DnD Campaign

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As I discussed in the DnD thread, I'd be interested in running a campaign using Roll20.

It would run on Sundays unless there were a hellish number of objections, probably at a time we set up, and would run either every week or every other week. And, of course, campaign reports in GD

Details:

-5th Level Characters
-I don't mind new players, as long as you're willing to put the time in.
-I have access to Character Builder, if you need it. I'd be willing to make characters for anyone who wants to sit down and discuss a concept with me.
-I'll give you details on the world, characters should have a reasonably fleshed out backstory - I don't expect their life history, but you should know who you are, where you came from, that sort of thing
-We might do some things on MafiaScum
-Some house rules, nothing major. Only one that will impact character builder is all characters trained in 3 skills receive 4 instead.

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3.5 or 4.0?

4 Obv

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If Roll20 is utterly inadequate, I'm willing to move to Maptools, but from my early experiments it seems to be working fine. We'll see how it goes with some serious encounters and other things. I'm hoping it makes it easy to throw together decent battlemaps on the fly.

Hito, that Ranger is cute, kind of, but I wouldn't call her munchkin. This is what a munchkin ranger looks like. She's probably fine, she looks like a typical bow ranger with a few extra control elements.

I'm going to roll out the setting in a few days, and if I've got some serious interest we can start working things out!

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What is going to be the Roleplay:Rollplay ratio? As in, do you desire/disfavor people being in character unless they need to roll something or get a ruling from the DM as opposed to people only roleplaying when directly interacting with NPCS/other characters?

Granted, this is heavily reliant on the other players as well, but I'd like to hear your thoughts.

I prefer people to be in character most of the time, especially when interacting with other players and NPCs. I know, this being an RPG, that 100% of the time isn't achievable, but I'd like 75-80%. And for the love of god, NO MONTY PYTHON. Every Python quote you think of has been done before. At length.

Roleplaying will decide a lot of social interactions, although we will fall back on character skill to handle certain things ("I explain to the guards that we're just here to deliver a message from their captain to someone inside." "Okay, that sounds reasonable enough to the guards, roll bluff versus DC 15.")

I lightly touched 3rd ed when it first came out, never having a real play group. How much work would it be to learn? How much time each week would I be looking at in and out of game?

Week 0, you're probably looking at 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on how much loving you want to give the character builder (ranging from 'explaining your concept to me and writing a backstory and I do stats' to 'sitting down and going through all the options.'

After that, very minimal. 4E has paired DnD down to its core tropes, and instead of spell lists and endless specialized actions that most classes had in earlier editions, everyone has powers. At 5th level you will have two powers you can use At-Will (any time you want), 2 powers you can use each encounter (once per combat session or short roleplay session) and 2 powers you can use once, well, per chapter really (they call it dailies and say you can use it once per day, I monkey with the extended rest system so each day doesn't have to resemble an episode of 24... unless I want it to).

So, to summarize, 6 powers. Throw in 1 from a class feature, and 1 from race, and you're talking maybe 8 powers. Total.

Or, this:

It's really easy to learn - 4th Ed is very pick up and play.

Timing: I think 1:00 EST is going to be our time (unless there's someone who has a great character, really wants to play, and can't make it before 2:00 EST or something). Sessions probably will last around 4-6 hours, probably ending when we break up for dinner. And I think I'm planning bi-weekly. If everyone's comfortable with that and wants a faster pace and I like Roll20 software we might switch to weekly, but at the moment it takes me some time to make maps and other campaign accessories.

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I've played Neverwinter Nights, I'd assume it's broadly similar? Could be interested.

Broadly. NWN is based on 3E, rather than 4E, so you'll find that certain things clean up nice, but NWN never directly translated 3E anyway. You'll find old familiar races (Elves, Dwarves, Humans) alongside new ones (Dragonborn, Tieflings, Warforged). You'll find familiar classes next to newcomers like the Warlock and Warden. Powers are here, and probably a more direct translation of NWN than 3E, tbh.

Nexus, I'd like to try 1, simply because that gives us more leeway for dinner.

Interest seems to be running high, which is awesome.

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Okay, here's the rules for anyone interested: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/quickstartrules.pdf

I'm going to run two sessions of an introductory encounter involving Zombies this Sunday, for two reasons

1) Get people who have no idea used to DnD
2) Get me used to Roll20

So basically, it's going to be like any other 'not quite primetime' session.

I'm going to post character sheets in a little while, probably edited into this post. I figure run the first at 1, and the second at 3.

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I may indeed use Skill Challenges of sorts, but they probably won't look like what you're used to.

