#ttrpg nonsense

[jo-does-things]

Voice of a guy who has no time: sure I have time to learn a new ttrpg system, and find an online service to use, and come up with a plot, and schedule a session, and run a game for my friends.

[humblegoat]

Ask meme: character edition! For Juni, Pearl, and Loch! Background, Secret, and End!

Background: Does your PC get up to anything that you don't narrate often? Any background habits, activities, plots? Do you share these through other avenues (e.g. a group chat, table cross-talk, posting online)?

Juni: Definitely - they are always doing something in my mind. A lot of quiet drawing in the background of scenes, a lot of cooking or reading cookbooks, a lot of restless tidying and organizing. I think when she was living at home, she was much more often relaxed and not feeling this restlessness and need to be Doing Things, but living in the wizard tower has brought out that compulsion in them. Pearl: I don't bring it up super often in sessions but Pearl has teacher's pet/star student syndrome, which means she is BANGING OUT color-coded class notes any time they are sitting in class or studying while at Strixhaven. Since her mane grew in after getting a belt of dwarvenkind, I think she also runs her claws through it/fidgets with it a lot, sometimes making messy lil braids too. Loch: This man is OBSERVING. CONSTANTLY. I might not mention it often but if he's in a scene you've gotta assume he is watching the fuck out of people, gathering intel and storing it away, trying to put together the puzzle pieces of people and relationships around him. He's also fiddling with his deck of tarot cards a lot, even outside of combat where he uses it as his spellcasting focus.

Secret: Is there anything that you know about your character but your character doesn't know? What is it? How did you come up with this secret?

Juni: I know that they're fucking STRESSED meanwhile they REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THIS!!! Otherwise, I don't really have any secrets I'm keeping from Jun about THEMSELVES; there's some things about other characters that I know while she doesn't, but that's different. Pearl: Previously, it would be yes, and it would be that her father is Nobanion, a beast god from the upper planes, but she discovered that during the campaign! Proud of her. Now she's pretty much an open book. For the moment...;) Loch: There's some things I know, but actually a lot of the stuff he's investigating are things I only have vague knowledge of because I'm leaving details up to Jill to taunt me with. >:3 I know someeee info about a specific person he's searching for but mostly we are both playing a little whodunnit side game within the campaign.

End: What's the ideal ending for your character's story and the game? Are these the same, or different?

Juni: I want her to find self confidence, inner peace, and her uncle! Also maybe a romantic partner! Being adored might fix her! Pearl: She deserves to find her own ways of impacting the world, to come out from the shadow of her older sisters, and also to continue having two very anxious partners that she can pepper with kisses and soothing words until they become less anxious. Long Live The Pearlycule. Loch: For him to find what he's looking for and get closure. Even if it's not the closure he thought he was seeking.

[dungeonmalcontent]

Druid/monk multi class. Wild shape into an animal, unleash actual tiger style martial arts.

Slightly different vibe, blood hunter monk, order of the lycan. Transformation, crimson rite your claws, unleash werewolf martial arts with claws that are literally on fire.

[waitingonthewind]

next on the list of pokemon mystery dungeon midi remasters is one of my other top favs in the series, dark wasteland.

i'm pretty much done with barren valley too but its too late for me to check to be sure, but after that i may take a couple of requests from the PMD:explorers games

and again, i've posted my track artwork below:

[dr-docktor]

Local Docktor thinks its a fantastic idea to crossover his two biggest interests at the moment.

First for some context (don't worry, I'll keep it brief). One of my best friends has been working on a table-top RPG since like high school called Percentile. And its the main game that the group plays for our campaigns. Thus, it never leaves my head.

You know what else doesn't leave my head? Spies are Forever.

So here I am. Planning out what theoretical character sheets would look like for Owen and Curt. I'm so normal. I swear. Below the cut includes my insane ramblings on this topic.

I will also be playing a little fast and loose with some of the rules here because making character sheets in this game, while fun, is LENGTHY. And I'm insane but I'm not THAT insane

Ok so I want to start with Owen because I'm making him a mage and I LOVE building mages.

For the sake of simplicity I'm gonna keep 'em both human. (boring I know. but the list of ancestries is so long it almost overwhelms me for this)

To quickly explain the percentages: That is basically your rate of success on any given skill/action. So the higher the number, the more likely they are to succeed!

