D&D and Dorks, Nerds, Social Stuff

[Zardnaar]

Oddball post after CFC advice.

Some of you know I run D&D as a DM. I'm running 2 games biweekly. One's 5E the others old school (pre 3E/2000 and clones). I recently shut one group down as the campaign wasn't working for me. Combination of theme (norse)and a couple of players.

I had a player tell me he's leaving in November. Time to think about a replacement. Haven’t had much luck in local D&D forums so I placed an ad along the lines of Wanna Play D&D. Star Wars RPG, or Board Games. Basic geek stuff.

Anyway got 6 responses. Game was kinda full for number 6. They seemed super keen and were willing to play not 5E. Found a spot for them in Thursday Greek game. Game went great they left with big dopey grin on their face and a hell yes if they wanted in.

I scheduled a game for Sunday. 1 response. Added a pair of anchor players and offered a spot to the new Thursday player. Then confirmations started rolling in. Sunday rolled around 5/6 turned up 7 players total. Newbie game. Said game was buckets of fun and everyone wanted to return.

Wednesday rolled round. Got a message "hey got room for a player". Kinda full up but ones leaving in November. We chatted. Turns out we had the same interests, favorite editions were the same (red box and 2E). Sigh I can make room perhaps.

Anyway I've got enough for a potential third game. Or I can boot a player. The campaign I dissolved was because of a pair of players that weren't annoying enough to boot but they didn't quite get it either for that type of game. Turns out they're annoying some others as well one of whom is my wife. Think comic book guy from Simpsons and an enabler. Just mo social skills comments about porn at the table, loud, talking over other players and DM a bit to much. 1s redeemable by himself he's fine for the most part.

12 spots, 15 players. Some are in both games, a couple play occasionally due to schedules.

I don't have to invite them back for a new campaign but kinda thinking about booting one or dissolving that game and not inviting back (much the same thing).

 

[EgonSpengler]

Oddball post after CFC advice.

Some of you know I run D&D as a DM. I'm running 2 games biweekly. One's 5E the others old school (pre 3E/2000 and clones). I recently shut one group down as the campaign wasn't working for me. Combination of theme (norse)and a couple of players.

I had a player tell me he's leaving in November. Time to think about a replacement. Haven’t had much luck in local D&D forums so I placed an ad along the lines of Wanna Play D&D. Star Wars RPG, or Board Games. Basic geek stuff.

Anyway got 6 responses. Game was kinda full for number 6. They seemed super keen and were willing to play not 5E. Found a spot for them in Thursday Greek game. Game went great they left with big dopey grin on their face and a hell yes if they wanted in.

I scheduled a game for Sunday. 1 response. Added a pair of anchor players and offered a spot to the new Thursday player. Then confirmations started rolling in. Sunday rolled around 5/6 turned up 7 players total. Newbie game. Said game was buckets of fun and everyone wanted to return.

Wednesday rolled round. Got a message "hey got room for a player". Kinda full up but ones leaving in November. We chatted. Turns out we had the same interests, favorite editions were the same (red box and 2E). Sigh I can make room perhaps.

Anyway I've got enough for a potential third game. Or I can boot a player. The campaign I dissolved was because of a pair of players that weren't annoying enough to boot but they didn't quite get it either for that type of game. Turns out they're annoying some others as well one of whom is my wife. Think comic book guy from Simpsons and an enabler. Just mo social skills comments about porn at the table, loud, talking over other players and DM a bit to much. 1s redeemable by himself he's fine for the most part.

12 spots, 15 players. Some are in both games, a couple play occasionally due to schedules.

I don't have to invite them back for a new campaign but kinda thinking about booting one or dissolving that game and not inviting back (much the same thing).

Something I always wanted to try when I was running games, but never had the opportunity, was to run two separate groups in the same world, more or less concurrently. Then have them team up for a special event. You could give each group half of the key to finishing the final challenge, whether it's an especially-dangerous labyrinth or huge monster that needs all of them, or a map or a literal key they each have half of, or whatever.

