That bit applied to both, lol

That's why I qualified it with "But if you don't mind starting and running another game..."

xD

I have felt the second version but not the first, but also there's also the 'that would be a cool idea and I want to see it happen but I wouldn't be able to keep it up'.

So, I don't remember which thread it was here or if maybe it was on the discord. But someone at one point mentioned not considering or critiquing incomplete/wrongly submitted RTJ's.

My new game has 6 applicants so far and 1 of them is what I would consider a full and correct RTJ.

In reply to Sir Swindle (msg # 256):

What's your question?

In reply to Sir Swindle (msg # 256):

I think it was part of "Letting potential players know they didn't make the cut #2"

Ya I didn't find it in a key word search but that's also where I thought it was.


Not feeling friendly or chatty, I take it?

I just wanted to know if you had a question.

Basically that's ALWAYS my experience so IDK what people are doing that they can just categorically exclude people.

For that matter I had the same thing happen on RSVP's for my wedding! So it seems like amore inherent problem to having people fill out a form.

I said it in my reply, though I might not have been the first, someone can check the other thread. But I am always frustrated when people do not follow simple instructions. I'm that way when it comes to work and I'm that way when it comes to personal time too. If it's something small then sure I won't be mean about it but if it's something blatant like say point 3 is: x race is banned and they make a character with x race then they clearly did not read your rtj info.

My frustration at people not following simple instructions outweighs my desire to accept and help those same people. If it is consistent (like your case where the majority of rtjs are failing) or a situation I cannot ignore (such as at work) I will give a blanket statement basically a 'please go back and reread my instructions'. If I can ignore it though then I will and if it takes another week for more rtjs to turn up then I'll let the people who had the courtesy of submitting a successful rtj know something like 'there have not been enough good rtjs yet for me to select a party however yours is still up for consideration, I am going to give it another week and see who else applies'.

If you look over the RTJs that are wrong (depending on how wrong they are) and find some interesting concepts, I would probably reach out one-on-one to see if they can/are willing to modify it to fit your campaign...  For me, when I submit a RTJ, I always submit the concept with "I would like to play X race but understand if it isn't allowed. If not, I would select Y or Z"... Obviously not choosing a race banned in the RTJ for any of the options...   lol




That is a good point...  There is no preset window for RTJs to be submitted so closing it is entirely at the DMs discretion... If you don't have enough good ones then just bump the original Wanted - Players post...

This is great discussion, but it should move to the Letting potential players know they didn't make the cut #2 thread since it's part of that discussion. Thanks!
link to a message in this game

Do y'all read your player's PMs. Like not the ones to you. Like I've seen one GM at least that was appalled by the idea. But we are also basically the sole moderators for our games.

Generally speaking, I don't read PM's between players.  If it seems like there's some friction or an argument brewing, then I will at least glance at them.

Yeah, I'll read player PM's. Just so I know what's going on, what they're thinking, and if I can add anything.

I'm sort of surprised that's not the norm (let alone it being appalling). Maybe a busyness thing.
Plus if they truly want something to be private, rMail is a thing.

 I'm assuming if I can hear something, you can see it. Every time I post a new PM, and I have some PM heavy games, it says "Be aware DMs can see all PMs." Whether DMs do read all my messages, one  game I have well over three hundred PM messages in just one PM sub-thread, or not, if I wanted to contact people outside of the game, then   R-mail is certainly a thing, but let's be real, its not like I'm trying to hide stuff from the DM, since that would be counterproductive.

In reply to Sir Swindle (msg # 265):

I don't intrude or listen to PMs unless someone from the PM asks me to. It's never happened, but sometimes I've been given a quote to back up something they are concerned with.

I feel that PMs should be private. (Shocking I know.) and unless invited I stay out.

That's not to say I've not accidentally opened them. Usually I open them just to indicate they've been read, and immediately close them. Sometimes though I'll mistake it as a PM to me and read until I find it's not and then close it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:27, Wed 15 Mar 2023.

I will definitely open them because showing as read scratches an itch for me, if I'm curious I will browse them and see if it's anything I might be interested in. There are circumstances where that might be the case like if the players are talking and they've gotten the wrong idea about some info I've given them. Then I know I might want to go and give them a nudge to correct that in the game.

Yeah, this.
If they have a good idea, can help build it up further.

This. :-P

Question for my fellow DM peeps...  This is D&D 5e related...

I have a PC vs NPC sparring match...  Wooden weapons, so no damage...  Goal is first to 5 hits...

Question 1 - Normal combat, a Nat 20 would do an extra damage roll. How would you account for that in this situation? Or would you bother with it?

I'm thinking (and suggested to the group) that the Nat 20 might give two hits...  One hit for the attack and a second hit for the additional (unused) damage die.

Each player had a different suggestion so we now have the following options:

• Two hits awarded to the attacker
• Advantage to the attacker on the next attack
• Disadvantage to the opponent on the next attack
• Opponent knocked prone by the force/intensity of the attack

Everyone agreed that they would all be equally ok so we have a conundrum where we can't decide on which to use (ironically, the one sparring had no opinion on the matter). I'd like to get everyone's thoughts on this...


Question 2 - No offensive magic (e.g. - magic missle, fire bolt/ball, etc.) is allowed since this is strictly a sparring match; however, non-damage dealing spells like color spray are...  Would you count the casting of a color spray spell as a hit? I wasn't going to but some of the players said it should be counted... Thoughts?
This message was last edited by the player at 10:29, Sun 26 Mar 2023.

I would just count it as two hits. You are extra succeeding at your goal of scoring strikes.

Advantage/Disadvantage works if you want them to matter less.

Knocked prone is too many steps to bother with for a gimmick.



For the second. It depends on the values of the judges. I wouldn't count it especially since getting a color spray off basically means you just won the match anyway. The extra hit would hardly matter.

Similarly with Sleep you would reasonably just win within the narrative. I can walk up to a sleeping person and rapidly tap them 5 times with a stick before they wake up if I'm not trying to hurt them.

Just to clarify, the color spray is independent of the Nat 20...  the color spray was the first attack of the match whereas the Nat 20 was rolled on what would be either the 3rd or 4th hit (i.e. - round 4)

Plus, with color spray, the contest wouldn't end automatically since the CS blindness only lasts a single round (i.e. - until the end of the caster's next turn)...  And the PC rolled an 18 and 19 for a disadvantaged attack so the CS was really a waste of a spell... that is what started the conversation about whether the spell was a "hit"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:08, Sun 26 Mar 2023.

Thought it was longer. Still. It's not like you can NOT hit with color spray. So in terms of a martial challenge its not really a demonstration of skill.

There are spells that would simply win the match so it seems like overkill to count hits for spells.

I think a penalty (or disadvantage, if you prefer) to the one who was hit by the critical makes more sense in the fiction than awarding two hits. And giving it to the one who rolled the crit means it's more likely they'll get another crit, and that doesn't make sense to me either.

Good point...