The "everyone starts over at level 1 if everyone doesn't agree" bit is what concerns me, that sounds like some bizarre power trip. I feel like I need more context.
I feel like, without knowing more, the DM erred in putting the party in such a position (better to do it as Acanis suggested if that was the only adventure choice of the session) and refused to back down in the narrative or mea culpa OOC and retcon.
The player who refused may have some blame to cop to if they were holding their ground unreasonably.
But, at the end if the day a "Do this or Die" situation from the DM should have been measured and put there on purpose with a plan for it to go either way. Instead this sounds like the DM backed themselves into a corner with it.
The biggest problem is the bracelets. Frankly, I'd never use such an agency-denying thing in a campaign. If it had a survivable geas affect that would be one thing, but instant death is a bit much.
im guessing they ignore death ward, clone, or any other effect that would save a PC
starting over at level 1 is a yikes
I can't inhabit the headspace of a DM that punishes player character death with level penalties in any event though, it's a distant and alien realm to the way I run games
I'm currently running a game where dying actually gives you a level. It also drives you progressively more insane the higher level you go, but that's a problem for future characters to worry about.
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WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
Man I cannot move forward with a sub group's mini adventure, none of the ideas I come up with are satisfying enough for me and feel half baked. The campaign's stalled and while I don't feel burned out I'm having some sort of DM's block. Any advice on how to resolve this?
Man I cannot move forward with a sub group's mini adventure, none of the ideas I come up with are satisfying enough for me and feel half baked. The campaign's stalled and while I don't feel burned out I'm having some sort of DM's block. Any advice on how to resolve this?
Half baked is better than nothing, move forward with half baked and wait for your party to fill in what's happening with speculation. I can't tell you the number of adventure's I've had that were a half baked skeleton I rolled into and let the characters put meat onto. It's practically the core of my DM style. So long as you've got a few where's, and some things to fight and skills to check all you gotta really know is where the start point of the sub adventure is and what your desired endpoint or result from the sub group adventure is then just keep filling in the blanks after A until you can get to your desired endpoint B. Be prepared for your party to come up with a more compelling B that they're aimed at and to discard the original and replace it with the new.
Man I cannot move forward with a sub group's mini adventure, none of the ideas I come up with are satisfying enough for me and feel half baked. The campaign's stalled and while I don't feel burned out I'm having some sort of DM's block. Any advice on how to resolve this?
In addition to Sleep's advice you can always just take a break and have a player run a one/two shot for a bit
Half baked is better than nothing, move forward with half baked and wait for your party to fill in what's happening with speculation.
Yeah I do basically that as a fundamental part of session zero. I have a basic idea then ask the players to flesh it out. "The four of you have been working together for some time now. Your last quest involved a magic artifact. What was it and what made you think there's more to it than meets the eye?" And then I just keep asking questions, occasionally establishing something for them to grab onto or some note that I want to make sure makes it into the campaign setup. It ends up being way less work for me, it's more interesting than what I would have come up with on my own, and the players are already invested before we've even started adventuring.
Man I cannot move forward with a sub group's mini adventure, none of the ideas I come up with are satisfying enough for me and feel half baked. The campaign's stalled and while I don't feel burned out I'm having some sort of DM's block. Any advice on how to resolve this?
Post some of your current ideas, maybe we can help flesh them out a bit
occasions like this is why i take great pains to introduce personal tangential side stories into my game so if ever i feel like i need material i can mine a PC for complications and just make a session about their latent family/relationship problems/whatever
it's also fine to just
take a moment and have them do something small of little consequence
Maybe the party can just see lots of smoke on the horizon from wherever they are, and then a horse with a dead rider rolls up a minute later. Attached to the frightened, exhausted horse is a message with an arrow through it, piercing the horse’s hind leg
None approach, this land and its treasures are now ours.
I once didn't know what to do for a session so I just told the party they were in a cube with white walls emitting bright light, there was a human girl in there with them still asleep.
