[Question] Play by post D&D 5e on Halforums?

If we could get a dice roller add-on for the site (@Dave ?), I'd be willing to DM a play by post game here. I'd want 4 to 6 players who would try to post here at least once daily (just once on the weekends is fine). Any interest?
 
I have never played D&D or any other similar tabletop game before, but I'd be interested in giving it a shot.
 

Dave

Staff member
Hmmm. I'll see if there is one available.

edit: There is one available but it's freaking $30! There's probably other ways, but nothing native to XF.
 
@grub , @Vrii , @phil , @bhamv3 , and anyone else interested:

Dice rolling can occur in Discord chat, which had three benefit of a phone app, on unseenservant.com, or on dndbeyond.com in their forums (I would start a thread for just rolls there...it is where I run my other pbp games). I favor Discord chat in this case but am open to other preferences.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
@grub , @Vrii , @phil , @bhamv3 , and anyone else interested:

Dice rolling can occur in Discord chat, which had three benefit of a phone app, on unseenservant.com, or on dndbeyond.com in their forums (I would start a thread for just rolls there...it is where I run my other pbp games). I favor Discord chat in this case but am open to other preferences.
I can make you a special D&D discord channel on the Halforums discord server if you want. Voice, Text, or both.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I went ahead and did it. there's now a D&D voice channel on the halforums discord, and a dnd-text channel to go with it. Have at it.
 
OK, first order of business for @Wahad , @HCGLNS , @phil , @grub , @bhamv3 and @Vrii :

My preference is to run a campaign I have already done before, which is either WotC's Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (possibly followed by Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage) or my own homebrewed campaign, The Long Road of the Mage King. Both are well-plotted, although I think the Waterdeep campaign is a bit quirky and my campaign is more like an epic tale. So, vote your preference!
 
I guess waterdeep? I haven't played 5e before so a more casual setting might make for a good intro

Thinking gnome bard but not married to it.
 
Dragon Heist it is! FYI, the Dragons in Dragon Heist refer to the slang for the gold coins used in Waterdeep. Don't worry. Actual dragons will make an appearance too! It is only up to level 5, then we can decide to stop, change to a new campaign, or keep going with a new or homebrewed module.

So next up is making characters. Here are some choices for you:

1.) If you are totally new and want an easy experience, I highly recommend www.dndbeyond.com for their character creator. You will have very limited options, however, unless you fork over $$ to buy digital content. But you CAN make some basic characters and the creator walks you through the process wonderfully.

2.) I've never used it but https://www.aidedd.org/dnd-builder/index.php?l=1 looks pretty great. I don't think you can go wrong making your character here. I think I recommend this option just because it does a decent walk-through AND gives you lots of options.

3.) Orc Pub has a pretty good reputation. https://orcpub2.com/pages/dnd/5e/character-builder I've never used this one either, but it looks fully featured with all the options you could want. It does not look AS user friendly for new players but I think anyone here could figure it out.

This will tell you about the abilities as well as their cost as you decide your ability scores. We are going to use Point Buy for making characters. This means you get a budget to buy your character stats. Your budget will be 27 The points you put into Strength, etc. get more expensive as they get higher. Here is a direct link to explaining point buy in the same article.

Usually a party fares best with a balance of classes and abilities (and languages and skills, etc.) but Dragon heist is more of a mystery with some combat thrown about. Social and rogue-ish skills will be useful in this module. All of that said, a party of 6 bards would probably be fine in this campaign (LOL!) I would say, for party harmony, you SHOULD try to agree on generally towards good, evil, or neutral as a party. I say this because you will start out together and at least know each other to some extent already.

When you have your character picked out, upload the PDF here and I will keep them on Google drive for reference. If you need help making your character or want to bounce ideas off the group, feel free! Have fun making your character. It is one of the best parts of the game, IMO. :)

I will be sure to double-check all characters that you didn't forget anything or make a mistake, so go wild.

More useful resources:

Name generators:
https://www.wizards.com/dnd/article5.asp?x=dnd/dx20010202b
https://www.kassoon.com/dnd/name-generator/

Backstory generator:
https://www.kassoon.com/dnd/backstory-generator/

Waterdeep map:
https://external-preview.redd.it/cT...bp&s=2d19df8c752041e47d0e4ac161fc2570805d9584

About Waterdeep:
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Waterdeep

Okay, that's all I can think of for the moment.
 
Just to point out, the different character generators vary quite a bit in terms of the options they offer. Orc Pub seems to be a very basic PHB-only list, and likely depends on the use of the SRD to find things like feats, while aided has a lot more options for subraces that may or may not be at different power levels? I don't know that it'll make a huge difference, but we might want to settle on one option for everyone to use just so we're all working from the same base?
 
If someone looks very overpowered or underpowered, I'll help correct that before we start. I would rather everyone just be comfortable playing.
 
Charity is ready! Level 1 Human Paladin.

Once a farmgirl, now a chosen of Chauntea after receiving a vision; she liberated her poor town from the yoke of a rich bozo by re-distributing his fortune; once his mercenary guards were no longer being paid, the townsfolk ran him out and hailed her as a hero - so she started traveling, to aid those in need.

 

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