A D&D 5e Greyhawk campaign

[Art Wendorf]

I'm starting up a D&D5e campaign set in the World of Greyhawk using the Living Greyhawk/Adventure Begins time-frame.

I'll be start off using converted modules (NeMoren's Vault, Night's Dark Terror) while I learn how to use FGII (which I think we can all see has at least a little bit of a learning curve). Then I'll move on to adventures better tailored to fit the group. I'll be using only the Core 3 Books. I have an ULTIMATE License so the campaigns players won't have to spend any money to play!

The game will start out text chat based and will probably move on to Text Chat = IC communications; Teamspeak = OOC communications.

Current plan is to run the game every OTHER Saturday from 12pm PST to 4pm PST (I live in California, USA). The tentative start date is 13 June 2015 after my daughter's high school lets out for the summer. My plan is to leave up the server 24-48 hours before game start so that people can log in, tinker with characters, etc.

A little about myself: Started playing D&D in 1981 and have been chugging along with it and other RPGs ever since. I've played, run and lurked in multiple games in multiple formats. I'm not a serious person. I like to keep things light hearted as much as possible and my way of running games reflects that. This doesn't mean that I run a slap-stick campaign, but I definitely don't run Grim Dark campaigns. Post From-The-Ashes is a darker world, but the purpose of the adventurers is to change that.

However, I'll admit that I am new to Fantasy Grounds (don't let my join date fool you). I have to learn the program as I go so those first few adventures will be rocky. I'll also admit that the prime reason for starting up a FG Campaign is to be able to game with my old High School bud who introduced me into gaming and to continue to game with my daughter who will graduating from high school soon and moving out of the house. Given those to tidbits of information, you'll see that I'm very motivated to make this work and to make it continue for many many months and hopefully years.

Currently constructing an Obsidian Portal site to make it easy for the group to communicate. (Here it is: https://greyhawk-adventures-5e.obsidianportal.com/ )

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/?id=1402

As far as making characters goes, it'll be:
Making your character:
Standard Array: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8... OR Point buy: 27 points. All found on page 13 of the PHB.
Any of the Player Races stated in the PHB, so: Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, Gnome, Half-Elf. You can also play a Half-Orc, Dragonborn, Tiefling, but as those are really, really odd for Greyhawk, expect to be treated differently than anyone else by... well... just about everyone who doesn't know you. So I wouldn't recommend it.
All the classes in the PHB.
As far as customization options go: NO multiclass. None. Niet. Nichivo. But I think we'll use Feats seeing as characters get very few and they don't appear to be overwhelming.

If you have any experience in FG, setting up a FG campaign, recruiting for a FG campaign, etc., etc., ad nauseam, please feel free to give me tips.

[Tad]

This sounds really interesting Art, thanks for posting! I've applied to your campaign and will send you a PM soon. Thank you so much for DM'ing, as someone who will be DM'ing using Fantasy Grounds myself pretty soon I totally understand that learning curve. I hope to hear from you soon, and thanks for considering me to game with you!

[Art Wendorf]

Thanks for signing up! I'll keep this posting up to date as things move along. I'm about 75% near completion on those two modules (NeMoren's Vault and Night's Dark Terror) and about that close to having the Obsidian Portal site page set up.

[FawnWasTaken]

Hey, I'm new to Fantasy Grounds, and didn't realise there was a thread tied to the campaign before I applied as a player. I have a little experience in tabletop gaming and am relatively familiar with the 5e rules. Is it ok if I play?

[Doc_Jones]

Signed up on the calendar. I'm also new to FG, but I found that the video tutorials by Dulux Oz on youtube have been amazing for learning the ropes. I've been running a 5E game tabletop and love how streamlined it is. I've got a game I'm getting ready to start running myself, but I really want to be able to play in a game as well. Is the noon start time fixed or is there a little wiggle room? I normally get out of church right at noon, but it only takes me about 15 min to get home. Anyway let me know one way or the other!

