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[D&D 5E] Nothing is true, everything is permitted.

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Posts

  • KhildithKhildith Registered User regular
    I think I have a massive over-preparation problem. I know I'm not amazing at creating adventures off the cuff but I'm also terrified of being accused of railroading so I'm trying to predict any path my party might take and sprinkle in a dozen hooks to different things. We've only had one session so I have no idea what my players are going to like or what their characters will want to pursue.

    I've probably spent 30 hours preparing for this 4 hour session!

    Hopefully all this will pay off because any work I do now can be recycled for later adventures if I need to and this whole spending most of my free time thinking about my game thing won't be needed in a few months!

  • SteelhawkSteelhawk Registered User regular
    If you've broken all that prep into plug and play type encounters then you should be gold. Keep all that prep work and drop it front of them when you choose. If they zig, drop A. If they zag, drop B.

    Having prepped too much is not a bad thing. Just learn to leave yourself some wiggle room if your party does something unexpected. Easier said than done, sure. But I think you'll be OK. :)

  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    The other thing to keep in mind is, especially for IRL groups, that it's okay for the DM to say, "Okay, guys ... I didn't really plan on you guys doing [foo]. Let's take a 5-minute break, let me sort out my notes, and then we'll continue."

    Then you file the serial numbers off your prepared encounter, change "fire resistance" to "shock resistance" or whatever, and continue on.

  • Hexmage-PAHexmage-PA Registered User regular
    I'm not DMing anything yet, but I've been working on ideas for a few months now. I work 10 hours a day at a job that requires very little active concentration, so I have plenty of time to brainstorm ideas.

    BTW, I'm thinking my next PC in the game I'm playing in will be a Warlock or multiclassed Battlemaster Fighter/Warlock. My last character's backstory is that his parents were in a cult, so I'm thinking of asking the DM if my new character could be a double agent from that cult who had been spying on my previous character as well as searching for a way to undermine his cult's rivals. He could secretly be evil and causing trouble in town through subtle intrigue (spying using a familiar, rumor spreading, betraying the party's allies trust by spreading confidential info, etc), but cooperate fully with the party and act the part of a hero in public so that he isn't found out until a dramatic betrayal in which the party defeats him.

    Of course that could go against whatever story the DM has in mind, so I'd run it by him first.

  • Hexmage-PAHexmage-PA Registered User regular
    Rick & Morty/D&D crossover comic mini-series coming this August!

    03a3pi11qicy.jpeg

  • CarnarvonCarnarvon Registered User regular
    Hexmage-PA wrote: »
    Rick & Morty/D&D crossover comic mini-series coming this August!

    03a3pi11qicy.jpeg

    Amazing, now my roll20 will be filled with 50% horrible Critical Roll fans and 50% 180IQ Rick and Morty fans instead of just Critical Roll fans.
    I'm actually pretty excited.

  • StragintStragint Do Not Gift Always DeclinesRegistered User regular
    Working on a new character for a one shot session.

    Making a Half Orc Paladin that is going to be obnoxiously lawful good and oblivious to how intimidating he is.

    PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
    What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak

    I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
  • SchadenfreudeSchadenfreude Mean Mister Mustard Registered User regular
    I'm unreasonably excited. As an eternal DM currently running 3 groups (Only one of which regularly) I'm itching to play, and a my local game store has recently started fortnightly Adventurers League play. Woo.

    Of course now I'm paralysed with choice when it comes to making my character. It looks like a Bugbear Paladin is AL legal - give him a halberd and he has a 15ft reach! Seems a little munchkiny but who knows? Anyhoo, looking forward to it.

    So my bugbear paladin had his first outing last night, halberd and all, and managed to survive despite our Texblade constantly causing cave-ins (We honestly almost fell afoul of "Rocks Fall, You All Die"). The AL group is doing the Tyranny of Dragon modules, so we had a nice little dungeon crawl with lots of zombies and ghouls and skelingtons and a Thayan in full plate who cut our rogue in two (Double 6s on greatsword damage, insta-killing the poor 2/7HP bugger). This guy's fun to play, 8ft tall, 350lbs, with proficiency in Stealth; he's a big sneaky mountain. And now he's level 2 and has some spells! Woo!

    Contemplate this on the Tree of Woe
  • NyhtNyht Registered User regular
    So the next game of my campaign last weekend goes like this;

    My daughter's friend can't come to play though it worked out well enough with how we left before because she was dropping her Wizard for a Rogue anyway. Mage left the party over night and the rogue is on her way, so no worries.

    My brother's paladin went through his trials to move from Oath of Vengeance to Oath of the Ancients which I'm still pretty stoked about as it'll match thematically with the Blight Druid campaign going on and is also rewarded with an old relic known as the Axe of the Huntsman. It's just +1 right now but there's hidden potential in the weapon for the future.

    But first, a SIDE QUEST!

    The party gets to the closest town to wait for more information on the Blight that should be coming their way. They've got some downtime though and end up finding out that the small lumber-mill town of Cedar Ridge has had an issue of late. Over the course of a month, four small children between the ages of 7 and 10 have gone missing.

    Some investigation has lead to a couple of options for the cause. Reportedly there is a hag that lives deeper into the forest that their city sits on the edge of. She has been the death of lumber workers who've gone too far in and away from their team and is said to hang the bones of those she's eaten on display to warn others.

    There is also a group of bandits that live in the forest as well that make a few raids on the city for supplies though has thus far not actually mortally harmed any of the villagers to date.

    They find that the great city to the North, Haven, no longer able to give protection to the city as they used to as Cedar Ridge elected five years back to become independent, the mayor/heads of the city believing they could make more with their lumber trades without owing anything to Haven and that things had been relatively peaceful. So the party is offered the freelance work if they can find what's happened to the children and take care of the hag as well so their lumber workers feel safer.

    A woman who is hysterical comes into town before the party can leave and is crying to the Cedar Guard (their rangers/militia) that her son was taken last night. They find her name to be Elisha and that she's an herbalist who lives on the outskirts of town. She says she was knocked out last night when she caught some people snooping outside her home. When she woke up, it was morning and along with some of her supplies, her son was missing. She tells the Guard, and the PCs as well as they were there, to please find him. He's all she has left. He's seven with blonde hair and was last seen in Overalls with his name stitched into the front; William.

