The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's potatoes

Exciting adventures IRL.
User avatar
Sly Boots
Bar Staff
Posts: 6277
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 8:34 am
Location: Hampshire
Contact:

Re: The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's personal

Post by Sly Boots » Wed Jan 23, 2019 11:08 pm

Really enjoyed tonight, thanks for DMing, WB! :D

User avatar
Mantis
Landlord
Posts: 3474
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2018 5:39 pm
Location: The Grid

Re: The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's personal

Post by Mantis » Wed Jan 23, 2019 11:20 pm

Yeah, that was great, cheers WB. Jumping two levels immediately has given me access to some pretty juicy looking class based stuff so looking forward to next time.

I thought we were doing quite well in turning over a new leaf and being a bit more devious for a while there. Then the merciless butchery started and it was clear you can't teach an old dog.

User avatar
Sly Boots
Bar Staff
Posts: 6277
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 8:34 am
Location: Hampshire
Contact:

Re: The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's personal

Post by Sly Boots » Wed Jan 23, 2019 11:37 pm

But you can charm a giant spider named Jeff by the power of improvisational beat-boxing :lol:

User avatar
Mantis
Landlord
Posts: 3474
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2018 5:39 pm
Location: The Grid

Re: The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's personal

Post by Mantis » Wed Jan 23, 2019 11:42 pm

I was more impressed at the ability to crash through somebodies window whilst trying to sneakily break into their house and then being able to talk your way inside anyway.

User avatar
Sly Boots
Bar Staff
Posts: 6277
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 8:34 am
Location: Hampshire
Contact:

Re: The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's personal

Post by Sly Boots » Wed Jan 23, 2019 11:43 pm

I'm an elf of many talents :lol:

User avatar
Wrathbone
Local
Posts: 3631
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2018 6:08 am

Re: The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's personal

Post by Wrathbone » Thu Jan 24, 2019 7:03 am

Sly Boots wrote:
Wed Jan 23, 2019 11:08 pm
Really enjoyed tonight, thanks for DMing, WB! :D
Cheers! :)

Have to say, that was the most fun I’ve had running a game to date. I had zero idea you guys were going to do 90% of the things you came up with, which was great to watch and improvise with. I was also impressed with how Raid took on the old party ethos of not so much murdering people as standing aside and allowing them to perish in an even more horrific way, as he skipped his turn to watch Jeff drag off and devour the cultist who had literally just dropped his weapon and surrendered. :lol:

User avatar
Raid
Local
Posts: 4820
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2018 9:07 am
Location: Keep of the Lead Lord

Re: The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's personal

Post by Raid » Thu Jan 24, 2019 7:16 am

Well given that I'd made all of the cultists smell of spider food, I didn't think getting too close to one was a good idea.

I look forward to next week's adventures of producing strange odours and flavoring things. Maybe I'll even use a damage spell, who knows.

User avatar
Mantis
Landlord
Posts: 3474
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2018 5:39 pm
Location: The Grid

Re: The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's personal

Post by Mantis » Thu Jan 24, 2019 11:10 am

It's always interesting in D&D to ponder exactly how much content planned by the DM the party misses out on either through coming up with totally random improvised tactics or just plain ignoring it.

The last irl campaign I took part in wasn't so great because the DM kept heavily railroading us whenever we did something unexpected and he already had a very clear idea of how the story should have panned out. Myself and a friend tried to actually join the big bad group of mercenaries so that we could glean more info from the inside, so our DM made us auto fail tasks without dice rolls if we'd already passed the skill check, had us thrown in prison and then the chief NPC good character broke us out with a Deus ex machina dimension door. It really killed the vibe of the whole campaign.

User avatar
Wrathbone
Local
Posts: 3631
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2018 6:08 am

Re: The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's personal

Post by Wrathbone » Thu Jan 24, 2019 11:40 am

Yeah, in my early games following published campaigns I was unintentionally railroading because I didn't have enough experience to know how to veer into unknown territory (or even realise that I could at times). Now if I'm using published material, I use it as a very loose framework and try to let the players direct the flow of events. There were several directions it could have gone last night. The village of Thundertree as played last night was maybe 30% as it's intended in the campaign guide. Without going into too much detail as there may still be relevant secrets, I knew there was a dragon who'd recently nested there, a group of cultists who wanted to petition the dragon to their cause and a crotchety old man who wanted them all gone. The rest of it was improvised based on what you did. Jeff the spider was a facepalm moment because I later realised it was meant to be a spider corpse (hence why it was visible and had a big red cross on it), but I'm happy with how that turned out! Sometimes it's good to take a random thread of intrigue and run with it to see where it goes.

I promise the direction of the campaign will open up more, I would guess after the next session. I have a number of characters, events and locations in mind, and however you choose to approach or ignore them will determine the story. Player agency is everything.

