So I have a brand new group.

Brand new rules.

I got the Starter Set, read the adventure. Tossed it. Fired up our first game. (Not to say I didn't like the adventure - I liked it very much. I'm not a published adventure kinda guy.) After char-gen and tightening up everyone's backgrounds, we hit the ground running.

I find the game flows very well. The heart of this engine seems to give me everything I want out of D&D. I ran into a couple of nit-picks - the Stealth/Hide rules (I have a lightfoot halfling thief in the party and he wants to gain adavantage every single round by using his Naturaly Stealthy ability in combat. This is already heating up threads on the official forums. Of course I made a GM call - no worries), otherwise it went very very well.

I'm DIGGING the fuck out of the Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic and the unified Proficiency Bonus for skill/ability checks. All the classes were operating exactly as I abstractly felt they should without me having to reign anything in. I set my game in Calimport (if you're FR unfamiliar - it's like fantasy-Baghdad in the southern west-coast region where the Starter Set has their starting point on the main continent) - so it's blazing desert. I used the Advantage/Disadvantage rules liberally to give the brutal environmental effects a bit of color to the game. Everyone dug it.

I felt better about running this game than I have for D&D-writ large for *many* years. After the game the whole group was just sitting there smiling and cackling about how the game flowed in context with the adventure. There was the occasional rule-reference moment, but that was on us, nothing major. Our resident spellcaster and cleric got to flex their shit (as much as you can at 1st level) - but felt very beefy with the new casting system.

The rogue and fighter worked perfectly together, duking it out with hobgoblins with wild-but-tactical-abandon. That little halfling bastard showed everyone what being a dirty sneak-attack thief was all about... it was a little scary. The mechanics backed up their concepts nicely. Same with the resident archer who was lighting up fools (except for the single fumble of the night - and he shot their donkey in the head and killed it. damn... I forgot to give them XP for that!!! /writes down reminder).

The next morning I was telling my wife about the game and the reception to it, while I was telling her how the new players felt afterward (very very pumped and positive) - I got a text at that exact moment from my new player, telling me how much fun he had last night and was looking forward to next week.

Yes it was good.

/smokes cigarette.

Very good.

Quote from: tenbones;770952So I have a brand new group.

Brand new rules.

I got the Starter Set, read the adventure. Tossed it. Fired up our first game. (Not to say I didn't like the adventure - I liked it very much. I'm not a published adventure kinda guy.) After char-gen and tightening up everyone's backgrounds, we hit the ground running.

I find the game flows very well. The heart of this engine seems to give me everything I want out of D&D. I ran into a couple of nit-picks - the Stealth/Hide rules (I have a lightfoot halfling thief in the party and he wants to gain adavantage every single round by using his Naturaly Stealthy ability in combat. This is already heating up threads on the official forums. Of course I made a GM call - no worries), otherwise it went very very well.

I'm DIGGING the fuck out of the Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic and the unified Proficiency Bonus for skill/ability checks. All the classes were operating exactly as I abstractly felt they should without me having to reign anything in. I set my game in Calimport (if you're FR unfamiliar - it's like fantasy-Baghdad in the southern west-coast region where the Starter Set has their starting point on the main continent) - so it's blazing desert. I used the Advantage/Disadvantage rules liberally to give the brutal environmental effects a bit of color to the game. Everyone dug it.

I felt better about running this game than I have for D&D-writ large for *many* years. After the game the whole group was just sitting there smiling and cackling about how the game flowed in context with the adventure. There was the occasional rule-reference moment, but that was on us, nothing major. Our resident spellcaster and cleric got to flex their shit (as much as you can at 1st level) - but felt very beefy with the new casting system.

The rogue and fighter worked perfectly together, duking it out with hobgoblins with wild-but-tactical-abandon. That little halfling bastard showed everyone what being a dirty sneak-attack thief was all about... it was a little scary. The mechanics backed up their concepts nicely. Same with the resident archer who was lighting up fools (except for the single fumble of the night - and he shot their donkey in the head and killed it. damn... I forgot to give them XP for that!!! /writes down reminder).

The next morning I was telling my wife about the game and the reception to it, while I was telling her how the new players felt afterward (very very pumped and positive) - I got a text at that exact moment from my new player, telling me how much fun he had last night and was looking forward to next week.

Yes it was good.

/smokes cigarette.

Very good.

Nice!  Many of my same impressions as I've been playing it as well, particularly the bolded part.

Excellent!

How did you find the backgrounds worked for Calimport? Any modification?

Quote from: jadrax;770959Excellent!

How did you find the backgrounds worked for Calimport? Any modification?

The backgrounds in the basic rules are *pretty basic*. The mere fact that most of the Backgrounds are pretty straightforward and designed obviously to go with a particular class - they work fine for that. What I'll say is this - they can and should be a very powerful character-building mechanic in the PHB. There is a *LOT* of potential here.

The Background mechanic strongly remind me of the same mechanic in Fantasy Craft - Specialties.

And I'm digging it. One of my players for this campaign is playing a young Acolyte of Tempus (God of War) and he's from WAAAAAAYYYY up North. They're basically Vikings. So for his background, he didn't take Acolyte - he took 'Soldier' to show his more martial background living on the high-ice duking it out with orcs and ogres and shit. But the fact this option was available was very pleasing to him. He felt he wasn't cheating his character by taking something like Acolyte which was clearly meant for the Cleric class.

