Troll Lord Games

Long time lurker and newbie GM here, looking for some help. I've tried out 3.5 and been somewhat dissatisfied and bored with it (too many rules, too much to read and try to remember). I'm the type that buys plenty of rulebooks, but rarely actually plays anything. Even though I like what I have read of C&C, I have yet to run anything under with it.. that changes now!

I've set up a session for this Sunday with a younger brother, to force me to get my act together and simply go play. My goal is to run a simple, fun, one shot session that we may or may not expand into something more.. lets take the system out for a test drive and see what we think.
Here is what I am dealing with...
One player, one GM... I'd like to stick with one character. Knowing him, its liable to be a human, barbarian or fighter.
New system.. I've read both the PHB and M&T, but will be teaching him the system as we go (he doesn't have any interest in reading rulebooks)
3.5 and video game background - my biggest worry about getting him to accept the system is the lack of customization options built into the system, rules light is new for us. We are both looking for more roleplaying opportunities than rules.
Limited time.. I'm on vacation this week, so I do have a day or two to prep, but some of that will be rereading parts of the PHB to refresh my memory.

So, I'm looking to run a one shot session, with some roleplay and some combat. Lower difficulty, so that he can survive and come out looking the hero. I'd like to finish the adventure, or at least get a good amount done, in one session of around four hours or so.
What I have ...

C&C PHB, 2nd and 3rd, and M&T

Quick Start rules, through Free RPG Day promo

Assault on Blacktooth Ridge

Shadows of the Halfling Hall

CK Screen, with The Golden Familiar

Printouts of The Rising Knight, Beacon at Enon Tor, and The Keep on the Borderlands
My Thoughts and Questions...
Should I use a module, or come up with my own adventure? Of the ones I have, I might think about running Rising Knight or KotB (I've only skimmed these, though).. both seem to have more RP potential.. Beacon is nice and short, but doesn't seem to have many chances to get in character.
Character level one, or higher? Part of me really likes the idea of starting at level one, but perhaps as it is one character, I should start him higher for safety.
Henchmen? I'd be open to running some hirelings for him, but only if they were interesting characters with personality and motivations of their own.
The "tough choice?" Our most fun in current sessions has been our last couple of 3.5 sessions, which involved what his character, a barbarian, would do when hired to assassinate someone.. would he do it? How far would he go to cover it up? Who can he trust to help him? Oh, and since he is illiterate and his employer makes contact through notes, who does he trust to read the things in the first place? It was fun because it involved asking these questions, and exploring where they took him (note: the barbarian was not a nice guy, and I expect this one will be similar). I would love a session that involved something like this.. putting him in a tough situation and see how he chooses to respond.. this is fun that we can't get thru videogames, and part of the reason we want to run this session.. what can I put him in the middle of this time?

Anyway, thanks to all that respond.. I'm really excited about running C&C, and hope it goes well.. thanks for any help you can give!

Your going to be a good CK.

Use Rising Knight to start things off. Just cut down the number of opponents in the encounters to 2 or 3. If he has a 15+ AC. If not just two.

Just remember, in C&C you can do anything you can do in 3E, even feats, as SIEGE checks. Diplomancy=CHA based SIEGE checks. Listen=WIS SIEGE check, etc...

Don't worry about what "skills" PC's are allowed to add their level to. For now allow it for everything, telling your brother you reserve the right to change this later.

There is no AoO in C&C. Keep it that way.

Keep the CL's at 2 or 3, so the highest TN should be 15 for Prime actions, and 21 for non-prime.

Have fun!

Also, have you ever played I6? The original Ravenloft?
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

Thanks for the kind words Treebore, I appreciate the encouragement.

I've skimmed Rising Knight, but will sit down with it tonight and give it a full read.. probably be back today or tomorrow with more specific questions on the module. You didn't mention it in your encounter adjustment notes, but should I start him at level one or increase it a bit?

As for Ravenloft, no, I have not played or read it. I only own the C&C modules I listed, plus Keep on the Borderlands since it is tossed about on the boards here as a good intro module. I have virtually no experience with D&D before 3.5

(if this is an invitation to play in one of the sessions you are setting up, I would love to, time and work permitting)

Gnat wrote:
Thanks for the kind words Treebore, I appreciate the encouragement.

I've skimmed Rising Knight, but will sit down with it tonight and give it a full read.. probably be back today or tomorrow with more specific questions on the module. You didn't mention it in your encounter adjustment notes, but should I start him at level one or increase it a bit?

