The AD&D Thread! (and any RPG)

A few assorted D&D jokes:









(and yes, only gamers will understand/find these funny)

 

I especially like the last one!

 

A video on creating the ultimate character.

 

I don't care much for pre-rolled high level characters; the best ones are the kind you've had for years with genuine experiences.

By the way, I found an interesting resource for generating a player character:
Hero Forge Custom Miniatures

Apparently you can design your own custom character and have it printed out in 3D!!!

Playing around with the software, it inspired this bit of lunacy:

 

A few more jokes:




I especially love this one; these kinds of screwups are commonplace in my campaigns.


Also wanted to post an interesting link:
Shop

Basically, they sell flat plastic sheets of miniatures, terrain and spell effects. I just purchased a pack of wizard spell effects; they ought to come in handy for determining just how BIG that fireball spell is going to be, or how far that lightning bolt can travel. Also, whenever someone casts "Hold Person", we just place the miniatures on a 6-sided die to indicate they've been frozen. But now we can use the tokens as markers instead.

 

Time to talk about traps!

I've played with some DMs that love them. They got perverse pleasure out of elaborate death apparatuses that would end a character's life quickly and messily like a Medieval Cuisinart. On the other end of the spectrum, there's the simple poison needle on the doorknob that randomly reduces the PC population and makes opening a door a frightful experience that can take several minutes.

Personally, I've never resorted to these methods, although I have used traps in my campaigns. In one series, we had no thief, so at the worst I would employ a simple fire trap on a door/chest that would ignite if a character brazenly messed with it without checking for obvious signs. The damage done was never life-threatening, just a little something to wear them down a smidge, and to build up resentment against the lead villain if they didn't already have a personal stake in the adventure.

On the larger scale of things, I set traps but telegraph them ahead so the PCs can employ their smarts to circumvent them. In one castle, there was a long hallway divided by segments and tiled floors- our thief spotted the holes in the walls and knew about triggers in the floors. He made his way past them all and set about picking the lock on the far end when the fighter in the group decided this was taking up too much time...

...the fighter suddenly charged down the hallway, setting off each trap as he passed through them, much to the dismay of the thief. The fighter got speared, punctured by arrows, riddled with darts, scalded by oil, and finally fell down the hole in front of the door into the spiked pit. The thief, who was unharmed, did a facepalm. Our brave fighter did not perish, but it did make for a hilarious memory.

In another episode I made a hallway branch out into two directions, with one heading up slightly. I let the PCs hear sounds coming up from the higher passage, so they cautiously crept that way to discover an interesting sight: The upper hallway had an opening where it looked down into the lower hallway, and it was here that the party could see a band of unwashed orcs waiting for the heroes to pass by so they could throw heavy objects down upon them!

Naturally, I let the PCs take the villains by surprise and ass-kicking was handed out in excess. I found this ending more fun and memorable than if the PCs had blundered into it without taking the proper precautions.

Also, here's some more D&D humor:

 

Hadn't update this thread in a while...

Until the lockdown happened, I was actually DMing two separate campaigns simultaneously- and loving every minute of it, thank you very much!

Since then, I've been searching for interesting content and one of my players called my attention to Matthew Colville's "Running the Game" webseries.


A portion of his content is aimed at beginners, and the rest is for more experienced players; the video I linked to describes two separate ways of running a campaign: The "sandbox", where the players essentially go any way they choose, and the "railroad", where a goal is chosen for them early on and sets the pace.

Most of my campaigns have been of the sandbox variety, but my latest one is more or less a railroad category. Although "railroad" seems to have a negative connotation to it, my players in that campaign haven't objected, and we were at 9th level before things ground to a halt.

Colville's style is engaging; and although I don't see myself incorporating every idea he suggests, it's still fascinating to see another DM relate his experiences.

Oh, and also this:

 

(Wasn't sure if this should go in the coronavirus thread or not)



On a related note, role-playing game rules helped me get into the habit of wearing a seat belt when I was 16. Initially I was as resistant as the next typical teen, until I read a rule from the Marvel Super Heroes Game: anyone riding in a vehicle that gets into a collision has to choose from two separate tables: If you're wearing a seat belt, you get to roll on the Blunt Attack table for results. This means the worst thing that can happen is you get knocked unconscious. If you chose not to wear a seat belt, you roll on the Edged Attack table... which means the worst thing that could happen is you can get killed.

That was good enough for me. From that day on I wore my seat belt every single time.

Who said being a geek doesn't have fringe benefits?

 

LEGO DnD?

That's certainly interesting, although I won't be spending any money on it at this point in my life. Had they come out with this earlier, I would have jumped at it so as not to have blown so much money on walls, terrain & assorted miniatures I could have built and reused.

I also don't remember if we had a thread devoted to LEGO, so in this thread it went.

 

I think Borla started a LEGO thread, it included Star Wars LEGO.

 

I haven't gamed in about two years; everyone I game with has taken jobs that rob them of weekends. I hope things change soon; I tried to get a few other people interested but it's a bit of a hard sell for some.

I lack the capacity to wing things, so I still heavily prep in advance for adventures. It's relaxing for me to sit down, draw up a map, write out the stats for each room, stock them with monsters/puzzles and go through my miniature collection and see what I can use to wow 'em with production value.

I can roll with the punches when it's time to make a quick decision regarding combat rules, but can never go with the flow if I have to improv as I go along. I have one friend who, when he DM's, is totally capable of making it up as he goes along. He can draw up an adventure in 30 minutes or less. It takes me weeks!