This is where we'll figure out exactly what we want to play, plan your characters, talk about backstories, and so forth.

Preferences from OP: RP, world exploration, combat, dungeon delving, horror, survival
And from SP: RP, world exploration, dungeon delving, combat, survival, horror

So RP and Exploration is king for this game.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:35, Wed 28 Apr 2021.

Here is a list of the adventures that I have a copy of, and what I know about them. For the ones that I have, but haven't read, I'll take care of the reading before we start, so only take that note to mean I know little about it. There are a few others as well, but they're definitely not what you guys are looking for.

Descent into Avernus (Lv 1-13) - never played it and haven't read it yet, supposedly has interesting vehicle combat? From what I know of the story, you go to hell and disrupt a war between devils and demons in hopes that it doesn't spill over into the material plane.

Curse of Strahd (Lv 1-10) - yeah it's a horror setting, but it's also widely consider both the best adventure and the most RP-heavy. I've played the lower level parts of it, but my groups have always fallen apart before we finished it. I can play down a lot of the horror stuff, so you'd mostly be dealing with horror-themed encounters in a gloomy setting. Probably not a whole lot of exploration going on though.

Dragon of Icespire Peak (Lv 1-6) - it's the new intro adventure and it's pretty decent. It's written pretty loosely, so you have some freedom in what you do. It's set up so that there are 2-4 available quests for your level, you go and do some of them, you level, new quests open up, so on until you get to the right level to go take on the dragon. There are opportunities for RP throughout. Of the first three quests, 2 of them have deadly encounters and one of them is very strongly encouraged to be resolved by RP. Can be combined with LMoP (below) for a better overall story. Stand-alone, there's a young white dragon that has come to the region and you're sent out to warn people, bring them back to the town for safety, search for magical items to help you, and fight off various baddies that were driven toward inhabitants by the dragon's presence, and at the end you go and kill the dragon.

Lost Mines of Phandelver (Lv 1-6) - the original intro adventure, that's pretty good all around. Exploration is maybe a bit light since everything is in one general area, but I can add some to it. Can be combined with CoIP (above) to take advantage of strengths from both while eliminating the weak points (pointless side quests, mostly). Stand-alone, you're dealing with goblins and bandits, rescuing some people, and trying to discover a lost mine that can create magical weapons.

DoIP + LMoP (Lv 1-8'ish) - A lot of minor changes will be made to both adventures to tie the two of them together for a cohesive story instead of two separate things happening in the same location. There are also two or three follow-up mini-adventures to DoIP that can add some more levels.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh - I've started playing it twice, never got more than a few sessions into it before group fell apart. Island and ship themed setting, with surprisingly few things happening on the boat itself. The quests themselves are supposedly rather enjoyable, the main complaints I hear about this one are the final quests don't have a lot to do with the earlier stuff, and people want the ship to matter more. This one is more of a collection of adventures within a setting, so it could give you options for RP and exploration but it could also feel kind of flat since there's not a key storyline taking you from start to end.

Hoard of the Dragon Queen (Lv 1-7) - Dragon cultists are raiding and pillaging cites to gather treasure to give to Tiamatt, the evil goddess of dragons, when they summon her. You're there to stop her. It starts with a lot of combat, then quickly turns into a whole lot of social encounters as you try to convince powerful organizations to side against the cultists with you. Very political/social. It's followed by another adventure, Rise of Tiamatt, where you try to undo the work that has already been done and then face off against Tiamatt herself, or her avatar.

Rise of Tiamatt (Lv 7-15) - continuation of the above adventure. You'll do more of the same, but also face several different dragons as you try to capture the artifacts they need to actually summon the Queen of Dragons.

Rime of the Frost Maiden (Lv 1-11) - haven't played it or read it, but I hear good things.

Princes of the Apocalypse (Lv 1-15) - this one is pretty cool, it's a sandbox so it has some of the exploration elements and a fair amount of RP. As a sandbox, there's a chance that your exploration takes you somewhere that you might get killed. It's full of cultists trying to bring elemental lords into power, and you're there to stop them. I've been playing in a PotA game here for 4 years.

Storm King's Thunder (Lv 1-10) - lots of travel and exploration in this, you'll be going all over the nation in this one. It's the largest adventure out there. The king of giants has gone missing, and all hell breaks loose as the different types of giants struggle to take power.

