The Birth of a World - part 9
Well Aaron’s game is kaput.
We had a TPK, and rather than reboot the campaign, we’re just going to move on to the next game.
Since Dale is going to be gaming about once a month for the next 3 months, he obviously can’t DM his campaign.
So that puts me next on the block.
And I believe I have enough to get started on, and we won’t be playing this coming Friday so I’ll have an extra week to prep up.
I’m not 100% ready, especially with giving enough information out to the group, so I’ll be doing it through the blog.
First we’ll start with character creation.
Races allowed: All PHB races (EL +0). Also if an elf is playing a wizard, he can change the +2 dexterity modifier to +2 to intelligence instead.
Alignments allowed: good alignments only
Books allowed: PHB, PHB2, DMG, DMG2, Unearthed Arcana, Spell Compendium, Book of Exalted Deeds, Complete Warrior, Complete Divine, Complete Arcane, and Complete Adventurer (I probably even missed one). Not every single thing in the book is allowed, so before taking it, ask the DM.
Classes allowed: Most of them from the books with some restrictions due to alignment, “feel” of the class, complication of the class, and DM dislike of the class. The warlock class fits all four. The barbarian and druid are out as well.
Note: There are no gods in this campaign, so if you’re playing a cleric, pick 2 domains and don’t worry about a deity.
Suggested classes: Classes should cover the four “bases” (melee, divine, arcane, sneaky). The DM will attempt to work around any deficiencies as much as possible, but can only do so much.
Stat generation: Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest, in front of the DM for just one set.
If that is insufficient you choose from a 25 point-buy or place the following array into your stats: 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, and 15 and then add 1 to any one stat in the array.
Power level of the game (magic and otherwise): medium to start with, high towards the middle and end.
Starting level: A base of level 3, with modifiers based upon story.
Expected leveling frequency: I want to jump start the game, so probably once every session for the first few sessions, then about once every other session. This is more dependant upon the players than the DM.
Players, please be prepared to level your PC at any time.
Starting money and equipment: Unless the player is told otherwise, each PC has 2500gp with no more than 50% of starting funds being spent on any one item. Also, money does not need to be spent on your standard minor equipment. Don’t worry about having basic sacks, backpacks, lanterns, food, and the like. For most games I’ve played in, that tends to be a waste of time. Unless the DM says otherwise, it’s not going to be an issue (like crossing a desert).
Magic items and magic shops: If I do it right, the players will find many different magic items over their adventuring careers. But they may not find everything they want in their journeys, so they might to have to create or buy them. Healing potions can usually be found at a temple and their might be a wizard willing to sell you a scroll or two but don’t expect much, and expect prices to vary upon demand. There are very few stores out there that sell magic items, but there is the occasional store that specializes in selling one particular magic item (usually weapons and armor).
All but the most mysterious of magic items will not need to be Identified. It just speeds the game up.
Also, if you’re playing a wizard give the DM a list of spells you would like your wizard PC to add to his spellbook. This will aid the DM in when placing scrolls into treasure hordes.
Crafting magic items: This one won’t be popular; if you want to create a magic item you will have to have certain gems on hand. Most gems will not be rare, but those worth over 1000gp only make up 10% of the overall gems. And don’t worry players; many towns have a jeweler or two, and the cost of crafting the item is reduced by the cost of the gem – so the price is the same.
Also instead of XP coming solely from the crafting player(s), I might rake in some XP from the group over time, but I’m not sure on this one. I’ll get some player input before going any further.
Spells: Early on I wrote an essay about the power of spells being too high or used too often. And now I’m revisiting the issue for the final, or almost final, word.
Haste – It will still be level 4. Although level 4 is too high for the spell, level 3 is too low for it and it gets used too often, so it got bumped.
Slow – Because it is Haste’s evil twin, it gets bumped as well.
Enlarge Person and Reduce Person – I’m making no changes to these spells. The armor class drawback from Enlarge Person definitely makes up for the improved damage output.
Invisibility – This spell is not getting changed.
