Quote from: rawma;11178855e has several backpacks with different collections of common equipment. That's pretty handy. I can't recall a 5e game where we failed at anything because of being poorly equipped.

The poke everything with a 10 foot pole convention is just silly; you waste a lot of time poking things, and if the GM wants to screw you because you didn't poke things then they're the sort of GM who will screw you anyway.

By "screw you" I think you mean "allow you to screw yourself" because the DM doesn't make your choices for you.

Quote from: HappyDaze;1117884That's the belief of an unprepared player--or one that thinks they are in a narrative game. Sometimes you can only rely on what you bring with you and it's not the DM's job to provide you with a parachute when you take a fall for not having what you needed.

So you disagree that it is easy to make a 10' poking stick from materials in the game if you decide you need a 10' poking stick?

You think that buying a 10' poking stick in a "store" is somehow a non-narrative game and picking up a branch from the ground is a narrative game?

Quote from: Shasarak;1117893So you disagree that it is easy to make a 10' poking stick from materials in the game if you decide you need a 10' poking stick?

You think that buying a 10' poking stick in a "store" is somehow a non-narrative game and picking up a branch from the ground is a narrative game?

Greetings!

God, come on, you guys. Yes, Shasarak, making the point to BUY a purpose-made, crafted, 10-foot Pole has advantages. It is more durable when setting off traps, poking around hard surfaces, or being bitten and snapped at by monsters, than some random branch you found along the way, that has a 30 degree curve at the end of it. Kudos fpr being eager to adapt and be resourceful, but having the foresight to be equipped with superior gear and tools is generally, far superior. There's a reason why anyone going out into the wilderness has choices of all kinds of specialized, finely crafted gear. It's more reliable, and does the job better, safer, and more consistently, than you just "winging it."

You must know this is true, Shasarak!:D

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: SHARK;1117899Greetings!

God, come on, you guys. Yes, Shasarak, making the point to BUY a purpose-made, crafted, 10-foot Pole has advantages. It is more durable when setting off traps, poking around hard surfaces, or being bitten and snapped at by monsters, than some random branch you found along the way, that has a 30 degree curve at the end of it. Kudos fpr being eager to adapt and be resourceful, but having the foresight to be equipped with superior gear and tools is generally, far superior. There's a reason why anyone going out into the wilderness has choices of all kinds of specialized, finely crafted gear. It's more reliable, and does the job better, safer, and more consistently, than you just "winging it."

You must know this is true, Shasarak!:D

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

SHARK you would be the last one that I would expect to full to the propaganda of Big Crafting but even you can see the folly of a durable 10' pole that is being  used for setting off traps and or bitten by monsters.  I mean after the first one then you are left with a 5' pole which is basically the same as just poking it with your sword.

Quote from: Shasarak;1117901SHARK you would be the last one that I would expect to full to the propaganda of Big Crafting but even you can see the folly of a durable 10' pole that is being  used for setting off traps and or bitten by monsters.  I mean after the first one then you are left with a 5' pole which is basically the same as just poking it with your sword.

Greetings!

Ahh. BIG CRAFTING!:D *laughing* That's great, my friend!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

The primary function of a ten foot pole is dangling the hog tied halfling thief into dark holes.

Nothing wrong with a 10' pole. But in most cases I'd rather have an 8' spear.

Quote from: SHARK;1117851In these Adventurer League groups, no one seems to believe in being properly equipped for expeditions into the Unknown, especially dungeons.

It's an AL game. AKA, show up and win, collect your rewards, rinse and repeat. The biggest risk to an AL character not getting goodies isn't the adventure, it's the GM not showing up for the auto-win session.

But as an OD&D GM, I'll eat a party that's equipped itself too.

Gear is heavy and bulky. I don't count ENC like a CPA, I just drop penalties when you load yourself down.
Holding a lantern and 10 foot pole at the front of the party? You're unarmed when the monster attacks.
That mule ain't silent...and its prey. We smells it my precious and it smells us.
Time is your enemy so watch my wicked smile grow as you spend too long searching.

But I don't run OD&D as heroic fantasy. For me, it's always horror fantasy. Dungeons are haunted houses in a world overrun by man eating monsters.

The most success parties I've GM'd have brought some good bits of gear, but far more importantly were constantly improvising and using stuff found in the dungeon against itself and kept in mind that dungeons are not amusement parks, but mysterious enemy territory where you are an invader without reinforcements.

Constantly dealt with this issue, down to the point where martial characters would only carry one weapon that the specialized in. No, not one weapon class, not one weapon damage type, not even one weapon style -- one weapon. It got so bad I had to start mocking people openly on tables about "You brought no ranged weapons? [or] You brought no melee weapons?" I had to mock further when it be down to the spell school or spell damage type. Or even basics like "You cast spells so you never thought you'd need a knife? Not even to cut rope or ANYTHING?!" :mad:

I mean it when I say I have to start from scratch with young new players. All permissioned-based thinking, structured-play-based "fairness" participation awards. Learning how to win or lose with grace. Thinking even remotely laterally. Asking any questions beyond, "How can I fuck my fellow player across the table, tee hee!"

