The Disadvantage of Superior Action Economy

Arowe, Fortu and Liga Bur. Having the Party made up of three Fighter class Player Characters posed a few problems for me as your Dungeon Master.

Easily solved problems though.

An Elven Archer, a Human Gladiator and a Halfling Tracker (plus his hound) actually made creating combat encounters pretty easy. All I needed was a way to divvi out healing when needed. Potions, plentiful and freely available would have done it but it also gave me the option of shoehorning in a suitable Non Player Character.

Rifkin; A Bard who could both bolster the Party and heal you during and after battles. He also allowed me to offer advice within the game when needed. He worked well for me because his Bardic ‘inspiration’ and personal cowardice made him super-easy to handle during combat encounters. 

This meant three/five characters vs whatever monster/monsters you were facing sped by quite quickly in round by round combat.

Then, thanks to David/Fortu’s moment of mercy, you also acquired three more melee based henchmen. Henchmen that I hadn’t planned on giving you.

Henshaw; a defensive based but intelligent Fighter, Doberman; a mindless chop-monster and Barbella; the slightly more complicated sort-of-thief-back-stabber.

So now, with seven/eight ‘heroes’ vs whatever monster/monsters I threw at you. Combat became twice as slow…

Half as fast?

Then Scott ‘evolved’ Liga Bur from Ranger to full Druid and added extra healing (if he ever selected it) and several more options in combat, not least of which, was the ability to summon multiple more combatants during the battles. 

He also rescued the flaming executioner/prisoner; Dijonn and had him bound to a magical staff. Another, potentially independently acting, morally dubious, member of the team!

Seven/nine (plus) ‘heroes’ vs whatever monster/monsters I throw at you.

Then Assif ‘retired’ his quick-on-the-draw, archer; Arowe and brought in a Dwarven Cleric and his fantastically well trained Mule; Murmul.

Seven/Ten (plus) ‘heroes’ vs whatever monster/monsters I throw at you.

More combat options to be sure and yet another healing opportunity but in Banaal’s second combat encounter, he summoned an Air-elemental. A pattern he’d oft repeat!

Now combats are running at around three-times slower…

A third as fast?

I did ‘cancel’ your evil trio of Henchies recently but I almost immediately replaced them with the (much more dependable and untreacherous) good triplets.

Given the current numbers, it can still work but it’s gotten progressively harder for me to plan and run the adventure, the more wheels are simultaneously turning. More player options mean more planning for me and more combatants, perversely means much, much, much longer combats.

In addition, the larger and more powerful the Party, the tougher and more numerous the enemy needs to be to compensate. The obvious additional consequence but pertinent to the speed of combat.

I’m guessing that ( unless they’re easy-peasy walk-overs) this slows the ‘average’ battle down to about one combat per session.

The last Mar-Gin river crossing combat encounter involved sixteen 4th level Rogues, a 5th level Witch and a 9th level Assassin verses 8th level; Fortu, Liga Bur and Banaal, 6th level Rifkin, three 4th level Fighter triplets; Locket, Chape and Ringo, a 5th level Captain Lynchin, four of his 2nd level guards plus the dogs; Mir Hundur and Deo, five riding gee-gees, the massive Night Fever, Dijonn and two divine summoned creatures; the Celestial Hippogryph and the giant Squid!

Plus poor innocent bystander (boat-stander?); Jane!

Forty-two (weird cosmic coincidence?) pieces simultaneously on the board!

To be honest, confusing as it is, I kinda-sorta love it, but it does potentially create two (four-hour) session combats. 

Ultimately, this is the bloated (despite only having three player-characters) situation we’ve created for ourselves and if you can live with it, so can I.

:)

D&D is Confusing and Difficult to Schedule

Last weeks session ended up mostly being about finishing off the complicated, multiple combatant, river crossing encounter. Good fun but exhausting. It ended with Fortu, Liga Bur and Banaal doggedly hunting down the badly injured but invisible and cunning; Danté. Fortunately for the Party, Banaal’s magical cloak gives him the ability to become ethereal and therefore see other invisible, ethereal creatures. I took that to mean that he could therefore see ALL invisible creatures.

