No, not starting one...yet. I do want to ask a few questions to my fellow gamers out there, though, as some have expressed an interest in being a campaign run by myself. Here goes:
1.) Setting Faerun, Eberron, Greyhawk, or a homebrew?
2.) Magic High or low?
3.) Psionics Yes or no?
That's just a start, but I'm looking for thoughts and opinions from everybody else. I am planning on having a campaign website/wiki for sharing of information for this venture.
No, not starting one...yet. I do want to ask a few questions to my fellow gamers out there, though, as some have expressed an interest in being a campaign run by myself. Here goes:
1.) Setting Faerun, Eberron, Greyhawk, or a homebrew?
2.) Magic High or low?
3.) Psionics Yes or no?That's just a start, but I'm looking for thoughts and opinions from everybody else. I am planning on having a campaign website/wiki for sharing of information for this venture.
Well Lilith. Myself I like homebrew or faerun. With high magic and no Psionics. But that is just me. If you want to use psionics just drop the level of magic. I have found that it has worked for me in the past. Good luck with the game. I would like to join but live in Utah. :(
No, not starting one...yet. I do want to ask a few questions to my fellow gamers out there, though, as some have expressed an interest in being a campaign run by myself. Here goes:
1.) Setting Faerun, Eberron, Greyhawk, or a homebrew?
2.) Magic High or low?
3.) Psionics Yes or no?That's just a start, but I'm looking for thoughts and opinions from everybody else. I am planning on having a campaign website/wiki for sharing of information for this venture.
In the order you requested....
1) Greyhawk, first-last-and always. I do use my own version of it, however. My current campaign plans, for example, take place in Aquaria (the continent east of Oerik designed by Frank Mentzer for "I12 Egg of the Phoenix" and given EGG's blessing as "canon", for those who have no idea what I'm talking about).
2) Magic is, well...*medium*, I suppose. Higher than typical Greyhawk affairs, but lower than most Forgotten Realms games, I suppose.
3) Psionics is a "go" in my book. In fact, as I tend to use the "Psionics is Different" variant from the Expanded Psionics Handbook, it actually can be a major advantage for a player to play a psi. Although I also use the First Edition "Less than 1% of the Population Even Has the Aptitude for Psionics" sensibilities...so good luck hunting down a psi-sensitive...unless he's a Mind Flayer. ;)
Hope that helps, Lilith. And see you across the Solnor!
Antithesis
Let's see ...
I play Faerun, but with more than a few "homebrew" twists, i.e. locales I've imported from fantasy I particulary enjoyed, to cities/nations from other published game worlds, including Mystara ...
I play high magic, though not so high and commonplace as Eberron
I play with Psionics, but use the "Psionics is Different" variant so that magic and psi don't really 'interact' -- and just as there are accepted Wizardry schools, there are also certain places one can go for training in the psionic arts, a la the "towers" of MZB Darkover fantasy ...
No, not starting one...yet. I do want to ask a few questions to my fellow gamers out there, though, as some have expressed an interest in being a campaign run by myself. Here goes:
1.) Setting Faerun, Eberron, Greyhawk, or a homebrew?
2.) Magic High or low?
3.) Psionics Yes or no?
Setting Faerun, Just because that is pretty much the only one I have ever been in. Though I am sure a homebrew would be just as good. Of course, that is all up to the author. Which, I am sure you would do just fine!
Magic: Does Medium count. I like magic but I hate it when there is so much that the only reason a character is any good is because of the magic bracers, vest, armour, cloak and sword that they are carrying around.
Psionics: Well i find them overly complicated but I have always found them interesting, but not enough to play one, maybe next time i will. But as for you I think that is up to you. I would find out what your players like and work it around them, as they are the ones that are going to be dealing with it. If you do use psionics I wouldn't use much, make it a rarity.
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I'd suggest keeping it basic for your first go. The Realms is well documented and updated so you wouldn't need to do much convertion. Magic, stick with what is in the 3 corebooks for power level, spell lists, availability, etc. Psionics, I have never played with Psionics so my opinion may not be relavent, BUT, if you are comfortable with Psi-powers and have a good knowledge of how they work, then do it.
