Same. I’ve been using magicearth but I keep my eyes open for any alternative to a popular google app , just so I have a backup if something goes wonky.
I make a point not to kill my players unless they make a habit of doing dumb shit, or it’s “almost” happened a couple times already.
Especially if I get several good rolls or they get several bad rolls in a row.
The game should be fun for everyone, and if even one player goes home upset with the session I will have considered my night a failure as DM.
Not that I consider it a failing or even “bad” if someone else kills off their players. Everyone has different expectations from games and I’ve seen fantastic role playing of deaths before.
One player ripped their heart out of their own chest, chugging a health potion to stay alive long enough to place it in their spouse who had just died died, and another player healed the spouse.
They asked me if I would allow that and honestly it sounded cool enough that I was all for it.
I’ve not seen anything that creepy, but one of the youtube channels I watch is an outdoors person, and she posts videos of like building shelters and shit, along with other things but honestly those are the ones I care about…
She posted a thing awhile back after taking some time off, apparently one of the viewers recognized something in one of her videos, and decided to spend weeks wandering around forests trying to find her.
A dude literally went out of his way for WEEKS to find a woman he has never met, who doesn’t know he exists, and he knows travels alone in the woods, so he can be face to face with her in the middle of nowhere… And didn’t see a problem with that apparently.
Now in this instance, it was more of “wander a large area looking for signs” but another YouTube (tom Scott) posted a video awhile back giving as little information as possible, and it was him standing in a cornfield. Only a small bit of the sky was visible. He literally asked for people to track down that spot, in order to prove a point in another video.
People did it scary quick, unfortunately there was either a plane or a contrail visible, and with time of day and the sound of a nearby frog people got the spot to within a few feet or something like that. Details are fuzzy, it’s been years since I saw the video.
I never thought I’d say this but “I want other companies to succeed at space travel”
To be clear, I don’t want any companies in space because they’ll simply ruin space the way they ruined earth. You will never convince me there aren’t executives salivating at the idea of exploiting slaves employees far away from earth and it’s " limiting regulations" so they can do whatever they want including just spacing someone out an airlock if they try to strike.
But so far it’s been more or less one company who’s been tossing trash all over LEO and larger trash between earth and Mars.
I’d rather space travel be open and easy for everyone, including some random guy who just wants a quick trip around Saturn. Of course we’re likely centuries away from that, and I don’t think we have centuries left as a whole.
You get a fine you can’t pay? Sorry that’s illegal. Jail or seized assets. If you have no assets, just jail and garnished wages. Good luck paying your fine on 23 cents a week (minus taxes)
This company gets a fine it can’t pay? “okay you don’t have to pay, just pinky swear you won’t do it again, now here’s a bailout go play with the other rich kids (and leave the poors to me cracks knuckles)”
You’re actually not far off from one of my scenarios I like to put in every few games as a starter quest.
“bandit groups being funded and directed to attack commoners to make them more desperate for a strong leader who is actually the one behind the funding” extra details can be tossed around but I haven’t used it enough to get a whole list.
The parties usually end up killing the noble, but twice now I’ve had a group actually capture and turn them in, which was surprising. If I had a nickel and all that.
The second time I had a group of commoners protesting outside their inn the night after, because they killed the commoner bandits but spared the rich noble to live a life of luxury in a cushy b&b “cell” at worst. The group persuaded them to protest outside the local magistrate and demand harsh punishment instead, which was hilarious.
Fun things can happen when you throw in details the party might not even care about, and I understand that most people don’t want to derail the whole campaign for some realistic detail, but it’s fun.
And if we aren’t here for fun… Then why are we here?
Bandits fighting to the death always strikes me as profoundly stupid.
The moment they realize they’re outmatched, they’ll flee. If they’re more evenly matched, they’re still going to flee when it doesn’t go their way.
Bandits steal to survive, kill when resisted when they can get away with it, and most importantly regular bandits will not attack a clearly fully geared, armed, and armored party of 6
If I’m the DM if regular unaffiliated bandits are attacking, there’s a “reason” behind it that makes sense other than “oh no random highwaymen”
It’s a minor pet peeve but I’m glad I’m not only person who thinks about realistic encounters.
Except the anti-metagaming tarrasque. That’s an extra dimensional being who doesn’t follow logical rules. Like meta gamers.
Not OP but if it’s anything like my cousin, literally magnetized. As in “attracts ferrous materials”
As in “my credit cards don’t work because you got the coof Vax not because they’re over their limits and I make poor financial decisions” and “don’t get too close to grandma or your blood magnets will set off her pacemaker”
The tapestry of magic begins to unravel, the falling rocks all turn to rolls d100 and checks chart 15 acid arrows fireballs, 6 lightning bolts , 8 icy spheres, and 2 fireballs. And a Tarrasque (and rather exasperated bowl of petunias) fall from 50,000ft to land on top of you.
I encourage private messaging or note passing for private conversations.
Most of the time if I’m at a game, I have 4 or 5 different chats going since the DM should be included in any conversation (about the game) anyway, and if needed we can toss up another when someone else is brought into the convo or someone leaves.
Personally I hate meta gaming and you can only bust out SCP-682 ( Anti-Metagaming-Tarrasque) so many times before giving up on some people. And I personally know I struggle internally with meta gaming. If I overhear something critical, I can’t just unhear it. And there’s no way of knowing if I would have figured something out or behaved in a certain way if I didn’t know the thing. So how I act from then on feels unnatural purely because I’m always judging myself “would I do this if I didn’t know?”
It’s easier to split conversations up so only those who would have been part of it will know
Of course if anyone wants to share the contents of a private conversation, go right ahead. But they have to wait until then.
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Same. I’ve been using magicearth but I keep my eyes open for any alternative to a popular google app , just so I have a backup if something goes wonky.