Party of Cripples
As for roleplaying, it turns out I'm DMing a game despite my desire to play again. The game itself is actually the one I pitched this time last year, but never got a chance to run. For those of you who don't remember (and don't care enough to sift through old posts), the idea was basically that a new continent had been discovered and the players adventure for the kingdom's interests in hopes of one day receiving a grant of land to rule over. We got through most of character creation yesterday. It took longer than expected, as less of my group was familiar with the ruleset than I would have guessed, but at least the mechanical part is done. At the start of next session I'll interrogate the players with a character building exercise I picked up in Acting 101 today.
I think I run my first sessions of games differently than most of the DMs in the club. Since I grew up playing D&D with people I knew prior to the game, my only model for this kind of meet-then-act is the first day of acting classes. Accordingly, I started out with introductions. Everyone around the circle said their name (mostly for my benefit), what year they were (filler), and what elements of roleplaying they liked. This last was the most important for me, because structuring games is a lot easier when you know what your players want. With that out of the way, I gave a more detailed description of the game, listed some house rules*, and we got on to actually putting together characters. Here's the lowdown.
David L.- You know him. I lived at his house before I moved onto campus. He was in the last game I ran, and was one of the few people who actually paid close attention to what was happening. A solid player to have. He's playing a gnome generalist wizard with a strength of 9, no weapons, and no magic missile(!). He's one of those people you hear about who care more about adhering to character backstory than having any appreciable use in combat. You know, the ones that take the +2 to skills feats.
Takeshi- Hadn't met him before he joined my game, and he hasn't been talking too much. When asked about why he roleplays, he went with the escapist "like to be someone else" approach. He's playing a human wizard who may or may not be specializing in divination.
Cody- Before we officially announced our games, Cody came up to me and asked him what I was going to be running. When I told him it was an intrigue-y, political games with themes of exploration using 3.5 D&D rules. His eyes lit up. Perhaps paradoxically, he's playing our tank, a human paladin of Kord (god of strength).
Johnathan- I actually was the one who recruited Johnathan to the club, which is probably why he chose my game. He's a grad student, and was a member of the RPG club in his undergrad. He was the most comfortable with the rules, which meant that he spent a lot of time helping others make their characters. He's a really nice sort of fellow, and I think will be a definite boon to the game. He will be playing a human cleric of Olidammara (god of thieves). He rolled very well for stats, but I let him keep it because a.) he doesn't seem like a power player and b.) with our group set up, the last thing I want is a dead cleric.
Elena- She's one of the co-GMs of the LARP (along with me, David L., and Garrett), and I feel that I understand her wants as a player perfectly. She likes being social, but she loves lore. Any bit of history or mythology I work up, she'll dig it. She's playing a halfling bard who's performance method is (here it comes) poetry. Hell yes. On the minus side, strength 9 and con 8. Note that she didn't roll all that poorly, but modded down an 11 for that strength score.
Tiffany- The only one I'm really worried about. She's in the LARP, and her characters, while well thought out and well played, tend to be fairly self-absorbed. Hopefully being in this smaller environment is conducive to team playing. She's filling the female elf rogue gap. Also has a strength of 9.
So yeah. Party of cripples, by and large. Gonna have to take out some of them combats. It looks like a good group, though; more updates on this front as things progress.
*House rules I use:
-No half-races. Half-orcs wouldn't make sense anyway, given that orcs live on the new continent and have only been known of for the past 10 years. Half-elves, I've decided, are genetically improbable.
-Dwarves: +2 con, -2 dex. For reasons I've enumerated before.
-Gnomes: I've realized what the problem is with gnomes: nobody knew what to make of them. The flavor didn't line up with the rules. Gnomes are small and have less muscle mass, which is why they get a -2 to strength. Also, they're known as master tinkers and inverters, which explains their +2 to.... constitution? So now, they get intelligence instead.
-Barbarians and Druids: Native to the new world.
-Alternate classes/ prestige classes: run them by me.
-Laptops: not allowed at the table after character creation. I know, I know they're useful for rulebooks and such, but they're too distracting. We'll see how well this one works.
I think I run my first sessions of games differently than most of the DMs in the club. Since I grew up playing D&D with people I knew prior to the game, my only model for this kind of meet-then-act is the first day of acting classes. Accordingly, I started out with introductions. Everyone around the circle said their name (mostly for my benefit), what year they were (filler), and what elements of roleplaying they liked. This last was the most important for me, because structuring games is a lot easier when you know what your players want. With that out of the way, I gave a more detailed description of the game, listed some house rules*, and we got on to actually putting together characters. Here's the lowdown.
David L.- You know him. I lived at his house before I moved onto campus. He was in the last game I ran, and was one of the few people who actually paid close attention to what was happening. A solid player to have. He's playing a gnome generalist wizard with a strength of 9, no weapons, and no magic missile(!). He's one of those people you hear about who care more about adhering to character backstory than having any appreciable use in combat. You know, the ones that take the +2 to skills feats.
Takeshi- Hadn't met him before he joined my game, and he hasn't been talking too much. When asked about why he roleplays, he went with the escapist "like to be someone else" approach. He's playing a human wizard who may or may not be specializing in divination.
Cody- Before we officially announced our games, Cody came up to me and asked him what I was going to be running. When I told him it was an intrigue-y, political games with themes of exploration using 3.5 D&D rules. His eyes lit up. Perhaps paradoxically, he's playing our tank, a human paladin of Kord (god of strength).
Johnathan- I actually was the one who recruited Johnathan to the club, which is probably why he chose my game. He's a grad student, and was a member of the RPG club in his undergrad. He was the most comfortable with the rules, which meant that he spent a lot of time helping others make their characters. He's a really nice sort of fellow, and I think will be a definite boon to the game. He will be playing a human cleric of Olidammara (god of thieves). He rolled very well for stats, but I let him keep it because a.) he doesn't seem like a power player and b.) with our group set up, the last thing I want is a dead cleric.
Elena- She's one of the co-GMs of the LARP (along with me, David L., and Garrett), and I feel that I understand her wants as a player perfectly. She likes being social, but she loves lore. Any bit of history or mythology I work up, she'll dig it. She's playing a halfling bard who's performance method is (here it comes) poetry. Hell yes. On the minus side, strength 9 and con 8. Note that she didn't roll all that poorly, but modded down an 11 for that strength score.
Tiffany- The only one I'm really worried about. She's in the LARP, and her characters, while well thought out and well played, tend to be fairly self-absorbed. Hopefully being in this smaller environment is conducive to team playing. She's filling the female elf rogue gap. Also has a strength of 9.
So yeah. Party of cripples, by and large. Gonna have to take out some of them combats. It looks like a good group, though; more updates on this front as things progress.
*House rules I use:
-No half-races. Half-orcs wouldn't make sense anyway, given that orcs live on the new continent and have only been known of for the past 10 years. Half-elves, I've decided, are genetically improbable.
-Dwarves: +2 con, -2 dex. For reasons I've enumerated before.
-Gnomes: I've realized what the problem is with gnomes: nobody knew what to make of them. The flavor didn't line up with the rules. Gnomes are small and have less muscle mass, which is why they get a -2 to strength. Also, they're known as master tinkers and inverters, which explains their +2 to.... constitution? So now, they get intelligence instead.
-Barbarians and Druids: Native to the new world.
-Alternate classes/ prestige classes: run them by me.
-Laptops: not allowed at the table after character creation. I know, I know they're useful for rulebooks and such, but they're too distracting. We'll see how well this one works.