Owen's Stats

Power represents magic. POW is just another word for mana. And size mainly only impacts things like how easy you are to tackle/grapple and what spaces you can squeeze into.

So he's got 10 HP

14 POW

2 Soak (armor, it takes 2 points off of whatever damage they were hit with)

+28 initiative bonus (initiative dictates who goes first in combat. The higher your number, the more likely you are to go first)

and can move 5 squares per turn (turns last 6 seconds), or 6 if he runs.

All fairly standard for a human mage. The interesting stuff starts with choosing his spells.

In Percentile, the standard mage can have a few collections of spells called Spell Schools. They can only have one spell from each school prepared at once but can spend 6 hours a day switching them out safely (or do it within seconds if you wanna feel the consequences)

So here's the spell schools I think he'd have

BLAST -> its in the name, you get several spells that are just different types of blasts. So magical bullets, lasers, etc.

CHANGE -> He'd probably use this spell school mainly for his DMA disguise but instead of a mask he can physically change his appearance for several hours a day.

VISION -> Great for espionage and detective work. Spells include making you really good at looking for stuff, being able to see events that transpired previously within a room, and gathering information.

WOUNDING -> Gives him access to several magical bladed weapons. Good for Torture and homosexually sword fighting your ex lover.

really good... ouch.

Skills/knowledges are another story and are one of my least favorite parts of character building so I'll briefly go over it.

High intimidation, spot hidden (looking for stuff. almost every percentile character needs a decent spot hidden), move quietly, resist, and rapine (rapine is like sleight of hand, pickpocketing, handling small and/or delicate things)

Middling physical skills like jumping, climbing, etc. first aid, hide, and survival

Low grapple.

His knowledges would include

High performance (haha actor man), espionage, and literacy

Middling lore

Low cooking. and everything else. He can cook its just all post WWII British food which I think should qualify for being bad at it.

OK NOW FOR MY FAVORITE PART: Traits and Scars.

SCARS

his scars include more physical stuff like reduced hearing and chronic pain (player would roll a dice to see how bad the pain is that day to see if he needs to use a mobility device). But also include

Untrusting - CHAR INT based - compelled to roll an idea check to see if someone is lying every time he starts a new interaction with someone. On a fail he believes they are lying no matter what

POSSIBLE TRAITS

Magic Hair, for my long-haired Owen fans. Basically he has hair that's so cool it makes him more charismatic.

Strong Promises. Whenever the character makes a promise, they get a bonus to whatever stat that will help them achieve that promise.

Plotting. Whenever characters with this trait record or speak out a plan, it functions as if they practiced it for an additional day. Perfect for villain monologues.

Pull At Soul. Characters with this trait declare a goal during each level up. These goals can be something like “plan with everyone in the party about the mission & use that plan”, it can be “avenge my fathers killer” “seek out & find the sage” or more abstract things, “Die & be born anew in the eyes of my community” or “See the moon as it truly is”. They cannot tell any other characters about this goal. Once they achieve this goal as determined by them & the GM, anytime they are at 1 HP they can choose to level up.

Buddies! -> Select another character. Decide on a secret handshake, set of gestures, or exchange. It does not have to be uniform, but does have to be meaningful. Anytime you perform this with them, and one of you gains exhaustion, instantly both of you gain 1d3 to a stat. They do not have to be the same stat, select them when you take the maneuver. If the other dies, this trait is removed, granting the character back the trait points, and the character gains a -1d3 to that stat forever.  (THE FUCKING HANDSHAKE)

I think that's all for Owen!!

It's Curt's turn!

God I was SO tempted to make him a Ragamuffin for this. But I'm sticking with humans. I don't even know why. I just think it would be funny. Something fun about the 'brute' being made of fabric and fluff.

Anyway. Stats!!

12 HP

8 POW (not important given he's a fighter and not a mage)

3 soak

+27 Initiative bonus

and can move 4 squares per turn, 6 squares if he's running.

Instead of spells, fighters get weapon proficiencies and maneuvers! Maneuvers are basically fancy fighting styles and actions.

Possible weapon options: Short sword (what they fight with in the show), a gun, and fisticuffs. Mages also get a weapon or two and tbh these could all apply to Owen too.

