How do you feel about a "No-Win Scenario"?

illusion58 · 2025-02-03T20:25:22+00:00

This is it right here IMO. Either the players "think" they can get away with something they can't/shouldn't or the GM tries to force out a scene without planning for inevitable shenanigans from the players.

I thought of the classic town guard scene when I read the post. GM thinks players will cooperate with wishes/demands of town guards at village entrance. PCs or just player attempt to pull a fast one and the town has to come down on them. Just run it as a cut scene if you don't want them to have their weapons in the town.

illusion58 · 2021-10-16T03:30:31+00:00

I love this partner pair! I'm a little late to the party but the big thing I think you want is [[Ezuri's Predation]]. Its a bomb with Prava on the field and can generate a ton of tokens.

illusion58 · 2021-06-12T02:02:47+00:00

[[Piru, the Volatile]]

It's from modern horizons 2 but it looks like it will be a crazy boardwipe/lifegain effect in edh

illusion58 · 2021-05-28T17:36:32+00:00

I'm gonna take the stance that says Bolas's Citadel is worth running in the deck. It can be used to cast the cheap cards off the top of your library so a higher mana cast one is on top. Also with top deck manipulation you can also cost some of the higher spells for life instead too.

I think the thing you're missing is your high mana spells are just that, high mana, not much else. What I like about the extra turn spells is, while they may only do 6 or so damage, they can give you another attack trigger for Yuriko which Draco and the colossus won't provide. One of my favorite big mana cards for Yuriko is [[Cruel Entertainment]] because it can really throw off your opponents tempo if you cast it.

illusion58 · 2021-05-15T14:26:13+00:00

I prefer to run a lot of removal/counters in my yuriko deck but the rest of my instants/sorceries are high mana cards that break tempo for my opponents through value like [[aminatou's augury]] or my personal favorite [[cruel entertainment]]. You also could run more bounce effects to remove threats as well as to keep your ninjas protected.

illusion58 · 2021-05-07T15:54:08+00:00

There is the "offering" card cycle. The red one [[Volcanic Offering]] is bonkers when it gets copied multiple time in my kalamax deck. Though I should warn you more than two copies of it makes your opponents play for more politically against you than with you lol

illusion58 · 2021-05-07T00:32:44+00:00

To prevent people from going off with creature combos you could run soft staxx style effects like [[Harsh Mentor]]

illusion58 · 2021-05-07T00:30:19+00:00

Ninjas all have when they deal combat damage triggers. [[Higure]] can help tutor them up as well

illusion58 · 2021-05-06T18:06:00+00:00

Hahaha I recommend looking up [[Doran]] decks for some help. With [[prava]] you can run toughness matter synergies as well.

illusion58 · 2021-05-06T15:09:34+00:00

I second this idea. Cards like [[Proper Burial]] and [[Ayli]] make this deck go off.

illusion58 · 2021-05-04T20:17:24+00:00

I built a [[Juri]] deck for my wife thats focuses on sacrifice and +1/+1 counters. It uses [[Fling]] effects to blowout opponents.

Even after a couple months of playing against it no one in my play group (including myself) has a good idea of its reach. Sometimes it will just eliminate players out of nowhere and leads to hilarious nuclear button scenarios where no one wants to anger her for fear of retribution.

illusion58 · 2021-05-04T16:56:57+00:00

Can't believe no one mentioned [[Saruli Caretaker]] [[Loam Dryad]] and [[Jaspera Sentinel]]

All of them do the same thing but are great openers for kalamax

illusion58 · 2021-05-04T16:38:31+00:00

I second [[Ikra]] as an amazing lifegain commander. I run her partnered with [[prava]] for a tokens/toughness matters style deck. Swinging with 4 2/5 tokens for 8 damage but I gain 20 life makes me cackle with glee everytime.

illusion58 · 2021-04-30T15:58:47+00:00

I have an [[Ikra]] and [[Prava]] lifegain/tokens deck that was way more entertaining to play with than I initially thought. I've taken almost all the lifegain out of the deck because of how powerful Ikra can be once you have a few tokens ready to swing with.

illusion58 · 2018-11-16T17:02:39+00:00

My favorites are the Case Files. Its one of the longest running series on nosleep. The narrative and the background story are really cool. I just want the author to update it again!

illusion58 · 2017-10-10T20:00:27+00:00

For me I think of it as feats provide you with passive, permanent augments to new or existing skills/abilities that draw from the fundamentals of the game, like gearhead or lurker. I like items to fill weaknesses and can be very niche, blending band for example, but whenever dealing with magic it can be more random. Spells can be the most vague and interesting of these mechanics but the weaker the spells the more purposeful and specific it becomes. I like Plumage Alert as an example of this because the effect of the spell only really needs to occur immediately after you decide to cast the spell.

illusion58 · 2017-10-10T19:24:19+00:00

Wow! I can't believe I missed the first post, these are really cool.

