Savage Summer Murder Hobos

[Tiamat]

As of now, the regular campaign I’m running is down for summer hiatus until mid-September. As I do not foresee any births or moves this summer, it’s time for summer games!

Why?
Because it’s going to be great fun. Because it’s cool to play limited duration games with a broader set of people. Because the previous summer games were well-received, quite memorable, or both. Because I will make it worth your while or go down trying. Fun, fun, fun.

When?
The short campaign will run for a weekday evening every two weeks in the June, July, August period. As it is a summer game, I do not require strict attendance; we’ll work around people’s holidays etc. I’d like to coordinate with those interested so that we can have a broad group of players.

What?
The size and preferences of the group will impact the system but I do have a preference for 5th edition. It isn’t perfect but it fits the grittier, not so big damn heroes type game that I would like to run. Also, I know it well enough to run with relative ease and have a good sense of any house rules that I might use. That said, I could perhaps bring in elements of 13th age or be convinced to run 13th age, depending on player interest.

What?!
I am not planning to run a specific prewritten adventure—no deep carbon observatory for you. I haven’t decided on where in the world this takes place but the setting is one of past glory and current despair—as is becoming of a good summer game. While the setting is gritty, there should be plenty room for heroism if so desired. Here too, I’d like to coordinate with those interested—either online or in a session zero.

How?
I have a variety of options for character generation in mind; I also have some house rules that I like and have used or that I might use. I am cognisant of the trade-offs between fun and complexity. I also think these things are not for me to lay down but should be agreed upon. I would be happy to have a session zero to decide on characters, setting, and rule system.

Where?
Ideally somewhere in person because of the social aspect. Given the potential player base this would probably be in Hilversum but I do have a location available in the outskirts of Utrecht.

Who?
Well, you, silly! Let me know if you’d be interested to have a place at the table and we’ll make it into something memorable, fun, or—god forbid—both.

[SageGenesis]

In principe wil ik wel, afhankelijk van of het kan, locatie, etc. Ik moet toegeven dat ik een voorkeur heb voor 13th Age. Ben benieuwd naar de house rules die Eelco in gedachten heeft.

[Tiamat]

Ik zie mijzelf als 1 van de spelers en denk dat we iets moeten kiezen dat we allen leuk vinden. Ben ook erg voor een sessie-0. Ik ben redelijk systeem-agnostisch, maar tijd is voor mij een issue daarom heb ik vooralsnog de systemen waar ik bekend mee ben voorgesteld.

[Tiamat]

As requested my current thoughts on 5e house rules

Main house rule:

1) Don't kick people out of the game rule:
a) fight-in-spirit—als je geen andere actie kan nemen kan je toch bijdragen
b) You can take actions at disadv. at 0HP
c) Death occurs away from the action

Other house rules that I would consider based on player prefs:
2) 1/2 escalation die
3) 13th age backgrounds instead of skills
4) save/ability score substitutions—depends on ability score generation
5) disconnect primary ability score from class
6) some changes to classes/races in coordination with players

[JLT*]

Woop woop

[Tiamat]

I suggest we do a session-0 over discord so that we can discuss preferences with respect to system (5th, 5:13, 13th, or other) and setting. It would be easier than over posts. I'm pretty flexible with respect to time and if someone has a location to offer, I'm pretty flexible with respect location as well.

[Tiamat]

I'd be happy to run a game for two players, especially since you two bring a lot to the table already. Still, I'd be aiming for a slightly bigger group and would generally be open to anyone.

What day would work best for you guys? Jelte, do you have a space available?

With respect to character generation, I'm open to a variety of options but I would at least like to have the primary scores of all characters be the same this time round. Last time was a fun experiment but the burden wasn't quite divided equally.

With respect to system, I, ultimately, don't think the system matters that much. Also, I really think most people won't be interested in my house rules. Since you ask, however, I have been keeping a running tally of the house rules that I'm happy with—e.g., the death and dying rules—as well as some other rules that I would like to try for a 5:13 game. I've just compiled them in a home-brewery pdf and I'd be curious to hear what you think of these:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/c89nhx7dy52bd...mTvia?dl=0

[SageGenesis]

Houserules look fine. I like the primary/secondary background thing.

