DMing D&D (Neverwinter) Encounters at the Red Castle

Saracenus, the nearest game store to me is changing about every two or three weeks--not because the stores themselves are changing, but because my physical location is.
This Brookings address is temporary for me: it's my parent's retirement house on the coast; now, with both of them passed away, my brothers and I are repairing it and disposing of household goods. When that process is done, I'll be going back to the Eugene area, where Evolution Gaming already does Encounters. Until then, my location isn't stable enough to plan a week in advance.

(Thanks for the invitation to PM, though!)

My condolences for your loss. Good luck with the repairs.

If you are back up in the Eugene area by Aug 6th, and if your local store isn't running the WWGD, let me know and I will try and find you a spot up here.
 

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Week 10

Encounters at Red Castle Games in Portland, Oregon

"Another statue in the shape of a harsh angelic guardian watches over this room~ which also contains a well brimming with dark water."
I walked into the store today and got to rapping with the owner. He asked how its going. I said, "Oh yeah its been great. A couple of kids have been at every session. Good regular group." Of course they didn't show up this time. Luckily, one of my regulars did, about five minutes late finding me sitting at an empty table with battle-mat and dice at the ready.
We waited for a bit and finally her friend showed up, another newbie to the D&D. Usually I call three players a quorum, but for Encounters, two was fine. There I was, playing Dungeons and Dragons with two girls, a first in my long gaming career! I tried to drag the cashier into the mix, but he had to catalog Magic cards, so I just added a Knight to the Thief and Cleric party. The Knight's tag line was "Don't you DARE ignore me!" which is fitting for an NPC. After a quick recap, the heroes entered the Crypt below the Monastery.
I didn't mod the encounter for the 3 PCs. This made for a tense fight, with all the heroes bloodied by the end, and some close calls along the way. This was a "connected room dungeon" battle. My goal was to get the players to explore a bit of it as the battle progressed and keep it from getting static. I was able to guide it in that direction and I 'm glad I did. These are the little DM lessons to be learned from Encounters.
There were some memorable moments. The thief, on fire thanks to a Blazing Skeleton, jumped into a Holy Well to find that this holy water gave her a blessing as well! The cleric had to make some decisions about healing herself or the knight, and finally there was a bit of discussion about whether to desecrate a coffin to get some treasure. Pragmatism won.
On reflection, I've been really lucky with the continuity of the player group so far. Today was the first time I sat down and wondered if anyone would show up. I'm sure glad that didn't happen the first week I showed up to DM Encounters.
Tonight I won at D&D because one player on her fourth week of brought in another new recruit, so the Encounters plan is working. Huzzah!
 

Encounters at the Red Castle Games, Portland OR

In which I encounter an entirely new table, and conquer it!


Tonight I arrived at the game store to pick up my specially ordered Dire Boar mini, and to run a D&D Encounter, the 11th of the current season, nearly the end of the line. I had been quite smug about my returning player ratio but that began to fall apart last week. This week I took a call at the store from a trio of players who were late but promised to arrive. They never did.

Instead, a young lad of 14 or so was waiting for me, a neophyte to the Dungeons and Dragons, though he had his own dice. He was soon joined by an even younger lad with his mother in tow. Mom sat in the corner with her Kingsolver book while her son bellied up to the table for his first D&D experience. Both chose fighters. Then the ladies arrived from last week, with a third friend as well. Suddenly we had five players, potentially eight if the others showed, and I was scrambling for enough characters and minis. Luckily I had enough stuff floating around my traveling kit. The third gal was also a first timer. That made the most experienced player a veteran of 5 sessions. They were all figuring their d20 from their d12.

The characters were an Elven Thief, an Eladrin Cleric, a Drow Hunter, a Dragonborn Knight, and a Dwarf Slayer.


I explained the game a bit, but didn't sweat it too much. "Roll your d20 and add the number. Use your red powers! Here's a damage die. Ok let's go!" I certainly didn't try to explain how an rpg works, rather I threw them right into it. I recapped the story a bit and asked for the players to describe their character's actions as they explored the ruined monastery in the last rays of the setting sun. They eased into it. I took a skill check from each and moved the narrative right into the fight. Who needs a skill challenge? This is just storytelling guided by dice. The dice were not particularly strong and so the heroes were ambushed.


As they entered the abbey, the Dark Elf Hunter was shot in the throat with a poisoned dart. Suddenly there were goblin-like Dark Ones with their goaty hooves, living Shadows grasping, and fiery Tar Devils attacking from all sides! The ambush was brutal, and although the cleric was attentive to her duties, handing out healing and extra saves, there were still a couple of near casualties.


Everyone had a great time and looks forward to the next week as we near the finale.

As a public DM, this was a particularly satisfying game for me, seeing the quiet excitement on the faces of the young boys, and the sort of silly fun the ladies were having was a real treat. The youngest kid just said, "I hit it with my axe," every time, but he said it with great enthusiasm. The older boy took his role as protector quite seriously and saved the thief with a natural 20 on a First Aid check. (I made them do their addition each time the rolled.) The ladies came up with rude names for their foes and cursed the dice that brought their side of the table a steady stream of 3 and 4s.


