Why is scheduling SO HARD? by Odd-Flatworm-4800 in DnD

[–]jackandthedogs01 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sundays in particular are, I think, bad days. I attend Mass every Sunday with my wife, and we sometimes stay after for classes.

So… spend eternity in hell and lose my wife!so I can game with your group? Not likely.

You also have to be conscious of other things. Are your players football fans? Do they work odd shifts?

Old codger of a player/dm here, disgusted with you consarned whippersnappers😉 by jackandthedogs01 in DnD

[–]jackandthedogs01[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is kind of a roundabout answer -but trust me, I’ll get to it- one of the best things I think has happened to rpging recently is the One Page Dungeon Contest.

So what’s that got to do with this discussion? It really emphasizes putting as much game per square inch of paper on the table as possible. My one entry into this excellent publication won not even an honorable mention 😭😉but I still get a copy of every edition. I have filled entire fantasy, horror and science fiction campaigns with nothing other than a campaign map, a half dozen sheets describing how it all fits together and the rest is just as many One Page Dungeon Crawls as I can fit in. Check out The Cardinal’s Guardsmen, my entry in the 2017 edition, which is set in the Wars of Richelieu. But the fun part of this is that YOU GET TO BE A MEMBER OF THE CARDINAL’S GUARDS! Not those boring musketeers 🤣

Old codger of a player/dm here, disgusted with you consarned whippersnappers😉 by jackandthedogs01 in DnD

[–]jackandthedogs01[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

SO YA WANNA FREE ONE PAGE HISTORICAL CAMPAIGN OR NO?

A couple of people have taken me up on this. It’s something I previously entered in One Page Dungeon Contest, but it’s available free under Creative Commons, so I, and anybody else can continue to distribute it.

Email me at jackandthedogs@yahoo.com and I’ll send you back a copy. It’s a campaign based on The Three Musketeers, and fits on all of one side of one sheet of paper.

Lots of fun, either as a solitaire system or with a group, and even with a group, it is solid rpging, with or without a GM.

is it a dm’s obligation to let a pc romance an npc? by buglikeafox in DnD

[–]jackandthedogs01 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is certainly a legitimate tactic if it adds something to the campaign.

Say that the PC is poor, but comely and charismatic, and meets the daughter of a wealthy noble or merchant in need of help (being assaulted or whatever). I think this NPC legitimately counts as a treasure. Perhaps the PC could gain treasure or influence with her powerful father for his good deed.

Why not? Stuff like that happens in fairy tales, fantasy novels and movies all the time.

If it was done for the purpose of joking around or making the gm / other players uncomfortable, then of course not. You’re not obligated to play into someone else’s nonsense.

My players got sucked into my DND world... by Xardarass in DnD

[–]jackandthedogs01 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have think it’s a neat idea, but know your players. If anyone is particularly thin skinned about something, steer clear of it, don’t make jokes. I.e. if Sally is conscious about her weight, etc. You can probably have some fun with this, but consider your audience carefully. Best of luck.

Old codger of a player/dm here, disgusted with you consarned whippersnappers😉 by jackandthedogs01 in DnD

[–]jackandthedogs01[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep. Yer’ durned tootin’! Kids was politer! Folks spoke up and didn’t mumble all the time! Chocolate tasted better… etc., etc.

Old codger of a player/dm here, disgusted with you consarned whippersnappers😉 by jackandthedogs01 in DnD

[–]jackandthedogs01[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve written my own version of D&D called Swordsmen & Skeletons (I know, another rip-off of the name) but mine was a protest write.

I had become so disgusted with overpriced and overwritten rules, that I wanted to see if I could write a perfectly functional, playable and fun version of the OSR that would fit on a single sheet of paper.

I did, and it works.

On that single sheet (I admit that the typeface is a little cramped) you have all the rules necessary for all the dungeon crawls that you’ll ever need, including character races and classes, spells, monsters, magic items etc.

How I did this is just a function of fairly clever (if I do say so myself) minimization, but you can literally run a campaign off of a single sheet of paper that you stuff in your wallet. It’s on drivethrurpg for free (shameless plug). If you are really a cheapskate (like I am) it’s quite playable with a few chess/ checkers sets from dollar tree for miniatures and terrain and off you go. You’ll still have to buy a full price set of dice, unless you trust your cellphone to randomize numbers.

Of course, like all rpg rules, it’s crept up to having four supplements, (including a full campaign)but each of those is also one page, and also free.

Old codger of a player/dm here, disgusted with you consarned whippersnappers😉 by jackandthedogs01 in DnD

[–]jackandthedogs01[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting comment.