Immediately player asks if this looks like a cell
okay sure, obvious enough, that much is as far as my plans went
"not like any cell you've seen, but there's one bunk for each of you, an altar, some levers attached to it, and what looks like a privy"
they wake the girl up and I have her freak out a bit and ask where she is, who they are, and if they know what this place is
the players theories lead me to just copy the plot of a star trek TNG episode: this is an experiment, the altar can make food but the party barbarian can't eat it, nondescript voice offers a bargain to the rogue to let them go for cooperation,I have the girl slip one or two things that she couldn't possibly know until they figure out she's in on it (and eventually reveal she's a devil and kill her, which, not her home plane like she gives a shit)
we spent like an hour of session time in a white cube and then it was a prison break from a prison in Dis, crafted by a Rakshasa the party had fucked with earlier in the campaign (that's who they guessed was behind this, based on how powerful and resourceful they would have had to be)
you can literally just put players in a white cube and get a module out of it
we spent like an hour of session time in a white cube and then it was a prison break from a prison in Dis, crafted by a Rakshasa the party had fucked with earlier in the campaign (that's who they guessed was behind this, based on how powerful and resourceful they would have had to be)
I had a DM who had a blank sessions and just continued where we had left off, exploring a new uncharted sea except whatever folks said they thought was happening happened. If they'd stopped after the first or second time I think they would have entirely gotten away with it without anybody noticing.
Bonus: Players get to feel like they figured stuff out and it conforms to their expectations. Which, to a certain amount, folks like in their entertainment.
Man I cannot move forward with a sub group's mini adventure, none of the ideas I come up with are satisfying enough for me and feel half baked. The campaign's stalled and while I don't feel burned out I'm having some sort of DM's block. Any advice on how to resolve this?
Post some of your current ideas, maybe we can help flesh them out a bit
Okay, so:
The setup (what happened immediately before):
The party (minus one) has been invited by the Law Guild to a building for a debriefing on a previous adventure of theirs, but then that building gets Locked Down due to Hostiles and the party has to get out. Midway through the adventure, their missing companion dropped in with the help of an NPC, using a teleporter - the player managed to get in, but the NPC's own 'porter malfunctioned, causing that NPC to appear some distance away from the building (which was situated high up an urban area in a mountain), then fall down on the suburbs roughly a hundred feet below.
After escaping the trap, three of the party agreed to look for and take care of their NPC friend who disappeared.
What I have in mind:
- The search party wanted to pass by a potion seller first somewhere (they're not familiar with the area) before continuing their "rescue"
- I wanted to have some form of time constraints so that I can present two-three encounters that might slow the party down, causing them to not be successful with their rescue
- The NPC has knowledge of the next thing the party can investigate. If the search party don't come in time, the NPC would not be able to impart this knowledge, because either a) the NPC falls into a coma due to fall damage (iffy, given healing magic), or b) hostiles manage to get to the NPC first
- Between the search party and the NPC's landing site (A suburban house, since the area was supposed to be a peaceful town), there would be police who got alerted on the commotion on the building above and will be questioning people (time waster), the uncooperative potion seller (time waster), and a chance for a shortcut to avoid police (physical challenge?)
What I don't have:
- What exactly the NPC knows that would benefit the party, in the event they make it in time. Presumably it would advance the plot, but.... ehhh
- I've used the secretive spy guild too much to use them again as bad guys, plus they were already the bad guys in the Lockdown Building adventure
- I don't exactly know how to impart the urgency of what they're doing without going meta (Although going meta isn't so bad, but it'd be nice if it's a smoother way of providing information)
- I don't know if it's a better idea to have the NPC die if they take too long.
So what is the NPC, and how peaceful is the town? Are we talking like damn near mind controlled stepford peaceful or just like... townies peaceful? Like I get the idea behind, normal peaceful fantasy town, but those can still have right assholes in em that don't so much fuck with their locals but will absolutely fuck up some folks that destroy a building.
It sounds like you're doing a bit of the magic punk mega city type of setup, a local protection racket that actually fuckin delivers (but gets wrecked by the party) could work. Some nice local thugs to bash around on the way to picking up the NPC before the cops find em.
So for tonight's session I made a large, elaborate map inspired by Baldur's Gate 3. Lots of things to climb, jump across, hide behind, etc. Traps and weird magical effects, too!
Cue Monk with the Mobile feat, Step of the Wind, and Haste zipping through the entire map before coming back to the start in one turn, prompting every enemy in the area to start chasing the Monk back to the area where the rest of the party was waiting.
