Doorway to Chaos-esque Climatic Battle Discussion

[Rain Yupa]

How do people feel about these one-shot epic battle dealies? Not necessarily this specific case, but the situation in general.

On a PBP medium, it does have a certain appeal to me, personally. What's your guys's thoughts on the matter?  

[SporkMaster5000]

I think it's kinda cool to be able to stretch one's legs at the higher levels, and with my utter excess of character ideas, I like the potential of one-shots to burn through them to get a handle of the ones i do and don't like well enough to hold on to. On the other hand, I'm a fan of the roleplay side of the game, even in games so clearly focused on combat, and the slapdash backstory we made was a little unsatisfying. all considered it has its pros and cons, but i'd probably do another if given the opportunity.  

[bamaotaku]

I'm mostly of the same mindset as Sporkmaster. It's really nice to actually try out a character on a high level and see how they work in combat not only on their own, but combined with a group.  

[Raganui Minamoto]

I'm with these two.  

[Arc Vembris]

Also agreeing. Roelplay can be for longer games, and concept characters can work well here where there's no demand to roleplay them long-term.  

[bamaotaku]

There's nothing wrong with having roleplaying aspects in a shorter adventure or having well planned out characters with backstories etc. That's just less work you have to do later when you use that concept again for a full campaign.  

[Rain Yupa]

Here's a thought:

In terms of similar one-shot battles...

What about God Hunting? Solo encounter against one of the numerous big bads?

I suppose it doesn't need to be one of the Gods, per se. Any major name could do.

I think Coliseum MAY be ending sooner than anticipated, so perhaps this is something I can run afterwards?  

[SporkMaster5000]

Rain Yupa

Here's a thought:

In terms of similar one-shot battles...

What about God Hunting? Solo encounter against one of the numerous big bads?

I suppose it doesn't need to be one of the Gods, per se. Any major name could do.

I think Coliseum MAY be ending sooner than anticipated, so perhaps this is something I can run afterwards?

i'd like to see how a high level solo and/or epic encounter works out. i've heard that the published gods (at least, vecna and tiamat, haven't heard anything about bahamut or anyone that might have been published in the plane below) are seriously tough even for a well-oiled party.  

[joe-dude667]

I make loads of random characters, sometimes putting them up to paragon/epic levels. So I think it would be a lot of fun to play something like this. Then again the main reason I play DnD is to role play. I love seeing how a character and the campaign develops, but as long as I have 1 or 2 characters that I can focus on like that then I think one off's like that sounds awesome. >.<

For instance, one of the PC's for my main IRL campaign lives on the other side of the country, so we can't play that often in that particular campaign, but at the moment the other guys and I are playing a short, one off, evil campaign that'll be linked to our main campaign. Which I'm really enjoying.

Obviously I can't vouch for the entire DnD community, but I assume most people play for the role play more than the battles. I also assume anyone who's into DnD has at least 1 main IRL campaign where they can fulfil their character concept quota. If all of the above is true then I think one off's like that are a GREAT idea. >.< Especially PBP.

I know what you mean about Coliseum though, maybe since we're hitting lvl 10 next we can allow for other teams to start? Other wise it looks like it'll be Natural Disaster v GBU/Pirates/Swords.2 for the championship before we even get to paragon. gonk  

[Rain Yupa]

I wouldn't be quite so opposed to that, except for two things:

1.) It IS supposed to be an elimination tournament.

2.) There isn't quite enough players to draw from in the guild, to replenish ranks like that neutral

If everyone wanted me to do that though, I'd let it happen.  

[SporkMaster5000]

Rain Yupa

1.) It IS supposed to be an elimination tournament.

it's just sad to see players fall by the wayside, rather than characters.  

[bamaotaku]

joe-dude667

I make loads of random characters, sometimes putting them up to paragon/epic levels. So I think it would be a lot of fun to play something like this. Then again the main reason I play DnD is to role play. I love seeing how a character and the campaign develops, but as long as I have 1 or 2 characters that I can focus on like that then I think one off's like that sounds awesome. >.<

For instance, one of the PC's for my main IRL campaign lives on the other side of the country, so we can't play that often in that particular campaign, but at the moment the other guys and I are playing a short, one off, evil campaign that'll be linked to our main campaign. Which I'm really enjoying.

Obviously I can't vouch for the entire DnD community, but I assume most people play for the role play more than the battles. I also assume anyone who's into DnD has at least 1 main IRL campaign where they can fulfil their character concept quota. If all of the above is true then I think one off's like that are a GREAT idea. >.< Especially PBP.

I know what you mean about Coliseum though, maybe since we're hitting lvl 10 next we can allow for other teams to start? Other wise it looks like it'll be Natural Disaster v GBU/Pirates/Swords.2 for the championship before we even get to paragon. gonk

Amusingly, none of those criteria fit for me. First, I'm in an area where there aren't many players less than an hours drive away so online is pretty much my only source of DND. Also, I think the majority of players are more a mix on whether they enjoy combat or roleplay. There are the opposing stereotypes of players who either make a character solely around their combat abilities but have the emotional depth of a mud puddle or who are totally into the emotional/psychological/etc development of their characters that they'd rather go get a snack than engage in combat. I'd say 80% of players are a mix with either a bit leaning towards one side or the other.  

[Rain Yupa]

I'm actually partial to the combat, because I love tactical stuff (and its why Warlords are my FAVORITE class).

Honestly, though, I like the roleplay, but possibly not the same reason as some others. I prefer the roleplayed INTERACTIONS between party members and NPCs, more than "character development". While that's fine and all, I'm more interested in the current group dynamic, than any future development thereof. Call me short-sighted, if you want sweatdrop  

[SporkMaster5000]

Rain Yupa

I'm actually partial to the combat, because I love tactical stuff (and its why Warlords are my FAVORITE class).

Honestly, though, I like the roleplay, but possibly not the same reason as some others. I prefer the roleplayed INTERACTIONS between party members and NPCs, more than "character development". While that's fine and all, I'm more interested in the current group dynamic, than any future development thereof. Call me short-sighted, if you want sweatdrop

Now i get to say I'm quite the opposite. I prefer the character development, and like the idea of telling the story of my characters. That's the one thing I'm kinda dissapointed about PbP games, I have these far-reaching ideas of what I'd like my characters to become and the gameplay is so slow it takes months to get a fraction of it.

Don't get me wrong, character interactions are great, and can be quite fun, Reeve's short lived game had me most amused by the play between Arc and my characters, but even then I was thinking about how that relationship would affect them over time.

i'm not gonna say I don't like combat, and several of my character ideas started based on powers and combat interactions, and seeing those things play out is fun in its own way in games like the coliseum and doorway to chaos, but I miss the non-combat parts. I think I might like if someone was willing to run a more dungeon-delve style game, that's clearly combat driven, and only a few encounters long, but has enough story to string it together, and room for the characters to stretch their wings, if not really grow into anything.  

[Rain Yupa]

Don't worry. Assuming I can ever get a stable group in BNW, this mission is the first step to a journey to save the world. No more spoilers than that, though >_> Very story-driven, and lots of chances of non-combat encounters at some parts.