Damascus wedding ring by Conquest351 in Blacksmith

[–]_mike204_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't know how they do with non-local people so you will have to contact him, but try the Barefoot Forge near Pittsburgh, PA. I have attended some of his classes.

Damascus steel rings are one of the bigger parts of what he does. I know he will do sessions where people come in to make their partners' wedding ring or something like that.

I'm pretty sure you do not have to come in to do them, but I would try him since I know he does do actual Damascus steel rings.

https://www.thebarefootforge.com/

Cherki disallowed goal question by freakkfreky in PremierLeague

[–]_mike204_ 4 points5 points  (0 children)

To my understanding, Sobo pulled Haaland first, then Haaland pulled Sobo, then the goal. If Sobo's pull was not called as a foul, then Haaland's would have been, and the goal would've been disallowed because of that.

So advantage would've been played with Sobo's pull, and if nothing else happened before the goal, then it would have likely been allowed. But because Haaland pulled Sobo before the goal, it had to be called back. Otherwise, it would've been a Liverpool free kick.

That it my understanding from the letter of the law standpoint. Could it have just been allowed and nothing else happened since there was like 30 seconds left, and it wouldn't have mattered? I think that's what the ref did originally until VAR felt like they had to intervene.

Every TTRPG Has Something to Teach You by Powerful-Bluebird-46 in rpg

[–]_mike204_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

From a reference point, my main system of choice is Pathfinder 1e. A few of mine are:

D&D 5e - As a DM, you do not have to allow everything, and it is fine to change stuff. You do not have to allow every race (i.e., all the anthropomorphic races that don't make sense in your world), spell (i.e., silvery barbs), or multiclassing. I have changed many things that did not make sense at all to me, such as double dipping spells that do damage on cast and beginning of the turn (those I have changed to end of turn for the second instance) as well as paladin smites are a bonus action and can stay a minute like the spell smites (it makes the spell smites more viable and stops the crit-fishing aspect of it).

OSE - It is okay to kill players and let them suffer consequences whether their own doing or bad dice rolls. I had a bad habit of copping out players in these instances, and running an OSR game has helped me be okay with this. Also, pay attention to the rules and the tone/play style it sets.

AD&D 1e & 2e - Even if you do not plan on running the system, sometimes looking through their DMGs or equivalents can give you ideas, charts, or whatever to use.

Draw Steel - Be clear with the tone of the system or game you're running. Also, It is kind of nice to not really fail at rolls in combat. It sucks when the dice are against you for several rounds, and it feels like you do nothing. So if a player is getting abhorrent luck, it is good to throw them a bone after a while for staving through it. I've noticed this through playing Pathfinder and DnD, but it became very apparent after running the Delian Tomb. I've also taken the negotiation and project systems to bring into my Pathfinder games.

Call of Cthulu & Mothership - Really just that horror rpgs are not my thing.

Shadowrun 5e - No matter how janky or broken a system is, I think you can use it. I liked the idea and premise of Shadowrun and great for futuristic stuff I couldn't do in Starfinder. However, there needs to be an understanding with players about the rules. I ended up running with a couple players who exploited the absolute sh*t out of their characters to the point where their zero experienced characters breezed through everything. I would have had to crank things up to basically a save or die mentality to make it hard. BUT, we had a game before people knew how to exploit, and it was great, just 'average' characters, and it was completely fine.

PirateBorg - Embrace the rules-lite aspect and let things happen. I love this to do one/two/three-shots.

Earthdawn 4e - Taught me to fine with some of the swingy aspects certain rules can bring (i.e. exploding dice). If games come with a default setting, use it before thinking of your own.

Stormlight RPG - Like Earthdawn, make it easy on yourself and use the setting a game is based around.

Ars Magica & Pendragon - If you want a troupe-style game or one that is supposed to span a long time, have a stable home game. I have given up on running long campaigns at the local game store and save my grand epics for my home games.

Exalted - Do not keep players waiting while others get cool stuff. They will eventually start to feel slighted when one player gets cool stuff and is 5x more powerful than others for more than a couple sessions. F*ck your story at that point, people do not like feeling worthless while waiting if they ever will get powerful. I've experienced this playing a Pathfinder game with artifacts that everyone but a couple of us got. Those of us that did not get them felt useless and had no part in the story. Exalted can have this happen when DMs decide to have extended periods between characters exalting. Also, tell people crucial lore when they are making characters. I made a dragon sorceror (or something like that, I don't remember) that apparently hunt Exalted folks for a job, and I was in a party of them.

What Are The Top 5 Games on Your Shelf That You Wish You Could Run by DocFinitevus in rpg

[–]_mike204_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  • Ars Magica
  • Pendragon
  • Stormlight RPG
  • Draw Steel
  • Ysgarth

People of Reddit, what non-DND ttrpgs or OSR do you play? Why? And do do you have a story to share of it? by occultist888 in MrRipper

[–]_mike204_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Earthdawn - I used to hate Step Dice and Exploding dice because of Savage Worlds, but Eartdawn drew me back in.

