Brewin
March 1st, 2016, 11:51
* Edited post to conform with template and also to update status of recruitment (given there's a delay in posting replies as my comments are currently subject to moderator's approval). Current status of recruitment is at the end of this post *
(also edited cos I ramble too much and exceed the character count limit haha)
FG LICENSE: Ultimate.
TIME ZONE: Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) > currently observing daylight saving time (see https://www.worldtimezone.com/ for times)
DAY(S) OF WEEK, FREQUENCY AND TIME: Weekly on Sundays 2pm - 10pm or so (with a break for an hour or so for dinner)... but this will depend on what suits players. Ideally would like to also do a weeknight from 8pm - 12pm but this would very much depend on being able to schedule sessions at a day or so's notice (and whether such an arrangement would work for players) - so let's not worry about that for now...
TERM: Looking at an entire campaign really (i.e. a few months at least) considering that the plan is that this will lead into the Tyranny of Dragons campaign.
VOICE: Yes - using Fantasy Grounds Teamspeak Server (not that I've used it yet but I don't anticipate this being an issue). Skype can be used as a backup if we have to (Skillkoil below advised me that it can handle more than three callers at once).
GAME SYSTEM: D&D 5th Ed.
GAME SYSTEM EXPERIENCE: I've been DMing/GMing/Refereeing/whatever the system calls it for thirty odd years now (I'm 41 so yeah I started early). Most of my D&D experience relates to 1st and 2nd ed though (2nd ed in particular) and have only recently begun to look at 5th ed (have done 3 "trial sessions" so far to get to grips with it and like what I see).
FANTASY GROUNDS EXPERIENCE: Those 3 5e sessions were all using FG software so I'm pretty new to this as well, but seem to managing okay so far... (Plenty I can improve on though I have no doubt, so tips are welcome!)
CHARACTER TYPE PREFERRED: Standard PHB races and classes except Tieflings and Drow won't be allowed (since they really aren't accepted in most Greyhawk settlements - i.e. they'd be killed on sight typically). I'd strongly suggest no evil characters either (since official adventures do tend to be written through the paradigm of the heroes working for good, it's much easier to run material that way) unless you have a good reason (and can convince me that it'd work with the story and rest of the party).
SETTING: Greyhawk! Specifically Common Year 590 (around the time of the Greyhawk Gazetteer not long after the Greyhawk Wars) in the Principality of Naerie (formerly known as Idee).
MODULE: Lost Mine of Phandelver (with the plan being that this will lead into the Tyranny of Dragons campaign).
NUMBERS OF PLAYERS SOUGHT: 5 (but see Status Update at the end of this post for clarification around this).
PLANNED START DATE: We'll have a short meet 'n greet session Sun 20th March where we'll get characters sorted and set the scene etc, and then kick things off after Easter on Sun 3rd April.
EXPECTED COMMITMENT: I don't care if you have a job, children, a partner or friends outside of the game, you will sacrifice it all to play cos this is more important, and that includes if you're sick! Haha no but seriously, as long as you make an effort to make "most" sessions and give us notice (when you can) of being unable to make scheduled sessions, that's fine. Apparently there's a world outside of the fantasy world with important stuff to do. I guess if you sign up and then disappear I'll have to replace you eventually (and use proxy npcs in the meantime or something) but we'll see how we go...
OUTSIDE-GAME COMMUNICATIONS: I read somewhere on here that getting email addresses is a good idea so I can let you know when sessions are on (without just relying on the calendar) and send reminders etc. So I'd like to do that if that's okay with you. I've also used secret facebook groups in the past which have worked really well - not only for organising events but we can share files and players can discuss stuff easily too. I think? this means I need to friend you on facebook so I can invite you (not sure on this point to be honest) but that's okay since I've got plenty of friends on facebook I don't really know either haha. So anyway, I'd be looking at using facebook ideally instead of emails...
