D&D 4E Running player commentary on PCat's 4E Campaign - Heroic tier (finished)

[Piratecat]

I just realized that you guys have no leader! What are you doing about healing and buffs?
-blarg

My expectation? Suffering!

With a ton of strikers, they will annihilate anything they get the jump on (to wit, one extremely peeved and ineffectual snapjaw crocodile.) They may be in trouble in an extended fight. The ranger, Dr. Caldwell, also has substantial skill in healing. I have a possible NPC to help with this, but I don't want to use her unless the PCs need the backup.

 

[mach1.9pants]

My expectation? Suffering!

With a ton of strikers, they will annihilate anything they get the jump on (to wit, one extremely peeved and ineffectual snapjaw crocodile.) They may be in trouble in an extended fight. The ranger, Dr. Caldwell, also has substantial skill in healing. I have a possible NPC to help with this, but I don't want to use her unless the PCs need the backup.

yeah they are going to have some swingy fights! That was my first thought..they will either slaughter baddies quickly or have to run away because of a lack of healing. Should be fun...

...for the DM

Be interesting to see how it goes..bookmarked

 

[Hypersmurf]

And yeah, Hyp., I liked the name so much I repurposed it. Very different personalities, though.

So do either of them answer to 'Juicy'?

-Hyp.

 

[Fifth Element]

I've read Piratecat's story hours before and he puts a hell of a lot of effort into his games... so why did the players choose non-fantasy names that truly suck? They really break the verisimilitude unless, of course, this is consistent with the game world.

Wow, that's, um...really hostile and insulting to a bunch of people you don't know from Adam.

 

[Foundry of Decay]

I personally can't wait to read more on this. I enjoyed the last epic PirateCat storyhour and the subsequent discussions and revelations about the behind the scenes of the game itself.

I also love the fact that the players put in a great deal of work on their characters. And yes, that includes the names. (I'm still trying to get one of my players out of the habit of using terrible JRPG names and its starting to work.. Though the fact he had one character named 'Avec' was pushing it. 'With' isn't too epic a sounding name in any language.)

Looking forward to more reports!

 

[blargney the second]

My expectation? Suffering!

With a ton of strikers, they will annihilate anything they get the jump on (to wit, one extremely peeved and ineffectual snapjaw crocodile.) They may be in trouble in an extended fight.

That sounds about right. My prediction is that they'll be able to get by at first, maybe second level. As soon as monster hps start ballooning past the point where they can drop them in one round, trouble's gonna come knockin'. Hard.
-blarg

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Did someone say Campaign Wiki? Where? Where?

I've always heard it said that you should never be afraid to steal good stuff from other people, and I reckon this is the group I could steal the most from! So, yes, I'd like to see it.

Sagiro, many thanks for starting this up - looking forward to reading more in a couple of weeks.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I have a campaign wiki I can share if anyone is curious.

You have to ask?

 

[Nikosandros]

Jack, we play my game every other week, and Sagiro's game every other every other week. So about 25 times a year per.

Will the advancement rate be slowed somewhat?

 

[el-remmen]

I look forward to more.

A couple of comments:

On starting a new campaign: It was not as long between starting campaigns for me as for Piratecat (5 years, not 16), but I know the feeling of intimidation and worry. . . The previous campaign can have so much momentum and backstory built up it can be easier to figure out what to spring at the party next and what makes the most sense in terms of results/reactions. . . With a new campaign every decision has a greater potential to take the game in a whole new direction - and what if it is a sucky one?

On length: My current campaign is closing in on 2 years long and I feel like it is just getting past those "beginning stages" and finally getting to the meat of it. I expect the game to last 5 or 6 years - so I totally hear where Sagiro is coming from regarding feeling like a 5 or 6 years is just getting started.

On Names: Personally, I prefer real world names (or variation thereof) to too many crazy fantasy names. I mean, those are good too for the occasional villianous NPC or member of some bizarre culture - but typically I am happy taking names from the closest cultural analog to places in my campaign setting and using those. I remember when I first started my "Out of the Frying Pan" story hour someone made a comment about the names from the Bible I used for some NPCs and how his players would have been too taken out of it by such names. . . Personally, I'd rather use names the players can actually remember rather than something like Elamurix, or whatever. . .

Oh, and yeah, Cobalt should totally be nicknamed "Bait".