Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
This post is for info about how I intend run the game itself.
LAZY DAYS is so named because it was my overriding goal to run a good game with as little work for the DM as possible. For starters, almost all of my maps are from Map-A-Week, I'm scouring the Rogue's Gallery for NPC's, and the main boards for ideas. I'm also using a stock of characters that I've used for over 10 years (both D&D and in fiction).
As the campaign progresses I will post bits and pieces of the adventure back to this post.
CHARACTER CREATION
Our last campaign saw a lot of players with vastly different ability scores, most of them too high, and the ability to be and to do pretty much whatever they wanted. I knew I wanted the stats to be lower across the board (thanks to Arcady, I think) and I wanted the players to have very different characters.
Following a thread from the main board about "bidding" on stats, I advised my players that we would use the following system.
1) Everybody would start with a base attribute of 10.
2) Everybody would receive SEVEN index cards. Cards #1 thru #6 had STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, and CHR on them. Card #7 was a "Special" ability (more on that later).
3) Players created characters as a group, trading index cards amongst themselves. When trading was finished, every "Stat" card you had at that point gave you +2 to your attribute.
So, for example, you could trade away your STR and DEX cards for a WIS and CHR card-- giving you no STR and DEX and leaving you with the base 10 for those attributes, but giving 2 each of WIS and CHR, giving you 14 for those two attributes.
This system kept the stats in a reasonable range and also kept the players from stepping all over each others' toes with regards to character class and roles.
4) I prepared an extra set or two of seven cards. If a player's character dies, they can then trade their cards back into the pool to try something different-- but what they CAN'T do is easily come back into the game in a role that is already taken. There's only one 18 STR fighter in the game, and as long as he lives, he's holding 4 of the STR cards.
Pretty simple really.
SPECIAL CARDS (edit 8/11)
Here's a list of the special cards I prepared:
1) Bonus Feat
2) Family Heirloom: Spend up to 500 gp on up to three items (magic, masterwork, or otherwise) whose total value does not exceed 500 gp
3) Ringleader: You start play at 2nd level.
4) Monstrous Influence: Start play as a non-standard race; OR get +2 on all knowledge and CHA based skills vs. that race and a bonus language
5) Extraordinary Attribute: +2 on any attribute (18 max)
6) Enkili's Blessing: This is a cool tattoo from R&R that lets you make a re-roll once per session if it will save your character's life
7) Patron: You have friendly contact with a person or organization that you can call on for favors/information
EXPERIENCE POINTS
First off, experience points for combat are OUT.
I simply write everyone's name down the left side of a table. The table headers are listed with various things the players can do for XP. As we play, I just make tick marks in the appropriate columns.
Attend: points for showing up. If there's any kind of combat that evening, it's usually worth an extra tick.
Tasty Snack: A tick mark if you bring snacks.
Roleplay: Tickmarks for actions that are particularly in character.
Humor: A tickmark if you make the whole table laugh, in character or out, it doesn't matter. We are here, after all, to have a good time. But too much does not earn more tickmarks-- that becomes disruptive.
Ideas: A tickmark for "figuring things out." Usually this relates to the plot, but it could also be something as simple as a tactic in combat that saves the party some trouble.
Journal: If I have last week's session journal in hand before the session starts, a tickmark. I did mention this was a lazy campaign-- yes, the players will help write this story hour.
The very first session I also gave players bonus ticks if they had a character background, a character picture (anything off the net was ok, didn't have to be personally drawn), and a miniature to represent them.
At the end of the night, I just add up the tickmarks. Every tickmark is worth 100 xp.
SKILL POINTS (edit 8/11)
Rather than let everyone simply apply all their skill points at first level (which tends to make people max out several skills with 4 ranks right off the bat) I told everyone to keep their skill points in a "pool."
Every time they use a skill successfully/appropriately, I tell the player they MAY put another rank in that skill.
At the end of each session, they can all put one rank in one or more skills as a "freebie." This allows players to advance skills they may not have had a chance to use during the game, albeit at a slower rate.
Because the game is intended for very young adventurers, I wanted them to get a feel for being "0 level" for a while.
