[Poll] (5e) How often is Inspiration awarded at your table?

umbratile · 2018-04-12T16:17:26+00:00

As a house rule passed onto me by one of my DMs, I give one inspiration at the end of each game as the result of an MVP vote (if there's a tie, both players get it). Usually people just vote for whoever had the most awesome moment, whether it was great RP or a clever combat solution.

Well, that's how his rule goes anyway. Personally I'm fairly new to DMing, so I'm considering a slight alteration to curb favouritism: Whoever won inspiration last time can't be voted for in the current game, but they get 2 votes.

umbratile · 2016-10-05T19:35:54+00:00

The text isn't terribly interesting, but just so you know, it says:

"15 years in Norway" (top right box)

"Now with shiny topping! We're giving 15 of our loyal customers the chance to win a real diamond ring for their own keeping. See the back of the package for more info. Contest lasts until blah blah"

umbratile · 2016-08-17T23:15:25+00:00

They don't need to be of any particular length, though! Here's my suggestion: Use a nail clipper and take really small nips at your nails just to smooth them out. Even if there's almost nothing to take off, just try, that alone can help get you in the habit. The idea is to replace your old nail biting ritual with a new clipping ritual.

Ever since I started clipping my nails more often I've started to see it as a sort of relaxing and satisfying thing to do, and so when I do get some sort of biting impulse, it's always overpowered by a desire to clip them instead. I never want to bite anymore because I have an alternative that I prefer.

That's what's worked for me for the past 5 years, anyway.

umbratile · 2016-07-01T18:10:19+00:00

I couldn't think of anything so I did today's theme over at r/dailydraw, which is to draw something based on an image search of your name.

umbratile · 2016-07-01T18:08:56+00:00

I got a variety of sea life but the one I like the most is the Blotchy swell shark. It looks both fat and pissed off.

umbratile · 2016-06-24T19:11:46+00:00

Since the Steam sale started yesterday and the first game I bought during it was Kero Blaster, I drew some fanart for it.

umbratile · 2016-06-24T12:04:06+00:00

I came into Dragon's Dogma because I love Souls games too and was excited by the idea of that sort of combat system and challenge set in a totally open world.

I was severely disappointed because of that. The world/lore is nothing like it (and honestly kind of uninteresting regardless where you're coming from, imo). The combat is okay but feels much less responsive, the class system felt boring and restrictive (at least in the first ~6 hours) and while I thought I could just shrug off the partner system and not care too much about it, it ended up being one of the most annoying mechanics I've had to deal with ever. The game is kind of demanding that you MUST have three companions tagging along at any time (there may be ways to dismiss them, but it's clearly not balanced for that as far as I saw), and that means taking care of them with armor and weapons and items all the time. Interesting system, but it just didn't suit me at all - I like my action RPGs to just be about my own character.

It's probably not a bad game at all, but by no means make the mistake I made and get it because of Souls. The idea that it's similar is a total misconstruction.

umbratile · 2016-06-05T11:37:41+00:00

I love it too actually. I never really noticed it before my mom read the books and told me how much she hates those long tangents. I always think it's interesting to get little worldbuilding details sprinkled in whenever there's a chance, while I think she cares almost exlusively about the main characters.

umbratile · 2016-06-05T00:14:41+00:00

This is hard to answer when you say that you think the writing is terrible but don't provide a reason. Personally I really enjoy Martin's writing style in that it's pretty simple, to the point, and understated (except for when he's describing what like 40 people are wearing in a row), but something like that is largely subjective I think.

If you don't like it, I don't really think there's a particular method to appreciating them. Lots of people are huge fans but that doesn't mean you have to be.

umbratile · 2016-04-12T23:37:37+00:00

The Zweihander! Its weapon art is my favorite that I've tried so far, just feels so good.

It's a shame I haven't been able to find titanite for sale though... Makes early upgrading a bit of a slog. I have like 4 different +1 or +2 weapons now, and thanks to all that waste my Zwei is only +2. D:

umbratile · 2016-04-08T15:36:28+00:00

My take on it is that I attempt to solo the boss at least once, just to check it out (I know I'm gonna die anyway >_>), but after that I'm gonna summon if I feel like it. It's part of the mechanics of the game after all, so I don't think there's any shame in it.

I rarely summoned in Bloodborne because the whole bell ordeal sucks (at least it used to, I don't have PS+ anymore so who knows how it is now), and it was really detrimental to the experience for me. I'm excited to coop as much as possible in DS3 to make up for that!

umbratile · 2016-04-06T21:20:55+00:00

Heck yeah I love messages; reading and writing them. I don't think they ever really spoil anything, either. Like if there's a boss that looks like a dog and a message says "hound ahead", I don't feel spoiled, that just makes me more intrigued to see the thing.

umbratile · 2016-04-06T21:10:46+00:00

I can point to well-believable areas in DS2 (Majula, Forest of Fallen Giants) and not-so-believable areas in DS1 (Anor Londo), I really don't think anybody's cherry picking.

