Anouncing new games.

[Layander]

I have worked on a game for a long time, several months. I am almost ready to start a game with it. How long before I am done should I announce a game on here? A month? or wait till I am just a week from being ready? Whats the etiquette here for game announcement?

[VenomousFiligree]

I don't think there's any etiquette, I've seen games announced well over a month in advance. At a minimum I would go with two weeks, you'll get a good response from players and be able to answer any questions prior to starting.

[Sorcerer]

as MurghBpurn said I don't think there's much etiquette on timing as long as your clear about it.

I think the main thing - which a lot of people forget is to state
your time zone (usually with respect to GMT) since we are very international here.

[Layander]

I see what you mean I am most likely to play on sundays, hopefully that is a day that is available to alot of people, I am an old school player so I prefer larger groups. That is eastern timezone by the way.

[VenomousFiligree]

I see what you mean I am most likely to play on sundays, hopefully that is a day that is available to alot of people, I am an old school player so I prefer larger groups. That is eastern timezone by the way.
Personally I like smaller groups in FG, especially if text only. Other people have had had success with large groups (Doswelk 10ish!), however I find that with I/C text it can become unwieldy with more than 6.

[Sorcerer]

yeah large groups can definitely slow things down if you just use the chat window.
using some kind of voice protocol can help. but I think it depends on the players and the GM -and on the type of game you are running.

I think the main problem with large groups is that the players who are not acting can become distracted by other things going on in there house.
If your all round a table you can still engage with players who are not acting, but this is much harder when they are remote. If someone else's turn goes on too long players can lose interest and will not come back.

I have always considered myself 'old school' and generally play old school games, but I've never really played a game with more than 6 players - in general I like a compact 4 player group (in old D&D terms fighter/cleric/magic user/thief). That way everybody gets a lot of action and we can move the story on at a fast pace...

[Layander]

Do alot of people around here use voice chat programs like Vent? Does it make the VTT more fun or take away from it?

[VenomousFiligree]

For me voice can help with ooc chat, however I prefer to keep ic chat in the text window. Some of my best RPing moments have been with text chat. Yes it's slower but it can be a lot more immersive, if that elf maiden has got a deep gruff voice it just doesn't work! :)

[Sorcerer]

its probably well balance between the chat only and the Voice only proponents.

they both have pluses and minuses.

a lot of people like the contact given with the voice as its more like the table feel, and as mentioned before it speeds things up and cuts down on typing.

on the other hand text only can be more immersive.
it removes the corny accents, and can bring shy people out of themselves.
it allows you to imagine the action more.
-it also cuts down on player side chat.

the thing to note about using voice is that you should try and run the 'voice server' from one of the players machines to maximize band width
your connection will be busy enough running the game.

[someoneinatree]

Yeah +1 to MurghBpurn and Sorcerer.

Smaller groups are easier to manage and I think are more interesting for players too.

I prefer to use skype/vent for all out of character chat (especially during combat), and all in-character dialogue and action is done in the chatbox in FG2.

This allows for the best of both worlds imo: speedier gameplay with ooc chat, keeps players engaged through voice interaction, and greater immersion as roleplaying through type is usually less awkward and easier for those who are more shy/inhibited.

[jcdf]

I have worked on a game for a long time, several months. I am almost ready to start a game with it. How long before I am done should I announce a game on here? A month? or wait till I am just a week from being ready? Whats the etiquette here for game announcement?

I think two weeks to a month is a good time frame to announce a game in advance. Less and some players might not notice that the game has been announced, more and people might find their real life schedule has changed between the time they agreed to play the game and when the actual game itself begins.

Can you tell me anything about he game? I probably won't be playing and I am nosy. I might be able to help you with some of it. You can PM me the information if you do not want everyone to see it. :o

[Layander]

I mostly do table top stuff in real tables, but what it sounds like from your descriptions, I could actually have a better game experiance by using a VTT with voice and type? I would not mind listing information about my game, where should I post the basics? Under D20/3.5?

[someoneinatree]

I mostly do table top stuff in real tables, but what it sounds like from your descriptions, I could actually have a better game experiance by using a VTT with voice and type?
Its funny... I prefer VTT w/ voice and type over face to face, although I still think the social aspect of the game is important. But yes, its certainly easier to find groups/replacement players, and roleplaying is way less awkward with most people doing at least a little of it as so much more conversation happens in character.

I would not mind listing information about my game, where should I post the basics? Under D20/3.5?
If you're posting details with the idea of getting players, I would post the main game thread in Guild House with the system included in the thread title. Doesn't hurt to post a second thread in D20/3.5 forum that forwards people to the main thread in the Guild House.

If you're posting details with the idea of discussing/developing your campaign ideas, I'd post in D20/3.5.

[Layander]

I posted the first few parts of my setting in the OGL/d20 forum please comment.

[Layander]

I have placed 2 posts so far, I would not mind comments about it.

[jcdf]

I read Campaign synopsis (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13637) and here are a few comments.

There are websites that contain lists of names by languages and nations. Also baby names where you can enter name meanings and a search engine will find examples. For more exotic names like non-humans you could look up a botanical website and pick the Latin name for a flower. Here is an example of one such website. ( https://www.thinkbabynames.com/)

Yeah I agree with you that magic items should be rare with specific background.

The setting sounds good! You could have the coastline of this continent constantly ravaged by violent storms. Consequently resulting in few coastal cities, ports or ships. This would explain the current isolation of these continents nations from their mother countries. These savage storms could be natural or something produced by the gods.

Perhaps this malevolent 13th god is the one creating the storms or the one trying to end them by some means.

The idea of elemental gods or gods of specific emotional states is a bit too clichéd for my liking. But it is up to your self. So your gods are: Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Horses, Youth, Strength, Swift, Arcane, Nature, Death, Heal and Chaos. Out of curiosity which one were you thinking of making the troublemaker?

Any particular reason why there must be 13 gods? What reasoning did you use to pick the names of the gods? There does not seem to be any particular reasoning or logic to them. For example you have a god of chaos but none of order. You have a god of nature and then four elements that make up nature, would there not be over lap between them? You have a god of death but none of birth. Why a god of horses and not ones for other animals? Are horses special on this continent?

How about 14 Gods? The gods of virtues and sins: Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Courage, Faith, Hope and Charity and Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride.

[Layander]

I see what your saying well let me go into the reasons why I chose those gods and then let me know your feelings about that.

The Great god that is beyond worship would basically constitute order. And the god of Chaos opposes him.

When the great god was building the world he needed the first four gods to go, The god of air was the strongest and most noble of the gods and was chosen first and made king of the other gods. His wife is the god of water, and she was sent as well.

The high god wanted land as well as water and sent the god of earth, who was married to fire.

Next the gods of nature and the fey were sent to bring plants and animals to the planet and were also married.

The goddess of life was sent with the god of death who were married to provide a balance for the living things. I also want to point out that the god of death is a Lawful Nuetral god who hates undeath or those who would pervert death.

Those were the gods who were origionally sent, The god of strength, with his wife speed, were sent later, as well as the horseman who was the greatest hunter of the gods and his wife because the overgod learned that chaos disobeyed and they would help in fighting against him.

I do want to say that you have given me a great idea I could have the land separated from the rest of the world by the other gods in order to trap the vile god there. Thus protecting the rest of the world at the cost of this continent.

[jcdf]

Ok so you have a story for the evolution of these lesser gods. The god of chaos is the antagonist of this story. Bearing in mind that this troublesome deity is out numbered twelve to one by the other gods he/she will need to be given some sort of special ability or power to influence the other gods to prevent them from overwhelming him/her instantly. Perhaps the other gods are in disagreement about something and remain divided in some way.

This continent is a prison for the god of chaos. Hence the never ending conflict, war and chaos that ravages the place. The same chaos creates the storms that isolate the place from the rest of the world. The god of chaos had been imprisoned by his/her influence over the humans on the island. The only way he/she can escape is by killing all the humans on the island or having the humans kill each other or having them become peaceful towards each other, thus ending the storms and his imprisonment. A bit of reverse psychology could be used here. The god of chaos needs his/her influence reduced in order for him to escape the continent. One of his priests or clerics could approach the Player Characters requesting their help in bringing peace to the ravaged continent and unwittingly releasing chaos.

What about the Player Characters? How do they fit into all of this? Are they gods or just humans dragged into events beyond their own control? Perhaps they are deceived by someone or something to help free the god of chaos.

[Layander]

The players are going to be a group of people maybe friends, who are of no importance to the world at first, who get drawn into events over their heads and eventually emerge as some of the greatest heroes of the modern world.

The god of chaos is by leaps and bounds stronger than the 12 gods who were sent, he is second in power to the great god alone, he controlls all of the abyss and each demon in the abyss which some of the demi humans even worship as gods themselves.

So not only is he more powerful but he has an army of depraved beings at his beck and call that grows larger each day as he constantly corupts and perverts the mortals on the planet.

[jcdf]

All right so this chaos god is a pretty stereotypical villain. Equivalent to the Dark Lord Sauron in Lord of the Rings. While he might be more powerful than the other gods, limits must placed on his power otherwise how could he be imprisoned on this continent. Also how can the player characters defeat him or keep him imprisoned if his power is too great? He needs an Achilles heel.

The player characters and how they relate to the story, events and NPCs is important. Are they brought to the continent by one of the twelve gods to stop chaos or are they travelling the seas when they are caught up in a storm and ship wrecked on the continent?

What is to this continents name?