Campaign rules sheet... [Archive] - Wizards Community

Campaign rules sheet... [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Trench_Raider
09-09-07, 01:23 PM Do you all send out a "rules sheet" to your players before hand detailing the setting, character creation conventions, and what you expect of them as players? I'm starting a new campaign at the end of the month and have emailed my players with the following:
D&D Campaign, Rules and Guidelines

Purpose:: This document will give a brief outline of the D&D campaign that I will be running at my house starting at the end of September or first part of October. It will list the background, tone of the campaign, character creation conventions, and what is expected of players.

What to expect: I hope to run this campaign one session a month. Due to existing commitments with another group, the projected time frame for this game will toward the of each month. Be aware that with the opening of the WW2 reenacting season, coming at about the same time, it is impossible to set a hard date for each game day and these will fluxuate from month to month depending on the DM's reenactment commitments and other factors. I will notify the players at the very least several weeks out with a firm date for each session.

At this time, I am capping the size of the group to the DM and six players. This cap may be raised depending on player interest and the logistics of the area we are playing in.

The playstyle of the campaign will be action oriented. Expect to do alot of fighting and good old fashioned dungeon crawling. Actual role playing in interacting with NPCs in towns and non-combat situtations is encouraged and expected. I don't expect anyone to stay in RP mode the whole time, but this game is about more than just combat and min-max character building. Players who engage in active role playing will be awared a nominal XP bonus at the end of each session.

Finally, the overall pupose of this game is to have fun...for both the players and the DM. Keep this in mind when attending. If you are a munchkin, a power gaming freak, or just plain old argumenative, please check these behaviors at the door. I'm no petty tyrant, but keep in mind that the DM has the final say in any rules disputes. I make it a practice of listening to players, but in the interest of keeping the action rolling along I cannot allow long and drawn out arguments over things like (to grab an example at semirandom) interpretations of spell wordings. If a rules dispute looks like it will last more than a few minutes, and a quick reading of the relavant rules section does not clear things up, I will make a ruling based upon common sense, game balance, and my experience and roll with it from there. There is planty of time to sit down and discuss things at a later time. In the middle of a heated encounter is not that time.

Background: The campaign will be set in the traditonal D&D setting of Greyhawk. Deities, religions, races, and source material geared toward the "generic D&D" setting as detailed in the core books are considered valid. Setting specific items and source material (for example Forgotten Realms, Eberon, etc) are not permitted.

The action of campiagn will begin at a small border town/garrison (population aproxmately 4000 humans and a small number of demihumans) along the Western border of the Shield Lands and the area controlled by the Horned Society....that is to say around hex 109/B4 on the old Greyhawk world map. Players in previous campaigns I have run, as well as long time D&D players, will remember this as being the "Keep on the Borderlands" of module B2 fame. At the time of the begining of the campaign, the nearby Caves of Chaos have alreay been cleared by another group of aventurers, however.

The overall "tone" of this campaign will be "traditional". I am trying to acheive the feel of a traditional AD&D campaign, while retaining the flexibility and mechanics of the Edition 3.5 mechanics. I expect to run a mixture of home-grown material and converted AD&D modules, mixed with a smattering of new produced material.

Character Creation Conventions: Each player will be limited to a single player character. During the course of the campaign, I expect to change out the role of DM with another player from time to time. To this end I will create a character as well. This character may or may not acompany the the party, depending on need and numbers. However, the DM's PC will be treated as a hireling under the direction of the PCs during play. At no time, will he/she be used to give the party tips, encourage the party to perform certain actions, or otherwise direct gameplay.

Character selection will be limited to the core races as detailed in the Player's Handbook. ie Human, Elf, Dwarf, ect... Well established variations and subraces of the core races (for example wood elf as oposed to the generic elf) are pefectly acceptable. Monster character races of any sort are definate no-go. It has been my experience that most people who choose to play monster race characters choose to do so, due to the benefits of playing a "half-fiend, half-dragon, celestial vampire" rather than for the challenge of RPing an unusual character. They also can be real game breakers and fly in the face of the traditional tone I am attempting to estabish. Thus, no non-core races.

The edition 3.5 Kinder-like halflings are derived from non-traditonal sources. Therefore all Halflings in this campaign (both PC and NPC) will be considered to resemble the traditional Hobbit based prototype both pysically and in their culture and background. The rules for statistics and racial abilities will remain the same.

Any of the character classes from the Player's Handbook are acceptable. Other core classes from other non-setting specific sources will be accepted on a case by case basis. Ask me before you roll up a non-Player's Handbook classed character. In any event, core classes and traditional fantasy conventions are strongly encouraged.

The same can be said of prestige classes..some will simply not be available due to the Grayhawk setting.

Characters may be of any alignment, although non-evil characters are encouraged. Players chosing to ignore this sugestion, should keep in mind that evil characters will find themselves in unfomfortable situations if their behavior causes trouble.

Characters will be created using the RPGA "32 point" tournement stat creation system. Let me know if you need a copy of these point values. No character may start with an umodifyed stat higher than 18 or lower than 8. Non-human stat bonus and minuses may modify these numbers up or down up to two points.

