First things first. Player shuffle. Again.
We lost our sun elf wizard/fighter (ghosted us) and our human ranger (life got in the way).
By looking through Facebook groups the group gained a wild elf ranger. So we're down arcane magic (AGAIN) but there's still one open seat so I can be hopeful. I'll still be working on magic items to identify magic items, just in case.
We don't have our next scheduled game due to life and I've offered up my place for a painting session. I doubt anyone will take me up on it. But I made the offer.
The location thing isn't good. The craft brewery is too iffy because of the need to work around whatever paying events they have going on. Our secondary location at the local Hobbytown franchise is welcoming but also has events that can stop us from playing. On another note their gaming area is in the basement and the bathrooms are on the first floor. Not great for someone with arthritis.
I offered up my place for people who don't mind clutter and cats. Another player offered his place since he was turning his basement into a gaming area anyway. I'm going to lean towards that since it's a dedicated space. And if he can't play we wouldn't play anyway. Not that I don't want people here. It's just not an optimal space.
I already have the concept for how they all meet up. They're in a city that's NOT the Sword Coast and they've all be riding/guarding caravans that came into the city. Now they're at loose ends. They're all experienced gamers and will understand this is how they will form a group. Unless one of them decides to be "that player" and not go along with the rest. Hopefully the group will pull them into line so I don't have to do it.
I need to come up with plot hooks for what they can be doing as their first adventure together. I think I'll do a mix of urban and rural hooks to see what appeals. I also have to look up more on the area where I want them to be so I'm good with what I can get away with and keep to the setting.
The next/first game is early December. That's plenty of time for me to have my ducks in a row. I'm still not nearly 100% after the medical stuff, which is annoying. What isn't annoying is that I'm on short term disability which is giving me the time to fully heal. As I get better I can do more, but in increments. If I try to do too much I set myself back. My doctor seemed cool with giving me the time I need when last we met. I'm going to confirm that with the stack of paperwork his office needs to fill out.
If you have ideas for what their first adventures should be put them in the comments. I'm always interested in what other people have found to work. Or not.
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Saturday, November 9, 2019
Forgotten Realms Campaign - Up 2 Players to Full
Ding! Full table. That's a wonderful thing to say. And I'm very happy with both the players and the party composition. They chose these characters without asking that dreaded question - "What hole needs to be filled?" I dislike that. I much rather they play the characters they want than one they feel they have to play.
So we have:
Sun elf wizard/fighter
Human ranger
Shield(?) dwarf fighter
Strongheart halfling rogue
Half sun elf cleric
We did end up with the classic party composition and since there's five players we got a ranger, which is atypical but can be darn useful.
To my personal regret the cleric chose a LG deity. Some day I'd like to see them choose one that lets the player decide if they WANT to heal someone rather than feel that they're obligated to do so. To me that's a failure in how people have been pressured to play clerics. They're the first aid kit of the party. To have them decide not to heal would be a departure from the norm. But that's just me.
We were supposed to play the first game today. I had to cancel. The day after Session 0.a I went into the hospital unexpectedly and then have been dealing with that ever since. I'm not able to give them a good game, much less a good starting game. And then I found out one of the players couldn't make the next game either.
This time of year is difficult to get a group together. Holidays make scheduling complex. Some of us don't have many or any obligations. Others have obligations all over the place. I'll still try for the 'every two weeks' and see what happens. I was really hoping that since the second actual gaming session didn't happen the Saturday after Thanksgiving we'd get to play but alas, we don't. I offered up the dungeon crawl or board games if people do want to get together anyway. We'll see but I don't think they'll do it.
Another problem is location. The bar where we use the event room is dependent on them not having other events that day. Since those people pay for the time we lose out and that's fine. We have a secondary location which can also be unavailable because of events. So the location is always up in the air. I might have to suck it up, clean my place, and offer it. Space is a bit tight but I've done it before. And this way we have a regular location. It's about four miles from the original one which doesn't seem like a lot but I think one person mostly rides a bicycle. I'll ask. But first I'll clean.
I've been thinking about where and how to start the game. I think I'm going to have them start away from the ever popular Sword Coast since there's a lot of locations and it will be interesting to have them in ones that aren't so well known. My plan is to have them all be in the city because the caravans they were accompanying ended up there. That gives them a reason to be looking for work and a reason for the experience they have. They're only second level at this point.
