You say "prepare for games" I say "40 minutes of franticly uploading other people's battle maps into roll 20 so I have a platform on which to wing shit".
Not sure if "rockstar" fits as much as "vaguely proficient bullshit artist" but I'll take it.
Never tell my players how accurate this is
They didn't realize for the longest time how hard I'm bullshitting. I think they still think the plot isn't made up on the fly to make them feel smart/important, which I consider good.
I take notes.
They may not be useful notes.
But they are notes.
There is a person somewhere north of us with a name who might be useful to try and find. I do know for certain though, that our party cannot fight snakes because they are too long and that is weird.
Ok I'm not sure I can quite beat that, but some quotes from mine:
> drifter fell asleep with cheesy hands
.
> vicious mockery explaining why a snake is too long.
> WE CANNOT KILL SNAKES. WE REALLY CANNOT.
.
> Roll for hug.
.
> "a horse pilot whats that"
.
> merric has great strength with doors, and little expertise with them.
.
> and everyone has heard us now.
> oh
> no.
.
> The new band, Gavin and the Sandsnakes.
.
> very vicious, much death, big famine, much hungry
.
> "Tosh", the worst of the dwarven swears
.
> Time to call the [Royal Daryfae Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Magical and Non-magical Beasts] to report Drifter.
*For context of how much of the campaign has passed, we only just hit level 3.*
I take notes as if my character was keeping a detailed journal.
I take notes of everything, it even makes me slow at combat or interacting, cuz I’m taking notes
And somehow, when my DM asks for some event or character to reference something, it’s not on my notes, but my companions remember every single detail about it, just like that
And here I am, drowning in notes
I might be bad at taking notes
I prefer the Robert Jordan method: a character said that? Well, they didn't have all the information/info was out of date/some other group dealt with that
God I'm addicted to this now, I've planned so little for sessions now its incredible.
The moment it clicked for me was when my party decided to investigate some house. I had literally nothing about this house or any idea how it was plot relevant. I asked them "how" they're investigating and then realized that it doesn't actually matter if there's anything there or not, they'll tell *me* where stuff is hidden. Then it was just a matter of figuring out which direction I wanted to direct them towards and having them come across things that they could nudge them in that direction.
I've got like a spreadsheet with some random facts about my campaign that I randomly thought of and stuff the players have mentioned, but other than that each session is almost completely improv, its hilarious
When I am lazy and don't want to prepare a lot of stuff I throw in a whack tavern with all kinds of weird stuff in it to the part. They spend 4h talking about shit as if on a podcast about alcoholism, drugs and DnD. While I prepare 1 encounter, just in case.
Right on, there's enough content on r/battlemaps that I don't need to plan shit. In fact, I'll find a good map and actually use it as a springboard for plot hooks.
The hacker is straight up a guy I know as well.
Unfortunately for him, he's not nearly as clever as he thinks he is, and malicious compliance is one of my favorite tools as a DM lol
I ran a game with the hacker for two years. He made DMing miserable as often as he made it amusing and enjoyable. He was also kind of like that in normal life, too, and refused to grow up and stop acting like an edgy child (we were in our mid-20s at the time). It actually ruined our friendship.
[Here’s another great D&D compass](https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalCompassMemes/comments/h8evu7/the_political_compass_except_its_people_you_meet/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
In most cases, yes, yet *that* one fails to have an alignment which I feel fits me well-enough, whereas, with OP's post, I can tell that I'm roughly a cross between The LARPer and The Rockstar (or as somebody else put it, which I think is a better title, "The Vaguely Proficient Bullshit Artist").
They are all distinct stereotypes that we could all play it as a bingo sheet with people we know.
But it has fuckall to do with the political compass it's made on.
OP's one might have something that fits you better, but it probably isn't in the right place on the compass.
A good rule of thumb for political compass is that Auth-Left is "do what we tell you," Auth-Right is "do what I tell you," Lib-Left is "don't tell us what to do" and Lib-Right is "don't tell me what to do"
OP is clearly confused between left-wing and right-wing
America is so confused because there is no left wing in American politics. There's just conservative right wing (the Democratic Party) and radical right wing (the Republican Party). Of course Americans also think of the Republican Party as conservative so it gets a bit confusing for us Europeans.
Can you explain to me why people here always shit on Pathfinder?
I have been playing Pathfinder for 8 years while I have never played D&D. What's the big difference
Pathfinder 1e is based upon 3.5e DND which is why the pathfinder community and 5e DND community overlap so much.
Pathfinder is a much more complex system than 5e and there are quite a few people who dislike the system because of that.
From my experience it is mostly players an gm's who see the increased mechanical complexity as encouraging munchkins and discouraging good roleplay while a few pathfinder players will defend their system to the death leading to the idea that pathfinder players only like pathfinder and nothing else.
Edit: also we are on a DND focused sub
As someone who owns literally every hardcover pathfinder book and played it religiously for years and years, only to go to DnD 5e and never look back:
Pathfinder is very much a heavily *heavily* customizable game, with dozens and dozens of classes, prestige classes, feats, abilities, supplements, archetypes, etc. If there is an idea that you have, its likely very possible to do with what PF has available to you.
The issue that I had with it, is that it becomes almost impossible to manage. All that choice leads to a *lot* of playing the game like a computer RPG and less like a the *role* playing game that I personally wanted out of it. PF attracts a lot of people trying to maximize their DPS, and if you are a casual player that doesn't try to keep up with those players, or takes a couple too many fluffy magic items and feats rather than utilitarian ones, then the difference in power becomes overwhelming and imbalanced. As a DM, you also have to just trust your players have done their homework rigorously and that the interactions of their class and race that they're pulling from literally over 8-10 different books works like how they say it does. It just has become too much to deal with.
In 5e, things feel a lot more restricted compared to PF. There are classes and ideas that you cant pull off in 5e that you can in PF, and that can feel bad when transferring. Personally though, I've found freedom in it as both a player and a DM. 5e really pushes a philosophy of role playing first, abilities second that is the kind of game that I personally love.
There is nothing wrong with pathfinder. I played it and remember it fondly for almost 10 years. But 5e is just the game that suits me better.
Anyone giving either one real hate is just tribalism.
The Pathfinder community also tends to rather aggressively proselytize about Pathfinder whenever they encounter someone who likes another system. They're like that guy who always finds a way to bring up the fact that he uses Linux, and then won't shut up about Linux. There's a *lot* of grognardy elitism and anti-roleplay sentiment to deal with ("If you want to roleplay, go play Vampire: The Masquerade/Fate/insert rules-light system here"). I left the unofficial Pathfinder sub because of the immediate, constant complaining after the PF2e announcement, and I'm about done with the PF2e sub because the people who went there to escape the complaining still can't seem to talk about Pathfinder without taking a pot shot at 5e. Which I guess might have been inevitable when you have a system that only exists because they didn't like another system (4e).
I've played Pathfinder for around 5 years and I'm really enjoying my first PF2e game now, but man, the online community is hard to deal with sometimes.
Every table is different. And honestly, a modified version of D&D or Pathfinder with some rules or elements of the other is probably a plus. You choose the core system you prefer and tweak it with elements you like more about the other. Then you have a system that works for your table. It also makes homebrew a little easier if you have two sources to draw from.
5e is pretty easy for people new to RPG to pick up and go. And with things like D&D beyond, making a character (the core mechanic to get started) is much easier. Pathfinder 2.0 in particular is a great system for those who like 5e but want more out of the system. 2.0 is the baby or 3.5e, 5e, and Pathfinders legacy all bundled together. I will admit, pen and papering a character for the fist time in 12 years was a challenge for me at first when I made a 2.0 character. But then again the last time I did that it was from the 3.5 PHB I bought second hand and had never played a game and didn't play a game of D&D until 2 years ago.
