Goodman Games

Hi everyone,

We've been tossing around some ideas about the Gen Con tournament. I was wondering if I could get some feedback. We're probably going to go with smaller tables this year (4 PCs per table). What do you think of providing each group with 6 pregen PCs, and having the groups PICK their 4 characters from the lineup of 6, rather than providing only 4 standard pregens? The PCs would all be of similar power levels. Part of this idea might also include some rumors, lost journals, etc. with vague clues about what to expect on the adventure, giving a framework to help select PCs from.

Comments?

That is actually a really cool idea. Would make the game different each time too incase you are running it at a tournament.

-Andy Brogan

goodmangames wrote:Hi everyone,

We've been tossing around some ideas about the Gen Con tournament. I was wondering if I could get some feedback. We're probably going to go with smaller tables this year (4 PCs per table). What do you think of providing each group with 6 pregen PCs, and having the groups PICK their 4 characters from the lineup of 6, rather than providing only 4 standard pregens? The PCs would all be of similar power levels. Part of this idea might also include some rumors, lost journals, etc. with vague clues about what to expect on the adventure, giving a framework to help select PCs from.

Comments?

I don't mind the smaller table size...the only downside is that, inevitably, you will have a tremendous response and will not have enough GMs for all the smelly, eager gamers. If you have a lot of interest, larger table sizes will mean more people playing per GM. I'm sure you've already considered this though...

I like the idea of choosing the party mix though...it's a great idea. I've always resented being "stuck" with that character that noone else wants to play. This will certainly help avoid that. It will also allow for some pre-game strategy on PC selection.

A few thoughts, in no particular order:

In general I love the idea of having a pool of PCs from which to pick.

For extra prizes, you could have Best (Insert Character Name Here), giving six prizes. In the end you make a six-member "Dream Team" and include that in the published module.

Doing the pool will require some flexibility on the part of the writer and the DMs...they will have to write and prep for all six characters, essentially.

Part of this idea might also include some rumors, lost journals, etc. with vague clues about what to expect on the adventure, giving a framework to help select PCs from.

So are you saying that the clues will be "attached" to a particular PC?
The Fighter, for example, would know clues A and B, whereas the Sorcerer would know clues C and D...so if the players never selected the Sorcerer they would miss out on those clues?
If that's what you're saying, I think that's hot.

If that's not what you're saying...uh...think about it.

Moving into team size...

fathead brought up two good points about $/table and DM:player ratio. On the one hand having a smaller group (at a lower level) will make this MUCH easier to run than last year. On the other hand, assuming the same number of bodies turning out, you're going to need 133% of the DMs to handle them all (or work your existing DMs 133% as much)...and I know we're hoping for a greater turnout this year, so explode that number approporiately.
I don't know no nothing about $/table, but it sure sounded like a good point.

One last thing about the six pregen characters...it's going to be a chore to come up with six compelling, interesting, competent characters when you know they are "in competition" with each other...I'm pretty interested in seeing what gets made.

goodmangames wrote:Part of this idea might also include some rumors, lost journals, etc. with vague clues about what to expect on the adventure, giving a framework to help select PCs from.

Could you elaborate on this more? Will different PCs have different clues? Will some PCs be more powerful but lack information regarding the adventure?

As of right now all the PC concepts are equal in "power" -- they would be the same level, come equipped with the same amount of GP worth of gear, etc, and would all be quite useful to the adventure. I don't think prepping 6 balanced PCs is all that much more difficult than prepping only 4, since we'd be developing and playtesting several different combinations of characters to ensure the final party mix felt "right" for this type of adventure.

I like the "pick your own party" concept as a way of helping groups have more fun and anticipation beforehand, and tailor their specific party to the players' tastes...

And you might find some interesting decisions -- as a hypothetical, perhaps a group would decide they don't need a (gasp) pure rogue or cleric and instead select PCs that have multi-classed these roles, looking to take advantage of greater flexibility. Or perhaps a group would prefer to lean more toward missile combat, melee combat or magic.

I also like the idea of having some rumors/clues/hints attached to the different characters, which would only be revealed at the very beginning of the first session. Perhaps a clue about a room you've heard legends of near a certain altar, prompting a Search check... or hearing that there's a terribly nasty trap associated with a certain door shaped like an anvil...

You get the idea. Just enough flavor (and utility) to make sure each session is unique.

Have you settled on a level range? My vote is for a high level tournament.

We're currently discussing level ranges, but I'm personally a strong proponent for a lower level adventure than Crypt of the Devil Lich (which was geared toward 15th level characters).

It is much easier to ensure that characters are complete, accurate, equivalent and balanced when dealing with lower levels... I'm not going to mention any specific ranges that have been discussed, in case Joseph is trying to keep it a secret, or simply due to the fact that there are numerous options and aspects to the decision.

If you'd like to vote on some information key to a 'classic' dungeon crawl in terms of party size and character class options, please visit the Dungeon Crawl Classic Yahoo! group, where I've set up several polls to get an idea on what people expect or look for in a classic adventuring group.

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Dun ... _Classics/

I think that is a great idea.

Also, I think it would be an even better idea for Goodman to be at the S. Cal GenCon and have the same games that you all run at GenCon Indy.

ynnen wrote:We're currently discussing level ranges, but I'm personally a strong proponent for a lower level adventure than Crypt of the Devil Lich (which was geared toward 15th level characters).

I wasn't suggesting 15th level characters...but 9th-12th wouldn't be bad for a tournament adventure. I think it would make more of an impact if you stuck to that level range (particularly if you'd like to see tables that rely more on magic and less on raw fighting prowess).

I'm not sure if this has already been decided, but I think that a table of 5 would be a good compromise - it fits in one additional player per GM.