Possible maneuvers:

Taunt -> It is what it says on the tin, mock your opponent to try and make them get sloppy and target you instead of your allies.

Reckless Strike Back -> When dodging an attack, you can take one extra damage to attempt to hit your opponent back. If you fail you take extra damage.

Induced Sloppiness -> Make yourself unpredictable! on a success you get bonuses to damage and to land hits. Those attacks are really difficult to parry and dodge. On a fail your opponent gets a bonus to parrying and dodging.

Dodging into My Blade -> you must have this maneuver readied. If you opponent dodges your or your allies attack while this is readied, you can basically say "Lmaoooo" and attack them again

Skills!

High physical stuff like jumping and climbing, resist, move quietly, hide

Middling intimidation, spot hidden, repine, and grapple

Low first aid (scared of own blood) and listen.

Knowledges!

High linguistics, cooking, and espionage

Middling riding arts (for cars and stuff)

Low almost everything else (doesn't mean he's dumb. Fighters just aren't built for having a ton of knowledges)

Possible Scars!

Alcoholic - CON based - Roll a withstand check upon the GM's orders to see if you feel the urge to take a drink. On a fail you either take a swig or suffer withdrawal

Bad With Magic - POW and CON based - Anytime characters with this scar roll a check involving power expenditure, the GM describes it as if they are deeply unsettled by it, that it seems strange, random and scary, and that they are somehow making a mistake, regardless of what the magic does, how it functions, or if they succeeded or not. 

Possible Traits!

Buddies! -> Select another character. Decide on a secret handshake, set of gestures, or exchange. It does not have to be uniform, but does have to be meaningful. Anytime you perform this with them, and one of you gains exhaustion, instantly both of you gain 1d3 to a stat. They do not have to be the same stat, select them when you take the maneuver. If the other dies, this trait is removed, granting the character back the trait points, and the character gains a -1d3 to that stat forever.  (THE FUCKING HANDSHAKE AGAIN)

Poison Blood -> Anyone eating characters with this trait takes 1d6 necrotic damage per SIZ consumed, and the character can take 1 HP from themselves to coat weapons in their blood, which deals 1d4 necrotic damage or stuns the enemy for 1d4-1 turns. It will add this effect to 1 attack until it dries in 3d6+CON turns. (something something alcohol-poisoned blood)

Sturdy ->  While at max HP characters with this trait cannot be reduced below 1 HP in one hit.

Natural Jester -> Anytime characters with this trait crit fail any check, anyone who witnesses it must roll a withstand check or be stunned for 1 turn. 

Fast to The Fight -> Add +3 to initiative rolls (can be taken more than once)

There's actually a TON of traits that could fit Curt but I'm capping it off here because I will go overboard.

Anyway thanks for reading! Sorry if any of this is incomprehensible.

[tarriecat]

Some very cool peeps have been working on this neon-drenched adventure of hologram rock stars and alien frequencies and it's very cool and you should check it out and give them money! I wrote for it!

If you like your Jem with just a dash of Suspiria, this game is for you!

[tsuyoshikentsu]

i am so tired.

A Christian just said to me, a Jewish person:

"I have a Christian friend who never played D&D, not because they thought it was ‘evil’ but because they never felt their religion represented in that or any other tabletop game."

EDIT: I feel like I should make this clear--this is utter nonsense and it is exhausting utter nonsense I could really do without.

[bamboorocket]

I swear I still draw canon stuff, but I've been throwing concept sketches at @mikanashii and @feliciadraws while working on finishing the Crossover prompt for Spookami, and Felicia all but demanded I post these here too. So more Lancer!Waka doodles for y'all + a rough first pass at an overall color palette.

[girlwonderers]

sometimes i hear people complaining about being "slotted into" a particular party role in ttrpgs (ie tank, healer) and like. yeah it can be frustrating if everyone else is asking you to fill out a gap instead of letting you play whatever you want, but the solution is to then build that role in the most back-assward convoluted way possible. need to be a healer but don't want to play a cleric? roll up a swamp witch who specializes in potion-brewing and natural medicine. literally rub dirt on the party's wounds. or i knew a guy who played a shadow sorcerer with the heal spell who "ate" the party's pain. need a tank but don't want to play a fighter or a paladin? play a caster with a bunch of shape-shifting spells—ooze form gives you damage resistance, and you also get to scare the shit out of your teammates by turning into a gelatinous cube. make a barbarian who thinks they're a cleric and keeps entering "divine wrath" mode. the sky is truly the limit

[humblegoat]

For the Ask game: Player edition! Playtest, Level one, Initiative, and Dice!