I hate promoting the use of Forgotten Realms over Greyhawk but the documentation is there for Realms with very little work on your part. I know you have a ton of projects going as is;)
This is your first time using this system, my main suggestion is treat it as a test and Keep It Simple, Sister!
How far out is it looking like to begin the campaign?
FH
Perhaps this is the wrong forum for these kinds of questions. These are the kinds of decisions that should be jointly hammered out by the DM and players they will be DMing for(web-based, tabletop, or otherwise). A campaign should be based on the collective wishes of the community playing the game together, not solely on the DM nor on the advice of others outside the scope of the DM and those playing with him/her.
As ever,
ACE
1.) Setting Faerun, Eberron, Greyhawk, or a homebrew?
2.) Magic High or low?
3.) Psionics Yes or no?
1. Which ever one you are best at DMing.
2. I prefer 'strong' magic rather than 'varied' magic. For example, I love being able to walk into a magic shoppe, but I hate being told 'we don't have a +5 longsword, but we do have this shiny new +1 wounding axiomatic longsword!' In other words, I think basic items should be prevalent while I have no use for the gazillions of miscellaneous crap that exists even in the DMG.3. Yes, but on 2 conditions: 1) for the love of Pelor don't use the 'psionics is different' rule. It makes psionics too powerful and too attractive to players. 2) don't let a player play a psionic class (or any other non-core class) until all the archetypes are accounted for: warrior, rogue, divine and arcane. Tho as far as I know, psionics fills the arcane role.
Is fantasy grounds an online gaming thing? If so, I'm all in!
1) Faerun is my personal favorite--but I really like all the published settings out there, well the main ones anyway.
2) High magic, and by high I mean present and accepted if not always liked or understood. A lot of mechanicless folk belief and superstition is a nice balance to the ubiquitous mage on every street corner. Likewise weapons that are "magical" because of their history, their origin, or the deeds done with them can sometimes be much cooler and better at maintaining the dignity of a setting than tossing out that +5 keen shocking burst longsword.
3) Psionics only where appropriate. There are creatures and cultures that should have psionics, character concepts that seem well disposed toward it. Plugging it in for no reason as a cool different flavor of magic wrecks its integrity and can cause a published setting not to feel right. Likewise with Incarnum and Name Magic and all the other wierdness out there right now. Where it works and there's a reason for it, it's great--but be careful not to just ungracefully plunk it in as the new coolzor thing.
1.) Setting Faerun, Eberron, Greyhawk, or a homebrew?
2.) Magic High or low?
3.) Psionics Yes or no?
1. Me likey grey books.
2. Me likey powerful magic. Me no likey every store having a +1 sword in it.3. Me likey mind bullets. Me no likey having mind bullets "just 'cause."
TequilaSunrise, Fantasy Grounds is online gaming, check out their website.
Thanks for your input, all. It's interesting to see what people prefer. I'll probably end up using a homebrew (probably the one outlined in this thread 'ere), as that's something I haven't done in years, with a "low to mid-level" of magic, with "weird" elements worked in a believable way. I like psionics, so I'll probably use them, but not thrown in a haphazardly way. There are many elements from FR, Eberron and Greyhawk that I like and will probably show up in anything I do.
Keep givin' the input, y'all!
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I recently read an interview with Moorcock somewhere, where he was responding to some gamers who commented on his worldbuilding. He essentially said he himself has no interest in it whatsoever; that he is in the business of writing stories, not building worlds.
I think all three questions you proferred depend primarily on this: what story do you want to tell? Will the presence of psionics hamper or drive it? Magic level? The scenario's "backstory?" In this I agree with the Dane in that the play's the thing.
I also think that it is important to tap the players in question; is this a story they want to help you tell? I have a homebrew I am slapping together, and one of the players I may game with eternally plays Drizz't's little sidekick. I am therefore going the homebrew route. Even though I have all this FR stuff, I think if he emerges from an Underdark cavern into a surface realm, it would help the 'stranger in a strange land' motif if he didn't know anything about the surface world whatsoever.
