Welcome:
Thanks for stopping by the webpage for the Johan's Talon: Rescuing Princess
Jesyrca PBeM game. We are no longer looking for new players at this time.
The first campaign for the Talon will be to rescue Princess Jesyrca from her
Ogre captors. If the PCs can find the reason for these Ogre incursions,
or even bring them to an end, then the Duke will be even more grateful and the
people of Lyju will sing their praises. Once the PCs have accomplished
this, I have other campaigns planned as Duke Johan strives to bring calm to the
people and keep Lyju out of a war with the neighboring Kingdom of Tirge.
Game Stuff:
The characters and will each begin at 5th level (or multi-class
adding up to 5 character levels). We will be using D&D 3rd
Edition rules. As you have probably already noticed, our game is taking
place in a homebrewed world of my design. Magic works pretty much the
same as you would expect in other settings, and we use the same Pantheon of
deities as Greyhawk.
Game Pace:
I have played in many PBeM games, and I have DM�d a couple. I have found
that games that run on a super fast pace don�t seem to last as long and they
seem to lose people because they don�t have time to keep up with the game any
more. Most of us don�t have time to be full-time PBeM gamers, and I
certainly don�t have time to be a full-time PBeM dungeon master. So, I
plan to run 1 game turn a week. This way all of the players have a full
week to read what�s happening, chat with the other characters, and decide what
action to take. Just because I'm only doing major updates to the turns
once a week, don't think that things are going to be boringly slow. I will be
responding to Email daily, so if you have questions about your surroundings
I'll be answering those each day. I also anticipate that characters will banter
and interact on a very regular basis. I will be updating the game post once a
week, but I am expecting that the players check their game Email at least every
other day so that you can respond to questions that I might have and interact
with the other characters during the week. Even though the game may be a bit
slower than some PBeM games, it will give us more time to roleplay and have
some good interaction between the players and any NPCs that you
encounter.
I have decided to run battles all in one turn. I've tossed around several
different plans to speed up combat, and I think this will be the most fun while
not bogging down the game tremendously. I've seen too many games get dragged
into the dirt by silly little battles that drag on for a month or two of real
time. So, characters will submit their intended plans for the battle, and I
will roll the results. However, if there is a major change in the scope of the
battle then I will only post the results up until the that change and then you
will have a chance to react to the changing situation and submit a new plan for
the remainder of the battle. Some things that might constitute a major change
would be: More monsters arriving, a character becoming unconcious, something
very unexpected about the situation (like a critter being able to cast spells,
when the characters didn't think it was possible). Pretty much anything that
would drastically alter the PCs plan of actions. Another benefit of doing the
complete battle in one turn is that I will be able to put together a
descriptive account of the battle to post to everyone instead of just a series
of to-hit numbers and damage numbers.
The Game & my DMing Style:
I am intending for this game to be partly roleplay with a good dose of hack
& slash thrown in for good measure. Your opponents are intelligent
and will be using good tactics against you, so the players will have to be
creative to come to a successful completion to the campaign. In my games,
don�t expect the monsters to come at you one after the other, all taking turns
to die. I try to keep the players guessing, to keep them challenged, and
players who think outside of the normal roll-play mindset will do really well
in this game.
I try to keep the rules in the background and let the players concentrate on
roleplaying and having fun. The less you have to think about die rolls and DC
numbers, the more you'll be able to get lost in the story. I use the 3rd
Edition rules as a guide, but I don't treat them as God's gospel truth. In my
opinion the most important thing is that the game is fun and balanced, and
researching obscure rules is much less important.
Along those lines, to keep things simple and fun, I'm not concerned about spell
components and such when it comes to Magic. You're welcome to describe spell
components and things as a good roleplaying aid, but you're not required to
find countless weird animal corpse parts and rare plants to be able to cast
your spells.
One more note about my DMing style. I love maps, pictures, and visual
aids when I�m playing, so I love to use them when I�m DMing. I have many
programs and things where I can get pictures and visuals to add atmosphere to
the game. If you join our game, expect lots of cool maps and visuals to
help you immerse yourself in the Duchy of Lyju and the Kingdom of Tirge.