    The Guards assure her they'll try and find her son and they escort her back to her home.

    The PCs interview the other parents of the missing children. The same story is given that they went out to play and just never came back. They were not taken in the middle of the night but rather just went out during the daytime to play but went missing. A few children that were playing with the missing children admitted they didn't see the missing kids wander off but didn't think much of it at the time. Kids come and go all the time.

    The PCs decide to go out to her place and find that she really does live on the outskirts of the city, a good ten minute walk away from the closest other home. She's definitely still in a panic and depressed. She explains that things have been hard since her husband passed but she always had William to keep her company out here where the soil was rich enough to grow her herbs which is how she makes due. She has a plentiful supply still though some of the crops had been pulled up and taken as well as her son. She confesses to one on a persuasion roll that her son's birthday is in a few days and then breaks down into tears and seems hysterical with grief and mostly just shuts down and mutters in repeat to "Find my William ..."

    They try and succeed in finding tracks left by the attackers that lead into the forest and they make their way.

    After an hour, they found these tracks mingled with another set of much larger tracks where they was a scuffle. I allow the newly minted Oath of Ancients Paladin to identify with his skills and detection skills that some of the blood found belonged to a hag.

    The tracks separate with the hag's tracks leading one way, dragging a body, and the other set of now three sets of tracks (was four before) going another way.

    Thinking back on what the villagers said about the bandits supposedly not mortally wounding anyone, they follow the hag first.

    There they find a pair of large Annis Hags picking clean a victim that seemed to be adult in size. A bad stealth roll alerts the hags of the presence of the intruders and initiative happens.

    The party wipes out the hags after some close calls and the party heals up a bit before searching the hut. They find some unknown potions they pack away for the time being and the cauldron which is magical but they can't identify yet. They also find a bit of gold lying around from old victims but not much else. No signs of any of the victims being children.

    So the party goes back and follows the bandits next.

    Some bad stealth roll leads to 3 of the 5 getting caught and instead of fighting their way out agree to come peacefully. Intimidating checks let them keep their weapons for now and they are escorted to their leader. The bandits, the group finds, are mostly half elves or some elvish heritage. They never found their place among their fellow elves in the forest but also couldn't find themselves to accept the city life of Haven, preferring the wilds. They admitted to raiding the town of Cedar Ridge from time to time when they needed supplies but only took what they needed that they believed the town could do without. In return, without the town knowing, the bandits had actually been doing their best to keep threats away from the town, including more aggressive sylvan elves who believed that the humans of the village were starting to cut too deep, so the half elves were being diplomatic on the village's behalf with promises to ensure things don't get too far less the sylvan come back.

    One of the party members notices a group of children and points it out. The bandits explain it's their own children as the bandits number just shy of twenty adults with four children as well. The party demands to see the children after explaining what they were doing in the forest to begin with. After leveraging the fact they killed the hags which the bandits admittedly have had some issues with, they allow a closer look but unarmed. They find the children also have elvish features and don't match the features of the children taken.

    However, one of them is holding a large doll with golden hair made of yarn and Overalls with the name "William" etched into it.

    The bandits admitted to raiding some needed herbs from a local woman and one of the men stole the doll that was sitting on a swing for their daughter. They agreed to give it back and apologized for being aggressive and knocking out the woman but that she was screaming loudly and they were afraid of getting caught.

    They part ways with the party deciding to currently not tell the town about finding the bandits at all. They return to Elisha with the doll and she breaks down in tears of joy as she scoops up her "sweet William!" The party looks on confused and a little weary as the woman starts talking to the doll as her child and seems completely convinced he's quite real. She goes on to say how he's going to have the best birthday now that he's home. She thanks the group and pays them a few gold, all she had, which the party gives back to her.

    She asks for some privacy with her child and they consent ... but they pretend to leave but linger outside. They discover a small locked cellar that leads down into the ground and pick the lock before heading down below. There they discover, hidden behind some barrels, another little corner with a table set and some birthday decorations setup saying "Happy Birthday William"

    Four children sat around the table, propped up and obviously no longer alive, had birthday hats atop their heads in this horrible display of a birthday celebration yet to come.

    The party in character and out look horrified and rush up to confront the woman. She looks irritated that they are openly spoiling William's birthday surprise in front of him. They tell her they're going to the guards. She goes for a knife to stop them from taking William's friends and they turn on her. She goes down in a single hit. After all, she's not some great wizard or hag or what have you.

    She's just a middle aged herbalist who lives outside the city.

    Ended the night with them going to town and letting the Cedar Guard know of the woman and what they found.

  • SchadenfreudeSchadenfreude Mean Mister Mustard Registered User regular
    Two months later I'll be picking up my Curse of Strahd campaign on Friday.

    Early CoS spoilers:
    The players have just buried Ireena's father and had a run in with Strahd who dropped by the funeral to "pay his respects". So this session I need to try and manoeuvre the party to Tser pool and Madam Eva for the reading - tricky as they do not trust the Vistani (In no small part because Ismark doesn't trust them). I'll have to have Ismark push the shortcut aspect of going through Tser Pool and Ireena talk about the readings Madam Eva can do; hopefully they bite.

    Just trying to decide whether I'll load the deck or not? A part of me would like to play it totally random, but some options are more fun than others.

    I'd like to get in the Dreampastry encounter in Barovia too, as a prelude to Old Bonegrinder, assuming they even go there.

    Contemplate this on the Tree of Woe
  • GaddezGaddez Registered User regular
    Two months later I'll be picking up my Curse of Strahd campaign on Friday.

    Early CoS spoilers:
    The players have just buried Ireena's father and had a run in with Strahd who dropped by the funeral to "pay his respects". So this session I need to try and manoeuvre the party to Tser pool and Madam Eva for the reading - tricky as they do not trust the Vistani (In no small part because Ismark doesn't trust them). I'll have to have Ismark push the shortcut aspect of going through Tser Pool and Ireena talk about the readings Madam Eva can do; hopefully they bite.

    Just trying to decide whether I'll load the deck or not? A part of me would like to play it totally random, but some options are more fun than others.

