D&D players...

[Kaylyn]

I've been part of an online group of roleplayers for a few years now, ever since I discovered the wonders of original Everquest back before I started driving. That group has gone through several online roleplaying games, currently incarnated mainly in Everquest 2. Now I've decided to do something brave...DM a campaign online!

My IRL group is all a bunch of close friends, very forgiving about my DM style, and though I'm friends with my online group, I'm very nervous about DM'ing for them because I don't know if anybody's gonna be a rules nazi or not. I have a tendency to ignore things like weight encumbrance, fatigue, things like that, because I want my group to focus on having fun in the game rather than being bogged down with minutiae. I have house rules for HP regen during resting, flexible turning undead (regular turning or destroying allowed depending on the situation), a few others that I can't think of right now, and I allow a bit of cheating on character creation to ensure everyone's happy with their ability modifiers, because happy players are important to the DM's sanity!

My problem right now is this: lack of players. I have 3 people interested, possibly a fourth, but the days that are available are days she has to work and is not sure whether she'll feel like dealing with D&D stuff...plus I dunno if 2 of the other 3 will commit. So...I thought I'd expand my search for players to this board, since I know there's a few that play or used to play. I need minimum of 4 players for this campaign. This is the same campaign I'm running with my RL group, a premade Undermountain campaign from WotC, and the group of 7 is demolishing the monsters set before them, so I'd like to make the group smaller to make it more challenging...I'm thinking 4 or 5 players would be sufficient.

The group will likely meet Monday or Tuesday afternoons or evenings, and not necessarily every week (or even the same day every time) due to random work schedules, real life, and the like. Sundays didn't seem to be a good time because that's when everyone meets with their RL groups as well. I'm working 12 hours a day the remaining days of the week, so that limits the availability right there. After much research, I've decided that I'm going to stick with narration for the moment, possibly using a virtual tabletop in the future if I can get around to it. I'll be keeping track of miniatures and maps on my end for organization's sake. We'll be using Teamspeak since we already have access to a server, and possibly an online whiteboard client for illustrations and a instant messenger for private messages.

So...anyone interested?

[Greg]

It might help to describe what the experience would be like. That way folks who aren't familiar with playing D&D, or perhaps with playing it in an on-line environment, would be better able to decide whether it sounds like a fun thing to do.

What's a "virtual tabletop"?

[Miros1]

I would assume that a "virtual tabletop" is a program that serves the same purpose as a battlemat-marker-miniatures set up.

Can you count me as a tentative-yes? My hubby might also be interested. We're debating...

Most people won't have a problem with "house rules" as long as you say what they are in advance.

[Kaylyn]

OK, here's my abridged "D&D for beginners" (tm):

For an online game, you don't even need dice, thanks to many dice rolling programs available. All you really need is a book (or access to one). The Player's Handbook can be found all over Ebay or in major bookstores (Books a Million, Borders, Barnes and Noble, etc.). It contains everything a player needs to play.

The DM (Dungeon Master; in this case, me) is in charge of running the adventure. I describe the room you're in, narrate the action, and play as all the monsters/NPCs. Have you ever played an RPG on a computer or a console system (Final Fantasy, Oblivion, etc)? Same concept, except instead of the computer displaying your environment and using a random number generator to determine your hits/misses/etc., you use your imagination based on my description and use a set of various shaped dice (with 20, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 sides) to determine your actions.

Example: You want to hit a monster that has an armor class of 15. You roll your d20 (20 sided die) and get a 13. That's not good enough...but your weapon has an attack bonus of 2. That makes 15, and you hit the monster. You're using a dagger, which means you roll a d4 to determine how much damage you do. You roll 4, and let's say you have a strength bonus of 2, so you do 4+2 (6) damage to the monster. It had only 4 hit points, so you effectively kill it. Well, technically it's bleeding to death, but I always assume the players are intelligent enough to finish it off when it's down.

All this talk about bonuses and stuff may be confusing for a new player. Don't worry; I'm more than happy to walk a new player (or even an old player) through creating a character. A character sheet is found in the back of the Player's Handbook, so make a few copies. In an online campaign, unless you have a way of sending me your sheet, I'll be writing one down along with you.

There are programs called virtual tabletops (such as Fantasy Grounds II) that enhance the online experience, allowing players to see maps, and even integrating the character sheets and dice roller so there's no paperwork for anybody to fool with. Unfortunately, the good ones all cost money, and with possible new players already having to drop up to $40 on a book, I would prefer to see how simple narration and using voice/text chat works.

In many in-person games, miniatures are used. The DM has a map drawn out and players use little figures to represent themselves. This allows for better understanding of the room layout and whether or not their 15-foot-range spell will actually reach the thing they're aiming at. If I was using a virtual tabletop online, everybody could see this; but since I'm not going to mess with that just yet, I'm going to use my maps (this is the campaign I've been running with my RL group, so maps are already done) and miniatures, and if you want to fire off a magic missile, I can tell you whether or not you maneuver into a place with a good line of sight and within range.

