"Any seasoned roleplayer knows they are not limited by the rulebooks. Anything is possible as long as they can justify it to the DM." ~Shamus
2023-06-24 10:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
"I had some witty comments to go along with this comic. They are in my notes… around here… somewhere. Ah yes! here they are:
D&D is a sort of simulation. A simulation of living in a fantasy world where fearless heroes and dreadful monsters clash daily in spectacular battles. A w...
2023-06-17 10:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
"Is the loot valuable or not? The price tag is meaningless. It’s all in how you describe it. Take a page from the home shopping channel, where no item is too mundane to be praised.
It’s not a “small figurine”. It’s a “beautiful, hand-crafted figurine of a water nymph”. Yes, th...
2023-06-10 10:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
"In defense of the players, I will say that when this sort of thing happens it is usually the result of the players getting restless or bored. If the players are distracted, it means it’s time to change something and recapture their interest. I’m still working on this particular skill myself....
2023-05-27 10:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
"This happens all the time. No matter how epic the battle, once begun, the thing sounds more or less like a bingo game: People shout out numbers and other people get excited about them." ~Shamus
2023-05-20 10:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
"Ask any fighter: A hammer is just a really heavy set of lockpicks." ~Shamus
2023-05-13 10:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
"Never provide a dungeon without treasure. The longer they search and find nothing, the more your players will be convinced that the treasure is bountiful and exceptionally well-hidden. If left unchecked, they will eventually dismantle and excavate the entire si...
2023-05-06 10:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
"Nothing adds excitement to a campaign like hours of detailing room dimensions and doorway placements. Remember, if you can’t keep them engaged, you can at least keep them busy. Well, one of them, anyway.
(As an aside, in our campaigns we use a a 2023-04-29 10:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
"One of the things I loved to do in our campaigns was give out magical items which were interesting but mostly useless. We’ve been trained by movies that if you find some seemingly unimportant bauble, then the story will later create a situation where it will be the key to solving a problem in ...
2023-04-22 10:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
"Welcome to this special edition of DM of the Rings with special behind-the-scenes director’s commentary…
An alternate joke I wanted to use here was that the other players were not afraid of the monster per se, but afraid of getting involved in a battle which would require know...
2023-04-15 10:00:59 +0000 UTC View Post
"No matter how difficult or absurd you make a puzzle, your players will find an even more impossible and preposterous way of solving it." ~ Shamus
"D&D is a sort of simulation. A simulation of living in a fantasy world where fearless heroes and dreadful monsters clash daily in spectacular battles. A world where you are a great champion, and the creator of the universe is frequently disorganized, highly distractab...
2023-04-01 10:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
"This is, of course, the most pervasive problem in D&D, and one which the rules have never addressed. The tension of many battles has been ruined by some smart-alec suggesting they use the Holy Hand Grenade. No fortress – no matter how impressive or dangerous – wil...
2023-03-25 10:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
"Some notes about writing a campaign:
"The DM will do a lot of talking, but if he’s not rolling the dice then what he’s saying is probably not important." ~Shamus
2023-03-11 11:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
"Even more reviled than a typical roleplayer is a roleplayer who insists on roleplaying. When the dorks need to feel superior, this is the guy they denounce as a dork. Honestly. The only person worse than him is the DM himself. "~Shamus
Also, I...
2023-03-03 22:18:39 +0000 UTC View Post
"When you want an image to use for your character portrait, you have two choices:
"Yes, black dragons are powerful. So are level-20 fireballs, demi-gods, and huge mythic beasts. But there is no force in the game as powerful as the combined selfishness and apathy of your players."~ Shamus
Sharon moved out. Now I'm buying the house (my monthly costs almos...
2023-02-17 19:06:51 +0000 UTC View Post
"Remember, nothing will spice up your campaign quicker than long descriptions of NPC’s doing spectacular stuff while the players sit around and watch."~Shamus
This is exactly how it went in every town our whole campaign, "Where's the brothel? Why isn't there a broth...
2023-02-11 00:39:00 +0000 UTC View Post
"On one hand, it makes no sense for the monsters and encounter areas of the gameworld to come pre-stocked with loot. It also makes no sense for feral beasts and the shambling undead to walk around carrying fabulous cash prizes.
On the other hand, gold coins are shiny and make a fun jinglin...
"Remember: That which does not kill you was simply not permitted to do so for the purposes of the plot." ~Shamus
For us (his family) the funniest thing about this particular comic is the quotes he used. Those movie quotes were regular comments in our household, worked into as...
2023-01-28 13:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
"I’ve mentioned before how I’ve had trouble with coaxing players to rest. You have to watch these guys: They will do everything they can to escape the finely crafted rails you’ve put them on. ~Shamus"<...
2023-01-20 13:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
In this box Patreon asks, "What are you thinking about?"
Well, I am thinking that it has been a 3 week long week, I am exhausted, and I just remembered that the kids decided to do each panel as a single instead of put the double pages together...which means that the number system is d...
2023-01-14 02:30:15 +0000 UTC View Post
"I think I’ll post these M-W-F until I get tired of them." -Shamus (original text)
Finally fully up-to-date and on track. From now on Patreon Patrons will receive the new comic a week ahead of the website. *insert Kermit...
2023-01-08 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
"A couple of people were foolish enough to encourage me yesterday, so now I’m inflicting another one on you." -Shamus (original text)
Ah. Good news. We are now getting things on track.
Our original goal was to post the comic to Patreon a week ahead rather than a day ahead but ...
2023-01-07 20:05:08 +0000 UTC View Post
Link to post here because the holiday messed me up and I forgot to post because preparing a New Years Day meal. Oops. Future comics will have the post here on Saturday, on site on Sunday: https://www.shamusyo...
2023-01-02 01:50:38 +0000 UTC View PostTo a Patreon near you. Actually coming Saturday, New Year's Eve.
The kids have been working hard to remaster Shamus' DM of the Rings to a much more reasonable (and readable) resolution. The updated version will start posting on Jan 1 on Twenty Sided but will be available here on N...
Shamus Young passed on June 15, 2022. He went suddenly into cardiac arrest after being on dialysis for end stage kidney disease for a few months. You can view the memorial service here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
2022-06-29 15:12:27 +0000 UTC View PostHere is a bunch of super-boring housekeeping stuff about having your name in the credits of videos...
I notice other creators on Patreon are doing things like giving bigger backers more attention in the credits. This is a very, very minor thing, but I also kinda like it. When I watch someon...
2020-11-05 14:30:43 +0000 UTC View Post
