D&D General How Was Your Last Session?
- Thread starter doctorbadwolf
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not-so-newguy
Legend
Session recap for last Sunday
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#10 Rendezvous with Miku
TanaroaYou spent a week resting and restocking in Tanoroa. The otherwise peaceful interlude was marred by the dilemma of the prisoner Ko'koresh. The Tanroan leaders recommended executing him. The group balked at their advice and decided to keep Ko'koresh chained up in the ship. Wilyur and other...
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Guest 7034872
Guest
It went pretty well for my first-ever DM session, I think. It was huge (7.5 hours) and we got through substantially more material than I expected (7.5 hours in one session is a lot), but I guess it mostly went okay. I still think I did too much of the talking (I'm guessing that's a common rookie mistake, right?) and handed out too many hints about how to solve a simple puzzle--that'll need to change next time along with the "chatty DM" problem.
I definitely underestimated party strength and need to retool future encounters to account for what they're capable of.
Still, for a first time out, I thought it was alright.
I definitely underestimated party strength and need to retool future encounters to account for what they're capable of.
Still, for a first time out, I thought it was alright.
not-so-newguy
Legend
7.5 hours is a huge chunk of time. Congrats on surviving it
I think it's ok to give away too much info, especially when first starting out. It's much better to do that than not enough.
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Guest 7034872
Guest
Thanks. At this early stage, I'll take all the reality checks I can get.7.5 hours is a huge chunk of time. Congrats on surviving it
I think it's ok to give away too much info, especially when first starting out. It's much better to do that than not enough.
We missed 3 weeks of gaming (my fall, two players having child care issues ect) but tonight is the night of research.
My PCs are in a magical library that knows almost everything ever... and the PCs are looking for information on the general that burned down the orphanage that 2 PCs grew up in. They are planning on taking him out. However I guarantee it wont just be "What does this place know about Cecil the Shadow Staff?" it will start that way and I have no idea what ways it will twist and turn.. I will let you know tommorrow how it goes.
My PCs are in a magical library that knows almost everything ever... and the PCs are looking for information on the general that burned down the orphanage that 2 PCs grew up in. They are planning on taking him out. However I guarantee it wont just be "What does this place know about Cecil the Shadow Staff?" it will start that way and I have no idea what ways it will twist and turn.. I will let you know tommorrow how it goes.
37th session in my Dragon Heist/Deck of Many Things mashup. 8th level half-orc cavalier fighter, halfling swashbuckler rogue, and half-elf evoker wizard/grave cleric.
The players have been getting thrashed for several sessions in a row, so my goal for this adventure is to let them wreck face. We got straight into the action. Their mind flayer archrival -- an agent of the Xanathar -- conquered the underground stronghold of some allied drow. The PCs arrived too late. Now they have to fight their way through drow and spiderkin monstrosities in thrall to the mind flayer.
To represent the drow stronghold I'm using the Malachite Fortress map from the Shackled City. I've been a fan of this map for a long time.
This short session was almost entirely a single fight on the bridge and moat against an umber hulk, a cloaker, and a giant octopus. The cloaker tried and failed to engulf the rogue. The octopus lurked in the water waiting to grapple anyone who fell in. The hulk attempted to shove the orc off the bridge into the water. It failed. So the orc tried to shove the hulk off the bridge. He failed. This went back and forth until finally the orc prevailed. Then, with no foes in melee range, the orc jumped off the bridge into the water to continue attacking the umber hulk. It was bad ass.
Next session: Into the fortress!
The players have been getting thrashed for several sessions in a row, so my goal for this adventure is to let them wreck face. We got straight into the action. Their mind flayer archrival -- an agent of the Xanathar -- conquered the underground stronghold of some allied drow. The PCs arrived too late. Now they have to fight their way through drow and spiderkin monstrosities in thrall to the mind flayer.
To represent the drow stronghold I'm using the Malachite Fortress map from the Shackled City. I've been a fan of this map for a long time.
This short session was almost entirely a single fight on the bridge and moat against an umber hulk, a cloaker, and a giant octopus. The cloaker tried and failed to engulf the rogue. The octopus lurked in the water waiting to grapple anyone who fell in. The hulk attempted to shove the orc off the bridge into the water. It failed. So the orc tried to shove the hulk off the bridge. He failed. This went back and forth until finally the orc prevailed. Then, with no foes in melee range, the orc jumped off the bridge into the water to continue attacking the umber hulk. It was bad ass.
