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[sunbeargames]

Yep, I was dissatisfied with all the interpretations of Humans I saw, so I wanted to make something that focused on capturing humans as we portray ourselves in fiction. Most versions of humans as a character option are about flexibility in ability scores / skills / a free feat etc. I wanted something more cinematic.

Shocking Persistence is the moment in so many stories where the villain downs one of the heroes, then while they're gloating the hero comes up from behind and catches them by surprise. Think Tank killing Cypher in the Matrix. How'd they survive that apparently fatal blow? Cause they're human, next question.

Stronger Together is about how humans like making friends! We'll pack bond with anything, as Tumblr likes to say. Note that you can't use it on yourself, it requires that you have at least one ally. Very "I won't let you do this alone" kind of vibes.

Desperate Times is hysterical strength, it's about pulling through when it's down to the wire. I've had some cool moments in my own campaign where this really made a difference.

And as Jay mentioned, it is all free. It's got just as much value, if not more, than some of the paid products I've made.

Someone needs to rewrite human dnd race to include the indomitable human spirit

[sunbeargames]

In my setting, there is an infamous pirate company called the Roaring Storm. Their base of operations is inside a perpetual storm that never seems to disturb the pirate ships, but is impenetrable to outsiders.

Unbeknownst to most outside the organization, the Roaring Storm is led by a blue dragon named Brakavodaz the Inclement. Brakavodaz is missing both wings, and so he leads the Roaring Storm from what is essentially a small floating city that sits in the eye of a miniature hurricane he creates.

Just moments ago I realized that—in addition to missing both wings—he also needs to at some point have lost an eye.

So that he can wear an eyepatch.

[sunbeargames]

One of the worldbuilding choices I made almost by accident in my D&D campaign setting is the relationship between mortality, personal growth, and alignment.

Long rumination on this below the cut.

Basically, while I don't use alignment for player characters and most NPCs, I do use it for cosmic beings like celestials, fiends, and fey. This is what separates mortals from the divine; these immortal powers cannot be anything but what they are. Mortals have the capacity to grow and change.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about Agos the Endless, the Archangel of War. He's interacted a bit with the Conquest paladin in my party, Reginald.

Agos has been treating Reginald extremely harshly for some (admittedly despicable) past actions, though Reginald is on a path to self improvement. As Agos explained, Reginald's paladin abilities are not a mark of forgiveness, they are a punishment. Agos is wielding Reginald like a weapon against the BBEG, and that's all he is to Agos. A tool. Something to be deployed towards an end until it breaks.

See, Agos is furious because Reginald didn't have to kill the five innocent people he did in his backstory. Reginald had a choice, and he chose to forever take choice away from others.

Agos never had a choice.

Now, Agos always does what he wants to do, what he feels is right, so in that sense he's always making choices.

But his choices will always be the same. He can't grow. He can't become wiser or more patient or more forgiving. He can learn, and apply what he knows, but he can't internalize lessons.

And Agos KNOWS this. All the cosmic beings do, but he's one of very few that resent it. He's trapped in a prison made of his very being, and to escape it would be to destroy himself.

Imagine that. Think back on a choice you regret. Something that was foolish or selfish or immature, something you wouldn't do now if you found yourself in the same situation. You're a different person than you were then.

Now imagine not being able to change. Knowing that years from now, you'll still act on the exact same impulses that drove you to do something you now regret. Imagine never being able to improve yourself.

Agos is resentful of Reginald, as well as many other mortals, because Reginald has what Agos could never have, and he squandered it. He didn't have to kill those people, but he did. Agos refuses to see Reginald's growth because to do so would be to confront his own deficiency in that area. He wants to condemn Reginald to a life of pure utility, to deny him glory and legacy, because he wants someone else to feel what its like to be unable to outgrow one's mistakes.

It happened mostly on accident, but Agos became such a tragic figure to me. He's a giant mountain of scars with wings like sharpened steel, the embodiment of violence, and that's all he can ever be. He's trapped in an endless war against the forces of evil, and he's never going to become wise enough to tip the scales in favor of heaven. He's never going to become better or stronger or even come to be at peace with it because all those things require real change, which would defy his very nature.

