League Dungeons and Dragons Campaign (1,759 views)

[eric]

This came up in shout just now and I think it's a really amazing idea so let's see where it goes.

Dungeons and Dragons, What's That?

Dungeons and Dragons is a high fantasy role playing game. It's exactly like World of Warcraft except you play it with a dedicated and much smaller group, and a human instead of a computer runs the back end (what monsters do, when they do it, etc.); this is called the dungeon master or DM. If you haven't played WoW or the like, it's like Final Fantasy except you design and build your own character and each character in the party is controlled by a unique player. If you haven't played Final Fantasy either you're a liar and can't be trusted, bye.

Okay So How Would This Work?

For a first run I think the easiest thing to do would be for me to design and DM a quickie campaign, something we could blow through in an hour at the absolute most. Generally DnD parties are around five player characters, anything more than that and we'd probably have to split it into multiple sessions. The first session could be done in shout, we'd create the player characters and people like me and Heebs with more experience in this kind of thing could help with any questions. Once that's done I would design a campaign which shouldn't take more than a week, then we'd LIVE POD our adventure.

I think this could be a really fun league activity! If we have other DnD vets here or people have other questions please feel free to chime in.

[Delap]

never played DnD, but I love FF games and the Community DnD episode.

After Wednesday/Thursday this coming week I'll have a lot more time available, so I'd be down.

I'd like to be Hector the Well-Endowed.

[Lazy Pete]

Peter the Handsome reporting for duty. I also don't know what I'm doing

[Lazy Pete]

But I listened to the nerd poker podcast on earwolf so I feel like I'm semi aware of dnd lifestyle

[SPL]

I am confused, is this a video game, card game or some real life role play?

[eric]

Dec 4, 2016 7:27:34 GMT -6 SPL said:

I am confused, is this a video game, card game or some real life role play?

It is most like a video game, but without the video. You are encouraged to role play your character, but it's not strictly mandatory, you can play the game as a straightforward mechanical exercise.

We had some other questions come up in shout: no one will need to buy anything. For the first campaign I'm building a stripped down version of 3.5, so if you're incredibly keen on it that's what you should look for, but it won't be necessary, especially because I will also provide links to online searchable pdfs. All you'll really need to play is a phone to dial into the pod.

[KwYawnza]

I'm very interested.

[Heebs]

I am up for helping however I can. I can RP NPCs or play a PC.

[SPL]

Dec 4, 2016 11:27:20 GMT -6 eric said:

Dec 4, 2016 7:27:34 GMT -6 SPL said:

I am confused, is this a video game, card game or some real life role play?

It is most like a video game, but without the video. You are encouraged to role play your character, but it's not strictly mandatory, you can play the game as a straightforward mechanical exercise.

We had some other questions come up in shout: no one will need to buy anything. For the first campaign I'm building a stripped down version of 3.5, so if you're incredibly keen on it that's what you should look for, but it won't be necessary, especially because I will also provide links to online searchable pdfs. All you'll really need to play is a phone to dial into the pod.

Is this a board game? Don't understand how this works

[eric]

Dec 4, 2016 16:25:01 GMT -6 SPL said:

Dec 4, 2016 11:27:20 GMT -6 eric said:

It is most like a video game, but without the video. You are encouraged to role play your character, but it's not strictly mandatory, you can play the game as a straightforward mechanical exercise.

We had some other questions come up in shout: no one will need to buy anything. For the first campaign I'm building a stripped down version of 3.5, so if you're incredibly keen on it that's what you should look for, but it won't be necessary, especially because I will also provide links to online searchable pdfs. All you'll really need to play is a phone to dial into the pod.

Is this a board game? Don't understand how this works

You can think of it as a board game. You would have control of a player character and deploy it as you saw fit within the rules of the game. Attack a goblin, move twenty feet south, wear a set of full plate armor, etc. I as the dungeon master would control the board and inform you of the outcome of a given move.

