The D&D Corner (and other Pen & Paper - or virtual - RPGs!) <3

[notbobsmith]

Always enjoy digging these up...

Ah, the Satanic Panic of the '80s. I guess even Canada wasn't immune. I recognize the anchor as Keith Morrison who does those murder mystery stories on Dateline NBC.

[Tawmis]

Always enjoy digging these up...

Ah, the Satanic Panic of the '80s. I guess even Canada wasn't immune. I recognize the anchor as Keith Morrison who does those murder mystery stories on Dateline NBC.

It was interesting because back then there was M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)... and then, apparently... B.A.D.D. (Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons)... one of those two, I can take more serious than the other...

[Rath Darkblade]

What if they switched, and became M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Dungeons and Dragons) and B.A.D.D. (Bothered About Drunk Driving)?

Or they could become a conglomerate. B.M.A.D.D.D.D. (Bothered Mothers Against Drunk Dragons Driving in Dungeons).

Or, if I were to take a more cynical view, there could be a splinter group: M.A.G.G.M.A.P (Mothers Against Gary Gygax Making A Profit. It's pronounced "magma pee", which might happen if they eat very spicy food).

(Yes, I am having a hard time taking these seriously. What gave it away?)
===============================
And to change the subject slightly, yesterday's OOTS is made of all kinds of win. I particularly like the final panel.

[Tawmis]

And to change the subject slightly, yesterday's OOTS is made of all kinds of win. I particularly like the final panel.

I am way behind on OOTS! I do need to make the time to catch up on that again.

[Rath Darkblade]

How far back are you? *curious* I check in weekly - the artist usually has a new OOTS strip on Tuesday/Wednesday.

This little comic strip (from "Ozy and Millie") is fun too. They are in the Smithsonian, and Ozy examines the "draft" copy of the Declaration of Independence. Millie remarks: "I didn't know Jefferson used the expression 'fo' shizzle'."

And that gave me a random D&D idea. "Fo' shizzle, my nizzle" (meaning "For sure, my brother") was popularized as a catchphrase of the rapper Snoop Dogg, and is meant as a playful way to express affirmation.

So, to tie it back to D&D ...

1. Pick a canine or dog (i.e. "dogg") monster from the Monster Manual. Obviously, dog-headed is fine.
2. Make him spy (i.e. "snoop") on the PCs.
3. When they catch him, give him the "Fo' shizzle" catchphrase.

All right, that's very silly (and needs more work, sure) ... but I'll bet your party won't expect it, and will have fun trying to figure out who you're referring to.

I was a bit worried that someone could misinterpret this as racist and take offence, but it's only a reference to Mr. Dogg's name and catchphrase. *shrug* Surely that's not racist? I don't think so, but I don't know - some people seem to read "racism" into almost anything. *shrug*

[Tawmis]

Today is a work holiday (Mental health kind of day they do every 3 months)... So I thought I'd do a few more of these...

[Tawmis]

Recorded: May 5, 2020.
This is where it all begins - the idea of recording the sessions. We'd been playing in person the entire time - then COVID-19 came, we were forced to bunker down, work from home... and as such, had to improvise in order to keep playing our D&D game. We all wanted to keep playing because it was a break away from reality. So using Discord for our means to chat, and discovering the Avare bot (we weren't aware of Beyond20 yet - however, Beyond20 released, exactly one year before on May 5, 2019! Odd coincidence). Avare was great because it allowed us to play, but remembering the commands and typing them in, was slowing down the game. But we were thankful none the less!

"The Adventurers" game was a game that started with my co-workers. None of them had ever played D&D (but were all familiar with things like World of Warcraft). There were two people who were not co-workers of mine - the person who played Morsus. He'd been a friend of the person who played Apostrophe and had played 5e before (both as a player and a DM) and Rex Jams, who was a friend of the player who controlled Dick - however, like my co-workers, he'd never played D&D.

[Rath Darkblade]

This guy created a "Shadows of Darkness" map for his D&D Campaign! (Warning, Reddit!)

It is awesome. Really well done. He somehow combined QfG and D&D, and created a campaign based on it!

Do you think your players might enjoy this, Tawm? OK, obviously the monsters would have to become more powerful - a few goblins (in Spielburg, in Quest for Glory 1) won't be much challenge to a whole party, even at level 1. But still...? Maybe?

[Tawmis]

Yeah. I mean people have done similar things in the past, running people through their favorite books and such.

The Dragonlance Chronicles was even turned into a very popular set of 12 modules.

[Tawmis]

When you describe the hound as being made of ash and fire, and that fire leaps from its mouth, and burns in its eyes, as if it's body were a furnace... and then the Artificer casts a fire spell on it...

fire_hound.mp3

When you describe the hound as being made of ash and fire, and that fire leaps from its mouth, and burns in its eyes, as if it's body were a furnace... and then the Artificer casts a fire spell on it...

