One of our players has just moved to Oregon for the forseeable future, and another is graduating, so we have two openings in our Forgotten Realms campaign, which is run Saturday afternoons in Panorama City, near Van Nuys, from two PM until something-o'clock at night (probably late evening in the summer, when the student players won't have to study for exams every month). The players are (relatively!) mature emotionally, with a twenty-something year age span from youngest to oldest. Off-topic conversations range from the completely inane to "adult," if ya know what I mean. (Wink. Wink. Nudge. Nudge. Say no more!) It's also a totally NO SMOKING game. (I'm not the only GM in e Valley who has become fed up with smokers abruptly jumping up during battles or other tense moments to go get a fix, but I've decided to say so up front to save my time and the time of tobacco addicts who might otherwise be interested in playing. I'm not one to be preachy about the addictive behavior of other people, but when it interferes with a game ... well! 
)
This campaign is "low fantasy" (which means that I emphasize semi-ralistic things such as: "Just how many torches ARE you carrying?" and, "You just waded through the Swamp of Death, fought a swarm of dire plague rats, and opened a tomb filled with three thousand year old mold spores all without changing clothes or taking a bath, so YES, you *do* have to make a Fortitude check!" and, "I don't care how many times Laeral winked at you, Blackstaff is NOT going to come to your rescue when you decide to conquer the Demonweb Pits as your personal domain").
The campaign is set in 1360 D.R. (Year of the Turret); the party members are employed by a small mercenary company based out of Waterdeep, and are currently on a small side adventure en route to fight 100,000 horse nomads and 20,000 to 30,000 Shou Lung infantry auxiliaries. Even if you've read "The Horselords" trilogy, don't think you know what's going to happen -- I read the novels and modules, too, and I alter things to suit my campaign. Outnumbered four to one, Azoun's crusaders (including the PCs) will probably be slaughtered and the only thing keeping the PCs alive will be the general rule that PCs don't die when their NPCs companions in a big battle are completely massacred -- they are just grievously wounded and left for dead. Of course, the PCs *might* find something on their side adventure which will defeat the oncoming barbarian horde, but no one is making book on them. But they're PCs, who knows of what they may be capable?
There is a MAJOR emphasis on role-playing over die-rolling, but at the moment this side-adventure has yielded not one, but TWO "dungeons" in which the players may or may not crawl, as they choose. (I don't like to lead the players by the nose -- if they don't want to go on a dungeon crawl, they don't have to. Of course, if that means that they are trodden under 400,000 hooves, it's not going to be *my* fault!)
The game rules are primarily THREE POINT OH, not 3.$. I've imposed *A LOT* of house rules, most of them taken from the 3E "Unearthed Arcana" or from Mongoose Publishing's "Conan RPG" (which I also run, btw). Generally, the house rules improve the edge given to players: e.g., many more class skills for fighters (who decided that a guy who has to march hundreds of miles to get to a battle, camping in the open every night, and foraging for food every day *isn't* qualified for the "Survival" skill?! -- gimme a break!); there are more skill points for non-rogues; a few of the very, very few improvements to class abilities from 3.$; the true-to-life missile ranges from AD&D 2nd edition (and *not* the dumb-ass thirty foot increments of third edition -- in the real world, archers weren't killed in the first 18 seconds of a battle, which is why armies used archers: in the first 18 seconds -- or minutes -- they usually killed most of the idiots charging at them, not the other way around); there are more available feats and quasi-feats for all characters(generally from military training in the mercenary company); etc. One big bonus from the Conan RPG is the possibility of acquiring "Fate Points," which can be cashed in for a minor miracle effecting you or another character (e.g., by using a Fate Point, that Wall of Iron which was created twenty feet above your head *just happened* to fall down the *very moment* that *you* stepped into a hole deep enough to keep you from being crushed to a bloody pulp like the rest of the party).