After reading the rules however, I discovered that it doesn’t actually allow for that.

So, as a group, do we decide to double down on my error and allow all invisible characters and creatures to see each-other for the remainder of the campaign or accept Banaal’s observation of Danté was just a strange (possibly god given) glitch in our shared fantasy?

As for the next session, are any of you, all of you free for the morning of any of these weekend dates?

July

Saturday the 4th

Sunday the 5th

Saturday the 11th

Sunday the 12th

Saturday the 18th

Sunday 19th

Let me know if and when you’re available in this month as soon as you can and I’ll get to work building the next set of glue and cardboard traps encounters.

Thanks boys for the quickie response. Sunday the 19th of July is our mutually selected game-date. Now, will it be another massively complicated and overblown combat encounter or maybe just a talky-talky one? I’ve got four weeks to think about it and then four days to actually write something down!

Taking the Long Road

As the last (Cottage of Doom) campaign finished, we all questioned how Nobles, Priests and Wizards gained their positions and power if they didn’t adventure (kill monsters and steal their stuff) to gain experience.

I was thinking about this recently, as you’re going to meet a few of them soonish, and I think I’ve come up with a plausible, game related solution.

If you take the Experience/Level chart and just substitute the ‘000’ after the initial number for the word ‘years’, it could be applied to study, prayer and practice.

There’s the obvious precedent with the path from zero to first level. Characters train up from nought to first level by practice swordplay under a master or long-term study and prayer. Starting age is a demonstration of this. 

One years dedicated, eight-hour, daily practice gets you to level two.

Two more years (Three in total) practice gets you to level three.

Three more years (Six in total) practice gets you to level four.

This means that if a Wizard studies every day, five days a week, in a dusty tower for forty-five years, he would be around Sixty-Seven-years-old and have attained 10th level.

He would also be classified as Old with -3 to his Strength, Dexterity and Constitution and +2 to his Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.

(Slightly terrifying to realise Assif, David and I are also, D&D officially, ‘Old’ men now.)

This would make a kind of sense and explain why these Clerics and Wizards have chosen scholastic, non-combat useful Skills and Feats like ‘Magic item creation’ or why high status Nobles choose ridiculous levels of ‘Diplomacy’ etc.

You could apply this to Fighters too and this would explain why most of my solders are drilled to Second level but third level and above depend more on having seen actual combat or a long military career.

Does this system seem fair and reasonable?

Out of Option A or B, you choose C?!

It was nice to get a unanimously positive response to my ‘Shall we play or shall we go’ post, albeit with an odd caveat. I hadn’t even remotely considered the option of restarting afresh with a new campaign.

Character creation is (as David pointed out) a fun element of the game. So many choices, so many possibilities! That said, the story is what captures my attention. It’s no secret that my frustration with the (multiple DMed) University game was that it lacked a cohesive plot. That’s almost certainly why I ended up DMing the majority of the final 3.5 sessions.

I wanted the disparate threads to somehow weave together. I needed a sense of purpose and completion! As such, considering the already ‘half-baked’ plot in our current adventure and the myriad of lovingly named NPCs, I don’t think I could bring myself to start over. Better to just let the current story wither and die on the vine than to (in all probability) fail twice. 

New character creation however, is an entirely different proposition. Scott wasn’t enjoying playing Liga Bur. He liked his character concept and backstory but felt (and justifiably so) that he was being totally outshone in ranged combat by Arowe and in melee by Fortu. After a short conversation, we reached a class swap compromise. As a Ranger, he was already shining with his animal summoning tactics and it wasn’t a huge leap from there to full Druid. 

A subtle alteration of your existing characters would be my ideal solution but, despite my attempts to tie in some of your histories to the plot, your characters are absolutely yours to control. It’s not under my remit to refuse you. I’m against needlessly killing characters but I’ve never really believed in ‘plot armour’ and if bad planning, bad luck or Player boredom lead to their deaths… Fair enough.

Assif; if you want to retire Arowe or have him die heroically mid-battle, that’s fine by me. I’m sure we can work out how your new character (whoever and whatever they are) would mesh into the ongoing campaign. Would the currently All-Fighter party end up with just Fortu acting as, heavily armoured, meat-shield?

David; if you also want to ‘point-buy’ a new seventh-level character, that’s also fine.

If I have truly failed to enthral you though and you really don't care about or want to continue the son vs father, Sir Briefadel vs Lord Urdurel story arc, I think our adventure in Fissa is finished.

Unless one of you three is feeling the urge to claim DM godhood and total dominion over our shared world? I do have a character concept or two that I’d like to play with.

Not Merely Mir Hundur

After the confusion of Liga Burr's Riding dog's HPs and abilities, (Mir Hunder only having 20HPs definitely seemed wrong to me) I took the time to read up on 'Ranger animal companions'. Ultimately they're exactly the same as the Druid equivalent but at about half the power.

This is how he should be according to the Monster manual and the Player's handbook...

Mir Hundur.

Trained Riding Dog.

Size: Medium (Quadruped)

Str: 17 +3 Int: 2 -4 Wis: 12 +1 Dex: 17+3 Con: 16 +3 Cha: 6 -2

HPs: 38 4HD (4d8+12) 

AC: 19 (+3 Dex /+6 Natural armour)

Move: 40' (Assuming Liga Burr and all equipment weigh less than 129lbs)

Carrying capacity: Light: 129lbs or less / Medium: 259lbs or less / Heavy: 390lbs or less

(Medium load penalty = Skill check: -3 / Move: -10)

(Heavy load penalty= Skill check: -6 / Move: -10)

Saves: Fort: +7 / Reflex: +7 / Will: +2

Attack: Bite: +6 to Hit / Damage: 1d6+4 (+ Free Trip attack after successful bite)

Trip: 1d20+4 vs 1d20 +Str or Dex bonus or be knocked prone.

Special abilities: 1) Low light vision / 2) Scent / 3) Empathic Link / 4) Share spells / 5) Evasion

Feats: 1) Alertness / 2) Track / 3) Scott's choice (From the PH1 & MM1 only)

Skills: 1) Jump: +9 / 2) Listen: +5 / 3) Spot: +5 / 4) Swim: +4 / Survival: +1 (+2 points to spend)

Tricks: 8. All to be chosen (confirmed) by Scott.

(The debated 'Multi-attack' isn't available to Mir Hundur until Liga Burr reaches 18th level. In fact poor Mir Hundur won't improve again until Liga Burr reaches the giddy heights of 12th level.)

This is just my take on it without using any on-line resources, but as far as I'm concerned, all you have to do Scott, is choose 1 Feat, 2 Skill points and 8 Tricks (if you haven't done all of that already). After that you can relax for the next 5 levels.

:D

The Unfortunate Experience of Hooked Horrors, Gigantic Ice Bugs & Zombie Pythons!

As Assif pointed out, I've not awarded any experience since the 'Battle at the Eternal Pool'. 

I was assuming, since your characters just squeaked up to 6th level then, that it'd be a while before I had to consider that again. Still, it has been three sessions since then and the monsters have been a lot tougher.

As I started calculating though, I realised that you are now also 'burdened' with three additional NPCs. Henshaw, Barbella and Doberman are actually pretty handy, despite their low level but it sadly means more DMing for me and an extra division of experience.

Therefore, no-one's advanced to the giddy heights of 7th level yet, but to spare me calculating afresh next time, here are the scores on the doors:

Fortu: 17,733xp (6th)
Arowe: 17,758xp (6th)
Liga Bur: 17,541xp (6th)

Rifkin: 10,964xp (5th)

Henshaw: 2,299xp (2nd)

Barbella: 2,299xp (2nd)
Doberman: 2,299xp (2nd)

This also includes all the Orange Inn 'Comments' and 'Posts' bonuses.

Never tell me the Odds!

After our conversations about the placement of magic items, I revisited the Dungeon Master's Guide to check if my distribution of magic weapons, potions and armour was even remotely close to its suggestions...

It wasn't.

Taken as written and paying no attention to what the player's characters use or what they want, the chance of getting any specific item is miniscule!

Take for example, Liga Burr's +3 silver Kukri...

