Doug Austin (he/him)

he/him | Technology | DND | science/space

[Doug Austin (he/him) @DougMAustin]

I’m finally on 🔵☁️now!

[Doug Austin (he/him) @DougMAustin]

@YoDanno When I was much younger, I liked the idea of an anti-hero character. I ran an assassin for a long time. It was a fun character to run, but I have moved on from that play style. As a DM, I would allow a player to play an evil PC as long as it wasn’t disruptive to the group.

[Doug Austin (he/him) @DougMAustin]

@YoDanno “You still have dice older than some players” got me.

[Daddy Rolled a 1 @DaddyRolleda1]

I made this week’s video because AD&D began to feel different in the mid-1980s. Unearthed Arcana, Oriental Adventures, & the Survival Guides did more than just add more material. They also got players changing what they expected the game to be able to do.

Link in first comment.

[Doug Austin (he/him) @DougMAustin]

@YoDanno We used it quite a bit. Several cavaliers and a few barbarians. I tried the Thief-Acrobat, but didn’t play that long. We used weapon specialization and the rules for high level limits for Demi-human characters. Not to mention a whole section on pole arms!

[Doug Austin (he/him) @DougMAustin]

@DaddyRolleda1 I’m excited for this video! This really brings me back to my childhood. I had so much fun with these adventures. I ran my kids through the 5e versions of the U series when I was running Adventurers League. It was great!

[Daddy Rolled a 1 @DaddyRolleda1]

My new video looks at B1, B2, T1, N1, and U1, and what those early TSR “starter” adventures were actually teaching players and novice DMs.

They weren’t all teaching the same kind of D&D.

Link is in the first comment.

[Doug Austin (he/him) @DougMAustin]

@YoDanno 4d6 drop the lowest all the way!!

[Forgotten Realms Wiki @FRWiki]

35 Years Ago: Sojourn was released.

The final novel in the Dark Elf Trilogy, Drizzt Do'Urden embarks on a perilous journey to find his place in the world, facing enemies and discovering his true purpose.
#dnd #TBThursday #tbt

https://t.co/EgqhFuZTlD

[Daddy Rolled a 1 @DaddyRolleda1]

I’ve got a new video up looking at how treasure actually worked in early D&D, including gold-for-XP, treasure tables, encumbrance, and why so many TSR-era mechanics were connected through treasure in the first place.

Link to the full video is in the first comment.

[Doug Austin (he/him) @DougMAustin]

@jehackmaster @YoDanno Originally, Tasha’s Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter was written for a little girl who wrote to Gary Gygax about a spell that makes people laugh. Later Tasha was merged with Iggwilv.

[Daddy Rolled a 1 @DaddyRolleda1]

A lot of people say D&D is supposed to be about story. But when you look at early D&D, that expectation gets more complicated.

My new video looks at where that idea came from, and what the early game was actually built to do.

Link is in first comment.

[Doug Austin (he/him) @DougMAustin]

I haven’t fully decided the answer. One thought I had was the way he was created granted him a soul. His creator used limited wish to give him free will, like Gepetto. That could have imbued him with a soul.
I find this interesting, but I’m not sure yet.

4/4

[Doug Austin (he/him) @DougMAustin]

I don’t want to hijack Harmony’s thread, but I’m currently running a D&D campaign with a player dealing with this concept.
He is playing a homebrewed version of a War Forged with no organic parts. He’s a mechanical/arcane construct with full sentience.
1/?

[todd pickens @shapesandlines]

@Gingerblast I think first we would need some kind of consensus on what consciousness means. And for that matter what a soul is.

I'm not even sure I could define either. But I would be very afraid of any AI that became self aware, and self-deterministic

[Doug Austin (he/him) @DougMAustin]

He asked if his character had a soul. This is more than just a random Q, I have a lich in the campaign as one of the BBEGs. I have been playing this close to the best as it opens up potential challenges in the campaign.

If the PC has a soul, what about sentient magic items?
3/?

[Doug Austin (he/him) @DougMAustin]

@Gingerblast @shapesandlines We are very far away from true sentience, but I think we should consider the psychological impact of treating a set of code as a peer or forming emotional connections to it.

[Doug Austin (he/him) @DougMAustin]

@Gingerblast @shapesandlines There are a lot of very interesting sci-fi stories which deal with this topic. One of the coolest things about the Battle Star Galactica reboot was the update to Cylons. It made them more interesting IMHO. Long term, this should be considered when researching “AI” development.

[Doug Austin (he/him) @DougMAustin]

@Gingerblast Like with Tieflings, if you run a campaign with extra planar creatures, Aasimar can fit in nicely as a PC option. However, they might not fit in your campaign world if you have a different vibe. I can take them or leave them as a DM or a player.

[Daddy Rolled a 1 @DaddyRolleda1]

My new video is live!

I’m looking at Isle of Dread, Castle Amber, and Curse of Xanathon to ask what they reveal about the concept of “exploration” actually meant in early D&D.

I find the answer is not as simple as just “hex crawling.”

Link is in the first comment.