[dungeoncrawl] Re: Tuesday morning review
- From: Johnathan Detrick <jdetrick@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: dungeoncrawl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 11:28:23 -0500
I don't personally care where we play. Matt's house as more activity,
although it's nice to see his family. Certainly, considering where the two of
you live in relation to each other, it's not an inconvenience to move from one
to the other. I do know, that when I DM'd, I did find it helpful to do so at my
house. Call it the home court advantage.
Damon Kline wrote:
> Yes, another thing that I've been toying around with is possibly moving D&D
> night over to my house, just for my time as DM. We have plenty of room down
> in the basement now, so we would have space to play. It might help me,
> because I could get things set up ahead of time, to save time and then of
> course, I have all of the tools at my disposal all of the time. Not that I
> can't just run over to Matt's and get what I need, it's just a bit more
> convenient.
>
> I have only been thinking about this lately and I don't know that it would
> be a huge deal, but it would give Lori a break from us for a bit and
> possibly help me to be a bit more prepared. The only downside to this is
> that I know Cyndi likes her time by herself on Monday nights, but my thought
> is that if we are down in the basement with the door closed, we should
> bother her. Unless she wanted to come down and do laundry, play Xbox or
> whatever.
>
> If no one else minds playing at my house, I'll say something to her and see
> what she thinks. If anyone has a problem with it, especially Matt since I'm
> sure it's nice not to have to go anywhere, please let me know.
>
> If we decide to move, it would only have to be during my time as DM if that
> is preferred. We could always move back when we are done with the Sigil.
> Anyway, let me know your thoughts on that.
>
> As for combat, you would have figured this out eventually anyway, but I am
> going to complete the third book in the boxed set. That is what I have been
> setting up here since you came to this world. Now obviously, that is not
> all that is going on, since you are finding coins with Lopan's head on them,
> but the boxed set is a part of it. There were three sections to the boxed
> set and the group only finished the first two. So, I'm finishing the third
> which you should start the next time we play. I'm really hoping that brings
> things back into that old sense of tension and drama. We shall see.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Johnathan Detrick [mailto:jdetrick@xxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2002 10:36 AM
> To: dungeoncrawl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [dungeoncrawl] Re: Tuesday morning review
>
> I think you are still doing a great job as DM. I just think you need to
> stop handling these characters with kid gloves. They are high enough level
> now
> that they can handle quite a bit in the way of threats, so I think you
> should
> plan to overwhelm them, and then let them get their own butts out of the
> fire.
> As you say, they can run. They can also use group strategy. As I mentioned
> last night, Cullen has basically been sleeping through the recent fights,
> just
> pulling out his swords and becoming a fighter. While it works for the
> character, who needs to release some frustration of his own, he can do a lot
> more if given the incentive (such as saving his butt from certain death).
> I also think that you are suffering from players that are distracted or
> not
> focused. However, the holidays are a hard time for anyone to focus. And my
> understanding is that we will eventually be downstairs in the basement, cut
> off
> from any human contact. :) Once we get into 2003, I feel that the players
> will
> be in tune with your plans. After all, I think the players have the highest
> interest in this campaign as any campaign they have played, so everything
> will
> come together once the insanity of the holidays is over.
>
> Damon Kline wrote:
>
> > Thank you John for the review. I'm going to get in the habit of posting
> the
> > latest review on the web site and keeping an archive of past reviews there
> > as well.
> >
> > As for the campaign, I have to admit that I have been struggling lately
> with
> > the fights. I don't know why, but I can't seem to come up with a good
> > balance of villains that will give the party a challenge, without
> > overwhelming them. One thing that helped me in the past was that I had a
> > boxed set to base things off of. While I didn't adhere completely to
> their
> > specifications, it gave me a good base from witch to plan my encounters.
> >
> > With that in mind, I have been doing my own thing for a long while now
> with
> > the campaign and it has really been lacking in the combat department.
> With
> > these guys, role-playing is never a problem. It comes so naturally to
> this
> > group, it's like breathing. But for me, when I am planning out the combat
> > that I want to use for the evening, I just can't seem to get the balance
> > right.
