Perdita - An Ongoing GWJ Community 5e Game - OOC Thread

I can not wait for this recap!

Haha I think my combat was dominant. I don't know what y'all think but no one can defeat my cleric not even my awesome op dodo bird.

Write-up for The Failing Stone

Spoiler:

Roval left the day after we got here; I guess he just hates sick children. Findley has been pestering me for the last couple of days to go with him to investigate the shiny rock; Munnin and I are content seeing who can down the most of these tiny bottles the fastest. He keeps winning – but no one really loses in a drinking game, even some of the Halflings join in and hold their own surprisingly well. They’re not so bad once you get over the smell.

I awake to the sound of scattering bottles and the creaky bunk bed not designed for my size. Findley is already awake and is questioning the other inhabitants of the village. I suppose we should go help him. I shake Munnin awake, have some dark coffee out of what looks like a large bowl, and we set after Findley to give him a hand.
We find him in a dimly lit room with an old Halfling in bed being attended to by various healers and nurses.

“This is the current keeper of the Twin Star, he says that he has trained three apprentices – one of whom disappeared around the same time as the stone stopped radiating its healing aura.”

“Where’s the other ones?” Munnin asks leaning against the frame of the house.

“The second apprentice is maintaining the stone as best he can and the last is looking for answers in the library. Had you two not been drinking all night we’d already know this.” Findley seemed a little touchy.

We left the dying monkling in peace and headed to the scene of the crime – the missing apprentice’s house. Like most other villagers who live here he stayed in a long house built to house several occupants. The books, scrolls and religious artifacts made it obvious which was the apprentice’s area. We started nosing through his belongings looking for clues.

“Someone else has been here…” Findley said offhandedly.

I found an old looking book written in Draconic. I concentrate, feeling my spell take shape in my mind. The Draconic letters start to melt away leaving only a common tongue that I can read.

“There’s another stone.” I tell the others.

“This book says it’s in a Kobold city not far from here. It doesn’t say if they work together or if they are independent, but either way we should check out the city. There’s a map in here.”

I wanted to kidnap one of the apprentices for several good reasons the biggest being that I don’t trust anyone who benefits from another’s disappearance. For some reason the others didn’t like my plan, so we talked to the apprentice currently caring for the stone. He was standing over the Twin Star muttering softly with his hands outstretched. The stone would occasionally spark up but die out just as fast. We asked him, very politely to come with us to help fix their stone , to which he outright refused, he thought his weak enchantments were more important. I wanted to convince him to come with us, but I was persuaded to leave him alone.

The last, and from what we were told least adept, apprentice was studying at the library. He seemed very taken with our bracelets we picked up in the mountains. We were able to get him to tag along with us without the use of any magic; we did promise to take him into the mountains where the bracelets were found however. I would have rather just used magic.

We round up some extra supplies by talking to the mayor, “Mayor, sir, it’s not a far journey but it is a gruesome journey to a lost city ruled by fearsome kobolds and guarded by their terrifying dragon overlord. We will go there to help fix your stone, the stone that supports your entire village, but we need some traveling supplies.”Most of it was true... some of it was true... the kobold part was true.

He gave each of us a week of food and water and a little gold. Findley rejoined us with a shield he somehow swindled a poor Halfling out of somehow. The sun was starting to set and we decided to leave at first light.

[Day 2]

We meet back up first thing in the morning, but notice that several people in our hut are missing small things – including us. Nothing major is gone, just trinkets and small things like mirrors, knives, doorknobs etc. While thieves, of course, have a special place in my heart there is a code. Never steal from your own kind. I’m sure that this thief didn’t know any better, but still I want my pocketknife back. I call Raven. Without speaking, he understands my intent. He will stay here while we are away to see if there are any more thefts in the night.

After traveling for a few hours we notice a group of large horses in a grassy field. Until I looked again, [/i]those aren’t horses[/i] – those are some kind of giant bird! never in my life have I seen such a hideous and fearsome looking creature. It's murderous eyes were enough to send a shiver down my back. My first instinct was to avoid them all together but Munnin wanted to catch one. Findley, being an animal handler was
intrigued as well. Our Halfling, whose name I think is Merik, was flatly against this obviously ridiculous idea.

The other two walked carefully to through the grass. Findley threw some dried meat to one of them but was unable to get it farther than five feet. I helped him throw it closer to the terror birds which seemed to make one happy and the other two quite cross. And the other three I hadn't seen before. There are only six giant hungry monsters advancing on us like a hunting pack.

