“So, how should we get started?”
To many people who would ask this, the question would be a rather simple one to answer. However, given my current situation, there was nothing simple about it. D&D was not exactly a game you could just pick up and play. There was normally some preparation that had to take place whether it was coming up with the campaign itself or creating the characters for it. I mean, given the length my dad goes to be the DM everytime we do a game night, I knew that he put a lot of work into them.
So, trying to come up with a lot of this on the spot was something else. That and this would be the first time I actually try to do it myself. I was going to need time to come up with a setting, probably even do something from scratch. Though for now, we can start with something in particular as I got out the player handbook, a handful of other books my dad kept in his office as well as the DM screen and the dice we were going to need. Heck, if all went well, then we might have a new member to join our D&D group.
Of course, we would need to see how things would go here beforehand. “Well, let’s start with character creation,” I told Gizmo, getting out a fresh clean character sheet and a pen as I started to write a couple of things down, “After all, before we can start anything, we need to determine who you want to be.”
“That sounds simple enough,” the unicorn asked, “Quick question first… Is there a job similar to Tinkerer?”
“Tinkerer?” I now asked, really unsure about whether they’re talking about something that sounds like a rephrased class or something purely homebrewed.
“Well, in Oubliettes & Ogres, one of the jobs that was added later on was called the Tinkerer. They were creatures that were knowledgeable with ancient artifacts and fought using various contraptions and things they crafted.”
Just from that explanation alone, I had a pretty clear idea as to what class would be perfect for her as I grabbed the copy of ‘Tasha's Cauldron of Everything’. “So, an Artificer then?”
“An artisan?” She asked, puzzled.
“No no, artificer,” I corrected her, trying my best to recall what I remember, “They’re masters of invention that use their cleverness and capabilities with magic to unlock the true potential of objects, whether magical or otherwise-”
“Oh, that sounds definitely like me! I’ll be that then,” Gizmo quickly interjected, not even giving me a chance to finish what I was saying. I knew that she was eager in order to play, but this… was something else. If all Equestrians are like this, then I would definitely be worried if Gizmo decided to have a roommate stay over at her place.
“Okay, you’re an artificer then,” I told her, before trying my best Matt Mercer impression, “Though, what kind of Artificer are you? Because in D&D, you might have picked a class, but each one of those classes have different subclasses. Each with a different approach and way for you to play.”
“Huh… That’s a bit different compared to what I would play back home,” Oh really? How so? “Back home, there wasn’t anything like that, but players could find these items called spellbooks that would teach their characters new abilities and they can change what abilities they have set at any given time.”
Huh. That sounds a lot like Divinity. Though, now was not the time to get distracted about such things.
“What options do I have?”
Going back through the pages, I began to list her choices and even had her look at the book I was looking at so she could familiarize herself with the three main subclasses for the artificer. Or, as they were referred to as in game, Specialists. Alchemists, if you were wanting to end up being a potion brewer that some adventurer would want to randomly ask if they can be given their strongest potion. Artillerists, for if you wanted to make a battlefield sound like the symphony of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. And lastly, Battlesmiths, for those who wanted to do their best impression of Reinhardt from Overwatch (with some support utility included). There was an additional subclass in one of the other books, but for Gizmo’s first time playing, I didn’t want to make things sound overly complex. I mean, she wouldn’t unlock this until level three, but getting this out of the way would at least make things move along a bit easier.
“If you need some time to think it over, I can wait-”
“I think I like the second one the most.”
… Oh dear god, I live next door to pony Tchaikovsky. I just hope she doesn’t take what she can do in game and somehow try to replicate it in real life. She already tried that once last night and basically rolled a nat 1 on that.
“I see,” I replied at first, before deciding to ask if Gizmo was certain that she wanted to pick that subclass, “Are you sure that you want to have your character be an Artillerist? They’re more of a ranged specialist and don’t exactly have a lot of capabilities if someone comes into close proximity.”
The unicorn nodded her head, “It’s the closest thing to the kind of playstyle I would use in Oubliettes & Ogres. I would have tinkered and created these enchanted crossbow turrets to attack a monster from range while another party member would try to fight up close and personal. Also had a couple of talents that involved being able to identify items and equipment that had hidden potential.”
I’m… not sure if that kind of thing counts, but considering what I mentioned earlier about an Artificer being able to discover the ‘true potential of objects’, I… think that qualifies? … Eh, I’ll roll with it. Doesn’t sound like too much of an issue and if it does, I’ll cross that bridge when we get there-.
“So, what’s next!?” Gizmo interrupts my train of thought, almost knocking over some of the stuff I have on the table with the energy of a very hyper puppy who just found a ball.
“S-slow down, Gizmo, this takes a bit-” Yet, before I could finish, she eyes the player handbook I had left on the right side of the table and picks it up with her magic. Next thing I know, pages were flipping by from one side to the other as I saw her eyes move from side to side. After about two minutes or so, she places the book down and looks back to me with a smile.