Keen Edge – This spell will affect blunt weapons just as well as edged ones. I know there’s a spell out there that does the same thing for blunt weapons, but it seems silly to have 2 spells for that.
Identify – No longer a needed spell.
Wind Walk – Add this sentence to its description “The DM will screw over any group who abuses this spell.”
Find the Path – Does not exist. That spell is broken and you know it.
Wish/Miracle/Limited Wish – This spell is only usable for the creation of magic items that require it. Rings of Wishes do not exist, but some creatures may grant powerful boons akin a wish.
Polymorph (and any other kind of shape shifting spell) – Will be strongly and harshly adjudicated. I know they supposedly fixed it in the PHB2, but I’d rather just toss it out. In fact, you will find very few shape-shifting creatures in the campaign.
Lawful and Chaotic based spells and abilities – They do not exist. While the alignments exist, only good and evil really matter.
Feats:
Power Attack is not getting touched as damage output does not scale as much as hit points as you level. But a warning to someone who uses it too often, I will be using options like disarm and Combat Expertise more often to reduce its effects. And let’s not forget the new and improved shield feats from the PHB2.
Flaws & Quirks: The Unearthed Arcana has some interesting character modifications that allow you to take a penalty in order to get an extra feat or two, or allows you to take a modification that gives you penalties and bonuses together. If the player can work this into the story, and isn’t too extreme, then it’s allowed.
Skills: The basic skills in the game will not be changed much, but given the way the world is and how I run games one skill is going to be heavily nerfed and another will be removed from the game.
Knowledge – Monsters, and any skill the gives you information about powerful monsters, will have the DCs raised. This is a world where fantastic monsters like beholders, dragons, and giants live only in legend, so most information from there will be limited.
Knowledge – History is out the window. I’m the kind of DM who likes to control the flow of plot information. If your PC knows something that happened a century ago it’s not because he spent some points in a skill.
Character Background: The player will supply what he wants and the DM will fill in the blanks and give optional bonuses and penalties based on the background (including flaws & quirks). This will continue until both the player and DM are satisfied.
Gold and treasure: For simplicity’s sake, I won’t be handing out piles of copper, silver, gold, platinum, or even electrum. I’ll simply be handing out an amount of gold. Gems will be defined, but jewelry/art I’ll just make up on the fly. The price of equipment and magic to a store is 50% plus any demand modifiers the DM adds. Jewelry and art objects will catch 75% with similar demand modifiers. And gems will have a much more supply and demand scale where the party will average 90% selling gems unless there is a glut of them then it is reduced. But if there is a demand for certain gems, then it could be much higher. Buying these items will face the same modifiers.
Note: For speed and simplicity’s sake, the “demand modifiers” for everything but gems will be plot-related.
Combat speed: Be ready for your action; otherwise you might drop a couple spots on the initiative stack. This DM will be keeping the heat on the players. You have 30 seconds to decide what your PC will be doing during his 6 seconds. Newer players will be cut some slack, spellcasters will not.
No, I will not be breathing down your necks while holding a stopwatch, but when you are one of 6 people plus the DM playing, it doesn’t take much to kill the flow of the game.
Travel: Traveling through the world will be the meat of the adventuring. A good chunk of the encounters will happen during treks to and from locations.
And as I’ve mention before one day of travel will move you one hexagon on “the world map”. Your group’s speed, skills, and other factors will modify the chance of random encounters (re-explained below).
The type of terrain you’re in will have an effect on the type of encounter you have and various factors will affect how the DM decides to implement the encounter.
There are eight types of terrain:
Plains – simple prairies, grasslands, and basic farmlands. It easy to move through and only 3 dice will be used for random encounters.
Hills – Standard non-flat terrain and sometimes a transition from flatlands to mountains. Hills tend to be inhabited by more wild individuals and are not easy to travel through, so 5 dice will be used for random encounters.
