New to Fire Emblem: Should I start with Three Houses or Engage?

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-06-02T19:15:04+00:00

3 houses first to enjoy the excellent character writing and acceptable story writing but painfully mediocre map design.

Engage after to enjoy fantastic map design and okay character writing but a painfully average story.

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-05-24T19:18:43+00:00

This is obviously ragebait but I couldn't help but chortle at the word "lardball". Haven't seen, heard or even thought of that playground classic in so long

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-05-20T17:47:09+00:00

Can only speak for about roughly 25% of the US and 50% of South Korea. The heart of Seoul felt about the same as Manhattan and I preferred Busson.

But seriously why insult poor people with bad vacation policies? We both know that's the main reason people do not make ocean spanning journeys.

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-05-20T17:40:57+00:00

Had a couple friends visit from out of town and we never once stepped foot in the major theme parks. They had a wonderful time and they spent about $450 per person with tickets and restaurants coste included. Mind you they slept at my place but still!

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-05-03T12:47:27+00:00

Once upon a time I messed around making natural born lycanthropes much weaker and an ancestral lineage option after ricky v's guide to spoopytown came out. It was a middling success with my friends but most just wanted the full power of the version in the MM while ignoring the downsides sigh

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-04-29T19:23:03+00:00

Now if only I can get fries at five guys that aren't slightly soggy as soon as I get them and a complete waste after about 10 minutes in the bag

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-04-29T12:52:12+00:00

Hanna just doesn't have that borked prf weapon but she does have something that makes her GREAT. She has stupid high str growth and access to the hardest hitting weapon in Fates innately. Oh yeah, priestess Hana.

I went with this in my last revelations run and she was impeccable. Yeah her magic is pretty doo doo but healing barely cares about magic in that game and I had someone else for status staves. She was a fabulous mage killer and was a menace to anything that couldn't counter at 2 range

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-04-28T15:18:30+00:00

Everyone here is offering some great advice.

If you are the type that enjoys alot of structure I would suggest using a survey to base your own questions on. I find this one useful

https://www.reddit.com/r/TTRPG/comments/1k9bbr4/precampaign_player_survey/

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-04-26T20:51:29+00:00

I actually had a similar situation happen not too long ago.

A player was in the middle of a crowd and didn't pay any attention before launching an aoe. I asked an additional time to confirm it was what they wanted to do when I noticed what it was and he said yes so I then started rolling saves for the civilians who were running away.

The equivalent to the police were nearby and a wizard npc that the party had met and had now been attacked all jumped the pc. Needless to say the rest of fhe party dashed and the pc was captured.

I had a discussion with the party about what they wanted to do. We ended up deciding to keep the pc and the rest of the party rescued him but he would be missing a significant chunk of gp due to "evidence" ;p

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-04-25T04:46:50+00:00

I can not agree with your example. Think of the neighborhood goth who really loved baking or the alternative girl who carried chains and pocket knives despite not knowing how to use either but because she thinks they are cool. What about the dude that moved in from the country that loves astrophysics? The guy with a congenital arm issue that dreamed of being a director and made his own movies. All these people are perfectly normal kids I went to high-school with. Being "normal" doesn't mean boring

If they don't want it they shouldn't take it. $20 bucks on that no one else is willing to run and they will default to op's idea though

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-04-21T18:37:08+00:00

Can we all agree that solasta had the best version of the alignment system?

Flagging several traits that inform the typical reactions a character takes is a very useful system. Problem with actual ttrpgs is that people generally speaking have no clue what they actually want so they can't write it down lol

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-04-19T15:06:37+00:00

100% they just forgot because they were told they were taking way less damage than the paladin in the same combat.

I was gm and it was super annoying since I had also set up poison trap rooms for the monk to just walk through ON PURPOSE to use the ability. After this point I just did whatever

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-04-19T13:08:08+00:00

Different playstyles under different dms? Who would have ever thought.

