The Cast

The new heroes who are taking over our latest epic quest I rolled randomly and before I started thinking about features, tone, characteristics and the like I came up with a party of five.

• A female, chaotic good, halfling, fighter
• A male, neutral, elven, bard
• A male, neutral evil, human, sorcerer
• A female, neutral good, tiefling, oracle
• A female, chaotic neutral, human, barbarian

The dice gave me a start and using another random set of features I added some details.

• Curvy body type, brown hair
• Athletic body type, blonde hair
• Thin body type, blonde hair
• Athletic body type, brown hair
• Thin body type, orange hair

 The characters then needed some weapons and outfits, so I came up with some random and some suitable ones for them to use and wear.

• Brass knuckles and short sword. Silver breast plate
• Rapier. Long dark coat and noble clothing
• Dagger and spells. Cloak over sorcerers robes
• Staff and spells. Long layered skirts and cloth top
• Katana sword and One hand battle axe. Silver chain mail bikini with leather boots

 Starting to get the characters physically flushed out for the adventure. I then switched to a few traits to help flush them out a bit.

• Leader type, commanding yet insecure
• Educated, well spoken, fair, confident
• Mean spirited, expects too much from the party
• Proper in public, relaxed, caring but vengeful, social
• Dependent, weak willed, shy or awkward type with an alcohol problem

Adding in some basic starting trait ideas I start to build the characters in my mind. At this point I know the halfling is going to be a leader of the group but always worried about letting them down. I have a well educated bard who can help aid the halfling when she is making mistakes by using his confidence in knowledge to guide her in the right direction. I have a powerful sorcerer who is very beneficial with his abilities, but his terrible attitude towards the others makes him seem overly mean when he is not understanding their faults. A likeable, proper type social tiefling who is everyone's friend as well as lends an ear to listen and takes care of the group. And a barbarian who is thin, dependent on others to care for her, not good at standing up for herself type, who escapes reality with drink when the occasion presents it's self.     

Right now I am starting to love this group. I am seeing some parings and some conflicts during the adventure and have my favorite picked out already for who were going to be following as the main character. I find the barbarian the most interesting already to write about as I can picture her easily in my mind and want to see how she manages throughout the adventure.

As for the adventure, we have already played part of it in our d&d game and the rest I had a good outline written and an ending so all I have to do is lets this new group of characters play though it their way and give us a twist on the ending we might not see coming. 

As for the start, I have the tavern trope set up as they learn about the adventure, introduce themselves and decide how they are going to go about setting out for the northlands. I don't want to bog the story down right away with long chapters on travel so they will need some friends who are able to get them their quicker and let us dive right into the start of the adventure, I think these should be siblings.

More to continue.

Infanite Material

Well what could possibly be better to write about than D&D? When I started this blog it was focused just on our game. It was meant to be a tool for recapping and updating the players in our game about what was to come and some of what has passed, but things evolved.

Writing this blog came after my old blog The Slayers Inquest which was a blog back from 2014 that I posted in about the state of online gaming to go along with Andrew, Scott and my discussions on the forums at MMO Slayers . These forums were our life for a long time and were fueled rage discussions about online games, mainly MMO's which were in their heyday. In the end, MMO's died off and the forums went quiet. I stopped doing The Slayers Inquest and started doing up a second blog for my D&D game.

The D&D blog, changed though, it became more of a way for me to post my point of view on a subject that came up at our gaming table, without being interrupted and by posing examples and stories. I see that by looking through the stats, other people have found the blog (be it a small audience) and have read some of the posts. I got one or two +1's on a post and no comments, but it got me thinking about posting more stuff. I mean what better subject to write about than D&D!

There are hundreds of articles on rules, on opinions, on things happening in today's game. I am in three facebook groups alone, which daily get flooded with questions from new DM's, trolls, and players wanting to discuss a situation, a rule or an opinion. These facebook posts get hundreds of reply's daily and can get pretty heated. This blog is a nice place to chill out and post what I want with out some facebook poster getting butt hurt and flaming me, thought that may come with time and in comments below.

