D&D 5E TftYP - Running Sunless Citadel

[jasper]

...My genius party had no thief and no one with lock picks, so they were unable to get into Calcryx's room, but had a great conversation with her from the hallway. Calcryx kept baiting them to come in as she could smell the treasure on them. In the end they decided against breaking the door down and fighting her.....
Nice role playing of the dragon. xp for you.

 

[OB1]

So, what about doing away with Passive Perception all together, and just have them roll for each room...which is what they will do anyways?
Or, as they open the door, they give you 2 rolls for perception (they all will try anyway) and you use the first roll for traps (but don't tell them), the second roll for secret doors?

What's the reason for the randomness of the fluctuating DC? Just to keep it random?

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Here is how I played it and now think about it.

If the party is just generically trying as hard as they can to find "traps" then I take the person with the best passive perception and check it against how well the trap was hidden. Rather than this be static, where I know what the result is, I am basically checking how well the trap maker hid the trap combined with how the days or centuries it has been since the trap was created to come up with the challenge. Hence the randomness in the DC.

On the flip side, if they are looking for a trap similar to one they have encountered, and the passive check didn't uncover anything, I have them roll an investigation or perception check when they first enter the room against the static DC of the trap if they tell me what they are specifically looking for and how they are doing it.

 

[Horwath]

I tried to go this route in Sunless Citadel, but it was a little rocky. One group went right for the usual tavern-room shenanigans, so I tried to humor them a little, where-as I flat-out told my veteran group that we weren't going to do any active roleplay in Oakhurst, so they could just say what they were trying to accomplish there and how they were going about it. For example, "I want to find out more about the Sunless Citadel, so I visit the tavern and speak to as many locals as I can, asking them about the Citadel's history and the goblins that dwell there."

For whatever reason, though, a lot of players expect the whole game to be conducted in active roleplay (Critical Role and other streaming shows have probably encouraged this idea). If they want information about the Sunless Citadel, then they think they need to locate specific townspeople and create a scene with each one. First there's the innkeeper, then there's the hooded traveler in the corner, then the farmers at a nearby table, and on and on.

There's nothing necessarily wrong with this, of course, but damn is it boring when there's no dramatic conflict (i.e. in a dungeon-crawl). It also eats up a ton of time, if not whole sessions.

I'm not sure what to do about this, but in the future, I'll probably frame town visits in the past tense. "The party spent a few days recuperating in town. What did you do during that time?"

But tavern shenanigans are so much fun.

For the players atleast

DM is under constant stress as he has to improvise a dozen of NPC and make them look different, not just some generic John/Jane Doe.

Also the mandatory sleeping in tavern with bed pushed against the door and wardrobe against the window. Ain't nobody stealing my 67 scimitars and 856 coppers looted from goblins yesterday

 

[OB1]

Absurdly devious: If the players help the Kobolds, have the leader request them attend an elaborate ceremony granting the title of Dragonguard for the characters, all the characters are told to wear the robes and staves of the Dragonguard for the ceremony. All the kobolds in the lair attend and cheer during the ceremony, at the end they attack to attempt to subdue the characters(who are now wearing cloth armor and only have a quarterstaff as a weapon) to feed them to the dragon.

Consider this stolen!

 

[Marcel]

Replace the Goblins with Orcs and the Kobolds with Goblins for a better 5e balance

 

[L R Ballard]

The second most difficult fight is Calcryx, because her breath weapon can instantly kill a level 1 character from massive damage. If the party has Meepo with them, then Calcryx should be a much easier fight.

Agreed that the breath weapon makes this encounter hard, if not deadly, for 1st-level characters. I walked through a party that was 1st level when they entered Calcryx's chamber--without Meepo. Calcryx recharged her breath weapon twice and killed the party's thief. She'd nearly dropped everyone, so I brought in Meepo with the kobold prisoners from room 34. It may benefit the party to make Wisdom (Insight) checks to reflect on the possible value of having some combination of Meepo, the kobold prisoners, and Erky Timbers as backup.

 

[L R Ballard]

...My genius party had no thief and no one with lock picks, so they were unable to get into Calcryx's room, but had a great conversation with her from the hallway. Calcryx kept baiting them to come in as she could smell the treasure on them. In the end they decided against breaking the door down and fighting her.....
Nice role playing of the dragon. xp for you.

The party chose wisely, especially if still 1st level.

 

[Uller]

Resurrecting this thread...My 6yo daughter asked to play D&D the other day so I ran this for her for a few hours. I had not read it at all so I was running it ad hoc which was fine as I was running three NPCs to fill out her party for her. She got as far as befriending Meepo and accepting the quest to "rescue" the dragon.

She must have had fun because she keeps asking to play again. While I was making dinner (while her party camped) she drew the campsite on the battlemat...complete with camp fire and food and she put the minis around it and yesterday she made a custom mini of her character using her legos...

She's going to try to get the dragon next...so far she's been doing well but her characters are still level one so I'll have to change how that one plays out a bit.

We're using Mike Mearls' altenate xp system (100xp gais you a level and most things are worth 5 or 10 xp). It is great for a kid...I just blocked off 10 squares on the battlemat and put an x in one every time she gets 10 xp...so she can see he progress toward gaining a level.

In the room with the secret door concealing three skeletons she checked for traps and rolled a 2. I said she doesn't find any. She said "I'm looking again because you're smiling..." so she seems to get it...

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[mightybrain]

Yusdrayl has the key to the Dragon Door and is willing to trade it for the return of her dragon. Does anyone have any ideas why the kobolds have never used the key themselves? It's a dragon door and they are curious creatures that revere dragons after all. I'm sure this question is going to come up in my next session, knowing my players.

Also, I'm thinking that if the players manage to convince the dragon to return with them that she would want to take control of the colony and get the kobolds serving her.

 

[Uller]

Maybe they did but couldn't figure out the riddle?

For my daughter's game, they had to subdue the dragon. The kobolds and the party allied against the goblins but mid fight the kobolds turned on the party. The dragon (having already been defeated by the party once) escaped with the surviving kobolds (because it would be more fun to have it become a recurring villain later).