Selecting Players and Characters

This past Saturday we started creating characters. There had been a lot of discussion on what would be allowed and how to properly build the party. At this time it looks like we will only have three players: Sarah, Trevor, and Anderson. Sarah will be playing Arakih: the Elven Shaman. Trevor will play Kalik Ilyu: the Human Fighter. Anderson will play Candar Pike: the Elven Ranger. You may note that there is no controller in the group. Originally, we were going to have our friend Scott playing instead of Trevor. After Trevor joined we were going to have a party of four, which may still happen, but apparently Scott's schedule is a little hectic this summer so we'll see if he'll be available.

Stats have been rolled, skills, feats, and powers have been selected, and gear has been bestowed upon our three adventurers. We are quickly nearing the beginning of our first session. A specific date has not yet been selected, but we are hoping to start within the next two weeks. Now that there are completed characters I need some time to tweak the campaign to their abilities.

Much to the chagrin of the players, I originally allowed very little room for back story. I prefer the teachings of Gary Gygax who believed that backstory was what happened between levels one and four (or at least that's what I'm told). However, I began to realize that the characters needed to have some hint of history to explain how they came to be where they are in the world. So, with a little guidance (and hesitation) from myself, I allowed basic histories to unfold for the characters.

It should be mentioned that, in the world in which this campaign is built, humans are, more or less, the dominant species. There are still quite a few dwarves and there are both dwarven and elven kingdoms, but they are mostly far away. In the specific region in which the players begin their journey, even Elves are very rare and often looked upon with a certain awe. This made me hesitant to allow two of my players to be elves, but it actually works out quite nicely for how I planned to have my players meet. Since elves are so uncommon, it made sense that Arakih and Pike (as he likes to be called) would know each other and probably stick close together. This leaves poor Kalik off on his own at the beginning of the game. I plan to have the currently separated party meet up within the first twenty minutes or so of the first session, but that will be explained later.

I think it's best if the characters' histories are explained by their players so I will allow them the chance to either post histories themselves in the comments or through me in an actual post in the near future. If you would like to see a brief summary on how Arakih and Pike came to meet, you can read it here. Sarah has decided to blog about her character on her tumblr page. She also has a rough sketch of her character here.

Creating the Journey

Welcome to the Archive of Adventures. I am writing this blog to document the progress of my first Dungeons and Dragons campaign. I have only played D&D a few times in my life and I have never truly taken on the role of Dungeon Master before so this should be...interesting... This blog is to serve as a place for sharing ideas. If you like something I use, feel free to use it yourself and, in that same vein, if you have tips or suggestions, let me know!

I am building this world from the ground up. It's an awful lot of work for a beginner, but I've always liked doing things my way so, to me, this is more fun than tedious. I plan to build the campaign in "chapters" where each session should tell a short story from beginning to end that will ultimately affect the overall story arc. At this time I have ideas for four different chapters and the more I read the Dungeon Master's Guide the more ideas start forming in my head.

However, I don't really want to get bogged down with the rules. I have chosen fourth edition for exactly that purpose. I know there are some D&D buffs who might say, "Well, that's dumb, because you have more freedom in third edition blah blah blah", but I don't think that's true. I think you have too much freedom in third edition and it leads to people arguing over relatively unimportant things like alignment and what exactly they're carrying. Hell, I'm not even playing with an experience system. When I feel it's time to level, my players will level.

At this time I am also creating all of the encounters from scratch. Using the basic knowledge I have, I am attempting to work out all of the necessary numbers to make fun, but challenging fights. I am trying to create encounters where the players will really have to think their way through what they are doing. Too many times have I played in campaigns where it is just one battle to the next with maybe a little basic role playing in between to break things up. I don't want that. I am not going to just have my players wander through a forest until I decide they've found their destination. I want the forest itself to be a sort of mini game. Navigating a dungeon will be a challenge unto itself; broken up by encounters to keep things lively.

I have no idea if any of this will work, mind you. And I can only share so much with you prior to actually running the campaign. I don't want to risk one of my players learning about things too early. But I do intend to do my best to record the events of the adventures and show what the characters have accomplished. At present, the players have not finalized their character choices so I am at a bit of a standstill. I am mostly finished with the first chapter and am steadily working my way into the second, but without characters I can't really finish building encounters that will be appropriately balanced.

I will post more as soon as I am able, but, for now, that is where I am in the process of building my campaign.