Looping the Hen Games

Good discussion up at ENWorld that is very related to my current malaise.

Some people in the thread are very vocal, and they prefer their DM's not impose their story on the party, while others are just looking to escape the world for a few hours, and very much want the DM to impose their story on the players.

There is a term they call 'sandbox' in videogames, which means that the game is very much what you make of it. Morrowind and the other Elder Scrolls games are great examples of RPG sandbox games (although it often refers to even more specifically games like Simcity, which are not really games at all, but simulations), and they are great games because of it. On the other hand, the Final Fantasy series of games tend to have very little directional control by the player. The creators are telling a story, and the players are along for the ride. Again, a great series of games, but with a different approach.

Which approach do y'all prefer? In your video games? In D&D? Interested in people's thoughts. I've always tried to provide a huge sandbox for people to play in, and often (and understandably so) people get stuck and can't figure out which direction to go in, because I don't throw in a lot of guidance. Sometimes this makes for great player-developed stories, other times it leads to some pretty dull gameplay. I guess I'd like to find a happier medium where the fun factor goes up consistently! (And I am hopeful Sphere helps, because I plan that to be an open-ended, but higher action, campaign)

Thanks!

Posted by at 8:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I meant to do this when I started the gaming blog, and seeing Rodney do it makes me feel guilty for slacking! My regular campaign games tend to have a lot of stuff happen in between game sessions, and having a 'rumor-mill' style posting series makes sense.

I hope to do one of these in between each session.

Month of Scales, Day 9

Weapons Shipment
A shipment of arms and equipment is being transferred between Riversang and one of the northernmost garrison's on the island. It is expected to be heavily guarded, but your informant says it should include over 50 sets of armor, including 1 set of plate for the garrison commander, 3 sets of half-plate for the subcommanders, and a combination of chain, banded and studded leather for various other militia. Informant says there is a 50% chance of a captive dwarf armorer being transferred with the caravan, otherwise there will be a human armorer present.

Beware of Hollow-Night
It is the night of transition between the Month of Scales and the Month of Scorpion. Necromantic and shadow power is at its height and light magic at its 2nd weakest point of the year, and the boundaries between the lands of the living and those of the dead are very weak. It is rumored each year the Riversang Lich visits the Aravant Barrow and sacrifices 12 virgins and raises them as ghouls.

The Freedom Tourney
Flyers posted within easy reach of your town announce a great tournament to be held on Gluttony High, the 23rd day of Scorpion. If a humanoid wins the tournament, he/she will be granted a functional estate on the boundaries of Riversang City. If a human wins, he/she will be granted official freedom to travel and dwell on the isle of Riversang. Ssyeress, Rakshasa Magi and Baron of Sengir Estate, will be returning this year to defend his title and add to his lands. As happens each year, the 3 runner-ups will be raised as Dark Templars to the Lich, serving him for 1 year before regaining their (albeit undead) freedom.

The Golden Manticore
It is rumored a extraplanar creature of good and his retinue has taken up residence in Demonbreun Glade, purpose unknown.

The Werewolf of Garibald Fork
A creature has been sighted in the woods outside of town, drinking water from a creek.

Posted by at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The city of Sun Daksis and the surrounding countryside are almost deserted. Most fled the arrival of the enormous celestial prison onto the Prime Material Plane. Some of the more superstitious townsfolk call it 'Baal'son Mont', or 'The Devil's Mountain.' Nine hundred million tons of stone, steel and iron as well as thousands of evil creatures, both great and small. Rumor has it there are also untold treasures, both demonic and angelic, spoils of a milleinium long war.

Raiding parties from the prison, mostly demons riding fantastic flying steeds have devastated the local towns and remaining villagers in ritualistic bloodbaths. Sun Daksis became a home for refugees, while the most powerful attempted to return the prison complex to whence it came.

That band of adventurers left months ago, a dozen strong, and penetrated the deeper levels of the prison through some of the gaping cracks, the howls of demons resounding as fresh food came to them. The Circle of Madra Cairn, a devout order of Druids and Sorcerers, began to ward around the prison and have successfully kept many of the demons and monsters contained through blades and binding spells.

A tense standoff has ensued, and Sun Daksis returned almost to normalcy, although a sullen and brooding one.

Until today.

Posted by at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here is a discussion on the debate we had last night. According to 3.5 rules, we were all doing it wrong.

According to the actual rules, one of two things happens when you polymorph (and this is what the argument is about in that post). One side is saying that there is no hit point change at all, so turning into a Wyvern if you have 10 hp means you are now a 10hp Wyvern. The 2nd group says that when you turn into a Wyvern you gain the Wyvern's Str., Con, and Dex bonuses, meaning if you have a 10 con as a wizard and you turn into a 20 con Wyvern, you would gain 40hp as an 8th level Wizard. (+5 hp/level times 8 levels)

I would submit another possible argument based on our general house rules, and the difficulty of using a %-based formula as suggested last night. A possibility is when you turn into a Wyvern, whether you are a 4th Gnome with 30hp or a 38th Level Fighter with 500 hp, a Wyvern always has 100hp.