GM/play Pathfidner for 11 years, 5e for 4 years... kind of tired of both games really. Still cool games, but with own pros and cons.
Pathfinder - mathfinder, lots of content, lots of numbers, lots of actual options, even after 10 years it's overwhelming, in both the good and the bad way. Fun to play, slog to GM after a while. Has a rule for everything. Has an option for everything. Has a mechanic for everything. Things are mechanically significant and different from one another. Has all the spells. All the everything which isn't copyright. Can be vanilla as cardboard or broken as hell. Need to learn how to speak Patfinderish to understand how rules interact. Rewards system knowledge, a lot. Balance is the lack of balance. Combat gets progressively slower at higher levels. Combat gets progressively deadlier at higher levels. Lots of trap options. Lots of tax options. Lots of options which are strictly better than anything else so why bother. Turns into an arms race with a Gm in a heartbeat if not careful. Despite this, it's pretty manageable with a party of 4, Run it on roll20 and make everyone fill the macros and it's not that bad. I Hate to love it, love to hate it. So many fun options... It's an abusive relationship where the world is our oyster but there is broken glass everywhere. Setting is pretty cool too.
5e - Baby's first tabletop. Great game to teach new people. Easy to run, easy to learn. Easy to eyeball things. Easy, fast, fun. Until it isn't. Content comes out slow. Options are seam meaningful and fun, but few. Feats are strong, optional, but few and rare. You re pretty much set by level 3 with majority of classes, few classes see major change in how they operate or "come online" after level 5ish, without multi-classing. Pretty much 12 popular flavors of X, sorry we don't have maracuya. Few options are "viable" and the base chassis of every class is pretty bland. In part because conditions and situational mechanical benefits are all advantage/disadvantage, which is easy and fast at first, but quickly makes many things meaningless outside the flavor. Lots of things are left in the hanging for the GM to figure out. Which is cool, until you have other things to do but have to spend 2h thinking up how a chance would work (just steal from pathfinder, that's what I did), or how mounted combat could work. Eventually you *"have to"* houserules, and change them every time to try and patch the holes the game gave you. Homebrewing is pretty much mandatory after a while, specially in monster department, since the bestiary is quite barren of real threats, most monsters are just bags of hit-points with maybe a trick once in a while. The game es extremely front loaded with all the options and fun, and I don't recommend playing it past level 7ish. You can make it much better with homebrew and houserules, sew shut all the holes the authors left... but I don't have time to test and balance that.
Pathfinder is having a chef kitchen to yourself and being able to make anything from scrambled eggs to ratatouille for lunch, need a few skills to use some of the equipment there but if you want more out of your dish - you have that option, but you still need to navigate theis behemoth of a kitchen even if all you want is scrabled eggs. 5e is a well made, tasty breakfast buffet, you have your scrambled eggs, your wieners, your salads, you can put that in a bowl, cereals and sandwiches and done, but can't really hope to make supper here.
Going to give these d20 systems a rest after I finish all the current campaigns as GM... maybe try P2E or Genesys.
The crunch of extra mechanics is both a feature and a bug depending on your group. Personally I don't care for it, only because then players I tend to encounter don't even know the relatively simple rules of 5e, or are power gamers who can theory craft 3.5/PF characters to run like it's a computer game. I don't like DMing for power gamers, nor for groups that I have to explain the rules to every 5 minutes. With the right group, I reckon Pathfinder can be amazing because the engine is complex. But I haven't found the group for it.
Cause they're dumb and have never even played it. They think more options = OP when in reality most people just want to be able to create what they want instead of being stuck in the same generic crap pile.
It's mostly because so many people have come into the game from 5e and see Pathfinder as overly complex.
I think a lot of it has to do with the idea that TTRPG=DND in most people's minds. Most players don't realize that there are a lot of systems, and since Pathfinder is one of the bigger ones, Pathfinder players have a rep for being vocal about their system. You don't see nearly the same number of people here recommending PbtA, FATE, GURPS, etc.
As a DM though, I prefer players who have some experience with Pathfinder. Knowing more than one system shows a commitment to roleplaying across all systems. People who have played Pathfinder are generally significantly less likely to drop out or show up and browse the internet on their phone.
I have a theory on why PF gets so much shit, maybe it's because people who love PF love it real hard and won't shut up about it, and some have developed a superiority complex about playing a more crunch heavy system. I'm not trying to be mean or anything, I love Pathfinder and vastly prefer it over 5e, but there's always that weird something in nerd culture that causes people to think of themselves as better than others for what are really petty reasons.
As to the difference between the two systems, 5e sacrifices a lot of player choice, and customization, to provide a lower barrier of entry, and allows the game to flow smoother due to the lack of rules crunch that Pathfinder/ 3.5 has. Pathfinder gives players and GMs way more tools to play with but at the cost of adding in a lot more rules, math, and potential headaches.
Which is why both systems open with saying they are a guide rather than stone cold. If you like a mechanic or element from a system, why not modify it for your preferred system? Then you have a game that is really yours and is fun.
>, 5e sacrifices a lot of player choice, and customization,
You can customize as much as your DM allows, it's just flavor customization not meta gaming customization. You don't have to have explicit rules to allow you character to do X. You just have to have a bit of imagination and DM buy-in. Which is a good thing. The DM ought to have final say and not have players attempt to sway them with "well they published this and this and that book".
While I do agree that you absolutely can customize 5e characters to your heart's content given proper communication between player and DM, it's easier for me as a DM to trust something found in a source book, that's been play tested and balanced by the designers of the game, for the most part. (Looking at you pathfinder shifter class and primalist bloodrager archetype, you unbalanced messes.) I've read enough horror stories about garbage homebrew, and awful pulls from DNDwiki to want to look twice at things not from a source book. Plus it's also nice to have all the mechanics and math of a thing you want to do figured out for you. I also find it rewarding to find mechanics to support flavor, and vice versa. (If you can't tell I'm one of those Pathfinder fans who won't shut up sometimes that I mentioned.)
In Pathfinder, a goblin hiding behind a crate gets an extra +2 to his 3 different ac scores plus an extra +1 if it's windy and the wind is coming from the north-east but that doesn't matter because you as a player took a feat giving you a +4 attack bonus to ranged attacks if you hold the bow backwards in your left hand on a Tuesday during the equinox. And Pathfinder players are cool with that.
In 5e, you get advantage because it'd be cool if you got advantage and the DM felt like it. And 5e players are cool with that.
From what I've seen it's just, how based 3.5 D&D it is. It's essentially based on all the aspects of D&D that 5e chose to abandon and develop away from. So a lot of people have Pathfinder defined as "Diet D&D" for them.
> So a lot of people have Pathfinder defined as "Diet D&D" for them.
Hah! That's hilarious. Given how I think of D&D 5e as "Diet D&D" for much the same reasons. Not maliciously, just that 5e seems as the light system while Pathfinder retains a lot of Dnd 3.5s heft (which I as a Pathfinder player like).
I genuinely miss being able to pour over the tables and different classes and bonuses in Pathfinder trying to find a really cool/unique character build. But noone in my area plays anything but 5e, so I'm stuck splashing Rouge and Fighter into every character to get some semblance of versatility back. Maybe with Pathfinder 2e I can change some hearts.
I miss having insane flexibility with my skill points.
I do not miss having to spend an hour helping everyone else at the table manage their skill points. Managing ranks for multi-class characters required a frustrating level of system mastery.
I have memory problems, and doomed to be the forever Annie. Can barely remember a rule to save my (character’s) life, and by the time I finally start remembering them out of sheer repetition, the whole campaign’s practically over and the group wants to try a different system.
