D&D: "You All Meet At An Inn" Campaign Reboot

[alexandraerin]

Note: If you see this on Facebook and would like to join, please comment on the Livejournal version of the post.



So as I mentioned in the previous post... and as the multiple preceding posts about D&D sort of indicated... I'm getting ready to revive my online gaming groups that were aborted last fall by the death of my desktop computer and the several month delay in getting a working replacement.

I'm going to be running basically the same campaigns as I was before, but due to the lengthy delay and some things I feel I could have done better from the start, they're going to be total reboots. Submissions will be open to anybody who has a Livejournal account or is willing to use OpenID to comment on Livejournal... I'm not going to be using an outside blog site this time, to cut down on my mental overhead.

The "Asfenar" campaign, which met on Sundays, will also be restarting... if you were in the Asfenar group and would like to be again, please wait for that post to go up about a week from now. I'm less satisfied overall with how the "Inn" campaign was going (because of my decisions) so I've been giving it more thought; ergo, it's getting restarted first.

Now, I already know that not everybody from the first incarnation is going to be available. Some people had issues with the time commitment that probably haven't resolved themselves. But if you were in the group before and would like to be again, I'm not trying to exclude anyone by not contacting them directly. I don't have access to the email address I was using to run the games and I don't really remember who you people were.

Even if you did play in the previous version I can't guarantee that anyone's going to be in, except for my actual close friends who I've already guaranteed will be in. That's pretend life. If you played before, please don't feel like I'm snubbing you if you don't make it in again. I'm going to be looking for the characters that I think make the best fit... you folks probably have a better idea what I'm looking for than anyone else. Feel free to submit your old character, a new version of that character, or someone new, if you're interested in playing again.

Though some of the parameters of the campaign have changed, so if you don't feel like participating, or don't have time, don't feel like you're going to be hurting me.

The game will be starting on Thursday, the 29th of this month. Anyone who's interested should have their character submitted before this coming weekend is up. I'm not setting an exact cut-off but I'm going to start putting the group together sometime Saturday, so if you have your character in before then you'll have the best chances.

The details:

1. This campaign has themes that might be found similar to TV shows like Quantum Leap, Time Tunnel, Sliders, Lost In Space, Farscape, Star Trek: Voyager, or even the old Dungeons & Dragons cartoon... the characters are "lost" or "adrift" in some fashion. More will be revealed/discovered in play.
   
2. This is going to be a fairly roleplay-heavy, story-focused game. Players should be prepared to roleplay, and to give their actions some descriptive flair in combat. Combats will tend to involve small numbers of enemies, with a focus on interesting environments or combatants. My goal is for the narrative flow of the game to continue uninterrupted throughout fights, avoiding as much of the jarring shift between "story mode" and "battle mode" as possible. This is something I've always believed in, but rarely have able to bring to life.
   
3. Required programs include Skype (free) and a web browser. I strongly encourage the D&D Character Builder (low-cost*) and a (free) IPlay4E account (Google logins work), as it's the easiest way for me to keep everybody's character sheets handy. While we'll be using Skype for chatting (I find it convenient), microphone/voice equipment is not needed, as we'll be sticking to text to avoid the technical difficulties voice conferencing can cause.
   
4. In order to keep the technical requirements low, avoid further problems caused by uneven connection quality, and help keep the combat transitions seamless, we'll be ditching Screen Monkey and using the Abstract Combat Mapless Encounter system I devised. A cleaned up version of those rules with revisions (mostly simplifications) from the playtest session will be posted soon... it's a fairly simple set of "rule hacks" to translate the action from the grid into words.
   
5. Regular game time will be Thursday nights at 9:00 PM central time. Sessions will last approximately two hours, with a half-hour overrun in case we're in the middle of something. In other words, I'll aim to be done by 11:00 central, but please be prepared to go to 11:30. This will be an ongoing game. The tools and parameters I've set mean that I can run it from any computer, anywhere I go, even my little netbook. I don't expect anyone to commit to play "forever", but please don't apply if you know you've got a conflict coming up in the next couple months. Occasional absences and breaks I can deal with.
   

If you would like to play, please comment with a link to your completed character sheet in IPlay4E, or a write-up of your character if you don't have the Character Builder. Please apply with no more than two characters. In your comment, give a brief description of your roleplay experience and your character... tell me what you're going for, basically, in about two-three sentences. Also please tell me if we know each other and how. This includes if you were in the previous version of this campaign... telling me what character you played would be helpful as I'm more likely to remember that than anything else.

I'm as interested in people who have experience with freeform roleplaying (like is often found in forums or Livejournal communities) as experience with D&D, though some experience is preferred.

