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AstralFire
2008-08-15, 07:29 PM
- DMed a session beginning in a tavern
- Played alongside a drow
- Fought a dragon in D&D (outside of the vidya games)
- DMed a dragon
- See above for Beholders
- Actually just see above for every type of monster that is not humanoid shape and Large or smaller. *frown* I fought an ooze once, though, and I DMed a Quasi-Negative Fire Elemental. And I've used a Coatl as a recurring NPC.

When I've been able to play rather than DM (something I've gotten frighteningly little of, I've been DMing since the month I first picked up the 3.0 PHB) it's at low levels, when you don't fight much of that stuff. And as a DM my overwhelming preference has been for other humanoid races. I find things larger than Large boring to control for the most part. Don't really mind statting up NPCs for the PCs to fight, either.

I should probably mix things up a lot more than I do, but I've never really gotten a complaint about it...

JackMage666
2008-08-15, 07:35 PM
You've never fought a Dinosaur or an Animal of Huge size?

AstralFire
2008-08-15, 07:37 PM
You've never fought a Dinosaur or an Animal of Huge size?

Nope. I've fought two Dire Bears, though.

Guess which one of the three core rulebooks I never ever bought.

evisiron
2008-08-15, 07:48 PM
I have done all of the OP things! :smallbiggrin:

However, I have never ever finished a campaign while playing. All have collapsed or suffered from schedule conflicts or I left the country before they ended.

Dr Bwaa
2008-08-15, 08:05 PM
I have also done all of the OP things =D

I have never:
-not censored myself on these boards for fear that my players will read it
-DMed in a campaign setting that I did not create
-Regretted that time we allied with a tentacle-fetish Duergar to stop PETA from sinking Lantan :smallbiggrin:

Not joking even a little, by the way :smalleek:

OneFamiliarFace
2008-08-15, 08:35 PM
Same as OP. Except, I may never have DM'd a campaign starting IN a tavern, but I have DM'd a few sessions where the players started elsewhere, and the adventure began once they got to the tavern.

I have also never
-had a BBEG that was something other than a human.
-DM'd a campaign world other than my own.
-been resurrected.
-DM'd a plane other than the material one (and don't plan on changing that).
-played a character from levels 1-20.

arguskos
2008-08-15, 08:38 PM
Sadly, I've done almost all of the things ya'll have mentioned. O.O

I have never been resurrected however. I guess no one loves my characters... :smallfrown:

-argus

AstralFire
2008-08-15, 08:38 PM
Same as OP. Except, I may never have DM'd a campaign starting IN a tavern, but I have DM'd a few sessions where the players started elsewhere, and the adventure began once they got to the tavern.

I have also never
-had a BBEG that was something other than a human.
-DM'd a campaign world other than my own.
-been resurrected.
-DM'd a plane other than the material one (and don't plan on changing that).
-played a character from levels 1-20.

I've DMed my custom, planescape, and Eberron so I'm set on that.

I've never played a character for more than one level. That's how little I've gotten to play rather than DM.

sonofzeal
2008-08-15, 09:03 PM
I have never.... uh.... *thinks*.... no, done that too... d*mn, I got nothin'. Ooo, no wait...

- never played a gestalt game
- never played an epic game
- never played any edition other than 3.5

valadil
2008-08-15, 09:04 PM
I've never played a character who couldn't cast spells in a long term game.

I've never GMed unintelligent undead.

TheCountAlucard
2008-08-15, 09:28 PM
I've never tried to seduce an NPC.

I've never grappled or turned undead successfully, on either side of the DM screen.

I've never used or fought the tarrasque.

As a player, I've never played anything except a human.

Collin152
2008-08-15, 09:29 PM
I've never fought a dragon.

I've also never fought Dagon.

Waspinator
2008-08-15, 09:39 PM
I would not like them here or there.
I would not like them anywhere.
I do not like green eggs and ham.
I do not like them Sam I Am.

RebelRogue
2008-08-15, 10:02 PM
I think I've done all of the above... [Doublechecks!] Ah, never played an epic or gestalt game or fought Dagon, but close!

Shazzbaa
2008-08-15, 10:08 PM
I've played a session that began in a tavern.
I'm playing a good-aligned drow (Embrace the cliché! Embrace it!:smallbiggrin:)
and I've fought at least two dragons (and Dagon, but there were... extenuating circumstances on that one).

But I have never ever....
--GM'd a game
--played a normal human :smalltongue:
--played a fast-talking character

Myatar_Panwar
2008-08-15, 10:12 PM
I've seen the sig banner floating around, and was wondering why so many people feel that they can't start their game in a tavern due to what? A need to feel that they are more creative than other DM's? To prove something else? I don't know, someone please explain this to me.

