# Anyone for online D&D? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 19, 2004, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848 "2004-07-19T17:40:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kitarak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kitarak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitarak)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/1 "2004-07-19T17:40:17Z")
Usual disclaimer: Wasn’t sure if this was better suited for IMHO, MPSIMS or Cafe Society. RPG threads have seemed to gravitate here in the past, so I thought I’d put it here. Any mods object, go ahead and move it. I’ve recently been setting up an online D&D campaign, but unfortunately for various reasons (mostly not enough time and/or not wanting to play in a second online campaign) there hasn’t been a lot of interest from the group it was originally intended for. Thus I thought I’d see if any dopers were interested in playing, as I recall we have quite a few RPG players here, and there’s been some interest in online campaigns before. A rather sketchy explanation of the world, rules, etc. is available [here](http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~drm39/prophecy.pdf). More details will go up soonish, followed by yet more if I get enough players (I’m aiming for somewhere on the order of 3-6 players. I’ve currently only got one). The games would be run once a week for now, some time at night (GMT), with exact details depending on when is good for the players. Once my term starts again (in October) this may drop to once every other week, depending on how busy I am (this will also be affected by how busy the players are, and when their term starts). So, anyone interested? ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/2 "2004-07-19T17:47:34Z")
Oh, I wish I could join in, but I don’t think I’d have the time just now. I wish you luck, though… How’d you do the PDF, by the by? Covnersion program for Word, or something more arcane? I’d been building my ‘Player’s Guide’ for my campaign in LaTeX (Lah-tech) so I could make PDFs, but it’s too bothersome to be worth my while for my particular needs. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/3 "2004-07-19T17:56:49Z")
Ufff, 3.0? I’ll have to go digging for all my old stuff. 🙂 Sure, I’ll give it a shot. ---
**Author:** ![kitarak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kitarak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitarak)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/4 "2004-07-19T18:05:16Z")
I’ve just made some slight changes to the pdf, as it has been pointed out to me that one name is silly (Sirosis sounds like a liver disease), and that Stormbringer is a blatant piece of plagiarism from Michael Moorcook (whom I haven’t read. 🙂 ). pdf is done in LaTeX. I don’t have any decent office software, and quite like LaTeX (I use Kile, which simplifies a lot of the faffing around), so I do most of my writing in that. **kidchameleon** : I’m used to 3.0, and most of my books are for it. If you think the 3.5 version of something is better, you’re welcome to run it by me and I may kludge it in as a house rule. Also, welcome to the game. 🙂 E-mail me when you’ve got a character concept. Oh, as I seem not to have mentioned, the game will be played over IRC. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/5 "2004-07-19T18:14:01Z")
=\ I get my D&D fix in the form of Everquest, no need for a GM, pretty near impossible to cheat [unless you buy game items and cash and a fully formed and equipped character…which is just wrong if you are an honest player like me=] Honestly, it is great, and worth the roughly $50US for the program and $13US a month subscription fee…I never ave to scrounge up a group, I can solo hunt or get into a group -depending on what kind of mood i am in when i log in. No need for anybody to GM, plan a dungeon, roll _anything_ up, or scribble things down to keep track. As I said, it is durn near impossible to fudge on how much food/drink/ ammo or mana you have, that is done serverside…and now with the new tutorial you can learn how to do everything in the game in a relatively safe environment, and make xp while you are learning, and getting some beginning level equipment and armor… Since discovering RPG pc games, and online gaming, I haent cracked a D&D book in about 5 years… Or you can think of it as a chat room with killing=) ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/6 "2004-07-19T18:15:00Z")
Kile? What’s that? A free GUI for LaTeX, I hope? ---
**Author:** ![kitarak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kitarak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitarak)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/7 "2004-07-19T18:22:11Z")
Yeah, Kile is a free GUI for Linux. Basically it’s a text editor with syntax highlighting and a couple features to streamline writing LaTeX. Nothing very spectacular, but a lot better than writing it in a straight text editor. **aruvqan** : I like to think of Everquest and other online RPGs as what happen when you take an RPG and remove the interesting bits. ‘no need for a GM’ is, in my opinion, far overshadowed by the fact that there’s no way to _have_ a GM. They’re also too large, so the plot (such as it is) does not center on the players. However, if we’re going to have an argument about the relative benefits of RPGs and CRPGs, this is not really the thread for it. Oh, incidentally, I feel I should point out that characters need to be run by me first before they’re allowed. My generous house rules, etc. make it very easy to powergame. I will glare ominously and veto attempts to do so. (Note: This doesn’t mean you can’t have powerful characters. It means you will not be allowed to get powerful characters by taking advantage of flaws in the system). ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/8 "2004-07-19T18:32:25Z")
> [@kitarak](#): > > Yeah, Kile is a free GUI for Linux. Basically it’s a text editor with syntax highlighting and a couple features to streamline writing LaTeX. Nothing very spectacular, but a lot better than writing it in a straight text editor. Linux, eh? Darn. Thanks anyway. ---
**Author:** ![kitarak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kitarak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitarak)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/9 "2004-07-19T18:46:12Z")
That was actually a slipup - It is a linux program, but it’s a free GUI for LaTeX rather than linux. I think I’ve also seen one for Windows, but I can’t remember what it’s called. If I do, I’ll let you know. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/10 "2004-07-19T19:03:33Z")
I’d potentially be interested, depends if it doesn’t conflict with either of my extant games. ---
