The Assumption of Compentency

    While playing in the new campaign over Discord, I encountered an issue with the medium. Making dice rolls takes significant time. In order to speed up play which is already slower than at the table, I made the call for the players to simply succeed at some tasks they attempted. In person I would have likely had the players roll to see if they fall when sliding down the rope into the dungeon, or made a roll to see if the dogs fell out of the backpack as they were lowered down. Instead I took a pause and considered if failure was interesting or more importantly fun. Would it be fun to roll and see if the characters fall 50' and die, before ever entering a single room of the dungeon?

The Gorn River Valley, Part 1

 

My most recent game takes place in the Gorn River Valley. This is the setting of a game I am running over Discord, as described in this post. The following is a transcript of the In-Character channel from the first session of the game.

Characters:
Va'lar, Fighter, Level 2, HP 7
Armor: Gambeson Weapon: Axe 

Mikkel Rosenbaum, Thief, Level 2, HP 9
Armor: None Wepons: Dagger, Sling
Dogs: Jesus, Odin, Muhammed, Buddha

DM - "The ground up and ate 'em!"

That's what the caravan driver was yelling when he rushed into the public house you two were sitting in having dinner. He shouted it over and over, lamenting his brother who he left in the hole for fear he would be next. "Just outside of town, his wagon was swallowed by the road. I'm beggin' ya, someone find him. Anything on the wagon is yours as long as you find him."

Gaming on Discord

    Recently I've started a play-by-chat on Discord with a couple friends of mine. I'll be continuing an actual play of these games as they happen, weekly if things work out. In this post I'll describe how I'm using discord to handle games like this.

How realistic is Weapon and Armor encumbrance in B/X?

    I've been thinking about encumbrance recently and the best way to handle it at the table. Like all things D&D related, some amount of abstraction is used as to not have to provide a perfect representation of the world. Lets take a look at a few historical weapons from around the end of the 15th century and how they pair up to the rules provided in B/X. 

Transcribed Actual Play, Part 1

 

   Last Saturday I had a chance to play the dungeon I made in my series on how to create a dungeon. This is a transcript of the first two hours of the session, Next week I'll post Part 2 and go over some key points that happened during the game. My players were Todd and Kelly playing Joseph Creed and Jen, respectively. 

Joseph Creed, HP:1 Gambeson Armor and an Axe
Str:12 Int:10 Wis:13 Dex:6 Con:12 Cha:10

Jen, HP:3 Gambeson Armor and a Mace
Str:16 Int:17 Wis:13 Dex:12 Con:10 Cha:14