[Art Wendorf]

Tad, my fat finger accidentally deleted you from the campaign calendar! Ack! Sometimes posting from my iPhone isn't the brightest idea!

Sorry about that!

[Art Wendorf]

Is it ok if I play?That would be great!

[Art Wendorf]

Is the noon start time fixed or is there a little wiggle room? I normally get out of church right at noon, but it only takes me about 15 min to get home. Anyway let me know one way or the other!Not set in stone at the moment. Game doesn't start until 13 June so everything is a bit... squishy! I just have to leave on those Saturday's by 5 pm.

[lukebagdarrel]

Hey! This sounds great. I have been playing dnd since about '95 or '96. I am semi new to FG but can navigate pretty well. Most of my experience is actually DMing so it will be nice to play for a change! I applied on calendar, hope to hear from you!!

[FawnWasTaken]

That would be great!
Awesome, thank you very much! I look forward to being a part of your campaign/s!

[Art Wendorf]

A very, very rough Obsidian Portal page for the campaign.

https://greyhawk-adventures-5e.obsidianportal.com/

It'll get fleshed out a bit over the next month before we start. I get paid in two weeks and will spend my gaming allowance on a Teamspeak server (yearly sub). I'll fill you in on channel/stuff when that happens.

[Art Wendorf]

Hey! This sounds great. I have been playing dnd since about '95 or '96. I am semi new to FG but can navigate pretty well. Most of my experience is actually DMing so it will be nice to play for a change! I applied on calendar, hope to hear from you!!Great! I suspect that if I have more players than the 3-5 I stated it should be fine because, inevitably, adult life will rear its head and make it so not everyone can attend every time.

[Doc_Jones]

Any thoughts on how you want to manage character creation?

[JohnD]

Man... I'd love to play in a Greyhawk game instead of DMing them all the time. Unfortunately this time just does not match with my availability... hope you all have a great game.

[Art Wendorf]

Man... I'd love to play in a Greyhawk game instead of DMing them all the time. Unfortunately this time just does not match with my availability... hope you all have a great game.it would appear that you do love your Greyhawk!

[Art Wendorf]

Any thoughts on how you want to manage character creation?Away from my comp and on my phone at the moment. I'll post something tomorrow.

Tomorrow will probably be spent getting my ports set up and getting ready for work on Tuesday.

[Doc_Jones]

Well I'm available any time after 5:30 pacific most days, so if you want any help or anything just let me know!

[GunnarGreybeard]

I have all my original Greyhawk stuff packed away somewhere and would love to play but unfortunately, I work nights through the weekend and this is my sleep time (house/yardwork come summer). I will definitely be following along though. :)

[damned]

A very, very rough Obsidian Portal page for the campaign.

https://greyhawk-adventures-5e.obsidianportal.com/

It'll get fleshed out a bit over the next month before we start. I get paid in two weeks and will spend my gaming allowance on a Teamspeak server (yearly sub). I'll fill you in on channel/stuff when that happens.

Hey Art Wendorf - you are absolutely welcome to use the FG Con Community Team Speak server. It has 400+ channels and is available to all Fantasy Grounds users.
Server: ts.fg-con.com
Pass: Dungeoneers

[Art Wendorf]

Hey Art Wendorf - you are absolutely welcome to use the FG Con Community Team Speak server. It has 400+ channels and is available to all Fantasy Grounds users.
Server: ts.fg-con.com
Pass: DungeoneersI did not know that. That's awesome! Yet another reason I'm lovin' Fantasy Grounds!

[Art Wendorf]

Yippee! I managed to get the port thing figured out so that Fantasy Grounds is giving me a big green SUCCESS when I run the Connection Test. I'm taking that as a good sign!

I've also gotten NeMoran's Vault completely converted and inputed into Fantasy Grounds so the first adventure is ready to go. I just have to tinker and play with FG itself a bit (which is where my daughter's computer comes into things) so I can manipulate things well.