It's just like Final Fantasy, except you play it with other people too.

[Majic]

I have never played but would be interested in this issue

[KwYawnza]

I can't wait to pants Peter the Handsome while he tries casting some magic and he gets eaten by a balrog

[ANK1990]

[eric]

Alright fellas we're gonna move forward with this. Step one as mentioned is building a character. I want to stress again that you don't HAVE to have a roleplay, you can play the game just as well with a collection of numbers, but in my experience it is more fun for each character to have a past, a story, etc. It's also not something you have to go into enormous hard and fast detail with, it's perfectly acceptable for characters to evolve over time.

Class

You don't have any.


No I kid. I kid. We're gonna go with four options:

The fighter is the meat of the party. The most health, the best armor, the biggest weapons. Generally not too bright, though.

The cleric channels the will of the gods, for better or for worse. The gods help those who help themselves, though, so the cleric puts a lot of stock in hit points, armor, and a mace to the face too. Jesus got up close and personal when he spit in your eye, clerics do no less.

The rogue is the tricksy one. If you want to beat down a door with your shoulder, be a fighter. If you want to pick the lock and save thousands on rehab bills, be a rogue. Same applies to combat: the rogue isn't gonna stand and bang with anything beyond a particularly anemic goblin child, but let a rogue navigate to the right spot and they'll kill the blaggard sure as blinking.

The wizard is the fancy pants. Could get knocked out by a stiff breeze and as useful in a butt kicking contest as a one legged human, but put a meat shield in front of him and he can rain fireballs on the masses. (Asbestos vests recommended for said meat shield.) Particularly altruistic wizards can focus on enhancing party members, or they can just cast lightning bolt and kill everything.

Stats

Strength - how well you swing a weapon, how easily you hit things, how hard you hit 'em
Dexterity - fine motor control, using a ranged weapon, dodginess
Constitution - toughness, endurance
Intelligence - how quick you learn, problem solving
Wisdom - how much you know, how much you've experienced
Charisma - force of personality, good looks, leadership

We're gonna be using 28 point builds: every stat has a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 18. It costs you one point for every stat increase up to 14, two points up to 16, and three points up to 18, so it takes a total of 16 points to have an 18 stat. The most important single stat for each class is Strength for Fighters, Wisdom for Clerics, Intelligence for Wizards, and Rogues really need everything, but everyone gets something out of every stat. Here are some archetype builds to get the ball rolling, you can select any of these or build your own.

Puny Wizard
10 Str, 15 Dex, 14 Con, 16 Int, 10 Wis, 8 Cha
Intelligence gives you more and better spells, Constitution gives you health, Dexterity helps you aim your ranged attacks. Bing bang boom. Wizards have a library of sixteen spells that they can choose from to memorize before an encounter, here's the selection I would roll with:
Level 0 - detect magic, acid splash, acid splash, telekinesis
Level 1 - expeditious retreat, detect secret doors, magic missile, magic missile
Level 2 - blur, scorching ray, web
Level 3 - lightning bolt, fireball

Battle Cleric
16 Str, 10 Dex, 14 Con, 8 Int, 16 Wis, 8 Cha
Clerics have to be in touching distance to cast their spells, so a cleric's gotta be prepared to be in the thick of the action, and as long as you're there you may as well crack some skulls. Clerics only have nine spell options and they are granted not from poring over some dusty book but just by asking their god nicely.
Level 1 - cure light wounds x 3, inflict light wounds, protection from evil
Level 2 - cure moderate wounds x 3, aid
Level 3 - cure serious wounds, inflict serious wounds, prayer

In each case you can cast only the spells that are listed without resting, so the Wizard could cast acid splash twice and no more. Think Final Fantasy the Original, not Final Fantasy 6. As we go along I will include a full description of all the spells, I just include these to help flesh out the picture.

