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Post by Nygil, Nickolie on Mar 24, 2011 16:49:26 GMT -5
First thing first... DM's for next year. If you want to be one, speak up. Brent and I will be sitting down with Adrian to talk about what worked and what did not, and see what we want to do next year.
No matter what though, we will need DM's. So if you are going to be here and want the job speak up.
Also, feel free to give us a critic for what happened this year so we can learn and grow next year.
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Post by Naelwyn on Mar 24, 2011 18:26:35 GMT -5
I'd be fine with DMing again, but it all depends on: A) Courseload B) How interested (And Invested) I am in running the plot. [Which I'd always like to assist with.]
Critique and Suggestions:
I think everything went much smoother this year in comparison to last in almost all regards. My only real critiques fall on setting type details and how to improve immersion and its ilk.
1) There wasn't a whole lot of interplay between DMs and DMPCs. I was really happy when Nygil used my character for the purpose it was put forth. I didn't see this happening a whole lot.
2) As a PC, I didn't feel all to connected to the world. I think it has something to do with using a Quasi-mystic easy-to-access demiplane as a staging ground. The most important thing it tended to remove was a sense of scale between places. (Especially later when we, as a club, got teleport.)
3) There was still not a whole lot of inter-PC action outside of games. I think the Tavern Thread and the subboard it spawned really was a step in the right direction here.
I'd like to actually hard MAP out our next "home base." and give it physical structure.
More importantly, I'd like to suggest that our first 30 minutes or so (That we generally spend waiting on things to get started) take place in said homebase to allow for PC cross-mingling and such. It might work it might not.
4) I'd like to suggest a mission board. It'd be a thread in the forums that would represent a physical board in our homebase where (Clients/Questgivers/Etc) could post mission details in advance. It would include possible background info, mission requirements, reward info, expected duration, etc. Posting it in advance would allow for a bit more organic party formation and make it feel like a guildhall. It wouldn't have worked this year due to the setup, but next year it might make sense, and it would be a nice convienient thing to have.
--- More Vague Things Below --
5) Possibly come up with a logical way to include experiance, longer periods of downtime (The sheer realtime pace at which our game this year went was pretty quick for DnD),.
6) Tutorial Missions for new players that expose as many elements of DnD as possible. Run at regular intervals depending upon interest. Have some premade characters (A selection of 6 for a group of 4?) and a classic scenario and go into it.
7) Solo / Duo Missions: Possibly Run via Forums, possibly run on off days or something, I'd like to include some kind of way to run a mission for a single or duo (Or small group in general) of PCs. For fufilling quest requirements on things, for PCs to tie up personal loose ends and goals, and for smaller self-directed groups to just be able to explore whatever world we have. Requires us to be solid about 1 and 2.
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Post by arhino on Mar 24, 2011 19:01:09 GMT -5
I agree with most of those points, particularly #4. The mad dash at the start of each game to pick a mission meant that the people hovering at the front always get first dibs, which I think is unfair.
Of course, using the forum for mission selection would mean that everyone involved would need an account and be active on the forums, which I don't think is the case right now. Plus we wouldn't be able to have sub-dms like we do now.
As for myself, I really liked the way last year's final mission worked, with each party working to complete one part of a larger goal. I think this strengthened the club storyline considerably and from what I've heard the final mission this year is going to work the same.
I was wondering if there was any way to incorporate this type of mission into the club game more often. For the first 3/4 of the year the story lines each dm was running were only loosely connected. Whenever I was shipped off to save a village or find some treasure I had the nagging suspicion that I should probably be doing something about that whole dragon war thing instead.
I guess what I'm saying is that the club game might benefit from a stronger central storyline throughout the year, with each dm telling a part of that story, rather than running their own campaign worlds and trying to tie them all together at the end.
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Post by illios on Mar 24, 2011 23:35:28 GMT -5
I'll definitely be down to DM next term.
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Post by viamede on Mar 25, 2011 2:39:36 GMT -5
i will definitely be down to bring stupid monster race characters to play next year
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Post by steve on Mar 25, 2011 5:31:54 GMT -5
Make all information about the campaign (what level you start at, house-rules, brief campaign description, character generation rules, etc.) easily accessible. I think for this year all that information is scattered between pages 1-5 of the Club Game thread.
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Post by markuswolfe on Mar 25, 2011 7:37:44 GMT -5
I presume we're doing 32 point buy again, access to the same books again, etc. The tavern thread was a wonderful idea, we should see it again next year. I'm a bit iffy about the mission board. Yeah, we saw people who went up the front of the room for the mad dash, but at least during the mad dash, everyone was in the same room at the same time and had a fair chance. Though knowing what the missions are going to be further ahead of time might be advantageous. I approve of solo/duo missions. I'm looking forward to using the church mechanics from Complete Champion. Also, everyone meet next year's PC, Jack: Attachments:
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salsa
Nerdling
Ginga Bishouuuuuuuuuuuuuunen
Posts: 79
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Post by salsa on Mar 25, 2011 20:13:20 GMT -5
Make all information about the campaign (what level you start at, house-rules, brief campaign description, character generation rules, etc.) easily accessible. I think for this year all that information is scattered between pages 1-5 of the Club Game thread. This a thousand times. I always felt like such a nuisance harassing people for things that everyone else already seemed to know, especially because I am still really green to D&D in general.
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Post by Nygil, Nickolie on Mar 25, 2011 21:50:25 GMT -5
solo is not likely to be doable as a part of the club game.
much of what else was said is a good idea and will be worked in to my plots.
running two games that are realted is very hard and messy but i would like to do more like that as well.
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Post by Naelwyn on Mar 25, 2011 22:33:35 GMT -5
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Post by Nygil, Nickolie on Mar 26, 2011 0:50:02 GMT -5
I love the tutorial idea, and if we get a few DM's to volunteer to run it next year a week or two before we start, or as we start, that would rock.
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Post by steve on Mar 26, 2011 9:39:20 GMT -5
I ran one of those in 2010 and you made fun of me for doing it.
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Post by Naelwyn on Mar 26, 2011 10:00:34 GMT -5
I honestly don't remember anything about that.. year.., at all. If so, then my apologies.
... Thinking back real hard, it was the legend of the silver skeleton? That's all the memory I've got about it. Thus, I apologise as I have no idea what I might have said.
My intention would be to put these forth for people who haven't played or read them at all and are nigh brand new to DnD. If you've already played through these scenarios more than once, they aren't any fun at all.
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Post by Naelwyn on Mar 26, 2011 10:20:29 GMT -5
I'm going to draft up around 8 sample premade characters for use in the tutorial missions. If someone else wants to join in and make more, feel free. They should be single-classed, 32 point buy, and preferably below level 6.
Probably two of each kind of "role", and start off the game explaining the characters, what they do, and some ideas of party balance. Divine Casters: Cleric Druid Arcane Casters: Sorcerer Wizard Frontline Melee: Fighter Ranger Pure Damage: Rogue Barbarian
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Post by markuswolfe on Mar 28, 2011 15:36:17 GMT -5
Something I just have to ask for next years game.....Nygil mentioned that everyone would level up like they did this year, AND they would receive 'exp' for the purposes of paying exp costs or OTHER STUFF. Now I have to ask: If I pick up an animal somewhere and decide to keep it, can I burn this exp to advance this animals hitdice? Also, if I have an animal with tusks, can I put spikes on it's tusks to increase its gore damage? Furthermore, can I hit enemies with a reach weapon other than a lance if I'm on the back of a huge sized creature? What about a gargantuan one? And finally, what is the price on a trained woolly mammoth?
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