Post by curufin on Nov 13, 2018 17:26:18 GMT
Curufin's Campaign
Over the weekend I got to start up and run a new D&D campaign. The game is starting fresh from 1st level and has 5 players. 3 of the players are long-time gamers that I have known forever and 2 of them are brand new to RPGs. 1 of the veteran players lives about 700 miles away and is playing remotely with us (more on this setup below).
Historically, I have been awful at taking in-game photos of the stuff I have crafted over the years and I am going to make a conscious effort to change that. When there are crafts that I have done in the in-game photos, I will try to link them to the original walkthrough post here.
The games started with the party traveling through a forest and encountering a goblin ambush on a halfing merchant wagon. The goblins had cut down a tree to block the road. The players killed the goblins and escorted the merchant wagon to the nearby town of Barrow's Edge.
Entering the small town of Barrow's Edge.
The players got the merchant wagon the the general store safely and helped unload it into the store. They learned that the town has been having problems with goblin raids at night.
So, you can clearly see in this picture that we have one remote player. This was one of our biggest concern: making sure that the remote player could see us, hear us, see what was going on in the game in terms of miniature location, movement on a grid, and relevant scatter terrain. We really wanted him to feel like he was at the table with us. For the general communication, we used Skype and set up a laptop at the table so we felt like he was sitting at the table and the laptop's webcam was on me (the DM) so he could see me. We also set up 3 PTZ (Pan, Tilt, and Zoom) cameras so he had full control of what he could see. One camera was set up directly over the table for a bird's-eye-view of the entire table top, with the ability to fully pan, tilt, and zoom in on a single room to see the grid and miniatures. We set up a second camera above the laptop for a three-quarter view of the table from his relative position. A third camera was set up against the wall so he could see all the player at the table. It worked perfectly. In a 11 hour session, we never had to tell him where his character was or how far away from anything he was. It was really magical. It really felt like he was at the table with us.
The player go to the general store and buy some gear.
Next they head to the inn to find out more about what is happening with the goblins and the town.
On the way out of town to track where the goblin are coming from, they see a dung sweeper dealing with a huge pile of dung. After a 20 minute discussion about dung...and what kind of creature could have produced it, they started fearing that a dragon might live near the town too.
A little woodland tracking brought them to a cave mouth. They explored the dungeon.
At the end, they dispatched the goblins and killed a tiny dragon. There are a number of avenues they can take next.
I'm not sure how often we will meet up to game. I'm hoping for at least once a month, but we are also heading into holiday season. I will post updates when I can.
Historically, I have been awful at taking in-game photos of the stuff I have crafted over the years and I am going to make a conscious effort to change that. When there are crafts that I have done in the in-game photos, I will try to link them to the original walkthrough post here.
The games started with the party traveling through a forest and encountering a goblin ambush on a halfing merchant wagon. The goblins had cut down a tree to block the road. The players killed the goblins and escorted the merchant wagon to the nearby town of Barrow's Edge.
Entering the small town of Barrow's Edge.
The players got the merchant wagon the the general store safely and helped unload it into the store. They learned that the town has been having problems with goblin raids at night.
So, you can clearly see in this picture that we have one remote player. This was one of our biggest concern: making sure that the remote player could see us, hear us, see what was going on in the game in terms of miniature location, movement on a grid, and relevant scatter terrain. We really wanted him to feel like he was at the table with us. For the general communication, we used Skype and set up a laptop at the table so we felt like he was sitting at the table and the laptop's webcam was on me (the DM) so he could see me. We also set up 3 PTZ (Pan, Tilt, and Zoom) cameras so he had full control of what he could see. One camera was set up directly over the table for a bird's-eye-view of the entire table top, with the ability to fully pan, tilt, and zoom in on a single room to see the grid and miniatures. We set up a second camera above the laptop for a three-quarter view of the table from his relative position. A third camera was set up against the wall so he could see all the player at the table. It worked perfectly. In a 11 hour session, we never had to tell him where his character was or how far away from anything he was. It was really magical. It really felt like he was at the table with us.
The player go to the general store and buy some gear.
Next they head to the inn to find out more about what is happening with the goblins and the town.
On the way out of town to track where the goblin are coming from, they see a dung sweeper dealing with a huge pile of dung. After a 20 minute discussion about dung...and what kind of creature could have produced it, they started fearing that a dragon might live near the town too.
A little woodland tracking brought them to a cave mouth. They explored the dungeon.
At the end, they dispatched the goblins and killed a tiny dragon. There are a number of avenues they can take next.
I'm not sure how often we will meet up to game. I'm hoping for at least once a month, but we are also heading into holiday season. I will post updates when I can.