User avatar
Maturin
Posts: 1568
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2018 8:48 am

Re: The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's personal

Post by Maturin » Thu Jan 24, 2019 12:07 pm

Mantis wrote:
Thu Jan 24, 2019 11:10 am
The last irl campaign I took part in wasn't so great because the DM kept heavily railroading us whenever we did something unexpected and he already had a very clear idea of how the story should have panned out. Myself and a friend tried to actually join the big bad group of mercenaries so that we could glean more info from the inside, so our DM made us auto fail tasks without dice rolls if we'd already passed the skill check, had us thrown in prison and then the chief NPC good character broke us out with a Deus ex machina dimension door. It really killed the vibe of the whole campaign.
This sounds like it's also a bit dependant on the type of personality the DM has. Although I guess it would be possible to 'train' yourself to be more flexible over time, it's much more ideal if you're already a flexible/creative person to begin with (which WB seems to be).

It's why I think I was more suited to DM-ing that Advanced HeroQuest session; it has a rigid framework built in to it, so there's only so much randomness the characters can get up to. Although you can still tell a great story (like Derrick the Henchman taking charge, and the last zombie in the crypt killing Doug).

I fear I'd be too frustrated trying to DM a D&D campaign. I like my structure a bit too much.

User avatar
Wrathbone
Local
Posts: 3631
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2018 6:08 am

Re: The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's personal

Post by Wrathbone » Thu Jan 24, 2019 12:20 pm

Maturin wrote:
Thu Jan 24, 2019 12:07 pm
This sounds like it's also a bit dependant on the type of personality the DM has. Although I guess it would be possible to 'train' yourself to be more flexible over time, it's much more ideal if you're already a flexible/creative person to begin with.
I think a lot of it, like most things, comes down to experience. The first game I ever DM'd, I prepped for hours and hours trying to anticipate and plan for every possible scenario (which was rendered pointless several minutes into the game), I desperately attempted to get all the rules right, and when things went wrong I tried to fudge them in the worst possible ways. What you gain over time is knowing which rules are important, which rules to bend or ignore, not to plan more than is absolutely necessary and which areas planning actually provides a benefit. Crucially, you learn to relax and trust that going off-piste usually leads to the most memorable adventures. I've still got a tonne to learn and improve as a DM, but as long as everyone has a good time then that's the only thing that matters.

User avatar
Mantis
Landlord
Posts: 3474
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2018 5:39 pm
Location: The Grid

Re: The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's personal

Post by Mantis » Thu Jan 24, 2019 12:41 pm

I certainly have no complaints, to be honest I'm surprised you even let us tame the giant spider through the means of elven beat boxing.

If I were to ever DM a game I'd make it as open and freeform as possible I think, essentially have an idea of as many NPCs as possible but be totally open to how they may end up interacting with the players and being flexible with their locations.

A friend is hosting a custom made zombie apocalypse rpg sometime this year which he has built from a classic open 80s pen and paper system. Essentially there is no overarching plot at all and we are just individuals who meet up and decide among ourselves how best to survive the collapse of society. I'm looking forward to it quite a lot.

User avatar
Sly Boots
Bar Staff
Posts: 6277
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 8:34 am
Location: Hampshire
Contact:

Re: The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's personal

Post by Sly Boots » Thu Jan 24, 2019 1:00 pm

Sounds pretty cool.

Out of interest WB, and assuming it doesn't spoiler future events, but what was the deal with those two random zombies bimbling around in that hut right at the end? I'd clocked there was something in there earlier and was assuming it would burst out when we started fighting, but I kind of liked how we just let them be right at the end.

I got a bit of a Shaun of the Dead Shaun/Ed vibe from them and the old man :lol:

User avatar
Wrathbone
Local
Posts: 3631
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2018 6:08 am

Re: The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's personal

Post by Wrathbone » Thu Jan 24, 2019 1:17 pm

Sly Boots wrote:
Thu Jan 24, 2019 1:00 pm
Sounds pretty cool.

Out of interest WB, and assuming it doesn't spoiler future events, but what was the deal with those two random zombies bimbling around in that hut right at the end? I'd clocked there was something in there earlier and was assuming it would burst out when we started fighting, but I kind of liked how we just let them be right at the end.

I got a bit of a Shaun of the Dead Shaun/Ed vibe from them and the old man :lol:
That's something you could ask the hermit! ;)


Here's a recap of last night's events:
Following the fight with the grick in the depths of Cragmaw castle, Slythe, Van'Skar and Ellis pondered their next move. Ellis, tired from battle, looked for something to drink and found a flask of unknown liquid on top of a nearby barrel. Without a second thought, he popped the cork and drained the contents. Moments later, the dwarven bard was transformed to stone, an immortalised statue of his impulsive nature.

