Tabletop Games Thread

[Saiga]

edit: I have just realized GMT Friday/Saturday is my Saturday/Sunday, so that is at least two days of the week I could be free for your campaign Seika. Probably too restrictive, but right now I'm thinking that my time zone differences make me unfit to run a campaign.

Okay, for my campaign-o

Fundamentals

Table: roll20, Theater of the Mind. I'd like to use TOTM more, and I'd like to pre-plan as little as possible to give myself more flexibility to follow directions players want to go in.

Ruleset: D&D 5E

Setting: Assume FR. I'm not super familiar with the details, so I may have to set this story on a homebrewed part of Faeran to be able to fit my details in. But the mechanics, pantheon etc are definitely Forgotten Realms.

Books: All official materials. I have copies of all, so I can reference any player options if needed. UA is allowed, but the most recent/published versions trump earlier UAs. I consider the School of Invention to be the most recent take on Lore Master Wizard.

Projected Campaign Length: Open-ended at this stage. I have some ideas for a couple of low-level sessions, then I'll see if the mood is to continue episodically or to do a Lost Mines of Phandelver length-adventure that's a little more on-rails.

Players: Trubo, Sesto and RaM already have reserved spots if you want them. I am comfortable with anywhere between 3-5 players, combat hasn't been pre-planned but it does get harder to balance outside of those numbers. Assuming a level 1 start right now.

Style:

Pillars:
Combat: 3.5/5. Depending on the party composition, I can adjust this. I aim to keep things interesting and challenging without being a meat grinder.
Exploration: 3/5. Since the original focus is to be episodic, more exploration could be part of optional 'side-quests'.
Social: 2/5. The social pillar will be present, and having more of it will be an option if you want to seek it out

There may be scenarios where you can tackle a problem from your choice of a pillar, if that makes sense.

Story & Player Buy-in: To begin with, this will be a simple journey north. You will begin in the small town of Amphail, with a need to travel to Triboar for your character's own personal reasons. Said reason should be an important motivation for your character, but not so much that they cannot focus on anything else or are unable to help others/join in on side adventures. This is primarily to develop the motivations and driving force for your character, you may wish for Triboar to be a single step in a characters' greater journey.

For example, a human woman on her deathbed informs her only child they were conceived by a devil, revealing the young Rogue's Tiefling heritage and setting them on the path to Triboar to meet a contact who can provide more direction in figuring out the identity of the Rogue's infernal father.

Whether your characters previously know each other is up to the players to decide, but they should have a reason to band together as a group for this journey and any mishaps along the way. The main thing is, since there won't initially be an overarching story, each character should have a hook to keep them adventuring.

Timezones & kick-off:

I'm pretty flexible on Saturdays and Sundays (AEST), that would be the best timing for me. Any time between 8pm GMT Friday and 12pm (noon) GMT Saturday, or 8pm GMT Saturday and 12pm GMT Sunday work for a 3-4 hour session. On weekdays, I could fit in 8 am GMT - noon.

So, once I know who is interested, I'd aim to do a session zero the following weekend.

[Seika]

Just make sure, the posted time would be noon to 4 PM PST, correct? If so, I would certainly be interested in joining if there's room.

Well, I'm too used to doing this in the summer months, so technically it's noon to 4pm Pacific Time, not PST, but yeah. The eight hour difference is the correct part, no matter how I screw up what it's called.

[Seika]

Okay, got back permission for FAQ stuff, so here we go.

Q: Deadline???????
No set deadline. Please relax. I'd have put it in the post if there was one, and I want everyone in the various timezones to have a chance to look at this. Given the current rate of entry (i.e. I'm surprisingly actually getting enough people for the party), anyone who thinks they might want in can post or can PM me over the next day or two. I'll add everyone to the list, and then ask the "maybes" to check their diaries and either firm up on their interest or bow out. Then I'll hopefully have a perfect Goldilocks group of the proper size who can all manage the same day and time. If it's too small, I'll open up the list again; if it's big, I'm gonna have to make reluctant cuts.

