Can we have characters in more than one game at once? As long as you play the character as if you were only getting one source of XP at once (Ex: You start one game at level two, but your character levels to three from another module. The character would be played in the other module as if it was still level 2, until the mod's completion).
From my understanding, the answer would be no, but I can't find anything specifically in writing to back me up. Am I right, and where can I point them to in order to prove it?
Can we have characters in more than one game at once?
Not sure I understand your question? Please clarify. Are you asking is it legal to play (the same character) in two RPGA adventures at the same identical time (the ultimate in multi-tasking?)? If that is the question, I think no is the answer, but I admit I have never seen that question before. There is a case that sometimes appears where a player starts playing an adaptable adventure, which takes more than one play session, and wants to know if the character is "stuck in that adventure until it is done," and the answer I have always heard was yes, you need to complete one adventure before you start the next (with the same character).
Keith
If you are talking about playing mulitple single-session modules simultaneously -- like a Chess Master playing multiple concurrent matches -- I do not know what the answer is but I would suspect "No" as well.
Not sure I understand your question? Please clarify. Are you asking is it legal to play (the same character) in two RPGA adventures at the same identical time (the ultimate in multi-tasking?)?
Yes, the person wants to take one character, make two separate character sheets for it, play in two LFR modules simultaneously for the purpose of leveling up faster. If I'm understanding him, he wants to add the experience together after finishing both sessions, because it takes too long to level up a character playing one module at a time.
Like I said, my impression is that this is not allowed. He won't take my word for it, though, he wants it in writing somewhere, and I just can't find anything that addresses it.
Also, the mechanics of it. Do they hop from table to table as the games happen? If so, why don't the other players take them behind the building and beat some sense into them?
I think he's saying that the character is playing an ADAP (which runs multiple sessions) and has not completed all the modules yet. Between ADAP sessions he wants to play another LFR MOD with said character.
Sounds more like "I want to play EAST1-1 and WATE1-1 with my character. Both slots are running simultaneously, at separate tables. Can I do that?"
It doesn't work. Unless, somehow, both modules are held at the same time at the same place, the PC is as strapped for ability to be in two locations as the player will be to sit at two tables. Remember that most modules, at present, in the same location are at different level bands, so one PC won't even be able to play in those two modules at the same time.
then again, I don't think a GM should be trying to run two tables, even of the same mod, atthe same time. He isn't going to be giving the players at either table the most enjoyable experience, since he is going to have them out of synch at times, and sometimes forget whose character is trying what solution...
This is the example he gave me when I asked him to clarify:
Joe is a level 2 fighter, currently not involved with any games. He signs up for EXAMPLE1-1, and starts playing that. About halfway through, he begins playing QUEST1-1. As EXAMPLE1-1 hasn't been reported yet, his character has the same XP and items as previous.
Joe finishes EXAMPLE1-1 and levels to 3. The game is reported. However, Joe continues to play through QUEST1-1 as a level 2 fighter. Once the game is over and reported, Joe now has the XP and items of both games.
For example, playing through Scepter Tower has some very stringent level and what else you can play requirements, so this would definitely not be allowable.
Other mods might be possible, but I, as a DM, would prefer not to have a player doing this to my game. IMO, if your character is involved in a module, he is not available to play anything else until that module is finished. Scepter Tower is just a loooong multi-level version of this.
If he wants to level his character up as fast as possible, he would be better off finding all the local games days and open LFR events, and playing those. If, however, one of the events runs long, and will complete at another session, his PC is locked out of being played anywhere else until that event completes.
For those who are not familiar, PbP can easily take a week per encounter, sometimes more. A month to finish an adventure is optimistic.
From my understanding, the answer would be no, but I can't find anything specifically in writing to back me up. Am I right, and where can I point them to in order to prove it?
During LG days, it was possible to point to rules (a combination of RPGA General Rules and LGCS) that required that you finish one adventure before starting another. With the undefined status of the RPGA General Rules and the Just Do It approach of the CCG, I'm not sure it's possible to definitively show this is the case now.
It can run into problems having to due with leveling mid-adventure or obtaining some sort of negative penalty (death comes to mind) in one adventure before another. I feel quite confident in refusing a seat to a player playing seeking to play two adventures at once, rather PbP, online, or F2F. I feel quite comfortable in refusing (today, as a matter of fact) in doing the same myself for the same reason as being outside the scope of what I understand the rules. Characters adventure, complete, go on to next adventure; it is a serial process, not parallel.
That all said, I don't feel as strongly about it as other recent rules gaffs demonstrated in the online community, such as playing an adventure, not liking the result, and recording it for a different character in order to reply with the original character with the goal of a more acceptable outcome.
YMMV.
David
Can I get away with playing my character in an adventure when it is currently "stuck" in another mutli-session adventure.
So you have this situation:
- I have a character involved in a long adventure (be it PbP or an ADP).
- The chance for another game comes up and I want to play.
- For whatever reason, I want to use the character that's in the long adventure
Therefore...
If I use the character in the game, at the stage it was at when it entered the long adventure, but don't add the XP/Gold/treasure until the character has finished the long adventure, is that acceptable?
Personally, my gut says no. However, the only justification I can come up with is "others aren't doing it"... which I can only provide personal evidence for. Not only that, but the reporting system on DCI would allow this to happen.
In a single group that meets regularly this wouldn't be a problem, players and DMs would know that the player's character is "otherwise engaged".
However, a new DM and group may not be privvy to such information and are relying on the player's honesty.
Depending on how the D&D Gametable is constructed, this could become more of a problem in the future... if indeed it is a problem at all?
Now, take this particular example to the absurd. If you could play two adventures simulataneously, you could play four...or twelve, or whatever. Nothing would prvent you from taking the same 1st level PC, and playing him in a dozen simultaneous PbP games. The net result could be, effectively, an instantaneous jump from 1st level (at which you played every one of those simultaenous modules) to 4th level.
Is there anything preventing you from doing this? Doesn't look like it. Is it at least a little cheesy? Seems that way to me. OTOH, playing all those modules with a more-limited character (i.e., not getting the benefit of the XP or treasure from playing modules sequentially) would seem to me to be at least a little disadvantageous.
Just because the rules don't say you can't doesn't mean you should. Sometimes a little common sense goes a long way.
