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Merric Blackman Profile picture
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12 Oct, 4 tweets, 1 min read
One of the worst arguments I saw recently about a D&D rule included the phrase "It is easy to tell what is magical in D&D."

Which is of course why Jeremy Crawford put a LONG explanation in Sage Advice about what the game considers magical.
It's easy for one person to determine if something is magical or not. It is *not* easy for two people to come to the same conclusion. And that's why we have game rules and explanations - so two people have the same understanding of how the game works.
Not only that, but it creates a baseline. Because the other situation is that ONE person isn't always consistent.

One week, the DM rules that dragon breath is magical, the next the DM rules that it isn't, having forgotten what they ruled last week!
Which of course causes confusion for their players!

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More from @MerricB

Merric Blackman Profile picture
13 Oct
Trap silliness: in one of my dungeons, a group of kobolds lived in a room where they’d set up a swinging log to hit anyone entering the chamber. I think it was possible to detect, but my players didn’t, and so triggered it before being swarmed by kobolds.
The players survived the experience, and then, because players, painted a smiley face on the end of the log and reset the trap. Then left.
Several months later, they returned to the dungeon, some new players, some experienced, and looked down at their map upon which one room was marked with a smiley face. “Let’s go there, they said!”
Read 6 tweets
Merric Blackman Profile picture
13 Oct
Some traps are designed just for amusement value, though often of the DM not the players. (Though, given the right group, players can find them awesome as well).
One of my “favourites” is found in Castle of the Mad Archmage. It’s a stuck door that is actually made of balsa wood, so anyone trying to force it open hurtles through and is impaled on the spikes beyond.
It’s completely ridiculous and made explicitly to punish a common manoeuvre in D&D: opening a stuck door. That ridiculousness is why I’m so amused by it, and so have been more than a few players.
Read 5 tweets
Merric Blackman Profile picture
13 Oct
I've lived through several edition changes of Dungeons & Dragons
1E->2E, 2E->3E, 3E->3.5E, 3.5E->4E, 4E->5E.

In each case, I had come to the point where I was very excited to see what came next.

I haven't yet hit that point with 5E. Which is good!
But, it must be said, I'd happily revisit most of the earlier editions. Possibly all. I was pretty burnt out on 3.5E and 4E when they ended.
When 1E ended, I'd been in the hobby for, err, six or seven years. Counting gets fuzzy. And I was very excited for all the new player material. And the clean up of the rules.

In retrospect, they cleaned up a bit too much, but still, lots to admire.
Read 12 tweets
Merric Blackman Profile picture
11 Oct
My D&D knowledge spans several editions of the game. Rules bleed from one into another.

Today, I had a combat vs wolves where the players were riding horses. Could they command the horses to approach the wolves?
Because there's an edition where the rule *does* exist, that's the rule I remember. (3E: Ride skill needed to control a non-warhorse in battle).

But that rule isn't in 5E.
Although on this occasion, I went with the base 5E rules, I may adopt the 3E rule (substituting Handle Animal for Ride) in my game. Or not.

It's not like the situation comes up frequently.
Read 7 tweets
Merric Blackman Profile picture
11 Oct
So, that could have gone better.

A random encounter on the streets of Hardby: the characters noticed a foreign noble abusing a merchant. So they stepped in.

The sorcerer cast Calm Emotions.
Unfortunately, the noble saved (as did some of his guards). And he took exception to this.

In the ensuing fight, the characters killed one of his guards.
Then the city watch arrived and arrested everyone. In the questioning afterwards, it was determined that not only had the sorcerer started the fight (by casting a spell), but he'd also killed the guard.

The verdict? Exile for the PCs, *except* the sorcerer. He got 20 years.
Read 5 tweets
Merric Blackman Profile picture
1 Jun
Although G1: Steading of the Hill Giant Chief is not the very first adventure published for Dungeons & Dragons, it's close enough. :) And it is fascinating.
The framing of the adventure is simple: Giants have attacked the lands of men, you must explain to them that such is a bad idea. With as much force as you can.
To make things simpler, when you get to the steading, the giants are engaged in a drunken feast! They're all gathered together, and many fireballs will prove useful. :)
Read 18 tweets

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