TOPIC: True Grind Prep Material??

Matthew Hayward wrote: What constitutes a list of all equipment? Would it be like the character sheet print out from Amorgen's spreadsheet?

Yes. In fact, the Amorgen spreadsheet is the most popular way to turn in a list of equipment... though I've also had players hand in hand-written sheets, and print-outs of their build taken from the forums or Cranston's app.

Or would it also need to include slotless/consumables that wouldn't normally go on a character sheet (e.g. Censer of Sacrifice, 10x Scroll Cure Moderate Wounds, Scepter of the Dead, etc.)

Consumables aren't tracked... other than incognito tallying things like how often a PoDD or Elixir of Life is used.
Slotless items are tracked if they're the kinds of things which would change stats, but an item like Censor of Sacrifice or Lamp of the Marid doesn't necessarily get tracked.

Matthew Hayward wrote: Are the equipment rules for Grind the same as TD?

For example do you need to equip Goggles of Seeing or Ring of the Deep for the entire adventure?

Rules are the same as in TD: You can't swap out rings/armour/eyewear etc for their situational bonuses.

There have been situations where players have opted to remove certain equipment (like taking off their armour in an increasingly hot room) but you can't put on a different piece of armour instead.

The exception (as in True Dungeon) is Weapons. You may switch to a different weapon if the Mimic eats your +5 sword, or the Black Knight lops off one of the arms holding your BattleAxe, or the Harpy turns your Mighty Longbow into a Snake.
If that happens, we make the adjustments the the party card on the fly.

Druegar wrote:

Incognito wrote: The 2015 Grind Environmental Rules Compilation can be found here:
app.box.com/s/zyq24xjvjj4b7lw0jse9dvserais7uoc

Thanks, Druegar!

For the Monks and Rangers out there, its important to note that the to-hit bonus for each "hand" is tracked separately in Grind. So if you have a +5 weapon in your main hand and a +2 in your second hand, Grind will treat them differently.

Angela, what date and time are you doing Grind? I'm curious if I'll be the assistant DM for your session or not.

It sounds like everybody has you mostly covered. I did want to point out that the 1.5 hour session is 30min in the coaching room and 60min in Grind. I want to reiterate Raven's suggestion of arriving 30min early especially if you don't know your whole party. The standard 30min in the coaching room can really not leave enough time.

I want to point out a few other things that might influence your build in Grind:

• Treasure-enhancing tokens have no effect; you always get just one treasure draw. So wear something else to keep you alive.
• Compared to the dungeon, saves tend to be used much more and matter much more.
• Compared to the dungeon, building a glass cannon (all strength and damage) isn't as effective due to the higher likelihood that you'll be targeted by the monsters. Try to balance damage output with AC and damage defense.
• Compared to the dungeon, the difficulty is greater. Normal Grind is at least as difficult as Hardcore dungeon. You are more likely to die and you should go into it expecting this might happen (bring a Mystic Mushroom if that bothers you too much).

Compared to the dungeon there is more opportunity for creativity by the players. It is great to bring a selection of alternate weapons, potions, scrolls, etc. You never know what Incognito will throw at you.

Raven wrote: if the Mimic eats your +5 sword, or the Black Knight lops off one of the arms holding your BattleAxe, or the Harpy turns your Mighty Longbow into a Snake.
If that happens, we make the adjustments the the party card on the fly.

Mmm... I've also seen another post about a rust monster and weapons...

So.. my concern here is, what happens to your weapon token? Granted, I don't own any legendary tokens, but I'd be pretty sad if I managed to loose my precious few URs..

Do people just plan for this and not use all their super nice stuff on grinds?

And Thanks Druegar! That link was extremely helpful!

Raven wrote: The exception (as in True Dungeon) is Weapons. You may switch to a different weapon if {bad things happen}

(as usual) I'm confused. One may switch weapons in standard TD. What is this an exception to?

Angela Small wrote:

Raven wrote: if the Mimic eats your +5 sword, or the Black Knight lops off one of the arms holding your BattleAxe, or the Harpy turns your Mighty Longbow into a Snake.
If that happens, we make the adjustments the the party card on the fly.

Mmm... I've also seen another post about a rust monster and weapons...

So.. my concern here is, what happens to your weapon token? Granted, I don't own any legendary tokens, but I'd be pretty sad if I managed to loose my precious few URs..

Do people just plan for this and not use all their super nice stuff on grinds?

And Thanks Druegar! That link was extremely helpful!

In TD "destroy" effects mean you can't use the item for the rest of the room/scenario.

For example, if you go underwater without appropriate items your scrolls are "destroyed" - but you don't hand them over to be collected, you just can't use them.

If a rust monster "destroys" your weapon, you simply aren't allowed to use that weapon any longer.

I suppose it's not completely impossible that at some point a module or DM would request you to permanently hand over non-consumable items without advanced warning, but I am confident this will not actually be done because it would be very unpleasant for the players.

Ultimately your tokens are your property - no one can take them away from you without your agreement.

Druegar wrote:

Raven wrote: The exception (as in True Dungeon) is Weapons. You may switch to a different weapon if {bad things happen}

(as usual) I'm confused. One may switch weapons in standard TD. What is this an exception to?

I believe she means weapons are the except to tokens not being switched, in grind and dungeon.

Angela Small wrote: So.. my concern here is, what happens to your weapon token? Granted, I don't own any legendary tokens, but I'd be pretty sad if I managed to loose my precious few URs.

You would not lose your weapon if it was hit by a rust monster. You simply lose the ability to use it for the rest of the game.

Under normal circumstances, TD will never collect a non-consumable token. E.g., we'll make you turn in a potion token if you drink the potion, but not a sword token that got eaten by a rust monster. The only exception would be if the player wanted to do something unusual and even then, the DM would warn the player that doing so will result in the token being collected. It might go something like this:
DM: The huge ogre guarding the gate seems to be looking at your money bag.
Player: I want to try to bribe the ogre into letting us pass. I give him this 500 GP widget.
DM: If you do so, I will have to collect that token and you will not get it back. Are you sure you want to do that?

While on the topic of True Grind-ism's...

How does one determine "per room" duration effects in Grind?

For example, if I use a +2 Staff of Power to cast a spell, and then can't use it again until the next "room" - how do you know when that occurs?

Similarly - for cloak of shadowskin, how is "per combat" determined? Every time initiative is rolled (I've never seen a situation in the main dungeon where "per combat" differed from "room")?

Matthew Hayward wrote: While on the topic of True Grind-ism's...

How does one determine "per room" duration effects in Grind?

For example, if I use a +2 Staff of Power to cast a spell, and then can't use it again until the next "room" - how do you know when that occurs?

Similarly - for cloak of shadowskin, how is "per combat" determined? Every time initiative is rolled (I've never seen a situation in the main dungeon where "per combat" differed from "room")?

Typically in Grind one set of monsters (across the 2 or 3 combat tables) is considered one room. So at WYC there were 5 rooms I think, with 10 monsters spread across two tables.

I did like one year at GenCon when Eric had an easel with one of those big pads on it. He would flip the page to a new page every time we entered a new "room". It made it easier to keep track.

In our Epic Grind run, Ed did a great job of yelling out to our team every time we changed rooms. This allowed us all to do things like apply our HP regen items, etc.

Once the most recent monster, or monsters, are defeated, it becomes a new encounter/room.