There are ways he could change, shift his alignment. The consequences would echo across reality and he would be fundamentally changed at every level, but it is possible. But that new state wouldn't change either. What's worse, he'll never do it, because if he was capable of overcoming that fear he would have done it already.

I dunno. Just thoughts about this poor diety of conquest, trying desperately to relieve some of the pain of his eternity.

[sunbeargames]

I've got a faction in my world my players unfortunately haven't interacted with much, the Shining Mind are a group of psionic monks (basically jedi) that understand the influence of perception on reality. Change your perception, change reality. They do this to such an extent that they can fold space to teleport and punch people out of existence, but the secret is that this is basically just harnessing the same power the players have over the game world as members of the improv storytelling group working together to shape the game.

The leader of these monks understands this to the point that they know they're a character in the game. If I ever have them meet the party, they'll express joy at finally getting to exist in a more concrete way (since they're being perceived by the players as opposed to just being some bullet points in my notes). If asked, they'll explain how everything exists as only a vague shadow until observed, specifically by the PCs. Before the campaign started, nothing was really real.

When the conversation ends, they'll say goodbye to the party using the names of the players.

Nobody and nothing has a backstory.

Everything in the setting came into existence right as the first session starts.

[sunbeargames]

Looks like the Bargained Birth is currently in the lead. It's going to have room for the basic "you have a fey ancestor" kind of origin but I also love the idea of being the child of someone who traded their firstborn in a bargain of some sort.

On a related note, I've just finished rereading The Narrow Road Between Desires by Patrick Rothfuss so I've got some ideas.

(also, it's very likely all three of these will get written at some point, the winner will just get finished first)

I've recently been giving a lot of attention to the Sorcerer class in 5e, and I have 3 subclasses nearly ready for release.

The 🔥Ashborn🔥 is a pyromantic powerhouse, torching everything they touch and feeding on the flames. Like a phoenix, they rise renewed from the ashes after being extinguished.

The 💀Lifeless💀 is a pit, a void that drains the life from those around them. They siphon away healing, destroy vitality, and usher the unwilling into death's domain.

⚔️Steel Sorcery⚔️ brings the power of blades to bear on the battlefield, summoning an array of floating swords for offense and defense. Incorporating martial prowess into their spellcraft, they become like living armories.

However, I also have three more subclasses I'm interested in writing.

The Starchild, a radiant blaster that draws on the power of the stars for strength and guidance. The Sinblood, the unholy offspring of a denizen of the lower planes, calling up demons and hellfire to destroy their foes. Lastly, the Bargained Birth, those who became tokens in deals with mysterious fey, now returned with mysterious powers and a mystifying allure.

Of those three, which would you be most interested in playing? The winner will be the included in the first release of our Sorcerer bundle on our store.

[sunbeargames]

I've recently been giving a lot of attention to the Sorcerer class in 5e, and I have 3 subclasses nearly ready for release.

The 🔥Ashborn🔥 is a pyromantic powerhouse, torching everything they touch and feeding on the flames. Like a phoenix, they rise renewed from the ashes after being extinguished.

The 💀Lifeless💀 is a pit, a void that drains the life from those around them. They siphon away healing, destroy vitality, and usher the unwilling into death's domain.

⚔️Steel Sorcery⚔️ brings the power of blades to bear on the battlefield, summoning an array of floating swords for offense and defense. Incorporating martial prowess into their spellcraft, they become like living armories.

However, I also have three more subclasses I'm interested in writing.

The Starchild, a radiant blaster that draws on the power of the stars for strength and guidance. The Sinblood, the unholy offspring of a denizen of the lower planes, calling up demons and hellfire to destroy their foes. Lastly, the Bargained Birth, those who became tokens in deals with mysterious fey, now returned with mysterious powers and a mystifying allure.

Of those three, which would you be most interested in playing? The winner will be the included in the first release of our Sorcerer bundle on our store.

[sunbeargames]

inspired by boop day, reblog this post if its ok for people to send you random asks and interact on your posts with no judgement. i want to talk to people.

[sunbeargames]

The black dragon in question

What's the best revenge for a black dragon?

