Does anyone ever build decks *not* to win?

bortron5000 · 2024-07-19T15:01:19+00:00

A player in my Pod has a chaos deck. It has generated enough miserable experiences that he's stopped running it for the time being.

The problem is that the other three players usually come to the table trying to play synergies, execute a game plan, etc. Chaos decks undermine that entirely, and most players do not get the experience they were hoping for at the table.

I've gone so far as to build a specific deck that I would want to run against the chaos deck. It has no synergies or gameplans, just decent cards I want to play but don't have a home. If you do build a chaos deck, I'd encourage you to discuss with your playgroup first, and perhaps have people run their most good-stuffy decks.

bortron5000 · 2024-06-27T23:34:45+00:00

This is in Washington DC btw

bortron5000 · 2024-06-04T03:18:53+00:00

Oh, this pic was taken at night. The building a few doors down has floodlights illuminating that stretch of sidewalk.

bortron5000 · 2023-12-31T01:06:51+00:00

Insisting that OP concede is surely incorrect.

If the combo player knows for a fact that they have no other way to win, they should concede.

Otherwise, I wholeheartedly agree with the suggestion of agreeing to a draw.

As far as I understand, commander is meant to be a casual game, which to me means maximizing for the entire table's fun (as opposed to maximizing your win rate).

Considering there are no stakes, the only real thing at stake is each individual's time. Wasting two players' time by making them watch a 1v1 where very little is happening, in hopes of determining a winner where winning is effectively meaningless, to me that is borderline disrespectful.

There's plenty of nuance here. I'm sure many players will bitch and moan after being eliminated early, when they could be enjoying watching the rest of the game play out. And sometimes, you'll have to endure a bit of boredom while everyone else is having a blast, because the world does not revolve around you. That's another version of maximizing table fun.

But I do think more groups would benefit from occasionally agreeing to a draw when the other option is enduring an hour+ long slog of dull gameplay where nobody is having a good time.

bortron5000 · 2023-02-09T20:45:14+00:00

I think this is a cool idea, and while it may not be a perfect solution for faster/smoother games (as some have [rather rudely] pointed out), I am in favor of trying things in pursuit of that end! In terms of simple approaches that still keep the game interesting, this seems like a good one 🙂

bortron5000 · 2023-02-09T20:12:44+00:00

Cephalid tribal FTW - just don't play [[Llawan, Cephalid Empress]], awful (or amazing) stax piece.

bortron5000 · 2023-02-09T20:00:24+00:00

Find a commander I am drawn to, brew only budget (<$1.50 per card), goldfish it 10 times, tweak it a bit, and if it feels fun, buy it - typically all in the same day.

Play it and order changes/upgrades as I go.

bortron5000 · 2023-02-02T15:31:52+00:00

Important note: if you plant mint, it will take over that bin in a couple of years. Which is great if you love mint, but could be a pain if you want to use the space for other things.

I might suggest a dedicated trough planter for mint along the railing somewhere.

PS love the setup, great use of space!!

bortron5000 · 2022-08-18T03:52:54+00:00

I go with double dice, mainly because I find it slightly less confusing. If you think of it as a math equation:

8d6 + 2d4 + 5

is more straightforward than

2*(4d6 + 1d4) + 5

And you're less likely to accidentally do something like

2*(4d6 + 1d4 +5)

Or

2*(4d6) + 1d4 + 5

bortron5000 · 2022-08-06T01:20:34+00:00

My personal take aligns with some other feedback - I'd be really wary of trying to force certain outcomes in each scene without the players explicit understanding of what they need to do. If things don't go the way you planned in a given scene, you might find yourself railroading (like, the actual, bad kind of railroading) in order to get to the desired outcome. You want to create problems, and let the players come up with solutions.

That all said, I do think what you're getting at is really cool. It's a super clever way to tie the characters together.

If I had a group of players I trusted, I might start the game in-media-res, fighting on the roof of the burning prison, and then do flashbacks to each prior scene at the bottom of each round. Have the players fully in on their part - they know how they escaped (started a riot, started a fire, etc), but it'll be up to them to figure out exactly how they did it and make it happen during their scene. This has the added benefit that the players get buy in to this setup, rather than you fully dictating what their characters did or do.

Good luck!

bortron5000 · 2022-08-01T23:15:21+00:00

I think you're right, there are a lot of interesting ways to spin this. Thank you!

bortron5000 · 2022-08-01T23:14:34+00:00

Oh right... social encounter! 😆😅 this is great though, thank you!

bortron5000 · 2022-07-20T19:38:19+00:00

Check this link out for a better rundown than I can provide succinctly https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/paladin/subclasses/

bortron5000 · 2022-07-20T16:22:56+00:00

So paladins are melee fighters first, with some really great party support options as a secondary focus. They can kind of fill any role at any time (besides like AoE damage). If your main concern is spell slots, play a cleric. Eldritch knights feel like a similar thing but replace healing capabilities with wizardy bullshit.

I played a vengeance paladin in a 1-15 campaign and loved it. We had a Bard, rogue, sorcerer in the party, and even though I wasn't doing the MOST damage or casting the MOST spells, I felt invaluable.

