Unseen Servant: Live Games

[dmw71]

Game Premise
Everyone will begin with brand new characters, in a settlement of some kind. Probably a large town or small city... complete with a seedy area or two.

You'll need work.

There will be the normal bars, and inns, and other establishments where rumors can be overheard and 'want ads' can present plenty of avenues to explore. There will be guilds. This "open" idea I thought of this morning, that has me excited about the potential of this in the first place, centers around one guild in particular. Or maybe just an NPC? Or maybe just led by this NPC? It/they will present the assembled group of characters near-endless opportunities.

There will certainly be plenty of monsters to fight, but expect a fair amount of role-playing as well. The choice will be yours.

I'm starting to think that it probably makes sense to provide further details about the bolded points from my original post, above.

(I will also be editing the original post to include these details.)

My plan is for the characters to almost be bounty hunters. The "one guild in particular" or "one NPC" mentioned in bold from my original post will essentially be like a taxidermist. The "one NPC" (which the characters will not immediately meet; you're low-level nothings to start, and won't automatically be interacting with the boss directly) is rich, and powerful.

And has wants.

A majority of your work, as "bounty hunters," will be in serving this NPC's needs and wants... even if you don't realize it at first, as you'll be working through the NPC's intermediaries or minions.

Early on, the tasks will be simple. Maybe the NPC's supply of a certain material spell component is running low. I'll create an adventure specifically around this. Maybe the NPC is looking for a specific gem, or jewel, or magic item. Really, there is virtually an endless number of challenges and quests I can task you with.

Then, as your characters continue to fulfull tasks for this NPC, and continue to grow in power, you'll start to earn more trust and be given opportunities to take on increasingly more difficult challenges. The NPC has an interest in taxidermy. There is a TON of potential in that idea. Maybe the NPC needs (or just wants) the:

• Feathers from an aarakocra (CR 1/4)
• A sample from a gelatinous cube (CR 2) or a black pudding (CR 4)
• Fluid's from a basilisk’s gullet (CR 3)
  
  Or...
• Scales and teeth from a young red dragon (CR 10)
  
  Or...
• A purple work swallowed something of the NPC's and they want it back (CR 15)
  
  Or...
• Maybe a pit field angered the NPC and they want you to deal with it (CR 20)

Scalability.


These quests or tasks may take a single session, or span multiple sessions, but characters are free to come and go with your (the player's) availability.


What I most look forward to is actually hand-picking monsters of the appropriate level and building scenarios around them. There are so many classic monsters that I've never encountered as a player or ran as a DM (I can cross one of these off my never encountered/ran list after last weekend) that I WANT to use.

This will be my chance.

Or designing traps. Or riddles. Or any number of other challenges (but mostly monsters ).


So, if this sounds like something that you'd be interested in, sign up! All adventurers welcome!



---

I should also add, if I'm able to get it working, I am hoping to be able to stream these sessions live on Twitch. I know that D&D Beyond has a Twitch extension (apparently the Critical Role cast is using it, but I never watch the show live and have never seen it) that, I think, would be really cool to see working. Plus, if streamed on Twitch, everything will be recorded and accessible again in the future... I know I have a love/hate dilemma when it comes to recorded games (I love it, because I think it's so cool!; but hate it because I suck, and embarrass myself) but I do believe it improves my performance over time as I'm able to focus in on the painful moments and fix or improve what I did wrong.

And don't worry, I have exactly zero Twitch followers, so it's not like there will be a huge audience or anything (but other members here would be able to check it out -- live, or recorded).

[Scott308]

I can cross one of these off my never encountered/ran list after last weekend

Since I wasn't there, out of curiosity, what was it?

[*]Maybe a pit field angered the NPC and they want you to deal with it (CR 20)

My 15th level tiefling Paladin wants this job!

And don't worry, I have exactly zero Twitch followers, so it's not like there will be a huge audience or anything (but other members here would be able to check it out -- live, or recorded).

Hey, don't discount the rest of us! I'll have you know I had at least two people that tuned in to watch my marathon game! Granted, that was a special event, and those same people could be players in this game...

[rredmond]

I watched Scott's game! And I'll follow you on Twitch Dave.
I'm on there, with my skype name I think, rgredmond.

[GreyWolfVT]

I'm interested however do you know if Fantasy Grounds requires paying for having an account or do they also allow for free accounts like Roll20?

[Scott308]

The DM needs a paid account, but players are good with just a demo (free) account. My Dragon Heist game is being run on Fantasy Grounds. Our DM backed the Kickstarter, so I'm looking forward to trying that out.

[Scott308]

I went back through the Gamehole thread, and it looks like I had three people that watched at some point. I'm practically a celebrity. Maybe I'll see if Matt Mercer needs another player and the audience I can bring.

[dmw71]

I can cross one of these off my never encountered/ran list after last weekend

Since I wasn't there, out of curiosity, what was it?

Chimera

Maybe a pit field angered the NPC and they want you to deal with it (CR 20)

My 15th level tiefling Paladin wants this job!