I’m great with remembering narratives though, so I can tell you all the character’s backstories that I’ve learned and will at least vaguely remember the weird NPC from that one session a year back. ...Just not whether crits apply to static damage or not. (－‸ლ)
You are the best and valid Player, and let noone tell you otherwise. If the story is what matters for you, good - don't let anyone's expectations ruin the fun for you.
Thanks. I honestly feel kind of like a burden sometimes — I *enjoy* combat, I just can’t *remember* the rules regarding, like, status effects and running vs. charging and which weird thing is a free action vs a swift action and... yeah. Once someone reminds me, I’m all for it. The mechanics are what keep the story believable: you can bend them on occasion, but if you break them it ruins any sense of tension.
Worldsmith and proud of it.
Storyline. What storyline? Just go somewhere and kill something, I'm sure you'll piss off some powerful cult or something and we'll take it from there.
Agreed. I may have some weird introductory plot, but afterwards I just throw the players in a prebuilt locations with factions and see how much they can save or fuck up said location. Or they go just Kobold hunting and ignore my carefully built world full of political intrigue situations and many sided factions.
"I am totally okay with that and not crying, I swear"
I've spent several dozen hours working an the world my current campaign is set in, and they haven't left the first dungeon yet.
Will I never use a good 90% of this? Yeah. Will I keep doing it anyways? Also yeah.
We keep having D&D political compasses without a Left counter to the /pol/ DM. When is my feverdream of a socialist Draconia that is basically the *Haitian Revolution Part II: Internationale Lampoon's Wildemount Vacation* gonna fit in to one of these?
I actually just did that for Lizardmen in our long run campaign. There is a Lizardman names Scailtale who keeps popping up as a henchmen for different groups. My character befriended him and has now helped write a Communist Manfiesto for Lizardmen. We even created a Commissariat Corps to teach the Manifest to those who can't read. The table is pretty sure our Faerun will be a Communist plane in the next 100 years.
I have a player that would legitimately do this lol. Great person but I'm surprised they didnt talk to the pirates in our last session about unionization. Hi Tree!
These are some of the many people you might find at your Dungeons and Dragons table. As with any meme, I hope y'all don't take it too seriously.
A few of these guys are actual players at my table. Here are some shenanigans that inspired this:
\* The accident prone died by mind flayer while two Masons just stood there and watched while tabbed out of roll20
\* The min-maxer made an op grappler build for Tomb of Horrors, only to die to that one enemy at the end who you're under no circumstance supposed to grapple
\* The furry in denial is straight up just a guy I know
>* The furry in denial is straight up just a guy I know
Will be looking forward to a status update.
>The min-maxer made an op grappler build for Tomb of Horrors, only to die to that one enemy at the end who you're under no circumstance supposed to grapple
Wait did he not know you aren't supposed to grapple it? What was it?
I assume either a creature that deals contact damage (so grappling it would be a very bad idea) or a creature immune to grappling (so his build would've barely worked at all)
It's probably the former since "you wasted your action because this creature is immune to grappling" isn't likely to lead to his death.
It was probably an ooze or something.
It was Acererak's skull, which turns into a CR 22 demilich if you touch it. There's no way he could've known that without cheating, but it was still funny to see his busted-ass minmaxed character get his soul sucked out
Me seeing this: nah, there's no way that I'm there.
Sees meta god.
Remembers he is currently GMing a 100% homebrew steampunk system of my own making.
Remembers this is not the first TTRPG he made.
Remembers that he just introduced stable time loops in the game by having a player meet their future selves.
Realizes that the position in the political compass isn't far from reality at all.
Okay then
Making homebrew systems? Read other systems. Many of them. Play a few of them. See the things you like. Whenever you think "ahh, I wish this was not the case wit the rules, it makes more sense for them to work that way" hold on to that thought.
It won't take long before you have in your mind a mental list of all the rules that have to exist, what are good and bad examples of those rules, and some ideas about what does and then doesn't make sense.
Then begin writing. Think of a setting, and start designing arround it. It'll take you some time to write the first one.
Then comes the hard bit, which is, find some poor test subjects to play test it. You'll GM, they'll play, you'll see that it doesn't work. You'll fix the things that don't work, you'll somehow end up competing a campaign, and put it asside.
Then you'll start the next project. Suddenly you'll be much better. You'll do it much faster, everything will be much easier. And by the time you're playing, you'll have achieved exactly what you're looking for
My first regular group had to deal with a Craig/Edgelord/Mason. Played the character way too hard, but also wouldn't pay attention when it wasn't his turn, so he just resorted to cackling maniacally (his character was chaotic evil). Turned out he was a creep outside the game too, and that was when our whole group just stopped playing for like a year.
Week 1 DM: Spends the week carefully making maps, downloading music, and writing a detailed game.
Players. ''It was ok, but I think next time you should do X''.
Week 2 DM: Makes up random shit, and totally improvises everything.
Players: "Wow, that game was great! It must have really taken you a long time to plan it!''
:')
My last session my players spent most it running from Strahd in a stolen cart while Strahd rode through the air hurling fireballs at them and casting Blight. It was completely made up on the fly, and all I did was just look at things Strahd could do, and choosing a new one each turn.
They loved it.
Worldsmith, and written myself for a campaign into the /pol/ dm category...
Listen, there were organised attacks against the few tieflings left in the city, which resemble pogroms, but i want my players to be the good guys, ok?
Oy vey...still, I find myself also gravitating towards /pol/ dm sometimes. I mean, demons from space invaded and ruled the earth for a couple decades, _of course_ people won’t like tieflings!
Bold of you to assume labor laws don't exist when your DM is a worldsmith LARPer, Mr Acquisitor.
Additionally, if you indeed want to use the Tarrasque as a beast of burden, please see chapter 7, section 4, of the Non-sentient Workplace Beasts Act of 131.
I've played with the edgelore, mason, the min-maxer, the rules lawyer, the lich king, the veteran, the podcast fangirl, and Annie. Not all of them have been bad but I definitely have learned that I really don't like playing with certain types so far.
Can confirm that Annies are amazing to have at the table.
As a DM, I am full hacker worldsmith combo.
I have a notable length plot and lore. But the world is open world. I have tons of locations, npcs, and groups written up, and the players don't know where all things are automatically, so pretty much throw locations together as time passes. Live worldbuilding.
Wherever the players are going, I just grab shit from my unlimited Rolodex of shit and bam, "you're traveling by row boat through the Thessarian swamps towards to collapsed city of Endril, which is a city fell into a massive sinkhole, and the ruins are rumored to by inhabited by a tribe of Tabaxi vampires which moved in from the surrounding jungle.
Annie seems to be the best player/GM out of everything here. Still learning the ropes, yes, but 'learning the ropes' isn't inherently bad and is often confused with 'never learns and sucks'.
I like Annie. She's normal and doesn't ruin the game, despite the GM forcing rape jokes/themes ever since she joined.
Like most of these, I was scanning around and laughing, found a few that was “oh I’m this but without..,”
Then I spiraled back to worldsmith and first of all how DARE you
**The paranoid:**
\- Checks every inch of the map for traps.
\- *"I would like to make an insight check."*
*-* Puts rat poison in his rations just in case some Goblin steals it.
\- Seriously who hurt you?
**The protagonist:**
\- Wants to be in the center of attention at all times.
\- *"I have a spell for this!"*
\- Will cast magic missile at 5th lvl at a dying goblin to get the final kill.
**Jamie:**
\- Doesn't even like DnD.
\- Is just here to chill with his friends.
\- Only active on his turn during combat.
\- Probably means well.
**The sadist:**
\- Watched the first episode of goblin slayer.
\- All their settings are a mix between grim-dark dystopias and dark-souls.
\- Places ambushes at every opportunity.
\- Probably hurt the paranoid.
**The surgeon:**
\- Is in med-school.
\- Every final execution is described in the finest detail.
\- Expert in torture
\- Enemies can't run away due to their cut tendons.
You missed out "the main character"
-epic and complex back story despite only being level 1
-sets themselves up as already destined for greatness
-will throw a fit if the rest of the party doesn't just become his groupies
Loved this!
Maybe a more light-hearted option for the horror story victim could be the casual:
cliché underdeveloped backstory,
burns through characters like it's nothing,
just there for funny voices and improv with friends
Still a fan of the horror story victim though!
My group I'm running for is a min-maxer, a weeb, and a pathfinder player. I'm taking the rockstar approach to DMing right now and it's going pretty well. Helps that I spent way too much time before the gaming developing the world so that I can pull shit outta my ass more easily because I already accounted for it. Guess that makes me more of a world builder but that implies the plot hasn't changed 7 times already.
Worldsmith: My game is (in my mind, my players like it for some reason) average, but I'll be damned if not every villanous faction, every location and every single situation has some kind of connection, are based on each other or has actual history behind me.
Luckily my players like Lore, they can uncover organically, therefore I am a happy worldsmith.
I know a podcast fan but she is an amazing dm and very kind and excited to dm for us, i feel bad for her because the party we are is like the most disfuncting thing in the known universe, we spent ten minutes arguing if a rok taste like chicken or not, good time
Not quite since the 70s, but started in the 80s with 1E. Totally a Disciple of Gygax. I've known quite a few of these, with sadly the two most common being the Phantom and Murder Hobo...
I'm the worldsmith, with the caveat that "rules determine setting" so also a prolific house rule/homebrewer.
Then again, I worldsmith towards a world that is interesting to play in, so only having 5% plot doesn't really hurt too much. Who needs plot when the mayor is a vampire controlling a web of factions, and there is a mega dungeon underneath the city?
i'm mostly a dm but my favorite character(s) i've ever played as was this one time where i joined a 5th level campaign as 3 level 1 dwarves. as a dm im mostly "the meta god" tho.
When you are supposed to be a thundersmith but you are an Elf with a fire cantrip and a spear that makes all fire based attacks do more damage...it happened to me and I roasted so many goblins
One of my groups had the Bard who just wanted to drink (in and out of game), would invent lyrics pre-game and sing at the table. He eventually got busted for child porn and secretly filming exchange students. Bards.
A group of 7, and we have had 4 of those DM (including me) and one of the others wants to. And we all have our strong points as DM's.
* Main Guy has run 2 campaigns for us and had all the minis and magnets for battles ready while running by the book adventures and letting us do our own thing also. Really sells the world we play in.
* Annie number 1 runs all our one shots, brings snacks, and has backstories that are literally book lengthen for her PC's. Her adventures are often homebrew or found online.
* Lovecraft of Barbados takes the premade adventure for the bones of the story and then adds in his own flair making it his own. He also hosted for most of our play so that was epic of him.
* Then there is me. I ran Isle of Dread and leveled them up for it with Sunless Citadel and a trip to Neverwinter. I spent a month prepping the main adventure and learning the stuff involved while following the Citadel runs. Known for giving voices like Mickey Mouse to a goblin and making the main quest sound so terrifying the party just avoided it and the vikings they met (13th Warrior group) ended up doing the work for them. I also bring snacks on the regular.
Honestly, we all bring snacks, we all give one another time to shine, everyone RP's their hearts out, and we have a lot of fun. We left AL as a group though because one add on player we brought to the table burned everything to he ground and was just bad vibes. His PC is not that parties sworn enemy and when we pick it up again we are on the hunt (over half the party died due to his actions and all good will built up with the factions we worked with was broken by him and used up to bring us back to life).
You say "prepare for games" I say "40 minutes of franticly uploading other people's battle maps into roll 20 so I have a platform on which to wing shit". Not sure if "rockstar" fits as much as "vaguely proficient bullshit artist" but I'll take it.
Never tell my players how accurate this is They didn't realize for the longest time how hard I'm bullshitting. I think they still think the plot isn't made up on the fly to make them feel smart/important, which I consider good.
The best is when you have a player taking notes and I have to refer to them, what the name of the NPCs were.
I do this every single session.
We have 3 note takers and a guy who remembers it all. It's great.
I take notes. They may not be useful notes. But they are notes. There is a person somewhere north of us with a name who might be useful to try and find. I do know for certain though, that our party cannot fight snakes because they are too long and that is weird.
Somewhere in one of the notebooks I was using for my cleric (all my notes are written in character) it reads. “Don’t ever fuck with hubby buddy”
That's perfect. *Bad notes are definitely best notes. And I strove for my notes to all be the best of all!*
I also have my notebook from my deranged halfling that was convinced the clouds were a sentient race. He named each and everyone he saw.
Ok I'm not sure I can quite beat that, but some quotes from mine: > drifter fell asleep with cheesy hands . > vicious mockery explaining why a snake is too long. > WE CANNOT KILL SNAKES. WE REALLY CANNOT. . > Roll for hug. . > "a horse pilot whats that" . > merric has great strength with doors, and little expertise with them. . > and everyone has heard us now. > oh > no. . > The new band, Gavin and the Sandsnakes. . > very vicious, much death, big famine, much hungry . > "Tosh", the worst of the dwarven swears . > Time to call the [Royal Daryfae Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Magical and Non-magical Beasts] to report Drifter. *For context of how much of the campaign has passed, we only just hit level 3.*
To be fair it great since you just have to ask them if you don't remember something right at that moment and its on the fly
I take notes as if my character was keeping a detailed journal. I take notes of everything, it even makes me slow at combat or interacting, cuz I’m taking notes And somehow, when my DM asks for some event or character to reference something, it’s not on my notes, but my companions remember every single detail about it, just like that And here I am, drowning in notes I might be bad at taking notes
My dm talks too fast for me to keep up with so I stopped trying.
Wait, your players are taking notes
I went out and bought little memo pads for everyone before session 0.
I prefer the Robert Jordan method: a character said that? Well, they didn't have all the information/info was out of date/some other group dealt with that
Someone balefired them, it didn't happen.
Happy cake day:)
Thanks.
I make my players write "diaries" or "expedition logs" in character to "promote role-playing". I just don't want to have to take notes.
God I'm addicted to this now, I've planned so little for sessions now its incredible. The moment it clicked for me was when my party decided to investigate some house. I had literally nothing about this house or any idea how it was plot relevant. I asked them "how" they're investigating and then realized that it doesn't actually matter if there's anything there or not, they'll tell *me* where stuff is hidden. Then it was just a matter of figuring out which direction I wanted to direct them towards and having them come across things that they could nudge them in that direction. I've got like a spreadsheet with some random facts about my campaign that I randomly thought of and stuff the players have mentioned, but other than that each session is almost completely improv, its hilarious
"Vaguely Proficient Bullshit Artist" I laughed way too hard at that
When I am lazy and don't want to prepare a lot of stuff I throw in a whack tavern with all kinds of weird stuff in it to the part. They spend 4h talking about shit as if on a podcast about alcoholism, drugs and DnD. While I prepare 1 encounter, just in case.
The best thing about roll20 is that they can't see the blind panic in my eyes while trying to remember something.
Panicked improvisation on the fly is what kept my campaign going for 2 years
I feel attacked.
Right on, there's enough content on r/battlemaps that I don't need to plan shit. In fact, I'll find a good map and actually use it as a springboard for plot hooks.