Firstly, it's a mid-level magical item and shouldn't have even been available until you all hit level six, so zero probability, but ignoring that error...

The chance of finding a lone mid-level magical item after a 'challenging' sixth level encounter: 57%

The chance of it being a Weapon: 10%

The chance of it being a Small weapon: 30%

The chance of it being an Uncommon weapon: 10%

The chance of it being a Kukri: 3%

The chance of it being +3: 28%

The chance of it being Silver (Weirdly no rule for this, so lets just say for fun's sake): 5%

The chance of it generating Light: 30%

Scott'd have to work this out properly but I'd estimate this to be approximately: 0.00001%

Fortu's Platemail of the Deep and Arowe's +2 Composite Longbow for a strength score of 14 are equally, if not even more improbable.

Finding random magical crap is part of the game but I think it's fair to 'slightly' tip the odds in the Party's favour.

Finally, just for comparison, each character should have gear to the value of 13,000gp by 6th level.

Liga Burr's small, silver, +3 Kukri by itself has a book value of 18,328gp

Fortu's Platemail of the deep has a book value of 24,650gp

Arowe's +2 Composite bow for 14 strength has a book value of 8,600gpk

In hindsight, I think you boys are actually doing pretty well!

;P

My Trilemma

After the last session, I've been worrying about three ongoing problems we've been having.

One per character and all concerning equipment.

Assif's is the most obvious one: How to keep Arowe stocked up with arrows?

In the last session of the 'Wolf Pact' adventure, the Party came to an agreement with the Fey, with the Dryads crafting 40 Masterwork arrows for him. Unfortunately, as Arowe is capable of firing one arrow every two seconds (effectively firing thirty arrows a minute) this is still problematic.

Scott's character's size is an issue because Liga Burr's equipment often has to also be small to match him physically. Not a problem with rings or cloaks but finding weapons, ammunition and armour certainly is. In the adventure so far, the only small characters encountered were the halfling acrobat troop found in the 'Rat King' town encounter and the borderline small/medium Three-Quarterling.

David's character's problem should be the simplest, but I've failed miserably so far. Fortu's only problem was in choosing an unusual mundane weapon to specialise in. Who uses a Bastard sword? It's actually a great, versatile sword... but only if you expend several feats. None of the people encountered so far could or would use such a weapon.

Ultimately, the problem I have is an ironic desire for realism in our shared fantasy setting.

Arrows, unlike swords, run out.

Small armour can only be found worn by small opponents.

Exotic weapons are called 'exotic' for a reason.

If I can justify someone the Party encounters using this sort of weapon; fantastic! If a small, magical shortbow could conceivably be lying undiscovered in some sort of loot pile; great!

Assif's quite right in his pointing out my love of 'Travel' adventures and the equipment restocking challenges associated with them. I just can't countenance the traditional 'Dungeon crawl'. Hundreds of random rooms arranged along a stone corridor, stocked with unassociated, random monsters waiting behind locked doors, all completely ignoring each-other but all still having access to unlimited water, food and supplies.

The one D&D trope that I really can't abide though, is the locked chest filled with gold, gems and magical items that should've/could've been used to protect themselves.

Finally, in my defence, in the two online adventures you've completed so far, you've skipped over several undiscovered 'loot piles' but rest assured, I promise there will be more to come...

Life, Death and Bad-Ass Scars!

After hand-waving it away during the actual game session, I double checked the recovery rules after being reduced to below 0 Hit Points...

Statuses:

1) From full HPs down to even just a measly1 = Perfectly fine.
2) 0 HPs = Disabled.
3) -1 to -9 HPs = Dying.
4) -10 or less = Dead!

Definitions:

Perfectly fine: Able to do anything a character is normal capable of.
Disabled: Can only make a single 'Move' action per turn. If character takes any strenuous action like a Melee attack, they instantly lose 1 HP and fall unconscious (Dying).
Dying: Unconscious and will lose an additional 1 HP per round unless healed or stabilised.
Dead: Game over. Roll up another character unless your teammates are super kind and have access to resurrection spells.

