u/SideswipeZulu

I ran “Lost Citadel” Saturday night ahead of my upcoming conventions and I introduced the crawling clock as the random encounter mechanic. It was fantastic, and I don’t think I’ll go back to RAW mechanics.

For those who are new to it, the crawling clock is a timer using a d20. Every round a d6 is rolled and subtracted from the current. On a “6” you roll again - exploding die mechanic - which means there is the potential to instantly trigger an encounter.

The way I played it at the table:
- The d20 clock was out on the table in full view.
- I had players roll the d6. They can only be disappointed or pleased with themselves.
- I had players roll the d8 for the encounter table if they ran the clock to 0.
- Encounters were not always instant combat. I used the distance roll to determine placement.
- Close meant the adversaries appeared in the room or in the next one the party was likely to go.
- Near meant the next room or one room over.
- Far placed the encounter deeper in the dungeon and it would begin moving every round. I kept the GM version of the map behind the screen and used tokens to track party and monster locations.
- Lastly, I allowed the use of luck tokens to re-roll the d6. This was a player request to avoid an exploded die roll that was going to guarantee an encounter.

One last thing I used the clock for was the final battle. Once the party entered that remaining 30 minutes of the 4 hour session the triggered encounter is automatically the Minotaur and a fight to the death.

The players like the visual of the countdown; they liked the apprehension it brought, and that they were doing all the extra die rolls instead of me made it more enjoyable.

10/10

I'm running LCSM at several upcoming MN conventions and one of the ways I want to open the adventure is for them to have some say in which entrance they come into. There aren't any real descriptions of the citadel itself besides the surrounding landscape.

The north/west/main entrances are hand wavy enough, but how accessible is the courtyard?

Is it easy to get to, or for those GMs who have ran this have you decided scaling the rooftops of the citadel isn't simple?

Does anyone have any third party renders or maps they've used as aids?

I'm amazed my minis had a success rate of even 50% this week.

Rain is going to continue for the next week so I guess it's time to stop trying to eek out any more and wait.

I've been on a tear with my resin printer and I need a solution for storing and displaying all these minis. I don't really want to spend a lot of money here. My main constraint is space. I don't have much to allocate. My TTRPG bookshelf has a single unit currently free, and I might be able to wall mount something else.

Your best ideas on how to sort and store are much needed!

I want to keep a notebook on hand at all times so I can write down notes and ideas as they come. What I’m looking for is something close to pocketable, can lay flat, is easy to keep a pen attached to, and is not too expensive as I would like to keep a supply of them handy.

I like the size of Moleskine, but they’re pricy and I know there’s are alternatives with better paper out there.

I use a Sharpie pen normally, but I’ve found that I death grip it and need to find another option that glides well and fits with the small notebook form factor.

After running through my first bottle of standard black resin I purchased a bottle of gray plant-based to have prints that looks more like off-the-shelf minis and was curious what the differences would be.

Most all of my minis I try to size to a ~25 mm (1 in) base or an approximate height of ~35-40 mm for humanoids.

With the standard resin I eventually found that medium weight supports (I am using Halot Box) gave the best results. Trying the same with plant-based I realized that the gaps between the supports were becoming solid panes and causing issues when I went to remove them. Switching to light weight supports has resolved this and they are removing better while still giving me successful prints.

Anyone else have their own thoughts or tips about changing printing settings or approaches for different resin types?

I want to preface this post with what I mean. I remember all through high school, and all through my early 20s how much reading and writing I did. I loved stories, I loved crafting them. I won't dare claim anything was good, but I was consistent and always scribbling away. After my son was born I fell into a serious career focus. My hobbies stopped being creative pursuits and became tied to what I do for a living. I have spent many years not flexing any of these muscles and they have all atrophied.

For the first time in just as long I am now on a break. There are a number of things I need to figure out for myself in the time I have. I know one of those is to restart this passion. There is a quote I can't quite remember - Stephen King? - that says something along the lines of how not reading is the end. I think I feel that. The absolute first step is I need to start reading again.

The other step is what I have come here for. The act of writing itself I am struggling with. I need a regimen that is going to bring me back to where I was before and continue to get better. What works for you, dear reader, that you might recommend for me? An hour a night and keeping to a schedule, a short story a week, a prompt a day..? I want to immerse myself in the craft without turning it into a chore or bogging myself down.

Having some community and making connections on the journey wouldn't be bad either.

Twice now in the past month I've had to unsubscribe to channels I know I never subscribed to. It's not the first time. I don't know how it's happening, or when it might have happened.

I haven't been very active in my subscriptions lately. I actually suspected at one point they were channel takeovers but the content went back months if not years, and a couple appeared to be official channels for certain individuals.

Is this a thing that is known to happen on YouTube? Is there something I've interacted with here or elsewhere that's somehow causing a subscription to occur?

I have an older model and the plastic film in the resin vat is in pretty poor shape. Whole replacement vats are on Ali Express but does anyone know if I can buy just the clear plastic film?