Before I have a chance to consider casting invisibility and running away they descend on us. Each beast has a razor sharp beak that looks to be able to crush a man in a few chomps and long curved talons of equal ferocity. Truly, what were we thinking? The birds attack at once biting and clawing at us with high pitched screams. I summoned an orb of fire to assist – hoping it wouldn’t ignite the entire prairie. We struggled to stay alive. I’m ashamed to say that if that Halfling monk had not been there with us I don’t know if we would have made it out alive.

Munnin cast a spell I've seen tear a grown man to shreds- this bird hardly notices. We hit them with everything we had. I used every drop of magic just to stay alive, the others looked about the same. Except for the Halfling - he was doing much better than us.

Finally, one of the beasts fell, then another and another. We eventually incapacitated all six. Munnin healed our grievous wounds as the rest of us bound one of the nightmares up with lots of rope. Findley healed it just enough to get it on its feet. He spent nearly all day with that damn bird, I was content with lying perfectly still on the ground; that seemed to hurt the least.

I must have drifted off for a minute because when I opened my eyes again Findley was working with a different bird. He had three tied up with make shift reigns and everything. They seemed … tameish. I was nervous to get on its back but it didn’t put up much of a fight as I climbed on. If you told me yesterday that I would be riding on the back of a giant carnivorous bird today I would have bought you another drink. Riding these things felt like a fish caught in a water wheel. If the fish is flying across the prairie and the water wheel is between its legs spinning extra fast.

We wisely choose to make camp just outside of the Kobold city. Every motion is answered with pain. I couldn’t conjure a whiff of hot air if I wanted to. We build up a little camp but I am asleep before my tail hits the ground.

To be continued...

Put that in the Hall!

TheHarpoMarxist wrote:

Put that in the Hall!

oops, I moved it, although I don't know if I can delete it from here

Nice write up black lotus! Sad I missed out on almost getting torn to shreds by giant death birds

No worries - it can be here just fine, I wanted to make sure it was also with the others though.

I made a horrible mistake and googled build advice and have gone down the power gaming rabbit hole. I can feel the part of my brain that would spend weekends trying to figure out the best level to dual class from Swashbuckler to Wizard in Baldur's Gate 2 taking over.

Please send help.

There's actually some good stuff in the DMG about what players want and how not to stigmatize anything. I used to think that power gaming kind of kills the fun for everyone, but it doesn't have to. Every player responds to different things, and feeling like you're character is bad-ass is a totally normal and valid desire to have - so long as you read the people you are playing with and allow space for what interests them (and to make sure that you allow other players a chance to shine.)

We used to roll stats in one of my groups, before picking class you just roll 4d6 down the line - no re-rolls. No swapping. I got this:

STR 16
DEX 17
CON 15
INT 16
WIS 16
CHA 17

I was both highly excited to keep this roll because how often does that happen and also wary that this character would steal everyone's thunder and that I was succumbing to some sort of repressed inner power gamer by even wanting to play him. The DM was really great though, and encouraged me to put a really flawed personality on this character and not to play one of the more "powerful" classes or class combos (oh, third edition). It ended up working really great. The party was very unconventional. I turned this character into a Rogue, and we had a Rogue/Wiz, a tanky Bard/Cleric, and a high INT druid. Every character had an INT over 14, which determined skills in 3rd ed. That plus class choice meant that everyone ended up being super versatile.

Point is, if you go down that rabbit hole that's okay, so long as you are aware of what you are doing and take care not to allow your character to be a spotlight stealer. A good DM will give you opportunities to feel badass, and most players are drawn to D&D for a variety of different reasons. Some people like structure and rules, others like the narrative aspects and could care less about stats or rules. Some people are bored in combat but love dialogue, others are in it for exploration or loot. A good DM will give each player what they want. So if you have a power gamer streak, embrace it. Be at peace with it. Let the DMs and your party help you, and then make sure to return the favor by encouraging their needs/wants as well!

You seem to think that my concern is the effect that my power gaming would have on others and and not the time I would spend doing it.

Still good advice though.

In a roundabout way it actually looks like I have sort of power gamed my character. Looking at various thoughts on the Warlock class I seem to have made all of the choices that lead to having a character that is good at most things and great at very little, which for someone playing with a set group is arguably kinda dumb. But for someone who may at any point need to slot himself into all kind of roles it's rather handy. Need a tank? Let me grab a shield! Need someone to throw spells at a distance? I can use eldritch blast all day! Healer? Check! Disabler? Check! Animal Handler? ... No? Well you're not my real dad and I'll go tame those Chocobo's if I want to!

The only major flaw is that I want a familiar and I'm probably going to sacrifice a feat slot more or less just for that when either the right Bard or warlock subclass would have done it for free. But the ritual caster feat would let cast all other wizard spells with the ritual tag so it's not like that's useless.

