Dungeons & Dragons Thread

[Lorfarius]

Everyone will be newbs so no worries on that score

Yes RIKT I'd be well up for sorting a game though I need to get the books read first and have a play around with the software Had a message from Filecore on the RG forums who wants to play as well, he's new to it so could make for a good starting group.

[strider]

Can you finally play D&D online then? I may be interested in joining in. Sitting on shit loads of 4th edition books.

Edit. Wow D20 Pro looks awesome. I want in!

[Lorfarius]

Yep online is the way forward I think

I'm going to join the official forums and ask a few questions about licensing. I think we all need a players one but the full DM pack comes with 2 already. At least I think it does so I'll go find out We can get a trial running through it for us all to play, that way won't cost anyone a penny

[strider]

Yep online is the way forward I think

I'm going to join the official forums and ask a few questions about licensing. I think we all need a players one but the full DM pack comes with 2 already. At least I think it does so I'll go find out We can get a trial running through it for us all to play, that way won't cost anyone a penny

Keep us all updated mate I'm going to start reading up on the ranger class again!!!!!

[RIKT]

I'd be interested, if you don't mind a lame newb limping along behind y'all.

Not at all...as Lofarius says we're all 'newbs' when it comes to actually playing the game these days so that won't be a problem at all.

Everyone will be newbs so no worries on that score :)Yes RIKT I'd be well up for sorting a game though I need to get the books read first and have a play around with the software Had a message from Filecore on the RG forums who wants to play as well, he's new to it so could make for a good starting group.

Okay cool. Been playing with the software for the last hour or so and it does seem really good. It's gonna take a little bit of work to build or import maps etc but other than that it seems really fairly simple. My only concern at the moment is about how we as a group of new players might get confused with some things due to it not being specifically designed for 4th Edtion rules. Saying that though we could just use it purely as a mapping aid to begin with and then add it's extra layers of complexity as and when we get more comfortable.

With regard to reading through the books before we play, that's up to you I guess but I don't think it's needed at this stage. I've got a Dungeons and Dragons Insider Account and so I can use the Character Creator Tool to very quickly knock up some DnD Essentials Characters and and also Monsters / Encounters that we can use to test this with and if we just stick to the downloadable Quick Start Rules to begin with to keep things simple and cheap for anyone that maybe doesn't have the books at the moment we should be ready to give this a go pretty quickly.

Can you finally play D&D online then? I may be interested in joining in. Sitting on shit loads of 4th edition books.

It's certainly looking like it and that's what we're hopefully going to find out soon. If you do want to play then that makes 4 players (Campfire_Burning, Lofarius, Filecore & Strider) + me as the DM (initially and of course unless anyone else wants to do the job instead) which I reckon is the perfect size to begin with.

[RIKT]

We'll need to decide on which books we're going to use too.

I've got the original 4th Edition ones and the Essentials stuff too so I'm not fussed either way but I do think that the Essentials books would be the best to begin with. From what I've read mixing and matching characters from the the original line and Essentials isn't at all recommended so I think it's important to stick to one.

As I said in the above post though, if we stick to the downloadable quick start rules while we test it out then no one has to spend a penny until they're sure it works well and they want to continue playing.

[strider]

I have about 14 of the 4th edition books. Are these no good then

[RIKT]

From what I've read it seems that characters created using the the original 4e books can be underpowered compared to characters created using the newer Essentials line. Also the original books have had a fair amount of errata released for them (which may or may not be applicable depending on the characters / game) and so there are slight rules variations between the two.

I'm sure it's possible to mix and match with no problems once you've got the rules knowledge and experience to know exactly what needs changing though.

