D&D (EISEN’S VOW) [STATUS: OPEN (NEW)]

[samvandenberg]

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The game will be taught and refereed so interest is all that is required by players.

2-4 players are needed for a medieval fantasy role-playing game in the style shown in the documentary Secrets of Blackmoor!—a game that offers more freedom, creativity and ease than typical D&D.

Please send me a personal message if interested or have questions or comments.

The first game will be played for 30 days then stopped to re-evaluate.

This will be a fast paced play-by-post where players have 48 hours to post character actions or get skipped. Due to smart phones this should be possible for nearly everyone. Within 48 hours of receiving the last player response post I will determine the outcomes of players' actions and provide the next description and the whole thing continues. Yes, descriptions will be less detailed than the games with 1-2 postings per week typical on these forums, but instead will have a brevity similar to a live game. See the example game posts below to get the idea.

Besides declarations of character actions all other questions, comments, and player-to-player communications will have no official standing. PC-to-PC dialog is always free and un-monitored. PC-to-NPC dialog however must be stated as an action. Clarification questions for the referee are always welcome, but since I won't be continuously monitoring things I cannot guarantee providing a timely answer, and asking a question does not extend the 48 hour response time limit. Conditional responses (If, then, else) for character actions are strongly encouraged! Secret information will be communicated through a private forum topic provided for each character.

All die rolls will be made by the referee. This is done to avoid the delays required for stopping to ask for rolls, sorry.

Concerning the rules and edition: In my experience the best games happen when the players do not know which rules are being used. This is “Eisen’s vow” as Jon Peterson D&D historian and author of The Elusive Shift writes, “The position that player enjoyment of the game is diminished by understanding how the referee resolves system events” (playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2020/12). Instead of dwelling on rules and procedures, players are thereby allowed greater immersion in the world of the game. An example of this tradition was seen at GaryCon on May 9, 2019 during the Blackmoor game when the referee Bob Meyer explained:

David never told us the rules—before Dungeons and Dragons came out, so that's the way it's going to work here. Don't feel restricted. You're not looking up rules to see what you can do. You're just using common sense and what you think you can do. I do not try to discourage anything. You can try anything you want. The chances may be poor, but if you're in a corner, you never know. This is something that you... Be yourselves. Go in there and do what you think needs to be done. It's that simple. If I think you're out of line, and I never do, I'll let you know. This is normally something... This is the way to play—free of rules.

Apart from a few things including hit points, movement rate, attacking ranges, and rates of fire, players will not know the rules being used by the referee, and this works great.

Still interested I hope. Then read on...

Imagine: it is another place, another time. The world is much like ours was, long ago, with knights and castles and no science or technology—no electricity, no modern comforts of any kind.

Imagine: dragons are real. Werewolves are real. Monsters of all kinds live in caves and ancient ruins. And magic really works!—but it is dangerous, and often unpredictable!

Imagine: you are an adventurer, now poor and of little renown. Day by day you explore the unknown, looking for monsters and treasure. The more you find, the more powerful and famous you become.

1.
Choose for your character one quality or ability; but just one. It might be something ordinary or something extraordinary—it can even be something supernatural! It can be anything you can imagine. Your referee might place restrictions on it, but you can have whatever you want. Pick something that is fun, but of course being able to survive is fun too.

What is your character's ability?

2.
Your character begins with no treasure. However, they may start with whatever normal possessions and equipment they wish to carry. Unless they have a special ability allowing more or less, a character can move around while carrying up to a maximum of 100 pounds of weight. An outfit of regular clothes weighs 5 pounds leaving up to 95 pounds of possessions for you to decide on. Make a list. It will be your personal inventory. If you need help the referee can help you assign weights to your possessions. Just choose things your character can personally carry.

NOTE: Your character will begin in a region of temperate climate with only occasional rains. The season will be like our midsummer. That means warm average temperatures during the day and comfortable temperatures at night.

What items are in your character's inventory?

3.
Describe your character’s height, weight, fantasy race (if any), approximate age, notable features, and noticeable carried equipment. Please choose a name that Google speech-to-text recognizes as a name.

