Good morning, everyone. My name is Andrew, checking in from Virginia, USA. I've been pretty stuck on D&D 5e since I discovered it several years ago. Really enjoy John's writings about designing various aspects of games, so I signed up for the Epic Adventure Building Game Plan as soon as it came out.
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I my name is John. I've been playing and GMing since I found RPGs in 1979. I'm usually but not always the GM of my group.
My All Time Favorite system is GURPS, though as we've gotten older and have less time for prep I've drifted toward systems with more support for premade adventures and campaigns. Right now I'm playing a weekly D&D 5E homebrew hack of Keep on the Borderlands and bi-weekly as written game of Princes of the Apocalypse.
I've been wanting to give Campaign Logger a try ever since I missed the opportunity to support it at Lifetime access. I just signed up for the Adventure Building Master Game Plan and added a year of Campaign Logger to try out.
Lately when I've run games I've been drawn to Narrative driven systems like Powered by the Apocalypse, specifically Dungeon World. I'm also toying with Blades in the Dark via Scum and Villainy and Forbidden Lands.
EDIT: Totally forgot to add my favorite die is the D12. It does not get enough love. I was so happy to find these products to use for my D6 heavy games. I just backed their latest Kickstarter and am very happy with the dice. https://www.doublesixdice.com/
My All Time Favorite system is GURPS, though as we've gotten older and have less time for prep I've drifted toward systems with more support for premade adventures and campaigns. Right now I'm playing a weekly D&D 5E homebrew hack of Keep on the Borderlands and bi-weekly as written game of Princes of the Apocalypse.
I've been wanting to give Campaign Logger a try ever since I missed the opportunity to support it at Lifetime access. I just signed up for the Adventure Building Master Game Plan and added a year of Campaign Logger to try out.
Lately when I've run games I've been drawn to Narrative driven systems like Powered by the Apocalypse, specifically Dungeon World. I'm also toying with Blades in the Dark via Scum and Villainy and Forbidden Lands.
EDIT: Totally forgot to add my favorite die is the D12. It does not get enough love. I was so happy to find these products to use for my D6 heavy games. I just backed their latest Kickstarter and am very happy with the dice. https://www.doublesixdice.com/
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Hi, I'm Andy, in the Seattle outskirts. I GM one game of 5E, in a campaign I've (loosely!) based on Lois Bujold's book "The Hallowed Hunt." I've been GMing for 2 years, just a bunch of one-shots and short campaigns until a British friend put together a group to play D&D online, and since I was the only one with GM experience, I got to be GM.
My favorite die is the d8. It just feels right in my hand, for some reason.
My favorite die is the d8. It just feels right in my hand, for some reason.
JohnnFour
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Adamantium WoA
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@arvindhsundar welcome! Glad to put a face to the email. 
Thank you for getting others involved in our awesome hobby!
Thank you for getting others involved in our awesome hobby!
JohnnFour
Game Master
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Adamantium WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
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GURPS is great for SciFi. Actually it's great for just about everything, especially 4e. But it gets a bad rap and negative kneejerk reactions from many people because of it's upper level of complexity. But it doesn't start out that way. The basics are very simple. It just has a ton of bolt-on options to set it to the desired level of crunch.
Hope you enjoy it.
Hey all, My name is Ken. I am from Kansas City. Been rpging since D&D Basic Red Box (my first love). I am currently running an Advanced Labyrinth Lord sandbox (Northern Marches) on Microsoft Teams. We have played every thursday since March and covid-19 hit. We are 16 sessions in. We also couldnt get enough, so we started to run alternative games on tuesdays for 11 sessions. So I get to run one and play in one game a week. So I got to game for 27 sessions this year so far. I havent played so much since I was a teenager.
I much prefer running a sandbox. I like to improvise and like the organic nature of what can happen. It takes a lot more effort to connect the dots behind the scenes, but I cant stand a railroad job.
I like almost all genres. My fav is fantasy, then post apoc, then scifi, with horror sliding in next. I am an old skool fan, but not in a rigid way. I prefer D&D B/X and love some of the retroclones, especially Labyrinth Lord. But I also love 2nd E WHFRP. I am in a 5e game. Good game, but not my fav.
For post apoc, Gamma World and Mutant Future are the top, but I like Mutant Year One too. For sci fi its White Star or Stars Without Number.
I am looking forward to interacting with the group and talking about this crazy thing that is a combination of research, writing, creativity, living process(battle and encounter) computer, and improv troupe.
Roll 2 Hit!
I much prefer running a sandbox. I like to improvise and like the organic nature of what can happen. It takes a lot more effort to connect the dots behind the scenes, but I cant stand a railroad job.
