u/brokenimage321

Basically the title. I know the khyber crystals can be "reprogrammed" to represent different characters, if you have the equipment and know-how, but I'm curious if the holocron / wayfinder cam be hacked to play custom voice clips. Anyone know if that's possible?

Hi everyone! I'm an experienced GM, looking to run a game of Impossible Landscapes on Thursday evenings. If you happen to be near 84606 (North Utah) I'd love to meet in person, otherwise, we'll be meeting online using my tricked-out Foundry server. Please contact me if you're interested, and we can start nailing down details!

I feel like the title sounds kind of awful, so please hear me out...

Over the past year or so, I have twice given my players the opportunity to set up for the big final encounter of the campaign, and they somehow find a way to just completely kneecap the monster before the final battle begins. I want to reward their creativity, but at the same time, they're making the encounter significantly less interesting / challenging. How can I find a balance there?

Example from the campaign I was running that just ended last night: The players are all at a summer camp together, with each session representing one week each summer (i.e., each session was separated by a year of time). They learned that a giant monster was going to show up the following year (i.e., next session), but that they had the option to summon him early, before they were entirely prepared. Either way, they were given the session to get ready for the Big Boss--gathering supplies, calling up allies, etc.

In order to give some of the less combat-focused characters something to do, I was planning on having the summer camp still be full of NPCs--some of them might be able to help, but a lot of them were innocent civilians that would need to be evacuated before the giant monster could eat them. The non-combat PCs would handle the evac, while the combat PCs would try to stop the monster.

I was proud of this idea, as I thought it would help keep everyone engaged and participating in what was going on, and would also dramatically raise the tension to have the fight take place in a, um, target rich environment.

However, the players all decided that they would use their prep time to summon the monster early--but they would do it during the off-season, when everyone had already gone home. They would still have a drop-down, drag-out fight, of course--but, if it was only them around, the non-combat characters wouldn't really have much to do, and a lot of the tension would be gone.

We got it figured out--I talked to them about it, and allowed them to send their favorite NPCs home before an NPC summoned the monster for them--but I still felt like I didn't handle that as well as I could have (there was a lot of, from my perspective, "C'mon, this will be really cool, promise" from my end). Again, this particular situation has been put to bed, so I don't need advice with this idea, but I'm still wondering what happens next time: I want to reward clever planning, thinking outside the box, etc., but I'm also worried about what happens when I give them freedom to plan, and they manage to just side-step the challenge. Any thoughts, ideas, advice, etc.?

Due in large part to my own neurodivergence, I am rather sensitive to criticism. I do my best to respond positively, but I tend to take even mild critiques pretty personally. I'm aware of this, and am working on it, but, for now, it's still something I struggle with.

Last session (two weeks ago), I ended our session with the big, dramatic reveal of our final boss, and last night, we actually ran the boss. I've spent months planning for, and weeks prepping for, both sessions. Both would have been probably top 5 gaming memories ever--except that, right afterwards, one member of the group asked to discuss a problem they were having with my GM-ing (last session was a legitimate grievance, last night was a mix of complaints about narrative and mechanics). And, to be honest? That really ruined the experience for me. I walked away, not with the feeling of pride and triumph at the cool story moments we were pulling off, but feeling like a failure.

Let me be clear: I want to be responsive to complaints, I want people to feel heard, and I want to help everyone have a good experience with my table. In that respect, I welcome the criticism. But coming off the high of the big moments, the overriding impression I come away with is "you did it wrong." Even though they were effusive with praise, in my brain, the criticisms weigh heavier than the triumphs. "That was so awesome! But I felt insulted." "That was the coolest session ever! But I didn't like my character's hairstyle." I want to emphasize, I know this isn't good or fair, to myself or my players, but this is how my brain works.

With that in mind: would it be appropriate to ask my group to not talk about problems right after the session? Under ordinary circumstances, I know that's how things should be done, and I want to be able to address complaints in a timely manner. But would it be too selfish to ask everyone to wait and discuss things in text chat or something, so I could hold on to the high of the session for at least a little bit? Or, is there a better way to discuss criticism like this?

I have to say, I feel like a whiny baby asking "How can I talk about problems without getting my fee-fees hurt?" I know the proper response is "suck it up," "walk it off," "take it as a way to improve," etc., and I am working on this. But for now, my brain still sucks. And it's not a good feeling to pull off one of the highlights of my gaming career, only to have someone immediately dump a bucket of cold water on the proceedings by bringing up all the things I did wrong.

Hi everyone,

I'm starting to plan for our first Disneyland trip in a long time, which we're currently spitballing for the end of May. I've looked at a couple crowd calendars, which say that it's going to be a mess around our chosen timeframe, but my wife has heard that, due to certain sales starting / ending, it will be the perfect time to go--the sort of factor that might not be reflected in a normal crowd calendar.

Where would you recommend we go to get a good forecast? And, what are y'all's opinions on what crowds will look like over the next little bit?

Growing up, I went to Disneyland regularly, and considered myself something of an expert. However, it's been over a decade since I've been back, and the park has changed a lot. My wife and I are hoping to take our daughter to Disneyland for the first time around the end of May, and I wanted to ask: what about the park has changed in the last decade or so, and how should that affect our planning?

Like, I know they got rid of fast-passes, but I hear contradictory things about how badly we need Lightning Lane (some people say it's basically necessary, some people say it's doable if you plan around it.

I also remember hearing something about needing reservations for certain rides? How does that work?

And, is there anything I need to know about the vibe of the park in general? I've heard a lot of people complaining about a drop-off in quality, but I don't know how much of that is the everyday regulars complaining that things "ain't what they used to be", versus legitimate complaints I need to watch out for.

Thanks so much!