https://forum.obsidianportal.com/categories/general-discussion/p35/feed.rss Thu, 17 Sep 2026 13:45:51 +0000 General Discussion Discussions on Obsidian Portal Community Forums en-CA https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1945/need-critique Thu, 26 May 2011 08:41:34 +0000 tpmiller08 1945@/discussions I'm an obsidian newb, and joined about 2 weeks ago. I ran my first game for 4E using obsidian, and I love it. It's such a great reference tool.
My campaign is "Rift on the Shadowfell":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/shadowfell-campaign and is moderately based on the H1-H2-H3 premade adventures. I just want to make sure my players and I are getting the most out of this site. So if ya read through it and have any critique, please let me know! =) Good or bad, I'll take any feedback you are willing to share.

Thanks guys!
-Troy]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1957/game-intro Thu, 02 Jun 2011 22:38:01 +0000 morkleb 1957@/discussions https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1947/d-d-3-5-animal-companion-rules-skills Fri, 27 May 2011 16:56:11 +0000 Deadseid 1947@/discussions
Animals start with (2+int)x(3+HD) skill points.
Animal companions may not have more ranks in a skill than they have HD.

My question: if the rules state that a 3 HD cerval animal companion can't have more than 3 ranks in any skill, why does it start with 1 HD and 6 ranks in jump? Do i have the max ranks for animal companions wrong? It was hard info to find, but the info above was finally found on some pathfinder sites. As a dm, i'm a little stumped. The druid in my group is as well. This is the only aspect of animal companion advancement that we cannot grasp. Any help is much appreciated.]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1928/hello-op-ers Tue, 17 May 2011 02:43:41 +0000 Everdark 1928@/discussions
On that note, it's cake time.]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1948/busy-baby-steps Fri, 27 May 2011 20:32:22 +0000 gnunn 1948@/discussions
Well, I have a plan that I'm hoping will help change that, and I wanted to share it with you all because I know many of you also suffer from too-busy schedules.

Here's the plan: "Baby Steps" - I will try to devote 30 minutes a day to working on my wiki.

I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but I think that if I can get in "the habit":http://www.slideshare.net/captology/3-steps-to-new-habits of devoting a little time every day, in the long run, I will get a lot more done on my site than my current track of making major modifications and then disappearing for months.

I just did my first mini-session on my lunch break. I set up an Evernote template for my Adventure log posts and then updated a post in my super long backlog of missing adventure write-ups.

Baby steps...]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1932/i-exist Thu, 19 May 2011 10:49:45 +0000 Duskreign 1932@/discussions
Love and respect to you all,

Duskreign]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1920/a-forum-thread-for-alternate-services-for-op-fans Wed, 11 May 2011 23:51:06 +0000 mrlich 1920@/discussions
I hope that this is the right spot to put this - admins should (obviously) feel free to delete/move if it's not.

I was just wondering if there is an appropriate spot to post offering professional services to OP users? Since there are a lot of folks out there (yes, like Yours Truly) who offer professional art, cartography, costuming, writing, or other services that OP users might enjoy, it just seemed like a natural fit, but I don't want to be 'that guy' either, so I'm wondering if there's a spot set aside for such things.

Anywho - thanks in advance for any help, and happy gaming!

~MrLich]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1927/quick-questions-hope-this-is-in-the-right-spot Mon, 16 May 2011 01:45:01 +0000 Silverwerret 1927@/discussions
Taima]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1915/everyone-call-your-mom Sun, 08 May 2011 15:29:41 +0000 Poutine_Paladin 1915@/discussions https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1907/encounters-on-obsidian-portal Mon, 02 May 2011 18:57:10 +0000 Topheratl 1907@/discussions
I was looking to set it up for the store I am running at as a way to keep in touch with the regular players for the upcoming season.

Thoughts? Any reason why this would be a bad idea?

Thanks in advance for any help and feed back.

