Introduction
Welcome to the first SRK Dungeons & Dragons play-by-post game. This isn’t my first time hosting an online game, but it is my first time doing so on a message board. This is going to largely test the feasibility running a game like this on the message board. The games that I have played via message boards are usually much more social in nature due to the long-winded combat rules that will be slightly modified in order to speed up play.
Game Information
If you don’t already know D&D is traditionally a Pen & Paper game played primarily with… pen (a pencil is preferred) and paper… along with your vivid imagination. You create a character, based on a set of official rules and, along with a party of others, enter into a story told by a narrator player called the Dungeon Master. I play the role of the Dungeon Master, and as such I play as the NPC personalities and monsters that you will meet up with as you adventure with your character. I also have a hand in determining the outcome of some of the random occurrences within the adventure world, a god of sorts. Not quite the same as playing god, but very close. In fact, if ever your character interacts with a god, (and they very well may) then I, the Dungeon Master, will play that role. Everything else is largely up to YOU! This is not a computer or console RPG where your choices are limited to a few scripted decisions that have little effect on the game. The decisions you make in Pen & Paper games are impactful and lasting. The level of control you have over the game is nearly unlimited.
Your character’s progress is determined by a dice roll (more on this will be added later). For most tasks there is an associated target number that must be rolled in order to successfully accomplish it. The higher your character’s rating with that skill is the higher your chance to succeed at it. If you don’t understand this at first, it will be explained in detail later. As your character increases in level, you will have more opportunities to increase your skills and other stats.
For this game, we will be running an adventure group of 4 – 6 people on a dungeon-focused adventure, with 2 alternate players in case someone must leave the game for an extended period of time.
When characters die, their controllers are able to re-roll another character and continue play, but at a slightly lower character. There are also abilities and items that allow a player to be brought back from the dead should such an unfortunate event occur. You should collaborate together in this thread once we’ve established a list of players, to create an optimal group for adventuring, although practically any combination of classes will work.
At a later date, we may either end this adventure and start a new one or extend this one. I also have plans for running two groups within the same game at once (although the second group may be smaller than this one to accommodate for time). Even if you aren’t playing, feel free to check in on the game’s progress, as much of it will read like a narrative.
General Guidelines
Keep your inbox available, as sometimes I send information to players that others are not supposed to know about. For example, if something is written in a language that only one character is capable of understanding, then only the player controlling that character is able to know what the writing says initially. Also, if you have an in-game question to ask me in private, feel free to do so. I’ll be sure to keep my inbox available as well.
Similarly, you players might wish to keep information secret from me, the Dungeon Master, so please create your own conversation for that if necessary.
I will try my best to keep the party together and keep up with the combat initiative rounds as well as possible. I will also try to accommodate people who are not able to post as often as others. Please, however, try to keep combat going smoothly as possible and if you foresee that you won’t be able to post, tell me (either publicly or in private) what you wish to do next should things go as you expect them to.
Sometimes, I add in flavor text for your character according to how they have acted in the past, or how I perceive their personality to be, based on past actions. If I screw up and do something really out of character for them, feel free to correct me and let me know what I did wrong so I don’t do it again. It might help to give me some descriptive guidelines for how your character performs certain common actions like swing a weapon or dodging attacks. That way I’ll have a kind of “blueprint” to go by.
Rules & Instructions
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We will be using the basic D&D System 3.5 Standard rules with a few minor changes that are mentioned later. No “Splatbook” materials are allowed.
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We are using a sharable online character sheet located here. Sign-up is required in order to make/view sheets. Doing so will allow you to share your character sheet with me for tracking during play.
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I will work with you 1-on-1 to create your characters and get you ready for play.
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Characters will begin play at character lvl. 3 with maxed hit points and multi-classing is allowed.
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Only Standard races are available for play. No Drow. No Xill wielding 4 weapons at once.
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Character stats are generated using the standard point buy system (25 points). All Ability Scores start at 8 points and increase according to the following chart.
Standard Point Buy System
Ability Score ======== Point Cost
9 =================== 1 Point
10 ================== 2 Points
11 ================== 3 Points
12 ================== 4 Points
13 ================== 5 Points
14 ================== 6 Points
15 ================== 8 Points
16 ================= 10 Points
17 ================= 13 Points
18 ================= 16 Points
- Wizard and Sorcerer familiars are limited to the familiars listed in the SRD.
-All characters will receive their class’ standard starting package + 2700 gold.
- Magic items at the start of play are limited to a +1 bonus or equivalent gold value per item.
-Magic items are also rarer in this game than in standard D&D 3.5 games because of a house rule to randomize ALL magic items. In place of being able to freely purchase magic items at will, players will be able to acquire them as loot or by purchasing them from a randomly-selected listing of items at a “pawn-shop” like magic emporium.
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We will be using the full rules for weight and carrying capacity in this game as well as rules on fatigue, starvation and drowning (put a skill point in Swim!).
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Spell casting will require all required components and casting criteria.
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We may be using some variant rules during play, including, but not limited to the Contacts, Reputation, and Honor systems. Should these features become a factor in game play, I will instruct you of their importance accordingly.
Other Considerations
First of all, there’s a lot of work going into this in order to make it as accessible as possible, so please bear with me as I try to work everything out. As such, this post may become highly modified as we approach a starting date. Also, this is a first attempt at an SRK game, so there is a possibility that in the future the game may take place on other online venues (Google Plus video/voice is a consideration,as well as some other options that are intended for gaming use). However, that would require everyone meeting together a specified time and place, which may be difficult, so for now play by post is the best option.
Current Player List
- RockBogart
- Neesa
- AngelPalm
- AYO?!
- Azure The Question
- Missing Person
Alternate Players (Given priority in future and/or concurrent games):
- CanadianDstryr
- Azure
If we are moving along quickly enough, I may be able to add alternates to the main game.
Links
Complete Game Rules: http://www.d20srd.org/index.htm
Character Sheets: http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetindex.php (have to register to create/view sheets)
Dice Roller: Coming soon.
Misc stuff. More information coming as needed.
[details=Spoiler]
Deity List:
You don’t have to use these if you don’t want to. Your character can worship anyone or anything they want to. Where their power is really coming from however, is a different question. One that I will probably explain at some point. Just know that for now, for the sake of ease, these are the major divine powers in the cosmos. [/details]
