Down, Down to Goblin Town

The gang leads their brave NPC villagers to attack the goblins in the dungeon but immediately hits some lore-related complications.Show notes page: https://ggnorecast.com/247.Highlights: stealthing, hellmark, surprise attacks, improvised grappling hooks.Meta: Hornless session 9 (10260124@1120—1026-01-25@0900).

The fellas continue their delve into the goblin lair in my Hornless campaign. With only 4 players this time, they make the most of their numbers, focusing on scouting the dungeon and expanding the map—until they encounter an NPC. This sends the session sideways and lays the groundwork for the next episode. I also find my current pathcrawl travel procedure unsatisfactory—look for a separate post on that later.Highlights: pathcrawling, dungeon mapping, dungeon scouting, NPC interaction, dungeon raid planning, rallying NPC allies.Meta: Hornless session 8 (1026-01-24 @ 1 a.m. - 1026-01-24 @ 11:20 a.m.). (Note that most of the Hornless sessions were done online and not recorded.)Show notes page: https://ggnorecast.com/246.

The ggnore crew is back with the classic lightning-round opinion panel, ROLL TIDE or NAW? Topics discussed:Random public ttrpg gamingNeat whiskey rodeo coolSolo TTRPGsOfficial IP-based TTRPG (such as Star Wars, Alien, etc)TTRPG where characters are mice or other animals (mouseguard, mausritter, maus borg)bad or wild things happening on natural 1 (weapon breaks, trip and fall, spell hits another PC and turns his head into a chicken)80s D&D cartoonThe dungeon is really a crashed space ship!Human only PCsCarousing for XPBoxed textBoxed text poetryVideo game "romance options"strict time recordsRoll play (eg, persuasion rolls)Level 0 funnelsFunhouse dungeonsSanity/stress mechanicsApparatus of KwalishShow notes page: https://ggnorecast.com/245.# Make a Search CheckYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ggnorecast/videosFountain: https://fountain.fm/show/zdPrsM3xGJ1sZTh3qhtX

Pathcrawling, dungeon delving, and stealth houserules in the second actual play episode of our homebrew D&D campaign, Hornless.Show notes page: https://ggnorecast.com/244.# Where to ListenYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ggnorecast/videosFountain: https://fountain.fm/show/zdPrsM3xGJ1sZTh3qhtXSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2QCbZTD9RbJXJCGesIprbb

Our tabletop RPG advice column, Dear Gary, returns with these questions: - Dear Listener writes: Dear Gary, I run games (often one shots) that are made accessible to a rather wide pool of players, and sometimes get an unexpectedly large group. How do I keep everyone consistently engaged in the session and off their phones at higher player counts? - Brian writes: Dear Gary, could you discuss the main house rules you use for your 5e/D&D games? Have you been inspired to add any rules from other game systems to your D&D games?- Brian writes: Dear Gary, what are your thoughts on game systems that use species (or race) as class, such as basic/expert D&D (from 80s), Dungeon Crawl Classics, or others?- Brian writes: Dear Gary, what is a game you have been eager to play but not gotten to the table?Show notes page: https://ggnorecast.com/243.

We kick off a homebrew D&D campaign with a collaborative village and PC creation procedure from Beyond the Wall. You'll see how it creates interconnected PCs who have a reason to be adventuring together right from the start and an interesting starting town that has more color than you'd get from improvisation or a random generator.LinksBeyond the Wall (affiliate link): https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/113405/beyond-the-wall-and-other-adventures?affiliate_id=4335865e Monster Cards (affiliate link): https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/205572/d-d-5th-edition-monster-cards?affiliate_id=433586Heraldry creator: https://drawshield.net/Where to ListenYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ggnorecast/videosFountain: https://fountain.fm/show/zdPrsM3xGJ1sZTh3qhtXSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2QCbZTD9RbJXJCGesIprbb

IRL, when I need a Favor from Someone, I mentally assign a Difficulty Class to that Request and then look within my Soul to see what Skills I have that would help me get what I want—and it's no different in The One Ring 2e. We go through the Council and Fellowship Phase rules, which are the last systems in TOR 2e we have yet to cover. And then we give a quick review of all the systems. TL;DR: it's okay but is mainly a rehashing of stuff you can find in earlier mainstream and indie games.Show notes page: https://ggnorecast.com/241.# LinksMouse Guard (affiliate link): https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/60496/mouse-guard-roleplaying-game?affiliate_id=433586Realm Guard (hack for playing LOTR with Mouse Guard rules): https://forums.burningwheel.com/t/realm-guard-v1-7/25062Very useful playlist for learning the rules: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtzrTJmLT7YShtRB8JAxi46WWy4ZTslbEBuy The One Ring's core rules (affiliate link): https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/370267/the-one-ring-core-rules?affiliate_id=433586Buy The One Ring's Starter Set (affiliate link): https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/370370/the-one-ring-starter-set?affiliate_id=433586# Where to ListenYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ggnorecast/videosFountain: https://fountain.fm/show/zdPrsM3xGJ1sZTh3qhtXSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2QCbZTD9RbJXJCGesIprbb

We play through the climax of the starter adventure in The One Ring 2e's full rules. We get into some of the finer points of the combat encounters and learn more about how some of the stats like hope and shadow work.Show notes page: https://ggnorecast.com/240.

We play the first half of the starter adventure in The One Ring 2e's full rules. This is mostly us getting a handle on the mechanics that were touched only lightly in the starter set, such as journeys and combats from start to finish.Show notes: https://ggnorecast.com/239.Aff link to buy the core rules: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/370267/the-one-ring-core-rules?affiliate_id=433586.Very useful playlist for learning the rules: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtzrTJmLT7YShtRB8JAxi46WWy4ZTslbE.~~~Make a Search Check~~~youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ggnorecast/videosfountain: https://fountain.fm/show/zdPrsM3xGJ1sZTh3qhtXspotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2QCbZTD9RbJXJCGesIprbb

We play and review The One Ring's Starter Set—and we have a "Fellowship of the Wings," a get together where you bring chicken wings and desserts with an LOTR theme. Show notes: https://ggnorecast.com/238.