Seating is mostly on the floor, but there are chairs available. There is a refrigerator and a toaster oven, but no household atomics. The standard of housekeeping is ... er ... ah ... *slovenly* (to say the least), so Martha Stewart types oughtn't to even consider this campaign! There's an adequate pizzeria around the corner, and there is usually a collection taken up for eats. Randomized experience points are awarded to those who contribute money or food or beverages or "expendables" (i.e. toilet paper, paper towels, etc.) or who keep campaign logs or contribute the use of books or modules or minis.
Cheating is absolutely NOT tolerated, unless I'm the one doing it, which I usually only do to save people from really, really, REALLY stupid mistakes or from seriously inconvenient bad luck which would interfere with the storyline.
The standing rule for handling other people's books dice, food, drinks, bodies, weapons, shields, or whatever (and especially MY things) is: IF IT'S NOT YOURS, DON'T TOUCH IT WITHOUT PERMISSION. I feel like a boob having to say that so bluntly, but it's best to make that point plain up front -- one player (who is no longer with us) actually took up one of my "DM-type" books to look up something *while* I was running an adventure based on the material in the book! Anyone who can't see what is wrong with that type of behavior will *not* be comfortable in my game.
During a game session, what is now known as "Rule Zero" ("The DM is always right") is rigorously applied; I reserve the right to play fast and loose with the rules if I think that doing so will improve the caliber of the adventure, and I strongly disapprove of rules lawyering. AFTER a session, I'm amenable to being shown a published rule which contradicts what I said during a game, but during a session I don't like people whipping out the rules books unless their character's life hangs in the balance. When it comes to "factual" matters in the Realms, MY word is ALWAYS final unless I indicate that it's a matter on which I think I should defer to Ed Greenwood (creator of the Forgotten Realms) or one of the D&D game designers; this campaign is an offshoot of a Realms campaign which started more than a decade ago, so there is an enormous amount of back story which differs from published Realms materials; moreover, the game is set in 1360, while the "current" Realms year in Wizards books is 1374 -- much that appears in 3rd edition books hasn't happened yet in my campaign, and some of it may never happen, depending on what the players do or don't do. Apropos of Realms "facts," I try to regularly introduce bits of "Realmslore" which comes directly from Ed Greenwood, Steven Schend, Richard Baker, and others but which doesn't appear in the published books. Players are free to utilize the Realmslore or not, as they choose; doing so yields experience point bonuses. For example, the fairly obscure Realms demigoddess The Red Knight is very important in this campaign; using oaths and cuss words specific to her faith is good role-playing and merits extra x.p., in my opinion.
)This campaign is "low fantasy" (which means that I emphasize semi-ralistic things such as: "Just how many torches ARE you carrying?" and, "You just waded through the Swamp of Death, fought a swarm of dire plague rats, and opened a tomb filled with three thousand year old mold spores all without changing clothes or taking a bath, so YES, you *do* have to make a Fortitude check!" and, "I don't care how many times Laeral winked at you, Blackstaff is NOT going to come to your rescue when you decide to conquer the Demonweb Pits as your personal domain").
The campaign is set in 1360 D.R. (Year of the Turret); the party members are employed by a small mercenary company based out of Waterdeep, and are currently on a small side adventure en route to fight 100,000 horse nomads and 20,000 to 30,000 Shou Lung infantry auxiliaries. Even if you've read "The Horselords" trilogy, don't think you know what's going to happen -- I read the novels and modules, too, and I alter things to suit my campaign. Outnumbered four to one, Azoun's crusaders (including the PCs) will probably be slaughtered and the only thing keeping the PCs alive will be the general rule that PCs don't die when their NPCs companions in a big battle are completely massacred -- they are just grievously wounded and left for dead. Of course, the PCs *might* find something on their side adventure which will defeat the oncoming barbarian horde, but no one is making book on them. But they're PCs, who knows of what they may be capable?
There is a MAJOR emphasis on role-playing over die-rolling, but at the moment this side-adventure has yielded not one, but TWO "dungeons" in which the players may or may not crawl, as they choose. (I don't like to lead the players by the nose -- if they don't want to go on a dungeon crawl, they don't have to. Of course, if that means that they are trodden under 400,000 hooves, it's not going to be *my* fault!)
