Putting the Cart before the Horse - Starting a 3.5 Campaign [Archive]

Dicax

January 19th, 2010, 01:49

I've been lurking the FGII forums for a little while in the hopes of finding a game to join. Like many other interested players, I've found it difficult to find a group. While disappointing, its really not that surprising. Its hard to find a group in the real world and many fans are reluctant to be a DM and, as a result, there is a dirth of DM's and a plethora of players.

So, after giving it some thought, I've decided to take things into my own hands. And, this may be a crazy idea that turns out to be an epic fail but its worth a shot.

The idea was inspired by the development of classic, old school pencil and paper campaigns. When I first started playing D&D, I began campaigning with a group of friends. While we were inspired to play, we didn't know it all before we began. And when we first started there was no DM per se. A DM (actually DM's) rose from the group.

So this may sound like putting the cart before the horse, but I am proposing to put together a group of 6-8 players in the hopes of finding a dedicated DM which may come from among us or may be so inspired by our dedication and perseverence that they sign on once we, as a group of players, have established the foundation for a campaign.

First off, I'm CST (GMT -6) and would be willing/available to play in the evenings (weekdays except Tues or weekend). And I would like to put together a group of players for DnD 3rd edition.
Here are some general principles to consider when thinking about joining.
These principles are based on my own conceptualization of "classic" pnp play.

1. The adventurers are heroes not super heroes.

2. While individual philosophies may vary, the group is generally good.

3. Role is as important as Roll.

4. The game is balanced both in the sense of PCs vs monsters (death is a real possibility) and within the PCs (no single PC could overcome every adventuring obstacle or challange).

5. Group cohesion is as important, if not more important, than individual striving. In addition to the fact that no single PC can possibly overcome every challange, the individual backgrounds are intertwined with one another to create a group background.

6. The game is an interactive novel that develops as a result of the dialogue between players and the players and the DM.

7. There are conseunces to your action and death is potentially one of them.

8. Learning vs Learned. While one particular player may know much more than others we should all cooperate to learn the rules of the DnD ruleset and the use of FGII. An interest and willingness to learn DnD 3.5 and FGII is the prerequisite for playing. Hopefully, we can find a guru but more likely we will all become guru's.

9. Related to the item above, table top talk is as important as gameplay. Gameplay may intitially be plodding as everyone gets up to speed and the group learns how to play using FGII. The learning curve of the group will initially require some table top, but not to the exlusion of actual play or role play.

Some "undecideds"

1) 3.5 or pathfinder

2) voice chat software (seems like a necessity to reduce the burden of text chat within FGII to get our bearings and I prefer Skype but I'm open).

3) Guild Portal Website (again seems essential for between play communication but I'm open to what we use).

I'm open to negotiating some of these and other aspects of game play. My initial hope is to bring together a group of like minded players who can eventually play together.
These are just my preliminary ideas so they may not be exhaustive and they may be modified to a certain extent. But these represent the core principles of bringing together a group of players that can eventually begin a 3.5 edition DnD campaign.

Andrepartthree

January 19th, 2010, 02:35

Interesting novel approach I like it , and everything you had to say, you sound like my kind of player ! :)

A few things though .. you might want to clarify what nights in the week work best for you ;) ... your post says you live in texas so I'm guessing you mean CST american time zone ;) ...

You're right finding a DM can be REALLY tough due to the intense amount of work required to DM :( .. I'd love to DM personally but my 6 and 8 year old munchkins take up a lot of my free time :( ... hopefully someone who's interested in DM'ing does reply and you can get a group started - best of luck ! :)

Sigurd

January 19th, 2010, 17:23

My group shares around the DM hat so that one person isn't left with all the work.

I can recommend this approach.

Sigurd

Rienen

January 19th, 2010, 20:35

I'm interested in DM'ing. Much of my approach matches yours (as well as timezone). I'd also be learning the "Straight FGII" approach, as I've mostly been using FG II with my group around the same table to aid in book-keeping and combat tracking.

I'm NOT available Tuesdays, but the rest of the nights are negotiable. I also have the "have a 8 and 10 year old that eat up much of my time" but I already have several modules converted from Paizo.

Andrepartthree

January 20th, 2010, 01:28

Sorry, I should have amended that to "I have a 6 and 8 year old that eat up lots of my time but I SUCK at time management ! " :p ... even a parent who can manage their time properly can DM, alas I am not one of those parents :( ...