For me, Mondays are a no-go. I could make every other Tuesday or Wednesday, as I have bi-weekly games on the other ones. I have no standing obligations on Thursdays. The weekends are always problematic so we probably shouldn't even try.

[voh]

I may be tempted to join. My availability is generally the same as Arik's, but with a hard no on Fridays added.

[Tiamat]

Three is a very good number of players; I'm still happy to take more.

It also seems that Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday could work. That said, I don't have time for more than one night a week and I already have Jelte's biweekly Monday campaign. Biweekly Tuesdays and Wednesdays would therefore work as long as we can ensure our game doesn't fall in the same week as said Monday campaign. If our game would fall in the same week, we'd have to shift campaigns; this might be easy or hard depending on Mel. I see no problems with Thursdays.

[Tiamat]

My holiday is in May so I'm actually mostly available from June till August, with the exception of:

* Tuesday June 4
* Tuesday June 24
* Thursday July 4 is a maybe.


PS. if we do start in June, it would be good to have a session-0 sometime over the next 2 weeks.

[Tiamat]

We'll talk at session-0 about the setting; I've got some inspiration:

[Tiamat]

Setting is still open and depending on your prefs. Without player prefs, I would probably run fairly generic DnD with little bits of horror and weirdness sprinkled on there. I don't want to do real horror because that's beyond my skillset and would require disempowerment for which DnD and this playgroup isn't the best fit. A little occasional creepiness can be fun, though.

I'd be quite happy running a game on a 5:13 engine as noted in the houserules. For character generation I suggest everyone has a 16 as a primary level 1 score; the other ability scores can be generated randomly or done with arrays/pointbuy. We might add racial bonuses after that—but not to the primary score. I've equalised the ability scores a little bit so that they're all nice.

[SageGenesis]

All sounds good to me.

[SageGenesis]

Oh by the way, any idea on which level we'll start? Any preferences for classes/races to avoid?

[Tiamat]

(04-05-2019 10:29:28)SageGenesis Wrote:  Oh by the way, any idea on which level we'll start? Any preferences for classes/races to avoid?

Quick reply,

Level we'll have to see. the Sweet spot for the system is 3—10, I think. 5e spends more time at these levels going by xp reqs. Player prefs will matter greatly here.

Mechanically, all classes are allowed. If anything really doesn't fit with the setting, we could always reskin but even then players' preferences take precedence. Multi-classing is restricted in that I would want have a look at the combo before giving an ok.

Races I don't know yet. Conceptually we work with any player preferences but they may differ mechanically. Darkvision and racial bonuses are likely on the chopping block. I might also just simplify races to fit with the setting or fit in the escalation die.

[SageGenesis]

Ok, 5e characters don't really get started until level 3, so if that's the minimum that's good. Wouldn't mind starting at level 5 either but so long as it's not 1 or 2 it's fine.

[Tiamat]

For this group, which has seen adventurer tier, I think heroic tier (5-10) would be most fun. Still, I wouldn't want to lose the transition from adventurer to heroic, which has a certain impact by itself. So I would probably think 3 or 4 and move to 5 relatively quickly.

[Tiamat]

laten we een sessie-0 plannen deze week of volgende week; kost ongeveer 2 uur. Ergens na kinderbedtijd (8 uur-ish).

[SageGenesis]

Vanavond kan ik niet. Woensdag ook niet. Zaterdag waarschijnlijk ook niet.
Donderdag kan maar tricky.

[Tiamat]

(07-05-2019 16:33:25)SageGenesis Wrote:  Vanavond kan ik niet. Woensdag ook niet. Zaterdag waarschijnlijk ook niet.
Donderdag kan maar tricky.

Denk sessie 0 gewoon via skype of discord te houden. Als je donderdag as. bedoelt dan zou ik kunnen. Donderdag 16 niet. Verder ben ik vooralsnog alle dagen vrij 's avonds.

[voh]

A.s. zondag, volgende week woensdag, donderdag of zondag zou ik tijd hebben voor een sessie 0.