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Post by Thanin on Apr 20, 2005 14:41:37 GMT -5
I'm all about this. ;D
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Post by Tyler on Apr 20, 2005 15:19:32 GMT -5
Enough foreplay! Spit it out, McBride, what are my stats?!
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Post by amanda on Apr 20, 2005 15:23:34 GMT -5
Aw, but we likes it...
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Post by mike on Apr 20, 2005 19:09:45 GMT -5
Justin,
I hope you're deadly serious about assigning the attribute numbers for us. It's a bold move, even reckless, but I love it. Come on mediocrity!
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Post by Thanin on Apr 21, 2005 0:36:36 GMT -5
He is absolutely serious. Personally I like the idea of not knowing any of it until we show up that night. I say the less planning involved the better. You have to deal with whatever happens when it happens.
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Post by mike on Apr 21, 2005 7:46:53 GMT -5
David, you know I could never function that way.
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Post by Tyler on Apr 21, 2005 7:54:36 GMT -5
Plus, I'll need to read the rules beforehand...
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Post by Thanin on Apr 21, 2005 10:55:48 GMT -5
When I talked to him earlier this week on the phone I'm pretty sure this is what he had for his vision of the game. I'm just trying to encourage what the DM wants. I think he wants us to write our backstories regardless of whether we know what race/class/attributes we have anyway.
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Post by CaptAdam on Apr 21, 2005 13:22:37 GMT -5
Justin as I mentioned in the other posts on Gaming, I may not be available to play, but I'm happy to be a resource for any plot devices, traps or fight stratigies or back ground development that you may call up on me if you like. Though I just be a whisper in the wind on the email forums or personal emails to keep the sheep from knowing their possible grizzely demise.
But seriously if you like I'm happy to help you anyway I can.
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Post by Betterout on Apr 21, 2005 15:24:05 GMT -5
Hey, thanks, Adam! I just may take you up on that--particularly if there is ever a time when the party, whoever they may be, needs to lock horns with someone, something, somearmy! Dave's right on this one. Yes, I'm dead serious. Yes, I still want you to have a backstory. I can understand if you want to know a little bit about your character before you start on it, though. If that's you, then let me know, and I'll be glad to assign you your stuff so that you can get cracking. But if you want to have a personality before you see the numbers, I can respect that, too. Just lemme know. Do you guys want me to give you random characters, or do you just want random ability scores. Some perverse side of me wants to do the whole thing...abilities, class, gender, age, cash, etc. But if that's going too far, just tell me. And I'm still a little unclear on which of the 0th's I wanna use. They're not identical, even though they're incredibly similar. I downloaded a coupla editions from the 70s and 80s, plus I have my own 80s version. I'm personally under the impression that we should strive to take the game way back to its roots, back to the oldest known source, the way Arneson and Gygax intended it from the very start. For that I have 2 copies of the '78 reprint of the original '73 edition. And unless I hear otherwise, we'll probably use that as the basis for play. But, I'm going to leave it open to modification from the early 80s era Basic, which was the edition available when the Expert rules first came out. Expert will be necessary, as Basic itself goes only to 3rd level (if we plan on sticking with it that long. I've been accused of being an experience stinge). The late 80s version has both a PHB and a DMG, in rudimentary form--a good reason to consider that version. So, I'm still open to whatever suggestions you may have. In the meatime, if you guys want to pick up a copy of any rules edition, you can go to www.rpgnow.com and pick up a .pdf dirt-cheap (only about $5, but look out for huge file sizes and download times, you dialers). Don't feel bad if you don't know the system. I don't either. Hell, it's been 20+ years since most of us played this seriously, and some may have never played it. I really am as clueless about this one as any of you will be. But for that reason, I'll have a couple of extra rule books on the table when we play, so we can take a moment and hash out the rules when needed. One thing I've noticed with the various editions is that Elf advancement has been a bone of contention. Elves progress equally slowly in both Fighter and Magic-User levels, such that experience points are awarded to both classes in equal measure. If you find a 2gp gem, for instance, 1xp goes to Fighter and one goes to Mage. This wouldn't be an issue except that Fighters and Mages themselves don't progress at the same rate: Fighters reach 2nd at 2,000xp, and Mages at 2,500. Later editions landed at a flat 4,000xp 2nd level, but I am not too crazy about this inasmuch as it seems to give Elves a comparative break on an early ruling. 1st level Mages get d4 hits, no armor, a dagger, and only one spell. Meanwhile, 1st level Elves are better in every way--better hit dice, better armor, better weapons. Even if an Elf decides to abandon active consideration of their spell-casting side, they're still better straight Magic-Using counterparts ('cos on top of the combat perks, if they ever decide to shuck the armor, they can then always bust out their spell). I don't want anyone's opinions on this left out, so I'd appreciate an idea or two about this matter. I seriously don't mean to do this to make anyone angry or crazy. I'm just interested in doing something memorable and potentially fun, and also potentially rocky for EVERYBODY involved. Virgins and veterans, players and DM(s), will all be largely in the dark.