It's baby steps, but it's steps forward!

Also, and good news all around, we have enough players to start even if a few can't make it. So the game will definitely be starting on 13 Jun 2015.

Time is still a little up in the air.

I can start as late as 12:30 pm if we want to get in 4 hours of game time every other week (I have a commitment that requires me to leave my house at 5 p -515 pm Pacific. If any of you have a preference, let me know!

[Art Wendorf]

As far as making characters goes, it'll be:

Standard Array: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8... OR Point buy: 27 points. All found on page 13 of the PHB.
Any of the Player Races stated in the PHB, so: Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, Gnome, Half-Elf. You can also play a Half-Orc, Dragonborn, Tiefling, but as those are really, really odd for Greyhawk, expect to be treated differently than anyone else by... well... just about everyone who doesn't know you. So I wouldn't recommend it.
All the classes in the PHB.
As far as customization options go: NO multiclass. None. Niet. Nichivo. But I think we'll use Feats seeing as characters get very few and they don't appear to be overwhelming.

I'll have the server up and going 72 hours before the first session on 13 Jun so that you can either upload or build your character.

That's it for now. Time to watch youtube and read wiki's on how to use FG's little fun thingies.

[PVR1103]

Hi Art,
Just signed up on the calendar...hope you still have room for one more. Haven't tromped around Greyhawk since my college days in the 80's...I miss the Temple of Elemental Evil...such fond nightmares...I mean, memories...But would love to see how the conversion fits in with the 5e rule set. Please let me know if I'll be able to play with you and your group.

Regards,
--Paul Rotondi
"The journey of a thousand light years begins with a really good travel agent..." Anonymous

[Tad]

That Obsidian Portal is sweet Art, I need to step my game up for my group!

[Art Wendorf]

That Obsidian Portal is sweet Art, I need to step my game up for my group!Thanks. It's pretty rough and bare at the moment, but I'm tinkering with it to see just what it'll do. Or, more correctly, what I'm able to make it do as my own technical know-how will be the limiting factor!

It has a forum set up. Bartender's Gossip is the sub-forum for me to put out information to the players and get info from them. The Table by the Fire sub-forum is for the players to be able to "talk" to each other, between session roleplay, and whatnot.

I've only posted up a couple of maps in the map section. I *think* I'm able to place pins or something in the maps. Haven't messed it yet.

I like that it has an adventure log also. That'll make it so that we can have a running log of what's going on so that if someone has to miss a session, they can still be sorta up on what the heck is happening.

I'm liking the NPC section also. Only have one NPC posted so far (the first person the PCs will actually meet in the first session), but it has the ability for me to put people in and mark them as Not Met Yet which keeps them hidden from the players until I want to reveal them. We could also put up the PCs there.

According to Obsidian Portal, I joined that site over a year ago. I was joking with my daughter that I don't even remember doing it! I'm really happy that I'll finally be able to put it to good use. I think it will be very, very helpful and will make running a game online much smoother.

Any input on the Obsidian Site is welcome and appreciated!

[Art Wendorf]

As Tad mentioned in a post on the Obsidian Portal, a very good source of Greyhawk Info set in the time that I'm running the game in is the Greyhawk's Player's Guide (2e) which can be had in PDF form from the Dnd classics site. It's $5. The scan ain't the greatest, but it's serviceable.

https://www.dndclassics.com/product/17435/Greyhawk-Players-Guide-2e?term=players+guide

It's not needed to play the game though. Especially since the first "module" I'm running is really just a dungeon crawl so we can get used to FG and each other. Afterwards, I've mostly converted B10 Night's Dark Terror to 5e and Greyhawk. During that adventure, the PCs will do some traipsing around the Greyhawk area and will learn some information through play. In addition, I'm toying with the wiki on the Obsidian Portal site so that I can put up what info about Greyhawk.

There's also several really good wiki's out there. The interwebs are goooood!