Playtest: What class (or subclass) do you want to try out?

I'm really excited to play a bard for the first time in a long-term campaign once the Candlekeep crew starts our second gen arc! However, what I've actually been itching to play for a long time is an artillerist artificer. I've got TWO different characters I could slot into that one and I'm just steepling my fingers until I get the chance hahaha

Level One: What was your first experience with D&D? How did you hear about it? What was your first game like?

I started learning about it through primarily The Adventure Zone along with early CritRole. TAZ is what sold me on it; didn't take long for my brain to latch on to mechanics. My first experience was playing a few sessions with a bunch of folks who didn't know anything outside of kind of knowing TAZ and kind of reading the rules of 5e (/accidentally mixing in 3.5e rules because the online SRDs were messy and unclear in early 2017!). I was playing Endora, a character I eventually played lv1-20 as a wild sorcerer but who at the time was an arcane trickster rogue. All she wanted to do was befriend a dire wolf puppy. Which is also what I wanted to do in the game LOL

Initiative: What's an RP scene you're looking forward to playing?

I've got a few!! The clearest idea of a scene I have in my head is for my wizrogue Loch, finding and confronting [redacted] about [redacted], as pertains to his backstory. (I cannot reveal this yet in case my Spelljammies friends see hehehe) The more general thing I'm waiting for is the day Juniper Belevere has Had ItTM and really fucking YELLS at someone about something, lets out all the pent-up anxiety and frustration she's currently nursing.

Dice: Do you have any dice rituals? Preferences? Collections? Does such thing as dice luck really exist?

I currently only have one game I play in where we use physical dice; it uses the CoC system. At the start of each session I engage in what I call 'the dice gauntlet', which is when I take all my d10s and percentile dice and roll them off against each other, picking the most favorable rolled numbers until I have a single d100 duo that becomes My Set for the evening. As well as runners-up that get subbed in if the winner of the gauntlet ends up in dice jail. When playing on r20, if I'm rolling like shit, it's time to refresh the browser page. I know it doesn't actually do anything but also It Does Something In My Brain

[redux-iterum]

ShadowClan cuts deal bonus poison damage from walking around in the rotten place. You may limp away from a fight, but there's no guarantee you'll wake up the next day!

This sounds like a bonus effect from Pathfinder or DnD.

[dungeonmalcontent]

Character concept: Buckley "Buckle" Robertson St. John, pact of the chain warlock with a great old one patron. Pact familiar: Odious the quasit (taking the shape of a dopey but helpful hound). Patron is Garf, the dark growth; a sentient matter infection that resides in a bloated orange tabby cat.

[owlbear33]

I've been thinking about alignment, and law and chaos as cosmic forces, and I think dnd made a mistake in having alignment as a thing characters have, law and chaos should be the top level of a faction system

like scrap alignment, replace it with character traits or motivations, or an intimacies system, actual tools for describing your character and what they think

most characters have ties to some sort of organisation, they have a liege lord, they're members of guilds and so on,

your characters are people, they live in this fictional world, they have ties to other people

a lot of people might have ties to religious factions, signed up to the creed of a god or group of gods

(your more temporal ties might have opinions about what divine creed you hold)

in a fantasy world where the gods are without a doubt real and actual meddlesome fucks, temporal organisations possibly have ties to divine organisations, like they are separate and above

most people, even the gods, do not tie themselves directly to law and chaos so much as get pushed around by those cosmic forces but all will have to pick a side eventually (oncoming god war along cosmic lines)

point is you have multiple layers of factions, temporal, divine, cosmic, at least at the start of things, most people have one or more temporal factions, a lot of people have some sort of divine faction, some people have a cosmic faction, and like your membership in lower-level factions has a bit of an effect on the higher up factions

[rizwalda]

[dallydaydream]

Do you ever wish you could just... transfer your sudden hyperfixation over to something you real need to be working on instead?

[thediscsystem]

Fucked up old man from my ttrpgs

What a guy