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So this last session was an interesting one, albeit one that got co-opted by the players to a degree in odd ways. That's fine, I rolled with the punches. Let me explain.

First, I got an email from a player saying, in effect, that he wanted to change characters. To be honest, I hadn't really given the idea much thought. On the one hand, I want everyone to have fun playing what they want. On the other, there was the party to consider. While an optimal party isn't necessary by any means, trading one of the only 2 defenders (the other's a phb cha pally) for an Assassin meant a significant decrease in the party's durability. Also, I was trying to avoid the "Adventure of the week" play style. Not because I don't like it or because I need to control everything, but because it doesn't match this specific campaign and this is what we all agreed on at the start. In the end I ruled that a player could change out their character once per tier if they describe what happened to the old character, describe why the new character came in, and complete a background on the new character. So we ended up with one less Swordmage and one new Assassin at the table.

Anyway, I knew the players would be performing a grand "plot device" style ritual (aka Skill Challenge) that needed to be performed in the middle of combat. I made odd rules to the ritual so that when combat broke out, it would lead to an interesting (I HOPED!) encounter. Namely, the PC performing the ritual had to start the ritual with full hit points, couldn't move from a raised pulpit like structure and had to retain at least 75% of her hit points throughout the casting of the ritual or it would fail. Also, each check in the ritual required a standard action. The player could choose not to use their standard to continue the ritual without losing it completely (effectively pausing it).

In play, I realized that this was far too restrictive on the player. She felt a little left out of the action until I ever so subtly hinted that she could pause the ritual and cast flaming sphere and effectively have a battle presence and still seriously screw with the enemy party. In addition, she needed one extra helper to scatter components around the ritual circle (a giant 8x8 square circle, mind you). I ruled that the player aiding could move anywhere in the circle but aiding required a minor action each turn. This was a decent trade off since he is a warlock and couldn't curse very well.

The original plan was to have a semi complex set of actions written down for the players to do during the battle but I ran out of time so it was a series of uninspiring Arcana checks instead. That was a little disappointing. But it happens.

The battle went well regardless. I was going to try out some terrain powers from DMG2, but the players got the best of me again! The rogue decided to steal the caustic materials and the Paladin decided to barricade the door using the tables they could have tipped over! Well, at least they were being creative! ^_^

The assassin did great damage wise but that was actually an issue. His inherent lack of AC and hit points combined with the fact that he made himself a giant target (he took out 3/4 of a monster's hp in one round) meant that he ended up getting the crap beat out of him. Still the Wizard made it through unharmed so I guess they did their jobs!

Sorry for all the updates! This particular post is more like how I envision this blog. The others were so different in topic I really thought they merited their own posts. But they were relevant as well, so there they are. Anyway, this is more like session notes for the session we had Sunday. Officially, it was Session 12.

Session 12 was a challenge as a DM. The group had just come off a large adventure which I was very proud of. There was a really fun skill challenge (at least, the players told me it was fun) and they defeated a BIG BAD that I created using the Beta Monster Builder (not THE big bad, mind you) and thus saved the city! Only, now what?

I realized while I was planning for the session that I couldn't really plan much. I had no real idea (despite asking the players) what they were planning on doing next. So, instead of a highly polished adventure like the last session, I had to "wing it". That's not to say I didn't prepare. I grabbed a list of thematically appropriate monsters at the correct levels and I reviewed the NPCs. I also updated the Wiki and impedded adventure hooks. Just in case someone decided to bite. I also had a loose end that I knew the party would investigate and  planned an event related to that.

I realized one thing as we played Sunday: as a DM, I'm lucky. I really love to build the world and I had built so much in previously that I had answers to everyone's questions! It was like magic! I could reveal those things I had worked so hard on and do so in a natural way. I also realized that 4e battles are an unprepared DMs best friend! I was able to make a thematically appropriate battle using the small amount of planning I had done on the fly! And the best part is: it was fun.

So I'm making use of the group space on the boards. It's a lot of fun for me but it has been a challenge to get the players on board. I know they like the idea, it's just a matter of them taking time out of their day to sign up for another message board and follow another set of digital updates.

I did a lot to make the group attractive. I'm keeping all session recaps in blog posts so they are easy to refer to later (my players tend to forget things they did previously). I'm trying to start discussions in the forums (I don't expect this feature to take off with my group, though you never know). And the Wiki is where I expect them to derive the most benefeit. I figure I can use the wiki to give background info on the world that a person living there would know but might not come up in play. I've also tried to imbed adventure hooks in there. We'll see how that goes. I hope the players take to it.

Finally the calendar. I really wish this worked better. I tried sending out invites to the next session but I don't think they went out. We'll have to wait and see on that one. Still, it's probably the most useful feature for me (if it works).

The other thing I've been using for four or five sessions now is DDI. I LOVE DDI. I look back at those first half a dozen sessions without fondness. I had to write out all monster stats or bookmark the pages and juggle books all session. Now I copy out of the compendium and paste into an Excel document. Then I preroll about two dozen attacks (with the bonuses added in). I've dramatically reduced the monster turn times. It's great.

So, I'm using this blog to share thoughts and observations I'm having as a new DM running a group of players. We just finished a session Sunday so here I am.

I have to say that I love this game and will do just about anything to get a game in. That includes dealing with players. I consider everyone at my table friends and maybe that's my problem. The logistics are killing me. First of all: food. Everyone has their opinions about food. I could care less. I think that creates tension as I run the games at my house.

You see, everything started out all right. We would all just chip in for Pizza or whatever. It was fine. Then... well then people started going on health binges (myself included) and we decided pizza wasn't good enough for our table. So we mixed it up with home cooked meals, sandwiches, salads, whatever. Well, the homemade food was difficult. Whoever was cooking (I politely declined cooking. I have enough to prepare for game day without worrying about food) would spend more time in the kitchen than at the table. So we started buying healthy premade food. And it got expensive. Add onto that the cost and inconvenience of the myriad snacks and drinks that litter the table during any given battle and you end up with someone paying a lot of money and feeling a little jilted.

Then there are those that think everyone should just provide their own food. That's all fine and dandy, except it feels wierd. I really enjoy the social aspects of the game and I can't bring myself to not share food with the people I'm sharing my home with. Not to mention, the last time we tried this, everyone (except me!) chipped in privately and bought a great spread while I was stuck with the tepid Taco Bell I grabbed at the drivethrough on the way to the game (this was a different game with the same group of people).

So, we decided that everyone would chip in $8 at the beginning of the session. If you want out, you have to notify everyone ahead of time in a thread on the group page and the non DM players will trade off who handles the logistics (picking the food, going to the store on the way over, etc).

I hope this works.

The second issue is tardiness. I am not a huge stickler on this but a few players (not naming names!) are always late. And it's not just a little bit; it's at least an hour. I had a chat with said players and we will see what happens. It's a bummer when I spend all weekend cleaning house and prepping encounters only to have my players show up an hour and a half late to the game. Also it cuts into play time which annoys me to no end.

So I guess this turned into a venting session. I feel better, how about you?

It might be fun to make a blog about being a new(ish) DM. Maybe I can make a post after each session to document how things went, what the challenges were and how I felt about the session/adventure.

So I am currently running a homebrew campaign set in a city called Sadent. I've always been a "writer" so I wanted to do homebrew and not start with the easier mods. That's not to say I won't steal something I like, but the appeal to me in DMing is creating this world from nothing and helping to shape the stories within it.

So we've gone through 11 sessions so far and have been running for about 9 or 10 months. The game is supposed to run every other week but, well, that's one of the challenges, isn't it?

I'll update after my next session (I can't update before. I don't want to give anything away to the players).