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[sjm9876]

I'd consider playing. Except I've only ever GM'ed before, but I think the step down should be manageable

[Patrick Hunt]

Something like that, Harvey is just because I find sticking with 1 name rather then using many is simpler.

My melee characters all seem to do awesome while ranged tend to be average so I stick with what works and I tend to suck at playing average people.
Insane, offensive and arrogant are what I'm good at so I stick with it.


I've actually dropped the slim recently and started making them just tall and muscled, sometimes muscled heavily so they look way top heavy.
Or I've done just slim without muscle. I do learn from my mistakes.

Bandit/Soldier just depends where I get my character idea from, that fits most of what I watch and I love action shows and books so I tend to pick action style characters because they're what I know.

[Remuthra]

Hmm... I think I'd like to set up a wizardy man this time. Mostly because I'm tired of playing fighter variants.

I suppose I could do the Paladin War Elephant build I've been testing, though.

[GiglameshDespair]

Yeah, I picked up a few hints of 'action hero guy' from your stuff. Why not try a different character though? Like a wizard or something? Test your capabilities. try making a character who isn't a gruff action guy who doesn't in God or magic, only steel.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Sounds a lot like FLAILSNAILS. Basically, any DM declares his game as a FLAILSNAILS game, which means he's ok with his players taking their characters to other DM's games, and he's ok with players bringing in characters from other DM's games.

There can be limitations: for example, a DM can say he wants characters within a certain level range. Or maybe "ok you can bring in Bigby but you can only have 3 magic items with you", or try to incorporate a 4E character on the fly because basically it's attack rolls, HP, and save or <effect> stuff no matter what edition you're in - but by making near-constant rulings you gotta assume your character will be broken in some ways and that may benefit you or not. Maybe there's a list of infirmities you can stick on your character to qualify - so a 6th level Ninja in a group of 3rd level normal folks can take four infirmities (which can't be healed until he leaves) to compensate. Like being blind, perpetually drunk, cursed, etc. One per level and one because he's using a premium, powerful class.

And of course when you return to your home campaign your home DM should be totally fine with the crap you picked up but if you come back with 10 levels and a sentient lightsaber he might balk.

If a player persists in ridiculous antisocial behavior / cheating, the DM can say "sorry, no more player slots available" which is especially easy to do with online gaming.

So basically, if everyone tries to be reasonable and not stupid it can be hilarious fun. Imagine the characters from your six favorite movies from separate genres getting together to pillage a dungeon. Too weird? Imagine your six favorite fantasy novels getting together to pillage a dungeon.

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So you don't really need a special thread or a special organization. Just put in your campaign post that you're a FLAILSNAILS campaign and you're good.

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That said, if you really want something like the RPGA, you'd want a set of modules that are group-approved and DMs can run players through those. Maybe a lot like Pathfinder Societies?

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Or you can do it like "this is Jim's dungeon, this is Dan's dungeon, if the players decide to head off in that direction for adventure we need to hit up Jim and get him to DM it". Jim vets incoming characters as with FLAILSNAILS above, imposing temporary penalties as needed or vetoing the character because it's just too wild.

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Finally, I think the most important thing here is to make sure any player uses his character in just one campaign at a time. If he's bouncing around he's going to be accumulating XP and treasure in three or four places at once, and every single turn he updates his character sheet it's going to be different. Since it's PbP the timing is very slow. In a tabletop setting you could have Billy take his character to Jim's place for D&D on Saturday and then to Dan's place for D&D on Sunday and it could still work. But again, if he's playing in two campaigns he's going to be advancing really fast.

In tabletop it sounds like it works best as a one-off side thing, such as going to a different state to visit friends and you play in their campaign for a week. OR in a West Marches style game where every game session starts from a home base so you don't need to worry about how Billy got out of Jim's dungeon to play in Dan's dungeon and then slips back in to pick up with the rest of Jim's group next week.

[Harbingerjm]

Imagine your six favorite fantasy novels getting together to pillage a dungeon.