I've always thought of the tavern as a very iconic place to start a game of Dungeons and Dragons. It gets you in the mood and says "Hey, your playing D&D now!" Also note that I'm not calling out the OP or anything, there are plenty of reasons why you might not want to start in a tavern. But whenever someone uses the banner it always hits me as somesort of Nerd Elitism. Same with people having a problem with good aligned drow. Just cause someone wants to play one, doesn't mean that they are uncreative or stupid or something like that. Maybe they just want to play one.

AstralFire
2008-08-15, 10:23 PM
I've seen the sig banner floating around, and was wondering why so many people feel that they can't start their game in a tavern due to what? A need to feel that they are more creative than other DM's? To prove something else? I don't know, someone please explain this to me.

To put it simply, in my case I take originality as a point of pride. I wouldn't call it elitism, though, since I don't look down upon those who don't, and I more dislike good-aligned drow because I dislike drow. Good execution trumps originality by any standard, or I wouldn't like Superman.

But in this case I mentioned it as part of the long list of things that are iconically "D&D" that I have never done. -shrug-

Dr Bwaa
2008-08-15, 10:27 PM
Nor is fighting dragons bad. The tavern and Drow are only in here because they're common.

Incidentally, I also
-Have never played gestalt
-have never played epic (yet: several campaigns are very close, but I'm not the wizard, anyway :smallwink:)
-have never played anything but 3.5 (mostly because my friends switched to some 4.0 while I was away, so they wouldnt leave me behind. Thanks guys!)
-have never failed to use excessive parentheses in a post (this is probably a lie, but review my posts over the last day or two--You'll understand why I feel this way*).




*Please don't. Or if you do, don't tell me about it. That's just sad :smallbiggrin:

Vortling
2008-08-15, 10:55 PM
-I've never played a class with arcane casting.
-also never played in epic.
-never played in a game that lasted for more than 2 levels

As far as DMing
-never DM'd a straight dungeon crawl

Swok
2008-08-15, 11:16 PM
I have never played in the Forgotten Realms setting.

Or in the same party as a drow, which actually surprises me more than the former, as I've played in a few evil parties.

I also have never played an epic game. Of which I am profoundly glad on a level that the other two "never haves" pale in comparison.

Tam_OConnor
2008-08-15, 11:34 PM
...kissed a wookie.

...played 4E...because I am cheap and cannot afford books. But we're working on that.

...truly achieved a total-party kill. I have managed to down the entire rearguard action of the PCs, and killed half of them (oh, sweet, sweet Con damage from zombie-ism!), but not everyone. Yet.

...played a non-d20 formal RPG. D&D of various editions, D20 Modern, Serenity (which is really a d20 game minus the d20s)...

...run a Beholder, gauth or no, as a DM. I only wish the same was true for oozes.

...truly enjoyed a dungeon crawl, as DM or PC. Does that make me a heretic?

...played a gnome. Or a halfling, if we're not counting one-shots.

...stopped gloating about that GenCon adventure where the Pelorite Cleric wasted an entire undead encounter before it got going and the lullaby/sleep combo destroyed the final encounter. HAH!

...forgiven Eberron for the GenCon event that destroyed six PCs and one DM. The problem was, none of us had every played Eberron. Or was familiar with the basic premises. So when the pair of ogres accosted us on the way to the adventure, we never stopped to wonder if we could bypass the encounter by offering to heal their sick child. We killed them, BECAUSE THEY WERE OGRES AND WE WERE ADVENTURERS! Bitter, bitter memories.

Otherwise, everything. Gestalt, epic, tavern, non-human BBEG, Planar, Cha-based rogue......drow......*sobs* I was a child! I didn't know any better!

Siegel
2008-08-16, 04:30 AM
I never played D&D
I never actualy read the "rules" (like the Core rules. How is combat working, how are skills working etc. I just have an idea of it)

Mastikator
2008-08-16, 06:01 AM
I have never
- DMed a campaign that finished.
- Killed a player as a DM (came pretty close a few times though)
- Played a martial character.
- Played a good characher.
- Let player-knowledge get in the way of roleplaying. (I'm pretty proud of this actually)
- Played gestalt
- Played high level, or epic
- Played D&D 1e, 2e or 4e
- Been a fan of the "level"-system

Triaxx
2008-08-16, 06:44 AM
Failed to TPK the party. No matter if I'm DMing or not.

Riffington
2008-08-16, 07:53 AM
-have never failed to use excessive parentheses in a post (this is probably a lie, but review my posts over the last day or two--You'll understand why I feel this way*).