I really like that you've found a DM who agrees with the intial post here, I think Dicax really hit the nail on the head :) ... If you wouldn't mind having me would love to get in on this when you come up with a day and time that works for everyone... my Sat nights are currently taken up by the other FG game I'm in (all the slots there are filled :( or else I would have said something right away about it ) but pretty much any other night works for me :) ... I hugely support the "Role is as important as Roll " concept mentioned , I'm really big on the RP'ing (role-playing) out your character's personality concept...

https://www.forgottenrealmsnorth.proboards.com/

The above link is to the Sat game I mentioned, I set it up for our Sat group seeing as it's much easier to set up a forum than it is to actually DM :P (though the credit for the concept/format of the forum totally belongs to two other FG players whom I copied it off of :p ) .. Feel free to check it out if you like, you don't have to be registered on the forum to read most of the posts there ... I set it up mainly for the ability to RP with each others PC's out of game sessions in a forum type setting .. basically one PC posts something said in character to another PC, player of other PC posts a reply - sounds cheesy I know but believe it or not I actually found it to be lots of fun and other players in these forums have participated in (and enjoyed) this as well in the other FG games I've been a part of :) .. would be more than happy to set up a similar type forum for you if anyone's interested? (would be primarily Rienen's call as the DM :) ) ...

And I agree about different PC's having a shared background, I actually suggested this concept to fellow players in one of my old campaigns I was a player in ... one PC ended up being a cousin of my PC with all sorts of family tension between them (cousins who were former childhood friends, grew up to have a strained relationship later on ) , another PC was my PC's best friend growing up, it was awesome, tons of great RPing resulted ! :)

Mind you , you need action and combat too - a fifty fifty spread between action/combat and RP is generally a good mix I find ;) ..

I'm also in the eastern time zone ..

Thudar

January 20th, 2010, 03:22

I have every other Wednesday night off and is dying to get into a game. I have DM in the past and could do it in the future but would like to see how FGII works first before I try to run the show. I am off work at 9pm every night central time zone so I could do some late night sessions or a pacific time game.

Todd

Andrepartthree

January 20th, 2010, 14:16

Hope you don't mind Dicax but reposting part of your e-mail to me here just so everyone's aware of the situation ;)

" I'm still working out the details and deciding on next steps. In general, I am leaning toward a week night something like Mon nights 6ish CST to 10ish. "

I THINK we're an hour ahead of you (I'm in the eastern time zone, USA but I'm terrible at figuring out the whole time zone conversion thing :p ) so that would be 5pm to 9pm my time ? Mondays work for me if that's what everyone ends up deciding to go with :)

Not seeing anyone else posting here though , help! Dicax I think another FG player I PM'ed about this thread (hyumitsa ) might have PM'ed you directly regarding this ? I told him he should go ahead and post here on this thread too so we can tell at a glance just looking at the thread who's interested :)

Tripwire

January 20th, 2010, 18:15

I'm in. I've DM'd for FG before and have Monday and Wednesday evenings open (I have 2 kids as well!)
I'm in the EST.
I like the idea of taking it slow in the beginning...getting a solid foundation for the players, even before we may know what we will be playing (except for the gaming system of course).
I'm currently in favor of Pathfinder, but I've played 3.5 forever, so no problem sticking with that.
I'd like to play with mature and "group oriented" players...I've just had too many issues with immature players these days, and it tends to ruin a good thing.
Count me in if you are still looking.

Thanks man!

Nic

Dicax

January 20th, 2010, 18:48

So, I think we have four interested members thus far (five including myself).

Based on everyone's schedule thus far I'd say Monday night 6 or 7 CST to 10 or 11 CST (that's 7 or 8 EST to 11 or 12 EST) but I want to keep things relatively flexible at this point.

The DM'ing arrangement sounds like its still up in the air a bit but I knew that going into it. If we have a solid group of willing players, I'm sure we'll find a DM or decide to play around with it ourselves.

So, I'd like to find 8 players all together. So we are more than half way there!

I threw together a forum board with google groups:

https://groups.google.com/group/passengers-dnd

This is just temporary but its a starting place. I wasn't sure what to call ourselves or which forum type to use. We may switch to obsidian portal, guuldlaunch, guild portal or some other forum website if it better fits our needs but for now this should get us where we need to go.

And, yes, Huyimista (spelling?) contacted me via PM. And, yes, I'm hoping to put together a mature group of players. So far, so good!

