I already have an idea to suggest for separating the rooms that will give the separation between adventuring and RP that I think you want without having to tediously switch between rooms:
For players currently on an adventure, they could go to a special “On an Adventure!” room until the adventuring session ends. That way, even if they do wander around the areas of the town or the biomes of the wilderness, It’s not only separate from players who are doing a normal RP, but it provides a clean textlog of the things that happen for all places (as opposed to players switching between rooms to remember what their dice rolls were earlier that day. I think this will work well because I think that adventuring players won’t need to interact much with non-adventuring players during an adventure, even if part of that adventure takes place inside the town; they can wait until the drama has ended and go into “downtime” between adventures.
On an unrelated note, you can message me if you’re a new D&D player and want help creating a legal adventuring character. @echo_tine might ask you to modify it if they have special conditions they want you to play with, but at least you will have the basics ready.
Oh rad!!! I’m so excited to see this topic revisited, I’ve been thinking about it a lot this month.
I agree that we can manage a larger group as long as most people are more interested in the casual RP, in the “common” areas. I’ve seen servers that have dedicated channels for campaign esque events, and that works out extremely well. It also takes the burden of GMing off of any one person if they want to have a dedicated PC, too.
When I run chat based RP groups, I generally make the RP area focused on one town. It makes RPing with one another pretty straight forward. It does give a lot of the creative process to the individuals, which comes with its own set of problems, but also more fun!
Having a hometown for casual RP whenever and then busting out the rules for events only is my vote on what would work out best. I’m excited!
Oh hey, I think I found a better system that could work for this idea. Have you heard of the Girth System? It has some more rules about weight gain, so it would probably work well for this type of game. Plus it has a bunch of WG and inflation themed equipment so overall it will be better. If you need to know where it is, just ask some of the higher ups on Weight Gaming. They’ll probably share it with you.
The Girth System? I’m very intrigued. I think I will ask about it. But, RP server! Very exciting. If anyone wants my discord, I’ll be glad to DM it to them and help worldbuild. I have a lot of experience running groups.
The hype, it is real. Seriously, I’ve been checking back here far too frequently just to see what’s going on, lol.
Yeah, this is a really good idea, a sort of living world WG DND Discord. I’m hoping you use Girth, but whatever system you use I am def gonna join.
Any chance the Girth system has a document or brew we could take a look at?
Yeah, I’d also like to take a look if any of the admins are willing to share.
I would like to see the RP server have the option of just playing a NPC, and maybe an adjusted sheet for that? I’m a designer @echo_tine Do you want my discord? I’d love to help. I don’t know if you’re looking for other admins, but I thought I’d offer since it’s a lot of work.
Alright, now that I have a chance to sit down and write…
The way this sort of thing is usually handled (for large scale chat rp groups), is an application process. Think of it as auditioning for the important roles, like head baker. I would recommend creating a list of jobs you’re looking for in town and those be the ones you properly “audition” for so you get people you trust/approve of to run those aspects of town in their own channels, or even create quests for characters who want to adventure.
Depending on the aspects of WG you want to control, you could also say these roles in town are the only ones who can create items that magically alter weight. To spitball on that more I think I’d like to get my eyes on the Girth System.
Either way, there’s definitely workarounds for managing a large group effectively that will mostly run itself in town proper, with the option to run events/quests as we go.
As I said Mohiten, ask a higher up for the Girth System docs, like Gus. But yeah, Girth and Expandnd are both fun formats.
Howdy and hello! I’m Gus, creator of the Girth System for DnD 5e.
Here is the Google Doc with the main rules - The Eclipse Girth System - Google Docs
And here is the Google Sheets with all the new spells, items and feats - DnD - Fatty Spells - Google Sheets
Little outdated, constantly updating every few days as I get more ideas, and get reminded what needs to be updated.
So do you like the Girth System or ExpanDnD more?
This was an enjoyable read, thanks for sharing! My only concern is that it gets pretty math heavy in calculating fat gain, which is fine for a smaller group sitting around a table together, but I’m unsure for a bigger group.
