General OOC

A QUICK NOTE: I access GP during the work week. I don't access it outside of work hours or on the weekends.

I m considering this as well. I think it works better in this campaign than the Privilege feature

Mostly to @Qralloq, but maybe we want to also take some into this game, I'd like to share my West Marches game experience plus extra opinion

I don't think we should be changing rules on how character stats are determined. Some of us have already rolled and finished building our characters using the 4d6 method.

@RageRed I agree totally. I like the rules we have. I advocate to never change rules after they have been applied in game. I just wanted to share a different experience since @Qralloq is looking to set up her own. Only item "3" in my list is relevant to this game considerations.

#1 I typically prefer standard array or point buy for balance but agree we don't want to change rules after starting.

#3, sounds like DMG Gritty Realism where 8 hours => short rest benefits and down time (week) => long reset benefits. I am fine with this as it will promote short excursions, out and back to recover, increasing the danger. IMO the standard 5e recovery is like a superhero version that is fun to play but the grittier version has a totally different flavor. I am fine with either

Concerning banning classes or archetypes, I have seen Moon Druid and bladesinger both defeated depending on the situation. Ex: blade singers are still wizards and have limits. So just mob them with 20 goblins with bows. Concentration gone and dead. The moon druid is similar to the barbarian in that it can up its effective HP but that can also be solved by intelligent NPC targeting the "obvious threat" of a shape shifter. I am less familiar with Twilight Cleric affect on combat. Besides starting at level 1 makes it all too easy to die, quick. And if certain builds become an issue then it would not be too hard to have local "hidden" forces that would react to to any PC or party overwhelming any of the locals. They could send out champions to put down the upstart. The tallest nail is the first to get hammered down. But that is just combat. In west marches half of the game is the exploration so in my mind it will have a heavy survival element. With no local infrastructure all the food is what you come with, hunt, or steal. I am sure the NPC of the castle have some resources but they will focus on those that help with their needs.

I don't think I'm running the first adventure, so I'll defer to @DireHalfling for those sorts of choices (who may not respond until next week). As to implementing a static array or any other restriction on rolling for stats, if we do that, I suggest that we grandfather in those characters who were generated under a prior method.

I like those rules actually.

1. Standard array does seem pretty fair, but as we have already started I won't be further changing the rules on character creation. I'll only be making clarifications.

2. That makes sense however for a game like this where a whole bunch of people are coming through this portal, I could see it being plausible that there are criminals who came through to fill out the criminal background feature, etc.

3. That sounds fair depending on the length of the adventure. I could see them being very short in the beginning. "Goblins stole my baby and took it to the cave on the edge of town" sort of quests. Then as the DM's begin collaborating more and the PC's get stronger, they could get more lengthy and that rule may not apply depending on the situation.

4. That's a good call. In my in-0person games, I ban flying races until the spell FLY is accessible because it just makes sense at that point.
- Perhaps Gloomstalker Ranger should be included. Had a bad situation where I learned how heavy those things work at jsut level 3.


Either way, this is my first West Marches game. I'll learn and adapt. Any lessons learned from this game will just help me become a better DM and create better and more manageable game for my players.

A suggestion for ongoing DMing

You may want to create a DM private collaboration form to track persistent or ongoing facts and events. The public forum is fine for general keep info but stuff out on the wild may impact other stories

A shared map of known or planned features might also be useful. Again keep it simple by each DM only claiming an area of the map and publish details as they become known. Ex noth is woods. West is mountain south is swamp, east is grass. This can be done with online using one of the many free map tools. Put in a baby hex or grid map and claim territory as needed. Once you campaign if done you relinquish control for any other DM to add to.

With over DM and one story this is really managed. But if this game grows it could get complicated

Understood. That's a good point. I was trying to figure out if I could make a GM only subforum for discussing things like that.

Yes. It can be done. You just need to know how to set them up and have the proper permissions in play

Yep, permissions are steadily set for each forum in the administrative page. I think group permissions are not working, other than the general one for all members of the game. However you can block that group then allow read, write, etc to individual dm

Are you guys able to see the GM's Only subforum?

Yes. I see it

Set read permissions from Yes or Inherited to No

Okay. Its now hidden from my view

Spoke too soon. Its back again

It may take a minute. I sat it when red did not then it just went away for me

and now?

gone again