Back when I was reading comic books, this happened all the time. If you don't read comics, you could think of The Avengers and The Guardians of the Galaxy meeting in Avengers: Infinity War to fight Thanos. It would be a little extra work, and there are some speed-bumps you'd have to be ready for, but it sounds like you're already running multiple groups anyway. Unless both groups of players meet reliably on the same schedule, I would think you'd have to be flexible and a little vague about matching up the in-game timelines. You couldn't be too precise or too specific. [Comic-Book Guy voice] "Wait, for our group it's 1500 hours on Saturday, but for the other group it's 0100 Sunday; we couldn't all be in the tavern at the same time..."

 

[Valka D'Ur]

12 spots, 15 players. Some are in both games, a couple play occasionally due to schedules.

Your table, your rules. The DM's word is law (the DM manual says so). Maybe those in both games might be asked if there's one they enjoy more than the other?

Anyone not minding their manners to your requirements after one warning should go. That's what happened in a group I was in. There was another guy who decided to be a rules lawyer and argue every little thing with a novice DM, and he'd make "rolls in advance" and discard some of them as "practice." We told him to cut it out. He argued. I don't remember if he left in a huff or he got booted.

Kinda disappointing, since this kid was an asset to the Star Trek group (artist, good writer), but couldn't manage ordinary manners for the D&D game we decided to try. But his absence made for a more enjoyable game for the rest of us.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Lucky you, Zard. I think Egon has the core of the answer. Ask the players who play in both groups to choose one, for now at least. That would seem to get you down to two groups of your favored size (about six).

I also second Valka's response. You can set absolute rules: no porn talk, e.g. You can set them for whatever reason you want: bothers my wife. And if people don't observe them, they're gone.

Love Egon's suggestion about playing them separate, then combining them for a special crossover event. I suspect your players would regard that as the best session they've ever had in gaming.

Anyway, keep up the good work.

I'm not in circumstances where I could play or DM, but I sometimes think of devising a campaign with my CFC buddies in mind as the player group.

 

[Plains-Cow]

I would like to roll a dice for how delicious this vegetarian shepherd's pie is, please.

*rolls*

*checks*

@Zardnaar

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Lucky you, Zard. I think Egon has the core of the answer. Ask the players who play in both groups to choose one, for now at least. That would seem to get you down to two groups of your favored size (about six).

I also second Valka's response. You can set absolute rules: no porn talk, e.g. You can set them for whatever reason you want: bothers my wife. And if people don't observe them, they're gone.

Love Egon's suggestion about playing them separate, then combining them for a special crossover event. I suspect your players would regard that as the best session they've ever had in gaming.

Anyway, keep up the good work.

I'm not in circumstances where I could play or DM, but I sometimes think of devising a campaign with my CFC buddies in mind as the player group.

Have you tried PbP or PbEM?

(play by post/play by email)

I was in a PBEM game of Civilization once (the Avalon Hill board game). It was fun.

 

[JollyRoger]

I'm working on designing my own campaign. Side trip to a notorious AD&D table from the first roll of the campaign and later featuring Gary Gygax pushing his big d20 up a mountain and tumbling back down on each 1. Lots of other stuff even crazier than that.

 

[Zardnaar]

Have you tried PbP or PbEM?

(play by post/play by email)

I was in a PBEM game of Civilization once (the Avalon Hill board game). It was fun.

Doesn't appeal.

I would like to roll a dice for how delicious this vegetarian shepherd's pie is, please.

*rolls*

*checks*

@Zardnaar

Nicest thing I'll say about vegetarians. At least they're not vegans.

 

[Plains-Cow]

Nicest thing I'll say about vegetarians. At least they're not vegans.

HOW DOES THE PIE TASTE, ZARDNAAR?

WHAT DID I ROLL?

 

[Synobun]

Have you tried PbP or PbEM?

