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[covaithe]

Yeah, I'm slightly terrified of the second PC thing. I think in an ideal world I'd love to open up second PCs now, so that we can get them in two waves, one now and one when FRPG gets approved and we get an army of genasi swordmages. But to be honest if I got hit with 20 PC submissions right now I'd probably explode. Or at least do them very slowly. And then there's the shortage of DMs. The latter is probably worse.

IMO we need another judge or two, and three or four-ish more active DMs, to be able to allow second characters.

 

[garyh]

Yeah, I'm slightly terrified of the second PC thing. I think in an ideal world I'd love to open up second PCs now, so that we can get them in two waves, one now and one when FRPG gets approved and we get an army of genasi swordmages. But to be honest if I got hit with 20 PC submissions right now I'd probably explode. Or at least do them very slowly. And then there's the shortage of DMs. The latter is probably worse.

IMO we need another judge or two, and three or four-ish more active DMs, to be able to allow second characters.

I concur. Although on the DM front, nothing brings DM's out like a tavern full of adventurers!

Personally, I'd actually probably wait to submit a second character until Martial Power is allowed.

 

[Vertexx69]

Aren't there quite a few people who haven't even gotten into 1 game yet? Allowing 2nd characters already without the resources to support them ie: DMs and judges both, could frustrate or even discourage perspective new players to living world couldn't it?

Making the experienced players choose whether to retire the character they have put so much effort into just to try the next new thing might give some of them a little more to think about than that shiney new book when 4th edition hasn't even been out for 6 months. Thats not enough time in PbP to fully test even a single class in my opinion. I understand wanting to try out every facet of the new version, but its a team sport right?

 

[Dunamin]

I agree.

There's no rush to open up for 2nd characters - we first ought to have more DMs to address the present demand.

 

[Atanatotatos]

Uhm. I don't have enough time to DM an adventure right now, but I'm starting to think about one. Also, if you guys like the idea, I'd like to add a new place in the Shifting Seas that might make it easier for DMs to find a weird place to adventure without having to invent something entirely new or link it to the outside world if they don't have the time.
It's nothing new or original, I think someone already proposed something similar here too, but I think it's practical and easily usable by different people with no regard for coherence among adventures from different DMs.

Basically, a small, small shifting Island has an entrance to a a maze (and here people think "Ugh! Another maze!") that develops underground for an unknown distance, fro many miles on each level. If you remember "The World's Largest Dungeon" you'll see immediately what I mean. An enclosed environment so large that entire sub-cultures of different races have developed. Unknown arcane experiments have created cracks in reality that allowed pieces of varius planes to mix with the "regular" dungeon (and I think this is good at the low levels we're adventuring at, so a DM who wants to play in a piece of Feywild or Elemental chaos doesn't have to justify a plane travel or downgrade the hardness of such an environment).
If more Dms decide to use this, simply create more hidden accesses, the Maze is so large that multiple parties on the same level might never meet.
To make things more interesting, a secret organization has secret interests in the place: the Order of the Phoenix. The few that know of its existance have figured out their intention is the "renewal" or "rebirth" of something, but we don't even need to figure out exactly what right now, since it's the kind of thing that could evolve into an overarching threat at higher levels of play. They might have a double facade, offering to hire adventurers to explore newly discovered sections of the Maze, or opposing the ones that disrupt their interests. All in disguise, obviously. Think Dreaming Dark + Lords of Dust, in a way.

Now I know this is full of cliches. But it's a comfortable environment to create adventures in, both short and long, and anyway, if cliches have become cliches, there's gotta be some good in them.

What do you think?

 

[covaithe]

Interesting. I'm actually too new to the D&D universe to be familiar with the Worlds Largest Dungeon except by name, but this sounds sort of like a cross between a big dungeon and the Underdark. I don't know that we have an underdark here yet; the Maze might be a fresh take on the concept.

 

[garyh]

I like the idea of the Maze. It has an old school feel to me, where you can have dungeon levels that are each a different theme, and no one complains about the ecology.

However, I'd avoid having a group called the Order of the Phoenix, as there's already a rather prominent fantasy group by that name.

 

[Atanatotatos]

I like the idea of the Maze. It has an old school feel to me, where you can have dungeon levels that are each a different theme, and no one complains about the ecology.

However, I'd avoid having a group called the Order of the Phoenix, as there's already a rather prominent fantasy group by that name.

Oh. I'm not familiar with Mrs. Rowling's works, I'm afraid. Actually I guess there are many many more "Order of the Phoenix"s in fiction, but it sounded like a pretty generic name (more like, another cliche). But eh, I guess we can think another. Is the "Brotherhood of the Phoenix" still to reminiscent? Suggestions?

And, yes, basically the appeal of that kind of environment in a shared world is that if you like it, you can place any kind of adventure there without any problem of coherence. If you don't like it, you can just ignore it, it's hidden and mostly unknown anyway.

Regarding the Underdark, I'm thinking over a couple ideas for a link between it and the Maze. I'll write more about it when I have more time...

 

[Moon_Goddess]

I think I've studied the 4e rules enough now and ran a RL session, I'm comfortable DMing a game.

Got some thoughts in mind, how do I go about becoming a DM for this?

 

[garyh]

Oh. I'm not familiar with Mrs. Rowling's works, I'm afraid. Actually I guess there are many many more "Order of the Phoenix"s in fiction, but it sounded like a pretty generic name (more like, another cliche). But eh, I guess we can think another. Is the "Brotherhood of the Phoenix" still to reminiscent? Suggestions?

And, yes, basically the appeal of that kind of environment in a shared world is that if you like it, you can place any kind of adventure there without any problem of coherence. If you don't like it, you can just ignore it, it's hidden and mostly unknown anyway.

Regarding the Underdark, I'm thinking over a couple ideas for a link between it and the Maze. I'll write more about it when I have more time...

If you're set on the "phoenix" angle, maybe Society of the Phoenix?

I think I've studied the 4e rules enough now and ran a RL session, I'm comfortable DMing a game.

Got some thoughts in mind, how do I go about becoming a DM for this?

Send a summary of your proposed adventure to l4w.judges AT gmail.com so we judges can take a look at it and make sure you aren't doing anything too crazy, and provide suggestions on fitting the adventure into the world. The DM section of the L4W charter has more info on submitting an adventure proposal. Happy to see another DM joing the ranks here at L4W!