#(he is talking about strahd tho)

[utilitycaster]

[ID: three screenshots in succession of Hector Navarro on Um, Actually. He is saying "The mechanics make it not only scary for the players, but also potentially not frustrating but sexy]

[moogle-mafia]

not me worrying whether my new dnd character actually gets to have some character development in this campaign or i'll have to drop the entire act before the party loses their patience 💀

i had a disagreement with two people over two slightly varying issues in one session already and i don't know what to do, because their characters' behaviour just seems a bit hypocritical to my character.

tl;dr: 2 clerics, a wizard, and a paladin. the paladin is neutral, the wizard is pretty chill about things, but the clerics tend to prioritise protecting the corpses from being eaten over helping the living (at least these are her first assumptions).

she is not the best, i admit. i made a petty, grumpy assassin with trust issues and a weird weak spot for outcasts. basically someone who says 'i will steal from people that annoy me with their illogical (to me) self-righteousness, but i will try to lessen other people's burdens if no one else wants to help'. aaand we got to that one basement scene in the curse of strahd. and my character did something really stupid out of pity. and antagonised a cleric or two in the process, because she got into an argument about it and said a few things to a party member that sounded like a threat.

now, i am on the fence. i can either decide i won't budge (but i already heard a comment that my character is not really likeable right now and it got me a little worried), or just drop everything i planned for this character just because i don't want the party to leave her. and i'm not entirely sure that the party will take time to shake some sense into her, or will just assume she's not worth the effort. i could just do a 180 and be like 'yeah sorry i am starting to learn please give me a chance' instantly, but i would rather go balls to the wall... and after the fight have a dramatic scene of learning that it's okay to ask for help and to rely on others. and maybe a promise that she will learn and work on herself a bit.

but! i am worried that the party won't take the hint to simply force my character to sit down and explain what is wrong with her. i've never played a morally complicated character before, so i don't know if the hints i am dropping are actually doing something. i assume that they are not, since me having a stupid idea on session 2 was interpreted as 'yeah she just wants to see what happens, that's not pity' at least once. i guess they assume things based on the fact that my character stole some stuff from an npc's house, but she didn't tell them about it. also, she haven't really had a chance to use these spoils yet. i was thinking about her splurging all that on the gear the party might need, but i we haven't found a shop yet.

i might be overthinking all of this, this might be also my longest post i ever made on this website, but i guess i needed a space to write this all down.

i know i made this character to challenge myself, because i usually play as neutral/chaotic good pranksters, but this is a party that seems to be mostly lawful and i don't know if i didn't cause problems too early in the game. to be honest, i am enjoying the roleplay a lot, it's different from what i used to do in dnd, but i'm still worried that all of this will estrange me from the group... so... yeah hey hi anne of xiety it's been a while now we're worried even about dnd. it's been literally 2 sessions, why am i so worried about this

[lycantripuwu]

Session updates!!

Dinner and Ball at Ravenloft, Reek is Dhampir, Mirre has his court case against Anastrasya and wins! Reek is now Reek Uldras. exploration. start of tome heist.

-After hopping into the black carriage and having some trippy statue experiences, we arrive at Ravenloft.

-Rahadin leads us to our rooms and we change into our formals and leave our weapons in the room then travel down to the dining room. Rhil chatting up Rahadin who is actually responding to her now vs the first time they met.

-Strahd is playing her organ alone when we get there. Strahd explains that she dosen't want things to be hostile between us and wanted to personally thank us for the return of St.Andral's bones.

-She states she wants to get to know us better and questions go back and forth. Mirre asking the more serious questions(why does Ireena interest you?) and Rhil being her silly self.(Whats your fav animal?"

-They get on the topic of Dirrak and learns that while Strahd DID drop the body off at his order's doorsteps, she wasn't actually the one who killed Dirrak. Dirrak was found dead on Argynvostholt's steps and Strahd believes Vladimir killed him. Strahd brings up possibly hiring Mirre to "deal with some ghosts" in the future.

-While Strahds interest has been on Mirre most the time during this, she has subtly shown desire towards Rhil. She dosent seem to care too much about Jace.

-the rest of the guests show up, Ludmilla, Escher, Volenta, Anastrasya and Reek.

-We eat and chitchat, Mirre getting Reek to talk to him a little bit, but its clear Reek is terrified of Anastrasya. Though Mirre did get a couple snickers and smirks, showing he wasn't just a mindless spawn.

-We do a toast as we finish up dinner. Anastrasya trying to get Mirre angry tries to make Reek drink blood out of a cup for the toast. Reek ends up dropping the glass, Mirre quickly checking to see if hes alright while Anastrasya yells at him and tries to get another cup. Strahd promptly shuts her down after she caused a scene.

-After checking on Reek, Mirre discovers that Reek felt warm. Before he could investigate further, Anastrasya grabs Reek by the arm and drags him out to where we are having the ball.

-Strahd asks Mirre to stay back while the others left, They talk a bit and Strahd offers Mirre a necklace with a red gem. She tells him he has to keep it on him at all times and cant tell anyone about it. Mirre gets bad vibes from this and turns down her offer, explaining it would rub him the wrong way hiding something from the group, especially as the designated leader of the group. Strahd understands and they both head out to the dance.

High lights from dance:

-Rhil and Jace have their adorable dance first, Mirre and Anastrasya dance too. mostly Anastrasya berating him while he ignores her.

Rhil goes to dance with Rahadin, him actually offering to help show her how to dance. They have a pretty heavy conversation, Rhil gets a lot of backstory regarding the betrayal, the drowning of dusk elf female and children(which he had no part of), They talked about Mother Night and her history.

Rahadin brings up Rhil's black arms and black ear tips and inform her that those mark sinners among their kind and he wont pry, but others may be afraid of her or hate her for them.

tho he praised her heavily for killing the hags.

-Mirre dances with Reek: they have an emotional conversation and Mirre figures that Reek isnt a spawn, but a Dhampir! Anastrasya put some control spell over him when he was reborn and can make him do things.

