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LIVE Pen and Paper Old School D&D... Any interest in playing?

T

TIG

I like GOOOOOLLLLD!
In another thread it was suggested that we could play a pen and paper RPG over mumble. I think this would be a cool idea. I'm pretty sure I could get the tools together for everyone to download and fill out on each respective end, but I haven't played since I was like 8. If this sounds like something you would like to participate in, then post here. We would also need someone to volunteer as GM for at least the first game since I have no idea how to do that part. After I see how its done I could take over.

To me it sounds like the logistics are pretty easy. Everyone who is playing can print out their own character sheets and roll up stats (I can find a way to provide these). We meet up on mumble and the GM takes us on an adventure. In the future if I end up learning to be a GM I could set up a map with miniatures that I have painted, or will paint and put it on video for a podcast or live stream or just our enjoyment.

What I need to know to get this started:
Do you want to play?
Do you want to be GM or a Player?
Which game and/or rule set do you want to play under?
What day/time is best? (I'm thinking Saturday evening to be able to catch the most people)
What things have I missed?
 
1. YES, I would love to play!
2. Player
3. I'm flexible, and inexperienced with this type of gaming, so anything goes!
4. Right now I am working a lot, but under normal conditions I have Fridays/Saturdays off. Would it be a weekly thing? Or are you thinking a few times a month?
5. Nothing I can add here.
 
1. Yes
2. Player
3.Pretty inexperienced with pen and paper. Might I suggest Corvus Rex and Diremongoose for their input on rulesets to start with?
4. You know how my schedule is fellow vampire of Alttabme, but I can usually be around in the evenings before work.
5. Turtles...that is all.
 
do you work Saturdays? I was really thinking Saturday evening since that would allow for Sunday morning for Aussies.
 
ThatOneGuy said:
do you work Saturdays? I was really thinking Saturday evening since that would allow for Sunday morning for Aussies.
Click to expand...

I work a retarded 4 on 2 off schedule so my days off rotate. Every 5 or 6 work weeks I have a saturday or two off.
 
1. I thought you'd never ask. <3

2. Either. Not sure how much time I have to DM, but that depends on the next question...

3. I'm most familiar with D&D 3.5e. This is good to start with, since most of it is available for free online. We should also consider Pathfinder, which is an altered and expanded version of 3.5 (and also free) that's being developed by Paizo now that Wizards of the Coast has abandoned 3.5 in favor of 4e and now "Next" (still in open beta). D&D 4e is another option, which favors streamlined tactical combat over some of the more flavorful elements. It's more balanced in that most classes have roughly equivalent capabilities with the downside that they feel pretty samey, and you also have to buy the books or "acquire" the PDFs. I've typed up some in-depth information for other forums and can help teach anyone who's interested.

I've also put together a simplified system that combines what I think are the best aspects of 3.5, 4, Pathfinder, and some popular house rules like E6. Basic rundown: only six highly modular classes with no innate spellcasting capability. Level cap of 6 instead of 20. You get magic by equipping items and building customized spell lists from suites of thematically similar spells. Everything is on Google Docs. If we want to do this, I will have to run it, but otherwise it's easy to understand and ready to go.

Yet another option: a more "d20-inspired" system I'm making if you don't mind being guinea pigs. Instead of using classes, it's more like an Elder Scrolls game where you build a character by deciding what skills you're good at: Fire Magic, Axes, Light Armor, that sort of thing. Of course, if we pick this, I'll have to, you know, finish it.

4. Whenever.

5. Unless we're doing pure RP or some 1st or 2nd edition goodness (good ol' THAC0), we're going to need a grid. I strongly recommend MapTool for this; it's free, easy to set up, and has a lot of useful features.
 
1. Fuck yeah.
2. Player (generally a healer/support archetype, but wouldn't mind passing on that role for something else)
3. Last time I played was 3.5 DnD, but I'd be open to any gamestyle that is free, preferably medieval styled fantasy (not a fan of space/futuristic).
4. With current unemployment,I am literally available at all times.
5. I would prefer a weekly campaign, that way we can keep active. I would also highly suggest we wedbcam for this as well, as we can read MUCH more off of body language as well as verbal. This also helps with if the DM wants to use any visual aids... Or we can use someform of online drawing program if one knows of such online free applications.


