Fresh DM looking to host 5E campaigns

[spite]

Hey everyone! I'm looking to run a night of DnD 5e as DM on thursdays at 10pm PDT. (This is because in my timezone that's friday evening) hoping to get some regulars going to work through all the campaigns currently released for 5e. I will be starting with Princes of the Apocalypse and then Tyranny of Dragons. I have an ultimate license, so trials are welcome, I only ask that you are reliable and turn up each week on time.
Look for between 3 and 5 players at present. PM or post in this thread.
I AM new to Fantasy Grounds, but have been fiddling a lot, as long as people are happy for me to learn as we go I am happy to accommodate players of all experiences.

FG License: Ultimate, free/demo welcome
Game System: DnD 5E

Day of week and time: Thursday 10pm PDT/PST. (Friday 6pm NZST)
Planned start date: 2nd October 2015
Planned Frequency: Weekly. Bi weekly if unable to make a team weekly.
Term: Long term. Though happy to re-recruit for each module so if you only want to partake in some you can.

Text or Voice: Voice, TS3

Roleplay & Combat mix: 50/50 I encourage roleplaying, and I offer the same with my portrayal of game NPCs (with my wide arrange of terrible accents)
Number of Players in game & needed: Have 1, need 2-4 more.
Character starting level & equipment: Princes will be started at level 1, doing the introductory quest in the book. Each module will be reset/rerolled for appropriate levels. Standard pt buy.
Character restrictions: All races/classes available in PHB and Elemental Evil. Will consider alternatives, just give me a convo and lay out what you are after.

Details of your game: Will be a fairly vanilla experience. I'm very easy going, and when it comes to rules lawyering/clarifications, I will tend to make a quick decision at the time to keep play moving and if you wish we can discuss between sessions if you are unhappy with a ruling. Being fairly free-flowing means I am also very open to characters pushing the boundaries and exploring all kinds of different play styles and will do my best to accommodate all sorts of zany activity. As long as we're all having fun and not trying to break the game I'll probably allow it, so ask away! I tend to keep a kind of "you say you do it, it happens" kind of attitude; it keeps meta-gaming to a minimum if someone says "I punch the *NPC* in the face" then that's what happens. No take-back-sies!


Link to Gamecalendar page: Calender (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/index.xcp?id=1635)

[TalonHawk]

Would love to join your game! Fairly experienced player, willing to play whatever class needed.

[Kabwerewolf]

I would also love to play, timezone works fine for me.

[jshauber]

Hey Spite, Welcome and thanks for taking the DM role on right away.

While the night/time won't work for me to play, I would like to volunteer my services answering any questions or giving you a quick rundown of 5e before you get started to make it run as smooth as possible for you and your players.

If you want to set up a one-one session to ask questions about things like effects/running combats/NPCs/making life as a GM as easy as possible let me know via a PM.

[BrogorktheFork]

This is exactly the kind of game I'm looking for but the time is too late for me. 12 am to start is pretty hard with work in the morning. If you decide to change the time I'd be very interested.

[spite]

Yea, I am expecting it to be pretty far-out for most, sadly. That's the downside of being on the further-most forward part of the earth. If I started earlier I'd still be at Uni or getting the kids into bed. There is a chance I can make a early saturday night PDT session, depending how this goes, but giving this a fair whack first!.

TalonHawk you are more than welcome to join, just PM me what class/role you're hoping to fill (as you had first response) and we'll go from there!

Kabwerewolf that's good news! As with Talon if you could PM me what class you're hoping to fill and apply on the calender if you haven't already that'd be great.

[Reosoul]

I could also possibly join. I'll post to the calendar and PM my character.

[damned]

spite dont be fretting just yet. Your post isnt a day old yet and you have 2 interested parties already. Im thinking you will fill the game. You should also advertise it in NZ and/or AUS and/or JPN times too as you might get players from there as well.