“Alright, done.”
“Done?” I asked her, puzzled beyond belief at a few of the things that just transpired, “Done with what?”
“Reading, of course!” She giggled, “I used a speed reading spell to go through that handbook thingy! Speaking of which, I know what race I want to use. Though, I’m still trying to figure out a backstory. There’s two in mind, but I really quite put a hoof on which one.”
… Holy shit. She was able to figure that out in one look? I had not even remotely touched upon those subjects yet! … Let’s just humor her for a moment. See where that might lead.
“Oh? What did you choose for your race?”
“Gnome,” she smiled, “More specifically, Rock Gnome.”
Okay, that made way too much sense. Though, the fact that gnomes were always in a constant state of excitement had me a bit concerned that Gizmo would have me bouncing up the walls by the end of the session. “And for background, what exactly are you stuck on?”
“Guild Artisan or Sage. What would you think is the best choice?”
What would I think is the best choice? It’s your character! It should be you who has the final say on what your character is.
Though, fortunately, it didn’t take long for her to come to a solution, “A-actually, upon looking back, I think Sage is better… Is that it?”
I shook my head, before handing over two different dice. The first being a d8, with the second being a d6. “Not quite. We’re going to need to determine a few things about your character first, which is where the dice come into play. Now, do me a favor and roll the d8 two times for me.”
“D8? Oh, the eight sided one. Alright,” She said, before picking it up using her hooves this time (since she still had the bands on) and rolled like normally. “First one was a six… second was a seven. What does that do?”
“Well, the first roll determines your specialty. Like, you might be a sage, but what kind of sage are you,” I explained as I proceeded to read from the handbook again, “Since you rolled a six, your character is a researcher. The second roll revolves around your character’s personality trait.”
Before I even got started there, I noticed Gizmo shiver a little. “O-oh? W-what did I roll f-for that?”
“Well, a seven means that you are horribly awkward in social situations.”
At that point, I heard an audible ‘gulp!’ come from Gizmo. Part of her looked really nervous, though, she was trying to give off the impression that she was fine with it. “S-so, what’s next?”
Now comes the point where all the numerous chart memes come into play. Alignment. “Next, we’re going to determine your character’s ideals. Take the six sided die and roll that for me two more times?”
Hearing the die hit the table two more times, she then has an answer for me. “One and Three. What the hay does that mean?”
“Well, the first one means that your character believes in the idea of knowledge and that knowledge is the path to power and self improvement,” I told her, “As for the three you rolled, it means that you also value logic as an ideal. That every question has a particular logical answer to it and that your thoughts and emotions shouldn’t cloud your logical thinking. Which means your character is Lawful Neutral.”
“Huh?”
Well, I guess I need to simplify things a bit, “It means that you have a personal code or standards that you follow. Unlike other characters you might come across on your journey, you aren’t so easily swayed by others. Though, this works both ways. While your character might not be so inclined to help others who really need it, it also means that you’re not one who gives into the temptation of evil. Honorable and reliable, yet not a fanatic who would go to questionable lengths to make ends meet.”
“Oh, I see,” the unicorn now replied, “Yeah, I can go with this. So, what’s next?”
“Well, three things come to mind,” I told her, “The first two require two more dice rolls with the one that you just used, while what comes after that is more of sorting out numbers. Though, let’s get the dice rolls out of the way first.”
Gizmo nods her head, before rolling two more times. “Three and Four. Though, what exactly are these rolls for?”
One quick look back at the Handbook and… oh boy. This will be a bit of a doozy to work with. Now to answer her question, “The first roll is about your bond. What exactly you would fight for. Three means that your character works hard to preserve a library, university, scriptorium or monastery and keep the knowledge that they hold safe. Now, the second roll determines your character’s personal flaw.”
Gizmo hesitated briefly, before looking back over to me with a nervous look on her face. “A-and what’s my character’s flaw?”
“When it comes to solving problems, you overlook the obvious solution in favor of something more complex.”
That had Gizmo’s eyes widen for a moment, before letting out a hesitant sigh. “Man, and I thought I had just overcome that phase in my life.”
… I would ask, but I don’t really think it’s that important right now. Plus, it sounded a bit personal.
“So, you mentioned that we had to do some kind of number thingy, right?” she quickly changed the subject to try and get it back on track, “What’s that about?”
“Well, that involves your character’s stats, or ability scores. Stuff like Strength, Intelligence, Constitution. That kind of thing,” I told her, before taking the character sheet I had and showing it to her. Going as far as to point at the box that had the stats I was referring to. “Different DM’s have a way of how players distribute points into these areas, but how we’re going to do it is simpler.”
