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Seeing all the new games starting up, I got to thinking about maybe running another one.

Wondering now if there would be any interest if I were to start up a 4th Edition D&D campaign set in the vein of classical Greek mythology. As in, set in Ancient Greece and doing things evocative of the classical myths and with players evocative of those heroes.

Thinking it would be early paragon for the level with something in place for a faster leveling pace.

That sounds interesting, would it be a Greece full of elves, dwarves, halflings, etc? That's the real obstacle in my mind, but there's the New Argonauts d20 sourcebook from Sean K. Reynolds which is now free from RPGNow (sales were way down according to the author). It's a pretty good book of advice for DMs for a heroic feel and adventure design.

Apr 12, 2012 -- 1:40PM, MephitJames wrote:

That sounds interesting, would it be a Greece full of elves, dwarves, halflings, etc? That's the real obstacle in my mind, but there's the New Argonauts d20 sourcebook from Sean K. Reynolds which is now free from RPGNow (sales were way down according to the author). It's a pretty good book of advice for DMs for a heroic feel and adventure design.

I thought about that. For the most part, I was thinking I would have a modified inherent bonus system to preserve the 'low-magic' feel of the old myths, where the magical items are truly artifacts.

For classes and races, I was thinking everything would be fair game, but most races would probably be flavored to be human, like an elf could be an Athenean or something like that. Odd racial abilities could be explained a myriad of ways, so I'm not worried about that.

Nothing is really set in stone, so I'll probably look at the book you posted to get more ideas.

Flipping through The New Argonauts (you've got me thinking now) it mentions bloodlines of heroes. It might be possible to make races into descendents of some famous demigod hero from the past: goliaths are the grandchildren of Hercules, elves of Perseus, halflings of stalwart Odysseus, tieflings of rage-filled Achilles, etc. You'd have to reskin things (goliaths might not be dark skinned and covered with tattoos, they're just tall and muscly but all of them have the thick beards and curly hair of their forebearer) and it would be possible for different races to "pass" as human. It also makes humans seem "normal" but these are also the heros forging new heroic families!

Anyways, just food for thought... 

Apr 12, 2012 -- 10:48AM, EDTA wrote:

Wondering now if there would be any interest if I were to start up a 4th Edition D&D campaign set in the vein of classical Greek mythology.

I'd probably make a submission.  How do you like paladins?

Apr 12, 2012 -- 2:58PM, MephitJames wrote:

Flipping through The New Argonauts (you've got me thinking now) it mentions bloodlines of heroes. It might be possible to make races into descendents of some famous demigod hero from the past: goliaths are the grandchildren of Hercules, elves of Perseus, halflings of stalwart Odysseus, tieflings of rage-filled Achilles, etc. You'd have to reskin things (goliaths might not be dark skinned and covered with tattoos, they're just tall and muscly but all of them have the thick beards and curly hair of their forebearer) and it would be possible for different races to "pass" as human. It also makes humans seem "normal" but these are also the heros forging new heroic families!

Anyways, just food for thought... 

Apr 13, 2012 -- 1:22AM, Pashalik_Mons wrote:

I'd probably make a submission.  How do you like paladins?

Looked over a bit of the material that you posted Mephit, and it looks like it could be a good reference. However, many of the things that are suggested are probably going to be ignored, like the class restrictions. While it is true that you aren't seeing elves, dwarves, wizards, clerics, and invokers running around in Greek mythology, you could easily deal with all of those.

All of the players would probably be human (or maybe certain mythological creatures, like hamadryads, satyrs, or neirids), especially in cases where the racial power is something more mundane, like elves or halflings. Get more exotic, like dragonborn or eladrin and maybe you are a demigod sired by Hephaestus or blessed by Hermes. Not to say your goliath couldn't be Heracles' grandchild, just saying he doesn't need to be.

Same could go for classes chosen. Paladin should be just fine to play. If you look at it, what is a paladin if not a warrior blessed by the gods? That IS a Greek hero for the most part. Overt spell-casting classes may not really have been a part of Greek mythology, but who is to say just what Circe was, or Tiresias for that matter. Everything should be open for use.

I'll PM seTiny to see if I cannot get the ball rolling on this as it looks like there is some interest.

Since people have been pitching other systems, anyone interested in playig in or running a game of Eclipse Phase? I know I would!

Looks interesting. Don't have time to run one though, playing in one would work however.

Can't believe I forgot to mention this earlier but it is free legally at the author's WordPress page. The company is based on "pay if you like it" which is pretty awesome. Don't know if that changes anyone's mind! 

Anyone interested in a DnDNext game once the Playtest is released?

I'm thinking about a game set in Waterdeep & Undermountain or one set in the 4E core world revolving around the Kerkoth invasion of Cerynall.

It sounds appealing. When is the playtest to be released

May 24th.  Could be interesting, though from what I have been following I'm a bit leery of the direction they're taking it.  Depending on how the modular nature works, it might alleviate some of my concerns, but we'll see how that works out.

Keep in mind I expect 0 modules in the initial playtest.

I expect the initial document to show how they expect the core rules to work; so 4 classes (Cleric, Fighter, Wizard, Rogue), Themes, Skills and Feats plus the resolution system for combat and skills and finally some magic items. The DM's side will probably have a moderate selection of monsters and maybe a "please run this" adventure with pre-made PCs for it.

Now the above is speculation on my behalf, but it seems consistent with what they have been talking about and the needs of a play test environment. They already know people will do all sorts of crazy things with it regardless, but good feedback requires setting some parameters around what is being done.

That said given the pace of a PbP game I'm not worried about generating feedback

Apr 16, 2012 -- 9:55AM, MephitJames wrote:

Can't believe I forgot to mention this earlier but it is free legally at the author's WordPress page. The company is based on "pay if you like it" which is pretty awesome. Don't know if that changes anyone's mind! 

