26+6=1

Hitting the gym

Issue in that case I rather see as why is it allowed to enter into legally binding agreements when you aren’t sober. Why there isn’t a (forced) period to review the papers.

Marriage is a legally binding agreement. Let’s treat it as such.

As long as the Russian bear is around to scare the west and occupy our mibds the Chinese dragon is at much more liberty to do whatever they want.

In a game a while ago there was a FtM prince turned hosteller. Left court and royal duties due to disillusioned and wanting to do actual good. But then they were a PC and quickly needed some help from granddaddy the king. I wondered what the king wanted in exchange. And it was clear - the royal line continued. In other words get an heir.

I checked with the player that this was an OK path comfort and safety wise. Afterall one way to solve it was for the prince to get pregnant, force upon themselves a gender they did not want etc. We talked about it and had regular checkins.

The moment that made this an awesome world building moment was when I realized magic impregnation wasn't an impossibility. Nor pregnancies without the biological bits. Because Magic!

Unfortunately we never to to that part before scheduling did its thing.

Hello Future Me is awesome

The mythology of my world is an interpretation of Glorantha. Pretty much near eastern bronze age. So there are Gods abound, with their respective cults. Most/all cults have rites and mysteries for those deeply devoted. None have came up in play so they are secrets even for me.

A set of secrets/mysteries that I've started working on are the Nysalorian secrets. According to Gloranthan lore when Nysalor was born/created Time stopped to allow the birth. So yeah Nysalor is a big deal. The Nysalorian secrets I'm divining are about the nature of Godhood. I don't know how deep I want to go with them, I could make them the very blueprints of Creation. Perhaps I should tie them to my meta-loredump mystic society/cult Followers of the Blind Idiot God.

I take two to three real world languages that help reinforce the impression of that culture and mush them together. From that I take either similar sounding names or similar meaning names and see what feels right.

I had a game centered on a culture with a (generic) slavic feel that during the last century or so been heavily influenced by the "fancy" "high class" totally not french. So I took slavic names and then either frenchified them or just added french parts (or whole names). Especially true for aristocrats and cosmopolitan folks. The poorer and the more rural the less the french influence was felt which created a nice social dynamic.

In that same game there came a need to name characters from the neighbouring fading empire. And what empire is more empire than the english so that became the base. But we wanted a more tonal shift from just english. As we looked at the culture of that empire we wanted it to be a bit in opposition so one of their defining traits became meritocratic. And somehow we felt adding an east asian melody to the english names would fit. So triple- and quadruple- names it became such as Jane-Ellen-Nicole. And no surnames, only titles.

Tagging onto @sbv - why. Why is this kingdom being besieged? Is a local temple an actual focus for ley energies from creation itself? Is the local well off upstanding citizen actually harbouring deep grudges and just want it all to burn?

Depending on the why the who will fall into place.

My world(s) tend to be very dark age, very migration period. This is regardless of technology. Community matters, your word and deed matters and people tend to be accommodating of strangers. If you are a decent and capable person you can find acceptance in whatever community you desire. A wandering stranger can find their way to the upper echelons of communities. Outsourcing is then now that I think of it kinda common, but with the goal of bringing whose doing the outsourced task into the community.

I'm with you here. Compatability with adventures (monsters, loot) I find good. Classes and player facing rules not so. I mean what if you take a 5e character that uses a 5e rule for something to a One table where the rule that the 5e build depends is altered. Or just a class feature? Imagine the confusion if a feature that does the same thematic thing have the same name in both? What about mixing features from both editions?

CHAOS! (and not in a good way)

Premiums they will then offload onto renters keeping their margins.

Larger and/or gamey games 1€/h. Here I put games such as the Tomb Raiders, cRPGs etc.

Narrative experiences 5€/h. Stray Gods and other high quality intense experiences. Often short and with limited replayability. Like seeing a movie a second time.

Think of all the new beachfront properties!

/s

Indentured servitude - The age old question of what to do with the one who cannot pay their debts? If they are killed you don’t get it back, if they are punished in a way they cannot work you don’t get it back. So instead they are offered a payment plan of providing their creditor a certain amount of labour.