I appreciate everyone's interest and hope this works out!

If you guys have any other questions or concerns you'd like to put out on the table, please feel free to raise them here until I can get a forum thrown up.

Andrepartthree

January 20th, 2010, 20:50

So we have a google website cool ! :) .. however, not to flog the dead horse here :P but

https://www.forgottenrealmsnorth.proboards.com/

would we be able to make the google website (or the other alternative website possibilities Dixax mentioned) similar to the proboards site mentioned above? In particular I'm really concerned about the following

- a part of the website where we can post replies to each other in character for out of game session role playing - trust me I've seen it in action before, WONDERFUL thing ! :)
- a part of the website where we can list physical descriptions of our characters and throw up a picture of the PC right there on the website
- a part of the website where we can discuss how treasure gets divided up rather than wasting time discussing it in FG sessions (who wants the +1 magic sword, if no one wants it should we sell it, et cetera)
- a part of the website where we can hash out questions about rules and game mechanics
- I'd like to volunteer to run another section of the forum too with game session recaps for our convenience i.e. I'd just post the entries if no one else is able or willing to do it ;) ..

The biggest problem I've found with posting all this here on the FG website thread is you can't easily navigate it, you can't create sub-parts of the forum devoted to each part I mentioned above and you end up scrolling through a TON of entries till you find what you want.

Of course this all assumes Rienen is ok with such a DM format which has me a bit worried - I haven't seen him post on here lately, not sure if he's lost interest in DM'ing ? :(

Also (and sorry Thurdar I feel terrible saying this :( ) .. when you mention the number of potential players we have, are you including Thadar ? I mention this only because with the poor guy's work schedule, only being available until after 9pm CST , not sure how that would work out - I suppose if the DM is willing Thudar could be with us for half a game session by starting out late?

Personally I'd recommend trying to start the game with the current 4 or 5 players , I find it's easier to attract more players once you have a campaign already up and running ;)

Rienen please post a reply if you're reading this - pretty please? :(

Rienen

January 20th, 2010, 21:19

Sorry, I had been replying directly via PM to Dicax. No, I'm still interested in DM'ing. My schedule is such that if Tripwire would prefer to DM, I'd be fine with that, too (yea! I would finally get to play again).
I'd prefer a smaller group myself to start, if for no other reason, it's easier to work bugs out and match up schedules.
My schedule took an ugly turn this week at work, but I should still be available most nights at least every other, and possibly every, week. I'd prefer to start after 8pm to make sure the kids get in bed, and like I said earlier, Tuesdays are the only "Not Happenin'" day.
Let me know if that works for everyone.

trevorgall

January 20th, 2010, 21:56

You could try OBSIDIAN PORTAL website where you can regisetr your games and have a web site with chars etc etc.

Tripwire

January 20th, 2010, 21:57

Dicax

January 21st, 2010, 03:09

So far we have Andreparthree, Hyumista, Reinen, Tripwire and myself (I sent Thudar a PM indicating that because of his work schedule I didn't think it was going to work. Hard to turn away someone that's interested but...).

And do I have this right. Reinen and Tripwire are willing to consider DM'ing at some point and Andrepartthree is willing to maintain the forum and post session summaries?

I myself am not ruling out DM'ing but until I can master FGII and the 3.5 rule set (last I played was 2.0), I don't think you want me DM'ing. LOL. I think we should all be willing, even if there not necessarily extended campaigns. For example, once I get my bearings I'd be happy to run a oneshot or 3-5 sessions to get a better grasp of things.

Andre, I really like the sections on the Proboard forum you posted. And I really like all the points/suggestions you made. I am a bit slow to warm up on the role play but it looks like it would enhance game play quite a bit! I have no investment in Google groups. I just really wanted to get the ball rolling. If your willing to structure the forum and post session summaries, I'd say you can pick whatever forum website you prefer. I don't think its DM dependent. I haven't accepted anyone's request to join the google groups because I didn't want to confuse things.

Do you guys have thoughts/suggestions regarding voice chat and voice chat software? I THINK voice chat would facilitate group development, questions about gameplay etc. But I could be wrong. If we do go that route, I would suggest skype. But that's because I know and use it and not because its necessarily the best. But like google groups for the forum there may be better alternatives. I'm open.

I also think with five of us we can begin thinking through some of these things.

Andre, if you'll through together something to facilitate communication of the FGII boards that would be great.

