Thoughts on the way I run my game.

[Jeremiah Holt]

I recently got the itch to run a game after taking about a 5 year break.

I know most people would this is horribly broken, but I have found that it works for me. I have a lot of previous experience in running these sort of games. Two things normally have happened in the past.

1) At first new players will just throw themselves into Combat knowing that with all power and ability nothing is really a threat but after the first few sessions they get battle fatiue and begin Roleplaying.

2) Which happens much more often by giving the player free run to make a character that is nigh invulnerable allows them to really flush out that character and create great backstory, motivation, and personality and begin Roleplaying from the start.

Thats not to say there isn't any combat but but it very much takes a back seat to the story.
I'm just curious as to how other feel about this style of game. Below is relevent information about the system I have used in the past with a few changes such as originally I used 4D6 keep all reroll 1's for stats.

Starting Level 15
Characters must be built using the Gestalt rules in Unearthed Arcana.
Stats are determined in the following way roll a D40 12 times and assign the highest 3 and lowest 3 to your six ability scores.


Unlimited starting wealth all official 3.5 WOTC books are allowed. All 3.0 books that have 3.5 errata are allowed.
All White Wolf Ravenloft books are allowed. With approval Starfarers, and D20 Modern books will be allowed. Psionics are allowed
Psionic rules are that magic and psionics are basically the same i.e. anti-magic field affects psionic powers and items and vise-versa

 

[Henry]

First of all, welcome to the forum!

Secondly, it wouldn't be a play style I favor, because if you did have a combat it would probably take an hour to resolve one turn due to option fatigue (probably about 15 minutes per character?)

If you have buy-in from your players then that's all you need.

 

[Angrydad]

Wow. That seems like the only drawback will be if a single player really powergames and the others don't. Gestalt, level 15, unlimited wealth (?!?!), and roll potentially massive stats. You might consider something like Silver Age Sentinels for uber powerful characters. The system is a bit wonky, and clearly some of the powers available were not playtested that well, but it allows you to make absurdly powerful superheroes/magic heroes.

 

[Jeremiah Holt]

I always get lot of surprise with the unlimited starting wealth
It balances itself out you only have so many slots and can only add
so many enchantments so it comes down to balance by decision

 

[JimB]

Those ability score rolls would be ridiculous (though could be fun). Even using a d30 would be a bit high.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

Definitely not my cuppa tea - I prefer more Black Company than Justice League - but if this is what your players like I don't see any reason not to do it.

I'd guess that the biggest challenge is going to be keeping track of all of a character's abilities. I've had players in a high level game realize that they had the key ability to win a fight after the session is over. With along list of brand new abilities, I'd expect this to happen frequently.

Anyway, I'd be very interested to hear how it goes.

PS Welcome to the boards!

PPS I just drove through Findlay a few days ago. In internet terms, that makes us almost neighbors

 

[jholt5638]

Findlay is okay, no gaming scene though its been slow going in finding players that are either local or willing to drive here. See I am a stay home dad with a 3 & 4 year old so me finding game that could work into my wife's schedule or a group willing to have me with a 3 & 4 year tow is difficult to say the least.

 

[eggynack]

I always get lot of surprise with the unlimited starting wealth
It balances itself out you only have so many slots and can only add
so many enchantments so it comes down to balance by decision

If we're talking about a game that directly follows the rules aside from the ways you mentioned, the DMG rules for combining abilities onto an item mean that slot limitations are a non-object. There are also slotless items, of course, which are unfortunately most often found in the hands of casters (metamagic rods, pearls of power, full spell books, scrolls of various kinds, an orange ioun stone, and so on), so that's a factor even if you're changing the rules.

 

[jholt5638]

Players I have had before have never abused the unlimited starting wealth before but,
From feedback given to me from elsewhere I have decided to limit starting wealth to 2x wealth by level as per DMG and rolling back the ability score rolls to 4d6 keep all reroll 1's.

 

[Oryan77]

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Any reason you are using two accounts to post here? Usually that is seen as a sign of a poster trying to be deceiving.

If you are telling the truth about your game mechanics, I gotta say that it seems like that would be an almost impossible game to play. And if it is played, it can't possibly be long lasting can it?

If the intent is just to focus on roleplaying, then why all the work with the power level? I just don't see the connection or the necessity. Wouldn't giving players so much power make them do the exact opposite? I'd imagine if I got to spend an unlimited amount of money for a PC with ungodly stats, I'd be itching to use those items and stats! The game is built right at the beginning to be all about hack-n-slash. As soon as some RP situations came about, all I'd be thinking about is when do I get to showcase my eyecandy next. Otherwise, all the thought put into character creation for goodies like that seems like a waste of time.

If you want roleplaying to be the focus of the game, why not do the exact opposite? Make average or below average PCs and tell the players that the game will focus more on roleplaying. It should be made clear that they should pick their battles if they choose to fight, cause they may often encounter tough NPCs and talking may benefit them more than fighting. Whenever they need some fights, then throw appropriate challenges at them for a bit and they'll get their fix. Wouldn't that save everyone, including yourself, a whole lot of trouble?

If you want them to get their taste for combat out of the way, then just run lots of combat encounters up front with normal PCs. What's the difference? I don't see how doing what you're doing changes anything. If a player is going to want to hack-n-slash, and you want to roleplay, giving him his fix in a major way in the beginning and then doing nothing but roleplaying afterwards isn't going to keep him around for the long haul any more than normal.

Especially if you say that players are hard to come by in your area. I would really be trying to tailor games to fit all of your players needs so that nobody gets bored or frustrated and then leaves. Out of curiosity, how long have your games lasted when you've used this approach?