Looking for Players, play by chat, 5th edition

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Zelknolf
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Looking for Players, play by chat, 5th edition

Post by Zelknolf »

The topic pretty well says it. I'm keen on DMing a 5th edition campaign. I don't have any fancy newfangled anything in mind in terms of software, but we have multiple kinds of chat software, and roll20 continues to be a thing (though I wouldn't be using voice, so that'd be more for the dice and character sheet features).

I haven't selected a particular time slot, though I do have a couple games already and a regular day job, living in U.S. central time, so that'd need to be taken into account.

Setting would be homebrewed, trying to be a little bit grimmer than your typical D&D world. To match, there would be some house rules that prevent building cities on magic (so non-repeated use of spells like Goodberry works as written, but trying to survive exclusively Goodberries would result in some serious problems) and some mild alterations to resting (specifically, I'm going to make people roll medicine to spend hit dice on a short rest -- getting care lets you extend your vitality, but sipping beer and joking about farts just makes you drunk and giggly). I'd like to use the 5e SRD for as much of the rest as is possible, because a PHB is still like fifty bucks and I don't want to ask a table full of people to each buy one (and I'd certainly never be in public suggesting that people steal one) -- but that also means I'm totally going to have to house rule the mechanical part of your character's background (unless you pick Acolyte), potentially your subclass (because having a choice of any item from a list of one item is better known as "not a choice"), and any feats (unless you pick Grappler).

Of course, we're in a regular ol' DMed campaign, so trusting the DM's judgment is hopefully less of an ask than it would be in the context of a many-DM world, and the most-complex technology used is text in a chat, so if my judgment sucks, I can adjust more or less as soon as I notice.

Ideally I'd fill my virtual table; I usually view six players as the correct number for this purpose. I don't require that they all be from ALFA, if you know someone who would play in this but not in our NWN2 offerings. Post here if you're interested; a whenisgood will follow if there's enough interest for us to coordinate.
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Re: Looking for Players, play by chat, 5th edition

Post by Analogkid »

I would be up for it..could bring another player if theres room
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Re: Looking for Players, play by chat, 5th edition

Post by FoamBats4All »

I'm game.
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Re: Looking for Players, play by chat, 5th edition

Post by Zelknolf »

Two responses and a promise from Rumple to be fickle is a bit light (provided we can find a timeslot that's reasonable for America and New Zealand, but we'd likely clash with other running sessions); definitely room if AK's bringing in another person (bringing the kid in?), but that gets us up to 3-4 players... probably 2-3, because the schedule demon usually eats someone early. I've already prodded the non-ALFA folk I know, and their dance cards are already full.

Do we know other folk to poke?
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Re: Looking for Players, play by chat, 5th edition

Post by FoamBats4All »

I'd invite jerks from my local games, but they're jerks, and can't assemble a game due to schedules anyway. College gaming buddies were more fun when they didn't have to hold down a job or three, each with schedules determined by dart throws.
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Re: Looking for Players, play by chat, 5th edition

Post by HEEGZ »

I am interested. My schedule is really busy these days, so that is the clincher for me I think.
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Re: Looking for Players, play by chat, 5th edition

Post by Analogkid »

yeah the other player is my older son ...but hes pretty good in RP
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Galadorn
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Re: Looking for Players, play by chat, 5th edition

Post by Galadorn »

Very cool.

I'd love too but scheduling and not enough time and rather play at a table will count me out.

Good luck I wish I could.
Zelknolf
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Re: Looking for Players, play by chat, 5th edition

Post by Zelknolf »

Analogkid wrote:yeah the other player is my older son ...but hes pretty good in RP
Hmm... this makes it sound like I was sounding accusatory in my mention. Sorry if that's so. Your son is welcome to join us. I just brought it up because I'd remembered previous conversations where you'd mentioned enjoying gaming with your son and the struggle of looking for group.


