7.5 Campaign Characters and Setting

Let's see, between the five players in the 7.5 campaign, we have the following:  (trollwife) Level 3 fairy wizard named Bluebell Stardust; (oldest trollson [11]) Level 1 elf rogue named Zalerc Twigsnap; (second oldest trollson [10]) Level 2 hobbit rogue named Darged Darksoul; (third oldest trollson [7]) Level 2 dwarf warrior named Ruffy; (youngest trollson [6]) Level 1 human specialist wizard: healer named Slanky Rice (of the Python Clan of Dargonaths).  For the record, they all conceived and named their own characters.  As noticed, due to the nature of 7.5 we have some range amongst the levels of the starting PCs.  I'll be curious to see how this affects play.  As I grant one Hero Point (ala Tori Berquist) per level, some players already have a huge bonus over others.

What I am planning for this campaign:  to do a minimal amount of pre-planning and just let things progress as we play them out.  I will make heavy use of ramdom tables to keep play unanticipated for everyone, including me.  There will be a large city - Arys - near a megadungeon - Castle Ycaea.  I have been plotting out Castle Ycaea (in different incarnations) in my head for years, so that will be largely somewhat preconceived.  Recently I have been somewhat influenced by Dwimmermount campaign reports, so some of that may creep in under other guises.  I expect to set the campaign on my world of Catalyst (my take on Trollworld), but at some point just before the war against Zweetz (1300ish AK).  It will be located in some far southern realm, perhaps near the Dragon's Claws, and largely removed from the conflict.  The conflict will creep in as tension and such, but isn't expected to become the focus of the campaign.

Wow, Time Flies

So, it has already been a month since I posted a second time to the blog.  Ouch.  I can blame camping and the start of a new college semester and regular school and other things, but I guess it is just due to my own inadequacies as a human being.  Whatever.  In the gapping lapse of time I have decided that I will use this as a comparison between my already-established 5.5 house-ruled monthly girlie campaign and the new 7.5 by-the-book (except for a few minor quibbles) campaign to be played as a family on a weekly basis.


When 7e came out I had (more than) a few issues with it.  I think I have rectified those now, but I am still curious how 5e (what I know so well after 28 years of play - OMFG) will hold up against 7.5.  Or vice-versa.  Strangely, for what I have in mind for the campaign progression, I think 7.5 might be a better fit.  We will see.  My vision is of an Old School, Dark/Pulp fantasy feel where each dungeon level roughly matches the PCs' character level.  [My old balance issues were that PC levels 1-3 matched up best with the first level of a dungeon, and so on.]  I'm thinking HPL, CAS, JV rather than Tolkien or even KSA....  My play will also be influenced by game reports by blog kings James Maliszewski and Zak Sabbath, both of whom play D&D, but who exhibit the right attitude toward gaming so I can excuse their misunderstanding of what a good RPG is really about.  ;).