D&D 5E Prepping a 5E Game

[mattcolville]

I'm going to run 5E tomorrow for the guys who introduced me to D&D back in 1986. Well, some of them, and one of their sons, and a coworker.

Having run 5E at work, I found the process of making a dude was needlessly complicated for three reasons.

1: A lot of the information is presented as though you'd never played D&D or even read fantasy before. That's fine, open playtest, but I don't need any of that crap and it's taking up space.

2: All the stuff for all the levels is all here. Which means 90% of the playtest docs is not useful for character creation.

3: The information is not presented in a straightforward manner. It took me a while to find out how much gold you start with. Had to read a little to figure out how many Lore...lores you know.

So I took it upon myself to edit the playtest docs. I cut out ALL the stuff you don't need to make a first level dude. Including text describing how 1st level stuff works at higher level. They can read about this later, on their time, when they level up, whatever. I want to make dudes and play.

I cut out all the fluff. The Races doc now literally just tells you what you get for each race. It doesn't describe what a Dwarf is. My players know that.

I cut all the spells out apart from Cantrips and Level One spells, and then made a Mage Spells, Cleric Spells, and Druid Spells doc, so players of those classes don't have to sift through all the other spells they can't cast to find the ones they can.

I edited the text so Equipment begins; "You start with 175g to spend on gear." Then it explains how Backgrounds work and choosing a loadout if you want.

The Lore section begins "you know two fields of lore...."

Now I have a collection of incredibly straightforward, streamlined, 1st Level documents! Editing this stuff together was a great way for me to see the rules, in a way that reading them would not have done.

I noticed, for instance, that the various classes all sort of start at 3rd level. Which the Devs have talked about. The Paladin gets his Oath at level 3. The Ranger his Favored Enemy, the Barbarian his Totem or whatever.

All of them work like this...except the Cleric. The Cleric gets a Domain at level 1!

Is this to make Clerics more appealing at lower levels?

It was also interesting seeing how many classes could be described in half a page...unless you're a spellcaster. Spellcasters take TWO pages, roughly four times as much info at 1st level.

The plan is to get together tomorrow, roll 4D6 six times, discarding the low-die, and put them in order. First roll is for STR, second is for CON, etc....

I'm using this rule because I think the process of figuring out "how do I use these stats" is creative and interesting, as opposed to just choosing what you want.

I don't know what I'm going to run, either Danger and Darkshelf Quarry, the new lead-in to the Slave Lords series they just rereleased, or Forge of Fury.

I will report back on more tomorrow and which adventure I chose. I'm open to suggestions also, or insight between the two.

 

[Li Shenron]

So I took it upon myself to edit the playtest docs. I cut out ALL the stuff you don't need to make a first level dude. Including text describing how 1st level stuff works at higher level. They can read about this later, on their time, when they level up, whatever. I want to make dudes and play.

I cut out all the fluff. The Races doc now literally just tells you what you get for each race. It doesn't describe what a Dwarf is. My players know that.

I cut all the spells out apart from Cantrips and Level One spells, and then made a Mage Spells, Cleric Spells, and Druid Spells doc, so players of those classes don't have to sift through all the other spells they can't cast to find the ones they can.

I did a similar thing during last year Christmas holidays, to run a few playtest sessions for friends that never played D&D. I was able to really shrink everything down to a few pages only, even tho I didn't actually take the fluff out because some of those friends might not have known what a D&D dwarf is But I did remove everything related to after 3rd level (I planned for the sessions to cover levels 1-2 but then I left level 3 stuff just in case) including text for scaling spells and abilities.

I edited the text so Equipment begins; "You start with 175g to spend on gear." Then it explains how Backgrounds work and choosing a loadout if you want.

The Lore section begins "you know two fields of lore...."

You should mention stuff like this in your playtest feedback. WotC will not reduce fluff, they want it there so that the game is complete also for those who don't know what a D&D dwarf is, but putting the meat of the text upfront is certainly an improvement suggestion they'll probably listen to.

