Brother Allard
First Post
Seriously. How much longer do you think you can resist?
That's right. I'm talking to YOU!
The pressure is mounting.
That's right. I'm talking to YOU!
The pressure is mounting.
-
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Gaming W/Jemal - Epic Mortal Kombat (Character creation.)
- Thread starter Jemal
- Start date
crazy_monkey1956
First Post
Just chiming in with...
I've DMed epic before but a)it has been in face-to-face groups, b)I'm of the opinion that playing a character to epic level is much more satisfying than creating them at epic levels, and c)I've never run a PBP, though I did run several successful PBeMs back in the mid-90s.
So, with that in mind...
Am I volunteering? I could be persuaded, but I'd need some help getting used to the PBP format. I would have to rain on the parade a little, however, and limit character options to Core, Psionics SRD, Epic SRD, Divine SRD, Savage Species, Unearthed Arcana (on a case by case basis), Monster Manual II (referencing the Wizards 3.5 update file as appropriate), and Libris Mortis. What follows below are some campaign ideas.
The Elder Dragons
At the dawn of creation, ten elder dragons were created from the nothingness. These beings held the keys to the divine spark and were appointed as guardians and watchers of the mortal races, waiting for the time when the best would step forward and claim the mantle of deity. That time has finally come, but as the centuries passed, several of the elder dragons became greedy, seeking to covet the deific power for themselves. Now, what was to be freely given must be taken.
The main theme of Elder Dragons is becoming a god, by petitioning the Elder Dragons. The Elder Dragons themselves are Divine Rank 0 Great Wyrms of each of the Chromatic and Metallic colors. Some of the chromatics no longer want to play and must be taken down. The campaign world is a homebrew with no deities, though there are clerics of philosophical concepts. Starting level would be 21 with an eye toward ending at about 30.
The Corruption
In the final epic battle against a demon lord, the heroes and their foe rained such magic upon the land that, although victorious, the heroes, in their final, valiant attack, accidentally created a temporal rift which they fell through. After mere moments, the heroes return, only to find that centuries have passed. The demon lord's cunning lieutenant, now an arch-lich, has defiled the land, creating a realm of death and undead. The heroes now must face an entire world of the damned and seek out the Arch-Lich.
The main theme of The Corruption is two-fold. Heroes of old returning for another epic battle, but with an emphasis on "stranger-in-a-strange-land" feel, as they are the only living beings left in the world. Secondly, the dilemma faced by the heroes is whether they should seek out and destroy the Arch-Lich, or instead find some way to go back and prevent his rise to power to begin with. Enemies, themes, and campaign elements will be drawn extensively from Libris Mortis. Starting level would be approximately 25 (enough to have defeated a minor demon lord at full power) with an eye toward ending in the mid-30s.
Hero Worship
Action! Adventure! Damsels in Distress! A group of heroes is needed in this time of crisis to step forward and form an unprecedented team to combat the most implacable of foes.
Epic...with a twist. The idea here is taking an epic scale D&D character, created with D&D rules, and plopping them down into a modern setting that otherwise is bereft of magic...except of course for the villains. Starting level 21, and the sky is the limit after that.
I must conclude by saying that I'm still very iffy about the whole PBP thing, so, while I'm open to making the attempt, I can't guarantee that this will last beyond the initial discussion phase.
I've DMed epic before but a)it has been in face-to-face groups, b)I'm of the opinion that playing a character to epic level is much more satisfying than creating them at epic levels, and c)I've never run a PBP, though I did run several successful PBeMs back in the mid-90s.
So, with that in mind...
Am I volunteering? I could be persuaded, but I'd need some help getting used to the PBP format. I would have to rain on the parade a little, however, and limit character options to Core, Psionics SRD, Epic SRD, Divine SRD, Savage Species, Unearthed Arcana (on a case by case basis), Monster Manual II (referencing the Wizards 3.5 update file as appropriate), and Libris Mortis. What follows below are some campaign ideas.
The Elder Dragons
At the dawn of creation, ten elder dragons were created from the nothingness. These beings held the keys to the divine spark and were appointed as guardians and watchers of the mortal races, waiting for the time when the best would step forward and claim the mantle of deity. That time has finally come, but as the centuries passed, several of the elder dragons became greedy, seeking to covet the deific power for themselves. Now, what was to be freely given must be taken.