The game rules are primarily THREE POINT OH, not 3.$. I've imposed *A LOT* of house rules, most of them taken from the 3E "Unearthed Arcana" or from Mongoose Publishing's "Conan RPG" (which I also run, btw). Generally, the house rules improve the edge given to players: e.g., many more class skills for fighters (who decided that a guy who has to march hundreds of miles to get to a battle, camping in the open every night, and foraging for food every day *isn't* qualified for the "Survival" skill?! -- gimme a break!); there are more skill points for non-rogues; a few of the very, very few improvements to class abilities from 3.$; the true-to-life missile ranges from AD&D 2nd edition (and *not* the dumb-ass thirty foot increments of third edition -- in the real world, archers weren't killed in the first 18 seconds of a battle, which is why armies used archers: in the first 18 seconds -- or minutes -- they usually killed most of the idiots charging at them, not the other way around); there are more available feats and quasi-feats for all characters(generally from military training in the mercenary company); etc. One big bonus from the Conan RPG is the possibility of acquiring "Fate Points," which can be cashed in for a minor miracle effecting you or another character (e.g., by using a Fate Point, that Wall of Iron which was created twenty feet above your head *just happened* to fall down the *very moment* that *you* stepped into a hole deep enough to keep you from being crushed to a bloody pulp like the rest of the party).
Seating is mostly on the floor, but there are chairs available. There is a refrigerator and a toaster oven, but no household atomics. The standard of housekeeping is ... er ... ah ... *slovenly* (to say the least), so Martha Stewart types oughtn't to even consider this campaign! There's an adequate pizzeria around the corner, and there is usually a collection taken up for eats. Randomized experience points are awarded to those who contribute money or food or beverages or "expendables" (i.e. toilet paper, paper towels, etc.) or who keep campaign logs or contribute the use of books or modules or minis.
Cheating is absolutely NOT tolerated, unless I'm the one doing it, which I usually only do to save people from really, really, REALLY stupid mistakes or from seriously inconvenient bad luck which would interfere with the storyline.
The standing rule for handling other people's books dice, food, drinks, bodies, weapons, shields, or whatever (and especially MY things) is: IF IT'S NOT YOURS, DON'T TOUCH IT WITHOUT PERMISSION. I feel like a boob having to say that so bluntly, but it's best to make that point plain up front -- one player (who is no longer with us) actually took up one of my "DM-type" books to look up something *while* I was running an adventure based on the material in the book! Anyone who can't see what is wrong with that type of behavior will *not* be comfortable in my game.
During a game session, what is now known as "Rule Zero" ("The DM is always right") is rigorously applied; I reserve the right to play fast and loose with the rules if I think that doing so will improve the caliber of the adventure, and I strongly disapprove of rules lawyering. AFTER a session, I'm amenable to being shown a published rule which contradicts what I said during a game, but during a session I don't like people whipping out the rules books unless their character's life hangs in the balance. When it comes to "factual" matters in the Realms, MY word is ALWAYS final unless I indicate that it's a matter on which I think I should defer to Ed Greenwood (creator of the Forgotten Realms) or one of the D&D game designers; this campaign is an offshoot of a Realms campaign which started more than a decade ago, so there is an enormous amount of back story which differs from published Realms materials; moreover, the game is set in 1360, while the "current" Realms year in Wizards books is 1374 -- much that appears in 3rd edition books hasn't happened yet in my campaign, and some of it may never happen, depending on what the players do or don't do. Apropos of Realms "facts," I try to regularly introduce bits of "Realmslore" which comes directly from Ed Greenwood, Steven Schend, Richard Baker, and others but which doesn't appear in the published books. Players are free to utilize the Realmslore or not, as they choose; doing so yields experience point bonuses. For example, the fairly obscure Realms demigoddess The Red Knight is very important in this campaign; using oaths and cuss words specific to her faith is good role-playing and merits extra x.p., in my opinion.
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