Looking for some help brainstorming here.

Long story short, my players made a deal with a black dragon early on in the campaign. The players just got to the point where they could make good on the deal, but decided to help another NPC in a way that broke their part of the deal. She's going to be pissed.

I've talked about this before, but in my setting, black dragons hoard enemies. Furious as she is, she'd rather have them be alive, miserable, and full of impotent rage than dead.

If you were a black dragon (specifically a vampire dragon that can't fly in the day but that's a minor detail), how would you get back at the party besides just killing them?

More context under the cut.

Thanasvachia, the black dragon in question, used to have 3 dragon eggs. One black, which was her own, as well as a gold and blue egg that she stole from other dragons so as to make them her enemies. See, black dragons hoard animosity, and think it's a great show of strength and cunning if there are very powerful individuals (such as other dragons) that would like them dead but have not yet succeeded.

Prior to the start of the campaign, the Order of Renewal (the necromancy cult devoted to the BBEG) stole these eggs from her, threatening to destroy them if she didn't comply with their demands. They also made her a vampire, but more on that in a second.

For a dragon, this was a world-shattering blow to her psyche. She had been bested by mortals, and gave up using her title in shame. Most dragons use titles like Avornak the Gilded as a means of posturing and celebrating their greatest deeds. Young dragons will just use their color as a title if they haven't earned one yet. Not using a title is basically saying you aren't worthy of being a dragon.

She was also made a vampire as a further means of control. That might sound like an upgrade, but for dragons it actually hinders them. The power of vampirism, while impressive in a mortal, is much less impactful for a dragon that is already supremely strong and capable of flight. Moreover, it prevents them from aging. Dragons primarily grow stronger and more powerful as they age, and older dragons have significantly more social sway. Being a vampire means she's basically trapped at her current (adult) age, and will never be considered an ancient dragon. It also means she's unable to go out in sunlight, severely limiting her ability to fly around freely.

Back to the campaign. Early on, the party had met Thanasvachia as a quest-giver and knew she was powerful. They encountered her again before fighting the first major boss of the campaign. The cult had posted her as a last line of defense. She allowed them to pass unhindered basically out of spite for the cult, and asked them to meet her again afterwards.

During that fight, one of the party members died, and Thanasvachia revived him afterwards. As payment for her help so far, she asked them to recover her eggs from the cult that were being held by another boss similar to the one they just fought.

The party defeated that boss, and were about to contact Thanasvachia to tell her it was done when a young gold dragon, Gilaedea, showed up in the form of a young girl and asked for her sister back. The golden egg had been laid by Gilaedea's mother and stolen by Thanasvachia. Her mother had since died, and Gilaedea wasn't strong enough to get it back from Thanasvachia or the cult. She noticed the disturbance created by the fight and came to ask for the egg back so that she could be reunited with her only remaining family.

Sympathetic, the party allowed Gilaedea to take the golden egg. They then contacted Thanasvachia as arranged, but didn't even try to give her a story about what happened about the third egg and panicked before cutting communication. I would have run with a lie about how someone else had the egg to try to turn Thanasvachia on another enemy of theirs, but oh well.

Following this, the party went through a teleportation circle. They knew that a group of cultists including a particular enemy of theirs had gone through on some kind of mission, and the circle was still set to the same location (ik thats not how the spell works shut up). To make themselves harder to track, they left the wizard's familiar behind with an explosive to destroy the circle after they left.

Fun stuff! I have a miniature for Thanasvachia almost completed, I might post a picture of it when it's done. It's pretty sick.

[sunbeargames]

A few years ago I ran a short all-goblin campaign. Was good fun.

I think it did run a bit too long though. I want to run more "all [character option]" games in the future, but personally I think I'd rather do it as one shots or short adventures. I've been wanting to do an all-orc game for a while.

Derin. You don't wanna run a DnD campaign. You do NOT wanna run a DnD campaign. You're still busy wrapping up two Call of Cthulhu campaigns. You do not have time for DnD.

[sunbeargames]

What's the best revenge for a black dragon?

Looking for some help brainstorming here.

Long story short, my players made a deal with a black dragon early on in the campaign. The players just got to the point where they could make good on the deal, but decided to help another NPC in a way that broke their part of the deal. She's going to be pissed.