Mountains – Rocky, high-elevation terrain. These are dangerous and hard to travel through areas. Unless a pass through or under the mountain is used, horses will have no effect on the number of dice rolls. Also traveling over a mountain will require an increasing survival skill check by the PC leading the group. The DC of this check varies and the DM will let the PCs know the DC before traveling (starting at DC25). Traveling in a mountain hex uses 6 dice for random encounters. A failed survival check means no movement for the day.
Water – This includes all large bodies of water. The further away from shore, the more dice are used for random encounters.
Desert, Ice – These are the frozen wastelands of the world. Like mountains, a survival skill check must be made to move into an ice desert hex, but the check is the same for all, DC25. These lands are dangerous, but not heavily inhabited so only 4 dice will be used for random encounters.
Desert, Dry – These are your dry and scorched wastelands. Like mountains, traveling through a desert hex requires an increasing skill check, but the players will not know the difficulty until they try it. There also exists the potential for the group to get lost. Like its frozen counterpart, it is very dangerous but sparsely inhabited so only 4 dice are used for random encounters.
Forest – Your standard lands with dense-tree coverage. Many creatures survive in the forests so 5 dice are used for random encounters.
Quicker and more efficient travel affects the number of random dice used, as does slow and clumsy travel so the following modifiers apply:
Roads – Any clear and up kept road or path reduce the chances by 1 die.
Horses (and other beasts of burden) – If a horse is used in an area where they are not clumsy, a horse reduces the chances by 1 die.
High survival skill – Anyone in the group with 10 ranks in Survival automatically reduces the chance by 1 die.
Wild Lands – If a land has been overrun by monstrous creatures it is considered wild and the encounter chances increase by 2 dice. The PC’s actions and inactions may have cure or cause this condition.
River – Using a river as a means of travel decreases your chances of an encounter by 1 but doesn’t combine with horse, obviously.
No matter how many modifiers, there will never be less than 1 die rolled.
And this is how the random encounters work. The DM will have several potential encounters loosely planned out. Then for every day of travel the party has, the DM will roll the number of d12s worked out as shown above and the party will roll a single d12. If none of the DM’s dice match the players’ die, then no encounter for that day. If any of the DM’s dice match, then there is an encounter for that day (the exact time is determined by the DM). If multiple dice match, then the encounter will be +1 EL tougher for each match beyond the first.
Note: In the event that the creature(s) encountered has treasure, but is not carried with the creature, the party may have to do some searching to find the creature’s hoard, if it indeed has one. To prevent too much time being drained, the DM may occasionally hand-waive the act. This is one of those times where playability trumps believability.
Also, there will be a re-roll, using less dice, after the encounter is over to see if other monsters joined in on the fun.
To prevent nasty luck from ruining the campaign, the DM will freely fudge in any direction he so chooses.
Character Death: In Japanese RPGs resurrecting a character is pretty easy, just pay a scaled price and you’re good to go. And I like that, and I’m removing the level loss. Oh, you’ll still lose XP; you just won’t have to de-level your PC. That way you don’t lose power, but there is still a price to pay. All major cities will have someone who can raise a dead PC at a flat price of 5000gp and no diamond required. PCs casting a raising spell will still be required to supply a diamond of course.
Teleportation: There’s an ability that ruins a lot of DM fun, so I’m boosting and nerfing it. Teleportation is now error-free, but only works in a limited fashion. You can only travel to a teleportation “node”. Each major city will have one. To use the spell you simply cast it while drinking from the special town fountain (or similar place), all others who may want to travel with you will have to drink as well. From that point on, you can teleport back to that town’s fountain and bring those that qualify with you.
Experience Points – Each PC will gain XP at an individual rate based on his level. The DM will keep track of that. This allows those who are behind in levels to better catch up.
As said before, the DM will be raking a small amount aside for magic item creation.
If a player is going to miss the game, he has the option of having his character not be there, or to leave his character with the DM and allow someone else to play the PC. The XP the PC earns will be split three ways; 50% to the PC, 25% raked away to the magic item pool, 25% lost. This was done the same way in the WLD, but 50% of the XP was lost.
As always, I’m sure there’s more, but that’s all I can think of for now.