As for Ravenloft, no, I have not played or read it. I only own the C&C modules I listed, plus Keep on the Borderlands since it is tossed about on the boards here as a good intro module. I have virtually no experience with D&D before 3.5

(if this is an invitation to play in one of the sessions you are setting up, I would love to, time and work permitting)

OK. I'll consider you signed up until you tell me otherwise.

Yes, I was assuming level one in my previous post. Get your questions in early tomorrow. The boards become relatively dead Friday afternooon until Monday morning. Most messageboards do. I'll be hanging around frequently, watching for GenCon updates for the most part on ENWorld and WOTC. But I should pop into here pretty frequently.
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

Welcome to the Crusade, Gnat. I have one addition to Treebore's great advice. Give the guy a couple of quirky hirelings: a halfling cleric, a dwarven fighter. Just to give him some backup. My experience with running small groups at level 1 in C&C is that everyone is pretty fragile. A couple unlucky dice rolls, and your brother is toast. It'll be nice to have a cleric to put him back together. And a comic relief sidekick is a great addition to any game.

Thanks Tank. I read through the full module last night, and I've seen a few characters in the writeup of Malforten that seemed to shout out "hireling potential!" I figure I will have a few brave souls in the village willing to go with him, and it will be up to him to find them, and choose who he takes along.

As I see it, his choice are:

Kiint the Leper, commoner (though some convincing will be required)

Menlaus, wizard

Ian Meanz, rogue

hunting dogs from Mathonwy

Aside from those, the village has room to add a few more in. I'm thinking of adding in a second cleric, most likely someone working for/learning from Griffry the Hat, as a possible companion. Also, there are 40 men in the village militia, so I'm sure one or two of them might be willing to help. I figure that should give him plenty of options, and give me plenty of competing goals and motivations should he choose to take anyone with him.

Also, it lets me set up an initial reaction of hostility/disbelief from the villagers towards him. "You heard about the bounty and came here alone? What makes you think one man can prevail when an entire town is helpless before Gritznak?" Then, should he make it back successfully, he gets the chance to brag about it. Should be fun.

For now, I'm going to be moving my questions/comments about running the module to the Adventure Modules board.. I'll post here if anything else comes up, though.

Welcome Gnat!!
Glad to have you with us.

Huge fan here, of Rising Knight.

Great module that can be played any which way you like. Very open ended and easy to pick up hirelings/NPCs.

Easy to scale and customize for your first adventure. It's my first C&C module and my absolutely favorite.

Kiint was with us for quite awhile and for his good deeds ~ he was healed from his affliction by Neegle the witch (Assault from Blacktooth Ridege).

He is now a Warden of the Lands in Malforten.

Menlaus is still with our group as an occasional PC, but mostly NPC.

The 3rd level fighter in my group has purchased land and hired people to build his "country" estate.

Since the adventuring party has "finished" the module/adventure, this area has grown and prospered, but attracted a new set of troublemakers.

_________________
Count Rhuveinus - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Franqueforte

"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

We did character creation tonight, and I explained the basics of SEIGE checks to him. Overall, I'm glad we did it tonight, as it went like it usually does... TV on in the background, plenty of chatting and joking. Had a great time, but really didn't get much done. His character is almost finished, though, so that is one less thing to worry about for Sunday.

He ended up choosing a Half-Elven Ranger, which wasn't anything like I expected, but should work well. We also went over a few basic house rules that I include simply to make things a little safer for him starting out.

Max HP for first level

All class abilities are treated as primes (CB is 12)

That being said, I have one more question. Has anyone made a handout I can give him of the various combat options that are spelled out in the PHB (grapple, overbearing, disarm, etc)? Having something like that would help us get the hang of C&C combat.

I believe one of the CK screens (PDF) linked to CNCplayer.net has those summarized on it.
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

Cool, found it. Travellers site does have some CK screen downloads, and the 2nd printing does have pretty much what I am looking for. I do have the actual CK screens for myself, but this will work as a simple handout. Thanks again, Treebore.

First game session was today, fairly good experience, but we did have a few bumps in the road.. I'm gonna write it up on the Crusades board in just a bit.

Some bumps are requisite to enjoyment.

serleran wrote:
Some bumps are requisite to enjoyment.

Settle down there, Trojan Man.

Gnat wrote:
All class abilities are treated as primes (CB is 12)

An easy way to do this is just make everything CB 15. Ignore Primes and Non-Primes. It would be pretty balanced, if you only have one PC in your group.

The only reason I would refrain form changing the base TN's of 12 and 18 is if you plan on going above 9th level. Then things will get too easy too often.
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames