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I’m DMing for the first time and reading through this thread but I’m only on page 104 so skipping ahead to ask a question. I’m running Phandelver for a few colleagues, none of us have played before. They cleared Cragmaw Hideout and have spent ages in Phandalin, basically going door to door and forcing me to make a lot of stuff up on the fly. They’re currently trying to get rid of the townmaster so Halia from the miners exchange can take over. I’d a general idea of how it could go - they could kill him, threaten or persuade him to stand down, or stir up the villagers to demand his resignation/run him out of town. What they actually did was wander round till they found three redbrands then froze them, shattered them, stacked the pile of bits outside the townmaster’s office, and walked away. Didn’t knock or wait to see what happened or anything - just wandered off up the road to speak to the man at the orchard. What should I do? I’m pretty sure the townmaster should skip town when he sees it, but it doesn’t feel right to just let them get away with something so obviously naughty.
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Nov 16, 2017 22:26
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Thanks for the advice on Phandelver everyone! In the end I didn’t punish the players for gibbing the thieves and stacking the bits outside the mayor’s house, but when they went back to try and force him to leave town he wouldn’t unlock the door. The rogue rolled a natural 20 trying to impersonate the mayor’s mother which persuaded him to open the door a crack, but then both fighters fluffed their rolls and failed to force their way in. One of them suffered 2hp of old man damage from the door slamming on his fingers but then the rogue went in through the roof and they got rid of him. So now their patron is in charge of the town and has put new guards in place and everything is fine. Except, of course, that after they left the pile of bits outside his door they went and got drunk at the cider orchard for two days before they did anything else. That means the mayor had time to send for help from his insalubrious allies amongst the Redbrand Ruffians, who have dispatched reinforcements to re-take control of the town. Not only that but the main baddy of the adventure has caught wind of what’s going on and, realising his mistake in putting his faith in humans to keep control, has sent a raiding force of hobgoblins and worgs to deal with the Redbrands and the townsfolk once and for all. I intend to have the players get back to town next session to find the Redbrands and the new town guards facing off in the town square, and depending on how that goes down have the hobgoblins arrive fairly shortly afterwards. I’m now so far away from what it says in the book I have a vague feeling of panic every time we sit down, but everyone seems to be enjoying it. I’m pretty sure I’ll be back for more advice later. Sanford fucked around with this message at 22:06 on Nov 20, 2017 |
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Nov 20, 2017 21:42
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My party finally cornered Glasstaff, the terribly-named boss wizard in the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure. The book basically just describes him as "a wizard" but the players really built up how important he was, so I wove him into the plot a bit more and made sure he was in a position to tick off half a dozen of their unanswered questions and unresolved plot threads. To make him a bit more interesting I made him a really poo poo wizard using one-shot gadgets to simulate spells - a dwarf bazooka that worked as burning hands, a bottle of strange, silvery hand lotion that worked as shocking grasp, a cloak of teleportation to work as misty step, and so on. He bounced around the room pulling things out of secret compartments and hidden in furniture, shouting "ABRACADABRA!" or "ALAKAZAM!" every time he "cast" a "spell". The party quickly clocked that Glasstaff wasn't a proper wizard and started picking up candlesticks and items of furniture to see if they did anything special. It went really really well with the high point being our dwarf saying "I pick up the inkwell and... drink it?" after a series of terrible rolls. They eventually cornered the charlatan, weeping and near death in the corner of the room, with almost all his tricks used up and nowhere to run. He grabbed his last trinket from a shelf - a thimble that allows him to cast ray of frost - and pointed it at the party. Thing was, they had been having a casual conversation all the way through the fight about how they were going to subdue him and torture him, so I read out the following text: "You back Glasstaff into the corner, crying and begging, babbling and bleeding. Tears and snot mix with the blood caked into his beard as he pleads with you, but the fear of his unknown master still seems to eclipse his fear of you and he will not surrender. He scrabbles desperately at the shelf next to him, slipping a silver thimble onto his finger and pointing it at you. His arm trembles so much that even at this range it is unlikely he will hit you. Then suddenly his resolve seems to strengthen, and his arm steadies. He raises his finger to his temple, looks you straight in the eyes, and whispers "bang". His brains hit the wall at the same time as his body hits the floor." Well they weren't expecting that. Brilliantly, the mage rolled a natural 20 on an insight roll to work out why he killed himself, so I was able to just tell her "probably because you all kept saying you were going to torture him to death". I had to get back to work and they were still arguing when I left.
