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Zodack posted:This time, I'm working on Session 1 and the setup. My players are meeting in a port town - or, the plan is for them to meet. I've instructed each of them to have a particular goal in mind for why they're in this port town that has a common thread. The setup is everyone is on a Britain-sized island country that is slowly being colonized by a large empire. The prompt was for each of them to have a goal related to the empire (i.e. charter a boat, request info from the mainland, visit the imperial embassy in the city they're in, etc) so that when each of them go to do it they are delivered the bad news of "regional government has put a block on all things Imperial, you'll need to take it up with xx in city yy". First, I'd probably talk with the Bard's player about the tone you want for the game - there's nothing wrong with saying "A fantasy concert isn't really what I'm going for" if you're worried it's not going to fit in with the setting. There could be advice on how to work it into your game but you seem hesitant about the whole idea. Also I'd recommend having everyone know each other. In my experience the "you don't know each other" isn't really interesting to play with since you know you're all going to be traveling together for the game. You could figure out what their characters are doing about the empire - avoiding it, working with them, resisting them - and have the first session be about a goal or mission related to that.
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Dec 16, 2020 09:22
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Heliotrope posted:Also I'd recommend having everyone know each other. In my experience the "you don't know each other" isn't really interesting to play with since you know you're all going to be traveling together for the game. You could figure out what their characters are doing about the empire - avoiding it, working with them, resisting them - and have the first session be about a goal or mission related to that. Yeah, this is really good advice and what I was going to post. When I run games, I run a "session zero" where players and GM collaborate on their backstories, how the PCs got together, why they're working together, and what the party's overall goal is. Not giving the players a say in that to me feels as weird as not letting them decide their own backstory.
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Dec 16, 2020 09:44
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Zodack posted:Hello again friends. I'm back for another round of "figure out how to satisfy my player". I solved the previous round by allowing my Bard friend to take Find Familiar as a 1st level Bard spell that only summons a Raccoon, therefore adding some limitations and making them use their Bard spell economy without ruining their fun. you try to buy tickets there only to find they are entirely sold out since they allowed imperials first. trying to get tickets is impossible because the regional government in an attempt to fight scalpers is controlling the tickets and selling them only to residents. luckily, you hear them complain they acted too late because zz in city yy already bought 200 tickets and is selling them to bourgeoisie people in city yy. what is the tone for this game going to be? players aside, this seems like a tonal mismatch from the more muted and dark tone you are describing. i think having flamboyant and nice characters in dark settings is great but only if you let the character know they will not get the perfect game for them and they will stick out. their expectation for the game seems wackier than the game itself. also: a great setpiece moment for low level play might even be not being able to get tickets at all, and listening to the concert from the outside to set up that characters personal goal to see it for real later. food for thought
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Dec 16, 2020 13:46
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Esposito posted:Did you have a session 0 where you established this wouldn't be a bard-wish-fulfillment campaign? ding ding ding this being your player’s goal to start out with is fine; based on what you’ve said about the rest of the campaign (you’re in a country that’s being colonized and that’s important to the plot, dealing with passports and visas and government bureaucracy is going to be a major part of play, one of your players is essentially guts, etc.) it doesn’t seem like big concerts and fancy lightshows are going to be a huge part of this world if i were to try and weld this all together without outright telling anyone no, i’d probably have to stomp on some dreams a little bit and either make it so they couldn’t attend or let them attend and have to concert shut down by the port authority; the balance you’ll have to strike here is between what your one pc wants and what (presumably) the rest of the party wants and the world that you’ve constructed. also keep in mind that the reward structure of d&d in a meta sense revolves around players feeling like they’ve earned their character’s wants and desires through their actions in the story; you gotta make the judgment call of “do they want to go to a fancy magical concert, right now, or do they want to have a character arc that leads to them going to a fancy magical concert in the future?” and decide what that means and what that looks like in your world, etc. i actually love happy/plucky/optimistic/flighty pcs in dark settings, though, so my advice would just be to talk to the player in question and establish what tone you and everyone else is going for, and let them know that this isn’t a nice, happy, fun, colorful world, and that most of the time, things aren’t going to break that way for them as a character
