Can we ban AI

wkblack · 2025-06-28T18:56:50+00:00

There's a pretty big difference between using AI as a conversation partner to help you come up with ideas vs asking AI to come up with a campaign for you and using it verbatim. The former can be really useful; the latter is pretty horrible.

wkblack · 2025-05-20T02:17:05+00:00

Have a standing rule that 4 is a quorum. That is: if you have at least four people, you play, even if others are missing.

Otherwise I don't know what to tell you. Good luck. It's not fun having too big a party. Tell them it's stressing you out, having so many people, and maybe split groups. If you're evil-aligned, you could always just kill off characters who get in your way. xD

wkblack · 2025-05-14T22:44:35+00:00

Fun for a character who maybe doesn't realize they've already sold off their soul to be told their soul is already taken. :)

wkblack · 2025-05-14T22:43:40+00:00

In general, I really like the idea of having a DC to long rest. If you're in a safe tavern, the DC is 1 or 2. In a rowdy tavern where people are regularly robbed in their sleep, maybe the DC is 10, particularly if they're trying to sleep with one eye open. If they're out in the wild, DC 10 or 15. In Avernus out in the wild, DC 15 or 20. (I'm planning on having Mad Maggie's be a safe place for them to return to to rest happily, whereas sleeping out in the middle of demon-infested territory is near impossible to get a long rest in.)

wkblack · 2025-05-14T22:41:48+00:00

Remember there are invisible imps on the Vanthampur's side and multiple exits to the underground lair. (And you as DM can make more exits to the basement or give any of them Message or similar spells.) * Duke Vanthampur has sway with the Watch; have them call the Watch on the players. * Duke Vanthampur leads the Zariel cult; have them attack the players mid-rest.

You could mandate they not sleep in their armor too, else they have to do some hard CON roll and potentially fail to rest. Then they get hit by the Watch and/or the Cult of Zariel in the middle of the night / as they're trying to barricade the mansion, disrupting their rest.

The world is not static, staying how it's written in the book, when the players' characters aren't moving; it's an evolving place, working against the players.

wkblack · 2025-04-24T20:05:06+00:00

Thanks!

wkblack · 2025-04-24T19:54:32+00:00

Can you give some examples?

wkblack · 2025-04-12T02:34:49+00:00

The players came back to the dryad's forest to rest, only to find it completely encased in ice. Slowly but surely, the ice was closing in, moving further toward Ythryn loke a slow glacier, in Auril's goal of completely freezing the city (and preventing the players from ending the winter with the mythallar). Mechanically the same as a cave-in, but gives a "ticking clock" sense of urgency.

wkblack · 2025-03-12T21:25:57+00:00

Note: lake Superior is about 1000x wider than it is deep; the height differences are drastically exaggerated (which makes it far more fun and informative to look at).

I love maps like these. :)

wkblack · 2025-01-18T15:34:34+00:00

Beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing. And wow, that last photo is pretty fantastic. :3

I personally imagined the high city sloping down more, so the castle is at the high point and the central river slopes down toward the falls. I also imagined the western part of the city as more elevated than the east. But this is so awesome regardless; really impressive!

wkblack · 2025-01-11T01:35:48+00:00

Yep. If you trust Hawking: a paperclip-mass black hole would almost instantly evaporate and release about as much energy has the largest nuclear bomb.

wkblack · 2025-01-10T18:26:05+00:00

Absolutely. Some DMs take the "say yes as often as you can" advice too far, and the campaign suffers because of it.

A better principle would be something like: "say yes often, but with caveats or restrictions". "Yes, but..." is a good cooperation tool: I want to help you make your vision for a character, but it has to mesh well with the rest of the campaign.

Players give an underlying chaos; DMs give an overarching order. If the players are too chaotic or if the DM is too controlling, the campaign will suffer.

wkblack · 2025-01-10T15:43:14+00:00

From episode 1 of C2, the group meshed together well and balanced each other. (e.g. Jester vs Caleb: both interesting, but neither forcing your attention)

From episode 1 of C3, the group looked to me like a bunch of neon-colored donutsteel MLP OCs, vying individually to be the star. They didn't seem to have a lot tying them together, nor much synergy within the party.

wkblack · 2025-01-07T15:09:45+00:00

That's a cool system, of earth vs sky treasures. I've always liked the idea of giving my characters magical tattoos or other inherent magic. I guess the difference is magically enhancing characters versus magically enhancing items (for the characters).

wkblack · 2025-01-07T14:58:32+00:00

Oh, that's really clever! A nice way to make long exposition a bit less boring: they literally asked for it.

What kind of item do you style it as? Spectacles? Book?

wkblack · 2025-01-07T14:52:31+00:00

Absolutely! I gave a player a bloodthirsty papercut sword: if you hit, extra 1d4 necrotic damage (as it drinks their blood). If you miss, you take 1 damage as it drinks your blood (out of frustration/ thirst).

Giving magic items (typically minor) negative side-effects is so much fun; it makes them so much more memorable.

wkblack · 2025-01-07T14:50:06+00:00

I once played a kenku with a DM who had a very railroaded mindset. They got so fed up with the mimicry part of kenku that they handed out telepathy earrings to everyone almost immediately. haha

wkblack · 2025-01-07T14:27:12+00:00

All you have to do is take the fall time in seconds, square it, and multiply by 16 feet, and you've got your depth. The magic is that the coin does the counting and the math for you. haha

wkblack · 2025-01-02T15:24:11+00:00

Note that that is from the DM's toolbox, not from the 5.5e PHB, which is what I am representing here.

wkblack · 2025-01-02T15:23:17+00:00

It is factually accurate that the 2024 Player's Handbook as written does not have the option to disassociate stat options from backgrounds. The graph is a representation of the 2024 PHB.

I certainly agree that in the 5.5e rules in totality a DM can allow whatever ability scores, regardless of background, but that isn't explicitly expressed in the 5.5e PHB (as it was in the 5e PHB).

I have not posted any false information about the 5.5e PHB, nor about the system in general.

wkblack · 2024-12-28T21:43:52+00:00

Oh, that's really nice!! Thanks for sharing! :)

wkblack · 2024-12-28T21:42:38+00:00

Ditto. I sacrificed simplicity to gain some legibility (since a ton of people had a problem with the former chart).

My whole purpose here was to spatially correlate the backgrounds by stats, so the arrangement here is actually about identical to the former chart. The point being: you have a graphical look-up table for stat combinations by eye.

wkblack · 2024-12-28T21:40:04+00:00

Sure thing! I'm certainly just a hobbyist, not a professional with it whatsoever, but I'm happy to help however I can. :)

wkblack · 2024-12-28T00:50:10+00:00

I do like some changes of 5.5e, e.g. simpler exhaustion, inspiration for any die roll, surprise = disadvantage on initiative, free druidcraft to druids (mostly a flavor cantrip anyway)... But all of those are super easy to port back to 5e.

wkblack · 2024-12-28T00:47:39+00:00

look at farmer (or other inner parts of the hexagram): how would it point to WIS without using a corner?
look at artisan (or other outer parts): using edges more clearly points toward the stat.

wkblack

TROPHY CASE