WotBS Looking for advice on running WotBS 5e

[Bill T.]

I enjoyed your update, Dimitri. +1 for using the word "murderhobo".

I have to say, if either of the groups I had DM'd had gone racing in with spells blazing, I would have gleefully incinerated them all -- and, under the 3.5 version, those who had failed their saving throws would have needed to be swept up into an ashtray. Thankfully, both groups opted for a much more diplomatic approach -- a bit dull, but much less cleaning required.

 

[Dimitri Mazieres]

[...] If their first response is always to attack, it is likely going to come back to bite them eventually.

Oh, I place the responsibility of this encounter almost finishing them off fully at my players' feet. I hope that continuing experience (or death!) teaches them some caution!

It is a difficult balance with some maps on Roll20. For multi-level maps such as Gabal's tower, it works better to keep everyone on the same Roll20 page if possible. It makes things a bit unwieldy, but Roll20's initiative is run on a per-token basis. You cannot move a token between pages; only copies of tokens can be made on other pages, and a player cannot see the initiative of any tokens (including their own) that are not on the page they are on. This makes multi-level battles on different map pages not work well.

I understand. I was just relying my experience. Still, maybe the map of the tower grounds could be separated from the tower's levels for easier management?

Get ready for a lot of interesting consequences from how things go. The adventures only describe one way things might happen, and the early adventures all warn against railroading the players. It sounds like you had set up some nice cause and effect of their actions and how the earlier encounter had gone. In my game, one of the heroes was having a bit of a mental breakdown after his love was killed. He blamed Ragesia and started executing some of General Magdus's soldiers that the heroes had captured. When they met General Magdus later, he was excluded from any negotiations.

I'm just trying to react accordingly to whatever happens and praying it doesn't take everything off the rails
For example, the party negotiated with the sahalesti spies to copy the intelligence documents and then part ways. I will try to find a way to have it done before the second adventure, preferably before Act Five: The Inquisitor, but I'm not sure what consequences might bring that both the resistance and Shahalesti have access to the documents...

The casting time for prayer of healing is 10 minutes. That caught me out the first time I had it in one of my games.

Oops! I certainly didn't catch that!. I guess the late hours caught me off guard...

In other matters, I remade the Gauntlet map using assets from a Pathfinder encounter that is being given away for free due to the current situation. It looks pretty good, if I may say so. I just hope that it doesn't crash the whole platform when I load it up!

 

[Dimitri Mazieres]

I enjoyed your update, Dimitri. +1 for using the word "murderhobo".

Hehe, thanks! Ever since I first read the term "murderhobo" I can't but admit that it is the usual behavior of a D&D party

I have to say, if either of the groups I had DM'd had gone racing in with spells blazing, I would have gleefully incinerated them all -- and, under the 3.5 version, those who had failed their saving throws would have needed to be swept up into an ashtray. Thankfully, both groups opted for a much more diplomatic approach -- a bit dull, but much less cleaning required.

Hehe. We're just a bunch of players in their late 30s, early 40s, that try to get some time to play, and now is the turn of the player that usually runs games to get some play, so I try to be somewhat benevolent.

 

[Dimitri Mazieres]

Question: In The Gauntlet encounter it states that if Renard is killed Kathor orders his men to stand down and surrender. If this came up in your game, how did you manage it? Did the party released them? Took them as prisoners? What did they do about them then? I'm thinking that if that possibility comes to pass in my game, it will be quite a pickle. There's a paladin in the party, so they won't be executed of they surrender. But I can't think what they may come up with as a solution...

 

[Tormyr]

Question: In The Gauntlet encounter it states that if Renard is killed Kathor orders his men to stand down and surrender. If this came up in your game, how did you manage it? Did the party released them? Took them as prisoners? What did they do about them then? I'm thinking that if that possibility comes to pass in my game, it will be quite a pickle. There's a paladin in the party, so they won't be executed of they surrender. But I can't think what they may come up with as a solution...

In my game, the heroes had rescued mercenaries from the burning pub, so they were already on Kathor's good side. They tied up the remaining mercenaries and left them to their own devices, sending Kathor back to Gate Pass with both their horses and the mercenaries horses (which will dovetail nicely when they return to Gate Pass).

 

[Tormyr]

I'm just trying to react accordingly to whatever happens and praying it doesn't take everything off the rails
For example, the party negotiated with the sahalesti spies to copy the intelligence documents and then part ways. I will try to find a way to have it done before the second adventure, preferably before Act Five: The Inquisitor, but I'm not sure what consequences might bring that both the resistance and Shahalesti have access to the documents...

If the Shahalesti take the intelligence, Shalosha brings it to the first war council in adventure 3. The book is actually quite extensive and would take a long time to copy. In my game, the heroes copied 5 pages, and Shalosha brought the journal in adventure 3.

 

[Bill T.]

In my game, the heroes had rescued mercenaries from the burning pub, so they were already on Kathor's good side. They tied up the remaining mercenaries and left them to their own devices, sending Kathor back to Gate Pass with both their horses and the mercenaries horses (which will dovetail nicely when they return to Gate Pass).

My first group of players did something similar: They let the cannon fodder have some horses (but no weapons!) and let them go back toward Gate Pass, but demanded that Kathor never return to Gate Pass. He agreed, since I didn't figure it mattered, then discovered he's supposed to help liberate Gate Pass. I figured he would demand that he be released from that agreement and demand a duel if he wasn't released, but the game fell apart before then.

I DM'd so badly with the second group that they never saw either Renard nor Kathor, and so it didn't come up.

 

[Bill T.]

If the Shahalesti take the intelligence, Shalosha brings it to the first war council in adventure 3. The book is actually quite extensive and would take a long time to copy. In my game, the heroes copied 5 pages, and Shalosha brought the journal in adventure 3.

Maybe this is a consequence of me running the 3.5 version of the adventures, but I never felt the need to rush it. I assumed it would take Shealis a while to get to Calanis with the vital military intelligence, so I put off them learning anything about it until they reached Seaquen -- and then, I simply had the Shahalasti send the heroes dreams describing what they have learned. The heroes still get the information they need, just indirectly. I can't see them sending the vital military intelligence with Shalosha -- too big a risk of losing the information, and there's nothing useful she can do with it anyhow. But if I'm missing something, I'd be glad to hear it! I keep worrying they're learning less from the vital military intelligence than they should.