Several months ago I had a debate with a friend. We talked about DnD. I had been a roleplayer for years, but had played very few of TSR's settings, and I had only used the D20 system a couple of times. Over the years I had gotten a bad impression of DnD in general over the years, anyhow, back to the point I argued that there weren't a lot of setting elements behind DnD. Just one dungeon to the next bashing a never ending line of monsters with characters who were ridiculously powerful. He offered to run a game for me, the setting would be Forgotten Realms and I could play any character I wanted from 1st to 20th level. The game would follow the rules as closely as they could, that was my demand. No augmenting the game with house rules, let it sink or swimm on its own.
Anyhow, I brushed the mold off of my statistics and probability skills and sat down to create to most broken and powerful character I could manage...and broken he was. I ended up taking a 20th level paladin. By the time I was done bying his feats and equipment with the gold alloted, Thorin, as he was to be named, was dealing hundreds, and sometimes thousands of damage in single rounds and was almost impervious to damage. To make things fair I gave him a pretty intesive backstory, even by my standards. I did my best to flesh out the character's personality as deeply as I had his abilities. Thorin was ready to rock.
Well, the campaign is almost done now. I have to say it has been on of the most, if not the most, dramatic, flavorful and story driven game I have played in. The characters were great and the story has been great. Infact, we have just finished perhaps the best sessions I have ever been in, and all it involved was three characters standing off in a room, hands on weapons trying to resolve our conflicting story lines.
I guess what I am trying to say is that my GM won the bet really. He and I still have our problems with the mechanics and will use some house rules in future game. Some of these ideas have been discussed in the "thoughs on the hit points system" thread. What really suprised me though was the world that I was inroduced to. I found the Forgotten Realms setting to be incredibly flavorful, indepth and imersive. Truely a fun place to explore, if only for a few hours a week. In the inbetween time I have also gotten my feet wet in a one session Planescapes game and Darksun game. Both settings were equally great to get to know. Looking foreward to the climactic conclusion of our Forgotten Realms game, I sincerely hope that my GM will post what I felt was a truely exceptional compaign.
I think that a lot of credit for good RPG campaigns has to be given to GMs...I've played some pretty weak game systems that were incredibly fun to play because of a good GM.
I think that a lot of credit for good RPG campaigns has to be given to GMs...I've played some pretty weak game systems that were incredibly fun to play because of a good GM.
I couldn't agree with you more F2k. I think that we all have had some good times with bad games just because of the GM's.
As far as the Forgotten Realms being really fun I can't agree more there as well. I have played in the "Realms" since it came out. One of the best settings of all time. IMO.
With that said may "Mielikki guide us on our path"
So you came to this conclusion after several game sessions with a 20th level character? Perhaps you should collect a few more data points for study...
As ever,
ACE
I happened to be the other skeptic who was invited to play in that campaign. Like Sel, I had been gamming for over a decade, but had little experience in 3rd edition. My first D&D character being in 2nd edition. My character for this campaign was a wizard/marshal btw. . Unfortunately my sole exposure to 3rd edition so far was from a group of particularly bad role players at the local gaming store. After pandering the game to me in the worst light possible I had been poisoned towards it. Anyway, during the pre game banter we told our woes to the GM. He being a bit aghast at our opinions offered to run a proper campaign for us to give us a better idea about what the settings were about. The gauntlet having been thrown down we lobbed the book at him. Sel is not exaggerating Thorin’s damage potential either. He dealt 712 damage once in a single hit. We figured that he had made a mistake in there somehow, but he showed us how he built the character and it was ALL cannon RAW. It must be said however that Sel isn’t a munchkin, but he can crunch numbers when he wants to. In this case we were giving the GM a worst case scenario to deal with so that we could put D20 through its paces. I have to give the game the same verdict that Sel did. I was surprised at the depth of the world Forgotten Realms had to offer. The GM did a stellar job presenting the material. I can’t agree with you more F2K, A bad GM can crush the best of settings. I am happy to say that this was the case here as I have now been introduced to some really great stuff that I would have probably passed over if I hadn’t been shown the light. All of us, GM included still have our arguments with the rules, although we are close to working out a system that works for our style of play. What converted us was the love and detail that the D&D settings have been imbued with. Personally I look forward to many more journeys through the Realms.
So you came to this conclusion after several game sessions with a 20th level character? Perhaps you should collect a few more data points for study...
ACE
You bring up a good couple of points ACE, and so I will set the record straight were it may have been unclear. This campaign has been going on for over six months now, the end of which may be looming in sight (I hope in a good way, I don’t want to be responsible for shafting Faerun :)) Interspersed, however we have played several shorter campaigns in other published settings, Dark Sun included, at a variety of power levels. All of which I have found to be very enjoyable.