Official Game Thread - H1: The Keep On The Shadowfell - All Players Please Read

[Delmar]

This is the official game thread for our first adventure, H1: The Keep On The Shadowfell

 

This is the thread we will use for official information regarding our adventure, including notices to the group, play times, a summary of our game play and any game play postings.

 

For those who are not participating but are interested in the game, you can stay updated by following this thread.

 

Player/Character List:

 

1. Tagon: Halfling Rogue

2. Mifio: Dwarf Fighter

3. Throne: Dwarf Fighter

4. Deuce: Dragonborn Paladin

5. Arelos (aka Jawa Hugger/Dhrahin): character pending

6. Delmar: Dungeon Master

7. Killercod: Half-Elf Cleric

8. Crazy Eddy: Tiefling Warlord

9. Damis Fajer: Half-Elf Cleric

10. Lazerith: Human Wizard

11. Lev: Human Warblade

 

Status of Group:

 

Currently in the town of Winterhaven

 

Next Scheduled Game Session: Saturday (7/26) 9:00pm EST (GMT-5)

 

Prior Game Session Dates:

 

7/19/08:

Initial session; two battles with kobolds on the road to Winterhaven

 

Things You Will Need To Play:

 

At this point, the only thing that you will need to play is a program called Gametable.  It is a virtual tabletop program that will allow us to use maps (called "underlays") and avatars (called "pogs") to visualize what we are playing.  The program can be found here: http://gametable.galactanet.com/.  You will need java installed on your computer for the program to run.  You can download java here: http://www.java.com/en/download/windows_ie.jsp?locale=en&host=www.java.com:80.  If anyone has any concerns or questions about using the program, please let me know.

[Delmar]

Character Names:

For this first adventure, to make it easy on everyone, I'd suggest that we use our guild names and not give new names to our characters.  That will make it easier for everyone to identify the player controlling each character.

 

lol, Arelos, you need to pick a name to use for the game, as you appear to have (at last count) three names registered here in the guild.

 

Dungeon Mastering:

If anyone is interested in being the dungeon master, please let me know.  I assumed this role because no one else appeared to want to do it.  I don't mind doing it, but if someone enjoys being the DM, I'd be happy to step aside after running this first adventure.  We can alternate DMs or work it any way that the group likes.

 

Private Messages:

Although I intend to post all relevant information in this thread, I can't be certain that everyone who signed up to play will read this thread.  So when there is very important information which I need to get to the players, I will try to send private messages to everyone.  Therefore, please make sure that you are able to receive PMs. 

 

NOTE: Please do not rely on my PMs to get your information.  Please check in at this thread for information.  I cannot guarantee that I will always be able or willing to send out PMs for every important piece of information.

[Delmar]

CHANGE IN PLANS: 

 

Private Messaging will not work for our purposes as there is a limit of 5 PMs per hour and there are 10 of you at the moment that are playing.  So instead of sending important information to you by PM, I'd like to do it by e-mail.  Some of you currently have a hidden e-mail address.  If your e-mail address is hidden on the guild website, please send me a PM or e-mail with an e-mail address where I can send messages to you (or let me know if you don't want me to send you messages - all of the information that is contained in the messages will also be posted in this thread).

[Delmar]

We held our initial meeting tonight.  Here is a summary of what was discussed:

 

In attendance:

Damis

Delmar

Killercod

Lazerith

Lev

Tagon

Throne

(Mifio had difficulties connecting in Vent and could not participate)

 

Gametable:

We discussed using Gametable.  The link to information regarding the program is here: http://covenantofthephoenix.com/forums/index.php?topic=6547.0

 

We're going to attempt to use the program only when we are in a combat situations, as using it at other times will slow the gameplay down dramatically.  The program is "clunky" however it is simple to use, easy to learn and free.  Hard to beat those three factors.

 

Generally speaking, the program works by having everyone connect to the host (which will be me).  I'll load a map and everyone will be able to see it.  You, as players, will then load your "pog" (avatar representing your character).  You move your pog, I move npcs and monsters.

 

I'll be posting shortly in the above link additional information regarding using the program.

 

Races/Classes:

Arelos, please pick a race/class and let me know which one it is.

 

Gaming schedule:

We agreed upon generally trying to get together to play Saturday nights at 9:00pm EST (GMT-5).  We scheduled our first game session for Saturday (7/19) at 9:00 pm EST.  Please let me know if you cannot make the session.

 

E-mails:

I need to confirm that I have e-mail addresses for everyone.  Please forward an e-mail to me using the e-mail address that you want me to use to contact you.  Send them to: delmar at embarqmail dot com.  I would like to be able to share our game e-mail addresses with everyone playing D&D so that players can contact each other by e-mail if they need/want to.  Please advise me in your e-mail if you do not want to share your e-mail address with the entire group.  Otherwise I will send it with a list of all player e-mail addresses to all players via e-mail.

