Parallel Universe (ooc and questions IV)

[Inferno]

New post in the Inspiration and Source Material thread is up. viewtopic.php?p=638452#p638452

Enjoy.

[ChubbyPixie]

Hey, fools. My buddy, Daniel, designs minis and he’s got some new ones in his shop. If you’re into Goblins and Fish Men this is your chance. He has a sweet Kenku archer in there, too: https://www.etsy.com/search?q=mosschester

[Inferno]

If you’re into Goblins and Fish Men...

And who isn't?

[Urson]

If you’re into Goblins and Fish Men this is your chance

Dammit, stay out of my search history!!

[ChubbyPixie]

[Inferno]

Dawn comes to the silent jungle. In the night, the crawling slime blight reached the adventurers' camp!

...they begin to lay their plans.

And in this brief respite before you lunge once more unto the breach, we'll pause the game for the holidays.

Thanks everyone for another fun year of gaming. Best holiday wishes to you and your families. See you in the new year.

[jemmus]

Happy holidays everyone, see you in 2023!

[Rex]

Happy Holidays Everyone, see you soon!

[SilverBen]

Yes! Wishing all a peaceful holiday season!

[Urson]

Folks: I'm a regular on the Goodreads.com site. They do giveaways of pre-release books for people to read and review- I assume this is to start some buzz about the book, and to get some random quotes for the book cover.
I just got a copy of How to Defend your Lair, by Keith Ammann (who also wrote The Monsters Know What They're Doing). It's a guide to planning encounters with logic, so that your monsters and NPC's aren't just swordfodder that the PCs can mow down like weeds.
I'll post my thoughts on the book when I've finished it.

[jemmus]

That sounds really interesting. Tactical monsters.

[SilverBen]

Thanks Bob! I'm interested to check out How to Defend your Lair and am sure Ammann has some great insights to bring out more unique gaming moments. Honestly, I don't own a copy "Monsters Know" but I did ask one of my family members for it as a Chanukah gift. However, I skimmed through Ammann's The Monsters Know What They're Doing several times since it was first published and agree its a great resource from what I have read.

In that book, Ammann takes an analytical approach to the monster descriptions and differentiates their attacks - instead using the formulaic: "Monster attacks, hits, and you take damage..." The DM reader benefits by taking away many new and creative gaming experiences. Player readers benefit by taking away some really unique role playing ideas - perhaps even as a social encounter rather than a combat encounter. Pretty cool and quite an accomplishment to cover all those monsters in the 5e Monster Manual!

I can't wait to see what he's done for lairs in How to Defend your Lair

Ben

[redwarrior]

I'm definitely interested.

[jemmus]

Just the description of the concept of the book is making me rethink my upcoming NPC encounters for players. I've always to tried to have NPCs use good tactics decisions, taking into consideration their level of IQ, their degree of organization, their basic nature/character, the dynamics of the situation, etc. But old school-like, the main consideration has been trying to make a reasonably balanced but still challenging encounter, based on the PCs' and NPCs' comparative HPs, ACs, potential damage inflicted per round of combat, and such. The last couple of fights in my games have been kind of pushovers, in favor of the PCs. So I thought, "Going forward, I'm going to RP the NPC(s)-- and want him/her/it to win!" But now I'm thinking in addition, "How would the NPC(s) plan for this kind of situation happening? What kind of precautions would they take?"

Of course, there are wise NPCs and foolish ones, thoughtful ones and careless ones. But they all live in a world with danger, and about all of them probably really care about personal survival as the first priority. Just the writer Mr. Ammann's concept of how to handle NPCs is really interesting. I could see it making my little GMing games a lot more interesting for everyone.

[SilverBen]

Of course, there are wise NPCs and foolish ones, thoughtful ones and careless ones. But they all live in a world with danger, and about all of them probably really care about personal survival as the first priority. Just the writer Mr. Ammann's concept of how to handle NPCs is really interesting. I could see it making my little GMing games a lot more interesting for everyone.

Ha! Agreed!

[Rex]

That is the trick of a great DM, being able to play all those different NPC's correctly.

[SilverBen]

...The Monsters Know What They're Doing...

Hope this video review helps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzWN4rmPJ_s

[Rex]

Nice review.

[ChubbyPixie]

...The Monsters Know What They're Doing...

Hope this video review helps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzWN4rmPJ_s

I've found this book helpful, personally.

[Inferno]

Hey,
Happy new year everyone. Hope you had a great holiday.
I'm back and the new DM post is up. Looking forward to another year of gaming!