Serfdom - generational bondage to the land. Not belonging to the landowner but to the land and the obligation to tend it. The more common the worship of the Earth Mother and her thousand daughters are the the more sacred this duty becomes. Some legal systems recognize the serfs possibility to move, but only if they find someone else deemed of similar of better quality to take over the land.

Work as rehabilitation into society and paying one’s debts to it - This was a spur of the moment choice I made in one game where a player or two went straight to execution for crimes. But that didn’t jive with me so instead it is a more common practice for criminals to pay off their debts to society through work while undergoing rehabilitation and reintegration. Also prisons are expensive, unless we are talking about inhuman stuff, so them not being a financial black hole helps keeping them human.

Chattel slavery - only if I want to showcase a culture as vile to the bone pretty much without any chance of redemption.

Then we can get into the issue of raising, trading and slaughtering livestock as the difference between the soul in a beast and a human is that the beast is much more strongly affiliated with the Beast rune. But in essence they are the same. And yes that leads to widespread veganism and/or sacrifices to and worship of the Mother of Beasts.

Why shouldn’t they be allowed to secede? Let the inhabitants of each state vote under international supervision to make sure the vote goes by according to western standards. I see no reason why any community should be barred from seeking independence and self rule.

how would you characterise dominate person cast with indefinite duration?

As “your character is now mine until the spell is broken, here is a new sheet for you”. Reread the spell and if I would be the recipient of it I would be very uncomfortable. Agreeing with jjjalljs that when it is used on a PC is really sucks.

upcasting dominate […] difference in power between […] heightened metamagic plus […]

Mechanical stuff. Permanent Dominate Person feels like the realm of a Wish spell so saying it is the equivalent of a ninth level spell sounds appropriate. Unless it was cast in combat, in front of the players and their characters I wouldn’t really bother with exact rolling mechanics. Things happening behind the scenes I just let happen. But if it was in front of them, with the saving throw called for it was in front them, I’d say it would and should be fair to ask the DM what powers were behind the roll. Especially since it is practically a save-or-die (-for-a-while) spell.

Rant about enchantment spells
I personally really don’t like many enchantment spells, particularly those about mind control and domination. They make me uncomfortable. When DM-ing I wouldn’t use any unless I would have gotten explicit permission from the player that it would be OK for them and general permission from the table at large. They can be triggering and I always have “Mind Control/Alteration” as a topic on my Lines&Veils document I ask my players to fill in. Play safe, take care of eachother and push boundaries only with consent in safe spaces.
End rant.

What you are saying sure does highlight an impalance in the system, one that is probably hard to solve without removing what is “core dnd”. Decoupling skills from attributes is one step. Maneuvers for all another. I don’t know what else to do without starting to make it not dnd. And honestly I don’t really need to do anything. There is apparently something out there called Advanced 5e for those that want “dnd but more”. For me there are a thousand and one systems out there for me to like.

The problem is that the only way a fighter can interact with the world is by murdering people

Pretty much the only mechanical way to reliably interact with the world. Since the results from skill checks aren’t defined the point that comes across is that they matter less. Why can’t the Fighter “suggest” to the ruffians to drop their weapons through their skill in Intimidation? They can of course but nowhere it is written as clearly as having the spell Suggestion.

To help non-spellcaster have reliable ways to interact and change the world there needs to be more details regarding skill check outcomes.

Asmodeus is a master schemer, his (its?) most cunning plans span centuries. I would play into this and realize that my puny human intellect couldn’t fathom his brilliance. Let him be this haughty, but always hinting of greater insight into his devices. When his minions are encountered they seldom know the same thing, and often contradictory things. Again, his plans are intricate, elaborate and for him only.

If you want to hand out tasks let them be for no specific reason and for various agents of Asmodeus. Menial tasks for a fresh acolyte. Or perhaps hold off on tasks, “soon” agents will say Soon dedication will be proven. This is just Asmodeus letting the character think the devil is on them, to let them stew in their own fear.

Perhaps Asmodeus even want the character to break his vow and thus forfeit his soul. Another soul to power the infernal machines of war.

Or perhaps Asmodeus doesn’t even care? The character is handed off to a local agent as a reward for the agent having accomplished something. Now we get into politics and very understandable motives. Here I would pick something not really opposed to the party at large, nothing really distasteful. But the agent stand to gain more than what is apparent.

More specific than that you may have to look at the party itself and what their drives are. And the local setting.