-Which she does when Mirre goes to hug Reek by having him jab Mirre with a claw. not enough to do some true damage.

Anastrasya and Rhil: after a nat20 deception and manipulation, Anastrasya thinks her and Rhil are buddy buddy and shares some of what she did to Reek and her plans with him. Rhil determines shes batshit crazy. Anastrasya is convinced Strahd's going to let her win the case over Reek and has no evidence and is underprepared.(lucky for Mirre)

Mirre and Escher: Mirre very quickly ends up pissing off Escher, but gets a lot of information on his past party.

Rhil and Cyrus: She dances with him and learns about the abott and abbey, The teachings of lathander sound pretty accurate but determines something is off, her dance ends and she suggests Jace dance with Cyrus. Jace and Rhil agree that something is off and it sounds like the faith is being manipulated.

Mirre and Strahd: Mirre nat20's his performance check and impresses Strahd further, They have a conversation about leadership and how impressed shes been with his talents.

Rhil and Strahd: Some casual chitchat, Strahd gives Rhil a long list of places to check out in Barovia. after they finish their dance Strahd pulls Rhil aside and offers her knowlege of her people, back when cerrunos was a thing. She also brings up that Rhil might be able to get Rahadin to smile. Strahd offers Rhil the same necklace Mirre was offered, Rhil is tempted but turns strahd down for the same reasons of not wanting to hide things from her friends.

Dancing resumes, Mirre having danced with everyone decides to dance with Rahadin.

Rahadin isnt really talkative until Mirre brings up Rhil. When Mirre asks why.

Rahadin says Rhil is kin and that she represents something their people lost long ago "hope", He dosn't want to see that spark snuffed out. Mirre determines its more then that, but dosent press further.

He tells Mirre that Rhil is on a dangerous path and to not let her go into the dark alone, because "That happy smile might not come back out"

Mirre states he will be there with her every step, just like Rhil would be for him. Rahadin approves.

Rahadin warns him to keep Rhil away from Ludmilla and Kasimir, because they will lead her to ruin. Even says that being a bride to Strahd might be a fate Rhil wont want.

for the rest of the dance, Rhil tells Rahadin some fun stories about Rhil and the silly things shes done. Rahadin listening intently to every word.

Volenta harrassed and unnerved everyone she danced with haha

Ludmilla and Mirre, They talked a bit and Ludmilla seems very interested in Mirre and his abilities. hinting at a possible alliance. Ludmilla didnt show any interest in Jace and said Rhil reminded her of Patrina but that's about it.

The dance ended and we moved to the audience hall to begin the case for guardian ship of Reek.

Mirre and Anastrasya stood in front of Strahd and gave their statements. Mirre provided his evidence and eye witnesses.

Anastrasya brought up that we originally stole the children from the hags(which we did) and Rahadin was brought up as a witness.

Rahadin actually stood up for us, saying he didn't even see us there nor was there evidence.

Anastrasya pressed further and Strahd was upset, feeling like Anastrasya was claiming that Rahadin was lying.

Anastrasya quickly dropped the point.

Mirre had written eye witness reports from 4 different people, Verified by Baroness Fiona Wachter herself. Also letters from Anastrasya that he held onto.

Mirre and Anastrasya debated back and forth, Mirre making good points and Anastrasya seemed to ramble.

Anastrasya pulled out the dagger Mirre gave Reek, claiming it was unsafe for a child. Mirre admitted that was reckless of him and owned up to his mistake. Strahd held onto the dagger at the throne.

we close our statements

Strahd did a whole "Bachelor handing off the rose" type thing but with Reeks dagger.

MIRRE WON!! Strahd also enchanted the dagger for Reek as an adoption gift, stating that Reek will be known as Reek Uldras.

The dm did this arguement with points. If you had a good point and good arguement, you got a point. if you lost an arguement, you lost a a point.

Mirre ended up with 10pts and Anastrasya ended up with 6

Lots of cheering from the party and after the consorts/brides left.

Strahd congratulated Mirre and gave us permission to wander the castle minus a few places.

after some emotional moments with Reek and Mirre. We set off to hunt down Strahd's tome.

[ghostadas]

I've seen you reference your ocs several times now, pleeaaase talk about them! Pleeaaase! 🙏

awww omg thanks!! UM well, I have a couple? One is my curse of strahd warlock named Deirdre!!! She’s a half elf warlock and she is very visual kei inspired and hotheaded but sweet and extremely bisexual!! She’s always so fun to play even tho it’s been a couple years now since we’ve been able to play that campaign!!

My main oc is my wol for ffxiv!!! He’s an au ra named Zansetsu and he’s 7.5 ft tall, Gay, and has a will they or won’t they with Estinien and G’raha Tia :’). He’s very reserved but warm and is from the mountainside outside of Doma!! He lost his parents to the Garlean invasion and he was raised by his grandparents in their mountain clan. His clan is very reserved and isolationist and did not approve of him leaving, but I think he’ll return sometime after Endwalker!! He’s mainly a dragoon/dark knight!! I’m working my way through Endwalker rn and my brain is tingling with ideas for him :’)

[randomhatthief]

Last Line Paragraph Tag

I'm starting this one fresh b/c the other one got a little long for my tastes. Anyway, 100% I waited until I had another bout of piecing together half-written dialogue to do this @doctor-bus.

I'm working on what will become Chapter 12: Laying a Few Babies to Rest: Coming to Terms with Walter of In the Interim, my self indulgent DnD fanfic.

Tagging: Whoever man. Idk which of yall write fanfics. I'll happily read any responses tho! Tag me!

Strahd grins, and it is genuinely teasing. “You regret it then?”

He will not lie, as uncomfortable as he might be accepting power from a vestige he knows nothing about, the ends justify the means. Zrin Hala’s lightning had kept been an amazing asset while he was fighting Ramiel alone. “No, it’s been quite useful.” He raises his left hand, and snaps a few sparks between his fingers, eyes closed against it. The electricity tingles, and he heaves a sigh, shaking it off his hand. “Though I do regret making the deal in anger.”

Strahd snorts. It’s almost human. Almost funny. “How obnoxiously noble.”

Imrath shrugs. “Perhaps it would be if it weren’t just that I think my parents would be disappointed about it. They never were happy about my temper.”

“That’s a shame. My own father quite enjoyed my conqueror’s temperament.” After a moment, he adjusts his position again and looks at Imrath. Apparently, he’s bored of the small talk.“Tell me, paladin. Did you come up here just for my company?”

“Partly.” Honest, Imrath shrugs. “We’ve never really spoken one on one.” 

Strahd smiles. He wiggles his fingers in the air theatrically. “Will you regale me with more tales of your homeland now that we are away from the dinner table?” He smirks. “Or ask me how specific people taste?”

Imrath is going to say no, but pauses. He blinks over at Strahd. “Are they different?”

His grin is vicious. “Subtly.”

[the-mist-striders]

Episode 5: The Tarot

So last we left off we got this dead guy to the church so that his last rites can be done, and he can go and get buried. Before getting there though in the distance we see the priest drag a body into the chapel.

We needed to persuade him to hurry and do the last rites

We don't see the body he dragged in 

#sus

Then we hear "FATHER IM HUNGRY" being bellowed from a mysterious basement

He just wants us to take him on a late night McDonald's run. No biggy

We ask the priest what's up with that

Hes shifty as fuck, says nothing is wrong

So Kai, Fauna and Amahlia go and see what's up with that while Lucerian and Lilliya are focused on last rites 

We find tracks, locate a room with the body stashed in and a trap door to the basement. Very normal stuff. The priest begs us to not go down there. Informs us that his son was visited by Strahd and now required uh. A special diet

Kai prods a bit and confirms that the priest is in fact killing people for his son

Amahlia is like "imma kill him" 

Amahlia No

Lilliya convinces the priest to let us kill his son, putting his son out of his misery

Priest is a broken man. Says "just make it quick and painless"

Kai, Lilliya, and Lucerian go to the basement to kill the lad

We forbid Amahlia from going with us because Amahlia is kind of a murder hobo. So we have Fauna babysit her outside

The vampire boi is scuttling around in the dark. We locate him, and Lilliya offers to let him drink from her wrist so that they can talk

His name is Dorul

Doru is like "but I wanna drain you all the way tho. All of u"

We tried to the very end to make his death quick and painless but Doru has like… 1 brain cell and that brain cell is hungry

He fucking lunges at Kai because he thinks she'll be easier to take out

Surree go for the blind bitch. I see u

Combat is initiated

He did try to bite Kai but failed.

Not sure if you'd even wanna drink cursed blood but idk

Our "quick and painless" attempt to put Doru out of his miserable existence becomes a bunch of loud noises and him screaming

Dorus father listening in as the adventurers loudly struggle to kill him quickly

At the end he is in the bargaining stage of grief

Begs us to not kill him and instead use him

Says he'll eat our enemies

When that doesn't work he says "I'll do anything you wannt"

Lilliya is like "we want you to die"

He eventually dies. Ismark does superstitious rituals like cutting off Dorus head, burning the remains, shoving garlic in Dorus mouth, normal shit

Btw it was pretty funny at the end of Dorus fight because we had him in a corner and we were just beating the shit out of him

A weird side note: the dm showed a picture of him from the book and like. Every woman with an inkling of maternal instinct was like "aweee" meanwhile I'm thinking he looks like a younger Tommy Wisau

Anyway after we successfully killed him quick and painlessly we find the father being a fuckin mess

Hes eyeballing a rope hanging from the ceiling

Lilliya does talk-no-jutsu to keep him from killing himself and to instead try to bring hope back to the village. Ismark is like "oh shit that's a fire idea. Sorry sister, I know I said I'd escort you to that safer village but I now have a new purpose. Hey adventurers we just met, can you escort her?"

In the background Kai is getting the rope off the ceiling and stashing it in her bag

The last rites for Ismark's dad are done and we have lowered the body into the grave. It's midnight and we get to see what this "midnight parade" the locals are talking about is

It's a long line of the ghosts of adventurers before us who tried to take on Strahd just walking off a cliff single file

And while this is intimidating the idea is kind of funny to me because the line just keeps fucking going and never stops. Like I get it- holy shit how could we succeed when so many failed- but at the same time this is a very comical amount of dead people

So as Fauna watched a comically long line of dead adventurers go off the cliff edge of Strahd's castle (which is perched on a mountain) she has a mental breakdown

Fauna in the midst of the meltdown asks “Does a place like this even need heroes?"

Kai says "well I'll die anyway. May as well die faster"

Amahlia: "I can help"

Liliya: “It’s places like this that need heroes the most”

3 kinds of people

We stay the night at the church as the priest is under suicide watch.

Kai is the guardian of the rope.

The priest before bed has pie with Fauna. Causing them to have blissful dreams (the pies have that effect)

The next morning we set out to meet madam Ava, who according to the group of Vistani wanted to see us. We're taken to a clearing next to a lake full of tents. 

Btw at this Vistani camp there's a Ton of roguish looking dudes who are total snaccs

RiP Kai is dead

Pour one of for Kai 😔🍾

and Rip to the mammoth tusk she carries with her 

We go straight for madam ava 

And are like

Because it's the fucking lady that brought us here and gave us the tarot cards

She tells us in very riddle-y vague terms how to stop Strahd and where everyone should start on their personal goals. Each character got a tarot card.

“ 3 treasures to help kill Strahd”

“The avenger- (Luciren) this treasure lies in a dragon's house. Hands was once clean, now its corrupted Knowledge of the ancient will better still help you understand the enemy.”

“Healer (Amalia) Tells of a powerful force of good and for protection, a holy symbol of great hope, Look to the west. Find a pool blessed by the white of the white sun.”

“Charlatan. (Fauna) This is a card of power and strength. Tells of a weapon of vengeance. A sword of sunlight. I see where you can find it. A lonely mill on a precipice”

“Seer (Kai) This card sheds light on one who will help you greatly in the battle against darkness. Look for a dusk elf. He has suffered a great loss and is haunted by dark dreams. Help him and he will help you”

“Marionette (Liliya) Your enemy is a creature of darkness whose powers are more than immortality Look to great heights. Find the beating heart, the castle, he waits nearby.”

With the direct yet vague instruction of what they should do next, the party must figure out their next move

Please remember to keep Kai in your thoughts and prayers as she survives these trying times of being trapped in a camp of hot guys

😔🙏

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[acronycjellyfish]

we’ll add some oc stuff to my spam too sure! lotsa beberly and also new guy! he’ll probably tell you his name if youre like a cop or something but otherwise bo’s good. the spelling depends on the time of day.

[rockofdoom]

okay how about. 7-17 because i like the number seven

7. Favorite downtime activity.

None of my games have gone on long enough to create significant downtime, but I would LIKE to do some crafting please. I need....healpth potion...

8. Favorite fight / encounter.

Probably the fight at the lake, because we were just so royally fucked. Child drowning in the lake. None of us can swim very fast. I’m wearing heavy armor so I can’t swim at all. Guns exist, apparently, and they can fucking one shot me. The second I get healed I obliterate the enemy dude immediately. Good times.

9. Favorite thing about D&D.

 I like roleplaying as characters, and I like making really fucking weird characters to roleplay. I’m still figuring out the ropes, but I’m having a good time getting into the head of a 7 foot 2 goblinoid who cares about the law. Close second is window-shopping for spells and thinking about the dumb shit I can do with them.

10. Favorite enemy and enemy I hate the most.

Hm. I honestly liked the ghost we fought in the death house, I like indirect weaknesses a lot. Fuck Strahd big time tho.

11. How often do you play?

Weekly! It’s a dream, all of my other campaigns are super infrequent and prone to fizzling out, so this is a SUPER nice change of pace.

12. Ingame inside jokes/memes.

My character, Jamie, has a running thing where he threatens to punch Enoch with his 5 damage fist. This is because Jamie’s unarmed strikes just straight-up deal 5 damage, and because Enoch does a lot of things that warrant punching.

13. Current Party, from Jamie’s perspective:

James Heartseeker (Jamie to his friends) — An apprentice monster hunter who uses a large sword and dabbles in magic. He spends a lot of time trying to figure out ways to protect himself from supernatural threats, and even more time having none of that matter as he gets KO’d anyway. He’s starting to worry that he really isn’t doing his homework...

Enoch — a troublemaking tiefling bard who, unfortunately, is a very powerful magical healer. He has moments where he seems like a decent dude, but he really keeps you guessing with all the dumb shit he does. I really can’t get a bead on him.

Thanatos — a half-elven noble who I THOUGHT was a wizard but apparently he doesn’t actually know where his magic comes from which is....troubling. He doesn’t talk much willingly, but he usually shows up in a pinch. Sometimes he’s hard to keep track of though, since he turns invisible so often.

Trexie the Wastrel — a perpetually drunken gnomish pirate, who seems to have made some sort of deal with a powerful sea monster. Frankly, she disturbs me and I’m not sure if she’s safe to be around...her magic is extremely powerful and she seems to be able to just sort of...throw it out there...

Roxanne — a skilled hand-to-hand combatant who died when we were first lost to the mists, but she keeps showing up occasionally anyway...I’d be more worried about her if I wasn’t so grateful that she draws some of the attention off of me in combat.

Asuna — I think she might literally be an angel? apparently she was just born, explicitly to help us. I’ve hardly met her, she showed up out of nowhere, saved us from certain death several times, and then vanished. I hope she comes back...

14. Introduce any other parties I’ve DM-ed or been in.

Oh dear now I have to remember. I’ll introduce the one I DM’d:

Robop the Magichanical Musician — a warforged bard who’s only 1 and a half years old. A bard dedicated to making new friends and learning new things!

Evellan — a firbolg ranger from the northern reaches, who is just so sweet and just so good at drilling holes into people with his longbow.

Cryn — a tabaxi rogue who could easily be the brains of the party, if he trusted any of them farther than he could throw them. He’s a bit scrawny.

Delnis Trindeth — a triton paladin of Wheil, he’s the party dad. almost literally. He’s pretty protective of others, and stands as a wall between the rest of the party and their foes.

Hethermerie Ilyen — a half-elven noble wizard who ran away from home to start a drug empire before realizing that was a bad idea. She can dish out some SERIOUS hurt.

Dave Scalder — a dwarven barbarian who WOULD have been the other party dad if he wasn’t just, so good at murder.

I was also in a couple parties but it would be a challenge to remember most of the other characters :p

15. Do you have snacks during sessions?

Yes.

16. Do you play online or in person?

I’ve done both, but currently in-person. I vastly prefer in person sessions.

17. What are some house rules your current group has?

Our DM is just, absolutely fucking with our character’s features and traits. When our characters die, they seem to have to option to make a deal with a (maybe literal??) devil to come back, but when they do shit gets shaken up. Our bard’s class is just getting completely boned, and our monk got truesight out of it.

[dunewizard]

30 Days of Autism Acceptance - Day 15

The questions I’m answering can be found here!

April 15: Free day! Write about any topic you want!

I have a few things to say today. 

In this post I talk about coming back to running my own Dungeons and Dragons games. Theres also a paragraph tangent about Drow and RA Salvatores Drizzt series. Because Drow are my favs.

.

One thing I’m very excited about is the fact that I’m getting back into running my own D&D games. I lost the passion for it for a while. it wasnt right, I wasnt running my own work and the work I was running was depressing. I’m not big into gothic horror, at least not anymore - I sort of burnt myself out on the topic after I ran Curse of Strahd. So when i went to run it a second time because I “am comfortable/know the story well” it was right off the back of doing it already.  I felt burnt out. Especially because right after the first time I ran Curse of Strahd I immediately went onto Storm King’s Thunder, which is an entirely different campaign which you REALLY need to read the WHOLE thing and understand the working parts to get that story off the ground. 