I'd submit that I welcome and enjoy input. If after a gaming session, you want to say "Grey, that was the shittiest piece of shit that any DM ever made a party suffer through. Like, literally, that was the North Korea of roleplaying games," I welcome and accept your feedback, and I will change my style based on what people are enjoying. Fuck, if something is interminable and you want to just say "this is really fucking interminable, can we FastForward or something" then, okay, that's fine. But jostling my elbow when you haven't seen what I do is... uh... not good.

I would appreciate people coming into this with a mature viewpoint and an open mind.

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Oh, yeah. That's terrible. An example skill challenge I might run would be figuring out how to navigate through a dense jungle to reach a temple inside the jungle. The PCs would need to plan how to navigate through the jungle without getting lost and successfully execute that plan (nature). While they were in the jungle, the party would need to pass endurance or heal checks (at least 2/5 members) to keep from becoming fatigued from the heat and effort (jungles aren't easy to slog through!). Inside the jungle there might be ravines, deadfalls, rivers, and other hazards that might need to be navigated (acrobatics and athletics from half the party, assuming they brought ropes to pull the other half across). Perception to get the drop on any dangers that might be lurking in the jungle. And any equipment the PCs brought might give them various bonuses on any or all of these rolls.

Basically it adds structure and challenge to the concept "We slog through the jungle for a while to reach the temple," as well as variation in outcome. Perhaps the party arrives fatigued and drained, ready to go home before they even begin. Or perhaps the party arrives fresh and ready to face the challenges inside the temple. And it depends on the preparation and planning of the party (as well as, yes, dice. But this is DnD. You cannot escape them~). And I wouldn't necessarily tell you you were in a skill challenge - I'd just tell you what you need to do to safely make it through the jungle.

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DP

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Anyway, without further ado, I present my introductory scenario that has nothing to do with the campaign:

A Quiet Night

It's a quiet night at a roadside inn, The Second Unicorn, and a group of motley characters are enjoying a drink. A local mine is preparing its monthly shipment of marble and precious metals, and as a result, traders will be flocking to the town soon. And with trade comes bandits, and with bandits a need for caravan guards. Thus, several world-wise sorts are hanging out, establishing a presence prior to the demand. Others are there for

less savory

reasons. At the moment, however, no one is feeling particularly ornery. Meals are eaten, drinks are had, and a general relaxed atmosphere exists.

Which brings us to the present moment. What, you didn't think peace would last, did you?

There are five characters available for this little session.

Harbek Rockhammer

Harbek has always been a bit of a loner - a fact that makes his current situation (looking for work as a caravan guard) deeply ironic. Trained to be part of the dwarven army, Harbek realized early that a soldier's life was not for him. Regimented, following orders, strict schedules, these are not the things Harbek excels at. He would skip marching drills to contemplate striations in the rock, or simply to enjoy a warm breeze flowing down from the outside world. Eventually this lack of discipline managed to overshadow the fact that he was one of the best warriors in the army. "A soldier alone is a soldier dead!" His drill sargeant would scream that into his face daily, usually after another escapade.

Harbek's career in the dwarven military began to form a predictable path. He would be sent on the most dangerous of missions. When he had not only survived, but performed above and beyond the call of duty, he would be promoted to corporal. Eventually his nature would kick in, or he would do something impossible to overlook, and he would be busted down to private. And then another mission gone wrong, another set of heroic deeds, and he was a corporal again.

After the third time he was busted back to Private, Harbek decided he had enough. Taking only his armor, his trusty axe, and his Stone Heart Medal for Exemplary Bravery in the face of Overwhelming Force (a medal he keeps proudly pinned on his right breast to this day) he departed, to see if there was somewhere he fit in better. So far he hasn't found it.

Mechanics

Harbek is a defender who utilizes Combat Challenge and positioning to protect companions from danger. No slouch with weapons, Harbek has been known to separate troll's limbs from their body with a single swing of that powerful waraxe.

Abraxus, Fist of Bahamut

Dragons are not the evil monsters that many dragonspawn make them out to be. They are the noble leaders and exemplars of justice, who judge those beneath them and find them wanting. Bahamut, the Dragon God, watches down from the High Heavens, seeing and judging. His justice is swift and without mercy, carried on silvery wings bringing clouds of fire to those beneath. They must pay.

Abraxus is in the inn because he has heard that the mining has disturbed something that should have remained buried. Abraxus is here to assess the situation, and determine whether the situation should be dealt with - and how. If need be, he intends to shut down the mine (something the mine owners would never agree to, but the priesthood of Bahamut has their ways).