I noticed, for instance, that the various classes all sort of start at 3rd level. Which the Devs have talked about. The Paladin gets his Oath at level 3. The Ranger his Favored Enemy, the Barbarian his Totem or whatever.

All of them work like this...except the Cleric. The Cleric gets a Domain at level 1!

Is this to make Clerics more appealing at lower levels?

I had a thread about this a couple of weeks ago, but apparently a lot of people are fine with this. I am not... there is no reason to make Clerics more appealing at lower levels, and if there is a reason, there are other ways. IMHO all classes should get the subclass choice at 3rd level (notice that also Mage and Ranger get it at 2nd) so that (1) every class is treated equally, (2) a beginner doesn't have to make the subclass choice immediately, (3) not choosing a specialization until 3rd level enforces the concept of apprentice tier and (4) a multiclass character dipping just a level or two in another class doesn't identify yet with a specialty.

IMO the Domain choice is at 1st level because it used to be Deity choice until the previous packet. Now if the choice of Cleric subclass is your deity, clearly this makes it very hard to imagine a cleric who doesn't have a Deity until level 3... But now that it's changed to Domain, it would actually make a lot of sense for a Cleric to have a deity since the start but only specialize in one of her deity's domains a little later, exactly because it is a specialization: e.g. a Cleric of Mystra is that since level 1, but whether she focuses on the Magic domain or the Knowledge domain is a choice to make a bit later, and before that she's just an unspecialized low-clergy.

It was also interesting seeing how many classes could be described in half a page...unless you're a spellcaster. Spellcasters take TWO pages, roughly four times as much info at 1st level.

There's an old issue here: some people wants the same text (how spellcasting works) reprinted for each class for ease of reference, while other people wants it printed only once if it works exactly the same for such classes (just like combat rules are printed only once, so could spellcasting rules).

WotC seems oriented to reprinting, but it's always been a bit of a mishmash... e.g. in 3e books some spellcasting rules were reprinted for each class, but then some class-specific but less important rules (i.e. spellbook detailed rules for copying) were in the Magic chapter.

I think the current text can be improved by moving the basic, common rules (i.e. that you prepare X spells, then cast any prepared spells using your slots freely, how rituals work) to the Magic chapter, and leaving only what is really different by class (i.e. the key ability score affecting your spells DC, whether you cast rituals from prepared spells or from known spells...).

 

[mattcolville]

First session went well!

The players made dudes in about 10 minutes. It was easy. Everyone rolled 4d6, drop one, in order and we got:

A Hill Dwarf Barbarian Guide. I think his lowest stat was a 15. He had two 18s and like three 17s. He lived!

A Human Rogue Commoner. I believe his highest stat was a 15. He also lived! Dragging the unconscious dwarf to safety!

An Woof-elf Druid Spy. He...did not live.

A Human Cleric Noble, captured by the slavers!

A Half-elf Paladin Noble, also captured by the slavers! I believe his highest stat was a 12.

The players found the rules straightforward. The rules got out of the way and let people scheme and roleplay which was nice. Having everything just be Stat Rolls was nice. No skills or anything. Again, it felt simpler than either 3.x or 4, and I again draw the analogy of "2E if it were made today."

SPOILER FILLED RECAP

Guests of Sir Estelrath, Lord of the port town of Rayk, the two itinerant noblemen are told about the problems at the local quarry. Just as Sir Estelrath began to suspect Bazili Erak, the dwarf overseer of the quarry, of being involved in the local disappearances, Erak arrived in Rayk with a batch of slavers he captured operating in the woods near the quarry.

This was a bit too convenient for Sir Estelrath, and word of a third, never-seen, shift of dwarves working the quarry at midnight was suspicious. Many of the townspeople worked the quarry, why did none of them ever see these dwarves? What did Bazili find, deep below the quarry that prompted him to call for his kinsmen to come work the quarry at night?

The two noble adventurers agree to investigate.