Topher]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1901/unbreaking-the-game Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:14:24 +0000 gnunn 1901@/discussions
I have one particular spell, which I foolishly house-ruled convinced a GM to houserule, in his game, which by default became similarly houseruled in my game, because the games are played by the same game group... just with different GMs. The problem spell:

"Haste":http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Haste

Why did we houserule it? I think we were in the middle of combat when a wizard I was playing dropped the spell, and rather than drop everything to look it up, the GM made a call... unfortunately, that call stuck and has come back to bite me in my own game.

Here's the house rule:
In my game, Haste provides the usual AC and attack bonuses, the usual double movement speed. However, it also gives the character either an extra standard or move action, rather than an extra hit on a full attack. When we said, "Sure it gives you an extra action" without actually looking at the rule, it resulted in major breakage. The spell has become a guaranteed first move in any big fight, because suddenly all the spellcasters can launch two fireballs per round, the monk gets an extra hit and the rogue can slip by for an extra backstab. From a player's perspective it's kickass! from a GM's perspective, it makes my life seriously difficult.

The trouble is, we've been running with the house rule for at least a year now. It is my PC's FAVORITE tactic. I fear that if I take it from them, I might face all out revolt. I would love any thoughts on the best way to handle this.

Should I:
* Say, "sorry... I looked at the actual spell and we've totally broken the game, moving forward we go by the book."
* Give my BBEGs the ability to cast slow and negate the spell as soon as the PCs drop it on themselves?
* Give my BBEGs the ability to cast broken haste to teach the PCs what pain is (They will likely fight a dragon this Friday...)
* Modify the house rule to take the edge off without dragging it all the way back to the rule as written? (e.g. two spells only if making a full attack, or extra move or attack action, but not an extra spell)

Have any of you run into similar situations? What did you do?]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1900/dark-sun-maps Sun, 24 Apr 2011 21:27:49 +0000 BlackPaws 1900@/discussions https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1882/obsidian-portal-campaigns-covered-on-planewalker-com Wed, 13 Apr 2011 04:06:20 +0000 Dungeon_Master_Loki 1882@/discussions
http://www.planewalker.com/110412/planescape-obsidian-portal

I think you'll see a few familiar faces, a certain chainsaw we all know and love for instance!

Thanks cutters!]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1890/round-table-gming Tue, 19 Apr 2011 12:18:07 +0000 PartyPanda 1890@/discussions
My current idea is that I'm going to give my players an endpoint they need to meander to in 1-2 sessions. They will function as unreliable narrators and I will put together the "true" story of what happened based on the parts of the story that they tell and post the true version on OP so the players know what I'm taking as canon. My sole purpose during it will be to play out NPCs and run combat.

Thoughts?

~The Party Panda]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1782/beyond-op-plug-your-other-creativity-here Thu, 17 Feb 2011 18:24:46 +0000 gnunn 1782@/discussions
We Portaliers are quite obviously a creative bunch -it only takes a couple minutes browsing through our campaigns for that to become apparent. I know you guys and gals must have other projects, blogs and the like that the OP community might be interested in. I propose we plug such things here.

Full disclosure: I recently restarted a previously aborted attempt to launch a gaming blog -because there just aren't enough of those out there! ; ) I've hit the point where I feel like I'm hitting a posting groove and also feeling a bit ridiculous babbling into the nothingness of the internet without people actually knowing about it.

So, check out "ROFL Initiative":http://www.roflinitiative.com/ if you are interested.

Now its your turn! I want to add some stuff to my blog roll! What are you writing about outside OP?]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1860/time-management-my-eternal-foe Fri, 01 Apr 2011 12:10:42 +0000 Duskreign 1860@/discussions
This thread is simultaneously a cry for help (mental), a cry for help (actual), and a cry of wanton lament.


When it comes to Obsidian Portal, I have too many things to do and nowhere near enough time to do them:

First, I have been trying to update my Star Wars campaign page to a new, more aesthetically pleasing/easily navigable format. I have made decent progress, mind you. I am almost done updating the "Cast page,":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic/wikis/cast and then I can move on to the Galaxy Guide, which will house things like planet info, ships, equipment, a timeline, and other such data. Since starting that project, I have run six sessions of the actual game, and I haven't updated the adventure logs for any of them. I have also introduced several new characters (as well as two short-term replacement PCs for a story arc I ran at PAX East), and they aren't up yet, either. All totaled, I am estimating that I have about 50 hours of typing, coding, and photoshopping to do in order to get my KOTOR page up to snuff.