Tomb of Annihilation (Lv 1-11) - haven't played or read, but it's also a fan favorite and I know people who love it. It's the best adventure for exploration as that's largely the point. There's a death curse that means people who die stay dead and lots of people are inflicted with a curse that will kill them; I would scrap that since it only serves to force you through the adventure as quickly as possible to save as many people as you can, so most players end up missing a lot of the cool stuff the setting has to offer. Without that in place you can explore the whole island.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:13, Thu 29 Apr 2021.

I'd like to vote for Dragon of Icespire Peak. This scenario actually is causing ideas to form in my head about a character.

Maybe a member of the town guard?

As I've read some more about Descent Into Avernus, I don't think that one really fits well with what we're looking for, so I'll scratch that one off the list.

Howdy, folks. I like the idea of Ice Spire, maybe merge some cultists into it to make a bit more combat ready. Cheers.

I think a lot of those should cool. Maybe we can do the Lost Mines/Icespire Peak combo, since other seem to want to play Icespire.

Most of those sound good, but I would jump on the consensus of Icespire.

Alright, it looks like we're going to be doing the starter adventures.

I'm running that one in my live game on Wednesdays, so I'm already pretty familiar with it.

Now that we've got the setting down, lets start talking character ideas.

---

You're going to start already in a party, mid-job, so keep that in mind. Introductions will have already happened when we start. The setting is going to be a small town and various landmarks around it, including a fair amount of forest, and some hills, mountains, and plains. Water will play a very small role in one side quest, if you choose to do it.

I plan to be a recently separated member of the town guard. That kind of fell into adventuring as he doesn't plan on settling down yet. Something Is not letting him and he isn't sure what he wants to do long term.

Also, I have a planned work-heavy weekend on May 8th and 9th. The thread was closed so I thought posting here would be better than not.

I'd like to play a sorcerer. I typically run clerics/druids or even fighters, but I am excited to take on a role that I rarely play.

Is there a character sheet already created, or do I create my own.

Oh, and hi folks. My name's Mike. I'm long time gamer, starting with 1st ed way back in 1980. The first adventure I ever played was 'In search of the unknown' - I had no clue, but it was fun! Fell in love with the game and haven't stopped playing in all the years since then.

Actually, I'm going to leave this part up to the group. Do you want to start off mid-adventure to jump straight into some actoin, or would you rather have a chance to sit down and get to know one another with an RP scene?

I like role playing the initial scene. I find it to be the best way to gauge the temperament of the other players, also adds insight to what the DM may have in store.

I think it would be fun to start the roleplay with the characters getting to know each other.

As for my character, I got a few in mind that I'm thinking of playing. A fighter, a bard, or a warlock. I tend to play fighters and bards, it might be fun to play something else, but I haven't really decided yet.

If you're still trying to narrow down your class choice, how about your Background?

Regardless of which class you choose to follow, what did your characters do before they were adventurers, and what prompted them to make the change?

I think I mentioned it before, but I'll put it here again. I urge you to play the character that you're going to enjoy. Let me worry about party balance issues, you worry about enjoying your character and its contribution to the group's story.

Alch, your sheet should already be available to you.

It is - found it. Thank you!

I'll start working on it in small pieces.

Preferences on Experience Points vs Milestone?

What I've found works is advancing the story along chapter breaks. If it means calculating XP, go for it. If the other way works, that's fine by me as well.

Wow...I think I made that harder than it had to be. I think we're good now.

Mechanically, I've enjoyed Barbarians in the past, although that's typically been in groups where the role-play is a minimum.

I have an idea for a bard that I think would be neat, although I've never played the class.
Princess mentioned being fond of the class, so I'll defer to their first choice.

Barring that, I think working with either a Wizard or a Druid would be fun, and a good fit for the campaign.

Having recently played a druid (and am still playing, I think), I really enjoyed the experience. There's a lot to like about class, from the typical to the 'this will blow your mind' type of fun.

There are a lot of really cool ways you can RP a Barbarian, especially if you get away from what everyone thinks they're supposed to be. I have a Path of the Beast Barb who's completely Necromancer themed, so his rage damage isn't described as him hitting harder because he's pissed, it's either drawing their life force out of their bodies after I wound them, or enhancing the strike with death magic to increase the pain. Instead of having a tail, its his shadow animating and striking with a rapier of pure shadow. When he uses his...danger sense? The thing that gives Adv on Dex checks if you can see the effect, he summons a skeleton or a zombie in front of him to take the brunt of the effect (or all on a success) and then crumbling to dust afterward.

You're only as limited as you want to be by your own imagination.

I did decide to go with a bard character. Just falling back on what I know well, I guess. I always seem to have good ideas for bards.

As far as Experience Points vs Milestone. I prefer Milestone, but I don't mind Experience Points.