We had a TPK, and rather than reboot the campaign, we’re just going to move on to the next game.
Since Dale is going to be gaming about once a month for the next 3 months, he obviously can’t DM his campaign.
So that puts me next on the block.
And I believe I have enough to get started on, and we won’t be playing this coming Friday so I’ll have an extra week to prep up.
I’m not 100% ready, especially with giving enough information out to the group, so I’ll be doing it through the blog.
First we’ll start with character creation.
Races allowed: All PHB races (EL +0). Also if an elf is playing a wizard, he can change the +2 dexterity modifier to +2 to intelligence instead.
Alignments allowed: good alignments only
Books allowed: PHB, PHB2, DMG, DMG2, Unearthed Arcana, Spell Compendium, Book of Exalted Deeds, Complete Warrior, Complete Divine, Complete Arcane, and Complete Adventurer (I probably even missed one). Not every single thing in the book is allowed, so before taking it, ask the DM.
Classes allowed: Most of them from the books with some restrictions due to alignment, “feel” of the class, complication of the class, and DM dislike of the class. The warlock class fits all four. The barbarian and druid are out as well.
Note: There are no gods in this campaign, so if you’re playing a cleric, pick 2 domains and don’t worry about a deity.
Suggested classes: Classes should cover the four “bases” (melee, divine, arcane, sneaky). The DM will attempt to work around any deficiencies as much as possible, but can only do so much.
Stat generation: Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest, in front of the DM for just one set.
If that is insufficient you choose from a 25 point-buy or place the following array into your stats: 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, and 15 and then add 1 to any one stat in the array.
Power level of the game (magic and otherwise): medium to start with, high towards the middle and end.
Starting level: A base of level 3, with modifiers based upon story.
Expected leveling frequency: I want to jump start the game, so probably once every session for the first few sessions, then about once every other session. This is more dependant upon the players than the DM.
Players, please be prepared to level your PC at any time.
Starting money and equipment: Unless the player is told otherwise, each PC has 2500gp with no more than 50% of starting funds being spent on any one item. Also, money does not need to be spent on your standard minor equipment. Don’t worry about having basic sacks, backpacks, lanterns, food, and the like. For most games I’ve played in, that tends to be a waste of time. Unless the DM says otherwise, it’s not going to be an issue (like crossing a desert).
Magic items and magic shops: If I do it right, the players will find many different magic items over their adventuring careers. But they may not find everything they want in their journeys, so they might to have to create or buy them. Healing potions can usually be found at a temple and their might be a wizard willing to sell you a scroll or two but don’t expect much, and expect prices to vary upon demand. There are very few stores out there that sell magic items, but there is the occasional store that specializes in selling one particular magic item (usually weapons and armor).
All but the most mysterious of magic items will not need to be Identified. It just speeds the game up.
Also, if you’re playing a wizard give the DM a list of spells you would like your wizard PC to add to his spellbook. This will aid the DM in when placing scrolls into treasure hordes.
Crafting magic items: This one won’t be popular; if you want to create a magic item you will have to have certain gems on hand. Most gems will not be rare, but those worth over 1000gp only make up 10% of the overall gems. And don’t worry players; many towns have a jeweler or two, and the cost of crafting the item is reduced by the cost of the gem – so the price is the same.
Also instead of XP coming solely from the crafting player(s), I might rake in some XP from the group over time, but I’m not sure on this one. I’ll get some player input before going any further.
Spells: Early on I wrote an essay about the power of spells being too high or used too often. And now I’m revisiting the issue for the final, or almost final, word.
Haste – It will still be level 4. Although level 4 is too high for the spell, level 3 is too low for it and it gets used too often, so it got bumped.
Slow – Because it is Haste’s evil twin, it gets bumped as well.
Enlarge Person and Reduce Person – I’m making no changes to these spells. The armor class drawback from Enlarge Person definitely makes up for the improved damage output.
Invisibility – This spell is not getting changed.
