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.

12 Tips to be a Better Roleplayer

Roleplaying comes easy to a few, the rest of us have to work at it.  Let’s face it roleplaying asks you to be an actor and we weren’t all meant for the big screen, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn to at least play on a community theater level.  Here are twelve tips to becoming a better roleplayer.

1.Create a character you are able to rolepaly.

Set yourself up for success by creating a character that you are better able to roleplay.  If you are new to roleplaying or recognize that it is a week point in your game then start by creating characters that closely resembles yourself.  When deciding what actions to take in the game you are always having to ask yourself not what you would do in this situation but what your character would do.  Creating a character that has a similar personality and moral compass to yourself allows you to more easily answer this question.  Make the character just different enough from yourself that it’s easy to answer the question of what your character would do instead of yourself.  As you get more comfortable roleplaying you can make your characters increasingly different from yourself.

2.Play up your backstory.

D&D is a world that only exists as we create it.  Spend time on your character’s backstory, as it should shape how your character acts and thinks.  Having an elaborate backstory though doesn’t do you any good if you don’t include it in your play.  Only what you say or do actually exists.  Your character’s back story is nothing but words on paper until you either talk about it or have your character act in ways that are directly related to it.  Your character’s backstory is the blueprint for how your character acts, thinks, feels, and behaves, make use of this tool by playing it up.  It does you no good to write an elaborate backstory of how your character fell in love with a dwarf who broke their heart and now they hate all dwarves  if you don’t act that out whenever your PC interacts with a dwarf.  Give life to your character’s back story because by doing that you create a much more memorable experience.

3.Be creative.

This one can be kind of difficult because in some ways you’re limited by how creative your character is.  Still play your character as creatively as you can.  Make him or her unique and memorable.  Maybe you create some sort of quirk for your character, like a dwarf that always has a belching fit after drinking ale.  Another way to get creative is to have your character come up with nontraditional ways to handle a situation.  It’s easy to have your rogue pick a lock but maybe your rogue has a wizard polymorph him into a spider that can fit through the key hole to sneak in and scout the room before opening the door for the party.

4.Be engaged in the game.

Be an active player not a passive player.  Don’t let others at the table make all the decisions, you don’t have to put in your two cents all of the time but make sure that you are participating more than just during your turn in combat.  Give the game your full attention and participate.

5.Don’t become distracted by the outside world.

 A game of D&D is supposed to transport us to another world.  Turn off cell phones and put away any other distractions when it’s time to play.  The DM and your fellow players deserve your full attention.  You can’t enjoy the game if you’re not paying attention to it. 

6.Take part in telling the story.

A campaign or quest is a story to be told that isn’t fully written.  The DM has a general outline but it is really up to the players what direction the story goes in and what happens along the way.  Make your character meaningful to the story.  Make your character advance the plot line in some way.  Involve your character in more than just combat rounds.  Interact with NPC’s.  When you’re in a shop, for example, ask if the shop keep has any family in the area.  His or her answer could lead to a side quest or just a richer experience when you’re in town because by making your character take an active role in the story telling you make the other characters come to life.

7.Don’t tell other players how to play their character.

Everyone has their own way of viewing what their character would and wouldn’t do, their character is their creation.  It is not up to anyone else to decide how someone should play their character.  If it’s an alignment issue trust that the DM will work it out in game if it is necessary.  You want to play your character how you envision him/her, afford other players the same right. 

8.Get along with the others at the table.

 No one can focus on properly playing the game when there’s infighting going on between players.  If you have an issue with another player pull them aside before or after the game and talk things out with them.  Chances are talking to them will resolve any issues.  If that doesn’t solve the differences between you then at least come to the agreement that you will keep your personal differences aside during the game.  Just because everyone at the table needs to get along doesn’t mean the PC’s have to be best buds.  Your paladin may not trust your buddy’s rogue and that’s okay as long as you don’t let it go too far in game and as long as the conflict between PC’s doesn’t carry over to the players.  Maybe your paladin keeps a closer eye on the rogue than the other PC’s but don’t have your paladin strip search the rogue, while amusing that takes things too far.

9.Respect the DM.

DMing is not an easy job and your DM is putting in a lot of hours behind the scenes to bring you an enjoyable campaign.  For the length of your session your DM has spent at least that same amount of time during the week preparing things.  The DM works hard and deserves your respect. 

10.Don’t be a rules lawyer.

Rules lawyers can drain all the fun out of a game.  Honestly the rules are more like guidelines and to make things work in any given campaign the DM is going to have to fudge the rules a bit or make their own house rulings.  Don’t argue with the DM over rules or other things, trust that your DM has a method to their madness.  When you start bickering with the DM you take everyone out of the moment and drag them all back into the real world and bring things to a screeching halt.  Respect and trust in your DM and play on.  If you really think that something needs addressed discuss it with the DM outside of game time.  The game isn’t so much about the rules as it is having a good time and telling a good story.

11.Accept failure.

The dice are going to hate you some nights.  Maybe you can’t succeed on an acrobatics check or you don’t get the information you need from a NPC or you fail your death saving throws.  At some point in your D&D career you’re going to fail at something.  Do so gracefully and figure out a way around the problem.

12.Have fun!

The most important thing to being a better roleplayer is to have fun and the more fun you’re having the more fun everyone will have.

New Dimension

Last night Tannis (Carter’s ranger) was reunited with his love Amara.  The party entered Tannis’ hometown without any real incident; though his and the party’s presence defiantly gave the town gossips something to buzz about.  Tannis presented the chalice to Amara’s father, Lord Falafel. .  I know the name is ridiculous but it was the first thing that came to mind and it gave my players a good laugh.   He then went to the town garden to look for Amara who he found at the fountain, they had a touching reunion and Amara told Tannis that they must marry right away because she didn’t trust her father to not go back on his word. 

A feast was held that night in honor of the party bringing the chalice to Lord Falafel.  During the feast the lord sent a servant with a message to the party, they were to meet with Falafel in the morning to discuss wedding arraignments. 

When they arrived at Lord Falafel’s chambers he was not alone, there were four clerics with him.  Falafel began some chit chat about the wedding but as they talked the clerics sent the party through a dimension door and they landed on a street in a foreign town.  The whole party was disoriented but a girl motioned for them to follow her and not knowing what else to do they went along with her.  She explained that she saw them blink into existence, that this was not the first time she’s seen strangers come here from another dimension.  Ki-el, the helpful girl, led them to her uncle Ri-el’s house.  There the two of them explained to the party that they were in a town called Ilotha.  Here everything is powered by magic.  This is sort of a steam punk world where everything is powered by magic instead of steam.  Ri-el found clothes for the party and offered to take them to Saphris, a sorceress that could send them back to their dimension. 

