For some reason I have a crazed desire to take another stab at 3e

[Treebore]

Bleh. (On True20)

Go ahead Flexor, torture yourself with 3E again! Nothing has changed. You've just recovered from the damage of your last attempts. I would give True 20 a try before hurting yourself with 3E all over again. But hey, Flexor is a glutton for punishment1 Got to be true to your avatar.

 

[Dracorat]

Well, if we are going to throw around derogitory terms for people's preferred gaming system, I have a few for True20.

But as I understand it, mudslinging is against ToS.

 

[Piratecat]

Yup, it's fine if you don't care for it, but best not to hijack the thread. If you want to start a new thread discussing why you don't care for it and inviting comment, you're always welcome to do so.

 

[MerricB]

Yup, it's fine if you don't care for it, but best not to hijack the thread. If you want to start a new thread discussing why you don't care for it and inviting comment, you're always welcome to do so.

And suggesting True20 isn't hijacking the thread?

Again they are cheap bastards.

Ow. I wonder if that will prove a problem.

Thinking back over my many sessions of 3.*E, I've almost always played with players who, at the very least, have bought the Player's Handbook. I feel that 3E rewards people who understand the system and who care enough to see what they can do before jumping into the action.

The depth of PC customisation options also requires a similar commitment from the players to understand those options. Where, in 1E, a PC who grappled an opponent would be expected to know none of the rules (as they were totally in the province of the DM), in 3E it is expected that the player understand how it works - especially if their character was specialised for grappling opponents!

With regard to your other questions: I'm an old-school Pen & Paper style DM for record-keeping. Initiative order is kept on a scratchpad (with only one roll used for a bunch of similar creatures, say 5 orcs, although each NPC would get a separate roll).

My main suggestion is not to overcomplicate things. The more opponents you throw at the PCs, the more things you have to keep track of, so keeping the numbers down until you feel comfortable with your grasp of the system is a good idea. At its most basic level, 3e isn't much more complicated than C&C; it's the rules for various options that complicate it. If your PCs never grapple anyone, you don't need to refer to them.

Cheers!

 

[Storyteller01]

If you're willing to take the time, and if you have a laptop (they're becoming more prominent in the gaming field), work up an Excel spread sheet. You only have to do the work once, then just plug in the numbers.


I would ask the board about the most important modifiers though, and maybe have them critique it. They have a better head for all the bonus names (and how they stack) than I do.

If you don't have the time, I go to a tech school with plenty of programmers who could do it for relatively cheap.

 

[ZSutherland]

I say give it a try out of the SRD. You've been playing long enough that you don't need WotC to hold your hand with flavor text. Now you haven't dropped $60 if you find you don't like it.

As for minis, you know, I've never used them. We play on a Go board, the players use small objects to represent their characters (go stones, pennies, one of my player uses a 9mm round actually). Me, I used d6. I have a bunch of d6 in different colors. I just turn each to a different face and use those. If I need more than six at a time, I go to a different color, so I'll tell the players that "white 1-4 are dire rats, white 5 & 6 are wererats, and grey 1 is Whiskerwrath the Sewer King." But I'm cheap like that. That also makes it really easy to keep track of initiative on scratch paper incidentally.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I must have given the impression that minis were a problem. They aren't, I have a ton I've painted and a big plastic box of the WOTC type. So minis and that stuff we use for all our fantasy gaming. I just get annoyed that I end up buying them all. But that has stopped.

I personally have a solid grasp of d20 and using full core rules would be the setup, and I don't have issues with that, other than the high level issues with the game dragging which is why I quit before. But we were adding in outside stuff and using the splats and stuff which I'm gonna try not to do by not buying the Complete series.

I'm already putting together a basic rules document from the SRD that I will print and put on the table.

Some of the players are wargamers and they like a lot of rules, some aren't but can grap the, one doesn't seem to try but is fun to game with.

I've just been thinking that maybe my burn out and dislike of d20 was more related to that abomination of a module Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil.

 

[MerricB]

I've just been thinking that maybe my burn out and dislike of d20 was more related to that abomination of a module Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil.

That might be the case. Are you planning to steer clear of mega-dungeons, then?

Cheers!

 

[Dracorat]

Funny thing is, I am running a group through RttToEE right now and they are loving it.

But its probably more of style. I know what the group likes and cater to it.

 

[Treebore]

I hate the original, so I sure wouldn't have done a "Return", except to the store for a refund.

If you like C&C for the same reasons I do definitely stick with PH only and use small modules with maybe a couple of bigger ones thrown in as campaign "anchor" points. Make sure to use modules you think will be fun, because then when you DM them they will be. Do you have any adventures?