Lianodel @ Lianodel @ttrpg.network Posts 1Comments 359Joined 2 yr. ago
Pathfinder 2e made me realize I wasn't actually sick of crunchier rules, I was just sick of fighting the rules. I have to make up for weird quirks and omissions all the time when I DM 5e, but with Pathfinder 2e, everything actually clicks together the way I'd expect.
5e is in this weird space where, on the one hand, it's loose and flexible, but on the other, it's designed around balanced encounters and precise readings of kind of a lot of rules.
I found it an exhausting balancing act as a DM.
I think doors, gates, and levers would be useful!
Super excited about this! Pathfinder 2e has become one of my favorites for a "Modern D&D" experience, so I'm interested to see it incorporate sci-fi elements.
Plus, with a little tweaking, it'll be another alternative to use for a Shadowrun campaign. :P
It's also great for a sandbox game, even if it's not focused on the dungeon. Having a default option really helps get things moving, or to still have a session if you don't have everyone around (or if you want an open table).
See THIS is a more interesting version of the conversation. :P The one I saw was something like, "Raise Dead creates an Evil creature, and creating an Evil creature is an Evil act, per the rules. Period, end of story."
And heck, even without exploring shades of gray morality and cultural constructs, having raised dead trap the soul of the person is more interesting worldbuilding. Even if it's a black & white situation, it drives home who the villains are.
Now I'm afraid to look at the pledge tiers. :P
Glad to see it getting some buzz. Necrotic Gnome makes fantastic stuff.
I just might check it out! I was recently thinking that I might give them another go anyway. Especially since they've got a podcast feed, which is how I'd rather follow it.
...though I do wish it was edited down. :|
The entirely unsatisfying answer is, "As much or as little as I have to."
I haven't run a 5e adventure, but I imagine that would require a LOT. Part of this can't be helped, because in any long campaign, you're going to have to be more flexible to account for the unexpected and accommodate your players. The other part of it is that D&D's design philosophy seems to be "eh, fuck it, if it's broken, people will just blame the DM and say it's their responsibility to fix it." A part of this is the entire CR system (in a game that focuses so heavily on balanced combat encounters, no less), so I'm not surprised that tinkering with combat counters is so necessary and so frustrating.
The "Nice Necromancer" is honestly such a fun character. You get mad scientist vibes, plus playing around with some ethics and taboos.
I remember hearing some argument about how Raise Dead is inherently evil because... the book says so. Which instantly made the conversation a lot less interesting.
Awesome! :D
I've also been meaning to try Risus, since it seems great for a super-light, super-fast one-shot or short adventure. But also taking a look at Toast of the Town, it looks like you can actually run a much meatier adventure than I thought with the system. I'll have to try to get it to the table soon!
I'm only tangentially aware of Traveller (especially the old-school Cepheus side) but this definitely piqued my interest! Especially the Western bit, which shows how the system can be adapted to other genres.
That, and a lot of this content would obviously be great for Worlds Without Number!
I stopped following Critical Role as part of a general burnout on 5e. I'm actually super glad to see them branch out with different systems (beyond one-shots). I'm eager to see how this plays out!
No worries, I was just playing along. :P But I have embraced the unfashionableness.
Also, I've put on some Birkenstocks with wool socks before. I feel no shame for it. It's comfy.
Mostly because the rest of 5e is built around an assumption of relative balance.
Adventures in modern D&D tend to consist of a series of more-or-less balanced encounters, usually combat, that will tax but usually not kill the player characters. If you tune it to be too easy, that makes for a boring session, or one where the DM runs out of content because the set piece encounter didn't last as long as it should have. If it's too difficult, you might have PCs die in a way that doesn't match expectations. If most of the time combat encounters are supposed to be balanced, and a player has invested in their character's backstory, and there's clearly an arc they're supposed to follow to the end, it sucks to have them be eaten by feral dogs.
"The DM can fix it" is always true, but a cop-out. If players avoid a set-piece encounter in 5e, it feels like they're avoiding the whole dang adventure. And while XP doesn't have to come from combat, that's the bulk of it, and the most clearly supported by the rules.
And other systems just don't have the same problem. Narrative games, like Blades in the Dark, have characters face consequences but not die unless it would be narratively satisfying. Other games just aren't built on the assumption of balanced encounters, so it doesn't throw a wrench into things if players get an unfair advantage, or bypass an encounter altogether, or just plain run away. And something like PF2e, which is in the modern D&D model, does have a functional balancing system.
A functional balancing system also doesn't really have the problem of constant, perfect balance. D&D's CR system will let you design encounters that are Easy, Medium, Hard, or Deadly, and PF2e's Threat levels include Trivial, Low, Moderate, Severe, and Extreme. It's just that one works better than the other.
Obviously all of this is "fixable" by the DM, but still, that puts a lot of work on the DM just to make the game work as intended.
I haven't had a chance to play Hillfolk, only read it years ago... but from what I remember, it also just has great ideas for creating PCs with existing relationships that can port to just about any other system!
For real, it's scary how quickly transphobia can get a grip on someone, to the point it becomes a singular focus, and something people are willing to destroy their own lives for.
Specifically, I'm thinking of Graham Linehan. Other famous and successful people have let transphobia take over their lives and tarnish their reputations, but that dude lost his reputation, can't get work anymore, even destroyed his own marriage... but can't stop. I think he subconsciously realizes that, if he's wrong about this, he lost everything for nothing, so he can't ever even entertain the idea.
It's amazing how quickly they'll pivot from "I have science on my side" to "The science is wrong."
They don't form opinions based on evidence, they judge evidence based on their opinions.
Shadow of the Weird Wizard, too, which is from the creator of Shadow of the Demon Lord, but higher-powered and more classic fantasy rather than grimdark.