OTHER CHARACTER GENERATION NOTES: Starting level 1 with standard starting gear. You'll all start with 1 inspiration point (and will have a max of 3) and boosted stats since I like to give characters a better chance of survival (and the story arcs of official modules frequently assume that your characters are truly heroes anyway). And by boosted stats, I'm using this method currently: Set one of six stats to be an 18, roll 4d6 best 3 for the other five stats, and then distribute a further 6 points as desired (max 18). Then choose race etc...
PLAYING EXPERIENCE REQUIRED: Not really an issue I think. Happy to accept newbies and veterans alike (and I'd hoping others will be accommodating of this as needed). Would be awesome to learn some new tricks with the software from experts too. Oh and if you've read/DMed/played the module that's no biggie either (ideally not I guess but whatever) - just don't spoil surprises for the enjoyment of others is all I ask :)
PLAYING STYLE: Focused more on fun and laughs probably than anything else, with plenty of roleplaying hopefully too. I try to be fair but firm as a DM (though whether I achieve that is debatable haha). My usual players and I tend to take the piss a fair bit (that means joke around) so you might wish to avoid this one if you're easily offended ;)
GAME CALENDAR LINK (for signups etc):
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/?id=1871
Hi there :) I think I've covered everything in the list above, but feel free to ask questions if anything above is unclear.
So basically this venture of mine has come about since my tabletop D&D group were talking about it, so I went ahead and got the ultimate license... But lo and behold only one of my players (and I have an "inner circle" of six players and an "outer circle" of perhaps as many, depending on how you count) has gotten around to getting on board the online train. So now I'm doing both online (this thing here) and tabletop. Being new to both fantasy grounds and 5th ed, me and my friend (Phil) have liked what we see in both the software and the ruleset, and now want to open it up to the power of the internet to see who we can get onboard... And starting with an introductory module that there's lots of fanmade stuff for seems a good place to start.
In terms of my roleplaying background, I'm almost always DM/GM/Referee/the guy running things - I think mainly because I'm the one who gets around to it and puts the energy into setting things up. I've run mainly 2nd ed D&D on and off since about 1990 (wish that was a viable option here) and pretty much always in Greyhawk cos that's the setting I know. I've had my share of "difficult" players over the years (and still have some of them haha) but ultimately as long as everyone is having fun (that's the point right?) I tend to let stuff slide and shape the session around what the players seem to want. I do like to see players staying in character and only "meta-gaming" where strictly necessary (e.g. splitting the party might make sense to the characters but not from a meta-gaming point of view) but hey don't stress too much about having to "play in the right way" as long as you're having fun AND contributing to the others having fun as well.
I do like using "gimmicks". I use a bajillion minis, tiles, etc in my TT sessions and excel spreadsheets to automate stuff... And I'm keen to bring lots of cool gimmicks into the sessions here. To this end, I've either sourced fanmade maps for everything (some of which are quite large in size due to detail so we'll see how that goes) or made them myself in mapping software. I've also bought a whole stack of (top-down) tokens and picked up the Sword Coast adventurers guide to aid with Greyhawk conversions (and there's some useful extra character backgrounds etc in there too) and the Hoard of the Dragon Queen to "plan ahead": a good thing since that has some character background stuff I'll work into character generation as well. Oh and of course we're using the critical and fumble tables cos it makes battles more interesting!
Okay that's probably more than enough dribble from me (edit: definitely since I exceeded the character count limit!) so let me know if you're interested and we'll work out something from there...
Oh lastly, I should add for the sake of transparency that I'll accept applications in the general order that they come in BUT with a view to taking preference for those who sound like they'll be more able to make sessions etc. Having said that, once I've confirmed you, you're locked in (muahahaha).
UPDATE ON STATUS OF RECRUITMENT:
(As of about 1pm Monday 2nd March my time)
* 1 player was already locked in prior to posting on the forum here
* Skillkoil and dereks then indicated their interest below (and are currently enrolled but not confirmed)
* 2 more players then posted on the facebook group that they still wanted in (where I said something to the effect of "last chance to sign up") - but they're going to confirm whether or not they're good to play and actually in tonight (that's in the next 12 hrs say) so I'm giving them that opportunity first.
* Then I got another PM from another player wanting in - whom I've had to explain the above situation to...
