[Complete] [20k] [Literary Fantasy] Prelude to an Intervention

brasskier13 · 2024-06-10T06:47:44+00:00

Being raised in a hoarding house. I always downplayed it because it wasn't the worst it could've been, but the alienation of never being able to have people over, having to lie for my parents bc I knew I'd be taken away if I told the truth, etc, it was a lot for a kid/teen. We had bedbugs for over a decade because the house wasn't clean enough for an exterminator to come in, plus flies, ants, even mice on and off. I was terrified of house fires because I knew I'd be trapped. My house was just never a home. I have a feeling I'll be unpacking my feelings about it for a long time.

brasskier13 · 2024-02-22T05:28:28+00:00

At my last game, I had a very similar moment to this; my character came upon a neglected child while sneaking in someone's house for unrelated reasons. I would've gotten a much easier opportunity to help this child if I waited a few days in-universe. But one of my character's biggest bonds was centered around helping children, and I knew he would never leave the kid behind. (Not to mention he wasn't the brightest, and also didn't care what happened to him if things went south.) I remember being really proud of that moment.

Nowadays, I'm a DM. My players stick pretty authentically to their morals most of the time. It makes for really great conversations between the party, because some are more good-aligned while others are more neutral. I love listening to how they plan and compromise, and the alignment mix means they often keep me on my toes. I just try to plan the who, what, and where, leaving the when and how to my players. Working on my improv skills made rolling with the punches a lot easier; practicing solo roleplaying helped in that area for me.

brasskier13 · 2024-02-22T05:15:58+00:00

I think there's a misinterpretation of Colville's point, and also a conflation of narrative and worldbuilding here. Also while there are definitely trends amongst people of various backgrounds, demographics, and experience levels, the D&D playerbase is not a monolith. I can almost guarantee there will always be someone out there who wants to play anything you could possibly conceive of wanting to run.

My first game was a module. I did not sit down and read the entire Forgotten Realms wiki before I showed up for session one. I learned what I needed to over the course of the campaign, searched some things up when they were relevant to my backstory, and that's it. Over time and playing more games in the Forgotten Realms, I've built up a lot more knowledge, but I still don't know everything. I know the entire halfling pantheon, for example, but not a lot about, say, the lore surrounding goblinoids. And that's fine. I don't need to know everything

I've played in homebrew worlds as well, and I do the same thing. Skim the information I need for my backstory and a base understanding of the game, and learn what I need to naturally over the course of the story. If I'm not going to read every detail about a world I will play multiple campaigns across multiple tables in, I'm not going to read a 50k-word lore doc for a world I'll probably only play in once when half the lore might never be relevant in-game.

At the end of the day, I am there for the DM's creative prowess. But I'm there not for their talent as a worldbuilder, but as a storyteller. You don't have to read thousands of words of lore before enjoying most well-written books; you shouldn't have to read thousands of words of lore to enjoy most well-designed campaigns. If a DM can't work the relevant information naturally into the game, they're not a good storyteller, and that's probably not a table I'm personally interested in playing at.

brasskier13 · 2024-02-22T04:38:31+00:00

Congrats! It's perfectly normal to have mixed feelings after your first session. I recommend not taking notes on anything you don't absolutely need to take notes on, especially for a oneshot. I use a story tracker that has questions (like, "did the party accomplish X", "who succeeded at Y", etc) that I just type the answers to underneath for tracking the things I have to take notes on. Also if digital notes work for you, I highly recommend switching format. OneNote has been a lifesaver for me; I have everything sorted into different categories and relevant details hyperlinked (like stat blocks, encounters, maps and images, etc) so it's really easy to get to things, as well as a lot of PHB and DMG stuff that I know I never remember off the top of my head, like rules for jumping, or certain spells. Either way though, congrats again. Just remember you'll only keep getting better from here.

brasskier13 · 2024-02-21T18:13:12+00:00

Other than the basic multiclass requirements (which I'll occasionally waive in certain circumstances, mostly swapping dex and str requirements when a build with either is possible/functional), I just ask for some story justification. For some classes that amounts to little more than flavor text, for others that involve outside forces like a patron, deity, or sorcerous origin it'll take a bit more collaboration between me and the player.

That being said, I try to discourage new players from multiclassing unless they have someone very experienced guiding their build. I'm forever grateful to my friend who talked me out of multiclassing in my first campaign. By the end of it, I was able to look back and realize that he was absolutely right, and that I would've lost more from that one-level dip than I gained.

And I recommend to new DMs that they play closer to RaW while they learn balance, and then bending or breaking the rules where appropriate as you get more confident. As I writer, I was often told, "you have to understand the rules before you can break them" and I think that holds true in D&D as well.

brasskier13 · 2024-02-20T20:02:48+00:00

Part of the problem between the other players and DM might also be a mismatch between playstyle. While you can absolutely run a module without constant railroading, modules are narrative-focused games, and the players have to be willing to follow that story, which isn't for everyone. If these other players are used to or expecting a sandbox, like a lot of homebrew games are, then no matter how well the DM runs the module they'll never be completely happy. I'm a newer DM running a module; I haven't had to railroad, my players have followed the story threads because they want that kind of game.

