Polling Interest in Simple 3.5 - (DISCARDED)

[Fearghus]

Is there any interest in attempting a simplified 3.5 setting?

System

There is no need to own any material as I would be using the basics from the online 3.5 SRD.

Style

My intent is to present a setting that is fun: nothing is forbidden, so the worst the character can do is, well, nothing.

I understand 3.5 is seen in stark contrast to OSR, but IMHO its not too terribly far out in left field. No need to reduce everything to die-rolls: if you state your character is ransacking the desk by tearing out all the drawers you'll likely find the hidden compartment, no need to roll search.

DnD is a great escape as it lets weak people pretend to be strong and great at fighting, so I am not opposed to a knuckle-head wanting to pretend to be smart, wise, or charismatic. There are skills that will benefit such a character as much as an attack bonus benefits a fighter. How should this come off in game? I would actually prefer that the player RP the character, rather than be their guardian angel. If the player dumps int/wis/cha to all 6's to make an outrageously powerful melee combatant, then don't RP as some silver-tongued devil that captivates the kings court with his quick wit and knowledge of all things mundane and arcane. A 6 in those abilities represent lack of learning, poor social skills, and short attention span: interact as such.

Characters

Character creation would be a 25 point buy or 15,14,13,12,10,8 array: player's choice. The reason why the game allows for such high starting statistics is that the rules for monsters have been bumped as well. I was contemplating having the players roll. If the player-base is interested in the equivalent of playing Doom on "nightmare" difficulty then I am all for random rolls. Admittedly, the setting is difficult enough with the generous point buy.

Races allowed are human and dwarf. I might be open to half elves and half orcs if a player can make a good argument for one. There is a lot of hostility in the area to both in the area. Highly recommend against elves, halflings and gnomes.

The classes allowed would be Fighter, Rogue, and Wizard, or the variant generic classes (not NPC classes) of expert, spell caster, and warrior (though I might still swap spell caster rules for wizard rules). By all means skin the class anyway you want: skill your rogue/expert as an assassin, cat burglar, ranger or pick-pocet; make your fighter/warrior a viking type that goes on expedition to return home every few months to bring wealth to his family, or a caravaneer that protects the merchants, or a member of the Church of Tempus that has a fortress keep just outside of Glister; your spell caster can be a wizard, arcanist, witch, druid, or holy-man. I am still hammering out the details here (weapon groups, selected primary save, selected skills, etc).

The wizard/spell caster can choose spells from the cleric, druid, or sorcerer/wizard spell lists, though I would expect a theme among the spells and of the character. The setting would be in the Forgotten Realms Moonsea North at the mining town of Glister (think 2nd ed setting and feel, maybe a bit toned down on the ultra-level good guys). The Moonsea North is known as one of the most violent and inhospitable regions of all of the Realms, so lots to do.

Post Frequency

My intent is that this does not tie any player down for a long period of time. I plan for it to be scenario and situation based: gloss over down-time, discuss what to do next, and then we do it. This then presents the opportunity for players to depart or join before the next excursion.

There is the option for dungeons and overland travel, but I will not be introducing mega-dungeons. Likely I would post on Sun, Tues, Thur, and let the players get in where they can. No hard feelings if you want to bail, just let me know ASAP so I can move the character out of the game. I'll play a character, based on my interpretation, for a week before auto-dismissing them if I do not hear from the player.

I might be open to a Sunday night online/Google groups game from 8-11 CST if anyone else is interested. Maybe once every 2-3 weeks barring holidays.

[Argennian]

I knew there were a lot of grognards around here that have never wandered past 2E (myself included), but there has to be other folks that have played 3.0 and 3.5

I bought all the books when 3.0 came out, but sadly that was well before pbp gaming like we have now. Never found anyone to game with so it went nowhere. Bummer, because I had a whole stable of first level characters ready to go too!

