Quote from: Cranewings;262472Damn StormBringer, I wanted to get in on the drama. You could have been a dick... but now I feel ashamed. Way to take the high ground and just explain yourself.

Sorry about that.  Ummm...

I find your points well reasoned and hope things work out in your D&D game, asshole!

Better?  

Let me address this really quick, though:

Quote from: CranewingsRunning a big group makes it hard to have random fights. First off, not a lot of random stuff will mess with 6-8 armed men in the woods. Secondly, if we only get to play for 3-4 hours, a random fight or two can eat a huge % of the session. Finally, people expect their characters to only die in story related ways... so random encounters don't have any teeth and are hardly worth running in my game.

It can be tricky for a larger group, but remember, 'wandering monsters' can also be thought of as 'wandering encounters', so it's not always something the party would have to fight.  A group of Halflings out hunting, or a merchant caravan, if they are near a road.  It can even be a ruined keep or decrepit temple complex with a little cash lying around.

I think you will find that AD&D combats, even random ones no one is exactly prepared for, really don't take up that much time.  I understand players don't like losing characters to essentially random monsters, but you can give them minimum, or 30% of max hit points or something.  The point is, should the magic user launch that fireball, if they aren't even to the dungeon yet?  Should we break out the healing potions if we get beat up a little?

Also, if it is in the wilderness especially, give the players a bit of warning that something is on the way.  Rustling in the bushes, tree branches snapping off, and so on.  You don't need to have that random pack of orcs necessarily fight to the death if there is nothing for them to defend, either.  Maybe a round or two of exchanges, and they take off to avoid losses.

Just some unsolicited advice, though, feel free to ignore it, if you weren't looking for that.

Last night I played D&D with my kids til 10:00, went to play poker until 3:00 AM, and won, then woke up to play D&D again for 3 hours this AM.

Then I get included with Melan, PI, Mr. Wilen, and Sett.

The best weekend evar...

Quote from: StormBringer;262465Oh, look, I found some stuff.

Huh.  So, 'learn the rules and talk about them'.  Good thing I went to the trouble of finding that.  That's five minutes of my life I won't be getting back.

I'm glad I can waste as much of it as possible.

And you still don't understand it. Which is funny as hell, because it's a fairly obvious concept.

QuoteOh, look, other people think you are a douchebag, too:

None of those fellows are particularly fond of me, it's true. But whereas I can have a productive conversation with them - and have on many occasions - you're still little more than a troll.

QuoteAre you sure you want me using the search function?  Because I am really good with it.  I just kind of figured you might not want to offer that again, since it really undercuts your random babbling that you think passes for 'argument'.

Actually, it doesn't in the slightest. You managed to dig up a bunch of people disagreeing with me in a highly contentious thread - after I pointed you directly at that thread and mentioned that you ought to search it several times - and mistook that for a refutation.

Sorry, Stormy, but you're really not very good at this thing. As Drew pointed out earlier in this thread, you don't have a position or principles of any sort. You're a sophist who merely doesn't like newer D&D editions and who will grasp after any straw, no matter how much any given statement might contradict your previous statements.

Quote from: StormBringer;262459No, what irritates me is your intellectual laziness, while you attempt to impugn people with claims of intellectual dishonesty.  So keep responding, contrary to your claims to despise doing so.

Douchebag.

I never said I "despise" responding to you, you illiterate. I said that I hold you personally in contempt. Once again, due to severe reading comprehension problems, you missed the part where I said riling you up is great fun. And it is. Now I know the joy CavScout has in taking the piss from you.

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;262578Now I know the joy CavScout has in taking the piss from you.

Except neither of you has.  The more you speak, the more people will know how utterly bankrupt your "ideas".

Quote from: StormBringer;262582Except neither of you has.  The more you speak, the more people will know how utterly bankrupt your "ideas".

Mate, when I've been making fun of you all day for being only semi-literate, you may wish to proofread more thoroughly. I'm glad that you're living down to my expectations, though.

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;262577I'm glad I can waste as much of it as possible.
And you still don't understand it. Which is funny as hell, because it's a fairly obvious concept.

You can repeat that as much as you like, the fact is, I laid bare the desolation of your ridiculous concept, much like the others I quoted above.

It's really not that I don't understand it, it is that the concept is utterly devoid of anything meaninful.

QuoteNone of those fellows are particularly fond of me, it's true. But whereas I can have a productive conversation with them - and have on many occasions - you're still little more than a troll.

I'm not sure I would personally consider everyone telling you that your idea is completely without merit or worthy of any kind of consideration to be 'productive conversation', but it's your little reality, and you have amply demonstrated that you are incapable of any discussion outside of that.

QuoteActually, it doesn't in the slightest. You managed to dig up a bunch of people disagreeing with me in a highly contentious thread - after I pointed you directly at that thread and mentioned that you ought to search it several times - and mistook that for a refutation.

No, I pointed out that, at no time, did you bother to clarify, expand upon, or even attempt to define this silly 'culture of play' idea.  Much as you are doing now.  Rather than engage the discussion, you are performing the exact same act that people pointed out the previous thread.

