How To Train A Goblin?

This is the goal for Droop, the once lowly goblin slave.
Artwork by Paul Abrams. 

I am the Warden!!

An interesting and unexpected development came up in last night's D&D 5e campaign. (And what unexpected development wouldn't be interesting, eh? But I digress...) In the very early days of this campaign when the party liberated the town of Phandelver from the punk-ass band of villains called the Redbrands, the heroes took in Droop, the lowly goblin slave whose sole job was to get smacked around by his hobgoblins masters. Cut to months later and Droop has become a welcome member of the party, a kind of Nodwick, if you will. While the heroes entered the Lost Mines to wipe out Black Spider, he patiently camped outside and waited for them to return. Now it seems those days of obedient sidekick are beneath Droop and the party wants to train him to become a full-fledged PC.

It's something I've thought about for a while and considering there are already two rogues in the party, he'd be best served as a ranger. (The very first attack roll Droop ever made with a short bow provided by the fighter that ended up killing a monster. And he's stuck with it ever since.) Emphasizing on ranged bow attacks with the Hide and Disengage bonus actions could still be very useful. Now that the party has unanimously decided this is indeed the best thing for Droop and the party, it's time to consider how to make this happen.

The Right Way To Create A 1st Level Character

There are two ways of doing this. One, simply pop on his 1st-level, do a little switch-a-roo in the racial stats for goblins and you've got yourself a stew goin'. Two, incorporate the training into the campaign and have the little fella learn on the road. I'm inclined to go with the second because it makes a lot more sense to me personally and because the first option demeans the character that's come before. To suddenly jump from slave to ranger in one session seems foolish.

The DMG is not much help - the only thing I can find is on page 131, Training To Gain Levels, but that only works from 2nd level and up. A character's first level is pretty much assumed to be a significant lifetime of training (like college in our world). I could look at this option and consider that a multi-classed character can technically apply the same principles to gaining a new class in just a few days, so there is that choice. Yet, meh. Something about it doesn't quite work for me and I suspect the group.

The hard part is figuring out how to do this. How much time do I demand for Droop to become 1st level? How much effort? It seems reasonable he should find a ranger to train under, but then it risks either land locking the campaign for a while just so a goblin can become a ranger or having him take a leave of absence as he tends to his studies while his masters/friends go off to save the world.

When the discussion first arose, each of the players made an excellent case for how each of them could provide a piece of Droop's training. The cleric could teach him the ways of meditation and divine magic, the fighter would train him to handle himself in battle, the rogues offering tricks of their trade... all of them sounded entirely reasonable to me and the fact they were all so on board with this idea makes it even cooler. I couldn't help but think of the scene from Fellowship of the Ring where Aragorn and Boromir teach the hobbits how to fight just enough to let them hold their own, a feat that pays off in dividends by the Return of the King. Based solely on teamwork and player enthusiasm, I'm going with the group teaching format instead of a wise and higher levelled ranger.

Leaving us with time. Or perhaps XP? An idea I've considered is to set a negative XP chart for Droop. Starting off at, say, -2,000 XP, he would unlock some of the basic features of a 1st-level ranger while gaining XP along with the other heroes. And when he finally reaches 0 XP, it's fireworks and fanfare!

Oh, but there's more to consider. The rest of the party just hit 5th-level. How long will it take a group of five (not including Droop) heroes to gain 2,000 XP a piece? Is that long enough, too soon, or far too much to indulge these training sessions and hands-on learning through adventuring? And how much can we assume Droop already knows versus a teenage human looking to become a ranger like his father before him? And should a ranger's true 1st-level benefits (favoured enemy, natural explorer) be the benefits of hitting that 1st level and not come from a lead-in? For example, other characters don't gradually gain their next level ability. They get it the moment they hit that next level. Therefore, it's safe to assume the only thing Droop needs to learn are proficiencies and the core values of being a ranger.

A Decision Is Made!

Based on these considerations, I'm going to have Droop start the next game at -2,000 XP (but with a 390 XP boost for fighting the last sesson's dragon, as he did take some unsuccessful pot shots at it). Until he reaches -1,000 XP, there are no benefits. Once he reaches -1,000 XP, Droop will gain half of his proficiencies (one armour, simple weapons, one saving throw, and one skill). At -500 XP, he'll complete his weapon and armour proficiency training and gain one additional skill. Finally, once he hits -250 XP, all proficiencies will be complete and everything will come full circle at 0 XP when he officially becomes a 1st level ranger.

What do you think? 

Getting Back In The Ring

I've put this off for far too long.

If you read that sentence and heard Ian Holm's Bilbo in your head, then we're off to a good start because that's exactly how it sounded when it came to me. I've been away from a couple of things for too long now and it's time to get back to it. What am I talking about? Gamemastering and writing. I believe I've taken steps to help fix that. 

First one's easy: start running more games. As you can see from last week's posts, I've started running a mixed online/in-person D&D game but that's just the beginning. While I love my Ottawa playtesters, I need to whip out a lot more playtests for ScreenPlay and stress test this mofo. Which is why I'm looking into starting up a semi-regular online group to do that very thing. Details are still being worked out and I haven't established anything other than a fist-clenching oath to get it done, so stay tuned. If you're interested already, comment below. 

The next is as critical to Gamemastering and playtesting and so much more: writing. With my career and personal life demanding so much attention lately, my time at the keyboard has suffered for it. That needs to change and I may have something to help fix that. Sure, sure, setting aside time is great and a lofty goal but I need something suitable to my current lifestyle. 

