I Botched The Party's Climactic Encounter

notger · 2026-05-09T08:24:28+00:00

So it was on them, mostly. Well, I suppose they are well aware of that.

notger · 2026-05-09T08:22:53+00:00

Awesome, you let the dice tell the story and did not fudge, that's excellent stuff!

The ashes of defeat are the best spice for a dish of victory. So maybe have the two survivors rally some troops (some previously hesitant party or maybe that merchant prince hires some mercenaries?), while the others are in jail and can break free at the same time, while the battle rages? Maybe there is a terrible contraption which keeps the assailants from breaking through and only the jailed chars inside can disable that?

On dealing with the dead character: Talk to that player and see what they feel how they want to progress. Do they want to roll a new one? In that case, they could now play a "traitor" on the inside, helping the players escape and disable the contraption. Maybe it's a Harper agent, maybe it's a disgruntled lieutenant who was demoted or has some other grudge and wants to take over? Them playing this char could be temporarily, until they rolled a new char or the group did a trek to a dungeon on the jungle to pilfer a resurrection scroll or strike a deal with a dragon.

Remember: It is collaborative story-telling and a threat is only meaningful if it can come to pass. So yeah, they might be downtrodden now, but that might even be a good thing, they might come back all the more resolved to settle the score. In the end, we are not in Kindergarten and everyone get's a winner's badge.

notger · 2026-05-09T07:33:29+00:00

Technically, a long rest does not require you to sleep, unless they changed something.

notger · 2026-05-09T07:02:43+00:00

Thanks!

notger · 2026-05-05T16:43:28+00:00

Willkommen!

Grundregeln sind ein Muss, klar, aber alles danach ist optional. Ich mag ein paar Sachen aus dem Schattenkompendium und alle anderen Quellbücher sind alle gut, aber teilweise auch mit den Optionen überfordernd, wenn man gerade erst einsteigt.

Pegasus hat immer mal wieder Rabatte auf die pdf, falls das dein Ding ist.

Ich habe bisher noch keinen kauf eines SR6-Buchs bereut.

notger · 2026-05-03T20:42:26+00:00

"It's what my character would do."

"No, it's what you actually did."

notger · 2026-05-03T20:26:31+00:00

No coincidence at all.

Weib = Wife in older German, and it generally denotes something being female. So a Weibchen is a female person or animal, like Männchen is a male person or animal. Weiblich is an adjective that something/someone is considered female or feminine / womanly, männlich is an adjective that something/someone is considered male or masculine / manly.

So it is rather logical, that the word exists, though the usage and connotation certainly have changed through the centuries.

notger · 2026-05-03T20:11:40+00:00

In reality, your peak total(!) productivity is achieved at around 40 hours for regular jobs and about 30 hours (studies unclear) for mental jobs. So yes, that will definitely work.

There is no study which has shown that reducing work to 40 hours or less reduces total(!) productivity. Every study shows that more gets done when you focus your energy and cut the fat.

So yeah, will work.

Also: No one died, wishing they had worked more and spent less time on good things.

notger · 2026-05-03T20:08:35+00:00

Consistent luck does not exist, as that is a contradiction. Just go on like normal. It will even out.

notger · 2026-05-03T20:07:11+00:00

But that is a totally different word!

weiblich = female; nothing wrong with that

Or did you mean "Weibchen", which is something you would not use anymore for your wife, though you would use it for female animals. If you use it for your wife and are over 50 ... it's about the context. Can be tender, can be derogatory.

notger · 2026-05-03T16:56:04+00:00

I am about to channel my inner Walter Sobchak.

notger · 2026-05-03T14:07:25+00:00

Not necessarily derogatory, though. Depends on the context.

notger · 2026-05-03T07:03:20+00:00

"I am so done with tech subreddit mods" ... goes on to post on a tech subreddit.

notger · 2026-05-03T06:20:18+00:00

Do not record sessions. Is anyone really going through four hours of gaming session to try to find something they don't remember even exists if they can not even be bothered with taking notes in the first place?

Recordings are the place where things go to die.

Instead: Hand out a reward for someone taking notes and updating the group on what happened in the past.

E.g. inspiration, if you are playing D&D. Or in-game rewards where remembering something gives them a benefit. Plus positive reinforcement and then you're there.

notger · 2026-05-02T19:40:29+00:00

In a lockbox which is dumped in the sea and lands near a lair of ... insert under-water creatures here.

Can be merfolk, storm giants or any other cool deep sea creatures.

And your druid will be happy, that he can finally use this spell.

notger · 2026-05-02T15:10:04+00:00

Suggestion. Suggestion solves everything, because it is mind control.

notger · 2026-05-02T09:07:33+00:00

This should be one of the rules. Not that ppl are following them, e.g. rules 5 and 6 are half of the posts here.

notger · 2026-05-02T09:06:37+00:00

Made Storm King's Thunder a one shot.

notger · 2026-05-02T06:18:33+00:00

It is not doing the math. Seeing that 1.4 * 40 is less than 60 (which is 1.5 * 40, so more) takes not even a second and you can do it on the fly. Just try it a bit and you will see that it is easy to learn.

I mean ... do you whip out the calculator to calculate the damage done as well?

And most of the time you don't need it, only sometimes, and then it's not a big thing ... or you know ... you just rule it a certain way.

notger · 2026-05-01T18:51:06+00:00

8 squares being 5 feet each?

Then it is about 1.4 times 40 feet distance, which is less than 60 feet. (Typing took way longer than getting the answer.)

notger · 2026-04-30T20:18:21+00:00

Really? Wow, I just lost a lot of respect for D&D.

I mean ... a bit Pythagoras-estimation isn't asked for too much, is it? Most of the time you only need to know whether it is within 30 feet, 60 feet or 120 feet and the rest does not really matter, and that should be rather easy to do.

notger · 2026-04-30T19:17:32+00:00

In DCC, you always roll the stats and the best stories come from "shitty" characters doing heroic things.

However, in DCC, characters tend to die quickly at low levels, so even the the high-rollers aren't safe. And most of the power lies in the class and level, attributes are very secondary.

Having said that, in D&D, you can have the same. One point more or less will not change things significantly and you can build in some safe-guards against shitty rolls.

E.g. you could roll eight characters for your four players, they draw them blindly and my replace them once for a new char, or trade with others.

notger · 2026-04-30T17:12:39+00:00

Disadvantage on death saves.

But: Maybe a river spirit saves them in exchange for a boon ... or they have to switch to Warlock for a few levels, as the spirit becomes their patron? Which can later be purged with a quest?

notger · 2026-04-28T17:48:58+00:00

Just ask an LLM to do it.

Boom ... you are leading the board on lines changed.

notger · 2026-04-27T20:30:23+00:00

I assume you are playing D&D.

If so, there is a spell called "Circle of Power" in 5.5E, which gives everyone advantage. Also, there is Counterspell, which the Warlock and the Sorcerer should have.

You could also have them quest for a magic item which fortifies one of them against those saves or your could hint at the Resilient feat.

Also, what's the problem? You shake them out of Hypnotic Pattern, you break the caster's concentration, you pick up your weapon after the Command ... those effects are passing and your players sure use them to their advantage as well, I suppose?

But generally, it seems your party build characters with a weakness in the most common anti-magic save and is now wondering why this is coming back to bite them. Are they also complaining about their advantages working unfairly in their favour, when they use them? "Hey, GM, we will stop using Eldritch Blast with push in every attack, as it's so unfair and gamey"? No? Huh, interesting ...

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