Abraxus is pious and devout. He remains aloof, rarely indulging in drinks. Even when sitting in the corner, his presence looms over others, and those drinking and carousing can feel the weight of his disapproval, and the palpable menace that disapproval carries. The Innkeeper is convinced that Abraxus is the reason his common room is so empty even when the Inn is full, but he's terrified of saying anything.

Mechanics

Abraxus is a battle cleric, a holy warrior who aids others from the thick of battle.

Leshana Moontouched

Leshana is, even for a creature of the feywild, flighty and unpredictable. Moving through life with a gentle, tinkling laugh and a warm smile, she appears to have not a care in the world. This demeanor belies the powerful magics she is capable of, and of the many who underestimated her, few still draw breath.

What she is doing in The Second Unicorn is anybody's guess. Possibly including her own.

Mechanics

Leshana is an elemental wizard, focusing on lightning, thunder, and fire attacks. Most of her attacks hit a large area. She also has the ability to summon and control a ball of pure fire, and move it around the battlefield.

Logan the Scarred

Logan is posing as a disowned noble son, fallen on hard times and seeking work as a caravan guard. In actuality he is a spy for a group of bandits, sent to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the various caravans, and formulate a course of attack. The Bandit's plan is for Logan to dump a strong hallucinogen into the cooking stock, and then rob the caravan while everyone is incapacitated, with zero deaths and zero witnesses.

Logan plays the part of the drunken lout well, although he always stop just short of drawing that rapier on his waist. No dueling blade, examination of the carefully honed edge and the multitude of nicks that have been ground down to be

almost

unnoticeable would reveal that Logan is far more than some court dandy who incurred daddy's disfavor. His blade has seen some serious action - and so has he.

Mechanics

Logan is a combat advantage rogue. Most of his abilities revolve around either increasing his life expectancy in combat, or allowing him to utilize another creature's distraction to devastating effect. He utilizes bluffs and feints to distract creatures, opening them up for attacks even more painful than his average thrust.

Heian the Unseen

Heian is a wood elf with a mission. He is posing as someone seeking work as a caravan guard, but secretly he seeks revenge. The mining operation has despoiled miles of forest, destroying rivers and trees, and desecrating the land. Heian's people brought their concerns to the owner and overseers, but they laughed and shrugged them off. Heian is here to ensure that they do not get a second chance. The new owners may be more amiable to the Wood Elves' demands.

Mechanics

Heian is a bow ranger. Mostly he focuses on firing arrows, and... well, frankly very little else.

Complexity

(Most to least)
1) Logan
2) Harbek
3) Abraxus
4) Leshana
5) Heian

If you'd like to participate in this this Sunday, please send me a PM, reply in thread, before the date so I can set things up. Give me your top 3 choices of who you want to play (I can't promise you'll get one, but it's pretty likely). I'd prefer that everyone who wants to play takes part in this, although exceptions may be made essentially on a case-by-case.

Purpose and reasoning is:

1) Make sure I know how to use the Roll20 table before the real campaign.
2) Make sure everyone else knows how to use the Roll20 table
3) Introduce people to D&D 4E, and give people a refresher if they haven't played much/recently
4) Have fun, relax, kill zombies!

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Please do not bring edition wars into my thread. If you want to start your own stupid edition war, go elsewhere. There is literally no reason to post that here, bitmap.

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bump

Have people sent in their choices yet?

Quite a few, I'm going to put things together in a bit once I'm sure I have everyone make it (It shouldn't be hard). Right now I'd say most people are going to get their first choice, maaayybbee their second choice.

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First, I want to thank everyone who showed up. Hito, Inte, KCDA, Robo, Nexus, you were all excellent. There was a lot of a learning curve, on both the software and the system (after 15 minutes of flailing we finally gave up on Roll20 and switched to Skype, and Nexus' computer crashed several times). We also took quite some time to learn the basics of how a lot of it worked. And system knowledge came at different rates. Despite the fact that 3 of you were brand new to 4E, and one of you had minimal experience, the system went, for a first time, reasonably smoothly. It's only getting faster from here on out, guys!

Our cast:

Harbek Rockhammer, Dwarf Fighter - Played by Robocopter
Leshanna, Eldarin Wizard - Played by inte
Abraxas, Fist of Bahamut - Played by kcdaspot
Heian, the Unseen - Played by Nexus
Logan - Played by Hitogoroshi

The scale of the combat was also epic. I'll be honest and draw the curtains back a little, I wanted players to get a real feel for the meat and gristle of what I like doing in campaigns: Epic, meaningful combats, with a real chance of success and failure. Thus, the first zombie dogs were mostly a warmup - and a feel for how abilities worked in combat. I'll be honest, I didn't need to end the encounter after them and let everyone refresh their powers and heal, but it felt right, especially for a learning encounter. Then they went to the open door, prepared for another 3 wolves...