To paraphrase the South Park kids, I learned something this weekend. I'm a morning person (who also likes staying up late but that's a different matter altogether). The sooner I can get to a task, the sooner and better it will be done. Over the weekend, I happened to wake up extra early on Saturday while the missus slept in and spontaneously decided to finally clean up the garage. With nearly three uninterrupted hours as people sipped their morning coffees and stores prepared opening for business, I cleaned and ended up with a better result than originally intended. Get an early start, get better results. Translation: I need to write something as early as possible in the day to get something done. 

My plan (and it's Day Two right now) is to not putz around on any social media until after I've written at least 500 words on a project or personal entry. (Yes, that includes blogging since I can write that much easily in one sitting. I should also note this doesn't include work's social media as I gets paid to tweet for them.) 

Has it worked out so far? It's already the second day and I have an opening legend for High Plains Samurai and a blog post talking about how I'm going to get more writing done. So far, so good. 

The Lost Mine of Phandelver: Adventurers Assemble!

It begins.

Calling on old friends (some of whom I haven't rolled dice with since the early half of 4e) to answer the call for adventure, we set about crafting a party of young and eager adventurers. Yep, we started up our new D&D campaign last night. 

Originally designed as a Skype-only campaign, it quickly became a split between live at the table and Skype (not my preferred Google Hangouts but I never expect people to create accounts for anything and Skype is what they know). Dangnabbit if one of the players insisted on driving to my house every two weeks. While I normally dislike playing with this split, DMing is totally different - they have to stop talking and listen to me. So with one player live on stage and the others reporting from outlets across Ottawa, we rolled characters and killed goblins. 

And it was good. 

We have Ulthgar the dwarf cleric of Moradin, a stern and grizzled acolyte who dreams of rising to the ranks of power within his order. A dwarf of his word, he sees the signs left by the gods and those left by the wicked as guidance in how he will best serve his beliefs. 

Kazzarak is a half-elf barbarian from the frigid lands of Icewind Dale. Quick to step into danger and eager to right wrongs, his path lead him to Neverwinter in search of glory and riches in the dungeons of the Underdark and the battlefields of Faerun. 

Paiden, a human fighter, is the quiet member of the group but don't let his silence challenge your opinion of him. What he lacks in social skills he more than makes up for in a keen eye and quick reflexes, lashing out with his shield to protect those under his watch. 

Finally, we come to Rennik, a lightfoot halfling rogue whose early years spent at sea have now brought him to the shores of Neverwinter looking for work. Ever eager to return to the rolling waves of the ocean, he displays incredible deftness skulking about the forests and cities of the mainland. Perhaps there is more to this fellow than meets the eye.

After assembling their characters (using a mixture of players with the new PHB and those with only the Basic PDF), we went through a very basic introduction of how everyone came to know each other and was hired on by Gundren Rockseeker to deliver simple mining goods to Phandalin. Of course, they fought goblins and did a fine job of it too (only 4 points of damage was taken, thanks to the quick reaction of Paiden sparing Kazzarak the horrors of an arrow in the back). I won't go into any extended details of this prologue but things are already looking very promising. The group is quite eager to get started and I had a chance to go through my initial hiccups with any new system (even if it is something familiar like D&D). In two weeks, shit gets real.

If the news of a new edition of D&D (or you're just finding out that D&D is still alive and well), check out their website. 

Game Times & Learning Curves

Think, think, think, think.

I am the Warden!!

For a few weeks now, I've been pondering the difficulties of introducing a new game to the masses, particularly when those masses have a massive pile of games from which to choose. There's no disputing the flexibility of a group depends on its age - younger players with fewer mandatory responsibilities can invest more time into learning a new RPG versus their older counterparts with many obligations to fulfill before fun time can even begin. Back in my high school heyday, tackling Advanced Dungeons & Dragons wasn't an issue because we were playing at least 30 hours of roleplaying games in a single week. Today, it's nowhere close to that amount (and that's with fewer responsibilities than most other players and GMs my age - no kids and no job.)

Is it really that simple? While it makes sense in one degree, something about "older players don't have as much time to learn new games" sounds like a scapegoat because if there's one thing social media has also taught us, it's that older players still make time to read new games. On bus rides to work and during frequent downtimes set aside to catch up on casual reading, learning a game from its core rulebook doesn't carry the same demands as actually running a new game for the first time.

Reading a game and playing it can be two dramatically different things, something I learned when I first starting running the Marvel Heroic RPG. Scouring through the book, I was floored by what I was reading and made three passes through the core rulebook just to ensure I had it down. When it came time to drop dice with players, I had a hard time keeping up with certain aspects (but that's a reflection on my limitations, not the rules). And that's why games have house rules.

The Bringer of Doom

I am the Warden!!

Yesterday was an offline day for one specific reason. I had a giant stack of loose papers - legal documents, old projects, assorted receipts, and more junk than I thought I could hoard - in an old filing cabinet. What I needed was just one and since I had to tear through the cabinet looking for it, seemed only fitting to sort and collate them once and for all.

While I found what I was looking for, I also found a lot more. Old projects and adventures never intended for publication. Not only that, but there were typed. On a typewriter. (Now that I think about it, they were probably written on the typewriter secured down in the basement. Whoa! Maybe I am a hoarder.)

Titled "The Bringer of Doom," it's an introductory AD&D quest for the Planescape setting. The heroes gather themselves in the town of Clearsky for an annual tournament when suddenly there is an explosion in the sky and a horde of demons and planar monsters stumble out to ransack the town. Complicating matters is a giant force field surrounding Clearsky, trapping everyone inside until the heroes can hack-and-slash their way to the culprit and save what remains of the town.