Monday, August 25, 2014
If 5e Had Boobs I'd Marry It
I've been fooled by a fair amount of roleplaying games. Well, fooled isn't quite the right term. They didn't quite meet my expectations. They seemed like they were the right tool, but in the end, they didn't provide the playing experience I had wanted.
Fourth edition Dungeons and Dragons was one of the big ones. It took me two and a half years of playing to figure it out. I could get better at running the game - I could 'master' the ruleset, I could house rule the thing up one wall and down another - and it was never going to give me what I wanted. I wasn't even exactly sure what I wanted - but it had something to do with that D&D feeling I had back in the early 80s.
When Next was announce, I was mildly optimistic. A sea change seemed to have happened at Wizards of the Coast - perhaps brought on by the tidal pull of the moon that is the OSR - and it appeared to be a good move in the right direction.
After the 4e fumble, I had gone back and played every single previous version of D&D - and a large selection of clones and almosts and sorta-kindas. Some were good, some were bad, and some were ugly. But even the best ones - old and new - didn't hold me for long - no matter how wonderful. There were a lot of good bits and pieces in all the versions, and no one game seemed to capture all of the potential goodness.
The Next playtests were enlightening - and I gave my input were I could - but the whole thing had me nervous. I really didn't feel like doing a lot of work to just get stabbed in the back - so I moved off to different old favorites like Traveller and GURPS.
Then, one day, all of the playtests were over and WOTC began dribbling out 5e content in a way that they've never done before - slowly and carefully and . . . generously. Free shit all over the place. A dirt cheap Starter Set that I'm sure they are loosing money on. And then a PHB that just absolutely rocks.
On Saturday, we almost had two TPKs. One was at the mouth of a cave full of orcs and ogres. I swore we were all about the be pounded into paste - until the wizard remembered he had a certain, special scroll and lobbed a fireball over our heads. WABOOM. Sure, we don't have eyebrows anymore - but we had a gaming moment that you just can't buy.
Then there was the bit where we were facing down a room of ghouls that ripped through the front line like it was Swiss cheese and began to shred the squishy rear echelon. Knowing my fighter was paralyzed and unable to help caused feeling of dread and fear to well up. Not just anger at a tactical blunder or an analytically attempt to fix the problem - but actual emotions. And it washed over EVERYONE until I rolled a successful save and opened up a can of furious vengeance upon the bastard fucking skinny ass eaters of the dead.
So I can sit and talk about mechanics all day long. But that doesn't help explain why I am so happy with 5e. The rules DISAPPEAR during play. There is no chess board to strategize over. The game is back in our shared headspace where it belongs. Yes, you can have all over your fancy character abilities and whatnot, but to me, at least, none of it gets in the way of a good time.
That's a VERY subjective explanation, I realize. And lots of games have that potential - not just 5e. Maybe I'll formulate something more objective later and share it. But that is the best I've got now. But I'm whole hog in now anyway. I'm willing to fully admit that I love this game. It may betray me at a later date and I'll have to go to divorce court. We'll get separate bank accounts and split up the kids.
But for now, 5e is my waifu.
:)
- Ark
Fourth edition Dungeons and Dragons was one of the big ones. It took me two and a half years of playing to figure it out. I could get better at running the game - I could 'master' the ruleset, I could house rule the thing up one wall and down another - and it was never going to give me what I wanted. I wasn't even exactly sure what I wanted - but it had something to do with that D&D feeling I had back in the early 80s.
When Next was announce, I was mildly optimistic. A sea change seemed to have happened at Wizards of the Coast - perhaps brought on by the tidal pull of the moon that is the OSR - and it appeared to be a good move in the right direction.
After the 4e fumble, I had gone back and played every single previous version of D&D - and a large selection of clones and almosts and sorta-kindas. Some were good, some were bad, and some were ugly. But even the best ones - old and new - didn't hold me for long - no matter how wonderful. There were a lot of good bits and pieces in all the versions, and no one game seemed to capture all of the potential goodness.
