December 2023 Sly Flourish Patreon Q&A

Michael Shea

I don't use it for in-person games, only for online games. I find that needing only to pass along a link works really well – even for more technically challenged players. No login needed, no permissions, etc. I don't think I do anything special in my setup. If you haven't seen it, here's a video where I go in-depth into Owlbear for lazy DMs: https://youtu.be/ZyeEmha6ACU

Joshua Brown-Clay

Hello, Mike! Happy new year! I was wondering what your physical set up is for Owlbear Rodeo. I run a mostly pen and paper group. I tried Owlbear Rodeo and like the potential for quickly throwing in evocative maps but I found introducing technology to my group disruptive. How do you do it?

Michael Shea

It's an interesting idea but it might add new math to the equation. I know the new MCDM RPG doesn't have attack rolls for example – everything is damage. That's interesting. Try it out and see how it goes!

A Name Apart

What do you think about having attacks and spells aways do half damage and then do full damage if they hit/succeed? This seems like it would help with some of our current complaints on lack of monster lethality and lack of player resource depletion. And it also mitigates some of the swingyness of the d20 hit or miss system and gives a much more positive valence to failures/ misses

Michael Shea

I don't think there's an organized system for how much treasure characters should get at any given level. Shadowdark is, at its core, very very random – even in treasure. When it feels right to you, roll on the treasure table associated to the level of the threat the characters faced. See what you get and figure out how many experience points you think that's worth. I've been throwing more treasure in because, at higher levels, it becomes much harder to level. I don't think characters reaching 2nd level with one big carousing session is bad. 1st level is intended to go quickly.

Michael Shea

I spent a Saturday organizing my PDF collection. I have thousands now and certainly stuff falls out of mind but it's there if I want it. Here's my article on the topic: https://slyflourish.com/organizing_digital_rpg_materials.html

Ken Wang

Mike, I’m running a Shadowdark campaign and I can’t seem to get the treasure amounts right. Is there a suggested treasure level in gold for each level? At first level, I think I gave too much gold because the party just caroused their way to 2nd level after only one significant planned encounter/hoard.

Mike, Years of sourcebooks, adventures, and bundles in various formats with different naming conventions have become overwhelming. I find myself spending both time trying to locate what I want as well as money when I re-buy something I already own. I know you have a massive library of files, can you share how you organize all your PDFs and electronic files? Naming conventions, tags, products, tools, systems - more details=better.