Mos Eisley Cantina

[Des Voh]

Where the ******** is everyone this weekend?  

[Darkened Angel]

Hiding from the man from the drafts board.  

[Des Voh]

Hrm, considering joining one of the RPs we have idling. Should pick back up in the next few months as he trend goes, maybe I'll be able to hop back into the Rogue Imp game.  

[Darkened Angel]

Some big drama stuff is happening in SL tonight.

Short version: A guy was deliberately being an a*****e to someone that was already having a lot of grief over a recent tragedy, so he's been banned from the sim we hang out at.  

[Sol Walker]

Raining Wolf King

Where the ******** is everyone this weekend?

At my house, playing Dungeons and Dragons where we went into a dungeon, killed an entire kobold tribe, a number of undead, ogres, doppelgangers, and a nasty wizard.
There was no plot, no deep story, no dire mystery or ultra-dark theme.
Just a band of heroes united in a common goal to pillage the lair of an evil wizard because he had a bounty on his head. It was a very simple, exciting dungeon crawl.
We had fun, though Nelo nearly bought it and Stellar was crushed under an Ogre club.
I would like to compare this with your Fantasy Noir Eberron campaign where everyone is wandering around doing nothing and nothing exciting is happening. *Hint hint*.  

[Darkened Angel]

Let's see...

Finding the last hope of the universe, turning him from a dumbass p***k into a drumbass ninja bad-a**, blowing the Hell outta tons of goons, transforming a giant battle station into a big fireworks show, twice, and getting to see a princess in a metal bikini...

Nope, nothing exciting happened.  

[Des Voh]

Cale Darksun

Raining Wolf King

Where the ******** is everyone this weekend?

At my house, playing Dungeons and Dragons where we went into a dungeon, killed an entire kobold tribe, a number of undead, ogres, doppelgangers, and a nasty wizard.
There was no plot, no deep story, no dire mystery or ultra-dark theme.
Just a band of heroes united in a common goal to pillage the lair of an evil wizard because he had a bounty on his head. It was a very simple, exciting dungeon crawl.
We had fun, though Nelo nearly bought it and Stellar was crushed under an Ogre club.
I would like to compare this with your Fantasy Noir Eberron campaign where everyone is wandering around doing nothing and nothing exciting is happening. *Hint hint*.

Shove your hint up your a**, Cale. You wanna give me advice, do it proper, don't be a p***k.
I'm doing my best to make a good game, which is structured and story-based instead of a free for all hack-and-slash. And its been two bloody pages, the equivalent of about 15-30 minutes table-time.

Seriously, am I gonna have to throw out my entire story and run some premade where you just go from one fight to the next along some predictable story, devastating everything that so much as looks at you?  

[Sol Walker]

Ok, you want advice?
Oh yeah. you don't. because you think you know something.
But I'm telling you something anyway.

Your game started Feb 07.
Two pages later the date is March 08.

Thirty minutes of table time or not, in real time that's a snail's pace.

In thirty minutes we were up to our necks in Kobold guts.

To be honest, Des, I'm not seeing any structure in your game. People are running around pell mell without focus. Cripes, Nelo is just camping out at his home because he has no incentive to go anywhere.

But you know what does have Structure? A Dungeon.
Like the sort of thing they have in the name.
You malign the Dungeon, but at least there was a focus.
Enter dungeon -> find wizard -> kill wizard.

Look at your thing: You built all this background, but you've got grumblings among the players that nothing is happening. If the players are considering mutiny for lack of anything to do, maybe you need to rethink your campaign theme.

My game may have been a premade Dungeon crawl, but my players had fun. That's the point of the game, after all. And if people aren't having fun, then you're doing it wrong.  

[Des Voh]

The game started February 17th. Not 7th.

The point is that I'm trying to stray away from the basic "Look there something to kill over there." game, by giving people a city to run the ******** around in, but thats apparently too sand-box for all but one person who seems to be the only one actively adventuring. A D&D game does not have to run from the edge of a blade.

You may be all well and good with running a game thats nothing but combat, I'm not. For someone whose trying to say that my game is s**t, your giving me a pretty narrow bridge to walk with your formula.  

[Sol Walker]

Nothing but Combat?
Shows how little you know.
Traps, riddles, hellish pacts, inter-party interactions, we had all that too. We even had deception and betrayal in the manner of Doppelgangers. It was a 3.5 remake of a Gygaxian dungeon by the people at Paizo, and therefore more than just combat after combat, because these people know how to make a good dungeon.
Did I need a story? No. I just needed to keep five guys entertained for a while. And it did that and more because I know they'd gladly do another.

Playing CSI isn't Adveturing. Its what you do to get to the Adventure. And that one person who's actively adventuring is also complaining about lack of activity. So she's in the same boat as the rest of us.

