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1500 questions
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4 answers
What is "the d20 bust," and what does "post-d20 game" mean?
Reading this gaming industry retrospective I ran into a few phrases which confused me.
The d20 bust caused by 3.5e (2003) and the over-saturation of d20 products ran right into the Great Recession.
What's "the d20 bust"? I came into RPGs shortly…
BESW
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7 answers
Can deaf people play RPGs?
As a deaf person, I guess that I can't play RPGs but I am not sure, as I have never played one.
Generally speaking, I think there are two genres of RPG: Table RPG (such as D&D) and Performing RPG (games where players act like actors). Correct me if…
Yannis Dran
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What are the key considerations to creating compelling environments?
An area I am close to revealing to my players was barren rock, until I realised adding a few kinds of plants and some crystal spires (which have very good reason to be there) took the location from dull to intriguing in the space of half an hour.
It…
doppelgreener
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3 answers
Shame him into not shooting: multiple stress tracks in a single conflict
If you insult the hitman enough, will he stop shooting at you? It doesn't seem likely, but that brings into play a question about whether some stress tracks are "more important" than others: If you shoot the clown, he'll probably stop making fun of…
BESW
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5 answers
Why are ball bearings so common in the Forgotten Realms?
A standard starting item in some packs is "a bag of 1000 ball bearings." Now, I am still a D&D newbie, but it seems to me that the cart is way before the horse here. Heavy-load-bearing rotating shafts did exist in the pre-industrial world (e.g.…
Drew R
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13 answers
How do I make skill checks more than just sequences of die chucking?
I think I don't get skill challenges.
As I understand it at some point I break the narrative by proclaiming:
"This is a skill challenge. You need 5 victories before you reach 3 failures. Go"
And then each player in turn chucks a die for his primary…
Boris Callens
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7 answers
How should I prevent a player from instantly recognizing a magical impostor without making them feel cheated?
In the campaign I'm running, I'm looking to introduce an NPC who is secretly an antagonistic oni in disguise. An oni's shapechange feature, however, is explicitly described as magical, and one of my players is a warlock with the Eldritch Sight…
Q_C
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8 answers
How do I explain to an AD&D player that items that increase Armor Class in D&D 5e are overpowered?
Context:
I have recently started a campaign with a new player that comes from an AD&D background. He wishes to convert and import his character to the campaign. We did this once, and I helped him with the conversion and checked his stuff; he got 2…
RomainL.
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7 answers
How do you balance a group with both charismatic players who enjoy role-playing and introverted players who don't?
I have been involved with RPGs in general for a long time, but have only been involved with tabletop RPGs (like D&D 5e, currently) for a year or so.
In my current game (D&D 5e), I play a charismatic Paladin who is strong, kind and headstrong. I,…
Jun Kang
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Am I overreacting or seeing things where they don't exist?
I am a new D&D player and was having a blast playing with my friends. We are all new to this, including our GM, and it's been so much fun. When we do critical hits, he plays a Power Ranger-like song and we all celebrate with this silly dance. …
Dorum
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8 answers
How to communicate to my GM that not being allowed to use stealth isn't fun for me?
I started with a group some times ago a new campaign. I made a thief that used a bow and was very very stealth based (level 3 thief having +21 on stealth with all effects applied). The intent was using the stealth to get sneak attacks with the bow…
Zaibis
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4 answers
Is the Mordenkainen's Sword spell underpowered?
The Mordenkainen's Sword spell seems to be under-powered for a 7th-level spell. It only does 3d10 damage; while admittedly it can do this damage every round for 1 minute, it still just seems to not be that much damage for a spell of its level.
Is it…
Q Paul
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3 answers
Can a new player join a group only when a new campaign starts?
I moved into a house share with my friends (ages 24-29), and they play role-playing games on weekends at the house, but they won't let me join in because they say it's not fair to the players that have been in the group for a while. Specifically,…
Natf
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Which Article Helped Get Rid of Technobabble in RPGs?
Some time ago I saw an article on the Internet about technobabble in RPGs, specifically about why and how to get rid of it and replace it with something better. While I'm inclined to believe that I don't need the article for my own use anymore, I…
vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica
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12 answers
What to do about PC rerolling for great stats?
I have a player who in the span of 3 sessions has gone through 5 characters (& made even more, some of which I told them not to play because the stats were too high), because they want "great" stats (as in at least 3x 16's or 2x 17+ stats, before…
user2813274
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