I actually found your initial comment enlightening because of those two things you mentioned.
It's definitely a simple solution but effective.
How did you handle exploration. Did you RP it or fast forward to the location players were heading to?
Open Table Campaigns
I actually found your initial comment enlightening because of those two things you mentioned.
It's definitely a simple solution but effective.
How did you handle exploration. Did you RP it or fast forward to the location players were heading to?
Jacob Lewis
Ye Olde GM
I can see doing this for a specific style of play. I don't know what it is called, or if even there is a name for such a thing. Beer n pretzel game? Is that a thing?
Oh! I guess it is!
Anyway. I suspect there would be much less emphasis on story and characters in this kind of game, and more on builds and combat. Continuity has small value since characters will be rotated and recycled regularly. And this would not be a bad game to play in. Sometimes you just want to show up, grab a character sheet, and see how much butt gets kicked! Yours, or the monsters! This sounds like a good time!
Also, beer and pretzels.
Or beer anyway.
Oh! I guess it is!
Anyway. I suspect there would be much less emphasis on story and characters in this kind of game, and more on builds and combat. Continuity has small value since characters will be rotated and recycled regularly. And this would not be a bad game to play in. Sometimes you just want to show up, grab a character sheet, and see how much butt gets kicked! Yours, or the monsters! This sounds like a good time!
Also, beer and pretzels.
Or beer anyway.
I play in an open gaming group. We have a fairly fixed format.
Each morning we gather at the Tavern and head out of the city into the near by caves for a dungeon crawl. We have just had the 19th monthly session. Usually have 5-8 players but it has varied between 2-12.
Each session is one adventuring day. We always exit the caves and go back to town. There is a large number of caves and we just walk further to get to a new cave. Currently exploring our sixth cave and have found a staircase to level two which is were we will explore next month.
Each morning we gather at the Tavern and head out of the city into the near by caves for a dungeon crawl. We have just had the 19th monthly session. Usually have 5-8 players but it has varied between 2-12.
Each session is one adventuring day. We always exit the caves and go back to town. There is a large number of caves and we just walk further to get to a new cave. Currently exploring our sixth cave and have found a staircase to level two which is were we will explore next month.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
I've seen this done quite successfully. Each player had a stable of PCs (or rather, was allowed to have a stable of PCs). An adventure would advance time - but for that specific sub-group. So perhaps Amberle, Brandar, and Chrothgar wouldn't be available until "Day 34".
These always had both big overplots going on plus the adventures the individual groups were pursuing at the moment.
Logisitically, usually several adventures were in-play at once depending on who showed, though the easier version of that would be to (a) try to be more episodic and (b) allow characters to join mid-adventure as long as they were free. It's hard to be episodic at all times when you have real plots and not just hex/dungeon crawls.
The one I was in was "The Adventuring Company Company" - basically a bunch of adventurers who did well, and sponsored newbies to go do all the other stuff they didn't have time for. And pass down their outgrown magic items. In an FR setting where an Adventuring Charter was really expensive, so it was a great deal, and people became senior members quick enough.
One from a blogger I read is a mercenary-company-type of setup but with adventurers, and has advancement within the ranks with perks and responsibilities.
These always had both big overplots going on plus the adventures the individual groups were pursuing at the moment.
Logisitically, usually several adventures were in-play at once depending on who showed, though the easier version of that would be to (a) try to be more episodic and (b) allow characters to join mid-adventure as long as they were free. It's hard to be episodic at all times when you have real plots and not just hex/dungeon crawls.
The one I was in was "The Adventuring Company Company" - basically a bunch of adventurers who did well, and sponsored newbies to go do all the other stuff they didn't have time for. And pass down their outgrown magic items. In an FR setting where an Adventuring Charter was really expensive, so it was a great deal, and people became senior members quick enough.
One from a blogger I read is a mercenary-company-type of setup but with adventurers, and has advancement within the ranks with perks and responsibilities.
I
Immortal Sun
Guest
It is equal parts awesome and terrifying.
Sometimes, you'll end up with a "regular group" with only occasional drops and joins. 4-6 players who enjoy the game you're presenting and only drop out due to life issues or newbies usually invited by other players. This is the "sweet spot" for these kinds of tables.
Other times, you'll end up with irregular players who may play one week and then not play for months. Groups can swing from 3 players (my bare minimum for running) to 12 players or as many as can be squeezed around a 4x8 table (it's a lot more people than you think). Players who never bother to learn the rules, players who are inconsiderate towards others and know that they have no obligation you or the group or the host, players who demand special treatment because they played 6 months ago. Players who think the table functions like a democracy and try to rally the players against anything the DM does that they personally don't like.
But ya know, sometimes you get that stable group and things go great, and it makes it totally worth it.
Sometimes, you'll end up with a "regular group" with only occasional drops and joins. 4-6 players who enjoy the game you're presenting and only drop out due to life issues or newbies usually invited by other players. This is the "sweet spot" for these kinds of tables.
Other times, you'll end up with irregular players who may play one week and then not play for months. Groups can swing from 3 players (my bare minimum for running) to 12 players or as many as can be squeezed around a 4x8 table (it's a lot more people than you think). Players who never bother to learn the rules, players who are inconsiderate towards others and know that they have no obligation you or the group or the host, players who demand special treatment because they played 6 months ago. Players who think the table functions like a democracy and try to rally the players against anything the DM does that they personally don't like.
But ya know, sometimes you get that stable group and things go great, and it makes it totally worth it.
Exploration within the dungeon normally step by step but I summarise passing through explored territory.
Wilderness travel was rare and mostly summarised.
What would you do differently if you where starting over with a new group?
Why did your current group stop playing?
I often had 4 groups on the go doing Stonehell Dungeon. It worked fine. Basically I got a bit bored of Stonehell after a couple years and the 4 groups have been switched over to new stuff - Princes of the Apocalypse, Primeval Thule x2, and resumed my Rise of the Runelords/Shattered Star mashup. The Thule games are still open table but I am looking for more social roleplay, emphasis on NPC interaction etc.
The only problem with Stonehell is that kids today won't map! So it only really worked when I had rare mapper players in groups. And open table = no mapping continuity.
Edit: I use the same Open Table techniques in new Thule game, notably real time = game time. So if a month has passed in real time, a month has passed in the game.
This is how I did it with Stonehell Dungeon, yup.