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Nov 22, 2017 18:14
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AlphaDog posted:If your players didn't like that, get new players. I think they liked it! They were very disappointed at having to wait till next time to loot his study. That will teach them for upsetting my plans - I spent nearly two hours setting up a thieves/goblins/guards throwdown in the town square and they just went “right, we skirt round the edge of the town and go straight to the wizard’s manor”. Players! 
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Nov 23, 2017 07:54
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Just wanted to thank whoever said early in the thread about never having only one way to deliver critical information and also AlphaDog for advising to listen to the players chat ooc and letting it guide the story. My party asked if we could do a quick session today because they didn’t want to wait to loot the wizards study. I’d put a bookshelf in there and saw an opportunity to pick up a few threads that got cut short when they killed Glasstaff the fake wizard, so I’d prepped this: Most of the books on his shelf are very basic magical tomes - Basic Wand Care, Choosing Your First Familiar, etc. Three are more interesting: The View from Wyvern Tor by Skunder Peasepod - a collection of sketches of the local landscape. The sketches seem drab and uninspiring, but a piece of text in the introduction catches your eye: “and off to the west in the southern reaches of Neverwinter Wood one can see the ruins of the old Phalormian Castle, now overrun by goblins, and directly beyond as the crow flies sits the city of Neverwinter itself, shining jewel of the North” Rights & Rites of the Tresendar Family, Stewards of Phandalin - a somewhat dry tome describing taxes, grazing rights, burial traditions and other such mundane matters of daily life in Phandalin. The book seems to be several hundred years old and large sections are missing. It falls open at a certain page “and then wearing the crimson mantle of stewardship the petitioner shall go unto him, and when he rises speak the words “father of fathers, I come to honour you. Your words are remembered and your family endures”. Then shall the old one grant the gift of knowledge, before sleeping once more” Glasstaff’s spellbook. It is empty. In the second one the “crimson mantle of stewardship” was just meant to be Glasstaff’s cloak. I’d said he was wearing a big, red, old cloak. But after we’d finished one of the players started going “The hat! The townmaster’s hat! When we forced him to leave, I made him give it to me! You said it didn’t do anything but I could write it on my sheet! I’ve got it!”. I nearly said something to guide him towards the cloak, but suddenly thought gently caress it, why shouldn’t it be the hat. I just need an item they can use to ask an ancient skeleton a question. Now they’re all discussing every bit of poo poo they’ve thrown away since we started and wondering what they’ve missed. I’m getting credit for Machiavellian planning while feeling like I’ve barely got a grip on what’s going on. Questions, though. Is it normal for play to take so long? It’s easily taking us an hour to move through a couple of rooms and maybe a fight. No-ones bored or anything, it just takes us ages to get through a tiny bit of story. And how long should prep take? I’m probably spending half as much time prepping as we spend playing. Bear in mind we’ve never done this before so everything is being drawn/written from scratch.
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Nov 23, 2017 20:03
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D&D 5e, it’s the starter set so I’m not sure if it’s the full rules in there.
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Nov 23, 2017 20:39
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Stupid beginners question - how on earth do I work out attack bonuses for weapons in d&d 5e? Our rogue has been using a short sword, his character sheet says he gets +5 on attack rolls. But he’s just picked up a +1 dagger and wants to use that. So does he get +6 now? Or something different? When one of the fighters picked up a +1 longsword he was already using a longsword, so that was easy. Switching to a different weapon I don’t know how to work out.
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Nov 26, 2017 14:27
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Thanks for the attack rolls clarification, much appreciated. There’s a couple more things I need advice with after today’s session. One simple, one not so simple. The simple one: I posted before about the players helping someone take over the town. Today they were trying to find out her plans, and when she asked “why should I tell you?” one of the players responded: “The more we know of your plans, the more we can help them come to fruition. We have already proven our loyalty; it is time for you to trust us as we have trusted you.” Now that’s a pretty good answer. I don’t still need to make him roll a persuasion check, do I? I didn’t, but all the players definitely thought I was going to. Now the more complex one. When we first started playing, I was pretty certain we were going to do a single session, maybe two, and nothing would matter story wise. That’s why one of the fighters is a nude, oiled Turkish wrestler, the NPC ranger Saldar Hallwinter is called Ronnie the Hog and rides a pig, and the first boss they killed was Wolf Off Gladiators rather than Klaarg the Bugbear. All these things came and went and have no bearing on where we are now. But when they first went well off track, and before I realised the benefit of having a couple of lines of background for anyone they might meet, they spoke with Daran Edermath, described in the book simply as “an adventurer”. In our version he used to lead an adventuring group called Henry’s Heroes that did good deeds “all around these parts”. My party found a woodcut showing the Heroes and naming them as Nikki Eyes (half elf), Sweet-Lips Hoolihan (halfling), Fingers McGraw (human) and the guy they’re talking to, who went by the name Henry Nipples. Each of the members of Henry’s Heroes had a magic item to match their name and my party have already found the Mask of Many Mouths (+ to performance checks) and the Chestplate of Many Nipples (healing item). Please realise I was making this up off the top of my head on the first or second time I ever played. Other maybe pertinent info: - when they asked Henry about his comrades, he got angry and said to never mention them again. - Henry is described as being well over a hundred years old, so there’s plenty of scope for something to have happened long ago. - it was maybe discussed that there was a dwarf member of Henry’s Heroes. Someone might have sung a song that went “the climbing dwarf, there he goes, see him climb with his monkey toes”. Finally and importantly, for some reason the party are really into this. When I asked them today to talk about what their characters wanted to do next, they named the main quest, a couple of hooks from the character sheets... and all agreed they want to find out what happened to Henry’s Heroes, and find the rest of their artefacts. So what do I do with this?
