Preparing for the Adventure

Our little group did meet as planned and we got everyone's characters drawn up.  Schedules are a little hectic right now so we don't have a date picked yet for our first actual game session because of that but we're planning on it being this week or next week.

That's okay though because I've still got a lot of work to do to get ready.  Since Katarina has no D&D experience and Josiah only has a little I'm going to be using Roll20 to display some images on our tv while we play.  I'm doing this because I don't just use the standard fare of orcs and zombies for my players to go up against and I want to give them a visual of what they are fighting.  Since I'm already putting those images on Roll20 for them I've got some images of certain NPCs they'll encounter and a few scenes to inspire their theater of the mind.

I'm also refining my old Youtube playlist that I have which has mood music and background sounds that I like to have going while we play.

I've got a few props I need to make as well before we play.  They will be starting in the city of Ravensrest that is part of the world I created and we've played a majority of our adventures in.  Unlike the very first time I used this city, where I had the PCs explore the city and the players had to create their own map key, these PCs are familiar with the city.  I'm going to print them off the extensive map key to the city but I want to make it appear like it's on parchment.  I have a blog post that describes how I do this, you can use old coffee or tea.  There are also a couple of other items I need to print off and age/make into parchment, one of which I'd like to do a wax seal on but I have to see if I have something in my craft box that will work to make the seal.

My old DM binder that I used fell apart so I bought a new one but if I have time I want to get all crafty on it and transform it into something with more of a D&D feel.  If I do get to that I'll post pictures.

Lots to do before we begin our adventure.

How to Allow a PC to Read Tarot in 5e

Fun fact about me, I’m an intuitive tarot reader.  Tyr supports me in my passion, even if he openly admits that he doesn’t understand it.  I was quit shocked about a week or so ago when he turned to me, as he was working on a PC he’d like to play when we get a new group together, and said that he thought this particular PC would read tarot and what kind of checks would I make him roll and how would it all work?

I hit google and tried to find out if a system already existed for this.  One thing I found someone called a Wyrder deck (I believe that was the name, I can’t refind the forum where I saw it) but as a divining tool it was used only by NPC’s and was more commonly used to play a version of strip poker than to gain insight or guidance.  I found one or two accounts of DM’s who attempted to use a deck of tarot cards as a prop for a fortune teller NPC.  There is also the Tarokka deck featured in The Curse of Strahd, but again it’s meant to be used as a prop for an NPC.  Nowhere could I find a system for a PC to use the tarot.  There is the spell augury but that is nothing like reading a tarot deck even though the spell description says that cards can be used for the spell.  Some other DM’s I talked to suggested an arcana check but that doesn’t really fit either.

Let me say a few words about what tarot really is and then you’ll understand why I have chosen the system I have for a PC to read tarot.  My system does require that the DM know a little something about tarot in order for it to work.  Tarot is not magic.  The cards themselves have no powers.  I’m sorry if this bursts anyone’s bubble or takes away from the mystique of tarot.  Tarot cards are triggers for the reader to connect with their subconscious mind, higher self, intuition, and in some cases spirits but this last one applies to fewer readers.  The “gift” is really in the reader not the cards and there’s nothing magical about it, it is in fact rather natural.  Reading tarot cards is a skill that you learn just like you learn to play an instrument.  Some folks will pick up a trumpet say and they’ll get as far as playing Three Blind Mice.  Some will get good enough that they do pretty well in their high school concert band.  A few will get good enough to go on to the philharmonic.  The same is true for tarot, anyone can pick them up and use them a bit but only some have the skill to read them well.  This was very important in devising my system.

In my system a PC does not have to be a spell caster or be proficient in arcana to read the cards.  If the PC’s background allows them to be proficient in a card game then they can choose the tarot as being what they are proficient in but they can still attempt to use the cards even if they aren’t proficient in them.

There are two different checks involved depending on what the PC is wanting to do.  If the PC is say in a town and wants to read the cards for folks to earn a little gold then it is a performance check.  They can add their proficiency to their performance check if they are proficient with the tarot.