QuoteSorry, Stormy, but you're really not very good at this thing. As Drew pointed out earlier in this thread, you don't have a position or principles of any sort. You're a sophist who merely doesn't like newer D&D editions and who will grasp after any straw, no matter how much any given statement might contradict your previous statements.

Seriously?  I mean, I go find exactly where you define 'culture of play' as 'learning the rules and talking about them', point out that a number of people in that thread pointed out your vapid responses and failure to engage in the discussion, and you come back with this?

I mean, it is quite clear you don't like or play earlier versions of AD&D, which by your reasoning, means you shouldn't be expounding on wandering monsters at all.  You clearly have no concept of how AD&D evolved or how the rules have changed or stayed the same.  This was noted several times in the thread above.  You have no real faculty for discerning general statements from specific arguments, and you are clearly incapable of defending your own points.  I mean, I would like to respond to something you post, but you really don't post anything.  There's no content to your submissions.

To borrow from Wolfgang Paulli, you aren't even wrong.

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;262583Mate, when I've been making fun of you all day for being only semi-literate, you may wish to proofread more thoroughly. I'm glad that you're living down to my expectations, though.

And you may want to pick up a few more books to learn the wide variety of ways sentences can be structured.

And since Stormbringer appears to be hitting the "repeat" button now, here's some useful content for everyone else:

One useful thing to do is to give PCs a minor quest (put it on a quest card if you want so that they remember). Each location in a dungeon that they can explore without being spotted by or engaging the enemy is worth a set value of experience. Managing to clear sections of a dungeon or castle without raising the alarm might be another goal worth experience.

Now that monsters have passive perception scores, it's also possible to give the PCs a bit more of a sporting chance. Rather than rolling on a table and having the monster wander up or leap out of the darkness or whatever you can try the following. Pick a couple of monster groups to sprinkle around the dungeon and have the PCs randomly roll Stealth or another relevant skill (Athletics might be useful if they're in a tricky situation and the monster would have to climb up or something to reach them, in this case the DC is monster's Athletics + 10).

If they can't beat that score, the monsters spot them, or are able to reach them, or whatever, and they have the random encounter. Until they fail those rolls though, the monster will not notice them and will leave them alone.

Quote from: StormBringer;262588And you may want to pick up a few more books to learn the wide variety of ways sentences can be structured.

A lame attempt to cover your ass on an obvious fuck up caused by your illiteracy.

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;262589And since Stormbringer appears to be hitting the "repeat" button now, here's some useful content for everyone else

Both of those statements are factually incorrect.

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;262591A lame attempt to cover your ass on an obvious fuck up caused by your illiteracy.

Resorting to vulgarity?  Perhaps the illiteracy isn't precisely where you indicate.

Quote from:  MongoIR STORMSBRINGER AND I IS SUPA ANGRY! I KIN REEDZ PLENTY GOODZ

It's pretty clear you have a fairly loose understanding of any of my positions, especially when you show such shocking ignorance of my opinion of D&D. I would suggest in future that you attempt to discover what someone else's positions and beliefs are before you claim to have "refuted" them.

I mean heck, you don't even know what I'm talking about when I mention "culture of play" to Elliott, and yet now you're claiming that I'm wrong about it or something. It's unclear what exactly you're taking issue with now; If it really is just "learning the rules and talking to people about them" it's unclear why that's meaningless nonsense, and if it's not (which it isn't), then you don't seem to have any reason to object to it.

Quote from: StormBringer;262595Resorting to vulgarity?  Perhaps the illiteracy isn't precisely where you indicate.

Are you pretending to be shocked by swearing on the internet?

Hah! Stormy, I can't even take you seriously enough any more to really and truly hate your guts. You're just too fantastic a buffoon.

Quote from: StormBringer;262476Sorry about that.  Ummm...

I find your points well reasoned and hope things work out in your D&D game, asshole!

Better?  

Let me address this really quick, though:


It can be tricky for a larger group, but remember, 'wandering monsters' can also be thought of as 'wandering encounters', so it's not always something the party would have to fight.  A group of Halflings out hunting, or a merchant caravan, if they are near a road.  It can even be a ruined keep or decrepit temple complex with a little cash lying around.

I think you will find that AD&D combats, even random ones no one is exactly prepared for, really don't take up that much time.  I understand players don't like losing characters to essentially random monsters, but you can give them minimum, or 30% of max hit points or something.  The point is, should the magic user launch that fireball, if they aren't even to the dungeon yet?  Should we break out the healing potions if we get beat up a little?

Also, if it is in the wilderness especially, give the players a bit of warning that something is on the way.  Rustling in the bushes, tree branches snapping off, and so on.  You don't need to have that random pack of orcs necessarily fight to the death if there is nothing for them to defend, either.  Maybe a round or two of exchanges, and they take off to avoid losses.

Just some unsolicited advice, though, feel free to ignore it, if you weren't looking for that.

No, that's good advice. I might start doing something like that. I'm already pretty heavily thought of as that gm that lets the dice run his game. I roll everything out infront of the players as much as possible. If I added in some serious random tables, it could get pretty funny. I'll see what I can do.

Lata.