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Nov 27, 2017 22:27
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Very helpful insight into different ways of doing non-combat rolls, thanks guys. Luckily my players recognise I am as new to this as them and don't care/notice if I try multiple different approaches until we find one that works. As for the other matter, oy, I was hoping you'd tell me a tried and tested method for shutting down a storyline you don't know what to do with. I guess I'll start laying some hints around as to what happened to Henry's Heroes - I've already said that there's no wyverns at Wyvern's Tor since they were driven out decades ago, so maybe they did that. And the dwarf member betrayed them in some way and the party broke up? I'm in too deep! VVV Good idea. Turkish wrestler needs a plot hook; I'll throw it his way. VVV Sanford fucked around with this message at 11:41 on Nov 29, 2017 |
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Nov 29, 2017 10:42
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My Lovely Horse posted:Just checking, you do try and find a way for this guy to use weapon oils for unarmed attacks, right? "It works like the great axe listed on your sheet but if you describe it as a wrestling move you get advantage" is working for us so far. His armour is described simply as "glistening pecs" and once a day he can summon a folding chair and hit someone with it. He needs plot hooks because his personal goal as written is to conquer Cyprus and then reinstate the Ottoman Empire. AlphaDog posted:DON'T There's too much! They want to get into everything. Last session they spent thirty minutes interrogating a goblin to "see what he knows". He knows nothing! I'm making it up as we go along! They still think I'm reading it out of the book and it is 99% random poo poo I am making up on the spot because they keep getting interested in the wrong things.
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Nov 29, 2017 13:04
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Thanks again everyone, apologies for monopolising the thread but this is very useful and reassuring - I'm still having a blast but not sure if I'm doing it right, and if that might cause us problems later. I think one of the biggest issues with them going off-piste is that the plot hooks as written in the book are boring. We had a Skype catch-up today to talk about what's going on (and so I could ask them to head for one of the routes I have fully prepped, not one straight out the book), and one of the players said "tell me again exactly why I should give a gently caress about this dwarf?" The dwarf is literally the main plot thread of the whole adventure. They're now discussing ways they could find out the info they need from the dwarf without rescuing him, because anyone stupid enough to get captured by gerblins probably deserves it. I just know they're going to try and torture the fortune-telling banshee...
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Nov 29, 2017 18:02
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For crying out loud. The adventure needs them to rescue a dwarf who holds key information to get them back on track with the plot. But the players are too invested in wanting to find the mysterious 5th member of Henry’s Heroes, and all they know is that he’s a dwarf. What a tricky conundrum, I cannot fathom how to combine these two wildly different plot threads. This sudden realisation just caused me to yell “They’re the same drat dwarf!” at my wife. She didn’t care. Edit: AlphaDog, you beat me to it!
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Nov 29, 2017 20:25
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There’s no penalty for firing into combat, right? One of our fighters is a posh sod who refuses to fight alongside the Turkish wrestler because “he’s greasy”. He keeps firing his longbow into combats happening six feet away from him while yelling unhelpful advice on how to grapple a bugbear.
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Nov 30, 2017 21:25
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AlphaDog posted:No specific penalty for that in 5th ed. Okay thanks. I don’t really mind him doing it. Maybe just make him hit the teammate on a critical fail?