That morning they proceeded to the potion shop that Saphris runs but the store was untended.  They wondered about the store taking in all of the unusual objects.  As they investigated they found one large white feather and they noticed that the door to the basement was cracked open.  In the basement stockroom they came across three pookas stealing some items.  Pookas (a type of fae) don’t exist in the MM, I created them for this quest.  Carter tried to talk to the pookas and told them to put down what they had but they just looked at him blankly because pookas don’t speak common.  Ri-el spoke their language and tried to get information out of them but he wasn’t getting anywhere with them so Argon (Tyr’s goliath cleric) cast tongues so he could speak with the pookas.  They aren’t very intelligent and answered his questions in one word.  He asked what happened to Saphris and they said, “fly.”  He asked where she went and they answered, “caves.”  Argon was very frustrated with the pookas but he suppressed the urge to just squash them his war hammer.  Ri-el told them that the pookas must mean the caves under the city.  He told them they must find her, because she is the only way he knows of to get back to their own dimension.

Next week Ri-el will take them to the entrance of the caves to begin their search for Saphris.

Potions All Around

Last night was the conclusion of the drow war and it was pretty harrowing for my players.  They began the night as we left off last week where they were facing two giant spiders, two minotaur, two drow fighters, and a drow wizard.  The intrepid heros’ situation quickly went from bad to worse.  A fireball from the lady drow general took most of the party’s hp down quickly.  Fortunately for them it didn’t take much to finish of the minotaur.  Then the general trapped the halfling barbarian in a web, leaving him out of commission for the rest of the battle because he just couldn’t roll a strength check high enough to break free.  In a couple of rounds after that she took out the goliath cleric with poison spray, knocking him down to zero hit points.  The party really couldn’t handle much more from her and luckily the monk rogue, or mogue as I like to call him, took her out with a couple of well-placed arrows and the remaining spider she had summoned disappeared with her.  This left a two on two battle between the ranger, the mogue, and the two drow fighters.  The fighters dealt a little more damage, but were taken out fairly quickly by Carter’s ranger.  At the end of the battle Tyr’s mogue moved to revive the cleric.  Carter’s ranger moved to free Hal’s barbarian from the web, but the halfling had his pride and refused the help.  Hal rolled strength checks until the halfling finally freed himself.

After the battle they ventured back to the surface drow town and collected their earnings.  They shopped for supplies including hitting the newly added to the campaign potion shop.  I think I talked about this in one of my other blog posts but I’m tweeking 5e to allow a lot more magic and one of the ways I’m doing that is making potions much more available.  I combed through the DMG and made a list of every potion or potion like substance.  This one and only time the potion shop had at least one of everything so that they could get an idea of what all is available.  From now on when they come across someone offering potions I will control what potions are available and how many are in stock.

After shopping they had a nice meal together where Carter’s character revealed that his real motive for going on the mission into the Underdark was to retrieve a magic chalice, which he found when they raided the map room in the tower when they were in the Underdark.  He explained to them that he needed to return it to his home so that he could be allowed to marry his love Amara.  A full elf that he had been forbidden to continue seeing because he is only a half elf.  He asked the rest of the party if they would accompany him back to his town with the chalice.  They agreed though Argon, Tyr’s goliath cleric, made no bones about the fact that he was going only because it might further his own quest for a magic item lost to his people.

As they made their way to Tannis’s home they came across an interesting set of ruins.  When they sat under a stone the stone would speak a riddle.  Upon correctly answering a riddle the stone would ring and a stone in the center of the circle would turn.  They got a little hung up on the fourth riddle but they did eventually solve it, at which point the center stone began to hover above the ground revealing a beautiful mithral wand.  Argon succeeded on an arcana check, which meant that he identified the wand as one he remembered reading about.  It was created by the faery folk and casts the spell Conjure Fae.

Next on their interesting journey they came across a cat standing on its hind legs with its paws up on a stone.  It was looking at them with an intelligence in its eyes.  Hal’s halfling started to work a ritual for speaking with animals but Carter’s ranger said heck with that and just started talking to the cat who answered him in common.  Turns out she had lost an item down a well and asked them if they would retrieve it for her.  Argon, the cleric, cast augury to see what the outcome of helping her would be and was reassured that it was the right thing to do.  Both Carter and Tyr were very suspicious of her.  After they returned her item to her she offered to give each one of them a potion of their choice.  Shortly thereafter the party arrived at Tannis’ town.

Combat Can Bore Me

This week’s blog is pretty short since I wasn’t over the moon for this week’s session.  I prefer the straight role playing parts of D&D to the straight combat parts.  The party is still in the thick of battle, which they will thankfully finish next session.  Hal is in his glory because he really plays just for combat, but I think Carter and Tyr are starting to feel the same way I do; that it’s time to move on from this.  This was the third week of straight combat and I’m so over it.

On top of the fact that I just generally don’t like combat as much as role playing I’m really getting frustrated with the 5e balance of things.  The PC’s are just so overpowered compared to the monsters and I do a lot of work tweeking things so that my players don’t walk through combat in three rounds.

The battle they are currently in pits them against two drow, two minotaur, two giant spiders, and a drow wizard who is the general of the army.    The players’ abilities are making it difficult for me to get anywhere near them but I have managed to dole out some damage between the wizard’s fireball and the minotaur’s brute strength.  It helped that I rolled well.  At least the guys keep things entertaining.  Tyr transformed his shapeshifter into a medium white dragon.  He and a minotaur are currently facing off.  Though I’m bored of battle it should be an interesting encounter to finish.

Raining Dead

This week’s blog covers last night’s session and some changes I’ve made to how I DM.

Last night’s session was definitely a memorable one.  The players are still in the thick of the battle fighting waves of drow.  It took the whole night to get through the wave I put them against.  I was a mean DM and put the three PC’s up against four drow fighters, one drow wizard, one drow psionic, and two drow barbarians on riding lizards. A trebuchet was manned by the four drow fighters.   Starting out the evening the heroes were at level five, but after working so hard to defeat their foes the rose to level six after the encounter. 

Tyr was still in griffon form when we began but quickly decided that this battle required him in his natural form.  He dove down for a landing knocking three of the fighters on the trebuchet prone as he landed.  Hal’s barbarian raged hard but he was pummeled by the two lizard riding barbarians and the psionic, bringing him near death several times during the fight.  As the party started to worry that they wouldn’t all survive this encounter a goliath in black armor and a ram companion came charging at Gaut’s (Hal’s halfling barbarian) back wielding a great hammer.  Before the party could determine if this goliath was an ally or an enemy the goliath brought his mighty hammer down over Gaunt’s diminutive head……striking the barbarian that was trying to kill Gaunt.  Immediately after striking the barbarian the goliath patted Gaunt on the back, healing him.

The stranger’s presence gave the party a second wind.  They rallied, defeating the last of the wave.  I started a new mechanic last night.   When it gets to the last enemy and a player makes a roll that will be the death blow of that last enemy I ask them “So how do you want to do this?”  They then describe the manner in which they kill the last opponent.  Carter had the pleasure last night, he took out the last fighter by shooting him in the foot with an arrow then dragging him over and loading him into the trebuchet.  The party turned it around so that it would fire back into the enemy’s lines and fired the drow back at his own.  They then proceeded to loot the bodies, taking what was of value and then loading the rest into the trebuchet and firing it.  They also loaded the rest of the dead drow in so that they could send the dead raining down on the advancing army.