When it came to coming up with characters, the people I played with stuck with the Standard Array setup when it came to skill points. The players would be given six different numbers (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8) and use them to fill the different slots. Typically, the highest numbers would go to where their class was most proficient at, but there was still some level of choice. There was also the point buy system, but that felt more like an excuse to have people make their ‘perfect’ character without going into Mary Sue territory.
Or as JoCat would put it in his D&D Crap Guide’s, that system was mostly used by people ‘who needs to meticulously make your perfect OC or else it won’t be faithful to your precious self-insert’. God, don’t even get me started-
“I figured out what to put my ability scores in.”
Well, that was fast. Though, I did not expect for her to go as far as to actually take the pen that I had and start writing them down herself. Alright, let’s take a look.
-Strength: 8
-Dexterity: 14
-Constitution: 13
-Intelligence: 15
-Wisdom: 12
-Charisma: 10
… Why do I have the feeling that either Matt Mercer or some other D&D god is somehow playing a hand in this? I mean, I did not even explain anything about her character's proficiencies and yet, this would be the best ideal ability allocation for an artificer. Was it just sheer dumb luck… or was it possible that the game she played back in her world was a lot more like D&D than I thought it would be?
“Okay, that checks out,” I replied, “And just so that I can remember, what’s your character’s name?”
“Primrose.”
So Primrose the Artificer? That is a new one. Though, I’ve heard weirder names on Critical Role and some of those characters have become fan favorites like Grog, Jester and Taryon Darrington. Hell, Grog and his crazy shenanigans were the reason why I wanted to try a barbarian in the first place.
While there were a few other things that I personally wanted to try and straighten out first such as inventory, I didn’t want to make Gizmo wait too long. Plus, I think I might have an idea on what to do for this session. “Alright. Let’s set the scene.”
Well this should be interesting. A single Player and a DM playing D&D by themselves.
10853492
More like someone new to D&D and someone new to being a DM, but hey, that works too
Who rolls for their characters personality? Never seen that before.
10853839
Well, when looking at the Player Handbook to determine personalities, Sam saw that it could be determined by rolling a d8 or d6 depending. In addition, since this is Gizmo's first time playing, Sam didn't want to have to 'force' Gizmo to come up with something on the spot. So the best alternative was to let the dice decide
10853877
Thanks for pointing that out. It's now been fixed
10853825
I meant no offense. Are they just practicing together and going to play a real D&D campaign later down the line with more players or do they intend to run a full D&D campaign by themselves?
10853900
This is more of a 'one-shot' campaign to see if Gizmo likes it. The best comparison that I can come up with for what I'm trying to go for is the one shot that Matt Mercer did with Stephen Colbert or the 'Grog' one shot done on Critical Role. Something to 'introduce' things to Gizmo and see if she likes it
More like they seek excitement or they risk become
boredmortal, if that's pathfinder gnomes. But ponies are somewhat similar, except they bleach literally :P10854067
True, but given that she has Primrose be nervous in awkward situations might conflict with that. Like would she try to stay in character or let such excitement take the reins?
Never played 5e but seriously roll for alignment? Why? That could wreck a character concept and back story so easy! Should be more intresting once they start playing.
10853492
In 2nd Edition they had modules you could play by your self if need be. Some where pure dungeon crawlers where you a map printed invisible ink with a special pen that darkered it perminatly. Those could only be played solo once though. Another gimmick was to print a red layer over top then use a transparent red lense to let you see the text under it. Down side to both was well monsters acted pretty robotic as they could only function on a "if A then B" manner.
10854207
Again, Sam's kind of new to this, so she's going more 'by the book' rather than just winging it
10854350
Sigh pretty much why I can't play D&D right now, my only option is sanctioned play and it's too restrictive.
I've only ever played a single campaign of 5e...and really didn't like it. So I've stuck with older versions. That said, I can see Sam making a few new DM mistakes already (which is appropriate). She's stressing overmuch about having the world realized before the player(s) are ready, and stressing overmuch about having all the boxes filled in before play. Let the charscters' alignment, motivation, and flaws shake out organically in play and the player can use that to further flesh out a basic backstory a few sessions in. Yes, DMs put a lot of work in for any given session, but good DMs don't have things nearly as scripted out as Sam seems to think. Being a DM requires a ton of work, but about 80% of that work is prepping things to make improvisation easier. If you are giving your players any real agency whatsoever, a lot of improv will be required.
Considering that her character is socially awkward, I think she’d be better of swapping strength with charisma.
reminds me of a story where someone decided to make a Kobold character, just to be different, BUT he was playing a version where stats are determined by dice roll...
he got 18 in almost every stat!
-that's from a YouTube video called "who was your most overpowered character?"
11245262
I've gotten a few strong characters like that. Nothing that crazy, but 20, 16, 14x4 is the stats for one of mine. Haven't played em yet though, still looking for a group I can play pony finder characters with. That one is a Pegasus storm sorcerer. Should be fun XD