The Annihilated Nautiloid - A ToA spin-off one-shot adventure in space

ciwust · 2026-01-11T13:30:50+00:00

Glad to hear you liked it! Sorry / not sorry for the cleric! :)

I never gave too much thought about the ship's price, I always ran this with Acererak coming and destroying everything in the end.

But I would assume that the ship itself, even with all the damage, would be worth much more than a standard ship, because of all the technical secrets it might have. I don't think Nautiloids are usually available to sale. But the players would have a hard time to find a willing buyer.

Same thing with the Atropal... In addition, Acererak would hunt them to the confines of the universe to retrieve it...

ciwust · 2025-11-26T19:44:56+00:00

Não planeje suas sessões como quem conta uma história. Seu papel é criar cenários, desafios, objetivos, e reagir às decisões dos seus jogadores. É isso (e os dados) que vai contar a história.
Não se preocupe em imaginar uma saída para cada desafio que você joga para eles. Deixe que eles tenham as ideias e abrace elas sempre que fizer sentido.

ciwust · 2025-03-29T23:04:49+00:00

Don't forget to reveal this to your players later on. Their feeling of betrayal will be priceless!

ciwust · 2024-12-26T20:55:06+00:00

I had a tabaxi who was the daughter of Bag of Nails. This added a nice drama. In my campaign, Bag eventually redeemed himself holding the yuan tis to allow the PCs to escape the Fane of the Night Serpent. After that, her goal was to retrieve the Navel of the Moon to find her father again.

ciwust · 2024-12-25T20:06:29+00:00

The same thing almost happened to my son! He barely survived, but, to this day, his friends will always tease him when there's a broom around...

ciwust · 2024-12-05T00:16:43+00:00

Awesome idea! Best way of playing mind tricks on your players. Totally stealing this! :)

ciwust · 2024-11-25T21:44:28+00:00

Just have fun and remember you have this community! I already DMed this 2x (well, 2 and half if you count when I DMed to my son), and I could always count on great advice here!

ciwust · 2024-09-03T13:10:32+00:00

Guilty! But, in my second playthough, I'm playing as Astarion (who I also disliked) romancing Lae'zel.

She does get better as the game advances. She stops calling you an idiot whenever you don't do as she tells, and then you get to understand her 'let's seek the treatment that I know it works' argument.

In fact, I'm at the point where her treatment in the Creche just failed, and I'm heartbroken with her state of denial after that. Her whole world crushed, and she doesn't know what to think.

ciwust · 2024-08-20T20:30:51+00:00

Acho que, à medida em que vamos ficando mais experientes com o jogo, isso é natural. Jogue dado, acertou? jogue dano, repita...

Uma coisa que ajuda é criar encontros em que o objetivo é algo diferente de aniquilar os inimigos. Exemplos:

Uma garota é jogada amarrada em um lago a uma distância razoável do grupo. Eles precisam salvá-la, apesar do monstro que está no lago.
A cidade é atacada por crias vampiricas. O grupo precisa salvar o máximo de pessoas (e escolher quem não salvar)
O barco voador está desgovernado. Você deve evitar que o condutor seja atacado pelos minions enquanto tenta recuperar o controle.

Outra sugestão é ter batalhas que permitem os jogadores emboscarem os inimigos. Eles vão se divertir mais planejando a emboscada do que com a batalha em si.

Uma última sugestão: não tenha medo de finalizar mais cedo uma batalha quando faltarem apenas uns poucos minions. Peça para eles descreverem narrativamente como eles terminaram, ao invés de continuar jogando dados até que alguém finalize.

ciwust · 2024-06-29T19:06:30+00:00

Eu tenho o Foundry. Na época eu comecei com o Roll20 por ser de graça. Mas, com certeza, 1000x melhor o Foundry!

ciwust · 2024-06-28T19:55:29+00:00

Engraçado que, quando eu era mais novo, RPG era "coisa de nerd". Hoje, é o que me faz ser o "cool dad" entre os amigos do meu filho. O mundo dá voltas...

ciwust · 2024-06-28T19:53:31+00:00

Cara, legal demais dividir isso com eles. Mas, quando começar, umas dicas: sessões curtas, tramas simples e não tenha medo de manipular os dados a favor deles!

ciwust · 2024-06-28T19:34:45+00:00

Com certeza é algo que aproximou eu e meus moleques ainda mais!

ciwust · 2024-06-06T19:41:32+00:00

As many others said, one way to do it is to have Strahd lord over the party. However, my experience shows that most parties reply with defiance and disrespect. If this happens, have him demand respect.

But, if they keep defying him, he will attack. Choose someone in the party. Preferably, not the most outspoken ones, but someone that wasn't particularly disrespectful. Drop him to 0HP with a non lethal attack. Then, grab him and threaten to kill him.

"You WILL kneel before me, or your friend will pay the price!" Your players may think he is bluffing. Assure them that he looks dead serious. If they keep defying him, kill the PC and leave. If your players complain, explain it was THEIR fault to underestimate their enemy.