The goliath introduced himself as Argon a cleric (played by Tyr).  They know little about him but they can use any ally they can get.

We’ve been playing 5e since it came out last year, and something that my players have whined about is that 5e is a very low magic world and they just don’t like it.  I’ve decided to make it more like 3.5 where magic played a heavy roll.  To do this I’m making scrolls and wands more available.  I’ve also gone through the DMG and made a complete list of all of the potions and they will be available in varying degrees throughout the realm.  Everything is much more common that 5e intends.  They will also be finding magic items more often. 

High magic doesn’t work well with the way 5e is written it makes the PC’s too overpowered so I’m compensating for it by tweeking the monster stats and providing potions and magic items to their enemies as well.  My players are ecstatic that I’m going back to my 3.5 handling of magic items.  Time will tell if this will work but I think I can pull it off.

We will finish the battle next week and I hope it turns out to be worth the build up.

5 Tips to Help the DM Play Adversaries

Part of being a quality DM is creating memorable encounters and in order to do that a DM must be able to bring creatures and villains to life. We spend time creating memorable NPC’s but it can be easy to forget about role playing and make combat nothing more than a numbers game. The following are some tips for the DM to bring the creatures and villains in your encounters to life.

1.Read the description in the monster manual. This is a role playing game and it’s not just the players who role play; the DM has the daunting task of role playing all NPC’s and all of the opponents that the party will face. It’s easy to get caught up in the combat and forget that it’s not just as simple as slashing with a sword and casting spells. Playing the advisory is more than just a numbers game, and it is the DM’s responsibility to make encounters richer by role playing each creature and villain the party encounters. When you choose an opponent for your players to face the first thing I recommend you do is read the description in the Monster Manual. It is not just fluff, the description about each creature contains valuable information to help you play the opponent you’ve chosen.

2.Do they fight alone or with friends? This ties in with tip number one. Some creatures fight alone, some fight as a pack, some are usually found alongside other creatures. Reading the description in the Monster manual will give you insight into this question. By following the advice found there you can construct more fulfilling encounters. Fighting an ogre that has crossed the party’s path is fine, but knowing that ogre bands are frequently found with goblinoids, orcs, or trolls makes an encounter much more exciting.

3.Play up or down to their intelligence. It’s easy to have the creatures just fight as you deem would be the best course of action, but remember this is role playing. You have to think about how intelligent your creature or villain is. Ask yourself, “How smart is this creature or person? Would it have the sense to take out the biggest threat first or would it just target whoever is closest to it?” An ogre is not going to have the same tactical knowledge that a half-elf barbarian has. As the DM you need to look at things through the intelligence level of the creature you are playing and be sure to play true to that creature's abilities.

4.Find their motivation. Being a DM is a lot like being an actor. Good actors always know why their characters are doing what they do. Role playing a creature or a villain is no different. Why the creature is doing something affects how they do it. A halfling forced to steal an artifact or have his family killed is going to have a different fighting style than a human warlock bent on world domination. Always know the back story of why your villains and creatures are doing what they do even if the motives will never be revealed to your players.

5.Understand their tactics. This is where you need to have at least a little knowledge about how animals hunt and military strategy. You don’t have to be an expert but having some knowledge will help you out. Watch some documentaries on predatory animals. Knowing that a wolf and a shark hunt in different ways will help you to bring life to your creatures by making your encounters more fleshed out. Watch some history documentaries, how was the Huns’ fighting style different from the Romans or the Celts? By looking into these real world examples you can make your villains more three dimensional and realistic. Have different villains or creatures use these different tactics and you will create memorable encounters.

Take to the Skies

My players are always full of surprises and creativity, that’s what I love about being their DM. Here was last night’s situation with a bit of background. Their party has been hired to aid a town of surface Drow who is under threat of attack from a group of Underdark Drow. Our intrepid heroes were first tasked to infiltrate the Underdark Drow city to discover when they were planning their attack for. They managed to steal some parchments from the war room which contained two plans for routes of attack but none of the parchments said when they would attack. The priestess in charge of the above ground Drow asked them upon return if they would stay and aid in the fight against the Underdark Drow. There was quite a bit of debate about whether or not to stay but after a long discussion, they all agreed that they would stay and aid in the town’s defense. They had two days about town before the Underdark invasion began, the army of Underdark drow coming at them from three sides.

The party decided that they would aid the side with the least defense. Their plan of attack was not something I expected. Tyr is playing a shape-shifter (a race that we homebrewed) and their plain was to used aerial combat by having him shift into a griffin. Here’s the mechanics of how I ran the all-out war. The surface Drow have an army comprised of themselves and the aid of a dwarvish division and a deep gnome division. The other side is composed of Drow and slaves of varying races. Everyone is technically fighting all at the same time, our party is engaged with one small group of bad guys at a time. When that group falls they engage the next group of combatants. There is no time for rest or even to down a healing potion in-between encounters.

Hal and Carter’s PC’s jumped on Tyr’s Griffin took to the skies circling over their prey. Carter’s PC is an excellent archer so he was doing some amazing damage from the back of the griffin. Hal, to the contrary, is not designed for ranged combat so after a couple of rounds of him not even giving the evil Drow a sting he waited until one of the times Tyr dove down for an attack and jumped off of Tyr’s back in order to engage the enemy on the ground where he was more effective. Now this is one of those times where you have to not be a slave to the rules. If you want to be technical for Hal to dismount Tyr would have had to land and stay standing on the ground until Hal’s next turn for Hal to take the action to dismount. That would mean that Tyr and Carter would have to stay vulnerable on the ground until it got back around to Tyr’s turn again when he could use his movement to take back to the skies. It doesn’t make for very entertaining game play. However a griffin screeching on an attack dive with a raging halfling barbarian leaping from his back and landing soundly on the ground beside an opponent, now that is interesting game play. For the rest of the night this is how they battled; with Hal on the ground raging connecting with flail and shield bash (aiming specifically for the Drow’s groin region), Carter sniping them from the sky with his bow, and Tyr ripping them to ribbons with his griffin talons and beak. It was pretty epic.

They are only two encounters into the war. There are waves to come and a few other surprises up my sleeves. The guys enjoyed themselves and hopefully they will continue to have fun with what lays in store for them. It will probably take two if not three more sessions to get through the war. I’m know I’m looking forward to it, and I hope my players are too.

5 Tips for the New DM

I remember the overwhelming feelings I had the first time I DM’d. It seemed like a most daunting and perhaps even an insurmountable task had been laid before me. I didn’t know any other DM’s at the time, I had no one to ask for advice or to guide me through the process. Below you’ll find a few things that I’ve learned that can help out those new to DMing.

1.Make the game more important than the rules. Yes, we need agreed upon rules in order to play the game but don’t become a slave to them. No rules lawyers need apply. What is most important, first and foremost, is providing a great game for the players. Sometimes the best way to do that is to fudge the rules or in some cases make your own rules. What playing D&D is about is telling an engaging interactive story. Never forget that your most important job as a DM is to tell a great story for the players. Everything with DMing is a judgment call. Trust your judgment, if a player wants to do something and it doesn’t quite fit with the rules but it would make for a great part of the story always feed the story, not the rules.

2.Don’t be afraid to really role play NPC’s. It can be difficult not to feel self-conscious but as a DM you need to have multiple personalities and act them out. One of the things that is often talked about among DM’s is how to get their players to better role play their PC’s. The DM sets the stage. Play your NPC’s to the hilt. Firstly, because it makes the game more alive and memorable. Secondly, because the DM sets the tone. It may take some time but if you as the DM throw yourself into role playing NPC’s it will set the example and create an atmosphere where players are more comfortable with role playing themselves. They don’t have to feel so self-conscious because you’ve created an environment where role playing is normal not, weird and they aren’t alone in role playing. One thing players have told me as to why they shy away from role playing is because they feel weird about it. They don’t want to be the only one at the table doing it. If as a DM you are putting your heart into role playing then the players no longer feel weird about it because they aren’t the only one trying to role play.

3.Appeal to the senses. None of it is real but a good DM tries to make it feel real to the players. Immerse your players in the game through their senses. Don’t overload them but whenever they are in a situation try to appeal to at least two of the five senses. Do they smell pies cooling in a window or maybe the stench of sweaty mud covered orcs? It’s easy to focus on what the players see but be sure to include other senses to make the encounter more complete.

4.All creatures are not created equal. Your players will encounter many creatures and villains through your campaigns and they do not all used the same fighting styles and tactics. An abolith doesn’t fight the same way as a kobold or an acolyte. Part of roleplaying is making sure that you make things challenging and interesting by basing your creatures’ actions on their own intelligence level and what tactics they would naturally use. The monster manual can help with this, read the description of each creature you will be using. Take some time to think about what that creature’s natural behavior would be. Does it make knee jerk reactions or is it more calculating? Is it usually found alone, in a pack, or with specific other creatures? Answering these kinds of questions will give you a better understanding of what makes the creature tick and using this information will make your encounters richer and more memorable.

5.Don’t be afraid to wing it. Whether running a mod or a campaign of your own design you must keep in mind what I call the law of DMing, “Your players will always find a way to mess up your best laid plans.” At some point they, are going to deviate from what you expect or want them to do. Don’t let this send you into the wall. Wing it. Always be ready and willing to wing it. One of the things I do is think about what some of the different choices my players might make when presented with a situation. Thinking about this ahead of time helps me to be more prepared but even then I still have to wing it at some point in almost every session. Have no fear and remember that your campaign isn’t written in stone; it’s okay to just fly by the seat of your pants. The main thing you have to remember in pulling this off is not to let your players know that you’re making it up as you go. If you’ve ever seen a cat fall off of a chair and get up and walk away like, “I meant to do that,” that’s the attitude you need to take. If you act like you meant to do that all along your players will never be the wiser and the game will go on without a hitch.

No Hurt Feelings

I’m at a loss to describe last night’s session. It’s hard to fathom what words could describe it. Everyone had a good time and there was lots of laughing but it was definitely one of the oddest sessions we’ve had. They discussed amongst themselves the picking on of Hal’s character and Hal is okay with it. Though he’s made it clear that his character is holding a grudge against the other PCs. If he plays it out it could be quite an interesting plot device.

I was glad that they hashed it out, especially without prompting from me. This way they all know where each other is coming from and that their picking on Hal’s halfling isn’t dividing the group. It’s actually getting everyone more into their characters and they are really playing out how the PC’s are interacting with each other separate from the players. The role playing is getting better as they go.

They also found out last night that they failed in their mission. Of course, they weren’t happy but they are trudging on. They know I’m a tricky DM and they are rolling with what I through at them. Last night was really what I consider to be one of those transitional sessions; it existed merely as a device to get from one plot point to another. It’s next week’s session that I’m really looking forward to.

I’m nervous because next week I’m doing something that I haven’t done before. Played correctly it should provide an exciting night. Am I up to the task? It’s good to challenge yourself as a DM and it will definitely be a challenge. Hopefully I can play it well to give my players the best experience possible.

Party at Odds

Well, Hal is more involved now in the campaign but I don’t know yet if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Last night’s session was very chaotic. They were in the enemy tower to try to covertly discover their plans for attacking the town of surface drow. They were neither covert nor did they discover the plans. The reason it was so chaotic was that none of them could agree on courses of action. Generally, when we play they discuss things until they come to an agreement as to their course of action but last night everyone was doing their own thing and it cost them. They don’t know yet that their mission wasn’t successful and this leaves me with a choice. Do I leave it as is and let them find out they weren’t successful or do I fudge things and use DM magic to make them successful? Can they fail this task and still have fun with the rest of the campaign or would it ruin everything to have pie on their face? I don’t know yet. Thankfully I have a week to think about. I honestly don’t know what I’ll do. My reflex is to let them fail but then again this is about having fun and I don’t know that they can fail and have fun.

The other theme seems to be picking on the halfling and Hal has grown tired of it. It all started with Tyr’s PC playing a practical joke on Hal’s. Then picking on the halfling became the way Carter and Tyr dealt with Hal not being engaged in the game. It seems to have worked, they’ve pulled him out of his shell but now he wants his PC to get revenge, particularly on Tyr’s PC. They’ve never picked on Hal himself but there has been no end to the short jokes, not to mention the time they bound and gagged him (with owlbear hide). Thus far I’ve seen it as being between the PC’s and have stayed out of it, but how far do I let it go before I intercede? Does there come a point where I step in or is all fair in RPG’s and war?

Lack of Maps and Enthusiasm

I thought last night was a particularly good session, at least from my perspective.  The party is still making their way through the caves. Their first obstacle last night was an underground lake. Tyr shifted into a crocodile, Hal road on his back, and Carter waded through the water a ways until they discovered a boat where the water started to get deeper. Hal is still in possession of the demon dagger and so the demon Agiel tried to have him stab Tyr while riding on his back but Hal was able to overcome its influence. Tyr remained a crocodile and when a boat of drow came their way he flipped the boat of them and drowned the two who didn’t sink under the weight of their armor.

The dagger is an extremely fun tool to me. You see Hal’s not happy about my not using maps and using theater of the mind instead and he’s just not engaging in the quest like the others. Having the dagger forces him to participate more, though not necessarily in the manner the others would like him to participate. Later as they worked their way into a cobwebbed part of the cave the dagger compelled Hal to let out a wolf-like howl, alerting three driders to their presence. The battle was pretty intense and Hal was one failed death saving throw away from the character grave yard. They narrowly defeated the driders and made it to the entrance of the drow town they are searching for.