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Nov 30, 2017 22:12
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Wow, okay, fairly overwhelming response there. I’ll just let him be! Tomorrow’s session should be Wyvern Tor. The book has this simply as “the party fights six orcs and an ogre” and totally unconnected to the main quest, but I’ve got kind of an idea to make it a bit more involved. Can anyone see potential problems or missed opportunities in my notes? - meet a single orc on the road who complains that the chief is making their nomadic tribe stay in one place - learn the chief keeps control with his unbeatable champion ogre, if they beat the champion the tribe will move on - one party member fights the ogre one-on-one in an arena, the rest support him from the sidelines - balance the fight by having the ogre supported by orc archers/spellcasters on the opposite side of the arena - find notes showing the chief is taking commands from The Black Spider (main baddie of the adventure) to tie it into the story When they beat the ogre, the orc they met on the road will challenge the chief, beat him, and the orcs will pack up and go. Party still have the option to just run in and kill everything if they want. Any thoughts? Edit: AlphaDog posted:On a critical fail, you should slap yourself in the face to remind yourself that "critical fail, you hurt yourself!" means the most competent swordsman in the world attacking once per 6 second round will, on average, chop their own arm off every 2 minutes. Never thought of it like that. To be honest we normally just wing it and the players have been pretty inventive with crit fails. When the rogue rolls a one and says “my bowstring just snapped, I’m going to have to spend a round replacing it” I don’t think I need to get involved. If we ever learn the actual rules and stick to them it will be a massive shock to the system. Sanford fucked around with this message at 23:06 on Nov 30, 2017 |
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Nov 30, 2017 22:52
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Jack B Nimble posted:Show, don't tell, the spider guy connection. Make this new ogre that's enabling the chief be a gift from him. Have the road orc complain about "ever since that ogre showed up" and "weird ogre from parts unknown, always doing X." I’ve given the chief and the ogre a large ruby each and written a note in orcish that says “KEEP TRIBE HERE. KILL ANY INTRUDERS. USE RED STONE TO CONTROL OGRE” and signed it with the spider symbol. The party loving love notes from the Black Spider. I’ve got one for them to find on a rival wizard later that basically says “my dear fellow, if you don’t wish to work together I won’t coerce you, best wishes etc, the Black Spider” that I’ve dyed green because it’s poisoned. They lay them out on the table every session and go over them. No one has questioned that the Black Spider, crafter of Machiavellian schemes, writes all his notes in marker pen.
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Nov 30, 2017 23:14
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Jack B Nimble posted:So the party already knows he's the big And? Are they actively opposing him at this point? Not yet, but they’ve killed three mini bosses and each of them had one or more notes from the Black Spider so they know he’s trying to control the whole area. I think I’ve given them enough to work it out, they’ve got two ‘tokens’ to ask questions of two different oracles, and I’ve got a couple of NPCs lined up who can help them put the puzzle together if needed. TBH it doesn’t stretch much beyond “all the bad poo poo happening round here is down to one guy, let’s go get him”.
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Dec 1, 2017 08:09
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Looking for somewhat basic advice again - I need a gold sink. The Phandelver adventure gives out plenty of loot but has nothing and nowhere to spend it. I had an idea of getting them to pay to restore the town - walls, guards, watchtower, etc - and was wondering if there were any resources for that before I start writing a load of stuff out. I’m also totally open to alternative ideas. I just don’t want to get to the end and go “congrats, you’re all billionaires, game over”.
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Dec 3, 2017 09:17
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OscarDiggs posted:I'm not necessarily talking about not having fun. It might be that but that wouldn't have been my first point of call. I'm talking about insisting on having lasers in a strictly medieval setting, as one of the few things they're insisting on. And before you ask, that was the setting we agreed upon on game start. No, there aren't any? None for sale, none to be found, none of the bits you would need to build one. So you're not saying there are no lasers full stop, but there's certainly none round here.
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Dec 4, 2017 14:29
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Keeshhound posted:Have them encounter an old animal of some kind, who talks at great length about "The Beast." The longer they talk to and indulge his tales, the more apparent it should become that instead of talking about a shoggoth or something ("it's appetite was never sated! It devoured everything in it's way, sparing nothing!!!",) he's talking about a roomba. This is great.
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Dec 7, 2017 10:23
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I am making a dungeon from scratch to indulge my players desire to explore things that aren't in the book, and had the idea of an inverted wizard's tower that hangs down into the Underdark rather than pointing upwards into the sky. As they progress I plan to have them to find notes from an elven noble about his research which will become darker and darker until they eventually encounter him in lich or wraith form at the top (bottom) of the tower. I want each level of the tower to have a theme and so far came up with the following: - entrance hall/guard level - magical item storage - alchemy lab - menagerie - library - spell research area - living quarters - "hydroponics" area for growing fungus Anything else? I'd like to have more than I need so I can extend it if they're enjoying it, or go straight for "hurray, you're at the top" if it starts to drag. Edit: I realise this is very cliched; I'd welcome any suggestions for twists I can throw in to keep things interesting.
