D&D 5E DMing "Out of the Abyss"

[Guest 6801328]

For new DMs I would definitely read all the threads in this forum about Out of the Abyss. Lots of good ideas, and also just clarification of what's going on and how it's supposed to work.

 

[speculart]

When I run this I think chapter two may be played out best as a combination of the chase, combined with a murder mystery. For this I am thinking of adding even MORE npcs..pitiful, cute, lovable npcs...that Buppido systematically, silently...horrifyingly slaughters.
You are missing an opportunity if you play Buppido craaaazy from the beginning.
When you look at it this way, all the other characters become likely red herrings...each has the capacity to be the killer... even shooshar! Although Stool would be a hard sell for a killer I would grant you.
This adds an exciting way to ramp up the tension as well as they frantically escape through the underdark and start getting picked off.

It fits so well that I kind of think that it must have been planned that way at some point.

 

[designbot]

I'm finding the description of how the Maze Engine works very confusing. It could be interpreted that you roll on the Maze Engine Effects table 1 time, 2 times, 12 times, or 13 times.

The best I can guess, you only roll once (on round 12), unless the party does something to stop it from falling into the lava, in which case you roll repeatedly. It's pretty unclear, though.

 

[Eduardo Saruva]

Well I'm starting Out in the next two months (the group need to finish another adventure first) but I'm railroading the characters without them actively knowing it, since I'll be using the NPCs to guide the group and the "days of travel" table it's all going to be real smooth. It's not technically a "railroad" since they're not familiar with the Underdark. Also as it's me that's keeping track of NPCs HP I can kill them in the most dramatic time. [spoilers below]

- Ront is going to be murdered in Velkynvelve as an example for the other prisoners that try to escape. (and because I don't like him) He's also is going to be the bully (as described in his description) wich will make the characters bound with Stool (I already am in love with him and that's a very good reason for making them travel to Neverlight Grove, which is with absolutly no doubt my favorite dungeon in the whole book);

- Sarith will remain as a guide and some weird roleplaying as his spores grow in power. I'm also leaving him and any other NPC in an Inn in Gracklstugh so he's not "teleported" to the Grove before the climatic battle. He's going to die in the fight against Yestabrod in Neverlight Grove;

- Shuushar suggests that they go to Sloobludop (they can leave the Kuo-Toa that is a pacifist and won't even fight to defend his life, wasting food and supplies from the group in the city, I'm also killing him in the madness that takes over the crowd after Demogorgon rises). After this a chat with group indicates that the nearest helpful place to stock and rest is Gracklstugh and from there they depart to leave the little Stool in his home;

- Buppido will stay in the group for his madness roleplay and some ther oddities that I'm planning as encounters. He'll die in Gracklstugh as stated in the adventure after fleeing the group minutes after they enter the city;

- Prince Derendil will rise to the surface with the characters, and different from the suggestion in the book I'm gonna roleplay him forgetting bit by bit "who he is" since the effects of the madness start to wear off; first he forgets where's he's from, then his past and the last thing forgotten is his name, then he just becomes a quaggoth and flees;

- Jimjar will sacrifice himself for the characters escape the drow when they get LVL 5 in their pursuit (and that's going to happen real soon knowing my players). Like suggested in the book he's in fact a god and that is all a rouse so he can keep an eye on the group);

- Topsy & Turvy will remain with the group till the battle with the drow, which will be a massive mind-blowing encounter (Jimjar "dies"), during the encounter they will suffer the transformation in Wererats and will panick and flee, so I'm gonna give the "Quick time Event" decision to my players, go after them or let them flee. (If the PCs allow them to flee maybe they'll survive);

- Eldeth will be part of the group and the quiet type since she doesn't know the place she'll accept the opinion of other even if she disagrees internally.

- Stool (hopefully) will be left to the care of Basidia and Rumpadump.

So, I'm basically following the sequence of the chapters presented in the book for the first part. On the second part (that I still have to read) I'm going to create the insane asylum that the mindflayer Zelix runs. I'm still uncertain where to place the "mini" dungeons like Oozing Temple, Silken Paths and the Lost Tomb. The encounters during the travels will be planned, I already created some new options for terrains, hazards and foraging.

 

[robus]

This and other threads are very useful, but it would be very helpful if the official APs could have their own subgroups to bring the threads together. Useful content is getting buried within miscellaneous threads imho.

In other news I've created a quick reference sheet for the gracklstugh encounters that I'll be uploading tomorrow.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

When I run this I think chapter two may be played out best as a combination of the chase, combined with a murder mystery. For this I am thinking of adding even MORE npcs..pitiful, cute, lovable npcs...that Buppido systematically, silently...horrifyingly slaughters.
You are missing an opportunity if you play Buppido craaaazy from the beginning.
When you look at it this way, all the other characters become likely red herrings...each has the capacity to be the killer... even shooshar! Although Stool would be a hard sell for a killer I would grant you.

Oooo. Now I want to change the fluff to make Buppido a harmless old geezer (since I've already been playing him as a bit batty) and Stool a secret killer. I can give him some special toxic Zuggtmoy spores.

 

[CapnZapp]

Well I'm starting Out in the next two months (the group need to finish another adventure first) but I'm railroading the characters without them actively knowing it, since I'll be using the NPCs and the "days of travel" table it's all going to be real smooth. It's not technically a "railroad" since they're not familiar with the Underdark. Also as it's me that's keeping track of NPCs HP I can kill them in the most dramatic time. [spoilers below]

- Ront is going to be murdered in Velkynvelve as an example for the other prisoners that try to escape. (and because I don't like him) He's also is going to be the bully (as described in his description) wich will make the characters bound with Stool (I already am in love with him and that's a very good reason for making them travel to Neverlight Grove, which is with absolutly no doubt my favorite dungeon in the whole book);

- Sarith will remain as a guide and some weird roleplaying as his spores grow in power. I'm also leaving him and any other NPC in an Inn in Gracklstugh so he's not "teleported" to the Grove before the climatic battle. He's going to die in the fight against Yestabrod in Neverlight Grove;

- Shuushar suggests that they go to Sloobludop (they can leave the Kuo-Toa that is a pacifist and won't even fight to defende his life, wasting food and supplies from the group in the city, I'm also killing him in the madness that takes over the crowd after Demogorgon rises). After this a chat with group indicates that the nearest place to stock, rest and helpful is Gracklstugh and from there they depart to leave the little Stool in his home;

- Buppido will stay in the group for his madness roleplay and some ther oddities that I'm planning as encounters. He'll die in Gracklstugh as stated in the adventure after fleeing the group minutes after they enter the city;

- Prince Derendil will rise to the surface with the characters, and different from the suggestion in the book I'm gonna roleplay him forgetting bit by bit "who he is"; first he forgets where's he's from, then his past and the last thing forgotten is his name, then he just becomes a quaggoth and flees;

- Jimjar will sacrifice himself for the characters escape the drow when they get LVL 5 in their pursuit (and that's going to happen real soon knowing my players). Like suggested in the book he's in fact a god and that is all a rouse so he can keep an eye on the group);

- Topsy & Turvy will remain with the group till the battle with the drow, which will be a massive mind-blowing encounter (Jimjar "dies"), during the encounter they will suffer the transformation in Wererats and will panick and flee, so I'm gonna give the "Quick time Event" decision to my players, go after them or let them flee. (If they allow them to flee maybe they will survive);

- Eldeth will be part of the group and the quiet type since she doesn't know the place she'll accept the opinion of other even if she disagrees internally.

- Stool (hopefully) will be left to the care of Basidia and Rumpadump.

So, I'm basically following the sequence of the chapters presented in the book for the first part. On the second part (that I still have to read) I'm going to create the insane asylum that the mindflaye Zelix runs. I'm still uncertain where to place the "mini" dungeons like Oozing Temple, Silken Paths and the Lost tomb. I'll just put the Tomb in the first part since it's going to be too much things to pay attention at once.

While that is a lot of cool ideas, don't lose track of the fundamental cornerstone of role-playing games:

The story belongs to the players. As Dungeon Master, your job is to enable their story.

Telling stories that you decide yourself is what you do around the fireplace, when you write a novel, or make a movie.

Just a friendly reminder to not fall in love with your own ideas TOO much, since the players WILL have other ideas... [emoji3]

 

[CapnZapp]

I'm finding the description of how the Maze Engine works very confusing.

Honestly, my best advice is to repost this question in a month, or three. Very few play groups will have reached that chapter so soon...

 

[Demetrios1453]

When I run this I think chapter two may be played out best as a combination of the chase, combined with a murder mystery. For this I am thinking of adding even MORE npcs..pitiful, cute, lovable npcs...that Buppido systematically, silently...horrifyingly slaughters.
You are missing an opportunity if you play Buppido craaaazy from the beginning.
When you look at it this way, all the other characters become likely red herrings...each has the capacity to be the killer... even shooshar! Although Stool would be a hard sell for a killer I would grant you.
This adds an exciting way to ramp up the tension as well as they frantically escape through the underdark and start getting picked off.

It fits so well that I kind of think that it must have been planned that way at some point.

That's what I'm doing - he's offed two of the NPCs while crossing the Darklake, and my players don't suspect him at all, even though he was basically caught at the scene of the crime (most of my group think it's the deep gnome twins, who are trailing the party in a boat, Gollum-like, after their secret identity was caught out, although they have other suspects as well).

One of my players even told me how cool that this was all in the module!

 

[CapnZapp]

I was thinking about the ramifications of this on my future group as well. Also, I'm not too familiar with leveling up NPC "scouts," but I haven't really run all that many adventures in 5th edition yet. Perhaps information about that lay in the monster manual.

...

That does leave the question: How do you level a myconid sprout?

All advice concerning NPCs and monsters; how to create them, change them and generally run them, is in the DMG in this edition, not the Monster Manual.

There is no explicit advice regarding how to level NPCs. There is the assumption they gain xp if they fight alongside the PCs, but no concrete procedures as to what this xp does for a creature.

You can stat up NPCs as PCs, as monsters, as simple statblocks, as "just a description" and you can add levels to monsters.

But "you can do this" is far from specific rules and regulations. It's up to you, really. Unless your NPC is a character with class and levels (so it really is a PC, not a NPC or monster at all) there are no clear rules on how xp makes a monster become better (gain hit dice or even class levels).

Myconoids are a special case. I would simply have Stool transform into the next myconoid phase overnight (when the party level becomes too high). That is, he doesn't level so much as he pupates...