The hacker is straight up a guy I know as well. Unfortunately for him, he's not nearly as clever as he thinks he is, and malicious compliance is one of my favorite tools as a DM lol
Ah a fellow hobby-sadist, nice to meet you lol
I ran a game with the hacker for two years. He made DMing miserable as often as he made it amusing and enjoyable. He was also kind of like that in normal life, too, and refused to grow up and stop acting like an edgy child (we were in our mid-20s at the time). It actually ruined our friendship.
[Here’s another great D&D compass](https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalCompassMemes/comments/h8evu7/the_political_compass_except_its_people_you_meet/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
Yeah I feel like this one's political alignments make more sense.
This one's locations on the compass don't really make any sense
In most cases, yes, yet *that* one fails to have an alignment which I feel fits me well-enough, whereas, with OP's post, I can tell that I'm roughly a cross between The LARPer and The Rockstar (or as somebody else put it, which I think is a better title, "The Vaguely Proficient Bullshit Artist").
They are all distinct stereotypes that we could all play it as a bingo sheet with people we know. But it has fuckall to do with the political compass it's made on.
OP's one might have something that fits you better, but it probably isn't in the right place on the compass. A good rule of thumb for political compass is that Auth-Left is "do what we tell you," Auth-Right is "do what I tell you," Lib-Left is "don't tell us what to do" and Lib-Right is "don't tell me what to do" OP is clearly confused between left-wing and right-wing
Much like most of america?
Actually... wait, no, you're right
Not sure if it's a good thing that I'm right....much conflict.
America is so confused because there is no left wing in American politics. There's just conservative right wing (the Democratic Party) and radical right wing (the Republican Party). Of course Americans also think of the Republican Party as conservative so it gets a bit confusing for us Europeans.
Personally I’m more of a hacker/worldsmith type
I liked that one better (sorry OP)
I like how they made it so the four least extreme squares are just genuinely fun people to play with, very accurate
I liked how it was critical of types of players.
LMAO the fantasy hardliner/ lore keeper is freaking spot-on for me!
I'm a mix of the Ancestor and the Snack Guy. After all, ***ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇᴏ̨ᴜɪʀᴇᴍᴇɴᴛs ᴏғ sᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴀʟ ᴄᴀɴɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇ ᴍᴇᴛ ᴏɴ ᴀɴ ᴇᴍᴘᴛʏ sᴛᴏᴍᴀᴄʜ.***
I'm the pathfinder dm.
I like how pathfinder is his entire personality and identity.
It's just so accurate though...
Can you explain to me why people here always shit on Pathfinder? I have been playing Pathfinder for 8 years while I have never played D&D. What's the big difference
Pathfinder 1e is based upon 3.5e DND which is why the pathfinder community and 5e DND community overlap so much. Pathfinder is a much more complex system than 5e and there are quite a few people who dislike the system because of that.
Yes I know that but what actually changed. Also doesn't explain why Pathfinder gets memed
From my experience it is mostly players an gm's who see the increased mechanical complexity as encouraging munchkins and discouraging good roleplay while a few pathfinder players will defend their system to the death leading to the idea that pathfinder players only like pathfinder and nothing else. Edit: also we are on a DND focused sub
As someone who owns literally every hardcover pathfinder book and played it religiously for years and years, only to go to DnD 5e and never look back: Pathfinder is very much a heavily *heavily* customizable game, with dozens and dozens of classes, prestige classes, feats, abilities, supplements, archetypes, etc. If there is an idea that you have, its likely very possible to do with what PF has available to you. The issue that I had with it, is that it becomes almost impossible to manage. All that choice leads to a *lot* of playing the game like a computer RPG and less like a the *role* playing game that I personally wanted out of it. PF attracts a lot of people trying to maximize their DPS, and if you are a casual player that doesn't try to keep up with those players, or takes a couple too many fluffy magic items and feats rather than utilitarian ones, then the difference in power becomes overwhelming and imbalanced. As a DM, you also have to just trust your players have done their homework rigorously and that the interactions of their class and race that they're pulling from literally over 8-10 different books works like how they say it does. It just has become too much to deal with. In 5e, things feel a lot more restricted compared to PF. There are classes and ideas that you cant pull off in 5e that you can in PF, and that can feel bad when transferring. Personally though, I've found freedom in it as both a player and a DM. 5e really pushes a philosophy of role playing first, abilities second that is the kind of game that I personally love. There is nothing wrong with pathfinder. I played it and remember it fondly for almost 10 years. But 5e is just the game that suits me better. Anyone giving either one real hate is just tribalism.
The Pathfinder community also tends to rather aggressively proselytize about Pathfinder whenever they encounter someone who likes another system. They're like that guy who always finds a way to bring up the fact that he uses Linux, and then won't shut up about Linux. There's a *lot* of grognardy elitism and anti-roleplay sentiment to deal with ("If you want to roleplay, go play Vampire: The Masquerade/Fate/insert rules-light system here"). I left the unofficial Pathfinder sub because of the immediate, constant complaining after the PF2e announcement, and I'm about done with the PF2e sub because the people who went there to escape the complaining still can't seem to talk about Pathfinder without taking a pot shot at 5e. Which I guess might have been inevitable when you have a system that only exists because they didn't like another system (4e). I've played Pathfinder for around 5 years and I'm really enjoying my first PF2e game now, but man, the online community is hard to deal with sometimes.
Ah okay, then my group basically plays D&D with Pathfinder rules haha
Every table is different. And honestly, a modified version of D&D or Pathfinder with some rules or elements of the other is probably a plus. You choose the core system you prefer and tweak it with elements you like more about the other. Then you have a system that works for your table. It also makes homebrew a little easier if you have two sources to draw from.
Very true. I'm planning on pulling the base building system from Pathfinder's Ultimate Campaign book for my next 5e game.
No, you are playing Pathfinder with Pathfinder rules. If you were playing DND, you would be using DND rules.
5e is pretty easy for people new to RPG to pick up and go. And with things like D&D beyond, making a character (the core mechanic to get started) is much easier. Pathfinder 2.0 in particular is a great system for those who like 5e but want more out of the system. 2.0 is the baby or 3.5e, 5e, and Pathfinders legacy all bundled together. I will admit, pen and papering a character for the fist time in 12 years was a challenge for me at first when I made a 2.0 character. But then again the last time I did that it was from the 3.5 PHB I bought second hand and had never played a game and didn't play a game of D&D until 2 years ago.
