Since, January of 2006, The Vodkast has been creating fun and whimsical content for RU-vid. Our main goal is to make the world a better place in even the smallest ways. We do our best to shy from negativity, and keep the mood positive, but are not without depth and feelings and may, from time to time, release a video that contradicts another's beliefs. I'm a lover, not a fighter. I have no intention to offend you, and if I do, I will apologize. I believe we are all equals and deserve kindness, compassion and respect.
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I can't see you. Also, perhaps consider a more open and narrative focussed game than the WotC product. That way, you don't need all the extraneous accessories and rulebooks such as Beyond 20 etc, etc which stop the game in its tracks when someone has a doubt.
I hide behind the microphone because I hate my teeth. 😉 You know, that's not a bad idea. I haven't considered a different set of rules in a long time. I've grown complacent and familiar with dnd, but I would love to try something new. Do you have any suggestions?
@@vodkast I'm with you on that one, I too have unconventional teeth due to various factors, but hey, f 'em if they can't accept what's real. Indeed I do. ICRPG by Runehammer Games is the perfect 'happy medium' between complex and rules lite (tends more towards the lite when interpreted RAW). A quickstart guide is available free on their website or perhaps DTRPG. It's a d20 roll over with the 6 main stats like D&D's current version, but cuts out a lot of the dead weight, which allows for customisation and use of the same ruleset across different settings - sci-fi, western etc. The GM section in the full book is packed with great advice on running an RPG. All done by one person, no AI, no messing around. I've found that if players are on board, the mood at the table can be freer than with some more prescriptive systems. Hope that helps.
@@vodkast I understand. I'm not proud of what life has done to my teeth, but appearances mustn't stop anyone getting their message across. Don't hide! I recommend ICRPG from Runehammer Games. The quickstart rules are available free from their website (or DTRPG). It's a d20 roll over system with the ubiquitous 6 stats, so it'll be familiar, but has a lot of unnecessary stuff removed. This can mean a little more improvisation and customisation on behalf of the DM, which can leave beginner DMs with some questions, but if you go into it with the philosophy that you/ your table should answer that question, you'll be fine. The DM section in the main book is gold!
I like the conversation about the blind/gm rolls. I agree with everything said, and will work to add that to my games. Luckily with VTT, it is easy to hide rolls for specific rolls. I will sometimes reveal either the great rolls or the exceptionally bad ones because I feel the character would probably have a feel for how they did if was one extreme or the other
@@michaeldecker8218 i think jim had the best response when he said any role based on strength or dexterity would be visible rolls. I really think it just boils down to the dungeon masters. Preference, and how he or she wants to run their game. I really do like seeing those ones in 20s, though, LOL
@@vodkast I actually incorporated this into our Friday game last night. In Foundry, with one of the modules, you can easily pick and choose what are hidden rolls. I chose STR, DEX, and CON as visible. Seemed to make sense to me. In Foundry, you can also pick and choose what abiiity rolls are blind. makes it nice for those Perception or Insight rolls, well, nice for the DM anyway lol
Do you think it should be a feat maybe. There is a fine balance between making it too risky and making it too common. A feat would allow the "bonus action" idea and expand upon it there.
Another reason I feel it should be a feat is because not every class gets a bonus action. The feat would allow the bonus action for the called shot for whomever took the feat, right?
What about with called shot you have to roll 5 over what you need to hit (the enemy AC) for it to be successful. That way you are not taking away a hit, but the exact spot aimed for was not hit.
@michaeldecker8218 That's definitely a question I've asked myself, but I want it to be available to all players and not those who have just taken the feat. Making it a feat definitely makes a lot of sense, though. I'll have to dwell on this a little longer. 😆
@@vodkast If a character does not have the feat, but still wants to try, I would say maybe just add an additional penalty, such as you need 5 over AC to do it, BUT roll with disadvantage, OR maybe just need a flat 10 over AC to do it. some extra thoughts to clog your mind lol
Great video, a lot of great ideas here guys, thanks for letting me participate! As I'm sitting here listening about the called shots, I remember way back playing with called shots, and I would Target specific areas of an anime all the time, and I recall there were extra rolls involved like if I was trying to Target a specific area it required a strength or dexterity check..
@artneimaniii8620 i think called shots definitely add flavor to the game. However, they can be overdone as well. Personally, I love seeing a character use call shots at the right time. It makes for more interesting combat.
I watch part narcs all the time! I love the reactions of some of the people. And I hope you guys are doing well. I'm also one who thinks about stuff like that randomly, sometimes to much. There's been to many good people taken to young around me lately. You definitely never know!
Great video Champ! I have always loved called shots. It adds some excitement to the fight, and it can have a highly debilitating/damaging effect on an enemy. It's also a fun way for a Player to interact with a fight in a more detailed way, and it can inspire the DM as well, possibly changing the course of it. That goes both ways too, with success or failure!