I'll try to poke a couple more people still; I don't have high hopes, but I don't have zero hopes either. Will post a whenisgood and a setting hook tomorrow regardless. I think we can avoid an empty table with five people interested.
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Re: Looking for Players, play by chat, 5th edition

Post by Zelknolf »

Definitely enough interest, with shad0wfax responding in chat as well, so folk please respond to the whenisgood:

http://whenisgood.net/ctjn5j2

Foam also offers to set up a Discord channel, so players can use voice if they like even if the DM doesn't.

As promised, a post containing the setting we'll start with:
Spoiler:
It was a thousand years, almost exactly, after the fall of the old empires and the great burning brought by the dragons' awakening when a foolhardy expedition across the Toked Ocean turned up a significant amount of luck to those who set out on it. A "flagship," if any could call it that, attended by a single uncommonly-sturdy sloop used a compass, a sextant, and dead reckoning to find their way to land across the uncharted ocean, and descriptions of this land spread immediately once the expedition returned, with the rumor that they brought a dragon egg for the king of Keluftmalk, and became rich by veins of salt that could be mined with a spade and a few spare minutes.

The dragon's egg wouldn't be confirmed. They brought a gift to Keluftmalk, and the ancient dwarven city found a sudden desire to invest in a settlement, but none would say what exactly the gift was, and such tales came to be a thought of fancy, in that the first settlement in this new land was built atop the rugged cliffs near the northern tip of a sea so rich in mineral that it waxes and wanes a flourescent pink with the rains, which the people came to call The Rusted Sea for its tint.

The salt mines were indeed little more than peasants with rakes, shovels, and big sacks to fill, as the spring brought rains that caused the sea to overflow into craggy ground and shallow pools, and the summers baked them into cakes that could be easily pulled, but the convenience of seasons had brought the previous success back to the sponsors, and soon the desire to settle and harvest pushed southward on the coast of the Rusted Sea. The site with the best minerals proved to be the most isolated possible – the Rusted Sea hosts no fish, though a feeble population of clams could be found at the mouths of some rivers, just where they empty into the sea – but it was on the delta of a river barely wide enough to acquire a delta that the best brine pools, and thus the best salt harvests, were found.

The land claim was contested between the Anmaulcan empire and Keluftmalk, and a brief fight broke out that pitted Keluftmalk's fortifications and technology against Anmaulca's vast armies, but it was clear by the first winter that no land would change hands in this conflict, and treaty became enticing in the prospect of no plunder to be acquired. They agreed to take turns selecting pools to charter for their people, with the first two picks going to Keluftmalk, but with the government established by the Anmaulcan empire. A distinguished officer from the war was thus made a peer, and the region dubbed the Barony of Versberg for him to govern, and both Keluftmalk and the Anmaulcan empire prompty sent merchants and missionaries to try to control the region with commerce and philosophy.

The barony itself developed as a town of shacks clustered around the river and a skid road, the latter existing because the river couldn't effectively float logs. Industry and infrastructure exist only so much as is necessary to get salt onto ships, and what farms and livestock can be raised on the craggy terrain aren't enough to feed the populace alone. Fortunately, they have the means to preserve food abundantly available, and the people have valuable resources to trade for more. Though they attempt to expand, and farm more for their sustenance, the barony quickly learned that the land had natives, largely the various sorts of green skins that had been forced into the tundras in the old world, though they had built empires of their own here.


