Since no one's volunteered to be DM, I've gotten to thinking. All in all, I've pieced together a basic plotline. All I can say now is that, like past stories I've DM'd, it's typically weird, and loosely centered around a particular character of mine. So I guess my first question should be...
Do you guys want me to be the DM?
Second, does the brief description of the plotline bother any of you?
For those of you familiar with Roleplaying in Athkatla and Athkatla II, I'm sure you'll agree that they
are pretty weird, even for fantasy. I like writing about weird stuff. I think it's fun. It also allows you as the DM to keep the players guessing. But if you guys object to that, tell me now.
Also, as I mentioned in the plot description, the stories I DM tend to be loosely centered around a particular character of mine. That doesn't mean the story's just about him. That's not what I'm saying. But the storyline in general tends to revolve around some quest of that character, which usually ends up engulfing everybody around him (i.e. the players). Roleplaying in Athkatla was (at first) about Magus's quest to rescue Aerie and defeat Ubik. Athkatla II was about Magus's quest to stem the tide of civil war in Athkatla. The plot I have in mind is more of the same. It allows me as the DM to shape the overall plot without any previous knowledge of your characters, as well as develop a player character that will be with the party throughout the entire story, to guide it along if you will. But this approach may be repellant to some, and I can understand that. Alternatively, I could focus on a main villain. Either way, I feel I have to create a main character to give the story direction, whether a protagonist (preferred) or an antagonist. Otherwise conflicting motives could very well tear the party, and thus the story, apart.
So in summary, do you guys have a problem with this?
That said, if I do DM this roleplay, I intend it to be somewhat different than any I’ve ever done. First, I intend to make it more linear. I feel I overextended myself in Athkatla II, trying to cover the inner workings of an entire city. It was just too much to handle. In this story, I’m going to focus on the party’s perspective, and only the party’s perspective. I don’t intend to deal significantly with the villains’ perspective, as I did in Athkatla II. Again, it’s just too much to handle. Therefore, the player will only know as much as the party collective knows, excepting perhaps my character, who will always remain somewhat enigmatic.
Second, I’m thinking about including side-quests independent of the main plot every now and then, to break things up a little. These occasional side-quests will allow the players some respite from the main plot, and will be times when the players have a bit more control over where they go and what they do. For example, the players might split up temporarily to pursue individual interests, or delve into those mysterious ruins in the distance and see what they can find. In any case, circumstances will eventually conspire to force the party together once more, and the main plotline will resume.
Third, I’m favoring a dynamic skill level among the player characters (the villains also, perhaps?). Put another way, the characters will start low-level, and become
visibly stronger as the story progresses. In effect, they will gain experience. This is something I’ve never truly incorporated in previous roleplays. The characters became stronger, perhaps, but nothing so dramatic as the transition from a level 3 sorcerer with a few magic missles to a level 18 sorcerer with an array of spells of mass destruction. Does this mean I’m going to dish out experience to each character at the end of an encounter? No. I don’t have a monster’s manual, and frankly I don’t want to deal with such a hassle in an online roleplay. That’s not what this is about. Instead, I want to try and leave the matter to the players. Their characters should slowly improve as battles are won and the story progresses, not too quickly, but slowly and steadily. Like I said, I’ve never tried this, so we’ll just have to see how it works out. If it becomes a problem, then I’ll have to take more control over the process.
Third, I’m also favoring an actual inventory, another item I haven’t implemented in previous roleplays. In other words, you can’t use what you don’t have. You can’t just pull a potion of heal from out of thin air (a certain elf-drow comes to mind
) in the middle of battle and expect it to fly. You have to account for your inventory. PM me the major items in your inventory, and update the list occasionally as you acquire more items. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t need
everything. I don’t care how much food you have. I don’t care how many arrows you have. I don’t care that you have a fuzzy little beret that looks suspiciously like a certain pokemon. Hell, I don’t care if you’re carrying a little more than you really should. But if you have anything magical, tell me. If you have ingredients for a molotov ****tail, tell me. Whenever you purchase some things at a store, you don’t have to list them in the story, but PM me and update your list with the additions. I think keeping an inventory would be very beneficial, but it could also become a hassle. If it really starts getting bad, I might have to discontinue it, but for now I want to keep my fingers crossed and try it.
Finally, since you would occasionally be purchasing things (an off-shoot of keeping inventory), we have to settle the issue of just how much you can buy. I’ll tell you now: I’m not keeping track of the gold in each character’s purse. That would be ridiculous. Instead, I’m going to give everyone a general idea of how much money they find in a dungeon or earn selling items at a shop. In other words, the players have some leeway when they’re buying goods, which I expect they won’t abuse. For example, let’s say the party just raided an orc camp. Jack Rogue is not going to go back to town and buy a shortsword+3 with his share of the loot. He could, however, go back to town and buy a nice shortsword and a spiffy new suit of leather armor.
I know that’s a lot to digest, so tell me what you guys think. Good ideas? Bad ideas?
Really bad ideas? As you can see, now that I have some P&P experience, I’d like to incorporate it into the story. I’d particularly like your input on the experience and inventory issues. These could cause problems. I’m hoping, however, that the benefits will outweigh any hassles involved. But again, I’d like your opinions. I’m still new at this. I could use some advice. And I want everyone to enjoy this as much as possible. Including me.
Edit: (The above was written before craig and Karma's post)
But no, I would not count spell components as part of inventory. Got to minimize the hassle, you understand.