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Dec 12, 2017 11:57
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I haven’t really thought about the motives of the wizard, I just need somewhere for Vibram Monkey-Toes Michaels to have betrayed Henry’s Heroes, resulting in the death of Nikki Eyes and the fracturing of their adventuring party. Then I need to work out why he betrayed them, and why he’s back in the picture 100 years later. I was fretting over tying him back into the Lost Mine of Phandelver quest but I’m pretty sure none of my players gives a gently caress about that any more. None of the players is familiar with Forgotten Realms, so Drow, Underdark, etc will mean little to them. Noble intentions leading to ever-increasing corruption should do it; I might try and make the dungeon start off nice and get increasingly corrupted as they proceed. Glukeose posted:An Underdark tower with no spider breeding chamber? C'mon son. Edit: all this is great and I am going to try and make the dungeon fully staffed, but all with monsters/undead/elementals/automatons. Sanford fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Dec 12, 2017 |
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Dec 12, 2017 18:43
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Sorry for the wall of text but I’m really struggling with my storyline. I can fill in any gaps if needed. This is what’s known by the players: - Henry’s Heroes was an incredibly tight-knit party of adventurers approx. 100 years ago. - Vibram the Dwarf betrayed them leading to Nikki Eyes death. This occurred in what she called “a dank hole” as she died. - Fingers McGraw went insane with grief and rage, left and was never seen again (wrestling turk’s great-grandfather). - Henry Nipples and Sweet-Lips the halfling searched for Vibram for years, until old age caught up with them and Sweet-Lips died. Henry returned to the town where they all met and buried him on his sister’s farm (halfling rogue’s great-great-uncle). - Henry intended to carry on his search, but couldn’t do it. He still lives in the town and the players know and like him. He’s a half-elf and a drunk. Separately: - The Black Spider is controlling all kinds of brigandry in the area. The players have guessed correctly that he wants to keep people away from the lost mine. They know he’s a drow (only one of them knows what a drow is but nm). - the dwarf that employed them to come here is missing, he has a map to the mine. The story has it that he is held prisoner at a castle under the control of the Black Spider but the players don’t know this as a solid fact. - Storyline goes “rescue the dwarf from the castle, learn where the mine is, learn his brothers are being held there by the Black Spider, go kill him and reclaim the mine, end”. I have three locations left for them to visit - a ruined town with a baby dragon, the goblinoid castle where the dwarf is, and the lost mine itself. They already know where the mine is so don’t need the dwarf map. Things I can’t work out: - why Vibram betrayed the heroes if they were such a tight-knit bunch of dudes. - what form this betrayal took, bearing in mind it needs to kill Nikki Eyes (but give her a chance for final words), let the rest of the Heroes get out with her body, and allow Vibram to get away. - if the dwarf that employed my party is Vibram, what is he doing back in the area now? Why does he have a map to the mine and what does he want there? Is he working with the Black Spider or against him as per the book? - If that dwarf isn’t Vibram, then where is he and what’s he doing? It would be nice if whatever caused him to betray the Heroes included a “for 100 years” clause as it would link the betrayal to the current era, and also perhaps give a reason he’s in action now. Also, he could always be the Black Spider; I can easily explain away someone saying he was a drow. Can anyone please give me some suggestions to start bringing this all together? We’ve got a session on Friday where they will probably reach the castle and I don’t want to set more plot in stone without knowing where I’m going.
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Dec 13, 2017 20:22
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I've been coming up with ever more complex ideas as to how he killed her and escaped, it literally never occurred to me it was as simple as "he stabbed her and ran off". Thanks for the help everyone, I'm going to throw all these ideas into a mixing pot and lay something out tonight. I think I have to make him the same dwarf, and the place Nikki died the mine they're looking for - it's just unnecessarily making myself a load more work to do anything other.
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Dec 14, 2017 09:07
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Right, here’s what I’ve got. Henry is currently helping the party fend off a hobgoblin raid so he can tell them this next time we play. 100 years ago Henrys Heroes were exploring the lost mine. They planned to reopen it for mining, but destroy the forge of spells (magic item creator) if they found it because it’s too dangerous. The mine is full of undead guardians. While they rested Nikki stumbled on Vibram speaking with someone via a magic stone, saying just let these fools kill the rest of the undead and we’ll do the ritual to activate the forge. She went whoa wtf, Vibram panicked, stabbed her, and fled. By the time the others found her it was too late. Henry doesn’t know the way to Wave Echo Cave but if the party come back in a few days he will draw them a map of the dungeon, as far in as they reached. When they go to the goblin castle, instead of finding the dwarf held captive the bugbear boss will be arguing with one of the black spiders minions that he should be allowed to go to the mine “because the dwarf and the spider are already there”. The minion will be trying to mollify him, saying he is still needed to control travel along the road but he is, of course, an equal partner in their venture and will be treated as such. When they get to the mine, I’ll make sure they overhear Vibram and the Black Spider discussing the once-in-a-hundred-years opportunity to reactivate the forge of spells and make some serious weaponry. The Black Spider will chastise Vibram that if he hadn’t messed it up 100 years ago they wouldn’t be here now. Vibram will respond that the Black Spider was meant to have cleared the mine of undead months ago, ready for the ritual, and it’s still crawling with them. Then the party can burst in and kill everyone, and then decide what they want to do with the forge of spells. Anyone see any problems?
