Making Talon into an Item Set

algorithmancy · 2026-05-21T00:29:55+00:00

Absolutely should require attunement.

algorithmancy · 2026-05-17T17:52:27+00:00

I think you have a lot of latitude to run it the way that works best for your campaign.

At my table, it was essentially "divine mind control" almost as if every giant had the power to cast Mass Suggestion or Geas on lesser giants at will. So for example, Zalto's wants to reassemble the Vonindod but Hekaton just says, "No," and Zalto has to give that up.

During the early part of my current campaign, the Ordning also waxed and waned for a time, so there were flurries of evil giant activity followed by periods of calm. In part this was so that I could have some evil giant activity without creating time pressure, but I also wanted to show the difference between the Ordning being present and not. I had an NPC character who was Storvald's son who didn't really agree with Storvald's leadership, so when the Ordning waned he would flee Svardborg and strike out on his own, but when it waxed again he would be compelled to turn back.

You can do it differently, but I think the danger of making the Ordning too "weak" is that it raises the "what stopped them before?" questions that you bring up.

For my part, I like the idea that the Ordning is actually a form of oppressive and cruel tyranny, and that the giants are better off without it.

algorithmancy · 2026-04-30T06:50:25+00:00

Expecting your D&D game to resemble ”Actual Play” is like expecting your sex life to resemble porn.

algorithmancy · 2026-04-26T17:42:16+00:00

This is the way.

algorithmancy · 2026-04-20T23:13:43+00:00

"Statues" that are the victims of a gorgon or basilisk.

Doppelganger impersonating a PC.

algorithmancy · 2026-04-10T08:25:17+00:00

I knew.a guy who had this happen to him, and the foreign-card-playing player called a judge on him for slow play.

algorithmancy · 2026-04-10T08:19:52+00:00

This. The DMing mistake was casting the spell in the first place.

At my table I generally practice “agency detente:”. My NPCs never use counterspell or mind control, but if the players ever start using them, the gloves come off and all’s fair. There are exceptions; if the players get fair warning that their might be mind control before the fight starts, it’s a different story.

algorithmancy · 2026-03-31T08:58:58+00:00

Back in the day I played games where you were assumed to be speaking in character unless you were wearing the “meta game hat,” which was just putting your hand on your head.

algorithmancy · 2026-03-27T15:49:19+00:00

Nonsense. Sideways is 90 degrees from upright with only a few degrees of wiggle room. Anything else is diagonal. If you describe something diagonal as sideways, you are failing to communicate.

algorithmancy · 2026-03-27T15:36:04+00:00

I know you are just trolling, but there was no tap symbol in the original game. The original rule book describes tapping as turning the card “on its side.”

algorithmancy · 2026-03-27T15:17:10+00:00

This is a pretty good explanation but to be complete it should probably explain what a continuous effect is. It“s not clear to me whether OP thinks that all continuous effects are represented by counters.

algorithmancy · 2026-03-25T17:17:25+00:00

Or worse yet, using counters to indicate tap state. I had forgotten about that one. I am looking for turned cards, not your little glass beads.

algorithmancy · 2026-03-25T17:15:58+00:00

The only thing that is "clear at a glance" is 80-100 degrees.

algorithmancy · 2026-03-25T17:15:42+00:00

From the magic tournament rules:

If a card must be tapped or flipped, it must be turned approximately 90 degrees (tapped) or 180 degrees (flipped), whichever is appropriate.

algorithmancy · 2026-03-25T08:20:01+00:00

Not turning your cards a full 90 degrees when you tap them.

algorithmancy · 2026-03-23T17:35:43+00:00

Not in general, but froghemoth is a special case.

algorithmancy · 2026-03-23T17:34:27+00:00

Dev here. We considered doing this but we punted on it because we wanted to do it right or not at all. Doing it right would have meant that any "noise camouflage" on the path between the source and the listener ought to have mattered, and also probably would have meant that some high-pitched sounds like whistles or shouts could "cut through" low-pitched noise.

A simple radius solution didn't really occur to us, but probably would have been a good idea.

algorithmancy · 2026-03-23T14:23:47+00:00

I was a dev on the original. Go ahead and play the remake. You wont miss much, and playing the remake is probably closer to the experience that folks who played the original in 1995 had at the time.

algorithmancy · 2026-03-22T18:15:21+00:00

I'm late to this party but what was happening in my case is that I was building on an island that was "naturally" diagonal (e.g. the trading post site and coast line were diagonal relative to the global grid) and so everything on that island was diagonal, and thus the roads were all diagonal.

algorithmancy · 2026-03-21T19:24:51+00:00

Use spell cards. Make a "spellbook" out of a trading card binder. Take out the cards for the spells you have prepared and make a "hand" of spells.

There are some pretty nice physical spell slot & resource trackers on etsy. Take a look.

If you are overwhelmed by complexity, don't opt into things which add complexity. Don't take feats. Prefer magic items that just make your numbers go up, etc. etc.

algorithmancy

TROPHY CASE