 

Methods of gameplay:

As it may be difficult to schedule meetings when everyone can be present and we may only have a limited time to group in vent to play, we will be using multiple methods to play D&D.  Specifically, I will try to keep our group meetings in vent limited to combat, resolving actions and moving the game along.  There are frequent times when the characters will be in town or other locales where there will be "down time" from adventuring.  These times allow players to buy/sell items, converse with other PCs (player characters), or perform other "house-keeping" chores.  We will try to conduct these aspects of the game through posts in the forum during times in between our vent grouping sessions.  This will allow us to use our game session time as efficiently as possible.

 

Character Sheets:

Tagon unearthed and posted a link to an interactive character sheet in excel format.  You can download the character sheet here: http://nzcomputers.net/heroforge/default4e.asp

Make sure you use version 1.12.  If you don't have Excel, you can use a free program called "openoffice" which will open the character sheet.  The program can be found here: http://www.openoffice.org/

 

Thanks to Tagon for finding and posting these very helpful programs.  Please complete your character sheet by Friday (7/18) and please send it to me via e-mail so that I have a copy of what you have before we start playing on Saturday.  If you have any problems or questions please let me know.

 

The official first adventure thread:

I started a thread for "official" information regarding our first adventure.  it is located here: http://covenantofthephoenix.com/forums/index.php?topic=6845.0

I will continue to try to keep the first post in the thread updated with current information, but, in addition, I will post all updated information in a new post in the thread.  This will make it easier for you to find the updated information (as it will be in a separate post).

 

Questions/Comments:

I am more than happy to meet with anyone who missed the initial meeting.  Just contact me to work out a mutually convenient time.  If anyone has any questions or comments please feel free to contact me as well.

 

Character names:

To make things easy for everyone, we are going to use our guild names for our character names so that it will be easy for everyone to identify other player's characters

 

Dungeon Mastering:

If anyone is interested in dungeon mastering please let me know.  It doesn't have to be full-time (though it can be).  If anyone is interested, or interested in trying/learning, let me know.

 

Guild members only...for now:

Given the size of our current group and that most of us are learning or re-learning the game, we will stick with just CotP members for this first adventure.  As we move forward, we most likely will open the game up to people who are not currently in the guild, however, we will have further discussion regarding this topic before taking any action.

 

Rules:

I posted the quick start rules.  They are located here: http://covenantofthephoenix.com/forums/index.php?topic=6810.0.  I would ask that you review them before our session on Saturday.

 

I will be posting more detailed rule summaries in the near future.  These are my notes from when I reviewed the rules.  They should provide you with additional information and insight into game mechanics.

[Delmar]

Everyone has to either make or pick a Pog to use to represent their character in Gametable.  If you make one please upload it to the gallery and then post it here.  If you want to use a pre-made pog, here is an index of the ones that I have.  Just identify which one you want to use (i.e., third row, third one from the right).

 

Since everyone has to have a unique pog, we'll do this on a first-come, first-serve basis.

 

I need to have everyone either identify or post their pog no later than Friday so that I can get it ready to use on Saturday.

 

http://covenantofthephoenix.com/forums/gallery/395_13_07_08_2_11_51.jpg

[Delmar]

Deuce and Damis, please send me an e-mail from the address that you want me to use to contact you regarding D&D.  Deuce, please also confirm in the e-mail that I can share it with the other players in our group so that players can contact each other by e-mail.

[Delmar]

Our first adventure is set in and around the small village of Winterhaven.  This is a modest sized village of approximately 1,000 people.

 

To provide you with some background for your characters, you all have your reasons for traveling to Winterhaven.  None of you know each other.  You all stopped at the same inn on the way to Winterhaven for the night and came to learn, while in the common room passing the time after dinner, that you were all traveling to Winterhaven.

 

As you are all young and new to the adventurer's life, and realizing that there is safety in numbers, you agreed to travel together the rest of the way to Winterhaven.

 

Since that time you have traveled together for one day and one night.  Our first gaming session will begin with your group traveling on its second day together.  You anticipate reaching Winterhaven on this day.

 

During the time you have spent together you have learned next to nothing about each other, other than your names, professions and what you could discern from making visual observations of each other.

 

What and how much you disclose about yourself is up to you.  Can you risk trusting these strangers you travel with?  Can you risk not trusting them?

 

Here is a map of the village of Winterhaven: http://covenantofthephoenix.com/forums/gallery/395_13_07_08_3_16_32.jpg

 

Your characters do not actually have a map of the village.  The map represents what your characters see as they walk through the town.  The numbered areas are points of interest (you do not yet know what they are).