What is your character’s name and physical description?


Do not reply to this thread. Please send me a private message if interested or have questions or comments.
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[samvandenberg]

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EXAMPLE OF GAME PLAY
These posts do not need to be perfect. We are not trying to make literature, but only play a fun game. The posts can be done quickly and easily like informal speaking during a live game. The following posts were made using Google speech-to-text with very minor editing afterward on my smart phone keyboard.

42.
Kermit you and the three soldiers move south down the passageway. One of the soldiers holds a torch aloft to illuminate the way forward. Kermit you are in the front. One soldier next to you the others behind in the rear. Ahead 60 feet at end of the passageway are a set of closed sturdy looking oaken double doors banded in iron and framed in stone. They are some 7 feet wide by 9 feet high. On the ceiling suspended from ropes before the doors is a platform piled with stone blocks on top. You can tell it must be a collapsing ceiling trap put up by the goblins.

[samvandenberg]

42.)Donahue waits at the intersection and watches the progress. If Kermit or the soldiers looks back I will give them a wave to call them back.

[samvandenberg]

42.)Kermit just holds a hand up to Donahue then carefully goes closer to the ceiling trap urging the soldiers to follow. When I get 20 feet from the trap I will get out my three vials of oil then throw them each at the platform trying to break them open and soak the ropes that hold it up. If I accomplish this I will then take out my lantern and light it with my flint and tinder and then throw it at the ropes up on the platform with the intention of starting them on fire and causing the trap to collapse on its own.

[samvandenberg]

42.)Ronald waits and watches

[samvandenberg]

43.
With excellent throws you break each of the three vials onto the platform by the ropes and then the lantern smashes while lit and does ignite the oil. After a short time maybe 1 minute the ropes burn to the point where the great weight of the piled-up stone blocks causes the platform to collapse and the blocks smash to the ground with a thunderous noise and a cloud of dust is put up into the air of the passageway. Moments later the dust settles and you see that the trap has been completely triggered.

[samvandenberg]

43.)Ronald just waits and watches

[samvandenberg]

43.)Donahue seeing that the Trap has been triggered orders one of the soldiers holding a torch to stay here at the intersection and then shield and sword still in hand leads the rest of the soldiers (the brave few!) forward towards the doors.

[samvandenberg]

43.)Kermit begins to cautiously walk towards the doors to begin searching them for any signs of more traps by the light of the torch

[samvandenberg]

44.
As you approach the doors you see that there are many crude holes about 2 inches diameter drilled through the double doors

[samvandenberg]

44.) Kermit holds a hand up in the air and then leads his soldiers back up the passageway retreating to get behind some of the soldiers and rejoins the others

[samvandenberg]

44.) Donahue tells four of the soldiers with shields to go up to the door and press against the holes with their shields and try to break down the door

[samvandenberg]

44.) Ronald simply watches all of this

[samvandenberg]

45.
The four soldiers move down the passageway to the doors shields raised they press them against the doors and begin to push but just as soon as they do that two of them cry out in pain as 6 javelins are plunged out through some of the holes at the soldiers wounding two. The soldiers are instantly aware as they push against the doors that no one here will be able to break down this sturdy door just with strength alone. They would realize a battering ram or something is required.

[samvandenberg]

Kermit says to Donahue "Get them out of there. We need a ram"

[samvandenberg]

45.) Donahue recalls the men back from the doors. Then he tells four of the soldiers to go back out, climb up back to the woods and chop down a tree large enough to make a long battering ram. He tells them to get axes out of the camp gear on the horses.

[samvandenberg]

45.) Ronald simply watches this happen

[samvandenberg]

45.) Kermit waits and watches

[samvandenberg]

46.
Okay so four of the soldiers leave out of the cave. Time passes. After what you guess would be a little under a half of an hour the four return carrying a 10 ft long 1 ft diameter tree that they've trimmed down leaving branches for handles to make a battering ram that 5 people can handle.

[samvandenberg]

46.) Kermit takes out his crossbow and loads it