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DnD Game Group Roleplaying

Death and Hit Points

Before we get there, I thought I’d bring up the only random part of leveling up– hit points. There are a lot of campaigns out there, and they’ve each got a take on how to solve it. I think we’d all prefer not to have too many ones… especially for the first few levels when it really matters.

a) Three-quarters of max each level. This is the most generous guaranteed hit points that I’ve seen. [I have seen a few “just give max at each level”, but really, why make it a die type at that point?]

b) Use WOTC’s Monster design rules- average hit points per level (so 4.5 per d8 for example).

c) Roll the die. If it comes up a one, reroll it. Still pretty variable, but at least you’re not stuck with ones.

d) Roll two dice & keep the better one. While there’s still a chance of a low number (even a one), it’s pretty slim.

e) Roll three dice and keep the middle one. This cuts back on the extremes- both high and low are unlikely, so you’ll often have a mid range roll.

f) High minimum old school For the first ten levels, characters are guaranteed high hit points (reroll anything falling in the bottom half). From 10 on, the con bonus is eliminated, and it returns to +1,+2, or +3 per level, like old 2nd edition. (It’s an interesting tradeoff, but it doesn’t reflect 3e’s assumptions very well.)

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Game Group

Gameday 01/14/2005 (Friday)

Does anyone have a problem showing up this week? Is there anything that we need to do before Friday? [Dad: What would you like for us to do? Is there any information you need us to bring or email before the session?]

I’m thinking another 6:30 start is the plan. Hopefully we’ll be ready to roll– I enjoyed last week and am already eager for another.

Bookmark this https://www.scottrpg.com/llamafodder/roleplaying/dnd_group/index.htm and check in each week to keep everyone informed. Thanks.

Categories
DnD Roleplaying

DnD ideas

Most of this I found on Monte Cook’s site, under his DMing advice. There’s some good thought– and the serendipity of his group being large (7 vs. our 6) made some of his articles very appropriate.

Dealing with large groups (his is a 7 person group)– it’s a three parter. Part One, Part Two, Part Three

50 magic items, detailed
. A short history and some game stats for each; should be cool. A free download on RPGNow.

Treasure Cards is an interesting idea. Instead of having equipment written on a sheet, keep index cards instead. It makes it easier to loan (just hand over the card), and other useful benefits. (Like it’s especially good for single use items that you otherwise forget.)
Damage reduction, a house rule to solve some problems he has with “boring plusses” and “golf-bag of weapons” issues.
An article on equipping NPCs w/ Magic Items. Mostly demonstrates the flexibility of the system, and how tinkering’s quite reasonable.

Hope they prove useful.

Categories
Game Group

Gameday 01/07/2005

So, it looks like we’ll be playing on Friday nights for a few weeks. So far, it looks like everyone can make it Friday night. We’ll start around 6:30pm.

Does anyone have any questions or things to straighten out before Friday? Anyone have problems with showing up Friday? Please respond in thread.

Thanks.

Categories
DnD Roleplaying

Populations and other research

Some recent finds:
Building Prestige Classes (Part 1)
Building Prestige Classes (Part 2)
Population Demographics A tighter method of stating out towns
3d6.org A Forgotten Realms (Harper) campaign
Complete Domain Spellbook
6 person party experience forum discussion
Magic Item Reference

Sorcerer variants

The articles are thorough and generally good. (Not so sure about the last; I snagged it to peruse later.)

Categories
Game Group

Get together coordination

Right now, it sounds like we’re thinking hard about getting together for the first session on Saturday, January 8th. The big questions are: can everyone make it, and what time do we want to meet? Does anyone have to leave at a specific time?

Update: Steve has trouble with Saturday nights for at least a few weeks. How does Friday nights, 6:30 to 11 pm (or so) work for everyone?

Categories
Memes Roleplaying

IRE #5: Winter Solstice

From Blog, Jvstin Style:

Our fifth IRE is another slam dunk, since today is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Today is the Winter Solstice.

So what would I do with the day that allows the least amount of sunlight of the year?

A twisted Nephandus cabal has been waiting for this moment for a very long time. They’ve managed to gather a huge force that has captured a daughter of Helios, the spirit of the sun. With their bargaining chip, they’re making demands on the spirit– which it can’t resist. Using the bloodline linkage, the Nephandi have already started introducing dark spots that swim about in the sun…

This would be interesting; probably very experienced Magi or Technomancers would have to storm a Nephandi labyrinth to save the daughter and get Helios out from under their thumb. Woe to them if his daughter should die in the attempt…

Categories
Memes Roleplaying

Lunchtime Poll #6: The Great American Novel

From Li

I had lunch with Narrative Guy (whom some of you may remember from a previous Lunchtime Poll) a few days ago, and he posed the question “Why are people who are role-playing for the creativity of it not writing novels instead?” Good question, I thought.

I’m going agree with many of the previous commenters- there are two major reasons. First, a novel takes a huge investment of time upfront and may never see the light of day. A game on the other hand is immediate– the adventure you’re musing on today could be Friday’s game– must be Friday’s game if you’re GMing, people will be showing up, and nothing else is coming to mind. You never have to come up with everything (doing so is a recipe for disaster)– either you’ll have opportunities and obstacles thought out (as GM), or you’ll just have your character’s mindset (as a player). When they interact, you get a whole game, from less individual investment.

The second big reason is interaction. I could probably come up with a more satisfying story that the group as a whole does– it’d have one character you could identify with, an actual plot, etc. Unfortunately, writing it wouldn’t involve hanging out with my friends; board gaming might be able to fill the void, but I’d rather hang out more often and do both.

Categories
Memes Roleplaying

IRE #4: Zuider Zee

(from Blog, Jvstin Style)

Our fourth IRE, is a slightly obscure, but important anniversary in history.

On December 14th, 1287, the Zuider Zee sea wall in what is now the Netherlands collapsed. killing 50,000 people. It is the most massive such flood in the history of Holland; the Zuider Zee is one of the most massive projects in the history of engineering.

Thus, this disaster is the theme of this week’s IRE.

I like keeping the components man-made and semi-natural. After reading a thread on the Forge about using DitV for a Valedemar series, I’m quite interested in combining them.

Underneath the palace is (essentially) a heartstone, a device that ties Valedemar together magically. (Think of it as an artificial node, formed by dragging ley lines to the palace). It concentrates power, feeds the vrondi, and does other nifty magical stuff.

Set around the time of the Arrows trilogy, mages have been absent for hundreds of years. The power in the heartstone is building up and going unstable. The PCs are the first new generation of mages, and have to decide what to do. Dismantle the system that powers truth spells? Try some kind of an emergency hearthstone creation/transfer? Repair it? Import an expert on heartstones? If they delay, energy discharges in remote nodes, strange spikes of power interfering in their magics, and a shuddering palace will focus them on the problem.

Categories
Memes Roleplaying

Lunchtime Poll #5: Under the Sea

What’s your favorite take on Atlantis as it pertains to gaming—Aliens? Mer-people? Exceptionally ancient Greeks?

I liked the ideas in Randall Garrett’s Gandalara Cycle. A quick gloss is that there’s a civilization of near-humans that live in a desert… at the bottom of the future Mediterranean Sea. They’re adapted to the thicker atmosphere (since they’re below sea level) and they can’t (easily) get out & take over Africa and Europe. He created a pretty good analogue culture– close enough to human to be very identifiable, with a few sci-fi/fantasy elements. Their culture wasn’t much stranger than most foreign cultures appear today- easy enough for most role-players to adapt to.