Doug Austin (he/him)

I’m finally on 🔵☁️now!

@YoDanno I’m so sorry for your loss. Losing your father is really tough. My condolences to you and your family.

Dad passed away last night. Thankfully he’s longer suffering, and was with family. Thank you all for the prayers and reaching out. Cancer sucks.

In 1979 AD&D was already on store shelves but many players were still trying to figure out how the game actually worked at the table. I took a look at Dragon Magazine issues #23–25, where designers & readers debated combat rules & campaign play in real time. Link in 1st comment.

"This video makes an interesting point... While I always thought of Dragon as a magazine for fans/players of D&D, it also functioned as a trade magazine where designers, contributors and the 'inner circle' discussed and debated the game's designs, influences & philosophies."

@YoDanno I’m so sorry to hear this news. You and your family are in my thoughts. Take care.

Friends, bad news. Got as far as O’Hare today, and had to turn around. Had to cancel GaryCon trip. My father was admitted to the ICU, already on hospice care and going fast. Don’t mean to dump this on you all, just might be in and out for awhile, though some time here might help distract me too.

@EthosHeretica @Gingerblast @shapesandlines True, although in Ashley’s case, her work schedule has had her absent from so many sessions it’s understandable she has trouble finding a flow for her character.

@DougMAustin @Gingerblast @shapesandlines Taliesen and Ashley are rarely ever ready on their turn, even four campaigns in.

Matt Mercer is good at running a show. This advice is actually not bad if your goal is to run a show. I am quite glad that common RPG wisdom has been moving away from show advice and towards game advice

@Gingerblast @shapesandlines Matt Mercer has some cool ideas for monsters and villains that are have given me inspiration for my game. However, to your point, some of the things which work for CR don’t work for a typical TtRPG. It’s a show and needs a plot viewers can follow. A TTRPG doesn’t need that.

@Gingerblast @shapesandlines I fully admit to being a CR fan. I enjoy the show more for the voice acting, which always impresses me, than for the actual game they are playing. If you watch early CR C1 it’s more of a typical game, lots of dead air, side conversations, players not ready on their turn, etc. 1/2

@DaddyRolleda1 Very cool!! I’ve usually added something to my PCs to make them interesting, but tables can be fun for quickly generating characters and to make NPCs on the fly as a DM. I was just talking with my D&D group last weekend about Central Casting back in the day.

@DougMAustin Yes, agreed! I've also got similar tables for Fighters and Clerics on my Patreon and will be adding more soon.

Make your old-school D&D wizards weird! Strange masters. Odd spellbooks. Questionable magical habits. I just released Weird Magic-User Traits, a small table-based supplement exploring ideas like that. Available for patrons now. Link is in the first comment.

@ThatScarletMoth I’m so sorry for your loss.

Camel was a dear friend who always saw the funny side of life. We first met in 2016, when I cosplayed Almalexia. I later made Keening for his birthday one year. A witty, beautiful soul, who will always be loved. May Azura guide you to your final resting place behind the stars

In AD&D, you paid gold to level up. Your character aged. They could get sick. Time kept moving. I think those rules were designed to keep the campaign world bigger than any one hero. My new video looks at what AD&D assumed about campaign play. Link in 1st comment. #DnD #TTRPG

@hwinkler4real I have done all 20

19

@YoDanno I’m sorry does that say Disintegrate Dragon! Languages: most, lol. She had flair!

@YoDanno Morrighan was an epic PC!! +4 sword that charms dragons, Ioun Stone, psionics, 18 71 Strength. Do not get on her bad side!

Mystara didn’t start in a boxed set. It started in a basement c.1976-1979. Tom Moldvay and Lawrence Schick’s home campaign, the Known World, eventually became canon. This? Moldvay’s PC: Moirrighan. Human F/MU. Every published world was once just somebody’s home-brewed game.

@YoDanno @TheDariaBlues I’m assuming this was straight Law-Neutral-Chaos alignment system. High Neutral might be short hand for fully true neutral rather than unaligned?

@TheDariaBlues Good question. I have their campaign notes, need to keep reading.

There are monsters in early AD&D that could kill your character. The Mind Flayer could erase them. When D&D introduced the Illithid, Intelligence became a liability. My latest video looks at how the Mind Flayer changed D&D design. Link in 1st comment. #DnD #MindFlayer

@YoDanno This is awesome!

Legends don’t come around often. And when they do… you pay attention. I’m honored to exclusively announce that the legendary fantasy artist Clyde Caldwell is launching a brand new Kickstarter project, and if you grew up on classic fantasy art, and D&D or Dragonlance goodness, you’re going to want in on this. This is more than a campaign. It’s a return. Stay tuned here for more. kickstarter.com/projects/17353…

I’m posting a bunch of D&D books on EBay the next few days for pigeon seed and school money! Shares are appreciated! ebay.us/m/9eB429