SDMB D&D Game, Invitation Time

Cafe Society
1

Howdy Everybody.

A few weeks ago, I posted this thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=4495140#post4495140 in which I talked about my old online game and how I was hoping to start it up again.

Well, there was quite a good response to that, I thought. In fact, four new players have joined, and one person has talked with me about helping out behind the scenes.

This is a great start, but I’d like to bring just a few more players into the game, if the interest is still there.

And that thread got kinda messy there, so I figured I’d just start over here.

Information, including some data about character types and some background-type-stuff, can be found here: http://mysite.verizon.net/res6z35z/campaign/
It’s a work in progress. :rolleyes:
So, announcing Invitations for the Official Doper’s Online D&D Game:

Game proper will begin on March 31, 2004, at 5pm cst. From that point on, it will be much more difficult to bring new players in, so if ya wanna play, please, post before then.

Requirements:

First, no jerks. We play for fun, to have a good time. This is not somewhere to go to pick up chicks or annoy people; disruptive behavior can and will get you banned.

Second, gametimes are currently scheduled for Sunday and Wednesday nights at 5pm CST, and generally end around 10pm. You would need to be able to be at at least one game a week, on a regular basis, for as long as you wish to continue playing. Occasional vacations are not a problem, extended absences might be.

Third, I must be able to contact you should you be chosen. This means that I’ll need your e-mail address, or some way to get in touch with you from time to time. Since this is the internet, e-mail’s the way to go. Don’t worry, I’m not a spammer! Most dopers have this available in their profile, so that’s probably best; don’t just post it here if it’s not, you probably have a good reason. If other arrangements need to be made, we’ll talk.

Fourth, moderately-reliable high-speed internet connection. Sometimes the maps we use become quite large, and being able to download them fairly quickly (less than 5 minutes) is vital. The program I use is multi-platform, so both Mac and PC users are equally welcome. Unless a problem crops up that I don’t know about, that is. There is nothing to download, nothing to install, it works entirely from your web browser.

Finally, you must understand the concept of a role-playing game (understanding the rules isn’t required) and be able to describe your character’s actions in a believable manner. Mostly, this just consists of saying “I wanna xxxxx the yyyyy right in the zzzzzzs!” and me saying “Ok, roll 1d100”. You will have one character, and you will be expected to play them as what they are… although what they are is mostly up to you.

The recent series of test-games has gone quite well, and most bugs have been worked out of the system already. However, there’s no way to say for sure, so these requirments might change in the future.

If you wish to be considered for this game, please post with the following:

Which night/nights you’d like to play

If you don’t have your email in your profile, how we should contact one another.

Your general experience level with role-playing games, ie a little, a lot, never heard of 'em, or “I’m always the lonely housewife and he’s the handsome plumber”.

Your ideas for a character, including race and profession, a VERY brief history, and such things as character quirks or personality traits that you think might be fun.

Over the next week or two, should this thread get any responses, I’ll pick my favorites. Only about 4-6 people will be selected in the end, I’m afraid, as I’m only one man and we’ve already got a few players. Then I’ll send out invitations and hopefully get everybody set up by the time we “Go Live”.
Remember, that’s March 31, and space is limited! Order now! Some restrictions may apply, offer not valid where prohibited by law, limit one per customer with coupon, wear eye protection at all times, thank you, come again!

q;}

2

I expressed interest in the first thread, but due to a lot of travel, my schedule in April is going to be erratic at best. If another game starts later in the spring, or an opening comes up, be sure and let me know.

Have fun.

3

LOL. I’ve always wondered how online games work, but since I play and/or run 4 games (and playtesting of my to-be-published adventure begins on Saturday), I don’t have time to join another game.

4

My schedule’s too erratic for a live action game, so I’ll hafta decline.

If anyone wants to run one on Yahoo groups/by email, I’d be there.

5

I could give it a whirl on Sundays. IIRC, I saw a D&D game thread a while back and followed the link and it really didn’t make sense how it worked, so you’ll have to explain it to me.

I played D&D and a couple other role playing games back in 9th grade or so. I also played some my freshman year in college—between some folk on our floor of the dorm we could hobble together a complete set of books & stuff and decided to play.

I don’t have any updated materials, and I don’t know what sorts of new character types are available. I guess I’d generally be inclined to the fighter and/or assassin types. Probably of the half-orcish variety—IIRC, better strength & constitution bonuses.

Of course, if you are strict in rolling for attributes, then I’d take what worked best.

And, if there are still tables for grappling, pummelling, and tackling, I’d probably use those a lot as well.

I’m going on vacation at the end of April for ten days or so, if that matters.

6

How’s it work? I, as GM, start telling a story… setting, other characters, etc. Then you say what you want your character do. If it’s possible to do it, ya roll a die, and then the GM tells ya what happened next. Then the next person takes a turn. Pretty simple, really. All that information ya read is there mostly for when it’s needed, which isn’t often.

You don’t need to know a thing, really… the important stuff I will tell ya as it happens, the rest we’ll just make up as we go. It’s a very open-ended type of game, specifically designed to allow anything to happen.

Character types are generally based on one of the simple classes, then prettied up for the individual with specific skills/attributes/whatever, so just about any character type can be created and played.

Attributes and stuff are generated before the character is introduced, then you get the opportunity as the game progresses to improve them pretty much however you like, based on experience gained.

A half-orc fighter/assassin, with specialty skills like grapple and pummeling, would work quite well… very easy to create one with this system.

Basic Plot:

In a far distant future on an alternate timeline, Earth has dealt with the emergance of magic and demons, and the near-destruction of humanity. Mutations have brought forth the classical races of elves and dwarves, as well as the classical creatures of fantasy such as dragons. In the eons since the cataclysm, demonkind has grown to rule the earth with an iron fist, although they generally leave the extremely primitive ‘humans’ alone… unless they want something, or are just hungry.

One king has come to stand against these demons, and it is in his town that our adventure starts, the city of Mirondar.

While the protection of the city is of great importance, it is only the beginning… for the fate of the entire world, and humanity in particular, is at stake.

Yeah, one of THOSE games. Aww, come on, it’ll be fun!
There’s cake!
…and evil undead zombie pirates. q;}

7

You keep promising them food, and who’s going to have to make it? Who, I ask!? The refreshment fairy?

Oh, wait.

8

I just got broadband installed, can I get in as a player now?

9

I got that. So it’s real time, but goes in turns? So you type something and hit enter. Then somebody else types something and hits enter. And so on? Like a chat room, or something?

10

Something like that, js. During non-combat, we can talk all we want, perform skills, move around within reason, and nobody’s restricted on when they can do anything. In combat, it’s split into rounds. Everybody rolls for initiative based on a die roll, and takes one (move + action) during their turn. We’re allowed to chatter on during other people’s turns to add color or suggestions, but for the GM’s sanity we’ve been keeping quiet. NPCs will only respond to speech during their turn or the turn of the person speaking.

11

Hey can I give it a try? I can do sundays but no wednesdays as i am stuck in traffic till like 7.

As far as a character goes I like playing as a human mage, a kind of a deluded dreamer who is an evil genious well on his way to taking over the world by word and just an ordinary fun loving conjurer by act.

I am not a very experienced RPGer, just some Warhammer 40k as far as non computer game ones go. I have played and beaten every installment of the Baldur’s Gate series many times though and know most of the rules(from reading the manuals that came with the BG games).

If you got room for one more my e-mail is the first thing on my website at
http://mason.gmu.edu/~vsemenov/

12

Cool.

13

Good to hear from everybody, let’s see…
From a mechanical standpoint, the game consists of two windows on your monitor, both of which are whichever web browser you use.

One has an image, usually a map of some sort, which you can use to move your icon around and stuff. It helps tremendously with things like “Can I see that from here” and “Where did the fireball land again?”. It’s primarily hand-drawn maps with little cheesy icons to represent your character, but it looks great if you use your imagination. You definitely will not need a powerful video card. q;}

The other one is your chat window. There are buttons to click for rolling dice, and an ever-growing collection of commands that it will respond to. This is used for general chat, and all the game stuff that requires words. Each character can choose their own color, so confusion is minimized.

The combination of these two things, and the various tools the GM gets, make for an amost perfect online system for this kinda game. Still a few minor bugs, but we’re workin’ on it.
Actual gameplay is, as Brahe mentioned, turn-based so it’s not a FAST game by any means. Generally speaking, one round (in which everybody gets a turn) with 6-8 players will take about 1/2 hour. It seems to go faster when you’re actually playing tho, the ‘down-time’ between your turns can be filled with planning your moves and stuff. It also means that bathroom breaks are plentiful and virtually un-noticeable.

During your turn, the GM will talk to you about anything ya need to know, and you’ve got as long as you need to decide what action you wanna take. Usually the first time someone tries something new takes a little while, but after that it’s just a matter of rollin’ the dice and crossing your fingers.

We use a dieroll to determine initiative, so who goes first each time is more or less random, with various ways to adjust those so the different characters can work together if they want.

What else to say? I dunno. Ask away.
Good news: All three of you who’ve posted are hereby invited, pending of course that steelerphan wants to play instead of being behind-the-scenes, and posts his character idea here.

faldureon, mages are always fun to have around, even if we are getting a bit magic-heavy these days. And a distinctly evil character could add some interesting plot twists here, considering you’re SAVING the world and all.

Maybe you and js’s assassin can hang out at the Evil bars or something, I dunno.

