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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sulicius" data-source="post: 9796754" data-attributes="member: 6896569">Alright! I just had two days doing two 2-hr session at the board game con Spellenspektakel here in Utrecht using the new D&D starter set: Heroes of the Borderlands.I had one non-combat encounter where the party could help a wagon teetering off a cliff as the horse in front of it was panicing. The heroes then found a farmer NPC who had just been attacked by Kobolds. She would ask the heroes to return the silver necklace they took from her.After that, we ran the Kobold Lair by the book.The first session was wonderful. I played with 2 new players and 2 more experienced, one of which was a forever DM's first shot at being a player! They had a great time. I loved the way they interacted with all the cards and tokens, it made things a lot easier. Picking species was really fun! I did already give them a background. I had a random encounter with two stirges to get them familiar with combat, and then they went into the dungeon. It was really fun, sadly they whiffed two persuasion checks with the wyrmling, and 3 of them got melted by acid. The rogue was able to yoink the silver necklace and got out alone! Very fun!The second was a family. Mother, two sons and a daughter, all teenagers. This... Was less fun. The boys were murder hobo's and I struggled at times. They attacked the copper dragon wyrmling on sight, and got melted by two breath weapons. The daughter actually tried to save the situation by trying to talk to the wyrmling, but to no success. The mother was slightly upset that I could make things up and was trying to win. I told her a lot of things could have happened there, and the dice were agains them. Thankfully the son backed me up. I didn't feel so happy about almost TPK-ing two parties, so I decided to reduce the breath weapon to 2d8 (instead of 4d8!)Today, the third group was really fun. I had a father and daughter who played with me last time. The daughter was wicked smart for her age, making smart decisions based on the lore, psychology of monsters and clever tricks. Cool kid. This party also went in blazing, but all hit the wyrmling on the first turn, rolled high on damage and took it out quickly! They had a blast.Fourth group was a family of mother, father and daughter and a boy with his mother (who just watched). The father was a big fan of D&D, and had played a little with his daughter, but his English was so poor that he struggled playing. The mother was quite good for a first time player, and looking back, I think I could have been less of a beginner-focused DM to them. This party was actually able to talk things out with the kobolds by intimidating them, and used a sleep spell against the dragon wyrmling to get the necklace back! They were able to be finished half an hour before the end time, but I didn't mind. I chatted some with the father who really didn't have anyone to play D&D with, mostly because of the language barrier. That made me sad.All in all: a wonderful time. The professional finish of the new starter set drew eyes from some other DM's who were unaware of the product. I think I sold some sets for WotC this weekend! I LOVE the monster cards that I can use to show art, even the NPC and item cards! Still: the game is too complicated to do justice in two hours. Spells, background features and race features were just a bit too much. Next time I think I will keep those image-side up for the entire thing.</blockquote>

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