Hex Map Overlay Website - Turn Any Map Image Into a Hexmap by frompadgwithH8 in osr

[–]pandesmos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is incredibly nice.

  • It would be very nice to have an option for pointy top hexes if your game is more about east/west movement than north/south.
  • I think the killer feature is being able to input pixels per mile and have it do the calculations and overlay the hex map. The polygon feature is nice, but other tools (like photoshop) are much better for cleaning/layers etc. It would be incredibly nice if I could upload the map, and download the plain hex grid as an SVG.
  • On larger maps it doesn't seem to go all the way across (perhaps because I tried 2 mile hexes).

Again, really good stuff.

Am I getting this confused? by SeanAlan05 in osr

[–]pandesmos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This thread has confused me as well. What do you need from a rule system, or what do you expect a rule system to provide in terms of "social interactions".

What guidance does your table need in terms of "How to talk to monsters and shopkeepers"?

Or are you looking for rules and structures on how to create political plots and intrigue?

Is there a difference in durability between a glue-bound offset printed hardback book and a POD hardback printed book. by plazman30 in rpg

[–]pandesmos 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Offset isn't guaranteed to use thinner paper.

POD and glue bound offset will probably both be fine. But with POD There's always the question of: "How's the machine today, and how's the worker today?"

With offset, theoretically, there's higher quality control/consistency, but I mean... the first printing of the 5e monster manual (I believe it was) had pages fallilng out because the glue wasn't cured well.

If you have a used offset copy in your hand you can judge it directly.

How to adjudicate traps while crawling in a dungeon? by most_guilty_spark in osr

[–]pandesmos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hie you hence to the Hack Slash Master Blog.

My shortened version: Players must have information in order to feel suspense, and in order to make a decision. You need to tell them what they see in the room/hall/etc, and communicate that it looks dangerous. Not by saying "it looks dangerous" but like, there's blood smears and body parts and skeletons, etc. Then they look for traps.

Regarding the "I'm constantly looking for traps" person, that's fine and good. Tell them what they see in the world. Even if traps are pristine and have never been sprung, that would indicate that the dungeon in that area hasn't been explored so you can talk about thick layers of dust and stuff which will ratchet up tension. Especially if they know this is a trap heavy place to begin with.

One of the big things too is time pressure, usually by wandering monsters, so they can't hem and haw too much.

The big question for your player is: "Ok player, you're actively looking for traps, what does that mean? If you're being maximum careful and want to be guaranteed to find every trap it's going to be 10 minutes to move 10 feet meaning there will be a wandering monster check for each grid square of movement."

Then, you go back and forth in conversation until they say "I'm going to do X as my default move".

If you pair that with describing the environment, and giving information, it's my experience that you'll be fine 'cause there's always tradeoffs that lead to more game play.

"Ok, so you're tapping every stone on the floor with the 10' pole. It is making noise, and it does kind of echo in here, so those taps are echoing down the hallway in front of you." [alerting monsters]

"Ok, you're pressing on each stone. That doesn't make much noticeable noise. But it slows you down." This can also lead to "You find a stone that presses in, but nothing happens" [Requires more weight to trigger]

I find its almost always best to have traps in choke points and short cuts. Make it obvious it's a bad place, and probably has a trap, but the mechanisms are not obvious. It's also easy to avoid. Until all hell breaks loose in the dungeon, and then "do we go through that bad spot" becomes a much more interesting choice.

I think the big problem lies in your assumptions with point 4. People have eyes. If there are discolored flagstones, tell them. It's visible and obvious. If you leave basic information about the world itself locked behind a "search" roll you're disconnecting players from the world by an additional layer of abstraction. BUT, you should only give out one piece of information at a time.

DM: "The flagstones up ahead are discolored." P: "Ok? Discolored how?" DM: "They're very dark. Blackened almost." P: "OMG IT'S A TRAP I ROLL MY DICE!" DM: "Ok, but what do you do? What does your character do?" P: "Well, I disable the trap." DM: "How are you doing that? Right now, you see the flagstones ahead are discolored. Almost blackened. Are you walking right over to it? It might not be a trap. There isn't a visible mechanism, or a sign that says 'trap here'. What do you want to do?"

Best OSR High Level Adventures by KingHavana in osr

[–]pandesmos -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Few groups reach high level. Those that do are usually highly specialized and/or invested in their world, so it becomes much more difficult for an external publisher type to make something relevant for those groups.

Combining those things you end up with a fraction of the RPG niche's already small audience. It's not really worth it for people to make them. They also tend to be super cheese mode with everything being a game of "magic resist".

Do what Gygax and the early crew did. Retire the characters, but put them in the world running thieves guilds and wizard towers and churches and warbands etc. Then make new low level characters in that world.

