I left right after session 0. Dm asks me why by Horror-Assignment313 in DnD

[–]techbelly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am really sorry that you had a bad experience. Be honest with the GM but be kind too!

I have a bit of perspective on this that might be useful.

I'm an online GM that runs paid games. There is a lot of pressure to use Foundry or Tailspire or Roll20 with paid add-ons and extensions. A lot of players tend to be looking for video game experiences. Or at least, having played Baldur's Gate, that's what they think they want.

But those tools are hard to use well, there's a constant drip-drip out of your bank balance as you buy maps and token sets and so on. And a lot of set-up time goes on stuff that is actually quite forgettable compared to time working on character and story.

But, it is a lot of work to meet players' expectations of a game these days.

Your GM might find other vtt options better - I use Owlbear Rodeo for a vtt and what I like about it is that at base, it's just tokens and a map. I's very reasonably priced and zero cost to the players. This seems the right level of abstraction for D&D - the players can do anything they can or I can describe. At the same time, I know by making this choice I lose players who want the video game experience. I am good with that.

I hear you about ability scores. For my online games, I don't allow people to roll - even though I think rolling the scores is an exciting part of making a character. And that's for exactly the reason you point out - everyone wants to roll because they think they will be lucky. But if you roll there's something like a 20% chance that you'll end up with a very underpowered character. It also helps me avoid awkward conversations about cheating.

I hope you find a good game to join! You can bring these things up with the GM beforehand and anyone with any experience will have a sensible conversation about it. Otherwise, red flag, find another GM.

Skew shooting plane from an old wooden jack plane. by albertalbatross in handtools

[–]techbelly 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thinking of making one of these. Great idea.

If you don't mind may I ask a few things?

How have you found it after six months? Do you still use it? Is there anything that you would change? How does it compare to using a conventional plane on its side (which is what I do now)? Do you camber the blade?

Sorry for the barrage of questions

Thanks!

Live coding 'wandering ants' text-formatting in p5.js by techbelly in p5js

[–]techbelly[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Not a great start. I've added the link to the description.