I’m at a loss though for how to really handle Hal. He never takes the lead in any situation and usually, when he does weigh in on a scenario it’s just to shoot down ideas without proposing an alternate course of action. How do I get him into the game? I understand he’s a combat, combat, combat kind of guy and I try to split my quests into part combat and part roleplaying so it’s not always his favorite style. It seems like since I’ve taken away the maps from combat that I’ve ruined his favorite part of the game. The thing is I hate using maps and they really aren’t doable for the situations/terrain they are playing in. Things are climbing on walls and ceilings and the terrain isn’t a level flat plane. There are too many objects around for me to portray them in a map. I just can’t make maps work for this and honestly I just don’t want to. By not using them I’ve discovered just how deep my loathing is for them. Tyr has said flat out that he is preferring the theater of the mind. Carter has said he’s enjoying the game. I sent him a text this morning asking him directly how he feels about the map situation. If he would prefer maps then I may have to consider going back to them later. Honestly I think Hal is out voted because I know that Carter is enjoying not having to deal with the whole moving his token problem. Carter is frustrated with Hal and I’m afraid that if I don’t find a way to get Hal more involved then Carter will get to the point where he just doesn’t want to play. I’ve got to give this some thought.

Demonic DM

Last night we had the joy of all of us being able to play in person instead of over Roll20. Carter was home, as he is once a year, so we made the drive to pick up Hal and we all got together to play. It was the first time Carter and Hal got to meet in person. It was definitely a memorable night full of complex decisions and DM treachery.

Normally I’m pretty straight forward with encounters. I put a baddie before them and they engage it, but last night I was more devious. Several times during the night they had to decide if they would engage what lay before them or find some other way to handle the situation. They managed to navigate things well. Instead of attacking the deep gnomes they bartered with them to pass through their territory. Instead of taking on waves of duergar they snuck through the outskirts of their underground town. Narrowly escaping detection.

One of the more interesting battles was against a group of drunken orcs fighting each other over water skins. First, from behind cover, they took out the alpha orc. Then I treated the remaining orcs, now fighting amongst themselves in complete chaos without their leader, as a swarm. Not technically how one should play it but these were untrained orcs, with little more sentience than a dog, who were more concerned with fighting each other over the water skins than the outside threat. After defeating the orc swarm the group discovered that three of the water skins actually contained healing potions.

Most memorable of the night is e magic items they found in a chest. Judgeing from the tracks two duergar had dropped the chest and ran back towards the duergar town. After looting the chest the party discovered the likely reason the duergar abandoned the chest; an umber hulk. For those interested here is a list of the magical items they discovered.

Amulet of Guen ~ an amulet containing the eye of a displacer beast. It allows the wearer to use the beast’s displacement ability as a reaction once per encounter.

Winged Boots ~ these were for my halfling who was having a little trouble keeping up with the party. They are a set of boots with small hawk wings on the side that allow the player to move as per the Fly spell once per encounter.

Mage Bane Armor ~ this is a set of studded leather armor. The wearer has resistance to any spell that requires an attack roll. The wearer has disadvantage on casting any spell that requires an attack roll.

Short Bow of Bestow Curse ~ this was for my monk who uses his bow as a melee weapon in close quarters combat. When the player uses the bow for a melee hit on a target the target becomes cursed and takes an extra 1d8 damage anytime it is hit with an attack.

Hand Axe of Ensnaring Strike ~ twice per day when a target is hit with this weapon it suffers the effects of Ensnaring Strike as per the spell. It regains this ability after a long rest.

Dagger of Agiel ~ this was my favorite one. Taken by Hal, when he picked it up all he knew was that it gave him a +3 to atk and dmg rolls. Turns out the dagger houses the soul of the demon Agiel who now can control Hal’s halfling. When the demon wants to take control of Hal’s character Hal must roll a wisdom saving throw with a DC 17. If he succeeds he fights off Agiel’s influence but if he fails he must do whatever the demon commands. The dagger cannot be destroyed, put down, or be given away. The only way to get rid of it is for someone to cast remove curse.

My players were dumb struck that I would give one of them a cursed item. They are on their way into the underdark, none of them can cast remove curse and they’re moving into hostile territory where there is no one who would be willing to help them. They are on a covert mission, which just got infinitely harder since the demon can take control of their barbarian at any time.

It was so much fun to play in person and I wish we had that option every week. There’s just something about playing in person and rolling real dice that makes the game so much more interesting. I’ll be sad to go back to Roll20 but at least it’s a way for us to play with all of us being in different areas.

More on Roll20

We didn’t play last night because Carter was traveling, instead, when he’s in town this week we are going to try to all get-together and play on a real table top. Since I don’t have any fumbling halfling stories to share today I thought I’d talk a bit about how things are going on Roll20.

Over the last month or more we’ve been encountering problems as we play on roll20. Roll20 crashes mine and Tyr’s browser at least once a night forcing us to restart our computers. No clue why it’s doing it. Our connection is fast and reliable so the net’s not dropping out and we’ve tried using different browsers. Hal, our resident techie, can’t figure it out either.

Dice rolling issues, we’ve had a couple. There have been a couple of nights where the site won’t roll weapon damage right, but it was only doing it for me. Tyr, Hal, and Carter’s characters were all rolling their damage fine but for some reason every single roll I made resulted in 10 after 10. I had to break out my real dice and roll with them for my NPC’s. The most infuriating dice rolling problem is the initiative. Hal is a supporter of roll20 and the rest of us have free accounts. Over a month ago we realized that the initiative roller wasn’t working. It gives just a straight die roll and doesn’t add the initiative mod. All four of us were having this problem. Hal wasn’t feeling well so one Monday I decided I would report the problem instead of asking him to deal with it. I spent over an hour and a half going back and forth with one of the mentors. He started off telling me I was crazy and that we couldn’t possibly have that problem. I wound up sending him about five screen shots showing him that it wasn’t adding the mod. All I got from him was attitude. In the end, another mentor came on and said that the character sheets had been upgraded to fix that problem but only the mentors had the fix at that point and everyone else would get it in a couple of days. Sure enough, a couple of days later the character sheet was updated. Now Hal can roll initiative because he’s a supporter but we on the free accounts still can’t roll initiative. Since my first experience reporting the problem was so bad I won’t waste my time going round with them again. I’ll just roll actual dice.

Carter plays from an iPad using the roll20 app. It’s glitchy, he gets kicked out a bit but no more than Tyr and I. His main problem is that it very often won’t let him move his token. There’s usually some cursing and then I just move his token for him. It’s not a big deal but I really dislike anything that takes us out of the moment and forces us to focus on the real world.

Speaking of tokens I’ve also had problems getting tokens to tie to character sheets. I’ve gone through and set the token all up tied it to the sheet and when we go to play every time I change to a new map I’m constantly having to go in and adjust who’s allowed to move the token. It only takes a moment but it breaks the flow of things and I hate things that waste time and break the flow of the game.

