Hey, does anybody know of a decent, free WIKI (possibly RPG specific) where I can put this stuff, where generally only I can edit the entries (I don't want everybody changing my stuff since I plan on using it directly with my players)?
It took awhile to type up, but here's the early draft of the campaign document:
World of the Stick
Campaign Guide
Revised: 10-13-2006
By: Janx Jelantru
The World of the Stick is a campaign world in the style of Rich Burlew's Order of the Stick web-comic. It is not based on the same world or characters for copyright reasons. You can see the Order of the Stick at the following URL:
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0001.html
The campaign world one in which the characters are aware of the D&D rules and terminology. In role-playing, they may refer to their own class and stats openly. The art style of the world is "stick figure" and it is accepted as normal that everyone is a stick figure. This gives the campaign a humorous tone, though the entire game should not be run as a joke.
In this world, characters know their stats. They know how many ranks they have in a particular skill. They accept that dungeons are vast underground structures consisting of rooms connected by hallways. Their Knowledge (Arcana) skill may reveal useful stats about the Collosal Red Dragon they're facing.
The World of the Stick is one that is created through random tables. Dungeons come from random generators. Villages and Cities come from random generators. Even NPCs are often randomly generated. It creates a stereotypical view of the D&D world. In fact, this campaign is about embracing the D&D rules as the known physics of the world. If it's in the rules, its realistic from the point of view of its denizens.
This campaign is based on the D&D 3.5 rules, though earlier editions will also work. The rules changes below should have little impact on the game (though your mileage may vary).
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Using Knowledge skill for learning Monster stats
Knowledge skills can reveal Monster stats and abilities. A character generally does not know anything about any monsters except for what has been encountered before, or for making a successful knowledge check.
This translates into a PC with the right skill check can learn the CR, HD, special abilities of a monster from the MM. In many cases, you can use this skill to identify monsters and their special powers or vulnerabilities. In general, the DC of such a check equals 10 + the monster’s HD. A successful check allows you to remember a bit of useful information about that monster.
For every 5 points by which your check result exceeds the DC, you recall another piece of useful information.
Per the rules above, the better you roll, the more you know. The order of information revealed should be:
-CR, HD, Environment, Organization, Treasure
-Init, Speed, AC, Attack, Full Attack (plus everything above)
-Special Attacks, Special Qualities (plus everything above)
-Saves, Abilities, Skills, Feats (plus everything above)
Below are listed typical fields of study, with the creature types that they cover in parenthesis:
-Arcana (constructs, dragons, magical beasts)
-Dungeoneering (aberrations, oozes)
-Local (humanoids)
-Nature (animals, fey, giants, monstrous humanoids, plants, vermin)
-Religion (gods and goddesses, undead)
-The planes (outsiders, elementals)
[note, this is untested rule, might need tweaking to breakdown the knowledge levels, also need to add details for handling spell knowledge and knowledge of NPC stats]
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Role-playing tips:
A character in this campaign has no knowledge of being a PC or NPC. The real world as we know it does not exist.
The character is aware of game terminology and uses it in everyday conversation.
The character is aware of their own abilities, skills, and feats.
When casting spells, the spell is cast by saying the name of the spell in a commanding fashion. If the spell has a casting time longer than a round, it is cast by saying the spell name repeatedly, for the length of the casting time. Casting scrolls is handled the same way.
When using active feats (ex. Cleave, Power Attack, Improved Trip, etc.), feel free to exclaim the name of the feat as you attempt it.
When using the Bardic Music ability to influence others, sing what you want to happen to happen using a variety of childrens songs, like "Row Your Boat" For instance, "Bluff, Bluff, Bluff the orc, make him buy our crap..." Have fun with it, but don't try to hard.
When naming your PC, you can use common names (english names like Roy or William) or made up fantasy names. Avoid silly names like Porkforker the Brave, however. In general, in the World of the Stick, the humans tend to have english names, the other races have the fantasy sounding names. None of the races tend to have " the whatever" embellishments on them.
