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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9342375" data-attributes="member: 6877472">The first session of "Unknown Lands" at last...I wish I could say it went off without a hitch, but...*I have 5 (ish) players.  Despite having planned the session a month ago, one couldn't make it because Mother's Day.  Well ok, I'd forgotten myself, and had to take Mom out to dinner Wednesday to make sure I could make the first session of my own game.*One player showed up 10 minutes late, only to reveal they hadn't completed their character yet.  One hour wasted as they cobbled together a character.  Was it one of those "easy to use/out of the box" simple classes people like to crow about?  Of course not, it was a Circle of the Land Druid!*I somehow misplaced a map of the town the players were in.  Not a big deal, but it made them explore less. On the plus side, they not only paid attention to the lore dumps, but even took notes (faints dead away)!Synopsis (adventure is modified version of HHQ1, Fighter's Challenge.  Originally intended for a solo Fighter and whatever henchfolk they could hire/recruit.  My party (so far) consists of a Cleric with a shotgun, a Druid, a Sorcerer/Warlock, and a Witch (Kobold Press class found in Deep Magic 2).  This may be a problem...(more on this later).  All started at level 3.Side note: when allowing a book like Deep Magic 1 or 2, you're going to find some strange spells.  Every time a spell was cast, I had to ask "what does that do?".  I should have cut this off at the pass by approving each spell as it came, but I'm trying not to be a control freak.  Still, it would help that a spell that says "the target can repeat this saving throw" would actually have a saving throw listed, lol.Ok, synopsis: four (ish) heroes had a run of bad luck on their respective worlds, finding that the life of an adventurer is not an easy one. They get lost in the woods and wake up in a clearing dominated by a stone structure of great age that appears to be stairs leading up to an empty archway, facing one another. After a few tense moments, they realize that while they are all speaking different languages, they all seem to understand the "Common" of one another. Finding strange runes on the "gateway", they find they can understand those as well- "You who come from the place from which no traveler returns, present the key and claim thy reward".Searching the area, they find a key made out of a bronze alloy treasured in the ancient world (maybe you can guess what that is), and a symbol on the key is deciphered to mean "map". Thrusting the key into the open archway, it vanishes, and a rolled up piece of parchment appears, which turns out to be a magical map which shows their immediate vicinity and updates itself as you explore. Finding their way out of the forest, they find in the pre-dawn light that the stars are not the same, and that it's late spring instead of harvest-time, as it was where they came from.They made their way to a road that has fallen into some disuse, and then to a town, Sturnheim. The locals are not nearly as suspicious as they ought to be upon meeting a quasi-undead Trollkin, some sort of fairy creature with iridescent wings, a truly edgy elf from the Shadowfell, and a Changeling with the oh so clever disguise of a human child.The spent much coin at the local Inn (The Three Crowns) gathering information about where the heck were they, and stumbled upon a 40 year old mystery about a stone sword, a missing shipment of gold, and eight adventurers from another world who were defeated by a dragon and went their separate ways.In the night, someone they wanted to get information from was attacked by bandits, despite the town having 10' high wooden walls coated in resin to be difficult to climb, and the gates were closed.  The bandits fled the scene, so only their leader was taken out by the heroes (?).  On his body they found the first magic item- a magical short sword named Last Resort!(Last Resort is a +1 short sword with a secret reservoir in it's hilt that you can pour a potion into.  As a bonus action, you can "drink" this potion as long as you are touching the sword.  By attuning to the sword, it will automatically apply the potion to you whenever you become "bloodied"- at our less than 50% hit points).Problem?  Nobody in the party is currently proficient with short swords!  This might be an issue for other magic weapons in the adventure...ALSO: the Druid recruited the 19 year-old daughter of the town's locksmith to travel along with the party as a "scout/troubleshooter" (no mention of the word "Rogue"), all for 4 gp/day!  It's going to be interesting to see how battles go with extra bodies around, but given I have a player who may or may not show up next session, I'll give it a shot.</blockquote>

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