It was very different from playing with experienced gamers, less attention to rules, but a keen sense of that wonderment we all search for in these games of fantasy. This kind of experience may be closest to what I am personally looking for in D&D. It is like the best days teaching in a classroom, holding court with an enthusiastic and engaged audience, guiding the discussion towards it's logical conclusion. Fun times.
 

The Public Dungeon Master: Encounters at the Red Castle #12

Encounters at Red Castle Games in Portland, Oregon


Tonight I had a full house for the penultimate encounter of the Dark Legacy of Evard. There were eight players at the table, the largest group yet. Any more and we'll need another Dungeon Master. Once again, people brought their friends, people new to the game but who picked it up quickly enough.

The battle took place as the world once more fell into shadow, and a dark library appeared. The players went ahead and knocked on the front door. They were answered by a butler who refused to open the door at first, but soon succumbed to the authority of a Suggestion spell cast by the new Wizard player.

Entering the library, the heroes bantered a bit with the possessed wizard Vontarin/Nathaire. He claimed that he would break the curse himself, that he didn't need their help, but they saw through the lies and the battle was joined.

This was a neat little two tiered battle, made all the more fun by the precarious book shelves and the bookshelf models I brought along to fall down on the minis. The books did a lot of damage! We ended with the spirit of Vontarin whispering from his dark prison, offering undreamt of wealth and power in exchange for a new bodily vessel. What will the heroes do?


Even with 8 heroes, I only added a second Dark Butler on the second floor and it was still a close fight. One player went down, and many were worried at various points. I spread the hurt around and did a lot of public rolling to determine which character I would attack. No one has died this encounter season, so I think I had better be merciless next session.


A couple notes:

I need to establish a quick primer for new players:

  • How to read a the character sheet
  • How to read a "power"
  • The basics of combat tactics etc.
Along the way it wouldn't hurt to establish some table rules as well:

  • Don't tell people what to do on their turn
  • Try to describe your actions visually
  • Make sure you know your basic attack bonus
  • Do your own math and tell me the total number etc
A single "Welcome to the Dungeon" page might go a long way.

It feels like this is gaining a bit of popularity, but I know attendance will still fluctuate wildly. Nevertheless, I love it that people are bringing their friends. I dig that there's a group of ladies who are ditching happy hour to roll the dice. Soon they'll be painting their own minis.

I do have some critiques of the adventure itself, but I will save them for next week.
 

The Public Dungeon Master: Encounters at the Red Castle #13

At Red Castle Games in Portland, Oregon
My final session of the "Dark Legacy of Evard" was strong on players, but the adventure fizzled from this DM's perspective.
Once again I had a table of eight. This time there were two new players, a father and son team, and the rest were veterans of the last few sessions. When the characters were sorted we had a Cavalier, a Binder Warlock, a Rangers Hunter, a PHB1 Ranger, a Slayer, a Cleric, a Thief and a Knight. Whew! A full table. I need a backup DM if these numbers continue.
I opted to move the plot right along and had the ghost of Nathaire speak to the party, even as he left his body for good. He told them how to use the ritual as his last act of repentance for the misery he had caused. We then proceeded with skill challenge. It didn't make alot of sense to me, this skill challenge, and the players rolled horribly. After giving the narrative a chance to move a bit, they failed and were all blasted as the graveyard erupted with Zombies and the ghost of Vontarin freaked out. A couple of heroes fell and all were bloodied in the end. The cleric was down at the last round, so we ruled that she died. Someone had to.
For me, this was an anticlimactic ending. The last encounter was nearly identical to the one before though with a less interesting dynamic. The villain was basically the same. I changed it around to make the Wizard a close bursting banshee type monster, but they piled on it in classic solo fight style. This battle really should have been a set piece to remember, with some sort of terrain or mechanic to make it memorable, but it was more or less a repeat of the week before.
I think the similarity of the last to fights points to the major problem of the season, which is that it featured two villains who were literally indistinguishable. Its hard enough for people to keep track of fantasy names and mysterious plots in these games without twining them all together in a mush. It was very apparent to me every time I recapped the story, that this was a narrative particularly lacking in clarity.
"So a long time ago there were two wizards, but now there's two wizards though one is different, and one's possessing the other so they're kinda the same, but you fight them so it doesn't matter really, and they have the same stats too."
Here's hoping next season is full of clearer goals and benchmarks.
Of course everyone had fun and it really felt like enthusiasm is building for next season. I have enjoyed this stint of public DMing and I will continue for awhile. The interaction with the younger players particularly reminds me of why I have been trying to break into the teaching profession.
 

The Public DM: A New Season Starts Strong





Searching for the Lost Crown of Neverwinter at Red Castle Games: Session 1


Season Six of Dungeons and Dragons Encounters started off strong. More and more people kept coming in the door. I believe we had 11 players when all was said and done. Luckily my own DM, [MENTION=89625]Robtheman[/MENTION] stopped by the shop and stepped into the breach just as I was about to be overwhelmed! We made two tables, I with my regulars and Rob with a bunch of new kids and a dad. From what I could overhear I could tell he ran a great session.

