Post by Ixos 2: the Sequel on Jun 29, 2008 1:24:05 GMT -6
Sorry about the previous super-long post. Just a little old-school game synopsis.
Anywho, so far I'm really liking 4e. This game was a learning experience for all of us (we started about 1:00, and by 5:30 we had rolled up characters and had our first combat!). That first fight (the wolves) was intentionally simple so that we could all get used to the system--me as DM and the players as PCs. And it took forever! I think that's when I first realized that we don't have a tank--2 strikers, a leader and a controller...hmm, who takes the beating? (In this game it turned out to be rms and xombie; rms expected it, I think, but I also think that he realized that he really didn't want to be taking that kind of beating!)
I think that a lot of our trouble has to do with the fact that we're all still used to 3.x (or 2e!). 4e is way different. The basic attack--which was a staple in previous editions--is now a last resort (or used situationally) in 4e; you almost always want to use a power. Now, some powers/situations cause you to make basic attacks, but on your turn, when the DM asks "what'cha gonna do?" you should always use a power (generally at-will or encounter). Sometimes, your power isn't going to do much (rms has Wolf Pack Tactics, and I don't think he used it the whole game, simply because the situation never came up). But still, even that little bonus can mean a lot (I can envision many a scenario where he would want to use that on Gir so she can move to a flanking position).
It took a while, but I think that we all started thinking about our powers before the game ended. (I still screwed up some monsters, but that's pretty much SOP for me...) xombie especially seemed to be taking advantage of his goods--he was cursing, blasting, and misty stepping all over the place! Unfortunately, he was getting really close to the bad guys, and paid for it (he also forgot about shadow walk, I think--so did I, or I would have mentioned it--but that could have made things a little different...)
I learned some things, too. The rat master/rat swarms encounter--easily the toughest battle of the session--is a level 1 encounter for 5 PCs. Unfortunately, it was lvl 3 for 4 PCs, but still "officially" a proper encounter. Evidently not if your party is missing a tank, and/or is 1st lvl. (Admittedly, daily powers probably should have been used; I don't know about anybody else, but I didn't use mine....sorry...[but in my defense, I couldn't hit the sumbich anyway: a series of attack rolls, in order--6, 6, 1, 6, 5])
Anyway, I had a lot of fun DMing my first 4e game, and I think/hope that Gir, xombie, and rms had fun playing it, too. I had fun writing the game (which was really just an expansion on Kobold Hall from the DMG), and as usual, I wrote way too much. There turned out to be way more story than I had anticipated (which is a good thing!!).
{Amusing anecdote, which has absolutely nothing to do with DnD, 4e or otherwise, and which is surprisingly Faulknerian in it's stream of consciousness trappings}: Okay, so I'm writing my game summary, and then writing this "ooc" second post, having a few cold ones, feeling good, looking at the time and realizing that I'm running low and not feeling tired at all. So I says to myself, "Self," I says, "you're about outta beer." "Yup," I says in return, "runnin' low. Woulda stopped on the way home, but thought I'da been in bed by now." "Yup," I says, "lack of foresight. Dumbass." "Well," I says, "how can this situation be rectified?" "Only one way," I says, "yer gonna hafta walk to th' Eagle Stop." "The Eagle Stop?!" I exclaim, "fuck that! I hate that place!" "You want more beer, yer gonna hafta hoof it, and quick. It's gettin' nigh on 12:45, and they go by 'bar time' whatever the fuck that means." "What does that mean, anyway?" I asks. "Hell, I dunno," I answers, "think it means they won't sell ya beer." "Oh," I says, "well, if'ns I wants summore booze, guess I better put some pants back on and hoof it." "Yup," I says. But then I says, "Imma drive it," I says, "s'only like a couple minutes away, and 'sides I hate that place, an' I'll be damned if Imma walk it." "No, yer gonna hoof it," I says, "cause yer not gonna go to jail for a fricken beer run." "Yer crazy," I says, "I won't go to jail driving like 2 minutes to get some damn beer." "No, you won't," I says, "cause you ain't drivin'." "What," I says, "you honestly think a cop'll be at the Eagle Stop?" "Uh, you know who you are, right?" I says, "yeah, there'll be a cop at the Eagle Stop, an' it'll prolly be Fricken Feltrop." "Whatever," I says, "but since I'm tired o' you bitchin', Imma put on some pants an' hoof it." So I put on some pants and hoof it. I'm