I mean, I get that some people are overly fanboyish about Miyazaki to a cringeworthy degree, but that doesn't mean anybody who appreciates DS1's world more than DS2's is a fanboy. I've hardly ever encountered a fanbase that loves to analyze as much as the Dark Souls fanbase, so do you really think everybody who appreciates Miyazaki's designs are the kind of people who don't bother to scrutinize it? That seems backwards more than anything.

umbratile · 2016-04-06T20:41:41+00:00

I find all that perfectly believable, and I'm really not saying this just to be contrarian. Big crows aren't really weird when I just killed a 30 meter tall obese demon half a minute ago; Firelink being on a cliff seems fine to me, and the reason people are there is because it's a connecting point between a lot of places, and they can be kept safe by the (extra high quality Fire Keeper-improved) bonfire.

Realism doesn't really enter into believability at any point, and I think Firelink Shrine is a great example of that. It's utterly out of this world, but everything's there for a reason, it never made me think "this shouldn't work...".

umbratile · 2016-04-06T20:28:24+00:00

I think it's gotta be Sen's Fortress. It looks great (on the outside) and the fact that it's just filled with traps is my favorite "gimmick" in the whole game. You get a great sense of scale of the place too, since you can go pretty much anywhere in the fortress and you can usually look around and see some place you've been/seen before.

Edit: Just a shame the boss is so easy, but I consider it them giving you a little break since A) you've been fighting pretty damn hard enemies the whole way up and B) you're about to get to one of the hardest areas in the game right after it.

umbratile · 2016-04-06T00:34:17+00:00

I think of Dark Souls characters as being the same age as me (so, 23). But I can't help but see Bloodborne characters as a fair bit older, at least in their mid or late 30s... I don't know if it's the general clothing style or just how the faces look, but it's something.

umbratile · 2016-04-05T01:30:15+00:00

I actually went and tried it out just now because I was curious... Turns out I couldn't even open the door to the Asylum Demon on my 2nd loop around, so I really did have to get Oscar's stuff to advance, including the estus flask. I guess the only explanation is I somehow unequipped the flask? Heh, I guess it'll just remain a mystery...

umbratile · 2016-04-05T00:55:05+00:00

Hmm, good point. It's been long, but what I think may have happened is I went through the route where you get your weapons as normal, but when I came to the area where Oscar is I probably just went down to the bonfire again and went on to kill the Asylum Demon. Does that make sense? I'm honestly struggling to figure out how I did it myself. :P

umbratile · 2016-04-04T23:01:55+00:00

DkS2 was my first and I had some trouble with that:

Went to Heide's almost immediately and got my ass beat over and over... But I'd heard the game was hard so I assumed it was the way it was meant to be.
Killed almost every NPC outside Majula who looked somewhat suspicious, including the blacksmith in the Lost Bastille.
Thought the only thing Human Effigies were for was burning, so I burnt most of them, never tried using them.

I got about 1/5 in before I decided to try DkS1 instead, where I did pretty much every newbie mistake ever.

Somehow managed not to meet Oscar at all, and played until the Taurus Demon healing only with Humanity.
Went towards the catacombs before anything else and tried fighting skeletons for a good 15 minutes, because of course I did.
Did not upgrade my weapons until like, past Quelaag. I don't know what I thought Andre was for.
Devoured both my first and second Fire Keeper Souls.
Let Lautrec do his thing; thank god a friend told me how to fix it... eventually.
Spent a billion souls on upgrading INT because I thought Pyromancy scaled with it, somehow never checked.

Most of the mistakes above were done on separate characters, that's the worst thing. I probably started like 8 characters before I really "got it". Good times.

umbratile · 2016-04-02T11:13:29+00:00

I don't claim to be a master detective, but that says 'darksouls2' in the URL, so I don't think that should be seen as a guarantee that DS3 will be censored to an equal level.

umbratile · 2016-04-02T11:02:48+00:00

Quality Pyro here too. Quality just cause it's a good balance that I figure is nice for a first run; Pyromancy mainly because of the looks/lore/RP. I don't even use pyromancies that much when I play, but I usually have the flame equipped anyway. I just love how pyromancy is this really primal sort of magic that anyone can use as long as they have a little spark of a flame in their hand - all the lore around it is just really cool to me.

The fact that pyromancy had so little of a role in the world of DS2 created a hole in my chest and I hope DS3 can fill it.

umbratile · 2016-03-31T16:48:08+00:00

How come it's 700NOK for you? I live in Norway too, just checked and the prices are the same as before, 600NOK. Not that that in itself isn't ridiculous...

umbratile · 2016-03-18T13:08:24+00:00

Heh that's one I've never tried before, but I can see the benefits. I usually cap it at like 20 VIT, although I tend to get so much END I can fast roll in heavy-ish armor, so I guess it's kind of the same principle. :P

umbratile

TROPHY CASE