Jan 27, 2020
Caustic the Scathing, Lich Mage! And recently thrice dead, can we get an F for our fallen skeleton please
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Caustic the Scathing, Lich Mage! And recently thrice dead, can we get an F for our fallen skeleton please
Hey friends, sorry for letting your asks sit in the inbox for a while! My only excuse is that I’m a butt.
So Improv D&D is a game mode we think we invented ourselves (we may have seen something that inspired us somewhere, but don’t think so). The premise is simple: the DM has all the character sheets.
So to start, take your favourite system (4e, 5e, pathfinder, some indie system). It doesn’t have to be one the players know well, as we’ve found this is actually an excellent way to introduce new players without all the stresses of fleshing out a character. Our DM gets us to supply a name, age, gender, alignment, and quirk at the start of play.
Before play begins, the DM whips up enough basic character sheets to go around (just stats/powers/items). Keeping track of who’s stats are whose, play the adventure as normal, but each time a stat (for example, their Stealth modifier or their weapon damage) becomes relevant, you tell them.
How much you give away at a time is up to you. Our DM generally plays that you’re allowed one attempt at locking in a class or race based on in-game evidence at a time, and if you get it wrong you have to wait for more proof. They’ll also only generally allow us to get away with one thing along the lines of “I’m speaking with the dragonborn. Am I looking up at her face, down at her face, or looking her in the eye?” to determine size at any given time. But really, it’s up to you. For some players, they’ll go to great lengths to squirrel out their stats, but others will just play the game as if nothing unusual was happening and make a satisfied grunt if they happen to work something out.
We leave it up to players whether or not they’ll drop in a new character once they’ve figured out the old one or not. Some people get attached, others, as I said, like the puzzle. You’ll notice we have a fairly high turnover in this group.
Hope that was helpful! @dungeons-and-dreamers @dragon-in-a-hoodie
Drow: My mushroom experiments are noise-sensitive.
Peach: How are they noise-sensitive?
Drow: Someone yell at a mushroom.
Mangoes (warlord): Mushroom! You’re no good, mushroom! You’ll never be shit! You’re just like your father!
Andy (playing Dustin): I can’t be bothered writing out my whole powers so I’ve just given them nicknames:
Push and shift.
And then some.
Two hits, no shift.
It’s sweepin’ time.
Hurt and easy street, or only slightly easier street.
Lean on me, they won’t be strong.
Rhi (playing Cordelia): Ten points to any follower who can guess the class from that...
DM: The dragonborn uses her fire breath attack against all of you. Do you want to roll your Reflex?
Sister Mary: 20.
Cordelia: 23.
Dustin: 26.
DM: Amazingly, she misses all of you in this 4x4 room.
Cordelia: I attack her and yell “You’re under arrest for... this!”
DM: You find 180 gold scattered around the dragonborn living quarters.
Sister Mary (psion): Aw yiss, we’re rich.
Cordelia: I think we should give it to the kobolds as reparations for being taken as slaves.
Sister Mary: That’s a much better idea, we’re doing it.
DM: Of course you have light sources. You knew you were going dungeon-delving, you would have brought supplies.
Dustin: My quirk isn’t “good at planning”.
Cordelia: I make a Heal check on the skeletons.
DM: They were poisoned.
Cordelia: Were they moved after they died?
DM: No, they died where they fell.
Cordelia: Welcome to the Death Room, guys.