Best Version of DnD?

[TheAuldGrump]

On 10/8/2017 at 11:24 AM, TheAuldGrump said:

Many years ago, there was a rumor that Frank Langella had been forced by contract to play Skeltor in Masters of the Universe, and that he hated that movie with a passion.

 

Years later, I encountered an interview with Frank Langella where he was asked what his favorite movie role was....

 

Yep, Masters of the Universe - he had a blast playing the part - yeah, bad movie, but sometimes those can be a lot of fun

 

For me, the best line in the Dungeons & Dragons movie -

 

The Auld Grump

Somehow this conversation led to us watching Strange Brew (The Great White North movie) last night....

 

Megan had never seen it, and for me... it is a guilty pleasure.

 

The Auld Grump

[Mad Jack]

 

 That's like, a real cinema classic, eh?

 

 In an unrelated matter, I had a dream last night that I was DMing a party through an adventure, and they encountered a happy-go-lucky girlblin druid who joined them. Later on, when the girlblin miscast an Entangle spell so that it caught some of the party, she muttered something in goblin - which I informed the party translated into Common as, "Oh... pants!"

Apparently, "pants" is a mild profanity in Goblin in my dreamworld, lol.

 

I am totally incorporating this into a game someday.

 

Edited October 9, 2017 by Mad Jack

[TheAuldGrump]

16 minutes ago, Mad Jack said:

 

 That's like, a real cinema classic, eh?

 

 

 

 

 

Eh.

 

'Eh?' is an interrogatory that means 'make a noise so I know you're listening'. The traditional reply is 'Eh'.

 

Eh?

 

The Auld Grump - who has been known to shout 'Tabernac!' when frustrated.... Because French-Canadian profanity is amusing.

[BlazingTornado]

Let me know when you get to "ostie de câlisse de tabarnak".

[Unruly]

I always thought it was "Criss de câlice de tabernak." Or at least that's what a Quebecois friend once told me. I think there was also something added onto the end too, but I can't remember what it was.

 

I got to the THAC0 tables and initiative last night. What the hell? Initiative every round? Initiative modifiers based on what you're doing, potentially what you're wearing, and what weapons you have? Man, that's gotta get confusing fast. Let's see, I'm attacking with my longsword, so I have to modify my initiative by +5, but I'm also under haste, so I modify it by -2, but I'm wearing full plate so I add another 6, and I'm standing in water which doubles it, so my initiative with a d10 roll is now at 37... and next round I get to do the math all over again! Oh, and from what I can tell, you can't move and attack in the same turn, despite the fact that a turn takes 1 minute, because it says you can do one action in a turn and the list of example actions has moving and attacking as an example of your single action you can take. Wow.

[BlazingTornado]

12 minutes ago, Unruly said:

I always thought it was "Criss de câlice de tabernak."

That one works too.

"Ostie de câlisse" is kind of a favorite, though.

 

Any combination of "crisse", "ostie", "calisse" and "tabarnak" can be used to similar effect. "Ciboire" has seen less use in recent decades but is still acceptable.

 

It's honestly quite magical how much the French-canadian colorful language involves taking a looooooooot of religious words in vain.

[etherial]

19 hours ago, Unruly said:

What the hell? Initiative every round? Initiative modifiers based on what you're doing, potentially what you're wearing, and what weapons you have? Man, that's gotta get confusing fast.

I love games that do Initiative every round. They're my favorite, except for games that use bullet time. All those modifiers sound like a pain, though.

[Crowley]

I do initiative every round in both my 5e (individual initiative) and RC (group initiative) games. Makes things more interesting...

[TheAuldGrump]

Working on an adventure for a very young GM.

 

Yet another trip Beyond the Borderlands, with Keep on the Borderlands as the starting area.

 

Going with named encounters on the Wandering Monsters table, instead of things like '12 Kobolds'. Trying to make them interesting for the GM, and give her an idea of what the encounter is about, just from the name.

So, testing out some of the names here - with RP meaning Role Playing encounters and C meaning Combat encounters, and RP/C able to go either way - let me know what comes to mind with these names -

 

We Outnumber Them! You Go Get Them!  - C - 1 Ogre, 4-6 Goblins  (Not going with the standard Pathfinder Ogres - Ogres in this adventure are fat, lazy bullies, that would much rather somebody else do the work.)

 

Lunch Money - RP/C - 2-3 Ogres

 

Horse, It's What's for Dinner - RP/C - 2 Ogres or 1 Hill Giant

 

Are You an Oyster? - C - 1 Cliff Wyvern (Cliff Wyverns are less dangerous versions of the standard wyvern - with a stunning roar instead of a poisonous sting. And... dumb. Really, really dumb... minds halfway between a seagull and a magpie. But easily domesticated by folks willing to feed them while young. And feed them. And feed them....)