The main theme of Elder Dragons is becoming a god, by petitioning the Elder Dragons. The Elder Dragons themselves are Divine Rank 0 Great Wyrms of each of the Chromatic and Metallic colors. Some of the chromatics no longer want to play and must be taken down. The campaign world is a homebrew with no deities, though there are clerics of philosophical concepts. Starting level would be 21 with an eye toward ending at about 30.
The Corruption
In the final epic battle against a demon lord, the heroes and their foe rained such magic upon the land that, although victorious, the heroes, in their final, valiant attack, accidentally created a temporal rift which they fell through. After mere moments, the heroes return, only to find that centuries have passed. The demon lord's cunning lieutenant, now an arch-lich, has defiled the land, creating a realm of death and undead. The heroes now must face an entire world of the damned and seek out the Arch-Lich.
The main theme of The Corruption is two-fold. Heroes of old returning for another epic battle, but with an emphasis on "stranger-in-a-strange-land" feel, as they are the only living beings left in the world. Secondly, the dilemma faced by the heroes is whether they should seek out and destroy the Arch-Lich, or instead find some way to go back and prevent his rise to power to begin with. Enemies, themes, and campaign elements will be drawn extensively from Libris Mortis. Starting level would be approximately 25 (enough to have defeated a minor demon lord at full power) with an eye toward ending in the mid-30s.
Hero Worship
Action! Adventure! Damsels in Distress! A group of heroes is needed in this time of crisis to step forward and form an unprecedented team to combat the most implacable of foes.
Epic...with a twist. The idea here is taking an epic scale D&D character, created with D&D rules, and plopping them down into a modern setting that otherwise is bereft of magic...except of course for the villains. Starting level 21, and the sky is the limit after that.
I must conclude by saying that I'm still very iffy about the whole PBP thing, so, while I'm open to making the attempt, I can't guarantee that this will last beyond the initial discussion phase.
Insight
Adventurer
crazypixie said:
Me likee!
I find this to be the best of your propositions, thematically. I like the fact that the heroes are intrinsically involved in the BBEG's rise to power and should feel responsible for it, and have the power to do something about it. Plus, I like Undead. Would you allow Undead PCs (perhaps those transformed during the final battle pre-temporal rift)? Just a thought.
crazy_monkey1956
First Post
Absolutely, although I would prefer an undead with an established level adjustment, one of the ones presented in Libris Mortis as a monster class, or something relatively easy to adapt.
As an aside, I have a few minor tweaks and house rules that I use. For those who are interested, how "by-the-book" do you prefer your games?
As an aside, I have a few minor tweaks and house rules that I use. For those who are interested, how "by-the-book" do you prefer your games?
Jemal
Adventurer
Hmmm.. Personally, I would NOT suggest starting your first PBP as an EPIC DM.
Trust me, PBP can be very fun, but it IS different from Pen&Paper/Face2Face. I find that because it's a written format, there's a lot more description and thought (On both the DM and Player's parts). It also takes a lot of getting used to, and you don't know the people you're playing with as well as you'd like.
That being said, I'd suggest you play a couple before you try your hand at DMing.
(I can't believe I just tried to Persuade someone AWAY from DMing Epic... damnit, now I HAVE to or the others'll kill me.)
OK, Guys & Gals, gimme a couple weeks (I'm heading home soon for my week off, and will be rather busy to start a new game) and I'll come up with something.
crazypixie, I'd like you to try your hand at Playing in one of my Epic Games to see how PBP's tend to go, and then maybe you can return the favour and run a game that I can get into, eh?
*EXTRA: I'm open to suggestions, but I think I have an idea for an Epic Campaign.. I originally ran it for my friends IRL and they've been ravign at me to do it again.
