I admit it. Reclaimer has been taking a back seat to other creative pursuits recently. It’s not a permanent condition, of course, but I thought I’d take a moment to share what it is I’ve been up to lately.
I’ve wanted to play Dungeons & Dragons for quite a while now, but I’ve had a hard time finding games on a schedule that works with my activities — so I decided to DM my own campaign. Of course, I’ve never actually played a single game of D&D in my life, so I’ve been doing a lot of reading over the last several weeks. I’ve been slowly collecting the 4th Edition books and now have copies of all three Players Handbooks, both DM guides, both Monster Manuals, Underdark, and the Eberron Campaign Guide. I’ll add more volumes to my collection as money permits.
Darkfall is the setting for my first adventure. This is a sample from the garrison section of the town.
I’m looking forward to running my campaign, and it’s looking like I’ll have a full party of six adventurers for the first session. I love telling stories, as Reclaimer fans have no doubt deduced.
Consider this an open thread. Tell me your favorite moments playing D&D, either as a player or a DM — or both. And I promise I’ll be getting back to producing comics again soon.
Hey Jim! You picked a good time to start DnD. All the tools are right at your fingertips. I'd also like to refer you tohttp://www.obsidianportal.com/ for organization purposes. My favorite moments in DnD tend to be as a DM. I rarely use the established setting and try to tell unique stories within realms I create.
Two of my three moments, that I'll mention here have to do with players asking for unique situations for their character development. The first was when the rogue asked me (privately) to cut off her arm in game. She wanted to get a replacement limb in the game. So during the battle, when I described how the rogue had slipped up and a bandit had taken the opportunity to send her arm spinning into the darkness, the other players looked at me in disbelief. "You can't do that!" They yelled. "She's dying." I countered. Later, when they found it was pre-planned they thought it was pretty cool.
The second one had to do with a party member that had made a selfish hero. Despite the fact that I had asked all of the players to create heroic figures, a third of them didn't. The player recognized the problem and wanted me to fix it in game by having his character kidnapped. When the other P.C.'s rescued him, he would learn the value of friendship. It didn't work out quite that well but that is another story.
The last one was when the P.C.'s had broken the captured player out of the middle of the army that was holding him hostage. All of their work came to fruition when they reached their current base of operations- the city that was basically a giant temple dedicated to Erathis, with an angry army on their heels. The temple defenses they had helped set up (but didn't know what they did), went off and they watched in disbelief as a giant angel appeared to protect the city and the souls of the dead came to their aid.
I don't know if these were interesting enough to share but I enjoy DMing and sharing.
Also, miss your presence on Ficly but it seems like you're pretty busy.
Thanks for sharing, Robert! Those sound like very interesting moments, and I love hearing about DMs who actually work with the players to create a game they'll enjoy.
I'm very much looking forward to starting my campaign on Saturday. I'm basically creating my own world and writing my own story, which is part of why I haven't been doing any other writing recently. Once we're done on Saturday, I'll very likely be posting a more involved write-up of the town of Darkfall, the circumstances currently surrounding it, and the outcome of my band of heroes as they attempt to begin resolving the problems affecting the town.
I've put a lot of work into creating this world already, so I'm terribly excited about seeing my friends getting a chance to play in it. :)
Thanks for sharing, Robert! Those sound like very interesting moments, and I love hearing about DMs who actually work with the players to create a game they'll enjoy.
Thanks for sharing, Robert! Those sound like very interesting moments, and I love hearing about DMs who actually work with the players to create a game they'll enjoy.