Parenthesis really aren't that bad to overuse (until you start nesting them (which is a habit I sometimes get into(and someone should probably stop me now))).

Eldariel
2008-08-16, 09:01 AM
I suggest you use {[()]} when not writing a handbook or something that requires []s for notes. It's the official use of those, much more clear to read and easier to type to boot so you'll remember to end them all.

Riffington
2008-08-16, 12:10 PM
What do you mean official?

AstralFire
2008-08-16, 12:28 PM
What do you mean official?

Well, it's how they're used in math.

Eldariel
2008-08-16, 12:39 PM
Wops, I was thinking of Finnish. Sowwy ^^'

SilverSheriff
2008-08-16, 12:53 PM
- played a game that lasted more than 6 sessions.
- played higher than level 5.
- not played an optimized character, I've always focused on mechanics even my first character was optimized.

Knaight
2008-08-16, 02:20 PM
I've seen the sig banner floating around, and was wondering why so many people feel that they can't start their game in a tavern due to what? A need to feel that they are more creative than other DM's? To prove something else? I don't know, someone please explain this to me.

I've always thought of the tavern as a very iconic place to start a game of Dungeons and Dragons. It gets you in the mood and says "Hey, your playing D&D now!" Also note that I'm not calling out the OP or anything, there are plenty of reasons why you might not want to start in a tavern. But whenever someone uses the banner it always hits me as somesort of Nerd Elitism. Same with people having a problem with good aligned drow. Just cause someone wants to play one, doesn't mean that they are uncreative or stupid or something like that. Maybe they just want to play one.

Well the tavern, is just overused, and in many cases not very logical. Would you ask habitual drunks to do something important? Exactly. That and the vast majority of the time the characters wouldn't all logically be in the same tavern, without even dealing with the whole nobility problem. On the off chance that the tavern actually makes sense as a meeting place, its not particularly easy to portray (Ok, this one is specific to my group. Nobody is 21 yet, so what a bar or tavern actually looks like, and what happens in there is going to need to be based off the movies, and I seriously doubt that its ever that exiting.) As for the good drow, a lot of people don't even have drow in their games. Again, the logic is kind of off(they live underground, and yet have dark skin, where they should probably be albino).

In many cases the story just works much more easily when you start off with 1 character, and the others are picked up over the first 10 or so minutes. For instance in one of my games one of the characters was playing a noble, and was at a royal party. He left to get some air, and away from some of the more arrogant, and higher up nobles, taking the excuse of going to the stables to see some new imported fancy animals being used as status symbols. Another one of the characters, a commoner mage, was in the stables, to prevent any of the animals from acting up, most importantly preventing the gryphon and unicorn from pulling any magical stunts. After a while the unicorn and gryphon(who had been staring at eachother suspiciously the entire time), started a fight(the unicorns fault), so both characters tried to(and ultimately did) stop it*, meeting in the process.

* Illusionary dragons threatening to raise hell if they get woken up by the noise again work very well against intelligent animals.

FMArthur
2008-08-16, 04:18 PM
-I have never seen anyone I play with use an unusual class (It's basically been Core + Warlock, for some reason), despite there really being no rules against it
-I have succeeded at a Climb check without falling at least once (THE DICE ARE RIGGED I TELL YA)
-I have never seen 'save or die' spells used
-I have never seen a Monk succeed at stunning a foe (there's been a Monk in my last 5 campaigns...)
-I have never ever used a character build off of the internet
-I have never made a caster of any kind without writing out the full effects of every spell I have somewhere

Falrin
2008-08-16, 09:52 PM
Never attacked a fellow player
Never stole from a fellow player
Never stole the spotlight (although my fellow players tend to play along the 'straight fighter with weapon & thougness'-powercurve


Never Not put something on fire.

Cheesegear
2008-08-17, 12:50 AM
I have never;
- Played a Drow
- Killed a Dragon (it killed us)
- Been Resurrected

- Played the same character in two separate campaigns
- Played a Barbarian
- Played a Fighter for more than four levels
- Played a Monk
- Played a Samurai
- Played an Artificer (if only because our group has banned them)

- Used a Spiked Chain
- Used a Katana

- Played a published campaign (Homebrew all the way! I may have used elements of a published world - like Draconians - but never the whole thing)

- DM'd an encounter where the players couldn't win
- DM'd "Rocks fall, everyone dies."