 

Shiny! C - 1 Cliff Wyvern

 

Goblin Merchant- RP - 1-6 Goblins or Other

 

The Auld Grump - when they are higher level, there is another Cliff Wyvern encounter titled Are You My Mommy? (RP/C)

[Unruly]

5 hours ago, etherial said:

I love games that do Initiative every round. They're my favorite, except for games that use bullet time. All those modifiers sound like a pain, though.

 

5 hours ago, Crowley said:

I do initiative every round in both my 5e (individual initiative) and RC (group initiative) games. Makes things more interesting...

 

I've done initiative every round now and again, but usually I find that halfway through we forget to roll new initiatives and end up keeping an earlier order. I don't really mind that part of it, but all the modifiers to initiative were a bit excessive. Not to mention the fact that the DM was supposed to roll all that stuff.

 

But I have to say, I looked at all the different magic items listed in the DMG and I'm going to be stealing a bunch of them for my future 5e games. I like all the different magic weapons and stuff that seems to have disappeared from 3e onward. Some of them seem really basic, but they've got style. Like the weapons that don't act magical unless they're actually thrown, or the ones that have massive bonuses against various enemies, like shapeshifters, but not against others. And then there's the "sharpness" weapons that on a crit take a random limb, which was removed in favor of just having vorpal weapons in 3e and up.

 

There's really a veritable goldmine of ideas that I was too dense and unimaginative to think up on my own stored in the old books.

[Crowley]

24 minutes ago, Unruly said:

 

 

I've done initiative every round now and again, but usually I find that halfway through we forget to roll new initiatives and end up keeping an earlier order. I don't really mind that part of it, but all the modifiers to initiative were a bit excessive. Not to mention the fact that the DM was supposed to roll all that stuff.

 

But I have to say, I looked at all the different magic items listed in the DMG and I'm going to be stealing a bunch of them for my future 5e games. I like all the different magic weapons and stuff that seems to have disappeared from 3e onward. Some of them seem really basic, but they've got style. Like the weapons that don't act magical unless they're actually thrown, or the ones that have massive bonuses against various enemies, like shapeshifters, but not against others. And then there's the "sharpness" weapons that on a crit take a random limb, which was removed in favor of just having vorpal weapons in 3e and up.

 

There's really a veritable goldmine of ideas that I was too dense and unimaginative to think up on my own stored in the old books.

I just gave one of my 5e players a magic shield. It's only enchantment is that it will never scratch, tarnish, or become dull in any way. But it's magic, and if he uses it to bash someone in the face... Well still counts as magical.

[Club]

2 hours ago, Unruly said:

or the ones that have massive bonuses against various enemies, like shapeshifters, but not against others.

 

These were called Bane weapons in 3.5 - +2d6 damage, +2 to hit.

 

My old GM had them count as evil for if someone of the bane targeted group used it or detected for it, so no bane VS human unless you wanted to become paladin bait.

[Doug Sundseth]

21 minutes ago, Club said:

 

These were called Bane weapons in 3.5 - +2d6 damage, +2 to hit.

 

My old GM had them count as evil for if someone of the bane targeted group used it or detected for it, so no bane VS human unless you wanted to become paladin bait.

 

If somebody attacks me because of a weapon I'm using (or worse, simply carrying), I'm going to consider him evil and do my best to kill him. If this becomes a pattern for a group (say an order of paladins), I'm going to do my best to exterminate them as a threat to life and order. And I won't feel even a little bit bad.

 

(That's the worst sort of lawful stupid paladin, IMO.)

[Club]

Not quite that bad (usually), but the guys did detect an aura of evil magic off you; if the local lawman braces you off the bat for radiating evil, all sorts of rumors can happen, for example.

 

Look at it this way, a sword is treated the way a hunting rifle is, and a bane VS X sword is treated the way a full-auto capable rifle, or armor piercing ammo, is; explicitly a man-killing weapon.

Edited October 11, 2017 by Club

[Unruly]

37 minutes ago, Club said:

 

These were called Bane weapons in 3.5 - +2d6 damage, +2 to hit.

 

My old GM had them count as evil for if someone of the bane targeted group used it or detected for it, so no bane VS human unless you wanted to become paladin bait.

 

The Bane weapons of 3.x don't really read the same though. There's something about the way the old ones are worded that make them seem so much cooler.