BIG

G

[cloudie-artty-writty]

Do you understand what I'm saying

[grizzlyplays]

Hey grizzly i have a question. As a dm, how do u prevent the npcs taking up too much screentime? Sometimes i feel like my npcs take up too much screentime, more than my pcs, is there any tips to achieving a good balance? Its my first time dming anything long term. Thanks!

To put it most simply, I personally run my campaign for the players, and therefore everything I create is to serve the story and adventure of their characters. Most of the time the balance is achieved by simply not speaking as an NPC unless spoken to. Sometimes I'll throw in a short quip, or an NPCs insight, but it's supplemental. I certainly love writing and designing complex characters, AND I love playing goofy simple characters. I don't try to prove to my players how cool or how interesting an NPC is. When writing them in, I try to think of how the NPC can add to the story. For example: how can their ideals challenge or effect the PCs? How can they guide the PCs? What lore or context can they provide? How can the PCs help them? How do they tie into the themes of the story, and are they similar or different to how the PCs do? Stuff like that helps me play NPCs without taking the focus on the PCs or agency of the players. None of this applies to improvised NPCs and I definitely do not always do this perfectly or for every NPC that comes up LOL. Keep practicing until you find what works for you and your crew.

[grizzlyplays]

wsg big g, was wondering how u came up with the names of ur characters? like niklaus hendrix goes incredibly hard

I stole "Niklaus," shamelessly, from The Vampire Diaries. Possibly one of the most pathetic wet rag villains of all time. Love him though. Love the accent he has, can't figure it out. Hendrix, of course, comes from Jimi Hendrix. One of the most influential and legendary artists of all time. Perfect fit for the character. :) In a what if a long time ago, I hinted that IF Niklaus had a lineage, they'd all have surnames matching guitarists in our world.

[grizzlyplays]

hello grizz! have you and the crew discussed any secondary characters on the off chance of any deaths? do you think that you'd be more inclined to go for characters already close to other characters (like a family member or friend, like if chip died, bizly would play Ollie or something), or something completely new?

None of us have talked about secondary characters. I think if it happened, with no way back, we'd figure it out after the episode, once proper care and attention was given to both the player and the character. The players are most responsible for their character's well being, and they trust me with dungeon master decisions based on what they do.

I'm not planning for any player characters to die, and I do genuinely try my best to keep them alive, while keeping the stakes high. It's a fine balance getting them feel the weight of death and it's possibility, without them losing their characters outright.

Death can be impactful for a narrative, and in D&D it's very common. Combat is deadly and it won't always be descriptions of cool action. Sometimes it is desperate and ugly. That being said, when it comes to consequence, there are fates far worse and possibly more compelling than dying. I've written a lot for these characters, and to lose them would mean losing so much potential. That is the tragedy of death. Regardless, after the black sea arc, I think I will pull less punches, or at least have gotten much better at the balance I've described.

Currently, The Riptide Pirates have put themselves in a very dangerous situation, with very little leverage. Episodes 108 & 109 have already been recorded, and I hope all I've described are evident in how I run these upcoming episodes. PLEASE ENJOY!

[grizzlyplays]

Utterly Gargantuan G, what happens if there’s a crew wipe in riptide? Does it just end 💀

I guess it depends on the context. Who wiped them out? If it's a monster, then yeah I'd say they probably get eaten. If they got wiped by Kira, well she's not going to kill them all, that's not who she is. So yeah, it really depends. I don't want a TPK to happen, and I don't want the players to lose their characters at all. I hope they all arrive at the end, because this story is for them.

[renrooked]

The Beloved :D

[grizzlyplays]

6 months since I last drew my OC Moxie! 🖤

I spent about an hour with this, so accuracy wasn't so much the goal as it was just drawing her again. I had the pose and the shape of the sweater in my head and REALLY wanted to try and get it down without reference. I think this is close enough. :D

1 was so proud of the last portrait of her and I felt I couldn't draw anything better after. Kept studying practicing figures but eventually took a long break.

Self-taught artists are different beasts, this stuff is hard but I love it.

I've been getting better grasp on things, but still much to learn. Hoping to keep improving and add something new to Moxie's design every time I draw her. Like shoes

I been tryna think of what simple backstory she might have. I can see her in a slice of life, maybe a tattoo artist or a motorcycle enthusiast. or both. any IDEAS??

[grizzlyplays]

may i ask, with the topic of birthdays being brought up and with it the topic of months, what season were the captains born in? if there's even seasons in mana. hold on are there seasons? in mana?