We’ll keep using roll20, it’s free and easy enough to use. I’ve looked at Fantasy Grounds and Steam but those options can get pretty expensive. Since we’re in different states we’ve got to use some online method and overall roll20 gets the job done. I find that abandoning encounter maps and just using theater of the mind helps to eliminate some of the bumpy parts. Without them no o, e has to move tokens and without tokens the initiative feature can’t be used anyhow. I like my games to be smooth so that my players get immersed and reality is suspended.

I also want games to be smooth because at some point I may try to turn our sessions into a podcast. I’m going to research what all I need to do that and maybe when we start our next campaign if everyone is agreeable I’ll try to do that. I haven’t run the idea past Hal or Carter yet.

The Flailing Barbarian

Last night's session began with a plague of technical difficulties which put us all in a flippant mood. After we got over our microphone difficulties we discovered that roll20 is in the middle of revamping their character sheets so all of the player characters and my NPC's were all messed up. We overcame these issues and moved on with the session. It was just one of those nights though.

They began the night on the outskirts of the surface drow town they had been hired to go to. In order to get there, they had to cross a less than spectacular bridge. This began Hal's night of horrible rolls. Near the end of the bridge he fell through. He then failed his check to grab onto the bridge as he fell. He did manage to grab onto some rocks on the side of the cliff to keep himself from falling to his death. Then he failed his dex check to retrieve his rope and hook from his backpack and lost his rope down the chasm. After all of this Tyr lowered his rope over the edge allowing Hal to grab on and be pulled up. There was some joking and some cursing, during which Tyr rolled a sleight of hand check to tie a rope onto Hal's belt, he then proceeded to kick the halfling over the cliff and let him dangle a moment before pulling him back up.

They took care of the niceties in town and then headed off into the cave system. The cave opens into a dwarf mining operation that has a series of catwalks leading all over it. Our pour halfing was as nibble as a rhino on rollerskates. Again he failed his check to make it across the crosswalks. By this point Carter had had enough of the fumbling barbarian and picked him up and carried him across the remaining catwalks.

The group then encountered a group of goblins who demanded gold from them in order to pass. Figuring they'd be able to make quick work of goblins they declined to give up any gold and engaged them. For the most part, they did well but then the goblins started to make mince meat out of Tyr, hitting him several times in a row. In the end, only the goblins died.

Owlbears

We have started our newest campaign and so far it's a success. The party this time consists of; a half-elf ranger, a halfling barbarian, and a shifter rogue/monk. My husband and I homebrewed the shifter race for this adventure. He wanted to base his character off of the character Geth from the Eberron book series and we used the 5e race format to create his race based off of existing races.

The party started at level one, so the session was really about small encounters to get them leveled up a little before they get to the meat of the quest. I like to have times during the quest where my players are expecting one thing and get something completely different and I got to have a great one of those moments Sunday night. The party was moving through a stand of young trees and they could hear a stream ahead. They started to hear some splashing in the stream and started to sneak closer. Carter, the half-elf ranger, rolled a perception check which resulted in the following. “Through the trees, you, see what appears to be two bears splashing about in the stream.” They debated, should they go around or engage the bears. Hal, the halfling barbarian, wanted to go around but he was out voted. They snuck forward and I reveled the slide showing what they were fighting. “What the fuck is that!” Carter exclaimed. They were not up against two bears per say, they were up against two owlbears. What followed was a pretty impressive encounter that left Carter's character nearly dead.

Sunday was the first time I DM'd without the use of encounter maps. Hal was of course bummed, but I loved it. I think the encounters were much more fluid and it made my players better describe what they were doing in combat. Tyr and Carter are getting used to it, they both kind of like the visual of exactly where they are in relation to everything but they both said they thought it went well. It's only been one sessions of playing this way so I'm going to reserve judgment until we've got a few more sessions like this under our belts. At this point though I'm really liking the theater of the mind over the encounter maps. I'm not wasting time on tokens that didn't properly tie to character sheets, messing with the faulty initiative roller, or having to move tokens for players.

Changes to my Style

The Underdark is the main backdrop of my next quest, but the setting isn't all that's different. I'm approaching things in a couple of new ways. Normally I compose a quest by coming up with a plot skeleton and then I write out certain scenes that I plan to occur during the quest. Now, I've been fortunate in that this has worked out for me. I've never had to force my players into a situation. Thankfully they've always taken the hints and got themselves to where I planned them to be. I've been lucky because goodness knows they've thrown me a lot of twists and curves and polygons over the years. This time I just have the skeleton of the plot planned out, I don't have any prepared NPC dialogues or scenes. I normally DM 80% improv, 20% planned out in advance. For this quest, it's 1% plan and 99% by the seat of my pants. I generally do well at improv so I'm expecting that things should go well since I'm pretty good at coming up with things on the fly.

The bigger change this time has to do with mapping, I'm not using any. This is a pretty bold move given that we are playing on Roll20.net. Instead of maps players will have to use the theater of the mind. I've combed the net for tons of artwork and as they move through the quest I'll take them to different slides that will set the mood, the rest is up to their imaginations. I consider this to be a big positive because I don't really like using encounter maps on Roll20 for a fair few reasons.

Here are some reasons why I don't like them. A decent sized map takes up too much room on the grid, you can't see the map all at once without giving up tons of detail, and it's too hard to find the part of the grid you're working on when you actually have the map at a size where you can see all of the details. I've been using small maps so that the whole map fits on the screen but then I feel like I'm limiting the players' range of movement too much.

Tokens have proven to be a problem and I don't like to take time out of the quest to try to fix them. One of the problems we have is that Carter plays on an iPad and the app very often doesn't let him move his token. We waste time with him trying to move it and then I wind up just having to move it for him. All of which takes us out of the moment. The other problem I have is that tokens don't always reliably connect with character sheets. I've had so many occasions where I've tied a token to a character sheet and it works fine on one map but when we move to the next map I've got to retie the token to the sheet. I feel that tokens also take away from the players' imaginations. Rarely can you find a token that exactly or even closely resembles how a player envisions their character and I feel that that mismatch visual cue takes them out of the fantasy and makes it harder for them to role play their characters. In my last campaign I had a token that was very disruptive. The guys decided she looked like a stripper and there was no end to the pole and glitter thong jokes. Funny stuff, but what was supposed to be an intense wizards battle was way too light hearted. Don't get me wrong the guys had fun but my goal is always to get them deeper into their characters. Things in the quest can be funny, and I encourage that, but when the jokes bring us out of the reality I've created it's a problem in my book and that's why I'm going theater of the mind on this next quest.

