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Q&A

General Q&A about playing or creating role-playing games. All human-mediated games, tabletop or virtual tabletop, are welcome.

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Does a monk use DEX or STR when attacking in a brawl?

Brancalonia, built on top of D&D 5E, adds rules for non-lethal brawls. The rules say that you can't use class abilities like extra attacks, but passive class abilities like Unarmored Defense d...

0 answers  ·  posted 10mo ago by Monica Cellio‭

75%
+4 −0
Is this homebrew Dream Influence Points mechanic effective?

For my Call of Cthulhu 7e game, I've used dream sequences for setting the tone, imparting subtle clues for the plot, and character development. They've convenient for dialing up the horror aspects ...

0 answers  ·  posted 11mo ago by Mithical‭  ·  edited 11mo ago by Mithical‭

66%
+2 −0
What's the average skill gain from successes in Call of Cthulhu?

As you use skills in Call of Cthulhu 7e, any successes get marked on your character sheet, and can be used to make skill advancement checks when requested by the Keeper. Any extreme successes are a...

2 answers  ·  posted 1y ago by pureferret ‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by tommi‭

81%
+7 −0
What safety tools can I use for a text-only horror campaign?

I'm planning on running a horror game of Call of Cthulhu 7e soon, over a text format. I'm familiar with the concept of safety tools in RPGs, which include ways for a person at the table to indicat...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by Mithical‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by Mithical‭

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+2 −0
Is it possible to add the non-occupational +20% to Language(own) and achieve 100% at character creation?

I'm basing my character creation off of this CthulhuWiki page, which says this about Language(own): A character’s Mother Tongue. Choose the language best known to your investigator, such as Engl...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by pureferret ‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by Mithical‭

71%
+3 −0
When are Size rolls used in Call of Cthulhu 7e?

When are Size rolls used in Call of Cthulhu 7e? I've given my character a size of 80 (using the character generation guidelines on cthulhuwiki. I did so as I wanted to play a tall and fat chara...

0 answers  ·  posted 1y ago by pureferret ‭

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Is it possible to use Contingency + Vampiric Touch to save yourself from unconsciousness?

In a Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition game, I am playing a Wizard and considering the interaction between the contingency[1] and vampiric touch[2] spells. My goal is to explore the possibility of...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by Cereal Nommer‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by deleted user

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+2 −0
Mechanical similarities or differences between Monsters! Monsters! and Tunnels and trolls

Monsters! Monsters! is a less known game by Ken St. Andre, the designers of Tunnels and trolls. From what I understand one plays monsters there, rather than adventurers. Wikipedia claims the rules...

0 answers  ·  posted 1y ago by tommi‭  ·  edited 1y ago by tommi‭

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+6 −0
How do I determine what a "dangerous task" is in "A Familiar Problem"?

In the RPG "A Familiar Problem" published by Darrington Press (with the basic rules available as a PDF), the rules state: When you fail a dangerous task, mark 1 Stress. When you roll a die to re...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by Mithical‭  ·  edited 1y ago by matthewsnyder‭

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+5 −0
How does the Spell Sniper feat work with the sorcerer's Distant Spell?

For my sorcerer character, I chose the "Distant Spell" metamagic option, which allows me to spend sorcery points to extend the range of my spells: Distant Spell When you Cast a Spell that has a...

2 answers  ·  posted 1y ago by Mithical‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by Cereal Nommer‭

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+5 −1
What Dungeons & Dragons content has been released under a CC license?

Wizards of the Coast recently announced via D&D Beyond that they are releasing the "SRD 5.1" under a Creative Commons license. Within the announcement itself, they linked to a 403-page PDF that...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by Mithical‭  ·  edited 8mo ago by V2Blast‭

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+4 −0
How to handle time when a separated party member enters combat alone?