I've talked about this before, but in my setting, black dragons hoard enemies. Furious as she is, she'd rather have them be alive, miserable, and full of impotent rage than dead.

If you were a black dragon (specifically a vampire dragon that can't fly in the day but that's a minor detail), how would you get back at the party besides just killing them?

More context under the cut.

Thanasvachia, the black dragon in question, used to have 3 dragon eggs. One black, which was her own, as well as a gold and blue egg that she stole from other dragons so as to make them her enemies. See, black dragons hoard animosity, and think it's a great show of strength and cunning if there are very powerful individuals (such as other dragons) that would like them dead but have not yet succeeded.

Prior to the start of the campaign, the Order of Renewal (the necromancy cult devoted to the BBEG) stole these eggs from her, threatening to destroy them if she didn't comply with their demands. They also made her a vampire, but more on that in a second.

For a dragon, this was a world-shattering blow to her psyche. She had been bested by mortals, and gave up using her title in shame. Most dragons use titles like Avornak the Gilded as a means of posturing and celebrating their greatest deeds. Young dragons will just use their color as a title if they haven't earned one yet. Not using a title is basically saying you aren't worthy of being a dragon.

She was also made a vampire as a further means of control. That might sound like an upgrade, but for dragons it actually hinders them. The power of vampirism, while impressive in a mortal, is much less impactful for a dragon that is already supremely strong and capable of flight. Moreover, it prevents them from aging. Dragons primarily grow stronger and more powerful as they age, and older dragons have significantly more social sway. Being a vampire means she's basically trapped at her current (adult) age, and will never be considered an ancient dragon. It also means she's unable to go out in sunlight, severely limiting her ability to fly around freely.

Back to the campaign. Early on, the party had met Thanasvachia as a quest-giver and knew she was powerful. They encountered her again before fighting the first major boss of the campaign. The cult had posted her as a last line of defense. She allowed them to pass unhindered basically out of spite for the cult, and asked them to meet her again afterwards.

During that fight, one of the party members died, and Thanasvachia revived him afterwards. As payment for her help so far, she asked them to recover her eggs from the cult that were being held by another boss similar to the one they just fought.

The party defeated that boss, and were about to contact Thanasvachia to tell her it was done when a young gold dragon, Gilaedea, showed up in the form of a young girl and asked for her sister back. The golden egg had been laid by Gilaedea's mother and stolen by Thanasvachia. Her mother had since died, and Gilaedea wasn't strong enough to get it back from Thanasvachia or the cult. She noticed the disturbance created by the fight and came to ask for the egg back so that she could be reunited with her only remaining family.

Sympathetic, the party allowed Gilaedea to take the golden egg. They then contacted Thanasvachia as arranged, but didn't even try to give her a story about what happened about the third egg and panicked before cutting communication. I would have run with a lie about how someone else had the egg to try to turn Thanasvachia on another enemy of theirs, but oh well.

Following this, the party went through a teleportation circle. They knew that a group of cultists including a particular enemy of theirs had gone through on some kind of mission, and the circle was still set to the same location (ik thats not how the spell works shut up). To make themselves harder to track, they left the wizard's familiar behind with an explosive to destroy the circle after they left.

Fun stuff! I have a miniature for Thanasvachia almost completed, I might post a picture of it when it's done. It's pretty sick.

[sunbeargames]

Hunt: Showdown uses an HP mechanic similar to this. It's a PvP first-person shooter, not a ttrpg, but it uses multiple health bars to make up your character's 150 total HP.

There are big bars of 50 HP, and little bars of 25 HP. A character might have big/big/big, or big/little/big/little, or some other combination. Here's an example of that second configuration.

If you take damage, you'll slowly heal any damage up to the next bar. So, if your first bar is a big bar and you take 49 damage, you can heal up to max without needing to do anything. However, if you have two little bars first and take the same damage, the second bar would heal up fully but you'd be left with your first bar empty (you'd be at 125 health) Healing from other sources (consumables and such) applies regardless of bars, and restoring your health so that even 1 hit point remains in a bar will allow that bar to heal up, effectively extending the healing that consumable provided.