As per the Player's handbook, initial starting hit points will be at max level, but every level after that will be rolled for. Any "one" rolled at this time may be rerolled, but any other number must stand.

Characters starting money with be 75% of the maximum permitted on page 111 of the Player's Handbook. Players may pre-purchase any gear they can afford, but are strongly encouraged not to buy any expendable items like food, or adventuring gear like rope as shopping is an amusing part of the role playing experience.

Players are permitted and encouraged to create their characters before the game at home. However, I will give each character that was not created in my pressence a quick look before approving them for use in the campaign. This should not be seen as a lack of trust of the players but a safeguard against honest mistakes being made.

Finally, players entering the campaign late, those who have characters who die and are not ress'd or otherwise brought back, and those who simply want to change out characters for whatever reason are permitted to bring in an advanced replacement character. These replacement characters will be created at a player level one class level below the average of the party at the end of the last game session. That is to say if the average character level is five, any replacement characters will enter at level four. Replacement characters will start with the minimum experience points required to attain their current level, but with the starting gear and money of a first level character. Death and indecision should have a negative effect, but on the other hand I'm not going to saddle a group of higher level characters with the burden of looking after a fresh level one character.

In conclusion, I'm looking forward to hosting you all in my upcoming campaign. if you have any questions or sugestions feel free to email me at ...*snipped for privacy*

How does that sound? Would you play in this campaign as it is outlined now? Am I too controlling/restrictive? Do you do something similar?

"Trench Raider"
Board_Rider
09-09-07, 01:47 PM Pretty typical stuff. No problems as far as I can see.
Kamin_Majere
09-09-07, 02:06 PM What do you mean i cant play an Artificer Paragon half solar with the fiendish template. This campaign stinks and i refuse to play:P

Yeah it sounds pretty much normal for a mostly core campaign

By the by are you Trench Raider from teh warseer forums? (Just curious)
Trench_Raider
09-09-07, 02:19 PM By the by are you Trench Raider from teh warseer forums? (Just curious)

The very same.
I would have thought the reference to having to work around my WW2 reenacting schedule would have been a give away. ;)
I don't just play Warhammer....I'm a gaming ****. I'll play anything.

"Trench Raider"
CCS
09-09-07, 02:57 PM Sounds like a "normal" enough campaign to me.

