Adventurer’s Journal: Flawed Personas
This article was first broadcast in Episode Sixty-Two on 20th February 2019. Ryu: Blah. Okay, time to kill some characters. Lennon: We hid the hat again, just so you’re aware. Ryu: Yeah that never matters, but anyway, I’m not going to need KayDee’s help for this one; I’ve got another player that’s decided “annoying edgelord” is a cool character concept, and they’ve come up with mechanics where they’re in such mental anguish that even brief moments of happiness count as a short rest for them because they’re so rejuvenating. “Rejuvenating” isn’t “resurrecting,” though, so that character isn’t going to see a session two. Ostron: You know you’re asking to just have them come back with another annoying concept unless you give them some suggestions. Ryu: Do you have any? I’m all ears at this point. Lennon: I think we can throw something together. In past editions of D&D, the idea of character backstories imparting skills or abilities to…
Wisdom of the Masters: Madness and Insanity
This article was first broadcast in Episode Fifty-Five on 2nd January 2019. Lennon: Hi…Ryu? Ryu: Hi. Did you think I’d left? Lennon: No, but…given the subject matter I thought for sure the Killer DM would show up. Ryu: Oh, yeah, she knew about it but she said *ahem* Killer DM: If I want my players to lose their minds and start crying in a corner I hardly need game mechanics to help. Ostron: That…impression of her you do is getting uncanny. Lennon: Anyway, Madness, right Players’ mental state is not usually something D&D focuses on. There are a number of spells that can directly affect it, like Confusion or Crown of Madness that describe spell effects altering creatures’ mental states. Various adventures also have deranged or mentally altered NPCs for the characters to interact with, but very rarely does anything deal with the mental health of the characters. Unless players actively try to roleplay it, most of the…