If they are trying to gain insight or divine then it is a straight wisdom check (with proficiency if it applies).  Why did I choose wisdom, because it is for checks where you might get a gut feeling about something, basically it’s the closest thing to intuition that D&D has to offer.

As I said this method requires the DM to know a bit about tarot.  If the PC succeeds on the wisdom DC then I tell him that he has drawn such and such card and what it means.  The cards will give some honest but not exactly crystal clear insight to the player.  If the player fails the check I’ll choose cards that are very fuzzy and vague and really won’t give them any true insight.  Should the player fail the check by five or more then the cards will either give them fuzzy or false information.

Here’s an example…

The PC asks if an NPC they are trying to find is still alive.  Let’s say the NPC is indeed still alive.  If the player succeeds he may draw The Sun, indicating that the NPC is alive and well.  If the player fails the check he may draw the Nine of Swords, indicating that there is a need for concern but also not giving a definitive answer one way or the other.  Let’s say the dice just hate the player that day and he fails by more than five, he may draw The Moon indicating that the NPC is in danger of dying if not already dead.

Add flavor to your use of the tarot cards by giving the deck a suitably D&D name that fits your campaign.  This particular PC is a Shadar-Kai so I call the deck The Deck of Shadows.  In different campaigns I’ll call it different things to fit the theme or the player.

What Happened to the Group?

You may be wondering what happened and where I’ve been and why I stopped doing blogs and posting to the Facebook page.  Well, as I had announced we picked back up playing D&D with Hal and Omar around July of last year.  Omar had turned over a new leaf and while we were in session he was almost a different person.  I had high hopes.  We were playing during the day on Sundays, because of Tyr’s work schedule and to be fair to Omar he had said from the beginning that Sundays were not the most convenient for him.  Also, Omar isn’t the biggest fan of children and since we were now playing during the day instead of after the kids went to bed it wasn’t Omar’s ideal situation.

We played for about a month or so and then it started.  Omar had something else he had to do so we’d have to skip that week.  Then the next week came and Hal couldn’t play because he didn’t feel good or would schedule something for during the time we were supposed to be playing.  It went on like this for several months.  The first couple of times it happened we played without whoever it was who couldn’t be there but it was getting to be all the time so we decided that if someone couldn’t play we just didn’t play that week.  That meant that we only wound up playing once a month or so.

We got to Thanksgiving and I said we should take a break until after the holidays because Hal wouldn’t be available for about two weeks around Thanksgiving and from when we had played before Omar wasn’t very available during December because of various Christmas functions.  We were set to resume after the first of the year.  Then Omar got in touch with Hal after Thanksgiving to pass a message to me (why he didn’t just call me I don’t know) that he didn’t have any commitments in December that would interfere with playing if we wanted to start again.  We set a date to start playing and low and behold the day of or the day before (it was super short notice) Hal informed me that he couldn’t play because he had something else to do, something he knowingly scheduled to have to do during the time we were supposed to be playing.  At this point I just threw in the towel.  We scheduled our session for the same day and time every week.  If Hal wanted to play he would have scheduled his stuff for a different day and time.

Omar and Tyr were pretty fed up with Hal as it was between canceling all the time (always on short notice) and the fact that he slept through almost every session.  We all used to give him slack because he said he was on a medicine that made him drowsy but then he quit taking all his meds so there wasn’t a good reason for him to be sleeping though entire sessions.  When he wasn’t sleeping he was on his laptop surfing the net.  Omar and Try had finally had enough during the session where they were in a fight and Hal (who was playing the cleric) was asleep during the battle.  He’d wake up for his turn in the initiative (sometimes) with no clue of what was going on, throw a fire ball (which hit allies and started a forest fire) and go back to sleep as soon as he was done.  The party was getting there asses kicked and it got to the point that Omar and Tyr were both yelling (literally) for the cleric to wake up and heal them.  He remained asleep and I wound up letting them kill of the monster a few HP early just before it would have been a TPK.  Hal finally wakes up and makes a comment about his PC needing healing and the guys shot him a look and say he’s nowhere near as bad as they were.  Hal’s response, “Why didn’t you tell me you needed healing?”  The daggers they shot at Hal as they looked at him and both not too politely informed him that they had literally been yelling for him to wake up and heal them and he didn’t do shit.