(play by post/play by email)

IME, once you're considering doing it via text, you might as well do away with stats entirely and just go by honour system for keeping power in check. Your creative world expands exponentially when you're writing and not beholden to the Player Handbook.

I went from Cybernations roleplay -> D&D-rulebook text roleplay -> homebrew-math-system text roleplay -> freeform roleplay, and the latter was far more satisfying than any kind of math- and setting-imposed limitation from before. You can write about a lot more things, with fewer boundaries and worries about the math checking out.

 

[Zardnaar]

HOW DOES THE PIE TASTE, ZARDNAAR?

WHAT DID I ROLL?

It tastes like poo.

You rolled a 1.

 

[Plains-Cow]

It tastes like poo.

You rolled a 1.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Have you tried PbP or PbEM?

The fun of RPG, for me, is the live interaction. It's okay. It's a cherished aspect of my past life. If I designed a campaign with CFCers in mind, I would do so knowing full well that I would never actually GM the campaign; it would be purely for nostalgia's sake.

-> freeform roleplay, and the latter was far more satisfying than any kind of math- and setting-imposed limitation from before

Years ago I went to a gaming convention, and one of the booths was a new RPG. Their twist was that they just gave you cards with evocative pictures on them, and in place of a die-roll, players would draw a card and the game result would just emerge from an impromptu interpretation of how that drawing applied in that particular situation. Seemed like a fun way to to it, with the right group.

 

[danjuno]

What is the best class for a new player to pick up and get a feel for the mechanics of 5e?

 

[Zardnaar]

What is the best class for a new player to pick up and get a feel for the mechanics of 5e?

Probably champion fighter or totem barbarian

 

[Smellincoffee]

D&D remains something I'm curious about, but I've never found people IRL who were into it. I probably could've at college but never thought about it then -- too busy exploring a new town!

 

[Strong Reaction]

D&D remains something I'm curious about, but I've never found people IRL who were into it. I probably could've at college but never thought about it then -- too busy exploring a new town!

I played D&D once and Shadowrun once, the former when I was like 15 and the DM suuuuuggged and it was a boring experience. The later in my 20s, the DM was OK and I had a lot of fun. But I am with you I am curious about it but no one in my circle is even vaguely interested in that sort of stuff. Oh, I actually went to board game night at a hobby store and played a bit of D&D so that makes it three RP experiences. The last one was meh a bit boring and so loud in the room I could not even hear what was going on.

I did play hundreds of games of ASL: Advanced Squad Leader a table top tactical WWII game, which was awesome. Still have some of the core modules to play but its difficult to find a partner.

 

[Synobun]

What is the best class for a new player to pick up and get a feel for the mechanics of 5e?

One of the base melee classes, probably. They still have contextual abilities but there's less math involved and less balancing needed. I'd also suggest watching an amateur campaign, if at all possible. Stuff like Critical Role is flashy and professional, so those shows are not a good metric for education. Watching amateurs do a campaign gets you a fairly solid idea of what it's actually like in the moment.

 

[stfoskey12]

D&D remains something I'm curious about, but I've never found people IRL who were into it. I probably could've at college but never thought about it then -- too busy exploring a new town!

I was lucky that my freshman year roommate wanted to start a D&D campaign. We played every Sunday night for most of college. Then I DM'ed a campaign for a couple years of grad school, but that fell apart when people moved to other cities and were too busy to do it online. My cousins and I have talked about starting a campaign, but I haven't heard news of that in a couple weeks, and I'm craving D&D again. Anyway, the point of my rambling is that I think it is hard to find a D&D group IRL outside of a college environment.

 

[Plotinus]

I was lucky to find a good group in the last place I lived. After I moved the DM invited me into another group he runs games online for, using Fantasy Grounds. All strictly Pathfinder 1e - I’ve never played D&D 5e. My current character is a gnomish Aasimar arcanist - much more fun than a normal wizard!