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I should probably come up with a list of possible campaign ideas that I'd be interested running.  But you can help direct that interest.  Any kind of campaign you'd be particularly interested in playing?  Any of the Pathfinder APs or Wizards adventures you've been itching to try out?

So, I've been thinking about this a bit more.  I think I'd probably only worry about levels 1-5 starting out, and I'd want something that had a pretty good share of (at least possible) RP versus combat, so that would rule out a dungeon-crawl.

Ideas for adventures:

Official WOTC Adventures:

Lost Mines of Phandelver (then leading into something else, like Red Hand of Doom?)
Curse of Strahd

Pathfinder AP:
Curse of the Crimson Throne
Carrion Crown
Strange Aeons

Any of those sound interesting?  I'm just looking at online reviews to figure out what APs sound like they might be good for online play.  I've played/run parts of some of those: LMoP, Carrion Crown and Strange Aeons.

My father used to say, Anything that makes you happy makes me happy.  That was never very helpful come Christmas or Birthday time, and, in its way, was infuriating.  That said, I had found myself about to say something very similar.

Seriously, though, it's not the material that makes the game.  It's the people and the writing and the imagination that they bring.  That's what makes a story.  Or so I've found.

But let me grasp for some straws and see what comes up in the handsful.  I've always liked a Victorian setting.  Or cowboys.  Pirates can also be fun.

Warning.  I've played a lot of Crimson Throne.  I've also played the first part of Carrion Crown ... possibly five times.  That AP seems to be cursed in that the games always seem to fall apart.  One observation about my many play-throughs of Carrion Crown, though, is that the various GM's always seemed alter things to make each game reasonably unique.  In a couple of cases, very pleasantly surprising.

Strange Aeons looks interesting.  I've always been a fan of Lovecraft.

But, would it be difficult to adapt the AP - any Pathfinder AP, for that matter - to 5E rules?  Or, is that not the intention?

Well this is a welcome surprise!

Dark and mysterious indeed.

I'll admit that Curse of the Crimson Throne has been on my list. Korvosa seems like a heady setting that you could go really deep with.

Likewise Carrion Crown with Ustalav could make for a darker, muddier sort of campaign.

I will also suggest Skull and Shackles as an option for this group in particular. With all the great interaction, dedication to NPCs and love of personal side quests a high seas adventure with the parties very own ship could be a lot of fun.

In reply to Pisca Neep Freemish (msg # 460):

I've played a few 3.5/PF adventurers in my in-person game, and I haven't found it too hard.  I ran my players through Foxglove Manor (up-leveled, actually, because they were level 11) and did a modified Red Hand of Doom, substituting a different dungeon in for the Ghost Lord's tomb.  I also ran the last book of Kingmaker, replacing the nymph with Titania.

More or less, I'm not really using Pathfinder or 3.5 monsters.  I'm more using the APs to give me an idea of villains and motivations, and then building encounters using 5E rules (but having the battle maps is a big plus.)  It's seemed to work well.  Maybe it would be more fair to say I'm "inspired" by the APs rather than running an AP.

Yeah, Skull & Shackles could work well, too.  I omitted that because I had a campaign that failed, though it was 1-on-1 and did make it partway through Book 2, which as far as RPoL games go, might not actually be that much of a failure.

Re: Dark and Mysterious:

It wasn't until late last year I was watching "Once Upon a Time" and actually saw the character I'm using for Cato's portrait.  At the time, I just thought it was a good match for what I was envisioning for Cato.  Had no idea it was actually Captain Hook.  (Kellan's Skull and Shackles comment made me remember that.)

Well, whatever you go with, I'm up for it.

Same, I would encourage you to run something that you think you would really enjoy. I'm sure you will do a great job whatever you decide.

It really isn't that difficult to picture Pisca the Pirate!  She already has the bandanna.

I could not have less input about which AP you want to get your inspiration from Cato; I'm sure there's something you prefer over the others.  I haven't played any of them except for Runelords!  So it's all good to me.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:40, Sat 11 Apr 2020.

Ok, after thinking about this more, I think I want to go with Strange Aeons.  Lovecraftian-inspired horror plus D&D is like chocolate and peanut butter!

I think running this in 5E will be easier than running it in Pathfinder - I've found 5E to be a little more rule-light than PF, but with interpretations of the class abilities, can still be fairly versatile in terms of representing different character concepts.

Look at the Strange Aeons Player's Guide, and think about the character concepts you might want to play.  When everyone has a character name in mind, I can start the new game and we can move the discussion there.  Keep in mind that you'll all be starting in a fugue state, with most of your memories wiped clean by the same misfortune that has destroyed Briarstone Asylum.  I think the character background will work best if you have some broad concepts of what your character was before they lost their memories, and then we can work on filling in the details during the course of play as your PCs recover their memories.

