D&D General How Was Your Last Session?

[Musing Mage]

1e Mini-session.

Kyla the 3rd level Kensai, whose level-challenge duel was still pending, cannot make the regular session this week so we resolved her duel in a mini session to see if she keeps her level or reverts to 2.

For those unfamiliar - 1st Ed Kensai have a 10% per level of being challenged upon achieving a new level. IF the challenger appears, the stakes for the duel are the Kensai's new level - a loss meaning they go back to the beginning of the previous level.

Kyla had already lost her level 2 challenge and reverted back to the beginning of level 1, but the last adventure's haul was so bountiful she skipped right back up to level 3. So we rolled the % and she was challenged again.

The mini-session opens up with Kyla sparring with Vargim, the kensai who had previously defeated her in a level challenge. Their fight was respectful and they formed a friendship subsequently. They mourned the loss of Dastan, (the other Kensai PC), and he advises her on the new challenger: A dual-wielding dagger fighter names Saoirse who comes from a philosophy where deathmatches are the only fights of any worth. Vargim warns Kyla that letting her live with the disgrace of a lost duel means she will return with her compatriots to harass her until she agrees to a rematch to the death.

Kyla thinks about it then decides, to the hells with it, and agrees to fight Saoirse to the death.

They start the duel 11 squares apart on the grid. Kyla immediately declares charge, while Saorise declares missile. Tied initiative! Kyla barrels in with a KI strike, takes a hit from the thrown dagger, causing 7 of her 16 HP, but subsequently misses her charge attack. They are now engaged in melee.

Second initiative, Kyla wins, misses her first attack (she has two this round) and uses up her 2nd of 3 KI strikes, Saorise also misses both strikes. Kyla makes her second attack and final KI strike, this time scoring a Natural 20. 11 damage to Saorise. Palpable hit.

3rd Round, Saoirse now has two attack routines (4 attacks as she's dual-wielding) to Kyla's one. Bad news for Kyla who is down to 9 hp. Saorise misses both on the first pass, Kyla counters with a successful hit for 7 more damage. Soarise's final two strikes also miss!

4th Round, Kyla wins initiative and strikes rolling a 19 for a hit, dealing 8 damage, putting Saoirse at exactly 0 hp - and winning the duel.

Kyla now has a choice. 0 hp means Saorise will wake up, and while she's lost it might mean she gathers her friends and harasses her for not following through. Being Lawful Neutral, Kyla follows the duel agreement to the letter and finishes off her opponent rather than letting her live to fight another day.

Kyla earns double the XP for defeating another Kensai in a duel, and keeps her level.

Up next on Saturday, the other regulars resume . Kyla will sit out and heal up from her duel, (while her player sits out because she has to work).

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Session 1 of my next D&D campaign. The Banewarrens for 3E by Monte Cook using the Shadow of the Demon Lord system from Robert Schwalb. Five players starting with Level 0 characters. Technically these characters started only with an ancestry, not a class. But this is the direction they went when they leveled up halfway through the session:

• Dwarf Warrior. Heir to a lost kingdom -- in this case, Dwarvenhearth, deep beneath Ptolus. His trinket is half of a treasure map. This player always goes for support characters, so I'm intrigued to see him play a warrior.
• Elf Magician. Outcast from elven lands, raised in Ptolus, keeper of a dark secret. His magical traditions are Arcana and Teleportation. This player is a natural leader and often ends up as the party face. He played a paladin in our last 5E campaign so it'll be fun for him to take on a wizard.
• Goblin Magician. Responsible for the destruction of his tribe. Specialized in the Necromancy and Forbidden magic traditions. This player likes to play social outcasts taking on the rich and powerful. He's good with voices. This character was an instant hit at the table -- basically Danny DeVito as a goblin sorcerer with the grossest spells imaginable.
• Changeling Magician. An awesome background: Outcast by her "adopted family" and looking for her "sister"--the child she replaced. Her magical themes are light and darkness, using the Celestial and Shadow traditions.
• Human Priest. Cleric of Lothian, the core god of Ptolus. His wife was murdered and now he seeks answers. This player wasn't present for the session, but he's already done some "off camera" roleplaying as a fervent evangelist. Should be a hoot.

This group are all old friends. We're scattered across the US (and beyond). We haven't seen each other in person in a long, long time. So, properly vaccinated, we rallied here in LA for a weekend of roleplaying. There was less roleplaying and more drinking than anticipated, but we still managed to kick off this campaign in proper fashion...

Everyone is digging the rich character creation of SotDL and most already have a firm grasp on their characters from the moment we started playing.

Because Banewarrens was originally designed for 6th level 3E characters and we're instead starting with 0th level SotDL characters, I had to change the beginning. I will also be making numerous tweaks as we go to tie together the character backstories with the adventure. But the spine should remain intact.

We opened in scene with the characters all aspiring adventures seeking to gain fortune and glory in the dungeons beneath Ptolus. Unfortunately, they lacked weapons, armor, or the funds to purchase either. They discussed options and agreed the best way to get cash was hunt ratlings in the sewers for the bounty money.

At that point, they noticed the strange figure seated in the corner of the tavern. Cloaked, hooded, and dripping blood onto the floor. They approached and struck up a conversation. The figure was a boggle (I'm leaning into the 4E version because they're awesome) with a severed and bandaged hand. It wanted to be left alone and offered them silver coin if they kept away the curious. Then the door banged open. Two orc bounty hunters entered. They immediately zeroed in on the boggle: "Come with us and don't give us any trouble."

The players didn't pick up the silver on the table, but the dwarf warrior told the orcs to take their trouble outside. They ignored him. He leaned in. They pushed back. A fight started.

Simultaneously, a bloodcurdling scream arose and was cut short just outside the tavern. A streak of blood splattered the window. The door was smashed to splinters. Standing in the frame was an undead knight clad in ancient armor, eyes burning blue. Behind the knight were a half-dozen shambling corpses. They were fresh. Anyone who got in his way was cut down, it seems, and returned to life as undead. He pointed his finger at the boggle and in a dead language declared, "Return what you have stolen."

At this point it was a three way fight -- undead vs orcs vs boggle -- with the characters caught in the middle. The dwarf took a hit from an orc that nearly dropped him. The boggle teleported into the elf, took control of his body like a puppet, and attacked an orc. The orc struck back. The boggle teleported outside. The goblin tried to flee, stopped to loot one of the corpses, and got bit when the corpse came back to life. Then he ran off to find help from the watch.

Eventually, the other characters grabbed the barkeep and fled out the back. Regrouping later, they learned that both orcs were slain, several commoners were killed, and the boggle and undead vanished into the city.

After this first encounter, they leveled up from 0 to 1.

Following up on a clue overheard from the boggle, the characters investigated an abandoned house in Oldtown. It appeared to be a base of operations for monstrous creatures -- who were now the animated dead that followed undead knight. The characters weren't quite able to put the pieces together yet, but the creatures breached the Banewarrens, recovered the body of the knight, and brought it back to their safe house to loot and examine. It then came to life and killed them.

In the house they also discovered the severed hand of the boggle. On it was a strange ring made of bone. Again, they're not yet sure what this means. But they should be able to discover later that the boggle is one of the Pactlords bound by the ring. It fell under the sway of a bane -- an evil, enchanted item -- which compelled it to cut off its own hand so it could betray its companions.

Finally, there was a hole in the floor that led to the sewers. Ratlings had come up from the sewer and were in the process of looting the house. A fight ensued. Five characters against three ratlings and a rat swarm. The fight culminated in a highly memorable use of the Hateful Defecation spell.

The characters searched the house and were able to recover a few coin and some basic equipment. They descended into the sewers, explored, and eventually found a side tunnel, freshly dug by some sort of huge creature. To go in or not to go in? Hmmm....

That's where we ended.

Next session: Enter the priest!

 

[doctorbadwolf]

1e Mini-session.

Kyla the 3rd level Kensai, whose level-challenge duel was still pending, cannot make the regular session this week so we resolved her duel in a mini session to see if she keeps her level or reverts to 2.

For those unfamiliar - 1st Ed Kensai have a 10% per level of being challenged upon achieving a new level. IF the challenger appears, the stakes for the duel are the Kensai's new level - a loss meaning they go back to the beginning of the previous level.

Kyla had already lost her level 2 challenge and reverted back to the beginning of level 1, but the last adventure's haul was so bountiful she skipped right back up to level 3. So we rolled the % and she was challenged again.

The mini-session opens up with Kyla sparring with Vargim, the kensai who had previously defeated her in a level challenge. Their fight was respectful and they formed a friendship subsequently. They mourned the loss of Dastan, (the other Kensai PC), and he advises her on the new challenger: A dual-wielding dagger fighter names Saoirse who comes from a philosophy where deathmatches are the only fights of any worth. Vargim warns Kyla that letting her live with the disgrace of a lost duel means she will return with her compatriots to harass her until she agrees to a rematch to the death.

Kyla thinks about it then decides, to the hells with it, and agrees to fight Saoirse to the death.

They start the duel 11 squares apart on the grid. Kyla immediately declares charge, while Saorise declares missile. Tied initiative! Kyla barrels in with a KI strike, takes a hit from the thrown dagger, causing 7 of her 16 HP, but subsequently misses her charge attack. They are now engaged in melee.

