My group has been using owlbear rodeo. The current DM makes a lot of maps and uses owlbear’s fog of war tool to reveal as we explore. It’s fine.
I used it once just sketching the map as we went using it’s drawing tools. Also fine. Like a dry erase board, but more awkward because of using a mouse instead of a marker.
In person I had a dry erase board with a grid printed on it, a bunch of tokens from board games, and coins to use as stuff.
I also used Google sheets for a while during the pandemic. It gives you a grid you can color and mark and everyone can see and edit. Worked surprisingly well. Also good for note taking
I use paper sheets, some of the others at my table go digital. Dry erase map for combat if it’s got a lot of enemies or terrain considerations. Between the 6 of us we have at least one copy of all books.
While I recognize it’s not for everyone, online D&D can be just as fun as in person. I’ve been playing twice a week with my group that I’ve been playing with for almost two years. Of course, not every group you get into is immediately the right fit, I think I got quite lucky as it was my third group I got into.
There are various websites to play. Personally, I use Roll20. While I recognize it has flaws, it is still pretty decent overall, and a free account gives you all the necessary functionality to play. Even GM’s can just use a free account if they manage their resources well.
Apple did the same thing with computers in schools and Google’s doing the same thing with Chromebooks right now. I honestly thought this is more of a PR thing to help their image. I don’t think 200 schools just is enough to actually move the needle. This could be a pilot program though. I have a hard time seeing how this could be used in the actual classroom. As an elective definitely but I don’t see history teachers using DND and having to write a lesson plan around it and all the accomodation paperwork for anyone with an IEP. Some teachers already find that stuff a pain in the butt for traditional lesson plans. Who knows though it could happen.
Check out the YouTube channel “Matt Colville” and look for the playlist “running the game”. The first couple videos in that playlist will tell you all that you need to know.
Oooh ok good to know. CoS caught my eye in any case and one of the employees at a local game store has run it multiple times since the 90’s (including in 5e), so I’d have a great source of advice there
This is solved by bringing back Domain Level Play, and making spell components a meaningful resource again.
Most spells have a martial equivalent. Give martials access to those effects.
Most spells also used to cost something to cast other than a spell slot. When your only limitation is 8 hours of rest, magic scales wildly out of control.
Or play a system with better design instead of trying to force the wargame to be anything other than what it was designed to be.
Most spells also used to cost something to cast other than a spell slot. When your only limitation is 8 hours of rest, magic scales wildly out of control.
Don’t let a player boss you around in your game. If they’re not going to have fun because they don’t get what they want, boot’em. Get a feel for the groups expectations for the game, and then reset it to how YOU want the game to go. If you are not having fun, no one is going to have fun, and no D&D is better than bad D&D
In Shadowrun the intro scenario was a shoot out at a convenience store. A simple one encounter with minimal story to introduce the mechanics. They called it a food fight, and it is how I introduce new plays to pretty much any system now. DnD: a tavern brawl breaks out…
Premades are great for instant play, but if they want to get more invested, the food fight is also a great way for them to get to know their class mechanics too.
It indirectly is making me want to leave my current DND group more. I love rpgs but DND specifically makes me grind my teeth. Bg3 is a great game but honestly it would be better with a different rule system. And the fact that DND is so popular that it sucks all the air out of the hobby just frustrates me.
But at the end of the day it’s just a game, and if people are having fun they’re having fun.
I like DnD more as a video game, in BG3. A while ago, I started exploring more narratively centered systems, like Fate, or even the new Cowboy Bebop TTRPG, for actual role playing.
Fate is my current game crush I want to play more, but I haven’t had much opportunity. I got my D&D group to try it as a one-shot twice, and both times didn’t really sing.
The Cowboy Bebop TTRPG seemed easier to setup, less involved character creation, and works nicely for one shots.
The rules are not very well written imo, not a lot of support for DMs, so I had to kind of lean on my past experience, and there wasn’t really any guidance on how to use the clocks so one session was great, the other just slogged because I think I messed up the pacing since it was a lot fewer players.
Its also somewhat predicated on most people being familiar with the aesthetic of the show cowboy bebop.
Yeah, when the new Final Fantasy XIV TTRPG was announced, despite the OGL controversy that happened earlier this year the only TTRPG mentioned by name in the titles of news articles about it is Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). You would think it would cause a major shift in other properties being mentioned. Nope, it still seems it will be like the Mario Kart or Pokémon of TTRPGs, where people seemly instantly try to compare TTRPGs to D&D and mention the latter by name, but not anything else in the field, as if there were only two of that genre at a time or something.
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