Hunt also has some interesting mechanics for death. If your character dies your partner(s) can pick you up, but each death permanently removes a bar, making it easier to go down in the future. If your body is set on fire, bars slowly burn away, putting your allies on a timer to revive you. If all your bars are destroyed, you can't be revived. Killing bosses can restore missing bars, but otherwise its irreversible until the mission ends.

This system means there are tradeoffs to different configurations, for instance having a little bar first means your first death won't hurt as much, but having a big bar first means you can shrug off more damage if you were at full health. Likewise, when you are revived you are at 1 hp, so having a big bar last means you'll then heal to 50 instead of 25.

Some of these ideas might be a bit cumbersome to use in a ttrpg, but maybe someone will find a cool use for them.

Need to type this up before I go to sleep lest I forget it:

Somewhat inspired by the concept of segmented hit points by @timepool and healing surges/the bloodied status from 4e: HP thresholds as measurements of how wounded a character is to pace healing without having to go into separate pools for "normal" hit points and "meat" hit points

Divide a character's hit points by four. That is a single "segment." If a character has taken at most one segment of damage in combat it recovers immediately: the character must simply catch their breath. If the character takes more than one segment of damage the character must take a short rest to recover their hit points, and until then they effectively lose that "segment" of HP from their HP maximum.

Do this for further segments: losing two segments of HP requires a full night's rest to recover, and once you're at your final segment you will need an extended rest (a week of downtime perhaps?) to get back to normal.

This could also be extrapolated for magic/spell/power points. Using just a tiny bit of magic means you can recover it quickly. Burning it all means you actually need time to recover it.

[sunbeargames]

I think I also saw a discussion at one point on discord where someone was considering making a class where your character only got one spell, but all their features were about making that spell better. For instance if you chose misty step you might get more range and the ability to teleport to spaces you can't see, and even the ability to teleport into enemies to deal damage to them. I'll try to track that down and see if it got past the idea stage.

I got a bone to pick with 5th Edition and how it treats leveling between different types of classes.

Martials get a feature EVERY LEVEL. Hit things more and/or better, get hit less, take more hits, here's a customisable option, ect.

Casters, tho? 1/4 of the 20 levels, they get. A new spell slot. Which they already get when they get a feature too. It the entry in the PHB table is fuckin empty.

Why is that EVEN a thing!?

Like they couldn't think of 5 more things for Sorcerers to do? Couldn't add some extra Metamagic shit? Or literally anything that adds to the fact they're actual fuckin magical creatures, while Monks are over here getting Speak All Languages For Free, and I'm Immune To Poison Actually. Like come on people.

But Wizards. Wizards REALLY take it in the shorts. They're your scholars and academics of magic, have learned how to magic better than any other magic guy through practice study and talent. And yet 7/20 levels, they get NOTHING but More Spells. Which, if you'll recall, THEY STILL GET IN THE FEATURED LEVELS ANYWAY! Like it doesn't have to be much, maybe just like. An extra subclass moment or a little dice bonus. Or a little health regen thing so sorcs and/or wizards aren't toilet paper the whole fuckin game. Idk just SOMETHING.

Casters shouldn't just have More Spells. They should have a noticeable progression in being able to cast the spells they already know BETTER. And when you're sitting there with levels that don't do anything but give you more hp to your already meagre pool, it's just kinda. Eh. And leveling up when you only have 20 shouldn't feel Eh. It should be "WOAH that's cool! I wanna keep playing bc my Guy is SO COOL!" Idk I just like it when games are fun and you feel like you're accomplishing something with your guy.

[sunbeargames]

Ah I see what you're saying. I think it might be more useful to draw a line between features that improve abilities you already have (metamagic, brutal critical, reliable talent) and features that give your character entirely new abilities (aura of protection, stunning strike, pact boon).

Spells fall into the first category and account for most of the power budget of spellcasters, and you're saying you want them to have more of the second category.

Those kinds of features do exist, but they're much less common. Agonizing blast, disciple of life, mighty summoner, etc.

Although, looking at it now it's interesting to note that a lot of these features are indeed not core class features, but come through subclasses or have to be selected manually.