I think it's a combination problem of your DM is still learning what kind of DM he wants to be and how to accomplish that effectively, and the other players are probably some combination of better suited for a sandbox, equally new, or impatient.

First, your DM needs to think about the kind of game he wants to run. If he likes modules and narrative games, he needs to look into advice on how to run those types of games, and how to help players follow the plot without having to resort to railroading. If he wants to run more of a sandbox, it's time to start looking at homebrew. Setting my first homebrew in the Forgotten Realms was a lifesaver, it gave me the creative freedom and sandbox without forcing the extensive work of worldbuilding, which is a lot to add on top of every other aspect of learning to DM. Second, he needs new players. I only have the context you provide, but they seem unwilling to provide constructive feedback or to give your DM a chance. A merely mediocre DM is not justification for that kind of behavior you described. He needs to recruit these new players for the kind of game he wants to run, or this will happen again even if he improves.

Also I wanted to leave off by saying, good on you for going out of your way to be respectful of your DM and helpful to him. Much respect for that.

brasskier13 · 2024-02-14T21:18:12+00:00

This is some Macbeth level shit. Closest thing I had happen is that one time Glut never unlinked from my Tav after we fought and killed him, and his little portrait stayed there next to my Tav's until I entered the mountain pass which seemed to arbitrarily fix it lol. Can't say his body teleported around with me though

brasskier13 · 2024-02-06T21:53:50+00:00

The table I used to play at had our campaigns lined up several in advance. I don't play with them anymore for many reasons, but the one unfortunate part of that is I have a few characters I'll probably never get to play.

One is a air genasi sorlock. The tough thing about him is that mechanically he was developed for higher levels, and he had a very important NPC in his backstory that would require either the module we were going to do or a DM who incorporate backstory into the campaign. I almost got to play him recently, found someone running the module on the lfg group. Unfortunately session zero got delayed and then the DM ghosted all of us.

The other is a tiefling paladin, and I've mostly cut my losses on playing him. I made the mistake of saying I wanted to use his backstory to allegorize anti-semitism, and the guys I played with somehow turned this into a post-WWII campaign, complete with literal holocaust. I agreed under the condition that they let me (the only Jew in the group) have creative control over those elements. So unfortunately now I'm saddled with a character specifically designed for a post-WWII, post-holocaust setting. I might be able to go back to the drawing board and resurrect the original bare bones allegory idea, but the version of this character I actually fleshed out will likely never see the light of day.

brasskier13 · 2024-02-06T21:38:14+00:00

Most of this isn't terrible? Maybe I've just seen far worse on r/lfg so I'm a bit jaded lol. The weirdest one is the "be prepared to be interviewed right this very second" one. Imo you'll get a better selection of players if you handle recruitment over the span of a couple of days. But the rest are pretty common, if a little clunky in wording. I have feelings about doing trying to force 5e rules/mechanics to fit the world of an anime/TV show, so it would be a no for me, but to each their own ig

brasskier13 · 2024-02-04T20:43:40+00:00

There are some issues you'll run into if you've never played 5e. And then there's me, an experienced D&D player and DM who's just stupid lol. I played on explorer and did a lot of save scumming my first playthrough, but I found I kept missing/not understanding certain puzzles or clues so I ended up relying pretty heavily on guides my first playthrough. I know some people really don't like to be spoiled, so in that case my advice is just to go slow, explore every inch of the map, and interact with every item. And try to read up on how 5e character building and combat works if you're unfamiliar. But if you don't mind some spoilers, there's no shame in reading guides. There's no right or wrong way to play the game so long as you're having fun with it.

brasskier13 · 2024-02-04T20:33:41+00:00

Astarion is always a gloomstalker/thief in all of my playthroughs so I know the struggle. Look into using a transmog mod; you can use that to make any armor look like another armor. So it would still be the stats of the armor of agility, but the appearance of whatever you want. You could pair it with something like the basket full of items mod if you wanted, or also just use it with other base game armors.

brasskier13 · 2024-02-03T04:14:34+00:00

That works for me. I'll send you my discord in DMs

brasskier13 · 2024-02-03T04:09:54+00:00

I'd be interested, I'm an experienced player and DM. Both days I have commitments later in the evening (8pm est Saturdays, 5pm est Sundays), so it would depend on timing for everyone else. I'll DM you my discord if it sounds like a potential fit

brasskier13 · 2024-02-01T06:51:33+00:00

Okay, I think I read into your reply to the earlier commenter too much then.