Your PC can be from anywhere on the World of the Stick (or with permission from the DM, not from here at all). You can name the country he's from (if he's not from the same place as another PC) and generally imply which direction it is, relative to the starting place of the campaign. You can even name the village or city. Like picking character names, don't get too silly with them.
You are encouraged to come up with a drawing of your PC. Look at OOTS for examples of how its done. It's worth a bonus of 100 XP. Generally, the art style is a rectangle for a body, a circle just barely overlapping the top of the rectangle. Stick arms from the top corners of the rectable, with a U to add the extra 2 fingers (everybody has 3 fingers). The feet come from the bottom corners, and end in a flat line like and L unless you have boots on.
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World of the Stick details
The campaign takes place on the Prime Material plane. The world is called "Eurastika" by its denizens. The world is flat, with a wrap-around characteristic, should one travel that far. The sun is a light source that moves in along the plane in all directions (a dilema for whoever discovers quantum physics in this world to solve). Thus, from any position on the ground, it appears that the sun rises and sets. The day/night cycle is 24 hours. The sun's height from the plane varies seasonally, which causes the seasons, temperature variance, and varying length in daylight hours. The sun travels a path from East to West across the equator of the world (the middle as determined by the path the sun takes). This doesn't have to make any sense, it's quantum physics and D&D, just know that the days appear to be the same as the real world, though the world operates on a different physics model.
[Since the initial setup of the game is centered around an adventuring company, we need a starting country and town, with a nearby dungeon]
The Kingom of Korianus is where the game will start. It is ruled by King Arnus Korianus V. The PCs will start in the small town of Harsburg. There is a local dungeon inhabited by a tribe of Kobolds that raid the outlying villages.
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This campaign will follow my standard Campaign Guidelines, which are pasted below. They're really just the boiler-plate of how I run my games, and what I expect from my players. If you are running your own campaign (not one of my players), feel free to remove this section or change it to suit your preferences
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Campaign Guidelines
For
Dungeons & Dragons
3rd Edition
By: Janx Jelantru
Revised: 10-13-06
Since I started playing AD&D2 in 1991, I have always found it important to have a set of written guidelines to outline how I want my game to run. Back then, I was in high school, had plenty of time, and knew all the rules. Since then, I’ve gotten older, taken on other hobbies and duties, and a new set of rules. Thus, it is time that I start from scratch, and begin my new campaign guidelines.
Role-Playing Philosophy:
· The DM is not out to get or beat the players. If I wanted to beat the players, since I control all the variables, I would always win. Not much point in me or you playing then.
· Not every adventure or story arc will be about your character. It is hard to tell what character will pique the DM’s interest in telling a more personal tale. Just appreciate the opportunity to contribute and influence the story.
· The DM has an objective of creating a certain story , mood or setting. It won’t always work out, but with practice, you’ll get some fantastic games.
· The more games you play, the better they will get, and the more involved with your characters, the plot will be.
· The players should feel that the game was challenging, their characters lives were in peril, and that they beat the adventure through their wits. My long-time friend and DM always ran games that seemed like the odds were stacked against us. In the final encounters, we’d huddle together, make a plan, do it, and come to an awesome victory. I thought those were great games, and I’ll try to convey the same.
· Character death should be rare. I can’t say when a character will die. Sometimes it will be random, sometimes it will be because it seemed appropriate. I don’t want players thinking their characters are immortal, nor do I want them to think I score points in the DM’s club based on how many character sheet’s I’ve collected. Odds are good, it will be because the dice decided it was so, and I find no reason to fudge it.
· Most encounters will be fair challenges. DnD3E has a pretty well balanced encounter calculation system. If I want to overwhelm you, I will probably know it before you ever roll the dice. That said, most encounters should be practical for you to defeat. That does not mean all encounters. Sometimes you will have to run, surrender or negotiate. That’s life, you can’t beat everybody.
