D&D and Other TTRPGs - A Discussion

[unknownaspect]

Hello fellow adventurers across the multiverse!

I am finally getting back into D&D 5e now that a guy I know is going to DM a campaign and I thought it was time to bring about a thread for general discussion on the beautiful hobby of tabletop rpgs!

I've been through a session 0 recently, getting excited for an adventure in a crime-ridden city, formerly a holy site before relgious conflict turned up the heat. Though, rather than our party helping to make a difference, I have a feeling we're going to be playing in the local taverns. We have a bard in the party and a fighter who fancies himself as a musician. I'm a wizard who can use his magic to make a few musical notes and our barbarian buddy will no doubt make beautiful music as he thumps any drunkard that gets too close. Good times ahead!

I've recently also got a hold of the Runescape RPG book, being a veteran of that classic MMO, I'm hoping to recreate the exact feel of that game in tabletop form, complete with scams!

Come, lets us talk about adventures past and present, did I ever tell the one where I got lobbed through a window by a half-orc?

 

[Alphaleader]

@unknownaspect

It’s good to know that there are Still D&D games being played. Sadly I haven’t been in a new game since late 2022. I had to remove myself because I had to focus on College and a few other things.

But I have played Many Games! D&D, Pathfinder, and Cyberpunk.

But Yeah Funniest D&D moment I had was back in 2015 when the game just after the game got released.

Those Days were pretty tough, but there were a lot of funny moments that me and a few of the guys got to experience.

Onto the story. So there were five of Us!
We had just gotten to Level Five in the DM’s Made up Campaign. I was a Barbarian Rager. And my Fellow adventurers were a Dwarf Fighter, A Wild Mage, A Sorcerer, And a Monk. All of us had just completed the Task of Teleporting into a Monster Infested Academy after a student flubbed a Teleportation Spell when he tried to One up his Teacher.

So we came out of this Academy worse for Ware. I wasn’t in good shape, no One else was either though our Dwarf Fighter still had some fight in him. So our DM tells us to head over to the outside Shack that was nearby, with a Sort of Grounds Keeper there. (Like Haggrid from Harry Potter)

Now, I don’t remember who said it, but I remember someone saying. “Boy! It would be bad Luck for us to Run into another monster in that shack.”

This ended up bringing up a bit of Curiousity and confusing a few folks like Dwarf Fighter, who wasn’t sure if we were going into another fight.

then…

DM: “Okay. So you Fellas come up to this Tiddy, almost homely shack. What do you do next?” He asked.

All of us: “huh?”

One of us: (me I think?) - Well what do ya Mean? We just knock on the Door Right?

DM: “Sure. Though ya never know if the Grounds keeper is even inside?”

So this turns into a Confusing conversation between all of us, like why the hell would he SAY that?! So we just were arguing amongst ourselves.

When our Brave Drawf rolls up to the Door.

DM: “what are ya doing?”

Dwarf: “I’m answering the Door.”

DM: “Okay”

So he goes up and knocks on it. And the person that answers it is a Small gnome Man who opens it and say Hi.

Only for Dwarf to Take His Big Hammer and KONKS him on the Head!
Not Fatally but Enough to Where the Gnome threw the Door Closed!

All of US: “DUDE!!!”

The DM barely got a Word in with this Gnome NPC before that, and Everyone was confused as to why he did it!

Dwarf: “What The Hell Do Ya Mean WHY?! You M-Fers weren’t doing anything but Standing around wondering if there was a monster of something!”

The DM is Abit Shocked and chuckling before he decides to then up the Ante!
Before we could even sort out why our Fellow player did that, The Gnome survived the attack, but had a Special Furnace that he used for his defense 9f the Academy.

He Called out a Fire Elemental on us! A LARGE One!

In that Very Moment. I decided to say “Nope!” And Promptly dove Out the Way!

Sorceror, Monk, And Wild Mage just Ran away leaving the Dwarf All by himself!

Dwarf: “FINE! I’ll TAKE HIM ON MYSELF!!!”

Not even 5 minutes in, Dwarf was down for the count with a Half-cooked Body! While the Gnome Called off His Fire Elemental. And I had to be the one to Negotiate!

Meanwhile the Player for Dwarf was Pissed off at the Confusion. Mostly pissed off at DM, and then at Us for confusing him.

It was harmless fun, we all apologized, and We pooled our Resources to revive the Dwarf Fighter since he wasn’t down enough Hp to be Totally Dead.

And Yeah, that was my Funny D&D story.

 

[unknownaspect]

Ah! Immediate violence upon small people, just what's needed when danger could be around any corner!

I've had a interesting time DMing a game before. A friend of mine fancies himself as a thief in every fantasy game he plays, and D&D is no exception and so he is the permanent Rogue in every group he finds himself in.

The problem is that he will never spend is coins on anything, so a great many slieght of hand checks will get rolled in between dungeon crawling as he hopes to prepare himself for the quests ahead. The problem is that he isn't particular great with his heists.