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Dec 14, 2017 23:05
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We’ve already agreed a “soft reset” after this campaign, because we all know what we’re doing a bit more now and they’re currently using the pre-built characters from the starter set and want to build their own. So we’d probably have a session where they can stomp around smashing stuff with their new toys, then start afresh. We’ve discussed either Storm Kings Thunder or Into the Abyss as our next adventure, if anyone has any advice on that front. Edit: I guess I’ll start thinking about a side quest to deal with their old characters stomping around smashing stuff. VVV Oooh I like that though. They are still very trigger-happy and that would be a brilliant “well, you’ve really done it this time!” moment VVV Sanford fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Dec 14, 2017 |
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Dec 14, 2017 23:21
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I gave my players homework over Christmas to re-write their one paragraph backgrounds taking into account what they have decided about their characters since we started playing. This is the first one I’ve had back: Yagli Guresçi, a Turkish wrestler. Born amongst the cold streams of Anatolia, Yagli is further from home than he could have ever imagined. As a child he was entranced by the tales of The Sword Coast relayed to him by his grandfather, a tall, thin, furious, deranged, aggressive, terrifying man. This ancient patriarch would swear and spit and curse the names of gods the young Yagli had never heard, but as he lay on his deathbed he whispered secrets to the young warrior, secrets of how to reach his original home. Now Yagli finds himself on The Sword Coast at last, unsure of his place in this strange world but determined to bring the teachings of the Bodybuilder’s Code to all he encounters. Yagli dreams of holding aloft the title belt, and knows his dream will only be realised when he has challenged and bested the greatest wrestlers his new home has to offer. So my questions are, what would be good monsters for him to have to wrestle, how do I make it interesting for the other players, and how many should he have to fight before I award him with the Championship Belt (of ogre strength)? He already bested an ogre and there’s a grick in the dungeon they’re heading to next, but I want to avoid getting into a routine of “you fight this guy, the rest of you cheer from the sidelines”. Thanks for any help!
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Dec 24, 2017 11:17
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For reasons I won’t go into my party are helping out a Druid who has three groups of ash zombies trapped inside abandoned buildings in an otherwise ruined town. He wants the zombies killed but in such a way that they don’t explode and spread “blight spores” across the local area. The party is all geared up to take this on, but at the last minute our wizard can’t make it. She wants the rest of them to press on, they want to press on, but I honestly can’t see a good way for them to contain these spores without easy access to fire or ice. Has anyone got any ideas? Hopefully they’ll come up with something, but I’d like to have a route in mind in case they need a hint.
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Jan 8, 2018 18:58
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Without the wizard they are a rogue and two fighters, one an archer and one a wrestler. The zombies are responsible for the blight infecting the town, and the druid has fought them back enough to contain them in the houses by summoning twig blights to help. He can’t aid the party directly because he’s stopping the twig blights from attacking them while they’re here. Making sure there’s a pond nearby is easy enough, and if I let them know fire will work I reckon they’ll have the nous to build a giant bonfire before they engage. I like the idea of an ice house but the town has been abandoned for ten years so it’d be empty. I’ll include as much as I can but I’m still open to ideas - it has been clearly established that they hate problems with a single, obvious solution.
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Jan 8, 2018 20:01
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The town is the archer's home town and it's his personal goal to drive out the twig blights; they've just discovered the twig blights are only there to contain the ash zombies. Water would probably work, or finding something to wrap the zombies in without killing them. Your description of how the spores work is spot on - a dead zombie's head bursts and the spores float off on the breeze. The reason I said fire and ice is because the party have come up with some really inventive ways to use Ray of Frost and Burning Hands recently, so my thoughts went down that route. Maybe I'm the one being railroaded, and I should just leave them to get on with it?