... DnD is a great escape as it lets weak people pretend to be strong and great at fighting, so I am not opposed to a knuckle-head wanting to pretend to be smart, wise, or charismatic. There are skills that will benefit such a character as much as an attack bonus benefits a fighter. How should this come off in game? I would actually prefer that the player RP the character, rather than be their guardian angel. If the player dumps int/wis/cha to all 6's to make an outrageously powerful melee combatant, then don't RP as some silver-tongued devil that captivates the kings court with his quick wit and knowledge of all things mundane and arcane. A 6 in those abilities represent lack of learning, poor social skills, and short attention span: interact as such. ...

+1

Preach it, brother!

[Fearghus]

I appreciate the reply!

Currently going between ACKS and LL for my next proposal. Hopefully I'll get some bites.

I started with 2nd ed, so I toy around with the idea of trying a campaign with that rule-set: I really want to use my elves of evermeet supplement. But there are some aspects of 1st and 2nd ed that just drive me up the wall. Non-uniform attribute bonuses, split weapon damage against large creatures to name a couple. Its nit-picky, but just some kinks to work out.

[Stouthart]

No 3rd edition hate from me! I currently play in one Pathfinder campaign on Fridays, a 3.5e campaign on Saturdays, then DM a twice-a-month 3.5e campaign. All these are face-to-face games.

I would have thrown my hat in the ring for this online game, but between the games above and the 4 PbP games I'm currently in, my cup runneth over (which is never a bad thing!)

-Stouthart

[hedgeknight]

I reluctantly switched my campaign from 2E to 3E when that edition was released and then later to 3.5...and it ran another four years and it was awesome! After that, I ran a 3.5 campaign for several years that also was pretty fun. So, I got some 3.5 love, but no time to run or play in a game.

[Fearghus]

I reluctantly switched my campaign from 2E to 3E when that edition was released and then later to 3.5...and it ran another four years and it was awesome! After that, I ran a 3.5 campaign for several years that also was pretty fun. So, I got some 3.5 love, but no time to run or play in a game.

Your signature is proof of that!

[Luis]

Just for statistics regarding editions: I'd love to play but won't out of respect for the game I'm currently in. I'm afraid I wouldn't be a good player in either game if my attentions were diverted.

I actually have more experience with 3.75 than anything else so I'd love to play something closer to that but I also love RC/Dark Dungeons.

[Vargr1105]

I suppose by "3.75" you mean Pathfinder?

[Fearghus]

Luis, completely understandable. It is much better to have a quality experience in a small number of games than just exist in several.

There are a lot of parts of the 3.X system that I enjoy. But I feel the math just gets out of control (number ranges of bonuses and the d20 is just trivialized). Fortunately there are several systems already provided that do a good job of merging the older editions with the mechanics of 3.X, so I have abandoned all of my personal rule-set builds.

My intent for this proposal was to run a 3.5 game based off of the Unearthed Arcana alternate rules using the warrior, expert, and spellcaster classes. This was to be a third branch to a campaign I have been in running via chat and in person games for the past three or four years. It is in the Moonsea North of the Forgotten Realms dealing with the old ogre kingdom of Thar. A rough and brutal area of the world with little in the way of "good".

[Luis]

Yeah, I meant Pathfinder, that's what I run mostly. Again, just providing myself as a statistic to show there are people here who would play 3.x even though right now I'm invested in an RC/DD game.

Fearghus, I have to agree, I remember some first time players of mine arriving at a point where they'd question the need to even roll for some actions. It does make sense their character would be good at some things and get better at them with time but it also broke with what was expected of the game, actually rolling, having some luck involved, the only way to fail was to crit... It helps some lucky rolls were had at character generation but still odd. I eventually stopped worrying as people still enjoyed the game and the system provides a great backbone for adaptations like Star Wars RCR, Delta Green and Monte Cook's takes on Call of Cthulhu and World of Darkness (say what you will but you gotta love the fact it crams everything in one book with a decent plot excuse ).

Your pitch sounds interesting, I may read your game when it's up and running.

[Vargr1105]

There is a lot more love for 3.5 and its children on this forums than I had first assumed. Color me surprised.

[Luis]

There is a lot more love for 3.5 and its children on this forums than I had first assumed. Color me surprised.