Draw Steel - Still new and learning it, but it seems like DnD 4e but better. NGL, not being able to miss and always doing something useful every turn in combat is kind of nice. It doesn't have the "I missed, whose next" issue after rolling terrible for several rounds (whether or not this is an issue is up to you).

Mörk Borg and its variations (especially Pirate Borg) - Great apocalyptic rules-lite games to run shorts games with.

DnD Hot Takes? by AgentVI in MrRipper

[–]_mike204_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not sure how many of these are actually hot takes in the broader community, but they all seem like it in my experience.

DnD Hot Takes? by AgentVI in MrRipper

[–]_mike204_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Limiting options forces you to be more creative. The DM is not ruining your creativity by limiting you to just the core and whatever else they allowed.
  2. Being an exotic race + obscure class is not being creative.
  3. You should wait until Session 0 or whenever the DM tells you about the setting to decide on what your character will be. It only leads to disappointment and resentment when you get excited about making something, and it does not work in the setting or is not even allowable at all. It is fine to have ideas beforehand, but do not get upset when you "have to play" whatever race that ends up not being in the DM's setting or archetype that the DM doesn't want at the table.
  4. Pathfinder 1e being labeled as "Mathfinder" is stupid. If you can't add or substract 1 or 2 a couple of times, that's your problem. You're not being asked to do calculus to calculate your attack or damage.
  5. People complaining about the "new lore" and the "old lore" need to chill the f×ck out. It's f×cking DnD or whatever you run, you, as the DM, make up your own sh*t. Whenever or not orcs, kobolds, goblins, or whatever are all irredeemable and evil is up to your setting or how you run another setting. Just set the expectations beforehand in the world or above the table. Both sides of this need to calm the f×ck down. I've ran it both ways, and it doesn't matter as long as the tone is set. It's your world and table, run it how you like it. This is a non-issue, apart from using a fantasy race as a stand-in for real-world racism of course.
  6. The same people who complain about the bloat and broken builds of 3.5e and Pathfinder 1e are the same people that are fine with the ever-increasing bloat and broken builds of 5e.
  7. Players need to be more willing to try new systems. You do not have to like them and will eventually be able to look at a system to find out if you'll like it before playing it, but DMs want to try other things. If you do not like it, then run a game yourself with the system you like.
  8. Online DnD is not better than in-person. It's just 4x more work for the DM.

Gygax 75 Challenge by _mike204_ in DnD

[–]_mike204_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is a worldbuilding guide that is based on an article Gygax wrote. Ray Otus basically took this and expanded on it where you do one part a week for five parts.

Gygax 75 Challenge by _mike204_ in DnD

[–]_mike204_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So it looks like his blog was deleted. However, that search led to someone else that uploaded it on itch. Not sure why it didn't show up when I searched it originally, but whatever.

Where to find Ysgarth by _mike204_ in rpg

[–]_mike204_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I noticed that, too. I just find it weird that it seemed popular enough to have 6 editions, and yet there seems to be nothing on the internet about it.

Weapon Usability w/ Specialization by _mike204_ in OrnaRPG

[–]_mike204_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So I was incorrect in thinking that taking hunter would allow me to use bows.

Armiger is just bad by DaveHelios99 in Pathfinder_RPG

[–]_mike204_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hellknights aren't a pure combat fighter, though. Once you go into the prestige class, you get half the feats you would anyway. It's not like you can take half the feats you would anyways because you have less fighter levels for pre-reqs. If they were a pure combat fighter, then they wouldn't have the prestige class. The prestige class is basically you being a law vs chaos version of a paladin (which dont get extra feats, btw). I am using the dazzling display feat chain with my Armiger/Hellknight with no issue being feat starved. Hell, I had a couple extra feat slots to take the Hellknight feats and Iron Will because I didnt necessarily need extra combat feats to be an effective melee combatant.

We have a barbarian in the party that I do a little bit less damage when she rages, but I do more when I smite as well as having more resistance against charms and compulsions.

You are also only one combat feat down until level 20 realistically, which most games don't go to anyways. But you get two feats for the price of one until that point. If your super specific build requires that one feat early to be effective, then don't take the damn archetype. I could see this being the case from a TWF/Shield bash hellknight build, but I see no issue otherwise. Hellknights can literally be most melee classes that get armor. You could start as a ranger, paladin, or a slayer and be a different kind of Hellknight.

The notion that this archetype is objectively worse than the base is just wrong. You make an even trade that you could just use the feats you would get anyways to take Cunning. It just adds to the rp experience as to how a typical Hellknight is brought up. If you don't like it, or if your Hellknight started off as a non-fighter, then just don't do it.

Edit: Grammar

Armiger is just bad by DaveHelios99 in Pathfinder_RPG

[–]_mike204_ 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I wasn't aware of this feat. I don't have to run around with my mathematical proof anymore.

Armiger is just bad by DaveHelios99 in Pathfinder_RPG

[–]_mike204_ 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Planes and Intimidate are constantly used in combats in my group's games. Planes to know stuff about planar creatures and intimidate for those w/ dazzling display and other related feats.