When DM is Away

There are times when I want to play and our DM is away. Joseph and I have discussed this in the past as well. The idea is, if there are enough of us on at once, and Rob is busy, but we still want to play, why don't we?

I've created a poll to see who might be interested in playing, as well as who might be interested in being a DM. I'll let the poll run for a week.

Imagine playing the Tower that we do in Hangouts, but using Roll20. The experience and items earned would only be temporary. It's just something to do, pass the time, practice, BS, etc.

Any questions or major logistics we need to work out, we can do that here. Then, once the poll has finished or everyone has voted, we'll create a set of rules, post them in the Gameplay section. Then we can roll for DM or volunteer, however, but then the DM will create a Roll20 game and create a link and can post it in the Gameplay section for this topic.

Then again, maybe Rob would like to just play and not DM, this could be used for those opportunities too. In which case, Rob, you will need to make a character that has a level that stays consistent with everyone else's characters, OR, you're the only one that gets to keep all your stats because how often will you be playing instead of DMing?

Just a side thought.

If you do choose to be a DM, you may want to start learning Roll20, Monster Manuals, etc.

Another thought, we could do speed runs with power leveling. Create a character, at random if you want, no real backstory or anything like that. Start at level 1. Each fight everyone that survived levels up. The possibilities with this are pretty cool.

Also, Rob, if us learning this type of detail about the game will mess with your stories and what not, we can just nix this all together.

I marked play as player/don't care.
I would love to play more for sure, the main problem I would run into is whether I'd have time to. Many times on the weekend I am too busy to access my computer and roll20 on the phone has acted weird on me before.

There have been times during the week that after my kids have gone to bed, I've wanted to play for an hour or two. There are also times on the weekends that I'd be down to do so. It doesn't have to be a set schedule by any means. More so, if we know a few of us are on and want to play, we can.

If you or anyone has had an idea as a DM in mind, they could get something prepared in roll20, and when there are enough people that are on, then we can play part of. Every time that person DMs, they can either have a new dungeon, or continue from where the previous party left off. No real consistency, with any of it between party members. No introductions, just randomly awake and there are things attacking you, go.

Sounds a pretty cool idea, no doubt, and would be willing to try it out as I've been itching to play more as well.

It looks like we got three of us, and we can certainly do a DM with two players. Maybe more people will join in if they're on at the same time. We'll see. We should make sure we all agree with how we want to do this.

1st: Decide who will DM
2nd: Clarify any DM specific rules for the run
3rd: No permanent experience
4th: No permanent items
5th: We will use our character sheets as they are so we don't have to keep starting over at level 1. 
6th:Making a character at a level of DMs choice will also work. You should have a character in mind when wanting to do this though, that way it doesn't take very long to get started. No backstory necessary. If you want to have a character specifically for these runs, I actually don't see why that should be an issue either. But this is why exp and such won't carry though, because the DM will change and the stories are likely to change. This particular rule may need ironed out...
7th: Think of this as Tower Sprints.

Any other ideas, suggestions, complaints?

We should have some means for starting items for each person as well. Probably at the discretion of the DM of course. But I'm really digging the idea of testing mechanics and makeshift enemies, abilities, weapons. I'm sure Joseph would actually enjoy running a Gears campaign for us. This would be a great way for him to test enemy powers, strengths and weaknesses, etc. I could go on for a while it seems.