Several party members are in a dungeon together, but one party member has (perhaps foolishly) run off by themselves, and is now separated from the rest of the party by several hundred feet. This so...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by deleted user  ·  last activity 1y ago by tommi‭

71%
+3 −0
Were V:tM rules intentionally badly designed?

Rumours tell that Vampire: The Masquerade was designed with purpose to be a trainwreck when it comes to the mechanics, so that people would not use them. Was this really the case? And what evidenc...

2 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by tommi‭  ·  last activity 6mo ago by qqmrichter‭

77%
+5 −0
How to survive the spectrepocalypse?

In D&D 3 (and related games), a spectre can easily kill normal people and spawns other spectres, leading to an exponential apocalypse fairly easily. What reliable means of long-term protection...

0 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by tommi‭  ·  edited 3mo ago by Vylix‭

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+5 −0
How can I make a game of D&D5e playable in a Sabbath-observing environment?

Being a person with some semblance of a real life, and the same applying to my players, I often find myself in the position of only having several hours of free time on Saturday - Shabbat (the Sabb...

0 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by Mithical‭

71%
+3 −0
What does «GM mystery cult» mean and where does it come from?

As far as I understand, the term is sporadically used in the indie community or former Forge diaspora. I searched for it in the Forge archives, but got no hits. What is the source of the term and ...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by tommi‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by dsr‭

66%
+2 −0
Does a Wizard automatically know how to craft scrolls from known spells?

In the DMG (p. 128) it is stated that to craft a magical item during downtime, a character must have a formula that describes the construction of the item. However, it does not give any more ...

2 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by deleted user  ·  last activity 2y ago by Cereal Nommer‭

66%
+2 −0
Did Mentzer and Gygax play together?

Did Gary Gygax and Frank Mentzer play together in one more sessions of D&D (or some other roleplaying game)? They worked at TSR and co-authored D&D products. One would expect one of them t...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by tommi‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Strider‭

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+10 −0
How can I organize my DM notes in such a way that I have access to necessary information but not too much?

I have a lot of things I need to keep track of for a game: NPCs, monsters, the different cities in the world, the lore and history of the world... Of course, I'm unlikely to need to know the name ...

4 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by Mithical‭  ·  last activity 6mo ago by qqmrichter‭

62%
+3 −1
Do you incur the Wish penalties for using Wish for one of the alternative uses outlined in the PHB?

Wish is the most powerful spell in D&D, being able to alter the very foundations of reality with one spell. The description for use of the Wish spell in the Player's Handbook is this: The b...

2 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by Mithical‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Fie‭

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+3 −0
(How) Can PCs use the frosty orb of a one-eyed shiver?

The players in a Princes of the Apocalypse campaign I'm DMing have just defeated Morbeoth, a one-eyed shiver in the Crushing Wave cult. One player saw the magical orb he had in his eye socket and i...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by Cereal Nommer‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by dsr‭

71%
+3 −0
In Call of Cthulhu, what's best practice for requiring skill checks when there's uncertainty about which skill would be required?

Looking at the Call of Cthulhu 7E character sheet, I see two "investigator skills" that look very similar to me: "Elec Repair" and "Mech Repair". One is short for Electrical Repair, the other for M...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by Mithical‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by dsr‭

62%
+3 −1
How can I make the Wild Magic Sorcerer subclass more fun in a non-combat-heavy campaign?

In my current 5e campaign that I'm a player in, I'm playing as a Wild Magic Sorcerer. The main attraction of the Wild Magic subclass is the Wild Magic Table, which is a list of 50 random magical ef...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by Mithical‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Mithical‭

77%
+5 −0
How do I ensure that character death is impactful at higher levels?

In Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons, there are several spells available to Player Characters that allow them to resurrect dead PCs or NPCs. These include Revivify, Resurrection, True Resurrecti...

4 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by Mithical‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Lundin‭

66%
+2 −0
Fighting fantasy rpg and CYOA books

To my understanding, the Fighting fantasy rpg (and Troika! as a more-or-less retroclone) use the same rule system as the choose your own adventure gamebooks of Steve Jackson, Warlock of firetop mou...

