Since D&D seems to be in a period of renaissance, appearing in episodes of Stranger Things, Community and The IT Crowd, being played and endorsed by celebrities like Stephen Colbert, Patton Oswalt, Wil Wheaton, Vin Diesel etc., I thought I'd give it its own thread.
Are there any DMs bumping around the forum? If so, what version do you run and how do you like to run it? Do you homebrew? What cool things have happened in your campaigns so far? Do you have fantasy music playlists for accompaniment? Do you use maps/models or is it all in your head?
I'm trying to prod a friend to get together and DM a more steady group; I've only played with small groups that last for a few levels. When I DM, we're on pencil and paper and the story and scenarios are very improv heavy, with a lot of inspiration from the Elder Scrolls series, but we stick to the stat rules. We play 5e. I like it because it has a lot more rogue-like classes and I dig the new shadow monk. The underdark quest seems really cool, and the Tiamat one seems really popular and has good reviews.
I've always played 3.5 but I've recently been won over by 5e when I started watching Critical Role. It seems so much easier to adapt on the fly.
I really should try running a pre-written module some time, since I tend to underestimate the level of complexity required to plan out all the politics/urban planning/geography in a convincing way. That's half the fun for me though. I've sunk hours into reading up on cartography, town planning, river formation, realpolitik, architecture, etc. purely to create a sense of verisimilitude for my players.
The most rewarding aspect is the improvisation though. That's where the game goes down some amazing and depraved roads. Some highlights so far:
1. Anticlimactically ending a boss battle by summoning a full sized dolphin on the opponent's face and crushing them to death instantly.
2. Piledriving a flat-footed assassin lady through a second story window, reckless ex-cop style.
3. When my players conned an infamous fighter into giving them his sword after he went on a rant about having eaten every species of creature known to man. They pointed out that he had never eaten a god, and they knew where find a dead one. It was a knock-down argument that I hadn't even remotely anticipated.
4. When a player couldn't make it so I improvised a side quest featuring an annual pumpkin festival in an isolated farming town. The players entered the unconscious player into the festival disguised as a pumpkin. They won first place. This somehow led to a ceremonial culling of the first born children in the village. It got very dark very quickly.
5. Spiking a fake birthday cake with hallucogens and giving it to the city guards, then caving in their barracks with an explosive arrow and causing general mayhem.
Been playing 5e for the past couple years. Our first campaign was a combination of elemental evil and the underdark campaign, which was a lot of fun. We just started a new one that I think is all custom and I really like it so far. I'm currently working on writing some song parodies and poems for my lore bard.
The craziest thing that ever happened in our last campaign was when we were fighting a vampire king in his mansion. The fight was going really poorly - one of our party members was dead and my character (being a bit selfish and cowardly) was in the process of running away. One of our party members happened to have a love potion on him and, after a successful grapple check, managed to force the vampire to drink it. He then successfully convinced the vampire that they were lovers and basically said "I'll meet you in your room later". After the vampire left for his room the party just walked out of his mansion and regrouped.
In that campaign I was a wild magic sorcerer, which leaves a lot of room for surprises when wild magic comes into play. The best being when I covered the floor in grease and turned myself into a plant on consecutive turns. I'm amazed that our entire group survived that encounter. _________________ And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.
Haven't played, but have watched others play on and offline. Seems pretty fun overall and what not, but I remember one series with a dude called Jim darkmagic which was pretty funny.
Haven't played, but have watched others play on and offline. Seems pretty fun overall and what not, but I remember one series with a dude called Jim darkmagic which was pretty funny.
I've seen a few of these, but the animation is a little crude and weird tbh and comes in at weird time. Makes it a little hard to follow along with sometimes. However, the fun with these things is always listening to the dialogue so I normally just listen to the voices anyways.
The one I referred to was acquisitions incorporated which is probably the best one I've seen.
I've seen a few of these, but the animation is a little crude and weird tbh and comes in at weird time. Makes it a little hard to follow along with sometimes. However, the fun with these things is always listening to the dialogue so I normally just listen to the voices anyways.
The one I referred to was acquisitions incorporated which is probably the best one I've seen.
That's fair enough. I think I just find the idea of animating to messy off-the-cuff improvised dialogue inherently funny. There's something endearingly human about it.
Hoping to start DMing when I move to the city. I've played a few one off games with other DMs - 5e, Pathfinder, some kind of homebrew off-brand system based on a Star Wars game.
Maybe I'm just a grump but I hate when games when they sink into this pit of 'who's the funniest guy around the table'. Harmonquest works because they're writers and comedians. I tried listening to DnD podcasts to get any kind of inspiration but it's all just dudes thinking they're hilarious. I hate it when everyone wants stupid elaborate shit to happen and then all get off saying 'omg I can't believe that happened' - it didn't happen, we're just throwing ideas around a table, anyone can do that. On the other side of the coin is guys that take it deadly seriously. There's a definitely a balance.
I think I just like to play it as an actual co-op game. I enjoy having a specific role and overcoming obstacles, whether it's combat or otherwise, with a party of friends each with varying strengths and weakness. That's where the fun is for me, and it's great when a game allows you to solve these problems with as much imagination as you can bring to the table.
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