D&D

[PhoenixAsh]

I never read any of the Dragonlance novels or was really aware of Dragonlance as a thing until a few years back when I played in a 3.5 DL game. Holy crap I love the way they hanbdled gnomes in that; I ended up playing a gnomish engineer who just didn't give a shit - at one point he was told to steal a crown off of some really powerful woman (might be a setting NPC, I can't remember) so just bowled up into her throne room thingy and said "Watchamate, I'm here to grab yer 'at" and somehow survived. I loved that character, it's a shame he died because I fucking detest puzzles and destroyed the only way out of a room when it turned out it was some sort of "arrange the crystals" bullshit.

I wouldn't bother with 4th myself, I think Pathfinder (rules srd here) sorted out all the kinks really - although none of the official settings (Fogotten Realms, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, DarkSun, Eberron and so on) have been converted to it.

I think the Dragonlance books are excellent. With the possible exception to the three Drow series they are probably the best D&D books written.

I loved what they did with wizards in the setting...and the setting was pretty well thought out. But IMO the main problem was that sooner or later you would get drawn into the main history which pretty much envelloped the whole continent. I especially lost interest after 5th age.

[#FF0000]

Also there's this group which occaisonally sees people (abortively) trying to get games up and running on here

You know, I've had a lot of success running online games over skype. There's also this thing called map-tool or something like that which we used to make rough maps.

I think more often we just used vague descriptions of where everyone was, without paying too much attention to the details in combat.

[praxis1966]

I think the Dragonlance books are excellent. With the possible exception to the three Drow series they are probably the best D&D books written.

I loved what they did with wizards in the setting...and the setting was pretty well thought out. But IMO the main problem was that sooner or later you would get drawn into the main history which pretty much envelloped the whole continent. I especially lost interest after 5th age.

Yeah, I never even got that far... I'm considering picking them up again if for no better reason than all the most recent modules are in the 5th age. Anyway, what I have read is the Chronicles, Elven Nations, Dwarven Nations, The Meetings Sextet, and about half the villains series whatever that was called. I think that roughly works out to just shy of 20 books or so. Basically, I'm considering Legends, Summer Flame, and War of the Souls at this point.

As I said, I have a soft spot for the elves (except the Sylvanesti who're snooty assholes and the Dargonesti, never could see the point of elven mermaids/men). My brother was always partial to the dwarves, but they were pretty generic I always though: drink ale, smash shit, lol. So what was it about the wizards that did it for you? Was it just because they fleshed out Raistlin so well or was it just the complexity of the whole thing? As for the setting, well, when you have so many books (I think there's like 190 in the series) you can't help but have it well fleshed out.

You know, I've had a lot of success running online games over skype. There's also this thing called map-tool or something like that which we used to make rough maps.

I think more often we just used vague descriptions of where everyone was, without paying too much attention to the details in combat.

Yeah, I found a chat room once that had dice rolls built into the chat tools... That seemed to work pretty well, too. At this point I'd almost say we should get a game together here, but with all the crazy timezones it'd be almost impossible to do live gaming sessions.

[#FF0000]

Yeah, I found a chat room once that had dice rolls built into the chat tools... That seemed to work pretty well, too. At this point I'd almost say we should get a game together here, but with all the crazy timezones it'd be almost impossible to do live gaming sessions.

Yeah, that's the only problem. I was actually thinking of inviting some revlefters to my sessions online w/ my friends who are away at college, until I realized that some of them are 5 hours off, at least.

[praxis1966]

Yeah, that's the only problem. I was actually thinking of inviting some revlefters to my sessions online w/ my friends who are away at college, until I realized that some of them are 5 hours off, at least.

Personally, I think we should maybe revive that group Jazz was talking about. The only real way to take into consideration all the timezones would be to do it forum based. It'll suck slowing the game that much (one round of combat could take an entire day), but it might still be fun.

Beyond that, the only question would be setting. I think everybody knows where my sympathies are, but I'd also like to give a shout to Ravenloft. It always seemed kind of a cool setting and one I've never actually tried. The only one I'm overtly opposed to would be Darksun... For whatever reason, psionics really just rub me the wrong way.

[Dzerzhinsky's Ghost]

I use to play D&D with some mates of mine, I was an orc caster, evil. I'm not sure if we played it right, alot of it was made up bullshitery fueled by LSD and cannabis. Fun game really.

[PhoenixAsh]

Yeah, I never even got that far... I'm considering picking them up again if for no better reason than all the most recent modules are in the 5th age. Anyway, what I have read is the Chronicles, Elven Nations, Dwarven Nations, The Meetings Sextet, and about half the villains series whatever that was called. I think that roughly works out to just shy of 20 books or so. Basically, I'm considering Legends, Summer Flame, and War of the Souls at this point.

As I said, I have a soft spot for the elves (except the Sylvanesti who're snooty assholes and the Dargonesti, never could see the point of elven mermaids/men). My brother was always partial to the dwarves, but they were pretty generic I always though: drink ale, smash shit, lol. So what was it about the wizards that did it for you? Was it just because they fleshed out Raistlin so well or was it just the complexity of the whole thing? As for the setting, well, when you have so many books (I think there's like 190 in the series) you can't help but have it well fleshed out.

I liked what they did with the robes. White for good, red for neutral and black for evil....and with the whole system of recruiting mages which made more sense and was better documented than the other settings. And Raistlin definately is bad ass!

Kenders were annoying buggers if a player chose to play them. I usually killed them off after the third session. Which is not hard because the Draconians are tough enemies... ;-)

The setting was increadibly fleshed out but left pretty much little adventuring room outside the main epic story...and players either start interfering with it or they start being drawn into it. That could make for some interesting role playing...or it could mean there is a shitload more preparing to do for the DM by devising an alternate history.

