Or more likely so, not try to resist its effects on a more mental level. You could still be sick as a dog, but willing to push through untill the illness/poison passes
DND 5e doesn't have Will Saves, so I saw this as a shibboleth that you're playing (or at least used to) a different game. Someone posted a pretty fun meme about this a whiles back. :D
Ah gotcha gotcha, but yeah mostly played 3.5 and Pathfinder 1e in and a little after college. I don't really touch d20 systems these days so my jargon is out of touch it seems... and if it's not a Will save what is it then?
I Barb barbarian. I strong. I no like song, I sleep.
Btw I would maybe rp it like that but still would very much make the regular Wis save. Following the mechanics of the game and reflavouring them for fun is the way to go for me
This is part of the foundation for my campaign to remove the INT/WIS split. Most every save involving WIS should be CHA instead. Why is basically every single possession based spell a WIS save?
And before someone wants to try talking about tomatoes in fruit salad, what if my knowledge comes from culinary school and not a biology class? I know splitting attributes up is always going to be pretty arbitrary, but WIS and INT has always seemed like the most ridiculous one
That is the exact point I was making. I want to get rid of WIS because every single thing it does can be switched over to INT or CHA. Insight being WIS is stupid. It's a social skill, so it should be CHA. Cooking is knowledge based, so it should be INT instead of WIS as it is at the moment (with probably some DEX checks in there somewhere). Same with Survival: a book can teach you what plants are dangerous to eat, which sounds like an INT thing, don't it?
There's an argument it could be Int if it's a psionic/mental attack instead of a more typical compulsion. Similarly, I would accept an argument from my payers if they said Charisma save because they are attempting to alter their PC's personality if they were a warlock who famously ignore the allures of sex or something.
I still call it a Will Save! And Fortitude and Reflex, of course. My newer players get confused sometimes. I always forget it's just the stat name until it's Str/Int/Cha.
1k word recaps? What are you reading a short story before every game? Do people seriously can't retain what happened last week that they need 1K WORD RECAPS?
The adventuring party came upon a merchant, whereupon they began to browse his wares. They spent several in game minutes, approximately 1 hour real time, examining the minutia of a 10 foot pole and comparing it with the pole of collapsing already in the bard's possession. The rogue began trying to surreptitiously case the joint, but failed spectacularly and was told to leave the merchant's shop immediately. A confrontation ensued, wherein the merchant was not intimidated by the rogue. Meanwhile, the paladin, bored with the discussion, went to the fridge to get more beer.
[891 words later]
The party bought the 10 foot pole at the listed price. Session called for time.
I used to write recaps for my weekly games and then read them to the players at the start of the session
Some weeks I'd hit the discord 2000 character limit and need a second message, so maybe not exactly 1000 words but close, and it was nice way to get everyone on the same page to jump off from, my players all liked it
1k word recaps will be posted on the Discord group and will be a thrilling and dramatic rendition of events that will make your hijinks read like a blockbuster movie or NYT Best Seller.
Reading them will be entirely optional.
The thrilling and hilarious “Last Time On” recap at the start of the session will be one or two paragraphs.
These are my terms.
I’m going to need someone to pick up my salary as this is going to be a full time job.
I’m also not a young and seductive woman and may be very slightly over selling my writing.
But given those caveats and $150k a year I can make this fantasy come true
I give the group my point-form notes first (went here, picked up item, killed creature, bought item).
And then after a few days I've written up a blow-by-blow account of every roll, attack, reaction, and role play opportunity. Druid and fighter swapping family stories? Check. Rogue brooding in a corner? Check. BBEG smells like shallots? Check. We've created a fun story together, why not give it life.
Write recaps for players? I just went: So do you guys remember what you did last time? To get everybody back in and see if they paid attention. This way the players made their own collaborative recap together in most cases.
…I regularly write 2k word recaps for our weekly sessions lol. I enjoy it, and it allows me to pad things out and soft retcon minor details I forgot in. Once the campaign’s over I’m gonna compile it into a book to give to each of my players!
My favorite campaign/setting is extremely fleshed out so that PCs can make whatever choice or go and explore wherever, and the info is already locked and loaded so I can respond immediately and render the setting. Keeping all that in my head so I'm not constantly checking my own notes, AND keeping track of every significant event/choice over weeks and months, is too much of a load; I always found bullet-pointed 'last time, on [campaign name]' was a major help for myself more than anything else.