I think all three questions you proferred depend primarily on this: what story do you want to tell? Will the presence of psionics hamper or drive it? Magic level? The scenario's "backstory?" In this I agree with the Dane in that the play's the thing.
I'd like to tell of a story when the world is young, something is always over the horizon and conflicts are everywhere. The presencec of "alternate mechanics" are a part of the story, not to spite it or stand out from it. The power to change yourself is everywhere and in everybody - one needs only to learn how to access it.
The backstory is something I want to work on - several of the atypical races I want to shake up and create a more integrated feel for many of the intelligent races out there.
There's a method of starting a campaign or adventure called In Media Res on the Treasure Tables website that I think would be fun to start that way.
There's a method of starting a campaign or adventure called In Media Res on the Treasure Tables website that I think would be fun to start that way.
Just FYI - most stories in literature are told In Medias Res (in the middle of things). It is often difficult to tell where or if a story "begins" and "ends." The term typically refers to an overt scinario where the reader (or players in this case) find themselves *both* learning about the past and affecting the future in a simultanious but opposing linear fashion. <------0------> Thus, the climax of the story builds up to a singular event (action) based on some kind paradigm shift (knowledge).
As ever,
ACE
Just FYI - most stories in literature are told In Medias Res (in the middle of things). It is often difficult to tell where or if a story "begins" and "ends." The term typically refers to an overt scinario where the reader (or players in this case) find themselves *both* learning about the past and affecting the future in a simultanious but opposing linear fashion. Thus, the climax of the story builds up to a singular event (action) based on some kind paradigm shift (knowledge).
Thanks, ACE! That's the kind of feel I'm striving for.
If anyone is interested, the preliminary stuff is up for persual, viewable here.
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I did an in media res intro to a Cyberpunk campaign a few years back.
The group was hired by a rich corporate type to jack in to a net run holo game, with he and his son as k'zinti (alien carnivorous tigermen a la Niven) and the group as prey. He wanted professional fighters, for authenticity.
But the group never knew this. All they knew was "roll inish. What do you do?"
I wanted to introduce the combat system in a way that they could get killed and not suffer any in-game. I had a lot of new players, and I wanted to give them all a taste of what to expect without penalizing them.
I know that a lot of people advise that you should warn the players beforehand to expect an in media res intro , and my gambit was risky, but I think it can pay off in a big way as a complete surprise.
It really ups the tension level, and adds to the enjoyment, if everyone in the group is cool with it. Man, people were talking about it years later.
If anyone is interested, the preliminary stuff is up for persual, viewable here.
So I checked out your cite and created an account but I'm kinda technologically defiicient so I didn't know if I should 'sign up' thru the EDIT link, which was the only link I could find. I decided that the cite probly isn't complete yet and to just wait for an update from this thread for your totally-awesom-o game!
I want to be in your game, so bad! I'm lacking internet right now unfortunately (I'm at my fiancee's apartment), but hopefully that will change within a month (I'm waiting to call the internet company until I get my next paycheck...).
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I've looked at the new game's mythology and I know that the primal chaos was portrayed as a female principle in Mesopotamia in the guise of Tiamat. I'm more a mythology dabbler than a scholar, but has the primal chaos ever been given a male principle in historical mythology? I know there's Loki, and moody Shiva, and raging Heracles, all male forces of chaos in the world, but never to my knowledge the actual primal matter.
What a novel idea.
I've looked at the new game's mythology and I know that the primal chaos was portrayed as a female principle in Mesopotamia in the guise of Tiamat. I'm more a mythology dabbler than a scholar, but has the primal chaos ever been given a male principle in historical mythology? I know there's Loki, and moody Shiva, and raging Heracles, all male forces of chaos in the world, but never to my knowledge the actual primal matter.
What a novel idea.