Magical Healing:

Any magical healing (Potion or spell) will automatically stabilise the unconscious character and remove that amount of damage. If they are healed above 0 HPs, they're instantly conscious and 'Perfectly fine' again.

Skill: Heal: DC: 15 (Full round action).

Character is stabilised but remains unconscious.
After an hour of being stable, roll a D20. On a 19 or 20 they instantly recover to 0 HPs and become conscious but 'Disabled'.

Self Stabilisation:

Roll a D20. On a 19 or 20, they stabilise for an hour and won't bleed out over that time. If you roll 18 or less, they lose an additional 1 HP. Repeat this every round until they're either stabilised or dead.

After an hour roll another D20. On a 19 or 20 they start to recover and (if left unmolested in a survivable environment) will recover HPs equivalent to their level. (A 5th level character will recover 5 HPs per rest period.) If you roll 18 or less, you lose another HP. Repeat this every hour until you're healing or dead.

If you rest twice your normal amount in a 24 hour period, they double their healing rate. (A 5th level character will recover 10 HPs per double rest period.)

Scars:

Permanent scars are 'won' whenever a character drops below 0 HPs. The closer to -10, the bad-assier the scar.

Fortu and Arowe have gained several since they banded together but Liga Bur has so far avoided acquiring any more. 

In fact, the pink shirted Arowe has actually been mortally wounded three times already since this campaign began: From the centaur; Tsigan's spear-like arrow, From the War's five-foot-long (reach weapon) tusk and, most recently, from the werewolf Kane's twin short swords. Three scars on his previously perfect skin and his fancy silk shirt and pantaloons must be looking pretty worse for wear by now.

Fortu also fell to the War and (very temporarily) to Kane as well.

I think Scott's taken his characters from one defensive extreme to another...

Bastien was powerfully armoured but slow and completely incapable of climbing, jumping, swimming or riding on a floaty spider-man Drider monster. 

Liga Bur (with the aid of Mir Hundur) is the complete opposite of that and so far, so good!

Massive Damage:

Just as a deterrent for high HP characters unsuspending disbelief, D&D has a rule to prevent super tough, high level Barbarians routinely jumping off cliff-tops onto the rocks below and surviving.

If a character takes more than 50 HPs of damage in a SINGLE blow, they must make a Fortitude saving roll: DC: 15 or instantly die. 

Notes:

1) So rather than just rolling above a 10 on a D20 to stabilise, the character needs to roll a 1 in ten!

2) Most of these rules don't apply to Arowe due to his 'Periapt of Wound closure' and being an elf.

Where the Were-Goodies?

The definitely dead wolfman's body, hangs limp under Fortu's spiked palisade. Dark blood, still dripping from the near surgical slit across his throat, pools on the stony ground beneath him.

Despite the drawn out battle, only Liga Bur's magical, silver kukri had proved effective against the cursed creature and it was fitting that it also delivered the death stroke.  

Kane, is what he'd called himself. His repeated scratch-mark 'Ks', just a desperate attempt for some form of recognition and remembrance. A lonely man and with his wolf-pack all dead, the only legacy he'd really left behind were the two dark-metaled, magical short-swords and the creepy, mummified hand. A ring sits on its second finger but, so far, no-one's dared to even try to remove it. Although inert now, Fortu could have sworn that he saw the hand twitch independently when Kane was shouting up the hill at them.

Taking an interest in the swords, Arowe notices that the well forged metal of the blades is very similar to that of his magical rapier. The rapier he'd recently acquired from the cells behind the terrifying Beer monster, back in the hidden garden of animal attraction. The magical rapier that had thrummed a warning when facing the unseen creatures of the stream.

Rifkin eventually overcomes his reticence and examines the sparse collection of items. Gingerly picking up the shrivelled disembodied hand, a look of recognition spreads over his face...

"I think I know what this is!"

Treasure

Two Magical Cold-iron Short-swords +1 (No glow)

Hand of Glory (Enables the use of three magical rings simultaneously and can cast 'See invisibility' and 'Light' once per day)

Ring of Evasion (Rifkin thinks.)

He also possessed a small purse containing Seven assorted Gem stones. They all look valuable but Rifkin's unable to accurately assess their true worth.