I’ll try to get your info started by Sunday, which is when we have the next little test-game-thing, thanks for making the address easy-to-find.
Bad news: Assuming steelerphan creates a character, that’s 3 more comin’ in. Only got room for 3-4 more, at best. Time’s a-runnin’ out!

q;}

14

Y’know, the “funniest quotes/stories” threads have gotten me jonesing for some play. So, if you’re still accepting, I want in. I’ve played now and again through high school, usually not keeping a character for more than a night or two’s mission, but able to pick up well enough.

I’m really only free on the Sunday nights (class Wednesday night). Occasionally schoolwork might preempt the Sunday, but that’s likely to be pretty darn rare.

As far as character goes… (goes to website to take a look) maybe you have a place for a half-elf ranger, adept at survival on his own in the wild, but somewhat out of place in both human society (towns) and elvin, having been exiled from both (reason is up to GM, god help me). Really withdrawn, disagreeable, and (in larger groups) outright paranoid in groups larger than a half-dozen or so. (If that’s too low a number for the main party, I can raise it). Survival instincts can conflict with culture for hilarious, and/or hazardous, results. Needless to say, a hit to charisma, but good wisdom for the ways of nature.

15

Oh, and are we needing to purchase any of the ScreenMonkey stuff to play?

16

I’d love to join. Still have most of my AD&D books and have played other variants, superheroes, space and video versions, Baldur’s gate, Dark alliance etc. Love these games and could see myself as the not too bright, but sympathetic and loyal musclebound barbarian given to fits of berserk rage when his morals/principles are broken by others. Due to his above average strength (hopefully) he is able to wield 2-handed weapons in only one hand (heroes arm in dark alliance 2) making both arms deadly but not allowing for a shield.
Hope i’m not too late.

17

Ok, here is my synopsis:

Gunther of Worms

Gunther is a long way from home. The swordsman is seeking a passage back to his lands, but he is unable to remember the way back, so he quests to find it. He claims to have a minor kingdom to rule, but he carries all of his possessions on his person. He is not very open when it comes to personal details about himself, and he prefers to work alone. Circumstances will bring him into contact with others, and his strong sense of justice and fair play lead him to act on behalf of those who cannot protect themselves.

Gunther is good with the common weapons of a soldier- longsword, dagger, longbow, and pike. He has wilderness survival skills and loves to train dogs. If at all possible he has 1-2 war dogs, usually guarding him while he sleeps and protecting his possessions when he is out.

He enjoys the company of others, especially in a tavern or inn. He shares stories when the drink flows freely; no one is ever sure if he is telling the truth but the tales are interesting.

In times of great peril he thrives; he will do what he can for those who cannot help themselves- and metes punishment to those who would exploit them.
Wednesdays are good nights for me to play. Sundays are second best.

I have 20+ years experience in RPGs and games in general. I’m into the brooding hero type for a change from my last few characters.

18

Mwahahaha! Five new vic… er… TORIOUS, victorious players, have joined us!

Those of you who posted above should, hopefully, have emails now, with instructions on how to get started. Hope to see you tonight.

Test-games continue Sunday and Wednesday nights, open Q&A and severely bended rules as we strain the monkey to its limits. Come join us and get yer characters made ASAP!

For whoever it was (yes I’m too lazy to scroll down) that asked about buying the Monkey, the answer is:

NO, it’s FREE! What kind of JERK would CHARGE people to have fun on the INTERNET! (Tips, however, are appreciated. Small bills, please, non-consecutive serial numbers preferred but not required.)
Actually, as the GM, I had to buy a copy of the ScreenMonkey program. I use this, and somehow the monkey creates something out there somewhere that everybody links to… all you need is a web browser, to link to that whatever-it-is.

And, with that batch of invitations, we have now a total of 9 players… dangerously close to the limit. The rest of you, well, let’s see how this goes. I may well take one or two, if you’ve got REALLY good character ideas…

…or if ya bribe me enough. q;}

19

Damn no email yet. Hope it’s “in the mail”. Got to thinking that this party might require a cleric for those tricky “I’m bleeding and infected with a disease over here” moments. If all members joining are going to be of the fighter/mage/assassin variety then for the good of the party I might consider changing my character so that we can have some sort of medic in the group, unless the GM or DM? knows something about an NPC that he can clue me in on.
Can’t wait to start, although without the email yet not sure how to start. I’ll keep checking. Damn that makes me sound desperate.
If any other players can offer their input into a cleric (do we need one or do we take our chances with potions?) I’d be grateful.
Thanks.

20

kookiecanuck, I’m not sure what happened. You were definitely on the list… I’ve forwarded the invite again, and if you still don’t get it, we got a problem. I’ll check the SDMB tonight around 5, see if that’s the case or not.
And actually we’ve got a cleric and a druid, two wizards, a thief, a chef(druid), and a bard… and that’s just existing characters. We could really use a good ‘big dumb guy’ to throw at the baddies.