> >
> > On top of that, I have not been having the villains use strategy. I don't
> > know why, but I'm having a mental block on this stuff lately. I'm not
> > burned out on the campaign at all, I'm very excited about it. I'm not
> > overwhelmed with other things, I have plenty of time to get things
> prepared
> > for each week and I feel good about where I want to take the group.
> >
> > But when I get to the combat situations, no amount of planning seems to be
> > able to give me enough "umph" to make it have tension. Now, last night I
> > had planned to throw a few more things at the group, but I changed my mind
> > because your were down by two characters. So, my thought is now I think
> > going to be to throw a lot at the group and if they are being overwhelmed,
> > then it is their responsibility to run if they have to. I'm not going to
> > intentionally try to overwhelm the group at all, although I think I would
> be
> > pretty hard pressed to do that with these guys anyway. But as I work on
> my
> > balancing act to feel out how well the party can handle things, I just ask
> > that you bear with me.
> >
> > The other advantage that I had before with the Sigil, is that I had been
> > DMing them straight through from first level on up and I was well aware of
> > what everyone could do, what items they had, etc. Since we've taken
> several
> > extended breaks, we've added three new characters and the levels are up
> > there, it is very hard for me to keep track of what everyone can do and
> what
> > they can take.
> >
> > However, I know I've said this before, but the next time we play, I hope,
> > should prove to get things rolling for these guys and hopefully bring the
> > campaign back up to the level that it had previously been. I firmly
> believe
> > that the combats will have that tension to them again and the group will
> be
> > focused, at least towards a common goal, if not internally between the
> > characters.
> >
> > Please feel free to comment and discuss, as I should be at my desk working
> > on some things for a while.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Johnathan Detrick [mailto:jdetrick@xxxxxxxxxxx]
> > Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2002 9:48 AM
> > To: Riders II
> > Subject: [dungeoncrawl] Tuesday morning review
> >
> > Last night, the Sigil reunited on the battlefield where the scouts
> > had recently fought evil's minions. They were unable to accomplish
> > much, as the beholder attacked from above, a trio of minions attacked
> > from the passageway outside, and a mind flayer appeared to attack them
> > as well. The group beat their foes, but Tori and Elizabeth were knocked
> > out and the party could not revive them. The made their way to the
> > beholder's former lair, where they were attacked by a sentient table.
> > Defeating it, they discussed the need for a leader, and Sir Ivan was
> > elected to that position. They then set watches and rested. During the
> > watch of Kage and Whilce, Whilce heard six creatures approaching them
> > (and saw their shadows), and that's where we ended.
> >
> > Last night was fun. Bobby was missed, and the mystery of why his
> > character's won't awaken is nowhere near as interesting as what the
> > group will do with them. How do you handle lugging their insensate
> > bodies through the Underdark? It's an interesting moral dilemma.
> > Last night was full of distractions, and that took away from the
> > role-playing to an extent. While the players were a little unfocused to
> > begin with, the distractions just exacerbated the situation. By the end
> > of the evening, we all came together and had quite a bit of fun. The
> > role-playing began to gel (although it wasn't horrible in the beginning
> > of the evening, and there were some good bits even then), and we ended
> > on a great note.
> > I think that another reason we may have been somewhat distracted
> > last night was because the fight, again, had no real tension. In the
> > end, I think it's because the party was too powerful for the villains
> > that they faced. I hate to say this, as I feel that the group will be
> > pelted by 20 ilithid the next time we play, but I think Damon has been
> > too easy on the Sigil for some time. To illustrate my point, cast your
> > minds back to the last time the Sigil were stuck in the Underdark,
> > before we ended the first part of the campaign. Does everyone remember
> > how difficult those fights were? Does everyone remember the time spent
> > detailing strategy and figuring out how to best foes that were too
> > powerful for the group? I remember setting traps for trolls, and
> > actually using group plans. We did that, because if we didn't, the
> > Sigil would have had their butts handed to them. While the group is
> > more powerful than they were then, they are still not strong enough that
> > the Underdark could not provide a strong challenge for them. Besides
> > the mind flayers, the beholders, drow and duergar (while not as
> > powerful) know the terrain. They should be able to have strategies and
> > traps and such set up to tip the odds in their favor. Just a thought.
> > In the end, last night was a blast, and I can't wait to see what
> > happens with Ivan as leader.
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