No arrows I'm afraid.

Extra Info

Scott and Assif: Calculate how many arrows your characters have got left... 

I know Arowe's almost, if not totally out but Liga Bur gained twenty magical flaming arrows from the Three-Quarterling's den to supplement his original supply. As Scott had also forgotten that he'd given Liga Bur the 'Multi-shot' feat, he's been firing off arrows at approximately half the rate of Assif's elf and so I'm guessing that, despite using them on the War, the Lightning tree and the werewolf Kane, he still has a few of the flaming ones and the majority of his normal ones left. (Shame that they're too small to share with Arowe.)

Also, Scott's computer was right about the damage of his Magical +3 Silver Kukri...

Silver weapons are apparently not as sharp/tough as steel ones and therefore do -1 damage. 

So Although its still a +3 magical weapon to hit, it only does +2 damage. 

Therefore, as a small Kukri, it only does 1d3+2 damage plus Liga Bur's (if he has any?) strength bonus.

Hit Points and how to lose them

After our last session, we questioned how 'Hit points' are represented in D&D.

Are the characters, NPCs and monsters just variously sized fleshy meat-bags of HPs?

The Player's handbook defines HPs as: 'The ability to take punishment, luck and the skill to reduce a lethal blow to a less serious one '. 

In game mechanic terms, this means that you're perfectly fine and fully functional until your HPs fall to '0', at which time you're 'Disabled', and at '-1 to -9' when you're 'Unconscious' or '-10' at which point, you're dead.

Interestingly though, there are two provisos to this that add a little nuance.

'Massive damage' is D&Ds way of making falling from a great height or falling into boiling larva more dangerous. If you take more than 50 points of damage in a single instance, you must make a Fortitude save: DC:15 or be killed regardless of how many HPs you'd have left. That'd be dangerous enough to stop me jumping from clifftops regardless of a character having 100+ HPs.

'Helpless' refers to being unable to protect yourself from having your throat slit with a 'Coup de Grace'.

'Coup de Grace' means the attacker, with a 'Full round action' is able to automatically hit and score a 'Critical Hit'. Even if the 'Helpless' victim survives this damage, they must make a Fortitude save: DC: 10 + the damage dealt or die!

'Disabled' means that you can only take one action. If that action is an attack, you lose another HP and become 'Unconscious'.

(The 'range' of just 1 seems a little silly to me but I suppose that's what the 'Die Hard' feat is for.)

'Unconscious' means that you are at -1 to -9 HPs and you lose an additional HP per round until you either 'Stabilise' or die.

You get a 10% chance of naturally 'Stabilising' per round.

A 'Healing' skill check of DC:15 allows another character or NPC to 'Stabilise' an 'Unconscious' character.

Another PC or NPC casting a healing spell or force feeding a 'Cure' potion will also bring the character up to 'Conscious' again with full autonomy or at the very least 'Stabilise' them.

Once a character falls to '-10' HPs, they're dead with their only recourse a 'Raise Dead' spell or equivalent.

This leads to some urgency in tending to the dying.

There is no mention of whether these rules apply to monsters and NPCs though.

The Monster manual does state that monsters heal at a rate of 1 point per Hit Dice per day.

This at least means that they can heal but not whether than can be 'Disabled' or 'Dying'. i.e. Drop below 1HP.

I suppose the question becomes: If your retainer Rifkin gets reduced to '0' HPs or lower, would you expect him to be instantly dead or not?

We could complicate the question further by making a distinction between 'NPCs' and 'Retainers' but that just seems petty.

Ultimately, as a just and kind God DM, I feel everyone should have the same chances at life but generally not necessarily the same opportunity to exploit them. i.e. No-one there to care or with the magic or skill to make a difference.

...

That said, unless you absolutely, one hundred percent know your enemy's dead, they may come back to get you!

;P

Fourth and Last Session of the Rat King adventure!

Scott has spoken and the rest of us have responded...

Saturday the 30th Evening 8pm for the yUKers.
Sunday the 31st Morning 7am for the lone Ozzy.

