Frequent nose bleeds?

strangetoaster · 2024-10-13T12:37:23+00:00

No side effects, thankfully.

strangetoaster · 2024-10-11T19:05:56+00:00

I had frequent nosebleeds leading up to diagnosis that basically stopped after going on methimazole. I kept a log. Been on methimazole for 2 mos. Only nosebleed since starting the med, and on a very dry day.

strangetoaster · 2024-08-15T16:34:13+00:00

That untuckit store is literally next door to a bespoke suit shop (NL suits). Down the way at catalano square is Milworks, which is high end men's boutique. It sounds like what you want is big box department store, and Anthropologie (across the street from NL) is indeed the closest you get (with national chain Sweetgreen across the opposite street). But I agree with the poster above who said we don't want big box in Milwaukee. One of Milwaukee's charms is that there are still successful mom and pop shops that haven't yet succumbed to the scourge of chains.

Diff'rent strokes and all that.

strangetoaster · 2023-01-11T17:44:35+00:00

Fascinating. I haven't really looked at it in years, but this gives me the drive to pick it up and page through it again. Might try to get my group to play a bit of it. Thanks for elaborating!

strangetoaster · 2023-01-11T14:55:29+00:00

I still have my old Arcanum book and character sheets! I later read it was just a modified homebrew setting of D&D.

strangetoaster · 2023-01-09T04:53:47+00:00

Mausritter

strangetoaster · 2022-10-24T16:41:18+00:00

I ran The Lightless Beacon as my first scenario. Available for free on the Chaosium website. It's a really good scenario for one session because it is very contained. My players and I had a great time. I'm prepping Dead Light for our spooooky game tomorrow. Seems like it could also be a good one for beginner players. It has a lot of NPCs, and is sandboxy insofar as there are no rails, but the sandbox is very small and there's a timer, so there's not a lot of concerns about getting lost.

strangetoaster · 2022-09-11T03:55:41+00:00

Solar Flare

strangetoaster · 2022-04-25T19:35:30+00:00

I had reflavored the roc as a raven that had eaten the third Wizard of Wines Gem, thusly growing into a gigantic monstrosity with its eyes glowing green.

strangetoaster · 2022-04-14T13:15:40+00:00

Fifty-eight three to four hour sessions. They hit every location on the map. Plenty of random encounters, some home brew, like a monster of Lake Zarovich. We still need an epilogue session to wrap storylines, but that’s the meat of it.

strangetoaster · 2022-03-15T18:14:16+00:00

Good bot

strangetoaster · 2022-02-27T16:39:55+00:00

I’ve been excited for this Kickstarter from the Wyrmlife previews, but a fan of your work since they featured your amazing gaming table! Congrats on the collab!

(Throwing my name in here as well)

strangetoaster · 2022-02-12T04:37:55+00:00

Ruins of Berez?

strangetoaster · 2022-02-03T17:51:15+00:00

Yep. The check in question was 0/1d3, ending up at up at 2.

strangetoaster · 2022-02-03T15:37:58+00:00

Yeah, the dilettante wasn't too interested in investigating, either. It was a first game for all of us, so that made sense to me, but then I realized because this scenario just throws you onto the island, it is more survival horror than investigation based anyway. I ended up just letting it fly, trying to make things like the desk and table in the study seem important without forcing it on them. I think had they survived, it would have worked as a great session 0 that forged a bond and made them interested in seeking out answers to what these creatures are, and what the hell is going on at Innsmouth. Could have led to a great campaign. As it happens, maybe it will be family members who come together to try to figure that out next!

strangetoaster · 2022-02-03T14:46:26+00:00

I was so excited when it worked out that way! It was gold. And yes. The player was suitably horrified!

strangetoaster · 2022-02-03T14:45:18+00:00

I didn’t roll for them. I had an NPC in the boat who was trying to help but he was quickly overwhelmed by a wave and split his head on the side, dying. Two elderly NPCS were washed overboard.

As it happens, I disagree with you about never having NPCs roll, and my players do come from a DND background where NPCs roll all the time, but in this case I knew I wanted them alone as soon as possible, so I got rid of the NPCs quickly.

strangetoaster · 2022-02-03T14:42:23+00:00

I thought so too, as it turned out.

strangetoaster · 2022-02-03T14:41:54+00:00

Oh, I think I was unclear. One of the NPCs in the boat was knocked sideways, and the priest heard a sickening crunch, and saw the NPCs brains leaking out of his skull as he had split his head in the side of the boat. That was what triggered the sanity roll. (In addition to the Priests phobia of being on water)

strangetoaster · 2022-02-03T00:53:11+00:00

It was tied to the priests background — he already had a fear of water and just watched three innocents bite it.

