This entry is part 2 in the series RPG Quora Answers By Mike

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay, background color & mirroring by Mike

The article that I intended to publish today didn’t just go pear-shaped on me, it went prickly-pear shaped.

Nothing was salvageable.

That’s Okay – I have this series as a backup for that very contingency.

So, today, I present another 40 or so of my RPG-related answers on Quora.

Some of these will be little more than a paragraph, some may be more substantial, but few (none?) of them will be anywhere near the length of the usual post here at Campaign Mastery.

How would you play a pacifist in D&D? What race, class, and background?

When you play RPG as the Dungeon Master, do you cheer for yourself or for your friends?

What is your most interesting monster you’ve created for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign? – I could link to the answer, but it’s just a set of links back to posts here at Campaign Mastery, so let’s cut out the middleman:

Under what circumstances (if any) would you consider it time for a 6th edition of Dungeons & Dragons? – An interesting question and answer given that we’re now in August 2021, about 3 years later – and I still haven’t seen any hints that a 2024 “Sixth Ed” is on the way. 5e took about 3 years from playtest startup to publication, so time is running out – but when this was written, Covid wasn’t even a word. Has Covid killed 6e? Like you, I can only speculate…

How should I roleplay a (Alseides) nymph in DnD? – my answer to this is a collection of links to relevant articles here at Campaign Mastery. If you want to look at the only other answer to the question (to which my answer refers), when the link opens to my answer, click on the question, or scroll to the bottom of the answer.

As a DM in Dungeons and Dragons, how do you deal with players who constantly find ways of wrecking all of your planning with ludicrous actions no sane character would take?

What exactly are “tabletop RPG adventures”? Does it involve computers? – Any experienced tabletop RPG player will probably have the same initial reaction to this question as I did – a wince and perhaps a small eye-roll. But I decided to take the question seriously (even if I thought that it was probably trolling for attention). Instead of focusing on the second part of the question, I made the first my center of attention, which makes most of this answer a response to offer to those outside the hobby when they ask what it is that you do.

Is it wrong to listen to rap music if I love God? So many people talk about the Illuminati and symbolism. There’s even a rapper that I love who has one eye covered on his album cover. Should I avoid these types of artists? – the specifics of this question and answer might not have an obvious RPG relevance, but the broader issue that it raises is definitely relevant. I have had one really good player bail from a campaign because it had magic in it and their religious sect was extremely rigid in considering magic to be satanic – I wrote about that, and the broader issues raised, in Moral Qualms on the Richter scale – the need for cooperative subject limits, which sparked considerable debate at the time.

What’s your favorite little or unknown tabletop game? – my answer is about a Time Travel game.

What is the lore of Arcane Magic in your D&D setting? – my answer is more about campaign concepts that I haven’t yet run. So if you’re looking for campaign ideas…

As a role-player, does your main character have a favorite weapon? Explain in detail what is special about this weapon and how your character feels about this weapon. – my answer takes me back to an early AD&D campaign in which I was a player. There’s an interesting character concept there for anyone who’s looking for one (works with any class – as proof of which, i reused the character concept in a Roman World campaign some years later, different rules system being playtested, in which the character was a half-Orc Scout – you’ll understand the significance of that after reading the answer!).

Were polearms ever used as individual weapons, or is this an invention of Dungeons & Dragons? – my answer to this question is barely adequate, but there are some quite informative other responses to the question that are worth taking the time to read.

In your country are traditional, pencil and paper, role playing games still popular? Or is it all over now because of video games?

As a D&D DM, what are some more unique and intriguing weapons you have presented your party with during a campaign? – My answer to this question is something I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned here at Campaign Mastery. On top of that, there are 18 other answers to mine for ideas!

In D&D, how did/would you deal with different dialects of languages (such as Common, Draconic, or Elvish) in your campaign? – this answer just scratches the surface of a very complicated subject, the evolution of languages (in general, not relating to any specific language). It’s a subject that I continue to learn about but still can’t say that I have significant expertise to draw upon – just more than some and less than others.

As a D&D player, what weaponry or magic have you seen in a movie that made you stop and take notice in a good way? – this answer feels completely inadequate to me when I look at it today, something that I regret.

How do you deal with travels in a one-shot tabletop roleplaying game? – another almost inadequate answer that does little more than point the reader at someone else’s response, but which does actually answer the question. I must have been under time pressure at that point or I would have elaborated somewhat.

Should a character make a clearly unwise choice to continue the GM’s story?

Do you prefer RPGs to have action combat or turn based? Why? – before answering the question, I vent about people who assume that all RPGs are computer games – a perpetual social media bugbear of mine.

Is it worth paying a Dungeon Master for a session? – this answer feels somewhat dated given the explosion in online TTRPGs as a result of Covid-19. There’s certainly a lot more that could be said on the subject of “Professional GMs” – but I don’t think my answer would change. And this is after people (both through CM and elsewhere) have suggested that I do just that – GM Online, for a fee. Some out there might not even know that it’s a thing!