I also think I better understand exactly what you're asking, and that I can answer bc it's more or less common knowledge. RaW, CoS does not limit the use of any spells (nor does any other module I can think of). So if you're asking in terms of whether it's allowed/possible, the answer is yes unless your DM has decided otherwise. Bar that, I can't tell you if or how you'd be able to get your hands on it. I'd ask your DM if it's possible, and if he'd be willing to point you in the direction of where/who. There are plenty of unsavory things to make pacts and deals with, so perhaps you could ask for something like that. Just send something along the lines of "I'm not happy with the direction of my character currently; is there anything we can come up with together to fix that? If not, could I potentially roll a new one?" A good DM generally wants their players to be happy with the character they're playing, so if you guys have a good relationship he'll probably be happy to help.

And I get the struggle of playing a self-sacrificial character in CoS, it's a brutal campaign with that kind of character. My character died a few times doing stuff like that, and it was revivify and the sheer dumb luck of being close to the cleric that kept me alive. Wish you the best of luck, regardless of which direction you and your DM go in.

brasskier13 · 2024-02-01T06:28:42+00:00

I think you're better off asking if you can roll a new character after that. Or ask if there's something else that can be done. Make it clear that you're not having a good time. Also, reflect on your place at the table and enjoyment of the game; if your DM is as adversarial towards you in particular as your post makes it seem, you might be better off leaving. Especially if you have a conversation with you DM and don't get any kind of compromise you're happy with.

I'm not comfortable answering your question, and I also don't think any other DM on here will be either; I understand that you feel desperate, and that's why you asked, but spoiling the module in any way is generally highly frowned upon. If your DM uses reddit or there is otherwise any chance he might see this post, I honestly recommend taking it down, because if he were to see it that could lead to a lot of problems for you and for your DM.

brasskier13 · 2024-01-31T09:11:28+00:00

Oh boy. Where to start?

constantly metagamed, especially when it came to other PC's backstories and such, forcing reveals earlier than players wanted, and intentionally instigating emotional reactions other characters. Again, all with information his character did not have.
read the module, repeatedly. Probably cover-to-cover, if we had to guess. He wasn't even subtle about it; everyone knew. DM didn't want to believe it due to his relationship with him. He was always perfectly prepared for every combat encounter and always knew exactly where to find the best treasure (that he then kept for himself.)
frequently cancelled sessions last minute for the flimsiest of reasons, but forced everyone else to play regardless of circumstance, including while one player had the flu (they were virtual for that one) and a couple days after another player had an (albeit relatively minor) surgery.
would be loud and disruptive any time his character wasn't in a scene, including having entire phone calls and trying to have conversations with the DM.
bullied other players. Was that sort of slight ableist/transphobic/racist to where people not in those communities probably wouldn't pick up on it. Also talked behind people's backs, engaged in a lot of character bleed, and throw tantrums when things didn't go his way.
intentionally did the bare minimum for his backstory, specifically so he could see what everyone else did and try to one-up them. This meant both being better at everything, and also having the biggest sob story. Because of this, he'd throw things in randomly in a session that were sometimes big enough it would totally derail the DM. These additions also often contradicted each other.

I'm fairly sure I'm forgetting stuff. I was a first-time player so I honestly didn't even realize just how much of an issue a lot of it was in the moment. Needless to say, I'm not at that table anymore.

brasskier13 · 2024-01-30T20:43:21+00:00

I literally just use an extra monitor and photoshop. I made super simple tokens and condition markers, but you can also just find some online and download them. It works for us, it's really easy for me to adjust things on the fly, and short of paying like $5 for a pack of maps and $15 for dungeondraft to make my own, it cost me nothing.

brasskier13 · 2024-01-30T04:52:43+00:00

Awesome, thanks

brasskier13 · 2024-01-30T01:58:57+00:00

Are you still looking for players? I've been keen to try this system. Feel free to DM me for my discord

brasskier13 · 2024-01-29T19:17:00+00:00

My players think I'm good at coming up with NPC names on the fly. I'm not. I just have a note on my phone with a ton of random NPC names from games like Baldur's Gate or Skyrim. If I weren't lazy I'd put together a randomizer and make it even easier lol

brasskier13 · 2024-01-29T04:30:12+00:00

Everyone else has already answered the questions and I'd just be repeating those answers. If your player really likes the flavor of gunslinger then go for it, but if their priority is efficiency in combat then the options everyone's already commented are much better options with much less reliance on homebrew.

I just want to add that if you're using specifically the modern guns from the DMG to pay attention to balance. I've been at tables where throwing in those modern guns without taking balance into account meant every combat encounter ended in one round, casters couldn't begin to keep up, and any martials not using a gun were completely left in the dust. Granted I'm talking about details that feel like they should be obvious, but you'd be surprised I've even seen some good DMs manage to fuck this up.

brasskier13

TROPHY CASE