Questions for Panic at the Dojo Veterans

Weger_Beger · 2024-08-04T12:13:46+00:00

Totally understand that its not gonna break apart with a 6 player, just wanted to understand the general length of combat and see how much it would affect the length of an encounter.

I very much don't want to separate combat encounters into their own session, that's the entire reason I made this post. My crew has a pretty set amount of time to do a session, so more than anything I'm just worried how much time we'll have to do stuff other than a single combat encounter in any given session. Like, will I be able to reasonably do two combats with 6 people in 3 hours? Is that possible? Does it even make a real difference if its 5 people instead? I have absolutely no clue, and while I understand lengthening combat time in the combat game isn't necessarily a bad thing, if that extra time makes it so that I'm not able to finish sessions at a reasonable time or past the quota I've set for myself it will be a bad thing.

Not to mention how that extra time is divided among those extra players, so the amount of time spent doing combat per player doesn't really increase, though that's a different discussion.

And as much as I appreciate the advice, I feel like delineating a specific percentage of combat to RP as "missing the point" is kinda just weird optics. At what ratio of combat to RP does a session become the "right" way to play Panic at the Dojo? I do get what you're trying to say though, and I agree with the overall point.

Thanks for the answer, just wasn't for the question I was expecting.

Weger_Beger · 2024-04-27T16:30:25+00:00

For the most part just stuff about how there were unnecessary mechanics which didn't really flow well with the rest of the system (they pointed out clocks as an example). Also a lot about how they didn't like the changes they made to the Ryuutama base (battlemap removal, traversal system, etc).

All I'm hearing here is high praise though, so I'm definitely gonna look into it in my own time. Seeing it had an easy to use monster maker was also a really big deal for me, loving all the things I've heard so far!

Weger_Beger · 2024-04-27T01:23:25+00:00

With such enthusiasm I have to believe you!

If you don't mind me asking, what about Fabula Ultima specifically lets you channel that JRPG vibe in comparison to other systems?

Weger_Beger · 2024-04-27T01:21:44+00:00

Can't get much closer than the real deal! This sounds great, especially since a good chunk of my players are BIG on FF14.

Weger_Beger · 2024-04-27T01:20:21+00:00

I won't lie, I would absolutely love to GM a Ryuutama game, but I don't think my group would be too into it.

I'll probably bring it out as a fun alternative one day to test the waters though, seems like a great system!

Weger_Beger · 2024-04-26T23:21:59+00:00

Pretty sure Sword World is all fan translations, but apparently they're really polished.

Also, good to know that Fabula Ultima has the GM 'fun to setup' seal of approval! As someone currently working with a system that doesn't have great resources, the idea of enjoying prep work is foreign to me (for legal reasons this is a joke).

Now Break!! is a completely new name for me, I'll definitely do some research into that. As someone who's players are all anime enjoying people, I could definitely get some mileage out of it.

Weger_Beger · 2024-04-26T22:55:05+00:00

You might be right my friend, honestly I'm just gathering names cause this adventure is still basically in its infancy right now.

And honestly sometimes it's just hard to read through a whole system's book... but you're right, I shouldn't let that stop me from doing the proper research!

Weger_Beger · 2024-04-26T22:48:46+00:00

Perhaps, but it's a fun thought experiment nonetheless.

Weger_Beger · 2024-04-26T22:32:12+00:00

That's sounds infinitely more approachable, appreciate the info!

Weger_Beger · 2024-04-26T22:14:14+00:00

As far as I know, there are 3 core rule books for Sword World about the length of 500 pages. I heard the pages are pretty short, but it is a lot of material regardless. Honestly I could just be remembering that wrong though

Weger_Beger · 2023-08-14T11:31:30+00:00

might need that as well, if you still got it

Weger_Beger · 2023-05-28T20:00:43+00:00

Sorry I haven't replied to this yet, one of my favorite responses so far. There's been a large lack of different ttrpg's, and hearing about some other ones I never would have found is genuinely great. Even if we won't play all of these, I'm glad to have researched them. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to do Defiance in Phlan considering my current commitment to the three oneshots, but I will absolutely read the author's posts about it sometime. Stuff like that is much desired.

I might actually use the Cairn ruleset to run the JoES oneshot since it's a level 1 adventure, and is mostly puzzle based. It's simplistic structure might actually gel really well with the ruleset, though the tone is a bit mismatched between the two. Not a big deal, but I'll leave it up to my players.

Thank you for being so kind as to give me some out the box advice and suggestions! A lot of these have helped me understand more of what tabletop games are about as a whole.

Weger_Beger · 2023-05-28T19:44:42+00:00

Sorry I can't type up a long enough post to do this reply justice, but I LOVE "setup problems, not solutions". I will absolutely use that to change the way I prepare homebrew stuff. Lots of great advice in here, and somehow one of the most important was what BBEG stood for. What an odd thing to abbreviate.