Either way, I'm not a stickler for canon. I don't think adhering dogmatically to it is fun for either the players or the GM. Well, that and I'm not an expert on Greyhawk either!

Main thing is that we all just have fun!

[Doc_Jones]

Really looking forward to this game Art. I'll have to spend some time myself getting familiar with the OP site so I can get my character written up fully and into the page. The 12:30 should work just fine for me. In many cases I would be there prior to that, or a couple minutes behind, depends on if I get waylaid on the way out of church. Even if that's the case, I don't mind people starting without me, or if the server is up earlier in the morning I can log in early and catch up on the text as soon as I walk in the door.

[Art Wendorf]

The connection test went off without a hitch as far as I know. A couple of you managed to make up characters. Thanks for testing the waters for me!

Again: Sorry I wasn't home to oversee things. I guess I should have made it more obvious on Obsidian Portal!

[Dekorume]

Hi there, I just signed up on your calendar for this game, if you do find yourself in need of an alternate to fill a role, I'm you man.

As always,

Dek

[Art Wendorf]

This morning I participated in the excellent "beginner's" class held by jh79 off the Fantasy Grounds forum. If you have a chance to participate, I highly recommend it. While it does start from the very simple and move upwards and it might cover things that you already know, it helps to cement those things in your mind, gives you a chance to ask for clarifications, gives you tips on where to find a couple of really good extensions ( https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?22975-5E-Community-extensions ).

It also pointed out a few place that I'd done things very wrong with the first module in our campaign. I'm going back in to fix those today and next week end.

All in all, I think it'll make our first session go much, much smoother!

[KHitt]

This morning I participated in the excellent "beginner's" class held by jh79 off the Fantasy Grounds forum. If you have a chance to participate, I highly recommend it. While it does start from the very simple and move upwards and it might cover things that you already know, it helps to cement those things in your mind, gives you a chance to ask for clarifications, gives you tips on where to find a couple of really good extensions ( https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?22975-5E-Community-extensions ).

It also pointed out a few place that I'd done things very wrong with the first module in our campaign. I'm going back in to fix those today and next week end.

All in all, I think it'll make our first session go much, much smoother!

Hey Art, dying to play Greyhawk. Would love to come aboard.

Kevin

[Art Wendorf]

Ok, everyone! The first adventure is in the can, 4 one-shots are done, and I'm halfway through revising B10 Night's Dark Terror after jh79's class. Really all I'm looking to complete at this point is the last minute rush of parenting stuff that happens at the end of a school year (dances, plays, exams, etc.). Those things suck up tons of time from a single parent. After the end of all of that, the game will be on as advertised: June 13, 12:30 - 4:30, every other Saturday.

I suspect the first session will be slooooow as we all learn the basics of running and playing Fantasy Grounds together.

Someone told me patience is a virtue. Not sure. I didn't listen all the way to the end. I got impatient. ;)

[Art Wendorf]

Hey Art, dying to play Greyhawk. Would love to come aboard.

KevinKevin, I'm both sorry and excite to say that currently the group is full (and if the calendar is any indication, there's a lot of people waiting to get in). Of course, with the long wait from me announcing the game and the actual START of the game, several of those a probably either 1) not interested any more or 2) hopefully found another group where they are actively enjoying a rousing Fantasy Grounds game!

I'll probably post both here and in the Comments section of the Calendar if an opening comes up.

Thanks so much for the interest though!

[Dazzar]

Hi Art, Being a fellow past 2nd addition GM of Greyhawk is my Favorite world, Please I would love to play your campaign though I live in Australia AEST I can get get around it Since you are paying around noon that's about 5 am here I can get up early I wish to apply. I am new to FG and 5th E, but so keen to find some new friends to adventure with, I really want to get my foot in the door and experience FG.

PS: I just read the post above, oh well I am available if you need a player, Regards Daz

[Art Wendorf]

One week! Looking very much forward to getting this started!

[Doc_Jones]

Me too! Just did the workshop this morning. It was beyond amazing! I learned a lot of stuff that are just easier methods of doing things I did already, but then I also learned about some things I never knew existed!

