GreatWyrmGold
2013-01-15, 07:53 PM
I typically play D&D with one of my friends. I'll call him Bob.
A little background on Bob:
Bob is a bit...well, he doesn't think. Imagine Elan back at the start of the comic and fiddle with what bits of common sense are present. Bob once, in a campaign with some others, played a drow who headshotted an NPC cleric (the only healer) for not fighting, skinned an ethereal filcher (freaking them out), etc, and proceeded to get shoved down a staircase for his trouble. (The others didn't know a hydra was at the bottom, but still...) He's a hack-and-slasher, and generally a bit reckless. He wouldn't be a problem to guide if needed, but he's apt to calling me a cheater or a bad GM for such minor things as a single pair of Gauntlets of Fumbling used exactly as they are in the DMG (IIRC, the first, or at least one of few, DMG cursed items I had used in several years of gaming).
Anyways, Bob recently challenged me with a...challenge to take him from 1st to 21st level in a single solo campaign. I haven't run or played in so long a campaign, ever. Therefore, I decided to ask the Giant in the Playground forums for advice. Specifically:
1. How do I make such a campaign interesting for a couple dozen adventures?
2. What sort of character should I recommend to him? Bob seems interested in some sort of stealthy character, but I may be able to convince him to play something else with a good enough argument. (Also bear in mind that he's even worse at optimization than I am.)
3. Any advice on treasure? WBL? WBL*1.5? Etc? (Avoiding cursed items that won't drive the plot seems obvious.)
4. Would you recommend running encounters at the character's level, one or three levels below, what?
5. Any other advice for me?
A little background on Bob:
Bob is a bit...well, he doesn't think. Imagine Elan back at the start of the comic and fiddle with what bits of common sense are present. Bob once, in a campaign with some others, played a drow who headshotted an NPC cleric (the only healer) for not fighting, skinned an ethereal filcher (freaking them out), etc, and proceeded to get shoved down a staircase for his trouble. (The others didn't know a hydra was at the bottom, but still...) He's a hack-and-slasher, and generally a bit reckless. He wouldn't be a problem to guide if needed, but he's apt to calling me a cheater or a bad GM for such minor things as a single pair of Gauntlets of Fumbling used exactly as they are in the DMG (IIRC, the first, or at least one of few, DMG cursed items I had used in several years of gaming).
Anyways, Bob recently challenged me with a...challenge to take him from 1st to 21st level in a single solo campaign. I haven't run or played in so long a campaign, ever. Therefore, I decided to ask the Giant in the Playground forums for advice. Specifically:
1. How do I make such a campaign interesting for a couple dozen adventures?
2. What sort of character should I recommend to him? Bob seems interested in some sort of stealthy character, but I may be able to convince him to play something else with a good enough argument. (Also bear in mind that he's even worse at optimization than I am.)
3. Any advice on treasure? WBL? WBL*1.5? Etc? (Avoiding cursed items that won't drive the plot seems obvious.)
4. Would you recommend running encounters at the character's level, one or three levels below, what?
5. Any other advice for me?