Usually I'm not a fan of digging into a whole new RP system to see how it works and how I should play, but lately I've been wanting to play a modern-day or futuristic sci-fi game, so I'll have a look at this!

Apr 27, 2012 -- 4:52PM, Cailte wrote:

Anyone interested in a DnDNext game once the Playtest is released?

I'm thinking about a game set in Waterdeep & Undermountain or one set in the 4E core world revolving around the Kerkoth invasion of Cerynall.

Absolutely! Count me in!

Hmm. Might be. Depends a bit on what it looks like, if they even do international playtests and if we can even do it by pbp as they might not want it put up anywhere public.

Is the playtest something that one would have needed to sign up for prior to this? It could be really interesting to try out, assuming we can. Anything new has potential to be interesting.

Of course, I am still holding out hope for a FATE game one of these days too.

You should still be able to sign up.  I think there is a form somewhere in the D&D Next group that lets you submit your email address and I'm sure it will be possible when it is actually released.  It's intended to be a public playtest similar to the one that Pathfinder used awhile back.

To sign up go here: www.wizards.com/DnD/DnDNext.aspx

Unfortunately recent announcements may make the idea untenable:
The playtest materials will initially consist of the basic core rules and a limited selection of classes and races. We’ll roll out the fighter, cleric, wizard, and rogue, along with the human, elf, dwarf, and halfling. In the earliest stages of the test, we’ll provide you with pregenerated characters.(Source)
ie it sounds even more restricted than I had thought it would be.

I'm still thinking about what to do in light of this news.

If this turns out to be unworkable I have 2 things I've been thinking about: using the AGE (aka Dragon Age) rules, or running an tweaked Essentials Only (for Classes) 4E Game.

See if I was better at running adventures I'd love to run some, I have so many stories in my brain. But I always fail to engage my players enough.

Like right now I have a story idea,

I'd call it "At the beginning"

You'd start in a world truely devistated by the last 500 years of terrifying war and disaster, millions dead, the normally dominant races of humans, elfs, dwarfs etc near extinction as demons and demon lords storm across the world, humans living lives on the run from location to location, in temporary pop up cities, afraid to lay down perminant homes for fear of being found and killed.
Goblin armies rampage, and demon lords clash with each other for dominion.

Thats where your players enter, having been brought up in this enviroment to survive, perhaps a valued magical scholar in a group that once was a ruling human family, a young girl brought up by her ex solider father to survive in the wilderness, etc etc etc.

All throughout the last 500 years, there is a story being passed from community to community about the "failed heros" a group of people fated to save the world, who failed to close the portal opened by an evil wizard, failed to save the world from its destruction.

All the characters find themselves embroiled into this story because they are decendants of the "failed heros", they end up having to sneak their way through the enemies, dash across battle fields, and leave whole armies to perish as they try desperately to make it to the portal that allowed the demons into this world, a portal that normally allows travel to the demon realms and back, but for the decendants of those present at its creation, and with the help of the last surviving grand mage, it can send the characters back,

thats chapter 1

chapter 2 opens on them being back in the past, in a world ruled by the races that they used to know as being nearly extinct, magic is a hugely powerful force, and they find themselves laughed at and ignored.

possibly meeting their progenitors, having to deal with a goblin invasion, and a group of assasin goblins sent back to try and stop them.


Chapter 3 would see them following in the foot-steps of their progenitors as they follow the swathe of destruction into the heart of the evil wizards lands, chasing after their progenitors to warn them, to prepair them, to try and save them,

then having to finish the job themselves.

May 3, 2012 -- 5:06AM, Galaktia wrote:

See if I was better at running adventures I'd love to run some, I have so many stories in my brain. But I always fail to engage my players enough.

Like right now I have a story idea,

I'd call it "At the beginning"

You'd start in a world truely devistated by the last 500 years of terrifying war and disaster, millions dead, the normally dominant races of humans, elfs, dwarfs etc near extinction as demons and demon lords storm across the world, humans living lives on the run from location to location, in temporary pop up cities, afraid to lay down perminant homes for fear of being found and killed.
Goblin armies rampage, and demon lords clash with each other for dominion.

Thats where your players enter, having been brought up in this enviroment to survive, perhaps a valued magical scholar in a group that once was a ruling human family, a young girl brought up by her ex solider father to survive in the wilderness, etc etc etc.

All throughout the last 500 years, there is a story being passed from community to community about the "failed heros" a group of people fated to save the world, who failed to close the portal opened by an evil wizard, failed to save the world from its destruction.

All the characters find themselves embroiled into this story because they are decendants of the "failed heros", they end up having to sneak their way through the enemies, dash across battle fields, and leave whole armies to perish as they try desperately to make it to the portal that allowed the demons into this world, a portal that normally allows travel to the demon realms and back, but for the decendants of those present at its creation, and with the help of the last surviving grand mage, it can send the characters back,

thats chapter 1

chapter 2 opens on them being back in the past, in a world ruled by the races that they used to know as being nearly extinct, magic is a hugely powerful force, and they find themselves laughed at and ignored.

possibly meeting their progenitors, having to deal with a goblin invasion, and a group of assasin goblins sent back to try and stop them.


Chapter 3 would see them following in the foot-steps of their progenitors as they follow the swathe of destruction into the heart of the evil wizards lands, chasing after their progenitors to warn them, to prepair them, to try and save them,

then having to finish the job themselves.

That sounds pretty sweet, you should really consider DMing a game here

Another Idea for a game would be a d20 modern + future, game based in the Ghost in the shell universe.