(3.64 MiB) Downloaded 60 times

[Rath Darkblade]

Um, I don't think I understood the beginning: "I cast a fireball on the helm"? (Or is it the "hound"?) Much of this is lost in laughter and beeping curses.

But I think I got the gist. He cast a fire-ball (or fire-bolt) on the fire-hound / flame-hound / hell-hound / etc., and understandably did only 2 damage. Waste of an attack. Whoopsies! Maybe a frost spell would've been better -- if he had one.

That gives me an idea. How about a Hel-hound (like a hell-hound, but with only one 'l')? It is summoned when you pray to Hel, the Norse goddess. And since Hel is a very cold place, the Hel-hound is made of frost and rime, not fire and brimstone! I bet that'll confuse your players, at least for a bit.

"Ahh! This thing bit me, and now I'm slowing down! Why does my Cone of Cold does nothing??? RUN AWAY!"

[Tawmis]

Um, I don't think I understood the beginning: "I cast a fireball on the helm"? (Or is it the "hound"?) Much of this is lost in laughter and beeping curses.

But I think I got the gist. He cast a fire-ball (or fire-bolt) on the fire-hound / flame-hound / hell-hound / etc., and understandably did only 2 damage. Waste of an attack. Whoopsies! Maybe a frost spell would've been better -- if he had one.

That gives me an idea. How about a Hel-hound (like a hell-hound, but with only one 'l')? It is summoned when you pray to Hel, the Norse goddess. And since Hel is a very cold place, the Hel-hound is made of frost and rime, not fire and brimstone! I bet that'll confuse your players, at least for a bit.

"Ahh! This thing bit me, and now I'm slowing down! Why does my Cone of Cold does nothing??? RUN AWAY!"

Heh - so the issue was. I literally described the hound as "a hound as being made of ash and fire, and that fire leaps from its mouth, and burns in its eyes, as if it's body were a furnace"...

So when the player cast Firebolt, he rolled to hit (rolling a 17, which hit) - then i said "Roll me a perception" (to see if he spots something unusual) - then John (who is the fighter shouts), "Spoiler alert - the fire spell doesn't do damage to a flame hound!"

Which is correct - the Hell Hound is immune to fire damage.

[Rath Darkblade]

Yep, I thought that may be the case (i.e. that the flame hound is immune to fire damage). It makes sense.

But in that case, how did it do 2 damage? Or did I mishear (due to the laughter etc.), and you said "It does no damage"?

Also, I hope you like my idea of a Hel-hound.

[Tawmis]

Yep, I thought that may be the case (i.e. that the flame hound is immune to fire damage). It makes sense.

But in that case, how did it do 2 damage? Or did I mishear (due to the laughter etc.), and you said "It does no damage"?

Also, I hope you like my idea of a Hel-hound.

So, the "2 damage" - no matter what, when someone rolls an attack - I tell them to roll the damage that they would do.
And then, that's when I say, "Roll a perception check."
Because if they fail the perception check, that means they're not going to notice their firebolt did no damage to the Hell Hound.

There's also creatures who have resistances - like a lot of the undead have a resistance towards necrotic damage (but are not immune to it).
So for example, if someone hits undead_01 - who is resistant to Necrotic damage with a "Toll the Dead" spell (which does Necrotic damage), and they roll their damage and roll 12 damage. I'd say "Roll a perception" - if they succeed, I'd tell them, "You notice your spell did some damage, but not as much as you think it should have!" Because resistance will half the damage taken. Where as immune nullifies damage taken.

And as for your Hell Hound, I've done things very similar to turn events on seasoned players. In D&D trolls take extra damage from fire or acid, so I've had magma trolls, who are immune to fire, and resistant to cold damage. So it's always fun to take creatures who have resistances and immunities and do a new take!

[Rath Darkblade]

Just curious: did they pass the Perception check? 'Cos if they failed, that means they thought the Hell Hound took 2 damage, even though it didn't.

I can just imagine the hound mocking the wizard (a la The Rude Frenchman in Monty Python's "Holy Grail"). "Thank you for strengthening me, stupid human! I deride your pathetic, useless magic, and call it silly thing!"

I'd love to see that. A stereotype-French Hell-Hound. What's next, an incompetent (and not-very-powerful) fire imp? "Welcome to my lair, insignificant one! I am a DEMON of heck, and I am here to torment you! FEEL my power, as I now RUIN your lovely cheese-and-ham sandwich by breathing FIRE upon it! Ah rats, I didn't mean to turn it into a PIZZA! QUIT LAUGHING, YOU PUNY MORTAL!!!"