makin' good time, even though I run into some hoodlums that keep askin' "whassup my homie?" and I keep answerin' "not much, sup?" And they just keep askin' and I keep answerin', and eventually I look behind me to find out who the fuck they're talkin' to, but there's nobuddy behind me. Um, wtf? Anyhoo, I make it past the hoodlums (2kx hoodlums are nowhere near as cool as '50s hoodlums--nary a leather jacket in sight!), and turn onto 87, a straight shot to the friggin Eagle Stop. And, lo and behold, a cop car sitting in the parking lot. I get closer, an' I says, "yeah, dumbass wanted to drive." "Yeah," I says, "shut up." And then I says, "hmm, think Imma walk a differnt way home." "Scared of the hoodlums?" I says. "No!" I says, "shut up! I just want a change of scenery!" "Heh," I says. An' I cross highway 50, and look into the lobby of the Eagle Stop, and see an officer in uniform--well, duh, his cop car is right outside--an' guess who it is. Yup, friggin Feltrop! We smile at each other, and I say, "An' yer the reason I had to walk all the way here!" An' he goes, "why did you walk?" And I go, "cause I'm drunk." He laughs. I laugh. The clerk about falls down laughin' so hard. And then Feltrop, he goes, "so, you wanna ride?" An' I go, "yeah, hell yeah." An' he goes, "you don' wanna be mugged fer yer beer." An' I goes, "nope, in fact, I jus' run into some hoodlums, an' I was plannin' on walkin' a differnt way home--not cause I'm scared though!" An' he goes, "you saw were I was parked?" An' I goes, "uh, yeah, I was congraduatin' meself on walkin' and not drivin'." So I get in his cop car, an' we drive back to my house, and we sit in his car bullshitting for like 20 minutes in the middle of the street in front of my house. Finally he goes, "oh crap, dude, sumbuddy's hotroddin it, I gotta go." An' I goes, "okay man, thanx fer the ride." An' I get out the car, an' he like peels out after the hotrodders. Heh. That was awesome.
Unfortunately, my excellent adventure has caused me to lose my train of thought. So, I'll wing it!
I must admit that I really enjoyed the minis--I hate to admit it, but admit it I must. In fact, I don't think the combat would have been as much fun without them. (On a side note, Gir and xombie, I accidentally scooped up your minis with mine--I have your Storm, Warlock and Dorf guy. Sorry! I will return them when we play again!) I know that xombie wouldn't have been able to exploit his misty step without minis (and misty step seems to have some awesome potential, btw). Unfortunately, my selection of minis to represent the monsters did more to confuse me than help--I had kobolds, but all of them were different, and I had trouble remembering which were which. That's more of a personal problem than a problem with the game, though.
There wasn't much RP in this adventure, but that's understandable--I didn't put in much opportunity for RP, and none of us had actually developed much personality/background/whatnot for our characters. rms had the best "makeshift" background: he hates dragonborn ("can't trust 'em!") and has something to prove. I'm interested to know why Thoradin (not rms...) doesn't trust dragonborn, and what he has to prove (and why). The rest of us were kinda like, "uh, I'm adventuring cause I want power, and wealth, and, uh, like, fame and stuff. I really din't think of a background..." (And that's fine, really. We're a hack-n-slash group, and not all of us like RP in equal measures.) But, like I mentioned earlier, there turned out to be more story than I had anticipated. Why is that? Hmm, I dunno, but it's cool!
From my own personal experience, I can't wait to play Meriele (I keep wanting to call her Miriamele...) under another DM. This is the kind of character that can really take advantage of DM knowledge, and I find myself pulling back when maybe I shouldn't, and charging ahead when it probably isn't appropriate. I also keep thinking that my attacks aren't as fun as the 'locks or the rogues, but I think that will change when I'm not DMing (prepare to become very very sick of prestidigitation....). And yes, Fey Step is awesome...and still probably not as good as Misty Step (hmm, an eladrin fey pact 'lock with Imp. Misty Step...)
Well, that's two very long posts that basically say: "We played 4e tonight, and had fun." If you read everything, well, thanks!
I enjoyed writing it! (I sometimes consider myself a writer, even though I don't think I'm very good at it. 
) If you didn't read all of it, well, screw you and get the hell off my message board!! 
PS: redshirt, the group needs a tank. My big black 20 loves to crit rms, and xombie is really tired of setting up flanks for Gir. Ig, you said something about playing...an off tank wouldn't hurt anything!
