#that they have to roll with

[stickandthorn]

I think this episode is a good example of when bad luck stacks to make what seems like a very tough, but not unbeatable situation; look like a fully unbeatable situation in all scenarios.

They had an absolute jungle of disadvantages, beyond the ones Matt put specifically as a challenge. They were already drained, they all failed dex saves when she hit the crawler, they all rolled very poor on initiative while Otohan rolled super well, they committed hard to a plan of action that was probably the least likely to succeed (fight), which made it very hard to switch to run, they rolled pretty poorly in the fight while Matt rolled well, or made choices that ended up being the wrong one, I could go on and on.

They worked well within their disadvantages, pretty damn well, actually, but they were also just shit out of luck. Even if every choice wasn’t ideal, it is so hard to make the ideal choices in that scenario. No one did anything categorically wrong, but no one was in a good position. Meanwhile, Matt was giving them every advantage he could. I know it didn’t seem like that, but given his DMing style, he was. Matt is very committed to raw and full agency sandbox with almost no retcons. If a player makes a choice in the story, that happens, whatever the consequences (good or bad) be. He runs simulations. He puts components in a scenario, and watches what happens, and he won’t pull back for his or his player’s advantage.

But, he also always aims to help the players when they’re up against a wall. He will never take that wall away, but he’ll ease the gap a little, or, in the worst scenarios, try to point them in the most survivable direction away from the wall.

You can see it here, he gave them opportunities he would never give in other situations. Always ruling in favor of them on contentious rules, letting them do mild retcons of actions, giving them time to think and communicate as players that he usually doesn’t, stuff like that. But most importantly, he didn’t start dragging Imogen towards the conclusion of needing to give in until he knew it was their only option. Perhaps that was always the most successful solution, or the one they were most pointed to, but he didn’t start nearly forcing it till he knew it was pretty much their only way out.  And the things is? This kind of thing just happens in games. I’m not saying you can’t dislike what happened, or you should “get over it,” or you have to agree with every ruling or choice, or anything like that. But I’ve seen some people who seem personally mad at Matt for what happened, and treating it like he purposefully railroaded them to this exact outcome, which I find a little ludicrous.

It can change depending on your table, but generally speaking, this is always an option in any game you play. Bad luck, tough scenarios, no major punches pulled. This can happen, and it can suck, but it isn’t a personal attack from the DM to the players. The game is about random chance, it’s built on dice. There is always the possibility that this will happen. A bad scenario going to a totally fucking fucked scenario happens. I’ve been in them before.

So, yes, you can have whatever opinion you want. If you think Matt shouldn’t have balanced the encounter this way, or anything like that, I’m not here to stop you. But I do want to remind everyone that this isn’t something Matt had to specifically engineer to end like this, this is an example of the worst case scenarios that do exist in dnd.

[pianokantzart]

A little obsessed with the "utterly burnt out & can't quite figure out how to make it work in this economy" depiction of Mario in the concept art.

Look at him. He's so tired.

[destinationtoast]

My grandmother is Japanese and really likes to give gifts. Often those gifts are Japanese desserts or other food, but sometimes she just slips me cash, folded up inside a tiny, beautiful envelope. But she likes to pretend she's not giving me money, so when possible, she'll hide it somewhere that I will find later.

Today I spent the afternoon with her doing chores and tech support, and she clearly felt this warranted a significant gift in return (no matter that I enjoyed myself). But she forgot to slip something into my pocket or bag before I left, so instead she rushed outside as I was starting my car, making the old-school "roll down the window" gesture. Once I complied, she was forced to acknowledge she was handing me money, but she also tried to minimize the gesture.

The result was that she said, "Thank you, dear! I just wanted you to be able to... to buy yourself a hamburger," and then handed me a darling little envelope that turned out to contain $100. And all I could think was:

[evercelle]

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

why aren't there more mysteries that take place in nursing homes & retirement communities. i want to watch a group of deranged retirees-cum-amateur-detectives combine their powers of:

decades of life experience

boredom-fueled busybody shamelessness

access to the most gossipy next-door-neighbors in existence

"I am too old to be arrested and/or give a shit" attitude

and solve crimes. this should be an enormous subgenre.

[desultory-suggestions]

On this Valentine’s Day please don’t forget about the Palestinian people. Candy is being bought in droves while innocent people are starving. While people are planning romantic dinners for their lovers, Palestinian people are losing their lovers to bombs and snipers. There is no rest for the Palestinian people today. Don’t let them mask what’s really happening behind pink ribbon. Fight for love, find empowerment in your love for others. We will not stop fighting, not for a single day. Palestine will be free.

[hoshizoralone]

useless lesbian and her beloved children

[wroniec]

Tara&Gale

[asavt]

Once upon a time a small rat walked into my web...

[shaniacsboogara]

liking dnd is so funny because yeah you play the actual game sometimes but mostly you just think about the game and watch other people play the game and slowly go insane thinking about how much you wish you could play the game and hoping that buying more shiny rocks will fix everything

[loverboy-lover]

James Potter and Sirius Black

[mildmayfoxe]

a lot of these candies have a lot of haters out there despite most of them having a lot of lovers too. but which one do YOU love despite it all??

[funblogoftricks]

You know, Brennan Lee Mulligan talks a lot of shit about the cruelty of Game Changer, but I’m not sure Sam Reich has ever done as much violence to his players as Brennan did when he handed out those irl exam question packets with sand timers, like that was real ptsd in their eyes

[r-aindr0p]

Man the jury is unhinged on those culinary crucible event

I genuinely thought for a few seconds that Ortho would idk casually nuke the food

[meyerlansky]

[tawaifeddiediaz]

it just happened. it was magic.

[ID: 6 gifs of Evan Buckley and Eddie Diaz from 911 episode 7.04, "Buck, Bothered and Bewildered."

GIF 1: Buck turning towards Eddie after learning about all the things Eddie and Tommy are doing, saying, "Well, listen, I-I think it's great..."

GIF 2: Eddie looking up at Buck expectantly.

GIF 3: Buck continues talking, nodding and giving Eddie an earnest smile, sounding like he's fumbling through. "...you know? You-you can't have enough friends, right?"

GIF 4: Eddie agreeing with Buck, looking down into the sewer to watch Ravi's progress before he looks up at an indeterminate spot, thoughtful as he says, "Right. Y’know, it’s like that thing when you meet somebody and you just…click, y’know what I mean?"

GIF 5: Buck turning looking at Eddie from where he was looking into the sewer, looking slightly crestfallen and wistful even as he smiles, saying "I do."

GIF 6: Buck looking away from Eddie slowly as he says, mostly to himself, "I really do." He turns to look back into the sewer.

/end ID]