Sent from Gaming to Writing. Anyone up for D&D?

[Suyoi]

Hey all! Suyoi here. This is a blanket post, trying to get a handle on the thoughts of running a game of Dungeons and Dragons for old and new players. I would like this to be very community driven, and all input and opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Some of the aspects of the game which the players could choose would be:

Theme: The overall game-mechanic and tone of play.

• ​High Fantasy - Lots of magic and monsters. Magical loot is available for those with the skill to take it. Many races to choose from and play with. More like a classic novel than our own medieval period. Fanciful communities, fairies and high-powered explosions, lots of flash and bang!
  
• Low Fantasy - Little or no magic, swords and bows, courtly intrigue, 'roughing it.' Only a handful of usable races, mostly human dominated world. Think Lord of the Rings without any mages, elves, or dwarves but with and all the goblins, uruks and trolls. Consider it like our own medieval period where the bumps in the night are far more real. Blood, sweat, and disease for everyone! Survival becomes more precious than gold.
  
• Middle Fantasy - A good mix of both aspects. Magic is treasured but not completely unavailable. The standard D&D style campaign as portrayed in the Forgotten Realms novels. Probably the best mix of both aspects.
  

Style: The way in which the game will be played and run.

• Table-top Style - Everyone gets together and plays out their characters, reactions and gets their piece of the action in the game. Everyone playing one large game, where the table limit is not set. Slightly longer wait times for players to go around just by default. Story and plot run relatively fast.
  
• Troupe Style - Groups of 4 to 9 players get together at the same time to play. Sometimes, crossovers can occur between games and might even be a source for rivalry or cooperation necessary to complete the goal. Gives more attention to each player, less wait times, more play.
  
• Bourbon-Street Style - A Simultaneous Troupe Style game where both games run at the same time. A style where each player takes the lead as storyteller and runs short scenes for their group, more roleplay focused games. Complicated but doable. Gives players a lot of attention, but slows down the story and plot.
  

Motif: This is simply the tone of game you would want to play; think genre: Mystery, Thriller, Avenging Heroic Romance? No problem! Noir meets Dragonhunter? Totally doable! Gothic, Ethereal, got another idea? It can be done!

Setting: Where in the whole universe of possibilities the game world takes place. Most likely a quaint small village with budding adventurers, a large metropolitan city with powerful families and well-armed knights, thieves and every shade of character, but anything is possible. The setting would be dictated mostly by the other aspects. Hard to do a Low Fantasy game on a Cloud Kingdom surrounded by flying centaurs. But, not impossible.

Also, I would like to gauge HOW the game should be played. I am willing to try any program the community wants to use, within computer limit. I have experience with play-by-post, where players simply post actions, though this method is EXTREMELY slow and tedious to continue to refresh. Chat would work great and I hear some people have experience with Roll20, a skype-style playing system, and any general knowledge, tips and the like (computer help) would be greatly appreciated.

These are all simply a way to reach out and grab players attention. I will edit this post to accommodate questions, concerns, comments, and violent outbursts as needed. Feel free to PM me with questions and reply here to let me know you're interested and what you'd want to see and play!

As a caveat, the game would most likely begin after the start of the New Year.

Thank you so much!

~Joshie

[Felicity]

inb4 Huks wall of text

Yeah, there are several DnD people here. To my knowledge someone tried booting upa DnD sessiona while ao, dunno if it still happens or naw

[Pyon Pyon Kyuu!~]

I mean yeah I'm always up for DND. However if you are up for play by post be aware that Reborn forums at the moment don't have any built in dice mechanics making rolling very hard. If you want to run it online, people's schedules will make for an even bigger problem. If you can solve either of these problems, I'm up for it. I'm an experienced 5e player, and I've played a tiny bit of 4e and 3.5. Just make it interesting and I'll be there.

[Sutoratosu]

I mean yeah I'm always up for DND. However if you are up for play by post be aware that Reborn forums at the moment don't have any built in dice mechanics making rolling very hard. If you want to run it online, people's schedules will make for an even bigger problem. If you can solve either of these problems, I'm up for it. I'm an experienced 5e player, and I've played a tiny bit of 4e and 3.5. Just make it interesting and I'll be there.

Two very valid points here. He's right, Reborn has no dice feature, and chances are, it likely won't ever... and people's time zones and varying schedules is definitely a considerable beast to contest with- ask anyone who has spent enough time roleplaying. We can tell it to ya straight how complicated and virtually unrealistic it can be to try to actively coordinate things that require people all being online simultaneously.