There was an emotional investment and skill requirement that I just didn’t have and it turned what should be a fun and interactive hobby into simply a chore. I’m blessed to have had players who understood that I’m a player at the table too and my imput as DM is necessary to facilitate gameplay so without me the game shouldnt run. My heart wasn’t in it and I needed time away. Folks who have read my Blondie Talks tag would be familiar with the plight, it was around 6-8 months ago tho. I think.

I’m now coming back to being a Dungeonmaster and I love it so much. I have a fantastic team of players who seem as invested in the story and their characters as I am which honestly sounds too good to be true. But I see it in the way they play and interact with the game it warms my heart. I’m not running depressing Gothic Horror anymore and now I’m running a campaign set in my favourite setting: The Underdark! Undeground caves littered with danger and intrigue! Who knows whats around the next corner?! And DROW. I LOVE Drow. 

Drow are easily my favourite race found in D&D, and my main campaign theme is trying to show that evil is a choice and that no creature is inherently evil. Sort of thing. I dont know. I was mostly inspired by R.A Salvatore’s Drizzt DoUrden series, as “the only good drow” he goes through many moral conundrums as he considers the ideas that... well. Hes a Drow. Everything hes been told so far is that Drow are evil, and they do this and that. So much of what hes told hes like... I dont align with this... I dont agree. I will fight for my friends I wont leave them aside! Combo that with legendary skill with some swords and you got a killer character there dude, hes facing his own morality! Hes wondering whos evil and whos not!  One of my favourite conversations the book has  is when some Goblins are outside the Dwarven City of Mithrilfast, and the King waves his hand to say “Just kill them and be done with it”. Cattie Brie, his adopted daughter tries to appeal to his compassion by pleading him to only scare them off! With the poignant mention “what if they were drow?!” - knowing full well that Drizzt was RIGHT there in their court, and it was well established that Drizzt is a friend with noble intentions and a good heart. The fact that Drizzt was there made him think “What if there is a Drizzt among those goblins?” and to summarize the situation the King ends up not slaying the Goblins. Its hard to quite explain but the books go into much better detail about these concepts.

ANYWAY Sorry I prattled. I’m running a game set in the Underdark! My players are phenomenal and I’m seriously finding my passion for Dungeon Mastering once more. I cant wait to throw more challenges towards my players and I’m so excited to see what they do!

I lost the spark for Dungeons and Dragons for a little bit because of my DMing hiatus. I never lost the interest but everything in me questioned why I loved it still so much. I played as my main Wizard character named Hermes, my friend jake’s campaign was every Sunday afternoon and I loved it. We always made sure to do something on “D&D Day” even if we couldnt continue the main campaign. I’ve loved the game for the last 6 years and I cannot see myself ever dropping the game, its simply one of those infinite content sort of games! Its really helped me come out of my shell and improve my acting abilities and I love being a player and understanding plot hooks and trying to be a better player for new tables too. 

I couldnt think of a better way to spend my free time <3

[xanthicantag]

omg do all the dnd asks im so curious !!!

Long boi this one is

1. A favorite character you have played.

This is a hard one, I was a real big fan of my storm barbarian Tiffany, or Unfaceable the ranger I played awhile ago.  They were more or less the same character

2. Your favorite character that someone else has played.

Oh absolutely Ragnarok the Winged One, he was my friend Juan’s first character I think (if not first one of the first).  He was a white dragon born sorcerer, who didn’t actually have wings for 96% of the campaign.  He also hated capitalists so goals really. 

3. Your favorite side quest.

One time I tried to set up a One night ultimate werewolf side quest, and it kinda worked, it’s just we stopped playing for like 2 months and they didn’t finish it.

4. Your current campaign.

I’m currently in Dungeon of the Mad Mage as an Aasimar Warlock!

5. Favorite NPC. 

Pit Man.

6. Favorite death (monster, player character, NPC, etc).

So, technically they didn’t die, but one my players character went into the Negative Plane to marry a nightwalker who was going to be the final boss, but I felt really bad for all of them after making them do a like 4 stage thing.

7. Your favorite downtime activity.

Rivals!!!!!  They are the coolest thing.

8. Your favorite fight/encounter.

The Strahd fight when I ran CoS last year was p cool, they all died but it was really not close (They got him to like 15 hp but there’s still tons of bullshit to do after that) or the final fight I did as Unfaceable, we fought a beholder and I was paralyzed for like 6 rounds.

9. Your favorite thing about D&D.

Honestly, I enjoy seeing people get excited about playing the game.  Like when Juan (Tbh he’s just my all time favorite player sorry everyone else) got a crit while we were playing in the cafeteria and just fucking yelled about it.

10. Your favorite enemy and the enemy you hate the most.

OH fccuk this is a hard choice.  I really think Nightwalkers are like the coolest right now since I love Negative plane shit.  I think dragons are kinda overrated as enemies tho, i don’t hate them really tho since dragons are dope as fuck.

11. How often do you play and how often would you ideally like to play?

I Dm about twice a week and play once a week, Ideally I’d play or dm every day and have no other obligations but life is simply unfair

12. Your in game inside jokes/memes/catchphrases and where they came from.

Temaridy

13. Introduce your current party.

We’ve got Krosnis, my Celestial Warlock, Temaridy, a Tiefling Fiend Warlock, Sigil, a Warforged Eldritch Knight, Ketla, a uh, the elvish giants, FIRBOLG, Moon Druid, and shit fuck uh, the Abjuration Wizard, who’s name is, uhh, Enzio?  Idk his name but the player canonically decided he looks like Fenris so that’s all that matters.  