Now it would be nice if I could set up ad sense here to get some nickles, but sadly I cannot. I am thinking about Pateron but I will have to figure out quite how that works and if I can I will be porting these over there so I can get a donation and have more fuel to write with. For now here though, I can do whatever I want. I can write a story about some d&d characters in our world and give you some backstory from an NPC's point of view. I was thinking of writing what would have happened in many games that we just ended abruptly on, that might be fun to see how the story was laid out and how it would have ended pending PC changes and what not. I can talk about how taping our games for YouTube over at UPM Gaming YouTube started off calming everyone down and stopped rule bitching before the we got used to having the camera on us. We can talk about how I think D&D should be played and how players in my group think it should be played. We can discuss Pathfinder, 3.5 and 5E D&D and see which is more fun in each area and why. The material is infinite really.

Right now I have again stopped playing due to differences at the table and an inability to resolve the conflict that would be long term and make the game fun again. I just wrote an article about how to get role playing back to great again, but it blew up into a demand of player wants that was too unrealistic for me to manage and I ended up having to stop our Pathfinder game for now. The time needed to craft five or so fights a game that needed to be in depth high level battles that suited each players goals and backgrounds, allowed each to shine, award XP of a high amount and still fit the complex story line I was running it, just wasn't there. If I was twenty years old again and living at home with a part time job, sure. Sadly time has come and gone and I have too little free time anymore. I can still write an amazingly fun adventure for Sunday night, but my players demand Lord of the Rings and I just can't out write Tolkien so I have had to call it game.




What I am excited for is a new adventure in my favorite hobby that revolves around blogging, producing gaming videos (ones that features D&D games or RPG games) and trying to get an audience built to read and view my stuff (not to mention interact). You can always read my updates and small thoughts on Twitter UPM Gaming if your not the type to read long blogs and just tune right out at the first paragraph. I find Twitter a great way to get across small information quickly for those who don't like long posts. You can also read updates on our Google Plus if you have a google account.

Either way I hope you find something of interest or use in the upcoming posts, links to information, videos and such.

Thanks for reading, leave comments!

Make Role Playing Great Again

I don't know how, but we have to get back to great role playing. . . 

Is it the system? Would playing 5E or AD&D change a damn thing? Is it Pathfinder is just too complex in it's rules? Is it the players fault who power builds, optimizes and or uses the rules as written to abuse the situation and always win, ending fights before they begin? If they had spells and abilities to do so, why would they hold them back just to let other players get a hit in, have a share of the spotlight or role play a situation? Is it that after all, we've only got to level 11 in Pathfinder once for the first time and didn't expect what we found?

I can't very well house rule "You have to not play as unstoppable, when your actually unstoppable". It just don't work that way. I can't tell a player to tone it down when they have abilities on their sheet that fit the situation to guarantee a win or quick end to a battle. I can make them re-roll and avoid mistakes of allowing everything from almost every book but the core. I can limit things and house rule the game to death if I had the time and energy.

I do blame a bit on Pathfinder itself, I have to. Their monster manual says CR 11, but it's killed in one hit. That's Pathfinder rules making the error there. If there are poisons to kill boss creatures in one hit, or spells to make demons bow to your will, that is a problem with the rules, plain and simple. There are hundreds of examples of the game being broken and things linked that allow this kinds of OP play within the rules of the game, but that is what players strive for, the edge to win and if it's there they will take it.

So do we go back to one book? Just core? Is that not even broken as well? Maybe yes, maybe no. Or just change editions all together? 5E so far works, but that is because we are only core, no other books, no "Sword Coast Legends" rules or such. Is that what is helping us stay balanced?

I should be able to open the monster manual, choose a monster of appropriate CR and be good. I should never have to spend all night making one guy to balance the party, which only gets stomped out in one hit anyways. I just don't have the time for this. I don't have all day to sit around and hand draw up every enemy, spending my day doing this to give a challenge when it's not about that anymore, but about an arms race to out play the players and that is not fun.