When I told Hal that we were throwing in the towel because yet again he couldn’t be at a session his response was that he didn’t really want to play with Tyr anyhow because the two of them don’t really like each other.  I wanted to say, “How would you know if you like or dislike playing D&D with Tyr or anyone else when you sleep through every session or search the web unless it’s your turn in the initiative order.”  I just chose to ignore the comment because I saw it for what it was, he didn’t like being called on the fact that he was always canceling so he was trying to shift the spotlight elsewhere and cry sour grapes.

Tyr and I very much want to get back to playing D&D but life is a little nutso right at the moment so we need to get a couple of things sorted out.  Once that’s done I’ve made up flyers looking for new group members.  There are two comic book stores, booth about a half an hour from us, that I’m going to ask if I can post the flyers there and there is a closer store that hosts Magic tournaments and I’ll ask if I can post a flyer there.   I’m confident that if the store owners will allow us to post a flyer in their shops that we’ll attract a couple of players.  Tyr and I have talked about the possibility of asking Omar if he’d like to play with the new group when we form it.  There are Facebook groups for the local area where I could advertise for new members but Hal belongs to many of those and there’s no way for me to prevent him from seeing the ads if I post in those groups.  Moving forward there is no room in the group for people who sleep during sessions.  I already had the rule that there were supposed to be no laptops at the table but Hal being a computer guy said he had everything he needed for his character on his laptop and couldn’t play without it.  Going forward no laptops at the table means no laptops at the table, if someone can’t play without their laptop then I guess they just don’t play.

My prediction is that we won’t move forward with getting a new group together until the end of spring or the beginning of summer.  In the meantime I’m working on some ideas for the new group.  Tyr is working on a couple of potential PC’s for him to play.  I’ll try to put up a few blogs between now and when we’re able to get a new group together and I’ll try to post more on the Facebook page.

Back to Playing

All right, after a long break we have resumed playing D&D.  We are back to playing in person and Omar has rejoined the game.  Carter is not playing right now because of scheduling issues but we may Skype him in at some point if he gets more free time.  I'm so glad to not be using roll20.

The party is on  a mission from the god Pelor to find a healer who has gone missing.  Tyr is playing a rogue bard drow.  Hal is play a human wild sorcerer.  Omar is playing a barbarian dwarf.  They have just gotten onto the trail of the healer.  Our next session should prove very interesting.

DMing for Children

One of the great things about having children is being able to share your love of D&D with them.  Children take to the game quite naturally because they still have vivid and creative imaginations.  There is no set age to start children playing, it really depends on each individual child and you will have to tailor the game to your child’s abilities.  Playing D&D is good for children on a lot of levels.  It teaches them social skills, creative thinking skills, problem solving skills, math skills, and reading skills.  Below are some tips for being the DM of children.

1.Choose by hero type and not stats.  Let them choose their character based on what they want their character to do and not on maximized stats.  Ask them what they want their character to do.  Do they want their character to sneak in shadows?  Do they want a front line fighter?  Do they want to heal others?  Do they want to turn into animals?  Ask them questions like this to determine what class they will play.  Describe the different races to them and let them choose the race they are interested in even if it isn’t the best fit for the class they’ve chosen.  For younger children you may want to skip delving into the backgrounds but if you’re using them don’t worry about maximizing the character by picking a certain background let them pick whatever background suits their fancy.  Finally let them draw their character how they envision it.

2.The Rules.  When it comes to DMing for children you have to think of them more as guidelines.  Don’t get caught up in the rules.  Yes, you need to have rules but don’t be afraid to bend or break them if you need to in order to give children the best experience.  It’s not about the rules it’s about getting children bit by the D&D bug, as they get older you can stick closer to the official rules.