Racon, Hand of Fate, any interest in joining?

Strange Aeons sounds great. I've read just about all of Lovecrafts works over the years, and it will be a fun ride I am sure.

I don't own a single page of 5e stuff however. I'm not opposed to learning a "new" system persay, but it will definitely slow me down.

I was also not a fan of 4th personally, just far too simple and shallow for my taste, but I have not looked at 5e at all.

Maybe they have listened to the community and made some improvements.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 15:54, Sun 12 Apr 2020.

It's not hard.  I picked it up less than a year ago.  Liseth also just recently did too in a game we're both in together.  We'll all be more or less in the same boat.

I've skimmed the player's guide.  I like it.  Everything is so wide open now, though.  It's hard for me do decide on what to play.  So many possibilities.

5E is definitely a departure from 4E, probably closer to 2E/3E.  Really, I think it does a good job of grabbing the best features of all the version of D&D and making a game that's relatively fast and easy to play.  A lot of the basic rules are available for free online via a SRD at sites like https://www.5esrd.com/ or https://5e.d20srd.org/.  You can create a character using the basic rules at https://www.dndbeyond.com/.  If you make an account, I could actually share my account with you, because I've paid for an upgrade and can share my purchased materials with you all for character creation (like the complete PHB and Xanatar's Guide to Everything, which is basically a splatbook.)

5E is much lighter in character options than something like Pathfinder or 3/3.5.  You've got your basic classes, like Fighter, Barbarian, Cleric, Wizard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Bard, etc.  Each class has an archetype that it can choose from at 3rd level (in most cases, though a few classes, like Druid and Cleric choose earlier.). These archetypes are the primary choice you make, and they've added some, but basically there's a half-dozen choices for each class, which aren't really expanding as the game expands.  Most of what Wizards has published is setting/adventure guides.  Feats aren't really a big component of the character building process anymore; you can forgo an ability score increase to instead choose a feat, but it's not as extensive as it was in 3.5/PF.

For instance, take the Fighter.  The basic archetype for the Fighter is the Champion, which expands your crit range, gives you an additional bonus on some checks like jumping, etc.  In the complete PHB, there's additional archetypes like Battle Master and Eldritch Knight.  The Battlemaster gains "maneuvers" they can learn, like Trip Attack or Parry that expand their combat options.  The Eldritch Knight gives the Fighter some spellcasting ability they can combine with their martial attacks.

D&D Beyond also posted a bunch of New Player’s Guides. Some of them seem aimed at using D&D Beyond
specifically, but others are more about making a character for the first time.  I don’t know if it matters, but D&D isn’t run by Wizards, but they’re a pretty close digital partner and seem to work closely with WotC.

Yeah!  You have a paid account.  I was telling Liseth about D&DBeyond.  But neither of us has a paid account, and without one it's pretty inadequate.

I'm not real keen on the Ideals/Bonds/Flaws/etc, though.

In reply to Pisca Neep Freemish (msg # 473):

I made a campaign on D&D Beyond. Here’s the link: https://ddb.ac/campaigns/join/10302811659077696

Yeah, I find the bonds/ideals/flaws sometimes helpful if I roll randomly and something seems interesting for the character concept I have in mind. But usually, I find if I already have a concept they can be superfluous. Also, it’s never really come up in a campaign I’ve played in or run. So, maybe useful for sparking ideas for your character?

I am seeing some options here. Advancement type and Hitpoint type, some content options. I assume this can all be changed later?

In reply to Kellan Storval (msg # 475):

Yeah, you can toggle on and off additional content, change how you do XP and change how you do HP when you level up.  The defaults should all be okay.

I never realized just how many of the fantasy races feel inappropriate for a horror-style setting.  Well, that's probably just because horror stories usually don't include a menagerie of different races.

I'm starting to lean towards something traditional, like a Halfling Rogue.  Maybe I can give Pisca some right-sized companionship!

Are there any fantasy-horror novels that have different races?  I can't think of any off the top of my head.  Maybe Warhammer Fantasy or 40K?  I haven't played enough of that to know.

Ever read any of the Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Briggs?  Set in modern day.  In fact, set only a few miles away from where I live in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State.  The main character is a Coyote skinwalker.  Werewolves, vampires, witches, the fey are all real.  They've been in hiding for centuries, and have only recently, Come Out, so to speak.

Fun bubblegum sort of stuff.  Easy reading.