- Played 1e or 4e

Myatar_Panwar
2008-08-17, 01:20 AM
Well the tavern, is just overused, and in many cases not very logical. Would you ask habitual drunks to do something important? Exactly. That and the vast majority of the time the characters wouldn't all logically be in the same tavern, without even dealing with the whole nobility problem. On the off chance that the tavern actually makes sense as a meeting place, its not particularly easy to portray (Ok, this one is specific to my group. Nobody is 21 yet, so what a bar or tavern actually looks like, and what happens in there is going to need to be based off the movies, and I seriously doubt that its ever that exiting.) As for the good drow, a lot of people don't even have drow in their games. Again, the logic is kind of off(they live underground, and yet have dark skin, where they should probably be albino).

Well, whenever I think of the tavern, I dont think as all of the inhabitants as just drunks. Its a tavern of olden days, a place for bards to sing their tales for a few coins, a place for large men to overexaggerate about their previous exploits, play games of chance for a few coins, and, consequently, a place to relax and have a drink. Its very much so a casual meeting place, where many lower-level quests can be found just by listening to a few conversations. But I'm not about to tell you how your Taverns work in your games. I just find it more interesting to have such an iconic place than just a dirty place where your character can get drunk to pretend that the wench bringing you your mead isn't a dirty hooker.

Also, I suppose I can understand people getting some sort of pride for not starting in a tavern, because it is used often. All people seem to get their Jollies out of being different from the usual or by forsaking the popular. I bet this is a troupe, just need to find it....

Helgraf
2008-08-17, 01:54 AM
Vis the whole "tavern unoriginal" issue, I'm just going to quote Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay on this one:

Many an adventure has begun with a tavern meeting. It is a cliche in gaming circles, but the funny thing is, in the Old World a large number of adventurers have begun in the shadowy recesses of a darkened bar. Inns and drinking joints are where the majority of social interaction happens within the Empire. In such places, it is usually socially acceptable for all patrons, regardless of social class or race, to rub elbows and swap stories over ale. Some enterprising sorts may indeed find that they have a lot to offer one another and decide to journey together.

Gorbash Kazdar
2008-08-17, 07:57 PM
Comrade Gorby: Please make sure to include some discussion in your posts to this thread. If the thread is intended to be, or becomes, simply a listing thread it will be moved to SMBG as it would fit the criteria for a thread there but not one for Gaming.

hotel_papa
2008-08-17, 08:20 PM
Two points: Never underestimate the power of alcohol as a social lubricant. Taverns are not necessarily good headquarters for your guild of elite mass-murderers and breaking-and-entering artists (c'mon... it's what they are... deal) but the right combination of a good buzz and a comely wench to show off for are the perfect recipe for INVENTING such a guild.

Case in point: The United States Marine Corps was invented in Tun Tavern, Philidelphia in 1775.

Secondly, It doesn't matter how you start your campaign. The tavern is less a physical place and more a metaphor. My current campaign started on a lightning rail (Eberron magic train). It was still a "tavern". The tavern beginning is any social gathering place where a little bit of plot can happen to make 3-5 people realize "Hey... these other guys can handle a bit of shenanigans. I wonder how they feel about (insert danger here)" It's any campaign that starts without preconceived relationships between characters.

My two copper.

HP

Prophaniti
2008-08-17, 08:49 PM
It's true, the taverns of yester year were not all the dim drinking holes that most are today. Of course, a few were, but most were gathering places for travelers, meeting houses, a place of socialization, exchange of ideas, discussions, arguments. I can't really think of a modern equivalent... the closest, probably, is actually the internet. Imagine us all sitting around a table having this discussion and it's pretty close to a tavern in older times. There's absolutely nothing wrong with using a tavern to start at all, and it makes perfect sense. The most cliche and contrived thing about the tavern meeting, to my mind, is not the tavern itself, but the shadowy figure in the corner.

As for things I have never done within D&D... harder to pin down, I've done a lot... But, to the best of my recolection, I've never been through a TPK, either as DM or player. Usually, as things go south, someone starts edging out and is ready to run away when it all goes to hell. Though I have run a few characters who did not flee in the face of certain death, and even one who, due to grief and a desire to go out with a bang, ran directly into certain death.

Knaight
2008-08-17, 09:03 PM
Well, whenever I think of the tavern, I dont think as all of the inhabitants as just drunks. Its a tavern of olden days, a place for bards to sing their tales for a few coins, a place for large men to overexaggerate about their previous exploits, play games of chance for a few coins, and, consequently, a place to relax and have a drink. Its very much so a casual meeting place, where many lower-level quests can be found just by listening to a few conversations.