May 6, 2012 -- 6:30AM, Galaktia wrote:

Another Idea for a game would be a d20 modern + future, game based in the Ghost in the shell universe.

That would be awesome as well.

So I've been sitting on this idea for a while and thought I might as well work on my DMing skills online as finding a new group here at home hasn't been going well.

So my idea breaks down into two options:

Option 1: 4^th Edition Eberron - My plan would be to start of with Mark of Prophecy and convert a couple of the original pre-mades (Forgotten Forge, Shadows of the Last War, Whispers of the Vampire Blade and possibly Grasp of the Emerald Claw) to be followed by my own campaign that I have eluded too in the pre-mades. This would I hope have players going from 1st to Epic, but you can never tell.

                                                                   ---

Option 2: Pathfinder Meets Eberron - My plan here is that there is so much rich material in the 3.5 Eberron system that I find 4th lacking in bringing out the full flavor that I have tasted there.  And while I know 3.5 is a trusted and great system to play (what I practically learned on), Pathfinder offers a wide range of classes and options to classes that 3.5 always had trouble with (At least I thought so).

With this option I would have to tweak the Warforged and Shifter Races to Pathfinder (at least I don't think they made the cross) as well as Artificer and any other Prestige classes that haven't already been crossed over (as far as I know that's mostly Eberron specific to being with). But I would run the same as my 4th edition with less converting (not that I haven't started on both).

                                                                   ---
 
So as it stands I'll see what interest there is and which ever show the most interest I'll finish the fine tuning and make a request to start up the setup.

I'd be perhaps be game for the first, but I would certainly not let go of the second option !
Eberron + PF = expect a lot of interest !!!

May 12, 2012 -- 5:52AM, Thot wrote:

I'd be perhaps be game for the first, but I would certainly not let go of the second option !
Eberron + PF = expect a lot of interest !!!

Well it is combining 2 of my favorite Rpgs to come along in a while...not including 4th.

Same interest here. I love Eberron and I've been meaning to try out Pathfinder. I'm with Thot, though, expect a lot of interest!

The question is what would some prospective players wanna play more. 4th Eberron or Pathfinder Eberron.

Please text Option One if you want 4th Eberron. Or text Option Two if you want Pathfinder Eberron. The operators are standing by.

Can we text both options?  Oh do my carrier's standard texting rates apply?

You could do both, but for now I only have one campaign arc worked out. So I don't want you playing the same game twice.

And yes standard rates apply

So I'm working on the submission / seTiny request. So hopefully I'll have it up soon.

This is a text of Option 2. Eberron + PF is go. Fun combos galore!!!

Thramzorean and others. I'm sorry to say that my drive to run a pathfinder Eberron game us going to be put on hold until I finish planning out the campaign. So possibly in a few weeks time.

And to all those that what pirates that could be a possibility.

Consider my timbers shivered.

May 18, 2012 -- 8:07PM, Belabras wrote:

Consider my timbers shivered.

I lol'd

Yo ho ho and a bottle of Aundair red.

Not a big Lhazarite fan. Though some artwork's neat. A Devourer worshiping witch perhaps.

May 17, 2012 -- 8:55PM, KayneRahl wrote:

So I'm working on the submission / seTiny request. So hopefully I'll have it up soon.

No Pathfinder joy I see Kayne.

Not yet, to be honest I'm not completely familiar with pathfinder, So i'm reading some of the later adventure paths and the core books.  Once I feel brave enough then we'll see what comes of it... Plus my original campaign was designed around 4th

I am looking for a 3e game.  Is anyone willling to dm one?  If not, i may think of something, and dm one myself, although I am no good at maps.  Let me know.

Would anyone be interested in a d20 Modern post apocalyptic game. Something that would start off with a fairly standard  Mad Max scenario and shifting slowly through different post apocalyptic genres such as Waterworld, Postman, and Logan's Run as they traverse the post apocalyptic world and encounter different new societies. What role the characters play (Mercenaries, wanderers, merchants, saviors, bandits, or whatever) I will leave up to the group, and attempt to run a sort of sandbox style game, catering to whatever the group wants to do.

Oyi!

Is there any interest around here for a Mutants & Masterminds game? I'm interested in running a game that starts in low power level (3-4) with "street level" heroes, and will and will quickly rise in power level over a few missions. I'm interested in running a game between four-color style and grim & gritty style, leaning more toward the modern edge and real-world physics.

I'm willing to work with players to develope a collaborative story we can all enjoy.

Does someone fancy running Kingmaker? (The Pathfinder adventure path)

Even just the first part would likely get loads of interest. I would offer to run it myself, but I don't feel I could do it justice, and besides, I'd kind of like to play in it.

So one of the things that I've noticed over the years is that almost invariably, the portion of a new campaign or adventure that receives the most attention and activity is the initial setup thread.  I think part of it is that for some of us, one of the pieces of the game that we enjoy most is simply building new characters.

My question (and the reason I'm posting this in the Game Interest Gathering thread) is whether people would be interested in literal one shot "adventures".  People build characters for a single encounter (or 2 or 3 at most in rapid succession), the group runs through it and then the game goes back to the drawing board and people submit another group of players for a different encounter, repeat ad nauseum (or at least until people grow bored of it).

I had a similar game concept in the past (the Fraternal Order of the Hunting Wolf), which was limited to ECL 20 and I ended up pushing it to a few more than a single encounter because I added in the hunting.  (It died out during a hiatus in my activity, but I've been thinking about starting it back up again.)  If the idea has traction, we could run the encounters in that forum without the same limitations or adding in different ones (for instance, I had an idea for a group composed entirely of the misfits and rejects from other adventuring parties that had gotten together after being kicked out of more elite groups--- basically it would limit the party to some of the weaker classes in the game like truenamer, complete warrior samurai, and a few others that are less than stellar and seems like it could make for a more comedic party.)

