Seems that there´s enough interest, so those are the requirements and the character creation rules:
-I need no more than 4 players willingly to have some fun. This is going to be the equivalent of a "beer and pretzels" game, so there´s not need for deeply though characters tormented by a dark past or players looking for good alingment dilemmas. On the other extreme, I´m not looking for Bob the barbarian. Well player stereotypes, OTOH, are acceptable.
-Action must be fast. Unfortunately, I don´t have a good record of keeping interest in a game, as DM, for more than one real time year. I expect this to end quickly.
-That said, the module isn´t exactly easy; though the premise and some characters may be a bit silly at first sight, it´s not a sucession of gags and all the events have their own internal logic.
Character creation:
-Level 2
-Any PHB race.
-30 point buy
-Average hit points, rounding up (in other words, max for 1st level, as usual, then half the maximun hit points for the second level, plus one)
-Equipment: One masterwork armor (any), one masterwork weapon, any nonmagical, nonmasterwork equipment you see fit -within a reasonable limit, of course-, and 150 gold coins of alchemical, magical, special meterials and masterwork equipment. This includes up to 4 self-made scrolls, if you have the feat. Starting cash in youch pouches is supposed to be near zero, but enough to sleep at inns for a while, so there´s no need to keep track of it. You can´t pool the money with other characters to buy better items.
-Wizards start with 7+(Int bonus) 1st level spells. Clerics will use the Greyhawk gods that appear in the PHB.
-Sources: Mostly core. Any other feat, class, etc, will be considered case by case, and the most likely answer is no. This is because a)I prefer to keep the game simple and b) I don´t have my Complete books with me at this moment, so I´d have to use the PDFs or the documents you send or post, if you want something from Dragon or ther sources. So, stick to PHB and DMG when possible.
-Background is not required.
-I´ll decide the characters chosen based, among other things, on a balanced party. I´ll decide next Friday, at about this hour, the final party; you have until then to post your characters.
House rules:
-Dodge grants a flat +1 dodge bonus to AC.
-I´ll make a liberal use of the Delay action to make sure all the PCs go either before or after the bad guys. Normally, all the enemies will have the same initiative, and in the first round only the players with a higher initiative number will act. Then ALL the enemies, then ALL the party members.
Also, the order in wich each character acts will be the most beneficial for the party -this also goes for the enemies- This makes pbp combat much more simple and solves problems of lack of communication between players.
For example, say it´s the good guys turn. The last turn the barbarian acted before the cleric, and in this turn, the barbarian´s player posts that his character will charge. He doesn´t know the Cleric wants to cast cure light on him. So I would change the order they act: the Barbarian will "delay" to move after the Cleric.
Ask if you have any doubt. It may seem complicated, but in fact simplifies combat a lot.
Also, to save time I reserve the right to change a player´s actions in combat if they are no longer feasible, or unexpectedly difficult, according to the intent of his action. For example, a player posted that he wanted to shoot a particular orc. That orc dies, or ends surrounded by allies so it´s extremely difficult to hit him. I´ll likely decide that he shots a different orc.
-I´d like to try a way to make arbitrary decisions to keep things "interesting" apparently less arbitrary. For example, say you drop your torch while exploring a dungeon. There´s a small possibility it extinguishes in the fall, but I don´t want to simply say "it goes out" (or decide on the fly a number and roll against it). So I propose the use of "action points". If I decide that your horse loses a horseshoe, an enemy steps on the bow you dropped earlier, or forces you to recoil with a series of quick slashes, you gain an action point. You an spend it later, and something good will happen; the enemy may stumble, you catch the sentinel peeing, your alchemist fire startle the monsters that grabbed your buddy, allowing him to retreat, or you can overhear some bits of a relevant conversation. Or you can try things normally not allowed by the rules, like parrying a strike directed at one companion. Your character can hold only 1 action point, so don´t forget to spend them quickly, and the DM always decides exactly what happens.
The players have the final decision on using those action points or not, but you can give your opinion now.
. The game will be run here, and I´d like at least 1 post/day.