I promise I'll get some runs up once I'm back in the states Hang in there Perdita don't die on me!

I know... same here... work is killing me right now.

Yeah, life gets in the way of D&D sometimes, but I'm hoping for some fall/winter campaign action!

I've been watching this thread since it started, and at long last, I think I could commit to some D&D!

I have experience playing and DMing earlier editions, but haven't gotten to do anything with 5e yet beyond reading the rules. And Sunday, Wednesday, or Thursday evenings are potentially prime gaming time for me.

Let me dust off this forum. I have returned from deployment and am now mostly back to normal. I'm ready to do a biweekly (that's twice a month right) game. If any one is out there and still wants to play give me some good days of the week to do it on. I'm thinking thursdays but I'm up for suggestions

I LOVE Thursdays.

Thursdays are usually good for me too. Who knows once winter break starts though.

Hey black lotus, I don't know my work schedule yet, but if I'm not working then I'm definitely up for your adventure hook!

oookkkkkaaaayyy. I currently have it set for friday the 18th but i can move it back to the 17th if needed. (something about star wars movie).

Wish I could make the Jan 6th game black lotus, but I'm working Thursdays over winter break. If anyone's up for a Monday, Tuesday, or Saturday timeslot though, I'm game

If there is still an opening for a newbie, I would be very interested. I'm on my kindle reader right now , but tomorrow I will see if I can figure out how to sign up .

Let me know if you need any help, Rallick. Looking forward to more D&D in 2016. I haven't made any formal New Year Resolutions, but that would definitely be one of them, if I got it together enough to actually make some.

We'll run if we get the folks!

Well, consider me in. What do you think I'll need? Dice, obviously. A computer with a webcam and a decent headset. Do I need the player's manual? Any specific software?

Also, for me the best times to play are after my wife has left for work, so that would be Sun - Wed nights, any time after 8:30. I don't know if that is too late for you folks, or if those days are bad, or if there even is a set schedule.

Now that I'm back on a 'real' computer I'll see if I can find the answer to all of those questions, but if not I'd appreciate any comments.
Thanks!

Edit: I've created an Obsidian account, so that's a good start. This is my profile page.

The Player's Handbook is certainly useful, and I recommend it to everyone, but the free PDF should also help you cover the bases. It has all of the rules, plus a basic Fighter, Wizard, Rogue, and Cleric options for classes. Other people have the full PHB, so even if you want to stray from those classes, I'd be happy to fill in the blanks with you and walk you through chargen if you have a favorite class from editions past you'd like to play. PM me of you want to go that route!

We're using a standard point buy system for characters, and Roll20 has a dice roller on it, so the dice aren't even needed.

A point buy calculator can be found here.

My biggest issue with the free document is it's very thin on the personality quirks and cleric spell domains. I think it has only Light/Healing domain and a handful of the personality quirks. So it's fine to get playing but if you decide you're committed to playing D&D, know that the PHB has a lot more options.

I also don't think anyone would begrudge you a reroll if you want to play a few games before you invest in a $30 to $40 book large enough to use for self defense JRPG style.

Absolutely. It's a bummer there's no PDF of the PHB. That thing is enormous. Characters are pretty mutable up to about third level anyway. Until then it's trivial to change things you don't like.

Well, that all sounds good. Then I guess the only major question left is the scheduling. Do you have a set day on which this is done, or does it vary by week?

I see in The Hall thread that there is something scheduled for this Thursday (though no signups yet). Alas, Thu, Fri and Sat are bad nights for me, as my wife is off on those evenings, and would prefer to spend time with me. Still not sure why - I'm beginning to suspect she actually likes me. Weird, that!

I'm happily available any time after 8:30 on the remaining evenings of the week, and I will be keeping an eye on The Hall to see if anything else gets posted.

In the meantime, do I just go ahead and create a character (or two, or three, depending I guess on what the group needs), and if I do, should they start at level 1?

Thanks for all the help and patience, I'm really very new to all this, but I'm eager to learn and play!

Create whatever character you want (and don't worry about what a group might "need." One of 5e's improvements over prior editions - and 4th in particular - is that any combination is potentially quite capable. They've shed the whole "roles" thing, which required a party to have every component.

This game is an open DM situation. When anyone who wants to DM decides to run a session, they put a post up over in the Hall. So the schedule is super flexible. Anyone available can sign up. DMs are encouraged to incorporate (or at the minimum not negate) setting details that show up in other sessions, and encouraged to focus on creating self contained sessions, so everything can wrap in one go (you can still do a longer form narrative, just make sure to plan it in chunks so that different heroes can swap in and out, pending on who is available.) One player in each campaign is the "scribe" who records the tale and does an in character write-up.