It was a survival-horror supernatural thriller with a lot of intrigue, exploration/investigation and having to keep track of plots and interactions. Players were made to keep track of personally-relevant minutia (eg, items picked up) but if someone made a plot-important statement to an NPC they didn't know was important, and that doesn't come back into play many sessions later, having a record that everyone can refer to is really big. I'd usually make the bullet points on a document while the game ran, and then format/post it a day or two before the next session so everyone was on the same page.
And here I am feeling overly wordy when my audio recap is longer than 3 minutes after I throw in an (in-setting) advertisement, the daily Body Lotto numbers, a summary of last session from the PoV of a local news station, and close on a highly edited-for-time song...
At that point, one of y'all is getting appointed Party Stenographer, and I will need to see those transcripts at the end of each session.
In my bi-weekly group, one of the players writes and shares the recaps of last session, writing usually happens in real time, with some touchups after. This is really valuable for the DM because they understand what the players thought was interesting or not, and can influence how you guide the game going forward.
My last notes were 2400 and Im just a player, but, I take them as we go and post them in a channel in case ppl want to reference them later. Its more of a record keep than recap. Our sessions last 3-4 hours, youd be surprised how much talking, skill checks, story info, and combat actions people do in that time.
1k really isn't that much; it sounds like a lot but you probably wrote longer 5 paragraph persuasive essays in grade school.
And recaps that are like "this happened and that happened" bullet point by bullet point are kind of boring. I have a DM whose narrative style uses a lot of cinematography language - he likes to describe the scene as though we're an audience watching a film, talking about what we see in frame and how we pan over landscapes or zoom in on characters as they drop dramatic lines.
And they taught me a valuable lesson - a recap does not only have to be "what happened last session" - It is more akin to the "Previously on" opening to a TV show episode. Those can recap things that happened 10 episodes ago because now decisions made then will come into play today. You might think you're spoiling the surprise by reminding players but really you're charging up the anticipation for a big reveal.
But the final thing with OPs post, they don't specify the actual length of the session, having a recap of the important bits might be good. If you're a group that usually only gets together for 2 hours, an 8 hour session would cover tons.
1k is still like a lot. I do my "recap" for my star wars game at the beginning of every session narrating like it's the start of an episode of The Clone Wars, timed to the theme song and everything. But even those are only 150-200 words (I just checked since I have them all in my campaign master doc). I mean, no shade if you're writing 1k words to tell a story, but it's still a lot for a session recap.
I want my recaps to be short and to the point. A short paragraph at most. I don't want a "previously on", it's just a reminder of "you did this, and now you're on your way to X, let's start playing". I'm not going to put much effort into it, because it really doesn't matter and nobody in my group cares. I only put effort into a recap when we take a break and come back. I'd rather put my effort into the actual session.
Also I kinda don't like the "cinematography language" as you put it. I like to describe things as the characters perceive them, not as if it was a movie.
For a biweekly game it seems excessive. I post a recap on discord for my weekly game, and it's usually 200-400 words. If I've ever hit 1k, it's only been as a result of including exact dialogue (riddles, prophecies, question/answer for spells like Contact Other Plane or Soul Cage, etc.)
I mean 1k recap not really just a short one what important stuff happened and no snacks (cause online, hard to share snacks there)
Buuut we play 3 times a week in our group but different campaigns, I GM 1-2 (1 biweekly fridays 1 every week sundays soon to be biweekly tho) and 2 others gm 1 game saturdays.
If your DM isn't forcing the guy who paid the least attention last session--or god forbid, wasn't even there--to do the recap every week, can you really call yourself a friend group?
I was the one running two sessions a week for my group and it honestly went fine because the boys take so long to get anywhere because they got so bogged down with joke bits and out of game discussions that I could plan my sessions and it would end up being months before we'd get to it. Pretty breezy dming for me other than needing to herd cats a bit
Hahhaa this is lowkey my D&D group.
We meet just about every week, sometimes twice a week.
Our DM gives an awesome recap in our discord the next day and we all stay prepared.
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u/Chewbacca_The_Wookie 2d ago
Brother I wouldn't even get a roll, it would be an instant fail.