Soooo I expect to be able to confirm the situation in the next 12 hrs or so. I'll update this status then, but in the meantime feel free to register your interest should others drop out :)
(also edited cos I ramble too much and exceed the character count limit haha)
FG LICENSE: Ultimate.
TIME ZONE: Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) > currently observing daylight saving time (see https://www.worldtimezone.com/ for times)
DAY(S) OF WEEK, FREQUENCY AND TIME: Weekly on Sundays 2pm - 10pm or so (with a break for an hour or so for dinner)... but this will depend on what suits players. Ideally would like to also do a weeknight from 8pm - 12pm but this would very much depend on being able to schedule sessions at a day or so's notice (and whether such an arrangement would work for players) - so let's not worry about that for now...
TERM: Looking at an entire campaign really (i.e. a few months at least) considering that the plan is that this will lead into the Tyranny of Dragons campaign.
VOICE: Yes - using Fantasy Grounds Teamspeak Server (not that I've used it yet but I don't anticipate this being an issue). Skype can be used as a backup if we have to (Skillkoil below advised me that it can handle more than three callers at once).
GAME SYSTEM: D&D 5th Ed.
GAME SYSTEM EXPERIENCE: I've been DMing/GMing/Refereeing/whatever the system calls it for thirty odd years now (I'm 41 so yeah I started early). Most of my D&D experience relates to 1st and 2nd ed though (2nd ed in particular) and have only recently begun to look at 5th ed (have done 3 "trial sessions" so far to get to grips with it and like what I see).
FANTASY GROUNDS EXPERIENCE: Those 3 5e sessions were all using FG software so I'm pretty new to this as well, but seem to managing okay so far... (Plenty I can improve on though I have no doubt, so tips are welcome!)
CHARACTER TYPE PREFERRED: Standard PHB races and classes except Tieflings and Drow won't be allowed (since they really aren't accepted in most Greyhawk settlements - i.e. they'd be killed on sight typically). I'd strongly suggest no evil characters either (since official adventures do tend to be written through the paradigm of the heroes working for good, it's much easier to run material that way) unless you have a good reason (and can convince me that it'd work with the story and rest of the party).
SETTING: Greyhawk! Specifically Common Year 590 (around the time of the Greyhawk Gazetteer not long after the Greyhawk Wars) in the Principality of Naerie (formerly known as Idee).
MODULE: Lost Mine of Phandelver (with the plan being that this will lead into the Tyranny of Dragons campaign).
NUMBERS OF PLAYERS SOUGHT: 5 (but see Status Update at the end of this post for clarification around this).
PLANNED START DATE: We'll have a short meet 'n greet session Sun 20th March where we'll get characters sorted and set the scene etc, and then kick things off after Easter on Sun 3rd April.
EXPECTED COMMITMENT: I don't care if you have a job, children, a partner or friends outside of the game, you will sacrifice it all to play cos this is more important, and that includes if you're sick! Haha no but seriously, as long as you make an effort to make "most" sessions and give us notice (when you can) of being unable to make scheduled sessions, that's fine. Apparently there's a world outside of the fantasy world with important stuff to do. I guess if you sign up and then disappear I'll have to replace you eventually (and use proxy npcs in the meantime or something) but we'll see how we go...
OUTSIDE-GAME COMMUNICATIONS: I read somewhere on here that getting email addresses is a good idea so I can let you know when sessions are on (without just relying on the calendar) and send reminders etc. So I'd like to do that if that's okay with you. I've also used secret facebook groups in the past which have worked really well - not only for organising events but we can share files and players can discuss stuff easily too. I think? this means I need to friend you on facebook so I can invite you (not sure on this point to be honest) but that's okay since I've got plenty of friends on facebook I don't really know either haha. So anyway, I'd be looking at using facebook ideally instead of emails...
OTHER CHARACTER GENERATION NOTES: Starting level 1 with standard starting gear. You'll all start with 1 inspiration point (and will have a max of 3) and boosted stats since I like to give characters a better chance of survival (and the story arcs of official modules frequently assume that your characters are truly heroes anyway). And by boosted stats, I'm using this method currently: Set one of six stats to be an 18, roll 4d6 best 3 for the other five stats, and then distribute a further 6 points as desired (max 18). Then choose race etc...