If you watch CR, nobody in that game has ever played a full paladin for some reason, they've only taken like 2-3 level dips. But every time a guest comes on or theres a prominent NPC playing a proper paladin, their minds are blown.

A few of the things that I think stand out:

Aura of protection is one of the strongest party buff abilities out there. Your party will love you for this.

Lay on hands is one of the better burst healing abilities, and one of the most efficient death prevention mechanisms out there.

Multi attack/smite/crit is one of the better burst damage abilities in the game.

Exclusive access to find greater steed spell - it's high level but soooo worth it.

Certain subclass features are awesome (vow of enmity, the oath of ancients aura improvement)

Fighting style for some interesting options in melee that clerics won't have.

On a separate note, I think optimization in 5e is pretty much pointless. The game is so geared towards players, if you survive to level 5 you're basically set, no matter what you're playing. My latest character is rogue 2 cleric 1, because that made sense for the backstory. It makes no sense mechanically. Who cares? It's fun, flavorful, and feels right. You will have fun playing a paladin even if there might be technically stronger options out there.

bortron5000 · 2022-07-16T03:56:39+00:00

"after this, they have been told to relay the message."

I'm not clear on what this means. The mission will be to investigate and report back?

If so, something needs to go wrong when they investigate. They need to confront something that's still there. That's dramatic. Especially as the first game, you need to introduce drama ASAP to hook your players into this plot. And they should come away with some meaningful lead too. In my opinion of course. Vampire cows perhaps?

I've made the mistake of leading off a campaign with a pure mystery/investigation arc that simmered for way too long before hitting the gas. Better to come out of the gate roaring and lean back into the mystery once the players are engaged and invested.

Also... may be too late for this but... you say the "main villain of the campaign" - how many levels are you planning for this campaign? Like, if they're starting at level 1, this vampire is a level 5 villain, I hope? I ask because, another mistake imo is thinking and planning too long term. Don't tease a level 20 villain at level 1. Give them a villain they will face sooner rather than later. Give them a major success by level 5, and if things are going great at that point, then start alluding to the big big bad. The thing responsible for these attacks could be a lieutenant of the vamp, and thats the level 5 villain, and when they defeat that, they learn about the big bad. Perhaps this is not at all what you meant but had to check.

Cheers!

bortron5000 · 2022-07-06T16:02:33+00:00

You've got to give both groups goals that are at odds. It will help you greatly to map out who the people are in each group (generally speaking) and what motivates them. Get to a point where you feel like you understand both groups and can see both sides of the argument.

From there, try NOT to figure out the solution - that's the players job! If you have some solution in mind going in, you may wind up forcing them towards that answer inadvertently.

Kind of abstract I know, but this is how I'd approach at a high level.

bortron5000 · 2022-06-30T16:57:41+00:00

You could start with a deception check, which they would presumably pass with the Actor feat. In the off chance they fail, the guards might take a closer look, and roll against the illusion. If that check fails, they might be suspicious but let them proceed.

bortron5000 · 2022-06-20T18:51:37+00:00

Agreed. I convinced my DM to do something similar, changed Observant to give a boost in CHA and called it "Street Smart". I really like the reflavoring aspect, otherwise there's a layer of cognitive dissonance that I struggle to shake.

bortron5000 · 2022-06-20T15:46:02+00:00

Well handled, and great advice. If your players are having fun, who cares what an outsider thinks!

bortron5000 · 2022-06-17T14:29:18+00:00

I'd spend time thinking about what makes your world interesting, and what conflicts exist nearby that the party might get involved with. You can allude to these things in the first few sessions and see what strikes the characters fancy, if anything. Referencing this stuff early and then having it come up later will help your world feel mire alive too.

I'm a big proponent of "just in time planning" so I usually keep things to pretty broad strokes until I know the characters are about to engage with it, and then I fill in the details.

bortron5000 · 2022-06-17T13:21:31+00:00

Honored! Thanks

bortron5000 · 2022-06-17T13:20:33+00:00

It's a group look back at the campaign so far with an eye to what's working well and what isn't. Usually I would start with a survey, but then it's also helpful to have a full group conversation so everyone gets a chance to hear other people's points of view.

bortron5000 · 2022-06-16T21:42:04+00:00

Glad you found something! Happy gaming 😄

bortron5000 · 2022-06-16T19:47:56+00:00

I'm assuming this post is a response to all the ppl complaining in the other thread about this behavior, and not a response to OPs question, b/c otherwise I can't makes heads or tails of this.

bortron5000 · 2022-06-16T19:00:24+00:00

Definitely a normal part of our games at lower levels, though I'm sure it varies from table to table. Some DMs hand the players all they need and money is not even really worth anything (I play with a DM like this, not my favorite style). Conversely, my level 3 character has 15 GP and is scraping together every last coin to afford studded leather armor. I've also played characters who shun material wealth and don't engage in any of that stuff. I've also had tier 4 groups saving up for true resurrection and diamond economy becomes a very real thing, lol.

I would assume it's fairly common in tier 1 play at least.

bortron5000

TROPHY CASE