Next session: Into the fortress!
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Okay, so they didn't get side treked nearly as much as I would expect.
(Keep in mind me and my players interchange 'ask the liabrary' and 'research' and 'investigate' all meaning go to the main floor books look up a topic, copy down or memorize (fighter has an eidetic memory) a number of books that refrence it, then go to the lower levels find the books, bring them back to refrence level spread them out read and share the information)
They started with the goal... What can cecile the shadow staff do? but that lead to his item 'the shadow staff' and the fact that it is an omniversal item called the shadow of the raven, but it has been limited and forged into a staff. So they asked about the shadow of the raven and before they could get an answer were reminded I used the weird word 'omniversal' instead of multiversal before with a 'cursed' sentient item that held 1/10th of 1% of an omniversal power known as the Angelus force, and as such they started to ask the library something that was restricted... what is the difference between Omniversal and Metaversal and Multiversal?
this lead to the funny exchange in game... I wish I could make this up:
Teifling Divine soul Sorcerer: "Maybe we should research what else is restricted?"
Warforged Fighter: "It only makes sense that information would be restricted too."
Sorcerer: "Yeah but we found state secretes, spell secretes and 10 thousand year old cheese cake recipes it can't hurt to ask"
Shadar Kai Soul knife/battle master: "Maybe we should ask random questions and just try to figure our what is and isn't restricted"
Fighter: "Okay, lets ask about the origin of the first ghoul... that has to have some fun history..."
mind you they fought ghouls 9ish months ago in the first dungeon, and they have not come up since... I have no idea as this is said when, who or what the story of the first ghoul is....
So I spin a story about a woman who eat her suiters including a priest of a now dead god, and was cursed... when she died she came back as the first ghoul... in doing so I link this to the kingdom (I only had a name for in passing) before the first of the 5 interregnums (things I DO have details about cause it is totally plot relevant)
so do they go back to the task of the guy they want to fight... no, do they remember they have a ticking long term clock of the return of the ruler who 5 times before plundged regions (3 of those times almost the whole world, and 1 time expanding into planes) into a dark age known as the great and terrible interregnums'? no.... they ask about the dead god (at least I have some outline)
Lucky for me this side trek didn't go TOO far, and the remembered to go back to the shadow staff... and they looked up his previous fights.
after days in game (and 20ish minutes out of game) they poured over some fights and found he is a moron.
Cecil is highly mobile, able to teleport long distances daily, medium distances a few times (they aren't sure if that is short rest or X times per day) and short range at least close to at will if not at will... and he can call his underlings to him from across the world. AND he has a devastating ranged attack that deals necrotic damage and could tire you out (aka save or gain fatigue). He also has the ability to aid others in combat faster and better then most (bonus action combat action aid within 30ft)... however he travels alone and his go to tactic to start every battle is to melee with his shadow staff.
So without seeing the character sheet per say, they then spend half an hour brain storming how it would be better for him if he ALWAYs had 1 or 2 melee combatants with him, and used his mobility to stay at range, summon and aid to wear down opponents THEN close to finish them... so they conclude he must be over confident in his fighting abilities (not un warranted of a thought) but then this turned to out of game guessing what his sheet DOES look like.
so meta gaming thoughts they figure he must be legendary (they are right infact he is legendary and mythic) and the summon must cost 2 or more legendary actions, he has to then choose between bonus action misty step or bonus action aid like a master mind rogue, and then choose between a melee or ranged attack as his action, but maybe he has multi attack for one and if his damage is higher in melee that may make sense if the save DC for the fatigue is low or easy to make...
I was impressed they mostly got it right
so they got back 'in game' and researched 1 or 2 private PC oriented questions (about the fallen kingdom that built our warforged, about why all the psycics have green or blue eyes, and about the king of a distant land/if the teifling is related to him...he isn't) but then they got back to tactics.
so they asked me if "out of game" there was still a dimensional anchor spell in 5e, and I said not as such. SO Ingame they reserched ways to lock down teleporting... and other then useing magic circle, and high level spells they will most likely never see, they came up with 2 magic items that could do it. 1 was easier to get (and closer) but was limited use and would require 3 out of 4 players to burn an action to use it. the other was WAY more action economy friendly but was much farther away in a dead dragons hoard that looked like it was protected by tribesman that worshiped the ghost of the dragon as a god.