    I'd like to get in the Dreampastry encounter in Barovia too, as a prelude to Old Bonegrinder, assuming they even go there.
    Make the deck random. doing so will encourage them to go and explore the environment and ensure that their adventure is extremely unique

  • SteelhawkSteelhawk Registered User regular
    edited April 2018
    Oh shit. It worked.

    I've got a newb and 4 dudes who haven't played since multiple editions ago (and maybe one other guy I know) coming over in a few days. I'll be running Phandelver for them and pretending not to see my wife laughing at us nerds from the other side of the house. (She'd much rather I was a nerd than some kind of bro, though. So it'll be good natured laughing at me?)

    This is going to be markedly different than my usual IRL game experience and it feels weird, man.


    EDIT: Shit. I'll need to vacuum my living room...

    Steelhawk on
  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    edited April 2018
    Nyht wrote: »
    So the next game of my campaign last weekend goes like this;
    My daughter's friend can't come to play though it worked out well enough with how we left before because she was dropping her Wizard for a Rogue anyway. Mage left the party over night and the rogue is on her way, so no worries.

    My brother's paladin went through his trials to move from Oath of Vengeance to Oath of the Ancients which I'm still pretty stoked about as it'll match thematically with the Blight Druid campaign going on and is also rewarded with an old relic known as the Axe of the Huntsman. It's just +1 right now but there's hidden potential in the weapon for the future.

    But first, a SIDE QUEST!

    The party gets to the closest town to wait for more information on the Blight that should be coming their way. They've got some downtime though and end up finding out that the small lumber-mill town of Cedar Ridge has had an issue of late. Over the course of a month, four small children between the ages of 7 and 10 have gone missing.

    Some investigation has lead to a couple of options for the cause. Reportedly there is a hag that lives deeper into the forest that their city sits on the edge of. She has been the death of lumber workers who've gone too far in and away from their team and is said to hang the bones of those she's eaten on display to warn others.

    There is also a group of bandits that live in the forest as well that make a few raids on the city for supplies though has thus far not actually mortally harmed any of the villagers to date.

    They find that the great city to the North, Haven, no longer able to give protection to the city as they used to as Cedar Ridge elected five years back to become independent, the mayor/heads of the city believing they could make more with their lumber trades without owing anything to Haven and that things had been relatively peaceful. So the party is offered the freelance work if they can find what's happened to the children and take care of the hag as well so their lumber workers feel safer.

    A woman who is hysterical comes into town before the party can leave and is crying to the Cedar Guard (their rangers/militia) that her son was taken last night. They find her name to be Elisha and that she's an herbalist who lives on the outskirts of town. She says she was knocked out last night when she caught some people snooping outside her home. When she woke up, it was morning and along with some of her supplies, her son was missing. She tells the Guard, and the PCs as well as they were there, to please find him. He's all she has left. He's seven with blonde hair and was last seen in Overalls with his name stitched into the front; William.

    The Guards assure her they'll try and find her son and they escort her back to her home.

    The PCs interview the other parents of the missing children. The same story is given that they went out to play and just never came back. They were not taken in the middle of the night but rather just went out during the daytime to play but went missing. A few children that were playing with the missing children admitted they didn't see the missing kids wander off but didn't think much of it at the time. Kids come and go all the time.

    The PCs decide to go out to her place and find that she really does live on the outskirts of the city, a good ten minute walk away from the closest other home. She's definitely still in a panic and depressed. She explains that things have been hard since her husband passed but she always had William to keep her company out here where the soil was rich enough to grow her herbs which is how she makes due. She has a plentiful supply still though some of the crops had been pulled up and taken as well as her son. She confesses to one on a persuasion roll that her son's birthday is in a few days and then breaks down into tears and seems hysterical with grief and mostly just shuts down and mutters in repeat to "Find my William ..."

    They try and succeed in finding tracks left by the attackers that lead into the forest and they make their way.

    After an hour, they found these tracks mingled with another set of much larger tracks where they was a scuffle. I allow the newly minted Oath of Ancients Paladin to identify with his skills and detection skills that some of the blood found belonged to a hag.

    The tracks separate with the hag's tracks leading one way, dragging a body, and the other set of now three sets of tracks (was four before) going another way.

    Thinking back on what the villagers said about the bandits supposedly not mortally wounding anyone, they follow the hag first.

    There they find a pair of large Annis Hags picking clean a victim that seemed to be adult in size. A bad stealth roll alerts the hags of the presence of the intruders and initiative happens.

    The party wipes out the hags after some close calls and the party heals up a bit before searching the hut. They find some unknown potions they pack away for the time being and the cauldron which is magical but they can't identify yet. They also find a bit of gold lying around from old victims but not much else. No signs of any of the victims being children.

    So the party goes back and follows the bandits next.

    Some bad stealth roll leads to 3 of the 5 getting caught and instead of fighting their way out agree to come peacefully. Intimidating checks let them keep their weapons for now and they are escorted to their leader. The bandits, the group finds, are mostly half elves or some elvish heritage. They never found their place among their fellow elves in the forest but also couldn't find themselves to accept the city life of Haven, preferring the wilds. They admitted to raiding the town of Cedar Ridge from time to time when they needed supplies but only took what they needed that they believed the town could do without. In return, without the town knowing, the bandits had actually been doing their best to keep threats away from the town, including more aggressive sylvan elves who believed that the humans of the village were starting to cut too deep, so the half elves were being diplomatic on the village's behalf with promises to ensure things don't get too far less the sylvan come back.

    One of the party members notices a group of children and points it out. The bandits explain it's their own children as the bandits number just shy of twenty adults with four children as well. The party demands to see the children after explaining what they were doing in the forest to begin with. After leveraging the fact they killed the hags which the bandits admittedly have had some issues with, they allow a closer look but unarmed. They find the children also have elvish features and don't match the features of the children taken.

    However, one of them is holding a large doll with golden hair made of yarn and Overalls with the name "William" etched into it.

    The bandits admitted to raiding some needed herbs from a local woman and one of the men stole the doll that was sitting on a swing for their daughter. They agreed to give it back and apologized for being aggressive and knocking out the woman but that she was screaming loudly and they were afraid of getting caught.

