[Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

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[Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by VinyanyĂ©rĂ« »

So some time back Ear was asking if anyone wanted to do this and we got some responses. This time we’re actually going to do it.

What we’re doing (for complete beginners): Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game published by Wizards of the Coast. It consists of a group (usually 3-6) of players who control characters and embark on adventures given to them by an additional player called a dungeon master (DM). D&D has a long history that I won’t get into here, but the release of the fifth edition of the game (5E) has attracted a considerable amount of attention.

If you’ve never played a tabletop RPG before, the closest analogy that might make sense is a Western-RPG game like Skyrim, or, even more accurately, CRPG games like Pillars of Eternity and Divinity: Original Sin. You control an individual character that you get to decide the backstory, class, and playstyle of, and work with other people to achieve desired goals. However, there’s a few things that are worth noting if you’ve played computer RPGs but not tabletop ones:

  • It’s a tabletop game, not a video game. This means that there are no animations, game pieces have limited representations on the board, and the rules of the game inherently cannot address every situation that arises. Your and the other players’ imagination is essential both to making the game enjoyable and mechanically feasible.
  • There’s a social aspect. You’re not playing alone, you’re playing with a group of other people. Your party members are often working towards the same goal, but may not agree on the best way to achieve it, and sometimes may even differ on what to do at all.
  • There’s no real notion of “winning”. The DM’s goal isn’t to prevent you from achieving yours but rather is to make that achievement enjoyable by putting obstacles in your way. You’re winning if you’re having fun. That doesn’t necessarily exclude min-maxing your character to be the best they can possibly be, but it does encourage things that might not be seen as often in a video game like roleplaying, doing “what your character would do”, and so on.
  • Unpredictable things happen. A video game is able to limit what you’re able to do through its mechanics and through “game logic”, like invisible walls, or limited conversation options, or limited quest triggers. A tabletop game throws away all of that and instead limits you only by your imagination and your DM’s ability to keep up. If you’ve ever played Divinity: Original Sin, you’ve seen how player freedom in how they approach objectives can lead to massive differences in what results they see. Tabletop games amplify this enormously.

What we’re doing (for people who already know what I’m talking about): A reasonably short 5e adventure, with the potential to go further if there’s interest and time. I’ll be DMing this unless someone else has DM’d before and really wants to do it. For the first adventure, we’ll probably run the WOTC-published Lost Mines of Phandelver. It’s a good introductory point, and I’ve run through parts of it already so I’ll have some preparation available.

How we’re doing this: Through roll20.net

That’s a website which facilitates playing tabletop RPGs online. It takes a little bit of time to get used to but is a great tool that’s receiving continuous development.

When we’re doing this: Plan for three to five sessions of three to five hours each. Timezones will make things complicated, but we’ll probably be able to work something out. Chances are we’ll be playing on weekends, but scheduling will happen once we have an idea of who’s playing.

Who’s doing this: There’s me on the DM role (unless someone else really wants it), and there’s @fightinfrenchman and @chrisie who are going to be players. The ear has given me his word on pain of two thousand years of ban that he won’t troll (this entire thing was his idea anyway). Chrisie is great at D&D and will likely end up helping you all (and me) with rules and staying organized. We’re interested in adding one to three more players for a party of three to five. I’d be hesitant to add any more than that, but if this goes well you may have a chance to play in the future.

In a last thread on the subject I saw potential interest from @hleung, @princeofcarthage, @Cometk, and @Mitoe. There’s a lot of purple in that list, and so I’d love to see some other colors of people represented too. Sircallen is not invited.

What you’ll need: A working mic and computer. In order to play the game, it’s recommended that you acquire a copy of the 5th edition of the Player’s Handbook, but if you can’t do that for whatever reason, there are subsets of it available online at websites like http://www.open5e.com

A webcam is also strongly recommended and borderline mandatory. After a discussion on the subject with chrisie, I think that having a camera to get peoples’ facial expressions and reactions is an essential part of the D&D experience that we’d want to capture if at all possible. If you can’t do this or aren’t willing to, I won’t go so far as to say that you won’t be allowed to play outright, but I think that you and everyone else will have a substantially diminished experience without one.

If you’re already familiar with the character creation process, feel free to make a character of any race/class combination in PHB (if you have supplementary materials that you want to make a character from, this is probably fine, but please check with me first). We’ll be using Standard Point Buy for ability scores. If you don’t know what any of this means, don’t worry, we’ll make characters during the first session, or I’ll call you for a one-on-one character creation session before we play. Take some time to review the races and classes available so that you’ll have some idea of what you want to play, though.

Q&A:

I didn’t sign up in time/can’t commit to this/don’t want to play but am still interested, halp!

Depending on interest, I may record this or, internet connection permitting, livestream it. There’s a good chance that even failing this I will summarize the events that happen during the game in this thread or another similar one.

Is that Divinity: Original Sin II campaign still happening?

Yes, but it’s on hold while we wait for the definitive edition to come out in August.

I don’t want to be involved in this nerd stuff.

Fear not, you’re aren’t required to be involved.

I have a question that wasn’t listed here. Also, most of the “questions” in this section aren’t.