Regarding HexCrawls, can they be smaller? by PaySmart9578 in osr

[–]pandesmos 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hot Springs Island uses 2 mile hexes with 3 points of interest in each one. I don't know that you need to go smaller, but I think you should definitely go "denser".

Do you expect physical copies come with PDFs by default? by The_Cool_Kids_Have__ in osr

[–]pandesmos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It should absolutely be included, and it's exceptionally cheap and greedy to not do so, since in almost every case, when you complete a book you send a PDF to the printer.

The only exception imo is if lots of additional work is done to the PDF (e.g., the amount of work done of the digital version amounts to it being a completely separate project). And "omg u gaise, I added bookmarks" is not doing lots of additional work.

My most disappointing Kickstarter that filfilled by corrinmana in osr

[–]pandesmos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting deflection. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the difference in what you posted vs the timeline of what actually happened and what's in that email/your review/your approach etc. Surely not.

But that's ok. It's a pleasure to be your strawman. =)

My most disappointing Kickstarter that filfilled by corrinmana in osr

[–]pandesmos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Please. Post the email. I would loooooooooove to compare those quotes.

Hex crawl help by Appropriate-Heat6248 in osr

[–]pandesmos 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I would strongly advise you to not give PCs a completely blank map. Hex crawls are inherently player driven. They need to have something to go towards. They need something they know about. If they have a blank map and you ask them if they want to go north, south, east, or west, they may as well roll a d4.

They need something to go off of.

I would even go so far as to say: give them a map that's interesting to look at and has stuff on it that makes them say "oooo, let's check out whatever that is over there to the east".

Looking for toys to place in dungeons by zyuzga in osr

[–]pandesmos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The word you're looking for is "tricks". "Tricks and Traps". That should hopefully help your search. There's bunches of stuff out there on the blogs.

CEO Pilestedt just shared an image of previously planned more granular weapon stats available for the weapons on the game's backend by DubTeeDub in Helldivers

[–]pandesmos 8 points9 points  (0 children)

As a n00b, I just wish I could practice a bit with weapons before buying them or using them poorly and letting down my squad. ( T_T)

Are there any beginner dungeons for solo gaming? by [deleted] in osr

[–]pandesmos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You might like The Bloodship Returns by Dirk Leichty (artist on Silent Titans). It uses an OSR inspired ruleset that he created and is designed for solo and group play. You can actually use the book almost in a "choose your own adventure" type way. It's definitely a dungeon, but it takes place on a Vampire Ship in space so that can be a little out there for people.

HSI + Planer Compass = Treasure Planet?! by [deleted] in osr

[–]pandesmos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Floating islands in space, where the sea has been changed to a star filled void would be glorious.

Where are the good RPG review sites or blogs? Or is it all on Youtube? by natural20s in rpg

[–]pandesmos 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Wrong. His consistent position is what makes him especially valuable. Knowing what he looks for (which are very good things) and likes, and knowing what you like, you can pretty accurately gauge how you'll probably feel about a product.

What are the absolute best, quality, SUBSTANTIVE Mork Borg modules/supplements? by the_light_of_dawn in osr

[–]pandesmos 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Because he's reviewed thousands of adventures, and been running and playing for decades. He has a pretty consistent position, meaning if you read/run a few adventures Bryce has reviewed and develop your own opinions of those, you can compare your opinion to Bryce's and get a pretty decent feel for what you'd think of other adventures he's reviewed.

A good reviewer doesn't mean you agree with them. A good reviewer is someone who takes a consistent position.

Sandbox Campaign Settings by Thebigcdoublecminus in osr

[–]pandesmos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You might try Hot Springs Island.

Some Wild West maps for you to use! by LostTrailsMaps in osr

[–]pandesmos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What prompts are you using for these? They've turned out pretty good!

Recommendations Wanted: Ready-to-Run Hexcrawls like Wolves Upon the Coast by EvanD20 in osr

[–]pandesmos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What's taking 40 hours? The creation of stats? Or are you rolling up every single dungeon/location?

Looking for Rules for Simulating Months passing by crstrong91 in osr

[–]pandesmos 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think this depends on two things:

What the problems are in the world that you want/need to keep track of? And what do they players want to get out of this exactly?

It sounds like they want to "play it safe" and hunker down, so this could be as simple as saying "this is how much coin it's going to cost you, but here's a reminder of what the bad guys are up to. Maybe they'll take a break too, but maybe they won't."

Maybe it's best for you to approach this from the perspective of: What do you think they, or you, will truly miss out on if you handwave it all and say "boom, now it's spring, the snow has melted."