From that if we go back to Dark_Elf's and Raistca's argument (that it should be based on a %), here is what happens. Say you have 3 characters, one with 10hp, one with 100hp and one with 1000 hp, and as a Wyvern you take 99 points of damage, when everyone turns back into a human, the 10hp char has .1 hp, rounded down to 0 and he goes unconscious. The 100hp character transforms back with 1hp, and the 1000hp transforms back with 10hp, for a total of 990 damage. To me, an avatar level player with 1000 hp should be able to handle damage better than the Wyvern, which in turn handles the damage better than the 10 hp character. Working Polymorph based on a percentage makes that unworkable and a huge boon to characters with less HP's than the target creature and worthless to characters with more HP's than the target creature.

I think the best solution is to use the 2nd defintion up top. If the Sorcerer turns into a Wyvern, he uses his own base HP's and adds the Wyvern's physical characteristics: Str, Con, Dex, Per. Thus, there would always be a benefit to turning into a creature with a higher Constitution, with the drawback that if a player takes too much damage in that form, he is going to be in danger when he changes back. For example, if the Sorcerer had 200 hp's but only a 10 con and changed into a Wyvern, he would have a 20 con, taking his hp from 200 to 200+(his level * 5), in this case 100 (assuming he is 20th level). Now, if he takes over 200hp damage in his new form, he will be in danger when he turns back into a human with only 10 con.

Please leave any comments or things you think we should consider. I think this solution allows Polymorph to continue to be a benefit without overpowering it.

Posted by at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

This is for those folks starting the World's Largest Dungeon with me on Sept 9. Just some thoughts on characters. As Rodney will tell you, I am very open to almost anything you want to do, however, please remember these basic 'rules':

1: The character must be able, and like to, work with the group.
2: The character must be good at heart.
3: The character must like to go adventuring.
4: The character is NOT a pile of numbers.

No, that doesn't mean everyone has to be goodie tooshoes, but there will be no killing of other PC's or stealing their stuff. There will be no constantly wandering off on your own (though sometimes for a plan to work, I do understand this may be necessary) I know this may make it harder to suspend some people's disbelief, but I'd like to have a party that wants to work together.

Also, your character does not know what their strength, or their EXP or what their HPs are. (per rule 4) Play your character as a person, with emotions and sincerity, and you'll have a much better time than trying to min/max. Part of that is because I will intentionally make it tougher on min/maxers because they tend to ruin everyone else's fun!

For folks who will be playing unusual characters...or maybe just everyone, please email me what you type of character you would like to play prior to the 9th so I can start determining the composition of the party. My email address.

Anyone with any questions feel free to drop a line or comment here.

Posted by at 8:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

(Err, I hope not!)

I have decided to do something I haven't done since I was around 9 years old. I am going to run a D&D game based on a book. Albeit a big book, but a book nonetheless. If you look around or know me, you know I generally prefer to make my campaigns and games from scratch.

As I have less time available for that, but have still been Jonesing for a game, I thought I'd try something new. I am going to run for Rodney's group through 'World's Largest Dungeon.'

I started reading through the book and decided that it will need some of my 'touches'. For example, the backstory is a little light, so I will be reworking that to fit in a world better. I'll also be sprucing it up where necessary, as it gets a little repetitive in places.

So for the players who will be adventuring with me, please do not expect the 'book' to be the gospel; in this case the 840 page manual. I retain the full authority to alter as I see fit to create a better and more fun adventure! I'm sure you'll see what I mean.

If you'd like, read a little bit around here and you'll see how I like to do things. I am always open to suggestions and ideas from players, so feel free to comment or email me with any concerns, complaints or ideas.

Posted by at 7:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I'm off to play poker tonight, but I just wanted to put a little blurb out about subjects I hope to post about in the next couple of weeks. Some of them are just items I'm interested in, but many are due to questions, concerns, or needs of my current campaign. After I get these out of the way, I'll introduce all the characters and NPC's in my current game, as well as some of the 'what happened up until now'. I'll also explore some history of the world, politics, and other generally boring stuff! All of my players, as well as any others who may stop by, are welcome to request discussion topics or guest-post if they like. I've been DM'ing now for about 22 years, but I learn stuff from even the newest player every time I play, and I absolutely realize my way is just that, my way, and I enjoy hearing about others' ideas and methods as well. And if they are good ideas, don't be mad as I regularly steal things for my own games!

Currently on the roster: Discussion of experience points and how they are awarded (a continuation of a discussion my players and I had, and hopefully some improvements to the system), crafting, the leadership feat and its relations to cults,churches,guilds and towns;familiars and their impact on the game, and the use of our mostly non-standard familiars; a full breakdown of the 5 types of elves/half-elves I use, and their current uberness in relation to the rest of the races, and hopefully some proposed fixes.

I'll also highlight at some point any of the prestige classes we work into our game (Raistca, send my your class!), and hopefully some guest spots by my players. One of them currently does a mini-chapter prior to each adventure that I enjoy reading, and another has in the past.

As always, questions, comments, suggestions, complaints welcome!

Update: Oops, forgot something...my players will be happy to know I think I figured out what the main benefit of affinities/susceptabilities will be; it struck me today like an affinity to lightning+1 (okay, that was horrible, but anyway!)! Remind me and we'll talk about this weekend.

Posted by at 5:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One...two...three...

Posted by at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)