I like a LOT of the concepts. I can’t ever seem to find anything that caters to my very niche love of plant TF, so I am delighted lol. The pregnancy system is really good, too. I’d love to see a wild magic table that pairs with this. I’m always tempted to make one…
If it helps keep track of all the WG, I think it will work very well for this open world thing. Also thanks. It was made by Gus btw, so thank him too if you want.
Looking through this discussion, I can’t help but feel hyped by this idea. Though, it might be difficult for me to get into it all, since I know next to nothing about how to play tabletop games. But with something like this, it might be worth it to learn!
I was thanking Gus … lol
I personally think tracking 20+ always fluctuating numbers is a bit much to expect from everyone, so that one aspect of vanilla Expand D&D is something I’m more endeared to. Tallying your characters weight is pretty straight forward, fast, and would let us focus our creative efforts on what matters… the rp
Yeah, but if you want accurate weights for the entire body including the food inside of you, which is good for a WG Open World like this, then Girth is better, and it does have a much wider access of fun items too, which would make this much more great.
I have an idea for a simplified stats system for non-adventuring characters (kind of wrong to call them NPC’s, I think. We should come up with a better word, like “Citizen.”) in case a situation happens where they want to roll dice instead of using normal RP strategies (perhaps they are in a contest of some sort). The stats will have more choice and no randomness compared to an adventurer so that the player creates exactly the character that they want to have for their RP; Adventurers will have to make compromises as they follow the rules (I wanted my adventuring character to be a good cook but there’s no way to have that without changing other important choices). @echo_tine consider this my pitch to you.
Making a Non-Adventuring Character for Dummies (requires minimal knowledge of D&D)
TL;DR: Choose for yourself your Attributes from -3 to +3, up to 2 skills from the list and the one possibly determined by your race, and up to 1 profession. Also give yourself 10gp.
There are six Attributes that all characters and creatures in D&D have:
Strength: physical might and gross body mechanics
Dexterity: balance, agility, and manual precision
Constitution: pain tolerance, immune system strength, and general health
Intelligence: logic and memory
Wisdom: intuition and awareness
Charisma: confidence, eloquence, and interpersonal skill
Adventures roll dice according to the rules to generate numbers for these stats, but they get to choose which ones are highest and which are lowest. The result is a bonus or penalty for each Attribute between -3 and +4, with the average being about +1 or +2
If you’re playing a Non-Adventuring Character, simply choose a value between -3 and +3 for each Attribute according to what you think your character’s strengths and weaknesses are. To get an idea of the severity of each value:
+4 champion/genius (only available for adventurers)
+3 exemplary
+2 skilled
+1 talented
0 standard
-1 slow
-2 mentally/physically retarded
-3 incompetent
Most townspeople, farmers, and other commoners have a 0 in all attributes, or a +1 to one of them if their race is particularly suited to it (see table below) Most adventurers have only one Attribute below 0, and many don’t have any below 0 at all, so as you make your character, don’t feel like they need too many flaws. If you want to play a race other than human, consider giving them a score one point higher than you first think (to a maximum of +3) to the following Attribute:
Dwarf: Constituition
Elf: Dexterity
Halfling/Hobbit: Dexterity
Dragonborn: Strength
Gnome: Intelligence
Half-Elf: Charisma
Half-Orc:Strength
Tiefling: Charisma
These Attributes show your characters competence in an extremely broad way, and you probably want your character to have more specialized skills. Therefore, in addition to attributes, there is a system called Proficiency. Proficiency shows a skill or task that your character has plenty of practice in, either as a hobby or as part of their career. If you have proficiency in a skill, you gain a +2 when rolling dice for it, in addition to the bonus or penalty from the Attribute. Adventurers gain Proficiency in 4 or more skills- two from their history, two from their class, and sometimes one or more from miscellaneous sources, like race. A non-adventuring character has no class and therefore will choose only up to 2, and might gain one more based on race. However, unlike an adventurer, you have complete choice in the two that you choose. The list of skills is as follows:
Acrobatics
Animal Handling
Arcane Lore
Athletics
Deception
History
Insight
Intimidation
Investigation
Medicine
Nature
Perception
Performance
Persuation
Religious Lore
Sleight of Hand
Stealth
Survival
Depending on your race, you may get certain Skills for free that don’t count to your limit of 2:
Human: Any Skill
Elf: Perception
Half-Elf: Any Skill
Half-Orc: Intimidation
Skills aren’t the only thing you can be proficient in. Adventurers might be proficient in the tools of a certain trade, and as a non-Adventurer, you always have that option, because it’s probably how you earn your living. If you want to be skilled when practicing a certain trade, gain a +2 to die rolls (in addition to the bonus or penalty from the appropriate attribute) when you are using tools meant for your trade. If you don’t have access to the right tools, you don’t add the bonus. You may choose any 1 of these trades from the book or negotiate with your DM to choose something not on this list:
Cooking
Alchemy
Brewing
Calligraphy
Carpentry
Cartography
Cobbling
Glassblowing
Jeweling
Leatherworking
Masonry
Paining
Potting
Smithing
Tinkering
Weaving
Woodcarving
A specific musical instrument
Not all jobs require specialized tools and a Skill may be enough: merchants and peddlers can get by with their Persuasion, actors with their Performance, hunters and trappers with their Nature and Survival, and con artists with their Deception. If your character’s job doesn’t rely on special tools, then don’t give them Proficiency in any.
If you want your non-Adventurer character to be Proficient in something that is usually only associated with Adventurers, such as using a certain weapon or fighting with your fists, talk to your DM; they might say you deserve it for free.
This is all you need to know to generate a set of stats and scores for a non-adventuring character. It’s likely that you won’t use these very often at all. D&D is a game where success is not guaranteed-- but this is not a typical D&D game. You can use these scores with a roll of the dice if you want partial randomness in your RP instead of deciding for yourself (or with your partners) whether success or failure creates the more interesting story. An adventuring character might ask you to roll dice to see how they react to you (was your cooking impressive or just mediocre?) or if you are “in contest” against them, such as spotting a lie, or in a literal contest. As a non-adventuring character, all of your die rolls will probably be with a 20-sided die (called a d20 in tabletop lingo), to which you add your Attribute bonus/penalty and possibly your Skill or Tool Proficiency to the result. The Discord server might provide a way to roll a virtual die for you where everyone can see it, but if it doesn’t then there are quick online programs you can search for to do the same thing. If you are in contest with another character, you only need to beat their score to win. If there is no contest, then you are trying to beat a fixed target number (set by stats from the books, or for miscellaneous tasks by the DM themselves. Since we won’t need a DM to oversee every RP, it is usually fine to set the target number yourself (since in a normal RP you have total control over your success anyways). To get an idea of what counts as a success and what counts as a failure, consider these numbers as goals:
5: a simple, quite easy task, such as cooking breakfast, that has a notable chance of failure only for someone not used to the job. For someone trained to do the task, failure is very rare (since a trained person probably has at least a +3 total bonus).
10: A mildly difficult task, where succeeding the first time is not guaranteed, such as trying to cook a new recipe, finding food in a rich forest, avoid slipping on a slippery surface, or punching an angry townsman in the face before he can dodge.
15: A reasonably difficult task, where most skilled or talented characters have about a 50% chance to fail the first time. For an Adventurer, this is the most common difficulty for miscellaneous tasks. You might be trying to cook an impressive meal with no mistakes, climb up a very rough wall with no support, find food in a scarce forest, pick a common lock, or score a good hit against a common soldier.
20: A very difficult task. As a non-adventurer, you will need both training and quite a lot of luck to succeed. You may be cooking a feast fit to impress a king, finding food and water in the desert, breaking free or slipping out of iron manacles, or wounding a knight with plate armor and a shield.
If this is compatible with Girth System, I think people would enjoy this thing for the average non-fighting citizenry.