Now, that said though, it's not impossible... you could probably try to get something set up on showdown, like you buy a private room for this and set things up on your end, post a sign up...somewhere, I don't really know which sub forum would be most appropriate ((Probably gaming central though again, I could be wrong)) and have people log onto the server and report to your particular room when it's time to start... hell, you could even run it like Rose does with the whole Game Night thing on the server and have a chat thread of sorts where you set days to meet up and everything.

then's there also skype like you mentioned... but I know next to nothing about skype since I've never used it.

another solution is to try to turn it into a full fledged forum RP... though making one takes quite a bit of work and is by no means easy, so... not something to look at unless you're willing to buckle down and put some serious time and energy behind it. and keep up that time and energy even after if it gets off the ground. Now, mind you, I'm not trying to kill dreams on this front or anyone, I'm just telling you how it really is and what type of personal effort it takes, so that there won't be any surprise if you decide to try that route. This way however, you could, theoretically, take care of all the dice rolls that are needed yourself off site or something... and the issue of coordinating schedules would be mute since folks would be able to just post whenever they have time to.

Those are really the only ways I can think of this ever working here, either via a series of showdown sessions/ skyping or the roleplaying forums... which, while I'd usually offer a hand or two to help new hosts, I'm wouldn't be much help to you given... I know jack shit about the subject of DnD and my brain probably isn't wired the correct way to understand any of it even if I tried to...

Like dobbs said already though, chances are that Hukuna will swoop in here and drop a massive text wall for you, so...yeah. these have just been my thoughts on how it could be potentially structured and executed given what resources and capabilities you have available via the site. I'm basically just spitballing.

Yeah, there are several DnD people here. To my knowledge someone tried booting upa DnD sessiona while ao, dunno if it still happens or naw

Yeah, I recall that as well. I'm almost certain that it just ended up fading into the background before it ever was able to get off the ground though... I never really heard or saw anything come out of it.

[Code: PIRULUK]

I'd love to play! \o/

...Except I don't have a microphone. So I can only play-by-text.

I do like Stratos' suggestion of using a private Showdown room though.

Well, count me in if you can get something set up. I've never played D&D before, it should be an interesting experience.

[Rosesong]

As I told you last night Joshie, I'll assist in any way possible, though honestly I know next to nothing about D&D. We need Kuna to give a crash course in using roll20.net

[Suyoi]

Stratos, I appreciate all the information! It is really good to see some background of what happened earlier. I used to run a play-by-post game on a forum before, back in 2006. I kind of also like the idea of using an available Showdown chat room. My idea would be to try and set up a time frame, once or maybe twice a month at most, to sit down and play as a group, utilizing whichever method would be best suited at the time. This would be similar to the Gaming Nights that Rose has been doing. So, if we have people, like Piruluk, who doesn't have a mic, we could still use another method. I think some Skype rooms have a chat available for people who don't have mics to still participate if we use this avenue. Again, as I await for my wall of text, I am flying by the seat of my pants, so to speak, with the different programs for a table-top feel. I always enjoy seeing the reactions, even just by text, of the players as events unfold around them. It is what makes running the game fun for me.

I would also utilize a play-by-post system similar to the Roleplaying threads, maybe? This would allow different time-zones to get in the game and still participate in various events, stories and plot lines. The thread would be used as well as a 'down-time' system between off-game weeks. Not necessarily like a 'players' journal' but adventurers, for example, spend a lot of time on treks though various portions of their journeys and creative commentary between players would be good. One of the downsides to play-by-post only games is when the action is stagnant; where people would be stuck in an event if characters drop out, for example. While, not a problem per say, it can cause a little bit of a hiccup with scenes, character development and plot lines

On a game mechanic level, I'd award XP for all sorts of relevant posts, plot advancement, character development just like in good ol'fashioned table-top D&D. We would use the chat room or Skype as a period where more combat-oriented action would take place, since combat is the most time-consuming event in D&D ever. This way, the action would still feel faster pace than random posting and hoping people can keep up with actions within people's threads. I don't foresee player character versus player character incidents, and would probably discourage out-right altercations between player characters, but jumping in a chat between major game sessions wouldn't be too bad.

My biggest worry is the game structure. I would like to use one game universe in which all the players exist. I have ran enough games both on-line and in person to manipulate events to keep the pace flowing and mood appropriate. (I even ran a one-on-one with my best friend where it was a multi-pronged many-character alliance trying to take down the 'big bad.' Confusing, but still a memorable experience.) I have not, however, ran a duo-styled game like this and the experience of mashing the two mediums is going to be... different. Daunting, yes. But all games have their unique challenges. I always appreciate a good challenge.

[Suyoi]

Decided to go ahead and plug this into the official Roleplaying subgroup! Go ahead and give it a look over!

Much appreciated,

~Joshie