How's Your Game Going?

[Jonathan_Shade]

Our game is going well, just finished a short campaign. Final adventure thread was "Lesser of two Evils". I count it as a success, it really got the players involved, emotions were stirred up, things got a little heated. Fantastic roleplaying as everyone was taking one of the two sides. Conflict inside the party as alignment tendencies\belief systems really came into play.
Not bad since it started out as a pick-up game one evening, and turned into an 18 game run without a single bit of prep-time.
_________________
Game Master of DnDWorlds.com

[Denim N Leather]

^ Your campaign is just finishing and mine is just getting cooking again!

After a long delay, we finally got all schedules sync'd and started up the new campaign again ... and we all came to the conclusion that the idea, setting, and characters just don't align properly somewhere.

Sooo -- I said, how about a reboot? Players all said, sure. I wrapped up their current situation and kept all the characters with their current gear/xp and dropped them back into Kalsgard.

Armed with only a couple of ideas (thank you, Eureka!) I figured I would pepper the party with different plots and they could choose the one they wanted and wing it from there.

Turns out they went for the first thing I threw down. Long story short, they ended up in a scuffle with the Night Watch, and several blocks burned down. Party is blamed for a crime they didn't commit and one of 'em is in jail. Very A-Team, now that I think of it.

The Barbarian and Gunslinger have made it to Iceferry and their plan is to get into a caravan heading north and form their own pirate empire.

My wife, who was playing an Ulfen Ranger, decided she wanted to play a different class; it's her character that was arrested. So, whilst the poor Ranger rots in jail, she has rolled up a 2nd level Samurai.

Meanwhile, the Barbarian & Gunslinger have hooked up with an Osiriani trader and his caravan, but getting out of Iceferry will not be as easy as they hoped ...





All my players agreed it was my best campaign opening to date since starting Pathfinder; result!

Best part is, now I have several threads I can pull on to get story ideas, and they were all player-driven, so there is a lot of investment on their part.
_________________
3.5 Private Sanctuary's official fashionista. =P
++
"I like to bring a loaded gun to the table. Then, if one of the PCs fall to neg HP, I shoot him."

[Skyth]

Well, my campaign ended last night. I was running through module B5 (The horror on the hill) with only the first level of the dungeon. The session before had ended in a cliffhanger where the half-orc barbarian/cleric had wandered off exploring by himself and opened up a barracks with 14 hobgoblins in it.

This session started with a running battle between the half orc going back to the party and the hobgoblins. The hobgobs broke and ran back and as the party pursued, ran into the Hobgoblin king and his retinue. One long fight later (The half orc had cast shield of faith before opening the door to the barracks. Only had a few rounds left on the duration) had both wolves that the party had befriended along with both NPC's the party had rescued down, and one PC (the monk) decapitated by the Hobgoblin king rolling a crit with his longsword. The two remaining PC's had about 4 hp total between them.

Another memorable moment of the fight was a 1st level hobgoblin warrior that took 5 arrows to drop (He only started with 6 hp. The 4th dropped him down to 0. Took the 5th to actually put him down).

Another memorable moment was when, puring the pursuing the hobgoblins that were fleeing, the dwarf NPC (I had a new player for the next campaign subbing in for him in combat) rounded a corner and saw the reinforcements coming. I had vision turned on so you can only see what your character can see. Fun reaction there

It's always fun with the party when they are fighting normal hobgoblins and I mix in elites. I have Maptools set up to show the hp bar of things that are injured, so you can tell how injured it is (It does a percentage of hp versus max hp). The reactions I get when they do a solid hit that would have severely injured or dropped a normal hobgoblin and it barely moves the hp bar is priceless

Now to get ready for a new campaign with new 1st level characters

[bastille]

I don't have anyone to play with. My dicebag is so lonely.

All my players have weekend and night jobs now.

I've got some older buddies that are interested in the Skull and Shackels AP. They want me to run it. But, I'm really not that good running published adventures because I feel so limited or confined when running them.
_________________
A Fancy Man of Cornwood!

[jedavis]

Well, I've switched from Trailblazer and Traveller to ACKS (a 1e / B/X derivative) recently, and am back in the saddle with more players than I can manage, a campaign wiki, and a whole bunch of new PC-kills to my name.

The best story we've gotten out of it so far, complete with sleep spells, flaming oil, war dogs, PC death, treasure, and improbable heroism, was the tale of the doomed Sixth Expedition.
_________________
Blog: http://wanderinggamist.blogspot.com/

[Skyth]

New campaign started up this last Sunday. Had a series of things go wrong on our bi-weekly game that we ended up not playing for a month

Had a new player (Who unfortunately cannot physically talk). After some technical difficulties we got started. So far so good. Players got a simple job to escort a sage to a ship at the docks. They do this no problem, but on the way back are waylaid by a group of thugs that 'insist' that they go talk to 'da boss'.

The players actually go along without a fight and meet up with 'da boss' who happens to be a church inquisitor that questions the group about the sage and where he went. Apparently the inquisitor is investigating the sage about possession of forbidden artifacts. They tell the inquisitor what he wants to know and return to the sage's mansion to get paid.

The sage's servant then informs them that he is actually the sage and the guy they escorted was a red herring to throw his rival (Who is likely the one who reported him to the inquisition) off his trail. He then offers the players a job to escort him to where he is actually going via coach.

Oh, Bastille, if you're interested I could fit you into my game It is 3.5 though

[bastille]

I'm a huge Star Wars fan. Part of your adventure sounds familiar! awesomely Jay!!!

If the PCs were collectively "Han Solo", then:

[Skyth]

You know, I never made the connection between the adventure and Star Wars

And yes, we play over Skype and use Maptools. Every other Sunday starting 6:30EST.

[Denim N Leather]

Good session tonight!

The caravan arrived at a nameless village and an allied NPC (Bard 3) joined the party. Not a moment too soon, as the party was ambushed by NINJAS that very night.

Turns out that the design on their tsuba was the same as the rival clan of the party's Samurai ... a story is slowly starting to form!

I forgot how long and tedious low-level combat can be, with the PCs missing way more often than they hit. Thanks to the Titan Mauler in the party, I have to use tougher CR encounters to keep him from one-shot'ing everything (when he does hit) but it makes for some very hairy combats. They were leaking like sieves after taking down just 4 Ninjas.

Otherwise, the session was great; the Gunslinger continues to shine and at this stage out-damage the other party members, on average.

I've never used a Bard in a support role before; interesting class.
_________________
3.5 Private Sanctuary's official fashionista. =P
++
"I like to bring a loaded gun to the table. Then, if one of the PCs fall to neg HP, I shoot him."

[bastille]

I am in a Savage Worlds group. My character is somewhat Druid-like.
Savage Worlds is a neat system. I like.

The same group is running a 3.5-esque D&D game too. House rules are in play which make the game kinda feel like first edition. I like. Very nice.
_________________
A Fancy Man of Cornwood!

[Setzer]

I started back in dec 2011, after we saw a group of players playing d&d/pathfinder (wasn't sure at the time), when we were at a magic the gathering event. My friend and his son were like we used to play d&d, I was like yeah I dibbled a little in 3.0, but did a few modules as 2nd edition.

I then said, hey why don't we play, and so we set a date and began.

So far, we made it from level 1-4 by my homebrew story of a bandit group who killed the boss of our ranger who was working as a body guard. I used the sample dungeon from the 3.0 DMG and had spent nearly a month cutting out the pieces into cardboard tiles. It was alright, kind of a hassle.

We went through a crypt and then beat down the dungeon.

Next, since I wanted to start the age of worms module, I left a note signed by one of the evil managers in diamond lake in a desk in the dungeon, that linked them to the manager.

The following session was a ship based adventure, where I included a bolstrous captain who knew all about diamond lake and we played 8 different dice/card games from dragon/dungeon magazine and fought off an abush of sea wolves.

Now we're almost through the whispering cairn. Overall, 7 sessions, we're at level 5, prolly will make level 6 in july.


It is really fun. I just need to get more miniatures lol.

[pcrotteau]

We just wrapped up our almost year long run with the beginner box: 1st with the pre gens to level 3, then created characters to level 5.

Our varied group started with:
Son (14) with Valeros
Sons friend (13) Merisiel
and Son (10) with Ezrin

Once we rolled up Characters:
Son (14 now 15): Human Barbarian (three 18's OMG)
Sons Friend: Elf Rogue
Son (10): Dwarf Cleric

Added on
Longtime Friend: Dwarf Barbarian
Daughter ( Human Fighter

We started off with the adventure in the box for the party of three and moved on to U1, Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh.

The rolled up characters started on the Beginner box bash scenarios, then onto B2 (a Pathfinderized version) mixed with the "Return to the Keep on the Borderlands" from 2nd ed (mainly the Kobold cave and the expanded Minotaur maze)

We finished up with a series of encounters starting with a Bulette, followed by a Basilisk, a Large Earth Elemental, finishing off with a Bearded Devil.

A climactic encounter with a young Black Dragon ended the campaign.

They have had a great time, so far. They all took turns being knocked unconscious, the fighter turned to stone by the Basilisk, the rogue "held" and charmed. There are basic dungeoneering lessons to be learned still.

The big lesson I've learned is that it doesn't take magic to make an item overpowering: one Barbarian had a Large greatsword (2d8 damage +6 from str +2 from rage (10 to 24 damage)) the other a Large greataxe (3d5 damage +4 from str +2 from rage (9 to 24 damage x3 crit))

Those two would blow through anything when they hit (often). Ogres were no challenge, even two at a time. Trolls not so much either. They needed a high AC AND damage reduction to make it a challenge.

We will start off using the core rules after Gencon, but we will only get in a couple of games a month once school starts.

[NicodemisFinch]

I haven't posted here for a few years, I think, but I've heard every episode of both podcasts. I even recognize a lot of names on these boards.