The Next playtests were enlightening - and I gave my input were I could - but the whole thing had me nervous. I really didn't feel like doing a lot of work to just get stabbed in the back - so I moved off to different old favorites like Traveller and GURPS.
Then, one day, all of the playtests were over and WOTC began dribbling out 5e content in a way that they've never done before - slowly and carefully and . . . generously. Free shit all over the place. A dirt cheap Starter Set that I'm sure they are loosing money on. And then a PHB that just absolutely rocks.
On Saturday, we almost had two TPKs. One was at the mouth of a cave full of orcs and ogres. I swore we were all about the be pounded into paste - until the wizard remembered he had a certain, special scroll and lobbed a fireball over our heads. WABOOM. Sure, we don't have eyebrows anymore - but we had a gaming moment that you just can't buy.
Then there was the bit where we were facing down a room of ghouls that ripped through the front line like it was Swiss cheese and began to shred the squishy rear echelon. Knowing my fighter was paralyzed and unable to help caused feeling of dread and fear to well up. Not just anger at a tactical blunder or an analytically attempt to fix the problem - but actual emotions. And it washed over EVERYONE until I rolled a successful save and opened up a can of furious vengeance upon the bastard fucking skinny ass eaters of the dead.
So I can sit and talk about mechanics all day long. But that doesn't help explain why I am so happy with 5e. The rules DISAPPEAR during play. There is no chess board to strategize over. The game is back in our shared headspace where it belongs. Yes, you can have all over your fancy character abilities and whatnot, but to me, at least, none of it gets in the way of a good time.
That's a VERY subjective explanation, I realize. And lots of games have that potential - not just 5e. Maybe I'll formulate something more objective later and share it. But that is the best I've got now. But I'm whole hog in now anyway. I'm willing to fully admit that I love this game. It may betray me at a later date and I'll have to go to divorce court. We'll get separate bank accounts and split up the kids.
But for now, 5e is my waifu.
:)
- Ark
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Friday, August 22, 2014
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Playing Prebuilts in the 5e Starter Set
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| Lady Sarafina of Corlinn Hill (actually, Joan of Arc from some Japanese computer game, but it will do) |
That was not to be.
The character's noble background, with it's traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws really brought the character to life in my mind, and Lady Sarafina of Corlinn Hill was born. She's a short little 4' "11 blonde lawful neutral lady with the built in goal to CIVILIZE the area. Throw in the fact that she feels responsible for the common people and she's greedy at the same time, and well, you get he cutest little megalomaniac you ever did see. Her battle cry is 'I AM THE LAW!'
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| Burning Mountain Adventuring Company graffiti |
While going through the first dungeon, I began to feel that Lady Sarafina would start to worry about the state of the caves afterwards. Eventually, it might be repopulated with monsters again. But even barring that, should some adventurer come through at a later date and see the butchery of evil that had occurred - would they ever know WHO had cleaned the caves? Marking the caves in some way - tagging them - was essential. She could mark them with her own heraldic symbols, sure, but others did help, so perhaps something else was needed. Thus the Burning Mountain Adventuring Company was born. She came up with an icon that symbolized her history and the history of the area since the eruption of Mount Hotenow and began tagging every dungeon, castle, and cave they cleaned out.
As the area became reasonably secure, in her downtime she joined the Lord's Alliance, began building and training a militia in Phandalin, set a bounty on trees and bushes that could create ambush points on any roads a day's travel from the village, started building watch towers, set up a company to build a saw mill and organize a construction labor exchange, organized prisoner work gangs to repair existing buildings, and organized the non-productive children in Phadalin into 'beautification squads' that painted the buildings in-town while she used her paint supplies proficiency to detail each of the buildings in glorious colors and shapes, working in her coat of arms and the symbols of her patron deity, Lady Siamorphe, into all of the designs. She arranged for the rebuilding of Trendesar Manor as well, involving herself into some legal, but probably very unethical, business dealings that ensured her ownership of the land. She digs into the town master's accounting books every time she can, looking for irregularities and questioning him on every single line item in an attempt to root out corruption.
