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Absurd Alhazred posted:I don't know. If you read past the first module, you start seeing NPCs and PCs that are marked as essential and that the DM is required to allow to somehow survive to the next module. Here's how it's written up in the "Dungeonmaster Notes" for DL2: "Dragons of Flame" (p. 3): Ehh, encouraging the DM (I wouldn't call it requiring) to give certain characters mysterious deaths so they can return in later adventures is maybe railroady, but I wouldn't call it metaplot. Yes, the modules really want you to play the pregenerated PCs instead of your own homebrews, but importantly, they want you to play those characters, not just watch them do poo poo. The version of that section that appears in DL Classics Volume 1 is a lot less insistent as well: "If this becomes awkward, or your players become suspicious, then let the NPC die, but be prepared to create a similar (but not identical) NPC to take the dead NPC's place later in the adventure. If you are willing to do this, you may eliminate the "obscure death" rule entirely" (5). It also makes this statement: "Don't feel that you and your players have to march in lock step with the DRAGONLANCE novels!" (5, italics in original). Applying the "obscure death" rule in DL2 is likely to cause a break with the DL novels since the important Dragonarmy NPC the players might kill is Verminaard. He's killed by the heroes in Pax Tharkas at the climax of Dragons of Autumn Twilight but the modules encourage the DM to keep him alive so he can continue being the main villain for DL3 and DL4. The adventures in those modules, along with DL6 and DL9, get glossed over in the novels, but players get to experience them. And if you look to later modules, you see that they given options for both the DM and players to not just following along with the novels. The key to freeing Lorac and Silvanesti from his nightmare in DL10 is determined by a series of coin tosses (and the PCs can always just kill him). DL12 gives DMs three options for how the PCs must stop Takhisis from entering Krynn (and invokes the "obscure death" rule to keep the chosen option viable). So yeah, I don't think it's correct to characterize the DL series as metaplot. They have a plot, one that is often railroaded, but also one that the PCs are actively involved in and not just observing. Compare that to something like DL1 "Freedom" which has the DM read sections of The Verdant Passage to the PCs so that they'll witness the "canon" version of Rikus and Neeva attacking Kalak while they gently caress around in the arena.
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Jul 28, 2021 18:56
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Absurd Alhazred posted:Contrarywise, I've played a party game variation of the Munchausen RPG several times without anybody involved having ever owned or read the book, just out of cultural osmosis. Making an entirely new game on the spot out of half-remembered nonsense and bullshitting the whole thing seems actually incredibly appropriate to the setting.
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Jul 28, 2021 19:17
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Tulip posted:I have no intention of ever playing the Baron Munchausen RPG because it is barely a game but it is a very funny book and I have 0 regrets about getting it. I enjoyed my read-through of it but of course that's a little tainted now by the author being a real fart about everything.
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Jul 28, 2021 21:13
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Tulip posted:I hope somebody (probably not me) makes a Payday RPG because that would probably set a new gold standard for ACAB in games. My Shadowrun game back in the day was sort of like that. Sometimes we would spend multiple entire 8 hour sessions planning a job. And of course, 50% of the time it got randomly hosed and we just have to end many promising young lives that day to escape. Just do the same thing except without everything that sucked about Shadowrun (which was plenty).
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Jul 28, 2021 21:32
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If I’m having a solo dungeon crawler kind of itch and am pretty bored with the D&D boxed board games, what would you guys suggest? I was looking at both the Dark Souls and Bloodborne board games since I like the franchises, I’ve heard they’re not great but are nowhere near as bad as say, Kingdom Death. Is the Bloodborne game really that much better than the Dark Souls game? And what the gently caress is up with the distribution model, I can’t seem to find Bloodborne anywhere but I’ve been to like four FLGSes in the past week that have had expansions for it. Are there better options for the kind of thing I’m looking for (mid-to-high crunch, solo, explore and loot and punch things)?
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Jul 29, 2021 00:12
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Rockman Reserve posted:If I’m having a solo dungeon crawler kind of itch and am pretty bored with the D&D boxed board games, what would you guys suggest? I was looking at both the Dark Souls and Bloodborne board games since I like the franchises, I’ve heard they’re not great but are nowhere near as bad as say, Kingdom Death. Is the Bloodborne game really that much better than the Dark Souls game? And what the gently caress is up with the distribution model, I can’t seem to find Bloodborne anywhere but I’ve been to like four FLGSes in the past week that have had expansions for it. Are there better options for the kind of thing I’m looking for (mid-to-high crunch, solo, explore and loot and punch things)? Hello, have you heard of our Lord and Savior Gloomhaven? Or the more "casual friendly" Jaws of the Lion? Not sure if the rule set for Gloomhaven fixes that solo dungeon crawler itch? You could always try the digital edition on Steam for $25 (still in Early Access technically but the 17 playable classes have been implemented). https://store.steampowered.com/app/780290/Gloomhaven/ I now cede the floor to dwarf74 to explain everything Gloomhaven. Shrecknet posted:If you feel like going FATAL & Friends on everyone's favorite romantic gothic superhero RPG in D&D (postin' about politics!) here's your chance!  should be fun!
Helical Nightmares fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Jul 29, 2021 |
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Jul 29, 2021 01:45
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Ahh, definitely should have mentioned that I’ve also got Gloomhaven and JotL (and frankly JotL is a lot closer to what I’m looking for, that map book is genius and makes setup so dang fast compared to the big box). Speaking of which, I had kind of thought JotL was a Target exclusive or something (similar IIRC to a special release of Captain Sonar or something?) but I was seeing it everywhere today. Was I just crazy? e: why isn’t Descent still a thing, I think i would play the hell out of that with solo ruleset
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Jul 29, 2021 01:51
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Rockman Reserve posted:Ahh, definitely should have mentioned that I’ve also got Gloomhaven and JotL (and frankly JotL is a lot closer to what I’m looking for, that map book is genius and makes setup so dang fast compared to the big box). The new edition of Descent releases this Friday at FLGS's that have jumped through the proper hoops, but it doesn't matter because the app you need to play doesn't release until the official release date of August 6th. Still, not far!
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Jul 29, 2021 03:44
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What the hell, FFG. I've been buying Descents since 1e and still can't get anyone to play them, I'm not getting a third one. E: quote:Is this the third edition of Descent: Journeys in the Dark? "This isn't the third edition, it's just a totally different expansion with the same name that replaces the core 2e game and is not compatible with it." moths fucked around with this message at 04:25 on Jul 29, 2021 |
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Jul 29, 2021 04:20
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FFG gonna FFG.
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Jul 29, 2021 04:27
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Rockman Reserve posted:If I’m having a solo dungeon crawler kind of itch and am pretty bored with the D&D boxed board games, what would you guys suggest? I was looking at both the Dark Souls and Bloodborne board games since I like the franchises, I’ve heard they’re not great but are nowhere near as bad as say, Kingdom Death. Is the Bloodborne game really that much better than the Dark Souls game? And what the gently caress is up with the distribution model, I can’t seem to find Bloodborne anywhere but I’ve been to like four FLGSes in the past week that have had expansions for it. Are there better options for the kind of thing I’m looking for (mid-to-high crunch, solo, explore and loot and punch things)? I fought off impulse buying the Bloodborne board game, but it sounds like it's alright as far as a dungeon crawling thing. Gloomhaven and Frosthaven are still better. The distribution model for the Bloodborne board game is what CMON uses for all their games, where it's a FOMO rush on kickstarter and almost never sold in game stores afterward. Or at most, it's sold with a very minimal base set and none of the expansions or addons.
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Jul 29, 2021 04:52
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S.J. posted:The new edition of Descent releases this Friday at FLGS's that have jumped through the proper hoops, but it doesn't matter because the app you need to play doesn't release until the official release date of August 6th. Still, not far! wait wtf Like the box is going to be literally unplayable for like a week? Lmao
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Jul 29, 2021 06:07
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Yeah Jaws of the Lion will probably scratch that itch really nicely  It's a solid game.
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Jul 29, 2021 06:13
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Rockman Reserve posted:wait wtf Yeah, apparently it's been physically available in Australia for some time but they just won't release the app early lmao
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Jul 29, 2021 06:35
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S.J. posted:Yeah, apparently it's been physically available in Australia for some time but they just won't release the app early lmao And is it literally unplayable? Or just the main selling point where the app GMs it isn't up and running? I vaguely recall 2nd e launched playable like 1st e where is was 1 player was the dungeon and revealed stuff to others as they explored, but the thing that really sold it was the app doing that for you.
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Jul 29, 2021 06:59
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Coolness Averted posted:And is it literally unplayable? Or just the main selling point where the app GMs it isn't up and running? You need the app to play. There is no overlord player.
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Jul 29, 2021 07:18
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lmao
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Jul 29, 2021 07:23
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It's been real easy to miss FFG games since they started making phone games with physical props.
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Jul 29, 2021 11:23
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I'm now even more impressed that Arkham Horror 3E turned out so good.
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Jul 29, 2021 11:33
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Descent 1e was good for a while, but for some reason shat its own bed with its expansion sets and the Acrobat card. Descent 2e had the same problem as Imperial Assault of being dominated by the time limit rather than the actual in-game events. (Dungeon Saga had the same thing, too.) As mentioned, unfortunately it seems that Legends in the Dark is up with Mansions of Madness as a mobile phone game except you reproduce what's on the screen on the tabletop.
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Jul 29, 2021 11:45
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Do we still have a D&D 3e thread? I have a character (Fighter/Order of the Bow Initiate) that has access to the Ranged Sneak Attack mechanic, and I'd like to know if there are more ways to get the Ranged Sneak Attack to apply besides while the target is Flat-Footed.
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Jul 29, 2021 11:55
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gradenko_2000 posted:Do we still have a D&D 3e thread? e: googling also gets me deadeye shot, but my 3.x is too rusty to tell if it's actually good Splicer fucked around with this message at 12:46 on Jul 29, 2021 |
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Jul 29, 2021 12:42
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Imagined posted:Making an entirely new game on the spot out of half-remembered nonsense and bullshitting the whole thing seems actually incredibly appropriate to the setting. I mean, this is much of the RPG experience in general.
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Jul 29, 2021 12:42
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hyphz posted:As mentioned, unfortunately it seems that Legends in the Dark is up with Mansions of Madness as a mobile phone game except you reproduce what's on the screen on the tabletop. I demo'd Mansions of Madness at gencon for FFG the year it came out (ask me how many "experienced" games I taught) so I'm probably one of the only people who enjoyed the process of setting up 1E MoM, but it was heartbreaking to find out that the second edition got rid of the keeper player and just had an app handle everything. I think FFG looked at their reputation for having a large number of fiddly bits and physical tokens to keep track of things then said "a phone app could reduce clutter and reduce the barrier to play," which is good but ended up with this style of game. It's a shame.
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Jul 29, 2021 13:00
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gradenko_2000 posted:Do we still have a D&D 3e thread? You being invisible/attacking while hidden SHOULD count. I say SHOULD because ranged sneak attack is from the 3.0 version of Order of the Bow Initiate and the rules for what causes “target is denied Dex to AC” are ambiguous. In 3.5 it would likely be written as the target being flat-footed. This is one case where I’d ask your DM to be absolutely sure.
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Jul 29, 2021 13:03
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Splicer posted:Telling blow and start stacking crits Telling Blow and Deadeye Shot might work! Arivia posted:You being invisible/attacking while hidden SHOULD count. I say SHOULD because ranged sneak attack is from the 3.0 version of Order of the Bow Initiate and the rules for what causes “target is denied Dex to AC” are ambiguous. In 3.5 it would likely be written as the target being flat-footed. This is one case where I’d ask your DM to be absolutely sure. the 3.5 Order of the Bow Initiate just lets them do Precision damage at any time as long as the target is within 30 feet (and is vulnerable to Precision damage, so no plants, Undead, etc.), but making the attack that deals this damage is specifically a Standard-action attack all by itself, so it doesn't synergize with a Full-round attack, which is why I took the 3.0 version Thank you though, I'll have to look into attacking from Hidden
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Jul 29, 2021 13:51
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Tulip posted:I hope somebody (probably not me) makes a Payday RPG because that would probably set a new gold standard for ACAB in games. I'll level with you; when I asked about the cop-hatingest RPG, I was basically angling for someone to tell me about some undiscovered Payday-style cop-shooter. I still think it's a huge missed opportunity that the Payday main story didn't end with an assault on the Cop Dimension. The Plane of Elemental Cops.
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Jul 29, 2021 13:51
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gradenko_2000 posted:Do we still have a D&D 3e thread?
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Jul 29, 2021 14:26
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Nehru the Damaja posted:I'll level with you; when I asked about the cop-hatingest RPG, I was basically angling for someone to tell me about some undiscovered Payday-style cop-shooter. I still think it's a huge missed opportunity that the Payday main story didn't end with an assault on the Cop Dimension. The Plane of Elemental Cops. I don't even know if the game was any good or anything. All I ever remember hearing is that it was mean to police and then the discourse that followed. That Old Tree fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Jul 29, 2021 |
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Jul 29, 2021 15:54
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That Old Tree posted:Some years ago a game that had some sort of "gently caress cops" vibe or message or single sentence got removed from DTRPG for being inflammatory or whatever. I don't remember if DTRPG themselves took it down, or if they were compelled by bootlickers to "look into it" and the owner of the game just said "gently caress this" and took it down themselves. Somehow the usual suspects made a weak gesture or two about censorship, but not nearly as strongly or broadly as when they're defending rape games or GamerGate "spoofs." That didn't really happen. The complaint was in bad faith by a person who edited their profile to make it look like DTRPG had censored them.
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Jul 29, 2021 15:59
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Rand Brittain posted:That didn't really happen. Ah yes, thanks for correcting me.
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Jul 29, 2021 16:16
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That was the 'Eat the Rich' anthology, right?
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Jul 29, 2021 16:37
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potatocubed posted:That was the 'Eat the Rich' anthology, right? No, it was a Lasers & Feelings hack called "gently caress the Police" where one side was Pigs and the other was I forget because it was basically the Dead Kennedys' 'Police Truck' without any charm and awful. The 'game' was suspended but the user edited it to make it look like DTRPG said cops were a protected category.
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Jul 29, 2021 16:54
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Nehru the Damaja posted:I'll level with you; when I asked about the cop-hatingest RPG, I was basically angling for someone to tell me about some undiscovered Payday-style cop-shooter. I still think it's a huge missed opportunity that the Payday main story didn't end with an assault on the Cop Dimension. The Plane of Elemental Cops. This is basically Esoteric Enterprises. D&D style dungeon crawls under the city into places like the embassies of the elemental kingdoms of the core of the Earth, then you take your winnings and wage war against cops/MIB/etc on behalf of oppressed people. e: credit to 90s cringe rock for already mentioning EE, I’m just backing up their statement. Arivia fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Jul 29, 2021 |
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Jul 29, 2021 16:55
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Is there a new edition of EE that has all this stuff about using your ill gotten gains waging war on the police? The version of the book I have doesn't contain any rules for that, or really any other use of money besides leveling up. The game uses a frustrating abstract wealth system and lacks mechanics for faction play, other than a very basic numeric counter that goes up when you do jobs and goes down when you start fights.
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Jul 29, 2021 17:30
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mellonbread posted:Is there a new edition of EE that has all this stuff about using your ill gotten gains waging war on the police? The version of the book I have doesn't contain any rules for that, or really any other use of money besides leveling up. The game uses a frustrating abstract wealth system and lacks mechanics for faction play, other than a very basic numeric counter that goes up when you do jobs and goes down when you start fights. No, no new edition. That gameplay loop of "go underground and do poo poo and then go fight the cops or similar" was pretty evident to me (due to that numeric counter and other bits) when I ran it though. I asked Emmy Allen to confirm it was intended and she did, but it is not a well-laid out or organized rulebook for sure.
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Jul 29, 2021 17:35
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Yeah I hadn't responded yet but EE definitely caught my interest. There don't seem to be any paper copies available in North America anymore, just PDF from DTRPG, but I'm keeping it in mind for sure.
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Jul 29, 2021 17:40
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Nehru the Damaja posted:Yeah I hadn't responded yet but EE definitely caught my interest. There don't seem to be any paper copies available in North America anymore, just PDF from DTRPG, but I'm keeping it in mind for sure. You're right - Exalted Funeral is the NA distributor and it's not even up on their shop. SoulMuppet will ship to NA from the UK if you're willing to pay the shipping, though.
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Jul 29, 2021 17:43
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I picked up the EE hardcover in the brief window it was available about a year go, and you aren't missing much. The mis-numbered tables and pages from the PDF are much more of a hindrance in hardcopy form, when you can't just CTRL-F for what you want. I actually like some of the public domain photos to illustrate the book, but they aren't a work of art that needs to be experienced in print. I would only recommend the hardback if you really hate using a PDF to run your game.Arivia posted:No, no new edition. That gameplay loop of "go underground and do poo poo and then go fight the cops or similar" was pretty evident to me (due to that numeric counter and other bits) when I ran it though. I asked Emmy Allen to confirm it was intended and she did, but it is not a well-laid out or organized rulebook for sure. An expansion that actually covered domain level play and let the players get more involved in faction conflicts would be a welcome addition to the game.
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Jul 29, 2021 17:53
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mellonbread posted:I picked up the EE hardcover in the brief window it was available about a year go, and you aren't missing much. The mis-numbered tables and pages from the PDF are much more of a hindrance in hardcopy form, when you can't just CTRL-F for what you want. I actually like some of the public domain photos to illustrate the book, but they aren't a work of art that needs to be experienced in print. I would only recommend the hardback if you really hate using a PDF to run your game. I had the actual editor/publisher in my group when I ran it and he pretty much said that if Emmy had actually let him edit the game at any level beyond small textual errors it would have been much more consistent and better organized/playable out of the box. There was obvious frustration on his part about how it was annoying to play because of failings in the text: Emmy basically assumes you already know how to run Basic dungeons and expects you to just fit EE around that without actually telling you.
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Jul 29, 2021 17:57
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