Post/Author/DateTime	Post
CheesieM0nkies 02-24-08, 01:48 PM	So... My campaign is a wreck for a great number of reasons. Four PCs, with rotating DMs that will carry out there story arc, then the next DM steps up. Baisicially, one player will be DM and his character is always AFK. This is where the trouble starts, as several of the other DMs have rewarded rediculous amounts of treasure to the party, consisting of: Elven Swordsage 12 - CN Human Paladin 4 / Greygaurd 7 - LG Human Fighter 2 / Barbarian 4 / Frenzied Berserker 6 / Crusader 1 - CE Human Lich Warlock 12 - NE Yea, thats right. The swordsage has over 200k worth of items and over 100k in raw cash. The paladin has already died 3 times. The Warlock has his heart set on being a lich (He finished the process last session). The Frenzied berserker has the ability to kill anyone in the party in one swing, but cannot catch the warlock (Fell Flight), or hit the swordsage (47 AC). The paladin is using a houseruled smite evil where you add (level + cha) to attack and damage, which in conjuction with a full attack can kill the frenzied berserker in one round. Aside from the fact that the Frenzied berserkers sole possesions are a belt of giant strength and a greatsword (He died twice and the other PCs looted him and then raised him), and the paladin is 15,000 XP behind everyone else, the swordsage is richer than lvl 20s and the warlock is the embodiement of evil, things are running smooth. Oh, and the party enjoys a level of competion, with treasure as a main incentive. Also we are on the chaotic side of our games (But so is everyone so...) So, what can I do?
squidyak 02-24-08, 02:04 PM	How does the paladin justify adventuring with such an evil group? He needs to be stripped of his paladin abilities.
CheesieM0nkies 02-24-08, 02:24 PM	He's a paladin of St. Cuthbert, and his goal is to redeem the Frenzied Berserker. This was before the warlock turned lich, which happened at the very end of our last session. Before the warlock was a lich he was CN which made mroe sense for the paladin
Divokej 02-24-08, 03:02 PM	Well, I would say that rather than being rock-bottom, this is rock-OUT. There are two things I wold do if this campaign is leaving you less than satisfied. First, the DM can't give treasure to their character, and secondly I'd start a new, simultaneous campaign with (and this is important) only one DM. This way you have a crazy fun game were you and your crew can kick it. And you also have a more normal game. I don't believe trying to change your current game would be a good idea.
LinusMundane 02-24-08, 03:39 PM	No offense, but who came up with that(you kinda have to know the people you game with, so ya prolly knew this would happen) ridiculous rotating DM scheme and why does it persist? Of course it got out of hand, its a world where every 4th session the DM is bestowing gobs of treasure on the party(read, their character).... Suggest finishing up and starting a campaign the old fashioned way with the person most suited to DM as the DM. Leave the creativity for character creation.
J.B. 02-24-08, 03:53 PM	You know for the longest time it's been thought that one of the most evil things a DM can do to the players is have their characters get hit by a "Mordenkainen's Disjunction" or a small army of rust monsters. Under normal circumstances that might still be true, but that doesn't seem like the case here. From the way it sounds you need to reign in your player's quickly and possibly "even" the playing field between them all. I think it's time to set their wealth back to zero or near to it. I hope this helps :)
squidyak 02-24-08, 03:58 PM	No offense, but who came up with that(you kinda have to know the people you game with, so ya prolly knew this would happen) ridiculous rotating DM scheme and why does it persist? Of course it got out of hand, its a world where every 4th session the DM is bestowing gobs of treasure on the party(read, their character).... Suggest finishing up and starting a campaign the old fashioned way with the person most suited to DM as the DM. Leave the creativity for character creation. Rotating DMs works great in the right group.
LinusMundane 02-24-08, 04:24 PM	I understand that, I was saying that in my post, but you know your group and should have known this was a bad idea.