14. Introduce any other parties you have played in or DM-ed.

Hmmm this is a tough choice there’s tons of them....  I’ll do the first party I solo DM-ed for I guess since they were p cool:  Hellspawn, a Tiefling Monk with the homebrew way of the 8 gates of hell subclass (He was so goddamn edgy, and played by @t-rexquefuturus even tho he doesn’t really use tumblr), Thargus Irvin, a Totem Barbarian (Played by @themonotonyofdays fun fact i guess?), Borges, an Alchemist who was just trying his best, Mikono, who was also trying his best but was much sadder about it (Played by @tsurikun so double fun fact in one post actually boom), uhhhhhh, Delgor?  Delgar?  Del-something, a Battlemaster Warlock multiclass, i’m not sure what delgar was triyng to do (other the complain about hellspawn yeah i went there they don’t have a tumblr so none of you better snitch on me i stg) and last (literally he joined in towards the end of the campaign) Magnus, a uh, Mystic, he was there

15. Do you have snacks during game times?

Yeah usually, me like snackys

16. Do you play online or in person? Which do you prefer?

I do both!  I prefer in person since it’s harder for people to talk online since it all gets muddled

17. What are some house rules that your group has?

Er, on the sly anything goes tbh if it seems cool enough

18. Does your party keep any pets?

In the current one we have so many familiars it’s crazy.

19. Do you or your party have any dice superstitions?

Amy (The one who loves pit man) rolls all her dice at the start and takes the one that did the best

20. How did you get into D&D? How long have you been playing?

In highschool i played 2 times for like, 10 hours each time?  that was so fucking long holy shit, and the freshman year of college i started co-dming a group and then it took off from there

21. Have you ever regretted something your character has done?

Tbh, not really?  Like, 80% of them are dumb as fuck so jot that down, but I don’t usually do stuff in game that I regret, except that one time i died but it was to be a hero so worth it

22. What color was your first dragon?

I think it was a baby black dragon?

23. Do you use premade modules or original campaigns?

I use both depending on how busy I am

24. How much planning/preparation do you do for a game?

Depends?  I usually do a lot of long term planning early on and then not too much per session

For DMs

25. What have your players done that you never could have planned for?

The one group got really attached to some meaty boiz, and then the one player killed all of them and like most of the party, great way to end the campaign

26. What was your favorite scene to write and show your characters.

Oooo, hmmmmmmmmm, I really had a good plan for the end to this arc (the one with the nightwalker) but it kinda didn’t really happen how i planned which was a bit of a bummer, but it worked out in sort of a better way

27. Do you allow homebrew content? Yeah as long as it doesn’t seem like super busted

28. How often do you use NPCs in a party?  I usually give npcs if they need like a healer or something, like Kargol

29. Do you prefer RP heavy sessions or combat sessions?

I don’t really have a preference for either?  My groups get a lil bloodthirsty if they go too long with a fight usually (Except you @themoragontrail just pacifist running a whole session and a half)

30. Are your players diplomatic or murder hobos?

Oh definitely murder hobos

For Players

31. What is your favorite class? Favorite race?

Oh this is hard, I’m a big fan of Warlock customization and flexibility, I don’t really have favorite race (It’s tieflings I read homestuck feel free to at me)

32. What role do you like to play the most? (Tank/healer/etc?)

I’m usually a tank/front line, It’s where I like to be, does it always end well?  Not even close, does my warlock have more hp than our fighter?  Hell fucking yes

33. How do you write your backstory, or do you even write a backstory?

So, it depends?  I usually do it last once I’ve made the rest of the character and use it as a reason why their the way they are now.  And I give like 65% of them heterochromia cause i thinks it’s sick as fuck

34. Do you tend pick weapons/spells for being useful or for flavor?

as someone who loves lances, need i say more?

35. How much roleplay do you like to do?

It depends on what game i’m in, i usually don’t do too much rping in combat heavy stuff, but i like to, and also i love rping sub 8 int, or 14>= int but that’s just me irl and let me tell you, I’m a dumbass who will eat the exploding rock

[bookworm-2692]

8, 14, 17 for the dnd asks!

thank you!!!!

8: what does your dream dice set look like?

hmmm i’m not sure…. definitely blue. probably that etheral yeti one miho sent yesterday that i fell in love with haha they’re so pretty!!!!!

14: what inspired you to make your character?

i guess i’ll go through each of them.

norixius kava, dragonborn paladin (out of the abyss). this was my first one and i had no idea how dnd worked haha at all. in the car on the way to my cousins place, i was driving, and my dad and brother were reading through the books and talking about the races and classes and stuff and explaining to me bc obvi i couldnt read them bc i was driving haha. anyway we got to my cousins place and each of them paired up w the three of us to help make our first characters and we rolled for stats and they asked if i had anything i wanted to play and i was like “idk dragonborn sounds really cool” and they were like thats as good a reason as any, and then they suggested paladin would work well w my stats so i was like sure why not and did it haha. she survived the campaign, to level 11

matilda, human monk (curse of strahd). this was point buy system. i had mentioned seeing a homebrew avatar thing, so one of my cousins mentioned how way of the four elements monk is like the avatar, so i read through it and thought it sounded cool. i took the mobile feat, and went way of open hand instead. in this campaign we had a fight where four characters died outright (three deaths due to natural 1s in the death saves) and only two survived, including matilda. the dm mentioned taking the dead people to another room to discuss what to do and i was like “nah brian and i will just move since we’re the only alive one and theres more of you”. they ended up becoming revernants (idk spelling) but i suggested adding a caveat in place where every time you died as a revernant, you lost 1hp from your max, which we did. we then abandoned this campaign after 4 levels bc my uncle who was dm-ing was having trouble finding the time to read the campaign

jamnugget, gnome fighter (arcane archer) (storm kings thunder). this was rolling stats. one cousin rolled between 13 and 18 for every stat, and after race ability improvements got all 14-18…. so he multiclassed all of them and got to level 12 as one of each class it was a beautiful amalgamation (omg i spelt that correctly first try haha). then someone else rolled three single digit stats but was told he wasnt allowed to reroll so he became a druid for wildshape. he had -2 con, so only adding 3hp per level, starting at 6hp. 3rd level before he got double digits. if you averaged the rolls of these two you got normal stats haha. anyway onto my character. my cousin suggested the arcane archer thing on unearthed arcana so i was like “sure ok”. turns out you only got two magic arrows per rest thing and they werent very good so i hardly used them. the sharpshooter feat was way better. the best part tho was bc we were fighting so many giants, at one point someone cast fly on me, someone else cast greater invisibility on me, someone else gave me bless, so then i went in a chased a giant just shooting him on my own while everyone else was doing something else it was great. i also accidentally succeeded on an intimidation check bc an npc was saying “im sure we could handle a giant” when we asked about that and i was like “ive killed 15 myself” (bc we were keeping tallies on our sheets) and the guy panicked bc was technically in an alliance w them whoops. jamnugget survived the campaign. six of the seven original characters survived to the end, my brother went through four characters