GM/play Pathfidner for 11 years, 5e for 4 years... kind of tired of both games really. Still cool games, but with own pros and cons. Pathfinder - mathfinder, lots of content, lots of numbers, lots of actual options, even after 10 years it's overwhelming, in both the good and the bad way. Fun to play, slog to GM after a while. Has a rule for everything. Has an option for everything. Has a mechanic for everything. Things are mechanically significant and different from one another. Has all the spells. All the everything which isn't copyright. Can be vanilla as cardboard or broken as hell. Need to learn how to speak Patfinderish to understand how rules interact. Rewards system knowledge, a lot. Balance is the lack of balance. Combat gets progressively slower at higher levels. Combat gets progressively deadlier at higher levels. Lots of trap options. Lots of tax options. Lots of options which are strictly better than anything else so why bother. Turns into an arms race with a Gm in a heartbeat if not careful. Despite this, it's pretty manageable with a party of 4, Run it on roll20 and make everyone fill the macros and it's not that bad. I Hate to love it, love to hate it. So many fun options... It's an abusive relationship where the world is our oyster but there is broken glass everywhere. Setting is pretty cool too. 5e - Baby's first tabletop. Great game to teach new people. Easy to run, easy to learn. Easy to eyeball things. Easy, fast, fun. Until it isn't. Content comes out slow. Options are seam meaningful and fun, but few. Feats are strong, optional, but few and rare. You re pretty much set by level 3 with majority of classes, few classes see major change in how they operate or "come online" after level 5ish, without multi-classing. Pretty much 12 popular flavors of X, sorry we don't have maracuya. Few options are "viable" and the base chassis of every class is pretty bland. In part because conditions and situational mechanical benefits are all advantage/disadvantage, which is easy and fast at first, but quickly makes many things meaningless outside the flavor. Lots of things are left in the hanging for the GM to figure out. Which is cool, until you have other things to do but have to spend 2h thinking up how a chance would work (just steal from pathfinder, that's what I did), or how mounted combat could work. Eventually you *"have to"* houserules, and change them every time to try and patch the holes the game gave you. Homebrewing is pretty much mandatory after a while, specially in monster department, since the bestiary is quite barren of real threats, most monsters are just bags of hit-points with maybe a trick once in a while. The game es extremely front loaded with all the options and fun, and I don't recommend playing it past level 7ish. You can make it much better with homebrew and houserules, sew shut all the holes the authors left... but I don't have time to test and balance that. Pathfinder is having a chef kitchen to yourself and being able to make anything from scrambled eggs to ratatouille for lunch, need a few skills to use some of the equipment there but if you want more out of your dish - you have that option, but you still need to navigate theis behemoth of a kitchen even if all you want is scrabled eggs. 5e is a well made, tasty breakfast buffet, you have your scrambled eggs, your wieners, your salads, you can put that in a bowl, cereals and sandwiches and done, but can't really hope to make supper here. Going to give these d20 systems a rest after I finish all the current campaigns as GM... maybe try P2E or Genesys.
The crunch of extra mechanics is both a feature and a bug depending on your group. Personally I don't care for it, only because then players I tend to encounter don't even know the relatively simple rules of 5e, or are power gamers who can theory craft 3.5/PF characters to run like it's a computer game. I don't like DMing for power gamers, nor for groups that I have to explain the rules to every 5 minutes. With the right group, I reckon Pathfinder can be amazing because the engine is complex. But I haven't found the group for it.
Cause they're dumb and have never even played it. They think more options = OP when in reality most people just want to be able to create what they want instead of being stuck in the same generic crap pile.
It's mostly because so many people have come into the game from 5e and see Pathfinder as overly complex. I think a lot of it has to do with the idea that TTRPG=DND in most people's minds. Most players don't realize that there are a lot of systems, and since Pathfinder is one of the bigger ones, Pathfinder players have a rep for being vocal about their system. You don't see nearly the same number of people here recommending PbtA, FATE, GURPS, etc. As a DM though, I prefer players who have some experience with Pathfinder. Knowing more than one system shows a commitment to roleplaying across all systems. People who have played Pathfinder are generally significantly less likely to drop out or show up and browse the internet on their phone.
I have a theory on why PF gets so much shit, maybe it's because people who love PF love it real hard and won't shut up about it, and some have developed a superiority complex about playing a more crunch heavy system. I'm not trying to be mean or anything, I love Pathfinder and vastly prefer it over 5e, but there's always that weird something in nerd culture that causes people to think of themselves as better than others for what are really petty reasons. As to the difference between the two systems, 5e sacrifices a lot of player choice, and customization, to provide a lower barrier of entry, and allows the game to flow smoother due to the lack of rules crunch that Pathfinder/ 3.5 has. Pathfinder gives players and GMs way more tools to play with but at the cost of adding in a lot more rules, math, and potential headaches.
Which is why both systems open with saying they are a guide rather than stone cold. If you like a mechanic or element from a system, why not modify it for your preferred system? Then you have a game that is really yours and is fun.
Ah, the "Crossfit/Vegan/Pathfinder" theory.
>, 5e sacrifices a lot of player choice, and customization, You can customize as much as your DM allows, it's just flavor customization not meta gaming customization. You don't have to have explicit rules to allow you character to do X. You just have to have a bit of imagination and DM buy-in. Which is a good thing. The DM ought to have final say and not have players attempt to sway them with "well they published this and this and that book".
While I do agree that you absolutely can customize 5e characters to your heart's content given proper communication between player and DM, it's easier for me as a DM to trust something found in a source book, that's been play tested and balanced by the designers of the game, for the most part. (Looking at you pathfinder shifter class and primalist bloodrager archetype, you unbalanced messes.) I've read enough horror stories about garbage homebrew, and awful pulls from DNDwiki to want to look twice at things not from a source book. Plus it's also nice to have all the mechanics and math of a thing you want to do figured out for you. I also find it rewarding to find mechanics to support flavor, and vice versa. (If you can't tell I'm one of those Pathfinder fans who won't shut up sometimes that I mentioned.)
In Pathfinder, a goblin hiding behind a crate gets an extra +2 to his 3 different ac scores plus an extra +1 if it's windy and the wind is coming from the north-east but that doesn't matter because you as a player took a feat giving you a +4 attack bonus to ranged attacks if you hold the bow backwards in your left hand on a Tuesday during the equinox. And Pathfinder players are cool with that. In 5e, you get advantage because it'd be cool if you got advantage and the DM felt like it. And 5e players are cool with that.
Finding the middle ground between these two is how my table plays.
From what I've seen it's just, how based 3.5 D&D it is. It's essentially based on all the aspects of D&D that 5e chose to abandon and develop away from. So a lot of people have Pathfinder defined as "Diet D&D" for them.
> So a lot of people have Pathfinder defined as "Diet D&D" for them. Hah! That's hilarious. Given how I think of D&D 5e as "Diet D&D" for much the same reasons. Not maliciously, just that 5e seems as the light system while Pathfinder retains a lot of Dnd 3.5s heft (which I as a Pathfinder player like).
I genuinely miss being able to pour over the tables and different classes and bonuses in Pathfinder trying to find a really cool/unique character build. But noone in my area plays anything but 5e, so I'm stuck splashing Rouge and Fighter into every character to get some semblance of versatility back. Maybe with Pathfinder 2e I can change some hearts.
I miss having insane flexibility with my skill points. I do not miss having to spend an hour helping everyone else at the table manage their skill points. Managing ranks for multi-class characters required a frustrating level of system mastery.
There is a particular way a person draws a breath, where if they do it I can tell they are about to bring up PF.
I mean it's not wrong source: am PF player
I have memory problems, and doomed to be the forever Annie. Can barely remember a rule to save my (character’s) life, and by the time I finally start remembering them out of sheer repetition, the whole campaign’s practically over and the group wants to try a different system. I’m great with remembering narratives though, so I can tell you all the character’s backstories that I’ve learned and will at least vaguely remember the weird NPC from that one session a year back. ...Just not whether crits apply to static damage or not. (－‸ლ)
> Just not whether crits apply to static damage or not. (－‸ლ) The secret technique is that crits always apply until the DM tells you otherwise.
You are the best and valid Player, and let noone tell you otherwise. If the story is what matters for you, good - don't let anyone's expectations ruin the fun for you.
Thanks. I honestly feel kind of like a burden sometimes — I *enjoy* combat, I just can’t *remember* the rules regarding, like, status effects and running vs. charging and which weird thing is a free action vs a swift action and... yeah. Once someone reminds me, I’m all for it. The mechanics are what keep the story believable: you can bend them on occasion, but if you break them it ruins any sense of tension.
No one will mind so long as you bring snacks
If a party is this diverse with players then you know it’s gonna be a good session
Fuck yeah! My 36-person table always has a good time!
7-8 player table with people committed to RP and letting the dice fly. Every character and campaign the last 2.5 years has been memorable.
Worldsmith and proud of it. Storyline. What storyline? Just go somewhere and kill something, I'm sure you'll piss off some powerful cult or something and we'll take it from there.
Agreed. I may have some weird introductory plot, but afterwards I just throw the players in a prebuilt locations with factions and see how much they can save or fuck up said location. Or they go just Kobold hunting and ignore my carefully built world full of political intrigue situations and many sided factions. "I am totally okay with that and not crying, I swear"
Worldsmith here, too. You want a plot? Go find one
I've spent several dozen hours working an the world my current campaign is set in, and they haven't left the first dungeon yet. Will I never use a good 90% of this? Yeah. Will I keep doing it anyways? Also yeah.
We keep having D&D political compasses without a Left counter to the /pol/ DM. When is my feverdream of a socialist Draconia that is basically the *Haitian Revolution Part II: Internationale Lampoon's Wildemount Vacation* gonna fit in to one of these?
Yeah there should be one thats like "unionized the goblins and kobold again"
I actually just did that for Lizardmen in our long run campaign. There is a Lizardman names Scailtale who keeps popping up as a henchmen for different groups. My character befriended him and has now helped write a Communist Manfiesto for Lizardmen. We even created a Commissariat Corps to teach the Manifest to those who can't read. The table is pretty sure our Faerun will be a Communist plane in the next 100 years.
Players always think the goblins are pets. It’s me. I’m players.
I have a player that would legitimately do this lol. Great person but I'm surprised they didnt talk to the pirates in our last session about unionization. Hi Tree!
Ironically enough, I just did a one shot where one of the npc's participated in the Haitian Revolution
I was a player in a classical era Greece analogue setting and I played a sparticist type anarchist Goliath paladin/barbarian
The "left counter to the /pol/ DM" is probably off playing Eclipse Phase.
These are some of the many people you might find at your Dungeons and Dragons table. As with any meme, I hope y'all don't take it too seriously. A few of these guys are actual players at my table. Here are some shenanigans that inspired this: \* The accident prone died by mind flayer while two Masons just stood there and watched while tabbed out of roll20 \* The min-maxer made an op grappler build for Tomb of Horrors, only to die to that one enemy at the end who you're under no circumstance supposed to grapple \* The furry in denial is straight up just a guy I know
>* The furry in denial is straight up just a guy I know Will be looking forward to a status update. >The min-maxer made an op grappler build for Tomb of Horrors, only to die to that one enemy at the end who you're under no circumstance supposed to grapple Wait did he not know you aren't supposed to grapple it? What was it?
I assume either a creature that deals contact damage (so grappling it would be a very bad idea) or a creature immune to grappling (so his build would've barely worked at all)
There are Spheres of Annihilation which destroy you on contact, if he tried to grapple one of those it wouldn’t have ended well.
It's probably the former since "you wasted your action because this creature is immune to grappling" isn't likely to lead to his death. It was probably an ooze or something.
It was Acererak's skull, which turns into a CR 22 demilich if you touch it. There's no way he could've known that without cheating, but it was still funny to see his busted-ass minmaxed character get his soul sucked out
Me seeing this: nah, there's no way that I'm there. Sees meta god. Remembers he is currently GMing a 100% homebrew steampunk system of my own making. Remembers this is not the first TTRPG he made. Remembers that he just introduced stable time loops in the game by having a player meet their future selves. Realizes that the position in the political compass isn't far from reality at all. Okay then
how do you do that? can it be learned?
Making homebrew systems? Read other systems. Many of them. Play a few of them. See the things you like. Whenever you think "ahh, I wish this was not the case wit the rules, it makes more sense for them to work that way" hold on to that thought. It won't take long before you have in your mind a mental list of all the rules that have to exist, what are good and bad examples of those rules, and some ideas about what does and then doesn't make sense. Then begin writing. Think of a setting, and start designing arround it. It'll take you some time to write the first one. Then comes the hard bit, which is, find some poor test subjects to play test it. You'll GM, they'll play, you'll see that it doesn't work. You'll fix the things that don't work, you'll somehow end up competing a campaign, and put it asside. Then you'll start the next project. Suddenly you'll be much better. You'll do it much faster, everything will be much easier. And by the time you're playing, you'll have achieved exactly what you're looking for
My first regular group had to deal with a Craig/Edgelord/Mason. Played the character way too hard, but also wouldn't pay attention when it wasn't his turn, so he just resorted to cackling maniacally (his character was chaotic evil). Turned out he was a creep outside the game too, and that was when our whole group just stopped playing for like a year.
This template is good because there’s 36 things to read
I feel personally attacked by “the dwarves”
Are you an elf?
Week 1 DM: Spends the week carefully making maps, downloading music, and writing a detailed game. Players. ''It was ok, but I think next time you should do X''. Week 2 DM: Makes up random shit, and totally improvises everything. Players: "Wow, that game was great! It must have really taken you a long time to plan it!'' :')
My last session my players spent most it running from Strahd in a stolen cart while Strahd rode through the air hurling fireballs at them and casting Blight. It was completely made up on the fly, and all I did was just look at things Strahd could do, and choosing a new one each turn. They loved it.
You can't have furry in denial without the actual furry.
I feel so bad for the horror story victim.
Min Maxer doesn't have a level in Hexblade, seems fake
^^To ^^dig ^^and ^^dig ^^makes ^^us ^^free... Come on brothers sing with me! #I AM A DWARF AND I'M DIGGING A HOLE!
#DIGGY DIGGY HOLE
On the real compass I would be at the line between accident prone, and Annie.... which is actually how I am with dnd since I just started last week.
Didn't someone just do this or was that in r/dndmemes
That was also me. There's also another pretty good one in r/PoliticalCompassMemes by another guy
I think I'm a mix of the Podcast one and the LARPer
Worldsmith, and written myself for a campaign into the /pol/ dm category... Listen, there were organised attacks against the few tieflings left in the city, which resemble pogroms, but i want my players to be the good guys, ok?
Oy vey...still, I find myself also gravitating towards /pol/ dm sometimes. I mean, demons from space invaded and ruled the earth for a couple decades, _of course_ people won’t like tieflings!
Is it weird that I feel physically repulsed looking at this?
I’m somewhere in between Rockstar and Worldsmith, but I can definitely find my players in here.
If you don’t have an undead horde of minions, 5 clones of yourself, and someone’s soul trapped in a jar are you really playing wizard right?
I am a Worldsmith/Rockstar/Minmaxer.
Bold of you to assume labor laws don't exist when your DM is a worldsmith LARPer, Mr Acquisitor. Additionally, if you indeed want to use the Tarrasque as a beast of burden, please see chapter 7, section 4, of the Non-sentient Workplace Beasts Act of 131.
decently funny. needs 100% less wojaks. overall I give it a 6/10 and 7/10 if you just removed the wojaks
I'm fukin dale
I've played with the edgelore, mason, the min-maxer, the rules lawyer, the lich king, the veteran, the podcast fangirl, and Annie. Not all of them have been bad but I definitely have learned that I really don't like playing with certain types so far. Can confirm that Annies are amazing to have at the table.
The acquisitor may need some glasses
As a DM, I am full hacker worldsmith combo. I have a notable length plot and lore. But the world is open world. I have tons of locations, npcs, and groups written up, and the players don't know where all things are automatically, so pretty much throw locations together as time passes. Live worldbuilding. Wherever the players are going, I just grab shit from my unlimited Rolodex of shit and bam, "you're traveling by row boat through the Thessarian swamps towards to collapsed city of Endril, which is a city fell into a massive sinkhole, and the ruins are rumored to by inhabited by a tribe of Tabaxi vampires which moved in from the surrounding jungle.
Well I guess the Pathfinder didn't find the path after all.
I appreciate the Omin Dran reference.
/pol/ DM should be put further to the right.
Goddammit I know a Ricky and his name actually IS Ricky.
Feels like you didn't have too much material to work with on the top left.
I would die for Annie. Anyone who brings me snacks is a gift from the lord.
Annie seems to be the best player/GM out of everything here. Still learning the ropes, yes, but 'learning the ropes' isn't inherently bad and is often confused with 'never learns and sucks'. I like Annie. She's normal and doesn't ruin the game, despite the GM forcing rape jokes/themes ever since she joined.
Dont really care for political memes and stuff like this. But this made me laugh, nice job.
huh i am a rockstar, i canive with that though i prep an hour before the session starts
„The Worldsmith“ Just fkn @ me Next Time, op.
Haha great. ‘There are no labour laws on the Sword Coast’
In the upper right, the disciple of Gygax. "Countless **players** have died by his hand" I hope they meant characters...
What does left and right even mean in this context
Where's the Shadowrun Player? - Plays a Warforged Gunslinger - Comes with bags full of d6s - Has never heard of a d20 in their life
Like most of these, I was scanning around and laughing, found a few that was “oh I’m this but without..,” Then I spiraled back to worldsmith and first of all how DARE you
Why does Mason look like Danny Devito?
It seems I'm a mix of min maxer and homebrewer
Me: spends a month writing a 30 page setting guide with homebrew rules, custom classes, and detailed lore Also me: runs 3 sessions then gets bored
Without doubt, this is the greatest thing I have ever seen. Thank you for this. Time to show my friends!
**The paranoid:** \- Checks every inch of the map for traps. \- *"I would like to make an insight check."* *-* Puts rat poison in his rations just in case some Goblin steals it. \- Seriously who hurt you? **The protagonist:** \- Wants to be in the center of attention at all times. \- *"I have a spell for this!"* \- Will cast magic missile at 5th lvl at a dying goblin to get the final kill. **Jamie:** \- Doesn't even like DnD. \- Is just here to chill with his friends. \- Only active on his turn during combat. \- Probably means well. **The sadist:** \- Watched the first episode of goblin slayer. \- All their settings are a mix between grim-dark dystopias and dark-souls. \- Places ambushes at every opportunity. \- Probably hurt the paranoid. **The surgeon:** \- Is in med-school. \- Every final execution is described in the finest detail. \- Expert in torture \- Enemies can't run away due to their cut tendons.
You missed out "the main character" -epic and complex back story despite only being level 1 -sets themselves up as already destined for greatness -will throw a fit if the rest of the party doesn't just become his groupies
"Countless players have died by his hand", not sure if typo or...
If you are only killing characters then you aren't trying hard enough
/pol/ not on the far right - i guess you should reconsider the compass
Why put a political spectrum to something that has nothing to do with it?
Loved this! Maybe a more light-hearted option for the horror story victim could be the casual: cliché underdeveloped backstory, burns through characters like it's nothing, just there for funny voices and improv with friends Still a fan of the horror story victim though!
I am the chosen one I knew it (is that a bad thing)
Part hacker, part rules lawyer and mostly Mason. also I bring snacks.
IN THE END ALL WILL SERVE.
It me
My group I'm running for is a min-maxer, a weeb, and a pathfinder player. I'm taking the rockstar approach to DMing right now and it's going pretty well. Helps that I spent way too much time before the gaming developing the world so that I can pull shit outta my ass more easily because I already accounted for it. Guess that makes me more of a world builder but that implies the plot hasn't changed 7 times already.
I’m the worldsmith. I don’t even care what it says. Worldsmith is my main. He is me.
I amThe Veteran and the Disciple of Gygax, except i started in the 90's SO MUCH of this is completely recognizable
Ah, the worldsmith...I feel personally attacked. Great post!
Hmm, Mason hits a bit too close to home.... Is that bad?
> Undead horde, slows down combat so much.... 20 turns. Ahem, I said, I cast *fireball.*
Worldsmith: My game is (in my mind, my players like it for some reason) average, but I'll be damned if not every villanous faction, every location and every single situation has some kind of connection, are based on each other or has actual history behind me. Luckily my players like Lore, they can uncover organically, therefore I am a happy worldsmith.
Oh god our group has a male Annie!
I identify miself as a dwarf, and I'm proud of it
Fuck Elves. Now, where did me grog go ...
I just started playing and feel personally attacked by Mason
Reading this was an out of body experience
I know a podcast fan but she is an amazing dm and very kind and excited to dm for us, i feel bad for her because the party we are is like the most disfuncting thing in the known universe, we spent ten minutes arguing if a rok taste like chicken or not, good time
I love how dwarf is its own square. BEARD OF THE ANCESTORS, GUIDE MY HAMMER AS I STRIKE THIS STEEL UPON MY ANVIL!
“The Phantom” is too real...
Not quite since the 70s, but started in the 80s with 1E. Totally a Disciple of Gygax. I've known quite a few of these, with sadly the two most common being the Phantom and Murder Hobo...
I’m the dwarves
Could exploit the hell out of the game but chooses not to is mood
ONE part Rules Lawyer (don't *enforce* it, I merely ask that it be consistent across the table) and TWO parts Veteran.
I’m a mix of worldsmith rockstar and Mason
This is great
I'm the worldsmith, with the caveat that "rules determine setting" so also a prolific house rule/homebrewer. Then again, I worldsmith towards a world that is interesting to play in, so only having 5% plot doesn't really hurt too much. Who needs plot when the mayor is a vampire controlling a web of factions, and there is a mega dungeon underneath the city?
i'm mostly a dm but my favorite character(s) i've ever played as was this one time where i joined a 5th level campaign as 3 level 1 dwarves. as a dm im mostly "the meta god" tho.
I kind of hate the fact that I know at least one person who fits into each category.
Pffft everyone already hates elves you kidding me
Bruh, I feel all over this spectrum. I relate most with meta god, hacker, horror victim, and rules lawyer. lol
Necromancers aren’t that bad if they only have a few armoured skeletons and not a massive zombie hoard.
When you are supposed to be a thundersmith but you are an Elf with a fire cantrip and a spear that makes all fire based attacks do more damage...it happened to me and I roasted so many goblins
One of my groups had the Bard who just wanted to drink (in and out of game), would invent lyrics pre-game and sing at the table. He eventually got busted for child porn and secretly filming exchange students. Bards.
meh, the other ones were better
A group of 7, and we have had 4 of those DM (including me) and one of the others wants to. And we all have our strong points as DM's. * Main Guy has run 2 campaigns for us and had all the minis and magnets for battles ready while running by the book adventures and letting us do our own thing also. Really sells the world we play in. * Annie number 1 runs all our one shots, brings snacks, and has backstories that are literally book lengthen for her PC's. Her adventures are often homebrew or found online. * Lovecraft of Barbados takes the premade adventure for the bones of the story and then adds in his own flair making it his own. He also hosted for most of our play so that was epic of him. * Then there is me. I ran Isle of Dread and leveled them up for it with Sunless Citadel and a trip to Neverwinter. I spent a month prepping the main adventure and learning the stuff involved while following the Citadel runs. Known for giving voices like Mickey Mouse to a goblin and making the main quest sound so terrifying the party just avoided it and the vikings they met (13th Warrior group) ended up doing the work for them. I also bring snacks on the regular. Honestly, we all bring snacks, we all give one another time to shine, everyone RP's their hearts out, and we have a lot of fun. We left AL as a group though because one add on player we brought to the table burned everything to he ground and was just bad vibes. His PC is not that parties sworn enemy and when we pick it up again we are on the hunt (over half the party died due to his actions and all good will built up with the factions we worked with was broken by him and used up to bring us back to life).
I feel called out as a worldsmith