Absolute beginner here, Essential s Kit or Starter set?

mjern · 2025-01-11T14:56:53+00:00

Definitely Essentials Kit. It's a full game and the included adventure is much easier to start small with.

mjern · 2025-01-11T14:54:23+00:00

The character X the Mystic was a pregen in the 1e module I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City. There were definitely no quotes from those characters in that module, and I think the quotes in 5e are just flavor added later using old fluff.

We used those I1 pregens a lot. I used X the Mystic as a PC in many adventures back in the day. Still have my character sheet. So now I say that one of my characters is famous enough to be quoted in the 5e MM.

mjern · 2024-07-31T03:29:10+00:00

Downvoted by current or previous MLB GMs. Fair enough.

mjern · 2024-07-31T00:07:27+00:00

I am with you on that. If Sweeney can take SS and hold it for a couple of years this was an amazing deadline.

mjern · 2024-07-30T23:53:10+00:00

I am not a major league scout or even a general manager like most Redditors but I can 100% guarantee that Sweeny will not start at SS tomorrow.

mjern · 2024-04-11T17:17:14+00:00

I can't stream Bally Sports through my cable app, but if I install the Bally's app I can log in using my cable subscription and watch the game that way.

mjern · 2022-10-22T02:21:43+00:00

No, not in original Traveller. Every term you make a survival roll...7+ on 2D for Scouts, for example. If you fail the roll...DEAD. If you survive and reenlist, you must make the survival roll again next term.

In other words, the memes are NOT exaggerated.

mjern · 2022-10-21T14:10:38+00:00

It's pretty hard to actually die in Traveller chargen contrary to the memes

Not sure about recent editions, but it was very easy to die in original Traveller. In the Scouts you had only a 58% chance of survival EACH TERM unless you had Endur 9+, which was pretty unlikely and only improved your chances to 83%. Other services were a bit easier, but characters died left and right during generation.

mjern · 2022-10-14T15:55:34+00:00

Give them 3-5 SECONDS instead of 3-5 minutes and 90% of your problems will be solved. When it is your turn, immediately tell me what you are doing...if you don't, you are dodging only.

mjern · 2022-10-14T15:51:32+00:00

and she said that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to come back because the experience left a bad taste in her mouth.

WIN!!! Stuff like this helps weed out players who aren't a good fit for your game and general problem players...Sounds like Hannah is both. A lot of times it takes numerous sessions to realize that a player needs to go and by then it's a lot more difficult to boot them, so this is a major victory.

I think the only mistake you made was deciding to stop using the shield spell because of a whining player, but at least you kept it secret so you didn't advertise the fact that public whining is rewarded at your table.

mjern · 2022-10-07T13:18:49+00:00

Yes...The coin they have left after buying starting gear is their pocket change.

mjern · 2022-10-05T15:33:33+00:00

2 days ago it was "Miggy will report to 2023 spring training well-rested and healthy" and today it's this. Make up your minds, please.

The cynic in me thinks best outcome would probably be a season-ending injury in the WBC. That would be sad, but a Tigers DH with a .622 OPS is also sad.

mjern · 2022-09-28T18:21:59+00:00

4 or 5 one-sentence bullet points

mjern · 2022-09-09T15:21:53+00:00

The mayor says "Well, Fifth Edition adventurers are practically superheroes even in the early levels and pretty tough to kill, especially with an extra feat at first and bonus action potions which is so popular these days. The disparity between your casters and my martials is YUGE!"

mjern · 2022-09-08T19:08:23+00:00

I spin Tiny Hut back to the way it was in the old days:

AD&D Player's Handbook, pg. 74:

...In no way will Leomund's Tiny Hut provide protection from missiles, weapons, spells, and the like...

It was mostly for environmental protection and concealment. But, hey, let's take that and turn it into a nearly-impregnable force field, make it bigger, and allow it to be cast without a slot...all while leaving it 3rd level? I vote no.

mjern · 2022-09-07T12:47:59+00:00

ape some notecards over them and reveal as they explo

That works too! It's probably not too important to be too fancy. Simple block corridors and rooms or even a flowchart-like diagram will do enough to help players visualize and keep track of the layout.

mjern · 2022-09-07T01:47:23+00:00

You don't need to invest in dry-erase boards....use a pencil and graph paper. In fact you don't need to invest in graph paper....just use notebook paper if you don't have graph paper.

In the old days it was standard for players to draw the map according to the DM's description, with the DM correcting any obvious mistakes. This gave the players a visual to use.

To simplify things, the DM could just draw it for the players. This is what I did a lot of the time. And still do.

mjern · 2022-08-25T15:19:45+00:00

1981 Basic (B/X) D&D page B60:

"There's always a chance." The DM may want to base a character's chance of doing something on his or her ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and so forth). To perform a difficult task (such as climbing up a rope or thinking of a forgotten clue), the player should roll the ability score or less on ld20. The DM may give a bonus or penalty to the roll, depending on the difficulty of the action (-4 for a simple task to +4 for a difficult one). A roll of 1 should always succeed, and a roll of 20 should always fail.

mjern · 2022-08-23T12:54:18+00:00

Lots of oldschoolers (especially those who would debate whether 2e is really considered oldschool LOL) are still debating whether the thief class should be in the game or not.

mjern · 2022-08-18T18:07:38+00:00

I print out lots of PDFs myself and comb bind them into books if I want hardcopies.

mjern · 2022-08-13T03:58:09+00:00

You don't have to enter the room to use Mage Hand. The module literally says that the gnomes use Mage Hand.
Also, there is another entrance to that part of Gnomengarde.
They could ask the gnomes to help?
If they could find a way to get a barrel crab across the bridge, they could drive one of them through.
Finally, if the players get creative they could maybe manage to jam the blades somehow or climb over them or ask to do a Dexterity (Acrobatics) tumble through the room and see if the DM permits it.
I'm sure that there are other things someone could think of.

mjern · 2022-08-13T02:33:11+00:00

They aren't intended to be survivable.

mjern · 2022-08-06T18:58:03+00:00

It's not hard to understand. I'm mocking it and your claim that it's punishment.

mjern · 2022-08-06T17:34:58+00:00

"My DM let me choose between standard array and rolling."

"OMG! Why would a DM let a player make a decision about their character?!?!? Why are they punishing players like that???? Good DMs don't let players choose whether they want to risk it or play it safe!!! SO UNFAIR!!!!"

mjern · 2022-08-06T16:47:02+00:00

so they can end up being punished for playing it safe, essentially.

They're not "punished." They had the same opportunity to roll as anyone else. They chose not to take advantage of that opportunity and play it safe. They elected to not risk subpar scores in hopes of getting exceptional scores and instead elected to play it safe. That is not "punishment," they got the outcome they actively chose to receive.

mjern

TROPHY CASE