Now, about your metaphor use here, about how a D&D game doesn't have to run from the edge of a blade?
*checks Character sheet*

Yeah I have two: The blade of my magic flaming axe and the blade of my enchanted shortsword. So when the hell am I going to get a chance to use them? My character's motivation is simple enough: get gold, get wenches, get honor and fame, rebuild clan. Have you done anything with that to get me doing...whatever the ******** I'm supposed to be doing? No. Instead you have some drunks talk politics, which doesn't interest a mercenary warrior, and you've had some kids being chased by what looked like an angry shopkeep which barely registers as a call to arms and a chance for fame, fortune, and smoking hot wenches. Its something the town guard should handle, not a draconic sellsword.

His sole motivation to coming to this frontier burg was to invest in what he discovered in the knick of time was a scam. Now that he's smashed in the face of the jackass who thought he could swindle his money, Drosn has no purpose in this town anymore.

This game IS too sandbox. Its so sandbox that one character is just sitting in his house doing nothing because you're letting him.
While it may work for some people to have this open, expansive world to run around in, its not working for everyone. Rather than do anything to fix it, you b***h, moan, and put stuff off citing working on story.  

[stellarmagic]

Cale has a point, but I'd like some more RP elements in that campaign... (If it is a campaign, not just a one off). I mean we killed a powerful (but cowardly) wizard. I'd like something to start building from that. Maybe the wizard had powerful friends or allies. Someone else moves into that dungeon, or something. I'd like some repercussions to events, especially when a character dies for those events to take place.

At the same time you need to dictate a plot Des, a threat, a bounty, or something else to unite the characters and motivate them to do something. As GM it's your job to set the ball rolling at the very least.

BTW, my next character is complete... While I was building it I started thinking of it as a her... so yeah, I've got a female blue kobold rogue/sorcerer ready to go. Once you get the gay jokes out of the way (which I know are coming) I'll move one. She's the hatchmate (sister) of the kobold that's now a splatter on a dungeon floor and wants to know, what the ******** happened?

Oh boy, a motivation to find the party. Check.
A reason for the party to accept her...

She can make scrolls, wands, and wondrous objects like the cloak of invisibility she owns (5 minutes of invisibility upon speaking the command word). Which she'd be willing to sell to other party members at material cost. If they giver her Marak's mithral rapier (her brother's little rapier) as a keepsake. That should be an interesting little conversation...

If they've sold it already, well recovering it could lead to another adventure.

Her alignment is Lawful Neutral, due to her being part of the kobold minority that worships Io instead of the lesser deity most kobolds worship. There are references to a minority of kobolds doing this so it makes sense.  

[Johnny Malone]

Cale Darksun

Raining Wolf King

Where the ******** is everyone this weekend?

At my house, playing Dungeons and Dragons where we went into a dungeon, killed an entire kobold tribe, a number of undead, ogres, doppelgangers, and a nasty wizard.
There was no plot, no deep story, no dire mystery or ultra-dark theme.
Just a band of heroes united in a common goal to pillage the lair of an evil wizard because he had a bounty on his head. It was a very simple, exciting dungeon crawl.
We had fun, though Nelo nearly bought it and Stellar was crushed under an Ogre club.
I would like to compare this with your Fantasy Noir Eberron campaign where everyone is wandering around doing nothing and nothing exciting is happening. *Hint hint*.

I'm really sad I missed that. Especially after all my pestering to do a traditional DnD game.  

[Sol Walker]

The NPC Drow Witch can make potions and Wondrous items as well.
And yes, Bargle had powerful friends. and there will be repercussions for character actions.  

[Sol Walker]

Johnny Malone

Cale Darksun

Raining Wolf King

Where the ******** is everyone this weekend?

At my house, playing Dungeons and Dragons where we went into a dungeon, killed an entire kobold tribe, a number of undead, ogres, doppelgangers, and a nasty wizard.
There was no plot, no deep story, no dire mystery or ultra-dark theme.
Just a band of heroes united in a common goal to pillage the lair of an evil wizard because he had a bounty on his head. It was a very simple, exciting dungeon crawl.
We had fun, though Nelo nearly bought it and Stellar was crushed under an Ogre club.
I would like to compare this with your Fantasy Noir Eberron campaign where everyone is wandering around doing nothing and nothing exciting is happening. *Hint hint*.

I'm really sad I missed that. Especially after all my pestering to do a traditional DnD game.

sweatdrop sorry man.  

[stellarmagic]

Since I doubt both characters have the same spell list (though I know they both have burning hands) there's probably a use for the Blue Kobold as well.

Though the tactics this little thing uses are absolutely hilarious.

Round 1 of combat... use the cloak of invisibility to get behind the enemy most likely to be a threat.

Round 2 of combat... use the wand of shocking grasp on the enemy. Loose invisibility due to the attack (darn... I'll need to get greater invisibility if the character lasts that long). Do 5d6+5 shocking damage + 3d6 sneak attack damage + 3 points of bleed damage per round.

Round 3 of combat... get clear if the target is still alive. Or do cleanup on lesser enemies by using burning hands. Or use invisibility and get the hell out of dodge if its all going to hell. smile

Weak points... those that can detect invisible opponents have an advantage. I'm a Kobold. Low strength. I'm a Kobold. Limited spells per day (Hence craft wand, so useful). And I'm a Kobold.