Anyone who wanted could potentially run an encounter without having the pressure of keeping up an ongoing campaign and working through an entire storyline, so it could be a good entry point for new DMs as well who want to try their hand before plunging into something more in depth.  Monster encounters would probably be easiest, but other options would work as well.

Applying for games does seem to be more fun that actually playing in them! 

I am actually planning on running a light-hearted dungeon crawl adventure (at PbP Haven, in this case) with a similar mentality - that if gives people a chance to roll up a character and play, but if I crush them with a falling rock, well, no big deal, they can roll up someone else (well, they might not think it's not a big deal, but I'm the one with the rocks...).

That actually sounds like a fun concept.  What about PVP arena battles; duels, pairs, party v. party, etc.

I could see that being interesting, but there are other places that concentrate on that aspect (notably the Core Colosseum, though it's limited to core rules) and I don't think it falls under the Real Adventure rules. 

I'd be up for giving Yedra [a PC in the aforementioned Hunting Wolf campaign] another spin.

I like making characters, but for high level ones I'd want several encounters to "make up" for the time invested.

I would assume characters could be re-used (that was certainly the intent in the Hunting Wolf campaign).  I agree on high level characters though and honestly, having the characters run through a single "day" of encounters can be more interesting since you have some of the resource conservation elements coming into play.

Jul 21, 2012 -- 5:58PM, Lonely_DM wrote:

Oyi!

Is there any interest around here for a Mutants & Masterminds game? I'm interested in running a game that starts in low power level (3-4) with "street level" heroes, and will and will quickly rise in power level over a few missions. I'm interested in running a game between four-color style and grim & gritty style, leaning more toward the modern edge and real-world physics.

I'm willing to work with players to develope a collaborative story we can all enjoy.

Heh, you don't want much 
I suppose it's all relative, but I always figured level 1 was "street level"
Between 4-color and grim & gritty covers pretty much the whole gamut, doesn't it?  I'm guessing that what you're looking for is mostly 4-color morality with gritty-ish internal consistency... perhaps I'm projecting, that's where my M&M game ran.  

With a collaboative story?  Hell yeah, sign me up.

I think the Hunting Wolf idea is great. Though I think we should have higher level characters.

Jul 28, 2012 -- 8:27AM, Balthanon wrote:

So one of the things that I've noticed over the years is that almost invariably, the portion of a new campaign or adventure that receives the most attention and activity is the initial setup thread.  I think part of it is that for some of us, one of the pieces of the game that we enjoy most is simply building new characters.

My question (and the reason I'm posting this in the Game Interest Gathering thread) is whether people would be interested in literal one shot "adventures".  People build characters for a single encounter (or 2 or 3 at most in rapid succession), the group runs through it and then the game goes back to the drawing board and people submit another group of players for a different encounter, repeat ad nauseum (or at least until people grow bored of it).

While this is a great idea and a good way for DMs to get practice building encounters (definitely my weak spot), I must confess that I'm not your target audience.  

I put a lot of thought into building a character, I love going into the details, breathing life into the stats and considering the arc of development.  So yeah, I love the set-up phase, but if I'm not going to see the character grow over the course of the story, I'm not interested.   As a DM, I get to fabricate disposable characters constantly, so that fulfills my urge.

The frequent death of games before they get anywhere is a bummer - though less of one than FtF would be, so that's life.

Jul 29, 2012 -- 7:52PM, Blanket_Thunder wrote:

I think the Hunting Wolf idea is great. Though I think we should have higher level characters.

Higher than 20th?   Could be done if people wanted to put in the time, truthfully.  Someone just needs to volunteer as the DM for that session (I would probably finish off the current hunt to start myself.) 

For the general concept I was posting, I would think the basic setup for a given encounter or set of encounters would be choosing what the DM wants to run or the group wants to hunt to start, then you build at an appropriate ECL.  You could have a standard group of 1st level characters running a kobold den, a party of 11th level wizards going up against a beholder, or a group of 20th level non-magic users going up against a black dragon.   Half the fun would probably be mixing it up with different criteria and restrictions on character builds.

Lol Sorry I should have changed that... I meant that I think we should have characters higher than the norm (1-10 ECL). Sorry bout that... lol

Jul 29, 2012 -- 5:12PM, Balthanon wrote:

I could see that being interesting, but there are other places that concentrate on that aspect (notably the Core Colosseum, though it's limited to core rules) and I don't think it falls under the Real Adventure rules. 

Yeah, I wouldn't mind having a brutal arena run with some non-core characters but I am always reluctant to go in for arena-style games (I saw there was one in planning I think on Myth-Weavers) given that I already take part in the Core Colliseum (shameless plug - go check it out!).

However, I have seen that many ads saying things like "I prefer role-play to roll-playing" etc that I would have thought it would be refreshing just to throw together a meat-grinder of a char and fling him into combat (whether vs others or vs monsters etc).

I expressed that wish a while back, but I'd be interested if someone ran a FATE (i.e. Spirit of the Century or Dresden Files) game here. Pretty please?

Don't ! Don't ! I can' t be in more games, but I wouldn't be able to resist a DF game !! I would explode faced with this paradox I cannot handle !!!

Aug 14, 2012 -- 1:30AM, Thot wrote:

Don't ! Don't ! I can' t be in more games, but I wouldn't be able to resist a DF game !! I would explode faced with this paradox I cannot handle !!!

Actually you're right, Mr Voice of Reason, it might be too much for me too.

Still, it's worth trying to implant the idea (Inception!) for later, no?

You have to go...
Deep Show

And you might end up as a game character instead of a real person.

