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Thelas
2009-10-01, 08:51 PM
First things first:
a) I made a new thread because the subject of the old one was no longer adequate and I want people who might not care for rules questions to come here.
b) If you are one of my players: STAY OUT. This post will be spoilered to allow you to leave now. If I have a good reason to suspect that you have read this, well... just don't, okay?
[Posts following this do not need to be spoilered, obviously, the players should have already left by now anyways]
Basics
This game is played in OSRIC with a few rules modifications whenever they must come up in the module. The first module played will be Night of the Walking Dead (available on the 1e/2e downloads on the WotC site), but I will change the prophecy on the hyskosa scroll... I'll come up with something, but any suggestions?
Players are starting at first level, with 3d6 organic (as the organic system in 3.5) characters. We have... let's see, we're supposed to have 4 players, but I'm not 100% sure if they'll all show or if one of the ones who wasn't interested because they just wanted 3.5 will change their mind.
The magic user has been given 1st and 2nd level bonus spells as the cleric table after much complaining just because we don't want him too bored... I'll probably end up still giving him the suggested (in the other thread) fighter (that can't advance past level 1) to play as well, though, because 3 spells/day still isn't much.

Session 0: My Prep Work

I have printed everything except for the magic items (can't print too much at once) from OSRIC and the module (Night of the Walking Dead). I've already read the module once or twice, and I'll probably read it a third time tommorow before the session.
I have written out a little "mini-module" with just a few quick encounters to give them something happening before we get them into the mists and then to the Demiplane of Dread.
Here's my text for when they get pulled in (some parts are a bit vague, because I'm not sure exactly what they'll be doing, though some courses of action [specifically, riding on a raft through a swamp] seem very very likely. I'll embellish it during play, but any suggested changes will be helpful.

You are traveling towards your destination when, all of a sudden, a light fog descends. It is light enough to allow you to continue on your journey, but, a few minutes later, the fog intensifies. The more you travel, the heavier the fog becomes. Heavier... heavier... darker... darker... to blackness. And you feel a chilling sensation from out of the mist. The fog recedes, but as you re-examine your surroundings, everything seems somehow darker. The trees' branches, gnarled and twisted, seem to wave menacingly at you. The air around you feels colder and chills you to the bone. And then you look up. The sky is grey and there is no sun in sight. You look closely at the distance from where you have come and find that, while your immediate surroundings are the same as before, it is but a deception: around you is an entirely new landscape. What do you do?

I should probably point out that none of them have visited Ravenloft before, and most haven't even heard of it (I think one had...). To add a little bit to the game, I'm setting my gmail chat status to various things (the most recent were "Quoth the raven, 'nevermore'." and "Beware... beware of the mist.") Not much, but it might help. Any suggestions for similar things? (I see the players every weekday, so stuff involving interaction with them should be doable.
I've also given the thief's player a simple cipher (just says, a bit cryptically, a little bit about Ravenloft). He's having some trouble decoding it, though, so no guarantees on that front. (Maybe I should have left in the spaces? Nah, I'm not that nice a DM.) [The character will find the scroll somewhere in the first session, most likely.]


So yeah, any tips for the new (at least to both AD&D and Ravenloft) DM?
Also, one or two AD&D rules questions below.

Does the xp awarded from an encounter get awarded to each member of the party or split?
Did my adding the bonus spells to the magic-user make that much of a difference in its overpoweredness? (Remember, only level 1 and 2 spells?) If so, what can I do while still fulfilling the player's demands (which is 3 level 1 spell slots plus the equivalent of 3.5 prestidigitation at will)? [I'm being nice for now, I'll go into Evil DM mode after a session or two.]

JadedDM
2009-10-01, 09:27 PM
Does the xp awarded from an encounter get awarded to each member of the party or split?

Typically, it's split evenly among all participants.


Did my adding the bonus spells to the magic-user make that much of a difference in its overpoweredness? (Remember, only level 1 and 2 spells?) If so, what can I do while still fulfilling the player's demands (which is 3 level 1 spell slots plus the equivalent of 3.5 prestidigitation at will)? [I'm being nice for now, I'll go into Evil DM mode after a session or two.]

That depends, how far are you taking this game (level-wise)? It shouldn't be a big deal at low levels, but at higher levels it will likely be too much.

Thelas
2009-10-02, 05:50 AM
I don't actually know, it depends on whether or not the players like this first adventure, though it almost certainly won't get to name level.

Matthew
2009-10-02, 06:48 AM
Did my adding the bonus spells to the magic-user make that much of a difference in its overpoweredness? (Remember, only level 1 and 2 spells?) If so, what can I do while still fulfilling the player's demands (which is 3 level 1 spell slots plus the equivalent of 3.5 prestidigitation at will)? [I'm being nice for now, I'll go into Evil DM mode after a session or two.]

The more spell slots magicians have the more powerful they tend to be. Three first level slots at first level is probably okay, but be aware that there are spells like sleep, which have no saving throw in first edition. If you increase the number of spell slots, you should probably allow saving throws against sleep. I probably would not give any more than one extra second level slot.

Thelas
2009-10-02, 04:21 PM
Session 1: Here we go
It went pretty well, though we only got about half an hour due to massive player lateness and characters-not-being-done-ness. (Also, the cleric was a no-show.)
Even with only half an hour, we managed two encounters (a single goblin I added before the mists took them and the crocodile at the start).
The players don't know anything about Ravenloft, so once they figure more out about it... that'll be fun.
No horror checks, fear checks, or power checks yet, and I don't plan on telling them about power checks until one of them fails one.
On the days the cleric's absent (I'm foreseeing chronic lateness/absence here), should I just play them as an NPC? What I did today, because I don't even have their character sheet yet, was just to (since I know they have a 17 wis) give them 3 cure light wounds per day? I'm not using the cleric in combat for now, but they'll be very useful, I'm guessing, once we start.

Thoughts? Different ideas for prophecies for the scroll (in NotWD)?

Matthew
2009-10-02, 04:26 PM
I recommend letting the players run the cleric as an "associate". That basically means they usually determine his actions, but you get the final say.

hamlet
2009-10-03, 09:29 AM
I recommend letting the players run the cleric as an "associate". That basically means they usually determine his actions, but you get the final say.

Agreed. Be a stickler for having updated copies of the character's sheets in your own posession. Don't keep the master copy, just make sure you have an updated copy on hand for when somebody's out. That way, the group isn't shy a member.

And don't play them yourself. I find that, too often, they end up having too much knowledge of what's going on and can unduly, and unintentionaly, influence the group's decisions.


As for the bonus spells for a wizard based on high INT, I don't think there's really a problem with that, but I would NEVER hand out an "at will" type power like that prestidigitation. It's far too much. As a counter to the bonus spells, well, no new rule needed. Just intelligent creatures are going to realize how much more dangerous spell casters are and will, when possible, target them first. And make sure NPC and enemy casters get the same bonus. That benefit you hand to a player should filter through to the rest of the world. Two-edged sword and all.

If it's not too late, I recommend that you do not have the mists "descend" upon people and snatch them up. It's a way of removing choice. Instead, have them encounter a fog bank in the swamp (not an unusual encounter really) and choose to go into it. Choice is a very important part of Ravenloft.

Otherwise, sounds good so far.

Thelas
2009-10-09, 07:34 AM
It is too late, unfortunately.
I have been mad at my players, but here's Session 2... (Happened on Monday)

Session 2
All of the players showed up on time.
I did a quick character sheet audit, asked the M-U to write down his prepared spells and note that half of his rope had been broken off last session.
Then they chatted... for 4/5 of the session. :smallfurious:
About halfway through, the thief's player basically ended up running EVERY SINGLE OTHER CHARACTER as well because he was the only one who actually played. Yes, I know, it really ruins the mood. I'm just :smallfurious: at them and wanted to get something done.
If you know the module, they finished the giant frogs encounter and found the two +1 short swords.
Hopefully the players will actually PLAY today...

They're making me want to drop flaming balors or something... possibly rocks with kobolds attached? [No wait, that's for 3.5. The kobold is Pun-Pun, if you didn't guess. Um... wolfwere, greater? Strong enough to cause a tpk, pretty easily.]

They should start actually playing properly this session with any luck.
Is chatting through the game session an evil act?
Ravenloft Powers Check 1d100 100 means powers.

EDIT: Umm.. can't roll in this forum? I rolled in the die roller test thread. It wasn't a 100, if you cared.

hamlet
2009-10-09, 08:10 AM
Heh, that happens. What you really need to do is get yourself a wandering damage table.:xykon:

Thelas
2009-10-09, 11:12 AM
Wandering damage table? Is that like:
d%
01-20: Rocks fall, everyone takes 3d6 damage
21-40: Rocks fall, everyone takes 5d6 damage
41-60: Flaming rocks fall, everyone takes 5d6 + 3d6 fire damage.
61-80: Flaming balors fall, everyone takes 20d20 damage
81-100: Rocks fall, everyone dies
---
As of now, the players are 14 minutes late. I'm typing this from our session. Let's see how much later they'll be today.

hamlet
2009-10-09, 11:35 AM
Wandering damage table? Is that like:
d%
01-20: Rocks fall, everyone takes 3d6 damage
21-40: Rocks fall, everyone takes 5d6 damage
41-60: Flaming rocks fall, everyone takes 5d6 + 3d6 fire damage.
61-80: Flaming balors fall, everyone takes 20d20 damage
81-100: Rocks fall, everyone dies
---
As of now, the players are 14 minutes late. I'm typing this from our session. Let's see how much later they'll be today.

That'll work, though by far the best version I've seen actually had no chart at all. First, DM would roll percentile dice to indicate the number of dice to roll. Then, she would pick up that many dice (any and all sizes) roll them, total them, and assign the damage to the offending party. He kept a bag of 100 D20's by the table just for this purpose, though he only ever used it once.

Thelas
2009-10-09, 11:38 AM
That'll work, though by far the best version I've seen actually had no chart at all. First, DM would roll percentile dice to indicate the number of dice to roll. Then, she would pick up that many dice (any and all sizes) roll them, total them, and assign the damage to the offending party. He kept a bag of 100 D20's by the table just for this purpose, though he only ever used it once.

Please consider that stolen.
That'll make them reconsider making me seriously :smallfurious:, which they are very good at.
Due to issues known as "forcibly being cancelled", today's session is cancelled and sessions are moved to Thursdays from now on.
Hopefully they'll actually come.