I love this. I know a lot of players who for whatever reason, perhaps they bumbed into will wheaton at one time in their life, but they have horrendous dice luck. and there is no more painful of feeling than playing a dice game where you cant do anything because your dice hate you. Giving these kinds of players just a little bit of a bump would be such a big help.

🥳🫂👍🏿 Love a good house rule

Excellent stuff! Thank you.

To be fair, Calamity was set during the height of the Age of Arcanum and those Sending Stones that Cerrit used aren't or shouldn't be the Post Divergence equivalent. The magic items in Avalir would have been far superior and wondrous to anything that could be found in the 800s Post Divergence, short of artifacts from that age or the vestiges themselves.

Funny I thought you weren’t gonna bring up Michael or Walt JUST LIKE THE SHOW DIDNT DO…and then you showed Walt was special. Ugh, I enjoyed it(just finished it today, since I gave up at season 5, years ago when it was on old weekly television programming), but I’m still not sure if I like the ending or not. I don’t want the entire story to be for nothing or just some “vision” of what could have been or “distant reality just because it’s nice”. The show had amazingly talented cast, fun set design on the island and off and pretty decent CGI for its time. It deserved a better ending, but I think it got the ending the writing deserved, if that makes sense. Thanks for your analysis btw, enjoyed and chuckled at the face punching ratios. Def think Sawyer, Jack and Locke and Sayid probably might have early onset CTE 😅 BECAUSE OUCH! Cheers!

Hearing Brennan Lee Mulligan referred to as BLM reminds me of the comedian who hated when people on line would refuse to use the full name of the Black Lives Matter movement and just refer to it as BLM and so he would make fake social media accounts like "The Bureau of Land Management" and other accounts that could be abbreviated with BLM to mess with them.

If you like Mothership, it is well worth checking out Hostile from Zozer games. It's a 2d6 Sci-fiction ttrpg. Briliant Blue Collar sci-fi horror setting with an incredibly well realised setting.

This largely works because it's an entertaining show for the audience with TTRPG as a vehicle. Very much not convinced about this one. And that ain't because I'd have some story to protect as narrator, but largely because it nukes player agency and story by virtue of another player.

I love the death roll under the cup thing.

Great channel, I gotta thank Tim Cain for directing us here during today's video

Is Meowthership the Sci-Fi Horror game where you play as the cats aboard the station or spacecraft that is infested with hive like aliens? If not, why isn't it so?

Don't steal rules from game. Play the game the rules are intended for. I'm tired of GMs who think they are game designers and can "fix" D&D. They can't.

Please...I want to play Meowthership! 😂 Great video - I definitely agree that making PCs make very explicit choices with the knowledge that there are costs is SO much fun with the right groups!

I've gotten into Mothership a bunch over the last few months; I've run a bit for my group, and we all had so much fun. The panic table is the best implementation of mental stress/fear systems, free of the baggage of older versions.

For me, the Panic Table is something from Mothership that I am definitely stealing!

You need to check out Trophy Gold and Swords Without Master

Subbing because of the Eskimo Joes cup 👀

Solid stuff! I love the writing and vibes of Mothership. I'm not entirely sold on the core rules, but I agree it has lots worth stealing.

Fantastic series

I am STILL confused

🥳🫂👍🏿 Love a good house rule ❤

Honestly, just go back even further. The Rules Cyclopedia blew my mind how detailed and easy-to-understand traveling rules could be.

I've never heard the term "Schrödinger's Combat" before, stealing!

My old eyes appreciate the font change

Long way of explaining a railroad

"20 years of exploration advice in D&D" ...you neglected 3.5 DMG 2 which came out in 2005... Also, since Pathfinder 1e was just "D&D 3.75", its Gamemaster Guides should be consulted too... ...also 7th Sea...

Travel is boring when the DM doesnt know how to handle it, we didnt have TRAVLE rules 04 yearsa ago and we did jsut fine, a GOOD DM and a Bad DM is the difference.

My preferred fix for travel and exploration is the book Weird Wastelands written by the Web DM crew. I start with that book when setting up travel and if there is a ranger in the party I have them use my homebrewed ranger. My ranger drops Hunter's Mark, and the features that tie into favored terains and creature types. In their place, rangers get favored mana. At levels 1, 3, 6, 14, and 20 rangers pick one of the colors of mana from Magic the Gathering. All terrains, creature types, backgrounds, classes, and factions are tied to one or more of the six mana color options. Each time rangers gain a color they get their int mod in languages known, and when dealing with anything tied to the color their weapons deal a bonus damage die and their dex, int, and wis skill checks have advantage. While traveling in terrain tied to their mana colors the group travel speed is the same as if they were traveling on a paved road, they roll for combat encounters half as often, and roll for social encounters or discoveries twice as often.

Great GM fuel! Thanks

The Crown and Skull approach of randomised play meshes well with this stuff, IMO. D&D is having a crisis where they have realised they have removed the game from most of the game except for combat, and many groups appear to be lurching from one fight to another, and hand waving the rest - while forgetting that the game should be fun and interesting without detailed villain arcs for random forest encounters on the road to Mordor.

One of my pet peeves with skill challenges from 4e (and similar "pass X before failing Y") especially as applied to travel and exploration is the consequences of failure. Say the party has to go from point A to point B (or between first and second dot, using your system) and they fail their skill challenge. Do they not get to point B? Or do they suffer some other consequences? If the latter, then the consequences either have to be significant for this skill challenge to matter or they are so insignificant as to make the skill challenge moot. And if the consequences are significant then in my experience, having run 4e and 5e alike, players just get frustrated with the whole thing or it starts a death spiral of travel failures. The other problem, especially in 5e is that player characters have so many ways of making a lot of those consequences moot by resting along the way or using spells and abilities, so much so that at certain point (usually around level 6 or 7) it's better to just narrate the whole journey away and everyone (except maybe the ranger character) is happier.

The DM for the campaign I am currently playing in has come up with a pretty good system for a specific form of travel. In the Underdark they have a network of fungi that act as a fast travel system for different points throughout the continent. 1) Roll for Initiative - everyone is participating in checks and it goes through initiative order 2) Action: Roll for Attunement to the Fungal Highway - Skill Check DC 14 (Perception, Insight, or Nature) 3) Passing Attunement sets an easier DC for the Complications Saving Throw check; Failing attunement sets a harder DC 4) Roll a d6 complications check 4-1) Subterranean Predator - DM makes an attack roll against character AC. To hit bonus adjusted by passing or failing Attunement. On a hit: 4-1a) Character takes bite Piercing damage 4-1b) Strength Saving Throw - DC determined by passing or failing Attunement. Failed Check - Player is Grappled and doesn't advance along the Highway. Has to make another Attunement then Strength check next round to see if they break the grapple and advance. 4-2) Distraction - Character begins to lose their connection to the Fungi. Wisdom Saving Throw - DC determined by passing or failing Attunement. Failed Check - Character falls behind (adds a round for that player to reach destination) 4-3) Dissonant Pulls - The Fungi physically resist your presence on the Highway. Strength Saving Throw - DC determined by passing or failing Attunement. Failed Check - Character falls behind (adds a round for that player to reach destination) 4-4) Solid Object - A solid object appears in your path. Dexterity Saving Throw - DC determined by passing or failing Attunement. Failed Check - Character takes Bludgeoning Damage. 4-5) Partial Collapse - Poisonous spores, dirt, and plant material fall from the ceiling of the cavern and hit the character in the face- Constitution Saving Throw - DC determined by passing or failing Attunement. Failed Check - Player takes Necrotic Damage 4-6) Clear Path - Character does not experience a complication Rounds loop back to step 2 and proceed for however many rounds it takes to get to destination. Players can also use other options to overcome complications. A rogue who falls behind on a failed check could use Bonus Action Dash to catch up and overcome the fall behind. A party member gets grappled and you can make an Attack Action instead of Attunement to try and do enough damage to free them from the grapple in exchange for an additional round on the Highway, unless you have the action economy, such as Rogue's Bonus Action Dash, to not fall behind (Attunement Check and Complications check would be tied to the Bonus Action here). It actually works really well, keeps everyone engaged, and isn't a handwave of you leave point A and get to your next destination at point B.

I am inclined to change rules b/c I hate them. Now I refuse to play or run 5e instead.

lol so all they did was apply the '5 room dungeon' concept to overland travel, basically.

Just yesterday, one of the players wanted to do something, another player objected stating it wasn't Rules As Written, I pointed out that was faster and we had less than fifteen minutes left for the game session. ^_^

Hi Jim, this is almost identical to Pathfinder's 1e chase scenes and cards. The only difference is that between the start and the hut and the hut and the checkpoint is that pathfinder gives you two different skill checks to use to beat those challenges. You have to choose which one you will use, if you succeed, you advance, if you fail, you don't advance, sometimes you are even hurt or further delayed. I appreciate you bringing this up anyways, because I never thought to use the chase sequence as also an adventure sequence, doh!!! The one thing that is different that you added and I liked was having the ability to insert encounters at those points of interests. Thanks for the ideas and have a look at the pathfinder chase rules or cards, I think you might like it. Cheers and happy holidays to you and yours.

Intelligence is knowing that Frankenstein was the scientist. Wisdom is knowing that Frankenstein was the monster.

My stubbornness comes more from rp than anything else. Every time I DM there is always one or two players who think they should be able to get certain information in a certain way and ultimately get annoyed at me because I won't give said information if I don't think it's feasible or what the npc would do. Like I get allowing the players to achieve their goals in unconventional ways but just because something makes sense doesn't mean it will work practically

...Or you can use Uncharted Journeys by Cubical 7. Very crunchy.

🥳🫂👍🏿 Nice - We do something pretty similar at my table

If it's WotC, you can bet the rules were designed by city rats who never walked more than 3 kilometres on a weekly base.

Very good topic. Just subscribed. I’m currently reading Jon Peterson’s Game Wizards that documents D&D from 1975-85. Basing my opinion off of that book I have some quibbles with your setup of TSR in the early days but those times were so chaotic it’s impossible to get into the weeds without exact cause and effect becoming hazy. I also appreciate giving context to the early WotC years and the intentions of those folks (as opposed to the Hasbro years that of course created the ‘23 OGL debacle). Again, good stuff, I’d like to see more.

Have you read/used the 2e Castles Guide? Any comparisons?

“Oh! So it does. Good looking out!”

Honestly, making both fair and unfair rulings I think are necessary. Like life in general is not fair why should this fantasy land be fair? Though I will admit I hardly do rulings that disadvantage my players. That being said I have hard times dealing with rules lawyers which has lead to me telling them “REspEct MaH AhTHoritAH”

Funny how I see myself in the whole other side of this spectrum. I usually rule things to buff my players, cuz I like them having fun and leaning into their strong points, like a martial who built their character around getting big hits getting an ability to force a crit once a day. That way, I can also run more powerful monsters to give them a challenge. It seems to have worked great for the last 4 years