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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kiznit" data-source="post: 1566777" data-attributes="member: 3994">Okay, so had a bitchin' game session this evening. This might be a little long to get to the point, so please bear with me. Check this out.Got a batch of five relative newbies (well four and one old-school campaigner), all pretty much really into it so far despite previous gaming experience mostly being CRPGs. Into the flavor text, the math, the battlemat and the miniatures; the slow combat and the occasional rules-figuring-out. But definitely the group seems to vibe and have no trouble getting "into it."Started at first level. Slowly but surely building the world around them (you know, goblin bands in the woods leads to the goblin camp leads to the wolf riders leads to the gnolls and their shaman leads to the creepy illusionist, and so on.) Mostly winging it but always hinting at the bigger things going on in the background - a sinister force called "the Iron Ring" controlling things, MW weapons being forged out of a hidden orcish fort, and so on.. Things are going really well.Pretty sure where I wanna take things - I'm leading up to the Forge of Fury which I think makes for a really wonderful first real dungeon experience. Just big and creepy enough to make the players gulp a little at going in, and I'm so excited about the first real big bad monster at the end (I don't wanna give it away, but I'm sure most of you know.) Talk about some potential for drama and climactic moments.But what then? Where to go from there?Well. Purchased and downloaded The Scourge of the Slavelords for a possibly good 5th to 9th level or so adventure; the S-series. Never got to actually play in any of the old classics myself, but definitely heard enough about them, so I've been reading them and mining for inspiration. I was a little bit worried that it would be non-sensical, confusing, like a lot of the older modules, you know, with seemingly random monsters in random rooms. I was really kind of surprised and bothered at both Castle Caldwell and the original Keep on the Borderlands... Though I totally see the nostalgia and classic feel, I hate the feeling of a lack of dungeon ecology: kobolds in the first cave, orcs in the next, then the gnolls and so on - albeit in a way that's not so different from what I've been running the players through, so I'm kind of eating my words here  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f631.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":o" title="Eek!    :o"  data-smilie="9"data-shortname=":o" />, but anyway, back to the SlaveLords, which I had heard kind of had a reputation as being a great set of modules but considerably heavy-handed.-- Spoiler Alert --So, like, wow. What an incredibly awesome set of adventures. We've got towns raided, sinister pirate ports, slave galleys, hidden fortresses, dungeons, erupting volcanoes. Sequence after sequence of just epic, exciting moments. I especially love it when the PCs have been captured and brought aboard the pirate ship The ghoul, and the slave captain takes the magic items they can't use and drops them one by one into the ocean, right in front of the PCs.. Holy smokes what a moment at the table that would be.-- End spoilers --Okay, yeah, so it is a little heavy-handed, the PCs are always getting captured by mean little no-saving-throw tricks by the DM like sleeping gas or force-field cubes or whatever. That does kinda suck. But. It got me thinking.All the best games I've run, the real triumphs of DMing, they kind of involve a certain level of heavy-handedness. Not total in-the-players-face no choice in the matter situations, I would never do that, "This is what happens and you have no choice in the matter..."But as a DM, I always find myself imagining all these cool little moments. Like thinking to myself, "Okay, I've got to figure out how to get the PCs fighting the troglodytes over these acid pits." or, "Okay, I'm going to have the goblin army just wash into the valley like a flood of ants." or "Oh man these guys are going to be pissed off when they wake up in a slave galley..."Does anyone else find themselves working this way?  I mean, it's not like I've worked out a major storyline that I worship and refuse to deviate from, I just work out all these magic little moments, and given the opportunity, POW, the PCs are right where I want 'em. I guess it's not total heavy-handedness but it's definitely not free-form go where you will kinda game. In my experience it's always made for the most fun, where you get those moments - you know - those gaming moments where everyone looks at each other and are just like, "wow."I wanna hear some stories, kids.. Share and enjoy!</blockquote>

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