D&D: Time vs Level

[the December King]

I've been doing D&D in one form or another since 1986, and I like to let the game style set the pace. Having said that, I have been assured that I am very stingy.

I think one level every three or four sessions is a reasonable estimate, but again, circumstances dictate. For example, my play time lately has been cut back (such is life), and consequently I feel more generous with XP- If I can only play every second week on average, and DM once about every two months, I may level folks up each game.

 

[Kae]

I am trying to have stopping points for breaks to play other campaigns, and let others DM. The main thing is I need to ensure we return to it and not leave it forgotten. My main method of doing that is just being adamant about it and reminding them how rarely they get to play a high level. I'm trying to think of the next good break point, cause there seems to be some slight fatigue, and a lot of campaign ideas have been thrown around. Mostly cause of Volo's Guide.

Yeah, the Volo's guide was a huge can of worms, unfortunately, I cannot give much advice regarding DMing because I haven't done it yet though I am interested, I actually did love the alternate rules for the Middle Earth setting so I'd likely do a campaign using that book but probably more horror oriented because those rules work perfectly for a low fantasy horror campaign, regardless it's probably a good idea to alternate DMs, we do that too but it's more like 1 week we play D&D and the other one Pathfinder, but most of the people that DM around our circle have been playing and DMing since Advanced D&D and I'm actually reading the rules for that because they want to run a Planescape campaign in Advanced and that sounds awesome, but having so many old players around in our circle does not really leave much room for new DMs since the older guys are actually really good DMs and the players are not really patient enough to deal with a GM that's still learning, so it's likely that I'll try it through Roll20 instead before bringing it up with them.

 

[Saelune]

Snip

I like DMing way more than I like being a player, so I actively push to be the DM most of the time. But I do need to first-hand learn the classes better since 5e is still actually pretty new to us in alot of areas.

I also only want to DM in my own worlds. My brother wants to do a Star Wars campaign, so I will let him DM, cause I dont like using established settings.

As for Volo's Guide, I have a side game with two players focused on using Volo stuff. An Aasimar and a Kobold in a plane-spanning campaign.

Also one player in my current main game switched out for a Kobold (popular apparently) Barbarian/Rogue cause they also want to try multiclassing in 5E (Multiclassing in 5E seems discouraged though, since you can get other features better through backgrounds and feats)

But the next campaign we play will likely have us all using Volo races. (Im gonna be a Kenku )

 

[Kae]

-Snip-

I like the idea of being the DM quite a lot and I think I could do it, but I generally don't like being the center of attention, it's very rare for my characters to be at the center, they do tend to fall back into the role of secondary leader but that's more because I have a lot of common sense as a player, and that combined with their mostly understated nature makes them seem super-reliable, they do get some cool speeches and I try to make their moments really good but I rarely ever want to hog the spotlight.

That being said I do feel that my logical and pragmatic approach to RP could make for some interesting DM-ing but I did technically start playing D&D this year, so I'm not comfortable enough to say I've mastered the player rules enough to be able to be the DM.

And yeah the Kenku is pretty interesting, I like them quite a lot and I feel they make for interesting Wizards or Rogues, though they could easily be anything, as for myself I'll likely give up and accept my fate as an Asimar Paladin, though only if I roll High Enough stats to not tank my INT stat, mostly because I want to play a Paladin with Insight mostly focused on trying to talk down the enemies, he'll still kick asses but only after trying to arrive at a peaceful solution.

 

[Saelune]

-Snip-

I like the idea of being the DM quite a lot and I think I could do it, but I generally don't like being the center of attention, it's very rare for my characters to be at the center, they do tend to fall back into the role of secondary leader but that's more because I have a lot of common sense as a player, and that combined with their mostly understated nature makes them seem super-reliable, they do get some cool speeches and I try to make their moments really good but I rarely ever want to hog the spotlight.

That being said I do feel that my logical and pragmatic approach to RP could make for some interesting DM-ing but I did technically start playing D&D this year, so I'm not comfortable enough to say I've mastered the player rules enough to be able to be the DM.

And yeah the Kenku is pretty interesting, I like them quite a lot and I feel they make for interesting Wizards or Rogues, though they could easily be anything, as for myself I'll likely give up and accept my fate as an Asimar Paladin, though only if I roll High Enough stats to not tank my INT stat, mostly because I want to play a Paladin with Insight mostly focused on trying to talk down the enemies, he'll still kick asses but only after trying to arrive at a peaceful solution.

I dont know your group, so I cant really say, but I was DMing super early on. But my whole group were newbies, so we were learning together.

Also DMing doesnt have to be the spotlight position if you, well, are prepared and are good at keeping the players focused on. Im very off the cuff though, and a bit theatrical, so I dont mind it, but I do like when I can get the players to converse with eachother more so than with me.

As for the Kenku, I think Im gonna take the mimic speech too far. Im thinking of writing down phrases to use that I overhear. (Im the kind of DM who likes doing voices, so )

 

[The Wykydtron]

I kinda just give my players levels every few sessions I guess. I don't really plan them out at all, it's like "hey you cheesed my boss fight... again. Level up!"