· The group is here to play a game together. I expect everyone to make PCs that can rationalize working together. I expect some player coordination while creating characters. This means you should not make a PC that hates elves if the rest of the party is playing elves.
· In order to reduce my workload, I generally expect the party to pursue plot-hooks that rationally the PC would take. I do not tend to make 1 plot per NPC in the world and wait for you to run into one you like. I’m not running a simulation of a world, I’m trying to create a story that will interact with your PCs, and hopefully be taken over by your PCs. I expect a party of Paladins will pursue the goblin raiders who burned a church, assuming they have nothing more pressing on their agenda. This rule is intended to allow the GM to prepare an adventure, and assuming consideration for party disposition, expect that the party will willingly participate.
· I expect that after a session, if you have an idea of something your PC wants to pursue, you will tell me, and I will develop material for the next session for you to pursue (thus giving the players control over what the next plot-hook will be). This should not come in the form of a player saying, “I want to see more pirates, and I want my evil half-brother to show up and kidnap Roy’s sister.” It can come in the form of, “I’d like to hunt down pirates, since I here they’ve been raiding the coast, oh, and I have an evil half-brother, I wonder what he’s been up to.” From there, my job is to write a game that assumes you’ll be going sailing or going to the coast, and other events may occur that involve your evil half-brother. This rule is intended to ensure that adventures become driven by the players, rather than a series of plots the DM wants to run.
· PC vs. PC is player vs. player conflict. I do not accept the “it’s what my PC would do” as an excuse for infighting or disrupting the fun of other players. It is perfectly acceptable to for your PC to say, “I think we should kill the prisoners.” when the rest of the party wants to take them back into town. It is not acceptable for the player to drive that desire to the extent that it causes PCs to engage in combat against each other. If the majority of the players don’t want to do something, you need to have your PC rationalize why they will go along with it. This rule is intended to minimize negative role-playing that disrupts the game and reduces fun for everyone.
DM General Rules:
· The DM is the final arbiter of the rules. This is an old, but good rule. It doesn’t mean I know all the rules. Merely that I have to make the final decision, and the players must abide by it. It is fair for the DM to listen to a counter-proposal to a ruling. However, it should not be prolonged, and once the DM has listened, and pondered, a decision should be made and accepted, so the game can move on.
· A ruling made is a ruling played. Once a ruling is made, it holds true in the immediate sense. If after the game, a better ruling is found, future rulings will be made from that. Limitations and the like will be repealed, etc. However, events will always hold, so for instance, a dead character always remains so.
· The DM can cheat to make the game proceed. Let’s face it, all DM’s break the rules. As long as it is in the best interests of the game, most players won’t mind. Sometimes a die roll needs to be fudged, or a villain padded to make a proper challenge.
· The DM will try to follow all the rules. I’ve read all the core rules. However, I don’t have the same amount of time or energy to devote to perfect recall. If in doubt, I’ll ask my players, or make it up. Don’t lose sleep over it.
· When the DM says “No,” he means it. I’ve noticed a trend in myself. If somebody asks something of me, and I say “no,” I tend to resent being asked again repeatedly. You’re better off asking once, and letting me mull it over on my own. You never know when I’ll change my mind. Just don’t try to do it for me.
· As a general rule, I will keep this document updated with any house rules we might develop in the game.
· I will always try to pick a schedule that keeps all the players in the game. I hate running a game where players are missing or left out. That means I have to NPC-tize them or have their character left out of the story. This can screw up my story or make it harder for the other players. So, I try to collect as much player schedule info as possible and I try to post my game dates as far in advance as possible. I expect players to treat my games as just as important an event as any other.
· I reserve the right to allow any player I choose. It is my game, and only I can decide who would be a good addition to the game.
· I reserve the right to drop any player from my game. I do not do so without good reason. However, I will drop any player that is disruptive, misses games consistently or does something else that makes me not want to play with them.
· DM decides on what printed rules or other rules to abide by. Players must get approval on new rule material before it can be used. General rule priority is: Core Rulebooks, WOTC published source material, Dragon Magazine, D20 published source material, other D20 material (homebrew, websites, etc). Any rules sources should be documented in the Rules Collection section.
