OOC: A Sticky Situation of Goblins and Spiders

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

This is the Out Of Character (OOC) thread for the play by post Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) game I will be running. Everyone, playing or not, is welcome to comment here on anything involving the game. I am looking for 5-8 players to join in on the fun and will have the following expectations of the players:

• First and foremost, have fun and respect other players. Don't take this game too seriously, it's way more fun when you don't.
• Have basic knowledge of the rules. I have a digital copy of the rulebook, I will send it to anyone who needs it, just PM me your email. I do not expect someone new to know exactly how a round of combat involving grappling and a dagger with two creatures of different size is handled.
• Post 2 times per week. If play naturally goes faster, I will try to keep up and support it. Most posting will happen during the week. When in combat, combat rounds will have 3 days between DM posts so everyone has time to keep up.
  • If I know you can't post for some reason, that's fine, I'll take control of your character while you can't. Just email/PM me to let me know and it's a non-issue. The point of the rule is that we're not waiting for people to post and having the game held up.
  • You'll get a warning or two, but if you continually hold up play your character will be gobbled up by a passing bulette or band of orcs. You don't want this to happen as you both lose your character and cause the party to have another unexpected encounter they may not be prepared for.
• Any and all rolling I ask you to do should be done at http://www.cyrnus.com/cgi-bin/rollem.cgi with my email entered into one of the fields and yours in another so that the roll is sent to me.
  • Character creation will be done using method V in the Player's Handbook (PHB). In short, roll 4d6 dropping the lowest die on the dice roller 6 times and assign those stats as desired. Don't create a character until I tell you you're in the game.

That should be it! I'll edit and add more if needed.

 

I do have a few custom rules:

 

Magic & Priests

Custom Races (to be posted and linked)

 

Once we have a game thread, I will link it here.

 

Do not post in the game thread unless approved to do so by me. You need to create a character and submit a character sheet to me that I approve of before you will be able to post. I plan to have people join the thread to role play as I gather players before kicking off into the action.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Magic & Priest Custom Rules

There is no divine/arcane magic. All domains/schools are just parts of the same magic and are called domains. Priests are no longer their own class, but a specialized class of wizard that have their magic augmented by the gods. Magical ability is an inborn trait that begins to present itself in early puberty. You either have it or don’t. For player characters (PCs), those PCs that have classes of a magical nature have the spark, those that don't do not.

 

Armor- Casting magic is possible with armor, it is just much less effective. The foreign materials interfere with the flow of mystical energy in and around the body, which is essential to the casting. Leather and hide based armor cause a 50% decrease in effectiveness (damage, range, likelyhood of success, etc.). Metal based armor such as chain mail and plate cause a 75% decrease. Composite armor such as banded, scale, or brigadine cause a 66% decrease. This stacks with the Priest casting benefits and penalties.

 

Wizards- These are the general spellcasters. Wizards have access to only a few domains to begin as dictated by his intelligence proficiency bonus (#languages). During creation, the player character chooses half of these, rounded up. The rest are rolled for randomly. These are the only domains that a wizard may learn spells from, he simply does not have the inborn talent for the others. The number of chosen/random school may be changed by the DM, but it is suggested that the player be allowed to chose at least a few of them.
Every 4 levels the wizard gains access to a new domain as his body grows accustomed to the flow of mystical energy and adapts in new ways. This new school is randomly rolled for and is always an adjacent domain to one the wizard already has access to. A number should be assigned to each possible new school learned and the roll completed.
Limit of spells able to be learned of each spell level still apply.

 

Priests- Priests are a specialty wizard that devote themselves to the ideals of one of the gods and receive their favor. All of the above applies to them in addition to the following.
 

Benefits:

• Spells from their diety’s domains are 25% more effective.
• Spells from their diety’s domains receive half the typical armor penalty.
 

Penalties:

• Spells not from their diety’s domains are 50% less effective.

 

Mana- Mana will be used in the place of memorizing spells with wisdom being the driving stat for bonus mana for wizards and charisma for bards. Spell books are still needed and spells must be read and studied for one hour a day to ensure that the runes and glyphs are memorized and ingrained in one's mind properly. Failure to do so results in a 20% chance of failure for each day the book is not studied and a 5% chance on "success" for each day of the spell going wrnog. Spell components are also still needed. The table for base mana at each level is below as well as the table for bonus mana for high ability scores.