And discovered a dozen shambling undead corpses, led by two warchiefs, with a necromancer summoning more in the background. And then things got hairy.

The PCs realized pretty quickly the warchiefs were a huge threat. They dragged the PCs around into packs of zombies using shadow claws, and they enabled other zombies to attack in frightening hordes. However, they had to get through the pack that had surrounded the entrance. This is also where they discovered an interesting feature. The zombies were minions, but if they were killed by a non-critical hit they got to roll a die. On a 15+, they survived the hit, even though it should have destroyed it. Zombies were set on fire, burned with electricity, one even had a leg chopped off and kept coming (actually flaming zombies were kind of a thing this combat, fire damage proved remarkably ineffective for whatever reason).

Anyway, back to the entrance. Abraxas found a nice use of Turn Undead to annihilate 3 of them, and the rest of the party managed to make short work of another 4. Then they managed to trickle over to the warchiefs, held back by the fact there were still several zombies hampering their progress. And they could see further waves coming in from the necromancer. Desperate to get to those warchiefs, Heian and Logan had managed to do some serious damage, but the killing blow was done by Harbek. Logan had been shadow clawed and surrounded, and was near death (Logan spent a lot of time near death this fight) and Harbek wanted to help. He Bull Rushed a Zombie, pushing it aside, and used an action point to make a Sweeping Strike, targeting 4 of my zombies and the warchief. Two of the zombies managed to live (one through missing outright (natural 1), 1 through making its save), but the attack on the warchief crit. And with a thud, it fell, its spine cleaved clean through by the dwarf's waraxe . At that point though, everyone was starting to get winded, and more waves of zombies were threatening to overwhelm them, but Abraxas did an admirable job of keeping the party up. At this point, Leshanna realized it was time to use one of her strongest attacks - Flaming Sphere. Appearing in the midst of a group of zombies, it managed to burn down 3 of the 4, with only one surviving. It also handled 2 of the 4 from the next wave, and at one point there were 5 zombies adjacent to it (2 survived). Finally Logan, Harbek, Heian, and Abraxas managed to take down the second Warchief. With him down, and the necromancer's corpses exhausted, the party turned their attention to the necromancer. And despite his healing crown and powerful lightning claws, which threw the party back, they managed to swiftly and furiously cut him down. Abraxas finally managed to land an attack, and what an attack! His hammer smashed the necromancer's head into somewhere around mid-torso. Hammer time indeed (and he stopped!).


Interesting facts:

1) Zombie Rotters don't come stock with that DC15 save versus non-crits. That's a feature from a different minion, and I generally liked it enough to graft it over. Expect non-standard minion (and monster design in general) from me! They ended up being remarkably effective, with one notable zombie surviving dragon breath and arc lightning, showing resilience to the point where the party wanted to keep him as a pet after the battle. Sadly another cast of arc lightning cut down the burning, electricity-scarred zombie, but he was amazingly epic and lasted far longer than I expected him to. Go little guy, go!

2) The players figured out pretty quick the warchiefs weren't that impressive in Melee combat. Their top-tier abilities came mostly from doing what Warlords do, and giving up their attacks to enable attacks from other zombies (up to 4 other ones!). After a few early hits, the party figured out that standing in the middle of zombies was a terrible idea, and were actually quite careful. I liked how the mechanic worked a lot!

3) It's hard to tell because 2 of the 3 monsters involved in combat were modified somewhat from stock, but this encounter was probably around 1-2 levels higher than the party, meaning that it would have been a basic encounter for a party of level 5 or so. It also involved a LOT more tokens than ordinary combats. The length (I believe it went 6-7 rounds), the sheer number of monsters, the newness of the players, and the fact it was a very difficult encounter all contributed to make it a LOT longer than I anticipated. It was an ambitious encounter, to be sure, and I honestly believe there was a chance that a few bad decisions and a few terrible rolls (or more terrible rolls, in general the zombies rolled quite well, while the party, especially Abraxus, didn't - Abraxus isn't joking about hitting 1 attack in 7 made) and all five players would have been dead or forced to flee the scene and leave the people of the inn to be consumed and join the undead menace. It was certainly no cakewalk!