· DM reserves the right to approve or disallow any material. This is to maintain game balance. As evidenced in AD&D2E’s Player’s Option series, eventually, newer books get unbalanced with older books. A new book may have good material, but not all of it need be accepted. Such instances should be noted in the House Rules section.
· The DM will try to adhere to these guidelines. I’m not perfect, but I’ll try to run a good and fair game.
Player Guidelines:
Outside of your gaming group, nobody cares about what your character did. It is a reasonably true statement that most people would rather talk about their character than listen to what yours did. With that in mind, I’ll be using my character as an example, so you get the point.
· Write a paragraph detailing your character. Answer the following questions: Who raised me? Who trained me? Who are a few friends, relatives or acquaintances? Why am I going out to adventure right now? Where am I from? Don’t answer much more than that, because if you died in the first adventure, you would have wasted the ink. My most significant character, Janx, was developed with just a paragraph. I had enough to go on for the first few games.
· Don’t develop fantastic histories in the beginning. The early games will have less to do with your character anyway. The DM will be more comfortable adding back-story to your character after many more games. As Janx’s adventures developed, his life and homeland was developed. At first in adventures, then in stories that I wrote. I only got away with creating new places and characters by waiting, and adding significant and plausible ideas.
· Avoid bizarre characters at the beginning of the campaign. In the beginning, the campaign needs solid, stable, normal character types. As the game progresses, the play style and game world is developed where the DM will be more likely to accept a drow paladin. When Janx started (you’re going to be sick of that goody-two-shoes soon), he was just a Elven Fighter/Thief/Mage. As the campaign developed (and the Elf handbook was published) he was defined as a Ti’Liosa (Grey Elf). Real years later, lizard-man PCs, dragon characters and horsemen were allowed. The way was paved, however, by the players creating a history and familiarity that made such oddities plausible and comfortable.
· Players with spell caster characters should always have a printed copy of the spell texts their character can use. That would mean they should own and bring a Players Handbook and other needed texts, or they should copy and print their own custom “spellbook.” This makes it easier for the DM and other players because that player can look up whatever spell rules they need without interrupting the game.
· Don’t talk when someone else is talking. And if the DM is talking, definitely don’t talk. I can’t hear very well. I definitely can’t hear two people talking at me. It sounds silly, but if you want to do something, and I’m dealing with another player, raise your hand. I’ll get to you, since I can clearly see you have something to say. If your action is intended to interrupt another player (for whatever in-game reason), adding a frantic wave might help. In general though, if the DM is dealing with one character, just wait your turn. It might be hard for the DM to know when to switch, so holding your arm in the air and acting like it is about to fall off ought to signal the DM to switch. It is certainly more polite than talking over another player who may be playing an important scene.
· The spotlight is something most players want. As a DM, I try to shine it around. Sometimes, a character or scene develops that favors it. Don’t get jealous, just wait your turn, or try to add to it. It is better to add to a scene or support a primary character in the scene than to steal the scene. You’ll get your chance later, especially as you find other ways to expand your character in the game. A good clue is to develop a character that seems real, and appeals to the DM. If the DM has no interest in gnomes or gnomish culture, that might be a harder route to try.
· Take the game and character seriously. A character played in jest makes the game a joke. Funny things happen. They are usually funniest when they are unexpected and surrounded by seriousness.
· Say what your character would say. In general, try to play in character. It won’t be perfect, and it won’t always happen. However, you’ll have a more believable character than if you mix real-world discussion and talk into the game. You don’t need a fake accent to do this. Merely say what your character would say, and avoid talking in modern vernacular or discussing out of game topics.
· There’s no such thing as a sucky character. Well, this is actually one of those lies perpetuated by GMs who are trying to cheer up players with sucky characters. Seriously, the DM is the final judge. Most characters suck because the players gave up on them. If you rolled badly, the rules and the DM will decide when you get to re-roll. Until then, it is the players challenge to take whatever the dice, fates, and world has given him. To put it in another light, if you had bad stats and think life is rough, imagine what happens to the player who rolled all 18’s. Superman will constantly be tripping over kryptonite.