I like almost all genres. My fav is fantasy, then post apoc, then scifi, with horror sliding in next. I am an old skool fan, but not in a rigid way. I prefer D&D B/X and love some of the retroclones, especially Labyrinth Lord. But I also love 2nd E WHFRP. I am in a 5e game. Good game, but not my fav.
For post apoc, Gamma World and Mutant Future are the top, but I like Mutant Year One too. For sci fi its White Star or Stars Without Number.
I am looking forward to interacting with the group and talking about this crazy thing that is a combination of research, writing, creativity, living process(battle and encounter) computer, and improv troupe.
Roll 2 Hit!
JohnnFour
Game Master
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Adamantium WoA
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Wizard of Combat
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Borderland Explorer
Welcome Ken! That's fantastic to hear you are running using Teams. I guess LL doesn't need much for grid-based combat.
I just ordered the B/X box from Exalted Funeral. I'm considering running a VTT campaign with it.
I just ordered the B/X box from Exalted Funeral. I'm considering running a VTT campaign with it.
Hi, Everybody! I'm Tim and I live in Oxford, PA (near Philadelphia). I'm a lifelong RPG player/GM and I've mostly played D&D 2/3/3.5/4/5, my own homebrew designs, Cyberpunk 2020, Pathfinder, Star Wars RPG, and most recently a whole ton of Savage Worlds.
I usually INTEND to run published adventures and then always end up reskinning / reimagining the whole thing and just keeping the title.
I also love a good recipe or template for how I design adventures, which is why the 5RD method works so well for me and I want more of that kind of "Fill In the Blanks" style of prep, and then I can play fast and loose on the night to let some interesting subverting of the cliches happen in the moment.
Anyway, I REALLY look forward to the course and learning more from all of you. Good Luck!!!
EDIT: And 5E!! I've run a ton of 5E too.
I usually INTEND to run published adventures and then always end up reskinning / reimagining the whole thing and just keeping the title.
I also love a good recipe or template for how I design adventures, which is why the 5RD method works so well for me and I want more of that kind of "Fill In the Blanks" style of prep, and then I can play fast and loose on the night to let some interesting subverting of the cliches happen in the moment.
Anyway, I REALLY look forward to the course and learning more from all of you. Good Luck!!!
EDIT: And 5E!! I've run a ton of 5E too.
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Hey everyone!
I'm Michael from Los Angeles, California (Originally from Santa Maria, California). I started playing D&D sometime around 1994, when I was in middle school. My tastes are pretty eclectic, but right now I'm running a Vampire 5e campaign via Zoom with some fellow Angelinos. Since everything here is still basically house-arrest (though you wouldn't know it from our Covid numbers), any online tools are a godsend. I really dig Johnn's 5 room dungeon template-as-3-act-storytelling. I've been basically borrowing his materials for years, especially where they seem like improvements on what I'm already kinda doing.
My favorite die are the specialty dice from Fantasy Flight's games. I like the way they immediately give me something as a GM to interpret and discuss with my players aside from the Pass/Fail that a lot of systems use. And I like games where the majority of the dicing is done by the players. It gives them the agency and lets me just adjudicate what the results are.
I'm Michael from Los Angeles, California (Originally from Santa Maria, California). I started playing D&D sometime around 1994, when I was in middle school. My tastes are pretty eclectic, but right now I'm running a Vampire 5e campaign via Zoom with some fellow Angelinos. Since everything here is still basically house-arrest (though you wouldn't know it from our Covid numbers), any online tools are a godsend. I really dig Johnn's 5 room dungeon template-as-3-act-storytelling. I've been basically borrowing his materials for years, especially where they seem like improvements on what I'm already kinda doing.
My favorite die are the specialty dice from Fantasy Flight's games. I like the way they immediately give me something as a GM to interpret and discuss with my players aside from the Pass/Fail that a lot of systems use. And I like games where the majority of the dicing is done by the players. It gives them the agency and lets me just adjudicate what the results are.
deadshot15
New member
Hi everyone,
A long-time user of Johnn's products and thought that the adventure building would be another great addition to the line. My name is Christian Denton and I have been playing since my cousin introduced me to Keep on the Borderlands 40 years ago. I've played many different systems through the years but right now we are firmly entrenched in 5e. I am currently a player, having run out of steam on my Forgotten Realms campaign which my players are really hoping to get back to so I am hoping this adventure building workshop will help. My favourite die is the d8. I have played clerics for years and nothing is more satisfying than seeing that big 8 come up when the party is in a clutch situation.