My other problem is that I use Dundjinni to make the maps. First off something is wrong with mine, making me very limited in my map making choices. Making things worse than usual because I feel the program can't keep up with my creativity on a good day. I can't make maps that match what I imagine in my mind. For one thing it's a square system and my mind works on curves. When in nature do you find things that are a 90 degree angle? Now I know that there are curved walls you can use and there's always the pencil tool that allows you to draw but I still just can't get things close enough to my imagination. I think it's better to give good descriptions and let the players draw their own scene in their minds rather than throw a sub par map at them which gives them a visual cue that takes away from their imagination.

Tyr is game for this change and I think Carter will be just fine with it once he plays an encounter or two this way. Hall on the other-hand is not going to be happy about this change. Hopefully I'll be providing an exciting enough quest that by the end he will forgive me for not using his beloved maps. I hope this new quest with these changes will be as exciting as I feel it has the potential to be. I know I'm excited to dive into it.

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, to the Underdark We Go

Things have been a little hectic lately and we've been hit or miss on playing which is why I've been lax in my posting. Last week we finished out the campaign, called Volk, that I based around Hal's cleric with an insatiable lust for killing the undead. I've noticed a trend in my campaign construction when my end villain isn't a dragon, I seem to make the uber “bad guy” a woman. I also tend to make evil NPC's women as well. It has something to do with the way I think. When you're driving down the road and someone's driving like a moron the average person will refer to the idiot driver as the opposite gender to themselves. I on the other hand always assume it's a woman and my husband always assumes they're a man. We're weird, what can I say, but I think it's the wiring in my brain. My players didn't bat an eyelash at the evil women NPC's but for some reason, a female necromancer at the end kind of threw them. They all expressed their shock and said from the way the quest had gone they were really expecting a guy.

This coming Sunday we move on to a new quest, most of which will take place in the Underdark nervous about this campaign. I shamefully admit I don't read the Drizzt books or the Dragonlance books, and I know nothing of Faerun, but all of my players do. Hal and Carter are a little familiar with the underdark and Tyr, my husband, is an underdark expert. I think I have a really good plot, but I'm afraid they won't find it up to snuff. I'm afraid I'll have something in the quest that they'll go, “that just wouldn't happen.” I've had Tyr give me an overview of the underdark. He's walked me through the levels, the races, fighting styles, monsters, and politics. Which I think has given me a pretty good handle on things. Still I'm nervous, I feel like I've got a lot to live up to and high expectations to meet. I've tried to read books that feature the underdark but to be honest I'm dyslexic and I can't read every old authors writing style. I do read, a lot, but books have to be written in certain styles for my brain not to turn them into a jumble. My plot seems pretty solid to me, though this one is a little different from my usual plot set up, more about that in another blog post. Despite my anxiety I'm really excited for this campaign, I think I'll be providing a rich experience that my players will be able to immerse themselves into. I'm always trying to get them to go deeper into their characters and I think this setting and plot will help them do just that.

Enter the Assassin

Last night’s session was amazing! We’ve got such a great group of players now and the game is really coming to life. My brother, Carter, joined us for our session; playing an assassin. He hasn’t played in probably ten years but he took to 5e superbly.

Saturday was Hal’s birthday and Tyr thought it would be cool if I gave Hal a present in game. We opened with Tyr and Hal just awakening from a long rest. Hal’s patron deity is Talos, so as he awakened a gift from Talos appeared on his lap, he opened it to find dwarven boots of regeneration (they restore 5 points of HP every round). Then they hit the floor running, starting off the night against a hydra. I expected the hydra to present them with more of a challenge but they managed to make shorter work of it than I expected and no one came close to biting the dust.

They searched some ruins, fought some goblins, grabbed some loot…all the average adventurer stuff. Then came the most magical part of the night, and one we’re sure to talk about through the ages. In our previous session the, dwarves found a medallion in a crypt. One, which they tried to learn more about from the warlock that sent them into the crypt. All he could tell them about it was that it bore the symbol of an old cult but he did not know the name or anything about it. Last night on their path back to Ravensrest they encountered a rogue who made it clear that she had been sent to retrieve the medallion. Tyr turned Carter’s assassin invisible and while Hal and Tyr kept the woman talking Carter snuck behind her and delivered his attack. Assassinating her with one blow! It was spectacular as his magic hand axes sunk deep into her back! She was accompanied by four shadows; the party made short work of them. They decided that they really would have liked to interrogate the rogue so Hal cast zone of truth around her corpse, Tyr cast web on her body to keep her restrained, and then Hal cast revivify on her. They then proceeded with their interrogation. In the end they sent her with her tail between her legs back to her master with a message that they will seek him out. It was one of those great moments for a DM where your players do something totally unexpected; taking the campaign off its rails, but it works out great and just enriches the whole experience.

Puzzling

Our last session was pretty combat intense. I try to balance campaigns out between story line and the amount of combat because I want my players to get caught up in a story not just smashing things. The way it worked out though, was that last night it was mostly combat. There were two breaks from combat and the first of them was in the ruins of a warlock’s tower. The warlock was still there and offered to play them at a game of Loki’s dice, a game I was inspired to come up with. I’ll dedicate a blog post just to the game when I get a chance. Both of the PCs played until they won magical items. 5e is written to be low in magical items but with just Tyr and Hal playing I felt they could use the boost. They are playing well but let’s face it, magic weapons and items are just freaking cool. Then the PC’s got to try out their new gear as they fought their way through a crypt of undead, where they found a mysterious amulet.

We moved back onto the main track of the quest as Tyr and Hal proceeded to a set of watery ruins. They are on an island but the ruins they must investigate have sunken into a small lake. It is here that the boys encountered a medusa and Hal became turned to stone just before Tyr could deliver the deathblow to the Medusa. With only two players I allowed Tyr to transform Hal back to himself with the death of the Medusa.

Their tribulations for the night didn’t end there. After defeating the medusa the next door they needed to get through was a puzzle. There is a mural around the room and a door with a strange locking mechanism. The mural is done in 10 frames. They depict in order; a boar, an elk, a bear, a snake, a fungus, a blink dog, a kobold, a kenku, a medusa, a hydra. The first of the three dials on the door has a snake, a fungus, a kobold, a kenku, a hydra. The second has a blink dog, a snake, a boar, an elk. The third and inner most has a hydra, a bear, a medusa. Answer: snake, blink dog, hydra. It is simply that the animals follow the order on the mural. So the first animal on the mural that is on the first dial is the snake. The nextt animal on the mural on the second dial is the blink dog and the next animal on the mural on the third dial is the hydra.

This puzzle is where we get into some principles of DMing. I’ve talked to a lot of DM’s who say, “When I make a puzzle that I think is easy my players find it incredibly difficult. When I make one that I think is hard, they solve it in seconds.” I thought the door would be easy, especially since I was emphasizing the words “in order” but my players found it too difficult. Granted it was after midnight when they were trying to solve this. Which leads me into one of the principles of DMing that I learned early on; always give your players an out. Never give them something that is impassable and quest ending. With this puzzle I gave the players an out. Tyr started to play with the door and discovered that when he landed on a certain animal there was a “click.” He played with the door until he got the right combo and thus it unlocked. Did I want things to work out that way? No, but everyone was tired and I felt the best thing for the quest was to give my players an out.