So for tonight's session I made a large, elaborate map inspired by Baldur's Gate 3. Lots of things to climb, jump across, hide behind, etc. Traps and weird magical effects, too!
Cue Monk with the Mobile feat, Step of the Wind, and Haste zipping through the entire map before coming back to the start in one turn, prompting every enemy in the area to start chasing the Monk back to the area where the rest of the party was waiting.
The Sorcerer's Sickening Radiance spell really wreaked havoc. The Arachnomancer blew two of its spell slots just dispelling Sickening Radiances and also took a lot of damage from Fireball as well, so it just ran away before it could do any damage. The mummies likewise were burned down before they got into range. Things finally started to get hairy for the party when the Banshee downed the Monk with a Wail, the Drider downed the Cleric with Blight, and the Sorcerer got blasted with Blight and attempted to run and hide. Since he was back near the entrance of the map and the Drider was on its last legs, though, I decided to have the Wizard who hired the party to clean-out the area show up and finish the Drider with a Fire Bolt.
It was a fun battle of attrition. The party picked a spot where they could take cover, pop out to attack from range, and duck back into hiding. The Sorcerer burned most of his spell slots and sorcery points, and the Cleric used the scroll of Flame Strike she found several sessions ago. I think I could have given the Monk more to do, though.
Part of the challenge next session is that the party has already been informed that an NPC ally of theirs is going to be in trouble very soon, and the Wizard is willing to Teleport the party where that NPC is, but they aren't going to have time for a long rest. However, the situation could most likely be handled with roleplaying and shouldn't lead to combat, so keeping them from regaining their spent resources for the first part of the session will encourage a non-violent approach.
Hexmage-PA on
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WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
So what is the NPC, and how peaceful is the town? Are we talking like damn near mind controlled stepford peaceful or just like... townies peaceful? Like I get the idea behind, normal peaceful fantasy town, but those can still have right assholes in em that don't so much fuck with their locals but will absolutely fuck up some folks that destroy a building.
It sounds like you're doing a bit of the magic punk mega city type of setup, a local protection racket that actually fuckin delivers (but gets wrecked by the party) could work. Some nice local thugs to bash around on the way to picking up the NPC before the cops find em.
The setting is Ravnica, so yeah, magic punk mega city is very apt. The area is a Boring "Nothing ever happens here" part of the City of Adventure, so the law enforcement isn't as fast, and stuff.
The NPC is the team lead of one of the search party members in her day job in the Crazy Science guild. She is also one of the owners of science projects getting stolen for some Nefarious Reason, so she's been doing some covert investigation of her own. The debriefing I mentioned, about a previous adventure? Said previous adventure was on a sky island owned by the Law Guild that was used for smuggling by a corrupt guild members, and they found some of the stolen projects there, including the NPC's (they haven't managed to tell her yet).
A protection racket caught unawares when the party comes into the picture sounds... awesome. Since another PC has her personal story encounter a similar one operated on a large level, so I can tie that together! Could also work that into the area being Boring, ie the racket is doing a pretty good job.
I think the first few scenarios of offical WotC D&D boxed adventures are particularly harsh, let alone for level 1 characters. Almost as if the idea is that if you kill off a PC to two at that point it's easy enough to restart.
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joshgotroDeviled EggThe Land of REAL CHILIRegistered Userregular
The party rolled well, quickly found themselves fighting off the bandits, and finally Sanbalet escaping via row boat with his hobgoblins.
Party made camp to rest in the caverns and explore the rest of the manor next session.
I always hope the players just squat and turn derelict buildings they come across into FOBs.
In fairness this adventure is a rewrite of an old 1st edition adventure when everything was lethal no matter your level (Save or die poison needle traps are classic). Hells, the 1st edition DMG had a Parasite Table to roll on if you spend an extended length of time in a city - roll bad and you've got brainworms. Yum.
Contemplate this on the Tree of Woe
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joshgotroDeviled EggThe Land of REAL CHILIRegistered Userregular
Totally up the manor loot and from the rooms they didn't interact with leaves 1203gp, 170 sp, and 30 cp laying around, some lotions of healing, a bag of holding, scale armor, and 1200 juicy XP.
They'll be almost to 4th level if they clear the manor.
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gaming_librarianTurn your face to the sun...Registered Userregular
edited January 2021
Hey thread, just want to chime in with Fun Use of Spell by my Party (tm).
