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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7831067" data-attributes="member: 20323">I ran this yesterday. Even forgetting to incorporate the schedule (I find time-tracking in RPGs often tricky) and generally feeling my focus stretched to the limit managing so many NPCs, the session played really well. Feedback from players was that it was an amazing game, and specifically that it would have been easy – what with the 30' heavy mists and so many enemies – to have  devolved into a slog, but instead it was so much fun.Here's my postmortem – what worked (and what didn't) for me – in case it helps your own stealth mission  games:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Essentially it broke down into three parts: 45 minutes of planning, 45 minutes of tension building as they crossed the concentring rings of defense and got into position, and 2 hours of intense combat.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I had to do more prep than usual (both in terms of writing up the scene & physical props) but the prep really paid off. Particularly, having all the stat blocks printed and ordered according to initiative (pre-rolled for monsters) with spell one-liners written in the stat block was a huge life saver at the table.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The time pressure of the night hag Nightmare Haunting one PC was somewhat ameliorated by the players devising ways to cast protection from evil throughout the night and then letting the protection caster who forewent long rest sleep on a dinosaur howdah during day to long rest.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">As part of story, there was a magic weather-predicting tree, which gave the players the opportunity to choose a heavily misty day. They also chose to infiltrate at night (lizardfolk don't have darkvision).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I gave them ~45 minutes of preparation time, playing some tense <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-j3Z5Tc_rI&list=PL8JTwaxnkaGKE0m2G5ec1sYsG34L2BFmZ&index=3&t=0s" target="_blank">espionage music</a>, letting them know how much time they had and that when the song ended their time was up. I gave a "half way there" and "five minutes left" warnings. This worked well to focus them and move them along. They chose to use some of this casting a homebrewed Mordenkainen's disjunction to remove the Hand of Vecna from the druid PC (this becomes important later down in #18).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">During this time I started setting up the map (see below) in anticipation of their recon, which ended up being stopping 3 miles from the lizardfolk camp and the wizard PC sending in an arcane eye. There were several things this didn't catch, but it revealed a little of each of the 3 concentric rings of defense around the camp, and then drifting back and forth through heavy mists it got the major disposition of forces.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Group Stealth check to determine how many of the concentric rings they bypassed played well & helped build tension while showcasing the stealthy badasses that the PCs were. They averaged 26, so I narrated them sneaking through #1 patrols and hearing giant lizards moving nearby, then let them route-find through #2 kobold traps (but there was no risk of discovery by archaeopteryx), then they entered the water in #3 with a hag-enchanted giant crocodile which they saw tail end of and narrowly avoided. This probably took half an hour. I also mentioned that they would not be rolling anymore Stealth checks unless I called for it, and if that happened it was a sign something had gone wrong and they were on the cusp of being noticed.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I used some Snippets of Conversation to build the mood and add some humor. In one case it worked perfectly, in others it was alright.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I did not use the Schedule. I forgot with everything going on.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">They really didn't fail any checks and their spell strategy was on point, so I only ended up using the Complications table once when they killed a sentry and were on cusp of the assassination.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">They made great use of the "Flashback Planning" Inspiration (borrowed from the Leverage RPG) to take advantage of a silent horn (Xanathar's) they'd acquired to facilitate communication between the PCs and their NPC allies when they split up into three aqueous assault groups.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The "Stealth Takedown Pool" was smashing success. I let them apply it after dealing damage. This set up a tense moment when they were taking out a sentry to gain access to the "throne room" (on the left) and hadn't dealt enough damage to kill it. They had 4d6 in the Stealth Takedown Pool – which they really wanted to save for the Lizard King – but ended up using two of them to take out this sentry and avoid the alarm getting raised. Exactly the sort of tension-building resource management I was shooting for!</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The druid PC wisely cast locate creature on "Lizard Kings" (since the MM describes them as a distinct strain/subrace/mutation of lizardfolk), and I revealed that there were 2 in the camp. This helped foreshadow the decoy.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">They wrecked the camp with the rogue/warlock PC releasing ghouls from their pen (they surged forth and paralyzed the carnotaurus), the druid PC dominating the massive spinosaurus and telling it to "run away" as well as blanketing the area with plant growth to lock down land-based movement, and the wizard PC cast Mordenkainen's private sanctum (while underwater thanks to water breathing) on the ruins to the left to great effect, preventing the night hag (disguised as lizardfolk advisor) from escaping later on and let the wizard PC kill her pretty much solo.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">By chance, the lizardfolk rogue/warlock PC came face to face with the actual Lizard Emperor out in the mists, and my description of him helped foreshadow the decoy. One player even joked about it, but no one made the connection for real.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I had the night hag use detect magic intermittently, so just as she was realizing there was an abjuration effect preventing sound from entering/leaving the ruins (as well as preventing planeshifting or teleporting in/out), the paladin PC – who'd been in gaseous form – emerged from behind the throne room to kill the Lizard King and free his captive slave.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Things went sideways, with the party being split in two and unable to effectively communicate due to private sanctum. Their plan was very effective, but became problematic when it was revealed the target the paladin PC just killed was a decoy. The foreshadowing worked well here.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The hag made good use of horrid fusion, a spell from <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/258573/The-Blasphemies-of-Bor-Bwalsch" target="_blank">The Blasphemies of Bor Bwalsch</a>, which technically functioned inside the private sanctum and messed up the goblin paladin after his brilliant assassination (of the decoy Lizard King), teleporting his left hand into the stone throne. The cruel temptation here was that if he had to cut off his hand (he found a work around) the party was now carrying the Hand of Vecna...</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I foreshadowed some aspects of this having once been a druid sacred grove, but the lack of communication (due to spells they'd cast) prevented party from sharing that info. Several castings of fire-based spells by the wizard and druid, and blight by druid caused a zombie t-rex to rise from the ground and run amok. The oathbreaker paladin PC would end up controlling this zombie t-rex toward the end.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Good spotlight moments for most of the PCs, though (ironically) the lizardfolk rogue/warlock wasn't spotlighted as much as the spellcaster PCs who were at the top of their game.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The wounded Lizard Emperor ended up fleeing a camp in disarray, mounted on his flying quetzalcoatlus. We ended with the PCs deciding they would chase him through the mists over the jungle deeper into enemy territory, and strike him down. They have locate creature (and some other divination spells), so despite the very limited visibility in the heavy mists working to the Lizard Emperor's advantage, they should be able to track him down, and druid PC can wildshape into a giant eagle (same fly speed of 80' as the quetzalcoatlus). So that's where we'll pick up next session – a chase scene through the mists. I'm thinking of spotlighting the lizardfolk rogue/warlock here, though not sure how I'll do it yet...</li> </ol>Thanks for your help and feedback!<img src="https://i.imgur.com/9Ql0KBp.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></blockquote>

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