    They part ways with the party deciding to currently not tell the town about finding the bandits at all. They return to Elisha with the doll and she breaks down in tears of joy as she scoops up her "sweet William!" The party looks on confused and a little weary as the woman starts talking to the doll as her child and seems completely convinced he's quite real. She goes on to say how he's going to have the best birthday now that he's home. She thanks the group and pays them a few gold, all she had, which the party gives back to her.

    She asks for some privacy with her child and they consent ... but they pretend to leave but linger outside. They discover a small locked cellar that leads down into the ground and pick the lock before heading down below. There they discover, hidden behind some barrels, another little corner with a table set and some birthday decorations setup saying "Happy Birthday William"

    Four children sat around the table, propped up and obviously no longer alive, had birthday hats atop their heads in this horrible display of a birthday celebration yet to come.

    The party in character and out look horrified and rush up to confront the woman. She looks irritated that they are openly spoiling William's birthday surprise in front of him. They tell her they're going to the guards. She goes for a knife to stop them from taking William's friends and they turn on her. She goes down in a single hit. After all, she's not some great wizard or hag or what have you.

    She's just a middle aged herbalist who lives outside the city.

    Ended the night with them going to town and letting the Cedar Guard know of the woman and what they found.


    This is how it's done right here.

    webguy20 on
    Steam ID: Webguy20
    Origin ID: Discgolfer27
    Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
  • SmrtnikSmrtnik job boli zub Registered User regular
    Two months later I'll be picking up my Curse of Strahd campaign on Friday.

    Early CoS spoilers:
    The players have just buried Ireena's father and had a run in with Strahd who dropped by the funeral to "pay his respects". So this session I need to try and manoeuvre the party to Tser pool and Madam Eva for the reading - tricky as they do not trust the Vistani (In no small part because Ismark doesn't trust them). I'll have to have Ismark push the shortcut aspect of going through Tser Pool and Ireena talk about the readings Madam Eva can do; hopefully they bite.

    Just trying to decide whether I'll load the deck or not? A part of me would like to play it totally random, but some options are more fun than others.

    I'd like to get in the Dreampastry encounter in Barovia too, as a prelude to Old Bonegrinder, assuming they even go there.

    I'm about to run my first DM group campaign for a "serious" group where everyone has played for many years (as opposed to two sessions of Phalvandet for my wife and her two friends none of whom played before), and we are doing CoS. Like literally an hour from now.


    I missed this, but what is the shortcut you are referring to at the pool?

    steam_sig.png
  • GaddezGaddez Registered User regular
    Smrtnik wrote: »
    Two months later I'll be picking up my Curse of Strahd campaign on Friday.

    Early CoS spoilers:
    The players have just buried Ireena's father and had a run in with Strahd who dropped by the funeral to "pay his respects". So this session I need to try and manoeuvre the party to Tser pool and Madam Eva for the reading - tricky as they do not trust the Vistani (In no small part because Ismark doesn't trust them). I'll have to have Ismark push the shortcut aspect of going through Tser Pool and Ireena talk about the readings Madam Eva can do; hopefully they bite.

    Just trying to decide whether I'll load the deck or not? A part of me would like to play it totally random, but some options are more fun than others.

    I'd like to get in the Dreampastry encounter in Barovia too, as a prelude to Old Bonegrinder, assuming they even go there.

    I'm about to run my first DM group campaign for a "serious" group where everyone has played for many years (as opposed to two sessions of Phalvandet for my wife and her two friends none of whom played before), and we are doing CoS. Like literally an hour from now.


    I missed this, but what is the shortcut you are referring to at the pool?

    Theres a bit of a shortcut in the road network players can take if they go by where the pool is. Also; it gets them in contact with the vistani who can give them their mission objectives via tarrokka reading.

  • SchadenfreudeSchadenfreude Mean Mister Mustard Registered User regular
    As Gaddez says, if you follow the route to the Tser Pool, it cuts off a huge dogleg of the Old Svalich Road.

    Contemplate this on the Tree of Woe
  • SchadenfreudeSchadenfreude Mean Mister Mustard Registered User regular
    Gaddez wrote: »
    Two months later I'll be picking up my Curse of Strahd campaign on Friday.

    Early CoS spoilers:
    The players have just buried Ireena's father and had a run in with Strahd who dropped by the funeral to "pay his respects". So this session I need to try and manoeuvre the party to Tser pool and Madam Eva for the reading - tricky as they do not trust the Vistani (In no small part because Ismark doesn't trust them). I'll have to have Ismark push the shortcut aspect of going through Tser Pool and Ireena talk about the readings Madam Eva can do; hopefully they bite.

    Just trying to decide whether I'll load the deck or not? A part of me would like to play it totally random, but some options are more fun than others.

    I'd like to get in the Dreampastry encounter in Barovia too, as a prelude to Old Bonegrinder, assuming they even go there.
    Make the deck random. doing so will encourage them to go and explore the environment and ensure that their adventure is extremely unique

    My precampaign draw was pretty awful (Nearly everything was located in the crypts, nothing outside of the castle). I'll do it random, if it's another dud draw I can always have Hopalong give another reading later on. :)

    Contemplate this on the Tree of Woe
  • NyhtNyht Registered User regular
    webguy20 wrote: »
    Nyht wrote: »
    So the next game of my campaign last weekend goes like this;
    My daughter's friend can't come to play though it worked out well enough with how we left before because she was dropping her Wizard for a Rogue anyway. Mage left the party over night and the rogue is on her way, so no worries.

    My brother's paladin went through his trials to move from Oath of Vengeance to Oath of the Ancients which I'm still pretty stoked about as it'll match thematically with the Blight Druid campaign going on and is also rewarded with an old relic known as the Axe of the Huntsman. It's just +1 right now but there's hidden potential in the weapon for the future.

    But first, a SIDE QUEST!

    The party gets to the closest town to wait for more information on the Blight that should be coming their way. They've got some downtime though and end up finding out that the small lumber-mill town of Cedar Ridge has had an issue of late. Over the course of a month, four small children between the ages of 7 and 10 have gone missing.

    Some investigation has lead to a couple of options for the cause. Reportedly there is a hag that lives deeper into the forest that their city sits on the edge of. She has been the death of lumber workers who've gone too far in and away from their team and is said to hang the bones of those she's eaten on display to warn others.

