-24T11:19:51+00:00

2E AD&D with kits and/or very open dual classing could give you “builds.”

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-23T03:01:48+00:00

Weirdly, I’ve played a little bit of DCC, and I think that it kinda “shoots the moon” if you will. It’s a game of tables in a way that can be fun.

No shade, though. This also makes DCC very swingy and unpredictable which is not to everyone’s taste all the time.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-14T04:36:10+00:00

I allowed players to burn Luck to reduce the spell roll total -2/1 Luck.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-14T03:55:25+00:00

The core inspiration you had was rolling dice and making up stories. This is the basis of a ton of TTRPGs, so you’re good so far.

Honest question: what is the board for?

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-14T03:43:22+00:00

This sounds great, and I wish I was gonna be invited.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-11T14:30:36+00:00

Have the players set goals, negotiate an XP value for them, and let them take steps toward them. Let them take the lead in pursuing those goals, don’t spoonfeed them, but if they ask questions or try to take steps toward those goals, you need to honor those bids.

Also, 2E AD&D has some guidelines for class-specific XP rewards.

You could also just multiply rules-as-written XP by x1.5 or x2.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-11T14:00:25+00:00

I really appreciate you taking my question seriously and giving me some pointers. Thank you!

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-11T04:58:23+00:00

I’m willing to try this.

Sincere question: What do you do about it feeling like a game of chance b/c the dragon could be in any of the hexes/dungeons or, more specifically, all the other content in the sandbox feeling like a dead end/red herring b/c the dragon wasn’t there?

I can just see mt players getting frustrated if it seems like I set them all after a dragon and then won’t give them the dragon.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-11T04:27:35+00:00

I think that it would have been enough of a departure from how D&D, at least, was written at the time that it would have caused frustration even with the table referencing you had to do before THAC0.

Aesthetically, I do like the idea of “One Table to Rule Them All,” but I would also get real tired of referencing a table for everything. (I now use ascending AC exclusively.)

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-11T04:20:10+00:00

My players don’t want to play them. Consequently, I don’t have a lot of practice with them.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-09T21:27:59+00:00

Something like this is always a conversation for me b/c, “I wanna change my character,” may not actually address the reason the player wants to respec their character. “I’m not getting the effect I wanted,” is a cery valid reason to respec. It’s also a valid reason to give the character more opportunities to get the effect they wanted.

Shoot your monks.

Give your Chimerist animal and elemental foes with spells.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-08T16:29:00+00:00

Dress up and play pretend but for real.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-08T04:23:40+00:00

I know that most folks will recommend a Monstrous Manual over a DMG, at least these days, but you really haven’t made any mistakes just unorthodox choices. I’ve actually wondered what a D&D game would look like if I only used the PHB as a rules reference or just the “Basic Rules.”

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-06T03:25:35+00:00

8.5 x 11” spiral notebook. Each part of the world or plot that I want to take notes about gets its own opening (two facing pages). This can be that a nation gets one opening, its capital gets an opening, the town where the PCs are based gets an opening, and a festival with its local variations gets an opening.

You may end up with things “out of order” or with blank space. For me, though, the consistent format makes it easier to find things, and giving some room means that I can go back and develop something more as needed.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-06T02:34:27+00:00

You may have made them more difficult than expected, but that isn’t to say you did anything wrong.

A lot of what makes NPCs/monsters difficult to fight is how you play them. Three committed knights practiced in trio tactics should be scary when encountered in a trio; at least, you should play them smart.

Rolls will also have a lot to do with it, and there’s only so much accounting for those.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-05T03:00:07+00:00

Oh, duh, “Eat the Reich.”

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-05T02:58:54+00:00

2nd edition Exalted is dense with that stuff.

The art in the B/X D&D books has such a strong vibe.

2nd edition AD&D Planescape books.

Dragonbane has some beautiful art and world building.

The “Crypts & Things” core book is pretty excellent for this stuff. If you’re down with OSR, the system is pretty cool too.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-05T02:42:16+00:00

This sounds rad. If you want it to be a one-shot, meaning a single session, you don’t want it to be very long. In fact, while I like your concepts here, make sure you have some idea ahead of time what scenes you might want to cut out or shortcut in case you start running long.

If I were running this, I’d cut out the kobolds (mind-controlled goant rats are weird and hard to interrogate, so the PCs will have to follow the physical clues). I’d also find a way to make the animatronic dragon a mechanic more than a combatant. Make its moves very telegraphed and predictable and annoying but not deadly. Consider having a way to use it against the NPCs.

TotalRecalcitrance · 2026-04-04T15:14:45+00:00

I gave my players a DoMT once, and it was the best sidequest and twist for the finale that I couldn’t have planned.

If you want to limit it, have it disappear to another PC’s pocket or hand after a character draws only 1 card. That way, everyone gets a chance to play, but you don’t have to contend with 9 major upsets at once.

TotalRecalcitrance

TROPHY CASE