If I had to do it differently:

- Names: They were pretty terrible, not gonna lie. Abraxas, Fist of Bahamut, was the only one I actually liked. I made these characters up in a hurry, gave them short backstories, and ran with it.
- Powers: I generally love Tide of Iron, but this encounter didn't get to show off the things it can do (mostly because I avoided dangerous/difficult terrain, I was simplifying things). It came off as rather mediocre, when it's actually a power I adore. On a lesser note, the bow ranger relied on twin strike to do virtually everything. Twin Strike... le sigh. So good.
- Everyone generally played their classes really well, and I was especially impressed with our first-time players. Everyone seemed to get a handle on things quickly, and no one really dragged too much. KCDASpot had some trouble, but I burdened him with a complicated class who had a mix of minor actions and important decisions to make with standard actions, as well as several limited resources, quite a few encounter powers (thanks to how channel divinity works) and a generally complex sheet, and even with that he was able to make up his mind reasonably quickly. As experience with battlefields progress, it should become easier and easier.

I hope everyone enjoyed the experience! I'll have up our setting sometime this week, and we can start worldbuilding and character building in earnest.

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The rockhammer part was a tad cheesy.

Harbek was solid.

But you have to admit some of the others... the flaws of making 5 characters in 30 minutes.

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Setting document is about 70% done, I just want to read it over and edit some stuff. In the meantime, here are character creation rules:

Standard, 5th level characters. All races and classes allowed.

Setting is low on magical items. Imbuing an item with magic is a long, arduous process. Magic is a spontanious and usually temporary affair, so while spellcasters are not uncommon, many can go their entire life without seeing a magical artifact. Artifacts are often ancient, and have their own histories and stories within the setting.

Because of this, you can consider all gold numbers completely wrong. I'll nail down how much gold and stuff you guys have, but right now, it will be not much by the standards of a fifth level character. The cost of all ritual components for all rituals is reduced by a factor of 10, unless they're under 100G. Under 100G they're reduced by a factor of 5.

All players should describe one magical item or supernatural power they have. You don't have to worry if it matches an existing item in any way, just describe the artifact/power and what it does. I will stat it.

For backgrounds, you can write up your background pretty much as you please, and I will incorporate aspects from your history into the setting.

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Oh yeah, and everyone gets one expertise feat free. Hito knows what that means, for the rest of you I'll walk you through it. Just send me a good time to roll up your character if you want some help.

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Psion is just fine! We do have a Wizard already I believe, unless Inte changed his mind, but the overlap between the two is not huge.

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Okay then. Do I need to roll new stats or can I send you a scan of the sheet or testimonial or something to prove I'm not like LOL HAVE ALL THE 18S?

Point buy, per usual 4E.

I have charbuilder so I'll drop the sheet into charbuilder and get everything up to date.

I'm sure that there's an Int/Cha Psion build (the telepath) and if you don't mind it would be AWESOME to have a party face. Unless you're heavily tied to the Int/Wis build (Telekenetic?)

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...which would totally fuck over my plans, but whatever.

I'll just fit in whereever.

i'm not here to fit in, i'm here to stand out

you were planning to be the warlord or something right?

He was trying to decide between monk... And warlock.

You two have good taste in strikers.

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History of Firinne - Background

Firinne (Phi-rin-nay) began its history as a loose military alliance between nine nations. In -15 B.F. (Before Founding) the rogue Dragonborn Abraxas managed to gather an army. Dedicated to sweeping the land of lesser races, to make way for the Dragonborn and (as Abraxas saw them) his allies and protectors, the metallic dragons, Abraxas had swept across a neighboring country like a storm.

The individual provinces that made up Firinne tried to handle Abraxas' army, but found themselves repeatedly swept aside. Even though Abraxas lead only a small force, he had managed to ally with a small number of platinum dragons, appealing to the concept of a greater good. Although reluctant to get involved with the affairs of lesser beings, the apparent support Abraxas commanded from Bahamut was enough to sway them to his side.

In -9 B.F. two nations, what would become the provinces of Sevarn and Nidale fell to the combined forces of Abraxas. Fearing destruction, the remaining seven banded together under the leadership of Cuhullin. No one knows what deal Cuhullin made, but when the armies of Firinne met Abraxas' forces on the field, they were joined by several of the red dragonflight. The red dragons, with the assistance of Firinne's armies, were able to slay three of the Platinum dragons, and vanquish Abraxas from the field.

United under Cuhullin, the provinces remained independent. Although each contributed to the rebuilding of Sevarn and Nidale, they did it separately. Cuhullin took Sevarn, formerly the greatest of the provinces, as the seat of the new monarchy (some remains of the Nidale nobility had survived). And so, although technically unified, most provinces retained general independence.