I've come to realize that out there, somewhere, there is a large ammount of people that are willing to play any system, any setting, any premise. They are just waiting to come together in some way to play it.

The exception (there is always one) is Slayers D20, I must be the only sap who bought the book and actually wants to run/play that LOL.

[Vargr1105]

I've come to realize that out there, somewhere, there is a large amount of people that are willing to play any system, any setting, any premise. They are just waiting to come together in some way to play it.

This is only true in theory. Yes, there is a fair number of folks who, in principle, are willing to play a broad option of systems, setting and premisses (and I would count myself among them btw), but life being what it is and time being limited, if those persons ever had unlimited or even fairly wide choices to join a game they would have to make selections, so the "any system, any setting, any premisse" ain't exactly such.

I think saying there are people out there who have less propensity for system(s)-fetish would be a more accurate representation of the truth. It is not so much that they are extremely eclectic in their choices, but that unlike a certain group of gamers they do not hold fast to just a single system/setting/premise/genre or small group thereof.

And lets be honest here, bringing this issue up in terms of a "folks that liek classic D&D and like 3.5-ish too" is a bit of a stretch, to say the least. The gap between classical D&D and 3.5 is not exactly that wide of a moat, when compared to the diversity of gaming products out there; even if they are radically different games with completely different play experiences they share more similarities between themselves than with any other games.

Most Vampire:TM fanboy fetishists would still point and laugh at anyone who played both AD&D and 3.5 and presented that as evidence of his eclectic RPG tastes.

The exception (there is always one) is Slayers D20, I must be the only sap who bought the book and actually wants to run/play that LOL.

You mean the Anime series, with the height-challenged red-haired sorceress "Lina Inverse" or whatever the heck her name is and that Goth-ish sorceress "Naga" with the colossal tits, and the mentally retarded blonde warrior?

"DRAGON SLAVE!!!" - you mean *that* one?

[Luis]

I've come to realize that out there, somewhere, there is a large amount of people that are willing to play any system, any setting, any premise. They are just waiting to come together in some way to play it.

This is only true in theory. Yes, there is a fair number of folks who, in principle, are willing to play a broad option of systems, setting and premisses (and I would count myself among them btw), but life being what it is and time being limited, if those persons ever had unlimited or even fairly wide choices to join a game they would have to make selections, so the "any system, any setting, any premisse" ain't exactly such.

I think saying there are people out there who have less propensity for system(s)-fetish would be a more accurate representation of the truth. It is not so much that they are extremely eclectic in their choices, but that unlike a certain group of gamers they do not hold fast to just a single system/setting/premise/genre or small group thereof.

And lets be honest here, bringing this issue up in terms of a "folks that liek classic D&D and like 3.5-ish too" is a bit of a stretch, to say the least. The gap between classical D&D and 3.5 is not exactly that wide of a moat, when compared to the diversity of gaming products out there; even if they are radically different games with completely different play experiences they share more similarities between themselves than with any other games.

Most Vampire:TM fanboy fetishists would still point and laugh at anyone who played both AD&D and 3.5 and presented that as evidence of his eclectic RPG tastes.

The exception (there is always one) is Slayers D20, I must be the only sap who bought the book and actually wants to run/play that LOL.

You mean the Anime series, with the height-challenged red-haired sorceress "Lina Inverse" or whatever the heck her name is and that Goth-ish sorceress "Naga" with the colossal tits, and the mentally retarded blonde warrior?

"DRAGON SLAVE!!!" - you mean *that* one?

Good points.

And yes, *that* one, the one where being on your period meant your magic was out of order (no, there were no rules for that in the book, just the anime). In my defense I was young and stupid. Now I'm just stupid

One of these days I might actually offer to run that thing as a weekend-only parody game if any one is interested.

BTW, you got it all right except for Gourry's name (blond warrior). A fan of the show?

[Vargr1105]

Yeah, I watched a couple of episodes and OVAs back in the day, we used to laugh our arses off with it and were always looking out for when Lina would nuke something with her ubber-spell, and the appropriate "Japengrish" command word, of course.

