'Poly D&D- Coordination Thread.

[Jon Miller]

I would like 3rd (or 3.5), the dice deal mentioned sounds find

AD&D seems to have a lot of stuff for the FR setting (as well as the possibility of multiclassing paladins and monks) so that might be cool (although that is not very important to me)

also it sounds as if Snowfire and Victor Galis are the best choices for GM

Jon Miller

[korn469]

anyone have their character in mind already?

[Jon Miller]

ack, I think that we could use two GMs

Jon Miller

[Japher]

I think 3rd would be a good basis for core rules. I would just ask that the DM be creative and leanient in accepting or permitting other rules. As such with the ones Victor pointed out from 3.5. I have heard a lot of good and bad things about that edition...

I just think there are flaws in all editions, and it requires a good DM to fix these flaws to their liking... Of course that is if the DM so desires, since they are god.

So, should I play a fighter or a barbarian?

[Jon Miller]

I could

I have lots of ideas

Jon Miller

[Velociryx]

A conjectural idea/outgrowth of the original thought – Been thinking on this since MattH started the thread, and have decided that it’d be an idea worth making time for. (please consider this notion an "aside" from the main idea....if you guys get too many players, it might be a way to take some of the pressure off an overworked GM/DM

Candle’Bre, the RPG

Thought it might work, since I’ve already got the “campaign world” mapped out, and a fair bit of history to give the place some depth.

“Classes”
Will be very basic at the outset:
Rogue (thief)
Warrior (just what it says)
Tracker (think “Ranger” in AD&D terminology)
Templar (think “Paladin” in AD&D terminology)
Priest (cleric)
J’honsa (High Father of the Gods – Law, Order, Hardships)
Ollux (“The Polluter” – Moon, Insanity, Chaos)
Kaylarr (Goddess of Magic)
Laernan (Goddess of Fertility, Life, Sun)
Mystic (those of the “Witching Way”) (wizard)
Bard

“Races” – Human only, however, the province of your birth can convey slight bonuses (see the CB map for a complete listing of provinces, and if there’s interest in the idea, I will specifically outline those bonuses, prolly in another thread). This implies that players CAN choose to come from the province of Trentare, and if they do, they’ll automatically be considered Free-Folk (Gypsys)….this, like hailing from any other province, carries with it distinct penalties and advantages, though in this particular case, the advantages and disadvantages are more notable.

Character Generation:
Not handled via dice, nor any other standard means. In fact, players will never know precisely what their “stats” are. Character generation is instead done via dialog with the DM as that character’s history and background are fleshed out. Numbers will eventually be assigned based on these dialogues.

Stats: Standard AD&D stats will be used, and there will be two additional “stats” of note:
1) Honor/Infamy (a very big thing in the Basin)
2) Family/House affiliation (are you a member of, or associated with one of the primary or secondary “Houses” of the basin, or are you from some other family?)

There will also be a few “hybrid” stats that will be used by the DM to determine how far from the bounds of one’s primary “class” you can stray, and what your chances for accomplishing “off-class” stuff would be (ie – a highly dexterous warrior whose background has put him in contact with various thieves guilds would have a reasonable chance at performing certain thief functions)

At the outset of the character generation dialogues, players will determine their starting age, province of origin, and what class they most closely associate with. From there, the dialogues will explore family, background, personal history, and social status, and some reckoning on stats will be made based on all of the above. The character generation dialogues are, themselves, part of the role playing experience (or easily can be), and are a good means for relative newcomers to the world of the pen and paper RPG to get their feet wet and see if they like it.

Game structure: Rather than doing this “live” in chat rooms and such, we’ll stick strictly to forum use. The upside is that the various “adventures” that might be occurring will be free from player availability constraints (ie – you know which adventure you’re currently involved in, and when you can, check out the relevant thread and see what gives), while allowing for multi-threading to occur (several different adventures can be ongoing at the same time). We’ll have some loosely held conventions and rules, such as “if you haven’t responded to a thread you’re involved in within 36 hours, the GM will respond on your behalf so as not to stall the game” (to be voted on or discussed), and others.

Also, since there’s no accounting for how much interest a game like this might garner, we’ll set it up such that players join (or form their own) “Adventuring Companies” – formalized structures which are scattered around the Basin.

The advantage of joining an existing company is that it already has a reputation and a base of operations (and perhaps membership privileges). The advantages of forming your own are…obvious…

Anyway, since I thought the idea was a fantastic one at the outset, and since I’d be very interested in participating, this was the way I came up with to allow for maximum participation for myself.

If nobody’s interested, we’ll just let the idea die quietly….if there is interest….we’ll see where it goes!

So…a lot can be done without knowing the particulars (ie – if you’re interested, you’ll prolly have some sense of what class you prefer, and can begin thinking in general terms of your character’s background, to be fleshed out as more details about the gaming world become available).

Methodology: The games will be deeply story driven, and generally intricate. Don’t look for too much in the way of magic (usually low key, where it exists), nor does the CB world cater to classic “fantasy” creatures (rumors of dragons, but there are no reliable reports of sightings, no fairies, unicorns, etc), but that’s not to say that there are no “monsters” – there are….there always are…. Still, expect a lot of intrigues and political machination driven plots, a fair bit of exploration and mediation, and perhaps even some small unit military action….there’s an amazing range of possibilities.