**Author:** ![kitarak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kitarak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitarak)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/11 "2004-07-19T19:15:26Z")
**tengu** , let me know about timing and we’ll see - the exact time has yet to be decided, so there is room for flexibility. 🙂 The main constraints are that it can’t start earlier than 21:00, and won’t be on a weekend (as I’ve got a game on sunday already, and want to leave saturday free) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/12 "2004-07-21T03:33:15Z")
If it’s not Saturday or Sunday, it should be good for me. (Sorry for the late reply, I lost track of this thread for a while.) ---
**Author:** ![kitarak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kitarak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitarak)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/13 "2004-07-22T17:35:02Z")
Cool. Don’t worry about the late reply. Drop me an email once you’ve decided on your character concept. Also, I should have more detail about the local area up in the next day or so if you want to wait on that before deciding on your character. Just to clarify, those times for games were GMT. Anyone else interested? I’d quite like a fourth player before we start. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/14 "2004-07-22T21:56:57Z")
Hey, I’ll play! I’m a big fan of 3.0 thanks to Neverwinter Nights. 21:00 GMT is, what, 5:00 PM EST? Yeah, earlier than that won’t work for me either. I’ll shoot you over a character concept once I think of one… ---
**Author:** ![kitarak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kitarak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitarak)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/15 "2004-07-25T10:14:45Z")
Just to give the thread another bump… Welcome aboard **bouv**. We now have 6 players, and that’s about as many as I want to handle, so no more players for now. **Tengu** , I tried to e-mail you, but got an error and my mail was returned. The feat you wanted is fine. Also, to your other question (and the answer applies to everyone): You can use whatever book you want, as long as you clear it with me first. I’ll need to have access to a copy, but through one way or another I’ve got access to a rather large number of D&D books (not all mine, but I can use them relatively freely). Also, if you want psionics then we’re using the Expanded Psionics Handbook. I should warn you, some of the players who know me a bit better are getting away with murder… 🙂 Not overpowered, but some rather umm… creative characters. So if you want to ask me about strange rules options or classes, go ahead. The worst that can happen is I’ll say no, and if it’s not overpowered the chances of me saying yes are pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/16 "2004-07-25T12:21:33Z")
Oh man…I’ve wanted to get back into D&D forever, but haven’t played since early HS (longer ago than I care to state atm)…if you ever run a game where you’d like a virtual newbie (honestly, it’s been so long, I barely remember much about playing), give me a holler. Till then, though I don’t play EverQuest anymore, I’ve been in the World of Warcraft beta…sadly, RP doesn’t really come into play in _any_ MMO’s I’ve played the last few years. =( Damn, I miss RP writing…I won’t claim I was great or anything, but I used to do alot of RP writing on EQ message boards back when people still RPed in EverQuest. Hell, a really intense RP storyline in EQ (well, mostly on the message boards, but we did act some out in-game) was how I met my now-IRL fiance. =) If I impressed him enough to want me to move across the country to be with him and still be with him 3 years later, I couldn’t have been _THAT_ bad a writer, could I? _wicked grin and wink_ ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/17 "2004-07-25T18:14:22Z")
> [@kitarak](#): > > **Tengu** , I tried to e-mail you, but got an error and my mail was returned. The feat you wanted is fine. Ginchy. Weird that the email bounced, I’ve never had trouble with that email before. > [@](#): > > Also, if you want psionics then we’re using the Expanded Psionics Handbook. Man, now I don’t know if I want my little rogue or a psion…maybe I’ll multiclass. > [@](#): > > So if you want to ask me about strange rules options or classes, go ahead. How about races/templates? Presuming a reasonable LA, would a templated character or otherwise non-core race be allowed? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/18 "2004-07-25T20:07:24Z")
Hey, **kitarak** , did you get my email? I just noticed that sometimes that account gets labeled as SPAM, so check your SPAM folder. I put something relating to SMBD and/or D&D in the subject line. If you need me to, I can shoot over another email. ---
**Author:** ![kitarak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kitarak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitarak)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/19 "2004-07-25T23:01:50Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Ginchy. Weird that the email bounced, I’ve never had trouble with that email before. I have a feeling the problem may be with my e-mail address. It seems to be a tad dodgy recently. > [@](#): > > How about races/templates? Presuming a reasonable LA, would a templated character or otherwise non-core race be allowed? Same as before - run it by me, but I’ll probably say yes. **bouv** , I don’t seem to have any email from you, in my spam folder or otherwise. This could be due to the afore mentioned email dodginess. Have another try, and if we continue to have problems I’ll switch to another address for game administrative purposes. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2004, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848/20 "2004-07-26T21:22:46Z")
> [@Cerri](#): > > Till then, though I don’t play EverQuest anymore, I’ve been in the World of Warcraft beta…sadly, RP doesn’t really come into play in _any_ MMO’s I’ve played the last few years. =( > > Damn, I miss RP writing…I won’t claim I was great or anything, but I used to do alot of RP writing on EQ message boards back when people still RPed in EverQuest. > > Hell, a really intense RP storyline in EQ (well, mostly on the message boards, but we did act some out in-game) was how I met my now-IRL fiance. =) > > If I impressed him enough to want me to move across the country to be with him and still be with him 3 years later, I couldn’t have been _THAT_ bad a writer, could I? _wicked grin and wink_ Well, one server is dedicated to people who want to RP iun EQ, a buddy of mine is in an all iksar heavy RP guild that I hang out with when I am not guiding or on my regular servers. I love to RP and in my previous guild we had a chat channel for guildies that was a tavern, so everything in that chat was done RP. Although I might be getting a job - a friend of mine has a promising lead on one for me so hopefully all my copious spare time will be filled with actual financially profitable legal endeavors=) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-for-online-d-d/255848.md?page=2)