His attempt to rob the bank didn't go well as he attempted to use ink from a clerks desk to try and slick up the floor and cause the guard to slip, only to find out that the ink was more sticky than anything.

He tried pickpocketing the captain of the guard, and got a critical success on his sleight of hand, which would have been great if he didn't do it while standing in front of the guy.

He then tried holding up the local healer, trying to get free potions and healers kit, by aiming an arrow at her. Her squeal of shock alerted the patrolling guards and he tried to make a break for it, but tripped over paving stones thanks to an awful athletics roll. This led to his arrest and the bulk of the session was dedicated to his trial. I had to put away my notes for the session and improv a courtroom scene, where I played judge trying my friend, with the barbarian of the group acting as his defense lawyer. He did a good job, as the thief was let go on the condition that he was accompanied at all times by the party.

This didn't go well, as he tried theiving again, got caught again, and the rest of the party had to stage a jailbreak before he was to be executed the following morning.

Is there a term for a murderhobo who steals from everyone instead of killing everyone?

 

[Marius Merganser]

The first campaign I participated in was a lot of fun. We started off taking it seriously as a band of heroes ready to save the world, but we were consistently getting critical failures on ability checks, so we started to play as bunch of bumbling idiots. At one point we were locked in a barn and getting swarmed by rats so we set the barn on fire...while we were trapped inside it.

Later we were sneaking around a mine being worked by slaves when we found the baddie's armory. My plan was to take the weapons and distribute them to the slaves and start a rebellion to free everyone. But while I was out of the room, a party member decided to set all the weapons on fire instead.

The campaign ended with a bang, though. I cast heat metal on the main baddie which melted his armor, causing it to drip onto a bunch of powder kegs, causing them to explode. It took out the baddie...and myself, my love interest, some friendly mercenaries, and half the party.


After that I spent some time working on an athro-themed homebrew campaign that had 5 story arcs (mystery, horror, and politics). The characters were free to investigate them in any order or switch between them as they wished. It took 66 hours to complete and went so surprisingly well, I did it for a second group of players.

I'm currently running another homebrew story and we're just starting act three 46 hours in.

 

[Alphaleader]

Ah! Immediate violence upon small people, just what's needed when danger could be around any corner!

I've had a interesting time DMing a game before. A friend of mine fancies himself as a thief in every fantasy game he plays, and D&D is no exception and so he is the permanent Rogue in every group he finds himself in.

The problem is that he will never spend is coins on anything, so a great many slieght of hand checks will get rolled in between dungeon crawling as he hopes to prepare himself for the quests ahead. The problem is that he isn't particular great with his heists.

His attempt to rob the bank didn't go well as he attempted to use ink from a clerks desk to try and slick up the floor and cause the guard to slip, only to find out that the ink was more sticky than anything.

He tried pickpocketing the captain of the guard, and got a critical success on his sleight of hand, which would have been great if he didn't do it while standing in front of the guy.

He then tried holding up the local healer, trying to get free potions and healers kit, by aiming an arrow at her. Her squeal of shock alerted the patrolling guards and he tried to make a break for it, but tripped over paving stones thanks to an awful athletics roll. This led to his arrest and the bulk of the session was dedicated to his trial. I had to put away my notes for the session and improv a courtroom scene, where I played judge trying my friend, with the barbarian of the group acting as his defense lawyer. He did a good job, as the thief was let go on the condition that he was accompanied at all times by the party.

This didn't go well, as he tried theiving again, got caught again, and the rest of the party had to stage a jailbreak before he was to be executed the following morning.

Is there a term for a murderhobo who steals from everyone instead of killing everyone?

Yeah. We just call a Serial Law Breaker.

 

[unknownaspect]

@Marius Merganser Ah, if pyromania was an adventuring party! Haha! I feel like "bumbling idiots" is how me and the crew are going to be playing this new campaign of ours, even though I've made myself a wizard with some pretty solid INT and WIS to bind the team together.

@Alphaleader That'll work! We now usually get at least one player to build a character to counter his thieving ways, either a paladin or someone with good STR. I quite enjoy DMing when he does that crap, helps me practice my improvising.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

I'll need some time to compile stories from TTRPG in general.

Like the kobold who tripped a demon with soap, the sheer number of broken setups I've seen over the years, or the fact that my current table has a tradition of at least one party member having an innuendo-heavy name...

 

[unknownaspect]

I'll need some time to compile stories from TTRPG in general.

Like the kobold who tripped a demon with soap, the sheer number of broken setups I've seen over the years, or the fact that my current table has a tradition of at least one party member having an innuendo-heavy name...

I feel innuendos manage to sneak their way into every game, has anyone ever played a 100% serious game?

 

[zephyr]

It’s good to know that there are Still D&D games being played. Sadly I haven’t been in a new game since late 2022. I had to remove myself because I had to focus on College and a few other things.

I've been a member of RPOL.net for over 20 years now. And while I can't argue that forum based RPGs are better, it's certainly helped keep me as part of the hobby. My personal preferences lean toward: Shadowrun (5th), Pathfinder (billed as a version 3.5), Rifts, and Star Frontiers. Among others.

