D&D Campaign 2: D&D Harder

[Mantis]

Likewise.

[Bird]

lucky 7s

[Sly Boots]

Holy crap that was tense

Felt good to take Corvus for a little combat test spin, even though it nearly ended very badly

Another great session, thanks WB

[Mantis]

Very tense. I need to get Dharnon to a shop so that he can buy some armour and a rapier because he's currently the most poorly equipped Bladesinger ever. The subclass is designed around high AC so you don't get hit too much but man is it dicey when you do take a big chunk of HP in a single hit, 16 down to 4 is nearing insta kill territory if the attack had been a crit.

Enjoying this campaign a lot already though. Funny that we literally walked past the secret ritual chamber the first time and almost left without finding it.

[Wrathbone]

I was slightly terrified that I was about to accidentally TPK you all on the second game. It's a good job you didn't wander down there at level 1!

[Raid]

I realised after the fact that I could have cast silvery barbs on the attack that hit me, but figured I was probably better off keeping the spell slot until it was literally life or death, as shield is arguably more reliable a defence (but I'm starting with an AC of 13 as I don't have all of the neat bladesinger stuff). I'll need to go shopping too, as I don't have the diamond you need to cast chromatic orb (which is what I've been checking all of the shiny things for).

And yes, I think most of us would have been floored at level 1 by the attacks that hit us.

[Sly Boots]

Enjoying this campaign a lot already though. Funny that we literally walked past the secret ritual chamber the first time and almost left without finding it.

Actually, I meant to ask WB about this... did you have a plan for if we hadn't gone back down the tunnel (I'd personally written it off as a lead after our first trip through it ) ?

[Mantis]

I had a feeling there was something off about it because Dharnon could smell blood on the air and then it randomly just appeared outside. I just missed the fact that the breeze was coming from the hidden door and not the well entrance. I don't think we'd have left the area without finding it eventually.

I was slightly terrified that I was about to accidentally TPK you all on the second game. It's a good job you didn't wander down there at level 1!

I like a challenge, that encounter was just a case of unlucky dice rolls with you rolling high and us not so great, I certainly rolled at least three 1s on my dagger attacks that actually hit.

Farley certainly saved the day with that Friendly Fire spell.

[Raid]

I think I'm really going to enjoy having a bard in the party. Bardic Inspiration has always felt like a crazily good ability when I've seen it used in other campaigns (although I'm not sure if I misheard or misunderstood, I think I added it to a damage roll and it's only supposed to be for attack rolls, though as I got a 1 I doubt it would have made much difference), and that was the perfect situation for Faerie Fire.

[Sly Boots]

Yes, I think it's quite likely one or more of us would have fallen unconscious at the least if Corvus hadn't been able to see that penultimate shadow, not least because he would have been targeting the wrong square otherwise

[Wrathbone]

Enjoying this campaign a lot already though. Funny that we literally walked past the secret ritual chamber the first time and almost left without finding it.

Actually, I meant to ask WB about this... did you have a plan for if we hadn't gone back down the tunnel (I'd personally written it off as a lead after our first trip through it ) ?

Yes and no. I saw some great advice ages ago which said a DM should create problems, not solutions, otherwise you can end up railroading players down a particular solution. So in that sense I didn’t have any particular plan to get you back down there. But there were / are multiple clues to flag that area as a point of interest, so I had faith that in the course of your investigation you would have found something to warrant another look in the tunnel. And if not… who knows what would have happened?

[Mantis]

Don't know if it's a similar source that I read, but the handy advice I picked up when putting Lady Fortune together was to always put at least three signposts to something spread out over different areas. So one zone might have a clue pointing the party to the quest zone, another might have an NPC directly refer to it and a third might be an event that directly connects to the quest somehow. I found that it worked well. Sometimes it would be a case of three item clues in totally different parts of the city that you could find, other times it would be NPCs spread out over town who all knew similar information that could help you. Sometimes it was a mixture. In general you guys always managed to find and pull on one of the threads that would point you in the right direction even if you didn't find all of the signs. It certainly helps makes things feel more freeform for the party.

And then of course there are the odd occasions where someone comes up with something completely out of left field and it's too genius not to give you the information so I had to hastily ad lib something on the fly.

[Wrathbone]

I think the advice was from an old Chris Perkins DM blog, which focused on his home campaign week-by-week using examples of how he handled various situations. I’ll have to see if I can find the PDF with the compete set of them, as they’re an interesting read if nothing else.

[Sly Boots]

BTW I love how breaking into the locked study yielded absolutely nothing, while Farley, messing around with his 'talk with animals' skill unravels the entire conspiracy

[Wrathbone]

Bear in mind that both you and Opus had sub-10 investigation checks, though.