 

In general, mana cost for a given spell is 1 for 1st level and increases by 2 for each spell level i.e. Level 2 base cost is 3, level 3 base cost is 5, etc. This varies for spells that are dependent on caster level. For those, their base cost is that of the lowest caster level it can be cast at. For each caster level higher the caster wishes to cast it as, the mana cost increases by 1. The spell may only be increased in power to the maximum spell level that the wizard can cast.

 

For example, magic missile is a level 1 spell that typically fire 1 magic missile, plus an extra for each spell level that wizard is capable of casting up to a maximum of 5 (which happens at level 9 when he gains the ability to cast 5th level spells). A level 5 wizard has a max spell level of 3. If he cast magic missile, he would cast 1 missile at a cost of 1 mana, 2 (the 2nd spell level form) at a cost of 1+1=2 mana, and 3 (the 3rd spell level form) at a cost of 1+2=3 mana. He may not increase to 4 missiles, the spell’s 4th level form, until he reaches 7th level and can cast 4th level spells.

 

For specific spells that may be overpowered due to this new system I may impose a different mana cost than outlined above, but it should cover most.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

custom race post forthcoming

[This is Seth]

Email me rule book so I can read on the plane on Sunday!

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Email me rule book so I can read on the plane on Sunday!

I did. I have the pdf version as well if you'd prefer that (I just adobe'd the word doc, so no bookmarks or anything).

[This is Seth]

I think this RTF will work, I'll test on the tablet when next I head upstairs. 

[EchoWolf]

I'm a complete noob but have always wanted to play, can commit to either a fast paced or slow paced game if you'll have me

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

PM me your email for the documents.

Sent from my iPhone- please forgive length and autocorrects (yes, I'm blaming it on the phone).

[EchoWolf]

Done

[mitch_dee]

I have not played D&D in over 20 years ( played lots of Rifts/Paladium mega-verse games). I would be interested in the rules for this game, I will pm you my e-mail. I would like to read over the rules, but would be interested in joining if you have room, but if a more experienced player needs a slot I would gladly yield.

All in all I miss the old Rifts world and have been kicking myself for getting rid of all my books so long ago. The rpg itch has been getting to me though so learning something new might help that. Plus I just miss making characters!

[pwallace]

Started constructing my character. happy so far. Question Corey, do you want us to link you to the rolls we do for our stats and all that or just for when we are actually playing?

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Go ahead and PM me your info Mitch.

Started constructing my character. happy so far. Question Corey, do you want us to link you to the rolls we do for our stats and all that or just for when we are actually playing?

Stats are probably the most important one. Any and all rolls you make for anything should be emailed to me from the server as laid out in the first post.For stats, the values in the various fields should look like the below.

[pwallace]

alright will do. I am assuming you are going to want a copy of our character sheets aswell. Mind if I email you when i believe it to be done so I can get it checked over?

[mitch_dee]

Go ahead and PM me your info Mitch.

I believe I did, but have had some issues lately with my iPad so will resend again, please ignore if you receive it twice.

 

Even if I don't make the group, I'm glad I saw this post.  I spent 4 hours last night browsing and reading a 5900+ page .pdf that appears to contain all the 2nd ed books!!  It appears to have: Players Handbook, DM's Guide, Monster Manual, "The Complete... Handbook" for every main class and race, plus a few other source books for lore, myth, Magic, equipment and 3 "Players Option" guides.

 

I have a feeling I will be creating numerous characters in the near future just for fun!!

 

Noob question as for the group composition: are we needing certain roles to be filled, or is it going to be come as you are and what group of classes we end up with is what we get?  I have a tendency to role characters based on group need and then flush them out as I create them.

 

Question 2: How do you want character sheets handled?  Do you have a specific format or sheet we should use?

[JessOfAllTrades]

If I'm welcome, can I keep my bard from the other game that I never posted in?  Unless we need something else for the sake of party balance. I just love me 2nd ed. bards.

[Raev]

My biggest nerd fact is that I actually played D&D for 21 years.  I learned it at school when I was around 12 or so, played with some fellas around the neighborhood, then started to play it with some friends and older neighborhood fellas that picked up the habit while in Egypt in the Army.

 

Every other weekend from 1996-a few months ago, the same table got together and hung out/played.  I finally threw out my 2nd Edition books (around 40 of them) about a month ago.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

alright will do. I am assuming you are going to want a copy of our character sheets aswell. Mind if I email you when i believe it to be done so I can get it checked over?

 

Oh yeah, I'll need copies of your sheets to make sure everything is covered as well as for my own DM tracking.

 

I believe I did, but have had some issues lately with my iPad so will resend again, please ignore if you receive it twice.

