I'm not entirely sure all the things I'm going to have time for this week, but I do have a couple ideas I would like to get posted. I'm not going to promise an update every day, but I'm going to do my best to make it happen. At the very least I'll get a couple of posts this week.
Aramil? Aramil? Anyone?
Secret Warlock: Many things have happened in this campaign since I've posted an update. I'll try to update you on the things that have happened including Aramil's confrontation with a very boring history professor and his confession about not actually being a bard.
Weekly Homebrew: I still need to make the Steam Powered Giraffe familiar, but I am seriously considering doing some necromancer themed creations inspired by my foray into Pathfinder.
Other than that I still have some D and D inspired fiction that I am working on if I can get my muse back. I may also have more thoughts on DnD Next as the open playtest approaches. As always if you an idea for an article or want to request a homebrew item feel free to leave a comment below or find me on Facebook or Twitter. Until next time remember don't let your DM tell you no. It's always "Yes, and...?"
It has been a while since I have written an article like
this. But I have seen a couple of things lately that I would really like to
respond to. Specifically I have seen a lot of comments on this article about self healing in DnD next that make me cringe. When I see people attack the way I like to play D and D my first
response is to attack them back. I mean we are playing a game with floating
wolf spirits, magical elves, colossal pixies, and dragons. Do we really need to
quibble over whether the dragon bit me in half or only made me bloodied? I don’t
think so.
I like to keep
healing abstract, and I don’t think insisting hit points are damage does any
favors to the game. Furthermore, I feel that insisting healing surges, and
non-magical healing are game-y, misses the point. But, if I simply respond with
a pat answer and put down their style of play I am not any better than they
are. So, I feel a more detailed defense of some of the “game-y” elements that
4e added is in order. I hope to see them available in DnDnext, but I don’t
think anyone is doing it wrong if they don’t like them.
Heroic characters in
fiction often call on inner reserves of strength. Almost every action movie
has a fight scene where it looks grim for the hero, but somehow they pull
through. Whether it was John Mclane in Die
Hard, Rocky Balboa in Rocky or
pretty much anyone Arnold Schwarzenegger played you could expect the hero to go
down to one knee and then stand back up, spit and get back into the fight.
There are some good examples in the fantasy genre as well. To use King Leonidas
in 300 as an example might be
stretching fantasy as a genre to its limit, but it works. The best example by
far is the death of Boromir in Lord of
the Rings.
A rousing speech can
wake the dead. Okay not literally, but there are plenty of examples of
using a rousing speech to get people into a fight, or back into it. Additionally
yelling snap out of it and slapping someone to wake them up happens so often it
is a trope. In fact a recent episode of mythbusters found that slapping someone
can increase their adrenaline which would give them a boost. I think the best
example of this idea was when Tinker Bell was brought back from the verge of
death by clapping.
Yes but he didn't know the peasants were going to rebel
Not everyone wants to
play a Cleric. I know this is more of a metagame concern, but I think it’s
good to at least keep the idea that we are creating a game in mind. I have done
a medieval history simulation, in a history class. It has its place. Honestly
it was kind of fun thinking about being a peasant for a bit. In general
however, I refer you to Mel Brooks, “It’s good to be the king.” But, there are
many things about medieval reality that just wouldn’t be fun in a game. I don’t
want to write a history paper here, but if anyone is interested in a list I’ll
be happy to write one for you.
The main thing is that it’s not fun to be knocked out of the
action. It’s bad enough to be out for a round or two, but with more realistic
healing you either need access to magical healing or you could be out for weeks
or months at a time. As a player it isn’t fun to be pigeon holed into playing
something you don’t want to play, or to be out of the action for a whole
session or even more because of a few poor dice rolls. I am of the opinion that
while the threat of death is needed for the game to be fun, but actually dying
is usually anything but fun for a player and can wreck havoc with your plans as
a dm.
As the dm having really fragile characters can be very
limiting to the types of encounters you want to run. If the characters can’t
bounce back from encounters fairly quickly you have to be very careful with the
balance. More importantly if your characters have to rest for weeks between
encounters to become healed you either need to hand out tons of magic or the
system will play havoc with your pacing. The players play havoc with things
enough you don’t want the system to do it as well.
How many weeks do I need to rest to get rid of this face?
I feel gritty,
realistic combat has a place in D and D. I’d like to say here that if you want gritty,
realistic combat play another game, but I have committed to not being an
edition warrior. I understand the motives for a more realistic expression of
combat. I certainly feel that if someone wants to use wounds or some other
mechanic to track damage that the game should let them. I do get irritated with
people who say there is something wrong with how I play the game because their
abstraction is more realistic than my abstraction. I hope I have made the case
that my abstraction deserves a place in the game as well. If I have go and vote. Let's make DnD Next a game we all want to play. Until next time
remember don’t let your DM tell you no. It’s always, “Yes, and…?”
I've been away for quite some time. I'm excited to get back into the swing of things a bit here. Work has slowed a little, and I've finally gotten into another long article. I'm almost finished with it and I'm pretty sure I'll have it posted on Sunday. For now I'd love to show you some of the pictures I have found this week.
Purple Chainmail Top
First is this lovely purple top. So many of these are steel grey that I really love seeing some color. Additionally the jewelry really draws attention to the top. Normally I don't like chokers, but I think in this case it works.
Winged Tiara
Another picture with an interesting accessory. I like the tiara here. It almost reminds me of Aragorn's crown in Lord of the Rings. Again, the chain draws attention to the top tying together the outfit.
Chainmail and Umbrella
I am pretty sure this is the same outfit minus the tiara. I enjoy seeing more of the model in this picture, and I think the mug and the umbrella paint a picture of a warrior who still has time for the finer things in life. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. Until next time remember, don't let your DM tell you no. It's always, "Yes, and...?"