Keen Edge – This spell will affect blunt weapons just as well as edged ones. I know there’s a spell out there that does the same thing for blunt weapons, but it seems silly to have 2 spells for that.
Identify – No longer a needed spell.
Wind Walk – Add this sentence to its description “The DM will screw over any group who abuses this spell.”
Find the Path – Does not exist. That spell is broken and you know it.
Wish/Miracle/Limited Wish – This spell is only usable for the creation of magic items that require it. Rings of Wishes do not exist, but some creatures may grant powerful boons akin a wish.
Polymorph (and any other kind of shape shifting spell) – Will be strongly and harshly adjudicated. I know they supposedly fixed it in the PHB2, but I’d rather just toss it out. In fact, you will find very few shape-shifting creatures in the campaign.
Lawful and Chaotic based spells and abilities – They do not exist. While the alignments exist, only good and evil really matter.
Feats:
Power Attack is not getting touched as damage output does not scale as much as hit points as you level. But a warning to someone who uses it too often, I will be using options like disarm and Combat Expertise more often to reduce its effects. And let’s not forget the new and improved shield feats from the PHB2.
Flaws & Quirks: The Unearthed Arcana has some interesting character modifications that allow you to take a penalty in order to get an extra feat or two, or allows you to take a modification that gives you penalties and bonuses together. If the player can work this into the story, and isn’t too extreme, then it’s allowed.
Skills: The basic skills in the game will not be changed much, but given the way the world is and how I run games one skill is going to be heavily nerfed and another will be removed from the game.
Knowledge – Monsters, and any skill the gives you information about powerful monsters, will have the DCs raised. This is a world where fantastic monsters like beholders, dragons, and giants live only in legend, so most information from there will be limited.
Knowledge – History is out the window. I’m the kind of DM who likes to control the flow of plot information. If your PC knows something that happened a century ago it’s not because he spent some points in a skill.
Character Background: The player will supply what he wants and the DM will fill in the blanks and give optional bonuses and penalties based on the background (including flaws & quirks). This will continue until both the player and DM are satisfied.
Gold and treasure: For simplicity’s sake, I won’t be handing out piles of copper, silver, gold, platinum, or even electrum. I’ll simply be handing out an amount of gold. Gems will be defined, but jewelry/art I’ll just make up on the fly. The price of equipment and magic to a store is 50% plus any demand modifiers the DM adds. Jewelry and art objects will catch 75% with similar demand modifiers. And gems will have a much more supply and demand scale where the party will average 90% selling gems unless there is a glut of them then it is reduced. But if there is a demand for certain gems, then it could be much higher. Buying these items will face the same modifiers.
Note: For speed and simplicity’s sake, the “demand modifiers” for everything but gems will be plot-related.
Combat speed: Be ready for your action; otherwise you might drop a couple spots on the initiative stack. This DM will be keeping the heat on the players. You have 30 seconds to decide what your PC will be doing during his 6 seconds. Newer players will be cut some slack, spellcasters will not.
No, I will not be breathing down your necks while holding a stopwatch, but when you are one of 6 people plus the DM playing, it doesn’t take much to kill the flow of the game.
Travel: Traveling through the world will be the meat of the adventuring. A good chunk of the encounters will happen during treks to and from locations.
And as I’ve mention before one day of travel will move you one hexagon on “the world map”. Your group’s speed, skills, and other factors will modify the chance of random encounters (re-explained below).
The type of terrain you’re in will have an effect on the type of encounter you have and various factors will affect how the DM decides to implement the encounter.
There are eight types of terrain:
Plains – simple prairies, grasslands, and basic farmlands. It easy to move through and only 3 dice will be used for random encounters.
Hills – Standard non-flat terrain and sometimes a transition from flatlands to mountains. Hills tend to be inhabited by more wild individuals and are not easy to travel through, so 5 dice will be used for random encounters.
Mountains – Rocky, high-elevation terrain. These are dangerous and hard to travel through areas. Unless a pass through or under the mountain is used, horses will have no effect on the number of dice rolls. Also traveling over a mountain will require an increasing survival skill check by the PC leading the group. The DC of this check varies and the DM will let the PCs know the DC before traveling (starting at DC25). Traveling in a mountain hex uses 6 dice for random encounters. A failed survival check means no movement for the day.