3.Expect the unexpected.  Children have a very different way of viewing and interacting with the world and that goes for the fantasy world you’re creating for them too.  You never know what choices a child is going to make when you present them with a situation in the game.  Be ready for scenarios that would make absolutely no sense to an adult and let the children play out the game their way.  As the DM you’ve got to be ready to roll with anything they throw at you.  It’s best not to over plan the quest you are running for them because you’re going to need your best improv skills.

4.Keep things simple.  Children really aren’t overly complicated and their quest shouldn’t be either.  Don’t be afraid to steal plot lines from their favorite books or cartoons.  Children enjoy things that are pretty straight forward.  Plots with lots of layers and twists tend to lose them.  Don’t feel like you are cheating them by keeping things simple they won’t see it that way.  Keep things simple with the reading of character sheets and dice rolling too.  Only ask them to read and roll on their level.  You can teach them the important words that they need to know on their character sheet and only ask them to do math at their level.  You want them to have fun not get frustrated at what they can’t do.  For really young children you may want to run the quest like an interactive bedtime story with no character sheets or dice rolls.

5.Keep things moving.  Children have short attention spans.  Keep this in mind when planning the pace of your quest.  You don’t want them to spend too long in any one interaction.  Don’t rush them along but you want to keep each interaction shorter than you would when being the DM for adults.  Adults can be entertained by spending half an hour in a tavern but with children you want to plan shorter interactions to keep their interest.  Children tend to like action and movement.

6.Stick to short quests not long campaigns.  Again children have short attention spans and like instant gratification so it is best to stick to short quests.  Design ones that can be finished in a session or two.  They can keep using their character in future quests but have a definite goal for the children to achieve and have them be able to achieve that goal in a session or two.

7.Have fun.  The most important thing above all else is to have fun.  As long as the children are having fun you’re doing it right.  Once you start DMing for children you’ll figure out what it is that makes D&D the most fun to the children you are DMing for and you’ll build off of that for your future quests.  Don’t let rules or anything else come in the way of having fun and teaching kids an activity that can help them develop important skills and give them a lifelong hobby.  You’re never really too young or too old for D&D.

Amara's Hand: The End of a Campaign

Well the campaign has finally come to a close and I can’t really describe how that makes me feel.  It’s like something is missing.  We started this campaign on May 25^th of 2015, it’s been 9 months with these characters and this story line.  I’ve put a lot into it and so have my players.  The best way I can explain it is a sort of separation anxiety.  It’s not that we can’t or won’t ever go back to these characters but it’s kind of like leaving behind a group of longtime friends. 

Our session last night was a little shorter than usual since we were finishing the quest but it was fun.  The party appeared in back in Lord Falafel’s chambers, where Lord Falafel was accompanied by four of his clerics.  It turned out that Lord Falafel was a psionic, which meant that Hal’s barbarian took more damage than usual.  The lord was the first to fall.  The clerics battled on, loyal to the leader even in death.  They cast inflict wounds and hacked at the party with magic longswords.  After much battle two of the clerics fell only for the remaining two to cast revivify on them.  The party immediately rekilled one of the formerly fallen clerics but the other was able to heal and battle on.   Tanis, Carter’s ranger, dealt hefty amounts of damage with his bow using colossus slayer.  Hal started out with horrible rolls and just couldn’t get anything going but by the end of the battle he was doing massive damage with the trident he got from fighting the fallen angels.  Finn, Tyr’s monk rogue, got in his hits and did some serious damage with sneak attacks and a vampiric dagger.  Tyr’s cleric inflicted wounds and healed the party.  It was a good battle.  Ultimately the party defeated Lord Falafel and his clerics.

Before the battle dust had even settled Amara, Tannis’s love, came bursting into the room and threw her arms around Tannis.  Let me just say it’s very awkward to play the NPC love interest of your brother’s PC.  I played it from the third person instead of first person.  It takes away from the game a bit but it’s just too awkward to play it first person.  Servents had relayed to her that her father had the clerics send Tannis and the party away, she knew that her father was not a good man.  She shed no tears over her father’s demise, she was just overjoyed that Tannis had returned and that her father could no longer stand between them.  Tannis told her that they must be married right away and Amara told him she already had a cleric who wasn’t loyal to her father ready to marry them.  While Tannis and Amara were having their moment, Finn and Argon were searching the bodies and throwing the corpses out of the window.  We ended the campaign with Tannis and Amara’s wedding.  She is now the lady of the city, ruling it with Tannis at her side.  Will they live happily ever after?  Will the city accept a half-elf as their new lord?  Maybe we’ll answer these questions in another campaign. 