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Dec 16, 2020 16:27
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Thanks all for your suggestions! My current idea is that the concert was planned to have been held in the town they are visiting, but when he arrives to buy tickets he's informed the venue was moved to the "main town" I am going to push them all towards. The "main" town is the central hub of Imperial business and as My Lovely Horse suggested, is an Imperial move to promote their motivations. When it comes to the setting, two of my players have played in it before. It's not a dark or gritty setting - I'd consider it more of a typical but grounded high fantasy D&D setting like the kind of fantasy setting you'd experience from a fantasy novel. I gave them all a worldbuilding document and the initial setting was described as "based on great Britain" and I tried to evoke imagery of rural countryside and stone fences, old architecture, mossy forests, things like that. I wasn't exactly envisioning Hamilton with wizards happening unless it was on the mainland. Re: the way we're starting, these initial hooks about the Empire are supposed to be small. We're going to do character introductions as roleplay vignettes where very quickly they will all hit the same problem, meet at the same location, and then travel together to the "main" town. That will spring the first encounter on the way, and then when they get to the "main" town things get more complicated as they try to work towards a common goal. We're a close group of friends who have played in several adventures before, so I wanted to try getting the party together in a more organic way. If it's awkward I'm sure we'll pivot quickly. I had them do a little thing I called "Goal, Quest, Ambition" where they told me what their PC was trying to achieve at the moment of introduction (goal), what they were working towards in the short to mid-term (quest), and why they're an adventurer/what they hope to accomplish with the way of life (ambition). Personally, I know the bard will be fine if I simply go "well, you can't make it to the concert", but I'd like to make things fun for him. My bigger issue is trying to figure out how to weave his character and that goal into the story. Speaking plainly, he's an incredibly motivated and talented roleplayer with a passion for creating a dense backstory and a unique character, more than my other players. I'm not so sure about wish fulfillment but he's a very character-first, D&D second kind of guy.
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Dec 16, 2020 17:08
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Declan MacManus posted:ding ding ding Declan MacManus posted:i actually love happy/plucky/optimistic/flighty pcs in dark settings, though, so my advice would just be to talk to the player in question and establish what tone you and everyone else is going for, and let them know that this isn’t a nice, happy, fun, colorful world, and that most of the time, things aren’t going to break that way for them as a character This is a really good point -- starting sessions should also involve the players and GM getting together and making sure that everybody's on the same page with what the setting looks and feels like. That's the point at which when a player says "My character's goal is to go to see a bard at a concert" you start asking things like "OK cool, so what do concerts look like in this setting? I'd imagined things at a lower tech level than that -- a specialised venue for entertainment would be the kind of thing you'd see in the big city." That said: Mass performances of media, and the use of technology to augment them, most certainly aren't a modern invention: even as far back as Ancient Greece you had performers who played gods being lifted onto stage on a crane, so you can be absolutely confident that if the Greeks had wizards they'd totally have been using levitation spells instead. The other thing the player's description of a bard who uses illusions in their show does tell you is something about the ubiquity of magic and its position. If a bard is using magic to make their musical performance more exciting, it implies that for most of the audience magic is less exciting than a musical performance. That says a very important thing about your setting and it's really important that you get everybody on board with that.
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Dec 16, 2020 18:06
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about to be starting Shadow of the Demon Lord back up for a small group a friends soon after a couple of start-stops over the years (we had a pretty good run going last year but then I almost died IRL and it took the winds out of everyone's sails and we never got back into it lol) anyone have any suggestions for good/their favorite starting adventures? I'm familiar enough with the rules at this point but I still don't feel quite comfortable running something custom with new-ish players yet. I think everyone's down to start at level 0. e: also for more general GM advice, any house rules people like to run? also, also, what do people use to organize their campaigns and NPCs and all that? I've been doing it old-school with hyperlinked word docs but it suuuuucks. I'm currently teaching myself onenote but if there's something better free I'd check it out. I'm seeing a lot of cool paid stuff I might pick up if we do more than 4 or 5 sessions. World Anvil looks dope but it's got a sub lol Babe Magnet fucked around with this message at 22:22 on Dec 16, 2020 |
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Dec 16, 2020 21:38
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After I posted last week about a player going murder-hobo, I had a conversation with him and tonight we had our first session following that. It went a lot better - we essentially retconned all of the murder in a way which may play into a long-term timey-wimey plot I’d like to toy with, and then they stole an owlbear egg in a slapstick silly way. It was a lot of fun! After the session finished we had a chat about what irons they thought were in the fire, and it came out that I may need to be a bit more overt with my clues to what’s going on. But it was a real improvement and now I’m looking forward to the bonus sessions we’re hoping to fit in during the holiday period. And I messaged the guy to say thanks for being part of the game - I’m looking forward to having his imagination playing a role in it.
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Dec 16, 2020 22:09
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Babe Magnet posted:also, also, what do people use to organize their campaigns and NPCs and all that? I've been doing it old-school with hyperlinked word docs but it suuuuucks. I'm currently teaching myself onenote but if there's something better free I'd check it out. I'm seeing a lot of cool paid stuff I might pick up if we do more than 4 or 5 sessions. World Anvil looks dope but it's got a sub lol i just have one big notepad file that i continually add stuff to. it doesnt need to be glamorous or anything, trying to spend too much time on things like how notes are organized or making sure all my characters have definitive birthdays and etc gets in the way of preparing stuff and if someone asks me when some guys birthday is i make it up on the spot and write it in my big notepad file
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Dec 16, 2020 22:55
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you're right, I'm probably over-thinking it. "just make poo poo up" has been my go-to for years anyway, and I've also taken a big liking to the PbtA/FATE approach of just being like "I dunno dude you seem pretty invested in this wandering trader, you tell me what her horroscope says."
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Dec 16, 2020 23:04
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I've DMed probably four or five campaigns and leading up to this one I told myself the same thing. "I'll learn Evernote" or "I'll do fancy Google docs stuff" but honestly, I feel like it's the same as in another hobby I'm in where you convince yourself that by buying supplies you'll be more efficient and you never end up doing the work.
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Dec 16, 2020 23:19
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I’ve been using a OneNote file with a page for each session, as well as a few sheets for background details. But I’ve also recently put together a worldanvil page which I found a lot of fun - it’s been good to be able to link stuff together and has helped me with world building different niches which the players may or may not ever come across.
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Dec 16, 2020 23:24
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I really like OneNote, mostly just because it lets me have a big pane that I can drop blocks of formatted text on and move them around, which I find way easier to track and sift through than the linearity of a Word doc. I theoretically use Scrivener to track NPCs/background/lore/etc but in practice I rarely update it.
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Dec 17, 2020 00:56
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I've run for 5-6 people most of the time for the past 3 or so years and I've got a combat tip that sped up our combat tremendously. We used to joke that the game we are playing kind of ends when I say, "Roll initiative." The entire flow of the game changes, everyone starts min-maxing what they should do based on who goes when, etc. This, IMO, always feels loving atrocious. So we ditched initiative. Completely and entirely. Now what we do is everyone says, out loud, what they are going to do. It cannot be changed. A combat round is only a few seconds, not enough time to perfectly react to every change in the tactical situation. You can't start the round casting a fireball and then suddenly stop and cast magic missile because the fighter cleaved through three kobolds. You make that one choice, "Here is what I'm doing this round, period, full stop, no modifications of any kind." Then we just do everything at once. Everything resolves simultaneously. If the goblin was swinging at me, and I was swinging at the goblin, and my elf bud was shooting at the goblin, all that happens at once. If my swing kills the goblin, the archer doesn't REALLY need to roll but can if they want, but the goblin's swing is still going off. The archer CAN NOT just decide that now that his target is dead, he magically doesn't shoot the arrow he already shot at the goblin and instead shoots it at something else. The goblin's friends CAN NOT decide that now that he's going to die the goblin shaman will sacrifice him to empower its spell. This is what you're doing in these five seconds. Five seconds from now you can do something else, after you fully execute what you do this round. This change has sped up our combats and made them more exciting, dynamic, and more dangerous, but in a way that feels fair to the players, at least according to them. Just removing initiative speeds things up by a factor of like 5. Not allowing combat to stop after every loving action so everyone can change what they're doing to react to the fact that one target just dropped also speeds things up a lot, and makes that beginning of round "Here is what I am indelibly doing" much more important. My group's pretty tight-knit and know me as a fair DM, so the "rule of reasonable" is usually the only rule that gets invoked. Give it a try! I literally used to try and avoid combat until the end of the night, knowing it was going to drag. Now I think nothing of throwing a fight or two in wherever. Oh. And if you have more than 1-2 PCs, you absolutely cannot just give them one target or they will utterly destroy it. One time when I was (MUCH) less familiar with 5E, I made up a monster that I was absolutely certain was going to give my party hell. One of it, five of them. It did a grand total of zero hp of damage and lived one and one half rounds. If I had known then what I know now, the round before combat started it would have spewed out a half-dozen weak underlings that got stronger every time they used an action to lick and heal one of the main creature's wounds. Think carefully about where those actions are going this round, friends! Instead I said, "Here's a big target, it's the only thing on the field." Player 1: "I alpha strike." Player 2: "I alpha strike." Player 3: "I alpha strike." (creature is now at like 20 hp and there are two more players to go and one of them is a paladin welp gg Avatar of Yeenoghu so much for that)
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Dec 17, 2020 01:44
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JonathonSpectre posted:I've run for 5-6 people most of the time for the past 3 or so years and I've got a combat tip that sped up our combat tremendously. I certainly get the intention behind this, because combat suuuucks with more than three players. I am not quite a fan of doing away with Initiative entirely though, since it devalues Dexterity and basically makes it a Dumpstat. It also makes a lot of actual tactical decisions worthless, like holding your action/reaction or readying actions. I am however intrigued by the idea of everyone deciding on their course of action sort of in secret. Players could write their actions down and then they get resolved per Initiative. Sort of like Space Alert. I have no idea how that would actually play out but I am interested to try it out with a compatible group of players. [edit] I thought of something else: It also puts the players at a considerable disadvantage in general. They can't coordinate with each other and might even lose parts of their action economy. The DM on the other hand still gets to play tactically and min max the action economy of his adversaries. If the players are fine with that and up for the challenge, then more power to you though. Literally. [/edit] Mistaken Identity fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Dec 17, 2020 |
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Dec 17, 2020 12:53
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I can see that system leading to exciting quickfire combats in a framework that supports it, it's just no D&D or D&D-like I've ever seen is such a framework, by a long shot  I don't mean to put you down or anything, if it works for your group, that's of course great. Rather, it makes me curious how a combat system would have to be set up to enable this kind of gameplay.
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Dec 18, 2020 14:09
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My Lovely Horse posted:I can see that system leading to exciting quickfire combats in a framework that supports it, it's just no D&D or D&D-like I've ever seen is such a framework, by a long shot Basic actually had each side declare their intentions, then roll initiative for the round. The actions then went off by type - Missile, Magic, Melee. If your target was gone or whatever, welp, that's it.
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Dec 18, 2020 14:16
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My Lovely Horse posted:I can see that system leading to exciting quickfire combats in a framework that supports it, it's just no D&D or D&D-like I've ever seen is such a framework, by a long shot its actually an old school system that used to be how dnd worked. i personally dont like it as much as initiative even though i grew up on it but like think about final fantasy 1 for example. its been around
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Dec 18, 2020 22:46
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I remember playing a system where character declared their actions in reverse initiative order, then resolved them in initiative order. So if your initiative was high, you could respond to the actions of people with lower initiative and, if you succeeded at what you were trying to do, stop them from doing the thing they were trying to do.
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Dec 18, 2020 23:03
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Whybird posted:I remember playing a system where character declared their actions in reverse initiative order, then resolved them in initiative order. So if your initiative was high, you could respond to the actions of people with lower initiative and, if you succeeded at what you were trying to do, stop them from doing the thing they were trying to do. Oh I really like this system! This reminds me of how the stack works in MTG.
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Dec 19, 2020 04:31
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Only thing is you'd have to reroll initiative every round which could get tedious. Also large groups of monsters start getting OP fast.
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Dec 19, 2020 04:33
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Angrymog posted:Basic actually had each side declare their intentions, then roll initiative for the round. I think that was 1st ed too, it's just everyone ignored that rule (1sted.txt)
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Dec 19, 2020 05:21
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sebmojo posted:I think that was 1st ed too, it's just everyone ignored that rule (1sted.txt) 1st ed action order is a tremendous loving mess - significantly more confused than the baseline for AD&D, and I've never seen two people with the same take on it. It does have declaring your actions at the start of the round, and per-round initiative (straight up 1d6 each side, highest goes first), but It doesn't have a clear action order like Basic, and buried in a paragraph with various contradictory examples of people who get to go first and the relegation of Weapon Speed Factor to "important single combats" is a phrase along the lines of "Your referee will use their common sense". edit: Here you go: Shitshow posted:The 1 minute melee round assumes much activity - rushes, retreats, feints, parries, checks, and so on. Once during this period each combatant has the opportunity to get a real blow in. Usually this is indicated by initiative, but sometimes other circumstances will prevail. High level fighters get multiple blows per round, so they will usually strike first and last in a round. Slowed creatures always strike last. Hasted/speeded creatures strike first. A solid formation of creatures with long weapons will strike opponents with shorter weapons first, o rushing opponent will be struck first by a pole arm/spear set in its path. Your DM will adjudicate such matters with common sense, When important single combats occur, then dexterities and weapons factors will be used to determine the order ond number of strikes in a round. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Dec 19, 2020 |
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Dec 19, 2020 05:34
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DrSunshine posted:Oh I really like this system! This reminds me of how the stack works in MTG. Or just, you know, stacks as a concept, in anything. Two issues. a) Pretty time consuming to actually implement in practice. b) Actually keeping in your head what people pre-declared.
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Dec 19, 2020 06:18
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Elector_Nerdlingen posted:1st ed action order is a tremendous loving mess - significantly more confused than the baseline for AD&D, and I've never seen two people with the same take on it. Did U Know: that every intelligent enemy is assumed to direct in blow in 6 at the ac 10 head? So every attack against a pc should roll a d20 and a d6. This is, iirc, mentioned in passing in a lengthy paragraph helmets between armour rules and hireling costs
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Dec 19, 2020 06:21
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sebmojo posted:Did U Know: that every intelligent enemy is assumed to direct in blow in 6 at the ac 10 head? So every attack against a pc should roll a d20 and a d6. This is, iirc, mentioned in passing in a lengthy paragraph helmets between armour rules and hireling costs I'm not even sure if you're taking the piss or not. Edit: Oh my loving god, the rule exists. It's in the armor rules in the DMG, but not the PHB. The armor rules are, in fact, between "Notes about the magical properties of gems, herbs, et al" (they don't have any, except if the DM says they do), and yes, the rules for the costs of hirelings. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 06:49 on Dec 19, 2020 |
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Dec 19, 2020 06:39
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Elector_Nerdlingen posted:I'm not even sure if you're taking the piss or not. 
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Dec 19, 2020 06:47
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My new life goal is to reproduce AD&D's layout but with an otherwise functional game, so every apparent mistake is actually just because you missed the bit that makes it work hidden between a rambling paragraph about players' out-of-game astological knowledge not being allowed to intrude into in-game astrological events, and a table about the size of pumpkins (nonmagical).
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Dec 19, 2020 06:49
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Doing my first GM game next week. Fate Accelerated. I made my bad guys, I got music, I have an outline of the three/four encounters (depending on time). I'm making them play themselves as characters. Is there something I am missing? First encounter is going to be a mob, second some individual opponents, next (if it's not too late) is an escape sequence, last is the boss battle, then the reveal of the treasure. Oh, one thing I am missing, is my escape sequence. I don't see much about escape sequences when googling. I guess I just would be them rolling overcome actions until they tick a couple stress boxes for the obstacle?
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Dec 19, 2020 06:53
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Elector_Nerdlingen posted:My new life goal is to reproduce AD&D's layout but with an otherwise functional game, so every apparent mistake is actually just because you missed the bit that makes it work hidden between a rambling paragraph about players' out-of-game astological knowledge not being allowed to intrude into in-game astrological events, and a table about the size of pumpkins (nonmagical). my favourite ad&d thing is the insanely detailed weapon vs armour table in the (fsr) Players handbook that is utterly useless because armour class isn't armour type. Like it would have taken five minutes to make it usable by having a rolemaster style concept of armour type as opposed to dexterity/magic mods, but: lol.
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Dec 19, 2020 06:54
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Rick posted:Doing my first GM game next week. Fate Accelerated. I made my bad guys, I got music, I have an outline of the three/four encounters (depending on time). I'm making them play themselves as characters. Is there something I am missing? a few lists - a list of names, and a list of things to happen randomly, whenever you feel like it. Otherwise you look p set.
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Dec 19, 2020 06:55
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Whybird posted:I remember playing a system where character declared their actions in reverse initiative order, then resolved them in initiative order. So if your initiative was high, you could respond to the actions of people with lower initiative and, if you succeeded at what you were trying to do, stop them from doing the thing they were trying to do. This was how combat worked in World of Darkness through revised edition. It is definitely a cool concept, but kind of a nightmare to play - especially if you reroll initiative every round, and have people using celerity and other poo poo to play around with initiative order.
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Dec 19, 2020 07:24
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sebmojo posted:my favourite ad&d thing is the insanely detailed weapon vs armour table in the (fsr) Players handbook that is utterly useless because armour class isn't armour type. Like it would have taken five minutes to make it usable by having a rolemaster style concept of armour type as opposed to dexterity/magic mods, but: lol. That one nearly works though! It just needs a note that the weapon-vs-ac table doesn't apply to creatures with natural armor, which for all I know is in the DMG between the rules for drowning and the spice value chart. See, there's a table a few pages earlier where armor type corresponds to AC. It's got stuff like "Chain mail + shield / splint mail or banded mail: AC 4" then the next line is "Splint or Banded Mail + Shield / Plate Mail AC 3", and under that there's a note that eg, Plate mail +1 and a shield +1 would be equal to AC 0 but you treat it as AC 2 with a subtraction of 2 from the attacker's hit roll. Which doesn't make sense where it appears, but does once you see that weapon-vs-ac chart a bit later, especially since the weapon/ac chart only has a range of AC 2 to AC10, same as the armor type table! It's loving weird what you remember decades after anyone could possibly have ever cared. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 10:55 on Dec 19, 2020 |
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Dec 19, 2020 10:53
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Elves in my setting have no limit to their lifespan in years, but their memories beyond 80 years in the past will completely fade away. Because of this, not keeping records of things and obfuscating knowledge / letting personal knowledge fade away is part of their religion to a goddess of knowledge and secrets. What are some interesting ways to implement this but also somethings they would necessarily have to track in order to keep their society functioning? The players have been briefed with the blurb above and there's a note in worldbuilding about how elves have a "complicated religion", and I don't think it will impact play too much but from a societal perspective I'm trying to reason how to make it interesting. Surely academia will be kept afloat in perpetuity because each generation will remember, but I'm imagining things like rare old magics, architecture, and wondrous inventions being in a realm of constant re-discovery.
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Dec 19, 2020 17:11
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Zodack posted:Elves in my setting have no limit to their lifespan in years, but their memories beyond 80 years in the past will completely fade away. Because of this, not keeping records of things and obfuscating knowledge / letting personal knowledge fade away is part of their religion to a goddess of knowledge and secrets. if you wanted each society to build from the ground up in 80 years (which is bonkers to think about), you would leave behind the mathematical/alchemical formulas and principles and allow elves to rethink creative applications for each of those formulae. instead of leaving blueprints for a catapult, you would have a bunch of notes on gravity, maybe a few of the simple machines that make it work, etc. you only have to make it as detailed and thought through as you think your players will dig, though
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Dec 19, 2020 17:16
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There's a comic called Frieren at the Funeral, which is all about an immortal elf struggling to connect with fleeting mortals. She raised a human apprentice Fern from childhood, but doesn't understand her at all. She doesn't know what her adoptive daughter's favourite foods are, what makes Fern happy, etc. How can you know these things when you've only been known someone for a decade? These elves take on whimsical hobbies that sharply butt against mortal expectations. Frieren was told there was a pretty flower in a forest, so why not spend a year searching every inch? She casually decides to go on a journey that may take fifty years, and doesn't really understand that her human companions will die of old age before it's done. The protagonist spends a lot of her time studying the current state of magic, as humans are constantly inventing and merging spells into more powerful forms. At one point, an immortal demon who was in stasis for a century is revived, and their much-feared killing magic turns out to be a level one magic missile. Dangerous to the unprotected, but barely a slap against modern shields. Even the human apprentice Fern is able to casually punk him.
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Dec 19, 2020 17:49
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Declan MacManus posted:if you wanted each society to build from the ground up in 80 years (which is bonkers to think about), you would leave behind the mathematical/alchemical formulas and principles and allow elves to rethink creative applications for each of those formulae. instead of leaving blueprints for a catapult, you would have a bunch of notes on gravity, maybe a few of the simple machines that make it work, etc. This makes me want to re-read Three-Body Problem.
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Dec 19, 2020 18:05
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The idea isn't for them to completely rebuild society every 80 years - since generationally knowledge might be lost in older elves but younger elves will still remember. I'm trying to decide what makes sense for them to forget and what to keep in historical record... and not all of them are that zealous, so there would be sects that would keep more knowledge than others might think appropriateSquidster posted:There's a comic called Frieren at the Funeral, which is all about an immortal elf struggling to connect with fleeting mortals. It's an excellent manga, it's actually one of my favorite reads right now - I hadn't thought to apply it to my current situation and how they approach life. It's so hard to reckon with someone who can live that long. On the flip side, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QXtxa48WGk.
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Dec 19, 2020 18:15
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Just spitballing, but what if they just socially agree to have 80 year lifespans? Like they 'die,' have a formal burial ceremony where other elves say nice things about the life they lived, and then they're 'reborn' with a new name and identity? Each life is considered separate, so marriages, property ownership, etc., are all peaceably ended. The newborn adult tries a new path, new skills, and just naturally forgets about their past life. Society has a continuance, and elves politely pretend to not remember previous iterations of each other. One life they were a heroic sage who saved the city, then a vicious bandit king. This time they're fostering dwarf children as a hobby. Immortal speed-runners playing at being mortal.
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Dec 19, 2020 19:43
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| # ? Jun 24, 2024 12:43 |
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Squidster posted:The protagonist spends a lot of her time studying the current state of magic, as humans are constantly inventing and merging spells into more powerful forms. At one point, an immortal demon who was in stasis for a century is revived, and their much-feared killing magic turns out to be a level one magic missile. Dangerous to the unprotected, but barely a slap against modern shields. Even the human apprentice Fern is able to casually punk him. Gonna steal this for the 5e setting I'm working on right now. It's a flat shard of a plane floating on the astral sea that's cut off from interplanar travel and hasn't seen devils and demons for centuries now... so when someone successfully summons an imp the players will be led to think it's actually a world-devouring demigod or something
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Dec 19, 2020 19:46
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