She didn't ask anyone for permission. She didn't ask what color anyone wanted their house. She just did it.
Lady Sarafina is a tornado of law and order, spewing out justice and evenly ordered white picket fences in her wake. The rest of the party just sits and watches the Type 'A' little lady like she's crazy.
Now that Lady Sarafina is third level, she believes she is ready to expand and forge her empire, so she is penning this note to the Lord's Alliance:
To My Fellow Members of the Lords' Alliance
Announcement of Intent
I am writing to inform this Honored Body of my claim of authority over all lands fifty miles in all directions from the town of Phandalin, in a bounding box from the Sword Coast and the High Road in the west to the Starmetal Hills in the east, and the Neverwinter River in the north to the Sword Mountains and the Kryptgarden Forest in the South. This includes The towns of Phandalin, Thundertree, Leilon, Conyberry, Wyvern Tor, Cragmaw Castle, but does not include the city of Neverwinter or its environs.
Nefarious organization such as The Zhentarim and the Red Wizards of Thay are at work here, and their plans must be thwarted. I intend to bring law and order to these lands and prosperity to its people and rule within the regulations, bylaws, and ideals of the Council of Lords. Any military and financial assistance from the Lords' Alliance in furthering the cause of civilization would be welcome.
Should areas within my territory have a previous claim on them by a living, active authority recognized by the Council of Lords, I will hear and consider them, then adjust my sphere of control accordingly.
In The Lady Siamorphe's Holy Name,
Lady Sarafina
Daughter of Count Lander and Countess Olga of Waterdeep
Heir to the House of Corlinn Hill
Liberator of Castle Cragmaw
Mistress of the Resurrected Tresendar Manor
Protector of the Fair Town of Phandalin on the Sword Coast of Faerûn
I think our DM is laughing right now, ready to smack Lady Sarafina with a giant legal hammer soon - but hopefully not belore she marches with the folk hero/fighter my son is playing on the evil infested ruins of Thundertree.
Playing her while adventuring is just as fun. She's the tank and races as fast as she can to the front lines. Sarafina, when angered, will attempt to climb an enemy combatant and force his face into the ground. And when confronted by a charging owlbear - she will charge right back and attempt to grapple it. This tends to leave her clutching an angry owlbear that is rushing through the woods, but that's just an occupational hazard.
Her biggest problem is people that she knows NEED death, but she hasn't seen them do anything illegal or evil. This gnaws on her greatly, and keeps her up at night imploring the goddess Siamorphe for guidance. Well, she's just looking for a green light for wholesale slaughter, really. Lady Sarafina isn't exactly a nice person.
Below is her current character sheet. I took her away from her prescribed advancement path on the prebuilt sheet. At 3rd level, she did not follow the Champion Archetype, but rather, followed the way of the Battle Master. The maneuvers I selected under Battle Master makes her similar to a 4e Warlord in battlefield control. When she hits 4th level, she'll go for the Sentinel feat, which further solidifies her control of the battlefield - front line especially.
I still love the way WOTC set that up. You can pick Champion as a fighter and a stat increase at 4th level and go as an uncomplicated, but very effective old D&D style fighter, or go Battle Master with feats and have a 3e/4e feel and replicate a variety of martial combatants. Or do a mixture of the two. Your character can be shaped to fit your play style.
Be sure to click to embiggen . . .
Feel free to include Lady Sarafina as the crazed megalomaniac of Phandalin if it fits your Forgotten Realms campaign. I think if you are forgoing the Starter Set, but are running Horde of the Dragon Queen, she'd fit quite nicely as someone to hear news about. Until she gets eaten by the dragon on the front of the box, that is. :)
All of the pregens in the box are pretty cool. Well, except that rogue. There is something wrong with a rogue that has a lower perception that EVERYONE ELSE IN THE PARTY. But all of them have tons of potential personality to play with - so don't be afraid to pick one up and play.
- Ark
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