All of the doors will be stopped.
All of them.

[Patrick Hunt]

Some of mine do believe in god, but magic is a no. I hate magic on an insane level. It always ends up with snobs being born with a gift and acting superior.

I like the born normal and became strong through dedication and strength. Earning strength through years of practice and through faith and hope in himself.

[GiglameshDespair]

...then make a magic character who isn't a snob? And I think it's wizards gain their abilities through study. Sorcerers are those with an innate gift.

[Remuthra]

Any thoughts on traits and flaws?

[thatkid]

So it looks like we have at least 2, maybe 3, potential GMs.

To answer a few questions and concerns that have popped up:

Q: What's the setting?
A: I'd need to talk this over with anyone else who wants to be a GM. It's no fun running a setting you don't like. Personally, I'm partial to Forgotten Realms. It's one of the better known D&D settings, and it's generic enough in form and function that new(er) players don't really need to be familiar with it. So it's accessible. I'm not set in stone on that, though, so I'm going to pose my own question in this answer:
Dwarmin, GWG, and anyone else who is interested in a GM slot-- Is there anything you prefer? Should this just be put to vote?

Q: What's the system? What splats and rulebooks are allowed?
A: As the title implies, it's the 3.5 edition of Dungeons and Dragons. I don't think it lends itself too well to play-by-post games, but it means new players can easily access the d20SRD without needing to purchase books. I imagine any books related to the campaign setting (homebrew is out solely due to accessibility and unification issues) will be allowed. I want to say that any 3.5 material produced by Wizards of the Coast ought to be allowed as well, but we'll probably need to discuss that a bit as well.

Q: What's the starting level?
A: Let's go with 1. That means no +LA templates or races. Sorry, guys. If the other potential DMs agree with me here, that's the way it'll stay. Otherwise it could be bumped up a bit. I think levels 1-3 are the best starting points to avoid cheese, and to help people get a hang of things. I can see already that we might have a few inexperienced players, so that's big. At least in my book.

Q: How are we going to deal with pacing, in regards to both time and character strength?
A: It's play-by-post. Things need to be slow. We're probably going to have to get rid of maps and things, or even a round of combat could take months. I don't see it being too big of an issue, though. It's a Living campaign, so characters of varying levels should be expected. DM's will need to accommodate both*. That means multiple parties which may change in composition, solo-adventures**, and the like. Luckily, there will be more than one of us.

*We may need to impose a restriction on how many players can exist in this campaign, based on how many GMs we have and how many players each GM thinks they can reasonably accommodate. If things get overwhelming, someone may need to double up on a certain area of play or something. We'll see how it goes.

**I'm not a fan of using prewritten modules with a degree of regularity. I actually want this to have a degree of sandbox in it, with the "Living" part coming in primarily when different paths intersect. That having been said, we may need to discuss this further. It might not be feasible.

Q: Last minute question time before this is posted-- Traits and flaws?
A: I'm against them. But as with the "which rulebooks are allowed?" thing, if everyone else is overwhelmingly for it...Why not?

[Patrick Hunt]

I meant in books and movies. They completely put me off any form of magic so I won't use it in any games if it's avoidable.

[Remuthra]

Hmm...

I ask because one of my two prospective character setups, my Paladin build, hinges around using the +1 LA Half Giant race and using a trait or homebrewed feat to increase my size class by one.

[lawastooshort]

Well why don't we have level 2 characters to start then and if you're nice you could have a homebrewed feat too.

But no not-being-nice.

Wait, haven't I seen a half giant before somewhere?

[Culise]

I would be interested as a player, but I fear that my competence as a GM would be...quite deficient.  I don't believe I've ever even played a complete campaign of D&D before. 

[Remuthra]

Well why don't we have level 2 characters to start then and if you're nice you could have a homebrewed feat too.

But no not-being-nice.

Wait, haven't I seen a half giant before somewhere?

Probably in the River of Death thread. Half Giant is my race of choice when creating any sort of melee fighter, because it has some useful features like +2 Strength.