Anywho, so far I'm really liking 4e. This game was a learning experience for all of us (we started about 1:00, and by 5:30 we had rolled up characters and had our first combat!). That first fight (the wolves) was intentionally simple so that we could all get used to the system--me as DM and the players as PCs. And it took forever! I think that's when I first realized that we don't have a tank--2 strikers, a leader and a controller...hmm, who takes the beating? (In this game it turned out to be rms and xombie; rms expected it, I think, but I also think that he realized that he really didn't want to be taking that kind of beating!)
I think that a lot of our trouble has to do with the fact that we're all still used to 3.x (or 2e!). 4e is way different. The basic attack--which was a staple in previous editions--is now a last resort (or used situationally) in 4e; you almost always want to use a power. Now, some powers/situations cause you to make basic attacks, but on your turn, when the DM asks "what'cha gonna do?" you should always use a power (generally at-will or encounter). Sometimes, your power isn't going to do much (rms has Wolf Pack Tactics, and I don't think he used it the whole game, simply because the situation never came up). But still, even that little bonus can mean a lot (I can envision many a scenario where he would want to use that on Gir so she can move to a flanking position).
It took a while, but I think that we all started thinking about our powers before the game ended. (I still screwed up some monsters, but that's pretty much SOP for me...) xombie especially seemed to be taking advantage of his goods--he was cursing, blasting, and misty stepping all over the place! Unfortunately, he was getting really close to the bad guys, and paid for it (he also forgot about shadow walk, I think--so did I, or I would have mentioned it--but that could have made things a little different...)
I learned some things, too. The rat master/rat swarms encounter--easily the toughest battle of the session--is a level 1 encounter for 5 PCs. Unfortunately, it was lvl 3 for 4 PCs, but still "officially" a proper encounter. Evidently not if your party is missing a tank, and/or is 1st lvl. (Admittedly, daily powers probably should have been used; I don't know about anybody else, but I didn't use mine....sorry...[but in my defense, I couldn't hit the sumbich anyway: a series of attack rolls, in order--6, 6, 1, 6, 5])
Anyway, I had a lot of fun DMing my first 4e game, and I think/hope that Gir, xombie, and rms had fun playing it, too. I had fun writing the game (which was really just an expansion on Kobold Hall from the DMG), and as usual, I wrote way too much. There turned out to be way more story than I had anticipated (which is a good thing!!).
{Amusing anecdote, which has absolutely nothing to do with DnD, 4e or otherwise, and which is surprisingly Faulknerian in it's stream of consciousness trappings}: Okay, so I'm writing my game summary, and then writing this "ooc" second post, having a few cold ones, feeling good, looking at the time and realizing that I'm running low and not feeling tired at all. So I says to myself, "Self," I says, "you're about outta beer." "Yup," I says in return, "runnin' low. Woulda stopped on the way home, but thought I'da been in bed by now." "Yup," I says, "lack of foresight. Dumbass." "Well," I says, "how can this situation be rectified?" "Only one way," I says, "yer gonna hafta walk to th' Eagle Stop." "The Eagle Stop?!" I exclaim, "fuck that! I hate that place!" "You want more beer, yer gonna hafta hoof it, and quick. It's gettin' nigh on 12:45, and they go by 'bar time' whatever the fuck that means." "What does that mean, anyway?" I asks. "Hell, I dunno," I answers, "think it means they won't sell ya beer." "Oh," I says, "well, if'ns I wants summore booze, guess I better put some pants back on and hoof it." "Yup," I says. But then I says, "Imma drive it," I says, "s'only like a couple minutes away, and 'sides I hate that place, an' I'll be damned if Imma walk it." "No, yer gonna hoof it," I says, "cause yer not gonna go to jail for a fricken beer run." "Yer crazy," I says, "I won't go to jail driving like 2 minutes to get some damn beer." "No, you won't," I says, "cause you ain't drivin'." "What," I says, "you honestly think a cop'll be at the Eagle Stop?" "Uh, you know who you are, right?" I says, "yeah, there'll be a cop at the Eagle Stop, an' it'll prolly be Fricken Feltrop." "Whatever," I says, "but since I'm tired o' you bitchin', Imma put on some pants an' hoof it." So I put on some pants and hoof it. I'm makin' good time, even though I run into some hoodlums that keep askin' "whassup my homie?" and I keep answerin' "not much, sup?" And they