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Post by mike on Apr 21, 2005 15:36:32 GMT -5
Yikes! I dearly love the 1973 rules for having started with them and badly want to use them, but I can't wrap my mind around the point of writing backstories without knowing anything about the character.
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Post by Betterout on Apr 21, 2005 15:42:18 GMT -5
I hear you, man. Movable feasts aren't that movable! But I thought it'd suggest it to appeal to the Dave (and the Justin) types out there.
If I don't hear back on the 'whole character vs. just abilities' question soon, then I'll probably PM everyone a random character in a few days. So, be sure and check your inbox.
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Post by mike on Apr 21, 2005 15:50:41 GMT -5
I don't want to cramp yours and David's style. You should, like Dave wrote, run the game you want.
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Post by rick on Apr 21, 2005 16:03:29 GMT -5
Ditto!
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Post by Thanin on Apr 21, 2005 17:35:44 GMT -5
Justin, I'm completely serious here. The fewer books we use, the better. In fact, I seriously only want to use just enough to get us the most basic, pure character possible. If this means that the DM decides what happens to our class/race after we advance beyond 3rd level (assuming we do, which I am starting to think we shouldn't), then so be it. This needs to be a game devoted to story/plot/character development. Throw as many rules out the window as possible and observe how much more fun is had. This has nothing to do with ego, pride or any of that other BS. This game shouldn't be about anything else other than finally getting to experience a D&D game that's truly about what's important.
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Post by rick on Apr 22, 2005 0:02:45 GMT -5
"...a D&D game that's truly about what's important."
And what is that dave?
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Post by Thanin on Apr 22, 2005 0:50:20 GMT -5
It varies with my whim, but, as all agree, I'm always right.
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Post by Tyler on Apr 22, 2005 7:34:52 GMT -5
I have a great idea, let's not have characters at all! We can just pretend that we're some people without stats or jobs or anything other than personalities and we'll be running a tavern or tailor or something. Or even better, we can be farmers. That way there won't be any rules at all. Or, we can go even furthur. I like the farm idea, but.... humans are too contentious. Let's be rabbits living on the farm, eating mean old Farmer Betterout's carrot patch!
Justin, I'd like to be given my stats and to be a fighter, please.
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Post by mike on Apr 22, 2005 7:48:05 GMT -5
Careful, Tyler, I'm trawling the board for BUNNIES AND BURROWS players, and you seem primed for it. Now if we could only find David an eighth day of the week.
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Post by Betterout on Apr 22, 2005 10:14:06 GMT -5
Oh, Tyler, now you're just being ridiculous. No, I'm not interested in diminishing the rules at all. I'm interested in taking the game back to its roots. Before we play, I'm going to make y'all read Gygax's preface to the original '73 edition. It's like Engels commenting on the Manifesto. It's a classic statement of history and place. As you know, I like questions of when and where because they go a long way to answering the more looming questions of how and why within a particular context (Jeff prefers to ask how and why directly). It's hard to say, "Yeah, I like rock & roll," and REALLY MEAN IT without having an opinion on, say, Bill Haley or Jackie Brenston. Likewise, how can we call ourselves dedicated D&D nuts (with a combined two centuries of gaming experience) and never have played the original version? The utterly random character concept has appealed to me from the beginning of our AD&D days. I remember talking to Dave about it in about 1984! In the two decades since then, I've still never done it. I'm still waiting on more opinions on this one. And, as a matter of clarification, if we decide as a group to do it one way, then that's the way we'll do it for all. If we all decide on random abilities only, then we'll all take it from there. Whether you come up with your backstory now or then is up to you alone. But at least have one, dern it!
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