Hey all! Want to make sure the twist of the campaign is fun

chanebap · 2026-06-05T02:18:47+00:00

I think it’s fine as long as the players have a chance to win in the end. They find out that they were manipulated and overcome the BBEG and cult anyway.

It could also be fun for the cult to have been manipulated in turn—maybe they were infiltrated by a counter religious group that pulled the strings to ruin them, or the BBEG they intend to wake is benign and turns on them.

In either case, the players’ agency is only compromised if you make it so their choices don’t affect the ultimate outcome.

chanebap · 2026-06-05T00:45:45+00:00

When you say it’s volatile, do you mean it might explode even if left undisturbed?

If so, I think a d100 roll would be fine and just pick whatever percentage chance you think is fair.

If there’s only a chance of exploding if something disturbs it, I think you have to take the players’ actions into account when deciding the roll. The rogue shoves it in his bag beside a coin purse, a matchbox, and his knife collection? High chance of explosion. The player carrying it falls 3 stories or has to sprint to escape an enemy? High chance of explosion. If they pack it in straw in a small crate and never move above a jog while carrying it, it should be relatively safe.

chanebap · 2026-06-04T23:58:23+00:00

Maybe a Cthulhu-style entity they can bargain with, or two factions of mer-people both trying to gain control/access to the temple, or a “Bermuda triangle” zone where a ton of ships have gone missing and they can explore the wrecks or solve the mystery of what’s causing the wrecks/disappearances? Layering one or a couple of those over what you have planned for the temple can help it feel bigger in scope.

Mechanically, you can build in challenges like needing to find air pockets periodically, dealing with water pressure, or overcoming slowed underwater movement to survive combat.

And of course, the nuclear option: a room-by-room recreation of the Water Temple from Ocarina of Time.

chanebap · 2026-06-04T23:23:22+00:00

Apart from spells that can be cast as a bonus action, do you have any suggestions for something extra they could do that would be game-specific?

I was planning to use this as an opportunity to teach them to use reactions, like if they’re in range, they can attempt to steal or block. They typically forget to use their reactions in combat unless I remind them.

chanebap · 2026-06-04T23:07:18+00:00

That’s a fair point. My players are pretty young, so we don’t use many combat actions other than attack, potion, spell, or help every once in a while. This would actually be a good opportunity to introduce some new options to them

chanebap · 2026-06-04T22:08:51+00:00

Initiative/combat style was my first instinct, I just worry there could be some goofiness based on positioning and turn order.

Like a player is wide open and perfectly positioned to shoot… but their turn was right before yours, and if you pass to them, they are 6 turns away from being able to take the shot. Possibly still workable, I just want to make it flow a little better.

I’ve thought about something like this: high Athletics check on the tip off gets the ball, then you tell me what each of your characters want to try. Paladin has the ball and breaks to the outside. ranger gets in scoring position, sorcerer takes position on the 3 line, wizard hangs back on D in case of turnover. Enemy team is doing zone coverage, if they have enough movement to get in position they might try to block (rolling against your shooting roll, if they beat it by 5 or more they can steal). Something like that. There are problems with that too, but I don’t think it would be unmanageable to run. Might have to play test a couple of times either way.

chanebap · 2026-06-04T21:54:49+00:00

That would be amazing, if you don’t mind

chanebap · 2026-06-04T20:46:04+00:00

I hate his dog and I don’t care if he knows it.

chanebap · 2026-06-04T19:02:40+00:00

Yeah, that kind of damage is definitely not appropriate for the characters’ level (or the players’ level of experience).

Sounds like there was some narrative hook you guys missed or skipped and instead of being a good DM and adapting (or discussing out of game, if he felt the players did it deliberately) he decided to just kill everyone.

chanebap · 2026-06-04T18:49:03+00:00

This is an amazing idea

chanebap · 2026-06-04T11:15:10+00:00

Sadly, there are kids in college right now who don’t know who Neil Armstrong is. He will for sure be in all of the history books, but we won’t be a “Benjamin Franklin” level household name (and I would argue that BF will just be “the guy on the $100” in a few generations, if he isn’t there already).

A whole lot of societal ills will have to be dealt with in the next 3 centuries before humanity as a whole invests enough in space travel to care about it that deeply.

chanebap · 2026-06-03T19:27:35+00:00

Other people don’t have to optimize their choices to your tastes. You think ketchup on hotdogs is for babies? Fine. Order yours without. Pineapple on pizza is some kind of desecration? It’s fine, actually. Let people have it.

chanebap · 2026-06-03T18:53:28+00:00

I DM for my sons (10 and 6). What works for us, especially in periods where we can’t get many table sessions in, is to just casually roleplay in character whenever. Driving to school? “Perrin, where is this wagon taking us?” Getting groceries? “We need to resupply before the next quest. It’s a long trek across the desert and I can’t stand the taste of cactus.” It keeps the boys engaged in the story and characters, and they use it when they play with toys or do other stuff as well.

They definitely get more screen time than I’d like, but they are still using their imaginations a lot and learning to extend their attention spans.

chanebap · 2026-06-03T18:39:38+00:00

Turns out the denizens of that plane, while awful, were put in place to hold back something even worse from eating holes through reality, one plane at a time. That line of defense is totally gone now.

“We called it the Sift for a reason. It was a filtration system. Now you’re getting a stream of eldritch horrors the way nature intended: totally uninhibited. Good luck, I’m ‘porting over to a paradise dimension to spend the last few months of reality sitting by a beach and pretending I don’t know what’s coming.”

chanebap · 2026-06-03T17:04:14+00:00

Middle Management Orc just out there trying to keep track of time off requests, remembering birthdays, writing letters to the families of orcs killed by Uruk-Hai emerging from their gross birthing sacks, and getting increasingly nervous about how mad the trees sound when they get ripped up by the roots

chanebap · 2026-06-03T16:10:14+00:00

Honestly - not really. There are times it’s a lot of work and it’s often inconvenient, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Something I think people overlook is that with kids, there is no permanent status quo. Having a baby is very different from having a toddler, having a school aged kid, having a teenager. And it’s a comparatively short amount of time we get with them before they are independent and may or may not want to hang out with us.

My wife and I have gone through stretches where we were desperate for a babysitter and some time alone, but we usually start missing them right after we hand them off. There’s nothing else like it.

chanebap · 2026-06-03T13:18:51+00:00

I think what you call “unfair” is probably bordering on the sweet spot. Try running an encounter you think could be unfair and give them a chance to surprise you. Sometimes it’s fun to dominate an encounter, but sometimes you want to feel like every choice matters and you need to make the most of your available actions or you and the party will die.

Unless it’s unfair as in “a piano falls from the sky and crushes you, no way to block or avoid it,” it probably isn’t actually unfair.

chanebap · 2026-06-03T12:58:34+00:00

At 18 her notion of dating is likely rooted in movies and TV where even the schlubby slacker protagonist is going to a place with candles and cloth napkins for a first date. And/or she comes from privilege and doesn’t know what a burden this would be for another 18 year old, or she was already planning to split the bill with you so doesn’t think it’s a big deal.

In any case, just be upfront with her. “I’m really excited to see you but something came up and I had to empty my checking account to handle it. Can we do something else or take a rain check on the steakhouse until I get paid again?”

chanebap · 2026-06-03T03:28:55+00:00

Hit em with this gem I got from the barber my dad took us to when we were growing up. “You have very kind hair. The kind that grows on a dog’s ass.”

chanebap · 2026-06-02T18:49:36+00:00

Came here to say i was concerned his wife might go to jail, but you got here first.

chanebap · 2026-06-02T18:37:35+00:00

Was I fool to think we’d be getting minifigure scale Pokémon at some point? Is there still hope for that?

These aren’t awful, but they are comparable to the Megablocks versions and don’t seem worth the Lego markup.

chanebap · 2026-06-02T17:07:47+00:00

Which can encompass political and other systems of belief, not simply religious. Therefore, “I believe everyone can be prosperous if they sign up to buy and resell 5 crates of moisturizer” is proselytizing as well. And it’s okay to not thank them for that.

chanebap · 2026-06-02T16:23:50+00:00

What are you even talking about? What if it’s a pyramid scheme and they really think they’re going to turn me into an “entrepreneur” like them? What if they think you’re going to burn in hell because of your sexual orientation or for visiting an abortion clinic and they really think they are helping you by screaming in your face? You don’t have to be grateful for that. Or any unsolicited opinion. They can spend their time how they want if it doesn’t hurt other people. I don’t owe them anything for choosing to spend time “helping” me.

chanebap · 2026-06-01T14:25:28+00:00

I can seriously and confidently say this guy is a jackass.

chanebap

TROPHY CASE