"DURAGONE SURAVE!!!"


The period-stops-your-magic-ability episode was hillarious, and with Gourry not knowing exactly what "that time of the month" meant, even more so.


But the one story that nearly chocked us with laughter was the one where the two golem-makers decide to go on a duel and build these humongous golems shaped like Lina and Naga, put them inside to magically power them, and have them go at it...except Lina's golem is shaped like a super-cute chibbi doll which makes adorable video-game sounds as it moves and Naga's has *very* realistic body physics.

"I used special magical clay to achieve the Naga jiggly boobs effect on my golem." LoL!


And of course, when Naga starts laughing its hard not to feel the urge to do the same.


I don't get how they screwed up the D20 adaptation unless they were really trying. You could take any edition of D&D and play SLAYERS properly, just give everyone high-level characters with loads of spells and goodies and have them adventure in that universe of stupidity, with a few sexual jokes here and there and ramping up all the cliches to 11. And it helps if you camp everyone's INT at 8 or so.

[Luis]

You are forgetting the episode where Lina and Amelia had to get into these Sailor Moon-ish costumes and do some karaoke bit for what they thought was a great spell only to find it was for something utterly stupid.

Me and my friends loved that show, it was probably the first big anime we Portuguese followed on Spanish channels as it was shown after lunch whereas Dragon Ball was shown at a much later time when we were kids (we only got to see them locally years later).

We could just adaptat on our own but the first few pages of the book do explain why they went ahead with it. I forget the actual reason but they made a very good one for it and it almost hid the fact it was a cash grab.

Sigh... I couldn't help but pick up the book to read that part right now. Balance within itself and high-powered adventure beyond what regular D&D had to offer right from level one in a nutshell. Utter BS but you gotta hand it to them for at least recognising we knew we could just get by with a working knowledge of the show.

Still, gotta love the book for not taking itself too seriously and for giving a decent look into the world. Only real gripe with it is that, while it supplied plenty of posters of the characters, it doesn't show a single map of the world, something that showed on each episode's intro. Go figure...

[AQuebman]

On the original OP's post If I wasn't swamped already with games and DM'ing I would offer to play I already play in a few pathfinder campaigns in person on Sundays. Though it's an easy game to break I enjoyed it as the numbers all made sense in my head. Until I found DCC and now PF/3.5 have come to seem more boorish and crunchy then I prefer.

On the Anime front i've never seen the ridiculous show you guys are talking about but i'm amazed there hasn't been a D20 adaptation of Ronin Warriors. The DBZ Game that was a travesty is probably the reason for that though.

[Oddfellow]

Well, I should say first of all that (if enough people join and this campaign gets rolling) this would be my first PbP game-- however I am fairly well versed in the 3.X line, so it definitely sounds like something I could do. However, despite my 3.X experience, I admit that I have little knowledge of that particular campaign setting, but I'm sure I could fill myself in on it!

In short: I would absolutely be interested in joining in this venture, if you'll have me!

[Fearghus]

Hi, Oddfellow. Thank you for posting interest, and welcome to the Unseen Servant!

I have moved on to running a Labyrinth Lord game (it is a retro-clone). If you are interested in 3.x style games, try and get in on AQuebman's DCC Campaign. It offers significantly more options than what I was proposing with with the 3.5/Unearthed Arcana generic-class game. Also look into Giant in the Playground (another forum), as it has several 3.X games recruiting nearly daily.

[Oddfellow]

Thanks for the welcome, Fearghus!

It's too bad this was dropped, but I understand finding interest for a 3.X game would be hard on these forums; I do plan join some more classic games on the forum, but when I saw a 3.X game invitation, I figured it might be a good chance to cut my proverbial teeth.

Yes, I went from the GitP forums, to RPG.net, to here, and I very quickly realized a definite focus on older game systems-- which is great, and I think it was what I was looking for and not finding in the other forums.

So, thanks for the tip, I'll check that topic out, and don't worry! I'll slowly assimilate into the classic systems, I have little doubt about that.