Second, I haven't updated Wyrmshadow in sooooo long! Sure, I have been pretty good with keeping up with my Duskreign Recommends feature (which I just to "took care of,":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/profit-and-peril incidentally), but I have run five more sessions of War is Hell since the most recent one I put in the adventure logs. Plus, I have a huge, HUGE backlog of notes from previous sessions to put up. If Star Wars is going to take me 50 hours to catch up to, Wyrmshadow will take at least twice that long.

Third, of course, I am actively running two campaigns. Actually running the games themselves is the only part of the process I have kept up with, honestly.

Fourth, I have a list two pages long of people who are waiting for me to draw something for them, not to mention my own art projects I would like to delve into. Oh, and add a new map to my Wyrmshadow to-do list, btw.

Finally (I think), I am playing in a campaign run by Rase Cidraen, and I want to do so much for that game. I finally finished "my art for my character,":http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/6615/simoncruzhires.png but I have yet to even get past the sketch phase for another PC, Yonus Fitzsimmons. I have notes for a few more "journal pages,":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/the-dark-queen-of-the-west/wikis/from-the-journal-of-det-simon-cruz-sid but I haven't gotten around to putting them together and posting them yet. I played a session recently and have the discussion logs saved to a Word document, ready to format into first-person perspective so I can post them as my next adventure log for that game.

Every week, I run two more sessions and fall two more behind. I make small, minute progress here and there, while more tasks and inspirations sneak into the fray. I don't even know where to begin, sometimes. I recently got home from work, stared at the Wyrmshadow homepage for half an hour, said "eff it" to myself, and went to bed early, simply because the sheer quantity of stuff I want to achieve (or worse, that I have already told others I *would* achieve) that continues to build and build.

It is kind of like watching someone try to build a huge sandcastle while playing volleyball and deep-sea fishing all at the same time. And the tide is coming in. And he sucks at volleyball. And he gets seasick on fishing boats.

So, I don't know. Why did I bug OP with all this? Because you're here, I guess. Because you're here, and I needed to bug someone. Anyway, thanks for your time.

- Duskreign

P.S. - This post is really long, so don't read it.

P.P.S. - This month's Duskreign Recommended campaign is none other than Gnomes Rule! Alright. April Fools. It's actually "Venture Six's":http://www.obsidianportal.com/profile/VentureSix/ awesome Rogue Trader campaign, "Profit and Peril!":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/profit-and-peril]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1885/anyone-else-using-barbarians-of-lemuria Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:28:07 +0000 johnnynapalm 1885@/discussions Cheers, Johnny]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1883/adventure-help-a-recon-mission-and-a-mystery Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:17:17 +0000 JonathonVolkmer 1883@/discussions
Party consists of the following:

Orcish Barbarian (Yes, full-blooded Orc)
Human Warblade (Book of the Nine Swords)
Human Sorcerer
Gray Elf Ranger

They are all level 2. They are headquarter in a large town/small city called Antibas which lies on the influence border between the Gray Elf city-state of Eleston and the Human city-state of Genova.

The players have just returned from a rather major delve into an old abandoned mine, where they were to retrieve some ancient and valuable cultural artifacts from an underground temple. Having successfully done so without dying, they decided to return to town. While they were camping in a ruined keep outside the mine, the Orcish Barbarian observed a scouting party of other Orcs passing by below them; while the scouting party presented no major threat, he knows that it is almost certainly only the forerunner for a whole tribe of Orcs moving into the area.

When they get back to town, the group will probably want to collect their payment from the archaeologist who hired them, and then hopefully report the oncoming Orcs. If they don't, a Wood Elf envoy will arrive from a nearby village to inform the Mayor. Otherwise, the Wood Elf will arrive at the town hall around the same time they do. The Mayor will commission them (they've been building a small reputation for themselves around town) to go with the Wood Elf (a rather haughty and suspicious fellow who won't take well to anyone in the group) and scout out the Orcs. Meanwhile, he'll raise a tax levy to pay for Elestonian soldiers to defend the town; in fact, the party will be the first to pay their share. They'll be so pleased.