0 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by tommi‭

81%
+7 −0
When did "sandbox" come to prominence as a piece of jargon?

When did "sandbox" become a popular term in rpg discourse? It has been suggested to me that it came from computer games to roleplaying. Was this the case and when did this happen? This thread at ...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by tommi‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by James McLellan‭

75%
+4 −0
History of Wizards of the Coast's forums

The first online RPG community I found, after Johnn Four's gamemastering tips email newsletter, was the forum hosted by Wizards of the Coast. This was certainly after the publication of D&D 3.0...

0 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by tommi‭  ·  edited 8mo ago by V2Blast‭

80%
+6 −0
How important are Sorcerer supplements when running the game for the first time?

Sorcerer has a number of supplements: Sorcerer and sword, Sex and sorcery and Sorcerer's soul, if I remember the names correctly. How relevant are they when running the game for the first time? Is...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by tommi‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by tommi‭

75%
+4 −0
What and how major are the changes from Apocalypse world first edition to second edition?

Some games, like Call of Cthulhu, have remained pretty much the same from edition to the next (except the newest edition, which has significant changes), while for other games, like D&D the dif...

0 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by tommi‭  ·  edited 3y ago by Cereal Nommer‭

71%
+3 −0
How do I ensure a game is immersive when playing remotely?

I was planning on DMing a RPG - specifically, D&D 5e, although this question applies to a broader audience - in person for at least the first session, after which the plan was to switch to a re...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by Mithical‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Cereal Nommer‭

80%
+6 −0
How does the Armorer artificer's Arcane Armor feature interact with heavy armor?

The Armorer subclass of the Artificer has this cool Arcane Armor feature: Beginning at 3rd level, your metallurgical pursuits have led to you making armor a conduit for your magic. As an action,...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by Quintec‭  ·  edited 7mo ago by V2Blast‭

75%
+4 −0
How to determine the target(s) of Catapult?

In the D&D 5th Edition Player's Handbook Spellcasting section, under Casting a Spell, we find a loose definition of "target" for spells. A typical spell requires you to pick one or more targ...

2 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by Cereal Nommer‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Dana‭

28%
+0 −3
Merlin picking a spy in hammer of first mission

This question is about the role playing game The Resistance and in particular one of the versions of the game which is the most popular version Avalon. Suppose we are in the first mission , last r...

0 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by MissMulan‭

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+5 −0
How to find out the purpose of play of a con game?

In a con game, or other one-shot with strangers, I often meet the problem that I don't really know how the game master and the other players are going to approach the game, or would like me to do t...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by tommi‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by dsr‭

81%
+7 −0
What kinds of encounters besides for combat can I include in a game?

I'm looking at starting to DM a game in the near future, and I'm trying to prepare myself as best as possible (I've only played as a player one time, so I'm not the most experienced RPG player out ...

4 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by Mithical‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by tommi‭

75%
+4 −0
What kind of attack bonus does a level 1 sorcerer have with a light crossbow in D&D 5e?

While teaching my siblings the basics of D&D, one of them decided to create, as a first character, a Dragonborn Sorcerer. One of the Sorcerer's proficiencies is with light crossbows, and is par...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by Mithical‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by DonielF‭

85%
+10 −0
"You found a cursed ring!" How do I let the player roleplay it without spilling the beans to everyone prematurely?

In a game I was running, a player tripped a magical effect that would alter his behavior (failed save against compulsion magic). I took the player aside to explain, out of game, what had happened ...

3 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by curryandanahn‭

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How do I make sure I'm not cutting into other people's RP time as a player?

As a player, I enjoy the role-playing part of a game more than combat. My style of playing will often include wisecracks, quips, and other "witty" remarks directed at both other players and NPCs. ...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by Mithical‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Monica Cellio‭