Early Campaign Statistics

2022-10-16

Our AD&D by-the-book campaign had its first session over two months ago, on August 10th. Since then, I've run sessions twice a week, and we've had all kinds of adventures. In my free time, I've been largely inundated with session preparation and general AD&D research, which I've been enjoying immensely. Coupled with my other hobby, Japanese, I've been a busy man.

Now's a great time to take a look at our campaign by the numbers.

• Over 2 months of sessions, twice a week, some players joining both sessions.
• Only 1 session cancelled.
• 17 current members in our Discord server.
• 10 members have played in a session in the last week. All of these members have played consistently since joining the group.
• Each of these players has 3-5 characters in their stable, for a total of 30-50 characters among the recently active players.
• 24 characters have been played so far.
• Of the played characters, there have been 3 dwarves, 1 elf, 4 half-elves, 5 half-orcs, 2 halflings, and 9 humans.
• Of the played characters, 17 have one class, 7 have two classes, and none are triple-class. No one has dual-classed yet.
• No druids, illusionists, monks, or bards have been played. Of these, I know that at least one druid has been created.
• 6 characters have died, all honorably. Each received a tombstone and/or eulogy from another character in our Discord's #in-memoriam channel.
• The character with the most experience is nearly 4th level, a half-orc fighter named Rhinok with 7984 XP.
• 1 character has psionics, a human 3rd level magic-user named Maervahr. He has 102 psionic ability. His abilities so far are clairaudience and invisibility. You bet I roll for psionic encounters. We haven't had one yet... that any players know about.
• Over 3 in-game months of 28 days have passed for the longest-surviving characters.
• 0 henchmen hired. The desire is there, but the cost is still prohibitive. A few hirelings have been recruited for a time, chiefly porters and linkboys.
• 2 guard dogs purchased. 1 guard dog killed. RIP Henchie the guard dog.
• 1 dungeon has been fully (?) explored.
• 3 dungeons are in the process of being explored.
• At least 3 other nearby adventuring sites are known to at least one living character, but none of these have been explored yet.
• 2 campaign maps have been shared with the players. First, I shared a 1-mile-hex localized map of the area around Gren. Everywhere the characters had not seen was whited out (anywhere over 3 miles from the eastern road into Gren). On September 29, I shared a 6-mile-hex map of the greater region, a section of about 144 x 96 miles. I generated the settlements of this map using the DMG appendices, which I'll write about later. I have found the "start local and then expand" method suggested by Gary to be awesome, and plan to write about that later as well.
• 6 cities in the current campaign area. The dice told me that four cities have about 20,000 residents, and two have about 60,000.
• 4 towns of about 1,500 - 6,000 residents in the current campaign area, including Gren.
• 9 villages of about 600 - 900 residents in the current campaign area.
• Many smaller settlements and single dwellings in the current campaign area. Only two of these are known to the players at this time, since they are very close to Gren.
• 1 loan has been taken out (at the book rate of 10% monthly interest).
• No characters have yet reached the point where all of their money and then some is no longer being swallowed by training costs. Many characters have taken on quests and services to pay for part or all of their training.
• 2 characters have adventured with a class XP capped.
• 1 parasite and 0 diseases contracted. (Parasite was an intestinal parasite contracted via an unlucky monthly check.)
• 2 characters have casted find familiar, both successfully. Their familiars are a large cat and a small hawk.
• 1 item pickpocketed, a ring of feather fall, stolen by Porto, the late halfling thief via a penalized, getting-caught-means-execution pickpocket roll – right after selling it! You bet I awarded XP again.
• Every single character has been awesome. Heroic actions, clever plans, quick decisions, and witty quips. These are some skilled players. It's undeniable.
• Many nights of laughs, dice, camaraderie, action, drama, and suspense.
• Zero campaigns harmed by the inclusion of psionics.
• Zero campaigns harmed by placing treasure as dictated by the dice – no matter the power level.
• Zero campaigns harmed by playing the game of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

The game that we've been playing for the past couple months is different from anything I've been a part of before. I am having so much fun. And no one knows what will happen next time. Certainly not me. It's a world on the edge of a sword, the tip of a wand, the face of a die.

There is nothing like Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.