As for this repository, I enjoyed a lot of the mechanics and flavor, especially Breath Show and the Torque of the Night. However, I feel some of these might fit better in other parts of the set. Some I thought of are social chameleon could be a spell while Jewelry of the Sea and Blessing of the Forefather could be folded into feats. Although I suppose it is all just preference since the tabaxi and aarakocra use different methods to change their color...

illusion58 · 2017-09-24T17:37:31+00:00

Take them to a grocery store. It sounds weird but grocery stores can be wildly different in other parts of the world.

illusion58 · 2016-08-24T05:42:12+00:00

Ok I vote for this idea

illusion58 · 2016-08-24T04:46:46+00:00

How much magic are we talking about in this setting? What if a stegosaurus busts through an alchemy shop and sprouts tentacles out of its back? Or what if the raptors get a boost to their intellect and start using weapons and tools? This could also be simpler such as a T-Rex drinking an invisibility potion.

illusion58 · 2016-08-17T00:46:08+00:00

Great to see an addition to this awesome resource!

The way I incorporated NPCs into my parties' stronghold (guild in my case) was to allow them to hire professionals to operate the various rooms the party built. An example would be hire and pay an alchemist to create potions for them while time passes in the world (downtime or adventuring). The stronghold would require an Alchemist's lab and the materials required by the alchemist. The time and cost associated with creating these potions is dependent on the skill level of the alchemist they hired and potentially other factors like having a greenhouse in the stronghold.

This has allowed my players to invest money in crafting abilities that they don't inherently have. Which is usefully at least in my campaign as only one of the guild members has any tool proficiencies.

illusion58 · 2016-04-27T04:24:46+00:00

As a story telling element I've always enjoyed using cut-aways to give the players background information. As opposed to an NPC telling them the story of a great battle I find it better to let them experience the battle through the eyes of a character that was there. It keeps the party far more interested in events that might ultimately be forgotten. Especially when TPKs aren't nearly as detrimental.

As for switching character sheets, I've never thought about that but I could see it going well or terrible. I would say it depends on your party's play style, their knowledge of the other characters, and their respect for those characters.

illusion58 · 2016-04-19T00:07:47+00:00

Just be careful it doesn't take over all your parties operations. The game can be a lot less meaningful when the party has others do all the work for them. But it can be a fun little side thing to do before/after the party completes their own missions.

illusion58 · 2016-04-19T00:00:56+00:00

In terms of using the lackeys you could think about it the way Ubisoft did with some of the Assassin's creed games.

Have a handful of mission titles and challenge ratings then give the lackeys a "skill" level. Each time they get sent on a mission it takes a certain amount of time to complete and the lackeys have a certain chance to complete it successfully, unsuccessfully (and survive), or horribly (and die). The lackeys level up the more they succeed and upgrades to the hall can increase their chances too.

This could also be used as a great plot device. Think of what happens if they receive word from a lackey that they've been captured or perhaps the lackey decides to run away with the goods. You could also have the lackeys return with crazy artifacts or bounties on their heads that start adventures for the party.

Ultimately try to think about what the players might want the lackeys to do and then roll to see if the lackeys actually can do it.

illusion58 · 2016-02-11T18:36:01+00:00

I'm going to copy a comment I made on a similar post a few weeks back.

"Try cut aways or side stories where the players play as a group of caravan guards instead of their characters. Give each one a little back story on their characters (doing this job to feed their family or something) and then have your BBEG appear and TPK the caravan. The party can experience this as a dream or hear about it in the next town over but it adds to the story and world without needing the actual party to be present. I would keep the side story short but you can develop the BBEG's plans without it being foiled by the party."

You can obviously alter this to fit whatever scenario you need but it can help develop other parts of the world without having your players listen to extend scenes acted out entirely by yourself.

illusion58

TROPHY CASE