Anafroj

You're welcome, if I did my part to fight online harassment, this is a good day. :) You should consider legal action, though, if you have laws against that in your country (I assume it's most countries, nowadays?). The instance of this or those guys can be subpoenaed to provide their IP address, which then can be used to uncover their identity.

Thanks for the invitation, btw. The whole concept sounds fun. :) I enjoyed the article about imagination engine, it's on the edge of phenomenology, but still keeping things rational (I have a history with phenomenology 😅). I have my own way of exploring my imagination (written solo RPGs, it's basically how I spent my evenings), but I'll have fun reading your content. :) Enjoy!

Oh, my bad, I have yet to get used to the fact that we're having the same discussions over different apps. :)

If you can install custom stylesheets (some options are documented here), I've tested this rule to work for removing downvotes:

.vote__down { display: none !important; }

It will work only for you, though, not for other people on your forum (unless you're an instance owner and can change the website stylesheets file).

An other rule to remove upvotes if you want to:

.vote__up { display: none !important; }

Hey Arotrios, sorry for what you have to go through. I imagine you already know that, but I think it's worth reminding you : you can hide upvotes/downvotes in Lemmy's preferences by unticking the "show scores" option. That way, stalking and serial downvoting is just wasting the abuser time and finger's articulations. :) Honestly, rating everything people say is a toxic feature anyway, it's both addictive and generating anxiety. I'm glad Lemmy allows to disable it, I'm way more at peace since I've done it.

It's totally not crazy thinking. :) I think the main problem is that while Mastodon and Lemmy implement the server to server part of ActivityPub, they don't implement the client to server part of the standard, and instead build their own REST API and client. This is why, while you can subscribe to actors from an other application, it looks bad : it's supposed to be consumed in their own client, or something that tries to emulate it (that, and the fact that they each implement their own extensions to ActivityPub, it doesn't help).

In a perfect world, ActivityPub based applications would implement the client to server part or the standard too, so that we have a multitude of third party clients that can consume data from any ActivityPub based application without looking broken. I certainly hope we go in this direction in the future, because interoperability looks half-baked, as it is right now, and the fediverse would be just more awesome with such upgrade.

Right. Gladly, you're here to explain those masses of idiots who are having fun why they should not. You're just being pedantic. And for the record, no, it doesn't make you sound smart.

Additionally, it can help to see them as "level 0" spells.

Here is the full description of them in the Player HandBook:

A cantrip is a spell that can be cast at will, without using a spell slot and without being prepared in advance. Repeated practice has fixed the spell in the caster's mind and infused the caster with the magic needed to produce the effect over and over. A cantrip's spell level is 0.

It's true that mechanics in BG3 could be better explained to people who don't know dnd. Then again, in RPG videogames, mechanics are usually implementation details that no player gets in details. :) At leat this time, there is an opportunity to understand them (the basic rules are free to obtain on dndbeyond.com, btw)

5e is a bad table top game

No it's not. Everybody loved 5e before the OGL fiasco early this year, but the hardcore old-schoolers who found it too simplified. The recent bad sentiment is about poor business moves by WotC regarding their license, and has nothing to do with the 5e system, which has been to date the most successful edition of dnd.

Counter opinion : this is a bad article written on a great videogame and a great tabletop game.

So, the main point of the author is that they don't like DnD. Well, maybe don't play a DnD game? 😂 #firstWorldProblems

Same remarks as Boatswain, the most important in a one-shot is to reduce the number of plot points in your story, because players will deviate from it and spend a hell lot of time on what you thought were details. Gladly, your scenario is quite simple : going from point A to point B on the road, it's hard to derail. By the way, make them start on the road, or those "details where they spend time" will be half the session spent in Phandalin shopping to prepare for the trip.

Regarding having the goblin as a DMPC : it's perfectly fine to have an NPC following the party and even fighting with them, you just have to make sure they never overshine the party. Make them a few level lower, and play them in a support role, never let them have the kill or solve a problem by themselves. And when the players will start asking questions to the NPC thinking they're the voice of the DM and know everything, make them say stupid things or obvious errors, explaining, as the DM, that the NPC doesn't seem to know better. From there, you will be fine.

Note: this is no general one-shot advice, but given the context you mentioned : keep in mind that the characters your players will create for your one-shot will then be part of your campaign.

Regarding mechanics, I'm totally fine with 5e. To each their own, I guess, because I see BG3 implementation as totally bogus. :) Which does not prevent me from loving that game greatly, it's just "inspired by dnd", to me, mechanics-wise.

Regarding lore, now, certainly I will reuse it! I'm all in the Forgotten Realms, having read countless novels within it, read all 5e adventures (despite never playing them - I take them as current events context to play my own campaigns), and many previous edition adventures, I'm always happy to get new official lore to make my version of the realms richer. :)

And an other aspect on which there will be a before and an after BG3, for me : roleplaying goblins. My goblins are usually "evil dumb", somewhat not very far from kobolds, if a bit more petty and snarky. I totally love the full blown insufferable assholes BG3 made of them. I will definitely copy that.

Lot of great explanations, but I would add, for the non scary part, because it goes like that most of the times for me : the DM figures out the rules, you just assume a cool character and tell your DM what you want to do in the situation they described. :) At least, that's how I do it, I tell my new players they don't have to know any rules, I'll tell them as we go, and the only thing they need to bring is their imagination. And they learn the rules as we go, often they're the ones who want to discover them, as the rules are "cool stuff their character can do".

"That was my favorite spear, 300 years ago!"