Since it appeared there was enough interest, I've set up a thread for a one shot character building adventure.  Small Game Hunting - Cursed Existence.

Basic concept to play around with for this one is that you are all followers of Beshaba, have about twice your expected wealth per level... and every single one of your items is cursed.

So no real interest in an M&M game then? How about a d20 Modern game? Or a 4th edition Shadowrun game?

I was looking at a setup thread and some choices for 3e classes based on The Wheel of Time were brought up.  I wonder what kind of interest people would have in a homebrew 3.75 version of that.  Since everyone is human, we would have to figure race benefits not by race but by region of upbringing.  Instead of alignment, your. Class/race would in part determine code of conduct.  Divine and arcane magic come from the same source, and maybe rolling for madness in men?

What I mean is, say, race/background: Two Rivers.  +2 dex, +2 survival, +1 to hit on ranged attacks, +1 square range.  Moral obligations: unwillingness to attack females.  Other traits: inherently stubborn.  Favored classes: longbowman, ranger, wisdom.  Bonus to skills and fighting in wooded areas.

Amadician: +2 wisdom, +2 persuasion.  Bonus against darkfriends.  Moral obligations: sworn to the light.  Favored classes: Whitecloak.  Bonus with other Whitecloaks

Aiel: +2 constitution, +2 stealth.  +1 attack and damage in melee.  Moral obligations: ji'e'toh, will not touch a sword.  Other traits: afraid of water.  Favored classes, fighter, maiden of the spear, wise one.  Bonus in desert terrain.

I haven't figured out any other details regarding the campaign setting.  If people can give me ideas regarding other races, and I will probably post follow-ups, then I can start thinking about classes, then prc, and so on.

When I say moral obligations, that does not mean that the individual cannot perform it, but a major penalty is accrued when broken.

I am not sure how to handle channeling ability.  Some people are stronger than others, and we would have to make up a new spell list.  Maybe roll dice to determine strength in a particular discipline?

Sep 4, 2012 -- 11:41AM, you_seek_Yoda wrote:

Since everyone is human, we would have to figure race benefits not by race but by region of upbringing.

You might be a human. I'm an Ogier.

The d20 version of the Wheel of Time in 3rd edition handled strength in the power with feats and ability scores, much like standard D&D.  (You had certain baseline abilities just by taking a channeling class and could build upon them with feats-- for instance, picking up a talent for Earth or Fire when you didn't start with it.)  Would you be building off of the original book or just starting from scratch?

The book actually had a fairly interesting channeling system that didn't work too badly.  Of course, channelers were far and away superior to non-channelers, even more so than in the standard D&D I think-- but frankly, that kind of fits with the books.  There are very few individuals who can come close to touching even the weak Aes Sedai or Asha'man in the novels.

Right.  Forgot about ogier.  I would be starting from scratch as I don't have the d20 books.

If you wanted, you could probably piece together aspects of it from the variants that were published in Unearthed Arcana. 

The biggest issue if you want it to feel authentic is replacing magic items-- ter'angreal (and angreal/sa'angreal) aren't common enough to be available in the levels that D&D assumes magic items are present.  In this respect, the plans for 5th edition might actually be a closer match for the system.  In 3.5/3.75, I would probably put together some standard packages of abilities similar to Vow of Poverty if you're planning on using standard CR for the enemies.  Humanoids probably won't be far off since they'll be missing magic items as well, but shadowspawn, animals, and other creatures could pose problems.

I would consider the following systems from Unearthed Arcana for a Wheel of Time game:

1. Reserve Points or maybe Injury (helps games without channelers in the party to function) 
2. Recharge Magic seems like it might fit channeling better than standard (or maybe in conjunction with standard with more limitations), potentially with some cumulative negative effects for prolonged use.  The original books had something called overchanneling to represent some of the extremely prolonged uses of the One Power in the books.  Spell Points would be another option-- going with the vitalizing version that allows you to attempt to cast after you've used all your spell points would emulate overchanneling very well.
3. Defense Bonus is appropriate, since very few characters in the Wheel of Time wore armor-- this is another concept that was first introduced in the Wheel of Time book.  They actually played around with it a bit though where Armsmen (essentially fighters) had an ability that allowed them to stack armor and defense bonus (with a slower progression).  In general, it worked fairly well.  (Damage Conversion might also be appropriate, given the low magic of the campaign world.)
4. Honor might fit in well with the morality system you were thinking about, where each region has different rules associated with it.  Given some of the interplay between characters and communities (like when everyone thinks Perrin is sleeping with Berelaine), I could see it fitting fairly well.
5. Taint was pretty much pulled straight out of the Wheel of Time/Rokugan (both published in the same month).  It can be used almost directly for male channelers if you're in the right time period as well as wolf brothers and others who have a chance of going insane.  (Padan Fain being an example.)  Some characters could accumulate only mental effects and others (i.e. male channelers or someone wandering the Blight) might develop the physical effects.
6. Reputation was also introduced in the Wheel of Time, whether it's used or not probably depends upon the campaign
7. Generic Classes might actually work well in the Wheel of Time, particularly given that all spellcasters use the same source for their abilities (or at least can accomplish many of the same effects via different effects since saidin and saidar have some significant differences).  If there is a particular ability that someone wants from a prestige class, it could be converted with appropriate requirements and added in.
8. Fractional Base Bonuses are probably appropriate as well for many of the variants above, but it doesn't seem to be in the SRD for some reason.

