Tycho's Tales

Pathfinder's critical success and failure mechanic is much better than D&D's #pf2e #5e

That's super interesting. So the 2024 version only excludes "dealing damage", which is totally mechanical, i.e., HP. I feel like the 2014 version's wording of excluding any "obviously harmful act" is much better.

This is so true. The more GMing I do, the shorter my descriptions become. It's fine to make exceptions for really important things, but most scenes actually aren't that significant, and it's cool to leave space for your players' imaginations.

with one of them clutching a spatula

wonderdraft is amazing for world/region maps; and it's a one-time purchase rather than an ongoing subscription which is lovely

yeah there is a slightly funny contradiction in most ttrpg settings, whereby your fifth-level characters are more powerful than 99.9% of the rest of the world, and yet still seem to find appropriate challenges every day or two...

that's interesting, and definitely could be a problem at lower levels. at higher levels though, most (?) classes probably have something better to do with a bonus action, and some of the higher-end healing potions are so expensive!

Spiral campaign development - Tycho's Tales We talk about Michael E. Shea's excellent essay on spiral campaign development, from the Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding Volume 2 (Kobold Press).Michael also goes by Sly Flourish, and you can find a ver...

@slyflourish.com writes some amazing stuff for GMs; one of my favourites is his so-called "spiral campaign development" framework. We talk about it in our latest episode: www.buzzsprout.com/2325379/epis... #dnd #ttrpg

YouTube video by Tycho's Tales the great ocean schlaggermine #dnd #podcast #ttrpg

An important part of being a good GM is really listening to your players when they make up absolute nonsense
#dnd #ttrpg
youtube.com/shorts/ZjU97...

YouTube video by Tycho's Tales creativity in d&d

One of the best things about tabletop rpgs is how much more creative you can be in combat

In D&D, you can only attune to 3 magic items at once. In my games, characters can equip as many magic items as they would in a standard RPG videogame - one pair of gloves, two rings, one amulet, and so on. Is this a common homebrew rule, or do most people stick to the three-item limit? #dnd #d&d

YouTube video by Tycho's Tales all in the name of efficiency #podcast #dndpodcast #dnd

Roleplaying high-charisma characters as a low-charisma player can be pretty fun #dnd #ttrpg

www.youtube.com/shorts/x1o5z...

The story of how the first time I used Divine Intervention, the fate of the entire city of Neverwinter was changed forever: tychostales.com/articles/div...

What starts as a hangover becomes an adventure full of wild twists and unexpected consequences. Your heads may be foggy, but the fate of your cargo—and possibly your dignity—rests in your hands.

We've just released a free one-shot for D&D 5e: tychostales.com/articles/the...

I'm not sure that's any great loss, especially if it's balanced with a more comprehensive Challenge Rating section. The Adventuring Day XP table was useless if you aren't using XP, and does anyone run six to eight encounters per day outside of a gnarly dungeon anyway?

YouTube video by Tycho's Tales character classes in the apocalypse #ttrpg #dnd #podcast

what's your character class in the apocalypse? www.youtube.com/shorts/7I7Lx...

YouTube video by Tycho's Tales we're not playing skyrim #podcast #ttrpg #dnd

The difference between tabletop RPGs and videogame RPGs
www.youtube.com/shorts/J1Sfb...

Interesting episode. I'd love to hear your thoughts on linear vs branching dungeons!

cheeky rage before bed?
www.youtube.com/shorts/H0vOp...
#dnd

Check out the Tycho's Tales podcast for the full episode. sometimes the wrong npc dies #dnd #podcast

when the wrong NPC dies youtube.com/shorts/sWThQ...

if you've ever struggled to remember to award (or use) inspiration, you aren't alone, but we have some ideas to fix that
tychostales.com/blog/inspira...
#dnd #ttrpg #5e

Check out the Tycho's Tales podcast for the full episode. The Feywild #dnd #podcast

Why the Feywild is so fun as a player and as a GM
#dnd #ttrpg
www.youtube.com/shorts/Z0Bzq...

walk into a pit... A kitten, a beetle, a rat and an invisible rabbit

A kitten, a beetle, a rat and an invisible rabbit walk into a pit... www.youtube.com/shorts/_mtaj...
#ttrpg #dnd

KemuWhakatauoAotearoa - Twitch Tabletop RPGs, Kiwi Style This is Aotearoa (New Zealand), the land of the long white cloud, a nation of islands located deep in the southern Pacific Ocean.We make games, we play games. Through #KiwiRP...

KiwiRPG week is starting now! www.twitch.tv/kemuwhakatau...
@kiwirpg.bsky.social

GM support group 1 - Tycho's Tales Welcome to the inaugural GM support group! These episodes have a slightly different format to our usual ones; we just sit around and yarn about what's recently been top of mind in our campaigns.We tal...

This one's a little bit different -- we accidentally started a GM support group.

#dnd #5e #ttrpg #pf2e

www.buzzsprout.com/2325379/1509...

Great episode. There seem to be a lot of "oh, that makes so much sense, why didn't we think of that before?" tweaks that they've made -- really excited for this release!

Low-level combat - Part 2 - Tycho's Tales In part two of our discussion on how to make low-level combat more interesting, we talk about alternative ways to wrap up combat that don't involve the enemy NPCs being killed (such as fleeing or surr...

Part 2 of our yarn about making low-level combat more interesting is out now: www.buzzsprout.com/2325379/1505...

#ttrpg #5e #pf2e #dnd

... followed by one of your players pointing out that, actually, you were right the first time, it didn't make sense after all

Low-level combat - Part 1 - Tycho's Tales Low-level combat is often mechanically simple, and this can lead to potentially boring encounters, particularly if players are used to the range of abilities available with higher-level characters. In...

If you've ever struggled to make low-level combat more interesting for your players, part one of our low-level combat discussion was released this morning, with the second half to follow next week:

www.buzzsprout.com/2325379/1501...

#ttrpg #5e #pf2e #dnd