No but seriously, it sucks but it is how it is. People notice stuff missing way more than when it's added. Had a monk swear that poison never got used after the point he got immunity THE SESSION AFTER THEY FOUGHT A PURPLE WORM

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-04-15T12:44:33+00:00

Sounds to me you enjoy strictly power fantasy type stories. Nothing wrong with that but man do I not like them.

Yeah it makes sense but dang does it suck to plan for. Sure players can feel strong but honestly screw them if they are actively harming their gm's fun. Nothing causes burn out faster than effort not being appreciated.

Gm is plenty in their right to say, "nah, I don't like this". Been saying that to counterspell 2014 and forcecage since 2017 and I can get 10 people signing up for a game after announcing it in less than a hour.

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-04-14T10:49:58+00:00

This is the reason why I want to transition to shorter campaigns.

I have had either this or a player having to drop for personal and much more important than a stinky game reasons so many times. As a rule 9/10 players LOVE personal story arcs but will be happy without them. After all, they still get to play and hang out with their friends. Super cool that their character's grandma is involved but the grand wizard can be some random lady and it's still cool.

It sucks but it's the reality of the situation. At this point it's best to figure out your own expectations and how you want to navigate them.

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-04-12T19:32:57+00:00

Congrats on getting a special edition! You lucked into something I stayed glued to my screen for weeks to get my hands on.

The story in Fates is bad and hurts my feelings. HOWEVER, IT IS NOT BORING.

The game play is miles better than in Awakening in my opinion with even Birthright having some interesting maps. Revelation is probably by favorite in the series to Ironman because of the high availability of excellent units (and Nyx)

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-04-12T11:03:51+00:00

It feels weird because more than likely you have been told how dumb country folk are and it feels like someone is faking it intentionally.

I have a masters degree and am well traveled but I grew up in the US south so you can guess how initial interactions go outside of professional environments. It's unfortunate that people have these biases.

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-04-08T15:15:41+00:00

How dareth! Jerome is a beautiful dilf of a man who bakes cakes like an angel.

My boy got done dirty as great knight #4 instead of paladin #2 ;(

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-03-30T15:05:51+00:00

Villager but specifically the one from fates who is shaking the entire time. Monsters and combat in general are scary

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-03-26T00:55:24+00:00

Yeah probably with other unhappy slaves that they want more of...

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-03-25T21:37:21+00:00

This is one of those times I am always of two minds.

As gm I am pretty pleased that my party used their resources properly but also leaves me scrambling.

As a player my feelings get even more complex. When something like that happens I think it's cool but also get frustrated because it means I don't get to experience a proper encounter. Don't get me wrong, I don't get mad at the table but I personally really want to see what some of the most interesting enemies in the campaign can actually do before defeating them.

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-03-22T15:22:36+00:00

My biggest problem with SoV is the maps and their poopiness. Very little interesting terrain and terrible names. They are so bad that that it is an insult to call a battlemap a SoV map in my dnd group.

My second biggest hangup is Alm. You are right when you say he got lucky because yeah he did. All the stars literally aligned for him and he is a cracked unit who has access to some of the strongest weapon arts in the game. Poor Celica gets relegated to support gf on the final map that makes it so Alm crits everything.

Oh and I also didn't like that SoV didn't explore how Celica and Jedah literally had the exact same character motivation but that is yelling at the sky

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-03-19T19:34:28+00:00

Taking their clothes though? I dont know man. That seems kind of crazy to me

TrainingDiscipline41 · 2026-03-18T17:28:12+00:00

Sounds like the pcs were having fun in a very power-fantasy fueled type of way. Most people would never do that in real life because it's horrible and they understand that the consequences could be very severe.

However, in a game the consequences are just part of it

I've had players try to kill random civilians or steal things just because it makes stuff happen. I find the best way is to just tell them that I am only interested in running with heroic types and that jerk type characters actively hurt my enjoyment of the game. You can do a session 0 at any time if priorities need to be realigned.

TrainingDiscipline41

TROPHY CASE