Christopher Alfeld's page

I'm starting a 4th ed campaign this September in Madison WI. Two members of our group are moving out of town this Summer and I need new players. I have been a dedicated DM for almost 20 years now. We have a strong emphasis on combat and the tactical side of D&D but also strongly value character development and role playing. We meet once a week on either Saturday or Sunday for about 6 hours. Older players (24+) are greatly preferred. No previous experience required.

Please e-mail calfeld@calfeld.net if interested.

Thanks,
c.

Hi,

My players are a little bit behind in XP and treasure. They've just finished Champions Belt. I want to add a short adventure before AGoW; perhaps Eligos has been killed and his remains stolen and Celeste wants them to rescue the remains...

In any case, any recommendations for short adventures of an appropriate level to insert here?

Thanks,
c.

I haven't had much trouble but I introduced a new metarule with the latest campaign: If you cheat and I catch you, I talk to you privately. If you cheat again, you are out of the group, no exceptions or appeals.

I don't know if anyone is was cheating before but I'm fairly certain no one is cheating now.

It's a tough situation.

For dealing with deaths I use an XP debt system. When a character dies the incur a debt of 500*level. Until their debt is paid off, 50% of the XP they receive goes towards repaying the debt. So no one ever looses any abilities, they just slow down a bit.

Although it's never come up, if they ever die with a larger debt than current XP they can not be resurrected.

Haven't had to deal with permanent level drain yet. Would probably do it similarly, i.e., incur a debt and keep the negative level effects until you pay off the debt.

Here's our schedule. Each session is 4-8 hours with 5 being typical. I suppose we are going quite slowly but stuff keeps happening and everyone is having fun. I try to aim at two year campaigns. Our next session will probably be an intermission/very beginning of HoHR/leveling. I have five experienced players who have played with me for several years.

• 1 (8/20/06) - Character Creation
• 2 (9/3/06) - The Whispering Cairn
• 3 (9/10/06)- The Whispering Cairn
• 4 (9/24/06) - The Whispering Cairn
• 5 (10/1/06) - The Whispering Cairn
• 6 (10/8/06) - The Three Faces of Evil
• 7 (10/15/06) - The Three Faces of Evil
• 8 (11/5/06) - The Three Faces of Evil
• 9 (11/12/06) - The Three Faces of Evil
• 10 (11/19/06) - The Three Faces of Evil
• 11 (11/26/06) - The Three Faces of Evil
• 12 (12/3/06) - Intermission
• 13 (1/14/06) - Encounter at Blackwall Keep
• 14 (1/21/06) - Encounter at Blackwall Keep
• 15 (2/11/06) - Encounter at Blackwall Keep

I let them leave. At one point they left for over a week. When they came back there were suitable reinforcements and preparations. The place is already well defended and designed to repell invasions. A little more prep or some reinforcements is not a big deal.

Remember, the Faceless One at least suspects that violence by heretics will aid them in summoning the Ebon aspect. It was a great moment when my players discovered the note stating this and completely reevaluated everything that had happened before.

This has come up in my campaign. The town guard is corrupt; the garrison is not and the party has allied with them, but they do not have jurisdiction in town. They temporarily held Filge on the claim that the corpse robbing had been done outside of town (where the garrison does have jurisdiction) but were ultimately force to release him. They and the players are currently working on having an inquiry into the mayor made by Greyhawk City to have him replaced. It will likely become a large part of their reasons for going to Greyhawk City.

I'm thinking of having them become outlaws after they finish Dourstone mine (they are wreaking havoc on the citadel, technically part of the mine) and have the Garrison sneak them out of town. They could then contest the various claims in court at Greyhawk city. Depends how much interest my players show in such things.