Water – This includes all large bodies of water. The further away from shore, the more dice are used for random encounters.
Desert, Ice – These are the frozen wastelands of the world. Like mountains, a survival skill check must be made to move into an ice desert hex, but the check is the same for all, DC25. These lands are dangerous, but not heavily inhabited so only 4 dice will be used for random encounters.
Desert, Dry – These are your dry and scorched wastelands. Like mountains, traveling through a desert hex requires an increasing skill check, but the players will not know the difficulty until they try it. There also exists the potential for the group to get lost. Like its frozen counterpart, it is very dangerous but sparsely inhabited so only 4 dice are used for random encounters.
Forest – Your standard lands with dense-tree coverage. Many creatures survive in the forests so 5 dice are used for random encounters.
Quicker and more efficient travel affects the number of random dice used, as does slow and clumsy travel so the following modifiers apply:
Roads – Any clear and up kept road or path reduce the chances by 1 die.
Horses (and other beasts of burden) – If a horse is used in an area where they are not clumsy, a horse reduces the chances by 1 die.
High survival skill – Anyone in the group with 10 ranks in Survival automatically reduces the chance by 1 die.
Wild Lands – If a land has been overrun by monstrous creatures it is considered wild and the encounter chances increase by 2 dice. The PC’s actions and inactions may have cure or cause this condition.
River – Using a river as a means of travel decreases your chances of an encounter by 1 but doesn’t combine with horse, obviously.
No matter how many modifiers, there will never be less than 1 die rolled.
And this is how the random encounters work. The DM will have several potential encounters loosely planned out. Then for every day of travel the party has, the DM will roll the number of d12s worked out as shown above and the party will roll a single d12. If none of the DM’s dice match the players’ die, then no encounter for that day. If any of the DM’s dice match, then there is an encounter for that day (the exact time is determined by the DM). If multiple dice match, then the encounter will be +1 EL tougher for each match beyond the first.
Note: In the event that the creature(s) encountered has treasure, but is not carried with the creature, the party may have to do some searching to find the creature’s hoard, if it indeed has one. To prevent too much time being drained, the DM may occasionally hand-waive the act. This is one of those times where playability trumps believability.
Also, there will be a re-roll, using less dice, after the encounter is over to see if other monsters joined in on the fun.
To prevent nasty luck from ruining the campaign, the DM will freely fudge in any direction he so chooses.
Character Death: In Japanese RPGs resurrecting a character is pretty easy, just pay a scaled price and you’re good to go. And I like that, and I’m removing the level loss. Oh, you’ll still lose XP; you just won’t have to de-level your PC. That way you don’t lose power, but there is still a price to pay. All major cities will have someone who can raise a dead PC at a flat price of 5000gp and no diamond required. PCs casting a raising spell will still be required to supply a diamond of course.
Teleportation: There’s an ability that ruins a lot of DM fun, so I’m boosting and nerfing it. Teleportation is now error-free, but only works in a limited fashion. You can only travel to a teleportation “node”. Each major city will have one. To use the spell you simply cast it while drinking from the special town fountain (or similar place), all others who may want to travel with you will have to drink as well. From that point on, you can teleport back to that town’s fountain and bring those that qualify with you.
Experience Points – Each PC will gain XP at an individual rate based on his level. The DM will keep track of that. This allows those who are behind in levels to better catch up.
As said before, the DM will be raking a small amount aside for magic item creation.
If a player is going to miss the game, he has the option of having his character not be there, or to leave his character with the DM and allow someone else to play the PC. The XP the PC earns will be split three ways; 50% to the PC, 25% raked away to the magic item pool, 25% lost. This was done the same way in the WLD, but 50% of the XP was lost.
As always, I’m sure there’s more, but that’s all I can think of for now.
posted by BlueBlackRed at 10:29 PM
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