Sorry for the complete lack of updates over the past several months. I generally wrote articles and updated while at work when on break and the like but last October due to the crazy weather situations work got insanely busy and I was pretty much full throttle until a week or so ago.

I’ve kept up the campaign and there has been an evolution in player lineup, major plot points have been uncovered, and tasty treats have become a weekly routine. So please accept my apologies for the lack of posts and look for new and exciting articles and chronicles of gameplay to come your way soon.

-DM

chasesdragons asked: i'm incredibly sad that you haven't updated in what seems like forever :(

Thanks! I’ll begin posting again soon. I’ll be posting about it briefly.

Tonight I’m planning on having the Alphas do a few rounds of arena fights. Do you guys enjoy them or think they are too straightforward/safe?

cloverfriendd asked: thanks for following ;D how long have you been DMing?

Quite welcome! And I’ve DM’d World of Darkness games in the past a few years ago but recently started up again with D&D 3.5 after I purchased a hefty book collection. Week 5 of my current campaign is tomorrow.

Thank you all for following this blog! Its surprising we have 50 followers, especially since this isn’t the blog of a hot nerd girl (I’d say it was but my bluff skill is far too low). Your feedback is always appreciated and your questions and submissions are highly anticipated. Now to go level up and distribute my skill point (Hint:Tomorrow this blog might start being ran by a hot nerd girl).

Thanks again, everybody!

Alignments can become a sticky subject and can end up railroading players into making actions they don’t really want to, or causing group cohesion to fall apart. Rather than use them as a strict rule for a character think of it more as a general philosophy and take on the world. In addition it’s often hard to find good examples of each. We will be covering the 3.5e alignments today but within them contain the 4e alignments so it applies to both.

Lawful Good – This character is the by the books cop. She fights for what is good while upholding the law. Examples: Superman and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Lawful Neutral – Your average citizen. For the most part they follow the law and do what’s in their best interest, or perhaps they follow the law because it is in their best interest. Examples: Bounty hunters and Judge Dredd.

Lawful Evil – He wants to commit acts of villainy, but breaking the law or personal code is unacceptable. Again, self preservation might be the motivation or he might have an extremely strict set of rules guiding him or could have superior officers keeping him in line. Examples: Darth Vader and Dexter (his “code” being considered law).

True Neutral – This character does as they wish, if it is convenient they might steal but they don’t go out of their way to make a point of it. They are the Switzerland of alignments. Examples: Doctor Manhattan, mindless animals, and referees.

Chaotic Good – She fights for what is right but doesn’t mind doing some wrong for the greater good. Often take up an extremist cause. Examples: Robin Hood, Dr. Horrible, and Batman.

Chaotic Neutral – She is out for herself. It’s a very gray area which allows players to be selfish without having to take a fully neutral stance. Examples: Han Solo in the beginning (he later can be considered Lawful Good when he comes back to help on the Death Star assault), Wario, and the Joker (arguably).

Chaotic Evil – She wants to wants to maim and slaughter and do all sorts of evil deeds, and she will not be stopped by any laws. These characters are villains at their most pure. Examples: Serial Killers, Simon Pheonix of Demolition Man, and Darth Sidious/Emporer Palpatine.

We had a week off due to an overwhelming schedule on my part but will resume this Wednesday in full force, with plenty of combat and (I suspect) celebratory shenanigans… if they succeed.

Here it is! Pokemon D&D, or at least a game based roughly on D&D.

The top chart is of the first 3 of the 18 Pokemon character classes I have created. As you can see they are based on actual Pokemon abilities and incorporate some D&D features. Most damage is based on d6’s while leach and damage over time abilities tend to be d4’s.

You roll out your character as you would with D&D. Roll your abilities by taking the best 3 rolls from 4d6. Fill, in your saves as well as your AC, Grapple, and Initiative Modifier. The Level/BAB/Ability Pts chart is for your reference when leveling up. All players start with 6hp + Con modifier. At each new level they gain 1d6+Con hp.

Setting up combat is fairly simple. The players determine the order in which they will be in, and DM can either do the same or have the enemy trainer’s Pokemon randomly ordered. Once you enter combat each player is designated a “Slot.” The slot is from the order you choose. Each Pokemon is squared off against one other. You then go down the line with combat, and the initiative modifier determined which Pokemon in each slot goes first.

Players can use their turns to either use an ability, attack, or switch spots to a willing ally. When a Pokemon faints they are taken out of combat and that slot becomes empty and players may move into those slots as an action.

Combat is pretty straight forward, you roll an attack or ability and beat their AC or save. Its the same mechanics as D&D. Your “Ability Points” determine how many of each ability you can use per encounter. As you can see as you level you gain additional use of your abilities. Note that all Pokemon have a base attack of 1d4 Physical damage that can be used an unlimited amount of times. I know this is not on the cards, it will likely be included in the future.

Note that you can only have 4 abilities open at a time, and once you unlearn one you cannot use it again. Each level you gain new abilities based on your Pokemon and it is up to the player to determine which abilities to keep.

Apologies for the sloppily written rules, I made several changes while in the process of writing it. Feel free to question or comment, any feedback is highly appreciated.

After investigating the guards were suspicious of what was going on the Paladin decided to leave saying he thought they were not handling the situation correctly. On his way out he decided to bump shoulders with one of the guards which got him an arrow in the leg. They then took him to jail (he cooperated) where they confiscated his belongings, and after the group convinced him to apologize they returned everything with the exception of his half-plate armor. As you can imagine he was quite unhappy.

The group at this point had about 3 hours until they were to arrive at the arena. The Paladin decided to go the main office and make a complaint. After an hour and a half of go-betweens and debates he was given a bag which in fact only had leather armor, and told he would have to wait until tomorrow for everything else to be settled as the people in the facility were leaving for the arena.

At this point the Paladin was quite unhappy but then fist bumped me saying, “Pro DMing.” We ended it there since the Druid had left prior and there were other missing people from that night. The group had entered 2 arena fights. The first night was fighting monsters, the second night was fighting other humanoids, and the third night is 1v1 combat. To enter the 1v1 combat competition the character has to have played in one of the other competitions prior and won. The group showed an extreme interest in this and I hope to have them return to play 1v1 once their levels are a bit higher and they understand their powers.