Character Builder

Many times, the subject of a forum based game has come up here, I don't know if it's possible or not.  But vote chess has taught me to patiently enjoy a very slow game.  So, I would like to give it a try.  I think the secret will be patientce, and not getting overly ambitious.  But why not try?  

Baby steps.  Let's create a forum for us to generate new characters, or even rebirth old characters you love at level one.  We can see how many people are interested, what there experience is (none is required) and what kind of group we make.  But before we start;

-who's interested?  please say "aye"

-what version do we want to try?  I reccomend the new one.

-who want's to DM, or nominate a DM?

-what method(s) should we use?

any thoughts, preferences, or ideas, are greatly welcome.  Please let us know what you think.

I am in and if possible I'd like to play rather than DM as I've not been a player since 1993!!! I've not played the new version but I am ready to give it a go :)

aye

It is entirely up to you guys

I nominate regi. You already have numerous characters ad maps at the ready, and you know what it takes to be a good DM.

As for the Method, You Guys can come up with a method easily that would work for the group.  I think It would be difficult if the party were to separate at any point, since they are not supposed to know what the other group is thinking, and people could see it if we just made another forum for the separated players.

There are different kinds of players, I think the statistics junkies will be dissapointed by a forum based game.  It's going to have to be a more flowing story driven game.

I was part of another RPG forum a few years ago, and gave some things a try over there.

Traveller (PC) - character creation was a lot of fun, but it never got past that.

3.5e (PC) - started at level 10 or 15 or something like that, joining an existing game and part of one fight and a little bit of story before the DM lost interest in running it.

3.5e (DM) - proposed a 1st level campaign, had some people interested, got through the character creation process and then I realized how much time it was consuming and realized that I just couldn't do it. To my shame, rather than owning up to it and apologizing, I just bailed on the whole forum. I'd like to think I'd do it differently now in a different set of circumstances, but I don't think it's a good recommendation for me as DM.

Amber Diceless (PC) - absolutely my favourite, very story driven, was something I lost when I quit on the forum abruptly. Based on Roger Zelazny's Amber novels, which I loved.

I'm interested, but I'd want it to be something I'm familiar with rather than learning something new - so AD&D, 3.5e, 4e, or my next intended system of The Strange. I've had some very old reading-but-not-playing experience with Feng Shui, which could also be fun. Unfortunately, that means I don't have the time or desire to try and learn the latest edition (5e). The level of tactical detail in 3.5e / 4e makes me think the DM would need a good map making strategy.

Party split ups are problematic in real life games as well. 

So, we have two in, one interested.

I've been thinking alot about this, and I think we should run on a weekly system.  Every week, say sunday, the DM will post story lines, scenes, etc. and the party will have one week, at their liesure, to figure things out, the DM will answer questions etc. and the following sunday, consequences!  Leading to the next "scene".

I think what will sink us, is trtying to keep appointments.  I like the vote chess method, where we have a period of time to figure out what to do.  And when the bell tolls, it tolls.....

this week I plan to read about any other forum based games I can find, see what good ideas I can steal.  If anyone knows any that they think work, let me know.

Also, If I'm DM, I intend to make an original adventure, so no one out there can read ahead.

I'd be interested but time is rather short. D&D is now to a 5th ed? Wow, Last I heard was 3.5. When they killed LIving City RPGA that was the end of RPGA and D&D. I only read back issues of Dungeon and I have not touch one for a year.

Sounds good Regi. Following the vote chess formula seems the way to go. Take your time to get it sussed out. I am already looking forward to it. Ive never played a forum based game, have you thought of how you are going to do combat?

well, combats going to be the tricky bit, isn't it.

we can't do blow by blow, obviously, so we will need to come up with a more 'strategy' style combat.

How will you face this foe?  Do you know of it's weaknesses?  Level of agression?  At any point will you retreat?

Maybe something like;

the fighter will get in the owlbear's face using his high agility to keep it occupied while avoiding injury.  The cleric and the magic user will use ranged attacks from behind separate trees to create a crossfire, filling the field of vision.  All so the thief can use these dark woods to sneak into backstab position, to deal the deathblow.

The thief says "plan A, is to get into a tree top so my backstab is death from above, but I will of course take whatever shot is available."

so, now the DM will roll some dice and make some choices,

the owlbear is vanquished, with a little detail of each PC's role

the straregy fails, and battle continues

things go bad for the party, the owlbear pulls down the tree the cleric is behind, on top of the magic user....or, the owlbear's roar alerts the rest of the family....or a magic missle sets the forest on fire.......

role playing will be the key here, how will your character fight?  brains?  brawn?  If a fighter loses his sword, will he do anything to get it back?  draw his dagger?  or attack with his bare hands?

The more we know about how a character will behave, the more flowing the story can be.

I also had an idea, that the DM can PM individual party members about details only they would be aware of.  The thief notices a hidden door, the elf sees something in the dark, the magic user senses evil.

This way the party will drive more of the story through roleplay, instead of just listening to the DM all the time.

I had a thought about combat,

based on the number of attacks a character has, each character can roll a string of numbers, to carry into the combat 'scene'

but then I thought, how will we handle rolling?

yes PMs are a good idea. I have an idea for rolling but haven't fully thought it through and I haven't time at the moment so I'll have a think to see if it might work then I'll let you know my idea

regarding dice rolling, why not get the players to roll a set number of dice say 20 or 30 of each type of die and then when a dice roll is needed in the game you use them in the order we semt them to you. We wont know when we will need a high score or a low score so we can't cheat?

clever

I'll try this, but I don't have any reference books for ver. 5, but I know the basics of playing.

Has anyone ever read a choose your own adventure book? 

I like the idea that in the vote chess model, choices will appear as the party considers them.  Just like chess moves do.

Choose Your Own Adventure - also Steve Jackson's Tunnels and Trolls. There was one with ninjas as well too, which was pretty cool