[Lorfarius]

This is what I posted over in the D&D thread on the RG forum. The books you need:

Red Boxset (A must have first purchase for newbs, will let you play the game and come to terms whether or not you want to continue, plus it's dirt cheap)- My link

Rules Compendium (All the rules in a handy readable form) - My link

Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms (ideal for first time players as is the next book) - My link

Player's Essentials: Heroes of the Fallen Lands - My link

For those interested in becoming a DM you need to pick these up as well:

Dungeon Masters Kit - My link

Monsters Vault - My link

[Lorfarius]

I've got a Dungeons and Dragons Insider Account and so I can use the Character Creator Tool to very quickly knock up some DnD Essentials Characters and and also Monsters / Encounters that we can use to test this with and if we just stick to the downloadable Quick Start Rules to begin with to keep things simple and cheap for anyone that maybe doesn't have the books at the moment we should be ready to give this a go pretty quickly.

It's certainly looking like it and that's what we're hopefully going to find out soon. If you do want to play then that makes 4 players (Campfire_Burning, Lofarius, Filecore & Strider) + me as the DM (initially and of course unless anyone else wants to do the job instead) which I reckon is the perfect size to begin with.

Then we should try and get something sorted soon. I'll pester Filecore to sign up here.

Now for this first session are we talking through Skype or just using the standard chat interface?

[RIKT]

Voice would make things quicker I guess but doesn't conference calling using Skype require a paid for service?

In which case then we'll have to settle for the standard chat interface.

[Lorfarius]

I'm sure we could sort something out eventually when it comes to live chat, bound to be some sort of conference stuff out there that's free. Messenger comes to mind, having said that I'd need to buy a Mic .

[Campfire_Burning]

Hang-out video calls through Google+ are fantastic quality, if you have accounts (and so long as it works on your computer).

Would the books be absolutely necessary for all the players? I'm not in the position to buy stuff at the moment and I'd rather not hold everyone back by being dead weight.

[Lorfarius]

There seems to be quick start rules here:

My link

And here:

www.wizards.com/dnd/files/quickstartrules.pdf

I didn't realise but at the start of all the books I bought there's just a few pages with the same rules as above. Looks an easy way to get into it. Although if you want to start playing properly you will need the books eventually.

[RIKT]

Would the books be absolutely necessary for all the players? I'm not in the position to buy stuff at the moment and I'd rather not hold everyone back by being dead weight.

I don't see a player not having the books being a problem at all, at least initially. If we decide to continue and start playing more seriously then you could probably do with whichever Essentials Players book covers your characters class if possible (they're less than a tenner on Amazon) but if that's not possible then we can work around it easily enough I reckon.

Hopefully I can speak for everyone here, but if it means having someone to play the game with then I'll happily help out / look up rules for you all day long, so please don't worry about holding anyone back.

[SimonC]

That d20pro software looks amazing. I'd be up for trying it out if you dont have too many volunteers already. I am a complete D&D noob though, don't own any of the books either, but have played some Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay in my youth - nearly 20 years ago

A good chance I could get us access to a teamspeak server for voice too (a good friend of mine has a server we use for warcraft from time to time).

[Lorfarius]

I think for the first try out game we should stick to text chat. From that we can then plan a proper game with talking etc, gives players plenty of time to get any equipment they might need

[RIKT]

Just had a thought about voice chat...being that this is a gaming forum I guess that there's a reasonable chance that all players might have XBox Live? If so then we could sort something out using that and it would mean that no one had to buy anything extra for their computer? Just a thought anyway, never mind if not everyone has it.

Great to see some more interest from people wanting to be in on this. I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be running a game with more than 4 players though, at least until I've got more experience. Think it'll be pretty slow going to begin with even with 4 until we all the get the hang of the rules.

Nothing to stop two separate games being run though if there's enough interest which is looking likely. If nothing else if we have 2 DM's we can share resources and maps etc which will be good.

So far we have...

RIKT

Lofarius

Campfire_Burning

Filecore

Strider

SimonC

Gmass

Any more?

[Lorfarius]

Filecore dropped me a message earlier to say he will join the forum later so he's def on board

I think Messenger is the way forward for voice chat. It has a conference free feature and it's free, plus I'd rather not have to turn on my Xbox in the other room every time I want to play D&D Be a right pain for me if it disconnects having to go and reconnect etc.

To start with I say stick to 4 players for each team until we get going. From all I've heard bigger games are pretty complicated and there's a lot for a single DM to maintain.