Hmm...classes...basic classes available in the handbook are barbarian, bard, cleric, wizard, sorceror, druid, fighter, ranger, rogue, and paladin. There are dozens of supplemental books with more specialized classes (Tome of Battle is a great one, as is Expanded Psionics Handbook), but that's entirely up to you, and at my discretion (I need to be able to access the class info somehow; I have a lot of books so this shouldn't be much of a problem). As you level up you can multiclass (barbarian/fighter, cleric/wizard); though it makes you a bit weaker in comparison to your allies, it makes you more flexible). At higher levels you can start taking prestige classes if you qualify for them.

If there's anything that you don't quite understand right now, that's ok...it's hard to summarize the game in just a few words. If you have questions, feel free to ask me.

Rose, I've got you down as a tentative yes, just let me know what you decide and what class you and hubby are considering. My only real definite player is going to be an elf rogue/multiclassing as fighter later on.

[Miros1]

One thing I forgot to ask... 3.5 rules?

[Kaylyn]

Yes, though if you only have a 3.0 handbook that's fine. One of the players only has 3.0 but the rules are essentially the same, there's really a few extra spells, feats, etc. to choose from, and if there's anything in 3.5 that I feel they could benefit from, I'll be sure to make them aware of it in case they want it.

[Greg]

Aha! Now we have a plan developing!

For the uninitiated, playing Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game. Here's it works:

1. You, a player, create a fantasy character with a relatively simple set of attributes such as strength, intelligence, constitution, and charisma.
   
   
2. The players assemble their characters into a party.
   
   
3. The dungeonmaster describes the setting and the situation and plays the roles of any non-player characters who might be present in a given setting.
   
   
4. The players decide what their characters will do.
   
   
5. If there is an element of chance involved (such as having your character strike at a monster or attempt to seduce a barmaid), you roll dice to determine the outcome.
   
   
6. As the game goes on, your character gains experience from the events of the game and increases in ability according to the experience.
   
   
7. Your character can also gain wealth and status as a result of the adventures, but also might be killed.

In other words, it's like playing The Sims, but usually much more flexible, interesting, and exciting.

[Kaylyn]

Exactly! It's like playing an RPG, except you get to fully immerse yourself in your character. You talk like they do, think like they do. You level up, gain new abilities, spells if applicable, and depending on how open-ended the campaign is, can even own your own business and tend to family life. This campaign is fairly centered around the massive Undermountain dungeon, but 2 of the characters that are playing it in my Sunday night group are dwarven brothers who are miners and own a shop for weapon and armor crafting. During the breaks where they get to go to town (a feat made much easier thanks to the players making the right decision to tough it out during a particularly nasty fight, thus having them acquire an extremely powerful magical ring), they check in on their shop, and I randomly determine how much they've made in the time they've been away. They'll then craft new gear if necessary, and pay a contact they have in the city to enchant it if they have the gold for it. I've also given them a kind of "stony sense", which has been incredibly useful for prodding them into areas they might otherwise have missed out on. I merely have to mention they smell a hidden vein of ore in a particular direction and they're off, abandoning the rest of the party most of the time. In a few more sessions, if they play their cards right, someone may end up with a pet dragon too!

Now, as far as differences between online play and regular play, for those that have a bit of experience playing, here's the basics. Instead of being face to face, we'll be communicating over the web. My EQ2 group has access to a Teamspeak server last I heard, which is a voice chat client for gamers. It's normally used for MMORPG groups, guilds, and raids, to make organization a lot easier. I was hoping to get everyone in on that if possible. For the player that means downloading the Teamspeak client, and getting a microphone to chat with (headset preferred, less feedback and echoing that way). This makes it a lot easier than typing everything out, which has the potential to drag on a single round of combat for an hour or more. However, I'm fine with using an IM of some sort (Windows Live Messenger, AIM, Yahoo IM, etc) if there's one everybody can agree on. Even better if it has a group chat available. I'd even be ok with using mIRC if I can remember how to work it. I'd actually prefer to have some way of communicating with players privately through an IM client of some sort, even if we do use Teamspeak, because I think it would make initiative rolls (dice rolls to determine what order you do combat in) easier, as well as those listen and spot checks where only one player succeeds...I can PM the result to them and they can choose whether or not to let the rest of the party know about it. Dice rolls...unless we're using a virtual tabletop (VT) like Fantasy Grounds II where the rolls are broadcast to the entire party, you're pretty much on the honor system. I think I'm choosing a rather responsible group to play with (I believe they're all mature adults) so I don't think I have to worry about people cheating with their rolls. If I feel like someone is (someone with a very low attack bonus getting more than their fair share of critical hits) then I'll penalize them somehow in my omnipotent god-like way. Hey, you're right, it is like the Sims! And then I'll use a freebie VT just for the dice rolls if I need to.

Oh, and about character death...there are some DMs who won't let PCs (playable characters) die. I used to be one of them...now I'm not. I haven't had an all out death yet in my campaign, but I have had some people fall below 0 hp and thus were laying there bleeding to death. There's usually someone to stabilize the PC and then to heal them back up a bit. However, I'm not above letting a character die if the healer is out of cure spells and everyone's out of potions. If this happens, there are a couple of options. The party can get you resurrected, an expensive endeavor, or you can create a new character at the same level or one level below the lowest level of a party member (depending on the situation, I may allow you to be at the same level as the lowest party member level...hopefully this won't even be a factor if the group is careful and knows how to pick their fights).

Have I garnered any more interest yet?