So here's the first part of the adventure that I'd like ideas, advice, and help on. So far, I want the recon mission to include the following elements:

* no one likes the wood elf
* he gets captured by an Orc scout party, and they have to rescue him
* they succeed, and he turns over a new leaf, but then they are surrounded by a larger group of orcs
* the other Wood Elves show up and a skirmish ensues, ending when all the Orcs are slain or driven off
* their guide vouches for them, and they are invited to become honorary members of the village (which means they need to run THE GAUNTLET)
* I don't know what THE GAUNTLET should consist of...help?
* they finish scouting the Orcs and discover their numbers and position, then head back to town

*Recon == finito*. Any ideas about how to run a large combat in a forest setting, how to incorporate 4E skill challenges into this in some way, or any other neat ideas about running recon missions would be welcome.]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1876/new-game-i-m-trying-to-make Sun, 10 Apr 2011 02:17:28 +0000 morkleb 1876@/discussions https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1875/wierd-west-machinima Sat, 09 Apr 2011 19:40:43 +0000 PartyPanda 1875@/discussions "campaign homepage":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/manifestdestiny/wikis/home-page as a surprise for my players. I'd appreciate it if you could take a looksee and offer any feedback!

~The Party Panda...off to eat and nap, then drink, then sleep more.]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1874/watch-the-drawbox-live-today Sat, 09 Apr 2011 17:45:52 +0000 DarkMagus 1874@/discussions
"Here's the link to the live stream.":http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-draw-box-live-sketch-show]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1870/xp-tracker-for-download Wed, 06 Apr 2011 05:35:12 +0000 gnunn 1870@/discussions
I just uploaded an Excel-based "XP tracker":https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B5gBfncCduKOODQzZDcyNTQtMDBjYi00OTU0LTliMmQtNDZiOTQyNmUyZjg4&hl=en&authkey=CML36PwL I built for my game. If you are looking for a way to keep track of your characters' xp, feel free to check it out, and/or download it. (The document is in Excel 2007, people with earlier versions might need to convert it.)

Here's how it works:
Plug in your PCs' names, along with the average party level, XP required to reach the next level and average xp per encounter. Then, as your game progresses, just add the xp each character gets in each encounter along with any relevant notes. The spreadsheet will then automatically calculate each character's total xp, their xp until they reach the next level, and the number of average encounters required to reach the next level. It's a pretty simple system, but I've found it to be very helpful in my game.

The tracker currently has my PCs plugged in as an example. Just clear them out and clear the data beginning at the line titled "Starting XP" and you should be good to go!]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1872/4e-character-themes Fri, 08 Apr 2011 01:44:47 +0000 IronDog 1872@/discussions https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1867/unrelated-mmo-question Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:55:08 +0000 gaaran 1867@/discussions https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1859/gamma-world-on-short-notice Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:22:36 +0000 gnunn 1859@/discussions
My regular D&D game night fell apart this week at the last minute due to player absences. I've been talking with some of the players who were planning on coming, and we have decided to have a go at the introductory adventure for Gamma World instead. Here's the thing, I have read through the adventure only once and have run one of my players through the character creation process, so I know the basics... sort of. We are playing tonight starting about 1/2 an hour to an hour after I get home from work.

We only have 2 hours of actual play time scheduled, if people get their characters made between 6:30 & 7, so I don't expect to get through the whole adventure but hope to have the big word, FUN.

1. Can I do it?
2. Any recommendations for ultra speed prep?
3. Any ideas for speeding up play so we can get through more of the adventure?
4. Should I even go with the intro adventure, or should I try to make up a small scenario and run that instead?

I am both really excited and really terrified.]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1851/to-kill-or-not-to-kill Mon, 28 Mar 2011 02:12:48 +0000 PartyPanda 1851@/discussions
Sorry, this is going to require a bit of background before I launch into the question...

