More Applied Pragmatics

[bryant]

This is in fact the 4e campaign I'm gearing up to run. The campaign frame: the PCs are a group of three to five individuals who, for whatever reason, have hooked up together to apply to the course of education offered by Doctor Cavillard. You may have known each other beforehand; you may have met in an inn in Fairhaven and decided to band together on the spot. That'll all shake out in character creation.

I like a lot of things about Eberron. The things I like for this campaign are:

• The urban setting. Fairhaven is no Sharn, but it is a pretty cosmopolitan city. There will be adventure outside the city, but there will also be lots of adventure inside it.


• The conspiracy and intrigue. It is a very political setting. The Five Nations have just come out of a very long war, and they don't really get along no matter what treaty they signed. There will be both nobility and treachery afoot. Think Scarlet Pimpernel.


• The pulpishness. I like giving my players the chance to play big damn heros. Shake the pillars of the heavens, baby... maybe not at first level but characters will do things that matter in the end.

PCs will start at first level. I have at this point done the first half of the heroic tier a lot, so I intend to accelerate levels 1-5 as much as necessary to avoid boredom. If I wind up with players new to 4e, I'd make sure they had enough time to learn the system.

There'll be mix of combat and roleplay and skill challenges. On average, I'm thinking a fight or two per session. Some sessions may have none, some may have three. Battlemaps? Yep. Minis? Yep.

Weekends seem likely. Saturday morning, noonish? Four hours or so? Yeah. Weekday evenings are a possibility depending on commutes and such.

I like empowered players. I like players whose backgrounds offer up hooks and mysteries. I like players who want to define chunks of the world, particularly if they want to define them in ways that cause as many problems as not.

Comments

[head58.livejournal.com]

It's going to be rough, but I'll swing by to pick up telepresence, my_tallest and jeffwik after work on Fridays and we'll be there by morning. Have pancakes and coffee ready.

[bryant]

I'd be just fine with that! See you all next week.

[telepresence.livejournal.com]

Shotgun!

Sounds great!

[kirbyk.livejournal.com]

My only real short term conflict is August 8th - my parents are going to be around that whole weekend. Other than that, I'm uncommitted. Saturdays are v. good.

Evenings aren't so good for me, what with the commute and all.

I've kind of got an idea in the back of my head for a halfling that wasn't cutting it as a rogue, so made a dark pact, became a warlock, and whose parents sent him packing in disgrace. So, determined to prove them wrong and come back a hero, or at least extremely rich, off he goes to gain knowlege, power, and ultimate acceptance. (Okay, typing this out, it's now in the front of my head.)

(But I can come up with ten other concepts if someone else wants Warlock dibs or if we're critically short a role. I haven't played enough 4e to not want to play every class a lot right now.)

Re: Sounds great!

[michele-blue.livejournal.com]

I haven't played enough 4e to not want to play every class a lot right now.

Hah, same! Right now, I'm leaning toward artificer. I seem to have this need to play every class in the leader role eventually. No idea of concept, though I'll probably tend toward human.

Re: Sounds great!

[bryant]

Saturdays seem likely. Every two weeks. Do you know the Eberron setting? You know how in most fantasy settings there's a big chunk of plains that's populated by noble nomadic types who live in close harmony with their horses?

Well, in Eberron, the noble nomadic types are halflings and their horses are dinosaurs.

[mcroft.livejournal.com]

Are the players gonna twig to the fact that their mentor is Dr. I Dracvlla before or after he sucks their blood?

[bryant]

I feel it's important to provide some stable points in a conspiratorial world! Thus, the good Doctor is in fact a good guy.

You're just warped by Amber. ;)

[mcroft.livejournal.com]

My goal with Amber is to make the players totally loathe recurring villains that they can't kill because the villain is also their best friend's Mother.

If your villain is not someone's mother, you're missing out on a key dilemma.

[odinkar.livejournal.com]

Well, you certainly have my attention now! I have a couple of character designs who might be good for this sort of thing. ;)

[bryant]

Excelllllent. I think there's a fair bit of flexibility in the premise -- you could just as easily play an older character who wants to get an education, for example.

I should dig up a good intro page on Eberron, too.

[bryant]

There are sadly few MMO companies in Chicago. Although we'd dig it; michele_blue lived there for a while and loved it.

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

I know a plausibly interested couple of people, one of which is me...

[bryant]

Do you have an arrival date? I was thinking of starting this, hm, sometime in September.

I think with you two I'd have a solid group filled out.

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

My current plan is to make the move sometime in August, probably the second or third week. "Sometime in September" sounds pretty reasonable.

[blue-stiletto.livejournal.com]

hi bryant! my name is cassandra, long-time BFF of odinkar and bohemianeditor.
it looks as though i'm going to be moving back to baltimore next month and i heard tell of the game you'd be running. ;) if you need an extra player, i'd LOVE to be involved.
just fyi, though, i haven't played since 3rd ed d&d, mainly forgotten realms. i'm sure i could catch up pretty fast.

p.s. pleased to make your acquaintance! ;)

[bryant]

Pleased to meet you! If you've played 3rd edition, 4th is no big jump. :)