For spellcasting, I actually liked a lot of what they did in the original book, but you could actually create something similar by pooling all spells (easy with generic spellcaster) and then assigning the ones that fit the campaign different powers (i.e. fireball is probably straight Fire, while Healing is a mix of all of the powers).  Another aspect of the system that I like is having single spells with multiple levels of affects-- it's most similar to the augmentations they introduced in the Expanded Psionics Handbook, really.  It could be duplicated by taking lines of spells or similar spells and grouping them together-- so if you learn fireball, you also know delayed blast fireball, and maybe fireburst and one or two others at different levels.  In that case, it's really a matter of how much effort you're channeling into the spell.

Another method of creating "spell lists" would be to have each of the traditions across the world have different lists of powers they traditionally teach and know-- the seanchan, for instance, have almost nothing but combat powers while the Windfinders are very heavy on weather powers, but short on combat.  The difference here though is that you could ultimately learn almost any power (if you had the correct affinities) so long as you saw it used a few times.  The Wheel of Time had something called Weavesight that dictated learning new powers, but it was essentially Spellcraft with some additional abilities.  (i.e. it basically had detect magic built in, since all channelers can see Weaves.)

I will have to think about generic classes.  I can see where they could come in handy with less micromanagement on anyone's part, and it provides more versatility.  Honor points didn't really appeal to me but I liked reputation.  The honor just looked like more micromanagement than I wanted to deal with.  I like spell points, wherein using a certain number past the normal casting cost can augment the spell (extra d6 or something).  I like the unarmored AC bonus better than damage conversion.

Ogier: +2 strength +2 wisdom -2 dex.  Large.  +1 to resist taint.  Moral obligations: reluctant to harm nature.  Other traits: the longing.  +1 bonus in stedding.  Favored class: bard

Borderlander: +2 strength, +2 endurance.  +1 vs shadowspawn.  Moral obligations: sworn to the light.  Other traits: not interested in gaining political power.  Favored classes: fighter, warder.  +1 bonus in blighted terrain, armor encumbrance halve

Domani: +2 charisma, +2 persuade.  +1 to all social and knowledge skills when bargaining.  Moral obligations: none.  Other traits: good looking.  Favored class: expert.  +1 in snowy terrain

Cairhienin: +2 intelligence, +2 persuade.  +1 to all social and knowledge skills when dealing with nobility.  Moral obligations: generally lawful.  Other traits: experts at playing the game of houses.  Favored classes: aristocrat.  +1 to all checks in cities.

Having trouble with Mayene, Andor, Tair, Tarabon, Illian, and the Sea Folk, and Seanchan, and Altara

Jul 23, 2012 -- 2:21AM, The_Fred wrote:

Does someone fancy running Kingmaker? (The Pathfinder adventure path)

Even just the first part would likely get loads of interest. I would offer to run it myself, but I don't feel I could do it justice, and besides, I'd kind of like to play in it.

I took a look at it. The whole path would take ages. The first book already has something like 30+ encounters, and that's not even counting random encounters in the wilderness!

Wheel of Time - there's also the issue that users of the Power are meant to be overpowered compared with others. That would probably have to be glossed over for the sake of balance (and the taint and so forth would also be somewhat balancing in the case of guys) but without magic items and so forth things would be really mixed up.

Kingmaker - yeah, it's awesome. As I said, just the first book would be pretty cool, but it is a far more open world. I feel like I might be up for trying to run it myself now, but I'm kind of too busy atm to take that on, I think. 

That's true, but I also find that being power sensitive is as much a liability as it is a strength.  Socially, you are mistrusted, aes Sedai have oath rod, other channelers need to keep a low profile, Seanchan cannot channel without an a'dam, etc.  In the right campaign, the drawbacks associated with having a channeler can almost outweigh the benefits.

Of course, the trick to that is that the only channelers who are easily recognized are the Aes Sedai.  All the others look identical to anyone else (and in a few societies are highly respected leaders.)

Hi all.

I have been wanting to get back into DMing for a while now and have a few ideas kicking about in the old noggin. Looks like this is the place to do it so I'm seeing if anyone is interested in the following ideas. My time however is only allowing for one game to DM. So which ever has the most interest is the one I'm running with.

1. The Haunts of Shadow
Basic premise - The group (of no paticular race or class) is though apart of the Haunting Shades (Dragon #387). As one of the Haunting Shades, the group would be unto the Raven Queen as what the CIA is to the United States, taking on a series of task eventually leading up to the final clash between the Raven Queen and Orcus. I would plan to use a series of Dungeon quest and modules like the Tomb of Horrors and Assault on Nightwyrm Fortress. Though the game would have heavy elements of the Shadowfell, there would be aspects of a crime solving unit/spy game like in the shows NCIS, Burn Notice, and Law & Order. I see this going from high Heroic to low Epic tier.

2. Valkyrth Stories
Basic primes - The game focus on the homebrewed Valkyrth Empire. The players would be students of one of the 9 prestigious adventuring schools throughout the empire who engage in a series of adventures requested by the king. The series of adventures would consist of throwback to the older game modules from past DND editions. I was thinking the first adventure to start with Journey to the Rock. For this the classes would be somewhat preset, determined by what school the players voted on.

3. The Lemurian Saga
Basic premise - The party teams up with Gydd Nephret (of the Seekers of the Ashen Crown adventure) on a archeological expedition/treasure hunt to discover the lost continent of Hiva. The setting would be Eberron based but the adventure would take on something like from The Mysterious Cities of Gold. For this however there would be more of a psionic element to the adventure much like how psionics is in Dark Sun. This doesn't mean that players are restricted to psionic classes or psionic based races but would be dealing with psionic based forces, both good and evil.

Hey there, GhostMachine. Welcome to the boards.

Personally speaking, assuming all of those choices are 4E, I would gladly play any of them. If you were to ask for a ranking, I would probably say I am most interested in #2 (I am always fascinated by other people's homebrew worlds), followed closely by #1 (as I'm a big of the Morrig- er, Raven Queen) and lastly #3 (I'm not very familiar with Eberron, but I would be up for a game set there).