I believe in Greek mythology Chaos was portrayed as a masculine principle - probably where I got the idea from. ;-)
*runs to look at her Encyclopedia of Ancient Gods*
As far as a "primal chaos" deity, I have Vrtra. Here's an excerpt:
Demonic God of Chaos. Hindu (Vedic). A primordial being who existed before the formation of the cosmos and who was slain by the mother goddess Sarasvati.
There's also the Ogdoad from Egyptian mythology, four pairs of god/goddesses that represent various primordial aspects so that the Sun God could arise. Not much in the way of male chaos deities/principles that I could find.
One thing I did with Sharendur is take atypical "male" roles and switch them up with feminine figures. Sol, for example, is a female sun goddess (Amaterasu being the only other female sun goddess I can remember off the top of my head...) while Luna is a male moon god. Also, many of the names of the deities are taken from various mythologies in our world, usually relating to what their domains are.
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Actually, I did run across a mythological reference, on the net, to Bast originally being a sun goddess, with a lion's head. Her 'portfolio was stolen' somehow. The Greeks, when they came in contact with the Egyptians, started associating her with the moon.
At the time I was kinda thinking about Neil Gaiman's American Gods backstory, and a possible portrayal of Bast as a crazy old cat lady with 50 cats in her livingroom. Then maybe Isis putting her mind back together the way she had to put Osiris back together physically.
Tolkien's Silmarillion also casts the sun as female and the moon as male.
...Sol, for example, is a female sun goddess (Amaterasu being the only other female sun goddess I can remember off the top of my head...)
Back in the days of MUD I was a Cleric of Cianna, goddess of the dawn. In research for the guild's webpage I discovered a bunch of other 'mythology' sources of feminine sun dieties, rather than bore you with the whole page...
...Cianna has been called by many names in many lands including Eos, Aurora, Mater Matuta, Ushas, Thesan, Sengen and Urwendi. She has been connected to the Phoenix, Garunda, the Kladde, and Ama Terasu. In most cultures she is the goddess whose rosy fingers open the gates of heaven to the Chariot of the Sun. She is sometimes the driver of the Chariot.
If anyone is interested, the preliminary stuff is up for persual, viewable here.
Argh! It makes me want to play. Damn you! =)
Argh! It makes me want to play. Damn you! =)
Okay, I'm curious now - what about it makes you want to play? ;-P
I haven't placed any comments yet for a couple of reasons, but I'd like to put in my two coppers now.
I have no suggestions for what I'd 'like' to play in as a player, I'm open to suggestions.
I am reluctant to commit right now because unfortunately I'm in the middle of a job hunt, and i have no idea what kind of schedule or computer access situation I'll find myself in once that resolves, so I guess at best that puts me as an alternate at this point.
But why do we want to play in a campaing you're DMing?
You are intelligent, witty, your posts are well-reasoned, well-presented, well thought out...Your starting this thread and asking the questions you are before you even lay the groundwork shows a consideration for those you'll select as players, their playing styles, and the campaign itself. All of these are hallmarks of an excellent DM.
And an excellent DM helps the players be better.....which makes for a better campaign. (of course, idiot players are going to be idiot players no matter who their DM is, but that's neither here nor there.)
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I haven't placed any comments yet for a couple of reasons, but I'd like to put in my two coppers now.
I have no suggestions for what I'd 'like' to play in as a player, I'm open to suggestions.
I am reluctant to commit right now because unfortunately I'm in the middle of a job hunt, and i have no idea what kind of schedule or computer access situation I'll find myself in once that resolves, so I guess at best that puts me as an alternate at this point.
But why do we want to play in a campaing you're DMing?
You are intelligent, witty, your posts are well-reasoned, well-presented, well thought out...Your starting this thread and asking the questions you are before you even lay the groundwork shows a consideration for those you'll select as players, their playing styles, and the campaign itself. All of these are hallmarks of an excellent DM.
And an excellent DM helps the players be better.....which makes for a better campaign. (of course, idiot players are going to be idiot players no matter who their DM is, but that's neither here nor there.)
Here, here!!
You are intelligent, witty, your posts are well-reasoned, well-presented, well thought out...Your starting this thread and asking the questions you are before you even lay the groundwork shows a consideration for those you'll select as players, their playing styles, and the campaign itself. All of
Yeah, that pretty much sums it up!