The Source of Feathers

The journey through Ilotha continued last night.  Last session the party had defeated fifteen harpies outside of an old temple.  They made their way toward the entrance and opened the hefty stone door to the massive temple.  It opened into an enormous round room with twenty doors.  Each door had an elven ruin on it.  Things like earth, air, fire, water, elk, wolf, and tree.  Their first instinct was to look for a door with a ruin that had an animal with wings but there was none.  Argon, Tyr’s goliath cleric, used a wand of conjure fey, that they had found earlier in their travels, to conjure a fey dire wolf.  He used the wolf to seek out Selena the kidnapped shop keeper they were seeking.   The fey dire wolf led them to the door with the ruin for air.  The door was trapped and Tyr’s shapeshifter monk rogue, Finn, botched his disable trap so the group was pierced with darts that shot out from the walls before they could open the door. 

They proceed up some stairs until they came to a door that lead into another massive round room.  This room contained three doors that were unmarked.  Argon again asked the fey dire wolf to seek out the right door.  Again the door opened into a stairway.  Finn proceeded up the stairs triggering another trap that released a poisonous gas.  This last door led into another massive round room at the top of the temple.

On the far side from the door was a half angel bound and restrained in the skeletal hands of an enchanted statue.  She was gagged and obviously worse for the wear.  It was obvious that she had been through some kind of torture.  There was nothing else in the expansive room.  Above them there were holes in the ceiling where parts of it had crumbled away.  Tannis, Argon, and Gaunt stayed close to the wall near the door while Finn stealthily snuck over to the bound Selena.  Finn removed her gag and asked her what the situation was.  She quietly and quickly explained that her kidnappers had taken her to try to force her to send them to another dimension that they wanted to conquer.  She told him that they would be back any minute.  Then through the ceiling came two fallen angels.  Finn quickly gave Selena an invisibility potion since he couldn’t free her at the moment and the party got a surprise round against the fallen angels who weren’t expecting intruders. 

This set off an intense battle that pummeled the party.  The angels’ weapons delivered intense blows bringing each party member near death more than once.  Many rounds were used up taking healing potions instead of attacking.  Finally, Finn, still near Selena, asked her if the fallen angels had any weaknesses and she told him that they didn’t but they were resistant to anything that isn’t a magical weapon.  This was a valuable piece of information for the party as none of them were using magical weapons and they needed to regroup and come up with a new strategy.  Finn tossed Gaunt, Hal’s halfling barbarian, his magic vampiric dagger.  Tannis, Carter’s ranger, took a round to coat his arrows with a potion of sharpness to make them magical.  Gaunt was near the “gold” angel which was 75 feet in the air.  This didn’t do him much good since he couldn’t reach her with a melee attack so he dropped the magic rope that they had and commanded it to tie up the “gold” angel and dashed back towards the “black” angel which was closer to the ground to see if he could get a shot at her.  Tannis started to do some serious damage to the angels with his enhanced arrows.  Argon dealt some damage with his spells.  What really helped was that the “gold” angel failed her dex check and was tied up by the magic rope and came crashing to the ground.  Gaunt dashed over and finished her off with a couple of stabs from the magic dagger and a bash from his magic shield.  Argon finished off the “black” angel by casting shatter and exploding her head.  For their trouble the party got to take the weapons the angels had (all of which dealt massive damage plus radiant damage); a long bow, a great sword, and a trident.  They then unbound Selena.  Argon cast dispel magic on the statue holding her and they were able to break it away to release her.