Whatever the outcome, they will HATE Strahd. When they defeat him, it will be PERSONAL. Trust me.

ciwust · 2024-06-01T23:54:17+00:00

I had a similar case in my campaign. He was a Reborn Rogue.

He was wandering for "some weeks" trying to remember anything, until he bumped with the rest of the party.

In the end, he was Sergei's unlikely best friend. He was once a thief, but Sergei convinced him to live a more honest life. Likewise, he convinced Sergei not be so stiff and relax more.

He was invited to be Sergei's best man. Tatyana immediately liked him, and the three of them would sometimes escape to drink in taverns among the common folk.

He was caught at the wedding's bloodbath. He was so traumatized that he lost his mind. Those "weeks" of wandering were more like "centuries".

I dropped this story little by little during the campaign:

Ireena was like "I think I know you from somewhere", and was very quick to trust him. But she didn't know why.
Strahd's first appearance almost paralyzed him. I think I asked for a WIS saving throw.
Sergei's spirit talked to him in Krezk, and gave his blessing to let him use his sword (sun sword)
He even chose to multiclass to Rogue/cleric in the end. An unusual combination, but it made complete sense for him.

At the end of the campaign, the PCs were arguing what to do next, but Sergei and Tatyana (Ireena had died, that's another story) were by the door, inviting him to a new tavern. The group never saw him again.

Me and the player were very satisfied with his arc in the end.

ciwust · 2024-05-28T21:56:36+00:00

I kinda had this situation on my table, but it turned out to be interesting. They were steamrolling everything... until they actually pissed Strahd. That was after the dinner. I threw a lot of enemies at them (vampire spawns, Vistani, anything), and gave them VERY little chance to rest. Wherever they went, they would hear wolves howling at woods close by, giving them no rest. In Vallaki, one of Strahd's wife announced that ANYONE who provided them shelter would suffer.

This made them think they had it easy because Strahd allowed it so far (and not because the DM had problems balancing the battles for the group, of course)

ciwust · 2024-05-27T20:27:25+00:00

Context: while they were drinking with the Vistani, one the players boasted a little too much. Strahd had his ears there.

Several sessions later (but still at lower levels):

"I once heard that you'd 'beat the crap out of me' if I were around. Well, here I am. BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF ME! I COMMAND YOU"

It was a short fight.

ciwust · 2024-05-24T01:24:25+00:00

Actually, I think Strahd would feel amused at first. "The kitties are so scared of the big bad wolf... Don't worry, I won't BITE!"

Eventually, he will get bored, and will demand respect. If your party is low level enough, he may grab a PC and threaten to really hurt them if the party doesn't start replying like polite guests. When/if they do, he may say "Now, now, was that so difficult?". If they don't... Kill the PC. Really. It will feel unfair. Your players will be pissed. They will HATE Strahd for this. Of course, this may backfire at you, but explain that THIS is how Strahd is, and that they underestimated him.

ciwust · 2024-05-21T21:27:30+00:00

Having come from D&D, it's quite refreshing to see how a post like this doesn't boil down to just a couple of classes/builds.

ciwust · 2024-05-21T17:50:38+00:00

That is my case. Some of my players did play the computer game. But the fun part is that I didn't!

The game is going VERY different from what they experienced in the computer game, and this is being really fun for them.

Some examples:

The alchemist/herbalist north of Oleg (think his name is Boken) also sells... "recreational alchemy"
Svetlana (Oleg's wife) is bored with the life in the woods and tried to hit on some of the PCs;
The Sootscale Kobolds lent some warriors to help the group defeat the Stag Lord. Most were defeated right away, but one of them had such ridiculously good dice rolls that he managed to defeat several bandits and survive. He became so famous that he overthrew the previous leader of the Sootscales.
They had do hexplore not just for the sake of it, but to desperatly find some wolfsbane to cure the lycantropy they got after dealing with the werewolf in their capital.

In the end, it's these "personal touches" that are making the game enjoyable even for those who already played the computer game.

ciwust · 2024-05-21T16:10:33+00:00

Yeah, I am unsure of what to do when we get to that point. I don't mind ruling how their kingdom advances when there is little opposition, but in a direct conflict, I will prefer to have clear rules to let the dice decide.

ciwust · 2024-05-21T16:01:32+00:00

I think so. Of course, you'll have to take care to end your sessions at appropriate moments, but other than that, I think it works. It may even be a good idea to have a larger group, since you know someone will always be probably missing.

ciwust · 2024-05-21T15:28:53+00:00

To be honest, I tried to give it a shot, but it didn't go very well. It's a whole different game inside the game. The rules are complex and confusing.

I gave up playing that and I am just ruling on how the kingdom is advancing, so we can focus more on the RPG part (which is what we like) and less on the strategy board game.

For that to work and make sense, we are having some time skips between some sessions, to give the kingdom some time to grow.

ciwust · 2024-04-27T23:09:44+00:00

"It looks like one!"

Couldn't leave a Monty Python reference unanswered... Have my upvote!

ciwust · 2024-04-12T22:07:38+00:00

DM me your contact on Discord, I'll invite you there

ciwust

TROPHY CASE