I'm dm-ing Storm King's Thunder, and the sorcerer in my party has finally realized she can use the "reduce" portion of Enlarge/Reduce. I'm playing pretty loose with rules as written on stuff that like, especially for comedic shenanigans involving giants. I basically had a fire giant holding a big ol' chunk of enchanted metal scraps trying to get away from the party, and instead of casting enlarge again on the group's barbarian for more WWE hilarity as in prior sessions, she goes "I cast...reduce on the giant". RAW, I think the bits he was carrying should've shrunk too, but I figured I'd fudge it a bit and just let physics win. So, we went from "barbarian drops the people's elbow" on the reduced giant (well, huge to large but still a giant!), to "giant shrinks and has a cartoonishly violent death as he gets crushed by the thing he was holding". I love D&D.
Have to share this somewhere. My IRL group wrapped up a challenge arc where the DM had decided to get crazy and offer pulls from a Deck of Many Things if we won. We did, handily, so today was the day. We're level 7. We each get to pull up to 3 cards.Cards go back in deck after each pull.
I went first (Wizard) and pulled Skull, which was fairly easy since my low hp meant it had almost nothing so I could finish it off in a turn. I pull Fates next, and for third pull manage Stars so +2 to Int.
Sorc goes next and pulls Throne, Idiot, and Sun. Drop of 2 Int but now has a keep and random roll to get Gloves of Orge Strength
Cleric pulls Ruin, then Fates.
Barb pulls Knight, Knight again, then Comet.
Finally Ranger pulls Jester and Vizer.
So I end up with 20 Int and use Fates to change a plot point (playing Ravinca and I'm Dimir who was outed so I rewrote it so no one knows again).
Sorc loses 2 Int but is now level 10 with expertise in Persuasion, a keep somewhere, and the Gloves
Cleric lost everything not magic but we don't have tons of cash so he didn't lose much. Plus got to change his own plot as well for his Fates card.
Barbarian has two Knights. We'll see if the single handed thing happens but no big deal.
Ranger is level 8 now, and has a free info check at some point.
Overall, no real negatives which is crazy, I fully expected to roll a new character. The other nice part is it's a casual group so no power gamers to make drawing from the deck a huge problem. And DM has already said the people who leveled up are basically stuck at that level till we catch up so they aren't permanently more powerful.
Just a rush of adrenaline for us all to end up fairly good place as we head into the next plot arc.
AustinP0027 on
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WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
I am pleased as fucking punch with myself. Thanks to your suggestion of a protection racket as a possible obstacle to my party, the session went without a hitch. They even got an Artful Dodger type kid possibly hireable in the future out of it, leading them out of danger and directly to the destination, saving them time (at the cost of just mere gp).
What I'm especially happy with, though, is the name that I pulled out of my ass at the last minute for the leader of the enforcers that they stumble onto; Antonino Segundo, Second to his friends, extremely affable and downright terrifying to the trio (they "donated" 500gp to him so he'll leave them alone). I just realized he doesn't have any real friends - he's Second to none.
Would anyone be interested in a lethal D&D 5E tournament done play-by-post on this forum?
You’d start at 1st level, and level up if you survive a bout.
I’m considering running it for as many folks as wish to join in pretty soon.
Though posting on a forum is naturally going to slow play down, I think it’d only take two weeks to reach a finale.
I’m thinking I’ll set up a recruitment thread on Monday if I get enough interest, but here’s my elevator pitch:
Four hundred years ago the first beacon was completed. Winter was pushed back and life bloomed once more. Only by the collective effort of all remaining peoples under the guiding hand of the Empress could such a feat be accomplished.
To celebrate the diversity of the Great Core, pairs of gladiators are forced together in a competition of physical prowess and cunning; The Twin Torches.
These gladiators will face such challenges as obstacle courses, trials of arcane trickery, reenactments of ancient events... But between you and I, the crowds are in it for the duels.
Do you want to fight to the death for the glory of a perfect society that isn’t a crumbling late state dictatorship barely holding back an Ice Age? This is the game for you!
Basically, I’ll randomly pair up two players, and they’ll have to work together, fighting other players in (hopefully) interesting arenas with several things to interact with to violent ends. I’ll use NPC pairs to fill in any gaps.