Hopefully more people are interested.

@ghost: welcome aboard. definate a great mix of folks on the form. I don't think you'll have trouble finding interest for any of the three games you've proposed. If pressed I think i'd rank your options it in the same order as LordManshoon. Always liked the mystery of a homebrew rather than a setting I've grown accustomed to. 

@LordManshoon: Yes all of the choices are 4e based. My bad on not specifiying.

Well didn't think #2 would be that popular really. Okay, I'll work on getting it going here in a few days. Thanks for the feed back Grawin and LordManshoon.

Been seeing some games being put together recently, was wondering about interest in one that I've been thinking of. It might take a little while to get started, though, based on what I want to do with it.

Some of the games have had emphasis in Eberron, which got me thinking about the setting in general. Most of what I've seen about Eberron has been focused on the Last War and the exploration of the setting, but I was thinking about one that was mostly set in Sharn, and it would be more the hardboiled detective novel style of Eberron.

Story I have so far is that the party is a group of Investigatives (detectives) in Sharn, doing cases that ramp up to something big. Lots of stuff in Sharn to work with, so exact details are still unsettled.

FATE would probably be a good setting to do this with, but I am unfamiliar with the system, and it seems like it is something that is less familiar here. Instead, the game would be 4th edition D&D, but would import the aspects and FATE point system from FATE.

I'm thinking I might do the system outlined with the Dresden File RPG system for creating aspects (which ends with 7 rather than 10), which would mechanically take the place of Backgrounds. Themes would still be around because design-wise they seem to fit a different niche.

I'm not sure what level I'd do this at, though. There would be combat in it, but I see it more as a roleplay/collaborative storytelling type game. Given the nature of the game, days would probably be long, with the thought that reaching 2 milestones per extended rest be the norm, if possible.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this idea?

I'm not faniliar with the FATE system or with the Dresden RPG (though I just finished Fool Moon and am about to start Grave Peril, great series so far), but if it's 4th edition I'm definitely interested. Many character archetypes lend themselves well to detective work in Eberron.

Would I need to familiarize myself with either system to play?

Not really. I only chose the DFRPG format because I actually have those books, and I liked the emphasis they had.

Basically, the system would replace the backgrounds for D&D. In the DFRPG, you have 7 aspects, where they are elements that flesh out your character more. It is used throughout the FATE system as I understand it, so generic SRDs can give you an overview.

Aspects are elements to your character, just a few evokative words, where the best ones simultaneously represent good and bad pieces of the character. Something like "Dumb Luck" can describe a lot about a character. In Eberron, a Dragonmark would easily be an aspect, as there are lots of good and bad things associated with being in a Dragonmarked House (or not, like with aberrant marks).

Actually looking at that link now, the rules outlined there (which I think are for another FATE system, Spirit of the Century) would work really easily for Eberron (replacing the WWI section with the super-obvious Eberron equivalent), so I probably would just use those for ease of players.

Going off of the character creation outlined here, you'd have aspects that relate to your youth (the background), the more immediate past (the War), and your first big adventure (the Novel). After that, you'd have more aspects determined by the party members, where those would probably be determined after players were picked.

How the aspects come into play would be with the fate points. Basically, in situations where the aspect could come into play, you could tap into it (or have it tapped into). Say you had a character who fought the undead legions of Karrnath during the Last War and might have something like "Jozen, Zombie Killer" for an aspect.  You could spend a fate point to compel that aspect when, say attempting to recall some information about undead for a bonus or a reroll, or the same when trying to destroy something undead.

Similarly, aspects could complicate matters. That same "Jozen, Zombie Killer" may have reservations working with a sketchy necromancer based on his past. You can spend a fate point to have something like that not be an issue. On the other hand, Jozen's player or the DM could instead justify that because of his past, things would get complicated and escalate. In that case, the player would make the aspect an issue. The end result of that is the character would likely be rewarded fate points for their efforts.

For that reason, the best aspects would have good and bad elements to them. Sure, you could have something like "Quick", where there probably isn't a downside to it, but its boring. It could be used for benefits, but the likelihood of it being used to make a more dramatic story, and thus give you more fate points would be limited.

Any interest in the idea I posted a while back? Looking now, the FATE portion of it probably is just complicating it, but I think the core idea would work well for a game. I just don't know how to make a more skill-heavy game more interesting, as D&D has historically been fairly poor at non-combat oriented games, at least as I see it.

Of course, not hearing anything here might not mean anything. I don't doubt that I'd get submissions if I were to go ahead with recruitment, but I can't help but feel I need something more to make the idea really pop.

I'm wondering about the interest levels for a trad 3.5 Eberron game.

HIGH !

I'm up for 3.5 I don't like Eberron though.

I'm game

Hey guys.
 I just got an awesome idea. At least I hope it is awesome...
 Any ways. I have always wanted to do a Cyberpunk sort of game. Not quite Eclipse Phase, thats a little too techy for me. More like this:

The idea Show

Thats the look I want. Far in the future or not even Earth. I don't care. I have just always wanted to play a Cyberpunk game. You could use Star Wars Saga very easily.

Dec 10, 2012 -- 12:13PM, EDTA wrote:

Any interest in the idea I posted a while back? Looking now, the FATE portion of it probably is just complicating it, but I think the core idea would work well for a game. I just don't know how to make a more skill-heavy game more interesting, as D&D has historically been fairly poor at non-combat oriented games, at least as I see it.

Of course, not hearing anything here might not mean anything. I don't doubt that I'd get submissions if I were to go ahead with recruitment, but I can't help but feel I need something more to make the idea really pop.