Meanwhile the local Druid sends his apprentice in to town to look for stalwart allies who can aid in uncovering the cause of the recent--surely unrelated--attacks on local dockworkers and fishermen. The victims all attacked near the water, covered in what appear to be shark-bites...and also claw marks! The attacks seem centered near the mouth of the river Pest, where it joins the sea, where the town of Rayk was founded.

The noblemen and the druid join forces agreeing to help each other in turn. They recruit a doughty dwarf and a human commoner who has worked the quarry.

The five adventurers set off!

The Human Rogue Commoner knows the layout of the quarry, including the Guardhouse Bazili built and the first level of the mine where men dig the granite Bazili sells. But he has never seen the mysterious third shift of dwarves. So, on his advice, the party arrives early in the morning, hiding in the hills surrounding the quarry. They wait and watch for shift change.

Eventually they see some small armored creatures with tools emerge from the mine and cross the excavation to the guardhouse's lower entrance. The party asks the Dwarf "Those looks like dwarves to you?" He rolls like a 3 on his Wisdom check. "Yep!" he says. "They're certainly dwarves!"

The druid has a disguise kit, and the Human Rogue Commoner is literally someone who's worked the quarry, so the team decides to disguise themselves as rude mechanicals and infiltrate the quarry on the next shift.

The Druid's diguise kit requires a Charisma check which, at 22, meant there was literally no way the guards could tell they were anything other than normal workers. Part one of their plan, successful!

Once inside the mine, however, they had no plan other than "wander around and look for the lower levels." This turned out to be not immediately possible because guards watch them work and tell them to quit ing around.

This frustrated the players and their characters probably spent an hour or two actually digging granite debating what to do in those moments their overseers couldn't hear them.

Among the popular options were:

* Druid cast Charm Person on the guard.
* Kill the guard.
* Have the dwarf say "I left my tools in the lower level." Which, at this point, seemed possible because I think the players actually thought the creatures who worked the midnight shift in the lower levels were dwarves.
* Have the thief try and distract the guard by offering to sell him some loaded dice.
* Thief and Dwarf get in a fight, the rest slip by while the guard breaks it up.

After much debate, the team goes with the last option. The thief's charisma score is so low, attempting to distract the guard with a bribe or something would almost certainly fail.

The fight between the Human Rogue and the Dwarf Barbarian is a successful distraction! I rolled 1d4 damage (1) and told the two players that was how much damage the accidentally inflicted in the fight, but they could assign it however they wanted, so the Dwarf took the 1hp damage.

The Druid, Paladin, and Cleric slip past and head down to the lower-level, which no human worker has seen.

Down there, it's dark. There are no torches, only glowing fungi, and the human has trouble seeing so he casts Light. They begin exploring and quickly find 6 goblins digging!

Meanwhile the dwarf upstairs tries to bluff his way past the guard, by pointing out that he is an actual dwarf and therefore it's ok for him to go down to the lower levels where the "dwarves" dig.

The guard smiles at this and realizes the Dwarf is up to no good, because there ARE no dwarves at the Quarry, only disguised goblins!

Before he can call for help, the Dwarf kicks him in the nuts and the Thief punches him. This does not fell the human guard, however, and he does call for help and get a couple of swings in before his friend, the other guard, comes to see what all the hubbub's about.

Seeing his friend engaged with a dwarf and a human, he runs to go get more help. "Great," the players think. "The patented Colville Screw," whereby alerted guards never join the fray, they first get all their buddies from all the other encounters.

The dwarf and thief knock the guard out, tie him up, and drag him downstairs, joining their friends. After a moment separated, the party is now together.

They fight the goblins, easy. But the noise brings two Human Clerics and four Goblins to investigate and now gets serious because the two human clerics are AC: 18 (chain and shield) and third level, so they have 2nd level spells like Spiritual Weapon.