    There is also a group of bandits that live in the forest as well that make a few raids on the city for supplies though has thus far not actually mortally harmed any of the villagers to date.

    They find that the great city to the North, Haven, no longer able to give protection to the city as they used to as Cedar Ridge elected five years back to become independent, the mayor/heads of the city believing they could make more with their lumber trades without owing anything to Haven and that things had been relatively peaceful. So the party is offered the freelance work if they can find what's happened to the children and take care of the hag as well so their lumber workers feel safer.

    A woman who is hysterical comes into town before the party can leave and is crying to the Cedar Guard (their rangers/militia) that her son was taken last night. They find her name to be Elisha and that she's an herbalist who lives on the outskirts of town. She says she was knocked out last night when she caught some people snooping outside her home. When she woke up, it was morning and along with some of her supplies, her son was missing. She tells the Guard, and the PCs as well as they were there, to please find him. He's all she has left. He's seven with blonde hair and was last seen in Overalls with his name stitched into the front; William.

    The Guards assure her they'll try and find her son and they escort her back to her home.

    The PCs interview the other parents of the missing children. The same story is given that they went out to play and just never came back. They were not taken in the middle of the night but rather just went out during the daytime to play but went missing. A few children that were playing with the missing children admitted they didn't see the missing kids wander off but didn't think much of it at the time. Kids come and go all the time.

    The PCs decide to go out to her place and find that she really does live on the outskirts of the city, a good ten minute walk away from the closest other home. She's definitely still in a panic and depressed. She explains that things have been hard since her husband passed but she always had William to keep her company out here where the soil was rich enough to grow her herbs which is how she makes due. She has a plentiful supply still though some of the crops had been pulled up and taken as well as her son. She confesses to one on a persuasion roll that her son's birthday is in a few days and then breaks down into tears and seems hysterical with grief and mostly just shuts down and mutters in repeat to "Find my William ..."

    They try and succeed in finding tracks left by the attackers that lead into the forest and they make their way.

    After an hour, they found these tracks mingled with another set of much larger tracks where they was a scuffle. I allow the newly minted Oath of Ancients Paladin to identify with his skills and detection skills that some of the blood found belonged to a hag.

    The tracks separate with the hag's tracks leading one way, dragging a body, and the other set of now three sets of tracks (was four before) going another way.

    Thinking back on what the villagers said about the bandits supposedly not mortally wounding anyone, they follow the hag first.

    There they find a pair of large Annis Hags picking clean a victim that seemed to be adult in size. A bad stealth roll alerts the hags of the presence of the intruders and initiative happens.

    The party wipes out the hags after some close calls and the party heals up a bit before searching the hut. They find some unknown potions they pack away for the time being and the cauldron which is magical but they can't identify yet. They also find a bit of gold lying around from old victims but not much else. No signs of any of the victims being children.

    So the party goes back and follows the bandits next.

    Some bad stealth roll leads to 3 of the 5 getting caught and instead of fighting their way out agree to come peacefully. Intimidating checks let them keep their weapons for now and they are escorted to their leader. The bandits, the group finds, are mostly half elves or some elvish heritage. They never found their place among their fellow elves in the forest but also couldn't find themselves to accept the city life of Haven, preferring the wilds. They admitted to raiding the town of Cedar Ridge from time to time when they needed supplies but only took what they needed that they believed the town could do without. In return, without the town knowing, the bandits had actually been doing their best to keep threats away from the town, including more aggressive sylvan elves who believed that the humans of the village were starting to cut too deep, so the half elves were being diplomatic on the village's behalf with promises to ensure things don't get too far less the sylvan come back.

    One of the party members notices a group of children and points it out. The bandits explain it's their own children as the bandits number just shy of twenty adults with four children as well. The party demands to see the children after explaining what they were doing in the forest to begin with. After leveraging the fact they killed the hags which the bandits admittedly have had some issues with, they allow a closer look but unarmed. They find the children also have elvish features and don't match the features of the children taken.

    However, one of them is holding a large doll with golden hair made of yarn and Overalls with the name "William" etched into it.

    The bandits admitted to raiding some needed herbs from a local woman and one of the men stole the doll that was sitting on a swing for their daughter. They agreed to give it back and apologized for being aggressive and knocking out the woman but that she was screaming loudly and they were afraid of getting caught.

    They part ways with the party deciding to currently not tell the town about finding the bandits at all. They return to Elisha with the doll and she breaks down in tears of joy as she scoops up her "sweet William!" The party looks on confused and a little weary as the woman starts talking to the doll as her child and seems completely convinced he's quite real. She goes on to say how he's going to have the best birthday now that he's home. She thanks the group and pays them a few gold, all she had, which the party gives back to her.

    She asks for some privacy with her child and they consent ... but they pretend to leave but linger outside. They discover a small locked cellar that leads down into the ground and pick the lock before heading down below. There they discover, hidden behind some barrels, another little corner with a table set and some birthday decorations setup saying "Happy Birthday William"

    Four children sat around the table, propped up and obviously no longer alive, had birthday hats atop their heads in this horrible display of a birthday celebration yet to come.

    The party in character and out look horrified and rush up to confront the woman. She looks irritated that they are openly spoiling William's birthday surprise in front of him. They tell her they're going to the guards. She goes for a knife to stop them from taking William's friends and they turn on her. She goes down in a single hit. After all, she's not some great wizard or hag or what have you.

    She's just a middle aged herbalist who lives outside the city.

    Ended the night with them going to town and letting the Cedar Guard know of the woman and what they found.


    This is how it's done right here.

    Thanks, man, that's awesome of you to say. Was a blast just to watch the players faces when they went from confusion, to worry, to horror in the span of the reveal.

  • SmrtnikSmrtnik job boli zub Registered User regular
    Game went good. Made it through my custom cave (but not before one of my players fell for the "child crying" sounds and "pulled" the Leucrotta into an ongoing fight with 2 Worg) and into Barovia, and herded by the mist to Death House. 2 characters choose to stand in the mist "it's just fog, relax" so that was fun. Now they are about to take their first rest (long) on the portico into which they have barricaded themselves with Rose and Thorn while the mists swirl just outside the iron gate.