The Rebellion

In 297 EC (Era of Cuhullin) four of the provinces grew dissatisfied with the monarch's rule. Cuhullin the fifth was by all accounts slightly senile, and his first son had the makings of a true despot. Facing the threat of the Red Dragons that Cuhullin claimed to still have control over, the provinces struck rapidly. They assassinated Cuhullin and his son, ending (to their mind) the threat - that Cuhullin would summon the dragons, and thus end their armies. In full rebellion, their armies marched on Sevarn, and would have rapidly achieved victory were it not for the actions of the princess, Fionna. She traveled to Nidale and, reminding the people of Nidale of the debt they owed Cuhullin and the perfidy of the rebels in slaying her father and brother, convinced them to commit the army of Nidale and all of their reserves to battle. Although they were outnumbered three to one, they exploited fractures in the discipline of the rebels armies (being that they were four combined armies, rather than one coherent unit) to divide them, and achieved swift and bloody victory.

This would have ended the rebellion nearly instantly, were it not for the actions of one necromancer who called himself only Guth na Marbh, the Voice of the Dead. Guth chose to decimate the slaves of Haondale (largest of the provinces), creating an army of dead soldiers. With an ancient artifact called the Crown of Regrets, he led his shambling army to the battlefield, driving back the combined forces of the loyalist provinces.

For a decade, they remained in stalemate, the superior magic and skill of the northern provinces battling the dead armies of the southern provinces. This stalemate was broken only by the Slave Revolts

The Slave Revolts

In 308 EC the slaves revolted. Reputedly the revolt was coordinated by one man and a small group of followers, but driven by the fear of the culling (as they had come to refer to the biannual decimation of all living slaves) it spread like wildfire. This destroyed the agriculture of Haondale and Cethair, the two provinces that relied the most on slaves, and cut off the dead reinforcements.

Fionna struck quickly, quickly enough that some suspect that the rebellion was known about. Within a month her armies pounded into the forces of the rebels and, starving and deprived of more dead troops, they caved. Fionna accepted the surrender of the provinces, on the condition that the nobility went into exile and that slavery was made illegal throughout Firinne.

Guth na Marbh was never found.

Twenty Years Later

In twenty years, Fionna established Firinne as a strong centralized government. She replaced the previous mess of languages with a single common tongue, and unified the calendar and dating systems, choosing the establishment of Firinne as the starting year. She established governors for each of the provinces, and a strong, centralized government that has guarded the borders, killed bandits and potential rebels, and rendered most of Firinne safe.

About two years ago, Prince Demna started to receive rumors that all was not well in the land. The governor of Cethair, he was starting to hear rumors that Haondale was not the center of peace and order that the rest of the empire had become. Haondale, usually remote, remained inaccessible to Denma, and spies he sent were never heard from again. Moreover, reports of roaming bands of undead, remnants of the army raised twenty years earlier, were increasing. Although Denma had no reports of fresh undead, an increasing frequency of the reports when the undead were all but wiped out, even in Haondale, was cause for concern.

You, the party

Unable to accuse the royal princess and first in line for the throne of wrongdoing without evidence, Denma has put together a band of six people. Paying, bribing, threatening, he has found a group that he believes can survive whatever is going on inside Haondale, and get him what he needs to discover what is going on.

To each one of you, he has a way to ensure that you are beholden to him, beyond mere gold. Each of you is previously unknown to him, and no one would have a reason to suspect you of working for him. And each of you is unknown or disreputable enough that your word would not be trusted if Princess Liath captured you and forced you to confess.

Together, you have a mission. Travel to Haondale, and figure out what the hell is going on.

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Okay, notes on play!

When we are in combat, I want the game to go smoothly (so combat doesn't take forever). Combat will be a large part of the game, but not the entire focus, nor is it the only solution. If you manage to avoid a combat counter and achieve your goals anyway (aka not retreating) you will gain experience for completing the combat as if you fought.

Anyway! While in combat:

1) I will call out who is up in initiative, and who is "On deck." The person on deck is up next. While you are "on deck:"

- Consider your position, who you want to attack, that sort of thing
- Look at your skills, plan out your turn
- Generally be ready to roll and know what you're rolling.

If you're attacking multiple targets, it's fine to do "Roll 4d20+9," it shows the rolls and I can do the math in my head.
If you have multiple actions, roll damage and you can roll for the next one too (unless you want to see the outcome of the first)

Know your character! To this end I'll be doing a quick chat about "what you can do" with everyone but Hito. Some time before Sunday afternoon~

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how mad is everyone going to be if i don't necessarily strictly fit into my classes' lore?

zen warlock reporting in

Lore is a good starting point. Go nuts! If you want to change a piece of backstory or flavor, just do so.