 

Even if I don't make the group, I'm glad I saw this post.  I spent 4 hours last night browsing and reading a 5900+ page .pdf that appears to contain all the 2nd ed books!!  It appears to have: Players Handbook, DM's Guide, Monster Manual, "The Complete... Handbook" for every main class and race, plus a few other source books for lore, myth, Magic, equipment and 3 "Players Option" guides.

 

I have a feeling I will be creating numerous characters in the near future just for fun!!

 

Noob question as for the group composition: are we needing certain roles to be filled, or is it going to be come as you are and what group of classes we end up with is what we get?  I have a tendency to role characters based on group need and then flush them out as I create them.

 

Question 2: How do you want character sheets handled?  Do you have a specific format or sheet we should use?

 

Yeah, I used to have a dozen or so characters I created for fun of various levels ready for pick up, 1 off games. All kinds of character concepts you can make with all the optional rules.

 

As for group comp, that's up to you guys to decide. You can all just do your thing and see if you survive or coordinate to make sure you have the rolls covered.

 

I do have a specific format sheet that will make everything easier on you to create, or at least that's the intent. Once you PM me your email I'll send it.

If I'm welcome, can I keep my bard from the other game that I never posted in?  Unless we need something else for the sake of party balance. I just love me 2nd ed. bards.

 

Sure, I'll have rathrune verify the stats since they were sent to him. I ask that you fill in the new template I'm going to send out with all the info, or I can do it if you used my old template and you just send me that.

My biggest nerd fact is that I actually played D&D for 21 years.  I learned it at school when I was around 12 or so, played with some fellas around the neighborhood, then started to play it with some friends and older neighborhood fellas that picked up the habit while in Egypt in the Army.

 

Every other weekend from 1996-a few months ago, the same table got together and hung out/played.  I finally threw out my 2nd Edition books (around 40 of them) about a month ago.

 

There's a pdf floating around here that has all the books like mentioned above. Anyone wanna send me or post the link so I have them all in one doc? That would be awesome.

 

I do need to flesh out the magic schools and make new magic diagrams for anyone who wants to get into the weeds there. I should have that done at some point this week. Until then, hold off on chosing domains your caster has access to if you are going with a caster class.

[mitch_dee]

There's a pdf floating around here that has all the books like mentioned above. Anyone wanna send me or post the link so I have them all in one doc? That would be awesome.

 

Please excuse the first NSFW picture from the cover, just a warning for anyone at work or with kids around them when they click the link:

http://dnd.liselle.net/PDF_Files_Pics/The%20Complete%20Advanced%20Dungeons%20&%20Dragons%202nd%20Edition%20Archive.pdf

This should give you the one I found and once opened you can save it as a pdf.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Not working right for me, sends me to a forum page.

[mitch_dee]

Not working right for me, sends me to a forum page.

weird, I sent it by e-mail using google drive.  Hope that works.

[mitch_dee]

Sorry to keep asking questions, but there are so many rules in so many books.......my brain is sinking!

 

I am looking at making a fighter but I was wondering which rules for weapon specialization you are going to use, the ones from the PHB or the optional ones from the "Player's Option: Combat & tactics" book.  Was thinking of making the fighter a weapons master path if an option.

[Photobrandon]

If there is still room I'm very interested in joining.  My D&D experience is with 2nd edition exclusively, still have all of my books, and have been wanting to join a play by post game for a couple of months now.  I can easily do the 2 posts per week minimum, have hours and hours of downtime a night at work so will likely be playing from here.

As far as class I'm pretty open to just about anything the group needs.  I tend towards caster classes but happy just playing.

PMing my e-mail to you Gainsdalf =)

[pwallace]

Jsut a thought but coudl we get a list of the "approved" players then we can say waht we are thinking about for classes and build the party that way?

[EchoWolf]

I don't mind standing aside for more experienced players if there's no room left

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

I will allow kits and players options rules on a case by case basis. Some are overpowered or interfere with other rules, so each will need to be approved first. I will use the specialization for fighters from the PHB. I need to review the mastery rules from the options book before I say yes to using them in your case instead. I'm not a rules nut, I let people make the characters they like for fun and then punish them in game if I feel they're trying to take advantage of the rules instead of using them for fun.

As for approved players, we have:

This is Seth

Jofalltrades

Rathrune

Raev

Fluffyrin42

Pwallace

Echo wolf

Mitch dee

You other guys that PM'd me, sorry, by we filled up fast. Rathrune might be looking for people for his game and you're still welcome to hang around the OOC thread here. You have first dibs on any spots that open up.