OOC

[reefwood]

Apr 9, 2012 14:10:21 GMT -5 silanariel said:

Are we playing today?

Today? No, this will be a monthly thing for me, not a weekly thing. Of course, if anyone wants to run stuff in between my monthly games, I would be happy to play

Or if people want to play other daytime games on non-D&D weeks, I'd be up for that too.

[reefwood]

Scheduling - Game #2

I'm tempted to set up a game for the week after next, but I haven't even settled on an idea yet, so let's go with the first week of May. icnivad may not be able to make it, so this will be another 2-player game, but it will be easy enough to add a 3rd player if he (or someone else) is available). Which of these days might work and what would be earliest you can start or need to end?:

Mon, April 30
Tue, May 1 (start at 4pm)
Wed, May 2
Thu, May 3 (end by 7pm but flexible)
Fri, May 4

Also, feel free to let me know if there are any particular game elements you'd like to see or avoid or classes you'd like to play. One idea that came up yesterday is an Ultimate Ninja cooperative competition obstacle course where a team of ninjas faces off against monsters, puzzles, traps, and other teams...but this seems like it will work better (and awesomer!) at a higher level, so it'll be a few sessions down the road.

---

Format

Here are some more detailed thought about the daytime format and campaign rules. Let me know what you think.

• Character Creation: I may continue to provide an NPC class option, and at higher levels, there may also be a PC/NPC class hybrid option (i.e. PC 4 or NPC 6 or PC 2/NPC 3). A PC build may multiclass using any PC or NPC classes (i.e. PC 4 = Ftr4 or Ftr3/Aris1). An NPC build may multiclass using any NPC classes (NPC 6 = Aris 6 or Aris2/Exp4). A hybrid build may multiclass using any PC or NPC classes as long as the PC class limit is kept (PC 2/NPC 3 = Ftr2/Aris1/Exp2 or Ftr2/Exp3 or Ftr1/Exp4).
  
  Players may use the same character across multiple games. This carry-over may include rolled stats or concept or both but not equipment directly. Although, equipment from a previous game may be bought with new starting wealth, if affordable. Also, you may reroll all ability scores or all hit points. You cannot reroll only one ability score, but if you used the pregenerated ability scores, you can switch those around since those are a set pool.
  
  How do players feel about getting together for a short character creation session about week before a game? On one hand, this kind of effort may not be necessary for one-shot characters, but on the other hand, it can be fun to make characters together, and most of these games will require PCs to know each other ahead of time. This would not be mandatory, but if some or all players want to do this, I would be up for it. And since half the group is on the north side of town, we could do this at a house (or coffeeshop, bar, etc.) up there. Maybe for an hour or two
  
  
• Sources: We will stick to the Core Rulebook for another session or two and slowly open up parts of the Advanced Player's Guide. Maybe even the Bestiary for new PC races too.
  
  
• Length: 6-7 hours felt like a good length of time, and I will do a better job next time of keeping things on schedule and ending on time.
  
  
• Break: I liked taking a brain/food break and doing it in the 4th hour seemed to work well. Also, this time is good to use for leveling up (if needed). I think the length of break will depend on how far we get along in the game. Maybe the aim will be 60-min, but it will probably more often be closer to 30-min, and maybe less during some sessions. On the flipside, if we do have 60-min but everyone is ready before the time is up, we can start the second half early.
  
  
• Level-Up: I don't know if every game will have a level-up option or if there will be a consistent method or critera to handle it, and I am also thinking of providing an alternative option if you don't want to bother leveling up.
  
  The default level-up method could be to level-up during the break regardless of progress. Otherwise, it could happen before or after the break, and therefore, require an additional break. Also, this default method would allow me to include notably more difficult challenges in the second half of the game since I know for sure the PCs will tougher by that point.
  
  Another way to level-up would be based on progress. The fast track XP progression might do the trick, but I'm not sure if I feel like dealing with this additional amount of prep work for one-shots, but I may dole out monster XP next time just to see how that adds up. A simpler method would be to level-up if all (or a certain number of) challenges are successfully completed before the break. Whatever way the progress is tracked, since the level-up is not guaranteed, the difficulty in the first and second halves would both be based on your starting level.
  