Spiritual Weapon plus AC:18 plus 10 goblins was bad enough. The goblins all turned out to be one-hit bad guys, so they weren't a problem, but the clerics turned out to be really hard to hit mostly because of bad rolling.

Then three guards from upstairs joined the fray and now the players basically knew it was over.

They almost made it though! The dwarf went down three times, two Cure Wounds spells and one Lay On Hands kept bringing him back. Stupidly, he didn't rage until the very end and that basically cost them the battle, given how close it was.

The druid was actually killed outright.

In the end, they got all the goblins, one of the clerics, and all three guards before the Thief had to run.

The cleric went and got two Bugbears to help tie up the unconscious party and prepare them for their new lives as slaves.

The thief watched the Cleric leave. Then he snuck down and grabbed the unconscious dwarf and dragged him back upstairs before the cleric could return with his bugbears. I failed to have the Cleric check to notice the missing dwarf. Just thought of it now.

The thief drags the dwarf up to the top level of the mine where he tells the other workers about what they found deep in the mine.

Normally these guys would be " off, we're working," but the thief is a Commoner and has Salt of the Earth, so the workers believe him and agree to hide the unconscious dwarf and get him to safety.

The druid player, who is like 17 years old, son of another player, never played any RPG before, rolls up another dude. A monk!

Well, in the actual adventure, the party's patron had sent his own agent, a Monk, down to the quarry. But if the players never inquire about other attempt to find out what's going on, he doesn't mention him.

So I ruled that, since we had a new Monk, it was that Monk. Infiltrated the "dwarf" Bazili's operation as a slave, but able to pick the lock on his manacles and escape whenever he wants.

A few hours after coming to, the captured heroes are greeted by the Monk who explains who he is, they work for the same dude, he can show them the way out...but they have no gear and there's a Bugear guard and four goblins on the way out.

Meanwhile the Dwarf and the Thief are back in town, recuperating, spreading the word about what's really going on at the mine (goblins! Clerics of the Elemental Eye!)

At this point, I had to go, so we left it there.

My Notes

I'm not sure why, the adventure is straightforward, but I found "A local lord hires you to go investigate..." was a weak lead-in. I guess I felt there wasn't really enough going on to warrant the Lord's interference? I dunno, maybe I missed something. Once I had the local lord invite the "visiting noblemen" to dinner, everything was fine, but it took me a few minutes to get there and I wasn't particularly excited by it. There wasn't an "Ooh, I can't wait!" on my part, and as the GM that's a problem. It felt more like work. "Ok, how do I get things rolling?"

My players VERY TYPICALLY managed to get themselves quite deep into the dungeon/adventure by a combination of luck and guile and when that ran out, they found they had gotten in WAY over their heads.

The adventure is dynamic with lots of ways in, lots of things to do, different shifts layed out. There's seriously like 6 or 8 different ways you can approach this. Both literally as in entrances, and metaphorically as in difference ruses used to gain entrance.

But that comes with a price which is complex text. Not a problem so much with a PDF you can search, but there is no PDF of Danger at Darkshelf Quarry so even though I was SURE I read something about what the guard do if ______, I couldn't find it when I needed it.

I wasn't sure what was 'supposed' to happen if the party tried to infiltrate as common workers, but I felt confident in my solution. High Charisma Druid, Disguise Kit, actual Commoner in the party who'd worked the mines, it seemed like a good plan to me, and given their rolls, I felt no reason it wouldn't succeed. And, as I mention, all success means in this instance is; they got further into the fire....

Everyone had a good time, making dudes was very easy thanks to the edits I made, and the game ran fine. We play on a grid, so I gave Advantage when flanking, but that mostly only helped the bad guys. The Cleric had Burning Hands as a Domain Spell, but he never cast it and I don't know why. The dwarf didn't rage until the very end. He was so happy with his RIDICULOUS stats, I don't think he bothered to even look at his other until it was too late.

Now half the party is captured, there's a way out, but it's dangerous, and the other half of the party is back in town licking their wounds. Smells like D&D!