 

Before your group left the inn, you had an opportunity to purchase supplies.  Review the following charts and if there is anything that you wish to purchase you can either post what it is here (which assumes that you try to purchase these items in front of the entire group) or in a private e-mail to me (which assumes that you try to purchase these items in secret).  There is no guaranty that the items you want will be in stock.  When you advise me of what you want to purchase, I'll let you know whether it is available and I'll confirm the price:

 

http://covenantofthephoenix.com/forums/gallery/395_13_07_08_3_36_37.jpg

 

http://covenantofthephoenix.com/forums/gallery/395_13_07_08_3_37_13.jpg

 

http://covenantofthephoenix.com/forums/gallery/395_13_07_08_3_37_53.jpg

 

http://covenantofthephoenix.com/forums/gallery/395_13_07_08_3_38_45.jpg

 

http://covenantofthephoenix.com/forums/gallery/395_13_07_08_3_55_10.jpg

 

http://covenantofthephoenix.com/forums/gallery/395_13_07_08_3_55_50.jpg

[Delmar]

Sorry, forgot to post this with the last post:

 

[Crazy Eddy]

id like to purchase the following items

 

an adventurer's kit, hide armor, a longsword and a light shield.

[Killercod]

Do we already have what our character sheets say we have?

[Delmar]

id like to purchase the following items

 

an adventurer's kit, hide armor, a longsword and a light shield.

 

I believe that you already own all of those things.  They are listed on your pre-generated Warlord character sheet.  Let me know if I am incorrect and you don't already own all of those things.

 

Do we already have what our character sheets say we have?

 

Yes.  This is your opportunity to purchase anything that you want (and that you can afford based upon the gold listed on your character sheet) that is not already listed on your character sheet.

[Delmar]

Eddy has made the first pog selection:

 

 

This pog will represent Eddy on Gametable and is now not available to other players.  No one else has yet selected a pog.

[Deuce]

I'll take Pog20 on the table. And I apologize for not making the meeting, I had a family deal to attend that came up last minute. I'll try to get everything together for next week. Could someone point me to my character sheet?  :-\

[Tagon]

I will take the fourth pog on the top row

[Delmar]

I'll take Pog20 on the table. And I apologize for not making the meeting, I had a family deal to attend that came up last minute. I'll try to get everything together for next week. Could someone point me to my character sheet?  :-\

 

hmm...I don't have a pog20.  I have a pog labeled "020.png".  Is this the one you want:

 

 

If not, do you see it on the sheet I posted here: http://covenantofthephoenix.com/forums/gallery/395_13_07_08_2_11_51.jpg

 

If so, just point it out to me (i.e., fourth row, second from the right).  If its not on that sheet, take a screenshot with it up on your screen and post it here so I can identify it.  To be fair, if in the meantime someone else picks it, let me know and I'll have them pick a different one.  You get first crack since you posted for it first.

 

Don't worry about missing the meeting.  I posted a summary somewhere above in this thread and if you have any questions or want to go over something, just contact me and we'll schedule a time to go into vent.

 

The two page character sheet for Dragonborn Paladin:

 

http://covenantofthephoenix.com/forums/gallery/395_13_06_08_12_50_02.jpg

http://covenantofthephoenix.com/forums/gallery/395_13_06_08_12_50_55.jpg

 

Just take the information from those sheets and transfer it to the excel spreadsheet character sheet (http://nzcomputers.net/heroforge/default4e.asp - pick the top download link (it looks like its in German, version 1.12)) then e-mail the completed sheet to me.  If you have any problems with it, just do what you can and send it to me with an explanation of the problems you ran into.

 

I will take the fourth pog on the top row

 

This one?

 

If so, it's yours.  If I picked the wrong one, let me know.

[Deuce]

That one will do.

[Delmar]

hmm...sounds like I missed the one you wanted.  I'll reserve the one that I posted, but let me know if there is a different one that you want.  Its not a big deal for me to change it.

[Crazy Eddy]

I believe that you already own all of those things.  They are listed on your pre-generated Warlord character sheet.  Let me know if I am incorrect and you don't already own all of those things.

 

oh oops lol so i do. my bad

[Tagon]

This one?

 

If so, it's yours.  If I picked the wrong one, let me know.

 

That is the one

[Throne]

throne's pog

 

[Damis]

I created my own, but I don't know how to set the background to a clear image instead of white.  Anyone know how to make the background clear?

 

 

If no one knows how to change the background then I pick Pog1.

[Delmar]

Throne, very nice pog.

 

Damis, I can't figure out what went wrong.  You can still keep the pog you made (it doesn't have to be round and it doesn't have to be a transparent background).  It's a very cool pog.

 

Confirm for me which pog you want.

[Arelos]

Im back from NH, apparently I have alot of reading to do.. give me some time on this Delmar.  :-[ And the name changes were for SWG. Didn't use Arelos and that was the only MMO I was playing. Can change back to Arelos if yah like  ;D.

 

Also, I'll take the fourth pog in the second row. It is the Gandalf-looking one, with the beard and hat.

[Lev]

First column, fourth from the bottom for me.  I'll email you about stats Del.

[Delmar]

Arelos' pog:

 

Lev's pog: