Skip to main content

Tuesday Night Dragon's Tear Campaign

So we moved our D&D night up to Tuesday since there is much preparation on Wednesday night planned for Thursday's birthday festivities.

The one thing I am learning to count on as a DM is not to count on things 'going as planned'.

Tonight the crew investigated some ruins where there were rumored to be orcs.

The ruins opened by means of solving a dwarvan riddle which described the 4 elements (earth, wind, water, fire)  in a specific order, giving the order to press the runes on a plate.  The riddle took a while to solve, and was complicated by the fact that we had watched "The Fifth Element" the night before.  They were blowing at and setting fire to the runes trying to get the dungeon open.

Once inside, the rogue rushed ahead and set off a trap.  Everyone was stabbed in a flurry of spears flying down the hallway at them.  Before the rogue can try to ensure that the trap was disabled, here comes the fighter, setting the trap off again, and getting everyone a few more points of damage.

So finally they get down the hall and open the door to the orc room.  The entrance tunnel collapses behind them and so they get to fight off 8 average sized orcs and one really big orc commander.  Most of the orcs go down in a hit.  Each of the PCs earns some much needed karma points (which are accompanied by flying chocolate snacks).  At the end they collect a bunch of items from a chest.

Despite earlier bad things happening when trying to use unidentified items, the fight slips on his new boots.  Little did he know they were the Cursed Boots of Skipping.  So suddenly our manly he-fighter is skipping through the forest back to town to get help in removing them.

Unfortunately, no one tried on the Cursed Gloves of Fumbling or attempted to use the Cursed Scimitar of Annoyance (boy was I going to have fun playing the annoying talking scimitar).

The ranger accidentally left her animal companion at a dungeon and had to waste 2 days travel to go back for her.  *sigh*

The crew does finally happen across S. F., Scoardred Flamedance, a powerful sorcerer responsible for setting undead against graverobbers at the local cemetery.  They learn to the powers available to a level 20 sorcerer as they journey with him to the local large city of Innsbruck.  Along the way they get entrusted with solving a regional problem with bandits and Scoardred leaves them to their adventure.



Post game I had a bit of a follow-up with the PCs, asking the big question of what do you like / don't like?  K, our rogue PC, likes fighting and not much else.  She gets bored easily.  C, who plays the ranger, likes talking to people.  The others seemed to fall in between.  So, now I just need to figure out how to balance between hack'n'slash and role-playing.  *sigh*



I am a little concerned that everyone is not getting completely into their characters.  So to open things up a bit, I am thinking I might hold a Friday night Dungeon Delve and let them try out some new characters.  If they like them, maybe they can swap them out in the campaign, since it is just getting underway.

-DM Dad

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

5E Starting Gold and Equipment for Higher Levels

The DMG has a rough recommendation for starting gold and equipment for higher levels, but with my groups running one-shots, we wanted to nail it down to level by level. Here's my DMG-inspired table. Generally I allow equipment to be traded in during character creation for half book value, where applicable. I also, as a GM, offer to make custom magic items for players who can't choose. A list of magical items by rarity can be found here  with stats available in the DMG. I also generally allow players to buy healing potions (2d4+2) for 50gp and greater healing potions for 250gp (4d4+4). PHB items are available at book cost at creation. I do not allow other equipment to be purchased except in game. This is generally based off the "high magic" campaign. Level Starting Gold Starting Equipment / Magic Items 1 - 160gp  OR Standard starting equipment 2 210gp Standard starting equipment 3 285gp Standard starting equipment 4 365gp Standard sta...

Rules for Flying Creatures in 5E

I'm not one for just throwing my players willy-nilly into something new without an idea of how it would work.  Flying races are on the horizon for one of my games, so here are my clarifications for flying creatures: A flying creatures requires a minimum space of at least 3 times their height in all directions in order to flight. For example, a 6 ft tall flying creature requires a room to be at least 18 ft in all dimensions before they can fly in it. A flying creature can attempt to grapple a creature.  If the the target or grappler are flying, grapple attempts are at disadvantage. If neither are flying, grapples are per RAW.  The state of flying or walking is determined by the last square you have moved.  To change between walking and/or flying, you must use at least 1 space of movement.  Movement rules per RAW apply (PHB pg 190 "Using Different Speeds") A successful grapple check by a flying creature can allow the flying creature to potentially carry th...

Exploiting Weakness in D&D 5e: A Guide for the Evil Plotting GM

I wrote a similar article to this on Pathfinder, and though this is a pretty evil topic, it has been of use to a lot of folks out there.  So, now, I think, is the time to start a similar article for D&D 5e.  This will be a living document to be updated with suggestions and more information as I find better methods. In general, 5e is a lot more challenging for a GM, because the classes are reasonably balanced and because the game mechanics don't have a lot of scale over the 20 levels. Here's a general list of things to increase the difficulty for the party: Increase the number of foes and the CR (ignore the book CR system if it isn't offering a challenge) Spells against the PCs low saves.  A high level sleep spell, for example, could take out a party with no elves. Drag out the opportunity for the long rest.  After 2 short rests, the 3rd battle of the day is tough. Hit the most vulnerable PC first. It almost always forces another teammate to take an acti...