Hey, I actually just read that post - hadn't checked out that thread in a long time.

I'd have actually been interested in a full-on FATE version of it (4E is not my cup of tea), even though I've yet to use the system, but 1) I'm too busy at the moment, 2) I'm afraid it wouldn't get enough traction here anyway.

Did you follow up with your idea? Just out of curiosity.

Mar 16, 2013 -- 6:39PM, Omen_of_Peace wrote:

Dec 10, 2012 -- 12:13PM, EDTA wrote:

Any interest in the idea I posted a while back? Looking now, the FATE portion of it probably is just complicating it, but I think the core idea would work well for a game. I just don't know how to make a more skill-heavy game more interesting, as D&D has historically been fairly poor at non-combat oriented games, at least as I see it.

Of course, not hearing anything here might not mean anything. I don't doubt that I'd get submissions if I were to go ahead with recruitment, but I can't help but feel I need something more to make the idea really pop.

Hey, I actually just read that post - hadn't checked out that thread in a long time.

I'd have actually been interested in a full-on FATE version of it (4E is not my cup of tea), even though I've yet to use the system, but 1) I'm too busy at the moment, 2) I'm afraid it wouldn't get enough traction here anyway.

Did you follow up with your idea? Just out of curiosity.

No, that was the last of it. Adapting the systems to blend seemed like too much work for payout. That, and I'd image that if something were to happen with FATE, it would probably be best to just do FATE and not go messing with anything.

However, FATE interest seems low, and I was starting to dislike some of the mechanics of the games. They look good on the surface, but there are apparent quirks there, and having never played the system I don't know if they actually cause problems in play or not.

Mar 16, 2013 -- 6:34PM, Chosenjedi wrote:

Hey guys.
 I just got an awesome idea. At least I hope it is awesome...
 Any ways. I have always wanted to do a Cyberpunk sort of game. Not quite Eclipse Phase, thats a little too techy for me. More like this:

Thats the look I want. Far in the future or not even Earth. I don't care. I have just always wanted to play a Cyberpunk game. You could use Star Wars Saga very easily.

A more scifi game could be fun, and I've heard good things about Star Wars Saga.

If it helps any, the last image there is the Citadel from the Mass Effect series. Thinking about it now, a game set in that universe based out of the Citadel would pretty much be Planescape but with space travel rather than planar travel and a tech bent rather than magic.

Although it does have magic. Space magic.

And weaponized smart phones.

@EDTA

If you are wanting a sci-fi game (still using D&D mechanics) I'd recommend Amethyst Foundations. If not trying for D&D mechanics there is Traveller.

@EDTA

Yeah, I was thinking SW Saga would work best, I have played it and I like the system. It is also a Sci-fi system.
 Would any one be interested in GMing a game like the one I mentioned? A cyberpunk game? Mass effect like kinda.

I can't run it right now, but I know there's a Mass Effect adaptation for Saga...  And here it is.

The weapons stuff is silly (because the weapon rules in ME1 are silly) but the rest might work for your idea.

ChosenJedi, the images you picked don't seem particularly cyberpunk - no cyberspace, not a lot of gratuitous body modification.  Sci-fi, even hard sci-fi, doesn't have to be cyberpunk.

I've no idea what system to use (except for GURPS, everything works in GURPS), but I've been playing with the idea of a game based in the universe of Masters of Orion, an old-timey turn-based strategy game.  The coolest part would be that starship combat would be highly automated - i.e. not something I'd have to run in a system.  Starship combat is devlishly hard to get right.  

Is anyone interested in trying out 5th edition/D&D Next rules?  I brought this up with the current cast for my Such Tangled Webs They Weave campaign and received interest from a couple of them, but I'm looking for at least two or three more. 

Basically, the game would likely be somewhat straight forward raids upon some drow caverns or protecting farm steads or the forward outpost that some of the other PCs who have left the game established.  You would be soldiers working for Lord Morn of Daggerdale and acting as a distraction from the main assault by the players.  I'm not sure how long it would run at this point, but I could see it being something where players rotate in and out without too much trouble.

For those unfamiliar with it, you can get the playtest packet at this link.  They have a fair selection of classes at this point.

Pick me for interested in using DnDNext.

Actually I may be looking for some players to resume some older games using DnDNext as well, starting with my Village of Hommlet game. Just need to hear back from the players that wanted to keep going when I had to take a break.

My life is reaching a level of insanity appropriate to starting to run a game again. 

Yeah I'd also be happy to have a go at the new system

Posted a Setup Thread for the new game for anyone interested.

So now that I'm back after a long hiatus, I'd like to start up a new game.

I'm wondering if anyone would be interested in a 4th edition game that is both inspired by and loosely based on the Council of Wyrms. In this game the PCs would take on the role of a new breed of dragonkind called the Dracogon (my own homebrew race) which are basically dragons in everything but name and size. The game would take place in a time when the Council of Wyrms has dissolved and many dragons have left the islands of Io's Blood, and the major story arch would involve the PCs working to re-establish the council and rebuild the dragon kingdom while contending with a number of other challenges.

The game would also span many years of game time, with each chapter jumping ahead several years, and the PCs jumping up several levels each time as the characters age.

I'm not familiar with the Council of Wyrms, but it sounds cool, especially the jumping ahead years between chapters I'm a bit bored with starting at 1st level though, so while I'm not sure what your plans are, starting at something like 6th or 11th would make me happy. But I probably can't really resist getting a character up for a 1st level anyway. ^^'

Well, the game would start at level one with the characters being hatchlings, but level progression will happen fairly rapidly, with level jumps at certain story points, and with each new chapter.

Aw alright, sounds good!