First Impressions of Roll20

Here are my first impressions on using roll20. First I have to say that my preference is always to play in person. I like the human interaction and my DM style with props etc. is just far more suited to playing in person. The situation we find ourselves in does not make in person play possible right now and our only option to continue playing was to find some way to play online. At first, we considered playing over Skype but that uses up a good bit of bandwidth and posed some sound problems. We decided to try out roll20.com and overall I think it worked well for having to play online. My overall review is positive but I’ll go through what I did and did not like.


Pros


~ I can add portraits in to set the mood, something I didn’t do in person.


~ I can import my handmade maps after scanning them onto my computer.


~ The whisper feature is great for passing DM notes.


~ 3d dice roll for those who prefer a dice roller to actual dice. I prefer real dice but Hal prefers a dice roller.


~ I control who has control of what tokens on the board.


~ The “ping” feature lets you draw someone’s attention to a specific point on the map.


~ The drawing feature makes it easy to mark the area of area effect spells. It also allows players to plot out their movements Madden style before actually making moves.


~ You can choose to use video & voice, just voice, or just chat to communicate with other players. You can enable the squares for video and have small or large screens or you can just show the nameplates of players. You can also mute a player, which comes in handy because Tyr and I are actually in the same room. This way I hear his actual voice and not his voice with a delayed computer echo.


~ I control what page players are on and I can view another page while they are on the page I assign them to.


~ Now I haven’t used this feature yet, I’ll be using it when we play next, but in theory, it seems good. It’s called fog of war and it lets you hide parts of the map and reveal sections to the PCs as you play. I had to watch a tutorial on how to use it because it’s not obvious what you need to do to make it work.


~ If we choose to in the future we can look for an additional player through roll20.


~ My players had a great experience.


Cons


~ We used voice only and it kept dropping out. We’d have to wait for it to come back, which held up game play. We’re going to download Teamspeak and give that a try. Which I find inconvenient, it just makes one more window I have to have open on my computer.


~ It takes a lot more time to set up a quest/campaign in roll20than it does to set one up for table top play.


~ Handmade maps don’t match up with the roll20 grid. There are ways to work around this but I still find it annoying.

~ Large maps are hard to use on this platform. You really need a small map that fits into the dimensions viewable on the map screen without having to scroll.


~ This is only an issue for the DM. You need too many windows open at one time and in order to see my word document where my quest is typed out I have to cover the chat box during battles or the whole screen when reading text.


~ It really is not designed for my style of DMing. If you’ve watched Chris Perkins at PAX he generally has his PCs on one map for the whole session and that works perfect with roll20. I on the other hand can go through ten maps in one session and that can be kind of cumbersome on roll20.


~ This goes along with the last con. This was a point Tyr brought up. He has to reenter his HP on every map. Time consuming and annoying. Now, technically as the DM there is a way I could make their HP carry over from one map to the next but then every time they level up I’ve got to go in and redo their token and then if I have maps already made up I’ve got to go in, delete their current tokens on those pages, and replace their tokens on those pages. I’ve got too much to handle as a DM as it is without adding that to it.


Again I have to say, nothing beats DMing in person. If you find yourself in a situation like us then roll20 is a great option.

Dwarven Party

Last night we had our first session sans Omar and it was fabulous! It was also our first night using Roll20.com. We started quest B of the campaign and Hal and Tyr both choose to be dwarves, Hal a tempest cleric and Tyr a wizard. Together they make a formidable dwarf party; splattering the blood of their foes on ruin walls.

For this campaign, I'm doing something that is totally different and my players are thoroughly intrigued at the thought of how it will all come together. In quest A of the campaign I gave them a NPC pacifist cleric, Omar wasted time and space as a supposed rouge, Hal played a human fighter, and Tyr was a drow ranger. For quest B of the campaign the boys are playing their dwarves. Here’s the twist; their part B characters are starting at the same point in time that their part A characters started. When they finish part B those characters will now be at the point in time where the characters from part A finished their quest. The thieves’ guild will then bring all of the characters together to finish off the campaign in quest C. My players have requested that when they start part C that I allow their PCs to kill Omar’s PC, and I intend to honor their request. They deserve it for all of the headaches Omar and his floundering rouge caused them.

I must say that the way Hal plays his dwarf makes a 5e cleric completely bad-ass. Tyr uses his wizard strategically and masterfully. The teamwork in the group is amazing without Omar holding them back. Tyr was a web-casting maestro, holding earth elementals to the ground while Hal skirted the web using his glaive to slash them to rubble. Last night was what D&D is supposed to be!

Dragon Turtle

Last night’s main boss battle was with a dragon turtle. It became an epic battle! The PCs entered a cave where they were distracted by the presence of three merrows, so they didn’t do any checks on the cave. It turned out that part of the floor of the cave was the shell of the dragon turtle. They were trying to reach a treasure chest on the back side of the cave that contained a special jewel, the object of their sea quest. Omar decided that his rogue would head straight for the chest, leaving Tyr and Hal to deal with the gargantuan creature on their own. Omar failed to pick the lock on the chest and even broke his thieves’ tools in the process of failing. In the end, Tyr and Hal managed to defeat the dragon turtle, though it was close. Both of them had HP in the single digits at the end, and Hal the bard had to use knock to get the chest open.

Ship Combat

One of my challenges for this quest was coming up with a sea battle between my PCs’ frigate and a pirate frigate. Sea battles are one of the areas where I wish WOTC would iron out and have a set of rules and stats for. Since there are no 5e rules, at least at this point, for running ships I had to come up with my own. I devised an AC and HP for each ship and came up with ballistas and their stats. My PC’s decided they didn’t like the ballistas because they had to roll a strength check to load them and then make an attack roll to try to hit anything. So when the pirate frigate approached they choose to lob spells until the ship was close enough for boarding. I felt the strength check was necessary because Omar’s PC was a halfling, who obviously did not have the strength to load the huge ballistas on her own.

Shipwreck Mimics

One of the fun things I did in our last session was to incorporate mimics. None of my players ever thought I'd use mimics so it was a real surprise to them. Instead of the usual treasure chest, had some floating debris in the sea. Some of it was sticking to the hull and the rudder of the ship they were on. When they lowered a dingy to remove the debris, SURPRISE!

Liar's Dice

I love using props in game; so last night I added a hands on game in the game. The Player’s Handbook offers proficiency with a gamer’s set for some of the backgrounds but I’ve never found instructions for how to play the D&D in game games that it lists. I didn’t want to use chess or have the PC’s play poker with the playing cards because I was afraid that using such everyday games would pull the players back into reality instead of enriching the role-playing. I decided to have the PC’s play Liars Dice in the tavern. Some of you may have seen Liars Dice before; it was featured in the Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest. I think this was very successful because it was something different and it fits in perfectly at the port city tavern.