I totally agree. Defining a fight in more detail is important to me as a DM. Roll until death is boring, I want to see the players spice things up. Brisby is the Eyeseeker!
I don't run with called shots at all, if someone wants to do extra damage durring an encounter then that's what mechanics are for, if someone wants to tell me that there character is aiming for a targets legs to slow down someone whom is running away I would just let them do it, maybe even just let them slow down the target, they are the heros so maybe they shouldn't need to have navigate numbers on there roll if they want to do something heroic right?
Well said. I've never looked at it that way before. I always consider my players, The heroes, but usually they're trying to get big damage or a quick kill. However, if they were trying to slow someone down or knock something out of someone's hands, I would totally let them do that on a regular attack. Thanks for checking out this episode! You rock.
That's kinda broken tho, there are attacks used specifically for slowing/stopping enemies, like topple and esnaring/stunning strike. Just allowing that to be done with a normal attack roll kinda defeats the point of those attacks/skills, doesn't it?
@@carloses Another valid point. What it boils down to for me is the risk factor. Though it may add more rolls to the game, the fun in it, for the player (I believe) is much like that of the craps gambler. The need to see if things are going to work the way you'd hoped. So, I'm on the fence, but as a DM, I most often put my players above the rules.
@carloses that's a good point, but I have always had a more narrative focus on my campaigns, and my players never try to take advantage of me, example of how I ruled a situation like this once a cultists was fleeing the party, the only option they decided they had to slow him down to catch up was to hit him in the legs to slow him down so they could catch up, I told the fighter to just roll a straight up atack and they nabbed the guy, it worked out well and we played on having a good time, it didn't end up breaking anything at all in that situation although I can see how some players may think they can take advantage of this sort of thing.
Whoa! That's a sick haul! Those Books are huge!! I've never heard of any of this stuff. May it inspire you greatly! The art in the role playing books is always awesome! Definitely my favorite part of DnD!
@milk-ub9zo the microphone thing I understand, but may I ask why you don't like the AI thumbnails? I'm a one man operation, so I started using AI. To create my thumbnails because it saves me a lot of time.However, if people are totally against them, I don't mind going back to the old way. The only reason why I'm so close to the microphone is because I hate my teeth. Would it help if I dial back the volume?
@@vodkast Well frankly, it just feels unoriginal and lacking of that human touch. You really don't really need complicated thumbnails, just something that matches the topic of the video. Alot of viewers on youtube actually like the simple homey feeling so don't sweat it too much with the thumbnails. Not to mention the moral dilemmas of AI art, and the fact that it's often just kinda ugly. Maybe the mic issue is more on my part but yeah maybe dialing back the gain would help. I understand you, insecurities gets to everybody but if you own up to it nobody will be able to clown you.. look at danny brown, he made having chipped teeth cool as hell.
@@vodkast Ofc! it's no problem, and by the way it's not all negative, your setup is really nice, video quality and lighting is good plus the review was actually informative
Everything about this, and your monstorously epic 30yr campaign, was beautiful and an absolute privilege to hear!! In the realm of DM's, you're a legend bro🫶
Loved the video. I totally get the emotion of the conclusion. All the years I have DM'ed, I have never had a really satisfactory conclusion to a campaign. Most times it was the game and/or players fell apart due to other personal obligations and whatnot, so I can really relate to your story.
@michaeldecker8218 It is true that most parties never see the end of a campaign but rather fall apart because of something. Isn't that a strange thing? In most things in life, if we didn't complete something we set out to do, we would be distressed and broken hearted, but with DND, we just move on to the next game.
You had me until, “The flavor is not great.” The flavor is actually pretty great. There are hotter salsas than Mrs. Renfro’s, but there are not better.
@@vodkast setting up a new campaign for some beginners and without reading the books, the newbie goes, I really like the idea of being a dual wielding drow ranger with short swords… I’m like… do you happen to want a pet panther too? He’s like woah I never thought of that! I just rolled my eyes lol
I was starting to get really sad by your initial thoughts regarding the ice cream, but redeemed yourself by how much you loved the base flavor alone. It really is delightful!
Hey! We were acquaintances freshmen year in homeroom. Though I honestly can't remember if we ever talked, but maybe? I was equally terrified and anxious, travelling more than 30 minutes to get to a different town where i didn't know anyone. I looked at BP as a clean slate, a place to start over and get away from the bullies and ridicule. I didn't get away 100%, there were some pathetic slugs that tried to maintain my humiliations there though. I felt too free, and it was such a blissful time(talking to girls and making friends) I forgot to do schoolwork and blew it there (never got in commercial art, i missed by like 4 people). It really broke my heart. I am grateful for some of the friendships i cultivated there though, and some of the experiences. Trust has always been hard. (I think we were also in commercial art together as well, freshmen year).
