@ta11dave@dice.camp avatar

ta11dave

@ta11dave@dice.camp

DM for two open d&d tables and occasional hobby writer. I'm not that tall but I'm taller than most other Daves.

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ta11dave, to random
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Dungeon World kinda sucked today. Made a merchant npc, and they wouldn't lower their prices after a single 7 so the party decided to rob them and leave them incapacitated locked in a room.

Is this what it means to have power? To see a shiny thing and say, "I have the coins for this but what if I stole it"?

In retrospect, I don't think any of my players have good characters except one, who wasnt there because he would rather level up than go shopping during downtime.

ta11dave,
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Reminds me of a player who, on his first ever d&d session of a new campaign (Out of the Abyss), asked if he could buy a headband of intellect for his necromancer.

I said no, he doesn't have the money/there isn't one to buy/there's no reason to have anything like that in the starting scenario. He then got super grumpy and decided to DM so he could make up the rules.

ta11dave,
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Or a few players who only care about leveling up. The how isn't important, only that we are more powerful.

Like, what about the adventures we have along the way? Isn't that the point?

ta11dave,
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It's been a lot of thinking, but the reason I get so burnt out as a DM is because I am not friends with my players. Honestly, there's a chance that after I move to the other side of the state I'll just stop playing ttrpgs.

Kind of a sad thought, but after all these years of playing weekly games I still can't get players to read or care or say thanks or show consistently. I've had so many problem players.

ta11dave,
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My table today was:

  • a girl who's adhd is so bad that she didn't actually play until she heard the shopkeeper had a magic item and had to steal it (I keep a copy of her character sheet)
  • a couple who PDA during the game, where the guy RPs EVERYTHING and the girl wants to steal everything
  • an older fellow who wants to be in the party but refuses to take action. He will cry if I don't include him or people talk over him.
  • a power gaming wizard
ta11dave,
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And I love all these people but together.... It's not fun.

ta11dave, to random
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Today at d&d, an npc was revealed to be a vrock and a paladin fought a rug.

Got to see Turn the Faithless in action, so that was cool.

ta11dave, to random
@ta11dave@dice.camp avatar

Was just reading about how ttrpgs have never made that much money.

MtG brings in 6x the money D&D brings in. GURPS is propped up by Munchkin and the other Steve Jackson games.

ta11dave,
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It's kind of a hot take, but I like it this way. It means almost all games are still passion projects.

ta11dave,
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@SJohnRoss as opposed to compulsion or duress?

ta11dave, to random
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My mom just sent me a conspiracy video talking about how they don't understand the technology in an Airbus and therefore fuel being needed for planes is a myth.

Proof that any sufficiently advanced technology is just magic.

ta11dave, to random
@ta11dave@dice.camp avatar

Tried to put a quick lecture together of tools for GMs, with the hope that more people would be interested if they had tools to fight the things they were afraid of.

I got a few friends who are new GMs but have been running games for a while and I yammered on for like 2 hours with tips and tools for running d&d and other ttrpgs.

ta11dave,
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Feeling like it was good, but I'm having some real imposter syndrome about it. Like who am I to tell people how to play games?

Feels extra gross coming back to here, where everyone is cool and talented and accomplished and plays ttrpgs I haven't even heard of.

ta11dave,
@ta11dave@dice.camp avatar

But also I need to remember that art doesn't have to be good, and I've definitely run more games with randos than almost anybody.

6 years of weekly randos. I must know SOMETHING about running games.

ta11dave, to random
@ta11dave@dice.camp avatar

Started interviews for my podcast and I've learned things:

  1. Editing is going to take a while.
  2. GMs are passionate and can get very defensive very quickly about their games.
  3. What I hoped would be a fun section about games we've learned from turned into ptsd as people relived awkward moments. Might cut that one.
ta11dave, to random
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I'm really bad at video games. And I don't mean I lose often, I mean I never play them.

Got the urge to play Orion: Prelude today, and I miss when the servers were active.

ta11dave, to random
@ta11dave@dice.camp avatar

As much as I enjoy flipping through my shelf of unplayed games, I don't know if I know anybody who would be excited about Trophy Dark, or Agon, or FATE, or Alternity, or Neon City Overdrive, or Cairn, or DCC, or FIST, or NOVA. I have 2 people who enjoy PbtA only because they struggle with games with actions/rules.

I had to beg to run Cyberpunk Red. Only ran 4 games, and I had EVERYTHING set up in foundryvtt for it. People didn't show up.

ta11dave,
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@SJohnRoss

Note to self - become a great GM

All jokes aside, so far the only way I've gotten folks to play other games is to force them or bait&switch them. It usually ends well; I'm just stomping my feet.

ta11dave, to random
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I was messaging a friend about why I don't like LLMs, and I can't prove it but I think they only responded with LLM generated answers.

Like, the responses were not totally relevant and used terms that didn't mean anything in context.

Lots of words though

ta11dave, to random
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I thought it would be fun to try making yogurt yesterday, but now I have 3 quarts of yogurt in the fridge.

ta11dave,
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@SJohnRoss I did! It didn't strain that well because I didn't have a way to keep pressure on it, but now I have jars of almost Greek yogurt. I tried to get out as much whey as possible.

ta11dave, to random
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https://retiredadventurer.blogspot.com/2021/04/six-cultures-of-play.html

A great essay on the "types" of games we play. I think it also explains a bit, since my library games are 100% neo-trad, but the other styles, especially classic, sound really refreshing.

ta11dave,
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@SJohnRoss Your blog is explicitly cited in the trad section haha. I'd be interested to know why you disagree.

ta11dave, to random
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One of my favorite parts about DMing is the arts and crafts that bring the game alive

ta11dave,
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@SJohnRoss I made this foam & hot glue dungeon a year or so ago, and I'm going to retouch it this weekend. The rooms are all seperate so I can reveal them as we go. It's a big hit and I'm pretty hyped.

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