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

[Tawmis]

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.

So had they failed their perception they would not have seen that the fire did no damage to the Hell Hound.
So creatures that have resistances (where they take half damage) or immunity (take no damage), when someone uses that attack - and hit - I make them roll perception (if they fail, I say OK), if they pass I explain "The monster took no damage from your attack!" or "You didn't do as much damage as you think you should have!"

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!!!"

Heh, most of my campaigns are of the serious nature - I let the comedy play out usually through dice rolls or people's ideas.

[Rath Darkblade]

Fair enough ... but doesn't the DM get to do silly (or dramatic/serious) voices and mannerisms for the NPCs? I thought he/she did. Or am I out of date?

You know the kind of thing. The Heroes burst into the Evil Wizard's chambers (or whatever) and he stands up and either gives them a serious telling off for disrupting his concentration (or similar) in a low, menacing (or booming) voice ... or else adopts a silly high-pitched voice and squeaks about how they killed his servants, and they'd better say sorry! (And mean it!)

Does that happen at all in your campaigns?

[Tawmis]

Fair enough ... but doesn't the DM get to do silly (or dramatic/serious) voices and mannerisms for the NPCs? I thought he/she did. Or am I out of date?

You know the kind of thing. The Heroes burst into the Evil Wizard's chambers (or whatever) and he stands up and either gives them a serious telling off for disrupting his concentration (or similar) in a low, menacing (or booming) voice ... or else adopts a silly high-pitched voice and squeaks about how they killed his servants, and they'd better say sorry! (And mean it!)

Does that happen at all in your campaigns?

Oh for sure the DM gets to do fun voices.
I think I mentioned before, in what I call the "Off Week" game - where it is very heavy on the RP of characters (as they tend to often talk their way out of fights) - I made an NPC to help out (because one of the players had left the game, leaving it down to two players who were desperate to continue the game - so I made a fighter, since the current party was a druid and a rogue) - and as a joke, the first time he spoke, since he was all STR and CON, so low INT, I just spoke like Arnold Schwarzenegger... and now that's his voice.

And of course, players can also talk in voices too. And DMs can give NPCs a quirky personality. For example for the off week there's an undead floating skull with green fire around (it was originally a monster) - who is an undead wizard. It was supposed to be a battle, but the session turned out funner by befriending him; and now he travels with with them always asking if there's a body he can possess and take over forever, so he can cast spells again, since he can't cast without fingers.

So there are for sure opportunities. But again, there's those who try to be funny, and it doesn't work. One guy named his character Dick Poop (because that was a name he used for his online games), so I always just referred to his character as "Dick", and then the other guy named his character "Elon Dusk".... so, this is why I am not a fan of "forced" humor, and rather allow it to flow naturally.

[Rath Darkblade]

Fair enough ... but doesn't the DM get to do silly (or dramatic/serious) voices and mannerisms for the NPCs? I thought he/she did. Or am I out of date?

You know the kind of thing. The Heroes burst into the Evil Wizard's chambers (or whatever) and he stands up and either gives them a serious telling off for disrupting his concentration (or similar) in a low, menacing (or booming) voice ... or else adopts a silly high-pitched voice and squeaks about how they killed his servants, and they'd better say sorry! (And mean it!)

Does that happen at all in your campaigns?

Oh for sure the DM gets to do fun voices.
I think I mentioned before, in what I call the "Off Week" game - where it is very heavy on the RP of characters (as they tend to often talk their way out of fights) - I made an NPC to help out (because one of the players had left the game, leaving it down to two players who were desperate to continue the game - so I made a fighter, since the current party was a druid and a rogue) - and as a joke, the first time he spoke, since he was all STR and CON, so low INT, I just spoke like Arnold Schwarzenegger... and now that's his voice.

And of course, players can also talk in voices too. And DMs can give NPCs a quirky personality. For example for the off week there's an undead floating skull with green fire around (it was originally a monster) - who is an undead wizard. It was supposed to be a battle, but the session turned out funner by befriending him; and now he travels with with them always asking if there's a body he can possess and take over forever, so he can cast spells again, since he can't cast without fingers.

So there are for sure opportunities. But again, there's those who try to be funny, and it doesn't work. One guy named his character Dick Poop (because that was a name he used for his online games), so I always just referred to his character as "Dick", and then the other guy named his character "Elon Dusk".... so, this is why I am not a fan of "forced" humor, and rather allow it to flow naturally.

Um, an "undead floating skull with green fire around it" ... wouldn't that be a demilich? Run away! RUN AWAY!

Yes, making friends with a demilich sounds a lot more fun than fighting it. I just hope it doesn't stab them in the back ... or, since it doesn't have fingers, I hope it doesn't bite them in the you-know-where.

I agree, making up immature humour like "Dick Poop" isn't funny. Naming your character after a well-known business or political figure ... isn't funny. That's why there aren't any wizards called Jeff Bezos, or druids called Bill Gates, or paladins called George W. Bush.

On the other hand, subverting what your PCs expect ...? A fire imp is supposed to be evil. If the worst it can do is threaten me ineffectually, and turn my sandwich into a pizza ... maybe I can make friends with it (like your PCs made friends with the floating skull). Or, maybe if I try to make friends with it, it'll turn around and flame me. (What? It's an evil, deceitful creature. It's not supposed to be Captain Helpful).

[Tawmis]

Um, an "undead floating skull with green fire around it" ... wouldn't that be a demilich? Run away! RUN AWAY!
Yes, making friends with a demilich sounds a lot more fun than fighting it. I just hope it doesn't stab them in the back ... or, since it doesn't have fingers, I hope it doesn't bite them in the you-know-where.
I agree, making up immature humour like "Dick Poop" isn't funny. Naming your character after a well-known business or political figure ... isn't funny. That's why there aren't any wizards called Jeff Bezos, or druids called Bill Gates, or paladins called George W. Bush.
On the other hand, subverting what your PCs expect ...? A fire imp is supposed to be evil. If the worst it can do is threaten me ineffectually, and turn my sandwich into a pizza ... maybe I can make friends with it (like your PCs made friends with the floating skull). Or, maybe if I try to make friends with it, it'll turn around and flame me. (What? It's an evil, deceitful creature. It's not supposed to be Captain Helpful).

For the flaming skull... not a demilich or even a lich. D&D has a monster called "Flamingskull" which is a vengeful undead wizard... looks like this:

So... there is a magic item called "Immovable Rod" - imagine it as a magical climbing tool. You can hold it in the air - click it - and it magically stays there. So if you had two of them - you could literally just create a ladder, by climbing one over the other. That looks like this:

So Darko's story is that he was a wizard that was betrayed - someone murdered him from behind (while he was working for the main bad guy) - then proceeded to shove an Immovable Rod through his head. Darko has been staring at the ground, reborn undead, as his body decayed, unable to move - just face down in the dirt for who knows how long - until the party found him and actually befriended him.

I made a custom image, using the above to create Darko's current appearance:

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm. Would it be possible for the party to remove the Immovable Rod from Darko's head? It's a valuable magical artifact.

Of course, if they removed it, Darko might be able to do who knows what to them, if he's truly evil. Maybe they should wait until he experiences and alignment shift. Maybe he could even become good?

[Tawmis]

Hmm. Would it be possible for the party to remove the Immovable Rod from Darko's head? It's a valuable magical artifact.

Of course, if they removed it, Darko might be able to do who knows what to them, if he's truly evil. Maybe they should wait until he experiences and alignment shift. Maybe he could even become good?

They can remove it - they have not so far.

[Tawmis]

I had thought I posted this somewhere... but I can't find it on the forum. So I will just share here.

So awhile back - I played in a RPG game via Discord called "World of Darkness." I was in a Hunter game, with two other people who are in my regular D&D game, and the GM of this game was one of my players, so the chemistry between us was on fire.

In the game, I played Sam Branor, a young man, stuck in 80s music, betrayed by his older brother, who took his lyrics and made it big in Los Angeles. Sam formed "Steel Destiny" as a remark about his destiny of being in a big band had been stolen. When he wasn't playing at the bar called "Spinal Tap" (where they always turn it up to 11), he was a crummy security guard.

So not only did I come up with a band logo... but I found a van online, with wizards and half naked women, and photoshopped the band logo on it and called it the band's van... I also photoshopped fake flyers and everything...

The lyrics I wrote for the band were based on the events of that session...

So this captures some of the first few sessions... http://www.neverendingnights.com/archives/4406

Then, the game eventually switched to Vampire the Masquerade, and there was a change of players, and I didn't play anyone from Steel Destiny. I did play someone who was a body guard of Sam Branor's brother's band and found a way to bring Steel Destiny back into a session (the vampire I was playing was a wanna be action movie star, and landed a roll in a fighting movie called Portal Kombat, where portals open around the world and destined fighters must fight the invaders)... so I photoshopped a cassette tape of the sound track...and wrote lyrics for it, naturally... http://www.neverendingnights.com/archives/4581

When the game switched to Mage (some more players changed), I decided to go back to playing someone from my Steel Destiny band, and went with the bass player. He has a power to tap into dreams (one of his powers) called "Nightmask" (based off an old Marvel Comic by the same name) and wrote lyrics for it... http://www.neverendingnights.com/archives/5003

In one of the following sessions, we uncovered how a family had a history where the men always died at the age of 32, and it was a spirit essentially who was slighted by the family generations ago, and so he would slay the males when they reached 32 years old, so I wrote lyrics for a song called "Legacy of Vengeance" ... http://www.neverendingnights.com/archives/5019

The next session has our team exploring the trenches of the ocean world... and things seem off (naturally)... so I wrote a song about going a little crazy... http://www.neverendingnights.com/archives/5026 called "Descending into madness"...

The next session, we uncover the plot and the underwater station gets attacked and begins to flood. My character writes it (since the normal world isn't supposed to be aware of all this supernatural crap) from the perspective as if the song were about the Titanic, not this massive underwater base, and called it "Destiny"... http://www.neverendingnights.com/archives/5031

And in the session this one, one of the characters (this would be the last time this particular player would be playing with us because their regular Monday game was resuming) sacrificed himself. His character's name is "Nathaniel Gray" so I wrote lyrics to a song called "Into the Gray"... http://www.neverendingnights.com/archives/5049

What was additionally fun, on top of writing these lyrics for this fictional band (that sense of creativity is very nice!), but I also created "CD/Single" covers for these fictional releases.