The trip back to town was uneventful and they returned Selena back to her shop/home.  Then they headed to see Ri-el and Ki-el to let them know they were successful and to collect Argon’s ram.  They then all went back to Selena’s shop where she thanked them and led them into her basement where she would perform the ritual to send them back to the realm of Ravensrest.  She drew a magic circle on the floor and performed the ritual.  The party asked if she could send them back to exactly where they had come from and she said there was no guarantee that they may wind up somewhere within a couple of miles from where they came from.  They began to feel like their bodies were collapsing in on themselves and they began to travel through the dimensions….

Next time we find out where they land and what will happen when they encounter Lord Falafel again.

Sexy Orcs

We haven’t played in a little bit because I was in the hospital but we finally got back to playing last night.  It felt so good to get back in the fray.  We just don’t get to play enough.  Our campaign is nearing its panicle though and I’m looking forward to it.

Since it’s been a while I’ll give a quick recap of what’s happened.  Tannis had come back to his home town with his prize so that he could have the hand of his love, Amara, in marriage.  Her father had no intention of honoring his word and sent the party to another dimension.  There they met an uncle and niece, Ri-el and Ki-el, who offered to help them.  They led them to a potion store run by a woman who was said to be able to send them back to their dimension.  Unfortunately, the woman had been abducted and it looked as if she had been taken to the caves outside of town.  The party has been working their way through the caves and thus far had avoided confrontation and even found help from a fae-dueragar. 

This is where we picked up our journey last night.  The party was faced with three tunnels, the first path they chose led them to a round cave whose only contents was a chest chained to a skeleton.  They unlocked the chest and found a couple of potions.  Finn decided to check for a false bottom which the chest had.  Inside he found hand drawn pinup pictures of orc women.

They then found the right tunnel and came to a bridge which had a magical trap.  They didn’t check for any so they triggered it and became entangled in vines.  They managed to break their way out, except Hal’s halfling who had to be extracted by Tyr’s goliath cleric.

Eventually they came to an underground temple with a winged statue on the front.  The cleric tried to get a sense of the temple, he was unfamiliar with the goddess but he sensed that the temple had the air of the fallen.  They did not make it to the door though as they were attacked by 15 harpies.  It was a constant battle for them to avoid being charmed by the harpies’ songs.  Finn (Tyr’s shifter) and Tannis (Carter’s ranger) used strategy to bring the harpies down while the cleric tried to give the party advantage against the harpies’ songs.  Finn shifted into a giant eagle so that he was immune to their songs and made a single attack on one harpy and then flew to another to draw blood.  This meant that Tannis could target the injured harpies and use his colossal slayer to send the harpies’ dead bodies crashing to the ground around them.

We play again in two weeks the party will attempt to enter the temple and see what it has instore for them.

Review: Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

A friend got me the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, it was not a book I was looking to purchase myself.  I’ve given some time to going over it and here is my review of the book.   Though I must admit my review is on the biased side but I’ll explain that as you read further.

If you are setting your campaign in Faerun but aren’t very familiar with the Sword Coast then I’d say this book is very valuable.  There’s loads of information about how different races and classes act in this world.  I’d say for someone who is new to the Sword Coast, either setting a first campaign there or thinking about setting a campaign there, this book could be quite valuable.  Even then I don’t think it’s worth the WOTC asking price of $39.95, instead head over to Amazon.com where you can purchase it for $26.74 at the time this post is being written. 

Let’s say you’re not new to Faerun, you’re actually quite familiar with the realm.  When that’s the case I see this book as a lot less valuable.  It really isn’t going to tell you any information you don’t already know.  In this instance all it’s going to give you is some minor variations on classes and a few new backgrounds for characters.  There’s really not a whole lot of new information here.  There are no new classes and really no new races as the races listed just refer you back to the Player’s Handbook.

If, like me, you’re not into Faerun and you were just looking for some new material to incorporate into your world then this is not a book for you.  Other than the new backgrounds you’re not going to find features here to add to your game play.  This is why I say I’m biased about the book because it wasn’t intended for my demographic.  As I said I had never intended to buy it but since it was given to me I gave it a chance.

So is the book worth the money?  If you aren’t very familiar with the Sword Coast but are interested in starting to set your campaigns there then for you it’s probably worth the Amazon price as it tells you a lot about the basics of Faerun.  For anyone else, you have to ask yourself if getting a couple of new character backgrounds and a few minor class variations is worth the price to you.