That would leave this thread open for recruiting other players (crossing fingers).

Dicax

January 21st, 2010, 03:14

Gee, Andreparthree. I was checking out the guildhouse forum to see if I could respond to some players looking for a game.

I noticed you have been actively recruiting. Excellent!

Andrepartthree

January 21st, 2010, 15:14

yep been actively recruiting just really eager to game with you guys :P ...

Okay regarding the proboards forum - no prob I'd be more than happy to do it :) , but I'd have to work on it tomorrow night (Friday) if that's ok with everyone?

At this point I'd recommend setting up a calendar here on FG with the names of the players ... only problem is I"m not sure how to set up a calendar ! (lol) ... Normally I let someone else do the DM'ing with FG :P ..

Rienen my apologies obviously I worry too much in general (lol) ... Rienen would you mind setting up the FG calendar? (unless someone else knows how to do it and wants to ...) ... basically for everyone new to FG it's a part of the FG forum where it lists all the players who are participating in the campaign by the alias/name they go by here on FG , it also lists the race/class et cet the player is playing (up to the player how much info they put in here depending on how mysterious they want their PC to be :p ) and it allows players to vote for what day they can make it to an FG session - in the event there's only one day in general that we play on players simply vote "yes" or "no" to that particular day so we can tell at a glance who can make it to an FG session on a given week and who can't.

Personally I'd recommend skype - whatever chat program we use I'd strongly recommend we use one simply because it makes it so much easier for the DM to chat with the players about any rules questions and it gives the DM a way to communicate with the players and say " Okay we're going to try logging THIS way into FG " if FG decides to be evil and not let people connect (which has been known to happen) ... I'd recommend keeping in-character stuff (what PC's say to each other in character, DM descriptions of the situations the PC's are in, et cet) on the fantasy grounds program itself in text format (though if Rienen prefers a different approach we'll obviously go with his own). Skype works well even as a text instant messenger even if you don't have a microphone (I don't have a mike :P but if Rienen does have a mike I think skype - or any other voice chat program - would make life WAY easier for Rienen as the DM )

Note - I am a skype user not a skype expert :P .. anyone else know how to run skype in such a manner as to be able to invite other people on skype to a conversation and so forth? as an FYI even for a skype newbie like me it was easy to install so that's not a problem and it's free to use too for our FG purposes ;) ... first game session though I'd recommend using an instant messenger program (MSN IM, yahoo IM, AIM , et cet) as a back-up to skype until everyone's properly connected on it and so forth to each other, then we can do away with the instant messenger program during FG sessions

Rienen

January 21st, 2010, 15:23

And do I have this right. Reinen and Tripwire are willing to consider DM'ing at some point and Andrepartthree is willing to maintain the forum and post session summaries?

I myself am not ruling out DM'ing but until I can master FGII and the 3.5 rule set (last I played was 2.0), I don't think you want me DM'ing. LOL. I think we should all be willing, even if there not necessarily extended campaigns. For example, once I get my bearings I'd be happy to run a oneshot or 3-5 sessions to get a better grasp of things.

Yes. I'd be happy to DM to the best of my ability. I am far from what I would consider a master at FGII; and while I have more recent experience with 3.5 (and am coming up to speed on Pathfinder), my knowledge of the system is nowhere near comprehensive... though I believe I now have access to every book made for 3.5.
DM'ing on the other hand... THAT I've been doing on and off for 20 years, across more than a dozen systems. I've found comprehensive knowledge of the system is only required if you have a rules-monger at the table who insists following the letter of the rules.
With time constraints, if I have a choice between polishing my knowledge of the rules, or my knowledge/expansion of the setting, I'll almost always choose setting.

Andre, I really like the sections on the Proboard forum you posted. And I really like all the points/suggestions you made. I am a bit slow to warm up on the role play but it looks like it would enhance game play quite a bit! I have no investment in Google groups. I just really wanted to get the ball rolling. If your willing to structure the forum and post session summaries, I'd say you can pick whatever forum website you prefer. I don't think its DM dependent. I haven't accepted anyone's request to join the google groups because I didn't want to confuse things.

That would explain why I haven't been accepted yet! :) I really like the Proboard setup, so my vote would go that way.

Do you guys have thoughts/suggestions regarding voice chat and voice chat software? I THINK voice chat would facilitate group development, questions about gameplay etc. But I could be wrong. If we do go that route, I would suggest skype. But that's because I know and use it and not because its necessarily the best. But like google groups for the forum there may be better alternatives. I'm open.
Skype is the only thing I have installed at present, but I'm willing to try anything new. I, too, use it because it's what I have, not because it's the best for the situation.
I like the idea of using the ingame chat client for in-character situations, and voice for table chatter, etc. It only becomes a problem if it starts to run away.

Edit: I was working on this long enough I almost missed your post, Andrepartthree! I would also put myself in the "Skype user" category, but I know several experts. I'll run questions by them. One might be willing and able to join us, as well. I DO have a headset, but I've haven't used it for Skype yet (though I think I'll test it with a buddy tonight).

Rienen

January 21st, 2010, 15:49

"Putting the Cart before the Horse"Has been created.

Gimme a feel for what everyone is looking for:

Playstyle-wise: Court intrigue? Wilderness exploration? Dungeon crawl? Power/Empire-building?

Setting: High fanatasy (normal D&D); Low/gritty fantasy (Warhammer); Steam-punk (Warmachine / Iron Kingdoms); Way-out-there (Dragonstar)

What's your character looking to get out of the campaign? Heroic feats of daring-do? Saving the empire? Establishing your own? Just exploring? etc.

Dicax

January 21st, 2010, 16:26

Yeah, getting the proboards up this weekend is no problem. I appreciate your willingness to do that. It looks really well suited to the task.

Why don't we plan on talking via voice chat next Mon 7 CST.
Let's stick to skype for right now. I've done conference calls and it's straightfoward. All I need is everyone's user name. To facilitate things I'd be happy to log on this weekend and establish contact with each of you individually just to check it out. I suppose if you don't have a mic, you can use the text chat. I'd recommend getting a mic. I've found that you don't have to have the most expensive mic for good sound quality. Moving forward, I think it will be essential to have a mic.

So, Mon night via Skype at 7 CST? Send me your user names and I'll figure out a couple of thirty min segments that I can log on this weekend for test.

PS If you've been reading this post and think this is a good match for you but have some questions you'd like to ask or something you'd like to know before committing your time, feel free to send me your skype username and join us on Mon.

Andrepartthree

January 22nd, 2010, 04:14

Sorry, when you say "putting the cart before the horse" has been created do you mean an FG calendar is up and running (and if so can you put a web link in for us to connect to .. if not, someone who's more experienced with FG - say Tripwire - help, set an FG calendar up for us ! :P (lol) ) ... or do you mean the campaign will be officially starting ? :) Or something else entirely that I missed in my thick-head-ed-ness? :p

I think a mixture of the first three (court intrigue, wilderness exploration and dungeon crawl) is good, I've found too much dungeon crawl can be a bit boring though (though that's me personally ;) ) ... something that just keeps the action flowing and rolling whether it be fighting what-not in the wilderness or confronting a bad guy high up on the top of a castle while struggling to keep your balance and not go splat on the ground hundreds of feet beneath you - you know dramatic confrontations like that .. above all else keep things going at a rapid pace ;) ...

I'm a HUGE role playing fiend so I think a detailed character write up on the player's part and subplots created by the DM that tie into the character's backgrounds are a good thing , something that can be worked out between DM and player via posts on the forum I"ll be creating ;) .. there will be a password protected part of it with the password known only to the DM and an individual player i.e. for one particular part of the forum devoted to that player only that player and the DM will have access to it. I do realize that Rienen probably won't want to create HUGE super detailed background subplots given that you never know which players will leave and which will stay - just general stuff .. " Holy crap that blackguard we're after killed the halfling paladin's father 20 years ago ! " stuff like that (provided phoenix approves of and agrees to such a subplot in the first place, again stuff to be worked out via forum ;) ) ... The forum will also be a good place to work out which players are interested in intertwining PC's past backgrounds (given that we have an elf wizard/cleric and I'm running a half elf I see a possibility there already for an intertwined background if mikken approves)

I'd go with high fantasy (normal D&D) personally but I"m ok with the other settings mentioned long as again we have the focus on RP'ing ... and action too ! Should be a 50 / 50 blend of swashbuckling action and soap opera role playing in my humble opinion...

My PC the half elf female rogue is a happy go lucky trickster with a heart of gold (chaotic good) who uses laughter to escape the pain of her childhood... in her case something as simple as coming to terms with her past although saving the world (or certain portions of it say a village for example) is always a good thing too ;) ..

