A Land Far Away

Jayde and Mirabai (formerly FanaticusIncendi) have volunteered our time to DM in the ALFA community. Our hope is that we can co-create, along with the player-base at large, interesting and fulfilling stories for both PCs and the servers.

In pursuing this goal, we feel it is important to manage expectations and let people know what our DMing style is. So here we go:

In a perfect world, we would have enough time to devote attention to everybody, individually and as groups, and everybody would always be 100% happy with the outcome. The reality is that time is finite, and we have other things to do that don't necessarily involve ALFA and the way we do things is not going to please everyone in the moment. Hopefully, given time to look back on the adventures we have run, everybody will say, "Damn, those were fun times," even if at the time it seemed less so.

Plot-centric DMing

Our overarching global plot DM style is plot-centric. That means that we have a story that is happening and that any PC can take part, so long as it makes IC sense. In order to make this plot more diverse and full of twists, turns, suspense, danger, and all of the other things a good plot might have, not all parts of the plot are good for all PCs. Currently, the most inclusive part of the plot is happening in TSM. Things will shift and change. The point here is for folks not to feel like we are intentionally leaving them out because we don't like them, don't like their PC, don't like how they RP, etc. The story is the story, and if today's story calls for zombie animating necromancers, undead hunters need not apply (though be certain that the arc will come around to the undead hunters as the plot unfolds).

PC-centric DMing

While our global plot interest us greatly and will take up the bulk of our DMing attention, we do not want to leave players standing forlorn in the dust. We like to see players pursuing personal threads for their PCs and we want to be able to facilitate that. But I repeat, our time is finite. We will simply not be able to handle everything for everyone. Sometimes a player's story will stick out in some way and we'll help pursue that for them. This doesn't mean we don't like other players' storys, goals, and motivations. It does not mean that we think other players' personal threads are cheesy or stupid.

Group Management

Invariably, when operating in groups (especially non-cohesive groups), there will come times when everyone is trying to do their own thing, sometimes at odds with one another. The biggest issue is that there are several players all sending 'Wall of Text'' and we are one or two individuals trying to process all of it. When this happens, note the following:

If a character ever emotes that they do something without waiting for the DM to say that they succeeded or not, they fail. "Grabs the man's pants and pulls them down." You fail. Not only will you fail, but we will embarrass you with the description of your failure. Take the action and divide it into it's parts, and tell us what you are 'attempting' to do. "Tries to grab the man's pants." This gives us time to see what you are doing, decide how we want to roll with it, and move on.

When multiple characters are trying to do things at once, we will go into turn based sequencing. This will often mean initiative rolls. We will then handle things one at a time. This will slow things down considerably. We suggest waiting until others have finished doing whatever they were doing and giving them a chance to do it.

Finally, at any time, while we are DMing, a PC may call PAUSE on the DM channel. We will try to immediately pause the game and see whats up. You might consider spamming the DM channel with 'Pause' until the game actually pauses. Please only do this if you know a DM that is OK with this is on. Curmudgeon may not care that you want a pause, and he may smite you for spamming him.

Also, we may pause the game, especially during combat, to allow people to gather their thoughts. But we also put it in your hands. Please don't abuse this.

Level Diversity

There are times when we jump on and decide to do some DMing for a specific group. Our preference is to keep groups within a certain level range, as this allows us to manage encounter difficulty with ease. Dungeons and Dragons rules were developed with a cohesive party in mind, with characters all within 1-2 levels of one another. Introducing an 8th level character into a 3d level party skews the CR.

Therefore, please keep in mind, when inviting other PCs along, that there is a meta ideal that we might consider adhering to. If you are a high level character and see a low level group about to get some DM attention, try to allow these low level characters a chance at their own glory. If you go with them and there is an encounter, your character is generally going to come out on top and things will be far too easy for the low level characters. Conversely, if it is a high level group and low levels want to go, the high-levels might consider the merits of taking a greenhorn with them and how they might feel if the novice dies.

That said, if it's IC to come along, then by all means do so. HOWEVER, as a DM team, the consequences will be that if a high level character comes with a low level group, we will absolutely not spawn any sort of encounter. Encounters that the server spawns on the journey will be all that you find. If a low-level comes with a higher level group, we will not tone down the encounters. The party average will only take into account the high level characters when determining CR.

All of that said, there will be times when we will run something for everyone to come along on. We will let folks know when that is.

