D&D 5E [Tyranny of Dragons] Various DM questions

[The Green Hermit]

I turned them into Aurak draconians and had the whole rise of Tiamat actually the rise of Tiamat AND Takhisis from Krynn. And I had none of that travelling for weeks on end, either.

I throw in earned downtime after every chapter. (They can use downtime at any time, but if they haven't earned any, there's a 50/50 chance that they will be attacked instead of doing what they were wanting to do. This mostly comes into play when we have a new character that hasn't earned as much downtime yet.) Most of my group's roleplaying is during the downtime. I haven't been able to get them to truly go after that in the meat of the game.

 

[Eltab]

Have the castle lord meet privately and thank the party for their deeds. He invites them to a 'working meal' where the civic leaders try to figure out what to do about the raid (besides sitting still waiting for another raid to arrive). They might ask the Ranger to follow bandit tracks for a day and report back on findings - via Animal Messenger or carrier pigeon? - so they can plan a counter-strike and retrieve / ransom kidnapped individuals.
Now enter Chap. Two.

 

[Larnievc]

They are the same person.

Yeah, but they can also exist independently. All part of the multi dimensional weirdness. I don’t pretend to understand how it works in my game.

 

[Larnievc]

I throw in earned downtime after every chapter. (They can use downtime at any time, but if they haven't earned any, there's a 50/50 chance that they will be attacked instead of doing what they were wanting to do. This mostly comes into play when we have a new character that hasn't earned as much downtime yet.) Most of my group's roleplaying is during the downtime. I haven't been able to get them to truly go after that in the meat of the game.

I’ve never really used downtime as a defined mechanic. One if my players resized some armour and another did a load of sparing but most of the time they’re not interested in down time.

 

[The Green Hermit]

They earn 5 days after each chapter, but they can spend those days whenever they want. That way they have to think about when they are going to lolligate around town.

 

[thom_likes_gaming]

Thanks for all the valuable answers, much appreciated.

While I'm reading chapter 3, quick question: Langdedrosa is supposed to be fighting the chars in room 9 if the hatchery. Either another one-on-one, or joined by 2 berserkers against a party of 4, who should be level 3 by then. With L being CR 4 and the berserkers listed as CR 2, that fight runs as 'ansurd' in the encounter builder, which sounds about right. I mean, that's near well a given TPK, isn't it? What am I missing?

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Langdedrosa is one of the parts where it really shows that Hoard of the Dragon Queen was the first module out the gate. I got rid of the berserkers and Langdedrosa still nearly wiped the floor with the party. And that was after he switched to using just unarmed attacks out of a sense of fairness.

While I'm reading chapter 3, quick question: Langdedrosa is supposed to be fighting the chars in room 9 if the hatchery. Either another one-on-one, or joined by 2 berserkers against a party of 4, who should be level 3 by then. With L being CR 4 and the berserkers listed as CR 2, that fight runs as 'ansurd' in the encounter builder, which sounds about right. I mean, that's near well a given TPK, isn't it? What am I missing?

 

[Eltab]

While I'm reading chapter 3, quick question: Langdedrosa is supposed to be fighting the chars in room 9 if the hatchery. Either another one-on-one, or joined by 2 berserkers against a party of 4, who should be level 3 by then. With L being CR 4 and the berserkers listed as CR 2, that fight runs as 'ansurd' in the encounter builder, which sounds about right. I mean, that's near well a given TPK, isn't it? What am I missing?

'Ansurd'? No idea what that is a typo for.

Have Langdredosa send the berserkers away when he sees the PCs - especially if he recognizes one from the personal honor duel back in town - calmly ordering them "Alert the camp. Inform the Wyrmspeaker. Also say to her that I will deal with these ... aspiring adventurers ... myself." Then have him step away from their exit, to wherever his breath weapon can have the most effect.
If the PCs are having an easy time of it, the berserkers (plus a squad of some sort of reinforcements) return just before Langdredosa goes down.

I did not get to DM this part of the adventure, but I would play Langdredosa as a military officer (his 'wearing of the purple' is a uniform not a dragonesque cape) who also likes knightly duels to 'keep my edge sharp'.

 

[Rabulias]

'Ansurd'? No idea what that is a typo for.

"Absurd," maybe?