Q: No, seriously, what the hell are we doing in session zero?
It's a catch-all for a bunch of preparation and pre-game stuff, but the main parts are:

• Let people say hi.
• Give a practical demonstration of the times, because someone will always foul up the timezone conversion.
• Introduce the starting point of the adventure, and let everyone choose what their motivation is for being there. I have prompts from the module, but you can also make up your own as appropriate. Maybe everyone wants to be in an adventuring party that's already been through stuff together, and you decide on just one hook. If it suits different characters, you could have different reasons for ending up in the same place.
• Let everyone work up characters together, so that there can be some cohesion in the party and so that backstories can be worked together if their creators so desire. Like I said in the first post, this tends to stop a party ending up completely off-balance. Some people might wanna bring the beginnings of sheets to this session, some people might wanna turn up with a blank piece of paper. Either is cool.
• As part of character creation, those who wanna roll for things (HP, ability scores, wealth if you're taking the gold) get to do it at this point, openly. If you don't wanna roll, that's also cool: fixed/average HP is an option as well, just like ability array and point-buy, and taking your average class gold or the pre-packaged starter kit. (I'm also gonna dump some extra money on you because you're fifth-level or higher, not raw noobs).
• If people want some prompts based on the world for their character concept, or just random details, I can provide it.
• Quiz time on: world details, DM style, adventure style, how D&D works, rules advice for creating characters, even hints as to what I think would be useful in the adventure if people really want it. (Let's say, for example, the adventure included lots of undead – I wouldn't say "you should all run Grave and Light Clerics", because that spoils the fun; I might suggest that a character who relies on poison damage should have a backup in mind).
• Also, quiz time on literally anything else people want. Or, anything people want related to the game. No weird sex talk.
• When the session's done (and I expect it to be a pretty relaxed one, so the timing on this won't be strict), hopefully everyone's well on their way to a sheet they're happy with. I'll let players finish them off in their own time if they haven't already, and when that's done and they're all handed in to me, we can start on the game proper.

Q: Character creation options?
Like I said above, go nuts with the standard array, or point-buy, or rolling. Yes to multi-classes, yes to feats, yes to V-humans, yes to non-PHB races. Theoretically yes to CN/Evil people, but as with everything else I've said, remember that the game's here to be fun for people. Just as I mentioned I would really rather you didn't make some stupid broken build that doesn't let anyone else do combat, please don't make some stupid arsehole character who doesn't let anyone do socialising because they're too busy randomly flashing the king, or randomly trying to cut his throat.
In other words, you might make an amoral mercenary, but I'd then recommend you make them like someone else in the party so they co-operate instead of getting all back-stabby. Or just make them inclined to believe that the biggest and most reliable paycheques come from working with their fellow adventurers, rather than betraying them for one bit of loot or the promise of a sketchy Dark Lord whose last lieutenant you found brutally tortured in the dungeon.

Q: If this was an AD&D adventure, what do I need to know about AD&D?
Nothing whatsoever. Everything got converted to fifth edition. Sometimes I've taken, say, the 2e Medusa and ported that over to 5e instead of just plonking down the 5e statblock, but I'm still going ask you for a Constitution save when you look her in the eyes, not a save vs. petrification/polymorph. (Warning: Medusae may not actually appear in this adventure).

Q: What do I need to know about roll20?
Since we're only doing theatre of the mind, basically nothing. As long as you're signed up (it's free) and can type /roll 1d20 in the chat, we're pretty much golden. If people find there are any problems, I'll try to sort that out with you, either one-on-one or during session zero.

Q: Is it only r20?
Famously, I don't do my voice online. I'm just gonna be typing to you. I think it's better for coherence if everyone else probably does the same, so we don't have weird back-and-forths where someone's speaking and someone else has to reply in text.

Q: Do you want us to use a specific form of character sheet?/Are you gonna provide any extra materials?
I have a fondness for MorePurpleMoreBetter's sheet, which has nice big spaces for backstory, reminds you of the rules, and automates a lot of stuff. Hit me up if you want one, since I have the Patreon version. If you have your own sheet you wanna use, that's fine too. Similarly, if you've heard about something in, say, Xanathar's Guide but don't have it, talk to me via PM and I'll see if I can do something.