I don't mind what class I play too much, I was a horrible rogue before so there's that.
Since I just pictured the guy in my mind as having a hook as the random town guard that kind of was a career private, he could be many classes. From a sorcerer that barely hangs on, to a ranger that provides the ranged support for the guard.

I did roll up a career private Protector fighter named Pavel Marsk. But I can change him.

What helped me really get into the backstory of my character was Ginny Di's Youtube character building videos. The one I used was being treated by a healer for an arrow wound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...5T9-XooaBN0EAnaR8CHX

She has more videos building characters after that.

A ranged-Ranger with a hook for one hand? That could be an interesting challenge.

This is what we're looking at so far. For those who are undecided, I bolded the one that seems to be the direction you're leaning, but you're free to do whatever you want.


This message was last edited by the GM at 22:46, Tue 04 May 2021.

I am happy to play a rogue type character (Either a rogue outright, or a trickery cleric if we need healing as well)

Since we seem to have Magical and Support covered, I'll be a Ranger so we get Ranged covered and I can be a backup healer if need be.

I'll wait to see what Con's plan is. If he goes druid, I'll stick to my rogue plan. If he goes something else, I'll probably go cleric or druid

Is anyone struggling with their character or needing some direction or input from me or the other players?

I reformed my character into a Ranger, since I assumed it was a Forest town that gets attacked by orcs and goblins those are my favored selections. I have a bow for ranged combat, and two melee weapons. Unless we pick up someone better at front line combat or a better healer, I'm not planning on staying pure Ranger. I'll try to fill as many party needs as I can.

I'm waiting for CON to see if he's going healer or not...then I'll send mine over (either the healer or the rogue)

Princess....what kind of bard you looking at becoming?

I think I'll go with the Barbarian route, just have a bit of a different take on it.

This is what we're looking at so far. For those who are undecided, I bolded the one that seems to be the direction you're leaning, but you're free to do whatever you want.


This message was last edited by the GM at 01:03, Wed 05 May 2021.

For backgrounds, I know that Princess is planning to be an Entertainer and Alch is planning to be a Hermit (such a hermit). How about the rest of you?

If you're doing character sheets in D&D Beyond, please use the link in the Character Creation thread to tie them to the campaign so that I have access to them. If you're not using D&D Beyond, go ahead and use the character sheets here.

I’ll be going the cleric route I think. I’ll have a sheet over ASAP

We're getting closer to being ready to start. If you've not yet finished up your character sheet, try to get that done and then let me know.

If we can get all the sheets done in the next day or so, we'll get started either Sunday or Monday.

I’m done and ready

I am good to go.

My sheet's done.

I did some tweaking and I'm no longer going be be a wild magic sorcerer. I will instead be the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer. I think it provides a bit more panache on the whole than wild magic. I don't think it'll make much of a difference, at least not until we get to 4th lvl. FWIW.

I’ve got a wild magic sorcerer....fun when you have to roll the wild magic surge. Makes things interesting

That was almost the deal breaker. I liked that concept of random generation but in the end I had more interest in the aberrant. That's not to say I won't try Wild Magic another time.

Cheers!

In one conflict I was facing several enemies with the group and after a chromatic orb attack  my wild magic kicked in. I was hoping something wild, but a great roll turned me invisible until the next attack

Was perfect as an archer was aiming for me and when I disappeared, missed me.

I think wild magic is too often overlooked, so I go the opposite route to make up for it and have you roll every time you cast a spell. It adds more chaos to the game, but also makes you think more about whether or not you want to risk casting a spell. The only time I've played one myself, the DM had me surge on my first casting and I rolled the Fireball in your own space and rolled high 30s damage which would have killed everyone in the group but the rogue. He let me reroll, and I got something stupid that did nothing. I guess it was better than stopping the session to have everyone reroll new characters, but it was one of those moments that was both epic and an epic fail at the same time. I got killed by a goblin about an hour later, and we agreed that was a sign that I was meant to die, so I rerolled a Ranger.

Shame....my sorcorer I kinda ham up the chaotic nature of his magic. When he casts he feels the magic bubbling up, his eyes look like blue lightning. So much fun.

Good stuff. What inspired me to play the aberrant was that I felt it offered more opportunities to make a difference in the game. For me, it isn't about treasure or gold - not that I don't like treasure or gold -  it's about concluding the adventure with as few casualties as possible. I'm  a vet, so I think in terms of the mission and using that experience in the hope that I make good decisions that effect the outcome of the whatever goals we've set for ourselves.