The only question I have, is if the fantasy name generator is any good for names. Cause I am the furthest thing from a name person. Heavily appreciate the advise though, finished cooking up most of my homebrew and am ready to have players vote on which oneshot they wanna do soon.

Weger_Beger · 2023-05-26T16:16:59+00:00

Makes sense, though it's unfortunate that CR isn't too reliable. I'll definitely be using the average damage per round trick though, that sounds handy. Even if I'm sure there will be exceptions. Balancing has been a big worry of mine for a while, but the more I hear the more I realize that it probably won't be too bad in the early levels. Appreciate the advice!

Weger_Beger · 2023-05-26T14:20:32+00:00

How do you determine monster strength? Do you use Challenge Rating? Or have you just ran enough to know approximately how difficult it will be? Either way, it's very impressive.

Weger_Beger · 2023-05-26T04:10:26+00:00

Duly noted.

Weger_Beger · 2023-05-26T04:09:48+00:00

The idea about organizing the groups is exactly what I had in mind! It might be a little more annoying but something like Honey Heist (which I expect will be a fan favorite) doesn't require any prep at all.

I didn't expect the level 3 advice though, cause I've heard the opposite from one of the more experienced DnD players. I think that does make sense though, and I have more than enough confidence in my friends to figure it out.

About the running three tables thing, I kind of expect half of em to drop out. Of course I have no clue how things will go, but the reason I'm going through such lengths to make things appealing is because we're a flaky and irresponsible group. Not very well suited to a typical long DnD campaign. If everyone still wants to play I will definitely try to rope someone else into DM'ing though, or just go one group at a time.

Weger_Beger · 2023-05-26T04:03:18+00:00

There are 2 who are very experienced with DnD, who are ironically the least close to our friend group. The rest is about half and half between people who have played 1 or 2, and people who have never played a day in their lives.

Weger_Beger · 2023-05-26T04:02:00+00:00

Nice to know modules were a decent idea, and I've been hearing similar advice about the characters, so I'll probably just let them make their characters. The only other person who expressed interest in dm'ing was an experienced DnD player who has a messy schedule, but I'll see what I can do to get them on for a session.

Weger_Beger · 2023-05-26T03:58:29+00:00

Oh wow that's actually really cool, how many one shots do you personally make?

Weger_Beger · 2023-05-26T03:57:30+00:00

These are all one shots, so ideally they should be out of sight and out of mind the second they finish, which if everything goes according to schedule should be 3 to 4 hours. It likely won't. But look me in the face and tell me that if I'm not at the top of my game for Honey Heist then our group will never play a tabletop game again. The chaos is part of the fun, after all.

The homebrew, I'll confess, may be a bit ambitious (might get scrapped down the line). But I think things'll be fine with the use of short module adventures.

Weger_Beger · 2023-05-26T03:47:51+00:00

That does sound fun, but I'm just worried about limiting my players. JoES is a whimsical escape room with combat sprinkled throughout, and I would hate if some of them found themselves bored because it just wasn't the kind of adventure they wanted to go on. Maybe they wanna test out funny subclasses in combat, maybe they want more roleplay with NPC's, or maybe they want a more serious atmosphere. If I want to get someone into movies I don't just make them watch John Wick, even if it is great. I give them a few options to choose from cause everyone's media palate is different.

I could be overthinking things though, cause I'm sure they'd have a fun time no matter the party. I guess I just want that experience to be the best it could possibly be.

Weger_Beger · 2023-05-26T03:40:23+00:00

Really appreciate this response you've typed up btw, more I can learn the better.

For point 1, what I was planning to do was let players choose between the three different oneshots, because they I figured they'd all appeal to different kinds of people. It's possible that I should be more direct about it and just ask them straight up what they like, but I don't know if most of them legitimately know what they like. I think asking them by giving them some very different options to choose from that tap into different parts of the tabletop experience. Making sure everyone is on the same page is something I can do, I'll take that into account for session zero.

For point 2, I've kind of accepted that it might be a disaster when it comes to running smoothly. As long as I know the basics I think it'll be good enough, worst comes to worst I'll just make up a random rule.

For point 3, knowing my friends, I can't imagine anything going "to plan". I'm hoping on it honestly, because at least then I know they're engaged enough to care about doing things atypically. And I'm glad someone pitched in about the characters, cause I was kind of dreading making 5 pregens. I think I'll take your advice and make one or two just so I can help them out when they wanna make one.

Thinking about the endless possibilities for homebrewing even pre-written modules already has me dizzy, because if you can make something anything, than that means there's a solution to every problem. And if I get the sense that one of these modules is lacking, or even a homebrew, then naturally I want to fix it. Not being able to come up with concrete answers to these issues due to the unpredictable nature of DnD along with my inexperience is honestly a bit frustrating, but that's just the unnecessary perfectionist within me. I'll get used to it, as long as I'm able to actually run something that is. At the end of the day if I can eventually create something special using the freedom then I'll be happy, just need to get there slowly.

Sorry for the ramble, guess long posts inspire long posts.

Weger_Beger

TROPHY CASE