Ok, first off, I'm a big softie. I have a tendency to run "cinematic" games where I rarely kill off PCs unless they are really begging for it out of sheer stupidity or they've thrown themselves into a situation where death is dramatically appropriate. This style of gaming works really well with my group, because most of them are actors/theater students and they really get into their character's heads and behave like actual people who are afraid of dying. I've had to institute time limits on occasion because they spend so much time planning on how to keep their characters alive before they go into a fight!

I feel as though the downside of this is that tension is slightly lessened, because they know I'm not killing anyone unless they "ask for it."

So my current dilemma, I have one character who is in love with an NPC and refused to take her into battle with him, even though she was more than willing to go if he had asked. I had brought this NPC (and another female NPC) in specifically to help in this battle, because the boss character is a misogynist with a vulnerability to women and the PC party is made of 5 males and 1 female.

Now while my evil inner GM is glad they made the fight harder for themselves, I did drop the hint that this character has a severe dislike of women. Their reason for leaving the two women behind was that they thought it was "too dangerous" for them to come along, yet they also engineered a rather violent distraction in the town they left the women in. The PC who really wanted to leave her behind is doing so because he believes that this is the girl he's going to marry due to a glimpse he had of the future.

I'm thinking of killing the romantic interest NPC offscreen during the fight in the town as an emotional sucker punch, both as a "you can't control the future" lesson and as a "dude, you totally missed the huge clue I waved in front of your face" lesson. My question to my fellow GMs is (1) is this too much of a douchey move since he didn't even have a *chance* to save her onscreen (I am genuinely afraid if I give him the chance I'm going to softie out when I see his sad puppyface and let him save her) and (2) do you think this will end up slowing down my game even more as the players over analyze every word that comes out of my mouth?]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1849/looking-for-planescape-campaigns-on-op-for-an-article-i-m-writing Sun, 27 Mar 2011 06:28:41 +0000 Dungeon_Master_Loki 1849@/discussions
Once my post is finished and live I'll come back here and post a link to the final piece.

Thanks!]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1825/retiring-pcs-without-breaking-your-game Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:22:25 +0000 gnunn 1825@/discussions
I am looking to put some problem-solving minds on a challenge I am facing at the moment.

One of my players, who has been on hiatus during a particularly busy quarter of grad school has announced that she may need to bow out of the game entirely because it looks like her time is just going to get more scarce as school goes on.

I have put it to my group to figure out how to appropriately retire her character and have run into a pretty unique problem. The uber-plot arc my players began over a year ago started when this particular character (a paladin) was charged by her order to find and stop the cause of a blight spreading across the land. Well, the party is just about to enter act III of the adventure with the paladin currently being rolled as an NPC. I raised the option of having the paladin leave the group to either a. train the guards for their keep and look after their new valley, or b. go off on a tangentially related side mission.

The player then voiced her opposition to her character doing anything other than pursuing the "cure the blight" mission. Here's the problem. Some of my other PCs now have a slightly less pressing investment in the blight story. One has realized that a cult to which his hated father belonged is somehow involved. Another is a completionist by nature and a third is about to get a reveal that could fully pull her in as well. Besides, they ALL have just inherited a keep and sworn allegiance to the kingdom affected by the blight. Point is, they have a lot of buy-in for this mission too. The trouble is, my group is currently at 7pcs if you count the paladin. I see the opportunity for her to leave the group as a chance to focus more on the players who are there and to address one of the biggest challenges for keeping my game moving along -group size. If she stays on as an NPC, I feel like it provides an extra roll/role that must be attended to, but that nobody at the table has a direct investment in.

Any recommendations on how to handle this without alienating the player who is bowing out or the rest of my group? We are all close friends in real life as well.]]> https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/271/problems-with-ratings-official-thread Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:48:55 +0000 Micah2 271@/discussions https://forum.obsidianportal.com/discussion/1679/obsidian-portal-in-french Fri, 17 Dec 2010 10:14:42 +0000 Torgan 1679@/discussions
is there any plan to translate OP in french, and if yes, is there a way to contribute ?

Thanks for your job :)]]>