This could be an interesting way of looking at the differences in design philosophy between martials and casters, where martials get more features that improve what they can already do (extra attack and the like), while casters mostly get entirely new tools (access to new spells)

Also worth noting that features that improve spells tend to be very good (because spellcasting is a very strong feature), to the point that a lot of them are considered must-haves among people who like to optimize. Agonizing blast is a good example, improving one of the best cantrips in the game.

I do see your point that improving the ability to cast spells you already have (not the same as casting them at a higher level or casting them more often) is a part of the fantasy that is missing in a lot of the 5e spellcasters. One of the better-recieved changes in the One D&D playtests (in concept, if not in execution) was a rage-like feature for sorcerors, a state of heightened power where they became better at casting their spells.

I try to offer features that improve your spells in a lot of the caster subclasses I write, and you might also be interested in the Thaumaturge class by Sterling Vermin.

I got a bone to pick with 5th Edition and how it treats leveling between different types of classes.

Martials get a feature EVERY LEVEL. Hit things more and/or better, get hit less, take more hits, here's a customisable option, ect.

Casters, tho? 1/4 of the 20 levels, they get. A new spell slot. Which they already get when they get a feature too. It the entry in the PHB table is fuckin empty.

Why is that EVEN a thing!?

Like they couldn't think of 5 more things for Sorcerers to do? Couldn't add some extra Metamagic shit? Or literally anything that adds to the fact they're actual fuckin magical creatures, while Monks are over here getting Speak All Languages For Free, and I'm Immune To Poison Actually. Like come on people.

But Wizards. Wizards REALLY take it in the shorts. They're your scholars and academics of magic, have learned how to magic better than any other magic guy through practice study and talent. And yet 7/20 levels, they get NOTHING but More Spells. Which, if you'll recall, THEY STILL GET IN THE FEATURED LEVELS ANYWAY! Like it doesn't have to be much, maybe just like. An extra subclass moment or a little dice bonus. Or a little health regen thing so sorcs and/or wizards aren't toilet paper the whole fuckin game. Idk just SOMETHING.

Casters shouldn't just have More Spells. They should have a noticeable progression in being able to cast the spells they already know BETTER. And when you're sitting there with levels that don't do anything but give you more hp to your already meagre pool, it's just kinda. Eh. And leveling up when you only have 20 shouldn't feel Eh. It should be "WOAH that's cool! I wanna keep playing bc my Guy is SO COOL!" Idk I just like it when games are fun and you feel like you're accomplishing something with your guy.

[sunbeargames]

Exactly this. The next Practical Homebrew installment on our Patreon will cover how to tweak/make class and subclass options to suit your table, and this is an important concept.

Spells ARE features. They might not get distributed the same or have the same usage limits, but a spellcaster getting access to a new level of spells is often much more impactful than any normal class feature.

Hell, a good number of martial features are just spells, either features that replicate the effects of a spell or features that just say "you know the _____ spell" and list stipulations for casting it. Monks in particular get this treatment a lot. Several of their core class features, and a good number of their subclass features, are just giving them limited access to spells or spell-like effects.

This is why the "class features" section on spellcasting classes tends to look sparse. They're getting lots of features, it just happens to be through the Spellcasting feature they got at the beginning.

Another fun example of this is the Warlock. They get very few class features beyond their pact boon because they get Eldritch Invocations, which are just class features they can pick and choose.

...and most of them are still "you can cast this spell"

I got a bone to pick with 5th Edition and how it treats leveling between different types of classes.

Martials get a feature EVERY LEVEL. Hit things more and/or better, get hit less, take more hits, here's a customisable option, ect.

Casters, tho? 1/4 of the 20 levels, they get. A new spell slot. Which they already get when they get a feature too. It the entry in the PHB table is fuckin empty.

Why is that EVEN a thing!?

Like they couldn't think of 5 more things for Sorcerers to do? Couldn't add some extra Metamagic shit? Or literally anything that adds to the fact they're actual fuckin magical creatures, while Monks are over here getting Speak All Languages For Free, and I'm Immune To Poison Actually. Like come on people.