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I've got Streetwise, Bluff and Diplomacy. Was avoiding Intimidate just because I don't particularly like it as a skill, and don't see why it needs to be separate to Diplomacy x]

Because Diplomacy is the fine art of sitting down and negotiating with someone, face to face. Making deals, cutting bargains, convincing people that "I scratch your back, you scratch mine." Can get you out of all sorts of tight spots.

Intimidate is the fine art of leaning forward and growling in your most threatening voice "You might want to reconsider what you were just about to do there, boy." Or leaning back with a slightly bored expression on your face and saying "Okay, take your best shot." Gets you out of all sorts of trouble quick, and into all sorts of trouble slow.

[GreyICE]

Oh yeah, my own little houserules. Nothing major here.

1) You do not qualify as having taken an extended rest unless you have a chance to reconnect with your power sources, and the wilderness. Martial Heroes require time to clean their armor and weapons and practice their forms. Divine heroes need a chance to pray at a shrine (may be portable) and connect with their god. Primal heroes need to connect with nature, reestablish their primal bond. Psionic heroes need a chance to clear their mind and meditate. This process will take at least 24 hours, and requires more than pitching tents - everyone must be able to fully rest and relax. This is probably not possible in hostile territory.

Resting overnight in camp conditions, or briefly at an inn, or otherwise taking an overnight rest restores 4 healing surges.

2) Powers may be used in non-combat ways. Usual manner will to be to tell me the use and I'll either allow it, or ask you to roll an appropriate skill check. Powers may also inadvertently effect terrain.

3) If you have only three trained skills, you may pick a fourth, and consider it trained. Robocopter, I believe this effects only you. Just tell me the skill you want and I'll add it to your character sheet.

[GreyICE]

Erm, I've been on AIM since 1pm, Grey hasn't answered me so I assumed this wasn't on this weekend or something?

Oh, I admit I just checked Skype.

Sorry, I was running around this morning, got on, and checked skype for people

Sorry Hito.

[GreyICE]

Yes, mostly because there's no physical cues. Like, if it were real life, I'd just hold up my hand and point at the first person, and ask him what he wanted to do, resolve it, and go around the circle. We have to rely entirely on verbal cues, and it's different. We managed to get control of the situation after a little, but it's gonna need work.

[GreyICE]

Okay folks, I have to ask that everyone please get your general concepts in by Friday or so. I'd also like the item concepts at that time. I don't need stats, I don't need levels, I don't need anything mechanical - just a general idea of what you want it to do.

Other option is DM's grabbag, where I give you something that I personally feel is really cool (just to clarify, I'm not talking really cool like 'blows the entire party up,' I'm talking really cool like 'really cool!'). That's a perfectly valid option to take, if you just don't have a cool item that ties into your character concept.

[GreyICE]

Straight stat increases are the one thing that you won't be getting off these items. Limited-use powers are what the system encourages magic items to have, and what all of yours will have (along with perhaps some passive effects).

The stat boosts are covered by clicking 'Inherent Bonuses' which gives you the bonuses of the magic items you're 'expected' to have without the items.

[GreyICE]

Nexus - Dantes - Kalashtar Bard
inte - Lao (as in lout) - Tiefling Warlock
Kcdaspot - Rikton - Razorclaw shifter avenger
hitogoroshi - Ban Tyrr - Mul Shaman
RoboCopter87 - Harbek Genzenheim - Dwarf Weaponmaster
Xalxe - Benn, Human Psion

[GreyICE]

Okay, our third session is over!

The party is now firmly in the capital of Chekad, and has discovered that there are robots roaming the streets... kind of.

[GreyICE]

Heh, also people discovered MM3 solo design.

They make very dramatic fights that can threaten an entire party. A weak golem this was not.

[GreyICE]

Okay, here's where we are from XP:

Session 1: 470 XP (200, Information Hunting Challenge + 270 Orcs)
Session 2: 480 XP (100 RP Bonus for Info Hunting, 380 Golem Encounter)

I thought Session 2 in particular had some really good roleplaying aspects.

I will be gone this Sunday, but I'm hoping to resume next Sunday, with magic items sorted, maybe some slightly better maps (don't expect too much improvement on that front, artist I am not~) and some more fun.

The mystery of the city awaits.

Meanwhile, you have a day or two of downtime in the nobleman's home. If there's anything you want to do, please send it in. Some of you, at least, are probably going to be a little busy during this downtime.

Remember, 2 simple actions or 1 complex action. PM me or post it in the thread.

[GreyICE]

It's now wednesday. Anyone have any idea what they've been up to?

[GreyICE]

i wanna use my acrobatics, stealth and religon to score an audience with the princess.

at least before the concert at the nobles house.

