Kevlyn
April 15th, 2020, 23:06
Okay, I am interested in launching a 2e game, as there are just some things I miss about old school gaming. This is intended to be an ongoing game, so please read and understand everything that will be asked of the players.
Timezone: CST
Day: Likely Sundays, but a weeknight may work too.
Session Length: 3-4 hours
Start time: 6-7pm
Number of players: 4 (I think I have two that I've played with before, from my old local gaming group)
Voice: Probably Google Hangouts, as that has worked pretty well for me thus far
License Required: Any (I have an Ultimate license for both classic and unity. Will likely use the classic version at the outset)
Anticipated Start Date: Late April
Session Frequency: Weekly (Maybe Bi-Weekly)
Step 1: The Pitch
Players will all pitch their character concepts, this includes Class, Race, and a brief background. The background portion is the most important element for this process. Here's an example of what's needed.
I want to play a dwarven fighter. This character grew up in a logging town, near the clan mine entry. There was an altercation with the clan leader that led to our family getting kicked out of the mines, so we settled near
the logging village and began cutting trees to make lumber and carvings. When the character was old enough to train as a warrior, he was allowed to return to the mines for the training. But he was treated differently
because of his family's exile. Once he completed the training he was sent out of the mines again, and he decided to seek his fortune instead of returning to the life of a logger.
Step 2: The Companions
Once all the players have given their pitches, then those backgrounds are dispersed to the other players. So, Player A would receive the pitches for players B, C, and D.
Create a character concept that ties into the background for each of the provided pitches. This is not something necessarily detailed, just a line that indicates a class, race and how it ties into the pitch. Here's the example:
A human thief, became close friends with the dwarf growing up, and wanted to leave the town anyway, so joined him as he left.
Step 3: The Characters
Once everything is in, then I will create the characters so that everything is ready for the game. The only thing that you will need to do is add equipment and spells to the character.
Step 4: Play the Game
On game day I'll randomly pick the the first Character to start. From there, we'll rotate through the characters for each session. If player A is selected, then that character and its companions are the ones used for the session.
This facilitates the getting the group together, in a different style. And later on, the primary characters and their companions will eventually meet each other.
Step 5: Culling the herd
When Characters meet, the players are presented with some options on how to proceed. Each player will select which of the characters they want to use going forward. For example:
Player A (dwarven fighter, accompanied by a human thief, elven ranger, and dwarven cleric) meets Player B (a human wizard, accompanied by a halfling fighter, elven warrior, and gnome cleric).
Player A then gets to choose which character to keep going forward: The original dwarven fighter, or the halfling fighter. Likewise, Player B selects from the human wizard or human thief.
Player C picks from the elven ranger or elven warrior and D picks from the remainin two.
From here the party consists of, continuing the example:
Player A: dwarven fighter
Player B: human thief
Player C: elven ranger
Player D: dwarven cleric
The characters not selected are relegated to standbys. These are characters that can be used to replace the loss of a primary character. Players will be strongly encouraged to pick the characters they
end up enjoying the most. This may not necessarily be the character they originally started out with. And this is the core of the campaign concept.
The Other Stuff
I tend to steer clear of manufactured adventures, so expect that I will design content that is relative to the actions of the various groups as they move around the landscape. My campaigns tend to be
very sandboxy. I will have hints of things going on, but never will I really railroad anyone into doing something. However, if you decide to investigate event A, get involved and events D, H, and T are
correlated, then those things gain prominence and suddenly the game may feel railroadish as things unfold.
Role-playing is super important to me. It's why I play. Rolling dice is all fun and good, but at the end of the day I get the most fun out of portraying characters and if you do too then you shall fit in well here.
My worlds are living things, if you hear about something happening, but then do something else and come back a few months later...that first adventure seed is likely to be gone. I adjust the setting to accommodate
what the players do and do not interact with.
Time permitting, and if the players are interacting with an ongoing villain, then I will likely write up some small bits of story that illustrate how the NPC reacts to the things the party has done.
I oversee the world, I do not force players to go somewhere and do something. I also have a motto, don't bite off more than you can chew. If I drop a story seed, where a village is being raided by goblins and the party
goes on to investigate, then that's great. If they track the goblins back to a camp, where there are more goblins, a couple of hobgoblins and an ogre...
Understand there are times to just leave, go plan something that has a chance of resolving the situation. Getting the group to pack up camp and leave is great. Attacking them head on is suicide.
I do not like Total Party Kills, please don't make me do that.
XP is awarded for overcoming obstacles, whether that's through cleverness, combat, or some combination of the two is irrelevant. It is also accumulated through role-playing. I do not award presence XP.
This means that to earn experience, you must be doing something to actively advance the campaign. If it's combat, great, and you will get your XP for that. If that's all you do, role-playing is not your thing, you can
find yourself lagging behind the rest of the group enough that there can be level differences. So, to avoid this, just pass on this game.
Final thoughts...
Since this has dragged on longer than I anticipated, here are my closing thoughts. If you have gotten this far, thanks! I info dumped a lot here. This is not a first-come-first-serve post either, so don't think that interest equals a slot at the table.