For most players the game will be quite short indeed, but for a few it might take two weeks. Any official race and class will be up for grabs, and repeats are fine. If you really want something unofficial I’ll probably allow it so long as the damage output isn’t ridiculous.
Your character doesn’t need a 3 page backstory, but you’re from the Great Core, a cold land that sucks, but doesn’t suck as much as the endless winter beyond its shrinking borders.
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valhalla13013 Dark Shield Perceives the GodsRegistered Userregular
Why does a hippogriff only have 19 hit points and a winter wolf have 75? They're both large monstrosities. And the eagle/horse doesn't look that fragile.
Posts
“You’ve all accepted this quest; here are the circumstances, what would have had to happen for you to put yourself in this position?”
you can get players to agree to buy in to all kinds of things if you let them decide how they buy in
if it has to happen just make it happen and don’t abuse your players with it
trust is a magical thing
I feel like, without knowing more, the DM erred in putting the party in such a position (better to do it as Acanis suggested if that was the only adventure choice of the session) and refused to back down in the narrative or mea culpa OOC and retcon.
The player who refused may have some blame to cop to if they were holding their ground unreasonably.
But, at the end if the day a "Do this or Die" situation from the DM should have been measured and put there on purpose with a plan for it to go either way. Instead this sounds like the DM backed themselves into a corner with it.
starting over at level 1 is a yikes
I can't inhabit the headspace of a DM that punishes player character death with level penalties in any event though, it's a distant and alien realm to the way I run games
Half baked is better than nothing, move forward with half baked and wait for your party to fill in what's happening with speculation. I can't tell you the number of adventure's I've had that were a half baked skeleton I rolled into and let the characters put meat onto. It's practically the core of my DM style. So long as you've got a few where's, and some things to fight and skills to check all you gotta really know is where the start point of the sub adventure is and what your desired endpoint or result from the sub group adventure is then just keep filling in the blanks after A until you can get to your desired endpoint B. Be prepared for your party to come up with a more compelling B that they're aimed at and to discard the original and replace it with the new.
In addition to Sleep's advice you can always just take a break and have a player run a one/two shot for a bit
Yeah I do basically that as a fundamental part of session zero. I have a basic idea then ask the players to flesh it out. "The four of you have been working together for some time now. Your last quest involved a magic artifact. What was it and what made you think there's more to it than meets the eye?" And then I just keep asking questions, occasionally establishing something for them to grab onto or some note that I want to make sure makes it into the campaign setup. It ends up being way less work for me, it's more interesting than what I would have come up with on my own, and the players are already invested before we've even started adventuring.
Post some of your current ideas, maybe we can help flesh them out a bit
it's also fine to just
take a moment and have them do something small of little consequence
None approach, this land and its treasures are now ours.
Immediately player asks if this looks like a cell
okay sure, obvious enough, that much is as far as my plans went
"not like any cell you've seen, but there's one bunk for each of you, an altar, some levers attached to it, and what looks like a privy"
they wake the girl up and I have her freak out a bit and ask where she is, who they are, and if they know what this place is
the players theories lead me to just copy the plot of a star trek TNG episode: this is an experiment, the altar can make food but the party barbarian can't eat it, nondescript voice offers a bargain to the rogue to let them go for cooperation,I have the girl slip one or two things that she couldn't possibly know until they figure out she's in on it (and eventually reveal she's a devil and kill her, which, not her home plane like she gives a shit)
we spent like an hour of session time in a white cube and then it was a prison break from a prison in Dis, crafted by a Rakshasa the party had fucked with earlier in the campaign (that's who they guessed was behind this, based on how powerful and resourceful they would have had to be)
you can literally just put players in a white cube and get a module out of it
I had a DM who had a blank sessions and just continued where we had left off, exploring a new uncharted sea except whatever folks said they thought was happening happened. If they'd stopped after the first or second time I think they would have entirely gotten away with it without anybody noticing.
