DND Game 1 Post Mortem (131 views)

[eric]

post thoughts here

i will be making two large posts

[eric]

awards!

Bankz
Diehard

Incapacitated three separate times, spent about 80% of the match on his back, but fought to the bitter end.

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Duc
Late Bloomer

Took a little time to get going but landed some critical heals and delivered a ton of damage.

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Fecta
Singleminded

The Anatine Assassin delivered three attacks this game, all three of which were on TimPig. Cold blooded.

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Herb
AC -10

Didn't take a single point of damage all game. He who lives to run away, lives to run another day. And another. And another.

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JHB
Piñata

Absorbed eight attacks, joint most in the game. That's what the shield is for, folks.

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Pete
Give and Take

Took as much punishment as JHB but dished out almost twice as much damage. That's what the big sword is for, folks.

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SPL
Executioner

Took three of the six total kills, no one else had more than one.

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Tim
Pacifist

Only got one attack by choice off, was targeted for seven. Turned every cheek on his body. What a mensch.

[eric]

okay some thoughts on the game itself

like i said to herb you guys had some terrible luck with damage rolls. that's how it goes sometimes.

there were also some very questionable tactics involved, which is to be expected with new players. we finally started using flanking late in the game, which is good, but there were other map management issues, such as letting casters run amok all game long. it's hard because they're quick, but try to think of the map like a chessboard, you want to control the space, pin down the enemy in geometry that favors you and disfavors them. if people have suggestions to make the map clearer i'm all ears, it makes sense to me but this stuff is second nature to me.

another thing i want to encourage is people being more imaginative with their actions. the central premise of DnD is that i can make up the rules as i go, so try stuff out, i'll do what i can to make it happen and if i can't then we'll try something different. you could try tripping people, disarming them, feints, combo moves. dream stuff up! right now we're playing basketball and everyone is just shooting as soon as they get the ball, which is fine, but i think it'll be more fun if we switch it up a little. don't worry too much about the rules, just imagine doing something and i'll do the rules work to make it happen.

i don't know how people felt about class balance, i thought it worked out pretty well. casters are very dangerous in the early game and fighters are elite in the end game when casters are out of spells, that's how it's supposed to go. herb brought up cantrips (which are especially weak spells a spellcaster can use forever) but i don't think they're really necessary.

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okay, so administrative stuff. clearly texting people is the best way to notify them, and i think the hour limit was pretty good. outside of the weekends, jury duty, and when i was asleep, we averaged 41 minutes per move, which i think is pretty solid. we should be able to start a game on a monday and finish by friday at the latest, which i think is the way to go going forward. how was it on the player end? too much lag time? too many texts? definitely open to suggestion here, this is new territory for me too.

any other thoughts welcome. for a first time i think this went extremely well. i definitely want to stick with the arena scenario because it can fit any # of participants very easily. i definitely want to have a map rotation, but the idea of team vs team (vs team if necessary) is i think the best path.

[TimPig]

I'd prefer a text chain to a PM thread

[SPL]

I really still have no idea on what I was doing

[TimPig]

Aug 7, 2017 20:18:30 GMT -6 SPL said:

I really still have no idea on what I was doing

Same...It seems we have a great deal of flexibility, but I'm scared to take advantage.

[Bankz]

I enjoyed the game. I think a text chain is the preferred method of communication.

I feel I'm slightly more informed after that game but far from a true understanding

I'll play again

[TimPig]

I did very much appreciate the story-telling aspect and commentary provided by Eric. Made for some great entertainment.

I too would play again.

[Lazy Pete]

yeah this was a lot of fun. Felt like we were going to get routed but things balanced out a lot better once Duc got in the game.

[eric]

thanks lads

Aug 7, 2017 20:18:30 GMT -6 SPL said:

I really still have no idea on what I was doing

Aug 7, 2017 20:40:56 GMT -6 TimPig said:

Same...It seems we have a great deal of flexibility, but I'm scared to take advantage.

Aug 7, 2017 22:43:45 GMT -6 Bankz said:

I feel I'm slightly more informed after that game but far from a true understanding

so i wanted to stay away from getting into the math stuff because i felt it would be information overload, but it seems like i went too far in that direction. here's the plan: i'll work on a primer this week and have it up by monday at the latest, so it'll be ready for the start of the next game. it'll give a run down of the base mechanics and some examples for illustration. good feedback, i think this will be good.

[Heebs]

I thought it was fun.

I expected the wizard to be more of a glass cannon, but it turned out the rogue was the glass cannon.

I appreciated all of the color eric added. That is the stuff that makes DnD fun.

Thanks and I'd be glad to play again.