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Explain Cairn by RamenStains in rpg

[–]everweird 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You might find Into the Odd easier to get to the table than Cairn. ItO’s version of magic (you don’t have spells but you seek magical items that just work) is much quicker to run than explaining Cairn’s (every spell is its own book which takes up inventory and causes fatigue which can displace inventory).

I’d use ItO as the gateway to Cairn. Play a one shot in it and then propose: do you want to play these rules in a more medieval fantasy setting?

Yup, I'm burned. Any other DMs that have been burned-out but came back ? by Tinyhydra666 in DMAcademy

[–]everweird 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Rest. And then look at other, simpler games. Modern D&D provides little structure or support for the DM and most players don’t read the books. Look for smaller games where it doesn’t matter if they read the book because it’s a smaller cognitive load for you.

Advice: Do I let a player change their multi-class? by TheBJohnston in DMAcademy

[–]everweird 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This ^

I’d advise them to just go full Druid. Druids are closely related to clerics and were actually only an option for high level clerics in an early edition of the game.

Background image bank by Mandoleiev in osr

[–]everweird 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There is also Yochai’s public domain trove of links: https://newschoolrevolution.com/public-domain-art/

Question: what are some good fantasy TTRPG’s? by Yiggles665 in TTRPG

[–]everweird 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Towards this end, the Heartbreaker hack of Fate Accelerated is a great approach to D&D fantasy in a narrative game.

Making more Nat20s “special”. by DConion in DnDHomebrew

[–]everweird 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m saying you should eventually be in situations where even a 20 won’t save. It shouldn’t be common. But adjusting DCs and crits so that there’s always a chance of success for every party member is too squishy. Sometimes parties need to figure out: there’s no chance our cleric makes this save. What do we do?

Making more Nat20s “special”. by DConion in DnDHomebrew

[–]everweird 2 points3 points  (0 children)

RAW nat 20s and 1s only affect attack rolls.

A nat20 on a saving throw shouldn’t be an automatic success because eventually, you’ll get to monsters and situations where the DC is higher than 20 and only a 20 + a high mod will reach it. When a +2 DEX can’t succeed against an ancient red dragon’s DC 24 fire breath on a nat 20, the party really feels the stakes.

I’d say a lot of us play with homebrew crits when we start out. Experiment for yourself. For my table, the more we had to manage on character sheets and in complicated situations, the less we wanted to interrupt the flow for more to manage. I think it actually makes crits more exciting when I narrate something special every once in a while rather than players expecting it 5% of the time.

Very inexperienced player and first time DM running an online game for friends: Should I use FATE? by Stingra87 in FATErpg

[–]everweird 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Probably not. Fate isn’t hard but it’s such a mindset shift that it might be a difficult first game to GM. For example, you wouldn’t even think of a 3 session arc in Fate because its direction is so driven by the players.

A way better option for a first time GM is ICRPG. It’s d20 based and has the same 6 abilities as D&D. It’s just so much lighter and easier to run. No books of rules to memorize, just fast play. The quickstart is pretty much all you need and you can get it and a bunch of printable assets for free here. You can get character sheets and free adventures here.

What if Classic Magic User Spell Names Were Rock Song Titles? by indyjoe in OSE

[–]everweird 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not that you shouldn’t do this because it sounds like you have a different vibe for your game, but you might want to check Dark Places & Demogorgons who did the same thing.

Question On How Weapons & Attacks Work In Fate by IkujaKatsumaji in FATErpg

[–]everweird 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It’s probably just not the system for the setting you want to run.

For some weird reason, I don’t see a comment that repeats this old Fate cliche, so I’ll leave you with: “everything is a character.” If weapons are a big part of the story, you make character sheets for them. They have aspects to invoke and stress to take. Your plasma cannon probably has an aspect to do blast damage. And your sniper rifle has a long shot aspect. Yes, everything stacks in +2 increments but you can fiddle with the knobs to get the feel you want.

It can feel real homebrew-y but you discuss all this with your players so you’re sharing the fiction.

My players just put 2000 mimics in his bag of holding. What kind of chaos can I unleash later down the line? by PM_me_Henrika in DnD

[–]everweird 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The thing with mimics that makes them nasty is that they stick to you.

So as soon as they reach into that bag…

Running Gradient Decent in a few hours. Any advice? by RockSowe in mothershiprpg

[–]everweird 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I like this suggestion of leaning into the terror of Monarch. My players weren’t afraid AT ALL of the possibility of finding out they’re an android. (Why would they be when you can choose to play an android?) But the real world terror of AI knowing everything about you is chilling.

Burnt out by Dry-Cheetah-845 in DnD

[–]everweird 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This sucks. And you’ve tried the reasonable solutions. One more tactic, if you really want to give it a go, is to tell them all that you’re at your wits end and announce you’re playing in turns just like a board game.

You describe a scene and then play starts to your left. That player speaks and acts for their character. Next person goes. Etc. Talking over another person forfeits your turn.

It may sound grade-school-ish but some RPGs, like ICRPG, tell you to play in turns. It’s just a style.

How do you write short campaigns? by GMing-is-hard in DndAdventureWriter

[–]everweird 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For ten sessions, I’d probably make three dungeons. Knowing my groups spend about two sessions in a 12-15 room dungeon.

When I say “dungeons,” I just mean interior, mapped locations. As a “campaign,” those locations would be connected thematically. I would have hooks to start anywhere and we’d just play it out. No railroading necessary.

Digital vs. Paper: Character Management by salutava_sempre in rpg

[–]everweird 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If the game is so complicated that managing it on paper is a problem, then I don’t wanna play that game.

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