[Art Wendorf]

The Game Server is up for this campaign and will remain so (unless I accidentally close it as I have several times since 12 noon) until after the game.

The Adventure (so to speak) will be an adaption of NeMoren's Vault, that introductory adventure for 3e that was created by Fiery Dragon. Yes, it's mostly a dungeon crawl with very little interaction with NPCs. But as I stated before, the whole purpose of the first adventure has several parts:

1) So I can learn to DM through Fantasy Grounds
2) So I can learn to run 5e
3) So we can all get used to each other
4) So the players can learn to play 5e over Fantasy Grounds.

I think a Dungeon Crawl will fill those criteria quite nicely.

The followup to NeMoren's Vault is B10 Nights Dark Terror. Anyone who has played this particular D&D module from way back in the day knows that there is plenty of roleplaying potential with NPCs and Villians. Overland exploration. Dungeon Delves and the mystery of Just What the Heck Is Going On!

Very much looking forward to getting this going tomorrow! Yahoo!

[Art Wendorf]

There's a chance, however unlikely, that I'm looking forward to running my first FG game and 5e game. It should be slow, painful, awesome and a learning experience!

[Doc_Jones]

Awesome first session. Was a ton of fun!

[damned]

Well done Art Wendorf!

[Art Wendorf]

Awesome first session. Was a ton of fun!Thanks! That went much smoother than I imagined! It'll only get faster, smoother and funner as we all gain practice! Thank you so much for joining us!

[Art Wendorf]

Well done Art Wendorf!Thanks! There were a few hiccups. For instance during one fight, not all of my skeletons had numbers. Those without could not be targeted nor target anyone which made it interesting! But all-in-all, for a first session, I thought it went quite well. It helped to have patient players!

[damned]

Thanks! There were a few hiccups. For instance during one fight, not all of my skeletons had numbers. Those without could not be targeted nor target anyone which made it interesting! But all-in-all, for a first session, I thought it went quite well. It helped to have patient players!

Art this means your encounter prep wasnt done quite right. After a few more goes you will get it right every time. Useful links for you -

Clear your tokens from the Combat Tracker and Maps. Drag your players from their portraits (top left) onto the Combat Tracker. This links them. Add Encounters and NPCs to the Combat Tracker first - not the map. Then drag tokens from the Combat Tracker to the Map. This keeps them linked.

Have a look at these links too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjtnAhWkaSQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx7CtPsdNbA
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/Encounters
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/File:CnC_encounter_prep.jpg

[Art Wendorf]

Thanks, Damned! I was gonna spend the day researching it and you just saved me tons of time.

[damned]

Thanks, Damned! I was gonna spend the day researching it and you just saved me tons of time.

Your welcome. Get Combat working and everything else can be worked out at your leisure.

[JohnD]

Great to have more Greyhawk on the go.

[Art Wendorf]

The group of adventurers were invited to the estate of Lord Lockswell simply because they were each in possession of a special key. Once there, the Mayor of Two Fords, Varnsen, explained that they were the recipients of Lord Lockswell will and were entitled to enter the Vaults below Lord Lockswell’s Manor and all the contents there in (minus the cut by the crown).

Our intrepid group consists of:


Gorin, a dwarf cleric with the Soldier background
Issac, a Human Cleric with the Noble Knight background
Selysta, a Half-Elf Sorcerer with the Hermit background
Solaelys, a Half-Elf Ranger with the Outlander background


The adventurers introduced themselves to each other, gave a description, established personalities then began questioning the housestaff. Some of the backstory of the Tragedy of Lord Lockswell, namely:


He died 3 years ago and was cremated
He had no offspring
His wife died suddenly and mysteriously 30 years ago and he’s been a hermit ever since.
The town of Lockswell manor is plagued by a “curse” of a strange sickness so most of the people have moved away.
His family won the land Lockswell Manor is sitting on by helping the local elves of Gnarley Woods fight off humanoid invaders.