LAZY DAYS is so named because it was my overriding goal to run a good game with as little work for the DM as possible. For starters, almost all of my maps are from Map-A-Week, I'm scouring the Rogue's Gallery for NPC's, and the main boards for ideas. I'm also using a stock of characters that I've used for over 10 years (both D&D and in fiction).
As the campaign progresses I will post bits and pieces of the adventure back to this post.
CHARACTER CREATION
Our last campaign saw a lot of players with vastly different ability scores, most of them too high, and the ability to be and to do pretty much whatever they wanted. I knew I wanted the stats to be lower across the board (thanks to Arcady, I think) and I wanted the players to have very different characters.
Following a thread from the main board about "bidding" on stats, I advised my players that we would use the following system.
1) Everybody would start with a base attribute of 10.
2) Everybody would receive SEVEN index cards. Cards #1 thru #6 had STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, and CHR on them. Card #7 was a "Special" ability (more on that later).
3) Players created characters as a group, trading index cards amongst themselves. When trading was finished, every "Stat" card you had at that point gave you +2 to your attribute.
So, for example, you could trade away your STR and DEX cards for a WIS and CHR card-- giving you no STR and DEX and leaving you with the base 10 for those attributes, but giving 2 each of WIS and CHR, giving you 14 for those two attributes.
This system kept the stats in a reasonable range and also kept the players from stepping all over each others' toes with regards to character class and roles.
4) I prepared an extra set or two of seven cards. If a player's character dies, they can then trade their cards back into the pool to try something different-- but what they CAN'T do is easily come back into the game in a role that is already taken. There's only one 18 STR fighter in the game, and as long as he lives, he's holding 4 of the STR cards.
Pretty simple really.
SPECIAL CARDS (edit 8/11)
Here's a list of the special cards I prepared:
1) Bonus Feat
2) Family Heirloom: Spend up to 500 gp on up to three items (magic, masterwork, or otherwise) whose total value does not exceed 500 gp
3) Ringleader: You start play at 2nd level.
4) Monstrous Influence: Start play as a non-standard race; OR get +2 on all knowledge and CHA based skills vs. that race and a bonus language
5) Extraordinary Attribute: +2 on any attribute (18 max)
6) Enkili's Blessing: This is a cool tattoo from R&R that lets you make a re-roll once per session if it will save your character's life
7) Patron: You have friendly contact with a person or organization that you can call on for favors/information
EXPERIENCE POINTS
First off, experience points for combat are OUT.
I simply write everyone's name down the left side of a table. The table headers are listed with various things the players can do for XP. As we play, I just make tick marks in the appropriate columns.
Attend: points for showing up. If there's any kind of combat that evening, it's usually worth an extra tick.
Tasty Snack: A tick mark if you bring snacks.
Roleplay: Tickmarks for actions that are particularly in character.
Humor: A tickmark if you make the whole table laugh, in character or out, it doesn't matter. We are here, after all, to have a good time. But too much does not earn more tickmarks-- that becomes disruptive.
Ideas: A tickmark for "figuring things out." Usually this relates to the plot, but it could also be something as simple as a tactic in combat that saves the party some trouble.
Journal: If I have last week's session journal in hand before the session starts, a tickmark. I did mention this was a lazy campaign-- yes, the players will help write this story hour.
The very first session I also gave players bonus ticks if they had a character background, a character picture (anything off the net was ok, didn't have to be personally drawn), and a miniature to represent them.
At the end of the night, I just add up the tickmarks. Every tickmark is worth 100 xp.
SKILL POINTS (edit 8/11)
Rather than let everyone simply apply all their skill points at first level (which tends to make people max out several skills with 4 ranks right off the bat) I told everyone to keep their skill points in a "pool."
Every time they use a skill successfully/appropriately, I tell the player they MAY put another rank in that skill.
At the end of each session, they can all put one rank in one or more skills as a "freebie." This allows players to advance skills they may not have had a chance to use during the game, albeit at a slower rate.
Because the game is intended for very young adventurers, I wanted them to get a feel for being "0 level" for a while.