Pens and Papers

[Ruki]

Had a TPK tonight in our Phandelver and Below campaign, we got to level 8 of 12. Our DM overtuned one of the encounters and we got fuuuucked up.

[Ruki]

The playtest for Starfinder 2e is now live, and of course, it's making me want to run a new campaign.

 

https://downloads.paizo.com/PZO22000E.pdf

[Toe]

I got all the Pathfinder 2e books in a Humble Bundle, but haven't had the chance to play or run it. Starfinder looks like it could be a real blast!

[Ruki]

39 minutes ago, Toe said:

I got all the Pathfinder 2e books in a Humble Bundle, but haven't had the chance to play or run it. Starfinder looks like it could be a real blast!

Pathfinder is a lot of fun, crunchy as hell, but fun! I'm excited that Starfinder 2e is basically using the same core rules. 

[Toe]

For my home game, our next session is the beginning of the end as the party finally enters Castle Ravenloft. I've never run a "dungeon" so big, so it's a little bit intimidating.

[thepunkrockicon]

I don't know if anyone else has been following the upcoming MCDM RPG, but the name has officially been announced: Draw Steel!

 

Honestly, everything I've been seeing about this game has me excited and it looks like we're set to get the first Backer Packet later this month. Super pumped to try running it.

[Ruki]

I've watched a few of the MCDM videos! I just love listening to Matt Colville talk .

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Princess Sweetie (Princess of the Princess Kingdom) and Princess Red (Priness of the Fairy Kingdom) were hanging out in their castles when their assistances told them that their pet bunnies were missing. They heard that a goblin might have taken them and is trying to run through the Forest of Kindness (the rainbow forest they saved in the last adventure) to his cave. Princess Sweetie called Princess Red on her Sending Stone (aka a Seashell Phone) and said they should go try to save them so they met in the forest.

They did a survival check to find the goblin tracks. On the way, Princess Sweetie saw something glimmer in the ground but when she went to grab it, a mud hand reached out to grab her. They fought a mud monster (a re-skinned mud mephit). The glimmering was their bunnies collars.

They found the goblin and the bunnies were trapped in a cage. Princess Red mostly used a combo of Scorching Ray and "kicking the goblin in the belly" while Princess Sweetie snuck over and unlocked the bunnies. She also used Minor Illusion to pretend there was a bigger goblin telling him to let them go.

They ultimately ran away and actually left the goblin alive.

When they put on the bunnies collars, the bunnies became rainbow bunnies and their magic returned. 

It was fun but one thing I think I might want to try is to find a game system that isn't so combat heavy.

[Ruki]

7 hours ago, Mx. Canadian Destroyer said:

Princess Sweetie (Princess of the Princess Kingdom) and Princess Red (Priness of the Fairy Kingdom) were hanging out in their castles when their assistances told them that their pet bunnies were missing. They heard that a goblin might have taken them and is trying to run through the Forest of Kindness (the rainbow forest they saved in the last adventure) to his cave. Princess Sweetie called Princess Red on her Sending Stone (aka a Seashell Phone) and said they should go try to save them so they met in the forest.

They did a survival check to find the goblin tracks. On the way, Princess Sweetie saw something glimmer in the ground but when she went to grab it, a mud hand reached out to grab her. They fought a mud monster (a re-skinned mud mephit). The glimmering was their bunnies collars.

They found the goblin and the bunnies were trapped in a cage. Princess Red mostly used a combo of Scorching Ray and "kicking the goblin in the belly" while Princess Sweetie snuck over and unlocked the bunnies. She also used Minor Illusion to pretend there was a bigger goblin telling him to let them go.

They ultimately ran away and actually left the goblin alive.

When they put on the bunnies collars, the bunnies became rainbow bunnies and their magic returned. 

It was fun but one thing I think I might want to try is to find a game system that isn't so combat heavy.

https://www.riverhorsegames.com/collections/mlptails

 

Never played it, but I read this is combat lite. My son (7.5) is also starting to show interest in D&D since my wife is obsessed with BG3... gonna turn him into a good lil nerd!

I also had a chance to play the Starfinder 2e playtest last night! I really enjoyed it. Copy and paste from my notes last night:

Spoiler

really like the system. It's very Pathfinder in Foundry, but with a new coat of paint

the sci fi vibes are such a breath of fresh air. We had talk of star ships, uber, taxis, discord, street preachers.... so great. Also a brief glimpse of eldritch horror!

I saved the day in the first encounter thanks to having so many trained skills as an envoy. Take that, elevator.

combat was cool. There were some mooks, but also non-enemy hazards to deal with. Make the encounter really interesting.

I thought my damage was gonna be pretty small (standard is 1d6 for my weapon)... with various bonuses I got up to 10. Although nothing compared to the solarian who got a massive 20+ damage crit.

the ability is called "get'em", so get that target! It gives extra damage and easier to hit. HIT THE DAMN TARGET, TEAM.

 

Also on my Discord, we were checking out the new D&D PHB that released today (it's pretty much the same tbh). I ended up making a list of the modules I've ran vs those I have not. 

 

Spoiler

Modules I've run:
-Out of the Abyss, never again. Too much work. 
-Storm King's Thunder, lots of work but can be a ton of fun.
-Waterdeep Dragon Heist, ran it twice. Lots of fun. Can be technically ran 4 times, since there are 4 'seasons'.
-Icewind Dale, lots of fun with a darker vibe. Lots of sandbox content
-Wild Beyond The Witchlight... attempted to run twice. Fell apart. Oops
-Call of the NEtherdeep, so gosh darn good!
-Vecna Eve of Ruin, enjoying it so far! Needs some work
-Drakkenheim, enjoying it! Very replayable, but also a lot of juggling. 
-Spelljammer, it very... fine

Modules I've not run:
-Lost Mine of Phandelver/Phandelver and Below, played in it. Good fun! It does have a premium module on foundry, so it goes in the maybe pile
-Princes of the Apocalpse, very all over the place from what I've read of it. And then there's random difficulty spikes. Seems like a big dungeon crawl
-Curse of Strahd, lots of work and requires a vibe I'm unsure I'm able to pull off that is satisfactory
-Tales From the Yawning Portal, bunch of dungeon crawls
-Tomb of Annihilation, dungeon crawls AND a hex crawl. Premium foundry module coming soon makes it interesting
-Dungeon of the Mad Mage, oh god, we'd drop it by the 2nd floor. 20 floors of dungeon crawling, limited roleplay. 
-Ghosts of Saltmarsh, a very cool setting but suffers from the 'compendium' style adventure WotC have been doing. 5 smaller adventures, no overaching plot.
-Dragon of Icepire Peak, a newbie module... and then with added content I think which makes it confusing?
-Descent Into Avernus, a very cool theme/setting. But a bit of a railroad & weird difficulty spikes. 
-Candlekeep Mysteries, see GoSM
-Radiant Citadel, see GoSM
-Planescape, can be cool... worried it would be like Spelljammer
-Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, level 1-3 adventure meant for newbies. 
-Dragonlance, I have no connection to the setting. 
-Keys to the golden vault, see GoSM
-Infinite Staircase, see GoSM & TFtYP

 

[Toe]

I got the new book from my local gaming store. Excited to finally check out all the changes!