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

[Hjorimir]

This is a great thread. Thanks for sharing.

As to tracking conditions, what I did was in addition to each player tracking their own conditions I have each player track those conditions that they have placed on their opponents.

This has done two things:
1) As the DM, I only have to worry about tracking damage (a trivial task) and the NPCs encounter/recharge powers.
2) It really forces the players to focus on what’s going on even when it isn’t their turn (when a monster acts it is their responsibility to remind me of any conditions and if they forget, oh well)

I’ve found this to be a good way of dealing with conditions by splitting the workload amongst the entire group. It keeps things moving along nicely.

Just thought I’d share.

 

[the Jester]

He wrote the 3e adventure, "Of Sound Mind".

I want to take a moment to pimp OSM.

It has the most satisfying conclusion of any module that I've run, period. It totally kicks ass. And it's great for first level characters.

 

[Derulbaskul]

This really has been a great thread. Thanks, Piratecat. I particularly appreciate the summary of your thoughts you gave yesterday: some good advice there.

(snip) Pirate, do you have any published work I could check out?

He was the author of The World of Synnibarr but it was published under a pseudonym.

 

[Jack99]

Hey PC

Seems like you have your self-evaluation process down, which is great. Regarding rituals, this is what I have done:

From my campaign blog:

5) BETA Change ritual casting times expressed in minutes to rounds. This means that rituals with their casting time expressed in hours or days do not have their casting time changed. Characters count as Dazed while casting and/or aiding to cast a ritual, due to the concentration required. Rituals are Sustain (Standard) until the start of your next turn while casting.
Why? - I want to make rituals a bit more interesting and flexible. Stopping up for 10 minutes in the middle of a crypt to chant so that you might be able to see a door is a tad weird at times, while stopping for a minute might be more realistic. It also gives a mechanic to use for NPC's when they cast rituals.

 

[Herobizkit]

I want to take a moment to pimp OSM.

It has the most satisfying conclusion of any module that I've run, period. It totally kicks ass. And it's great for first level characters.

Based on this endorsement, and because it's got psionics, and because PCat wrote it, I'm gonna seek it out. Thanks Jester!

 

[Celtavian]

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.

Geez. You must be one of helluva GM to keep people playing for 16 years satisfied at that leveling pace. The guys I play with would lose their mind leveling that slow.

 

[Piratecat]

He was the author of The World of Synnibarr but it was published under a pseudonym.

I hate you sooooooo much.

Of Sound Mind was a 3e module that used to be available as a 3.5 conversion on pdf from Fiery Dragon (if it isn't any more, I bet we can get it). Most of my other work has been in editing (including a few of the really good War of the Burning Sky modules). More recently I wrote a heavy-roleplaying adventure for Dungeon (The Bitter Glass, the 9th Scales of War adventure) that's gotten some good reviews, and I'm finishing up an adventure for Green Ronin's Dragon Age that'll see print next year. Thanks for saying nice stuff.

Jack, that ritual house rule may solve some of my problems. I'm going to discuss it with my group.

I'm really enjoying seeing how different people track conditions. Incidentally, last game I used the "tiny tent cards on the screen" method and I liked it a lot. Not only did it help people see who was next, there was one less pile of paper (my initiative index cards) in front of me.

 

[Zustiur]

My DM does all of our initiative and condition tracking using various software. However, I personally (as a player) find the game far more involving when I personally keep track of the initiative. I try to scribble down the initiative as it happens in the first round. I find it really helps to know when my turn is approaching so that I don't tune out between turns. I think a lot of groups could benefit from sharing some of the tasks around.

 

[Derulbaskul]

I hate you sooooooo much. (snip)

It is your punishment for never writing the sequel to Of Sound Mind.

 

[Blackjack]

I could have done a few things better. For instance, I didn't narrate the chase well enough.

For what it's worth, PCat, I didn't really mind -- since it was about 5 minutes before when we usually wrap for the night, I simply assumed you were fast-forwarding a little rather than drag this out into the next session. A little meta goes a long ways.

Geez. You must be one of helluva GM to keep people playing for 16 years satisfied at that leveling pace.

He is.