Bonus: Players get to feel like they figured stuff out and it conforms to their expectations. Which, to a certain amount, folks like in their entertainment.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Okay, so:
The setup (what happened immediately before):
The party (minus one) has been invited by the Law Guild to a building for a debriefing on a previous adventure of theirs, but then that building gets Locked Down due to Hostiles and the party has to get out. Midway through the adventure, their missing companion dropped in with the help of an NPC, using a teleporter - the player managed to get in, but the NPC's own 'porter malfunctioned, causing that NPC to appear some distance away from the building (which was situated high up an urban area in a mountain), then fall down on the suburbs roughly a hundred feet below.
After escaping the trap, three of the party agreed to look for and take care of their NPC friend who disappeared.
What I have in mind:
- The search party wanted to pass by a potion seller first somewhere (they're not familiar with the area) before continuing their "rescue"
- I wanted to have some form of time constraints so that I can present two-three encounters that might slow the party down, causing them to not be successful with their rescue
- The NPC has knowledge of the next thing the party can investigate. If the search party don't come in time, the NPC would not be able to impart this knowledge, because either a) the NPC falls into a coma due to fall damage (iffy, given healing magic), or b) hostiles manage to get to the NPC first
- Between the search party and the NPC's landing site (A suburban house, since the area was supposed to be a peaceful town), there would be police who got alerted on the commotion on the building above and will be questioning people (time waster), the uncooperative potion seller (time waster), and a chance for a shortcut to avoid police (physical challenge?)
What I don't have:
- What exactly the NPC knows that would benefit the party, in the event they make it in time. Presumably it would advance the plot, but.... ehhh
- I've used the secretive spy guild too much to use them again as bad guys, plus they were already the bad guys in the Lockdown Building adventure
- I don't exactly know how to impart the urgency of what they're doing without going meta (Although going meta isn't so bad, but it'd be nice if it's a smoother way of providing information)
- I don't know if it's a better idea to have the NPC die if they take too long.
It sounds like you're doing a bit of the magic punk mega city type of setup, a local protection racket that actually fuckin delivers (but gets wrecked by the party) could work. Some nice local thugs to bash around on the way to picking up the NPC before the cops find em.
Cue Monk with the Mobile feat, Step of the Wind, and Haste zipping through the entire map before coming back to the start in one turn, prompting every enemy in the area to start chasing the Monk back to the area where the rest of the party was waiting.
Classic
- Drow Arachnomancer (CR 12)
- Drider Vampire Spawn Death Cleric (CR 9)
- Banshee (CR 4)
- 6 Chitine Warriors (CR 3)
- 5 Skeletons (CR 1/2)
- 4 Sword Wraith Warriors (CR 3)
- 2 Mummies (CR 3)
The Sorcerer's Sickening Radiance spell really wreaked havoc. The Arachnomancer blew two of its spell slots just dispelling Sickening Radiances and also took a lot of damage from Fireball as well, so it just ran away before it could do any damage. The mummies likewise were burned down before they got into range. Things finally started to get hairy for the party when the Banshee downed the Monk with a Wail, the Drider downed the Cleric with Blight, and the Sorcerer got blasted with Blight and attempted to run and hide. Since he was back near the entrance of the map and the Drider was on its last legs, though, I decided to have the Wizard who hired the party to clean-out the area show up and finish the Drider with a Fire Bolt.
It was a fun battle of attrition. The party picked a spot where they could take cover, pop out to attack from range, and duck back into hiding. The Sorcerer burned most of his spell slots and sorcery points, and the Cleric used the scroll of Flame Strike she found several sessions ago. I think I could have given the Monk more to do, though.
Part of the challenge next session is that the party has already been informed that an NPC ally of theirs is going to be in trouble very soon, and the Wizard is willing to Teleport the party where that NPC is, but they aren't going to have time for a long rest. However, the situation could most likely be handled with roleplaying and shouldn't lead to combat, so keeping them from regaining their spent resources for the first part of the session will encourage a non-violent approach.
The setting is Ravnica, so yeah, magic punk mega city is very apt. The area is a Boring "Nothing ever happens here" part of the City of Adventure, so the law enforcement isn't as fast, and stuff.
The NPC is the team lead of one of the search party members in her day job in the Crazy Science guild. She is also one of the owners of science projects getting stolen for some Nefarious Reason, so she's been doing some covert investigation of her own. The debriefing I mentioned, about a previous adventure? Said previous adventure was on a sky island owned by the Law Guild that was used for smuggling by a corrupt guild members, and they found some of the stolen projects there, including the NPC's (they haven't managed to tell her yet).