But Wizards. Wizards REALLY take it in the shorts. They're your scholars and academics of magic, have learned how to magic better than any other magic guy through practice study and talent. And yet 7/20 levels, they get NOTHING but More Spells. Which, if you'll recall, THEY STILL GET IN THE FEATURED LEVELS ANYWAY! Like it doesn't have to be much, maybe just like. An extra subclass moment or a little dice bonus. Or a little health regen thing so sorcs and/or wizards aren't toilet paper the whole fuckin game. Idk just SOMETHING.

Casters shouldn't just have More Spells. They should have a noticeable progression in being able to cast the spells they already know BETTER. And when you're sitting there with levels that don't do anything but give you more hp to your already meagre pool, it's just kinda. Eh. And leveling up when you only have 20 shouldn't feel Eh. It should be "WOAH that's cool! I wanna keep playing bc my Guy is SO COOL!" Idk I just like it when games are fun and you feel like you're accomplishing something with your guy.

[sunbeargames]

My group primarily plays 5e and we have a campaign that's been going on for over a year, but I also like to try other games.

One tactic that I've found works for me is that when we have scheduling issues and one person can't make it to the game, we play a one-shot in another system instead with the people who can make it.

Sometimes it's a little tricky to run a game your players have never heard of, but if I know the rules (and especially if the game has premade character sheets to use) we can usually just jump in and learn as we go.

Granted my group isn't terribly zealous about 5e, but when the choice is between no game that weekend or trying out a new system, it usually works.

There are so many RPGs out there.

So many RPGs I want to try, and so many RPGs I have tried and know I like.

But it's so hard. So hard to convince players - especially an established community of players - to try them.

Because they all want to play D&D 5E.

And like. I really like D&D 5E. It's real good! I know WotC has been super shitty lately, but as a game I think it's genuinely fantastic - for new players and for experienced players. I get it.

But there are other games that play in the same general genre space as D&D that I also want to play. And other games that play in other genres.

But it's such an uphill climb to convince people to try anything that is not D&D 5E.

[sunbeargames]

Seriously imagine witnessing an accident for the first time. You've never seen someone so much as drop a book on accident. Then you see someone get hurt, in a way that was totally preventable, if they had only been able to see a few moments into the future. Something you and everyone you've ever known are doing constantly. You probably wouldn't even think to warn them the first time.

Thinking about the Oracle class and the worldbuilding potential.

I'm thinking about a monastery, somewhat similar to Kaer Morhen in the Witcher, where children that might have a gift for prescience are brought (or taken) to develop their abilities. The children would probably be blinded at an early age, and forced to rely on their powers to perform their duties.

Maybe in this setting it's customary for kings and other important people to employ a court oracle as an advisor, to scry on events far away and help make decisions. The monastery would provide a consistent supply of these seers, though likely not all would fill that role.

Obviously it would be a morally dubious institution at best, but it could form a really cool backstory element for a character. Did you run away? Did you graduate? Would you ever go back? Do you defend the practices of that place?

What would it be like to grow up in an environment like that, and then leave? To talk to people who can't read your mind? To see folk suffer and die due to preventable accidents they didn't know were coming? To encounter the very concept of surprise, after living so long in a community where every minor event had been foreseen by your elders?

[sunbeargames]

Thinking about the Oracle class and the worldbuilding potential.

I'm thinking about a monastery, somewhat similar to Kaer Morhen in the Witcher, where children that might have a gift for prescience are brought (or taken) to develop their abilities. The children would probably be blinded at an early age, and forced to rely on their powers to perform their duties.

Maybe in this setting it's customary for kings and other important people to employ a court oracle as an advisor, to scry on events far away and help make decisions. The monastery would provide a consistent supply of these seers, though likely not all would fill that role.

Obviously it would be a morally dubious institution at best, but it could form a really cool backstory element for a character. Did you run away? Did you graduate? Would you ever go back? Do you defend the practices of that place?

What would it be like to grow up in an environment like that, and then leave? To talk to people who can't read your mind? To see folk suffer and die due to preventable accidents they didn't know were coming? To encounter the very concept of surprise, after living so long in a community where every minor event had been foreseen by your elders?