Skill Use and Spoon-Feeding

We are not going to spoon-feed the players with information on how to move on. Our hope is that all of the clues and information will come together in a way that is not entirely obtuse. But in the end, the characters need to figure it out. We are not in the habit of introducing various deus ex machina to keep PCs alive or to solve problems for them.

Along with this comes the use of skill and attribute checks. While we want characters to figure things out for themselves, we understand that the players are not the characters. Characters can often times do things that the players cannot. I would lay heavy odds that players with wizards are not as smart as their characters. So when the players are stymied by what is going on, skill-rolls and ability rolls are the order of the day. We will not prompt you for these rolls however. If you can't think to use your characters abilities on your own, we are not going to tell you.

This is not the same as prompting you for rolls regarding things that the players simply could not know to roll about (wisdom check to feel somebody is watching you, or listen or spot checks to see if someone is tailing you, etc), but if you are trying to figure out the clue, take it upon yourself to roll an Int check to see if your PC has a sudden epiphany on the situation. Always inform the DM when you are going to roll and what you are rolling for.

When using skills, as stated before, we are not our characters. You may be the most socially retarded person in the world, but you are playing a bard. You do not need to convince an NPC through RP to your way of thinking. This is what a diplomacy check is for. If you simply emote *tries to convince the shop owner to open the door for the PC even though it's just past closing time*, this is enough to elicit the skill roll. However, if you manage to throw in some good RP, we will grant you a circumstance bonus to that roll.

Skill checks have a DC that is determined before the roll is made. Those DCs are based off of table 4-3 in the Players Handbook. We will never look at the original die roll and say "Oh, he only rolled a 2, we'll say that's a fail". If your total skill roll beats the proposed DC, then you have succeeded.

Remember that is possible to assist others in skill or attribute rolls. The DC for such an attempt is 10 and each person successfully aiding applies a +2 circumstance modifier to the main character's roll. Obviously, common sense dictates how many people can assist in any given aid other attempt.

Alignment

We will grant people alignment shifts. While we as people understand that not everything is black and white and that it's not necessarily true that all people conform to one of 9 alignments, Dungeons & Dragons has rules and definitions that govern alignment. It is more than just a means of being able to pursue certain character classes. Certain spells and effects may or may not work on an individual based on their alignment.

Therefore, even though we personally don't think the D&D alignment system applies to most people, we abide by it and will tend to enforce a rather black and white viewpoint towards Law, Chaos, Good, and Evil.

Actions that uphold law, reinforce order, or impose organization will generally garner law points.

Actions that are against the law, reinforce anarchy, or impose individuality will generally garner chaos points.

Selfless actions that save or help others will generally garner good points.

Selfish actions that hurt or kill others will generally garner evil points.

The further out you are along the axis, the more points you get if swinging the other way and the less points you get for moving in the direction you are already along. A more conscious decision to do the deed that results in an alignment shift will result in a bigger shift.

Examples: Upholding the law even though your character does not think the law is morally justified in a given circumstance will garner more points towards Lawful than convincing a potential criminal to not break a given law.

Watching someone murder another and not stopping the crime will not garner as many evil points as actually being the murderer.

Experience

We will be using the ALFA's Experience Tool in game to award XP. The more you role-play your characters attributes and make an involved contribution to the story, the higher we will rate your RP. The more dangerous the encounters, the higher we will rate the difficulty.

In keeping with these line of thinking, a high level character traveling with low level characters will lower the challenge of the session, actually robbing everyone of experience points. Something to consider.

If you are role playing like a maniac, but are not role playing by our arbitrary estimation of what your character's attributes represent, you will get low scores on the RP side.

To give an idea of the scale, poor RP in a safe session will result in 15 XP an hour. A very dangerous session and high RP will net you 160 XP an hour. A session of average difficulty and normal RP should net 95 XP an hour. As you can see, higher quality RP can add up. Lowering the encounter difficulty can also really add up. Keep these things in mind.

Also, keep in mind, that difficulty is not always about actual fighting. Difficulty can include using skill and attributes. However, in order for it to count on the 'difficulty' side, there must be repercussions for failure.

Finally, remember that having parties of generally even but not quite even levels may result in different difficulty ratings for different members of the group.

Jayde13wt

Folks, this is Dungeons & Dragons. At it's core, D&D is a ruleset designed for smashing stuff and getting the magic sword. ALFA can say all that it wants that it is a 'low-magic' community. This simply isn't true. Any community where it is possible to get a +5 sword is not a low-magic setting. In ALFA, you can get that +5 sword. Granted, you need to be level uber before a DM is allowed to award your PC with one, but it is possible.

ALFA has a very codified set of standards dictating wealth awards. Created and combined with D&D's inherent system of balance, ALFA's standards show when PCs should be getting certain levels of magic loot. By level 4, a PC should start expecting their first +1 Armor. By level 5, their first +1 Weapon.

We know that many DMs feel that awards should be held back as long as possible. We do not share this opinion. PCs should be as close to average wealth levels as possible, with shifts back and forth as consumables are used and regained. We feel that this is important because CR ratings are developed with average wealth level characters in mind. A party of level 10 PCs with mundane equipment and no consumables simply will not hold up to CR10 encounters.

So, in our sessions, you should expect, at the least, to see consumable and gold drops. We are not averse to using gold to commission magic items or buying them outright. We are also interested in knowing what sort of items you envision your character having. As long as the balance is maintained and everybody adheres to ALFA's Wealth Standards, we are of the mind that being as giving as possible will net the most fun.

What will make us never want to DM you

Back seat DMing, especially in the moment, will make us not want to DM you. If you disagree with something we have said or done, there is ample time to come to us outside of the moment to discuss it. There is nothing, NOTHING, that occurs that we cannot, if convinced, fix.

Disagree with an alignment hit? Get the point back later. Too little XP? We can award more. Bullshit, railroady death? There's a tech rez.

Whether it's done OOC or totally IC, we can fix it, if you can convince us. But in the moment, when it's happening and we're focused on pushing the plot forward and keeping things going for the other PCs who are there, this is not the time for it.

If it's something that we can fix with full transparency, wait a day and PM us in the forums. Alignment hits, XP, not enough gold, whatever, these are things that can wait a day.

If it's something that needs to be handled quickly, a quick note on the DM channel that you would like to discuss something when we have a moment.

Generally, when giving stuff out, like XP or alignment hits, it will be near the end of an adventure and sometimes we'll discuss these with you. Any time our DMing results in a PCs death we will seek out the player after the action is past and discuss the death, what happened, and why we think it's valid or will result in a tech.

If you disagree with a ruling, we invite you to state your case, plainly and succinctly. We will then take some time to consider your thoughts. We will then either change or reiterate our ruling. At this point, if you still disagree, you are welcome to take it up to the DMA or PA.

Any of this we will accept as matters of due course and will never hold against you.

However, if you start trying to go back and forth with us on a ruling, arguing, or making a fuss, not only will we not overturn our ruling, but we'll probably disclude you from any future DMing.

Complaining and whining on the DM channel will net you the same treatment. We aren't here to listen to anyone whine. We are here to enjoy time with everyone involved, telling stories within the ruleset provided.

If you have beef, take it up with us in a mature manner, outside of the moment. If we do not agree with you and you still feel you are right, take it up with the DMA or PA. Anything else is unacceptable to us.

Questions

Feel free to ask any questions below.

Yes, but how does DM Manifesto operate?

One question that comes to my mind is with the part about slowing down things for action rolls etc. I recognize this is very important in regards to keeping things controllable and organized to the extent that, especially with big groups, getting actions done is hard for a DM focusing on ten people.

Having said that, spells have a limited duration that doesn't get a bonus when things need to be slowed down to handle character actions going on. Is there any way to offset this problem, or is it just the nature of things? I know I've personally held spells longer than I probably should have before casting them because all it takes is a single long pause to spend half a spell duration or all of it and then leave you with a relatively defenseless mage when it comes time to fight the nasty things you prepared those protections for.

Thanks for outlining all this information by the way, very helpful to read and get another perspective.

quite a good point NES, Especially problematic at lower levels for most wizards when durations are measured in minutes easily counted with just one hand. Perhaps it'd be easiest for us to request a 'pause' at such a time? Would that be appropiate Jayde, Mirabai?

Yeah that's an easy answer. Simply ask for the pause button to be used if we go to turn-based and you have spells up.

Awsome, thanks for the swift reply!

Thanks for the very informative outline guys. I have some questions about skill rolls. Do you permit "taking 10" on skill rolls when permitted under D&D rules?

Are you OK with a player suggesting an opposing skill roll to counteract an affect? For example if a player fails a climb check and starts to fall while climbing can he request a Tumble roll to lessen the impact? That sort of thing.

With conversation based skills, do you allow multiple attempts? For example, if the first Diplomacy check fails but the conversation continues can the player roll two or more times to attempt to persuade the NPC?

I also have a request regarding your points on level disparity, if you are so inclined. With respect to announced events, if you could perhaps announce a level range and target party number ahead of time it could help alleviate disparity and unwieldy numbers. Thanks again for DMing and for taking the time to communicate these points.