I'm betting the PHB will be packed with some good ones like Fantasy Craft is.

On the side note - it was hilarious describing this 6'4" hulk of a viking - all sweaty and red-faced/sunburned marching through the deserts of Calimshan like a BEAST... and then surprise of everyone finding out he's a priest. (of course... then they realize he's a priest of a war-god...)

As for the "Life Domain" being the only available one at this point. I was going to re-engineer it to be the War Domain. I looked back at the Life Domain in previous editions - and it can certainly be done. I just figured with the PHB dropping in a few weeks, we'll just play as is.

Edit: The Backgrounds are fine as is. Nothing required modification. I'm trying to keep my knee-jerk reaction that wants a bit more complexity restrained. Because our gameplan is to update to the PHB as soon as it drops.

Quote from: tenbones;770952I find the game flows very well. The heart of this engine seems to give me everything I want out of D&D. I ran into a couple of nit-picks [...]

I felt better about running this game than I have for D&D-writ large for *many* years. After the game the whole group was just sitting there smiling and cackling about how the game flowed in context with the adventure.

This basically mirrors my experience with the new version during our playtest sessions. I am truly, positively surprised by the accessibility and fun of the game as it is. Sure, there are nitpicks and, let's say aesthetic differences (I don't like the rapid HP regeneration and I think that as many free spells as you want even when they are just cantrips basically banalize and trivialize magic in general), but my impression -and that might very well be the best thing about the edition so far - is that it seems relatively robust and open, that is ready to be adjusted to one's personal preferences.
Okay, I could be completely wrong about this, and this might be just some preliminary enthusiasm for the game which might burn out quickly when the rules loses their novelty. But right now, I doubt that.

Yeah, I haven't had a chance to play yet, but I've played enough D&D (of all editions and brands) to recognize a version that is pretty well glued together. The key is prevent those dickish players from getting a short rest in after every encounter. Not on my watch!

I thought about that too. But you know, they can only spend up to their HD in short-heals? So it's *not* that big of a deal.

Especially at low levels. We'll see how well it works at higher ones. I'm betting, and this is my crapshoot guesstimate that it will be fine up until around 9th or 10th... then it might get a little dodgy.

THAT said...

Keep in mind the rules in the forthcoming DMG will have alternatives to HP/Healing etc.

so it might not be an issue at all.

Quote from: tenbones;771243I thought about that too. But you know, they can only spend up to their HD in short-heals? So it's *not* that big of a deal.

Especially at low levels. We'll see how well it works at higher ones. I'm betting, and this is my crapshoot guesstimate that it will be fine up until around 9th or 10th... then it might get a little dodgy.

THAT said...

Keep in mind the rules in the forthcoming DMG will have alternatives to HP/Healing etc.

so it might not be an issue at all.

When I DM, my rule for healing is:

Short rest: you can use HD
Long rest: you get your HD back.  No other healing

So I don't play with "all hp back at long rest".  I find that my houserule emulates deadly AD&D style extremely well, as the players felt like they were on the edge a lot.  Especially with not being able to get a short rest whenever they felt like it

Quote from: Sacrosanct;771245When I DM, my rule for healing is:

Short rest: you can use HD
Long rest: you get your HD back.  No other healing

So I don't play with "all hp back at long rest".  I find that my houserule emulates deadly AD&D style extremely well, as the players felt like they were on the edge a lot.  Especially with not being able to get a short rest whenever they felt like it

I like this. Officially swiped!

Quote from: Sacrosanct;771245When I DM, my rule for healing is:

Short rest: you can use HD
Long rest: you get your HD back.  No other healing

So I don't play with "all hp back at long rest".  I find that my houserule emulates deadly AD&D style extremely well, as the players felt like they were on the edge a lot.  Especially with not being able to get a short rest whenever they felt like it

That's pretty good Sacro.

Quote from: tenbones;771243I thought about that too. But you know, they can only spend up to their HD in short-heals? So it's *not* that big of a deal.

Except Fighter's Second Wind. And Short Rest is at least 1-hour, and there is no limit on them per day in Basic outside of hours left in the day (unlike Long Rest, which is limited to one per 24-hour period).

Quote from: Opaopajr;771270Except Fighter's Second Wind. And Short Rest is at least 1-hour, and there is no limit on them per day in Basic outside of hours left in the day (unlike Long Rest, which is limited to one per 24-hour period).

Technically yes but who actually works 15 minutes and takes an hour break and works 15 minutes and takes an hour break and still has a job or actually accomplishes anything relavent? You can't cure stupid and if you want to game stupid that's not the game's problem it's yours.

Yeah, resetting your HD 'reserve' during a long rest without full HP recovery is an excellent adjustment to the rules.

Quote from: Marleycat;771274Technically yes but who actually works 15 minutes and takes an hour break and works 15 minutes and takes an hour break and still has a job or actually accomplishes anything relavent? You can't cure stupid and if you want to game stupid that's not the game's problem it's yours.

Adventurers who want to level up and game the lack of wandering monster tables?

Quote from: Opaopajr;771288Adventurers who want to level up and game the lack of wandering monster tables?

Hehe, patience the PHB is coming and that means the BASIC doc. will be updated with such things like wandering monster tables and other MM/DMG goodies.