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

[speculart]

I have a question. My niece and nephew just bought me the book for my birthday, and I turned to the monster stats expecting mindflayer lichs... I know I read in the promo stuff that Orcus took an elder brain and turned it undead and it made a whole city of the flayers crave undeath... but I can't find it in the book itself. even if just flavor with no stats that sounds awesome, where do I look for it?

I was a bit miffed about this as well. It seems that the media mixed all the good stuff together.

 

[DMCF]

How did they get to level 3 playing harried in Hillsfar?

I guess that isn't quite true. In truth they got to level 2. I had several reasons for starting OotA @ level 3 (1 & 2 for a few).

Since we were playing Harried I needed a transition to OotA. I ambushed them with a CR 8 drow Priestess and all the Elites in a tavern at the Stop. It was supposed to be a steam roll (and it was) to show them the power of their captors.

There was great RP throughout the session. We played for at least 3 hours and they managed to down one of the elites (albeit by a roll of 1 on my part). They basically managing to hit Juran (Insert Disfigurement!) in the face with a hand axe. They then lined up so that I crit failed a poisoned bolt into him from another Drow. I was so impressed with how everything lined up with the book that I credited them 300xp and XP for the elite Drow they took down.

We have around 22(?) sessions to get through an adventure and Harried took 3, Bridge to OotA took the 4th session. Most of the character introductions are done and NPCs will be handled during travel. Still, I want them to start out a little higher to make up for lost time.

Another big reason is that I tune XP gains to my players. Some are pure combat. This group is very heavily RP and sometimes we go for 3-4 hours without a single battle. Thus, I feel we need to move the story along. Many battles become easier but it gives that "Rampage through the dungeon" feel with just enough upsets that will knock a few players out. This balance seems to work as I had a near TPK in PotA that was totally one Goliath's fault. The party exonerated me from any blame but the fact that they can make those mistakes has me feeling this is a good balance.

 

[speculart]

I am really drawn to that opening to the campaign DMCF.
I also like the idea of having a montage travel session in the caravan on the way to Velkynvelve. They could be blindfolded for the majority of the journey of course but its a good opportunity to introduce the characters and reinforce the cruelty of the drow...you could also have flashes of the more bizarre caverns of the underdark as they travel and are let out for the night..sign posts to the surface that may or may not be revisited on the return journey.

 

[Motorskills]

Also, I've been thinking alot about EXITS from the Underdark. The module basically says to let the characters out after they've discovered that demon lords are infesting the underworld, but does not give actual exit points. I'd like to offer some choices and excitement with the actual escape besides the obligatory drow fight.
IDEA: Use the Elemental Evil dungeons from Princes of the Apocalypse! The closest exit to Gracklstugh is the Earth Temple, the closest exit to Blindenstone is the Air Temple. Perhaps the Water Temple is connected to the Darklake itself. It would require some modifications of course, but they are weird cavernous dungeons that are not too big. If not those dungeons, perhaps some other dungeon breakout scenario might be cool.

I've got a more immediate problem. As part of my prep I want to

i) identify the fellow prisoners that know of routes to the surface, or where such can be pursued.
ii) identify those other 'encounter' NPCs and monster encounters that would plausibly know of exits
iii) identify the definite sources of routes to the surface

I'd definitely appreciate some help with those lists.


Because my concern is that I need to give the party the run-around until they are seventh level, I don't want them locating an absolute escape route at (say) Level 4.

For example, the party can run into a party of shield dwarf scouts (per page 29) and presumably these guys could be convinced to take them to the surface. Now I can avoid that happening in a number of ways, but I don't want to be blindsided by that kind of thing.


As a side note, the book makes extensive reference to shield dwarves. AFAICT they are a Forgotten Realms regional dwarven race, presumably statted as Mountain Dwarves in 5e? Are they described anywhere in OOTA or in the core books?

 

[ddaley]

I've got a more immediate problem. As part of my prep I want to

i) identify the fellow prisoners that know of routes to the surface, or where such can be pursued.
ii) identify those other 'encounter' NPCs and monster encounters that would plausibly know of exits
iii) identify the definite sources of routes to the surface

I'd definitely appreciate some help with those lists.


Because my concern is that I need to give the party the run-around until they are seventh level, I don't want them locating an absolute escape route at (say) Level 4.

For example, the party can run into a party of shield dwarf scouts (per page 29) and presumably these guys could be convinced to take them to the surface. Now I can avoid that happening in a number of ways, but I don't want to be blindsided by that kind of thing.


As a side note, the book makes extensive reference to shield dwarves. AFAICT they are a Forgotten Realms regional dwarven race, presumably statted as Mountain Dwarves in 5e? Are they described anywhere in OOTA or in the core books?

I am in the process of putting together a spreadsheet with important information. I don't know if I'll have this in a useful state in time to help you though.

So far I have 4 tabs: NPCs (friendly that might join the party), Other NPCs, Locations, Fungi. On the NPC tab, I am summarizing name, race, home location, desired location (places they would like to go), locations to avoid (locations they want to avoid), initial location (where the characters initially encounter them), Where they can navigate to, and other notes about them. On the places that they can navigate to, I am using a green font if I know that destination has a path to the surface.

I am currently only in chapter 4 (near the end), so I have a ways to go...

 

[Motorskills]

I am in the process of putting together a spreadsheet with important information. I don't know if I'll have this in a useful state in time to help you though.

So far I have 4 tabs: NPCs (friendly that might join the party), Other NPCs, Locations, Fungi. On the NPC tab, I am summarizing name, race, home location, desired location (places they would like to go), locations to avoid (locations they want to avoid), initial location (where the characters initially encounter them), Where they can navigate to, and other notes about them. On the places that they can navigate to, I am using a green font if I know that destination has a path to the surface.

I am currently only in chapter 4 (near the end), so I have a ways to go...

I was thinking of a starting a new thread(s) where we could crowdsource this stuff. I imagine there are hordes of DMs out there, all re-inventing the wheel....

 

[robus]

I was thinking of a starting a new thread(s) where we could crowdsource this stuff. I imagine there are hordes of DMs out there, all re-inventing the wheel....

There are already a few threads related to OotA. The problem is they disappear. And a new one starts. It would be nice if they could be in a sub-group. A DND APs subgroup with a sub group for each major AP.

 

[zingbobco000]

There are already a few threads related to OotA. The problem is they disappear. And a new one starts. It would be nice if they could be in a sub-group. A DND APs subgroup with a sub group for each major AP.

Anyone want to contact Morrus? Maybe if enough of us contact him he'll follow our orders... Vive la Revolution!

 

[Demetrios1453]

As a side note, the book makes extensive reference to shield dwarves. AFAICT they are a Forgotten Realms regional dwarven race, presumably statted as Mountain Dwarves in 5e? Are they described anywhere in OOTA or in the core books?

Shield Dwarves are Mountain Dwarves. Player's Handbook, page 20.

 

[CapnZapp]

I have a question. My niece and nephew just bought me the book for my birthday, and I turned to the monster stats expecting mindflayer lichs... I know I read in the promo stuff that Orcus took an elder brain and turned it undead and it made a whole city of the flayers crave undeath... but I can't find it in the book itself. even if just flavor with no stats that sounds awesome, where do I look for it?

I was a bit miffed about this as well. It seems that the media mixed all the good stuff together.

You need to keep apart very different things:

Rage of Demons is WotC name for the overall storyline. This storyline is explored in novels, computer games and the pen and paper adventure Out of the Abyss.

This means that lots of things you might hear about in the commercials for Rage of Demons simply will not appear in Out of the Abyss.

I readily admit Wizards of the Coast has not been particularly clear on this. Probably on purpose, however, since their aim is to expand the D&D brand into other markets than pen and paper gaming. Hollywood movies and triple-A console games is where the money is at. The fact us pnp gamers might be confused is a small price to pay. (All in my opinion)