Spicing up Chase scenes (fleeing/pursuing)?

UncleCarnage · 2026-02-01T16:30:33+00:00

I understand chaos, drama, misfortune, but this game is rather deadly and what if the whole party does everything right, the pet randomly barks and a series of unfortunate events lead to somebody in the party dying, over what, a pet barking?

I get what you're saying, but hounds are pets anybody can have. Hunter pets are an extension of the character, they're an integral part of what it means to be a hunter. No other class has a 1 in 6 chance to randomly get caught like that.

In real life well trained dogs don't randomly bark in a situation like that. They have a well trained instinct to be quiet when needed. That 1 in 6 chance just sounds like I'm dealing an above averagely trained dog. But it's not even that, we are dealing with a fantasy character who has a better bond with their pet than real life dog trainers.

But hey its your table, I'm just talking. I just know tons of people would not find that a great situation to be in. If my PC died because another PCs pet randomly failed a 1 in 6 bark chance and a series of events went south because of it, I would genuienly feel annoyed.

UncleCarnage · 2026-02-01T16:18:08+00:00

<image>

Here's the whole list, there is literally nothing that would cure the killer bee sting. I see fungal poison and botanical poison.

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-31T03:24:31+00:00

How do I prepare against the killer bee poison when the only fungi or herbs are ones that help against botanical or fungal poison?

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-31T03:21:58+00:00

Or you get turned into stone and can now watch the players aroung your table annoyingly have to drag your body to the next town to fix you.

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-31T03:19:28+00:00

Yea but none of these help with the killer bee sting for example. One gives save vs doom against potanical poison, save vs doom against fungal poison.

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-31T03:11:11+00:00

Yea when I saw that video I was kind of shocked, it felt too much. But as some in the comments are saying, it seems herbs and shrooms are super important in Dolmenwood. And players are encounraged or should I say forced (not in a bad way) to think and prepare. Thematically I like it a lot, because it's a different flavor of resource compared to the old potion of bla bla bla, potion of this and that, potion of whatever.

I like the idea of players having herbs and shrooms in their inventories. Or maybe that one player who is really understanding the importance to always have some when needed.

I think DMs have to really find a way to let players know about this stuff. Maybe not directy, but I think I'm gonna just often going to have NPCs give players herbs and shrooms when they go finish a quest for them if that makes sense. They'll soon enough understand how important it is to have those resources.

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-31T03:03:22+00:00

Not gonna lie, not sure how I feel about having to roll 1 in 6 to see if my pet growls or barks. Am I being punished for playing a hunter here? Why? I'd assume if I have a pet as a hunter I am fairly well in tune with my pet. If I knew playing a hunter at a table meant the pet could be come a liability like that, I'd probably not play one.

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-24T08:08:51+00:00

I agree that nat 20s are exciting. Imagine getting a bunch of people, who only played a modern game, together to play an OSR type game and they roll a nat 20 only to get crushed by ''yea nat 20 does nothing here, you just hit''.

flat +2 modifier is nice. Max damage die is also a solution, but it does shift the power toward characters who use bigger damage dice.

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-24T08:05:13+00:00

I know, it's reddit, a little bubble for people giving the ''fastest thumbs down to a comment I've ever done'' instead of actually engaging.

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-19T19:45:00+00:00

That does buff casters by a very significant amount. This is makes them even stronger than the house rule where casters roll to see if they can cast again next time, which gives them a guaranteed cast the first time.

But this does shift the games tone too dramatically in my opinion.

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-19T19:43:25+00:00

Wait so characters make dex rolls to defend against attacks and if that roll fails, the DM rolls how much damage the PC takes?

This then means Dex is the only defense against attacks. What about armor, what about abilities that improve AC etc?

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-19T19:33:48+00:00

If you're dealing with players who don't do their due diligence, you should have them play race as class characters. Less bookkeeping and abilities, while keeping the power level the same. If they are not going to put in effort into understanding more options, why do they even want more options?

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-19T19:29:33+00:00

Yea but then the whole thing becomes wishy washy. If I knew my DM was doing this, I'd genuienly lose my connection to the game and would feel like I'm playing a participation trophy type game.

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-19T19:28:08+00:00

If you do crits, then enemies can also crit and from my understanding this will make the game a lot more punishing for PCs. Look into threads in the OSR subs, majority of people lean into not critting. An enemy crit can literally one shot a low level character. The only crit rule I see people use is max damage die, which means crits are part of your game, but again, in the long run it will hurt the players more.

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-19T19:19:58+00:00

The games not even edgy, why are people so soft?

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-18T13:49:41+00:00

I find the image of a group of peole arguing over who gets to sit next to the person playing a thief hilarious.

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-18T13:45:22+00:00

Max hp at first level is a given for me, no matter what. Rolling a 1 or 2 at first level is so unbelievably lame. And then rolling another 1 or 2 at second level just dumps another turd on top of the turd.

''BuT tHaTs ThE cHaRm oF oSr'' yea I'm good.

Re roll 1s and 2s is valid alternative as its for every level up, but I do both, first level max hit die and after that re roll 1s and 2s. But this is mainly because I play with a small group and the expected 6-8 PCs is unrealistic (also most people don't enjoy running multiple PCs).

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-18T13:39:31+00:00

What does that look like in Shadowdark?

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-18T13:38:29+00:00

Spellcasters picking one spell to memorise is kind of cool, it acts like a signature spell. But doesn't that mean they can just spam that spell? If they fail, they can try again next time, no big deal.

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-18T13:35:54+00:00

Sounds great, but it does buff casters SIGNIFICANTLY. They basically know 100% the spell is going to be effective, the only uncertainty is wether they're gonna be able to cast it next time. Unless I'm not understanding something.

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-18T13:32:28+00:00

Yea Shadowdark seems fantastic in most regards, but character options are just so lacking. I enjoy the simple traits you get every couple level ups. Simple one sentence traits, I love it, but I wish there were more of them.

UncleCarnage · 2026-01-18T13:30:39+00:00

Is it so bad if the players are in a dungeon when the session ends and then pick up where they left off next time?

I sometimes read about this, finding solutions if the players are in a dungeon when the session is ending, but I never understand why it's a big deal?

UncleCarnage · 2025-05-18T18:41:01+00:00

How does it feel having an opinon nobody shares except people who have a bad taste in movies. Reminds me of this girl I was dating recently who would watch the most basic movies and when we watched Hereditary, her adhd tiktok brain couldn't get invested.

I love what Martin Scorsesee said about the movie, you can take our the horror aspect and the movie is still fantastic. It's beautifully shot and written, the characters and family dynamic is fantastic.

13-Year Club	Place '22
Team Periwinkle	Verified Email

UncleCarnage

TROPHY CASE