It's a 'mortal kombat' style tournament, full of Fighter Types (Nobody with major spellcasting), but don't worry, it's not set up like all those other tournaments. A group of Epic fighters (I'm thinking somewhere from LVL 25 - 40) gets brought to this Demi-plane Island and dropped off. In the center of the island is a Castle. nobody can enter the castle and it's guarded by Demi-Gods. Some of the participants are here of their own will, others are not. Nobody can leave the plane, and at the begining a guy would inform you that within the clearing around the castle, you cannot affect each other in any way. The object is simple... 8 of you get to go Inside...
You get 1 point for bringing back a dead body (Or majority thereof). 2 points for bringing them back unconscious, 3 points if you can get them to surrender.
When there are only 16 left, there is a 24 hour period in which the 'safe zone' around the castle is gone, except a 20' square in front of the gates. After that 24 hours, the 8 with the highest scores are allowed in. Any others, well....
It will NOT be just fighting, there's a LOT of roleplaying involved, there's various things on the island, places to explore & hide, non-participants that still need to be 'handled', and then there's finding out what's going on INSIDE the castle.
Many of the participants form groups, and split the points amongst themselves. For simplicity's sake, it would probably be best if the PC's were of groups that could easily work together.
I'm not saying it's required, though.
As for # of PC's, b/c this is a Non-spellcaster campaign, and of how it's set up, I could handle quite a few.
As I stated, I won't be starting for a while, but I'm willing to Discuss for the next couple weeks.
Trust me, PBP can be very fun, but it IS different from Pen&Paper/Face2Face. I find that because it's a written format, there's a lot more description and thought (On both the DM and Player's parts). It also takes a lot of getting used to, and you don't know the people you're playing with as well as you'd like.
That being said, I'd suggest you play a couple before you try your hand at DMing.
(I can't believe I just tried to Persuade someone AWAY from DMing Epic... damnit, now I HAVE to or the others'll kill me.)
OK, Guys & Gals, gimme a couple weeks (I'm heading home soon for my week off, and will be rather busy to start a new game) and I'll come up with something.
crazypixie, I'd like you to try your hand at Playing in one of my Epic Games to see how PBP's tend to go, and then maybe you can return the favour and run a game that I can get into, eh?
*EXTRA: I'm open to suggestions, but I think I have an idea for an Epic Campaign.. I originally ran it for my friends IRL and they've been ravign at me to do it again.
It's a 'mortal kombat' style tournament, full of Fighter Types (Nobody with major spellcasting), but don't worry, it's not set up like all those other tournaments. A group of Epic fighters (I'm thinking somewhere from LVL 25 - 40) gets brought to this Demi-plane Island and dropped off. In the center of the island is a Castle. nobody can enter the castle and it's guarded by Demi-Gods. Some of the participants are here of their own will, others are not. Nobody can leave the plane, and at the begining a guy would inform you that within the clearing around the castle, you cannot affect each other in any way. The object is simple... 8 of you get to go Inside...
You get 1 point for bringing back a dead body (Or majority thereof). 2 points for bringing them back unconscious, 3 points if you can get them to surrender.
When there are only 16 left, there is a 24 hour period in which the 'safe zone' around the castle is gone, except a 20' square in front of the gates. After that 24 hours, the 8 with the highest scores are allowed in. Any others, well....
It will NOT be just fighting, there's a LOT of roleplaying involved, there's various things on the island, places to explore & hide, non-participants that still need to be 'handled', and then there's finding out what's going on INSIDE the castle.
Many of the participants form groups, and split the points amongst themselves. For simplicity's sake, it would probably be best if the PC's were of groups that could easily work together.
I'm not saying it's required, though.
As for # of PC's, b/c this is a Non-spellcaster campaign, and of how it's set up, I could handle quite a few.
As I stated, I won't be starting for a while, but I'm willing to Discuss for the next couple weeks.
crazy_monkey1956
First Post
You're probably right about my playing in a PBP first, to get my feet wet.
I'm not sure I quite understand the set-up you have going here. It appears to be a competition, but I'm not clear on the whys and wherefores. A little clarification, perhaps?
I'm not sure I quite understand the set-up you have going here. It appears to be a competition, but I'm not clear on the whys and wherefores. A little clarification, perhaps?
Jemal
Adventurer
that's actually part of the Campaign is the "why". As stated, some are here by choice (They were approached and/or heard of a "tournament" of all the most powerful fighters, and decided they could win. Others were 'plucked' there by an unknown being, and forced to compete.
