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.