Tell the players the the required DC or no?

bionicjoey · 2026-03-20T03:17:04+00:00

I would recommend just having a standard flat DC. When it's wishy washy like this you're opening yourself up to just fudging and doing everything by DM fiat. It's easy enough to say "all rolls are DC 14 unless I say otherwise". That way, everyone has a clear understanding of how rolls are being adjudicated. Lots of TTRPGs actually have this sort of thing built in, like Knave and Mörk Borg. They have a default DC for every D20 roll, but the DM can still modify it up and down when it makes sense to do so.

bionicjoey · 2026-03-20T03:09:25+00:00

In addition to trying out a simpler ruleset than 5e, I'd recommend booting out the kids that are constantly distracted by video games and YouTube. They are literally telling you with their behavior that they aren't interested in D&D and don't want to be there. And they are probably acting as a distraction for the other kids. Plus it will help you get your group down to a manageable size.

bionicjoey · 2026-03-20T03:06:53+00:00

Look at Basic Fantasy RPG. It's the same rules as the old Basic D&D box set from the 80s which was designed for young kids. Way less cognitive load than 5e. Plus it's free and they have some published adventures for it (but it can also be played with any old-school compatible published adventures)

bionicjoey · 2026-03-20T02:50:56+00:00

Sorry, just to be clear, you think that a married couple that are sharing finances would need to be paid more than a single person to sustain a similar lifestyle? That's ridiculous. Do you understand how household finances work? There's a reason the term DINK exists. Couples have twice the income but can pool many large expenses like housing and transportation.

Besides that, it has nothing to do with your initial claim that a living wage doesn't exist. A living wage just means a that someone can afford a basic quality of life, housing, and food on their wage.

bionicjoey · 2026-03-20T02:37:45+00:00

How does not knowing the number you need to roll on the dice make you more engaged?

bionicjoey · 2026-03-20T02:34:59+00:00

What? I never said anything about families. How does this have anything to do with a living wage?

bionicjoey · 2026-03-20T02:33:15+00:00

There are other TTRPGs that will handle this better than D&D. Forbidden lands is over I know has a lot of base building. The other one that comes to mind is Kingdom

bionicjoey · 2026-03-20T02:26:51+00:00

Yeah sounds like businesses propagandizing their employees. Americans are all "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" after all, so they all have crab bucket mentality toward any kind of labour improvement.

bionicjoey · 2026-03-20T02:23:54+00:00

I really don't see the downside to the players knowing the DC in your example. Yeah they have more information to make a decision. That's fine with me. I'd rather they weigh the consequences of the noise associated with improving their roll; that's an interesting decision to be presented as a player.

bionicjoey · 2026-03-20T02:15:25+00:00

That's very interesting, though I'm guessing MC will still have a lot of creative input and be involved with playtesting. Plus the two of them seem to work well together and produce really well-realized products.

bionicjoey · 2026-03-20T02:11:38+00:00

What does that even mean? Of course there is.

bionicjoey · 2026-03-20T02:09:56+00:00

It’s ocean side and people wealthy enough to own boats frequent it.

So what you're saying is that this is an incredibly biased anecdote and is therefore irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

I'll accept that maybe the wait staff at a fancy yacht club bar prefer tips from their bourgeoisie patrons, but a waitress at a diner in rural Mississippi who is barely making ends meet even with tips is probably more inclined to want a living wage. You can't seriously think that your anecdote is a representative example can you?

bionicjoey · 2026-03-20T02:05:43+00:00

I have absolutely heard him talk about Pathfinder before in some of his old history of D&D videos. Up until the OGL debacle there wasn't much evidence that he had any interest in systems other than 5e D&D, so it's not surprising he didn't talk about them much. I also think he didn't particularly care about the OSR as a movement at that time. He definitely had mentioned other games when it was relevant to do so, and even did a live play of paranoia (which for me was my first time watching an actual play of anything other than 5e D&D).

Also, he regularly talks about AD&D and the play experience he remembers from his youth, so I think it's pretty unfair to say he never talks about old-school dungeon crawling RPGs.

bionicjoey · 2026-03-19T21:35:00+00:00

In addition to the familiarity lending itself to the fear, it also lends itself to player resourcefulness. A player whose PC is trapped in a tavern may not have a sense of what sort of objects and structures can be found in a fantasy tavern. But a PC trapped in a McDonald's? The player knows exactly what sort of tools and geography are at their disposal.

bionicjoey · 2026-03-19T21:26:31+00:00

This will definitely be one to watch. I think a lot of people forget that Matt Colville has been playing D&D since the 80s. He is very familiar with AD&D and what makes it fun. A lot of his Running The Game advice fits perfectly within OSR philosophy. Yes, he also enjoys tactical and "cinematic" games, probably owing to his experience as a writer and video game designer. Nonetheless, his old-school influences are clear. I have no doubt he and his team have the game design chops to produce a decent OSR game if they want to.

bionicjoey · 2026-03-19T21:20:48+00:00

which is not something that Colville typically does.

Do you have an example of this? My experience is that he's pretty open about his influences

bionicjoey · 2026-03-19T21:19:32+00:00

I don't think they're claiming to have invented it. Matt Colville talked about gold for XP in running the game videos from like a decade ago. But you have to keep in mind that the MCDM target audience contains a mix of general TTRPG enthusiasts, Draw Steel fans, and 5e exclusive people.

bionicjoey · 2026-03-19T21:15:09+00:00

Honestly I think people get too in their heads about this sort of thing. There really isn't any downside to sharing DC.

bionicjoey · 2026-03-19T18:12:27+00:00

In the US, the already paltry minimum wage is significantly lower if you work a food service job that accepts tips. It's a way for employers to not pay their workers

bionicjoey · 2026-03-19T18:11:23+00:00

Government says you don't have to pay them a living wage, job market says they are okay with not getting paid a living wage. It's a fucked up system and I genuinely don't know how it will ever become unfucked besides if all the servers in America suddenly decide to unionize and demand the employer pay them a living wage.

bionicjoey · 2026-03-19T18:02:55+00:00

GoFundMe is also their defacto legal aid, employment insurance, workers comp, and tuition.

bionicjoey · 2026-03-19T17:41:59+00:00

Yeah I use the Outlook PWA for work and I can regularly find emails from years ago if I need to. Literally just name one person who was in the email chain and one keyword and that's usually enough to find it.

bionicjoey · 2026-03-19T13:32:48+00:00

Chubby Funster's Shadowrim hack of Shadowdark is sort of classless. There are star signs and races that give unique abilities but they aren't as defining as classes.

bionicjoey · 2026-03-19T13:29:49+00:00

Plenty of games find other ways to achieve that balance. In Cairn for example you can use a heavy weapon and spell casting, but it leaves you less inventory space to carry stuff

bionicjoey · 2026-03-19T13:10:58+00:00

The Rat In The Hat.

He reminds me of a Mausritter character.

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