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  • Ken OKen O Registered User regular
    Played our 3rd session of Strahd last night.

    Death House is brutal. We were 2nd level when we started it and hit 3rd at the halfway point. Faerie Fire is the best spell. My bard casts it by screaming "Let there be fire!" and windmilling his lute like Pete Townshend. Shatter came in super handy during our escape. Upon exiting the house we had a small crowd of Barovians looking to see what was happening, so I happily sang them the song I had written while inside. It's a filthy song full of double entendres and euphemisms; also it's loosely based on our Warlock's encounter with a monster in the house. He was not impressed.

    I can't wait till next week's game.

    Death House Spoilers
    Between the mound, the scythes, and the poison we were all hurting when we finally escaped. The Warlock did drop in the session before hand but we got to him in time. This session both the Paladin and Sorcerer were near death.

    The Shambling Mound was no joke. I gave every one Advantage against it and one round the Battlemaster used a maneuver to give it disadvantage on its attacks.

    Finally I can't remember the last time I saw a mimic.

    http://www.fingmonkey.com/
    Comics, Games, Booze
  • evilthecatevilthecat Registered User regular
    Not much of a death house if no one died.
    Spare the violence, spoil the player! ;)

    tip.. tip.. TALLY.. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
  • SmrtnikSmrtnik job boli zub Registered User regular
    I had 4 people hit 0 hp in the cave i talked about but they used basically healing to get moving again. Then near the end another went down and they stabilized but no heals, and then they were too scared to sleep until they got to an inn, so they dragged the unconcious person all the way to the portico on a makeshift stretcher.

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  • Dizzy DDizzy D NetherlandsRegistered User regular
    Last week our first session in years. Our final member received an half-orc fighter from the DM to play, but still had to fill in her own personality and quirks, so she still needed a little time to develop him over the session.

    Our heroes did not accomplish too much in the first session, set out the find water from a nearby river (guarded by bandits) after discovering a small village that was suffering without water and encountering a pack of wolves along the way. (At least they looked like wolves, they did spit acid or something). My druid managed to convince one of the wolves that once we were finished with the bandits, he could eat them, but the other two were too hungry. We managed to beat them, but they did pack quite a punch and I'm at 10 out of 24 hp after the fight (even with a heal in between the two attacks). The others were luckier and were mostly unscathed.

    Next session, next month. Overall I think all of us enjoyed ourself (even though I had a friendly disagreement with the DM. He said that if I wielded my spear with 2 hands I would have less reach than with one. I disagreed.)

    Steam/Origin: davydizzy
  • JustTeeJustTee Registered User regular
    Khildith wrote: »
    I think I have a massive over-preparation problem. I know I'm not amazing at creating adventures off the cuff but I'm also terrified of being accused of railroading so I'm trying to predict any path my party might take and sprinkle in a dozen hooks to different things. We've only had one session so I have no idea what my players are going to like or what their characters will want to pursue.

    I've probably spent 30 hours preparing for this 4 hour session!

    Hopefully all this will pay off because any work I do now can be recycled for later adventures if I need to and this whole spending most of my free time thinking about my game thing won't be needed in a few months!

    A helpful thing I started to do with my prep work is to pare way down on the specifics. I look at most of my prep as mostly an outline, and I try to start from either a known NPC/Faction's goals, or a player's goals, and extrapolate from there. I then define, specifically, the Goal, and outline, generally, what stands in the way. I'll figure out the theme, tone, and danger levels, but leave them generally defined rather than specific. And then that's pretty much it. I can nail something down more specifically when it looks like my players might want to explore that avenue, or if that NPC is going to make their move. For example:

    One of my player's background is that he was orphaned in the woods, and grew up among wolves. He stole food and arrows from a town, but a young elven girl befriended him in secret, and taught him how to fletch his own arrows. One day, he came across a hunting party that was trapping and killing his wolves, and he went blind in rage and killed them. He left his home forest to escape pursuit. Little did he know, the leader of that hunting party was his little friend's dad. She found his arrows among the dead, and determined then to hunt him down and take her vengeance. It led her to a dark place, literally, and is now a necromancer in pursuit of the PC.

    So, my notes have a little thing saved:
    NPC: Vanya
    Goal: Vengeance on [PC]
    Theme: Elven Fletching on Arrows, Wolf Pelt/Hide, Skeletal Army
    Threat: Focus on torture / emotional pain

    Now, rather than build specific encounters, I can use those things to add a little depth to "random" encounters. The party was spending a bit too much time at a backwater town, so I was looking for an antagonist to motivate them to move forward. I picked Vanya. After returning to town one day, the party discovered an arrow embedded in the side of the cart, with a dried wolf pelt attached to it. The PC noticed the fletching, and began to panic. He couldn't convince the party to leave right them (hasn't shared his backstory yet), and that night, Vanya set the inn on fire. As they flee into the night, I know that they will encounter a small group of skeletons, wearing wolf pelt armor. Where or how they'll encounter them remains to be seen.

    So I have, with very little prep work, a ton of things I can pull from whenever I need to add spice to an otherwise ho-hum adventure. Maybe I didn't have enough time to plan out a whole dungeon or quest line. I can grab a published module, and use these little bits to customize it and make it feel personal to the group, instead of something random and different.

    I do that with all my NPCs that I create as well.

    Then, once the players get fed up enough to face the threats directly, I can build out whole thematic adventures based on the stuff they've already seen and interacted with, so they have some semblance of an idea of what to prep for, and I have tools to work with that really only require me to fill in numbers based on party strength at that time.

    Diagnosed with AML on 6/1/12. Read about it: www.effleukemia.com
  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    Dizzy D wrote: »
    Next session, next month. Overall I think all of us enjoyed ourself (even though I had a friendly disagreement with the DM. He said that if I wielded my spear with 2 hands I would have less reach than with one. I disagreed.)

    Just. Ugh. Don't do that, DMs.

  • RendRend Registered User regular
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    Dizzy D wrote: »
    Next session, next month. Overall I think all of us enjoyed ourself (even though I had a friendly disagreement with the DM. He said that if I wielded my spear with 2 hands I would have less reach than with one. I disagreed.)

    Just. Ugh. Don't do that, DMs.