PLAYING EXPERIENCE REQUIRED: Not really an issue I think. Happy to accept newbies and veterans alike (and I'd hoping others will be accommodating of this as needed). Would be awesome to learn some new tricks with the software from experts too. Oh and if you've read/DMed/played the module that's no biggie either (ideally not I guess but whatever) - just don't spoil surprises for the enjoyment of others is all I ask :)
PLAYING STYLE: Focused more on fun and laughs probably than anything else, with plenty of roleplaying hopefully too. I try to be fair but firm as a DM (though whether I achieve that is debatable haha). My usual players and I tend to take the piss a fair bit (that means joke around) so you might wish to avoid this one if you're easily offended ;)
GAME CALENDAR LINK (for signups etc):
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/?id=1871
Hi there :) I think I've covered everything in the list above, but feel free to ask questions if anything above is unclear.
So basically this venture of mine has come about since my tabletop D&D group were talking about it, so I went ahead and got the ultimate license... But lo and behold only one of my players (and I have an "inner circle" of six players and an "outer circle" of perhaps as many, depending on how you count) has gotten around to getting on board the online train. So now I'm doing both online (this thing here) and tabletop. Being new to both fantasy grounds and 5th ed, me and my friend (Phil) have liked what we see in both the software and the ruleset, and now want to open it up to the power of the internet to see who we can get onboard... And starting with an introductory module that there's lots of fanmade stuff for seems a good place to start.
In terms of my roleplaying background, I'm almost always DM/GM/Referee/the guy running things - I think mainly because I'm the one who gets around to it and puts the energy into setting things up. I've run mainly 2nd ed D&D on and off since about 1990 (wish that was a viable option here) and pretty much always in Greyhawk cos that's the setting I know. I've had my share of "difficult" players over the years (and still have some of them haha) but ultimately as long as everyone is having fun (that's the point right?) I tend to let stuff slide and shape the session around what the players seem to want. I do like to see players staying in character and only "meta-gaming" where strictly necessary (e.g. splitting the party might make sense to the characters but not from a meta-gaming point of view) but hey don't stress too much about having to "play in the right way" as long as you're having fun AND contributing to the others having fun as well.
I do like using "gimmicks". I use a bajillion minis, tiles, etc in my TT sessions and excel spreadsheets to automate stuff... And I'm keen to bring lots of cool gimmicks into the sessions here. To this end, I've either sourced fanmade maps for everything (some of which are quite large in size due to detail so we'll see how that goes) or made them myself in mapping software. I've also bought a whole stack of (top-down) tokens and picked up the Sword Coast adventurers guide to aid with Greyhawk conversions (and there's some useful extra character backgrounds etc in there too) and the Hoard of the Dragon Queen to "plan ahead": a good thing since that has some character background stuff I'll work into character generation as well. Oh and of course we're using the critical and fumble tables cos it makes battles more interesting!
Okay that's probably more than enough dribble from me (edit: definitely since I exceeded the character count limit!) so let me know if you're interested and we'll work out something from there...
Oh lastly, I should add for the sake of transparency that I'll accept applications in the general order that they come in BUT with a view to taking preference for those who sound like they'll be more able to make sessions etc. Having said that, once I've confirmed you, you're locked in (muahahaha).
UPDATE ON STATUS OF RECRUITMENT:
(As of about 1pm Monday 2nd March my time)
* 1 player was already locked in prior to posting on the forum here
* Skillkoil and dereks then indicated their interest below (and are currently enrolled but not confirmed)
* 2 more players then posted on the facebook group that they still wanted in (where I said something to the effect of "last chance to sign up") - but they're going to confirm whether or not they're good to play and actually in tonight (that's in the next 12 hrs say) so I'm giving them that opportunity first.
* Then I got another PM from another player wanting in - whom I've had to explain the above situation to...
Soooo I expect to be able to confirm the situation in the next 12 hrs or so. I'll update this status then, but in the meantime feel free to register your interest should others drop out :)