A long-time user of Johnn's products and thought that the adventure building would be another great addition to the line. My name is Christian Denton and I have been playing since my cousin introduced me to Keep on the Borderlands 40 years ago. I've played many different systems through the years but right now we are firmly entrenched in 5e. I am currently a player, having run out of steam on my Forgotten Realms campaign which my players are really hoping to get back to so I am hoping this adventure building workshop will help. My favourite die is the d8. I have played clerics for years and nothing is more satisfying than seeing that big 8 come up when the party is in a clutch situation.
Hi! My name is Aljoscha, I'm living in Berlin, Germany and am running a campaign in Symbaroum for my two best friends. Before that we took turns running earthdawn. I' ve been GMing for two years now with very infrequent meetings (once or twice a month) because we're all mid-to-end thirties having and/or getting kids. The Symbaroum Campaign uses imagery and locations from the "adventure path" by the publisher but I've reorganized it into a shaky sandbox. I've read a lot of stuff especially in the plain vanilla-osr (barrowmaze, book of lairs, todd leback's hexes) and the more artsy fartsy stuff (veins of the earth etc) and harnmaster. Apart from Symbaroum I've run fate. I've only played 2nd ed ADnD and earthdawn as a teenager and some powered-by-the-apocalypse-games recently. I've read a lot dnd incarnations, forge-style story -games. All of which is to say that I could not build a good encounter if my life depended on it and still no idea what I'm doing most of the time. My favorite dice is the d6 because of it's cheapnes, availability. I'm lolkkng forward to getting to know you guys.
JochenL
CL Byte Sprite
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Adamantium WoA
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Welcome, fellow German!
I have been playing Earthdawn a long time ago and hold those memories dear. Symbaroum is on my shelf and I find the setting very intriguing, but just can't motivate myself to learn the rules. I would like to hear some of your war stories, though!
I have been playing Earthdawn a long time ago and hold those memories dear. Symbaroum is on my shelf and I find the setting very intriguing, but just can't motivate myself to learn the rules. I would like to hear some of your war stories, though!
John,
I screen share for images and live mapping. I actually use photoshop for my in game mapping software. Its so powerful. I can use grid/no grid mapping. Fog layers, lighting, and any tokens I want to drop in. Plus drawing right on top.
I use a lot of premade mapping from the peerless Dyson Logos and also from Heroic Maps Patreon.
I have been amazingly surprised how well built Teams is for it. We dont use Roll 20 or any other program. We roll our own cause I can trust my group. Which is great.
Oh and I am torn between the d12 and the d30. Both give such satisfying rolling sounds.
Hi All!
I am Jordan, I am from Utah and I have been GMing since the beginning of this year, so I am pretty new. I am attempting to home-brew my own D&D 5e game that is supposed to start this week. I am hoping that I can use what I learn here to make my game the best game they every play.
I am Jordan, I am from Utah and I have been GMing since the beginning of this year, so I am pretty new. I am attempting to home-brew my own D&D 5e game that is supposed to start this week. I am hoping that I can use what I learn here to make my game the best game they every play.
My name is Bryan. I thrive and survive in the Pacific Northwest winters and summers (in that order). I enjoy fantasy, but my preferred RPG setting is SPACE. I really like Traveller, Numenera, Tales from the Loop, The Expanse, Lancer, and other narrative-leaning open systems (like FATE, Savage Worlds, and Freeform Universal).
I played MERP, Recon, and DC Heroes back in the 80s. Then, didn't have even two RPG friends to rub together, so I fell out of it for years. Kickstarter got me back into it with No Thank You Evil and Numenera. I tried joining some PbP games, which always seemed to fizzle. I detest Roll20's user interface...and other VTTs (although this is changing) don't support Traveller character sheets... so, finding games has been difficult.
I'm definitely a world-builder, lore-builder, map-maker, illustrator, story-crafter... and decided I probably just needed to start recruiting people and GM'ing myself. Sadly, 99% of the stuff I make goes undiscovered/unnoticed by my players.
I played MERP, Recon, and DC Heroes back in the 80s. Then, didn't have even two RPG friends to rub together, so I fell out of it for years. Kickstarter got me back into it with No Thank You Evil and Numenera. I tried joining some PbP games, which always seemed to fizzle. I detest Roll20's user interface...and other VTTs (although this is changing) don't support Traveller character sheets... so, finding games has been difficult.
I'm definitely a world-builder, lore-builder, map-maker, illustrator, story-crafter... and decided I probably just needed to start recruiting people and GM'ing myself. Sadly, 99% of the stuff I make goes undiscovered/unnoticed by my players.