The campaign begins here, with players being residents of Versberg, for whatever reason, ten years after its founding. Life is brutal, and often violent, typically because of the constant struggles over land and resources with the native people. Though a sense of competition and distrust exists between the dwarven inhabitants and the human inhabitants of Versberg, this mostly manifests in trickery and market pressure, and Baron Versberg is known to be swift and severe in punishing any action that could be seen as an act of war if it were not immediately dubbed criminal. The government otherwise avoids intervention. As with most people living at this level of technology, work and religion dominates daily life, with prayer coming shortly after the day's work. Most work is agriculture, insofar as it can be done in the largely-salted earth, and service in the barony's militia, which is frequently called on to handle conflicts with the greenskins. A handful of professional merchants, soldiers, and artisans are part of the population, as well as a small ecclesiastic presence from the churches of Bazzurdin, Ishania, and Raltonin.
Definitions of Terms, which might add context to the above:
Spoiler:
Keluftmalk
Keluftmalk is an ancient dwarven city, which has over the course of thousands of years fallen and resettled repeatedly. The city holds the only available records of the dragons' awakening which are believed to have been written at the time, carved into a great vault dug under the mountain it was built into. The story claims that the ancient dwarves built an army of stone men to fight the certain doom of the races of men, and it was housed in this vault until what seemed to be the end of days, but the claim is disputed. Still, the structure of Keluftmalk spans many altitudes on its similarly-named mountain, and they continue to survive as a very-successful city state through their mineral wealth and the citycrafting contributed to by countless generations.

Keluftmalk is ruled by a monarchy, and social position is largely merchantile. Though the king can bestow or revoke titles, this comes with little prestige when compared to the regard given to rich merchants or artisans whose work is so demanded that they become rich off of it. The king is, technically, an absolute monarch, but tradition has held that the seven most-prominent families make a council that handles the day-to-day operation of the city by majority vote, and the king thus mostly concerns himself with military and international affairs.


The Anmaulcan Empire
The Anmaulcan Empire is a collection of eastern countries that are collectively ruled by House Anmaulca – a noble house that has in its history passed between many families, which each dynastic struggle resulting in the winner claiming the empire's name. The Anmaulcans generally seek to establish a great kingdom with the glory and abundance spoken of in religious prophecy, though they rule with a relatively light touch, usually leaving the governments of conquered peoples intact, save for that they are forbidden from a handful of practices that the Anmaulcans find especially reprehensible (slavery being the one that prompts the most unreset in their client countries, though the Anmaulcans also require almshouses be built, forbids torture, and stikes any legal punishment that results in mutilation from legal codes), and the conquered peoples pay tax to the Anmaulcan empire.

The Anmaulcan Empire's people mostly stratify themselves by military service and religious devotion, with the most-respected people being veterans who are explicitly blessed by the gods. Though there is no law to enforce it as such, the center of the empire, and those peoples who have adopted Anmaulcan culture, feel compelled to support their most-distinguished veterans, who in turn typically adopt a middling-to-humble quality of life and adopt a role similar to clergy's, advising, mentoring, and supporting the community as they're able. Though they are not wealthy, they typically wield enormous influence, and can often expect sudden needs to be financed by a merchant who is keen on the reputation for having done so.
And religions, in the likelihood that we have divine spellcasters (all gods bless all kinds of divine spellcasters -- to them, it's the difference between shredded paper and wood chips in the bottom of your adorable little hamster cage *pinches cheeks*)
Spoiler:
Of note that the gods, insofar as they understand themselves, are formless and genderless -- they are given attributes by their worshippers, which don't apply consistently across cultures-- though domains and ideologies do. For the one we play in, this is how most people would understand them.
Bazzurdin (LN) -- god of commerce, artisans, and scholars -- more generally contracts and obligations.
Caralil (CG) -- god of art, archery, and rebellion -- more generally creative energy and inspiration.
Dopumeh (TN) -- god of transitions -- thus literally doorways and crossroads, but metaphorically birth, death, sunrise/set, etc.
Garshwynn (LE) -- god of battle and leadership -- particularly mechanisms to enforce meritocracy.
Ishania (NG) -- goddess of love, beauty, and fertility -- more generally all forms of compassion and charity.
Karn (TN, leans evil) -- goddess of fire (an elemental deity; she is just in charge of fire, but is portrayed as intensely passionate and vigorous)
Lyca (NE) -- goddess of strength and wisdom -- more generally the engines of progress and personal development.
Pazunish (CE) -- god of destruction, entropy, and the hunt -- more generally stewardship over necessary things that involve a short-term hardship.
Raltonin (LG) -- god of knighthood, nobility, and kings -- and more-generally the obligation to do good that comes with privilege and power.
Sylahisi (TN, leans chaotic) -- goddess of wind (an elemental deity; she is just in charge of wind, but is portrayed as fickle and easily distracted)
Thuun (TN, leans lawful) -- god of earth (an elemental deity; he is just in charge of earth, but is portrayed as stubborn and bellicose.
Tywekia (CN) -- goddess of magic and prophecy -- more generally concepts of absurdity and philosophical responses to it.
Uashyl (TN, leans good) -- goddess of water (an elemental deity; she is just in charge of wind, but is portrayed as gentle and adaptable.
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Re: Looking for Players, play by chat, 5th edition

Post by HEEGZ »

[edit]
My idea at the moment is towards some sort of oracle/seer type of PC. Could go with human, dwarf, aasimar, half elf, or tiefling. Looking at Warlock (tome/old one), druid, cleric, bard, or maybe wizard. What about a weird sort of cleric/warlock multiclass? Are we starting at level one?
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Re: Looking for Players, play by chat, 5th edition

Post by Analogkid »

I could play something more on the human fighter/melee end of things....though the particulars are still be up in the air.

Voice chat always is more fun for me as I tend to be more expressive that way....I guess....who isnt?




As for my son, hes considering some manner of arcane user....possibly a warlock
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Re: Looking for Players, play by chat, 5th edition

Post by Zelknolf »

Unfortunately, the whenisgood puts red everywhere (and I learned this time that whenisgood stops putting dots on cells and just goes over to numbers at a certain point; the schedules of people on this thread aren't terribly compatible). The fewest number of people that I can cut is two, by putting it Friday at 8p Central/6p Pacific/Saturday@3p New Zealand, which would be outside of AK's/Robert's availability. I can't do much but apologize there; I had to let someone down, so I have to pick the one that lets the fewest people down.


// edit -- double negatives mean the opposite of what you probably mean, and nobody on this thread speaks a dialect of English where they're normal.
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Re: Looking for Players, play by chat, 5th edition

Post by Zelknolf »

So, next step would be getting characters rolled.

Starting at level 1; going to ask to skip any planetouched or dragonborn. I'd have some trouble working out how those characters would get to Versberg, looking as dramatic as 5e makes them. Stats are 4d6, drop the lowest, arrange as you please; rolling with the chat bot in tech should keep people honest. If the sum of your modifiers is less than 1, that's a mulligan (if you want it to be, though I ask that we be reasonable; don't make a character to be a burden on the group -- or, at least, get the group's consent before being a burden). I might ask for a stat adjustment if someone ends up wildly outside of the bounds of the rest of the party, but for four players and a DM, "close enough" is a pretty wide range.

SRD5 is still our source of truth; I can be bothered in chat if we need to make a new subclass to fit a concept, or if we need to dig up PHB mechanics for one that already exists. The PHB is pretty reasonable, so the answer is very likely to be "sure, let's use that." I'd like to make it an explicit inclusion when we bring something up from the PHB, though, so we don't end up in a state of one player having access to mechanics that another player couldn't know existed.

We'll plan on meeting this Friday (Feb 3) 8 pm U.S. central to answer questions, finalize any parts of character creation that we didn't resolve before then (it looks like we don't have a lot of shared availability outside of the session time, so it seems likely that I just won't be able to catch someone until Friday), work out any shared backstory stuff, and also to make sure that everyone understands what everyone else is playing. First session of actual play will be on the following Friday (Feb 10).
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Re: Looking for Players, play by chat, 5th edition

Post by Galadorn »

shoot! just thought of this....
Does this mean y'all won't be playing ALFA this Friday night? :( :( yet another barrier to ALFA login! :(
poor ALFA...
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