Ha! I'm nowhere near ready to DM an encounter like that -- yet. I'm sure, by the time you work a new character up to 15th level, I'll be ready.

And don't worry, I have exactly zero Twitch followers, so it's not like there will be a huge audience or anything (but other members here would be able to check it out -- live, or recorded).

Hey, don't discount the rest of us! I'll have you know I had at least two people that tuned in to watch my marathon game! Granted, that was a special event, and those same people could be players in this game...

Nice. We might start with an audience of two then.

[dmw71]

I watched Scott's game! And I'll follow you on Twitch Dave.

Okay, maybe we'll have an audience of three.

[dmw71]

The DM needs a paid account, but players are good with just a demo (free) account.

Thanks for this, because I really had no clue.

I do know that the level I backed was for an Ultimate license, whatever that gets me. Actually, according to this:

This package contains the ULTIMATE version of Fantasy Grounds. It has the same functionality and resources as the standard Full license but allows players to connect to you without owning a license. With it you can:

• Run games as the Gamemaster
• Host an unlimited number of unregistered players (limited only by your connection speeds)
• Host games for registered and unregistered players together.
• Join games as a player
• Create characters locally to take with you into a game session
• Create additional rulesets and modifications
• Included Rulesets: AD&D 2E, D&D 3.5E, D&D 4E, D&D 5E and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
• Library modules with D&D 3.5E open gaming content typically found in the SRD. *
• Library modules with D&D fifth edition open gaming content found in the SRD 5.
• Library modules with Pathfinder RPG open gaming content typically found in the PFSRD. *
  • * enables drag and drop functionality for monsters, npcs, feats, abilities, spells, weapons and armor.

Even if the license won't be the same in their new Unity app (it should), the most basic differentiator between the Full and Ultimate licenses is the ability to host players without licenses -- or, free. So, I should be able to cover everyone interested in playing if we eventually move to that VTT.

[dmw71]

Even if the license won't be the same in their new Unity app (it should), the most basic differentiator between the Full and Ultimate licenses is the ability to host players without licenses -- or, free. So, I should be able to cover everyone interested in playing if we eventually move to that VTT.

This is actually confirmed in the description for their Kickstarter:

"Standard licenses can host or play in a game with other licensed users. An Ultimate license allows the GM to host a game for any number of players and those players can use a free Demo license of Fantasy Grounds."

[Scott308]

It appears I was wrong, then. If the DM only has a standard account, the players would all need a paid account. If the DM has an ultimate account (such as you do) the players are fine with a free account. I know my Dragon Heist DM has an ultimate account so I am able to play with my free account.

[Scott308]

I watched Scott's game! And I'll follow you on Twitch Dave.

Okay, maybe we'll have an audience of three.

Well, you were one of those viewers. The others were Ron (obviously) and Ravenn4544, so...

[dmw71]

I watched Scott's game! And I'll follow you on Twitch Dave.

Okay, maybe we'll have an audience of three.

Well, you were one of those viewers. The others were Ron (obviously) and Ravenn4544, so...

Well, $#%^!

The audience dwindles.

[Rex]

I like the premise, will be fun I am sure.

[rredmond]

...The audience dwindles.

In all honesty, building an audience won't be too difficult. When you are ready and if you wanted to go there.
& Mag was able to go from downloads in the hundreds in their first couple years, to well over 300K in the year we we focused on marketing. Granted a lot of those were repeat downloads (why look for it on your computer when you can just get it off the site) but still it's good to let people know you exist.

[dmw71]

...The audience dwindles.

In all honesty, building an audience won't be too difficult.

Well, I can honestly say that the size of the audience is not even a consideration. Not now, anyway. I'm primarily interested in preserving a history of the game, and making it available for any of you that are interested in seeing how it goes.

But also, I'm a glutton for punishment and I like to see myself in action. It's painful to watch, but I find it really helpful in terms of seeing where I need to improve.

[Zhym]

I went back through the Gamehole thread, and it looks like I had three people that watched at some point. I'm practically a celebrity. Maybe I'll see if Matt Mercer needs another player and the audience I can bring.

I don't know if it was reflected in the thread, but I watched on and off. Only for a while, though, because it was hard to understand anything people were saying in that noisy room.

Dave, if you end up using Fantasy Grounds for the virtual tabletop, would you use that for character sheets too, or would you still require D&D Beyond for that?

[Scott308]

Four! Four viewers!

[Scott308]

I only counted the people who posted in the Gamehole thread that they were watching. I know we had a few people at the table with the stream open so they could see who was watching, but I never did that. We really only had a few people watching at any time. I know the DMs were disappointed there were other games that would be in the room. Sorry it was difficult to hear.

[dmw71]

Dave, if you end up using Fantasy Grounds for the virtual tabletop, would you use that for character sheets too, or would you still require D&D Beyond for that?

I can't really answer that without knowing how (and how well) the FG character sheet functions.

I just know, considering my level of comfort with DDB, plus the DDB integration with Twitch (which I'm still hoping to be able to get working), the FG sheet will need to be pretty solid for me to consider switching to it.