I think we also need to set a gaming time (say 1.5 hours - 2) limit at first for people to plan around.

Also started reading through the Rules Compendium today, there's a hell of a lot to take in so the quick rules above are an ideal starter for everyone.

[RIKT]

Are we planning on using the full tool on our first play around or just using it as a mapping tool and text chat if needed?

I think until everyone is comfortable with how the game plays and enough rules to get by we'd be much better just using it for the map? Otherwise I think we run the risk of hiding too many of the of the game mechanics and missing things completely or getting confused by what the tool is doing. Once we're comfortably playing then we can start using more features in order to speed play up. Is that alright by everyone?

I've uploaded a basic Level 1 Dwarf Fighter (Knight) that's been created using Essentials Rules on the DnD Insider Character Creation Tool as an example here...

DnD Dwarf Fighter

Love the fact that it creates character feat / benefit cards at the end.

If anyone wants a character sheet creating this way then let me know either an outline of the character you want to play or if you've already created one and you want the character sheet making then let me know all the details and I'll convert it over (as closely as is possible anyway).

Definitely think we need the traditional combination of a Fighter, Wizard, Rogue and Cleric to begin with.

[Lorfarius]

I'm going for a Wizard! Never tried that in any past game or video game come to think about it

I think we should take the plunge and use it as a full tool. Give us chance to have a play around with it properly. Also with you having access to the Character creation tool we should stick to that for the time being. Once people start buying books etc then they can move beyond that

[filecore]

Hello! I've lurked on this board for years, but never joined up. Things got even more interesting when the gaming unplugged subforum got going, and then finally with a push from Lorf here I am! :-)

Yes, I want in on this!

[strider]

so do I need to buy these essential books, or can I use my 4th edition players guide?

[Lorfarius]

So... are we going to set a target date for a game? How about this weekend? Or is that too soon?

[Campfire_Burning]

I'd be up for that.

[RIKT]

I've got no chance of getting any maps etc ready for this weekend I'm afraid (got quite a lot on this week), so unless some one else fancies DM'ing (and doing the required preparation this week) then it'll have to be the weekend after at the earliest I'm afraid.

Can definitely play this weekend though if someone does fancy taking on the DM job.

[Lorfarius]

Don't think I'll have enough time to get anything together either and Filecore can't make this weekend However what we can do is set a time on Saturday just to meet up with the software. Play around with some of it's features and get used to it, take the planning from there.

I'm free most of Saturday afternoon and the evening so I'll set a time of 2pm for now. PM if you can make it and once I've got the software set up at home I'll start passing on connection details

Edit. I've got the starter set D&D stuff so I'll try and see what I can do before Saturday!

[Lorfarius]

My Monster pack arrived, not as impressed with the smaller models. But the orc with the knives looks a lot like Freddy Krueger :shock:

[Lorfarius]

You really do need to do a fair bit of reading to start a game as DM or Player. I've spent a couple of days trying to learn both, even a good 3 hours yesterday afternoon with the starters DM book, but there's way too much to cram in for this afternoon.

Still getting my head around character creation as the starters kit can be a bit confusing in places. Telling you to set a level of say 14 for intelligience and a modifier but not really going into much detail as to why. All things I'm sure I will pick up as I read more of the books.

I like playing but I'm starting to think DMing is the way to go for me, so assuming we can get enough of you interested (not had much feedback about a tester at 2pm today ) I'll def be going ahead with games in future. I've been playing around with the D20Pro software and will be buying a full DM license (£18 which comes with a judge, player and 2 guest licenses) but it means whoever else joins in will likely need a players license (£6) if we do this regular.

Has anyone done any sort of reading or preparation for future games yet?

[RIKT]

I've been doing some more experimentation of my own with the D20Pro software over the last couple of days and I really can't get on with unfortunately.

I just can't see how having to faff about with that in front of a computer could ever replicate the fun I used to have playing AD&D 2nd Edition in my younger days. To me it's all about sitting around with other people and playing with real physical things which obviously the software doesn't replicate.

I'm therefore bowing out of this guys I'm afraid. Sorry.