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Jan 8, 2018 20:27
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TheTofuShop posted:what is the wrestlers signature move? Grabbing enemies under the armpits and tearing them in half. And then the halfling says "is that a wrestling move?" and we all laugh. I've just rewritten my notes to include a pond, an ice house, an alchemists shop, and a basement with torches, lamp oil and tinder. Plenty of options there. Thanks everyone!
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Jan 8, 2018 21:29
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They went for molotovs thrown down chimneys, and when they ran out they lured the zombies out one by one, manhandled them into open graves and the fighters held them in place with farming implements while the rogue shovelled the soil back in. Then they banged a steel stake into the head area of each grave, while listening closely for the tell-tale "whoomph" noise when the zombie head exploded. All sorted! Now they have to fight a dragon.
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Jan 9, 2018 16:34
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My party fought the dragon, and while the two fighters distracted her the rogue climbed the outside of the ruined tower she was in, tied a rope round the biggest stone and threw it down. Then they all pulled and toppled the tower down on her. I let them roll a big handful of dice for damage to keep the fight moving on, but are there D&D 5e rules for a massive lump of stone falling on a dragon? I also tried to give them a tiny taste of a Whybird-style moral dilemma by having the druid tell them that although he considered the zombies dealt with, he would never allow the town to be resettled because of the danger of the new townsfolk digging up the zombies and re-spreading the blight. Resettling the town is the archer's personal objective and he's a bit murder-happy so I assumed his response would be to off the druid and resettle the town anyway. They actually responded by going back to where they buried the zombies, and using the stone and wood from the ruined tower to lay a lovely patio and a nice deck over the top. I had no idea how to make them roll for that so I just let them get on with it...
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Jan 10, 2018 17:14
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Any better ways of starting combat than saying “roll for initiative”? Even if its a dramatic moment, it goes “Suddenly the dragon tires of talking. Its head snakes towards you at lightning speed and mighty jaws snap closed inches from you... and roll for initiative”. I need a standard way of letting the players know it’s happening but saying the words is boring and repetitive and spoils the flow. It’s like holding up a sign that says “THE ANSWER HERE IS VIOLENCE” and generally calls a halt to more inventive resolutions.
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Jan 13, 2018 00:32
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Just to clarify, my main issue around my roll for initiative question is that my players pretty much never initiate the combat; they wait for me to tell them to roll. Maybe I need to start taking them prisoner more often and telling them they didn’t react fast enough, but then I don’t want them to shift to “stab first, talk later”. I’ll mull it over. Another question - are there a range of ice-based, low- to mid-level creatures? One of my players really wants a flaming sword, so I thought of having a mini dungeon with an effreet held prisoner at the centre of it. Rescue the efreet, sword as a reward, trouble later because you freed an evil fire demon. Ice monsters seemed the right thing to be keeping him prisoner but I only know frost giants, and I’m on holiday without my monster manual.
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Jan 15, 2018 21:37
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I’ve written an outline for 4 sidequests that the players can pick up if someone can’t make a session for some reason. I’ve discussed this with them and we’ve agreed we’ll just pause the main quest wherever it is, pick up a sidequest, and come back to the main quest exactly where we left off no questions asked when everyone’s back. I’d like some general feedback but don’t want to post a massive wall of text so I’ll do them one at at a time. Any advice on improvements or tips on how to deliver more complex story issues gratefully received. The players are about to enter Cragmaw Castle, so I’ve added a dungeon with several prisoners. Each of them gives a sidequest when rescued. Cell 1 - Undead Ship The cell holds an elf trader in rare drinks, Clade Sinkmire. Offers three phials of elven sherry that give adv on a single attack. Don’t ask where he hid them. A group of Hobgoblins ambushed his ship and slaughtered most of his crew. They sent him and his surviving men to the castle but a lot of the attackers stayed with his ship of fine booze. He can show the party where his boat was moored, but warns them that the only reason they stopped was because two crewman fell prey to the zombie curse. The rest of the survivors have since succumbed (and are in an other cell) but he seems fine. He will reward them further for clearing his ship. The ship is moored in shallow water in a bay between soaring cliffs, and there is a Hobgoblin camp on the narrow shore. A few tents, big fire, everyone roaring drunk. Behind them, the ship. Once they get on board, there find a single hobgob calling “Brakk? Brakk!” down into the hold. Brakk’s arm shoots up and drags him in, because Brakk has become a zombie. Many, many zombies in hold, can’t burn them because it’s a wooden ship full of alcohol and it’ll explode. At the back of the hold is a crate marked with symbols from Thay, filled with amphoras. It is topped with an opened gold clasp in the shape of a scarab. The scarab is set with a glowing green gem. Smashing it will destroy the zombies, but summon a mummy that they must fight, again without fire.
