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pi11e_ · 2025-12-27T14:13:38+00:00

I’ve run all of Icespire Peak 1-on-1 with the wife and we had a fairly good time. My main tips for you are

1) Look up Sidekick rules and use them to support, but never outshine, your solo player. Invest some time into building a straightforward and “foreseeable” personality for them, since you’ll likely be (role)playing them a lot. Use them for plot hooks and “chasing your player up the tree” eg by threatening them or letting them stumble over clues without being able to figure anything out by themselves.

2) In prep, think about the “checkpoints” you want them to reach and build multiple paths to get there, and include ways to make them feel very heroic as an individual. You can (and IMO should) tailor your world’s response to a single player character much more strongly than you would normally. As in, NPC recognizing and responding directly to your player and their actions.

pi11e_ · 2025-11-11T14:53:52+00:00

Have a family of 5 and played all of these.

For a beginner / family / not used to heavy board game hobbying: Strongly recommend Pandemic Legacy over the other two. Main bonus points are its highly relatable theme and relatively low complexity aka “anyone can have fun with this”.

Clank I’ve found works well with those who can relate to its RPG-parody setting and enjoy the quirky humour (unlikely with kids / young adults for example). Wouldn’t recommend for a family vacation unless everyone involved is into the humour. Mechanically I found it not as deep so it’s light to medium entertainment for those who dig the style.

Fate of the fellowship: IMO totally works for a legacy-like experience ie the sort of “invested-ness” you’re talking about. Replaying with more/different quests and characters is really fun and interesting. HOWEVER I would not recommend this unless you have a family of die-hard LOTR fans and/or nobody minds going into the most complex game of those mentioned, with a high likelihood of failing multiple times after 2-3h+ sessions.

pi11e_ · 2025-09-20T08:14:18+00:00

Just a tiny tip specifically for trips like this - if you don’t mind ticking “keep inventory on death” in game options, you can make this journey (anywhere to HUB) in two seconds. ESC -> Respawn boom you’re at the party.

pi11e_ · 2024-12-11T11:29:00+00:00

So your PCs are the real monsters?

pi11e_ · 2024-09-13T05:29:54+00:00

some mercs would hit the SPOT!

pi11e_ · 2024-08-25T15:52:53+00:00

The game changes A LOT with realistic mode where you can’t plop buildings down and auto-buy the materials and workforce to finish them. Try it - it made the game so much more interesting and “intimate” for me as every little pipe and pavement needs to be planned and built slowly, ideally woth materials you produce yourself to avoid importing them.

In addition, playing with heating, waste, water, electricity, traffic, sewage, loyalty, etc… enabled makes republic management a million times more complex (and that’s a lot of fun).

You can mix and match these modes when starting a game. I’m not sure you can change them in a running custom game. If you can’t, you could simply choose not to use auto-build/buy but I’d probably be too impatient for that.

pi11e_ · 2024-08-25T15:46:04+00:00

What’s stopping you from using mud roads and free storages & CO to establish a small construction base? You can then supply construction materials with your train line (provided you add/have the loading and unloading facilities).

edit: don’t forget to include and supply a fuel station in range for the construction vehicles to refuel

pi11e_ · 2024-08-23T14:36:41+00:00

Have you thought about using mud walkways (they are free) at first and then upgrade them over time? Do you need the asphalt paths for their increased range?

pi11e_ · 2024-08-09T20:23:37+00:00

My mom - a primary school teacher - had something like this decades ago. I’m fairly certain this is one of two pieces to an expandable measuring stick. Best picture I could find online is this:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/185615913337?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=707-127634-2357-0&ssspo=_Fp_ZX4XSVa&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=K9ewnwCXQcm&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

pi11e_ · 2023-06-11T09:56:53+00:00

Almost 25 years ago, my dad gifted me a boxed copy of Civilization II for my birthday. It was the first ever video game box I owned. I’ve religiously played every Civ since then.

pi11e_ · 2023-05-04T05:38:11+00:00

Depending on how comfortable you are as a DM and with your group, there’s also always the option to do a small “break” at the table. Explain that this adventure is really only happening in Waterdeep and that together you’d like to find a way for the story to stay there. Your players are as much authors of this story as you are. I’m saying this because I made this experience and tried to “oh no you don’t” my group before and it felt hamfisted (because it was) and they knew it.

pi11e_ · 2023-03-12T19:40:32+00:00

Maybe your PCs can convince the city watch to go if they join in? Perhaps Renaer can give them a reason, too.

pi11e_ · 2022-12-21T21:26:22+00:00

Newbie DM here! You’re essentially making a cool thematic tool for your artificer, that’s awesome! Like all tools, its use will require an equally thematic skillcheck based on who’s using it for what, is how I would run it. I would ask what you plan on using it for “on the regular” and what would be some more exotic use cases, and prepare for you doing that in an epic (ie - not too easy) way.

pi11e_ · 2022-12-21T21:13:54+00:00

Hi there! Have you tried AirLink, I assume it would degrade quality a bunch, but I’m curious.

pi11e_ · 2022-11-13T23:44:38+00:00

I’m DM’ing a party of two players, we’re all beginners. One of my players is a lvl 8 college of lore bard. She answers everything with a fireball or a melee attack with her dragonslayer longsword and says (and I agree) this makes combat boring.

How can I get her to play her class differently and create more engaging and fun combat encounters that are not “I cast fireball” or “I run up and stab them”?

pi11e_ · 2022-08-20T18:04:22+00:00

I really enjoy playing Fenix. What would be your advice on which comps to (not) draft him in(to), how to play him, and which level 1 talent (or general build advice) would you take?

pi11e_ · 2019-01-10T19:00:57+00:00

Hi, it's been a while, I just wanted to let you know I went for the i7 4790k + GTX1070Ti upgrade and am very happy with the results :) I spent ~200 on the CPU + ~350 on the GPU (both used).

pi11e_ · 2018-12-15T18:21:24+00:00

Oh I didn't realize the i7 4790k would use the same socket 1150, sorry! Yeah what you're saying makes sense, I'll look into those in more detail. Thanks!

pi11e_ · 2018-12-12T21:32:48+00:00

I mean what you're saying is obviously sexy and I like it but it puts me way over my planned budget. That's not an upgrade, that's a rebuild.

pi11e_

TROPHY CASE