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

[Rel]

I want a six year campaign; if we play once every two weeks, that's 24 times a year, so about 5 levels a year, which works out perfectly.

I must admit that my mind always boggles a bit when you say stuff like this. I've sort of adjusted to the concept (if not entirely internalized) running a campaign that takes several years to come to its conclusion. But it would never occur to me to base my rate of level advance on such a timeline.

I guess I never think of my games in terms of any desire for them to reach maximum level. I would probably base the rate of advance (since I'm not using XP either) on how often going up a level makes sense for the players in terms of adjusting to their new powers/being ready to add to that repertoire. For my current game I settled on every three sessions but 1/4 might have been a slightly better ratio in retrospect.

I'm certainly not finding fault with your method. It just isn't one of the considerations I use when I'm envisioning the XP system and campaign arcs and so forth. Is there a reason why you picked six years and not five or seven?

WAITASECOND!...PC must know when 5e is being released!!

 

[the Jester]

Did you guys go outside the rules at all during that fight?

No, but they did step out of the books.

 

[Piratecat]

I'm certainly not finding fault with your method. It just isn't one of the considerations I use when I'm envisioning the XP system and campaign arcs and so forth. Is there a reason why you picked six years and not five or seven?

Yeah. I'm 42. I considered another 16 year campaign and realized that I'd only get another two campaigns, ever, before I kicked off! So shorter seemed wiser.

Seriously, I used to use 12 games to a level in the last campaign, and I knew I wanted something shorter -- but still long enough to build the world and stories that drive me as a DM. Five sessions to a level (at about 3 hours per game, shorter than many groups) seemed about right. I did the math and realized this was almost exactly six years, which worked out well too. I didn't need much more convincing.

And let's face it, I can get my jollies with one-shots at game days and cons -- and I'm in Sagiro's 3.5 game, and I'm in Storminator's MnM game -- so it's not like I don't get to try other adventures and systems.

 

[theskyfullofdust]

Hello! When's the next update?

if any thread deserved a bump, this is it

Really enjoying these & finding them very useful. Thanks.

 

[Piratecat]

We haven't played in a month due to real-life complications that include weddings and vacations. Here's the blurb for this Thursday's upcoming game:

Last game you met (and fought) an annoyed remnant of Nithigol the Animate, long-ago governor of Floodford and apprentice of Inquisitor Zacris, "Eye of the Crown", also known as Zacris the Undying. You found some interesting magical trinkets - stonemeal biscuits, a blessed book with a thousand pages in it, a nail of sealing, and even some eternal chalk -and beat the crap out of a stuffed "browl", a moth-eaten elk head, a large statue, and much much more.

Time to stretch your legs. In this grand new country of Tordon, it's a good thing that the Grey Guard are politically inviolate and sacrosanct: red-uniformed soldiers (now referred to as "Redbacks") patrol the streets to sniff out imperial loyalists. Most locals have stopped their annoyed grumbling about how Capria will never allow this rebellion, especially now that new gallows have been built in Raining Square. But luckily for you, you're being sent out on an errand that actually gets you out of Floodford!

Commander Brogh would like assurance that Caducity Skirr has heroically met her final reward, and he thinks the Grey Guard Tower in Halfhammer might have a ritualist who can help. On the way he'd like you to stop by the legendary halfling village of Mudtunnel. The small Grey Guard outpost there has sent a brief request for assistance that just arrived, something about a deceased Guardsman, and it's mostly on the way.

So come see the world! It's said that no visit to Iskaine - err, Tordon - is complete without a visit to Mudtunnel. Find out why for yourselves.

 

[Rechan]

Visit Mudtunnel! Check out the mud!

 

[Rel]

I don't think I realized that Caducity Skirr was a female.

I'm obviously a sexist pig.

But then, we knew that.

 

[theskyfullofdust]

I'm very interested in seeing what you do with Mudtunnel. Sounds very cool

 

[Snoweel]

a visit to Mudtunnel.

Only on special occasions though, right PC?

 

[Piratecat]

Only on special occasions though, right PC?

*blink*

Oh, bravo! "Speaking of which, your mom says hi."

I had been wondering, "what makes this halfling village interesting? Why the heck would anyone want to live somewhere named after mud, instead of in boat-islands like most other halflings on the lake?"

My answer was "if in doubt, go cinematic."

Mudtunnel is a remnant of some ancient elemental magic that no one can understand today, repurposed to actually be useful.

There's a tremendous whirling cylinder of water and mud and weeds that churns out there in the swamp, 1000' long and over 300' tall, but hollow inside - about the same proportion as a 2 liter bottle of soda turned on its side if you slice off the ends. It doesn't do anything, it just churns, which really irritates the arcane scholars who have come to study it. It's also hard to get to, naturally, because the vortex slurps up mud and water around it and sucks it in to the whirling cylinder - but even if the area around it was dammed, as has been tried in the past, the vortex still draws material out of the elemental chaos to keep itself fueled.

If you're a small vulnerable bunch of halflings living in a swamp, a place where predators can't easily reach you is darned attractive.

So over the centuries halflings have colonized this giant elemental phenomena, driving pilings down through the maelstrom into the ground below. They've built a platform village suspended inside, loud and dirty but very safe. Over the centuries the first few houses have evolved into a tangled maze of buildings and alleys and bridges, with the high-rent district being on either end of the tunnel where there's more light and fresh air. Special ferries have to bring people in and out of the town, since anyone who didn't know how would probably get themselves killed, and the town has thrived despite being a sort of curiosity.