I know a lot of people will write what Keelie is doing here as an annoying sort of rules lawyering, but I think it’s important that everyone at the table is playing the same game. ‘Frightened’ is a condition. It does very specific things. If, suddenly, it stops doing those things, everyone needed some kind of warning. Climbing works a specific way. If climbing becomes a skill check, everyone needs to know. So while I get how what Keelie is doing here can seem really petty from the outside, I also get what frustrations cause this sort of conversation in the first place — the game master’s ability to edit complex rules on the fly (for however good of a reason) can ruin someone’s fun.

As an experiment, the description of this comic will have the prose text, unedited, from the short story these comics are based on. Hopefully this creates some accessibility for the folks who need it — and thanks to the people in the comments for a great idea!

See you guys next week!