So brain storming they joke about splitting up to cover more ground, and or joining the bad guys. They decided to go for the closer easier to get harder to use item (Triliminal Space Time Locks) but before they left they had to ask a few qustions about time travel (since if this locks time AND space there must be a way to move through time) but that was also a short lived side trek.
they thanked the immortal Liberian, and then asked her if she could leave here. She explained (again since she said this games ago 1st time they were here) she could only if someone stayed as a temporary Liberian. so with some quick thinking they used a sending spell to get our Divine Soul Sorcerer's father to come and hang out watching the library while she goes with them as an NPC to help at least get the items they want if not to confront the General.
We fast forwarded to the mother and father arriving, RPed a bit (including asking why the sorcerer doesn't use sending to call home more often)
leaving the library and heading back into the mountains they made it half a day before being ambushed by gnoll demon worshipers that they have faced before... we will start next week with initiative. Although during wrap up they remembered they should have asked about the gnoll cult.
15th session of Monte Cook's 3E Banewarrens campaign run with Shadow of the Demon Lord on Owlbear Rodeo.
Five player characters at Level 3:
The players quickly realized the devil's bargain they face -- more power but at the risk of corrupting their souls. I'm happy with how this is playing out as it's the central theme of the Banewarrens.
Out of character, we had an interesting conversation about whether or not the characters should pursue the "story" or explore the dungeon. I encouraged them to think of the dungeon as a part of the story -- an antagonist they needed to overcome just like any of the other villains they face. To my surprise, they made their goal exploring 100% of the Banewarrens. No matter the cost.
Next session: The corrupted weapons!
Five player characters at Level 3:
- Dwarf Fighter/Warrior. Heir to a lost kingdom -- in this case, Dwarvenhearth, deep beneath Ptolus. His trinket is half of a treasure map.
- Elf Wizard/Magician. Outcast from elven lands, raised in Ptolus, keeper of a dark secret. His magical traditions are Arcana, Teleportation, Chaos, and Fey.
- Goblin Oracle/Magician. Responsible for the destruction of his tribe. Specialized in the Fire and Forbidden magic traditions.
- Changeling Spellbinder/Magician. Created by House Vladaam to replace a child they kidnapped and held in servitude. Naturally, she wants revenge. Celestial and Battle traditions.
- Human Paladin/Priest. Cleric of Lothian, the core god of Ptolus. His magical traditions are Life, Theurgy, and Battle. His wife was murdered by undead and now he seeks answers.
The players quickly realized the devil's bargain they face -- more power but at the risk of corrupting their souls. I'm happy with how this is playing out as it's the central theme of the Banewarrens.
Out of character, we had an interesting conversation about whether or not the characters should pursue the "story" or explore the dungeon. I encouraged them to think of the dungeon as a part of the story -- an antagonist they needed to overcome just like any of the other villains they face. To my surprise, they made their goal exploring 100% of the Banewarrens. No matter the cost.
Next session: The corrupted weapons!
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The main story of the most recent session was fairly benign.... party hired to find a missing man, which turned in to rescuing him from orcs.
The "B" story lines however ...
The party cleric had always been playing fast and loose with the faith whenever it was convenient, the cleric then found himself in a predicament that would make him an enemy of his own church if they found out (short version is, start of the campaign, player decided that his church would act a certain way in a certain situation, and sure enough the cleric found himself in that very situation), so he was later propositioned by another church to convert. So going to have (our first ever?) in-game cleric faith conversion
Meanwhile the rogue character has stumbled upon a mystery related to his own race being targeted
And the fighter made a connection with a friend of his parents (who in turn have been missing a year).
These later two items will be building to bigger main story lines in coming sessions.
The "B" story lines however ...
The party cleric had always been playing fast and loose with the faith whenever it was convenient, the cleric then found himself in a predicament that would make him an enemy of his own church if they found out (short version is, start of the campaign, player decided that his church would act a certain way in a certain situation, and sure enough the cleric found himself in that very situation), so he was later propositioned by another church to convert. So going to have (our first ever?) in-game cleric faith conversion
Meanwhile the rogue character has stumbled upon a mystery related to his own race being targeted
And the fighter made a connection with a friend of his parents (who in turn have been missing a year).
These later two items will be building to bigger main story lines in coming sessions.
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