Hey all, I'd like to start beta testing an epic campaign I've been designing for a while now. Feel free to ask questions here! If you'd like to play, please fill out the Player Survey ). I hope you'll come play with us!! - John *********** XCOM&D is an epic “West Marches” style campaign combining the XCOM Long War video game style of strategic building and planning with discrete, tactical D&D missions using a subset of characters from the team Roster. The tactical/mission part of the game will be played in Roll20.net, while the strategy layer of the game will be played asynchronously - between sessions - over Slack, Trello and Google Docs, and will have entirely new systems for stronghold improvement, building and enchanting items, recruiting new "X Company" PCs and roster management, injury recovery and death, mission selection and planning, intelligence collection, etc. In general, the DM will present a series of Available Missions, neatly laid out on Trello with a summary, approximate mission CR, mission rewards, etc. A roster of 10 to 20 (?) players will self-organize over Slack between games to roleplay their characters, talk to XCOM NPCs, select and plan missions, schedule games with the DM(s) and manage the team’s resources. Each player will have multiple characters in the campaign, and each session will not have the same mix of players/PCs. For emphasis - no actual gaming sessions will be held unless a group of players schedule a date to do a particular mission with the DM . Here is Matt Colville's explanation of West Marches-style games . The game world is a home-brew, low magic, European-style feudal society. The campaign begins 10 days after a massive "Uprising" of the dead across the land has thrown the world into chaos and covered the land with the undead. More than that... you'll have to find out by adventuring! The game system will be 5th Edition D&D , with house rules to make magic more rare/costly and combat more realistic. We will be playing over Roll20 virtual tabletop, which is free to play. We'll be playing on laaaaaarge maps where the Team starts at one point and has to move in, complete their mission, and get out, despite usually being massively outnumbered. You’ll need 1) decent internet for video chat, 2) the maturity to treat other people well. We expect the players to manage their own group, but the DM will step in if necessary to set the standards of behavior and play. Note that part of the game requires playing different characters. We will start the campaign with a limited selection of character races and classes available and the X Company Team will be able to unlock more options by successfully completing certain missions. You guys pick your mission priorities! Each player will be able to create 1 "wildcard" character using most of the 5e options, which they can bring in once they have gotten an ordinary XCOM recruit to 3rd level. This game-of-the-game is a defining characteristic of the XCOM&D campaign and if it's not a fit for you, that's OK! XCOM&D Player Survey Because this game is very new and different, we want to get to know more about the folks who would like to join. We will select a fun and diverse group of folks that we think will make for a great game - people with different backgrounds, strengths and levels of experience with gaming. Over time, the players themselves will self-select to be more or less involved and the players will organize themselves to maximize fun for everybody - that is the beauty of a West Marches style game. And we will probably let new players in as we go along. Game Creator and DM: John P. I have 30 years of experience playing and GMing D&D (from red box D&D on), GURPS, Shadowrun and Star Wars. I live in San Francisco and run a social media startup trying to elevate public discourse and fact-check all online news in real time. My academic background is in economics and my career has been in private equity and military intelligence. I spent 10 years in the army and did 2 tours in Iraq. I am myself a power-gamer, but I am excited to run a game that is very story- and player-driven. We will also have co-DMs and eventually maybe guest DMs, in order to scale the game up, share the burden and add a little extra spice! Let me know what you think! Player Survey: <a href="https://goo.gl/forms/7BdmFs6sHBAT8Vz02" rel="nofollow">https://goo.gl/forms/7BdmFs6sHBAT8Vz02</a>
