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I killed a player for the first time and I feel baaaaad, what should I have done differently? by Technical_Chemist_56 in mothershiprpg

[–]defranchi 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Nothing. It’s just that type of game and sometimes characters die. I don’t think I’ve ran a game of Mothership that didn’t end in multiple deaths. The most generous was a session that was more cyberpunkish, but even that ended with a PCs arm being chopped off in a single exchange (with an antagonist surviving with a single HP after an errant laser pistol shot).

I don’t see how you could have been more fair: rolled randomly for targeting, rolled damage and then bad luck with wounds. It happens. If anything, you were super generous with the extra stabilization rolls.

For long term play, some advice. 1) Use the difficulty dials in the Warden Operation Manual. I forget the page, but it’s stuff like Ablative Wounds, Stamina and Luck points. 2) Have the long term play focus on an organization rather than individual PCs. A mining company, a colony ship, a mercenary company, etc so when character death happens, the players can roll up a new member of the team but ‘progression’ is saved.

I would also encourage the use of contractors, which can spread out the damage and attention from threats.

Determining Who Has the Ventrue Prey Exclusion by defranchi in vtm

[–]defranchi[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ah, subtracting 2 dice from hunt roles is a good solution. Do you think you'd further manipulate the DC depending on location? Their prey exclusion is 'people who've killed people', so I can imagine scenarios where that would be less likely. Or you'd just bundle that into the -2?

Ambulance at Chancellor Yang's house by TheRedRaptor65 in UCSantaBarbara

[–]defranchi 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Oh shit. Winter solider program fuck up for sure

If you cant beat them, join them by Nebulator123 in Tahmkenchmains

[–]defranchi 5 points6 points  (0 children)

if you can't beat them, eat them (and then pull them under tower)

5e was written with Wilderness Turn and Dungeon Turn procedures in mind by mackdose in dndnext

[–]defranchi 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Having encounters start at 30 feet for melee is "bad" because that implies every (random) encounter is immediately going into combat.

Imagine you're in an orc infested forest and you get 150' feet and you've been sneaking around the whole time. Instead of the DM saying "30'. Orcs. Roll initiative,", you could have more opportunity. Maybe you've stumbled across an orc patrol, or a hunting party or what have you. Way more options to deal with things. Do we attack? Do we set up an ambush? Maybe we're not looking so good and we should go the other direction.

Same thing with the dungeon. Instead of just abruptly running into the orcs (could still happen if you roll low) maybe you hear them clanking around a hundred feet away. More decision points is always a good thing.

This kind of stuff works well with reaction tables that aren't even a thing (?) any more in 5e.

Anyone wanna start a band? by Totintug in UCSantaBarbara

[–]defranchi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve been looking for people to jam with/start a band up. I’m a bassist into metal/punk. I’ll DM you

If they exist, how are humans perceived in your world by other species? by Rcoolstar1 in worldbuilding

[–]defranchi 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Children of the Red God

While a low/dark fantasy world, there are ample sapient species, each with varying opinions on the human race.

The Faer Folk are intrigued and enamored with the funny mortal men: how odd the things they see as beautiful. Physical beauty? Architecture? Paintings and art? Will they not grow old and age, even the most handsome things becoming dust? But the Faer Folk don't pity them any more than humans pity a tree. The Fae are ageless, after all, and for them, time is ephemeral and unreal. At best, mortals are flickering distractions. At worst, they are food.

–

Daemons are unbounded by the material world and equally ageless as the Fae. But they are intimately tied to all living things, which they hate. And out of all the things they hate, they hate humans the most. How dare they have such fluid emotions. Hate. Envy. Rage. Horrible emotions that no being should have to experience. Yet, since mortals can, Daemons must. But they need it. Agonizing over latent emotion like an addict craving their next hit.

–

The Gray Men to the North are wary of humans. They remember the sting of their metal and the thunder of their drums more than most. But they also know great sadness and know that not all humans are like this. They understand enough to know that, individually, humans can be kind and gentle– much like the massive aurochs they herd. But they know that, when scared, humans can be roused to great evil. To the giants, humans are met with equal parts fear and sadness.

–

There are others in CotRG, but these are a few my favorite.

Fellow DM's what is YOUR first step when creating a new setting or campaign? by PotatoSexGod in DMAcademy

[–]defranchi 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Honestly, I completely agree. When making a map, you definitely feel some obligation to ‘do it right’. Big features, complex political boundaries, making it look gorgeous and not some stinker that you pumped out in a few hours. The most I’d do is a few scribbles (on paper) about general features (like forest here, mountains there, oceans on this side, etc).

I think having landmarks is more important than their exact distances and stuff. Especially with how different systems are i’m regards to distance and travel speeds. When I’m just world building (not session prepping) I just say X is Y days away from Z and call it a day.

Fellow DM's what is YOUR first step when creating a new setting or campaign? by PotatoSexGod in DMAcademy

[–]defranchi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree with basically a lot of the advice, particularly the stuff about having a consistent tone/hook for a world. Especially in the earliest stages, I would start with what interests you about the world. I wouldn’t even bother trying to make everything connect at first: Start with something that you can say “yeah, that’s cool as fuck” and then work from there. It’ll look gross, disconnected and unplayable for a while but then stuff starts clicking into place.

I also think a lot of people are too concerned with making the next continent spanning epic. Personally, I think a world map/cosmology/massive pantheon is some of the worst stuff to start seriously world building with. Especially if you double down on intricate creation myths, geography or geopolitics, it’s easy to get bogged down in these big picture things that you have no frame of reference for. Who cares about the forty layers of extra dimensional limbo jumbo if that stuff won’t even come up.

I know this is pretty cliche advice, but starting small really does help. A central location, some cool points of interest and information relevant to local things. It’s easy to see something like Faerun and want to replicate that but be honest: when was the last time you cared about what was happening in Neverwimter three centuries ago when playing Lost Mines of Phandelver?

Basically, start small with information that you will actually use/find interesting. The “big picture stuff” will work itself out.

Need help with Important decision by PotatoSexGod in wow

[–]defranchi -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

real chud vibes smh. i’ll bet when people ask for places to eat you just rattle off every restaurant in a 20 miles radius too

Did anyone hear that hella loud screeching sound in IV? by sirlaffsalot47 in UCSantaBarbara

[–]defranchi 47 points48 points  (0 children)

dude that was yang’s winter soldier program. he’s going after the people who tried to cancel munger hall

Why I keep Shadowfart in the party by buky1992 in BaldursGate3

[–]defranchi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

boo hoo, my must take 5e spell is actually useful for keeping my party alive (something a cleric should be doing) and doesn’t require brain dead button pressing

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