Second initiative, Kyla wins, misses her first attack (she has two this round) and uses up her 2nd of 3 KI strikes, Saorise also misses both strikes. Kyla makes her second attack and final KI strike, this time scoring a Natural 20. 11 damage to Saorise. Palpable hit.

3rd Round, Saoirse now has two attack routines (4 attacks as she's dual-wielding) to Kyla's one. Bad news for Kyla who is down to 9 hp. Saorise misses both on the first pass, Kyla counters with a successful hit for 7 more damage. Soarise's final two strikes also miss!

4th Round, Kyla wins initiative and strikes rolling a 19 for a hit, dealing 8 damage, putting Saoirse at exactly 0 hp - and winning the duel.

Kyla now has a choice. 0 hp means Saorise will wake up, and while she's lost it might mean she gathers her friends and harasses her for not following through. Being Lawful Neutral, Kyla follows the duel agreement to the letter and finishes off her opponent rather than letting her live to fight another day.

Kyla earns double the XP for defeating another Kensai in a duel, and keeps her level.

Up next on Saturday, the other regulars resume . Kyla will sit out and heal up from her duel, (while her player sits out because she has to work).

Wow! I forget how tied into the world 1e mechanics were, with stuff like this making your class and level very strongly a part of the world and your place in it.

It kinda makes me want to build a world where all those mechanics are assumed in the worldbuilding, even though I play 5e. Like, in this world, your class and/or subclass (players choice but at least one of the two) is what you are in the world, and people know your level.

Anyway, very interesting stuff, and sounds like a fun mini session.

 

[Campbell]

Wrong thread

 

[Richards]

Last night we took out the third of ten Writhing Gates so they can't be used by the Dying One, a slain illithid Elder God who's being reborn in the Far Realm (fortunately, that process will take ten years) and who will destroy the world if he tries using them to return. To do so we had to journey to Maugfjell "("evil mountain" in the Giant tongue, apparently), where we fought first a frost worm, then a rime hound and two winter wolves dropped out of stasis as lair guardians, and finally a mind flayer who'd been in stasis himself - and he wasn't just any mind flayer, mind you, but one of the "Saints" who had been responsible for the creation of the Writhing Gates in the first place.

We decapitated the Saint and cast a gentle repose spell on his head so we could question him the next day via a speak with dead spell. That's helped us track down a few of the other Writhing Gates we'll need to destroy.

Johnathan

 

[THEMNGMNT]

29th session of my Neverwinter campaign. Three PCs of 5th and 6th level: evoker wizard, genie warlock, vengeance paladin. Aided by an NPC using the Archer stat block.

In the previous session, the wizard was captured by a cabal of aberrations and taken to a lighthouse for interrogation. The warlock, paladin, and NPC traveled via airship to the lighthouse--which looks like a giant statue of a woman bearing a torch--to free the wizard.

In this short session, they fought their way into the heart of the lighthouse. They battled a pair of chokers, a gauth, and got a glimpse of the illithid mastermind behind the cabal. The chokers went down easy but the gauth was a challenge.

Next session they should finally free the wizard -- and face the illithid!

 

[Richards]

...the lighthouse--which looks like a giant statue of a woman bearing a torch...

I hope that lighthouse isn't really a Weeping Angel!

Johnathan

 

[THEMNGMNT]

I hope that lighthouse isn't really a Weeping Angel!
View attachment 145321
Johnathan

Ha! I actually used the imagery of the Lady's Light, which is a lighthouse from Pathfinder.

 

[el-remmen]

Just played my remote "Revenants of Saltmarsh" game, we are three sessions in Danger at Dunwater - a module I hated when I first tried to run it as an inexperienced teenaged DM, but absolutely love now.

The three PCs and their two NPC allies are exploring the lizardfolk mound in what is essentially a skill challenge to befriend and make an alliance with the strange lizard people and learn what has gathered a council of different sea and coastal non-humans.

Things got tough when koalinth ambassadors (if you can call them that) were insulted at the presence of land-dwellers and a sea elf and there was nearly a fight. Since the PCs gave up their weapons as good guests, they would have had a hard time against the other not as good guests who kept theirs. But cooler tempers prevailed and the worst that happened was that the koalinth left in a huff.

The PCs also got to teach some other lizardfolk some dice and card games and examined their dungeon (and were scared of the sibilant-voiced prisoner in a dark cell, so left without talking to him).

We left off with the PCs entering a barracks, where one lizardfolk who does not realize one of the PCs can understand him, is making an argument for killing and eating the PCs rather than risk an alliance with landdwellers.

 

[el-remmen]

Here is a pic of one of the areas: