I get away with it on occasion during our Monday Night game, comes with playing D&D for damn near 25 years since I wasn’t even in school yet. the GM is a longtime buddy of mine and new it’s occasionally an issue so this game several of us got permission to play leveled-down characters with a few homebrew upgrades due to “Veterancy” (IE we survived the previous campaign with a different DM) so we’re continuing their legacy.
Ironically, literally every brand-spanking-new person or folks who were rusty from not playing for a long while all played “New” characters initially, it worked out because most of *our* characters were from the northern continent. made for a good dynamic between newbie locals who had the history and knowledge of the culture, versus those of us who’ve picked up a couple of scars or have lived through a major military offensive so we’re seasoned, but we dont know the lay of the land or the map or the locals very well.
Brett is walking a fine line between the joy of getting inside your players’ heads, and the pain of watching them spend four hours debating how to open a door.
Dreamhost is a web hosting provider. The comic is probably hosted there, and he has both a private dreamhosters subdomain as well as his private domain pointed at the same site.
Definitely better to point to the main domain, but it probably isn’t a disaster.
I have to admit, I do get a chuckle when players start double-thinking and second-guessing when I’m the GM. It means they’re on their toes. 🙂
The big trick with the demon face in Tomb of Horrors wasn’t just that it was deadly, but rather that the party had already encountered a couple such faces, and used them to get around. No reason to assume that THIS face led to pure obliteration.
buuuuuut…if it IS the tomb of Horrors, safe to assume that the AIR ITSELF is plotting to kill you….
god i love that module. we never ran it, but read it cover to cover so many times….(and the sad thing is i had the original monochrome version of it too!!)
I even told my friends if i EVER ran it for them, i would NOT allow them to use any of their major character, PREGENS only, that way there was no hard feelings WHEN those characters died (and considering what was at the end of the dungeon too…..there’s a REASON we didnt do much with those creatures…)
ahhhhhh…Brett, we’re hoping you’re just messing with your friends this time (but no reason not to be..)
For a lot of people, it is very hard to turn off the urge to want to win. Over the years I have seen it multiple times on both sides on the screen. No matter how much all the gaming websites and material out there tells you … people forget that in the end it is the tale they are telling a shared story and get caught up in just maximizing their part of it.
That goes for GMs that enjoy setting things up for the TPK unless the players black-ops it perfectly to players that try to win every interaction and combat encounter so their character looks awesome and never experience setbacks/failures.
That’s why I love Paranoia. Once you realize that you *can’t* win, you are free. Embrace failure. OWN it. Make it special. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll pull a miracle out of your coveralls. WARNING: USE OF MIRACLES NOT PERMITTED AT YOUR SECURITY LEVEL, CITIZEN.
Dammit Brian, how dare you apologise for another real life delay!!
Didn’t we already cover that?!?
Heh, Life happens Amigo – and it is (sadly) more important than placating us losers staring at our devices reading for free.
Crit-hit those Obligations!
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This installment has me chucking because players often “go meta” and postulate what I might (or might not be planning).
Good stuff as always Brian
I get away with it on occasion during our Monday Night game, comes with playing D&D for damn near 25 years since I wasn’t even in school yet. the GM is a longtime buddy of mine and new it’s occasionally an issue so this game several of us got permission to play leveled-down characters with a few homebrew upgrades due to “Veterancy” (IE we survived the previous campaign with a different DM) so we’re continuing their legacy.
Ironically, literally every brand-spanking-new person or folks who were rusty from not playing for a long while all played “New” characters initially, it worked out because most of *our* characters were from the northern continent. made for a good dynamic between newbie locals who had the history and knowledge of the culture, versus those of us who’ve picked up a couple of scars or have lived through a major military offensive so we’re seasoned, but we dont know the lay of the land or the map or the locals very well.
Ahhhh…the paranoia of your players. A simultaneously beautiful and frustrating thing.
It’s a living thing on its own. I had our group argue for over 45 minutes on the values and dangers of a “shadowy staircase.”
Brett is walking a fine line between the joy of getting inside your players’ heads, and the pain of watching them spend four hours debating how to open a door.
I love it.
I hope that Brian doesn’t mind me linking to a different comic.
BTW Many of Oglaf’s strips are exceptionally NSFW.
http://oglaf.dreamhosters.com/trapmaster/
Why are you not actually linking to the real source? WTF is dreamhosters?
https://www.oglaf.com/trapmaster/
That does seem like a strange URL. Hm.
It’s what came up on a Google; I guess that I assumed that it was his archive…
Dreamhost is a web hosting provider. The comic is probably hosted there, and he has both a private dreamhosters subdomain as well as his private domain pointed at the same site.
Definitely better to point to the main domain, but it probably isn’t a disaster.
First thing I noticed on his link was the navigation links were all absent. I don’t think it’s an actual mirror.
When your players give you paranoia ….
… TAKE NOTES, there’s going to be some really good ideas in there! 😀
I have to admit, I do get a chuckle when players start double-thinking and second-guessing when I’m the GM. It means they’re on their toes. 🙂
The big trick with the demon face in Tomb of Horrors wasn’t just that it was deadly, but rather that the party had already encountered a couple such faces, and used them to get around. No reason to assume that THIS face led to pure obliteration.
buuuuuut…if it IS the tomb of Horrors, safe to assume that the AIR ITSELF is plotting to kill you….
god i love that module. we never ran it, but read it cover to cover so many times….(and the sad thing is i had the original monochrome version of it too!!)
I even told my friends if i EVER ran it for them, i would NOT allow them to use any of their major character, PREGENS only, that way there was no hard feelings WHEN those characters died (and considering what was at the end of the dungeon too…..there’s a REASON we didnt do much with those creatures…)
ahhhhhh…Brett, we’re hoping you’re just messing with your friends this time (but no reason not to be..)
I think you’re remembering the misty arches. The Face was at the end of the entrance corridor, and instantly deadly.
Hmm… It’s been a long time since I’ve horrored some tombs, so you’re probably right. I thought the annihilation one was like, halfway through.
I suppose, being a modern day Santa, he has to find some way of taking out the frustrations of a rapidly-growing Naughty List…
For a lot of people, it is very hard to turn off the urge to want to win. Over the years I have seen it multiple times on both sides on the screen. No matter how much all the gaming websites and material out there tells you … people forget that in the end it is the tale they are telling a shared story and get caught up in just maximizing their part of it.
That goes for GMs that enjoy setting things up for the TPK unless the players black-ops it perfectly to players that try to win every interaction and combat encounter so their character looks awesome and never experience setbacks/failures.
That’s why I love Paranoia. Once you realize that you *can’t* win, you are free. Embrace failure. OWN it. Make it special. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll pull a miracle out of your coveralls. WARNING: USE OF MIRACLES NOT PERMITTED AT YOUR SECURITY LEVEL, CITIZEN.
Paranoia is a wonderful game from the little bit I got to play of it back in the early 90s. Alas, I haven’t had a chance to play it since then.
Dammit Brian, how dare you apologise for another real life delay!!
Didn’t we already cover that?!?
Heh, Life happens Amigo – and it is (sadly) more important than placating us losers staring at our devices reading for free.
Crit-hit those Obligations!