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.

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.

How I Became a DM

This is the tale of how I came to be DM and how our group got started. So in what seems like a far away time and place our hero Tyr, who was laid off, took a temp job and at this craptastic slave pit where he met Omar. Hours spent inside a sweltering box truck got the two to talking and they discovered that they both loved D&D but hadn't had a group to play with in forever. Their problem was that they both came across players from time to time but they almost never found someone willing to DM or that was any good at being a DM.

In the past, on more than one occasion, Tyr had tried to get me into playing D&D but I'd never really had a good experience. While the general rule is that you have to put in some serious time playing before you can think about being a DM, Tyr saw something in me. Over the course of a month or so he talked me into coming up with a quest and being a DM for him and Omar. During that time Omar got in touch with his cousin Hal who also wanted to play. They were both skeptical that a female who had barely any experience could be a competent DM but they were willing to give me a shot since they all wanted to play and didn't have a DM. Both Hal and Omar had played since D&D began and I quickly gained their approval. Hal has played in groups all over the U.S. and says that he's amazed by me. That even though I don't have a lot of player experience I'm one of the best DMs he's ever seen, which to me is some pretty high praise.

Dumb Dwarf came a long a little while later. An 18-year-old nube who we took in and taught the game, his girlfriend was our baby sitter.

And that's pretty much how our group came to be.

DMing for the First Time

Being a DM for the first time seemed like a daunting task. My palms were sweating and my stomach hurt as we all sat around the table. I knew that no matter how I did my husband would appreciate me for trying, even if I turned out to be terrible. Hal and Omar had never met me before and part of me was afraid that they'd tear me to ribbons. Part of me felt like a fraud with such little player experience behind me. I felt like I was on stage, and really being a DM is a performance where you play most of the rolls. By halfway through the night, I had started to become more at ease with my role, the guys were getting into the quest, and they said I was doing well.

After a couple of sessions (we generally play for around 6 hours) I really got into it. I enjoyed coming up with the story, maybe all of those writing classes in college were actually coming in handy. Theater class was coming in handy too as I tried to bring my NPC's to life. The guys told me flat out that I'm unlike any other DM they've ever had. I even try to make physical props whenever possible; from antiqued notes and maps to potion bottles.

The longer I DM the easier some of the aspects get, like mechanics of the game. Other aspects get harder, like handling a problem player or guest. It's never easy but I find it more rewarding than being a player. Now that I DM, I can't imagine a life without D&D.