It's sad and scary for our future, as these are often adult, or soon-to-be adults. Too much voluntary ostracism into virtual spaces has led to a morbid escapist introspection to the point of ouroboros, even solipsistic symbolic language (meme humor). It was funny and cute at the beginning, but who knew a generation raised on in would take such estrangement & sarcasm as gospel.

edit: I should add that I do see hope. The young are still keenly aware of what they don't know, like public socialization, and do seem interested in learning. What may be arrested development may merely be delayed development.

Quote from: Philotomy Jurament;1117912But in most cases I'd rather have an 8' spear.

That's why we bought polearms for the mercenaries in the 2nd rank!

Here's a gold piece. Now go poke that weird stone in the corner!

Greetings!

Yeah, in one group, we have a Firbolg Barbarian that is equipped with a Maul--a two-handed war hammer. Cool, but when I asked him what second weapon he had to fight in the dungeon's narrow hallway--he smiled stupidly, saying he has a hand axe. Ok, when progressing into a large cavern, where an evil troglodyte shaman is escaping, I fired my longbow and nailed him good, but he still managed to stagger on. Did the Firbolg Barbarian have a powerful longbow that he could finish the enemy off with?

No. He reddened. I don't have any kind of missile weapons.

My character says, "So, that means the Troglodyte shaman gets to escape to summon hordes of reinforcements against us, spoiling our great advantage of surprise. And you don't have a missile weapon? Great. Isn't that special."

*Sigh*

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: SHARK;1117935Greetings!

Yeah, in one group, we have a Firbolg Barbarian that is equipped with a Maul--a two-handed war hammer. Cool, but when I asked him what second weapon he had to fight in the dungeon's narrow hallway--he smiled stupidly, saying he has a hand axe. Ok, when progressing into a large cavern, where an evil troglodyte shaman is escaping, I fired my longbow and nailed him good, but he still managed to stagger on. Did the Firbolg Barbarian have a powerful longbow that he could finish the enemy off with?

No. He reddened. I don't have any kind of missile weapons.

My character says, "So, that means the Troglodyte shaman gets to escape to summon hordes of reinforcements against us, spoiling our great advantage of surprise. And you don't have a missile weapon? Great. Isn't that special."

*Sigh*

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Well a hand axe can be thrown at least, so at shorter ranges (up to 60 feet) he does have a ranged weapon.

My current 5e group is ... okay at this. My fighter is equipped with a glaive (which does double duty as a pole to poke things with), a magic javelin (for enemies that require magic to hit), a long sword and a long bow. Everyone has torches, we've got ball bearings, rope etc. But recently we discovered that none of us had though to bring any chalk, so I had to resort to using the wizards ink pen to mark traps on the floor. So, next stop is buying chalk.

Quote from: Blankman;1117937Well a hand axe can be thrown at least, so at shorter ranges (up to 60 feet) he does have a ranged weapon.

My current 5e group is ... okay at this. My fighter is equipped with a glaive (which does double duty as a pole to poke things with), a magic javelin (for enemies that require magic to hit), a long sword and a long bow. Everyone has torches, we've got ball bearings, rope etc. But recently we discovered that none of us had though to bring any chalk, so I had to resort to using the wizards ink pen to mark traps on the floor. So, next stop is buying chalk.

In third edition there was a cantrip called arcane mark that allowed the wizard to inscribe glowing runes on just about anything. IMC I had designed a spell around or just after 1982 called Glyph which was a first level spell that allowed a wizard to write magic inscriptions and illustrations permanently on any smooth or flat surface. This was a custom designed spell based on the third level cleric spell Glyph of Warding, and the Glyph spell just contained permanent magical writings, but no other spell effects. I also designed a 4th level wizards spell, that allows mages to create and cast Glyphs of Warding as well. I keep Dragon #50 close at hand when running games, and it contains an article, The Glyphs of Cerilon, that expands on the available Glyph of Warding spell, and includes 49 news glyphs and a bunch of glyph related magic items. Really this is one of my favorite types of spell, and I always enjoyed having mages that could secretly leave notes, inscriptions, warnings, and other maps for other mages, for anyone that could use a read magic spell, or who possessed a gem or ring of seeing.

Quote from: Blankman;1117937Well a hand axe can be thrown at least, so at shorter ranges (up to 60 feet) he does have a ranged weapon.

 So, next stop is buying chalk.

I love hand axes but carrying more than two is a bit silly.  As for chalk, if you've got torches, you've got charcoal.

Groups in my games are usually not under-equipped. The vast majority of players are experienced enough to know what might be useful. When making characters with newbies, I give them a general equipment/price list, but I also have various example "bundles" (with their price) that include common/useful adventuring gear. Speeds things up and keeps people from forgetting stuff.