If you were an RPG character, what character trope would fit you best? – another barely-adequate answer, though it does at least justify the choice.

As a DM/GM how do you deal with combat in the context of high hit points (a Dwarf probably shouldn’t be able to survive 20 stabs/slashes)?

Is radio something that most sentient races would use at some point and if so why are we not awash in radio broadcasts from around our Galaxy? – this answer bottom lines an article here at campaign mastery without linking to it. The article is A Game Of Drakes and Detectives: Where’s ET? – it’s worth reading if you haven’t already done so.

Are Google’s “free to use” images actually free? – for anyone who wants to show their work in public, this is a really important question that most of us pay a LOT of attention to, on a regular basis. If you NEVER intend to let anyone outside your circle of players / friends see what you’ve been up to, go hog-wild. But be aware that it’s a one-way road; once you make a copyright image central to a campaign or an adventure, that campaign or adventure is forever barred from public view; so if there’s a chance that you might EVER change your mind, swim between the copyright-legal flags. or at least to the gray zone that this answer offers you.

Is the 80’s hysteria over devil worship still a problem for the tabletop RPG industry? – this question got me quite fired up. But every time I get upset thinking about the absolute nonsense that was the 80s RPG Hysteria (and some of the outright biased journalism that went with it, I remember that three of my regular players weren’t even into the hobby then, and another had been away from RPGs for years – but has now been back “in” for longer than he was “away”. Out of a sample of 6, that’s fairly significant in terms of the longer-term impact of the Hysteria.

Can anybody answer a legal question regarding the SRD for DnD 5e? Some class branches and certain features are in the player handbook but not SRD. Are these, therefore, not usable under the SRD’s license? – I hesitated before answering this question in hopes that someone more knowledgeable would provide an adequate answer. When none appeared after giving what felt like adequate time, and assuming that the SRD-PHB relationship was the same for 5e as it had been for 3.x, I weighed in with this answer which I still consider barely-adequate, though the person asking the question found it to be exactly what he was looking for, judging from his reply. Someone did offer a better answer than mine, though – you can read it at Mike Prinke’s Answer.

Can a person’s taste in music be used to determine his/her personality? – actually, the question that I answered was Psychologically is there any connection between the type of music people listen to and their personality? but two (or more) similar questions were conflated.

In D&D 5e should a DM allow the use of Polymorph or Druid’s Wild Shape to change into a dinosaur? Do you stick with RAW or does it break immersion too much? – the comments are worth reading too (especially the first one if you’re a 5e GM, especially the second one if you’re not).

What is the best board game table?

What obscure movie did you watch a lot as a child, but no one else you know has even heard of it? – my answer is a numeric analysis of how far technology has come in recent years. And still manages to be relevant to the question. I’m not sure it’s as relevant to RPGs, but in terms of providing look-and-feel for the early days of the internet, it’s priceless – and that is something that’s relevant here.

How can you become a better role player?

Should a new Dungeons and Dragons player have more than 1 of each of the d4, d6, d8, d10, d%, d12, and d20?

What is some good advice for someone just starting out in Dungeons and Dragons? What character class would you recommend as most introductory?

In my D&D campaign, I’m creating a temple for the Illithid deity Ilsensine. What are some ways to design the temple to be alien-like and strange?

While shopping at Half-Price Books I have come across several science fiction books under the SF Masterworks imprint. Some well known, some not, all wonderful books and brand new. I’ve not seen any in a regular bookstore. What is going on?

Which table top roleplaying game has the most realistic combat system?

What is your personal role-playing game origin story? What got you started and keeps you going?

In Dungeons and Dragons, how would military units be structured? – for some reason this question seemed to resonate with Quora contributors, resulting in more than 100 answers (of which, mine is just one). So if you don’t like my answer, or don’t think it’s relevant to an army in your campaign world, check out the others. But set aside a fair chunk of time.

In D&D, how do you give your players motivation to go adventuring?

…which brings me up to mid-April of 2019, in terms of Quora contributions.

LOTS more to come. My usage dropped for most of the rest of the year, only to rise dramatically through 2020, and as for 2021. For almost two months now, I’ve been in Lockdown (along with half of Australia), and that’s led me to spend a lot more time on Quora – sometimes commenting on other answers, sometimes answering questions.

You can get some idea of how productive I’ve been in that space by the fact that when I published the first in this series, I had answered over 1200 questions in about three years – and the total is now over 1400, just a few months later!

Not all of these are PG-relevant – some have been about music, some about politics, some about Covid-19, and some about life in general. To date, I’ve written more than 1400 answers! If just 20% of those are relevant to readers here, that’s 280 answers – and at 40-or-so-a-time, that means at least 5 more of these posts are to come!

Speaking of….

991… 992…

I’m still looking for ideas on how to commemorate my 1000th post at Campaign Mastery. only EIGHT to go until the big occasion!



Discover more from Campaign Mastery

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.