I did take an idea from Twitter and asked them to make backup characters. I'm going to take those sheets and make their nemesis party. It's kind of mean but also I like having that happen. It will be interesting (to me) to see what they create and how I can use them to enrich the story. It's all well and good that they have their encounters. I wonder how long it will take for them to realize what I've done.
A bit of GM mechanics here. I needed to give them starting gold. I let them equip themselves (within reason) at no cost. To me they already bought all that stuff so there's no point in making them 'buy' it again. But the characters should have accumulated treasure appropriate to their level. The book says that should be about 2,000gp. I went low. I had a base of 1,000gp and rolled a d8 to see what their total treasure would be. That way it's not an 'across the board' amount. It's still plenty of money.
When someone started to complain I reminded them that the amount was more than most of the people they encounter in the game would ever have in their lives. That got them thinking and stopped complaining. Of course it's not a pile of gold pieces. I let them decide what format the amount would take. I'm not fussy about that one but it reminds me I need to give them access to a gem chart so they have an idea of what gems are common, what ones are rare, etc.
So we have:
Sun elf wizard/fighter
Human ranger
Shield(?) dwarf fighter
Strongheart halfling rogue
Half sun elf cleric
We did end up with the classic party composition and since there's five players we got a ranger, which is atypical but can be darn useful.
To my personal regret the cleric chose a LG deity. Some day I'd like to see them choose one that lets the player decide if they WANT to heal someone rather than feel that they're obligated to do so. To me that's a failure in how people have been pressured to play clerics. They're the first aid kit of the party. To have them decide not to heal would be a departure from the norm. But that's just me.
We were supposed to play the first game today. I had to cancel. The day after Session 0.a I went into the hospital unexpectedly and then have been dealing with that ever since. I'm not able to give them a good game, much less a good starting game. And then I found out one of the players couldn't make the next game either.
This time of year is difficult to get a group together. Holidays make scheduling complex. Some of us don't have many or any obligations. Others have obligations all over the place. I'll still try for the 'every two weeks' and see what happens. I was really hoping that since the second actual gaming session didn't happen the Saturday after Thanksgiving we'd get to play but alas, we don't. I offered up the dungeon crawl or board games if people do want to get together anyway. We'll see but I don't think they'll do it.
Another problem is location. The bar where we use the event room is dependent on them not having other events that day. Since those people pay for the time we lose out and that's fine. We have a secondary location which can also be unavailable because of events. So the location is always up in the air. I might have to suck it up, clean my place, and offer it. Space is a bit tight but I've done it before. And this way we have a regular location. It's about four miles from the original one which doesn't seem like a lot but I think one person mostly rides a bicycle. I'll ask. But first I'll clean.
I've been thinking about where and how to start the game. I think I'm going to have them start away from the ever popular Sword Coast since there's a lot of locations and it will be interesting to have them in ones that aren't so well known. My plan is to have them all be in the city because the caravans they were accompanying ended up there. That gives them a reason to be looking for work and a reason for the experience they have. They're only second level at this point.
I did take an idea from Twitter and asked them to make backup characters. I'm going to take those sheets and make their nemesis party. It's kind of mean but also I like having that happen. It will be interesting (to me) to see what they create and how I can use them to enrich the story. It's all well and good that they have their encounters. I wonder how long it will take for them to realize what I've done.
A bit of GM mechanics here. I needed to give them starting gold. I let them equip themselves (within reason) at no cost. To me they already bought all that stuff so there's no point in making them 'buy' it again. But the characters should have accumulated treasure appropriate to their level. The book says that should be about 2,000gp. I went low. I had a base of 1,000gp and rolled a d8 to see what their total treasure would be. That way it's not an 'across the board' amount. It's still plenty of money.
When someone started to complain I reminded them that the amount was more than most of the people they encounter in the game would ever have in their lives. That got them thinking and stopped complaining. Of course it's not a pile of gold pieces. I let them decide what format the amount would take. I'm not fussy about that one but it reminds me I need to give them access to a gem chart so they have an idea of what gems are common, what ones are rare, etc.
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