[4e] Campaign discussion thread (Full)

Howdy folks.

I want to run a game. I need players. I have ideas aplenty for a campaign, but what I really want is to run a game where the players feel invested in a meaningful way in the world. So my ideas only get me so far. I want to hear yours.
When I aggregate enough of these ideas, I'll ask for characters and we'll be off.

Toranthar - ENWiki

I'm interested. My thoughts...

I love warforged. Huge fan.

I also want to try playing a 4e orc. Big orc fan from WarCraft.

I'd also like to be able to try some different source books:
- MM races.
- genasi and swordmage from FRPG.
- races and classes from the Advanced Player's Guide.
- the half-dead race from One Bad Egg, my most recent acquisition.

Basically, I love trying non-PHB stuff whenever a DM gives me a chance. I could contribute towards developing how any of the above fit in the world.

Howdy garyh, thanks for stopping in! Could you elaborate on the 'why' part of why you like non-PHB? (warforged in particular, since they got a special mention, but the general mindset as well)

Well, I've been playing D&D long enough to have played many, many humans, elves, and dwarves, and enjoy the opportunity to try different things and explore what it means to be that race. Delving into the MM or supplements allows for that. For an example, see my Living 4th Edition pirate bugbear rogue, Hrav Kortaga.

L4WC:Hravoth Kortaga (garyh) - ENWiki - Character sheet

http://www.enworld.org/forum/living-4th-edition/241554-captains-caper-dunamin-judging.html - Adventure

As for warforged in particular, I really like them because I enjoy the outsider angle of being an artificial creature and learning to get along with the more plentiful organics. I further enjoy the default "weapon of war in peacetime" conflict they have in Eberron. Also, I like robots, and Data is possibly my favorite Star Trek character, if that helps clarify.

EDIT: Also, I enjoy actually USING some of the extra books I buy. My last 3.5 campaign featured player options from the PHB, MM, Complete Warrior, UA, AU, WoW RPG, and more.

I've been reading some old Story Hours recently, espeically Sepulchrave's (which if you've not read, you really should) and I was massively impressed by how involved in the life of the world the PC's were.

I've also recently acquired the Advanced Players Guide (thanks, Ari & Expeditious Retreat Press!) and I've seen their Nature Priest class - and it rocks.

I would love to be able to play in a game where the Nature Priest's religious views and convictions, along with the rituals they are expected to perform are treated as an integral part of the game, rather than something that gets in the way of adventuring.

I would also love to get a chance to explore what being an Eladrin or Elf means, in terms of being not-human, and thus not the dominant race. For example - living in the Feywild (for an Eladrin) and then journeying to the World. Why did the character do it? Why are they here? What differences do they notice?

Arr...it can be hard to pull off in PBP, because of the relatively high rate of player-flake, but I really love games where character background hooks are explored. There's a temptation to just churn out a paragraph or two or three for background, because it's all just fluff and doesn't really matter except to guide roleplaying (which is worthy by itself, of course). But the few games I've played where a character's background comes back to haunt, or redeem, them are the ones that achieve the status of legend in my own personal pantheon.

As I look back at the characters I've played, I see that I am fond of unusual, and often hidden, heritage which leads to unusual abilities and burdens. Many, many times the trope of "I seem human but I'm not...quite" is reiterated. Questions of identity are often central. I think the reason I keep revisiting this basic idea is because I've yet to really satisfy the concept's potential in terms of character development.

I'm also fond of characters who have other identity issues, like changelings (doppelgangers in 4e parlance) whose identity is malleable, and warforged and/or other artificial beings.

I would love a game that offered the opportunity to really tie these questions of identity and meaning that derive from one's past and one's heritage into the game's storyline...in a way that doesn't bore or leave out other characters.

Not an easy task by any means, I recognize.

I would love to put the Dragons back in Dungeons & Dragons. I have played through many dungeons already in 4E, and in some 3.5 games before that, but I haven't experienced many dragon encounters. I would love to find some way to recreate the dragon-riding exploits of the original Dragonlance books, or to somehow build a dragon-based adventure. I don't need to be fighting dragon after dragon, as that might get a bit old, but to have that flavor of draconic influence spread through everything. These are the powerful, dominating life-force in the game, as far as I'm concerned, but they're all but forgotten in most published worlds.

Shayuri said:

*snip, loads of really good stuff*

Not an easy task by any means, I recognize.

Click to expand...

Not easy, no, but if we've got a DM who is up for it let's shoot for the stars! I'd love to play in a game like that. I certainly believe that D&D (and specifically pbp with it's RP focus) can more than handle this kind of game, and I'd love to try it.

Hi to all!
Someone mentioned Sepulchrave: a type of campaign I really miss, of which the tales of Wyre are a great example, is one where there's a balanced and flavorful mix of fighting and character/world interaction/exploration. A campaign where both introspection and battle are tasted. I really have had one or the other, mostly (with some short-lived exceptions). Something mature, on the religious, racial, context side, I don't mind.
Also, I miss something Epic.
My sum-up of epic, fighting and introspection in a character? I'd say, Feanor. (from the Silmarillion. I know, too big of an idea.I'll never play a character like that.)

What were your ideas,sparky? A homebrew world? What kind of characters would you need? And what edition did you have in mind?
With the current slow-down, a new game is always welcome in my schedule ^^

I would really like to adventure inside some sort of enormous monster, lots of descriptions and interesting combat environments. This would probably take characters of at least mid-heroic tier.

I'm not as big a fan of 4e dragons, they take forever to kill, and I would bet the battle would grow boring, especially with the relatively slow pace of PbP combat.