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Campaign Conventions - READ THIS FIRST.

Posted by NarratorFor group 0
Narrator
GM, 2 posts
The DM
Fri 29 Apr 2016
at 19:25
  • msg #1

Campaign Conventions - READ THIS FIRST

The following lengthy list (sorry!) details how I'm planning to run this campaign, together with an expectation of what each player should aim to be bringing to the 'table' (nothing too onerous, I hope!)

Please carefully review these details, as one or more of these conventions may well lead you to decide the game is not for you!

1) CHARACTER CREATION, TAG AND BIO

Standard array 15 14 13 12 10 8
OR Point buy (27 points)

The 'Tag' for a character should be set to Gender/Race e.g. "Male Dwarf".

The 'Bio' for a character should be set as follows (by either the DM or player):

Line 1: External appearance relating to AC/weapons - limited space permitting
e.g. 'Chainmail & Shield', 'Fine Robes,Longsword'

Line 2: Condition/health
e.g. Healthy, Lightly Injured, Seriously Injured, Near Death, Unconscious

Exact HPs and AC should not be referred to in the IC posts, bios etc. It will be available on the character sheets and OOC

2) DICE ROLLING
As DM I will handle all dice rolls, with very rare exceptions. Whilst face to face, a good part of the fun in gaming comes from rolling the dice, the same doesn't seem to be true in a forum game - as I've found in another game I'm playing which uses the same convention. I suspect this is due to the delayed response that comes with this format. DM dice-handling helps continuity by allowing a whole combat round to be described in a single post.

Occasionally I may call on players to make their own publicly visible rolls using the RPoL dice roller - the most likely example is for Death saving throws or some other critical die roll, or one where there can be no chance of both of us making the roll independently.

3) DEATH, INJURY & HEALING
There is a consensus amongst some (including me, I guess) that it is too hard to die in 5e, especially at higher levels. This removes some of the excitement of the game.

Both in my face to face campaign and another RPoL game I'm in, players and DMs complain about the 'Long Rest cures all hit points' phenomenon. This is one of the most immersion-breaking of rules, it would seem. Whilst in practice, the existence of magical healing means any change to this has little effect, I still feel it benefits the feel of a campaign to do away with this and use the optional 'Slower Natural Healing' rule from the DMG. Therefore this campaign will use that rule - namely, a Long Rest doesn't recover any hit points automatically, you have to spend your hit dice to get them back. Per-rest abilities are not affected and are regained as normal.

Additionally, we will be playing with the somewhat deadly System Shock and the sometimes scary Lingering Injuries rules. EDIT: we're not doing this any more although lingering injuries might be used from time to time.

System Shock requires a DC15 Con save when you (or any adversary) takes half or more of their maximum hit points damage in a single blow. The results range from immediately dropping to 0 HP (major!), to a loss of the character's reaction (minor). This will be nasty at first level - a single blow will likely trigger the Con save on most characters. As the campaign progresses you will find low-level enemies drop like flies in your wake however, which I think will add to the epic feel of the campaign. And there will always be the chance that even with your 60 or 70 HPs at mid-level, a powerful foe can drop you with a critical hit.

Lingering Injuries can occur when you are reduced to zero hit points. If you fail a Con save, you might gain a nasty effect until you next receive magical healing, or rest. The worst effects (losing an eye, or a hand, for example) require more powerful healing unlikely to be available to the characters at lower levels. You should be prepared to RP through any such injury until your character can be cured. None of the injuries are necessarily permanent. The rule may never come up - you hope! EDIT: I forgot to add, you'll get a level of exhaustion for dropping to zero HPs, regardless of any other effects. This can only be removed via a Long Rest (or powerful healing) and represents the effects of the injury on you for the rest of the 'day'.

Short Rests only one short rest is permitted per eight hour period of game time


4) COMBAT

Combat default will be theatre of the mind (i.e. no maps). I have been using a grid map occasionally however, if necessary. Standard initiative rules. If the scene is not clear from the description I've given, please post OOC for clarification. E.g. 'how many Orcs are in a 15ft radius of the leader?'.

5) MAPS
I intend the only maps available will be maps the characters acquire in game (rare!). Otherwise if you want a map, you'll need a character to carry out mapping based on the descriptions in the thread. The main game map is an exception, this is a regional map that everyone would have seen, or have as a 'mental map'.

There won't be any combat maps - I will describe the situation in detail and answer as many questions as required to clarify anything. Edit: I'm moving towards more maps now, having run a few battles. There may or may not, therefore, be a grid or map available for a combat

6) CHARACTER RACE GUIDELINES
Humans, Dwarves, Half Elves and Elves encouraged. Halflings, Half Orcs and Gnomes acceptable. No Dragonborn, Aarakocra, or Tieflings

7) SWORD COAST ADVENTURERS GUIDE
Class and background options from here are permitted. Spells from the Elemental Evil players guide are permitted too, if you want them.

8) FEATS & MULTICLASSING
Feats are limited as follows:
- no variant humans
- fighters may take feats at levels 6 and 12 if desired
- all other characters may take a feat at level 8 if desired

Multiclassing is permitted if you have a strong RP reason to do so. Preferably notify me at campaign start of your intended future multi-class selections and why you feel they fit your character.

9) EXPERIENCE POINTS

XPs will be awarded as standard for 'defeating foes'. This need not mean slaying them - they can surrender or flee and you get the XPs. If you meet an adversary later and already got the XPs, you will not get the XPs a second time (maybe half, in some cases, otherwise none).

There will also be additional 'Milestone XPs' for completing quests and so forth.

10) SANDBOX CAMPAIGN NATURE
This campaign is quite sandboxy in nature. You may well find a large number of courses of action available to you, particularly as you travel more around the campaign region. Some areas may be beyond the recommended difficulty for your party when you tackle them. Be prepared to retreat and take stock. When I told my face to face group this however, they ran away from everything far too easily and allowed enemies to organise and replenish themselves - probably avoid that, too ;) Decisions, decisions.

11) CAMPAIGN STRUCTURE & AARs

I'll organise the campaign into a Prologue and then however many chapters, representing finite chunks of the adventure. A new thread will be started for each chapter. At the conclusion of each, I encourage one or more players to write an After Action Report of the events of that chapter from the point of view of their character. There will be a thread just for this. If you wish to indulge your skills at creative writing, do so here! We will all enjoy the read. This is not compulsory - if it's not your thing, no need to do it.

12) AVOIDANCE OF CAMPAIGN SPOILERS

This is a published campaign so it goes without saying to be very careful when perusing the internet not to stumble across plot details and spoilers. Even if you know at a high level what the campaign is about, assume your character certainly does not and post in character accordingly, without referring to any extra knowledge you as a player may have.

13) ENCUMBRANCE

We'll be using the encumbrance variant rules (PHB p176). This means tracking weight of items. In practice you will often find you need to drop your backpack (a free action) in order to move at full pace.

14) DM USE OF PRIVATE LINES AND GROUP THREADS
Each player will be assigned a private Group ID and an initial post to that thread will give each character his or her tailored introduction to the adventure. Any time a character goes off on his or her own, that thread will again be used.

Individual posts in the main chapter threads may contain private lines for the eyes of a specific player/s only. This might happen if a player carries out actions only that character would know the results of, whilst still being 'attached' to the main group. It will then be up to the player concerned to convey this information to the others - or not - in character.

15) CHARACTER DEATH
If you die and can't or don't want to get raised, you can continue with a new character. You'll start at the baseline of the level of the current player with the lowest level in the party. If everyone's the same level, you'll start at that level.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:42, Wed 21 Aug 2019.
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