Casual group led oneshot

[Starbeard]

Okay, here's the sales pitch:

We hash out ahead of time what flavor of Original D&D we're going to use, and what our character creation rules are going to be.

Then we schedule a hangout on Google Meet or Zoom or Discord audio. We shoot the breeze and talk shop while we roll up characters together. Everyone gets one main character, and as many retainers as their stats allow.

If we're in a good mood, maybe we can even make ourselves little warbands, by hiring up as many mercenaries as our retainers' Charisma allows. Who knows, up for discussion, as is the starting XP of our main characters.

Then, if we like, we can throw a wilderness onto our virtual table and do a random hexcrawl with our company for an hour or two. No real DM, just talking it through amongst ourselves as we go, but maybe with certain admin roles divvied between us.

I think 2-3 hours is a good start, with no real expectation of anything meaningful happening—just beer, chats, some dice rolling and maybe even run a combat or two.

Any takers?

[Deleted]

I love the laid back nature of this. I'm tentatively interested but the issue with me would be timing. Due to family responsibilities I sometimes have to drop out with little or no warning in such cases. Overall the best time for me would be weekday evenings and especially Fridays, but don't reschedule anything on my behalf, especially for a super casual one shot.

[hamurai]

Great idea, I'd be willing to try this!

Problem for me is timing for sure, being in Germany and having a family with young kids so I can't just take any time off. But if your play time slot is good, I'd be game!

[Starbeard]

Timing and young children are key for me too, which is also part of why I want to keep it casual. I could plan something to run, but I want to be able to walk off to care for things if I need to and not have that freeze the game.

We might even split it into two short sessions, one to roll up characters and one to play. Whatever we do, allowing people to come in and out without upsetting the flow is key. So really it should be chatting first, rolling dice second.

My free times are usually 8-10pm PST (Th is best), and 9-11am PST on T/Th/Sat/Sun.

[Deleted]

Yeah, sadly, the time that's best for you is actually super late for me because I get up very early in the AM for work, and during the other I'm actually at work most days and acting as a caregiver for someone on weekends. I may have to miss out on this one. Good luck though!

[tombowings]

I live on the other side of the planet from most of you, which means the timing probably won't work out. Otherwise it sounds like fun.

[Deleted]

See? Scheduling is the bane of most gaming ideas. I've always believed that. The willingness is clearly present here but Father Time is our nemesis.

[Starbeard]

I'm still definitely wanting to do this, when I can find the time to set it up.

My current thinking is that, since everyone will be responsible for their own characters, each participant would simply decide which books to use when rolling up. I might use the 3 LBBs, but you might take a druid with several thief followers.

Rules wise, I would say we start with just the box. No Greyhawk modifiers or Arneson Height Tables That Even He Probably Never Tried Using, or anything like that. Just to help keep everything simple and quick.

We would need to divvy up a couple of roles. I think I'll give myself the role of encounter generation, since I already have a pretty fast method for OD&D/AD&D/Ready Ref wilderness exploration that uses spreadsheets I put together. I've used it before and it does a pretty good job rolling through all of the interlocking tables with a few parameters and the click of a button.

Another role would be the Mapper, who tracks our exploration and the passage of turns and effects, and the Monster Guy, who rolls up monsters & treasure, tracks hp, etc.

[rredmond]

Feb 20, 2021 14:30:53 GMT -6 Starbeard said:

We would need to divvy up a couple of roles. I think I'll give myself the role of encounter generation, since I already have a pretty fast method for OD&D/AD&D/Ready Ref wilderness exploration that uses spreadsheets I put together. I've used it before and it does a pretty good job rolling through all of the interlocking tables with a few parameters and the click of a button.

Willing to share?

Are you going to run this like a traditional PbP, where folks post when they can? Or will it need to be scheduled for when everyone can make it?

[Starbeard]

Feb 21, 2021 13:48:59 GMT -6 rredmond said:

Feb 20, 2021 14:30:53 GMT -6 Starbeard said:

We would need to divvy up a couple of roles. I think I'll give myself the role of encounter generation, since I already have a pretty fast method for OD&D/AD&D/Ready Ref wilderness exploration that uses spreadsheets I put together. I've used it before and it does a pretty good job rolling through all of the interlocking tables with a few parameters and the click of a button.

Willing to share?

Are you going to run this like a traditional PbP, where folks post when they can? Or will it need to be scheduled for when everyone can make it?

I sure am, just PM me. The only problem is that they are Apple Numbers files, using formulas and layouts that I've found break the whole thing down when trying to convert to Excel or OpenOffice. So they might not be much use if you can't run Numbers.

The plan is to do it live, more like a coffee break hangout where we're really just there to chat, roll up characters and have them fight stuff.

[rredmond]

Phooey, I may be a social worker, but I love excel. Not sure how to do much of anything else.
Coolie moe on the coffee break idea. Dig it!