So were back to the "I'm out" where players drop off because the game is no fun. Do we let the happen until there is no game, then try to win back the players who left to make a group to play what is fun? Or do we stop out right now since it is no fun and re-tool the whole damn thing? So far nothing is working and I am thinking of once again calling it. Now some of it I will say is just out right complaining. I heard "No challenge".  This is complete shit to me, for when I put in a challenge it was "To hard" to the dungeon under the mansion.

Again if it were up to just me, I would have the game be just running dungeons non-stop, no epic story line of betrayal, revenge, redemption, etc. Because it's easy, go in kill, loot, win or die. That is easy old school d&d and no one can complain . . . well yes they can, but you get a bit less when your focused on just slaying all the things in a dungeon and looting the place.

However that is not the way I or anyone else likes to play. We need epic story lines, and tie in's and such to tell a great story and have the PC's take control and twist it into a glorious adventure. We've run AD&D games woven in (which are number one in the world, but sometimes not a hit), we've tried space, we've tried everything. I can't seem to get anyone to have fun anymore, it seems to be just like playing Magic the Gathering, were out for each player and were intent on winning.

So what can be done to get back to good role playing? I have searched the piazo forums, I am in two to three D&D groups on Facebook with new DM's coming up daily, looking for advice. I just can't seem to get a good answer from the players as to what they want and why they think they are not getting it. If you are the player sculpting the story, why is the story not going the way you wish it to? If you have a problem with a player, why are you not speaking to him or her in game and if you are and they are not listening, why are we not telling them to explain themselves or find a new party to adventure with?

 I think I may take the game down and focus on either just playing our 5E game for now OR even run a second 5E game, leaving Pathfinder behind and send out some polls to get players to respond to what they like and do not like.

I have ton's of adventures and ideas, but we keep starting and stopping and each adventure gets nixed and nixed over and over and story lines die and paragraphs and books get tossed. Waste of my time, and their time and good freaking stories along the way. I can't begin to tell the stories lost to quitting a game, long running epic idea tie in's that get scrapped when we quit or restart, stuff I want to explore and that takes weeks of thought and prep to create only to have to start with nothing and generate ideas on the spot.

Just thinking out loud here on our D&D blog, cause I want the game to go till the end of time for me. I love going each Sunday night and playing no matter what game it is or how it goes and I don't want to stop doing that. So if things become bogged, I guess it is best to try to stop it now before everyone leaves and fix it. I think it best to stop when trouble is about and here we will stop I think until we can get the excitement back into the game, why play if your miserable?

Felt like sharing

 So I didn't get any d&d books for x-mas, but that's okay. I did get some cash so I can pick up two, maybe three new ones. I was thinking 5E Storm King for sure, but hmm on what else. I never did play 4th, but there are some campaign worlds I would love to get the books for such as Undermountain (which looks nice) and of course some older manuals.

Anyways, below is a photo I did for fun, after rounding up all the gaming books (Though I am sure I missed some) and this excludes my Dragon Magazines and Dungeon Magazines as well as novels. But it shows some of the books I do have and where I am missing some for the collection. I found the adventures to be worth the most and the how to rules books to be stuff we all know, so going to focus on more adventures and campaign worlds in the future.

I hope you can zoom in on the photos to see all the titles and such. You will notice some fun stuff in there like my favourite anime "The Slayers" done in a 3.5 book, some GG books and Gurps of course. This is why we have been playing 14 years and why I don't see an end to content for the players.

As seen from front, books cut off on top

Top down shot as case is in tight doorway. Can see top books.

World Building

So I found the official font for 5E and decided to get logos and emulate the cover of a 5E book for our world. This got me once again working on world building.

I have always put off world building as it's too damn big. Yes I have the shorts, I have the important NPCS, I have the city districts, the main places the PC's visit, the kingdom, the guard, vague laws, etc. But I have not been able to flush out the entire world with deities in complete detail, areas, lands, customs, etc, it's just too much to do.Each section alone of just parts of the city would require paragraphs, pages, art, custom images to show what I am referring to, references to old content we did in game years back that has to be found and referenced and even the best program to build this all in.

Why do I want a campaign guide? Well especially now with two DM's doing our world (one Pathfinder, one 5E). It would be handy to not have someone go totally off on in a way that doesn't fit our world, but more than that the 5E content is written in such a way as to be role play vs. rules so the book doesn't have to be 1000 pages of rules Pathfinder style, but more 5E role play style.

