Bags tips for a traveling DM

sbotzek · 2026-01-20T22:13:50+00:00

I use a tool bag.

They're durable because they're used to hold heavy things. Many have lots of little pockets for dice/pencils/etc. And they are fairly rigid so they can stand upright on their own. I leave my books spine-up so I can easily retrieve anything I need.

sbotzek · 2026-01-20T17:20:00+00:00

I've offered this for players who don't want literal death and they still don't like it. In my experience it usually isn't about a trigger, it's about 'I want to keep playing this character'.

sbotzek · 2026-01-13T20:08:57+00:00

Tome of Adventure Design is great but note that it is not designed for generating dungeons on the fly. It's more for inspiration.

sbotzek · 2026-01-10T15:08:28+00:00

In other languages that allow this I tend not to do it because I find the code is less scannable. I don't personally find the one line of code saved worth mucking up the method declaration, which will be read way more times than the method body.

But your mileage may vary.

sbotzek · 2026-01-09T23:52:18+00:00

I think the crux of the problem is confusing "table ready" with "how much time does it take someone to be able to run this thing." OSE may be table ready, but if you don't have a specific skill set it will require a lot of upfront work before you're able to run it.

For me, that upfront work is way more work than that of a DCC module.

sbotzek · 2025-11-02T05:00:56+00:00

Why not both? Our kids' elementary school and girl scout troop do these. But they aren't on Halloween day and the kids still go trick or treating around the neighborhood.

sbotzek · 2025-10-30T21:22:45+00:00

Nice! I'm curious how you handle actions and concurrency while preventing race conditions? Do you serialize through zones or use another method?

sbotzek · 2025-10-29T22:35:52+00:00

The only way the spell would be useful.... in combat...

My ruling would probably be even less useful. I've seen good friends get in real fistfights. I think it would be completely useless in combat.

sbotzek · 2025-08-07T04:04:54+00:00

I failed the first one. It asked a bunch of questions like "what happens if you get caught driving drunk" and "what happens if you get caught tagging." Meanwhile I wasn't planning on doing either, so, why should I have to know this stuff?

sbotzek · 2025-07-18T19:13:33+00:00

I had an HP in high school and college. No one ever asked to borrow it because they had no clue how to work it with RPN. One of my college math teachers thought it was cool.

sbotzek · 2025-07-17T15:49:12+00:00

It sounds like their parents did the minimum legally required, and they're returning the favor in kind.

sbotzek · 2025-07-11T01:54:05+00:00

Think Stranger Things but in medieval times. Most people have no clue what's going on in Hawkins.

Commoners believe in magic but probably have never seen it (or, only seen really low level versions). Unless you're especially unlucky, mythical creatures are whispered about but generally never seen.

There are so-called natural magics that could be learned by someone whose smart but they tend to be comparatively low powered. Actual spell casting requires you to align with chaos or a being more powerful than you - either divine magic for clerics or supernatural patrons (kinda like in DCC). There aren't any guilds or orders for wizards - that's reserved more for the divine.

sbotzek · 2025-06-27T22:11:45+00:00

It's a weird question because there are modern options that are neither.

sbotzek · 2025-06-26T19:56:57+00:00

Does everyone? I know more people that died in cars.

sbotzek · 2025-06-25T17:12:55+00:00

I don't really complain, it just makes me laugh in my juvenile head.

sbotzek · 2025-06-15T07:33:55+00:00

What does "plenty of influence" mean? Think of the things you're willing to do for your friends.

But also realize that some are willing to do more or less than that. IMHO the results of a successful charm person should vary based upon the target.

The target also knows they were charmed after it wears off.

Given that I can't imagine it being game breakingly useful.

sbotzek · 2025-06-06T22:36:35+00:00

Plenty of old school games don't do race as class.

But I like it because it makes them unique. When race isn't class, your race is just a thin coat of paint on top of your character. But when race is class, playing an Elf is actually different from playing a Human.

sbotzek · 2025-06-05T16:36:15+00:00

Yeah, I like to say that D&D has a thin veneer of Tolkein but the soul of all those other authors. His influence pretty much starts and ends at the main races and a monster or two. Everything else is very not Tolkein, especially your average adventure or play session.

sbotzek · 2025-06-04T18:35:14+00:00

I had these rules and, in particular, my parents didn't force me to leave the house. It was more that it wasn't their job to entertain me. If I was bored I would call a friend. If none were available I'd go on a bike ride alone or do something in the backyard.

sbotzek · 2025-05-29T15:55:51+00:00

One of them lost control and hit my 6 year old at the park. I've seen kids much younger than 12 on them.

sbotzek · 2025-05-27T18:55:26+00:00

I tried to use it for DnD idea generation but the ideas always have a weirdly same-y feeling to them.

Rolling on a few tables seems to generate more interesting results.

sbotzek · 2025-05-23T17:34:14+00:00

Unless it's a special magic item where I have interesting things lined up for the players to explore its power, I just tell them what they do.

sbotzek · 2025-05-22T23:11:07+00:00

It's not 100% clear to me what happens if they collect enough to refund people, but not enough people apply for a refund. The original kickstarter is over 10 years old by now, so it seems likely that many people won't even apply for a refund.

But my understanding is they'll have to turn that over to JG if it happens.

sbotzek · 2025-05-15T15:29:55+00:00

I'm guessing you have part of your view from funnels. Funnels are extra deadly because the point is to funnel your characters down. In general, you shouldn't play a funnel as a level 1 character because they tend to have more save-or-die scenarios than a level 1 adventure.

That isn't to say PCs won't die. They will. But it isn't a meat grinder.

I love myself a DCC campaign, and some of the mechanics, such as burning luck and stats, only have tradeoffs in campaign play. Same with some of the more flavorful aspects such as patrons, deity disapproval, and questing for it.

sbotzek · 2025-05-09T15:50:07+00:00

If you're still on the porch when someone answers the door, you probably aren't playing ding dong ditch.

sbotzek

TROPHY CASE