I denied one level up recently though since they not only beat my level 8 alchemist/druid person but recruited her. Turns out they're one of those parties. I made her pretty damn strong too but I didn't nerf anything when they got her since this isn't some bad JRPG when the boss just sucks when they join the party all of a sudden.

I'm planning to start Curse of Strahd at some point (once I figure out how to convert most of it into 3.5) and it's nice how they give you clear level milestones. Even if they fuckin' sacked one of the treasure drops so it's directly underneath Madame Eva. At least it was only the Tome of Strahd not something like the Sunsword... getting the Tome of Strahd so early might be unlucky for them though, I know one of my guys will just do something stupid so Strahd'll get wind of it and show up earlier in the campaign than anticipated with potentially more lethal force than usual to get it back from them. I'd bet money on it.

Does anyone know if it's super worth running Death House or has anyone here run it before? I've heard it's a TPK clown fiesta of a dungeon and i'm on the fence about adding it in.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

Depends entirely on the length of the campaign, what kind of campaign it is and what the players ended up doing in the session, since I tend to give out bonus experience for doing great RP stuff/getting awesome combat rolls (i.e. get a Nat20 that lets them triple-backflip over the dragon and shoot it in the eye, instantly killing it) and the like. Typically it's 1 level per 2 sessions, though occasionally there's been longer periods without levels, or some sessions where people get multiple levels (4 hours of straight combat will do that).

And, of course, there's been sessions with negative experience gains... Fighter took a while to figure out he needed Curse resistance if he was going to Grapple the level-draining undead they'd been warned about. Poor bastard ended up 3 levels behind everyone else by the time we finished. There's also been a few hardcore campaigns we've done where you received reduced or negative experience for doing things outside your class/alignment - sounds railroady, but it was actually pretty fun since we ended up balancing the experience we could earn with the outcome of our actions, and caused some great interactions between our Lawful players and Chaotic players.

 

[Kae]

I dont know your group, so I cant really say, but I was DMing super early on. But my whole group were newbies, so we were learning together.

Also DMing doesnt have to be the spotlight position if you, well, are prepared and are good at keeping the players focused on. Im very off the cuff though, and a bit theatrical, so I dont mind it, but I do like when I can get the players to converse with eachother more so than with me.

As for the Kenku, I think Im gonna take the mimic speech too far. Im thinking of writing down phrases to use that I overhear. (Im the kind of DM who likes doing voices, so )

Well Technically speaking I'm one of the newest players at the table having only started this year, most of the people they call newbies there have around 3 years playing with most of the older guys having been playing since the 80s so they're a bit special, can't imagine being able to do a decent job to people that have been playing for a longer time that I've been alive, I mean of the newer guys I'm actually pretty decent and one of the few that actually bother RP-ing heroes with having even my vilanous characters die heroically, but still it's hard to feel like I can do a good job with DM-ing when I'm not as familiar with the mechanics as most players, I think I'll wait and see with how I do playing a Paladin and a Priest[footnote]First time didn't go well, I lost my powers because I wasn't sure what I was doing.[/footnote] again before I decide to risk it.

As for the Kenku, you are doing exactly what the Volos said not to do because it'd be annoying, I think that's actually quite great, the way it should be.

 

[Saelune]

I dont know your group, so I cant really say, but I was DMing super early on. But my whole group were newbies, so we were learning together.

Also DMing doesnt have to be the spotlight position if you, well, are prepared and are good at keeping the players focused on. Im very off the cuff though, and a bit theatrical, so I dont mind it, but I do like when I can get the players to converse with eachother more so than with me.

As for the Kenku, I think Im gonna take the mimic speech too far. Im thinking of writing down phrases to use that I overhear. (Im the kind of DM who likes doing voices, so )

Well Technically speaking I'm one of the newest players at the table having only started this year, most of the people they call newbies there have around 3 years playing with most of the older guys having been playing since the 80s so they're a bit special, can't imagine being able to do a decent job to people that have been playing for a longer time that I've been alive, I mean of the newer guys I'm actually pretty decent and one of the few that actually bother RP-ing heroes with having even my vilanous characters die heroically, but still it's hard to feel like I can do a good job with DM-ing when I'm not as familiar with the mechanics as most players, I think I'll wait and see with how I do playing a Paladin and a Priest[footnote]First time didn't go well, I lost my powers because I wasn't sure what I was doing.[/footnote] again before I decide to risk it.

As for the Kenku, you are doing exactly what the Volos said not to do because it'd be annoying, I think that's actually quite great, the way it should be.

That sounds intimidating actually. Im the Captain America of my group. Not an original member, but effectively a founding member anyways. They only had one campaign on me. I only was a player for one, then I DMed, but I was the second to DM, after my brother.

I keep wanting to try DMing on something like Roll20 to get more experience with different groups, but Im intimidated and shy.

As for Kenku, I checked and I was mostly planning on doing it for actual word phrases. Things like sounds Id only do it if I felt I could, but otherwise Id probably just describe it. And I need things as a player to keep me interested, so such a gimmick would help me not hinder.

I also like playing with my voice. As I said, I do voices for my characters and NPCs already, and like trying to Michael Winslow things sometimes when bored.