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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gnome Quixote" data-source="post: 3196683" data-attributes="member: 41433">After a preliminary "Road to Ptolus" adventure ("Lair of the Rat Lord" from DM For Dummies) to shake the bugs out and introduce D&D to some newcomers, my group finally entered Ptolus proper and began "The Murderer's Trail" from Chapter 33 last week.Just getting them into the city proved to be surprisingly entertaining: not wanting to wait in line at the gate, the party's elven rogue picked out a naive-looking monk near the front of the line (a new PC who was just introduced last session), and pretended to be an old forgotten friend, trying to bluff his way into cutting ahead of him. The monk didn't fall for it, but chose to let the party cut ahead anyway, being a magnanimous sort who could "sense their dire need for haste." Naturally, I then had everybody standing behind the monk see fit to impress upon him their dire need for haste, and the party soon found themselves back at the end of the line with their new friend.Once they finally got up to the gate, there were a few tense moments when the guards demanded to see their papers (which I had handed out and had the players fill out at the beginning of the session). The rogue's are forged, of course, as he's travelling under a psudonym, so he was understandably nervous (as were the other players OOC). I decided to play with them a bit, and had the guard not give the rogue's papers a second glance...but then question the authenticity of those belonging to the dwarf fighter, who is the product of a Romeo/Juliet-esque union between Grailwarden and Stonelost parents, and is therefore very tetchy about inquiries into his background. The dwarf flew into a rage, and just as the guards were about to descend upon him for causing a disturbance, he played the race card, noting that all the "tall folk" ahead of him had been let in without question. Naturally, this got the other dwarves in line behind him a little incensed, and rather than risk a race riot, the guards let the party in...but warned that the Watch would be keeping a very close eye on them. From there they made their way to Midtown and Delver's Square, and were just about to head into The Ghostly Minstrel when we ended the session, picking up on several of the foreshadowing bits suggested in Chapter 33 along the way.The group really seemed to enjoy themselves, and appear really excited by all the possibilities that Ptolus offers. And though I was intially really intimidated by the Big Book, I found I was able to run the session pretty smoothly with a bare minimum of preparation (a point-form outline of locations and encounters, along with page numbers so I could follow along in the Big Book, describing locations and NPCs--the cross-reference sidebars and the sewn-in bookmarks are invaluable, here). The players were really impressed by the number and quality of handouts (some from the envelope included with the book, some generated from the included CD), and enjoyed charting their course from South Gate towards Delvers Square on the poster map. Overall, we were all really impressed by this first session--granted, it was all just set-up, but I've got a really good feeling about Ptolus, so far.</blockquote>

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