*blushes* Dank yew! (I have a cold...*snerk* *sneeze*)
...I'm in the middle of a job hunt...
Jobs are important...they support our gaming habits...:-D
I suppose I should have been clearer...what about the campaign makes you want to play? The sparks that make you go "Oooh!!! Pick me, pick me!" like Donkey from Shrek are important to utilize you know. :-)
(I still want to either play or run a Greyhawk campaign, but I know I'd have a lot of homework to do in order to feel prepared. I think I read the FRCS three times cover to cover before it was really well absorbed.)
I suppose I should have been clearer...what about the campaign makes you want to play? The sparks that make you go "Oooh!!! Pick me, pick me!" like Donkey from Shrek are important to utilize you know. :-)
The fact that it's a homebrew and therefore I don't know everything about and can't look it up in a CS book (I have all of them). I also like that you're keeping things simple in terms of options; common races, basic classes and classic themes. I also like the history that you've created for the world...especially the part with the big dragons!
The fact that it's a homebrew and therefore I don't know everything about and can't look it up in a CS book (I have all of them). I also like that you're keeping things simple in terms of options; common races, basic classes and classic themes. I also like the history that you've created for the world...especially the part with the big dragons!
Ahh, yes, the thrill of the unknown...:-D I'll remember that...
I've been working on filling out some fleshy details about classes and races, bit by bit. I'm trying to Keep It Simple Sister (as was suggested by FH) and not stray too far from what's presented in the PHB. Most of what I'm shaking up has to do with origins, cultural details (which I love) as well as a "method to the madness" to many of the "givens" in D&D. (One of the things I did change was the favored classes for Elves and Half-Elves...you might want to take a peek at them; gnomes have a strong bardic tradition and halflings have a different background, as well as dwarves.
Piece by piece, I'm filling things out.
Pick me! Pick me!!! I am willing to be in, no questions asked! ~grimace~ Unfortunatly, I can only do it on the weekend, or after 1am est.
One of the things that would make me want to play is knowing that there is a good person DMing it! I am no DM, but I can do a good job of playing a toon!
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I've been working on filling out some fleshy details about classes and races, bit by bit. I'm trying to Keep It Simple Sister (as was suggested by FH) and not stray too far from what's presented in the PHB. Most of what I'm shaking up has to do with origins, cultural details (which I love) as well as a "method to the madness" to many of the "givens" in D&D. (One of the things I did change was the favored classes for Elves and Half-Elves...you might want to take a peek at them; gnomes have a strong bardic tradition and halflings have a different background, as well as dwarves.
Piece by piece, I'm filling things out.
Smart approach - the incremental thing is a lot better than creating everything from scratch (I tend go for the all-at-once approach and usually get nowhere...). I like your "new" gnomes a lot, for what that's worth.
BTW, would this be a strictly online game?
Smart approach - the incremental thing is a lot better than creating everything from scratch (I tend go for the all-at-once approach and usually get nowhere...). I like your "new" gnomes a lot, for what that's worth.
BTW, would this be a strictly online game?
If I tried to do everything at once, I think I'd go bonkers. I just take each chapter of the Player's Handbook and go "how would these things work in Sharendur?"
If I had another group for Pen & Paper, I'd probably run it through there. As it is, I'd kinda like to play with some of the people here on these boards. Best way to do that is via an online tabletop software solution like Fantasy Grounds or Ghost Orb or OpenRPG.
Vattnisse, what part about the gnomes did you like? I've often had issues with coming up with a believable way to fit in gnomes & halflings into my campaign and I do like the solution I came up with for Sharendur. I'm kinda lookin' forward to writing up the history of the Sarapti War (the war between gnomes and halflings/hin, for those that haven't been keeping track). Since the Saraptin monks are an order of hin monks, there will be an interesting confrontation between the Saraptin monks and the gnomish jarylni.
Lilith, I read the Half-elf basics and at first I said 'Wtf?' when I saw their favored class. Their favored class is psionic, while elves are divine?! But then the shock wore off and I thought 'well that actually makes perfect sense; 1/2 elves are unique creatures and therefore would have the strong motivation to search inward as psions do."
I'd still rather play a human anything over a half-elf anything, but that's just personal preference.
Lilith, I read the Half-elf basics and at first I said 'Wtf?' when I saw their favored class. Their favored class is psionic, while elves are divine?! But then the shock wore off and I thought 'well that actually makes perfect sense; 1/2 elves are unique creatures and therefore would have the strong motivation to search inward as psions do."
I'd still rather play a human anything over a half-elf anything, but that's just personal preference.
I was also trying to have cultural/historical reasons for certain classes have specific favored classes. Elves, with a favored class of wizard, make sense in a world where elves "discovered" arcane magic, but not one where humans did. Hopefully, that is being discovered as you read on. :-D
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Vattnisse, what part about the gnomes did you like? I've often had issues with coming up with a believable way to fit in gnomes & halflings into my campaign and I do like the solution I came up with for Sharendur. I'm kinda lookin' forward to writing up the history of the Sarapti War (the war between gnomes and halflings/hin, for those that haven't been keeping track). Since the Saraptin monks are an order of hin monks, there will be an interesting confrontation between the Saraptin monks and the gnomish jarylni.
To start off, I'm generally no friend of the wee folk - in my latest destined-to-fail homebrew, there are no gnomes or halflings whatsoever. However, I DO like the way you've introduced both as newcomers, as this solves a lot of those "why are they still around" questions that bother me a lot as well. I like their orientations towards travelling (explains the CON increase, as travelling is a hard life) and their bardic traditions, which makes more sense to me than the old preferred class of illusionist. And, most of all, the thought of gnomes being the slavemasters of the halfling race makes me all warm and gooey inside...
Good luck with your history writing, and keep us posted!
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Tolkien's Silmarillion also casts the sun as female and the moon as male.
Hehe... I seem to prefer to answer to postings turned cold a long time ago. :p
The sex of moon and sun differs from culture to culture.
In roman and its descendant languages (latin, italian, french, portuguese, spanish...) luna/ lune/ moon is female, sol/ soleil/ sun is male.
The opposite is true for german (and probably most germanic descendant languages): "die Sonne" (the sun = female), but "der Mond" (the moon = male). I think I read that Tolkien's work strongly adhered to germanic mythology, so the "swapped sexes" of moon and sun just make sense. ;-)
Greetings,
Günther
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(I still want to either play or run a Greyhawk campaign, but I know I'd have a lot of homework to do in order to feel prepared. I think I read the FRCS three times cover to cover before it was really well absorbed.)
So true!
I never had enough time for good preparation. Getting people involved in the game and preparing the next published adventure was all the time I had.When I recently started to have another look at the FRCS, some of the supplements, and read some of the FR novels, I realized how much effort is needed to internalise the setting of someone else...
I'd also like to play in your group.
But on the one hand I guess that your campaign started already a long time ago by now (this thread is one year old by now!), and on the other hand there is this 12 hour time gap between Germany and the U.S. pacific coast... ;-)
Btw. Do you still run the campaign? What are your experiences with Fantasy Grounds? Is it a good "replacement" for real D&D sessions? And finally are you planning to go for Fantasy Grounds 2? (just read the ad on the back cover of the latest Dungeon issue)
Greetings from Germany,
Günther
P.S.
I guess in most players' experience it is the DM who makes a campaign thrilling and entertaining, the setting has the least impact on the gaming experience. People in this thread just seem to trust in your good gaming taste. ;-)
Ditto, has this game been started? I was looking forward to a chance to play in a Lilith original and was dissapointed when it seemed to just evaporate.
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Ditto, has this game been started? I was looking forward to a chance to play in a Lilith original and was dissapointed when it seemed to just evaporate.
I believe she has a thread in the RPG Classifieds on these boards about people wanting to join this game. I don't have a link and neither the time to find it but it should be easy to find.
FH
Thanks Fakey!