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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GX.Sigma" data-source="post: 6171636" data-attributes="member: 6690511">My store had the opposite problem as Merric's: only two players showed up. We also had another problem: We didn't have the introductory adventure. Happily, they let me borrow a copy of the full adventure. I just ran the first encounter and the first meetings, and it took up the full time. They also let me keep some swag (a Baldur's Gate d20, a set of NPC cards, and a few of the maps), so as far as I'm concerned it was a success. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />[sblock]The heroes were a High Elf Mage, a Human Fighter, and six 0-level lackeys. Some ad-hoc backstory revealed that they had lost half their party in the ineffable "purple worm incident" in Undermountain, after which they had difficulty finding more adventures. They were passing through Baldur's Gate on their search for gold and glory on the Sword Coast, when they noticed there was a celebration going on. An old man took the stage, and a hooded assassin from the crowd set upon him. The party reluctantly decided to help.The mage made creative use of minor illusions to try to distract the assassin, while the Fighter and his henchmen approached. Thugs from the crowd blocked their advance as the on-stage duel continued. Within two rounds, the thugs were knocked out (but not after killing one of the NPC party members). The mage jumped up on stage and thunderwaved the assassin, killing him and sending the body flying through the crowd. After seeing the assassin die, Abdel involuntarily transformed into the Slayer, which began massacring the stunned onlookers. After some unsuccessful attempts to dupe the monster with illusions, they slew it. It never scored a hit on a player character.Immediately afterward, the "heroes of the Wide" were approached with three invitations: A high-status wizard, the new leader of the Flaming Fist, and a slippery rogue all want to meet the characters. Due to time pressure, they could only make 2 meetings (the wizard wanted to meet at 4, the rogue wanted to meet at sundown; it was already 2 and they needed to take a 1-hour rest). They met with the wizard at a fancy restaurant, stepped out before meeting his master, met the rogue in the immigrant community in the slums, and finally went to the mercenary fortress to speak with the general. On the way, they encountered a moral dilemma as they witnessed a corrupt toll collector demanding more money from lower-class residents for "smuggling contraband" (clearly a made-up excuse to get more money). The printed module discussed the possibilities of the characters simply passing through, paying the tolls for all present, or starting a brawl. Instead, the players volunteered to help the soldiers search the hapless citizens for contraband to speed the queue along. Eventually (with a natural 20 Charisma check) they managed to convince the official to tax the citizens only the standard rate.The people who met with the party have contradictory goals: the rogue (Rael) is a member of the thieves' guild, which the duke (Silvershield) and the mercenary (Ravenguard) want to stamp out. Silvershield wants to find out the assassin's connection with dark cults, and the cults' connection with the thieves' guild. Rael wants the characters to help steal the corrupt toll collector's cash box, so that she can "redistribute the money" to the poor who really need it. Ravenguard wants to start cracking down on crime by having the characters help close down a few gambling dens. What's interesting to me (but not apparent to the players yet) is that each of these characters runs one third of the city: Torlin Silvershield (as a Duke and a high-ranking Cleric) runs the opulent Upper City; Ulder Ravenguard (as the leader of the Flaming Fist) is in charge of the bourgeois Lower City; and Rilsa Rael (as a high-up in the Guild) runs the lawless slums.As the players pondered the beginnings of the puzzle of politics, intrigue, and class injustice, we ended the session. They all seemed eager to continue the story, so I felt pretty accomplished.Reactions:The structure of the adventure is very impressive. It almost reads like a modern-day Keep on the Borderlands, in that it's a collection of mini-adventures that all fit together to make a larger experience. Unlike the Caves of Chaos, they're all part of a continuous storyline, which has pros and cons. I will say that the adventure is very good about avoiding railroading.The level scale really stretches suspension of disbelief. These 1st-level jerks are really the only ones who can help? The highest-ranking cleric in the largest city in the Realms is 6th level? Abdel Adrian, the 17th-level superhero from Baldur's Gate 2, is a 3HD NPC? The avatar of Bhaal is a 4HD monster?The D&D Next rules performed admirably in staying out of the way. Both players told me they would have gone home if I were running it in 4th Edition, and I can see their point. The combat would have played very differently if we had to draw out a map on a grid, track initiative, wait for everyone to take their turns separately, etc. I'm not sure how much of a difference it would have made after the combat (4e and D&DN have very similar mechanics for out of combat: basically none at all!), but the lightweightness of the rules made for very smooth transitions. There were points where combat was threatened, and there was never a sense of "oh god, how long is this going to take?" (or "the DM won't put a combat here because that would put us over time") like there always is in 4e. The situation felt like it could develop organically based on player actions or NPC plans.One of the players chose Cultural Lore (Baldur's Gate) as part of his background, so we decided he was from the Gate. I think this was a mistake; the adventure assumes the PCs are visitors, and I think for good reason.I don't understand the NPC cards. They have pictures on the front, and backstory on the back. The picture seems to indicate I'm supposed to show them to the players, but I don't want to give out information that they're not entitled to. There's no campaign-breaking secrets on them, but why would I let the players know something they're not committed enough to figure out on their own? I'd rather the cards have blank lines on the back, for players to write down information and theories as the scenario develops. As-is, I just showed the cards over the top of the screen.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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