Acrobatics, stealth, and religion are skills.

What do you plan to do with them? You can have me make these decisions, but be warned it will probably be "figure out what god or goddess the princess worships, and sneak into the temple to perform extremely flexible and explicit sexual acts with that god/goddess' representation, in the hopes of scoring a personal audience with the Princess when she comes to sentence you in your trial." Because I'm a bastard like that~

But no seriously, you have to have a plan when you use skills.

[GreyICE]

my main goal is to make sure that A. the fabled princess is still alive and B. she is NOT mia.

im just trying to confirm beyond shadow of doubt the there IS still a princess.

THIS is my goal.

i dont want to slander MY RELIGION to do so... do you THINK i could show my FACE in public after that? a AVENGER?

Hmmm.

Well, maybe you can come up with a better use of those three skills than I can~

However will you get your audience?

[GreyICE]

Ah Eberron

Why yes I do like it much better than the Realms~

[GreyICE]

Steampunk meets high magic in the world of D&D. With nuclear weapons, or their magical equivalent.

Basically, most setting assume medieval levels of technology, and graft on top of that magic. Eberron rebuilt the world from the ground up, to assume magic. Railways run on enchanted loadstones, and are pushed by earth elementals. Windriders fly carrying messages. There's an entire race engineered - the Warforged, sentient constructs who were built to fight.

It's a very good setting that's quite enjoyable. Of all the D&D settings, it's in my top 3, and is the only modern setting in my top 3 (Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Eberron)

[GreyICE]

Grey! did you get the magic items sorted?

I may have!

Although you'll have to add them to your sheets yourself.

[GreyICE]

Okay, it's been half an hour, and I have 3 people.

KCDA you did say you'd be running late.
Inte, no ideas.

No one is super enthusiastic, and sleep deprivation thanks to LoL and MS is happening, so where we're at is that I'd rather have no session than a half assed session that wastes everyone's time and no one enjoys.

So I'm going to put things together for next week, get super-prepared, and get everyone pumped up.

[GreyICE]

Don't worry, it was one of those days where we sat down and looked at things and said "this session is gonna have exactly half an ass and is gonna end up sucking" and just called it.

If you were there we mighta run it and then it probably would have dragged.

Am sorry though, we'll get cooking for next weekend

[GreyICE]

We all still on for Sunday at 1 PM?

I'm going to ask everyone to try and get there 15 minutes early, so I can do a few upkeep things and start the game promptly at 1. I'm going to try and pick up the pace a little, since pretty much everyone feels that it's dragging, and that's mostly my fault.

[GreyICE]

Ugh, I hate to be this way, but I need to cancel this tomorrow. My grandma needs help installing a shower stall, and its fallen to me.

[GreyICE]

Actually explaining in thread before then is perfectly acceptable. I'm looking to minimize the back-and-forth chatting. Not that I mind it much, but it does tend to consume gametime.

[GreyICE]

I promise I will do my best to cut down and abstract as much back and forthing as possible.

[GreyICE]

Well I think I'm moving to an every other week schedule.

I just realized its thursday, I have zero maps together, and it's just hard to make them. I'm not joking about having 5-6 hours of prep time for our campaigns, and it just ends up draining time. So now, officially, we're on a every-other-week schedule (which we kind of were anyway).

If people are dropping I'll recruit new people unless it becomes untenable. I'm sorry to see Nexus go, but I spoke with him, and understand his problems, and sometimes things don't work out. He's always welcome in any campaign I run.

[GreyICE]

I forget what system you're using, but if it fits into the schedule, I'd likely be willing to play.

It's 4E, and we're at 5th level.

It's Sunday, between 1 and 5 PM EST typically.

[GreyICE]

Gimme AIM and I'll PM you, I have access.

Any material is allowed, no backgrounds or themes since we have newer players, no Dragonmarks because obv, any class you pick with training in 3 skills gets access to a 4th automatically (since I hate 3 skill classes).

We're using inherent bonuses.

[GreyICE]

Meh, I've said my feelings on 4E roles and the need for the big 4 before. It's about as strong as D&D has ever needed the big 4.

I mean someone who can do AOE is nice, but a Monk or Sorcerer is just fine, and a warlock can do in a pinch. Someone ran a 6 striker party at one point (they did well, usually. It was a bit of 'kill or be killed')

[GreyICE]

It was. I'm sorry guys, I have just run out of time and energy. I will see if I can continue this next week, but things are just meh for me across the board.

[GreyICE]

I'd enjoy running this tomorrow, but I understand if y'all are fed up with my inconsistency.