Right. I'm still not sure I would head to the tavern to get someone to do something. That said I think I'll be borrowing this description, or at least the gist of it. That and there is the whole shadowy figure in the corner asking for help. It would make sense for a group of toughs to meet up in a tavern, but they may well want to head over the a guards barracks or something to find something to kill. That said were still looking at habitual drunks here, who I wouldn't ask to do something important. It makes more sense for someone to walk into a mercenary camp and try to hire a few of them, so a campaign might start there. It might start out of necessity, with people on a trade caravan that gets attacked, or people who get separated from the group during a pilgrimage(I haven't actually used this one yet, but it sounds like it could work) etc. etc. A tavern is hardly a horrible place to start a game, and starting it there doesn't make one less creative, but in many cases it simply doesn't make sense. As a GM I always evaluate characters backstories, and status, personalities, etc., and the tavern has just never been the best place. It may very well be some day, and that description will be a useful tool(again, not 21, so I don't have a lot to work off here as the modern equivalent which I can trace back from).

Shazzbaa
2008-08-18, 04:12 PM
I've seen the sig banner floating around, and was wondering why so many people feel that they can't start their game in a tavern due to what? A need to feel that they are more creative than other DM's? To prove something else? [...] whenever someone uses the banner it always hits me as some sort of Nerd Elitism. Same with people having a problem with good aligned drow. Just cause someone wants to play one, doesn't mean that they are uncreative or stupid or something like that. Maybe they just want to play one.
I want to thank you for this post. :smallsmile:

I obviously am a bit biased on the drow front (http://shazzbaa.foskie.com/shazztemplate.php?image=/sketch/DND_SC_hasz.jpg), :smalltongue: but regarding the tavern: it's overused 'cause it works. Especially if you're dealing with characters who all have their own agendas and no real reason to meet up with each other -- I know some DMs make their players build in a reason to work together (everyone has to join the militia at the end of the backstory, everyone has to have a reason they would be selected to assassinate the king, etc.), but others don't, and for those people, having a place where everyone is likely to be and where trouble or rumours of trouble can easily begin is handy and gets the game going fast.

Believe me, "you're all getting a meal in the local tavern, when suddenly a woman runs in, hysterical, saying her master has been kidnapped" works leagues better than sitting around waiting for the characters to "just happen" to run into each other on their independent travels, which, in my experience, often feels even more forced and contrived than meeting at a tavern.

Vael Nir
2008-08-18, 06:43 PM
Those are great sketches, Shazzbaa!

Our last adventure started at a carnival. All of us ended in jail (not our fault, I swear!).

I have never:

- Played a Ranger, Barbarian or Druid. And most of the non-core classes.
- Played gestalt.
- Played epic for more than one session (the GM couldn't handle our damage).
- Played anything Lawful for more than two sessions (urrrgh! the time I tried it was with a fairly harsh GM doing a Dragonlance setting, I was playing an aspiring solamnic squire in nerakan territory)
- Played anything Evil (no campaign where it would fit. the one we're playing now *might* turn into it, but I like playing Neutral more)
- Played a ToB class (I want to! :()
- Optimized to break a game. Heck, my TWF fighter nearly broke one once, the DM did give me +5 holy thinblades... and put us up against only evil things.
- Played a caster beyond level 10.
- Overshadowed a party.
- Had a really glorious crowning moment of awesome.
- Played any non-core race.

Vonriel
2008-08-18, 07:14 PM
... That said were still looking at habitual drunks here, ...

You seem to be under some misapprehension that all taverns exist merely as drinking holes, and nothing else goes on. Not everyone in a tavern is a habitual drunk! Just in case, not everyone in a tavern is a habitual drunk! Now, repeat after me: Not everyone in a tavern is a habitual drunk!

Good, now that that's over... If the vast majority of fantasy books are to be believed (and at least one of them must have researched it... I hope >.> ) then taverns were meeting places for travellers, places for them to bunk down for the night, etc., not just the local drinking hole. Who said taverns have to be in the middle of the city? Maybe someone hiked out of town from dawn 'til dusk, said, "Here's where my tavern shall be!" and then set it up. If it's on a road going between two major cities, maybe it's a popular stopping point for caravans and other travellers between them. Maybe it's the last stop before you reach a vast wilderness, and it's practically its own fortress, as well as the last hospitable environment for days or even weeks. No one said it has to be "The Dumpy Troll" down the street from the castle, did they?

*cough* Aaanyway, to keep on topic: I have never, ever played a successful character. My dwarven fighter/meatshield? Critted, DM rolled an insta-gib. My cleric/healer? Failed a will save and was forced to walk across a room full of traps. He made it about halfway through, before succumbing to damage. (I'm not so sure on this one, but if memory serves, he had no way of knowing it was a dangerous room until it was too late) My wizard/support? Wound up doing more to help the party with direct damage and helping the enemy with his battlefield control spells. It's like I get a role, and then do the exact opposite...