just keep askin' and I keep answerin', and eventually I look behind me to find out who the fuck they're talkin' to, but there's nobuddy behind me. Um, wtf? Anyhoo, I make it past the hoodlums (2kx hoodlums are nowhere near as cool as '50s hoodlums--nary a leather jacket in sight!), and turn onto 87, a straight shot to the friggin Eagle Stop. And, lo and behold, a cop car sitting in the parking lot. I get closer, an' I says, "yeah, dumbass wanted to drive." "Yeah," I says, "shut up." And then I says, "hmm, think Imma walk a differnt way home." "Scared of the hoodlums?" I says. "No!" I says, "shut up! I just want a change of scenery!" "Heh," I says. An' I cross highway 50, and look into the lobby of the Eagle Stop, and see an officer in uniform--well, duh, his cop car is right outside--an' guess who it is. Yup, friggin Feltrop! We smile at each other, and I say, "An' yer the reason I had to walk all the way here!" An' he goes, "why did you walk?" And I go, "cause I'm drunk." He laughs. I laugh. The clerk about falls down laughin' so hard. And then Feltrop, he goes, "so, you wanna ride?" An' I go, "yeah, hell yeah." An' he goes, "you don' wanna be mugged fer yer beer." An' I goes, "nope, in fact, I jus' run into some hoodlums, an' I was plannin' on walkin' a differnt way home--not cause I'm scared though!" An' he goes, "you saw were I was parked?" An' I goes, "uh, yeah, I was congraduatin' meself on walkin' and not drivin'." So I get in his cop car, an' we drive back to my house, and we sit in his car bullshitting for like 20 minutes in the middle of the street in front of my house. Finally he goes, "oh crap, dude, sumbuddy's hotroddin it, I gotta go." An' I goes, "okay man, thanx fer the ride." An' I get out the car, an' he like peels out after the hotrodders. Heh. That was awesome.
Unfortunately, my excellent adventure has caused me to lose my train of thought. So, I'll wing it!
I must admit that I really enjoyed the minis--I hate to admit it, but admit it I must. In fact, I don't think the combat would have been as much fun without them. (On a side note, Gir and xombie, I accidentally scooped up your minis with mine--I have your Storm, Warlock and Dorf guy. Sorry! I will return them when we play again!) I know that xombie wouldn't have been able to exploit his misty step without minis (and misty step seems to have some awesome potential, btw). Unfortunately, my selection of minis to represent the monsters did more to confuse me than help--I had kobolds, but all of them were different, and I had trouble remembering which were which. That's more of a personal problem than a problem with the game, though.
There wasn't much RP in this adventure, but that's understandable--I didn't put in much opportunity for RP, and none of us had actually developed much personality/background/whatnot for our characters. rms had the best "makeshift" background: he hates dragonborn ("can't trust 'em!") and has something to prove. I'm interested to know why Thoradin (not rms...) doesn't trust dragonborn, and what he has to prove (and why). The rest of us were kinda like, "uh, I'm adventuring cause I want power, and wealth, and, uh, like, fame and stuff. I really din't think of a background..." (And that's fine, really. We're a hack-n-slash group, and not all of us like RP in equal measures.) But, like I mentioned earlier, there turned out to be more story than I had anticipated. Why is that? Hmm, I dunno, but it's cool!
From my own personal experience, I can't wait to play Meriele (I keep wanting to call her Miriamele...) under another DM. This is the kind of character that can really take advantage of DM knowledge, and I find myself pulling back when maybe I shouldn't, and charging ahead when it probably isn't appropriate. I also keep thinking that my attacks aren't as fun as the 'locks or the rogues, but I think that will change when I'm not DMing (prepare to become very very sick of prestidigitation....). And yes, Fey Step is awesome...and still probably not as good as Misty Step (hmm, an eladrin fey pact 'lock with Imp. Misty Step...)
Well, that's two very long posts that basically say: "We played 4e tonight, and had fun." If you read everything, well, thanks!
I enjoyed writing it! (I sometimes consider myself a writer, even though I don't think I'm very good at it. 
) If you didn't read all of it, well, screw you and get the hell off my message board!! 
PS: redshirt, the group needs a tank. My big black 20 loves to crit rms, and xombie is really tired of setting up flanks for Gir. Ig, you said something about playing...an off tank wouldn't hurt anything!
... 
...i'm glad you guys are all havin fun, and i look forward to hearing your experiences and evolved thoughts on 4th ed...Excelsior!!