A protection racket caught unawares when the party comes into the picture sounds... awesome. Since another PC has her personal story encounter a similar one operated on a large level, so I can tie that together! Could also work that into the area being Boring, ie the racket is doing a pretty good job.
You should not just skim the first adventure of Ghosts of Saltmarsh and run it.
That first adventure is the best one in the book IMO. It's pretty lethal though. Rot grubs anyone?
Same player looked in the sink in the kitchen and messed with the plate armor.
Party made camp to rest in the caverns and explore the rest of the manor next session.
I always hope the players just squat and turn derelict buildings they come across into FOBs.
They never do though.
It's iconic!
"I don't want the world, I just want your half"
They'll be almost to 4th level if they clear the manor.
I'm dm-ing Storm King's Thunder, and the sorcerer in my party has finally realized she can use the "reduce" portion of Enlarge/Reduce. I'm playing pretty loose with rules as written on stuff that like, especially for comedic shenanigans involving giants. I basically had a fire giant holding a big ol' chunk of enchanted metal scraps trying to get away from the party, and instead of casting enlarge again on the group's barbarian for more WWE hilarity as in prior sessions, she goes "I cast...reduce on the giant". RAW, I think the bits he was carrying should've shrunk too, but I figured I'd fudge it a bit and just let physics win. So, we went from "barbarian drops the people's elbow" on the reduced giant (well, huge to large but still a giant!), to "giant shrinks and has a cartoonishly violent death as he gets crushed by the thing he was holding". I love D&D.
You’d start at 1st level, and level up if you survive a bout.
I’m considering running it for as many folks as wish to join in pretty soon.
Though posting on a forum is naturally going to slow play down, I think it’d only take two weeks to reach a finale.
I went first (Wizard) and pulled Skull, which was fairly easy since my low hp meant it had almost nothing so I could finish it off in a turn. I pull Fates next, and for third pull manage Stars so +2 to Int.
Sorc goes next and pulls Throne, Idiot, and Sun. Drop of 2 Int but now has a keep and random roll to get Gloves of Orge Strength
Cleric pulls Ruin, then Fates.
Barb pulls Knight, Knight again, then Comet.
Finally Ranger pulls Jester and Vizer.
So I end up with 20 Int and use Fates to change a plot point (playing Ravinca and I'm Dimir who was outed so I rewrote it so no one knows again).
Sorc loses 2 Int but is now level 10 with expertise in Persuasion, a keep somewhere, and the Gloves
Cleric lost everything not magic but we don't have tons of cash so he didn't lose much. Plus got to change his own plot as well for his Fates card.
Barbarian has two Knights. We'll see if the single handed thing happens but no big deal.
Ranger is level 8 now, and has a free info check at some point.
Overall, no real negatives which is crazy, I fully expected to roll a new character. The other nice part is it's a casual group so no power gamers to make drawing from the deck a huge problem. And DM has already said the people who leveled up are basically stuck at that level till we catch up so they aren't permanently more powerful.
Just a rush of adrenaline for us all to end up fairly good place as we head into the next plot arc.
What I'm especially happy with, though, is the name that I pulled out of my ass at the last minute for the leader of the enforcers that they stumble onto; Antonino Segundo, Second to his friends, extremely affable and downright terrifying to the trio (they "donated" 500gp to him so he'll leave them alone). I just realized he doesn't have any real friends - he's Second to none.
I’m thinking I’ll set up a recruitment thread on Monday if I get enough interest, but here’s my elevator pitch:
Do you want to fight to the death for the glory of a perfect society that isn’t a crumbling late state dictatorship barely holding back an Ice Age? This is the game for you!
Basically, I’ll randomly pair up two players, and they’ll have to work together, fighting other players in (hopefully) interesting arenas with several things to interact with to violent ends. I’ll use NPC pairs to fill in any gaps.
For most players the game will be quite short indeed, but for a few it might take two weeks. Any official race and class will be up for grabs, and repeats are fine. If you really want something unofficial I’ll probably allow it so long as the damage output isn’t ridiculous.
Your character doesn’t need a 3 page backstory, but you’re from the Great Core, a cold land that sucks, but doesn’t suck as much as the endless winter beyond its shrinking borders.