Size: I'd love to say that I had near-unlimited time to devote to this, but that would be a blatant lie, so I'd like to keep the group fairly small....7-10 max, 5-7 closer to ideal, but of course, I'd have a tough time turning anybody out...

Thoughts? Opinions?

-=Vel=-

[korn469]

i already have my character in mind and ready to go

[Japher]

I am going to still my character from Harry Potter

just joking...

-Vel-

I think you are on the right track in that you are thinking on how to limit DM/GM work...

Yet, I agre with Jon, I think a couple DMs might be in order.

We could, even, have cyclic DMs. Switch them out with PCs every so often, with a moderator DM type. Though an actual feel for the game is lost when you do this.

[korn469]

here's a question is a multiclassed shadow dancer/black guard possible? if so i know what i'm going with

[Japher]

those are both prestige classes... you will need to be a theif and a warrior as well... So, you will actually have 4 classes IIRC

[korn469]

oh ok thanks for clearing that up Japher

[Japher]

Yet, think along that lines would get a really cool super-munchkin...


shawdow dancers are really cool, IMO... Yet, I have never played a rogue class... weird.

[MattH]

I'm looking at an Orcish Archer

[edit]: still waiting for a reply, sorry for the delay.

[Lord Merciless]

I have some questions:

- What is the game world/campaign setting? Do we create our own world or do we use existing ones such as Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk?

- Are ECL races such as Aasimar, Tiefling, and Drow allowed?

- Are prestige classes included?

- Are skills/feats published outside of the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's guide allowed?


I have some suggestions:

- 3rd edition rule is the best.

- 30 points buy is about right.

- Please don't include material components for the spellcasting, this usually turns the game into a micromanagement nightmare.


Finally, count me in.

[MattH]

Your name has been added

We'll vote on points buy system and rules just as soon as Ming or the owners reply (and hopefully have a new home in another forum).

Does anyone have any objections to the point buy system (vs DM creation)? Or can we just take that off the ballot...

[Japher]

I think a lot of these decissions should be left up to whoever the DM will be. IMO that is the big question at this time... I too am for ditching spell components.

[Urban Ranger]

I have a better idea.

Why don't we let individual DM's decide what rules, races, etc. does he allow?

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Kramerman
a standard human staring out usually only has one 15-17, and a few 13-15s and the rest are 10-12ish. If a character has multiple 18s, it kinda gets rediculous. Thats a conan's strength with a gandolf's wisdom and red sonja's charisma all in one person...

Conan probably has at least an 18/00 strength. Gandolf, being a god (probably more like a Solar) himself, has at least a 23 wisdom. So your comparison is off

Anyway, the thing about AD&D is your character is deadmeat unless he (or she) has at least one 18, a couple of 16's, and nothing really bad. The game was designed that way when I played, and I have no idea if this has been changed.

[Velociryx]

I'm not sure if you'd enjoy a game run by me then....characters with such uber stats generally have great big targets painted on them!

I love running games where the stats are average (or worse) with one--maybe two-- noteworthy ones....makes the CHARACTER more important than the statistics....that's where the magic is...

-=Vel=-

[Solver]

Vel, but you are such a great master of anything fantasy and roleplaying...

[Japher]

As long as the stats don't interfere with character development then it shouldn't matter... Especially, since in 3rd edition you can add to your stats as your player progresses...

[Lord Merciless]

It's true that you won't fare well without high stats in computer RPGs. For example, designers threw at least six(!) Liches and a Demilich at your party in Baldur's Gate 2. A human DM can do a lot better than that.

[Velociryx]

Thank ya, Master Solver....I try...been thinking 'bout possible directions for the CBRPG proposal, in case anybody wants to give it a go....

-=Vel=-

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Japher
As long as the stats don't interfere with character development then it shouldn't matter... Especially, since in 3rd edition you can add to your stats as your player progresses...

Okay, that sounds much better.

Still, something like Fantasy Hero or Rolemaster is superior for role-playing.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Velociryx
I love running games where the stats are average (or worse) with one--maybe two-- noteworthy ones....makes the CHARACTER more important than the statistics....that's where the magic is...

That's possible with some other systems, but not with AD&D. Simply, your 1st level party goes out for the first time, runs into an Orc scouting party, and the fighter with 12 CON got killed after a couple of Orcs swinged at him.

[Jon Miller]

you would actually just need one other class other than blackguard and shadowdancer (looks like you want to be evil and will at somepoint have to make a pact with a fiend (to become a blackguard))

the problem here is lack of direction

I will put down what people are saying

Jon Miller

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


That's possible with some other systems, but not with AD&D. Simply, your 1st level party goes out for the first time, runs into an Orc scouting party, and the fighter with 12 CON got killed after a couple of Orcs swinged at him.

while I haven't played ADnD a lot, I never really had that problem

if you are needing uber stats, than what you are fighting is too tough for you

Jon miller

[ískallin]

i'm in for a good d&d
But only third edition, i don't now jack s*it about any other

[Velociryx]

Gotta agree with Miller on this one....none of the 16 games I ever ran had uber stats, and we never encountered the problem. It takes balance, but is possible.

-=Vel=-

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
while I haven't played ADnD a lot, I never really had that problem

if you are needing uber stats, than what you are fighting is too tough for you

Jon miller

A fighter with a 12 CON gets no bonus to HP, so unless the GM use the (common) house rule that all first level characters get max HPs, he could end up having like 3-4 HP. Not somebody you want to put on the front.