You Need a Thick Skin

The act of DMing is rewarding but it also comes with challenges.  Being a DM requires one to develop a thick skin.  You’re going to have problem players and you’re going to take criticism.  Dealing with these situations can be quite difficult if you’re a sensitive person.  One needs a certain level of detachment and the ability not to take things personally.  This can be quite hard, especially when you pour your heart and soul into a campaign.

Taking Criticism

At one point or another you’re going to receive criticism from your players and it can be hard to take.  Take a step back and look at the criticism.  Is this constructive criticism?  Is the player bringing up a valid point that you need to address?  Some criticism is a good thing and it can help you improve your game.  When players bring up a valid point learn from it and adapt what you’re doing to make the game more enjoyable.  Ultimately, you want your players to be happy with what you’re doing, if for example your players want more role playing and less combat in the campaign the only way they can communicate that to you is through constructive criticism.  

While your player may have a valid point, they may not be able to present it in a non-confrontational manner.  It is your job as DM not to let yourself get defensive and become confrontational back.  In this case it is even more important to take a step back and analyze what the player is telling you.  Though the presentation may be less than palatable the player may still be giving you valuable criticism.  Don’t let their pour presentation hurt your feelings, not everyone is good at communication and may not know how to present their feelings in an appropriate manner.

On the other hand not all criticism is constructive and it is hard not to take this kind of criticism personally.  This leads us into the next topic, problem players.

Problem Players

Some people just want to watch the world burn and you can’t take it personally.  At some point in your DM career you are most likely going to run in to a problem player, someone who just has to stir the pot.  They’re disruptive and can even be hurtful.  It can feel like they are personally attacking you.  Realize that it’s really not about you but about their need for attention and control.  Remember, you are the DM and it’s your show not theirs.  What you say goes no matter what kind of tantrum they throw.  Pull players like this aside out of game time and discuss their behavior with them.  Many times this will resolve the problem.  If this fails you have two options.  Ignore their behavior and work around them or ask them to leave the game.  Anyway it goes down remember that their behavior is their problem and not yours.  You are not responsible for the behavior of others even if they try to blame their behavior on something you have said or done.

The main thing is to learn not to take things personally.    Learn to detach and see things from an objective point of view.  Decide if the player is actually presenting something helpful that you can use to improve your performance.  You’ve got to develop a thick skin to DM.

Halfling Trap Detector

We have had to change our game nights from Sunday to Saturday as Tyr has started a new job and we have also had to shorten our session time.  This was our first Saturday session and it went well even if it was short.  Still in the potion shop where the shop keep was found missing the party headed to dinner with the intent in setting off for the caves in the morning to begin their search for Saphris.  On their way back to Ri-el’s home they came upon a strange scene in an ally way.  It appeared that two priests were being attacked by bandits and their only line of defense were these strange fae creatures that appeared to serve as guard dogs.  Our heroes made quick work of the warlock bandits and then proceeded into the temple to check on the priests who were very grateful for the assistance.  The priests offered them a bag of rubies (the currency of this dimension) and the party declined.  Instead the priests gave them a map to part of the cave system below the city.

That morning Ri-el led them to the entrance of the caves and wished them good luck, he also promised to take good care of Argon’s (Tyr’s goliath cleric) ram until they returned from the caves.  To check for traps Finn (Tyr’s shapeshifter monk rogue) pushed Gaunt (Hal’s halfling barbarian) over the edge where the water was flowing and let him belly flop into the water.  Delving deeper into the caves the party found some foot prints and some drag marks that they started to follow and came across a chasm where the bridge crossing it had been cut away on one side.  They used a magic rope to pull up the end of the bridge and tie it off so they could cross.  Just as you would expect from the bridge crossings in the caves leading to the underdark earlier in our campaign Hal couldn’t succeed on a dexterity check to save his life.  It ended up that Argon had to hold the loose end of the bridge and send the magic rope to retrieve Gaunt, who was hanging off the side of the bridge.

That is where we ended the session for the night.