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Jan 16, 2018 23:30
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AlphaDog posted:Sounds awesome. You’re right, they are going to blow it up. If they’re on it, that will kill them. How would you get out of a tpk in this instance? Give them one turn to react and see what they do?
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Jan 17, 2018 14:53
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Right, I am going to rewrite it a bit so the owner of the boat is less an honest trader in rare drinks, and more the leader of a gang of grave robbers who go around ransacking tombs while posing as merchants. Gives them justification to blow up the boat, but still means they have to decide to forego the generous reward they’ll be offered. For the next one any interesting ideas for rooms or traps would be great. Cell 7 - Snake Temple. Weird Snake Cultist called Davin Smaard. He fled the cult temple because they are murdering children. He just likes snakes. The cult are doing a ritual but it’s nonsense, Davin knows it’s bullshit because he went to school with the cult leader, his name is Ian Cheeseman and he just started doing this cult stuff on weekends for a laugh. Can tell the party where to find the snake temple. The temple starts with a narrow crack in the rock, broadens out into a long, spiralling tunnel that passes several rooms, guards and traps and at the centre opens out into a large cavern. The party are in the mouth of a snake carved into the rock high above the cavern floor. The leaders of the cult are here and have a cage of children, planning to sacrifice them. Their blood will flow out of the snake’s mouth and fall to a pit of actual snakes far below, summoning the avatar of the cult’s god. Davin, the prisoner at Cragmaw Castle, says this is lies - he knows the cult leader is bogus. TWIST: if they kill cultists (or children!) and the blood flows as described, it will actually summon a giant snake monster out of the pit. Ian got the ritual and the temple location out of a book he found - the original snake cult died out a century ago but they were real. Clever players might work this out, because how is there a massive snake temple if Ian just does this for a laugh on weekends?
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Jan 17, 2018 22:51
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This is another side quest I’ve written, but at the moment I’ve no idea how to deliver the information to the players that they’d need to enjoy it. Any advice on running a character-driven session, as opposed to combat, would be extremely welcome. At the moment it feels too much like I’d just be telling them a story. One of the rescued prisoners is worried about his riding walrus, which fled when he was ambushed. He can tell the party where they were attacked, and what walrus tracks look like. The walrus is being held by a circus sideshow troupe a little off the road in Neverwinter Wood. They intend to use him in their show and are unlikely to release him unless the party can offer a better replacement. If negotiations fail (they will) the ringmaster will invite them to sleep on it and discuss again in the morning. At night the animal cages are guarded by a trio of idiots but just about everyone else in the caste will also find a reason to be wandering about. - Ringmaster Glenn the Magnificent - The Beautiful Trixie Laroux - Incredible Keith, Strongman - Fire-Eating Pete - Neroth and Greylar, the elven acrobat twins - The goblin clowns x 3 - Ted, Ron and Sam. Normal humans who keep the stores, guard the animals, and act as night watchmen for the camp. - Trixie and Keith are in a relationship. She is having an affair with one of the elves. Keith suspects this. She will sneak out of their caravan, and he will follow. - Neroth and Graylar are actually both having an affair with Trixie but she doesn’t realise, they have been working together to take advantage of her. They have had an argument, and each intends to claim Trixie for himself. It’ll all come down to who can reach her first. - Fire-Eating Pete is a devil, owed a soul by Ringmaster Glenn. He intends to collect tonight, but he isn’t fussy. - Glenn sits in his caravan, poring over the infernal contract. He isn’t an evil man, he just wanted to be famous and doesn’t want to go to Hell. But who could he send in his place? There must be a way out of this. - Ted, Ron and Sam are simple men with simple needs. A quiet night, a kettle over the fire, no trouble and no fuss. Anyone messing with the animals or the stores is their natural enemy. - The goblins want to steal a chicken. There’s one in a cage, right on the top of the food wagon. They want it. In the cages are the walrus, an owlbear, a giant ape and a sabre-toothed tiger. The cages are locked and enchanted to keep the animals sedate. The ringmaster captured and subdued them with hypnosis; he has an enchanted pocket watch that he will use if threatened. TWIST: if the players get his watch, it’s just a watch. The power was INSIDE HIM ALL ALONG.
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Jan 20, 2018 14:12
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Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:Why does ever fantasy rpg system ever made seem to designate what the price of a waterskin is? Has anyone here had a player explicitly purchase a waterskin? When we first started playing a few months ago, one of my players with absolutely zero experience said in the first session “right, I put on this... [peers at character sheet] ...waterskin and get in the water”. We made him buy a new one as soon as they reached town.
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Jan 21, 2018 00:54
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