CheesieM0nkies 02-24-08, 07:15 PM	In response to the rotating DMs, we have 2 experianced DMs and 2 that are quite bad - usually players but want to try something new. Generally what happens is we have a run at a story arc then one of the new DMs does a quick dungeon crawl then we start another story arc, within the same plot. You all are probably right with start over, but if I can make this work I would like to try. Thanks for the input.
Etarnon 02-25-08, 03:18 AM	Well, I'd like to say here that rotating DMs is fine, as long as each group is seperate, either different games, different rules sets or different characters. Otherwise you wind up with the above, in that one dm is overruling another. Start one game, that the characters in it are not allowed to go to another DM's game. If people play in another game, then come back to yours you advise them "I don't allow characters from other games." That's what I'd do. And strip the paladin.
pmurray@bigpond.com 02-25-08, 10:44 AM	So... My campaign is a wreck for a great number of reasons. ... Yea, thats right. The swordsage has over 200k worth of items and over 100k in raw cash. ... The Warlock ... The paladin is using a houseruled smite evil ... So, what can I do? I don't understand the problem. Yes, obviously your campaign is boned if you wanted to run a serious, by-the-book campaign. But are you having fun? If so, then what's the harm? If the campaign gets so complicated from all the cheese that its unplayable, then you'll have to start a new one. Consider a different game system for a break. "Paranoia" might be appropriate. Or "Toon". Actually - "Paranoia" would really suit your group.
pmurray@bigpond.com 02-25-08, 10:47 AM	Rotating DMs works great in the right group. One of our players is giving me a rest at the moment with a 2-3 session side-quest. His last one rocked, so this one should be good, too.
wonlee76 02-25-08, 11:20 AM	Any patch jobs you can come up with at this point could build animosity against the DM (ie. Disjunction, Rust Monsters, Nightwalkers, Lord Sunder and his Sunderlings, etc.). The alignments in the group are so out of whack, even the grey guard paladin will have extreme difficulty in justifying adventuring/helping them. A FB is generally bad news for someone in the group (looks like Mr. Paladin might be the one in trouble). The wealth is way out of balance... Just too many things to fix for one DM out of a group of rotating DMs. Talk to your fellow players/DMs to fix all of these problems collectively or agree to restart. Possible things to discuss: 1: Letting the Paladin PC re-create a PC that will mesh with the group's current alignment slant Before the lich, it wasn't that big of a problem. With the lich, now you got to deal with the issue head on. 2: While you're at it, maybe talk to the barbarian PC to re-creating a new PC. FB is just a god awful prestige class for a group game. 3: Discuss downgrading the Swordsage's gear/wealth voluntarily. Maybe he donates a chunk of gold to some charity or a "cause" that will help him IC. Maybe he donates some of his magical trinkets to same cause. 4: If your group collectively agrees to restart the campaign, set down some ground rules since this is a rotating DM situation. I've never played in a game with rotating DMs so I have no suggestions as to what groundrules should be set down but how much wealth is given out is a start. :P
new_fashion_guy 02-25-08, 11:39 AM	No offense, but who came up with that(you kinda have to know the people you game with, so ya prolly knew this would happen) ridiculous rotating DM scheme and why does it persist? Of course it got out of hand, its a world where every 4th session the DM is bestowing gobs of treasure on the party(read, their character).... Rotating DM can work, but people need to have a certain level of maturity to not take too much advantage of the situation. There also need to be rules established before the run about negating things done in the previous DM's story, how much change can be made to the campaign world by any one DM, etc. Having a game where treasure is the main goal certainly doesn't seem the best environment for such a system.
Man in the Funny Hat 02-25-08, 05:21 PM	He's a paladin of St. Cuthbert, and his goal is to redeem the Frenzied Berserker. This was before the warlock turned lich, which happened at the very end of our last session. Before the warlock was a lich he was CN which made mroe sense for the paladinIrrelevant. The paladin cannot justify adventuring with such an evil group. He should be stripped of his abilities. In short, to answer your thread title - this party is a complete meltdown and you should simply set it all aside and start over. Seriously. It bears little need for any further discussion.