I am a first time DM. After being a player for approximately thirteen years with a great group of guys, I took the DM job. Step 1: adopt Pathfinder! The core rules hadn't even been released yet, but I started with modules D0, D1, D1.5 and D4 (modifier for my campaign storyline, etc.).

My campaign is now on its third year! It has been better than I ever imagined. I have six players. Of that six, half of the PCs are from Day 1 of my campaign. The others were one new player and two players that decided to change characters.

The PCs are now all 12th level. I'm starting to see what Ryan was talking about back in the day, as encounters are becoming increasingly difficult to balance and even build. But, I love a challenge and I think I'm going to bring them to 17th or so, come hell or high water. If I had fewer players I'd try for 20th!

Does anyone know what level is considered the start of "epic" levels?

Lastly, I wanted to share some things I feel were game-changers for me:

(1) Herolab
(2) Creating my own forum on Pro Boards
(3) Creating a cohesive group of characters with my players, with a connected backstory and a home town (Falcon's Hollow) on Day 1. I didn't allow them to just do whatever they want, it had to make sense and fit together. I even wrote some of their starting backstory for them. I ran the PCs through D0 as late teens and they now have a long history together.
(4) I made training a big deal by using play-by-post role-playing on our forum in private boards. Each of them now has a well-developed back-story that has continued throughout the campaign.
(5) After a certain point, adventures became centered on a single PC. Usually there are side-adventures or encounters centered on the other PCs sprinkled in here and there and an over-arching campaign "theme" that is centered on the group and connecting everything together.
(6) I've gone out on a limb and run a few one-night solo adventures on game night. The other players played supporting roles. It was awesomely Jay!! for building character depth and the other players had fun helping fellow players develop their characters.
(7) I focused my entire campaign on building every players' best, favorite character of all-time. I take my lead from them as to where they see their epic level PC and help them make it happen.

That's it! You DMs know it how simple all this is, right?

[Skyth]

Well, my D&D campaign ended the other night. However, we are starting up one of my favorite systems...Champions. I'm the only one who's played the system so I have to teach everyone how to play as well as run the game. We got a new player too

Last session was finishing up character creation and running the players through a mock combat so that they could get a feel for the system and how their characters work.

[bastille]

coolio Skythweiser, may the force be with you, bud


We started a new one too. D&D. We're all clerics of different gods in the same party. It's a campaign setting where comedy is abundant
_________________
A Fancy Man of Cornwood!

[Memento Mortis]

Congrats on finishing your campaign! That must feel like quite the achievement. Good luck to both of you in your new campaigns.

As for me:

Rise of the Runelords is midway through the 5th book. We're all feeling some campaign fatigue at this point and are looking forward to the end. Still fun, though.

Numeria Homebrew is going strong. I was skeptical about lasers and robots in a world of high fantasy and magic. But it's going well.

In the planning stages of Shattered Star. Figuring out characters, backgrounds, and party composition.

[Denim N Leather]

Congrats on finishing your campaign! My campaign is on temporary hold for a few months until this guy decides to start sleeping more:





I've never played Champions, but have always been intrigued. I am a VERY big fan of 2e Mutants & Masterminds. I picked up a copy of the Marvel Super Heroes rulebook just to have a look at the Cortex system, but really did not like it much.
_________________
3.5 Private Sanctuary's official fashionista. =P
++
"I like to bring a loaded gun to the table. Then, if one of the PCs fall to neg HP, I shoot him."

[Skyth]

I played the original MSH game, but wasn't a big fan of it. It's really not balanced.

My D&D campaign didn't reach a conclusion, just kinda petered out and I got everyone else interested more in Champions

[Skyth]

[Frog Prince]

In our game, we haven't played in 4 months. Not all that bad, its given me plenty of time to working on my homebrew setting that I'am building from ground up. The Hardest part is making the Deities, we're using the pathfiner/3.5 system. The problem I have is that I love sheer amount of domains from 3.5 but they only give 1 granted power where as the pathfinder domains give 2 but there are less domains( and I hate sub-domains) so finding a balance is hard.

[Setzer]

Right now there are two sessions.

The one I DM iss flourishing.

It is a very large game, we have A Cleric, Rogue, Assassin, Fighter, Fighter, Wizard, Scout, Barbarian, Barbarian, Ranger, and Ranger.

They finished Paizo's Age of Worms three faces of evil and are returning home, only to soon find out that was a setup by the Faceless one, who I have changed to actaully be a sadistic Mindflyer how has an insane dungeon they must delve into, with mazes, traps, tricks, puzzles and more.



The one I am in, is going slow.

We currently have a much smaller group here.

We have a Ghost Elf Wizard, Petal Psion, Half-Giant Psychic Warrior, Elf Rogue, and it did have my Strong Heart halfing Conjurer.

I died last session, because I wasn't paying attention when three kobold sorceres withdrew and snuck around, they nailed me with 3 sets of level 3 magic missles.

I died badly.

I created a new cahracter that will get thrown into the story line next session, a level 1 barbarian, level 3 fighter, Goliath, Dungeon Crasher (see dungeonscape).

We are trying to clear out a kobold invested and possible dragon infested cave,