Legal characters:

• All characters should be level one, using standard point buy or an equivalent method of generating ability scores. (No rolling.) Standard 100 GP for starting equipment and money. What your character is carrying/wearing is all you'll have access to in the campaign... you can have other property "back home" if it fits your character, be it a hovel or an estate. Your clothing can be of any quality/description suitable for travel without having to pay out of your equipment budget.
  
• You do not start with any magic items. I hope none of the old group is disappointed by this. I'd like to keep things simple for less experienced players.
  
• If you select Backgrounds for your character, do not pick one that gives a non-standard benefit.
  
• You can pick campaign-setting-specific Backgrounds and Deities. Feel free to create your character as if they are from the Realms or Eberron or any permutation of the vaguely defined core D&D campaign setting. Or not.
  
• I'm not going to veto any race or class that's in the Compendium/Character Builder. If anybody wants to play as a Monster Manual race I may have to alter their racial abilities for balance. Please don't take that to mean that "monster" races will be deprecated in favor of Player's Handbook ones.
  
  Also, people who read this journal regularly should know I see serious issues with the Drow. Keep that in mind before submitting a character. I'm not saying there is no Drow character I would accept. But it's not likely a given person will come up with one.
  
  Other than that I'm not going to favor any selections over others, except that I'm not likely to pick two characters from the same race if that race is one of the ones that sounds more like a superhero origin story than a people with a culture. Keep that in mind when asking to play a telepathic crystalline construct made from fragments of the Living Gate or an undead being called forth into new life by the Raven Queen. Elves and Dwarves and Goblins and Gnomes and things will be evaluated on their own merits. Shardminds and Revenants and such will also be evaluated on how far the rest of the party's composition is straining my credulity.
  
• I'm not aiming for a specific number of characters in each role this time. However, I will be trying to make sure every role is covered.
  
• I'm not aiming for a specific group size, either. If there are too many characters I like, I may create a "second cast" that meets on a different night.
  
• While creative interpretation of character abilities (also known as "re-skinning" or "re-fluffing") is a good thing, all characters must be valid, legal 4E characters with no homebrew abilities. Please don't ask me to approve any power customizations or substitutions not allowed by the rules as written.
  

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*The full version of the Character Builder with up-to-date information can be downloaded by anyone with a D&D Insider subscription. It's possible to get a one month subscription just to download the current version of the program, giving you a one-time fee of $10. Sharing DDI passwords or copies of the program is a violation of the license terms and will thus not be discussed here.

If you already have access to the books you need to create your character but don't have the Character Builder, you can post the salient details in a comment and... if selected... I'll run it through the Character Builder and put the results up in IPlay4E. It's just less work for everybody if you have the Character Builder.


Update on 7/16:

The group list is almost set, see the next post for details. I wouldn't mind having another character or two who can fight on the front line/in melee, again, see the next post for details. Please follow the instructions above to apply with them. If you've already applied and didn't make the list, you can submit a new character.

Comments

Re: Also, I don't want to be the only noob in the group.

[xaddom.livejournal.com]

I do have a bit, emphasis on itty bit, of improv experience. Anyway here's my character.

http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiVuPIBDA

Re: Also, I don't want to be the only noob in the group.

[alexandraerin.livejournal.com]

Thank you! That will help fill out the group in a very good way. Do you have any questions about how your abilities work/what you can do in combat/how to run a druid?

Re: Also, I don't want to be the only noob in the group.

[xaddom.livejournal.com]

Any tips would certainly be appreciated in terms of how to run a druid. I've got a handle on the mechanics but as I've never played I'm not really sure how those mechanics work in game.

Part 1: At-Will Attacks

[alexandraerin.livejournal.com]

Okay. Druids are tagged as Controllers, which means that you should think about how you can shape the battlefield to either keep enemies off of your weaker teammates or herd/corral them towards the frontline fighters, which can include you in your beast form.

Druids are kind of unique (and completely unique for Controllers) in that they move between ranged attacks and melee attacks. Being a Human Druid, you've got four at-will attacks to choose from, so you'll want to understand their different uses. Each one is better in different situations, so if you understand that a bit you'll have an easier time figuring out what to do each turn.

Your human form powers work at range:

Thorn Whip has good range and lets you pull the target slightly closer to you... it's a good move if somebody is flanking/ganging up on one of your allies across the battlefield. By pulling an enemy away from a teammate, you give them a chance to move away without provoking opportunity attacks. It would also obviously be good to use when there's a pit or fire or other dangerous terrain between you and the enemy.

Call of the Beast strongly encourages an enemy to attack the nearest target, so it would be a terrible choice in many of the situations where Thorn Whip would be good. On the other hand, if a Paladin or Fighter is having a hard time keeping a tough enemy's attention, this can be a good way to prod the monster towards them.

