[D&D 4e] Heaven's Gate (Pick Up Game - 5/31 6pm edt)

SkyCaptain

Pick up game tonight 5/31/2009 at 6 pm eastern using MapTools 1.3b56

What is a shared campaign?
If you know anything about the Living games run by the RPGA, much like that. Otherwise, read on. The shared campaign concept allows multiple DM's to run adventures using the same campaign setting, drawing on a pool of characters and players, rather than having their own exclusive group each adventure. Through consistent treasure awards, balance is maintained despite the diversity of characters and adventures.

How It Works
DM's schedule a game and detail how many seats are reserved (no more than half) and how many are open, which region the adventure is in, and what level the adventure is for. Players may sign up with eligible characters. Players with lower particpation points have first shot at open seats. Signups are closed one hour before the game. Any open seats at that point are first come, first serve at game time.

Heaven's Gate will be run chat only using MapTool. Each session/adventure will last around four hours and can take place at any time or date.


The Campaign Setting - link (An ongoing WIP)
Heaven's Gate is a high fantasy campaign set upon the shattered remains of a verdant moon. The moon was shattered several hundred million years ago by a comet and the shards from the cataclysm fell into the upper atmosphere of a massive gas giant, where the shards drift on the wind in airy skies. The story begins a generation after the fall of the Vanathiel Empire and the disappearance of the Imperial Magi and the Skyship Engineers. Ancient bloodlines, oppressed during Imperial rule, have resurfaced across the Midlands, claiming ancient thrones and reigniting blood wars from ages past. Brigands and warlords are seizing power in the unclaimed territories, the borderlands crawl with monstrous creatures long thought dead, and the drahken (dragonborn) to the south are rumored to be massing for war upon the Midlands.

If you're interested in something like this or have any questions just ask and post a link to a character sheet made according to the campaign rules. Thanks!

Campaign Map

hjparcins

Definitely interested in this. I'll have to read through the campaign history to see if any of my characters will jive, otherwise I'll work on a new one soon.

SkyCaptain

If anyone is worried about the lack of races, there's a reason for it that will become apparent as the storyline progresses. The concept of the shared campaign is not only to make games more accessible to people with varied schedules, but to create a living campaign that actually changes based on what happens in the adventures and chronicles.

Other races will open up as the campaign gets underway and players will be able to request adventures deisgned to open up a new race for either themselves or anyone in the campaign.

Alecthar

Sounds interesting, but part of the appeal of MapTools games (for me, at least) is that they currently represent my only chance of ever hitting Paragon tier or above playing 4E. Not sure if I'm eager to play a campaign where I'm stuck in Heroic Tier for eternity.

Utsanomiko

I really like the idea of adventures effecting each other in a compiled, ongoing shared setting (official Living campaigns I recall just run every group through the same adventures), but my first thoughts are the limitations on the number of characters has little purpose other than to restrict participation.

If I have a level 5 and a pair of lvl 3s, I don't see what harm creating a level 1 would be, as long as I have the time and effort to show up for a chat game. It's not like WoW where I'd be hogging server space.

I can see the point of restricting Paragon and Epic adventures and PCs, as they can make a much bigger impact on the setting and give players who hold out for such adventures more prestige. Maybe creation and registration can be granted on a case-by-case basis.

SkyCaptain

The limit on characters is to prevent high character turnover with people trying out a new race/class every other game since the campaign isn't a dedicated campaign with the same characters each week. It's also to try and help promote some I don't know... the word escapes me at the moment. It's just to try and make the players care about what happens to their characters instead of it just being yet another character created.

SkyCaptain

Alecthar wrote: »

Sounds interesting, but part of the appeal of MapTools games (for me, at least) is that they currently represent my only chance of ever hitting Paragon tier or above playing 4E. Not sure if I'm eager to play a campaign where I'm stuck in Heroic Tier for eternity.

I'm old school. The sweet spot for enjoyable games for me as the DM is low levels. Level is not a measure of importance in a campaign setting. Even a level 1 character can be instrumental in altering the course of events on a grand scale. That said, the point of retiring characters upon reaching 11th level is mostly to open a new character slot for that player while still letting them play in "epic" chronicles and adventures written specifically for groups of 11th level or higher characters.

Since it's a shared campaign and if there's enough interest, other people can ask to DM in parts of the world and run 11th level or higher adventures on a regular basis.

Utsanomiko

I think players willing to create 6-8 characters will find ways to care about them and fit them into the setting.

The big priority should be to maximize activity and participation. The more PCs available the more games can be played, thus more adventure activity and so on with exponential benefits. If for example eight players sign up right off the bat, and the first five get into one game, while the other three and a DM are left by themselves, your rule is actually standing in the way of the players in the first game making second characters to also participate in the other. You're basically telling them "no, because I don't want more games going." It defeats the purpose.

Even with the huge block of CF's willing D&D players we've only got maybe a dozen games active, most being level one, with many players being active in multiple games.

SkyCaptain

This isn't just for CF members. I have friends from other places that will be creating characters for it. The minimum number of characters for a game is four. So the eight people could split into two groups of four. The character slots thing is just an incentive to keep playing. Maybe open up a new slot each time your main character gains a level.

Utsanomiko

The numbers I gave aren't important (though my example said the first 5's game already started; they can't split into 2 without plucking out one PC), it's just an example where you could have a couple players extra not in an adventure who could use some overlap from players in other games, but can't becausr of an arbitrary restriction (especially with travel restrictions, which make sense within the game as to keep a single PC's ongoing story coherent). It could be twenty one, it could be over forty, but you'll get less games going if you're stopping players from getting into new ones.

My point about CF is it's one axample of a gaming community that's doing fine without rules on character count, the DMs can instill their own rules or suggestions on how many other games a player can be involved in.

SkyCaptain

Heaven's Gate is one campaign setting with two DM's (currently). There must be a limit on the number of active characters a player can have. The size of that limit can be altered as needed after games get underway, but for now, three or maybe four is reasonable enough. Think of this system as a way to play a structured set of pickup games, in which your character can be used in different adventures run by different DM's with the same set of house rules inside the same campaign setting. It provides some continuity and structure and balance between the characters without creating an obligation for the player to show up every week.

They're only obligated to show up for the games they sign up for and if someone misses the boat on a signup, well that's what alt slots are for in case someone doesn't make it to the game. Then they get to play instead. This is also handled through the points system, so that one person doesn't sign up and play in every single game. They have to miss some games to let others have their fun as well. It would also be a motivation for someone to try their hand at DM'ing, which would create more opportunities for people to play.