@@artneimaniii8620 I think we talked in homeroom with Ms. Turano. I remember because I was shy and quiet and didn't talk to many people. You seemed very easy to talk to. So we've known each other since the 80s!!!
The person kind of forgets that evil is defined from the outside not necessarily the inside. If we use history some of the most historically evil people in the world did not themselves think of themselves as evil. Bringing order to a chaotic and awful world bring it back in the way that God intended was much the mantra of Adolf Hitler. How many people like him thought that the world was wrong and he was just trying to fix it. If we want to go into fiction Thanos and me did not think that he was evil. Just think how many people were killed in the crusades and that was a fight people thought was for God. In fact both sides thought they were fighting for God. Neither thought that they were evil. We can go into the world of politics I think one guy is very clearly evil. But I am equally confident that he doesn't see himself that way. If you want to go deeper in the woods both good and evil commit much the same acts it's the reasons why that is the difference between Good and evil. There could be a terrible monster that has been killing and stealing things from villagers and travelers for a decade. A group of Good and evil characters Go and kill The monster. The people that are good are happy that the people are safe because that's why they did it. The people that are evil only wanted the gold in treasure. Intrusive they probably both get some of that treasure. A super good paladin may give some back to the people. Point being is that you might have to get into some really heinous crimes like serial killers that eat people. Before you get to an actual person that may see himself as evil. And even then maybe not. Some of them hear voices and they think they're doing what God wants them to. So are the evil or just mentally ill. Can you be both. Probably too deep a question if you just want to have fun playing a fantasy role-playing game. But what if you faithfully follow an evil God who has blessed you with good things in life.
I'm currently playing as an Lawful Evil cleric in a small dungeon with some friends. He not only is part of the mage inquisition, but he is one of the EXTREMELY magic-phobic, but he knows he needs the rest of the party to go through this dungeon in order to "cleanse" it and "re-sacrate" those lands in the name of the Seraphs (gods). The thing is that this dungeon is an old temple of the ancient gods, who disappeared/died/abandoned mortals and some members of the party still respect these gods while my cleric is actively trying to destroy everything. We've been having some really cool roleplay scenes discussing about faith, about philosophy, about our objectives in that place and each side trying to prove their point is being peak cinema!
Imagine Frolo from Hunchback of Notre-Dame going through a satanic temple. That's his point of view of the situation. He "has" to burn and destroy everything inside those walls for they are the purest essence of "evil" in the world.
I played a lawful evil cleric of Death once, and my party was absolutely shocked and appalled that I would desecrate a random god's shrine I found.... like wtf did you expect, I'm just getting started. I quit after that session. They said they were fine with an evil character, and I even pointed out to them that I would have to do evil things, and they said it was fine.
The one time I was allowed to play an evil character in DnD, I was a guest player in an evil campaign. I rolled a CE Kitsune Trickster, way heavy into mind control and shapeshifting, and leaned harder into Chaotic than Evil. Character just had no concept of consequences. He gets what he wants and nothing else matters. Never really got around to meeting the other PCs. DM used the chaos caused by my shenanigans as obstacles for them to navigate around while carrying out their evil plans.
@Zephyn13 I love the idea of using mind control as an evil and chaotic tool. That's fantastic! I had one evil character in a game once cast. Dominate on another player character, and that's when things started to go south for me. I could see both sides of the argument in this case, however. Maybe I'll have to give an evil another shot, I'm suddenly feeling very encouraged and chaotic.
There's so much I'd like to talk about regarding all of this. For instance I have a genuinely good character that wishes to destroy the world (long complicated story, and I need to sleep and recover from my chemotherapy, so I'll need to cover more of this later).
@@vodkast Thank you, I might have to ask for a rainy day check for at least a day on that, its been a *long* day. Thankfully mostly pain free, but a *lot* happening, and I'm just exhausted.
@AlsoBeltrix I'll shoot you an email. I would love to do this. I have been working on it, here and there, for a while. I sent out emails to Trav, Dave, Pete and Gode for help remembering how things played out, back in the day. I suppose it's my world and I can just alter little tidbits as I go along. Honestly, this has been a dream of mine for the last 10 years or so.
@@vodkast that's so funny! Yes, I think it's my favorite flavor! The ice cream base is so good just by itself, but add in everything else and it's heaven in your mouth. Lol
THACO was great, lol. BUT like, y'all discussed, a player really could get into the negatives and it was hard to hit. Although, back in my day, you had that chart in the DM guide that you had to use (DM screens were VERY useful) for THACO and Saves (there were like 5 different kinds of saves, cant recall exactly) And it was based on level of character. Fun conversation, gentlemen. I always enjoy people remising about past campaigns and characters :) Never gets old for me