If it's supported in the PHB or DMG, you'll generally see support from us. So YES to taking 10. And to taking 20!

Tumble DC 15 - Treat fall as if it were 10 feet shorter (lessens damage by 1d6)

There's also rules for catching yourself while falling and catching someone else while falling past you!

You generally will not make a diplomacy check until you are ready to make the check. That means once you have done all the RP convincing you want to do, you make the roll and we add the circumstance modifiers from all of your RPed convincing. You don't generally get to make retries. Think about it at it's most basic, Diplomacy without RP:

"I try to persuade him." roll. fail. "Um... I try to persuade him again!"

The roll is the culmination of all your persuading. A new diplomacy check will generally only come if there is something new on the table, and generally with negative circumstance modifiers.

Examples: "Will you come if I pay you 50 gold?" roll. fail. "No." "How about if I give you a hundred and fifty gold?" OK, maybe a reroll is appropriate.

"Will you lend us your horses so we can have a wider roam area to find these evil orcs?" roll. fail. "No." The next day, orcs attack the mans ranch and kill half his horses. "NOW, will you lend us two horses to track these orcs down before they attack you again?" Perhaps a reroll would be approrpiate.

As for level disparity, we probably won't be making 'announcements.' If you and your similarly leveled buddies (and come on, levels are no secret in ALFA) are sitting in the Tavern and an NPC walks up and is like, "Hey, there's a macguffin, it's in the place. Go kill the monsters and bring it back for phat loot!" you should probably just assume that we're planning on it being an encounter for a party of your level.

We usually will not approach a totally mixed level group with these sorts of little adventures.

Most of our DMing is either planned ahead of time with certain individuals, in which we kind of already are announcing it? Or it's ad hoc... which doesn't lend itself well to announcements.

As for Buttinskis... nope, we will not, as DMs, make a point of telling people not to tag along. We outlined the benefits/consequences of coming along where you may not be wanted and it's up to the PA to figure out some way to illustrate player etiquette.

So it's up to you guys to figure it out, IC or even OOCly.

Appreciate the post Jayde and MiraFI! Pointing to the SRD/3.5e ruleset as reference is extremely helpful and reassuring.

So you mean it's actually ok for someone to have lvl appropriate gear/wealth, without being ashamed?

The one thing that might be tricky is someone trying to figure out whether they should be going along in a DMed session or not. The times that a new player has no idea that PC Joe and his friends are over lvl 6, it won't always be easy for him to realize what he should do. The vice versa can happen as well (although higher lvls will probably be played by players who have a pretty good idea that PC Jane is brand spanking new, more likely than the other way around); not everyone hangs out in irc and whispers secretly about what Garlus and Sywyn's lvls are.

I know you guys gave out hints/warnings that one memorable session, but obviously it did not deter the half dozen low lvls that came along including myself. I presume it'll be more or less up to us as players to take our PC's lives in our hands after the warnings/hints are given, but is this something that you'd rather not see being a regular practice? Back in SD, it was a time honored tradition for new PCs to cower behind the high lvls and snipe away from safe distance during DM events; I learned from the best, folks like wvincenti and others! Will this sacred tradition no longer be encouraged?

Yes, as in, the high levels will no longer hang out with the low levels, thereby securing, once again, ALFA 1's predominance in the WE HATE NEWBS, BECOME HIGH LEVEL OR GO AWAY syndrome.

Kidding...partially.

not everyone hangs out in irc and whispers secretly about what Garlus and Sywyn's lvls are

I must be tired... I read that the first two times as "not everyone hangs out in irc and whispers secretly about who Garlus and Sywyn's kids are". I think it's time for bed.

I'm perfectly comfortable with this scenario,

They aren't banishing new people from their events, they're just saying it may be very deadly for them if the party is primarily mid to high levels. This seems completely appropriate to me, Faerun is a scary place, if you're inexperienced maybe your character would have some trepidation about barreling into a dungeon or fighting shadows in the woods.

As players of a computer game our characters are very often fearless unless it suits us, this ooc request, to me, can be handled well IC and I do not see an issue with it. Those with high levels can always make excuses not to be around if the party is low. If the party and danger are high, the higher levels can indicate the trouble they're abut to get into and give everyone a chance to turn back. Before that big fight in the woods, I certainly offered for many to stay behind, people stayed with the party for various IC reasons, maybe even some OOC reasons, and some didn't survive as a result.