Your beast form powers are melee range. It's a minor action to change forms, so you can do that and attack in the same turn. There's little reason to choose your attack based on what form you're already in... look for the best opportunity to help an ally.

When you change from beast to human, you can shift one step for free, so if you need to withdraw you can shift from animal to human and step out of melee range at the same time, then spend a move action moving away, and then hit the target with a ranged power.

Either of your beast form powers can be combined with a charge, which gives you +1 to hit and lets you move your full speed as part of the attack. You can do this even after using a move action on the same turn. So even if you're far away from an enemy... just outside your range of thorn whip or call of the beast... you're actually still close enough to hit them in beast form. That's worth remembering.

Pounce makes the target give combat advantage for the next attack against it. Any ally fighting the same target will thank you for using Pounce, and if you're fighting an enemy alone it applies to your next attack. If you can't think of a reason you'd want to move the target around, use Pounce. The easier an enemy is to hit, the faster they'll go down, and the less danger they'll pose over the course of a fight, so repeatedly Pouncing a big brute is a good move.

Savage Rend lets you slide the target one square/step on a hit... you can use this to tear an opponent away from an ally, or move them into a position where you and an ally can flank them, or to knock them into something. It can be used as a melee basic attack, so if an enemy prompts an opportunity attack or a teammate is able to grant you a basic attack (and at least one of your allies can do this regularly), Savage Rend is what you'd use. Otherwise, it's best to use Pounce as your main melee attack.

Part 2: Other Attacks

[alexandraerin.livejournal.com]

Your Encounter Power, Darting Bite, is pretty easy to understand if you think of it like this: once in every fight, you can make two attacks and then shift for free.

There's no reason to hold back on an Encounter power because there's no benefit to having it if you don't use it in a given fight. When you've got more than one enemy adjacent to you, set this off. That goes double if you're flanked. This is a get-out-of-flank-free card if you hit at least one target with it. In a fight where you never get pinned down by multiple enemies, just use it to bite the biggest, baddest opponent twice.

Your Daily Power is a summon, and it's a good one. The toad has a long reach with its tongue, pulls enemies towards it. You have to spend a minor action to move it or have it do anything else but an attack, and you have to spend a standard action to make it attack a specific attack (you use your attack to make it attack, basically.) But if you don't have it do anything (even move) on a given turn, it will attack automatically. So it can kind of work on "autopilot".

The other advantages to having the toad out is that your enemies have one more target, and your teammates have one more body that works as a frontline fighter. Because you can only use the Toad once a day, save it for fights that feel climactic ("boss fights") or one that starts going badly. You can use the Toad's tongue attack to pull enemies off opponents like some of your own attacks.

To get someone out of trouble, you can do things like summon the Toad a few steps back from their opponent and have it attack. It's a standard action to call the Toad so you can't order it to attack on the same turn you summon it, but since you're not giving it any commands it will attack the nearest enemy on that turn.

Now, your equipment list... you're a bit over-armed for a Druid. Perhaps that's for character reasons, but I thought I'd point it out in case you have familiarity with older editions where casters ran out of spells and needed daggers and crossbows. That's not the case in 4th Edition. You can use Thorn Whip (or any of your other at-wills) all day long and never run out.

Your beast form attacks are your best "melee weapon". It's a minor action to draw a dagger and a standard action to attack with it. It's also a minor action to turn into an animal and a standard action to Savage Rend or Pounce someone. The second option will do more damage and hit more often (because Wisdom fuels your attacks in beast form... your strength of spirit determines how powerful your beast form is, in essence.)

It's not a terrible idea to have a staff. Staves count as druid implements so you don't drop it if it's in your hands when you transform. The daggers and crossbow would fall to the ground if you didn't put them away first. Carrying a staff is also just a good image for a druid.

The crossbow could be useful if you found yourself facing something too far away to throw your human evocations at and that you couldn't reach (on the other side of a chasm or flying). You've got enough Dexterity that it's not pointless to have. But you should understand that Thorn Whip will always be better if they're inside ten squares/fifty feet.

And daggers can just plain be useful tools.

So there's no reason you shouldn't have those weapons. But you don't need to be considering them every turn, weighing them against using druidic magic or beast form attacks.

Re: Part 2: Other Attacks

[xaddom.livejournal.com]

Basically all the weapons, other than the staff, were bought to get rid of gold because I didn't think a druid should have that much currency on hand. The equipment was really the only part of my character where I didn't know what to do.

Re: Part 2: Other Attacks

[alexandraerin.livejournal.com]

Well, like I said, you're more than welcome to have them, but it's also possible to just dump the gold. The 100 gp starting budget isn't necessarily literal... it's just so there's a set limit on how much equipment you can start with.