One of the primary goals would be finding out WHY this tournament is taking place. There are rumours (Anybody with good know:history would know this as true) that this 'tournament' is held every century, but most of the participants are never heard from again.
Some believe the winners transcend to god-hood, others believe they go to another plane where their power is challenged and grows even more. Still more believe whoever's running the Tourney is doing something untoward, maybe killing or enslaving the winners...
A fourth line of thought is that the Tournament is run to maintain balance, removing the most powerful creatures from the Universe every hundred years, so that they don't upset the balance, or perhaps try to challenge the God's themselves.
One of the primary goals would be finding out WHY this tournament is taking place. There are rumours (Anybody with good know:history would know this as true) that this 'tournament' is held every century, but most of the participants are never heard from again.
Some believe the winners transcend to god-hood, others believe they go to another plane where their power is challenged and grows even more. Still more believe whoever's running the Tourney is doing something untoward, maybe killing or enslaving the winners...
A fourth line of thought is that the Tournament is run to maintain balance, removing the most powerful creatures from the Universe every hundred years, so that they don't upset the balance, or perhaps try to challenge the God's themselves.
crazy_monkey1956
First Post
Another question then: the books I mentioned in my above post are the only ones I have access to. In your opinion, would a character from those sources be able to compete, in terms of game mechanics, with and against characters created from a more robust helping of supplements?
Jemal
Adventurer
Well, in the original I ran, the most powerful character was a straight human fighter with nothing but Core+Epic, so I'd have to say yes.
*Also, I hope/expect that there will be some "Grouping" amonsgt the PC's, so it won't be neccesarily PC vs PC.
I'd allow any book so long as the specifics are passed by me.
I would NOT be allowing any of the following:
Spells beyond 4th level.
Divine Metamagic
Incarnum
Book of 9swords
Psionics
Any of the "power builds" from the Wizco Optimization Boards (If you don't know what these are, GOOD. if you do, Don't try them.)
One thing I DO enjoy a lot when DMing is giving each player something Unique, that isn't available to the other PC's. For this campaign, I'd be allowing each of you something fairly powerful...
Such could be a customized Prestige class, a special race, an ability that's not normally allowed, access to a NON-Wizards book (Mongoose, etc), or even an Artifact.
As an example, in my original one, one of the PC's created his own 10-lvl Prestige class (And it's epic part), another gained several abilities that made him essentially a construct, and had dual-personalities (both with different levels), A third was his own designed race and had a pair of special weapons that could Alter it's enhancement (Goign from a +10 to a +9 Keen, or a +8 Flaming Burst, etc) and another.. well, he's our resident "uber-twinker", so his 'special power' was that I didn't say NO to his character.
He was a bit miffed, but didn't lag far behind the others, and enjoyed the campaign, so we counted it a sucess.
*Also, I hope/expect that there will be some "Grouping" amonsgt the PC's, so it won't be neccesarily PC vs PC.
I'd allow any book so long as the specifics are passed by me.
I would NOT be allowing any of the following:
Spells beyond 4th level.
Divine Metamagic
Incarnum
Book of 9swords
Psionics
Any of the "power builds" from the Wizco Optimization Boards (If you don't know what these are, GOOD. if you do, Don't try them.)
One thing I DO enjoy a lot when DMing is giving each player something Unique, that isn't available to the other PC's. For this campaign, I'd be allowing each of you something fairly powerful...
Such could be a customized Prestige class, a special race, an ability that's not normally allowed, access to a NON-Wizards book (Mongoose, etc), or even an Artifact.
As an example, in my original one, one of the PC's created his own 10-lvl Prestige class (And it's epic part), another gained several abilities that made him essentially a construct, and had dual-personalities (both with different levels), A third was his own designed race and had a pair of special weapons that could Alter it's enhancement (Goign from a +10 to a +9 Keen, or a +8 Flaming Burst, etc) and another.. well, he's our resident "uber-twinker", so his 'special power' was that I didn't say NO to his character.
He was a bit miffed, but didn't lag far behind the others, and enjoyed the campaign, so we counted it a sucess.Similar Threads
