Eberron DND5e Campaign played via RPOL and Webcams?
Hello RPOL GPIA,
(Ooof, I didn't realize how long this is, so I'll make at TLDR at the bottom)
I'm new here and like the many thousand or million of people here in the US and abroad I'm more or less trapped inside and that means I can't DM the campaign I was going to with a brand new group before this Covid19 pandemic began.
Before writing this GPIA, I sent an rMail to RPOL's mods and admins. I got a reply back clearing my idea with bigbadron, so I'd like to see if there's any interest in a DND5e game that would be played as follows:
The game would be played both on RPOL as well as via Webcams so we can all see and hear each other, simulating a real-life tabletop campaign. Obviously, I'll be the DM, and I'd like to find 4-6 players who also wish to pursue this idea of mine.
bigbadron also told me that this idea will not be permitted if we are Skyping (or whatever) and only use RPOL as just a place for us to store our character sheets, loot, and other stuff like that. I completely agree. I'd love to use RPOL to roleplay in between our sessions as well as post journal entries in your character's voice about what happened after every Webcam session.
The majority of the game would be played weekly via our Webcams (or microphones plus speakers at the very least). In between video sessions we'd use RPOL to roleplay as our characters by way of journaling in the voices of the characters, interacting during down-time, researching new spells and abilities, keeping track of loot and experience, and so on. Basically, we'd be playing face-to-face once a week, but the rest of the week will be used just like any Play-By-Post games are played. Most of the action will happen during our live-sessions, but there's plenty of other stuff we can do with RPOL in between the end of one life-session and the start of the next one.
As I stated, I'd like this to be run using DND5e rules and the campaign will take place in Eberron. My hope is that we can keep this game up and running for quite a while and therefor your characters would gain levels pretty quickly and maybe even make it a 1-20 campaign!
This will be my very first time both DMing and playing DND5e after deciding that Pathfinder1e was becoming way too min-maxy as well as munchkiny. When I picked up DND5e, I realized that there's much more of an emphasis on RolePlaying not RollPlaying, if that makes sense. That said, I've been playing DND/PF for 25+ years, so I have a lot of real-world experience running homemade campaigns that my players have always throughly enjoyed! I hope that I'll be able to continue the trend with you on RPOL as my new group, and new friends!
In terms of players, I'd prefer to find 4-6 who are more or less in the same place if their lives as I am. I'm 36, married and have no children (unless you count our kitties!) My ideal group would be a mix of men and women around my age since diversity is a wonderful thing in TTRPGS. However, it can be challenging when playing with others who are in a completely different chapter in their lives, like undergraduate students for instance. I don't want to put anybody off by mentioning this, but I feel that that's important information to be shared with you all. Having a group that consists of people in similar places in their lives tends to make DMing for the group a little easier, as well as helps the other players get along with one another.
Since I'd like this to be a Webcam or Skype game, I feel I should tell you that I live in California. That means I'm in the Pacific Time Zone and would probably be best of people interested in this game were in the same or similar time zone as well. As for the day and time of our Skype or other Webcam sessions, Tuesday and Thursday evenings work best for me. Say Tues/Thurs starting at 4 or 5 and ending after playing for 5-7 hours into the night. That said, while in quarantine I'm pretty much free most of the time. The only exception is when my wife is Web-Conferencing with Zoom for her graduate school. Those times she does not want me tying up our internet because her education must take priority over a hobby. I completely agree with her and I imagine most of you would understand that request of hers as well!
So, since I'm looking for feedback, I'd like to know your thoughts on what I've explained above. Any piece of input you share with me will be greatly appreciated! If you think that it would be better to just make a Play-by-Post game, tell me. If you like the idea but have a suggestion of a better way to Web-Conference, tell me. If you think a different day or time would be best, tell me! Basically, tell me whatever you think about this idea of mine!
As I begin to get some feedback I'll post a blurb introducing the actual campaign I've been working on ever since the quarantine began. I have tons of free time on my hands, and I'm very excited to finally find a way to DM this campaign for some new friends I've yet to meet!
Thanks a lot! Looking forward to starting up a game with some of you if this idea is appealing enough for 4-6 players!
TLDR?
Would you like to join a DND5e Eberron Campaign where we play live with each other via Webcam with Skype or something as well as RPing with Play-by-Post here in RPOL?