But that said...because of the many books and incredible work this was definately the one setting that has always had the most appeal. The Cataclysm....the overzealous religious empire turned evil in the name of good! I see parallels

[Tomhet]

I d'med for years, great times..

[praxis1966]

I d'med for years, great times..

You're a rarity. In my experience nobody wants to do that shit. We had to take it on a rotation when I was still playing regularly... which never worked out because either the leftover character gets played by the DM as an NPC and thus gets favored excessively or one of the other players plays an extra character and thus gets disfavored.

I liked what they did with the robes. White for good, red for neutral and black for evil....and with the whole system of recruiting mages which made more sense and was better documented than the other settings. And Raistlin definately is bad ass!

I dunno. I think I kind of liked the fact that there was actually some order to the way you had to do things. In order to become a full fledged wizard you couldn't just wake up one day and decide to be one. There was all sorts of study involved... And then of course the trials.

Kenders were annoying buggers if a player chose to play them. I usually killed them off after the third session. Which is not hard because the Draconians are tough enemies... ;-)

That they were... None of us ever wanted to play them. Although, I think that had more to do with machismo than anything else. Nobody wanted to play anything that "small."

But that said...because of the many books and incredible work this was definately the one setting that has always had the most appeal. The Cataclysm....the overzealous religious empire turned evil in the name of good! I see parallels

Yeah, I think that had more to do with Margaret Weis being an ex-Mormon than anything else.

[PhoenixAsh]

I dunno. I think I kind of liked the fact that there was actually some order to the way you had to do things. In order to become a full fledged wizard you couldn't just wake up one day and decide to be one. There was all sorts of study involved... And then of course the trials.

Absolutely. As a result I actually expect people to put time and effort in their character background and fully work it out. I also require my players to have some common ground and pre existing reason why they should travel together...because I hosted a party in which the players did not get along and eventually during the first session ended up ganging up on each other.

That they were... None of us ever wanted to play them. Although, I think that had more to do with machismo than anything else. Nobody wanted to play anything that "small."

hehehe... Exactly. Though when I play I either played a little orphan girl psionicist....or, if at all possible, a pixie

And I play both to perfection... in otherwords I am not alowed to play either anymore.

But the main problem is that we have somebody in our party who is a powerplayer. So the others kind of tend to have to do the same. The others are more inclined to roleplay and are not averse to playing the character instead of the appearance....but if he plays with us then there is a different dynamics.

The most fun party I DM-ed was a group consisting of a half-orc with an intelligence and wisdom of 7. A gnome. A halfling and a Sverfniblin. None of them had scores above 15. It was a hoot.

The most fun I had playing was when we played in an Elven party consisting entirely of elven-defender and infiltrator high-elves. Naturally that quickly developed in an Elven-supremacy party....with the only thing holding us in check being that we did not have a priest for healing. The DM was very, very frustrated....since we absolutely refused to work for anything non-elven and rather prefered to kill it on the spot.

Yeah, I think that had more to do with Margaret Weis being an ex-Mormon than anything else.

She was?? Really...that explains a lot...you learn something new every day


Ever played DarkSun?

[praxis1966]

hehehe... Exactly. Though when I play I either played a little orphan girl psionicist....or, if at all possible, a pixie

Yeah, I have kind of an off again on again affinity for female characters as well... And when I play them, I usually avoid the traditional feminine classes like clerics and thieves and instead go for one of the more melee oriented classes... Call it feminist posturing, lulz.

But the main problem is that we have somebody in our party who is a powerplayer. So the others kind of tend to have to do the same. The others are more inclined to roleplay and are not averse to playing the character instead of the appearance....but if he plays with us then there is a different dynamics.

Yeah, we had a guy like that. This was back in the days when the Rules 'Cyclopedia was popular, so this asshole decides he was going to be a mystic (a la some kind of RPG rendition of a Shaolin warrior monk)... What wound up happening is he took the proficiency rules to extreme - he was a grand master in unarmed martial arts which turned just about every combat session into a Bruce Lee movie... He mostly used a katana, but sometimes for shits and giggles he'd leave that shit sheathed and go charging headlong into a bunch of goblins or some shit. He'd wind up killing a bunch of them before the rest of us had a chance to react, lol.

The funny thing was I was playing a knight who was also quite handy with his dukes a la boxing proficiency - we got in an argument over something around the campfire one night over who was gonna get the big piece of chicken or some shit and decided to slug it out. I won the initiative roll, hit him with a frickin' haymaker and knocked his ass out cold before he could do anything about it. The rest of the party laughed their asses off.

She was?? Really...that explains a lot...you learn something new every day

On the real, man. lol

Ever played DarkSun?

Nah I always found it a bit too Darwinian for my tastes. Plus, there's something about psionics that just rubs me up the wrong way. I dunno. Call me a traditionalist. I'd be willing to give it a shot just for shits and grins...

Btw, were you aware there was a Krynnspace edition of Spelljammer? Fun times all around cruising the solar system on a boat filled with Derro dwarves of the Theiwar clan.

[ColonelCossack]

i played it once. i always want*to start again though because it was fun, but I can never get round to it.

One day when i'm the DM i want ash from evil dead to appear, say "this is my boomstick", and he give s them each a shotgun

[praxis1966]

One day when i'm the DM i want ash from evil dead to appear, say "this is my boomstick", and he give s them each a shotgun

Like I said, we could always try to revive the group on here that Jazz mentioned.

For what it's worth, their were rules in 2nd edition for an arquebus in the Arms and Equipment Guide. I dunno whether they did away with it later on or not. Most of the folks I played with didn't particularly like the idea of having one because it seemed too technologically advanced so we never used it anyway.