A disturbance deeper in the castle distracted Slythe and Van'Skar from the horror that had befallen their friend. The mighty paladin Van'Skar took the lead, bursting through the door to find a regally-garbed bugbear threatening the very dwarf they had come to rescue: Gundren Rockseeker. Several other prisoners sat tied along the wall with a froth-mouthed wolf growling beside them. The bugbear, King Grol, demanded the intruders leave at once, but before Van'Skar could negotiate this precarious hostage situation, Slythe's bow fired from the shadows and pierced the King's neck. King Grol, affronted by such insolence in his court, made good on his threat and battered Gundren almost to death. Van'Skar sadly did not see the shadowy blue-skinned figure that emerged behind him and thrust a scimitar through his back, fatally wounding him. At the sight of his fallen comrade, Slythe loosed another arrow into King Grol, felling him for good. The prisoners, escaping their bonds through dexterity, magic and pure brute force, leapt at the opportunity to kill their captors, felling the blue-skinned assailant and terrifying the wolf with some choice words. The battle over, Van'Skar as his last act healed Gundren, expelling the remains of his own life in the effort.

Gundren explained that after being captured and dragged to Cragmaw, the Black Spider had personally come to retrieve the map to the mines of Phandelver at Wave Echo Cave. Though he didn't know where the map had gone, he had overheard the bandits talking of operations at the ruined village of Thundertree. The other prisoners - the arcane tieflings Sage and Charr and the human juggernaut of muscle, Truss - explained how they had been hired by the Lord's Alliance in Neverwinter to investigate what had become of Sildar Hallwinter (a Lord's Alliance member) and his journey with Gundren. On their journey they too had been captured by a band of hobgoblins and dragged to Cragmaw. It was agreed that Gundren would return to the village of Phandalin to rest and reunite with Sildar, while Slythe joined the new trio of adventurers to investigate Thundertree.

Opting to take the more direct route through the woods, the party encountered a dishevelled noble by a campfire cooking a lone sausage on a stick. He told how he had been assaulted by bandits in masks with a strange dragon motif, which Charr recalled as being something worn by ancient worshippers of the god of dragons, Tiamat. The man, Relius, had been sent by the council of the Ten Towns in the Icewind Dale to the north to talk to the city of Neverwinter and the dwarves of Gauntlgrym to find out why trade had all but stopped. He explained how the towns relied on trade from both cities to survive, and it seemed clear to him now that bandits were responsible for the disruption. After magically recovering his dropped sausage from the campfire, the party left him in peace.

At Thundertree, the party found an old, grumpy hermit living in the least-ruined building of the village. After some cajoling, he told of how a dragon had nested in a tower at the north of the village and how a bunch of bandits had also taken up residence. He wanted them all gone, and in exchange for evicting them he agreed to guide the party to Wave Echo Cave. Charr took the lead in talking to the dragon, due to his draconic ancestry, and found it was a young but prideful green dragon called Venomfang, who explained that the bandits were in fact dragon cultists trying to petition him to their cause. This had become a nuisance to him, but he did not want to simply annihilate them as he suspected it would anger Tiamat. Instead, he asked the party if they would do the job instead. The party agreed on the condition that he would leave the area for a couple of days so the hermit would think him gone for good. Amused by this scheme, the dragon concurred. The party also asked about the giant spider (Jeff) milling around next to the dragon's tower, and Venomfang claimed he had influence over him (and all creatures), and that Jeff would aid them if they sang him a song. Slythe stepped up to the challenge and persuaded Jeff to their cause through the power of beatbox.

The party proceeded to the cultist's house with Jeff in tow, and persuaded the leader that they too were worshippers of Tiamat and that Venomfang had agreed to their wishes and wanted to speak to them. As the cultists proceeded through the village ruins, Charr magically created a terrible odour of rotting flesh targeted on the leader's face, intended to attract the hunger of Jeff. It worked. As Jeff ploughed through the cultists, the party dispatched them with little effort. The last remaining cultist dropped his weapon and pleaded for his life, yet the party stood and watched as Jeff enveloped him in a web and dragged him off into the woods. With that done, the party pilfered the corpses around them and found a strange, unknown potion, some diamonds and a hastily-drawn map which looked like a possible route to Wave Echo Cave and the lost mines.

The party returned to Venomfang who approved of their swift violence and absence of mercy, and as agreed he flew away from the village for a time. Returning to the hermit (Reidoth), the party told of what had happened with some carefully placed mis-truths, much to the hermit's delight. They all rested for the night before continuing on their journey...

User avatar
Sly Boots
Bar Staff
Posts: 6277
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 8:34 am
Location: Hampshire
Contact:

Re: The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's personal

Post by Sly Boots » Thu Jan 24, 2019 1:22 pm

Wrathbone wrote:
Thu Jan 24, 2019 1:17 pm
Sly Boots wrote:
Thu Jan 24, 2019 1:00 pm
Sounds pretty cool.

Out of interest WB, and assuming it doesn't spoiler future events, but what was the deal with those two random zombies bimbling around in that hut right at the end? I'd clocked there was something in there earlier and was assuming it would burst out when we started fighting, but I kind of liked how we just let them be right at the end.

I got a bit of a Shaun of the Dead Shaun/Ed vibe from them and the old man :lol:
That's something you could ask the hermit! ;)
Aha! :)

And thanks for being diplomatic and not describing the full horrifying (and deeply amusing) circumstances of Van'Skar's death :lol:



#-o

Post Reply