    The only reasonable solution is to attach a spearhead onto a ten foot pole. Then, attach and fortify the other end of that pole onto another ten foot pole.

    Now even if you wield it with 4 hands you still have an extra five feet of reach!

  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    Like, generally, any time you as a DM find yourself saying, "But it's realistic if ..." you need to stop; take a breath; and really, really think if what you're about to say is actually something that is going to improve the game for everyone.

  • HydroSqueegeeHydroSqueegee ULTRACAT!!!™®© Registered User regular
    Alright gents, after wanting to play DnD for years but never having an opportunity, I broke down and got the starter set plus player handbook and plan to drag my 10 and 13 year old into adventures (whether they want to or not). I have a decent grasp on the overall concepts and plan to run the starter box campaign. What can I expect as a new player/GM as we (hopefully) expand beyond the starter?

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  • iguanacusiguanacus Desert PlanetRegistered User regular
    Alright gents, after wanting to play DnD for years but never having an opportunity, I broke down and got the starter set plus player handbook and plan to drag my 10 and 13 year old into adventures (whether they want to or not). I have a decent grasp on the overall concepts and plan to run the starter box campaign. What can I expect as a new player/GM as we (hopefully) expand beyond the starter?

    Off the top of my head and with the newness of players and the starter set in mind:

    1) Give them (the players) some extra hp if starting at level 1, say Constitution score (not modifier!) extra. Players are super squishy for the first couple levels and there's an encounter in Lost Mines (the starter set) that can wipe the entire party right out the gate. This leads us to

    2) Surprise is treated more like a condition then anything else. To determine Surprise you check to see if any of either group was attempting to be stealthy. Compare Stealth rolls to Passive Perception. Anybody who fails the check is surprised at the start of the encounter. They can't Move or take any Actions during their first turn, but they can take Reactions AFTER their turn.

    3) You can only cast 1 spell a turn. There is an exception if the spell cast has a casting time of Bonus Action, then you can also cast a cantrip.

    4) Concentration is a thing, make sure you/they keep track of it.

    5) Avoid the Champion Fighter Subclass and the Berserker Barbarian Subclass. The first is dull as dishwater and the second actively penalizes you for using it's subclass feature.

    6) Invisibility isn't actually invisible, it's more like the Predator. If the invisible person/creature doesn't actively try and hide (taking the Hide action) they give away faint traces of themselves and somebody trying to hit them just does it at Disadvantage.

    7) Advantage and Disadvantage cancel each other out. Even if you have Advantage (or Disadvantage) from multiple sources a single application of the other wipes it out completely.

    There's more but that's what comes to me right now.

  • SmrtnikSmrtnik job boli zub Registered User regular
    The starter is actually great. I assume you are the one DMing? At the age of your kids, i guess make sure they have the patience and disposition for it and actually want to do it and you aren't forcing them.

    After that there is several published adventures you can more or less use as is (like the one that comes with the starter set). If at any point you feel like making your own from scratch there is a lot of resources for that out there but do keep in mind that it's way more work too.

    Starter set adventure is about a mystery mine and caps out at lvl 5 or 6 iirc.

    Hoard of the Dragon Queen is about a cult that worships evil dragons and caps out at lvl 8.

    Rise of Tiamat is about that cult's attempts to summon an evil dragon god, continues where HotDQ left off, and caps out at lvl 15.

    Princes of Apocalypse is about cultists that worship elemental demi gods and the giant temple they live in, caps out at lvl 13 or so iirc.

    Out of Abyss is about being prisoners of the Drow and trying to escape the Underdark, except for some reason several leading demon demi gods are also roaming around the Underdark. Caps out around lvl 12 iirc.

    Curse of Strahd is Gothic horror and is about being trapped in a land ruled by a super powerful bored vampire, caps out at lvl 11 iirc.

    Storm Kings Thunder is about the god of giants setting events in motion that cause giants to rampage all over, caps out at lvl 12 iirc.

    Tomb of Anihilation is about a powerful Lich messing around with souls in a dinosaur jungle, caps out at lvl ... Not sure.

    All of these assume some default monsters that can appear in any adventure. These default monsters are published in the Monster Manual. Each adventure also has monsters specific just to that and those are in the adventure itself.

    The Yawning portal is a bunch of standalone dinnering from past editions brought into 5e to be mixed and matched in published or custom campaigns, something for every lvl.

    Volo's Guide fleshes out the Forgotten Relms setting (especially useful for crafting custom adventures) and gives additional flavor to monsters and additional monsters that you can use.

    Xanathars Guide gives additional spells and magic items you can use.

    Sword Coast Adventure Guide is more Forgotten Relms stuff, more options for player backrounds and classes.

    Dungeon master guide helps you be a better dm and it's pretty much necessary if you plan to go beyond starter set.


    Don't forget to have fun!

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  • Hexmage-PAHexmage-PA Registered User regular
    So I think my next character is going to be a Battlemaster Fighter/Hexblade Warlock who is secretly part of a cult to Shaktari, Queen of the Mariliths.

    Who is Shaktari? I'll tell you!

    fcxpqumias2n.jpg

    Shaktari was first mentioned in Chris Perkins' adventure "Nemesis", which was featured in Dungeon Magazine #60 (1996). Nemesis saw the party going to Vudra, Shaktari's layer of the Abyss, which appeared as a set of tropical islands ruled by powerful mariliths, set in a sea of blood and venom, and blanketed by a poisonous sky. Yuan-ti and rakshasas also call Vudra home. The Demon Queen of Mariliths did not herself appear, although an animated statue made in Shaktari's image was a dangerous obstacle in the PCs' way.

    Shaktari herself was finally given artwork (shown above), a backstory, and statistics in Dragon Magazine's last print issue. According to the article Shaktari was one of the greatest generals in the Blood War between the Hells and the Abyss. However, she was so feared by rival demon lords that they forged an unprecedented alliance with a handful of archdevils to imprison her in the Abyss' Wells of Darkness. Shaktari is now free (the manner in which she escaped is unknown), but she has been weakened during her imprisonment and is currently resting somewhere deep below Vudra's sea.

    Shaktari's last mention in an official D&D product (as far as I'm aware) was in 4E's Demonomicon, albeit as simply a listing in a table of known demon lords and Abyssal layers.