It is really gratifying to see the turnout increasing, and I hope we continue to have strong attendance and get people excited about this game. I like seeing folks buy dice after an Encounters session. D&D is rad!

Red Castle didn't do the Game Day last weekend, and no one is using the new Heroes of Neverwinter book, but most of my players brought their own characters to the table anyways. This had it's pros and cons. On one hand I'm stoked the players were into it and are dreaming up their own heroes, but on the other hand they made somewhat complicated characters. The casual players in the group were quite slow to grok their multi-page character sheets. This should smooth out in future sessions as people familiarize themselves with their new options, but combat felt slow to me. There was also a bit of horsing around between players, grabbing dice and sheets that I need to clamp down on next week. Just kids being kids, but I'll be bringing my "Guidelines for a Polite Gaming Society" next time.

The heroes consisted of a Shifter Barbarian, a Dragonborn Warlock, a Dragonborn Druid, an Avenger, a Duergar Barbarian(conceived as a dwarf undergoing a punk rock mid-life crisis, tattoos and liberty spikes etc), and an Eladrin Cleric.

The party began in the market by the docks, new to town. They spent some time talking to various vendors of armors and meat pies, learning a bit about the town, its history of cataclysm and the locals ambivalence about the civic improvements brought by the current Lord Protector. The Druid helped a man with his broken wagon wheel and received 10 gold coins for his troubles.

Then all hell broke loose. Spellplagued men came pouring out of the sewers grates. They were mutants with distended limbs, yawning mouths and claws that burned with a blue fire. If these were once Men of Neverwinter, they had long since lost their souls. The spellplagued maniacs were joined by three lizards the size of small ponys, with dagger teeth and eyes of blue flame. The barbarians and avenger engaged the lizards toe to toe, all three of them going down beneath the iron jaws of the beasts during the fight. It was all the Cleric could do to keep the warriors on their feet. The mutants came in waves and threatened to overwhelm the party until the timely appearance of a helmed knight, wearing a crown that sparkled with blue flame, his purple cloak billowing about him as he cut a swath through the melee to lend a helping hand to the fallen dwarf. "For Neverwinter!" he cried with a voice like gravel bouncing down a cobbled road. With the help of this mystery knight the attackers were driven off and surviving townsfolk began to cry out in shock and disbelief, "The King! The King has returned! It is as foretold, the Heir that Was Lost has returned!"

All talk died as the knight pointed his sword into the air and spoke, "Hark! The leader approaches to do battle!" All turned their eyes to the sky and beheld a white winged figure that passed across the sun and swooped low toward the dock, it was a mighty beast, a dragon! White of scale, its eyes burned with a blue flame...
 


...and no one is using the new Heroes of Neverwinter book, but most of my players brought their own characters to the table anyways. This had it's pros and cons. On one hand I'm stoked the players were into it and are dreaming up their own heroes, but on the other hand they made somewhat complicated characters. The casual players in the group were quite slow to grok their multi-page character sheets. This should smooth out in future sessions as people familiarize themselves with their new options, but combat felt slow to me. There was also a bit of horsing around between players, grabbing dice and sheets that I need to clamp down on next week. Just kids being kids, but I'll be bringing my "Guidelines for a Polite Gaming Society" next time.

The heroes consisted of a Shifter Barbarian, a Dragonborn Warlock, a Dragonborn Druid, an Avenger, a Duergar Barbarian(conceived as a dwarf undergoing a punk rock mid-life crisis, tattoos and liberty spikes etc), and an Eladrin Cleric."


BTW this season's Encounters officially permitted sources are the Essentials HoTL, HoTFK, and the Neverwinter Campaign Guide. :lol:
 

Durn,

Great to hear that your tables are growing @ Redcastle. @Robtheman is indeed a great judge. He helped early on at Guardian Games and is welcome to DM at my tables anytime.

It must be the summer or something because we have jumped from just 6 tables to 7 tables a week by the end of Dark Legacy of Evard and we just hit 8 tables in the first week of Lost Crown of Neverwinter. (We also ran 5 tables of the World Wide Game Day, Gates of Neverdeath and had to turn folks away)

I fully expect we will see a drop off in play (back down 5-6 tables) come the fall (school starting is a major factor).

Are you guys going to run Lair Assault (LA)? We just pulled the trigger and one of my D&D Encounters (DDE) DMs (Yay Davena!) is going to step up to be the WPN Coordinator for it (I have my hands full with DDE).

If you are, Sept 15th is the cut off to order for the first season of LA.

Keep up the excellent work!
 

I dunno about LA. That's not so much my style of DMing and it is a pretty green crowd at Red Castle so if anyone expresses interest I might just point them toward Guardian.

As for table size, yeah when school starts back up it'll probably change quick. On the other hand, when its raining and dark instead of sunny and warm at 6:30pm people might be more inclined to hang out indoors...
 

Once again into the breach, a Dungeon Master braves the wilderlands of the public gaming table, welcoming all who come to play at 6:30pm on Wednesdays at Red Castle Games of PDX, OR.

I have told Harold and Kumar- they are on their way.

Good luck with your game!
 

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