The group then went to explore the Vault. Entering in through the false wall in the basement, they breached the outer Vault door by each using their key to unlock the bolts. Once inside, they discovered clues that all was not well: deliberately destroyed furnishings, the word “Betrayer!” scrawled in blood on the wall just inside the door, and other clues including parchments.

The rooms so far discovered range from fantastic (a room with an elven fountain/pool surrounded by beautiful tapestries and trees made of metal) to the disgusting (a room trashed and hiding giant centipedes).

The combat with the centipedes was short but enlightening with Gorin being temporarily paralyzed by the centipedes’ venom.

The last room explored was a crypt. The door carved to look like a grave yard. But not some haunted grove, but a place of rest for the dearly departed. Inside the group discovered more clues that things weren’t all well: Several of the doors have been wrenched from their hinges, and the smells of dust and old bones permeate the air along with the name on one of the crypts being scratched out, and the phrase “Always Lisette” crudely carved on the door instead.

Lurking in the shadows undetected were several skeletons who’s animating magic, having faded over the decades, was weak. Gradually they came to life and accosted the group who soundly trounced them, but not without sustaining many injuries themselves…

And thus the first session ends.

It went slowly, just as I thought, as we (mostly I) figured out Fantasy Grounds and got things moving. All-in-all, looking forward to next Saturday!

[Art Wendorf]

Greetings, Crimestoppers!

This weekend is the next installment of.. uh... The Vaults R Us? Or something. As a possible added bonus (though sad for me), my Pathfinder game in which I play a clueless but happy-go-lucky Paladin was cancelled for that evening, so we can play as late as people want.

Also, I will be setting up a voice channel on the FG Con Community Team Speak server. It has 400+ channels and is available to all Fantasy Grounds users.

Server: ts.fg-con.com
Pass: Dungeoneers

I'll probably name the channel something inventive and awe-inspiring like: ArtWend's 5e Greyhawk ! Yeah, that's the ticket!

If you'd rather NOT do voice, but don't want to say it where others will hear you and are afeared... afraid to say something, just drop me a PM. If even one of the group says no, it's out da winder as I did say this was a Text Chat game.

Can't wait to get started!

Good gaming, Folks!

[EDIT] Just like last time, I'll have my server up from the Friday until the end of the Game Session on Saturday so everyone can access their characters. Tweaking the characters is still an option at this time.

[Art Wendorf]

Server is UP!

[Art Wendorf]

Session #2 went even smoother! I figure by the end of the next session I'll have the flow down well enough that things will be going swimmingly... even though I'm not really sure what swimmingly means. Heh.

Just want to say a quick thanks to everyone who has been helping me out. Thank you so much.

[Corwen]

Do you have room for one more? I started playing DnD in the early 80's but have not played in 15 years or so. I found FG on Steam and this looks really cool. Wouldn't mind playing a Dwarven Warrior of some kind.

-Corwen

[Art Wendorf]

Do you have room for one more? I started playing DnD in the early 80's but have not played in 15 years or so. I found FG on Steam and this looks really cool. Wouldn't mind playing a Dwarven Warrior of some kind.

-CorwenNot at the moment (I've given the 5th slot away already). For once the old adage "It's not you; it's me" is true! :p Five players is about all I think I can handle at the moment as I learn to GM through FG. It's an uphill struggle for this old dog to learn new tricks no matter how willing I am.

However, luckily, there are lots and lots of 5e games starting up all the time! Check the Game Calendar or do a forum search! I hope you find something that will suit you!

Thanks for asking!

[Art Wendorf]

Back from my mini-vacation and ready to play! Will the group complete the Vault? What are those orcs and hobgoblins doing here? Why did they build that wall? What's with all the bloody writing on the walls and the scraps of scribbles filled with hate? The end draws near!

The server is up. We'll start on Saturday, July 11th at 12:30 PST.

