New Table Rules

Here are some more things I am going to try to help the game run smoother and swifter.

1 - Table Talk Minimum: I never liked the DM's who ran the game "if you say it, your character says it" - and yet something needs to be done to keep the focus on the game itself. Part of the Session Reward is tied specifically to a keeping game interruptions to a very low quantity. To aid this I'll be looking to the Party Leader for most travel and dungeon crawling decisions. Other players will relay their intentions through the Party Leader for Exploration mode. During Downtime and Encounters I will be going around the table asking each player what it is they are doing. There will be little need for players to ever interrupt or shout out something about what they want to do.
2 - Post Combat Encounter Break: Since I want to try to keep the game moving swiftly so we can get more done, and since combat encounters are much more involved in 4th Ed, we'll take a short (5-10 minute) break after each such combat encounter. Snack time, sneak off to the bathroom, unwind and chat for a bit.
3 - Schedule: There will be a lead-in and lead-out time planned, about ten to fifteen minutes to get ready to game (once everyone has sat at the table, before the "Previously on . . .") and about ten to fifteen minutes to distribute XP and make end of game adjustments to characters and such. With a set starting time, and a set ending time (many have to work the next day and need to get to bed at a reasonable time) this two periods of time will attempt to be at specific times, especially the later (if we are playing until 10 pm, for example, the lead-out will kick in at quarter to.)

I realize all this "structuring" may seem like unnecessary complications for a game that is meant to be fun for a gathering of friends, but much of it is just meant to maximize the fun we have with the game for the short time we get to play. This is all a work in progress - anything that doesn't add to fun, especially if it takes away from the game, will get chucked.

Updates on My Campaign

Benton and I will be swapping soon our roles as DM / Player. I'll be running the sessions as I tried to before, with some more emphasis (on me, mostly) to keep things moving and lively, to get started sooner for more game time and yet still end the game sooner for those who need to go to bed.

Start getting character ideas sent to me, or talk to me at some point about them. I do want, as much as possible, to stick to the core books (namely - PHB) but I am listening to requests for outside options. No to anything Forgotten Realms as we are not playing in that world, to start. Playtest classes from the upcoming PHB 2 (Barbarian, Druid, Bard, etc.) are possibilities. No to races from the Monster Manual.

To start things rolling, Benton is looking at possibly a Dwarven Druid (Controller) or Tiefling Bard (Leader).

Finally, I am debating about hosting my sessions at my house. It would be more convenient for me and I would have things set up and ready to go before anyone started arriving. I have the room for it, and my dog is much smaller and I have no problem locking Molly away from where the people are.

New Campaign

We will be starting Keep on the Shadowfell over with a clean, new party.

I will be making extra efforts to assure that there is no TPK ever again (unless you are all REALLY asking for it, which you weren't) and even more effort to draw in PC personalities and get the RP part of the RPG going.

Don't worry, it will feel different than the previous run-through.

I'd still like to emphasize sticking with the core races from the PHB, please, and as much as possible sticking with the core classes. I will listen to pleas, but don't get your hopes up. The new playtest classes are possibilities (artificer, barbarian, bard, druid) but I'd like to keep them to a minimum.

I want us to get more game-time in for a session - this might not be possible. A session should be at least every other week and last (game-time) 5 hours, in which time there should be 3-4 encounters (not all of them being, or needing to be, combat.) This is what I'll be working towards.

Lastly, I am toying with the idea of making certain Jobs static instead of dynamic. Like Jake being Party Leader and Mike handling Initiative and the like.