 

[DarkFox319]

I've been a dnd player for quite a while. Started with pathfinder before playing 5e. I've dabbled in call of Cathulu and as of this last week I took my first few steps into savage lands, we are playing deadlands a fun and exciting wild west adventure. Honestly have so many fond memories of the games I've play and hope to keep gaining more!

 

[Alphaleader]

Forgot to mention I picked Up the “Fabula Ultima TTRPG” game. It’s fun. But I sadly Have not been able to get into a Full game yet.

 

[unknownaspect]

I'd love to get into Call of Cthulhu, given that a friend of mine has the boardgame Mansions of Madness and that has been our exposure to the mythos for quite some time, and I'd be curious if the usual group would love to explore the setting further. I imagine the lesser focus on combat and greater focus on investigation may put them off slightly, especially as I'm usually the go-to brains of any adventuring party.

 

[DarkFox319]

Honestly love COC it was full of lots of mystery solving and great moments. Like my character being the only one to know Latin and decides to translates what someone was reading out of a book only to find out it was a spell to sacrifice us, so quickly yelling get out of the circle left the whole group in confusion, while the dm was annoyed my character could understand latin.

 

[unknownaspect]

Honestly love COC it was full of lots of mystery solving and great moments. Like my character being the only one to know Latin and decides to translates what someone was reading out of a book only to find out it was a spell to sacrifice us, so quickly yelling get out of the circle left the whole group in confusion, while the dm was annoyed my character could understand latin.

Haha! Poor GM didn't get the TPK, all thanks to a supposedly dead language! I'm hoping my wizard for the upcoming DnD campaign I'm in will do similar things, I made my gnome with the idea of being able to think through situations and hopefully read some ancient text that will save the party's skin. The rest of the party will no doubt go and break some heads. Maybe CoC can calm them down.

 

[zephyr]

I never got into CoC myself, as Horror games really aren't my thing. Probably the closest I've ever gotten was Dark Conspiracy....which was a bit on the weird side.

 

[Blödhgarm]

Unfortunately the most D&D is through watching Critical Role on YouTube (haven't been keeping up with their current campaign)

I've always wanted to give it a try. Unfortunately my only attempt had me hoping my buddy and DM would help me get the final touches on my first character since he had all the resources on D&D Beyond. But then they blue-balled me for a year until I lost interest and backed out.

Made a bunch of neat character ideas since but that's about it. Don't really have the resources or the friends/internet to play.

 

[unknownaspect]

Unfortunately the most D&D is through watching Critical Role on YouTube (haven't been keeping up with their current campaign)

I've always wanted to give it a try. Unfortunately my only attempt had me hoping my buddy and DM would help me get the final touches on my first character since he had all the resources on D&D Beyond. But then they blue-balled me for a year until I lost interest and backed out.

Made a bunch of neat character ideas since but that's about it. Don't really have the resources or the friends/internet to play.

It's times like that when you kind of hope there's a local gaming store or group to try out the game.

It's a bit crappy they blue-balled you at character creation, anyone with any idea of the rules should have been able to help you out easily.

Then again, coming up with character ideas is usally three-quarters of the roleplaying hobby anyway, I know I'm always playing around with new concepts.

 

[Blödhgarm]

It's times like that when you kind of hope there's a local gaming store or group to try out the game.

It's a bit crappy they blue-balled you at character creation, anyone with any idea of the rules should have been able to help you out easily.

Then again, coming up with character ideas is usally three-quarters of the roleplaying hobby anyway, I know I'm always playing around with new concepts.

The thing is, since I know so little about the game, how to play, rules, etc...I don't want to have to drive over an hour away in the hopes that maybe some complete strangers might teach me how. I wanna start off with people I know that I know can be patient while I learn the ropes.

Unfortunately all my local friends that played either moved away and ghosted me socially or were apart of the group that blue-balled me for a year then ghosted me socially. And everyone else I know that plays are either in different states or different countries and my internet is most likely too ass for me to try playing online.

 

[zephyr]

The thing is, since I know so little about the game, how to play, rules, etc...I don't want to have to drive over an hour away in the hopes that maybe some complete strangers might teach me how. I wanna start off with people I know that I know can be patient while I learn the ropes.

Unfortunately all my local friends that played either moved away and ghosted me socially or were apart of the group that blue-balled me for a year then ghosted me socially. And everyone else I know that plays are either in different states or different countries and my internet is most likely too ass for me to try playing online.

Which is why I use rpol.net myself. I'm location restricted due to a lack of transportation, but don't have many problems getting my gaming fix there.

 

[Alphaleader]

Unfortunately the most D&D is through watching Critical Role on YouTube (haven't been keeping up with their current campaign)

I've always wanted to give it a try. Unfortunately my only attempt had me hoping my buddy and DM would help me get the final touches on my first character since he had all the resources on D&D Beyond. But then they blue-balled me for a year until I lost interest and backed out.

Made a bunch of neat character ideas since but that's about it. Don't really have the resources or the friends/internet to play.

I know how it feels not to have anyone to play with.