[Secretly Jay]

I would also like to join, I will PM you my character later and apply to the calendar.

[spite]

Awesome Secretly Jay. At that amount I'm tentatively full, so any more from now will need to go on a list as backup. Please do still feel free to PM me so I can make sure I know who's out there if anyone decides its not for them or cant make it.
Thanks for the interest everyone!

[spite]

Just a quick update (sorry for the double post) but due to family circumstances arising this week's starting session will have to be moved forward to starting next week (8th October 10pm PDT). Sorry for any issues this may cause, and costing you a night of gaming! The calendar has been updated to reflect the change in start date.

[spite]

I'd love to say tonight session went off without a hitch, but communication issues arose and critically hit my internet. After troubling starts and stops, we ended up finishing the night with a text-based DM and some epic music. Everyone seemed to have some fun (even those that died at times) and here's looking forward to the next session, where hopefully everything runs smoothly! We had a few no-shows tonight, so there is still room for maybe one more player at this point. Please PM me if you were one of the no shows and still wish to have a slot, otherwise PM me your interest and we'll discuss you coming along!

[damned]

Heya spite - if you would like I can spend 15mins with you going over the things you had trouble with?
lemmeknow!

[spite]

Oh it wasn't FG issues, my internet was having a right old time managing my voice and FG simultaneously, we're still waiting for our fibre connection to come ready so ADSL struggled with combining it all tonight for some reason. The game itself was great, heh.

Edit: thanks for the offer though! I do appreciate it.

[damned]

well done spite. some tips while you are on low bandwidth....

keep images to under 500kb. use 40% quality jpg - you will hardly notice teh quality difference but you will save a huge amount of bandwidth.
mask your images and use the right click -> sharing -> preshare option early on in the session as players are connecting
use teamspeak and not skype as skype can use a lot more bandwidth... i think you are using ts?

[spite]

well done spite. some tips while you are on low bandwidth....

keep images to under 500kb. use 40% quality jpg - you will hardly notice teh quality difference but you will save a huge amount of bandwidth.
mask your images and use the right click -> sharing -> preshare option early on in the session as players are connecting
use teamspeak and not skype as skype can use a lot more bandwidth... i think you are using ts?

Te images we were using were from a WoTC bought-content, so I couldn't change the quality of the maps, unfortunately.
As to TS, it tends to be more susceptible to packet loss, we eventually went to Skype to try it after no luck with TS and found I came through clearer but heavily delayed, so in exasperation I turned to text and listening.
Funnily enough though, it turned out as I went to bed and shut everything down, I found my partner's PC still online... and it was still seeding a large selection of uploads to our server.... I think I figured out the issue >.<

[TalonHawk]

Te images we were using were from a WoTC bought-content, so I couldn't change the quality of the maps, unfortunately.
As to TS, it tends to be more susceptible to packet loss, we eventually went to Skype to try it after no luck with TS and found I came through clearer but heavily delayed, so in exasperation I turned to text and listening.
Funnily enough though, it turned out as I went to bed and shut everything down, I found my partner's PC still online... and it was still seeding a large selection of uploads to our server.... I think I figured out the issue >.<

Lol, It figures. At least we know what the issue was though!

[spite]

Haha yea, I was kicking myself when I noticed. Ohwell, hopefully my ISP comes through for next session, and if not at least I know what to look for!!!!!

[damned]

spite are you and your crew in NZ? If so there is a We Be Goblins 5e session running at FG Con next Friday that pretty much starts straight after your game finishes I think?
https://www.fg-con.com/events - I see you are playing in Dungeon World session - that has a couple of free spots too :ninja:

[spite]

I'm in NZ, I think most of the people in my games are from all around the world though, no other kiwis to speak of.
That's a good timeslot for the We Be Goblins! I don't know if I'd be able to stick around for another 4 hours after leading a game, but I'll look into it.

And yes, please people make sure Dungeon World is full up. I really want to experience the game!