In introducing myself, my name is Mike. I've been playing DnD for more than 40 years. My first adventure was "In Search of the Unknown." That was the first Basic set. I've played every edition since then, although I didn't play a lot of 2nd or 4th.

I still play 3.5 with a face to face group that I've been part of for more than a decade. I also run two 1st edition campaigns on RPol. As I get older, all the rulesets start to blend, and I find myself getting confused as to what game I'm currently playing! LOL!

I hope that we all enjoy playing this game, and that we have as successful campaign.

Cheers!

Well, I've got the basics enough to get things moving, although there are things still missing (calculating scores for skills selected, picking all of the equipment, etc.) But since I don't suspect we'll be in the thick of it right away, I think we'll be okay.

As I stated in the looking for GM thread, I've been in a few 5E games but nothing seems to last past two or three weeks, so I am effectively new to this version, though I've played plenty of previous editions (mostly 3.5)

I figured I would follow my own suggestion and go against type, and with that, my Barbarian is an Elf. She belongs to a nomadic tribe that resides deep in her native forest, that adheres to "The Old Ways". They do not believe that elves are not meant for a sedentary life; to protect the wilds from corruption and evil, one must be firmly among it.

How and why she's with any of you, I'm still working out.

I've been playing D&D since my teens....thats over 20 years now. I've played almost exclusively 3.5, but the last few years have been 5.0 (after some inspiration from critical role).

When making for a character, I look for a well rounded team. What I line is to make each character unique.

Akyra is a dragonborn of unusual heritage and her faith helps boost her strength. Think a typical war priest and that is her

I'm in the process of sending out some hooks to get everyone started off with a reason for meeting. You'll be in the city of Neverwinter, so if there are additional things you want to buy or starting gear that you don't need and want to sell, you'll have a chance to do that before you head off on the first adventure as well.

I'm going to go ahead and open up with an ageless classic - you're all together in a tavern!

You'll all get your own private message with specific details for why you're here, but one way or another it's going to tie back to a mutual acquaintance in the form of a dwarven fellow named Gundren Rockseeker.

Since I know the two original people who asked that a game be started have had trouble with games staying open, I'll go ahead and share a little bit of my experience as well.

My name is Jason, and I'm from Texas. I've been playing D&D for 30 years, and I've been playing on RPoL for somewhere around 20. I didn't think I'd stick with it because of how slow things were, so I didn't even pay attention to when I started. I've easily played in over 100 games here over the years, and the vast majority of those simply died at some point rather than reaching any kind of conclusion. I think I've only taken a break from the site twice in those 20 years. So rest assure that I'm not going anywhere. This game will be here for until you all get tired of me and quit, or we kill all the things and hang up our swords on hooks made from dragon claws.

I can't really tell you what my first adventure was because for about the first 3 years it was 100% made up garbage from my brain. My mom bought me a PHB from a garage sale for $0.50 because there was a wizard on the cover. She had no idea what it was or what was in it, she just thought I'd like the wizard. I remember the first game I ran with one player, he was basically Conan in the gladiator pits I threw monsters at him until he was the champion. We didn't have dice, didn't know what they were or where to get them. I didn't have a DMG or a Monster Manual or anything of the sort, so I made all of it up.



The first time I ever got to be a player in a game that was really being ran, it was similarly made up on the fly. I was a solo Gnome Wizard named Ares, which I renamed partway through the session to Davidius Johanus so I could be David the Gnome. I was a level 1 wizard, and I found a Ring of Shooting Stars and a Necklace of Fireballs in the first two rooms of my first dungeon. I was inspired the instant I read the descriptions for those magic items, and I've been obsessed with making custom magic items ever since.

I remember the first boxed adventure I played through, but I don't remember what it was called. They wanted you to jump right into playing so you didn't make your character before the session, you just picked a name, gender, and race. Everything else you came up with as you went through the dungeon, escaping from prison, going through salt mines, freeing prisoners, finding a werewolf in a silver prison. It was good times. I even ran myself through there solo like 8 times because it was so cool. I had an 8th grade assignment to write a story, so I played through and wrote the story out including dialogue between my characters and turned that in. My teacher told me I "have a rare gift" and encouraged me to be a writer. It was like 80% plagiarism, but I didn't tell him that.

That's awesome. LOL!

Something we haven't discussed is an expected rate for posting. What post rate can you personally commit to?

I can try 5 times per week, barring unforeseen circumstances. Most will be late-night posts.

I am pretty flexible - you know that already I assume. I'll be consistent.

Usually I can post every day...at worst once every two days