DM of the Rings Remaster XVI: Teamwork

By Bay Posted Sunday Apr 23, 2023

Filed under: DM of the Rings Remaster 22 comments

Welcome to this special edition of DM of the Rings with special behind-the-scenes director’s commentary…

An alternate joke I wanted to use here was that the other players were not afraid of the monster per se, but afraid of getting involved in a battle which would require knowledge of the grapple system as well as the byzantine system of attacks of opportunity, and they were terrified of trying to wrap their heads around all of this while fighting a many-tentacled creature.

The gist was that they were fearful of spending the next four hours leafing through the rulebook trying to figure out how to wrestle with this thing. There is some truth (and thus humor) in this idea, but I couldn’t figure out how to deliver the comedic payload.

So instead you got this.

–  Shamus, Wednesday Oct 11, 2006

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Sims 4 Overthinking: The Baby Room

By Bay Posted Friday Apr 21, 2023

Filed under: Epilogue, The Sims Overthinking 8 comments

Lorretta and Michael only have two weeks left, and even that hinges on Kelly not going into labor before her due date. It’s Kelly’s first baby, meaning that Lorretta is hopeful they actually do have that long, if not a bit longer.

In that time, they have to finish the nursery, and ideally Lorretta would like to put in a new washer and dryer. The current appliances are rattling in an alarming way, and the washer is leaking water at random intervals with seemingly no correlation to what happens around it. If it only spat water when overloaded, or when put on a certain setting, it would be easier to live with or even implement a rushed fix. As it is, it’s simply dubbed temperamental, and will need replaced.

We haven’t been furnishing the house so far. I usually don’t furnish in these projects until I land on whatever the houses ‘current’ state is, that’s when I put in furniture and actually make the sims that live there. But…there’s new baby furniture I want to check out, so let’s do it.
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DM of the Rings Remaster XV: Riddle me This

By Bay Posted Sunday Apr 16, 2023

Filed under: DM of the Rings Remaster 30 comments

 

No matter how difficult or absurd you make a puzzle, your players will find an even more impossible and preposterous way of solving it.

–  Shamus, Monday Oct 9, 2006

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Sims 4 Overthinking: Tradition

By Bay Posted Friday Apr 14, 2023

Filed under: Epilogue, The Sims Overthinking 19 comments

Our family has two months left to entirely finish the house in time for the baby to arrive. The bathroom is next, then the kitchen, then the laundry room if they have time. The bathroom is not bad, and Lorretta is tempted to keep the vintage façade…except for the moldy grout. The Sims has no good way to show it, but that pink tile was put in nearly a century ago, without ventilation, with only one bathroom to the entire house. That grout is black.

They try to save the tile by removing it carefully, but by the time the fifth one disintegrates in their hands, it’s clear that won’t be happening; this is a reno.
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DM of the Rings Remaster XIV: Boring Distractions

By Bay Posted Sunday Apr 9, 2023

Filed under: DM of the Rings Remaster 16 comments

D&D is a sort of simulation. A simulation of living in a fantasy world where fearless heroes and dreadful monsters clash daily in spectacular battles. A world where you are a great champion, and the creator of the universe is frequently disorganized, highly distractable, and alarmingly vague on the rules of the universe he’s trying to run.

–  Shamus, Friday Oct 6, 2006

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Sims 4 Overthinking: The Three Months

By Bay Posted Friday Apr 7, 2023

Filed under: Epilogue, The Sims Overthinking 6 comments

Lorretta is sinking her money into the house like a gambling habit. First, it was $5,000 for the original quote of fixing the back bedroom.

Then, she discovered rot in the second bedroom while taking out the paneling. Another $2500 for the repairs. Then, she had to put carpet in all the upstairs bedrooms. She wants to opt for at least mid-tier carpet, since it was how she rationalized continuing with the reno instead of just selling the place.  She is out easily $14,000 by now, and she hasn’t even discovered the water heater yet.

At this point, she finally has to face the third bedroom, the former study, which she hasn’t been touching except for to install the carpets. The other rooms have been stripped of their paneling and painted, but the study she saved for last.
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DM of the Rings Remaster XIII: Let’s Not go There

By Bay Posted Sunday Apr 2, 2023

Filed under: DM of the Rings Remaster 17 comments

This is, of course, the most pervasive problem in D&D, and one which the rules have never addressed. The tension of many battles has been ruined by some smart-alec suggesting they use the Holy Hand Grenade. No fortress – no matter how impressive or dangerous – will ever seem foreboding after one of the players points out that, “It’s only a model”.

My own suggestion for the 4.0 edition rules: Anyone who quotes Holy Grail during a session should be made to eat their own character sheet.

–  Shamus, Wednesday Oct 4, 2006

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