"Putting the Cart before the Horse"Has been created.

Gimme a feel for what everyone is looking for:

Playstyle-wise: Court intrigue? Wilderness exploration? Dungeon crawl? Power/Empire-building?

Setting: High fanatasy (normal D&D); Low/gritty fantasy (Warhammer); Steam-punk (Warmachine / Iron Kingdoms); Way-out-there (Dragonstar)

What's your character looking to get out of the campaign? Heroic feats of daring-do? Saving the empire? Establishing your own? Just exploring? etc.

rigas

January 22nd, 2010, 04:19

I would be interested in playing. I spoke with Dicax via chat the other night. I will be on the call on Monday.

Marty

Andrepartthree

January 22nd, 2010, 04:26

awesome Marty, more players are a good thing !

Hopefully this will be listed on the FG calendar that we hopefully have and/or will have soon :p ... but in the meantime anyone want to sound off on what kind of PC they plan on running?

Myself - female half elf rogue, Chaotic Good, happy go lucky trickster type, uses her beauty and charisma to her advantage as a con artist, but one with a heart of gold (actually has a conscience, also if she steals something from a PC she typically gives it back to the victim after a while, after making fun of him first regarding the theft of course :p - evil or corrupt NPC's are a different story, rob from the rich give to the poor mentality on her part there) ... smart-aleck (big mouth in other words) who loves to play practical jokes on people... uses laughter to hide her private pain (messed up childhood).

I would be interested in playing. I spoke with Dicax via chat the other night. I will be on the call on Monday.

Marty

Dicax

January 22nd, 2010, 05:56

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/?id=452

Or go to Community, scroll down and near the bottom click Game Calendar and find Putting the Cart...under campaign.

Andrepartthree

January 22nd, 2010, 14:58

Even though we have the skype conversation coming up Monday I still think all the players who want in on this should go ahead and sign up on the FG calendar mentioned below ;)

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/?id=452

Or go to Community, scroll down and near the bottom click Game Calendar and find Putting the Cart...under campaign.

Andrepartthree

January 22nd, 2010, 15:01

forgive the stupid " I'm too dumb to figure out time zone differences" thing :P ... I'm in the eastern time zone (florida usa), I think we're like an hour ahead of CST right? So I'd be signing into skype 8pm eastern standard time in other words?

So, Mon night via Skype at 7 CST? Send me your user names and I'll figure out a couple of thirty min segments that I can log on this weekend for test.

.

Tripwire

January 22nd, 2010, 16:12

Just posting a few catch-up answers here...

1) I prefer a High-Fantasy setting...D&D or Pathfinder.
2) Play-style...any really. I just prefer to know beforehand so I can build a suitable character.
3) I like the hero-style, "save the world", campaigns, but I'll play anything as long as the group-dynamics are comfortable.
4) I am not opposed to modules or adventure-paths, so I always assume a bit of "leading" will take place (I don't think this was ever a question thrown out there, but I thought I'd comment none-the-less.)

Talk to you guys soon.

Nic

Dicax

January 22nd, 2010, 16:24

Yep, 7CST = 8 EST.

Talk to you then.

forgive the stupid " I'm too dumb to figure out time zone differences" thing :P ... I'm in the eastern time zone (florida usa), I think we're like an hour ahead of CST right? So I'd be signing into skype 8pm eastern standard time in other words?

Andrepartthree

January 22nd, 2010, 21:33

Okay so we DID say we were looking for 8 players or so initially back on the first post ;) ... and let's be honest guys, in FG games people start playing then are forced to drop out for whatever reason all the time so better to have lots of players initially ;) ....

So there are two players I know, both girl gamers (how rare is that eh ? :) No offense intended to anyone but it's like 99 percent guy players on here, gets a bit DULL after a while - the only way you get girl PC's is if a guy like me feels comfortable enough running one ! :P ) ... And these two particular players are way cool :) , I've gamed with them before - actually they were co-DM's in an FG game I was in as a player before, awesome campaign ... they'reinterested , they're checking their schedule right now to see if they can squeeze an FG Game in (they're busy with work and school and so forth )

Andrepartthree

January 22nd, 2010, 22:12

So, Mon night via Skype at 7 CST? Send me your user names and I'll figure out a couple of thirty min segments that I can log on this weekend for test.