Though instead of dumping it, you might take whatever's left over after getting your tools and armor and buy Rare Herbs, at a cost of 1 GP each. The rituals your Druid knows (Explorer's Fire and Animal Messenger) each cost 10 GP worth of herbs to use, so you'll want to have some on hand. You can do Animal Messenger for free once a day, but the day will come you need to send more than one person a "fox".

Honestly, rituals don't come up that often at low levels but the herbs don't go bad. And they're definitely something more "druidic" to be carrying around than pockets full of gold.

Alternately, if you didn't carry both a staff and a totem (if you really want a staff, you can change your implement expertise and drop the totem, having both doesn't do anything for you), you could use the bulk of your gold to buy something like:

1. A healing potion. Use it once and it's gone, but it could be useful in an emergency. Cost: 50 gold.
2. An everburning torch. A brand that sheds light from an illusionary flame. Very useful, lasts forever, kinda druidic. Cost: 50 gold.
3. Hunter's kit. Might seem not very "druidy", but since its game effect is just +2 on Nature checks to forage, you could use this item to represent a book of nature lore and your homemade snares and tools and animal scents you've collected yourself rather than some manufactured traps and things. Also 50 gold.

Basically, with the Hide Armor, Adventurer's Kit, Totem, and weapons, you're 5 gold away from being able to spend all your money on stuff that might be cool or appropriate. Oh, here's another idea, if you want to keep the staff and the totem: drop the weapons and the adventurer's kit. Your Nature skill is high enough that you don't need to carry rations. You could sleep rough in animal form or make your own bedding site out of natural material.

Just some thoughts. There's no reason you couldn't play with the equipment list you have. But I like the fact that you're thinking about your budget in terms of what a druid would or wouldn't have, so I'm sharing some ideas about how to get rid of the gold and get something a druid might have.

I'm putting you on the list of players for the game, though the list isn't finished. But feel free to change your equipment list.

Part 3: Wild Shape and Being A Druid

[alexandraerin.livejournal.com]

Wild Shape is a Druid's main special ability. What exactly happens when you transform is up to you. Some people pick one animal form that suits their character and stick with it. Some alter their description with every attack ("I assume the form of a black panther and pounce on the lead orc." can also be "I become like a charging buffalo and bear down on the lead orc.")

Some people envision a "were"-style man-beast form and some prefer a more normal looking animal. It doesn't have to be a single definite animal... it can be ever-shifting, or a form that incorporates traits of multiple animals. Druids are tapping into a spirit called "The Primal Beast" that represents all predatory beasts.

The thing is that even in beast form you're still you. You can't change size appreciably or gain special senses or movement modes, except by taking feats that give you bonuses in beast form or higher level utility powers that add to your beast form capabilities in various ways. You can, for roleplaying/flavor reasons, do things like assume your beast form when you have to climb or prowl through bushes or swim a stream, if the form's appropriate for those things, but there's no set bonuses for these things. This might seem unfair or unrealistic, but it's a result of the previous edition where Druids could take on the exact stats of any beast in the Monster Manuals, and as a result ended up making the rest of the party superfluous.

If you want to be a good climber and swimmer and jumper, you have to spend a feat to get Athletics training like everybody else, even if it's because you're an animal sometimes. :)

But the lack of mechanical effects means there's a lack of mechanical limits, as mentioned above.

There's no reason you can't talk in beast form, but a lot of Druids don't, out of principle I suppose. Shifting is a minor action once per round, which in real world terms means you can change every 5-6 seconds. You can eat, sleep, and travel as an animal or as a human. You can treat either form as your "default/main form" or use both of them equally.

With your high Insight, Nature, and Perception scores, you're going to be one of the more alert and perceptive party members. You can probably expect to be the main tracker for the party... a good use of beast form (purely as a roleplay effect, though I think there's a feat that boosts Perception in beast form that you might take later on) would be to shift in order to track better.

Your character is Primal, which means more concerned with spirits of the natural world than gods who look down from other ones. It also means that if you're using your powers to their full effect, you'll come off as kind of savage in combat... charging, pouncing, scattering enemies, throwing and dragging them around. But also remember that you're a Controller, so whenever possible there should be some method to what you're doing. Pounce a tough foe to make them vulnerable. Savage Rend to pull an enemy off a nearby ally. Thorn Whip to get them off a distant one. Call of the Beast to get them to engage with one of your allies. You're a traffic cop. You get the enemies to go where you want them to and out of the places you don't want them.

(Also, Thorn Whip is the kind of power that it pays to think about creative uses of, in combat and out. The raw mechanical description of it is a good description of what it does as an attack in combat: target one enemy within 10 squares, do this much damage and pull 2 squares on a hit. But it's equally valid to think of it in terms of: you conjure a thorny vine out of thin air.)