5 Ways 5e Kicks Ass

Last week left the Blarg! feeling nervous about the upcoming Dungeons and Dragons 5e game planned by the gaming group. Our game, a straightforward march through the jungle to retrieve an artifact, nonetheless kicked ass from beginning to end. Here's a few reasons why:

1.) Backgrounds

Character gen in 5e goes very quickly indeed, producing PCs that are balanced and maybe even too similar. Our pre-gen characters, though, came complete with "backgrounds" already added--quirks, codes of honor, prejudices--that helped us jump right into roleplaying. Without them, my gnome would not have been a loudmouth jerk, the elf would not have a pet mouse, and the healer would not have removed his armor to give last rites to some unfortunates whose corpses also housed a bunch of giant centipedes. Owie. But the roleplaying earned us...

2.) Inspiration.

This is the "benny" or the "fate point" of 5e, a chance for the player to affect his own fate. When you do a good job, your character gets Inspiration, which can be used at your own discretion, say, if your PC needs help on an especially important role. I've always said that D&D lacked a reward mechanic for good roleplaying, so I'm glad to see it in 5e. How can you apply inspiration? Glad you asked...

3.) Advantage/Disadvantage.

Let's say you're playing a dwarf fighter. All game long, you've been rolling like shit--nothing higher than a 5. Okay, fine, it's frustrating but no real damage done (because you haven't hit anything). But then a big damn snake rears up out of the underbrush and bites you for a fuckton of damage. If you fail your CON save against the poison, you're doomed. It's time to roll... with advantage! A new mechanic for 5e, Advantage and Disadvantage allow you to roll 2d20 instead of one. If you have Advantage, take the higher number; if Disadvantage, the lower. It adds a degree of emotion to the roll that wasn't present before--anticipation in the case of Advantage, and desperation in the case of Disadvantage. Besides, if rolling one d20 is fun, rolling two is more than twice as fun--it's squared. Of course, if you roll like our dwarf, even Advantage won't help...

4.) Death Rolls.

Time was, if you hit 0 HP, you were unconscious, but not dead. That didn't happen until you reached -10 HP, which meant that few people died from combat--they just got knocked cold, waited for the battle to end, and got healed. In 5e, if you reach 0 HP, your troubles are just beginning. You must then make a "Death Roll" every round against a straight DC 10. Make it, you score one point. Fail, you lose one point. If you gain three points before losing three, you live. Otherwise, you reap the benefits of a simple character gen system to have a new PC in minutes. I love the suspense this generated as our healer tried to decide whether to heal Therin the Rogue in the middle of combat, or hope he survived until later.

5.) IT'S D&D, GODDAMMIT!!!

It's all here: rolling initiative, d20s to hit, dwarves, elves, rogues, monsters, spells, levelling up, classes, multi-classes, the whole nine yards.

Is it "realistic"? Fuck, no.

Is it groundbreaking and innovative? No. Indie games and GURPS did all the groundbreaking and innovation for them.

Is it versatile and flexible, able to switch genres and settings in a heartbeat? Yes, but only if you want to switch from Forgotten Realms to Dragonlance and from sword & sorcery to high fantasy.

Is it MOTHERFUCKING DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS?!?! Is it a game that blends the best of 1e with the best of modern games? Is it very unlike that unholy afterbirth that was 4e? IS IT, IN FACT, A GAME WHERE A GNOME SORCERER CAN USE SHOCKING GRASP TO ELECTROCUTE A SAVAGE CANNIBAL ON HIS JUNK?!

You're goddam right it is.

#dd #campaign #roleplaying #humor

The (Un) Happy Couple

Mrs. Lotts laid a photo on the desk: herself and Merton on their wedding day, the happiest day of their lives. Studs saw it coming before she could say it: She suspected that Merton was seeing someone else, and wanted Studs to find out for sure. It was a drab, commonplace story, and he knew the ending already, but still he wondered: why me?

Next Chapter

#humor #noir #legotown #lego #studsfedora #snapjudgment

Dungeons and Dragons Levels Up

Can It Recapture the Thrill of 1st Edition?

His name was Dino DeBasher, and he began life as a Dwarf Fighter/Thief on one of those official orange character sheets from TSR sometime in the early 1980s. Over the years he spiralled out of control, becoming a munchkin of the worst order--he slew Tiamat, found the Invulnerable Coat of Arnd, wielded a sentient +3 sword named Nemesis who could heal all Hit Points three times a day, and much, much more.

Ah, First Edition. (To the left are my remaining core rule books, my hand-crayoned dice, and the dice bag hand-made by my school bus driver, who had to listen to us play every afternoon on the ride home.)

As I grew older (notice that I don't say I matured), I experimented with other character builds, eventually playing every conceivable combination of race and class. Between that and the same-ness of the dungeon crawls and campaigns I played, I grew bored with swords and sorcery, and D&D in particular. I sold off most of my books and gear, found other systems and genres to play (I love you, GURPS), and only occasionally dipped into the new editions of my first favorite. Fourth Edition nearly made me write off D&D entirely.

This weekend, my group will make its first foray into Fifth Edition, and I must say that I feel some of the old excitement returning. I've read the free PDF downloads to get familiar with "Advantage and Disadvantage" and other new rules; I even experimented with creating a character, which took maybe ten minutes.

But I'm apprehensive nonetheless. Can this brand-spanking new edition ever rekindle the enthusiasm I've been missing for so long?

It's a heavy burden to place on a single game. So much depends on the DM, the adventure itself, our facility with the rules and a dozen other factors that it's unfair to hope that it can ever give me the pleasure I got from YEARS of First Edition play. We'll probably spend a good deal of time flipping through rulebooks or discussing rules interpretations, activities that used to bring a great deal of joy to this old grognard, but which now seem like a waste of time. (Just make something up, and let's get on with it!) We'll most likely try an action not well-defined by the system, chafing when we realize that we can't make that many moves in one round. I fully expect to face at least one giant rat.

Will all of this satisfy the craving I feel for some old-fashioned high-fantasy role playing? Maybe a little. And maybe that's enough. And maybe I'll name my new character Dino...

#roleplaying #gaming #dd