Sorry , you mean send you our skype user names? On skype I go by andrepartthree

I'd also recommend we go ahead and enter our skype info at the forum I created for the campaign :)

https://cartbeforethehorse.proboards.com

proboards should let you go ahead and register on there without me having to approve it or anything i.e. you should be able to register on there immediately ;) , automated type process... I think you have to check your e-mail for something they send you so you can activate your account or something along those lines.

Soooo, everyone please go ahead and register at the above website :) ... then please enter your skype name on the appropriate part of the forum ("IP Connectivity, Skype and downloads" ) there so we can all connect to each other via skype :) (and also so you can easily identify who is who when using skype by referring to the forum ;) ) ...

Also, please enter a description and pic of your character in the "meet the heroes" part of the forum so I can proceed to the next part creating the forum, making individual forums for each player and their PC for private conversations with the DM, Rienen :) ...

And don't forget to apply on the FG calendar too !

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/?id=452

Dicax

January 23rd, 2010, 00:07

Yeah, Andreparthree, I think 8 players would be best for the reasons you mention, especially if we are considering rotating DM amongst several of us.

And thanks for setting up the proboards!

Dicax

January 23rd, 2010, 18:30

Probaord looks great, Andreparthree!

I had a couple of thoughts on sub-forums. I was wondering about adding two specific forums for using FGII and D&D mechanincs. Just a though. Perhaps you think of them as falling under on of the current sub-forums. It might be helpful to separate the two. Dunno for sure.

I'm going to be working on the honey to do list most of today and tomorrow, but I'll try and pay attention to skype if anyone wants to chat or touch base.

PS I didn't mean for, "putting the care before the horse" to stick. But it looks like it may have. Perhaps it will be a story element???

Dicax

January 23rd, 2010, 18:34

Reinen,

Where I'm from the DM rules the campaign. But since you asked my hopes are pretty straightforward. I prefer a balanced playstyle with equal parts battle and role play/story development and character development. In terms of setting, there too, I prefer a balanced setting including city/wilderness/dungeon.

For nostalgia, I wouldn't mind a forgottem realms or greyhawk or similar setting.

I posted a PC description on the proboards to give you an idea of my motivations for adventuring.

Thanks for stepping up to the plate to be the first to DM.

Andrepartthree

January 23rd, 2010, 23:07

PS I didn't mean for, "putting the care before the horse" to stick. But it looks like it may have. Perhaps it will be a story element???

(chuckles)... yep, definitely a funny name for a forum :p .... wasn't sure what else to call it though, normally the DM names it and since I didn't have a campaign name - my fault for not asking Rienen first - went with cart before the horse.. yeah maybe Rienen can work it into the campaign somehow - it'll be like the team symbol or something a pic of a cart before a horse

Probaord looks great, Andreparthree!

I had a couple of thoughts on sub-forums. I was wondering about adding two specific forums for using FGII and D&D mechanincs. Just a though. Perhaps you think of them as falling under on of the current sub-forums. It might be helpful to separate the two.

Think I already have part of the forum set up for D&D mechanics "rules logistics" but I don't have a part of the forum set up for FG mechanics .. will add that right now ;)

IAJTrooper

January 24th, 2010, 12:03

Hello thar.

Just wanted to say that, after reading through this thread, this game seems like it has a lot of promise, and I would be honored if I could join. I have signed up on the proboards forums and posted my Skype account, and am looking forward to the voice chat on Monday.

As for my preferences, I'm really okay with anything, but since that's not very helpful, I'll list what I like in order of greatest to least:

1.) Empire/faction building, wilderness exploration, Dungeon crawl

2.) Low/gritty fantasy, high fantasy, steampunk

3.) Practicing/developing skills, establishing a reputation, exploring the world

Johan

January 24th, 2010, 19:00

I'm interested, I'll throw my skype info onto the proboards

Brennus

January 28th, 2010, 21:10

I just stumbled over Fantasy Grounds as I am looking for options on playing D&D online in the Forgotten Realms.

I very much like what I have read so far in this thread. Is the 8th player still vacant?

I live in -3 GMT/UCT (CLST) and played 2e a long time ago. I have most 3.5 material available though to get up to date on 3e rules rather quickly. And I am quite flexible during the week for playing (with the same slight "kids"-restrictions as others here).
I would probably need 1 or 2 weeks more to learn 3.5 and build a character.

Please let me know what you think. :)

Another question apart: which software versions do you guys use? The "Lite" version? Haven't purchased yet, so I am interested in knowing your position on that.