maegrakka, half elf barbarian. we were told to make characters for a quick one shot dungeon thing for when storm kings thunder dm wasnt able to make it. so i made a barbarian bc i decided that was something i hadnt done yet and would be easy to just make (no spells. i have a strong aversion to spell casters). i think shes level 3 now???? every time we play this everyones like “wait whats my character again” bc its so long in between haha

nissa, human rogue 1 monk 2. one shot a friend wanted to dm before he moved to canberra. it was very fun. i made a monk bc i was desperate to play again bc matilda had been abandoned. i added a rogue level for sneak attack damage, w mobile feat, it was great

clover, human fighter 11 or 12, monk 3 or 4. level 15 fight to the death situation. i knew how powerful the arcane archer stuff was so i did it here. monk levels were to give me back up in case i got engaged in melee. i shouldve had some sort of healing that was my downfall. my first character to die bc three of them were ganging up on me!!

meredith, elf wizard (tomb of annihilation). we started off playing as commoners, as servants to this lord guy. so i was a librarian and realised id have to be a wizard dammit. i hated the spell casting part haha. she died. its funny bc my dads character died at first level, then we levelled up. brians character died at second level, then we levelled up. they were also sitting next to each other. i was sitting in the next seat along so was worried i was also gonna die… then my brother took that seat and died instead. so i was like there is definitely a curse. i was in the next seat along, and then one of my cousins. then came a fight where my cousin next to me turned to stone and then i died. turns out he could come back to life so the death seat thing continued. we levelled up to level 4 after my brother and i died in separate sessions in the same location. also my dad and brian died in the same location in separate session. so now theres multiple patterns - theres the “someone needs to die to level up” thing, and the death seat thing, and the two characters dying in the same location in separate sessions thing. w my cousin who got turned to stone, i keep on insisting he stays in the death seat bc either he dies (death seat) or he doesnt (he tricked death w the stone thing so is now immune), and if he doesnt die either it skips him and my uncle dies, or no one else dies ever. its very exciting haha. also w this campaign theres a map thing only the og characters can see and we’re joking how now only three characters left can see it and you can see how my cousin the dm is getting worried that we’ll all die haha. also the campaign is about how the og characters lord got sick and we need to find a cure, but once the og characters die then who cares about the random lord? itll be very funny haha

elenoa, tabaxi monk (tomb of annihilation). since i started at level 4 here, and matildas campaign got abandoned at level 4, it felt fitting to play a monk again. no mobile feat yet, but im playing the sun soul monk from xanathars which gives a radiant punch w a range of 30 ft so i dont need to get close to punch and then use mobile to run away. 

i havent even talked about where the names for each one came from….. maybe another time if asked……..

17: what is your favourite race?

idk actually. the only races ive ever played multiple times are humans, but altogether ive played longer as a dragonborn or gnome than human so like. theres not super much difference in the races in phb, like its just flavour. the new races and stuff have heaps extra stuff, but tabaxi is the only one of them ive ever played and only two sessions so far. i think humans are cool bc you get a feat at level 1 haha but other than that theres not really much difference in them yknow? races w darkvision make things easier too haha but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

thank you for these asks!!! it took so long to respond haha im gonna be late to uni now (bc still in pjs havent made lunch or brushed teeth or anything and if i wanna be on time i gotta leave in the next 15 minutes so maybe ill just…… skip this lecture lol idk haha

[bookwormguri]

I’m just gonna gush about DnD and my players for a min. Don’t mind me. (There will also be mild bitching because it's not me if I’m not bitching)

So I only started playing DnD a little over a year ago and it was so fun! I honestly had a good time when I started, but little comments from some of the guys (hell, all of the guys) in the group still piss me off when I think about them.

Now, these guys have been playing FAR longer than I have. They know the perfect build for each and every class paired with the optimal race. I, being a new player, did not, and admittedly made some rookie “mistakes.”

I got bitched at because my sorcerer had low Dex and Con, making them VERY easy to hit. (Let’s not mention in that game I got half of the kills, enabled the party to make a sneak attack with a fog spell and was the only one able to read an important plot hook note. But GOD FORBID my stats not all be optimal)

I got told that a certain online DnD game’s rouge was the “perfect rogue” as I played my rogue as the exact opposite of that broody and sullen personality.

I got talked about behind my back because I put “too much of myself into my character” because that actually makes a lick of sense. /s

I thought the games at the time were fun, but looking back now, I never want to play with that group again. I’m not saying their way of playing is bad or wrong, but it’s just not for me. I would have been fine to leave it at that until I found out about the gossiping they did. That told me that they didn’t respect me and my playstyle like I did theirs. They were essentially telling me that my way of having fun is wrong.

So I said fuck them. I decided to DM instead of play. I gathered some good friends and strangers (for all of them it was their first time playing) and ran the oneshot Death House from Curse of Strahd. 

I’m never looking back after that. I may want to play again in the future, but right now, DM-ing is SO much more rewarding to me. As the DM, no one can tell me my fun is wrong because my fun is the player’s fun.

But onto my players: My CoS group is so varied and amazing! The Cleric is so precious (even tho I know the player struggles hardcore to be the Good OneTM). She honestly has carried the team sometimes. More than once we’ve voted her as MVP. She’s sooooo good with the NPCs and has saved the party from having unneeded encounters more than once because of her kindness. 