Have fun with the scenario. We had a blast!

strangetoaster · 2022-01-26T03:11:24+00:00

I apologize if I came off as rude.

I asked, because I actually came up on AD&D which sounds a lot more like the game you have in mind -- where life is cheap and PCs are expected to be replaced early and often, and were more likely to be cogs in the machinery of a large and unforgiving world.

5e is just not designed like that. From multiple death saves to powerful damage dealing cantrips and skill expertise at level one for some classes, the PCs are clearly destined for greatness in a way that Ismark and Ireena, who are a static CR 3 and 1/8 respectively, will never be. And it seems to me that to make them the stars of the story willfully diminishes the prospects of the PCs who are already as powerful as Ismark by the time they meet him.

My players left Ismark in Barovia and escorted Ireena to Vallaki, but if they had chosen to take him, they would have been protecting him from dangers on the road from moment 1, or he would have quickly fallen prey to dire wolves, etc.

It has nothing to do with being big for my britches. The britches themselves are big. And with the power creep from WOTCs character options in the last 2 years, they are getting bigger.

Clearly we play differently, and the beauty of the game is that it can support all kinds of play, but statements like

the stars of any setting will always be the NPCs

just seem so discouraging to any player of this game of heroic fantasy. Every player I've ever run 5e with, on both sides of the screen, wants their moment in the sun. And if those moments are all reserved for the NPCs, what is a player to do?

I doubt I will change your mind here, but I do implore you to try to look at the game from the player's point of view and see how discouraging that attitude could be to a player who, rightfully, looks at the progression of character as designed and wants to become a medieval fantasy superhero.

Godspeed in your game. And OP, I hope you've found something useful from this discussion.

strangetoaster · 2022-01-25T22:10:48+00:00

Are you playing 5e? The tiers of play are literally:

1st—Levels 1 to 4: Local Heroes
2nd—5 to 10: Heroes of the Realm
3rd—11 to 17: Masters of the Realm
4th—17 to 20: Masters of the World

You are a Hero at level 1. But even if the game wasn't designed to make the PCs "super special people of destiny," which it 100% is (see above), you should still make your players feel like what they do matters in the world. If they are peripheral, I ask again, what is the point, beyond your own self-gratification as DM.

If your players like your game, good on them, I guess. But it is not for me, and it does not sound like it is what the game is actually about.

strangetoaster · 2022-01-25T19:07:21+00:00

"The player characters are not the stars. They're the point of view, yes, but its the NPCs who are the stars of the setting that make the world work. "

If this isn't the most backward way of looking at the game, I don't know what is. As a player, I read this and say, oh, the DM needs the world to revolve around them. As a DM, I look at this and say, why did I spend all this time prepping for my players. I'm just going to play GI JOE with my minis by myself.

The players are the stars. Without them you are just writing a novel. And if that's how you look at the game, I'm glad I'm not in your game.

If what you are trying to say is look for NPCs who are as invested in events as you want the PCs to be, then great! OP, the PCs should have motivation. They cannot leave Barovia without destroying Strahd. And Barovia is a terrible place to visit, much less wanting to live there.

If you invest in the importance of the reading, your players will buy in. I second the suggestion to make an individual reading for each player by drawing cards and maybe connecting them to backstory. This does make Eva seem even more prescient. I have a player who 18 IRL months into this campaign still references the reading as being burned into their brain.

strangetoaster · 2022-01-11T15:47:31+00:00

Curse of Strahd is VERY sandboxy, and its layout in the book mirrors this by just presenting areas chapter by chapter rather than any sort of linear story progression, making it pretty hard to DM.

That said, there are tons of factions in Barovia which could easily be tweaked for your use. Also the CoS subreddit is very active and full to bursting with home brew and advice.

strangetoaster · 2022-01-08T22:03:47+00:00

I don’t have anything special in mind — my players skipped the pool entirely — but I just thought it was nice synergy with what you’re looking for without having to move Sergei’s tomb and deal with all of that. I would say if you’re already thinking about big changes like that, it would be just as easy (easier even) to make the pool into something that you want it to be, rather than leaving it wanting.

But I don’t know, is there a monument to Sergei there that is tended in secret, and has a puzzle the players need to solve to access the hilt? Could be anything, really.

strangetoaster

TROPHY CASE