Aiming for three hours so I can be in bed by 11:30pm.

Our roles have been allocated thus:

I write and DM the adventures.
Assif runs the 'Mapcam' and moves the figures.
David controls initiative and drives combat.
and Scott is in charge of scheduling the monthly games.

Every one of those jobs helps me enormously.

Started writing and already come up with an encounter leading to the next Module that made me laugh.

:D

What's the Damage Son?

 Weird leaving a battle mid-way but a probable reality of our new gaming situation.

After all the various rat bites, small and tiny, I think everyone is injured. The question is by how much?

Mir Hundur has so far avoided any rat bites but got his paws ripped up by the sharp-stoned riverbank.

(Binding his wounds reversed his hobbled effect but healed no HP damage.)

Arrow quaffed a healing draft but may still be injured.

Fortu is definitely below maximum.

Not sure if Liga Burr has been touched by the rats yet?

Can everybody please list both their full (maximum) and current HPs?

Also, did anyone fail their 'Filth fever' rat disease save? 

(I think Fortu might've but I didn't note it down,)

Same People, Same Places, Same Time Zones, Next Month?

So, now that I've posted up the gold, experience points and Rifkins recent history... Are we all onboard with continuing with this on a regular basis?

I'm happy to keep making paper maps and minis but it's absolutely up to you guys.

Is once a month acceptable? 

I suspect any less than that, we'd forget what we were doing. Any more often would probably be a logistical struggle.

Also, I'm aware that my natural DMing style is a bit irreverent but I could try to play it straight(er) if you'd all prefer.

Let me know in the comments section below...

A wish fulfilling lark or Shakespeare in the park?

There was a fair bit of chat today about what your new characters should be?
Daring Paladins, Shape-changing Druids, Glass Kobold Wizards?
Please feel free to choose whatever, whichever, whoever you want!
Will you be comrades-in-arms, scarred from a year long foreign crusade for an ungrateful King?
Three treacherous Assassins on a shared but deadly mission?
Perhaps just the traditional 'met in-a bar, rag-tag band of misfits, bound together by fate'?
The adventure's not even written yet and can easily be adjusted as we go.
Shall we play for laughs?
Will we go full method?
Maybe fall somewhere in the middle?
Personally, I'm not much of a role-player. As a player I mostly just play an idealised Ranger version of myself.
As a DM though, I can be a bit better. It helps that I only have to maintain character for a few minutes at a time but it's fun to try.
I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with but remember, just like before, I'm happy for a little adjustment after the first couple of sessions.
Good luck and get scribbling.
:)

New Character Creation!

Not sure how often or how long we'll be playing but let's again forego the usual feeble levels and skip straight to third.

Same rules as before.
(D&D 3.5 core books only)

Hit Points: Maximum for 1st level. i.e. Barbarians get 12 + constitution bonus. Wizards get 4 + constitution bonus etc. After that, everyone gets 3/4 their class average rounded down per new level. i.e. Barbarians get: 9 + constitution bonus, Wizards get: 3+ constitution bonus (if any) and the annoying HP classes with a D6 get cheated with a 4+ constitution bonus etc.

Equipment: everyone comes with a full set of normal clothes and a shed load of money to spend on whatever they want (including Master-work equipment or magical items).

Attributes: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution and Charisma all start at: 8.
Raising costs points and you all start with: 32.

9 costs 1
10 costs 2
11 costs 3
12 costs 4
13 costs 5
14 costs 6
15 costs 8
16 costs 10
17. Costs 13
18 costs 16 (Maximum)

Gold: Stating money depends partially what class you choose.

Barbarians and Bards: 2,860gp
Monks: 2,720gp
Sorcery and Wizards: 2,820gp
Clerics and Thieves: 2,900gp
Druids: 2,780gp
Paladins, Fighters and Rangers: 2,940gp

Be whatever you want. A Fighter, a Wizard and a Rogue! Three savage, blood-thirsty Barbarians! Three suicidal Halfling Experts with anger management issues!

As your characters are going to be third level, I will expect your back stories posted up before we start play.

Again though, you may even want to create back-up characters for when I laugh and kill you.

Happy character creation!