[Saiga]

My timezones permit me to do the Friday and Saturday times you've outlined, and I'd really like to do this, so if your idea is to have this on a regular day then I would fit those.

Is that enough for me to put my interest in until we start doing the culling?

[Seika]

Yep, sure.

My usual practice with these sorts of things is that we work out if everyone theoretically has the same gap in their timetable, and then we check at the end of every session if that's still true. If someone can't do a week for some reason, then see if we can either move it to another mutually agreeable spot, or if the week after is still fine.

I value a session happening, and it happening with everyone in it, over it happening at a regular time.

[mAc Chaos]

Awesome, two games! I'd love to spectate if you're OK with having people take a peek.

Well, when I'm around anyway.

[Sesto]

Okay, for my campaign-o
Timezones & kick-off:
I'm pretty flexible on Saturdays and Sundays (AEST), that would be the best timing for me. Any time between 8pm GMT Friday and 12pm (noon) GMT Saturday, or 8pm GMT Saturday and 12pm GMT Sunday work for a 3-4 hour session. On weekdays, I could fit in 8 am GMT - noon.

I'm still down. For timeframes, anything in the second (8pm GMT Saturday and 12pm GMT Sunday) would be fine. The first (8pm GMT Friday and 12pm GMT Saturday) I'm also fine with but only after 0:00 GMT (Sat). And I can't do weekdays.

[mAc Chaos]

Also for roll20 DMs, theater of the mind is absolutely a lifesaver. When you run a D&D game in roll20, you're actually running two games: the D&D game itself, and the roll20 game. There's all this extra overhead to juggle, like music, and maps, and art. It makes it a lot harder to improvise like you would do offline when you can just whip out a paper and draw a new map. Instead you need to have the maps loaded up ahead of time...

[Saiga]

yeah I'm currently studying so if I run my game I need to just run off the prep i can do upstairs (ie obsessively thinking of session ideas at all times)

[Trubo]

Did Fantasy Grounds ever implement Dynamic Lighting. I remember that being one of the few things roll20 had going for it compared to Fantasy Grounds. The other major one being that no one, not even the DM, has to buy anything for roll20.

[Pendant]

Just to clarify - are there two different campaigns being offered here?

[Trubo]

Just to clarify - are there two different campaigns being offered here?

Three, actually. One by Sesto (potentially), one by Saiga, and one by Seika.

[Sesto]

I don't even think mine is going to get off the ground, lol. With scheduling being a massive pain in the ass some of them have just lost interest. And while I could easily fill slots with randoms (roll20 postings do seem to gain decent traction, especially among newcomers) my interest in DMing has also died down as the only reason I became one in the first place was because nobody in my friend group wanted to take the responsibility. I'd really rather just be a player.

Did Fantasy Grounds ever implement Dynamic Lighting. I remember that being one of the few things roll20 had going for it compared to Fantasy Grounds. The other major one being that no one, not even the DM, has to buy anything for roll20.

For the record, Dynamic Lighting is one of the subscription perks for roll20 so it does cost money. Though if you mean the base functionality then yeah it's all free.

[Trubo]

Ah, never mind then.

[mAc Chaos]

When it rains, it pours.

[Draconic]

How do I apply to join a game here? Do I just go to roll20 and search for the host's name?

[mAc Chaos]

You normally get sent a link and click that. I doubt it's a publicly listed game.

[Saiga]

Sorry to say this, but I won't be able to host/play after all. I'm really struggling in my CPA studies, and while I thought I could spare the time for a D&D session once a fortnight/month, I've thought about it more and that would require me to underprepare as a DM. So I'm just going to focus on my studies for the moment, especially since my RL group is looking to start up again.

[Draconic]

*sigh* no worries.

tbh, I was kind of hoping to start a Castlevania campaign, but I'm not sure that I'd be able to make it work. (My base was Airen's game but before I knew it, I'd put a crapton of numbers everywhere.)

To be fair, there wouldn't be a lot of dice. Stats and weapons would come out to the same value each time just like in the actual games.

[Trubo]

Seika, any chance your zero session will be this weekend, or rl rearing its ugly head again?