The Fighter quickly became the impromptu leader, but the player is so good about propping up the others up, remembering their strengths, and giving them their time to shine. She plays the fighter as a gruff bear that really just wants to keep the kids safe. (I’ll never forget how panicked she got trying to catch the Rouge from falling from a third story window)

God the Rouge is something else. I can’t wait to slowly bring out her backstory into the campaign. She’s unhinged in the best way (aka: carrying children’s skeletons in her sack for GOOD REASONS, stealing spellbooks for her mom the Cleric, and wearing a necklace of teeth). She has honestly given the campaign some of THE FUNNIEST moments. 

Now for my current group:

I decided that I hated myself and tried my hand at homebrewing a campaign: Escape the Brothel. My current group is just FUCKING amazing. They are always sure to make me feel appriciated.

Our Sorcerer honestly rivals my other group’s Cleric as top cinnamon role. The player worries so much about how she plays and meta-gaming, but honestly, I can’t find any fault in how she plays. She’s gotten so attached to NPCs that I never even considered to be recurring characters after this arc (isn’t that how it always goes?). Her backstory is SO RICH and well-thought out. I will definitely include it in the campaign because it would be a CRIME to let it be pushed to the side. She plays the character so well and sometimes I’m honestly concerned if I hurt the character or the player’s feelings. The player is so creative and shows such appreciation for the world I built, wanting to ferret out all my secrets (good luck). As a player, the breaks in character for a good joke or references makes it so it’ll forever be impossible for me to obtain a classic DM Stoneface. :D

Our Barbarian.... he’s... indescribable. Honestly, the player roleplays him whereas each and every one of his actions has weight behind them; each one as a reason. The player’s devotion to the barbarian’s story and character development blows me away. He’s constantly surprising me! Any attempt to predict what he will do is for naught (although I think he’d say the same for me :3c). He embraces his failures and seems to thrive off conflict (although I think he’d say it “just happens”). The player’s investment in the game outside session time inspires me to do my best and work hard so everyone can continue to have fun.

Annnnd... our Bard, the initial inspiration for this whole mess. First of all, fuck them. Second of all, fuck them. Maybe third of all, I’m glad you talked me into this. But no, really, fuck them.

It’s nice being able to talk to people about this game. Like I’m sure a lot of DMs get, I’ve gotten a lot of requests to run games for other people. I wish I had more time so that I could run one for everyone and feel this fulfilled and content-ness that I get every Saturday night for other games. 

For now, I’ll be happy just to gush about my players and the awesome things they do every week. 

[clarissaexplainingitall]

music-in-the-bell-jar said: *flies to cali with my post-death level 18 Tyria character sheet* it's time to kill some PCs (((for real tho that sounds fucking awful, I hope they get the goddamn message after strahd roasty toasts them a few times >>>>>:(

lmao bastard bard no-showed so 1. big fucking phew and 2. we had a frank talk about the jokes and people agreed he was out of line and nobody else would be crossing those in the future if he comes back and 3. the barbarian filling in for him took every opportunity to roast his ass

so we had fun, they made it almost to vallaki, i finally cashed in on charm Strahd put on the wizard 18 hours later, and he now has Everyone’s Hair for Scrying Purposes and is about to make his Fucking Debut depending on if they stop to rescue arabella like y’all did because guess who else made the same decision about racing there as the sun was going down........

[randomhatthief]

Fuck it I’m being mad about my character in public because doing it privately isn’t doing it for me.

I’ve got this oath of devotion paladin, right? born and raised in a temple, from a militaristic society, who found and resurrected an ancient sun deity. He is/was fully meant to be a Jesian figure for this reawakened god and the derivative cults that have popped up in the intervening centuries and THAT is going well, actually. We’re play curse of strahd, so we’re stuck in Barovia and it’s miserable and sad but there are plenty of opportunities for MY sunboi to bond with the local priests sunbois and reawaken faith in the public as we work forward through the Actual Module Stuff. I am genuinely having a great time with that, it’s fantastic to be so included in the Plot. (thank you for my life, miss dm, ily) But the ISSUE I’m having is with my plan for Character Conflict. I wasn’t THINKING when I made him that my actual friendships dissolving and that other pc’s might have full alignment-flipping mental breakdowns (v cool tho, I am loving watching her lose herself to the mounting trauma) beCAUSE I intended for his personal growth to be about Doubting Himself and Finding Himself As He Was Always Meant To Be (with heavy religious overtones) but!!!! Those elements don’t WORK if he’s in the corner crying other having to kill innocent people and mercy killing an ANGEL with only the NPCs to comfort him, y’know?  It doesn’t work because the dm can’t be the only person to interact with me, but if the party isn’t going to actually comment or comfort him or even Take Note of the Breakdown, then I’m just babbling to myself and he can have these revelations silently. Like it’s wonderful to talk to all the NPCs and have emotional moments with them, playing across from my bestie, but it’s not Going Well with the rest of us.  Lemme lay the scene: Imrath (Dragonborn, Paladin, my PC) is closest with Wixen (Dusk Elf, Barbarian/Cleric, Shifter, Glen’s PC) but Wixen has an active curse on her soul that switched her from Good to Evil, so she is being appropriately cagey and chaotic about who and what she cares about. It’s sad, but in character, and they talk about it often enough to stay friends.

Now, we have a new player, who I do like very much but don’t know well. Rest assured none of these comments are about them.  BUT ASH (Fire Genasi, Rogue, F’s PC) man I’m so disappointed. Not in the character. The CHARACTER is delightful and has depth and drama and would make such a FUN foil for Imrath to learn from and bounce off of as he moves from Lawful Good to Lawful Neutral but my FRIEND. My friend is not INTERESTED in the game anymore. They don’t talk, don’t get to know any NPCs, don’t even really bullshit with us anymore and it’s fuckin affecting me man. 

I just. I’m really disappointed. And maybe I need to modify my own characters goals to be more independent but I already chose my class last, chose paladin to balance our party (and to fight the Fucking Vampires), keep the notes for the game, do a LOT of the chatting, and make efforts not to derail the game too badly and I’m TIRED of my beloved character being pigeon-holed into the role of a charismatic diplomatic public speaker when he is MEANT to be niave, affectionate city boy fresh out of a military tin can.