It also sounds alot like how I run games. Though I've never bothered typing up a formal document. The most I've ever done is to provide a page listing any CHANGES I've made. 2 major reasons; 1) I'm just a bit lazy, 2) Most of my players go into a game knowing how I do things/what's expected/etc. So there's no real need to restate the obvious. And they fill any newer players in.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Trench_Raider 09-09-07, 01:23 PM	Do you all send out a "rules sheet" to your players before hand detailing the setting, character creation conventions, and what you expect of them as players? I'm starting a new campaign at the end of the month and have emailed my players with the following: D&D Campaign, Rules and Guidelines Purpose:: This document will give a brief outline of the D&D campaign that I will be running at my house starting at the end of September or first part of October. It will list the background, tone of the campaign, character creation conventions, and what is expected of players. What to expect: I hope to run this campaign one session a month. Due to existing commitments with another group, the projected time frame for this game will toward the of each month. Be aware that with the opening of the WW2 reenacting season, coming at about the same time, it is impossible to set a hard date for each game day and these will fluxuate from month to month depending on the DM's reenactment commitments and other factors. I will notify the players at the very least several weeks out with a firm date for each session. At this time, I am capping the size of the group to the DM and six players. This cap may be raised depending on player interest and the logistics of the area we are playing in. The playstyle of the campaign will be action oriented. Expect to do alot of fighting and good old fashioned dungeon crawling. Actual role playing in interacting with NPCs in towns and non-combat situtations is encouraged and expected. I don't expect anyone to stay in RP mode the whole time, but this game is about more than just combat and min-max character building. Players who engage in active role playing will be awared a nominal XP bonus at the end of each session. Finally, the overall pupose of this game is to have fun...for both the players and the DM. Keep this in mind when attending. If you are a munchkin, a power gaming freak, or just plain old argumenative, please check these behaviors at the door. I'm no petty tyrant, but keep in mind that the DM has the final say in any rules disputes. I make it a practice of listening to players, but in the interest of keeping the action rolling along I cannot allow long and drawn out arguments over things like (to grab an example at semirandom) interpretations of spell wordings. If a rules dispute looks like it will last more than a few minutes, and a quick reading of the relavant rules section does not clear things up, I will make a ruling based upon common sense, game balance, and my experience and roll with it from there. There is planty of time to sit down and discuss things at a later time. In the middle of a heated encounter is not that time. Background: The campaign will be set in the traditonal D&D setting of Greyhawk. Deities, religions, races, and source material geared toward the "generic D&D" setting as detailed in the core books are considered valid. Setting specific items and source material (for example Forgotten Realms, Eberon, etc) are not permitted. The action of campiagn will begin at a small border town/garrison (population aproxmately 4000 humans and a small number of demihumans) along the Western border of the Shield Lands and the area controlled by the Horned Society....that is to say around hex 109/B4 on the old Greyhawk world map. Players in previous campaigns I have run, as well as long time D&D players, will remember this as being the "Keep on the Borderlands" of module B2 fame. At the time of the begining of the campaign, the nearby Caves of Chaos have alreay been cleared by another group of aventurers, however. The overall "tone" of this campaign will be "traditional". I am trying to acheive the feel of a traditional AD&D campaign, while retaining the flexibility and mechanics of the Edition 3.5 mechanics. I expect to run a mixture of home-grown material and converted AD&D modules, mixed with a smattering of new produced material. Character Creation Conventions: Each player will be limited to a single player character. During the course of the campaign, I expect to change out the role of DM with another player from time to time. To this end I will create a character as well. This character may or may not acompany the the party, depending on need and numbers. However, the DM's PC will be treated as a hireling under the direction of the PCs during play. At no time, will he/she be used to give the party tips, encourage the party to perform certain actions, or otherwise direct gameplay. Character selection will be limited to the core races as detailed in the Player's Handbook. ie Human, Elf, Dwarf, ect... Well established variations and subraces of the core races (for example wood elf as oposed to the generic elf) are pefectly acceptable. Monster character races of any sort are definate no-go. It has been my experience that most people who choose to play monster race characters choose to do so, due to the benefits of playing a "half-fiend, half-dragon, celestial vampire" rather than for the challenge of RPing an unusual character. They also can be real game breakers and fly in the face of the traditional tone I am attempting to estabish. Thus, no non-core races. The edition 3.5 Kinder-like halflings are derived from non-traditonal sources. Therefore all Halflings in this campaign (both PC and NPC) will be considered to resemble the traditional Hobbit based prototype both pysically and in their culture and background. The rules for statistics and racial abilities will remain the same. Any of the character classes from the Player's Handbook are acceptable. Other core classes from other non-setting specific sources will be accepted on a case by case basis. Ask me before you roll up a non-Player's Handbook classed character. In any event, core classes and traditional fantasy conventions are strongly encouraged. The same can be said of prestige classes..some will simply not be available due to the Grayhawk setting. Characters may be of any alignment, although non-evil characters are encouraged. Players chosing to ignore this sugestion, should keep in mind that evil characters will find themselves in unfomfortable situations if their behavior causes trouble. Characters will be created using the RPGA "32 point" tournement stat creation system. Let me know if you need a copy of these point values. No character may start with an umodifyed stat higher than 18 or lower than 8. Non-human stat bonus and minuses may modify these numbers up or down up to two points. As per the Player's handbook, initial starting hit points will be at max level, but every level after that will be rolled for. Any "one" rolled at this time may be rerolled, but any other number must stand. Characters starting money with be 75% of the maximum permitted on page 111 of the Player's Handbook. Players may pre-purchase any gear they can afford, but are strongly encouraged not to buy any expendable items like food, or adventuring gear like rope as shopping is an amusing part of the role playing experience. Players are permitted and encouraged to create their characters before the game at home. However, I will give each character that was not created in my pressence a quick look before approving them for use in the campaign. This should not be seen as a lack of trust of the players but a safeguard against honest mistakes being made. Finally, players entering the campaign late, those who have characters who die and are not ress'd or otherwise brought back, and those who simply want to change out characters for whatever reason are permitted to bring in an advanced replacement character. These replacement characters will be created at a player level one class level below the average of the party at the end of the last game session. That is to say if the average character level is five, any replacement characters will enter at level four. Replacement characters will start with the minimum experience points required to attain their current level, but with the starting gear and money of a first level character. Death and indecision should have a negative effect, but on the other hand I'm not going to saddle a group of higher level characters with the burden of looking after a fresh level one character. In conclusion, I'm looking forward to hosting you all in my upcoming campaign. if you have any questions or sugestions feel free to email me at ...snipped for privacy How does that sound? Would you play in this campaign as it is outlined now? Am I too controlling/restrictive? Do you do something similar? "Trench Raider"
Board_Rider 09-09-07, 01:47 PM	Pretty typical stuff. No problems as far as I can see.
Kamin_Majere 09-09-07, 02:06 PM	What do you mean i cant play an Artificer Paragon half solar with the fiendish template. This campaign stinks and i refuse to play:P Yeah it sounds pretty much normal for a mostly core campaign By the by are you Trench Raider from teh warseer forums? (Just curious)
Trench_Raider 09-09-07, 02:19 PM	By the by are you Trench Raider from teh warseer forums? (Just curious) The very same. I would have thought the reference to having to work around my WW2 reenacting schedule would have been a give away. ;) I don't just play Warhammer....I'm a gaming ****. I'll play anything. "Trench Raider"
CCS 09-09-07, 02:57 PM	Sounds like a "normal" enough campaign to me. It also sounds alot like how I run games. Though I've never bothered typing up a formal document. The most I've ever done is to provide a page listing any CHANGES I've made. 2 major reasons; 1) I'm just a bit lazy, 2) Most of my players go into a game knowing how I do things/what's expected/etc. So there's no real need to restate the obvious. And they fill any newer players in.