I personally will never absolutely insist a low level stays behind, I will suggest it, maybe forcefully, but if they want to take their life into their hands, that is their call ultimately. Your time honoured tradition can continue, and will, but everyone knows that safety is not assured, and you are taking personal responsibility for your characters. If you get smoked, it's your own fault, life's rough kid get a helmet

The trick is to tag along and NOT die. And I can count two times Trapper's butt was saved by "higher levels" who both managed to shoot off a heal scroll/spell on her when she got too bold (also chastizing her loudly.) And of course a key time when her butt was saved by several equals after a faceful of Githankyi.

Again the trick here is, of these two people that saved me, only one was a healing class. But not only did they have the ability to A) Kick the butt of whatever was coming their way but B) watch the health bars of the ones that needed their help and OVERHEAL for the lag factor. It is one of the annoyingly real but metagaming aspects to combat I learned as a healer for World of Warcraft.

I think cross level combat CAN work but simply, only a few players think from strategic millitary based perspective. Heavy armored fighters go in front. Clerics and Pallidins considering themselves heavy armored fighters SHOULD IC know what spells they are "taught" to bolster that support.

There is no "threat" or "taunt" ingame which again is problematic because there are unpredictable scripts in various creatures that make them go for the lowest HP PC (ow.) So it is up to the heavy types to block the way for those evil creatures to pass but honestly, nothing ever just comes from the front.

Lag, random dice, and clever dms can spawn anything anywhere and it always won't behave as expected. So really you are looking at a situation where you need:

1. A tracker/scout skilled in the arts of stealth (in the teens in skill and having feats to that effect) that precanvases an area AND a Dm that allows said tracker to use their in game skill and paper skills to predict the arrival of danger.

2. A Heavy fighter with a strong IC showing, not only able to protect people but protect themselves and sustain combat long term.

3. A healer (who might be the heavy even or the tracker in the case of a druid)

4. DPS (known as damage per second) basically any person with skills in damaging the opponent w/o being touched. I would note that due to hardcore rule, mages and aoe spells are not effective in group combat. So people who choose those spell schools of conjuration or evocation, as well as movement impairing spells, like grease or entangle might find their skill ill used except to prestrike exsisting areas as scouted by your scout.

And combination of this WITH a proper healer can work. And if you go out the literally door of saftey into the wilds with out at least three of these, any level may die with certain exceptions.

To recapitulate:

1. Low levels can work if they are smart and their RP dictates respecting the chain of command and being realistic about their IC level of skill.

2. Strategy prevents deaths on both sides.

3. Factor in for lag and unpredictable events. Metagaming is definately illegal, but a healer must plan for the fact that lag is a factor in operating the UI.

4. Know your class IC and OCC. Your character should be trained in their skill set and class. Spend the time to get to know how to use that properly and with the proficency of someone of that standard "level"

Cloud_Dancing wrote:The trick is to tag along and NOT die. And I can count two times Trapper's butt was saved by "higher levels" who both managed to shoot off a heal scroll/spell on her when she got too bold (also chastizing her loudly.) And of course a key time when her butt was saved by several equal after a faceful of Githankyi.

Again the trick here is, of these two people that saved me, only one was a healing class. But not only did they have the ability to A) Kick the butt of whatever was coming their way but B) watch the health bars of the ones that needed their help and OVERHEAL for the lag factor.

One of the greatest challenges to playing Rathalan in his "higher level" existance has been bearing the responsibility (both IC and OOC) of keeping people alive during large and extended battles.

I know that I am much less offensively effective during combat sequences for the very reason that I do place most of my attention on the health (and other effects) on the party memebers.

I certainly welcome hearing emoted things to direct my attention to an injured PC. A text macro of "*groans loudy as she takes a heavy wound and drops to her knee in pain*" would certainly get my attention too.

I can't speak for all the high levels, but I really do my best to keep the lowbies alive ...It's IC for me to do so and adds challenge in game

Ugh, she said... DPS... *smites Cloud*

Thanks for the review of simple/basic tactics, but that's not the question I was asking. I'm simply asking Jayde whether he (and Mira) would prefer not to mix lvls.

As long as we're discussing tactics, Jayde/Mirabai, would you have any problems with someone putting up a macro'ed /p ((DM Pause Request)) in the middle of combat, say, so that they can more precisely locate an AOE spell without disabling/frying the party?

I know overuse of the pause can disrupt flow, but I really find it helpful not only for being able to use various abilities/spells but being able to type/RP out actions and emotes during combat which are not realtime friendly.