I am keeping the group small, to account for the large pool of potential PCs. And I think that's it. If there's more, I'll post it here.
Timezone: CST
Day: Likely Sundays, but a weeknight may work too.
Session Length: 3-4 hours
Start time: 6-7pm
Number of players: 4 (I think I have two that I've played with before, from my old local gaming group)
Voice: Probably Google Hangouts, as that has worked pretty well for me thus far
License Required: Any (I have an Ultimate license for both classic and unity. Will likely use the classic version at the outset)
Anticipated Start Date: Late April
Session Frequency: Weekly (Maybe Bi-Weekly)
Step 1: The Pitch
Players will all pitch their character concepts, this includes Class, Race, and a brief background. The background portion is the most important element for this process. Here's an example of what's needed.
I want to play a dwarven fighter. This character grew up in a logging town, near the clan mine entry. There was an altercation with the clan leader that led to our family getting kicked out of the mines, so we settled near
the logging village and began cutting trees to make lumber and carvings. When the character was old enough to train as a warrior, he was allowed to return to the mines for the training. But he was treated differently
because of his family's exile. Once he completed the training he was sent out of the mines again, and he decided to seek his fortune instead of returning to the life of a logger.
Step 2: The Companions
Once all the players have given their pitches, then those backgrounds are dispersed to the other players. So, Player A would receive the pitches for players B, C, and D.
Create a character concept that ties into the background for each of the provided pitches. This is not something necessarily detailed, just a line that indicates a class, race and how it ties into the pitch. Here's the example:
A human thief, became close friends with the dwarf growing up, and wanted to leave the town anyway, so joined him as he left.
Step 3: The Characters
Once everything is in, then I will create the characters so that everything is ready for the game. The only thing that you will need to do is add equipment and spells to the character.
Step 4: Play the Game
On game day I'll randomly pick the the first Character to start. From there, we'll rotate through the characters for each session. If player A is selected, then that character and its companions are the ones used for the session.
This facilitates the getting the group together, in a different style. And later on, the primary characters and their companions will eventually meet each other.
Step 5: Culling the herd
When Characters meet, the players are presented with some options on how to proceed. Each player will select which of the characters they want to use going forward. For example:
Player A (dwarven fighter, accompanied by a human thief, elven ranger, and dwarven cleric) meets Player B (a human wizard, accompanied by a halfling fighter, elven warrior, and gnome cleric).
Player A then gets to choose which character to keep going forward: The original dwarven fighter, or the halfling fighter. Likewise, Player B selects from the human wizard or human thief.
Player C picks from the elven ranger or elven warrior and D picks from the remainin two.
From here the party consists of, continuing the example:
Player A: dwarven fighter
Player B: human thief
Player C: elven ranger
Player D: dwarven cleric
The characters not selected are relegated to standbys. These are characters that can be used to replace the loss of a primary character. Players will be strongly encouraged to pick the characters they
end up enjoying the most. This may not necessarily be the character they originally started out with. And this is the core of the campaign concept.
The Other Stuff
I tend to steer clear of manufactured adventures, so expect that I will design content that is relative to the actions of the various groups as they move around the landscape. My campaigns tend to be
very sandboxy. I will have hints of things going on, but never will I really railroad anyone into doing something. However, if you decide to investigate event A, get involved and events D, H, and T are
correlated, then those things gain prominence and suddenly the game may feel railroadish as things unfold.
Role-playing is super important to me. It's why I play. Rolling dice is all fun and good, but at the end of the day I get the most fun out of portraying characters and if you do too then you shall fit in well here.
My worlds are living things, if you hear about something happening, but then do something else and come back a few months later...that first adventure seed is likely to be gone. I adjust the setting to accommodate
what the players do and do not interact with.
Time permitting, and if the players are interacting with an ongoing villain, then I will likely write up some small bits of story that illustrate how the NPC reacts to the things the party has done.
I oversee the world, I do not force players to go somewhere and do something. I also have a motto, don't bite off more than you can chew. If I drop a story seed, where a village is being raided by goblins and the party
goes on to investigate, then that's great. If they track the goblins back to a camp, where there are more goblins, a couple of hobgoblins and an ogre...
Understand there are times to just leave, go plan something that has a chance of resolving the situation. Getting the group to pack up camp and leave is great. Attacking them head on is suicide.
I do not like Total Party Kills, please don't make me do that.
XP is awarded for overcoming obstacles, whether that's through cleverness, combat, or some combination of the two is irrelevant. It is also accumulated through role-playing. I do not award presence XP.
This means that to earn experience, you must be doing something to actively advance the campaign. If it's combat, great, and you will get your XP for that. If that's all you do, role-playing is not your thing, you can
find yourself lagging behind the rest of the group enough that there can be level differences. So, to avoid this, just pass on this game.
Final thoughts...
Since this has dragged on longer than I anticipated, here are my closing thoughts. If you have gotten this far, thanks! I info dumped a lot here. This is not a first-come-first-serve post either, so don't think that interest equals a slot at the table.
I am keeping the group small, to account for the large pool of potential PCs. And I think that's it. If there's more, I'll post it here.