  One other idea is to guarantee level-up at break but what immediately kicks in will be based on progress. This could be a 2 or 3 tiered system and work a number of different ways. The easiest example is hit points: if you did well in the first half, your total and current hit points go up (10/10 --> 18/18), but if you didn't complete everything, only your total hit points go up, and you have to make the effort to fill up the new current hit points (10/10 --> 10/18). Another one could be spells: you obviously get new spells or slots when you level-up, but in my games you can't access them until you rest, but maybe if you do awesome in the first half, the new ones will kick in right away with rest.
  
  An alternative for those that can level-up but don't want to could be some sort of "awesome points" to be used in place of rolling. You get X amount of points (half your level?) that can be used in place of a roll to gain an automatic success or the highest roll possible. In the default level-up method, X will be a set number, but if level-up is based on progress, the amount of "awesome points" will depend on challenges succeeded. "Awesome points" might also be a good way to provide a reward if the group doesn't level-up in time for the break but to still give PCs an extra boost for the second half. Also, the Advanced Player's Guide has a Hero Point system that might work too.

[michael]

I don't think I can do that Monday. My preference would be Wednesday, but I can do Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday as well.

[reefwood]

Re: Scheduling - Game #2

Apr 11, 2012 19:48:43 GMT -5 michael said:

I don't think I can do that Monday. My preference would be Wednesday, but I can do Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday as well.

I'm still waiting to hear back from sil...she might be out of town right now...but will post an update as soon I do.

[reefwood]

Re: Scheduling - Game #2

Apr 15, 2012 21:22:32 GMT -5 reefwood said:

Apr 11, 2012 19:48:43 GMT -5 michael said:

I don't think I can do that Monday. My preference would be Wednesday, but I can do Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday as well.

I'm still waiting to hear back from sil...she might be out of town right now...but will post an update as soon I do.

Wednesday, May 2nd is set for playing Game #2. I will post details later this week.

[silanariel]

So, who all is playing this game? There was mention about a character building session. Is that this? Is this the full on game?

[reefwood]

Apr 29, 2012 22:08:17 GMT -5 silanariel said:

So, who all is playing this game? There was mention about a character building session. Is that this? Is this the full on game?

This is the full-on game, and there will be two players (you and michael) again. I didn't know if there was any interest in a character building session, and I didn't have much extra time this month, but we could probably do one for the next game if players want.

[reefwood]

Hiatus

Looks like the daytime gaming experiment has come to an end. At least for now. I may give it another go after the summer and will send everyone a message when/if I do.

Thanks again for giving it a shot!

[reefwood]

Ultimate Ninja

Thinking of running a one-shot in late October or anytime November. A weekday afternoon would be ideal, but depending on who is interested, a Saturday afternoon is probably doable since I might drop my regular Saturday cab shift this fall.

Looking for 3-4 players who want to create ninjas that will compete in an obstacle course of sorts. The PCs will also compete against themselves, as there can only be one Ultimate Ninja, but it could be useful to cooperate during certain stages of the game too. If there are 3 players, each PC will be on their own. If there are 4 players, there might be randomly chosen teams of 2. If a PC dies early on, there may be NPCs to play, or a player might be able to help run parts of the course. Development of this game is still in the early stages (i.e. mostly in my head).

What is a ninja?

www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Ninja

[Rabbit]

Ha, thanks for posting that link. I always get ninjas and coat racks mixed up ; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Coatrack

This sounds fun and I don't think I can commit to running or playing anything is more than a session or two. I still can't play anything until around 6pm on weekdays though so I might not be able to make this one.

[reefwood]

Sept 17, 2012 13:11:53 GMT -5 Rabbit said:

Ha, thanks for posting that link. I always get ninjas and coat racks mixed up ; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Coatrack

Coatracks sure can be sneaky and dangerous. I don't even want to guess how many eyes have been unsuspectingly poked by them

Sept 17, 2012 13:11:53 GMT -5 Rabbit said:

This sounds fun and I don't think I can commit to running or playing anything is more than a session or two. I still can't play anything until around 6pm on weekdays though so I might not be able to make this one.

If you want to play, I can run it after 6pm on a weekday or maybe a Saturday afternoon. This one-shot will just take one session. It's the kind of game where there will be different "levels" and depending on how long they wind up taking, it will be easy enough to cut out a few if needed.