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Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)
I have a ridiculously homebrewed 5E campaign and I’m debating on whether to convert it to A5E
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<blockquote data-quote="MutterBoutASaurus" data-source="post: 8839613" data-attributes="member: 7038812"><p>Okay, sorry for the delay!</p><p><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v1BP9tJtWiTftOoN82DioBaqtL-NM6KBnLZ_voi3Awo/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Here's the rules I've primed for my vanguard system.</a></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xcWgE35DlaIrvIKRd8VAAhR6rAEAzkSd?usp=sharing" target="_blank">And for a bit more of a reference, here's the current roster of vanguards my group has been able to recruit.</a> They have yet to unlock any of the once-a-day 'heroic' abilities.</p><p>Hopefully this is easy enough to digest how it works. I'm not the greatest at technical explanations.</p><p></p><p>I did want to give a little bit of an explanation on why I came up with these rules. As I mentioned, this campaign is following the story of a game I love - which is a turn-based RPG with a focus on recruiting a bunch of characters to your cause. Your character is the leader of a mercenary company, surrounded by friends and companions just as capable and interesting as he is.</p><p>When drafting up the initial idea of turning this into a tabletop campaign, I knew I wanted to try and preserve a bit of that feeling of recruiting useful and interesting people to the party’s aid. But I didn’t want to just draft up a bunch of character sheets for standard NPCs who fight alongside the party. That would not only bog down combat as I juggle both allies and enemies, but it would also take focus away from my players and their characters - a cardinal sin of Game Mastering if there ever was one. But the rules for followers I’d found didn’t really feel chunky enough for my needs either. They should feel like a valid part of the mercenary company, just as capable of holding their own as the players if imagination calls for it.</p><p></p><p>This ruleset felt like a nice balance between the two extremes. Treating these NPCs as an equipable toolset means that, first and foremost, the players have autonomy on how their abilities get used. They aren’t sitting back and waiting for the NPC to do a thing the narrator thinks is cool, they get to make important decisions, make dice rolls and gain interesting buffs to their own skills.</p><p>In turn, the vanguards feel like an impactful part of both gameplay and the story. These aren’t just guys you hire and forget about, they’re friends and colleagues fighting alongside you. Or they’re fellow co-workers you send off to deal with other jobs while the party is busy sorting out something more major.</p><p></p><p>For what it is worth, the feedback I have gotten from my players about vanguards has been positive. When presented with a quest or a new situation, the party'll strategise over which vanguard to take with them, which is always delightful. Balancing around their pressence hasn't been too hard either - typically asumming the group has one extra player in the party usually does the trick. Even with the presence of a few healing-capable vanguards, my party has had more than a handful of nail-biting encounters.</p><p>I feel that this is a defining system for my campaign, it just wouldn’t feel quite the same without them and I am loathe to give it up entirely unless absolutely necessary.</p><p></p><p>__</p><p></p><p>Thank you all for the kind words and information thus far, by the way! I'm a bit socially anxious, so I was a little worried about bringing my absolute mess of a game into public view, but no, your critique (and book links!) has been very helpful and I appreciate it.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Hmm, moving them into combat maneuvers is actually not a bad idea, although it would require a hell of a lot of rework. I feel like that would have been the ideal solution - when I was first drafting this campaign up many moons ago and I was still figuring out what to do with these NPC buggers.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MutterBoutASaurus, post: 8839613, member: 7038812"] Okay, sorry for the delay! [URL='https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v1BP9tJtWiTftOoN82DioBaqtL-NM6KBnLZ_voi3Awo/edit?usp=sharing']Here's the rules I've primed for my vanguard system.[/URL] [URL='https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xcWgE35DlaIrvIKRd8VAAhR6rAEAzkSd?usp=sharing']And for a bit more of a reference, here's the current roster of vanguards my group has been able to recruit.[/URL] They have yet to unlock any of the once-a-day 'heroic' abilities. Hopefully this is easy enough to digest how it works. I'm not the greatest at technical explanations. I did want to give a little bit of an explanation on why I came up with these rules. As I mentioned, this campaign is following the story of a game I love - which is a turn-based RPG with a focus on recruiting a bunch of characters to your cause. Your character is the leader of a mercenary company, surrounded by friends and companions just as capable and interesting as he is. When drafting up the initial idea of turning this into a tabletop campaign, I knew I wanted to try and preserve a bit of that feeling of recruiting useful and interesting people to the party’s aid. But I didn’t want to just draft up a bunch of character sheets for standard NPCs who fight alongside the party. That would not only bog down combat as I juggle both allies and enemies, but it would also take focus away from my players and their characters - a cardinal sin of Game Mastering if there ever was one. But the rules for followers I’d found didn’t really feel chunky enough for my needs either. They should feel like a valid part of the mercenary company, just as capable of holding their own as the players if imagination calls for it. This ruleset felt like a nice balance between the two extremes. Treating these NPCs as an equipable toolset means that, first and foremost, the players have autonomy on how their abilities get used. They aren’t sitting back and waiting for the NPC to do a thing the narrator thinks is cool, they get to make important decisions, make dice rolls and gain interesting buffs to their own skills. In turn, the vanguards feel like an impactful part of both gameplay and the story. These aren’t just guys you hire and forget about, they’re friends and colleagues fighting alongside you. Or they’re fellow co-workers you send off to deal with other jobs while the party is busy sorting out something more major. For what it is worth, the feedback I have gotten from my players about vanguards has been positive. When presented with a quest or a new situation, the party'll strategise over which vanguard to take with them, which is always delightful. Balancing around their pressence hasn't been too hard either - typically asumming the group has one extra player in the party usually does the trick. Even with the presence of a few healing-capable vanguards, my party has had more than a handful of nail-biting encounters. I feel that this is a defining system for my campaign, it just wouldn’t feel quite the same without them and I am loathe to give it up entirely unless absolutely necessary. __ Thank you all for the kind words and information thus far, by the way! I'm a bit socially anxious, so I was a little worried about bringing my absolute mess of a game into public view, but no, your critique (and book links!) has been very helpful and I appreciate it. Hmm, moving them into combat maneuvers is actually not a bad idea, although it would require a hell of a lot of rework. I feel like that would have been the ideal solution - when I was first drafting this campaign up many moons ago and I was still figuring out what to do with these NPC buggers. [/QUOTE]
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Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)
I have a ridiculously homebrewed 5E campaign and I’m debating on whether to convert it to A5E
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