I will try to release some information on here, but I will not be releasing this via DM's Guild or similar website as no one would buy our custom campaign world book. It's our book for us and only makes sense to us, but anyone can view what we've done and we've done a lot!

Hopefully soon I will be releasing content on here (Especially if I can find the 5E page templates) for everyone to see and enjoy.

Streaming and Video Catch up

Hopefully we are set to start streaming soon. "Every 2nd Sunday night, Pathfinder" Will be the tag line for Twitch as well as picking up a sub for the channel. (If I can get people to pitch in about a dollar a month. $8.99/mo for turbo).

We can start streaming immediately with major changes to our table rules while the stream is live. The past broadcasts will still upload to YouTube and go in manual order, while the new twitch streams can go private until they are ready to go in chronological order.

Programs: OBS and proper cables from laptop to Jeff's camcorder.

At the table we will need a laptop to monitor the chat stream, make sure the stream is still live and a pause screen with art for our half time break.

We should also invest into a small monitor to attach to the camcorder so we can see what the feed is seeing on a larger scale (this may work on the laptop as well, but is handy for the group to see next to the camera to see how things are working). A final though is going to be investing in mic's for the table and setting that up.

Table rules can be taken from our house rules section and added to a bit. So far I am working on the following:

Table Etiquette

• No phones at the table, please don't be on a phone, watching a video or preoccupied.
• No magic cards at the table, were here to play Pathfinder or D&D.
• Be ready for your turn. Have a plan based on what's happened so far and look up what is needed
spell wise etc for when it is your go. Keep the pace moving.
• No swearing OOC at another player. *updated* as well as threats of violence.
• No name calling or intentionally putting another down.
• Breaks are to be called by the DM. Don't wander or leave during game play.
• Be prepared to start when the game begins so we can get to gaming. *updated* after the social introduction time period at the start of the game.
• Try to avoid META gaming. If your character does not know it, you do not know it.
• DM decisions are to be taken as this time. We can discuss rules and decisions after game.
• Minimum age allowed at the table depends on the maturity of the player asked to play. Kids are
not allowed to play as concern about the language being to mature is not acceptable.

NEW Stream Rules

• No racial slurs, political statements, opinions on sexuality.
• Do not openly argue in a loud manner. Suggest we re-look at a rule or issue later after the game or at start of next game.
• Do not suggest anyone doesn't know a rule or is doing something wrong. Only correct someone if it is in a helpful manner and you fully understand that rule without having to look it up.
• Do not discuss real life opinions of other people (friends, known or celebrities).
• Do not discuss brands, show logos, trademarked pop cans, beer labels, chip bags, etc.
• Snacks can be eaten during the timed (10m?) break so were not eating and talking on camera
• Speak loudly to be heard, even whey your character is whispering. Stage whispers (Means to talk loud so the audience can hear you even though we know your whispering in character.)
• Speak to your party in character, take all the time you need to open, have and finish a conversation or social even between characters at the table before talking to the DM about the event at hand.
• Remember D&D is about role playing or "acting" don't be afraid to put on a show for the audience watching. If you are not about that, allow the other players who do like it to continue and do not shut them down.
• The DM will try to be more passive and almost invisible so the players can take center stage. The more you interact and ask each other, the less I have to explain between everyone and give opinions.
• Dead air sucks. Talk too much is good. Sometimes players will tell you to tone it down if your talking too much, but do not listen. This is a good thing, you need to be talking, telling a story, interacting with the other players, asking questions in character, or getting up to no good.

Stream monitor duties

• Shout out's to subscribers
• Immediately kick and block anyone using insults, unacceptable language, advertising or harassing comments.
• Ensure the stream is still going
• Appoint mod's from reoccurring fans to help monitor or real life known friends in stream.
• Maybe answer a question or two at the break

Campaign Chronology

Enjoy a small summary of the 14 year history of our game. It's the Halloween episode which is why we are dressed up. Looking forward to many, many more years of playing.