Seasons in Mana are wild, dont ask me to explain it scientifically because I cant. Just as its possible for an island to have eternal night, it’d also be possible for an island to have all four seasons present on its island constantly. There are islands that are forever winter & islands that have normal season changes.

The southern ocean is most commonly similar to our world, just normal climates. The north is way more erratic. The east used to be like constant spring or fall, and the west is hot as balls.

I cant imagine there are seasons under water? What would that look like? wow.. worldbuilding is tuff

[clortonhearsawho]

But can you imagine being one of the soldiers on Kira’s ship feeling great cause you get to work alongside the Golden Vice Admiral. You see the pirates that have the highest bounty in the world. Their boat is flashing rainbow lights into the water. It’s confusing, but you have orders to man the cannons. You do. You’re about to fire.

Their ship teleports.

Their ship.

Teleports.

The entire thing.

You hold on to the last shred of hope for victory but then Some Guy starts jumping around your ship while his Spectral Monkey knocks out your coworkers

[grizzlyplays]

i cant stop laughing

[grizzlyplays]

hello big man, do the riptide captains have confirmed birthdays?

[grizzlyplays]

Do I have permission to kill God for Captain Lizzie?

if she doesn’t kill god first

[grizzlyplays]

Hello grizz!! Your world-building and storytelling really inspire me in riptide, and as an aspiring dm I have but one question!!

How did you prompt the players to write their pc's backstories at the very beginning? Since they're all super interconnected with locations and actual people from their backstories, were those connections planned from the very beginning and did the players know about it??

I guess my point is that I want to write a campaign that has similarly linked characters, but I don't know how I should go about it. Write a story first and blend PC backstories into it, or make players write backstories and write the story around that?

(I'm not sure if this is like secret dm and player behind the curtain info that you can't share and in case it is that's fine, thank you for still taking the time to read this haha :]!! )

There isnt a right way, but I think after you DM for a while, youll learn what works for you and your table.

You can have your players make their characters, and then build a world around them, or you can build a world and then have your players make characters in the world. Regardless, I recommend making your players build their characters together or at least have a session 0 where everyone agrees on what they want out of the game and other table rules. It helps so that you dont have characters who dont get along, which can end up in players not having fun. You can also look up character building questionnaires to send to your players, that will help them flesh out the characters, and give you stuff you can use in the game. Important family member NPCs for example, or greatest fears for another.

In Riptide I didnt have a world built when we started, so there wasnt a story there. The concept of pirates vs navy isn’t original, it was just a starting point and gave the world a cohesive theme. I built small adventures and conflicts, and how the players reacted in character was how the story was told. Now, however, theres a lot more fleshed out, which means the world is going to change, whether they have a hand in it or not, and the story will be the characters perspective and lives throughout the ever changing world. The heaviest theme of the story right now is choice. Whose ideals will win? Whose choices will be remembered?

Id really suggest having a concept and an overarching plot at least so that you can integrate your players into it quicker and easier. An overarching plot might look like world alternating NPC motivations, like coming up with an antagonists plan long before the players are introduced, and have that plan effect the players directly, no matter what their backstory is.

For example, if you had a world that was in endless war fought by orphans raised to be genetic super soldiers, your players would have a jumping off point to write their characters. Your first few sessions might be exploring the live of these young soldiers, and then you throw the ultra plot twist at them like all of a sudden the world powers declare peace as long as all the super soldiers are eradicated, and then what was going to be a campaign of fighting war for the world or something, is now a campaign about being on the run from the world that created the characters. Not saying this idea is good, its just a silly idea to give quick example.

[hitroow]

[crystalliumdaisy]

the sun rises again

[razberrypuck]

mmmmm I wonder if finn's always had memory problems. just because of like.

the way gillion was introduced in the hole in the sea oneshot ("and the much younger boy- you... maybe or maybe not remember the name of. you've seen him around here and there, he attends some of your seminars, a very bright-eyed boy. gillion, maybe").

the sheer amount of detail he put into his logs, that wouldn't be necessary for an outside reader to know; exact temperatures and times and the direction of the wind, pages upon pages going on about the sky and the types of clouds he saw and the humidity in the air. like he's trying to paint himself a picture in his mind so he'd be able to remember it just by reading the words.

writing hundreds, possibly thousands of books in his lifetime, with no mention of fictional stories- from what books we've seen of his it seems like finn writes from his life almost exclusively, with the exception of his research. yes he wrote for his job, and he loves his job, but I wonder if there was more to it than that.

[grizzlyplays]

love reading things like this

[kala-mies]

ELIZABETH LAFAYETTE YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS!!!

[mikocha]

now THATS my Lizzie GODDAMN Lafayette !!!!!!!!