Assassin
10 Str, 14 Dex, 10 Con, 16 Int, 14 Wis, 10 Cha
Rogues also have to be in touching distance but you can't hit what you can't see, so the assassin focuses on their skills more than brute force of arms: diplomacy, disable device, hide, listen, move silently, open lock, search, and spot are their bread and butter, meat and potatoes. You can also select three of bluff, disguise, escape artist, sleight of hand, tumble, and use magic device. Utilizing these skills allows the assassin to flank and sneak attack their opponent, then it's lights out.

Fighting Fighter
Fighters in this genre are the most boring class because all they do is wallop things, so the game gives them a ton of feats to choose from to wallop things in a huge variety of ways. For our purposes here's the fighter baseline:
16 Str, 8 Dex, 16 Con, 8 Int, 8 Wis, 10 Cha
From here you can choose three options:
Strength - 18 Str, unlocks Two Handed Fighting, Power Attack, and Cleave
Dexterity - 14 Dex, unlocks Two Weapon Fighting, Dodge, and Spring Attack
Intelligence - 14 Int, unlocks Combat Expertise, Improved Disarm, and Improved Trip
And every fighter type gets use of the intimidate skill.

If you really want to build an 18 Cha 16 Wis 8 everything else fighter, that's your prerogative. Also keep in mind that while these numbers are the baseline reality, you should feel free to build out everything else about your character: how tall are they? what hair style? any cool tattoos? (There's no such thing.) are they religious? agnostic? bicurious? There's a huge amount of lore for any number of scenarios, but I want you to feel free to just freestyle it. Blank canvas!

[eric]

I may have gotten slightly ahead of myself: what I would like from everyone who is interested in pursuing this is for them to build at least one character. Once we've got that settled we can start trying to schedule a time to run our campaign (once I've finished writing it). I want to keep gaming sessions at one hour max to start with. I've never run a campaign at all, let alone over the phone, so we'll all be breaking new ground.

[Heebs]

Can dump be a bard? I want to hear him freestyle in the tavern for free ale.

[Heebs]

Peter the Handsome
Human Fighter

Strength - 16 (12)
Dexterity - 8
Constitution - 12 (2)
Intelligence - 8
Wisdom - 8
Charisma - 16 (12)


Ankly the Deceiver
Half-elf Assassin

Strength - 10 (2)
Dexterity - 16 (12)
Constitution - 14 (8)
Intelligence - 10 (2)
Wisdom - 12 (4)
Charisma - 8

Sugarshaun the Restorer
Elf Cleric

Strength - 14 (8)
Dexterity - 10 (2)
Constitution - 12 (6)
Intelligence - 10 (2)
Wisdom - 14 (8)
Charisma - 10 (2)

Dump the Dunce
Dwarf Wizard

Strength - 14 (8)
Dexterity - 8
Constitution - 18 (20)
Intelligence - 8
Wisdom - 8
Charisma - 8

Our party of three heroes and a retarded dwarf set out in search of adventure!

[Lazy Pete]

Dec 5, 2016 18:58:52 GMT -6 Heebs said:

Peter the Handsome
Human Fighter

Strength - 16 (12)
Dexterity - 8
Constitution - 12 (2)
Intelligence - 8
Wisdom - 8
Charisma - 16 (12)


Ankly the Deceiver
Half-elf Assassin

Strength - 10 (2)
Dexterity - 16 (12)
Constitution - 14 (8)
Intelligence - 10 (2)
Wisdom - 12 (4)
Charisma - 8

Sugarshaun the Restorer
Elf Cleric

Strength - 14 (8)
Dexterity - 10 (2)
Constitution - 12 (6)
Intelligence - 10 (2)
Wisdom - 14 (8)
Charisma - 10 (2)

Dump the Dunce
Dwarf Wizard

Strength - 14 (8)
Dexterity - 8
Constitution - 18 (20)
Intelligence - 8
Wisdom - 8
Charisma - 8

Our party of three heroes and a retarded dwarf set out in search of adventure!