Feel free to add questions or comments as long as they are good ones.
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by deleted_user »

I don't want to play with Ear. I think he'll troll.
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

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Post by VinyanyĂ©rĂ« »

You're not invited anyway.
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

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Post by deleted_user »

Smart move. I'd troll.
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

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Post by fightinfrenchman »

After borderline begging you to make this post for so long, I considered just posting "playing d&d is for fucking nerds" to make this whole thing a months-long troll.

But I'm actually really excited about this
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by hleung »

Thanks for making a thread on this subject, duck.

As of now, there are some complications for me to actually be able to attend this D&D campaign that you have been planning on. Timezones being one and the time required for a brief preparation being another. I don't have a webcam installed on my new PC either, nor is there even a suitable place to install one without causing issues. I am also working on a few major projects coupled with various lunch/supper meetings with my friends, so my schedule for the next few weeks is going to be a tight one.

For now, unless I say otherwise, please just put me on the reserve list instead, so that others can take my slot if they show any interest while I am effectively afk. If there's anything, please send me a PM on discord instead, since I don't have time to scroll through discord servers these days. Thanks for organising this community event again, duck. :flowers:
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by edeholland »

I am interested and not purple yet.
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by QueenOfdestiny »

Me play want to this. Plz
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by Jam »

Vinyanenya wrote:You’re winning if you’re having fun.
What a nice sentiment. :smile:
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by wardyb1 »

Does this mean we have some Critical Role fans on this forum?
“To love the journey is to accept no such end. I have found, through painful experience, that the most important step a person can take is always the next one.”
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by chrisie »

wardyb1 wrote:Does this mean we have some Critical Role fans on this forum?


At least one :D
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by fightinfrenchman »

wardyb1 wrote:Does this mean we have some Critical Role fans on this forum?


I've heard of it but actually was inspired to play by a newer podcast called Not Another D&D podcast
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

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Post by deleted_user0 »

fightinfrenchman wrote:After borderline begging you to make this post for so long, I considered just posting "playing d&d is for fucking nerds" to make this whole thing a months-long troll.

But I'm actually really excited about this


playing d&d is for fucking nerds...
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by Jaeger »

Aww I so wish I could play, I've always wanted to try a table top RPG; but I can't commit to that ammount of time right now :(
last time i cryed was because i stood on Legoï»ż
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Post by VinyanyĂ©rĂ« »

So looks like we've got Ear, Chrisie, and Queen confirmed with Edeholland in the maybe/yes category (unless @edeholland meant yes? How interested are you? Do you have any questions?). I'll wait a little bit longer to see if anyone else has interest before working on scheduling and planning with the people we have.

@hleung sorry to hear that, hopefully we'll see you in the DoS2 run later in the year :)
@Jaeger sorry to hear that, hopefully we'll see you in another D&D adventure later in the year/life :)
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by gibson »

I dont wanna be involved in this nerd shit
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by fightinfrenchman »

My character's first or last name is going to be pinna in reference to this classic post viewtopic.php?f=318&t=3287&p=69362#p69927
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by edeholland »

Hey bunch of scared noobs, we need more people to sign up. Sign up now!

Seriously, sign up now or Duck will have me killed. This was not the meetup I expected.
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by Goodspeed »

I heard it has dice tho
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by kami_ryu »

-- deleted post --

Reason: on request (off-topic bulk delete)
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by fightinfrenchman »

kami_ryu wrote:If there is no win condition, then how does the game end?


When everyone dies (irl)
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by VinyanyĂ©rĂ« »

kami_ryu wrote:If there is no win condition, then how does the game end?


Valid answer: when someone stops having fun.

Helpful answer: a d&d "game" consists of one or more campaigns, each of which consists of one or more adventures, each of which consists of one or more sessions. A session is a length of time where people sit down and play. A session is like a chapter, an adventure a book, and a campaign a series. Some books don't get sequels, possibly because they sucked or possibly because they didn't need one. Some books do get sequels but are still self-contained enough to read without needing the sequels. You get to stop reading whenever you want, but some places tend to be better stopping points than others. The adventure we're running, Lost Mines of Phandelver, is like the first book in a series that you don't need to read all of to still have a good experience.
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by fightinfrenchman »

Vinyanenya wrote:
kami_ryu wrote:If there is no win condition, then how does the game end?


Valid answer: when someone stops having fun.

Helpful answer: a d&d "game" consists of one or more campaigns, each of which consists of one or more adventures, each of which consists of one or more sessions. A session is a length of time where people sit down and play. A session is like a chapter, an adventure a book, and a campaign a series. Some books don't get sequels, possibly because they sucked or possibly because they didn't need one. Some books do get sequels but are still self-contained enough to read without needing the sequels. You get to stop reading whenever you want, but some places tend to be better stopping points than others. The adventure we're running, Lost Mines of Phandelver, is like the first book in a series that you don't need to read all of to still have a good experience.


And nothing is even attempted to be scheduled. Sad!
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by VinyanyĂ©rĂ« »

I'm making dinner rn, scheduling will happen afterwards
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Re: [Actually Happening] ESOC D&D Adventure

Post by fightinfrenchman »

Vinyanenya wrote:I'm making dinner rn, scheduling will happen afterwards


It's almost 1 am dude
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