[Art Wendorf]

It's about 15 minutes past the start time for this weeks game and no one has tried to log on. I did a connection test and it's a success, so I suspect that the culprit in this whole thing is me! LOL. I need to start reminding people further in advance. Didn't this time because I was off on a (much needed) vacation!

Also, if you want to duck out of the game, drop me a line. You won't hurt my feelings! We all have busy lives.

We'll shoot for two weeks from now (July 25th at 12:30 PST)! Until then...

Good Gaming, Adventurers!

[Art Wendorf]

Server will be up at 1000 PST on Saturday 25 July! Game starts at 1230!

[Art Wendorf]

After some technical difficulty, we're going to give the Vaults another go! It was voted for the group to take a long rest and level up! The server will be up at 5 pm PST on Friday, 8/7/15 until after game time on the 8th so everyone can get on and update/level up their characters.

Good Gaming!

Edit: My computer crashed/shutdown during the night while I was sleeping. The server is back up and running!

[Art Wendorf]

Ok, group! With the loss of a player, the disappearance of another (or at least a no show and no communication), this campaign is currently on hold until I fill the group back up and come up with a better means of communication than PMs through Fantasy Grounds that will still allow people to remain spam-free.

I'm thinking that three more players so that when a few don't show up we still have enough to continue. The no-shows will enter suspended animation and become ghosts figures that don't really exist... or something.

I've taken down the Game Calendar listing so that I can redo it to better reflect reality!

Hold tight. I'll let you know when the game continues.

[JohnD]

Art, some advice, I've used this approach for over a decade of on-line gaming and it works quite well at avoiding this kind of thing (does not provide immunity though).

From https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?24624-Savage-Worlds-War-of-the-Dead&p=226663#post226663 :

Get an email address for every player in your group. Be clear that you will communicate via email as well as on the campaign page.

When you schedule a game session, email the group to let them know. Be clear on what your quorum (minimum required to play) is and that if it isn't met by sufficient "yes" votes in the calendar, you will be cancelling the game. For me, I go with 50% + 1 (rounded up). I usually make this determination about 5 hours ahead of game time ideally... if you're not going to run the game, give everyone a chance to find something else to do with their time (including yourself!).

Email the group again a day or so ahead of the game with a reminder.

Email the group when you load FG (personally I try to have it going an hour or so ahead of game time).

Email the group within 12 hours of the end of a game session thanking them for their participation, and provide some idea, even if it's a shot in the dark, for when your next game session might be. Try to not schedule games with less than two days advance notice... five or seven days seems to work great.

Rinse/repeat.

In my experience across multiple gaming groups, this approach results in solid attendance the majority of the time. Perhaps once a year I have a game where 6/7 have voted that they will attend and then only 2 people show up... but that really is the exception not the rule. Sure, the opposite is true where you'll cancel a game only to hear after you've done that, that everyone who didn't vote could have made it after all, so you've missed out on a game... but this again is the exception not the rule.

Along with this be clear what is considered an acceptable attendance rate. If someone is at 1 out of every 4 games, is that an issue for you? Personally, I go with "3 strikes". Three consecutive games with no yes/no vote by a player, or no participation in in-between session email threads, or no responses to specific emails directed to him/her, and I consider that player to have self selected out of my game - without having had the courtesy of letting me and the other players know. As a GM I firmly believe you are far better off looking for a new player than wondering if Bob, James, Rick and Sasha are going to show up this week so you, Marty and Ted who are always there can actually play. This may, on the face of it, sound like you're doing nothing but recruit new people... but in a pretty quick period of time, you should find yourself with a full group of people who value being in your game, and are present and participating more often than not.

Anyways, my 2 cents worth, based on 12+ years of running games on the internet. YMMV and all that.

[Art Wendorf]

Thanks, JohnD! I was pretty sure everything kind of crumbled because I'm very new to running online, fantasy grounds and 5e. I'll get it all squared away and everything will be great.

I'll definitely use your advice.