    As far as unofficial works are concerned, @Aegeri created 4E stats for Shaktari years ago (which I can't find on my PC at the moment), and this link presents 5E stats to represent her (I don't know how well designed this 5E take is, but I have faith Aegeri's 4E adaptation was good).

  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited April 2018
    Xanathar's also fleshes out downtime activities and ways to use your proficiencies (like carpentry or stone-masonry). I love it.

    edit: and has like 20 pages of random names sorted by race and background. Because sure we don't have random name generators on the internet.

    Aldo on
  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    I shall search for her Hexmage. It's certainly buried in a hard drive somewhere.

    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • HydroSqueegeeHydroSqueegee ULTRACAT!!!™®© Registered User regular
    So we sat down and started the first adventure this evening. It went... Poorly. There is a distinct lack of examples to follow along with. Took a break and watched a couple newbie rules videos on YouTube and found out we were doing everything wrong. So we're going to regroup and try again tomorrow.

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  • CampyCampy Registered User regular
    So we sat down and started the first adventure this evening. It went... Poorly. There is a distinct lack of examples to follow along with. Took a break and watched a couple newbie rules videos on YouTube and found out we were doing everything wrong. So we're going to regroup and try again tomorrow.

    As another lowly noob, can you elaborate on what went wrong? I'm still at a pretty constant rate of finding out things I'm not doing, or doing wrong. So anything that hastens along that path will be useful!

  • HydroSqueegeeHydroSqueegee ULTRACAT!!!™®© Registered User regular
    Campy wrote: »
    So we sat down and started the first adventure this evening. It went... Poorly. There is a distinct lack of examples to follow along with. Took a break and watched a couple newbie rules videos on YouTube and found out we were doing everything wrong. So we're going to regroup and try again tomorrow.

    As another lowly noob, can you elaborate on what went wrong? I'm still at a pretty constant rate of finding out things I'm not doing, or doing wrong. So anything that hastens along that path will be useful!

    We got as far as the first round of combat in the starter adventure. Everything was going fine up to that point. It started breaking down when it came to rolls and checks. We were adding the d20 + other things that weren't just the weapon modifier. Didn't understand (and still don't really) understand the check for seeing if the heroes saw the monsters that were hidden when the hero was looking into the trees to see if he saw anything. He rolls for perception... Then what? Is it against the monsters stealth? Or just a DC check at whatever difficulty the GM decides? At this point we put everything down because we didn't get surprise either and just kinda skipped that part. We also got initiative wrong. Rolled a d20 and added dexter for some reason. Figured that out finally.

    That's my issue with the book really. I had to go to YouTube for step by step examples. The book has none. Nothing in the sidebar of a quick example scenario or nothing. It just tells you these are the rules, go! Kinda leaves you to the wolves.

    Also we really needed a map and minis. It's too hard to visualize everything going on when you have no idea how everything works. So I made a quick small map and printed it out to use for the fist combat encounter. Going to have to figure out what to do when we get to the bigger maps in the scenario.

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  • evilthecatevilthecat Registered User regular
    Campy wrote: »
    So we sat down and started the first adventure this evening. It went... Poorly. There is a distinct lack of examples to follow along with. Took a break and watched a couple newbie rules videos on YouTube and found out we were doing everything wrong. So we're going to regroup and try again tomorrow.

    As another lowly noob, can you elaborate on what went wrong? I'm still at a pretty constant rate of finding out things I'm not doing, or doing wrong. So anything that hastens along that path will be useful!

    We got as far as the first round of combat in the starter adventure. Everything was going fine up to that point. It started breaking down when it came to rolls and checks. We were adding the d20 + other things that weren't just the weapon modifier. Didn't understand (and still don't really) understand the check for seeing if the heroes saw the monsters that were hidden when the hero was looking into the trees to see if he saw anything. He rolls for perception... Then what? Is it against the monsters stealth? Or just a DC check at whatever difficulty the GM decides? At this point we put everything down because we didn't get surprise either and just kinda skipped that part. We also got initiative wrong. Rolled a d20 and added dexter for some reason. Figured that out finally.

    That's my issue with the book really. I had to go to YouTube for step by step examples. The book has none. Nothing in the sidebar of a quick example scenario or nothing. It just tells you these are the rules, go! Kinda leaves you to the wolves.

    Also we really needed a map and minis. It's too hard to visualize everything going on when you have no idea how everything works. So I made a quick small map and printed it out to use for the fist combat encounter. Going to have to figure out what to do when we get to the bigger maps in the scenario.

    but the book does have examples.
    In regards to your stealth issue, the hiding creature rolls stealth and then you weigh that against a passive perception check or allow an active roll.

    tip.. tip.. TALLY.. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    edited April 2018
    Also we really needed a map and minis. It's too hard to visualize everything going on when you have no idea how everything works. So I made a quick small map and printed it out to use for the fist combat encounter. Going to have to figure out what to do when we get to the bigger maps in the scenario.

    Flipmats are relatively cheap and you just use whiteboard markers on them which are pretty common.

    If somebody starts talking to you about vinyl maps, punch them and then leave.

    Minis are a bit harder but I don't obsess about them. I'll use counters/stones/whatever for monsters. Some folks use printed one and these look ridiculously awesome. D&D did a blind box random sets a couple times and you can find some of those pretty cheap. A decent plan for PCs but very expensive if you want all your monsters to be minis and correct.

    DevoutlyApathetic on
    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • evilthecatevilthecat Registered User regular
    Also an option, depending on time/money:

    our group purchased a cheapish beamer which we project onto a white table cloth (also have a plastic one for notes!), I run maps via roll20.
    I make the maps with http://store.steampowered.com/app/592260/Dungeon_Painter_Studio/ can heartily recommend.

    tip.. tip.. TALLY.. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
  • HydroSqueegeeHydroSqueegee ULTRACAT!!!™®© Registered User regular
    The examples in the book don't help much when there isn't any context. It's like, OK... They make a roll, but I don't understand the process up to making that roll, so the example doesn't click.

    We're getting there. I have piles of minis from other games I can use. Watched videos where it looks like a guy was using the backside of contact paper and just drew maps on it, which I thought was cool. I really like using maps and need cheap options.

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