Heebs, what are the numbers in parentheses after the stats?

[Heebs]

The cost to upgrade the stat from 8. Your con should actually be (4).

[Deleted]

I did not sign up for this

[Lazy Pete]

I like Heebs' build for me. I want to play a Zap Branigan-type

[Heebs]

Dec 6, 2016 10:59:47 GMT -6 Lazy Pete said:

I like Heebs' build for me. I want to play a Zap Branigan-type

I can't wait for the first time Peter the Handsome shows up at the tavern. I see some awkward roleplay between Pete and eric as Pete asks the barmaid up to his room and rolls a 20 (that's very good).

[eric]

Dec 6, 2016 10:57:49 GMT -6 Heebs said:

The cost to upgrade the stat from 8. Your con should actually be (4).

the point buy system as described in my post gives:

Peter the Handsome
Human Fighter

Strength - 16 (10)
Dexterity - 8
Constitution - 12 (4)
Intelligence - 8
Wisdom - 8
Charisma - 16 (10)
total 24

Ankly the Deceiver
Half-elf Assassin

Strength - 10 (2)
Dexterity - 16 (10)
Constitution - 14 (6)
Intelligence - 10 (2)
Wisdom - 12 (4)
Charisma - 8
total 24

Sugarshaun the Restorer
Elf Cleric

Strength - 14 (6)
Dexterity - 10 (2)
Constitution - 12 (4)
Intelligence - 10 (2)
Wisdom - 14 (6)
Charisma - 10 (2)
total 22

Dump the Dunce
Dwarf Wizard

Strength - 14 (8)
Dexterity - 8
Constitution - 18 (16)
Intelligence - 8
Wisdom - 8
Charisma - 8
total 24

.

i would recommend changing pete to 10 dex 14 con, ank to 14 int, shaun to 16 wis, and dump to 1 cha lmbo

[Lazy Pete]

Dec 6, 2016 11:31:02 GMT -6 eric said:

i would recommend changing pete to 10 dex 14 con

so it shall come to pass

[Face-in]

Where is Druce when we need to him to shit all over this

[Heebs]

Dec 6, 2016 16:59:00 GMT -6 Face-in said:

Where is Druce when we need to him to shit all over this

Where is Bankz when we need someone to stir the . . . oh, wait. We've got Fason!

[Heebs]

Dec 6, 2016 11:39:21 GMT -6 Lazy Pete said:

Dec 6, 2016 11:31:02 GMT -6 eric said:

i would recommend changing pete to 10 dex 14 con

so it shall come to pass

He's just recommending increases to dexterity and constitution in hopes of trying to nerf your charisma to avoid having the role play a barmaid that has fallen for your debonair advances. Don't fall for it.

[Face-in]

Dec 6, 2016 17:42:49 GMT -6 Heebs said:

Dec 6, 2016 16:59:00 GMT -6 Face-in said:

Where is Druce when we need to him to shit all over this

Where is Bankz when we need someone to stir the . . . oh, wait. We've got Fason!

Resorting to low blows because I joked about your precious Dungeons and Dragons.

Sad!

[Heebs]

Dec 6, 2016 18:53:18 GMT -6 Face-in said:

Dec 6, 2016 17:42:49 GMT -6 Heebs said:

Where is Bankz when we need someone to stir the . . . oh, wait. We've got Fason!

Resorting to low blows because I joked about your precious Dungeons and Dragons.

Sad!

You did tag Druce knowing the consequences.

[eric]

Dec 6, 2016 17:44:48 GMT -6 Heebs said:

Dec 6, 2016 11:39:21 GMT -6 Lazy Pete said:

so it shall come to pass

He's just recommending increases to dexterity and constitution in hopes of trying to nerf your charisma to avoid having the role play a barmaid that has fallen for your debonair advances. Don't fall for it.

he doesn't get any decreases, you were operating under a different point buy system

IN BED



roll d20 for GETTING BURNED

NO SAVE