[True20] World's Largest Dungeon

[snikle]

Who long do you usually game until?

 

[jdrakeh]

Who long do you usually game until?

Usually we wrap up shortly after 8PM (the store closes at eight o' clock). When we start meeting elsewhere, I don't expect the hours to change much.

 

[jdrakeh]

Well, we had another night of no play, but got the second character for the campaign generated -- a halfling Expert, a professional cartographer. Obviously, the character is a great fit for the campaign, both from an "exploring the new world" aspect and from the "big-ass dungeon crawl" aspect.

We probably could have started play tonight if it hadn't been for a last minute schedule change on the part of the dwarven Warrior's player, but next week we'll definitely get to the actual play (sorry for the delays folks).

Character gen went well (again), but given how easy it is, most of the time was spent getting acquainted with the new player (sharing anecdotes about gaming, etc). One thing that did come about tonight is that I've firmly decided to simply play encumbrance by ear.

Here's the deal -- True20 has some great ideas, but lacking weapon weights on the equipment lists, the encumbrance system as it currently exists is next to useless unless the Narrator goes through said lists himself and assigns specific weights to each item.

I got into True20 to get away from such minutae in prep so for the time being, unless a character is trying to strap an iron chest to their back, they're good in my book

 

[Akrasia]

i.e., mechanically, all first level characters of a given class in C&C are 100% identical

Sorry for the nitpick, but this isn't true. All 1st level PCs get to choose 1-2 primes (in addition to those given by their profession), which can distinguish them quite a bit. And of course, spellcasters can have different spells, fighters can choose to specialize in different weapons, etc.

True20 obviously has a lot more options, and I like it as much as I like C&C overall, but your characterisation of C&C is somewhat unfair.

 

[jdrakeh]

Sorry for the nitpick, but this isn't true. All 1st level PCs get to choose 1-2 primes (in addition to those given by their profession), which can distinguish them quite a bit. And of course, spellcasters can have different spells, fighters can choose to specialize in different weapons, etc.

Welll, you're right -- 100% was an exaggeration, however. . .

Choice of primes can make a differecne, but doesn't necessarily make a difference when we're talking about characters of the same class (they'll have the same class-based prime in common) and, unless they're human, they only get to choose one other prime -- and there's nothing to prevent them from choosing the same prime when they do. That said, I'll give you that primes can make a difference, but I dont' think that they make a huge difference, mechanically speaking.

Spell selection provides minimal differences, at best. This is especially true of the latter, as spellcasters of a given type are always free to select whatever level-appropriate spells that they they like from the lists (i.e., two spellcastsers of the same class and level have access to the same spells). In the end, a spellcaster of a given type at a given level is mechanically identical to all other spell casters of the same type and level where spell selection options are concerned.

Finally, all fighters can specialize in a weapon (specializing in different weapons is a very minor mechanical differentiation, and isn't much different than claiming wide mechanical variety based upon what kind of equipment a character chooses to carry).

By and large, outside of description, characters of the same class and level are rmechanically identical -- they may use a different weapon or cast different spells, but they all have the same static special abilities, aren't differenitated by skill focus, and are only truly set apart by their ability bonuses. This was true of AD&D and it's true of C&C. That having been said. . .

This kind of rigid archetype-based character creation is a strength of C&C -- it makes the game very easy to pick up and play, as well as easy for hobby newcomers to understand. This level of simplicity and embrace of improvisational rulings (as opposed to hard-coded mechanics) is, in point of fact, one of the game's strongest selling points.

C&C is the escape hatch for people who want to get away from mechanical options and get back to thematic options. It's the cure for people overwhelmed by mechanics. It is not a system rich with mechancial options. Indeed, it's rich specifically because it goes out of its way to avoid such options

 

[Hussar]

Sounds like a great start JD. If you need any resources, drop me a line and I can steer you in the way of lots of goodies.

Ahh, heck, since my WLD project site has gone down permanently, I'm going to attach lots of goodies here. Most have been culled from the massive WLD thread, so, I hope they help.

 

[Hussar]

As promised, here's some goodies for you:

First, some links:

Eruk's Maps for the WLD

James Lorimor's WLD page More maps tthan you could shake a stick at.

My WLD wiki page

My skeletal and somewhat crappy WLD forum page

One of the best blogs of the WLD out there - Blueblackred's

I've also attached a pdf of an index of all the creatures in the WLD.

Hope this helps.

 

[snikle]

Hey Hussar, was browsing your site and I noticed that your characters are hosted on my profiler at sylnae, if you have somehow missed the news sylnae will be closing for good this Sunday evening. I highly suggest that you log in and download your characters, as of Sunday they will not only be off line, they will be gone forever. I am not keeping backups of the characters on the sylnae site (there are over 18,000).

Just a heads up, if you want your characters, you need to download them now.

A fellow I know over at http://www.thetangledweb.net/profiler/ has set up a new profiler, with the latest version of the software, so you can upload there. I encourage joining his site's forum.

More information on the sylnae closure is available here:
http://www.fouruglymonsters.com/community/showthread.php?t=648

 

[Hussar]

Yeah, I heard about that snikle. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[snikle]

No problem, glad the word is getting out.