· Players have an obligation to keep the GM apprised of their schedule and any changes. It is their duty to check the game schedule and know when the next game is. If any schedule conflict arises, it is their responsibility to inform the GM as soon as possible. In short, calling me five minutes after game time to tell me your car just died is far better than never calling at all. I can tolerate having unforeseen events occur. I do not respect those who don’t pay attention to the schedule and lack the courtesy to inform the GM when problems arise.
· Players may not review monster, adventure, or DM material during the game. Ideally, players shouldn’t read any of that stuff that may spoil the secrets of the game. I can only request that. However, I can enforce the “no peaking” rule at the game. As an aside, obviously folks with familiars or monster summoning have to look at those stats. We simply don't want folks looking up Beholders during the big encounter, just so they can get an edge.
· Players may not bring stuff to the table that is not related to the game. Rulebooks, gaming tools, dice, food, drink (for non-messy players) are OK. Gameboys or CCG’s are not. When you come to the table to play D&D, you should leave your other interests behind.
House Rules:
1. Multiple Attack Bonus Calculation for Multi-Class characters: This is more of a clarification than a rule. I used Wizard’s free character generator to figure it out. The question was, for a multi-class, do you add the attack bonuses in columns, or just subtract five from the previous attack. The method used has serious impact on how many attacks a Multi-Class can have. The answer is you always total the base attack bonus from each class (the first number, if there are multiple attacks). Everything else is calculated from that. The next attack is 5 points less than the previous. If it is zero or negative, you don’t get that extra attack.
2. When moving characters on the battlegrid, the DM will assume the most optimum path, the one that triggers the fewest Attacks of Opportunity. The DM will not assume that when you say “I want to move here”, that your PC will do the dumbest move possible, given the movement rate available. Attacks of Opportunity should occur because the character had no choice but to risk it. This rule is intended to reduce the concern that the DM is out to punish you for not being specific enough on your movement.
3. Players must seek GM approval before adding a Prestige class to their character. Generally, not all published prestige classes fit a campaign, nor would all of them be available to some PCs, given the situation. Ideally, a player should discuss their Prestige class desires long before reaching the point of qualifying for the class.
4. Experience Points
Every encounter has an EL or CR value, and successfully navigating it is worth XP. Minor encounters (like buying gear) are CR0, and the math says, that's 0 XP. Combat encounters, puzzle encounters, trap encounters, NPC interaction encounters are all treated equally.
XP for Goal Achievement
Every adventure has a main goal (ex. rescue the princess). Assuming the party achieves the goal to reasonable satisfaction (saving the princess but letting the orc destroy her homeland is not success) will grant XP based on the average party level as the EL, calculated from there (that's basically a bonus of 300 * party level, per the tables).
XP for Role-Playing
Playing your character that leads to other seeing it as a person, rather than a collection of stats (ironic if World of the Stick) is worth some extra XP. First, the DM allocates a rating (a percentage) or how much you played your PC in character. 100% means you were spot on in character the whole game. 50% is a good amount for mostly being in character. Your base XP is 300 times PC level * the percentage rating. It's just a bonus to reward playing in character and acting the part.
These extra XP awards will likely speed up leveling. If you're not comfortable with that, don't use them. They are intended to have a fast paced feel to the game, and reward some aspects of the game that the basic XP rules gloss over.
5. Rules Sources we recognize for use in the game (aka Books I Own):
Player’s Handbook 3.5E
Dungeon Master’s Guide 3.5E
Monster Manual 3.5E
Monster Manual II 3E
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3.5E
Psionics Handbook 3E
Complete Adventurer
Seafarer’s Handbook
Beginner’s Guide to Grappling
Books I don't allow for personal reasons:
Book of Exalted Deeds
Book of Vile Darkness