Edit : I call dibs. I'm playing. Now just decide on what style of campaign you want to play so I can start researching and character building.

Also... Death. We should play with some form of perma death. That way we can A. really try in battles and make them have meaning, B. Bring in and filter out characters/players, and C. bring out in-depth storylines after epic encounters.

Or, we can make it more casual so meta-gaming won't be a primary concern. Or find something in the middle. But I love meta-gaming. And I know Tig will as well. Nothing worse than too casual of a game for people that want hardcore, and vice versa. But of course, it'd be up to the DM to find a pace that works just right.

Also, time frames of playing? I mean, do we want 1 hour sessions? 5 hour long epic sessions? Play until we get tired/finish current content? Again something the DM will want to frame out.

And make sure that we have a chat function available so that those that aren't super involved in current actions (such as say, one person communicating privately with a shopkeeper) can continue talking and keep themselves involved. It makes things more immersive when someone isn't talking heavily OoC about their conversations right next to the two that are trying to move their interactions along. Plus we're not just listening to those two have a conversation when, in reality, our characters may be no where near them. Makes things fun. Can also incorporate some "eavesdropping" role playing to have some form of private communications.... oh man, voice chatting with separate rooms in mumble... That way we're forced to not listen, but can have "listening" checks and not allowed to enter the room unless meeting the requirement.... /nerdgasm
 
Ooh, have wanted to try D&D for a while but never had people to play it with.

1. Probably :D
2. Player. Maybe eventually a DM once I get wth is going on. But yeh, player.
3. I'm only partially familiar with 4E and from what I've read it's kind of dumbed down from 3.5 which would be good for newbies but not as interesting. I'm not particular to either though.
4. Later evening/night any day or earlier morning weekdays are preferable for me.
 
As far as permadeath is concerned... I like using the Death Flag. Characters get six action points to reroll misses or take extra actions. But if they're about to do something epic, they can raise their Death Flag, which means they get six additional action points but can now die (which at low levels is permanent). Otherwise, they stabilize one hit point above death. This allows new players to take risks comfortably, but more experienced players can be as hardcore as they like. Specifics are here.
 
Red Omen said:
As far as permadeath is concerned... I like using the Death Flag. Characters get six action points to reroll misses or take extra actions. But if they're about to do something epic, they can raise their Death Flag, which means they get six additional action points but can now die (which at low levels is permanent). Otherwise, they stabilize one hit point above death. This allows new players to take risks comfortably, but more experienced players can be as hardcore as they like. Specifics are here.
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Those are some FANTASTIC home rules. I like the conviction thought process. Allows some breathing room as there is never the fear of "omg if I roll this d20 and get a 1, I die forever and lost all that time" safety net for those that need it. Good concept, but intrigued on how I'd utilize it myself.
 
OK looks like we ARE going to do this. Lets leave this post up for figuring out who wants to play and more of the details of the first campaign.

On Monday the 1st I will put up a signup sheet and "what you need to know and do" post. We will have the first session on Saturday the 6th.

IF ANYONE HAS A SERIOUS PROBLEM WITH SATURDAY THE 6TH AT 5PM EST PLEASE POST SO WE CAN TWEAK THE TIME AND DATE.

I would like to set it up at 5pm on Saturdays every other week. 2hr sessions max. That should give people time to come in and play and it won't take up every weekend.

I would also like to use mumble, tiny chat, and the site's PM system. I figure if people have the site open to see PM's it will work well for secret communication. Tiny chat for better communication and mumble so anyone can listen in and moving for private conversations. I hope to be able to record the thing so everyone can watch it later.

For the first campaign (however long that takes) I think we should have Red Omen run as DM and use the 3.5 rules he linked. Reason being is its easier to get into for all the beginners starting and we can get the stuff for free to get up and running. After the first campaign we can decide if we want/need to go to a different rule set or change things up.

As for classes I say this first one will be free for all and if we run all healers so be it. I want this one to be a fun intro game instead of a hardcore meta game. If it turns into a huge mess all the better. By the way I am kinda feeling a sneaky slimy thief douche-bag type of character. The kind of guy who is out for his own interests.