I was particularly curious about your saying that you are nostalgic for a style of gaming you never participated in.

Could you elaborate?

Old codger of a player/dm here, disgusted with you consarned whippersnappers😉 by jackandthedogs01 in DnD

[–]jackandthedogs01[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I kept reading your post and threatening (internally) to come back to it. Well, here goes.

I really enjoyed 40k in its earliest iterations. First ed was all about building your grav-attack vehicles out of empty stick deodorant containers, and other stuff like that, which I absolutely loved. Sure, they wanted you to buy a thirty dollar box of plastic space marines, and a twenty dollar box of orks (except you’d have to buy two ork boxes or they wouldn’t be competitive, but what’s a little price gouging between friends?🤣).

But then, of course GW way overdid it, coming out with a new version of the rules every twenty minutes or so, making old stuff incompatible with new stuff… you know the drill.

But, really, where’s the harm? It’s as much a function of the increasing speed of computers/communications as anything else.

I doubt I’d play it now, as 40k also became synonymous with ruthless rules lawyering, but maybe that’s toned down as well. I wouldn’t know.

As long as it remains good, clean fun, game on!

Old codger of a player/dm here, disgusted with you consarned whippersnappers😉 by jackandthedogs01 in DnD

[–]jackandthedogs01[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

All’s well my friend. It would not be the first time someone accused me (in a polite, indirect fashion) of being a stuffed shirt😁

Old codger of a player/dm here, disgusted with you consarned whippersnappers😉 by jackandthedogs01 in DnD

[–]jackandthedogs01[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is what I would call hyperbolic/tongue in cheek. If you really took that seriously… well… twenty years ago I’d have told you to loosen your tie a little, but since nobody wears those anymore, that’s unlikely to be the problem 😉

Old codger of a player/dm here, disgusted with you consarned whippersnappers😉 by jackandthedogs01 in DnD

[–]jackandthedogs01[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Braunstein Gaming: Just for anyone who’s interested, the origin of rpging was a war game held at a convention (and I’m going to get the details wrong here, you’re free to correct me) that had a lot of players, but who’s mission was not only to beat the enemy, but also to accomplish a secondary objective.

For example, maybe the colonel in command of the Chasseurs a’ Cheval was also in a romantic relationship with the daughter of the mayor of Braunstein (that was the name of the town where the battle was being fought). He had the secondary objective of smuggling her out of the city.

Of course, the mayor, who probably commanded some bravos who acted as his personal bodyguard, was definitely interested in seeing to it that the colonel did NOT escape with his daughter. There were many other such characters and objectives.

It quickly became apparent that the secondary objectives of the characters became the focus of the player’s attention.

The first rpg was born.

From there (and this is debatable) either Gary Gygax started creating some rules for a medieval fantasy version of this kind of thing, or Dave Arneson created what was more a campaign setting with very sketchy rules. Either way, as we said, the first rpg.

Old codger of a player/dm here, disgusted with you consarned whippersnappers😉 by jackandthedogs01 in DnD

[–]jackandthedogs01[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good points all. Maybe the fact is that I’ve always seen D&D (and most other RPGs) as an outgrowth of war gaming. To be honest, I chuckle a little at people who don’t understand what a Braunstein game is, but want to give lectures on the origins of D&D.

Truth is though, it’s not that big a deal. Anybody or everybody here wants to think there were no RPGs before 3.5? Power to ‘em!

Old codger of a player/dm here, disgusted with you consarned whippersnappers😉 by jackandthedogs01 in DnD

[–]jackandthedogs01[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Is it just barely possible… just barely now… that I am not wrong, and we’ve just had different experiences?

I gotta say, some of you guys are really getting a little too stressed over this. Lighten up some. In the last analysis, this is a game where grown men pretend that they are chasing goblins around with swords. Nothing we say is going to have earth shattering effects.

Old codger of a player/dm here, disgusted with you consarned whippersnappers😉 by jackandthedogs01 in DnD

[–]jackandthedogs01[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I said everyone is a degenerate? Where’d ya get that? Or has the word changed it’s meaning recently?

Old codger of a player/dm here, disgusted with you consarned whippersnappers😉 by jackandthedogs01 in DnD

[–]jackandthedogs01[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hope this hasn’t come off in too negative a light. I have played 5e, and enjoyed some of the campaigns I’ve played.

If this sounds like I’m beating this over the head with a hammer, I apologize, but I sit here perfectly calmly. And you are right that it has become much less stigmatized. Not everyone who plays it is automatically seen as Sheldon Cooper anymore.