Continuing with the prompts from d4 Caltrops’s d100 Table of Topics to Blog About, I’m going to knock out some more short ones again.

11 – Describe a Near Death Situation or TPK that you’ve been a part of at the Table The Ptolus gang has had some really close calls. Early on, clutch castings of fog cloud enabled them to retreat and regroup. I really did think they were done for a couple times, like when they were raiding the secret temple of the Ebon Hand cult. During their jaunt to Hot Springs Island, things were going very badly a couple times and only summonings saved them. They also started collecting all sorts of magic boosts there, which are great for punching above your weight, but the damage really adds up quickly when you get punched back. High stakes stuff!

Oh man, there was also our Waterdeep/Chult campaign. I stuck Death House from Curse of Strahd on Chult as an abandoned Amnian plantation house. They made it to the end and split up during the final encounter, running hither ands thither, and a couple characters died. After returning to Waterdeep, they picked up a job and we ran the Salvage Operation adventure. Once again, someone betrayed the rest of the group at the climax, and that player vs player business on top of the final event led to all but one character dying, if I remember correctly.

12 – Describe an Occasion where a Die Roll or Randomizer had everyone Surprised! Our first random encounter on Hot Springs Island was, “earth elemental, one, mating.” I’ll let you paint the rest of that picture!

15 – Do you do any “Funny Voices” or Accents when Portraying? If so what are they? Yes, but they’re often potentially offensive. In yesterday’s game (as of this writing), the Ptolus group went to meet with the Balacazar crime family to inquire about buying the temple they’re living in and renting. Naturally, the Balacazar representatives had New Jersey mobster voices. This was also a callback to the gambling imps on Hot Springs Island who talked the same way.

One of their severed heads, Rose, has a bit of a Cockney accent, and another speaks with a blustering, wheezing old man‘s voice. Their paladin friend Cardillion sounds like Thor from the MCU. It’s just silly voices all the way down the line.

17 – Do you take Breaks during a Game? Are they on a Schedule or Ad Hoc? We start each session with fifteen minutes or so of “sillies” as people arrive and we catch up. Then midway through the game we stop for lunch. We often have far more than we can eat in one go, as multiple people make and bring food. It’s pretty great. After everyone has had a chance to assemble a plate and eat a little, we head back down to resume playing.

19 – Do you use Music at the Table? If so what are some examples? If not then why? No, other than when someone would play “Immigrant Song” whenever the sorcerer cast lightning bolt, or the time I set up the Conan fight music on Roll20. It’s just one more thing to juggle and it crowds the audible range. I have enough trouble hearing clearly as it is, much less with noise in the background.

22 – Have you ever Fudged Die Rolls? Do you have strong feelings about the Concept? I can’t remember the last time I did. We certainly cheated like little bastards when we were kids. Just keep rolling until you get the number you want! But now, I pretty strongly feel that you shouldn’t roll if you don’t mean it. Ride the waves of chaos.

34 – How do you roll dice? In the open, behind a screen, let the Players roll? I roll in the open so that the players can see their fate unfold on the table. I liked screens when I was playing BECMI or AD&D as a kid, but I stopped using one for 5e because it creates a barrier, blocks the view of the dice, and there just aren’t as many tables to regularly refer to. I tried making a half-sized screen with the 5e conditions on it as I look those up every single time they come up on play, but even that went to the wayside. I prefer a good reference sheet to a screen these days.