I also like the death house rules Red Omen put up and it sounds like he has a lot of expertise in this so I'll work closely with him to get it set up well.

BTW Red, how many people would be a good group size, and what would be the max? If we have more than we can put into one group we can work out ways to switch out people on different sessions, or something.
 
Make sure to record it on mumble for us to listen to later :) That will be cool!
(yes I know you wrote it just re-stating my interest in hearing it)

Second when you make the sign ups use The War briefing section :)
 
I will post in the war for the signups and "how to" post. I have fraps and sony vegas 12, so I am hoping to be able to get both mumble and tinychat. I will put info in the "how to" post on how to record private conversations if people move channels during the game. If they want the convo added in.

Kinda surprised you don't want in on this Tristan.
 
Sounds so awesome T1G, but I may have to wait until the second campaign. I didn't think this would come together so quickly... that is awesome. Unfortunately I have to work every Saturday in April... so I'm out until at least May. I will be watching the thread and any podcasts that you guys create.
 
I have fraps as well and can stream/ record in whatever capacity we need to. So we are using Pathfinder? Too bad my hard drives on my old computer took a dump. I had gone through and made a character when I thought Corvus and a few of our friends were going to get a game started.
 
D&D? HELL YEAH!
I've been interested in it ever since I saw the Dexter's Laboratory episode as a kid but never had the chance to play it (I had nobody to play it with).
http://embed.trilulilu.ro/video-animatie/dexter-s-laboratory-d-dd

1. Yes
2. Player. Paladin to be precise as I always played as the healer/dps type as far as I can remember.
3. No idea about the rule set, I've never played D&D before.
4. Friday or Saturday for me, but I've got no school for 2 weeks so any day is alright right now.
5. Dinosaurs. http://i.imgur.com/xkvwS.png

Saturday the 6th is alright by me, 5PM EST is too.


ThatOneGuy said:
I would also like to use mumble, tiny chat, and the site's PM system. I figure if people have the site open to see PM's it will work well for secret communication. Tiny chat for better communication and mumble so anyone can listen in and moving for private conversations. I hope to be able to record the thing so everyone can watch it later.
Click to expand...

May I suggest a Google Hangout instead of tiny chat for videochatting? It focuses on who's talking and also includes a small chat box.
And since you're using Google's stuff it's also easy to just hold a private conversation.

As for recording I'd use XSplit for recording, it makes everything a lot easier and is really easy to use.


And I'm also surprised that you're not going to play Tristan :/
 
The only thing I would like to point out is the 2 hours max. Is that a hard cap on your time frame or to not over-extend the intro of the campaign? I mean I know I'd be game for a longer session :p
 
1. Yes, in principle
2. GM. I just can take playing high fantasy RPGs seriously anymore. If I were to be a player, expect self parodying characters.
3. Not D&D. I much prefer skill-based systems over level-based ones.
4. I can't do the first weekend of every month (I play WoD at the Uni).

5. As a veteran of online play, you will find some issues arise...

-You need text and speech, whether it be for distinguishing IC and OOC or note passing. Mediums such as custom google hangouts or OpenRPG's Traipse may work better - even steam. Mumble doesn't do online dice rolling does it?

-Minis/strategic combat is VERY fiddly in an online setting. Want to determine if that 5ft step puts you in melee range or that 20ft burst will hit 2 or 3 gnolls? Hope that map is accurate.

-Combat takes 2-3 times as long as in-person games. All that rules fiddling and logistics takes forever when players can't be nudged physically and say "Oi! It's your initiative!". Because D&D is so reliant on combat it is a bad choice of game for this and other reasons above.

-Pacing. The pacing of an online-realtime game is much slower, less will get done and combat will take at least one session. Because everyone is in their own homes, everyone is prone to their own lives distracting them (taking out trash, comforting a child, being asked to clean a room for example. Spouses may often assign a lower priority to your game than an 'in-person' game.


Now, I don't mean to be negative, I really don't. I play in weekly online game that mostly works (www.randommonkey.com/mage), but you need to consider these issues now and think about how to overcome them before you start. I'd be happy to offers advice when I can (it's fieldwork season for me).
 
2 hours is fine by me, but I suspect it might take a bit longer if we're aiming for 2 hours. Nubs need lessons y'know.
 
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