(no subject)
Jun. 7th, 2019 11:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seekingferretThe D&D campaign I was supposed to start running two years ago is finally going to happen. I wrote some bits about my ideas in this post on XP systems and this post on the Fey. The supposedly short campaign someone else was running that would last a few months ended up taking us 2 years, but we finally killed the Antichrist this past Tuesday and now my turn as DM is coming up.
I'm going to use the simplified Guild-Merit XP system I mentioned. Doing things that economically benefit your guild earns you guild merits, and when you gain enough guild merits you level up your character: this leveling reflects your guild valuing you more and giving you access to more extensive equipment and training.
The whole point of this system is that it potentially makes accelerated leveling possible- a low level character still has the ability in the right situations to make significant economic deals, so they're not limiting in leveling speed the way a traditional XP for killing monsters system is by the fact that a level 1 character can't kill a level 20 monster. The balance for this possibility rests on my shoulders as DM- if these sorts of rapid economic changes are engineered by my players to help them level up, I need to account for them not with mechanical limitations on character leveling, but by way of plotting. They cut a deal to open access to a new mine, suddenly there's a new noxious smell enveloping the city emanating from the mine and making people sick. They cut a deal to open a new trade route, suddenly there are bandits, suddenly small businesses are closing, suddenly people are unhappy about the new economic winners and losers. Capitalism The RPG: There's no limit to how high your character can rise, and no limit to the consequences of your actions.
As far as the fey stuff goes, the fey are going to be deeply involved in a lot of parts of my campaign, but one central idea that's evolved is that instantaneous long distance portal-to-portal travel is possible and common but only by use of a network of portals controlled by various local faerie rulers. Anyone who wants to use the network has to contract with the local Faerie King or Faerie Queen, and the cost they charge will be arbitrary and capricious and absolutely binding. I'm really looking forward to some of the ideas I have for how that will develop.
Also, Chag sameach! I'm really looking forward to Tikkun Leil tomorrow night.
I'm going to use the simplified Guild-Merit XP system I mentioned. Doing things that economically benefit your guild earns you guild merits, and when you gain enough guild merits you level up your character: this leveling reflects your guild valuing you more and giving you access to more extensive equipment and training.
The whole point of this system is that it potentially makes accelerated leveling possible- a low level character still has the ability in the right situations to make significant economic deals, so they're not limiting in leveling speed the way a traditional XP for killing monsters system is by the fact that a level 1 character can't kill a level 20 monster. The balance for this possibility rests on my shoulders as DM- if these sorts of rapid economic changes are engineered by my players to help them level up, I need to account for them not with mechanical limitations on character leveling, but by way of plotting. They cut a deal to open access to a new mine, suddenly there's a new noxious smell enveloping the city emanating from the mine and making people sick. They cut a deal to open a new trade route, suddenly there are bandits, suddenly small businesses are closing, suddenly people are unhappy about the new economic winners and losers. Capitalism The RPG: There's no limit to how high your character can rise, and no limit to the consequences of your actions.
As far as the fey stuff goes, the fey are going to be deeply involved in a lot of parts of my campaign, but one central idea that's evolved is that instantaneous long distance portal-to-portal travel is possible and common but only by use of a network of portals controlled by various local faerie rulers. Anyone who wants to use the network has to contract with the local Faerie King or Faerie Queen, and the cost they charge will be arbitrary and capricious and absolutely binding. I'm really looking forward to some of the ideas I have for how that will develop.
Also, Chag sameach! I'm really looking forward to Tikkun Leil tomorrow night.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-08 06:14 am (UTC)About time you got on that!
I am envious of your players, and look forward to reading about this campaign.
I'm not currently playing D&D, but will be starting a Gloomhaven group tomorrow night. The game mechanics seem interesting, and I'm looking forward to learning more about them firsthand.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-11 04:16 pm (UTC)Look, we had lots of ways we could have killed him earlier but they all involved unacceptable levels of civilian casualties. It took us a while to figure out how to kill him without dropping a firebomb on dozens of innocent people.
Ooh, I would love to hear anything you have to share about your Gloomhaven experience.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-11 06:56 pm (UTC)Gloomhaven: 2/4 of us had read through the rulebook before starting, but it still took us 4.5 hours to play through the first scenario, because we were still figuring it all out as we went. The rulebook isn't well-organized for quick reference, and it's really not very clear in some key parts. If you play with other first-timers, keep the official FAQ handy (it's at BGG); that would've saved us a lot of confusion.
Despite all the headscratching, we still had fun, and it should be even more fun now that we know what we're doing. It works well as a cooperative game, with plenty of interesting variables in how things come out. As you may have heard, you use a hand of cards instead of dice rolls for combat, and you lose cards as the encounter proceeds. One thing that surprised us was how efficiently you have to move in order to achieve your objective before you use your cards up. We ended up leaving a lot of loot behind, just because we became "exhausted" (ran out of moves).
We've set game sessions with all 4 players for every 2 weeks, but the game's owner and I have been reading up on and discussing rules, and will probably play a 2-player game soon just to figure out if we've grokked it (and to try out the remaining 2 character classes). He bought the removable plastic stickers, so he can have multiple campaigns running at a time without messing up the continuity.
I was hoping for a bit more originality with character races/classes, but the ones we've tried so far are essentially just orc fighter, elven mage, human rogue, and dwarven cleric. The fighter comes from "a primitive and barbaric race" because apparently we still don't understand basic concepts like ethnocentrism? *headdesk* On the other hand, the dwarf-analogue reads as less racially coded to me; ymmv.
Oh, storage is the other thing. There's a bazillion different little cardboard pieces, and I can definitely see the appeal of the $50+ custom storage solutions I'm seeing online. Sounds like the game's owner is going to go the ziploc baggie route. I think a tackle box or even a candy tray (like you get with a box of assorted chocolates) could be super helpful here.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-11 07:34 pm (UTC)It is way more work than it ought to be to play nonracist rpgs.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-08 09:31 am (UTC)You waited three days just to be sure, right? :)
Oh cool, it sounds really interesting. Excited to know how it works out!