The DM Experience

Just me being a Dungeon Master for the 5th edition of Dungeons and Dragons.

[thedmexperience]

Things you don’t realize will make your world feel bigger.

My world has always felt too small. Even the most vague pieces of population or infrastructure made the borders seem to shrink exponentially. This problem, only recently, was relieved somewhat. I had to give a size to the magical lake, Starfall, last session. I didn’t know how big to make it so I panicked and just opened up my phone to a map of the earth. After a quick scan I just blurted out “oh it’s as big as The Hudson Bay.” Apparently, based on my players’ reactions, I had given them a rather fair glimpse into the past of Endarel.

[thedmexperience]

One Can of Worms Closed, Three More Opened

So, tonight we picked up right where we left off; Nalu had secured lodging for the group and their wagon full of dragons.

We started off with Arrayah and Barakiel arriving in Stormshield and Arrayah immediately disappearing because her player often finds her in situations where she can’t play but she wants to play when she can. Barakiel found Asmodai and after explaining the situation he decided to come with her and see the dragon situation for himself.

Jumping in with the rest of the group; Kya and Crugar decided to do some hunting, both going on their own hunts. Crugar found many tracks of various animals including some really large bear paw prints. Kya found similar paw prints as well as some other foot prints and a drag trench. Crugar followed the bear tracks, Kya rejoined the group.

Tracking the bear, Crugar was led up a rocky hill finding some shed black fur and feathers. Failing a stealth roll he came upon a cave inhabited by what would be described as an “alpha” owlbear (I buffed a normal owlbear’s damage, AC and HP since I know my players are a little on the powerful side for a bunch of level 6’s.) I told the party later that if anyone else had joined in I would have given the owlbear legendary actions (probably just like one extra attack) and maybe one legendary resistance. It was actually a pretty good fight. Owlbear got Crugar really low, Crugar got in a lot of damage. In the end, Crugar prevailed and he dragged the body back to use for food for the dragons.

While this was going on, Nalu left Zazz in charge of watching the baby dragons. She and Kya went to speak with the innkeeper and found out that the people in this town don’t take to kindly to adventurers, referring to them as rat-catchers, because they bring trouble wherever they go. Outside they hear a pop as Asmodai and Barakiel appear in the middle of the street causing many people to panic. This would be the start of the party basically validating all of this town’s prejudices.

Once everyone was gathered in the barn, they showed Asmodai the remaining baby dragons and he was quick to point out that not only had Barakiel had been wrong about them having 19 (ten fled while she wasn’t with the party and Kya insisted on keeping one) there were only 8 in the cart. One had escaped. It was the one with webbed paws.

The search led the party (who had left Asmodai behind to watch the remaining dragon hatchlings from inside a Tiny Hut spell) to the massive lake just outside of town. They saw a dwarf man in a boat fishing and falling out of his boat, climbing back in and rowing back to shore. After hearing how some sort of monster snatched a fish he was about to pull into his boat, they rented his boat (taking advantage of the fact he was too shocked about the event to care about handing his boat over to adventurers) and tried to lure the dragon in to catch it. They failed.

The next morning they tried again to catch the dragon, this time bringing a net. From shore they tried throwing some meat tied with a rope into the water. Crugar got into a brief tugging match with something massive that had grabbed onto the meat before the rope snapped and the creature disappeared. Kya then made herself smell like meat and the group began to wade into the water until they were swimming and a fair distance from shore. It was then that Kya was attacked by some sort of creature, a test bite at first. She ducked her head underwater to see the silhouette of a large creature circling back around. She urged the others to swim back to shore, on the swim back the creature came up from beneath and grabbed her as it breached ten feet out of the water. The baby had grown to over twenty feet overnight as a result of the experimentation. After realizing they weren’t going to be able to catch the dragon they decided to leave it in the lake. All the while the players lamented the fact that they were just validating the fears of the townspeople.

At Asmodai’s suggestion the group decided to head to Starfall to see if there were any sort of magizoologists who’d be able to help. Drawing a teleportation circle he was able to transport them to the docks that had ferries that could take them to the city proper. Before parting, the group gave Asmodai the yellow and orange dragon as well as the sword that the dragon cult leader used. They also had him identify a set of Bracers of Defence (which I’m going to need to make a card for. Forgot, whoops!) which they gave to Crugar.

Once in the city they asked around and were eventually led to the magic academy Eldran Morida where they were introduced to (and this is just a placeholder name until I can get to my short story where I actually named the character) Aleister Crowley; a tiefling who I described as basically being a blue skinned; ram-horned version of Steve Irwin. He’s the magizoology teacher for Eldran Morida and an explorer in his own right in that he goes out and looks for dangerous creatures to harass and research.

Upon meeting the dragons he explained that the one Kya was keeping was a platinum dragon and that he was actually unaware that they actually existed. But he did promise the party that he could get them in touch with people who would be able to find suitable environments for the babies to grow up in so as to not disrupt existing ecosystems too much.

It was there that we ended the session formally, but the party was given a cozier version of a Magnificent Mansion spell to stay in until Aleister could get in touch with his contacts.

[thedmexperience]

The final part in Discovery’s 4 part documentary series on my party dealing with mutant dragons.

Ok, latest session.  Here we go.  

Tonight was a shorter night.  We kept getting side tracked and I didn’t prepare a whole lot.  But we did advance the plot.  

After loading the baby dragons in the cart, Crugar was tasked with pushing it until they found a horse that could pull it.  It wasn’t long before the tiny dragons started trying to get out of the cart.  Nalu resolved to find a tarp once they got back to the ruins of Arenglen.  Fortunately it wasn’t long before they got out of the woods and after succeeding on an investigation check they were able to find a tarp large enough to cover the cart.  

Deciding the head back to Stormshield to ask literally anyone at Phaulkon Industries about what to do with the dragons, the party began the long walk.  Nalu hunted for food for the dragons and the party while Crugar and Zazz pushed the cart.  

Eventually the party came to a meadow full of horses, Clydesdale-esque ones specifically (because I don’t know horse stuff.  I just sort of assumed all horses occur naturally.  Oh well.)  Overseeing all of them was a giant horse that I described as being the big horse from Breath of the Wild (black, orange mane and tail.)  Nalu attempted to befriend one of the horses to pull the cart while Crugar attempted to befriend the big one.  Nalu was almost successful, Crugar nearly got into a fight with a horse.  After Crugar failed, and after Nalu failed, the horses moved on; but, needing food for the dragons, Nalu shot and killed the horse she was trying to tame.  A natural 20 and some good RP insured the creature got a swift and painless death.  Honestly, good RP would have done it, but crits never hurt.  

About two days into their journey the party was forced to enter a forest as a storm was passing through.  In the dark of the woods and under cover of rain, the party was attacked by wood elf bandits who were interested in the contents of the cart.  After a slightly drawn out battle (sorry, guys) the bandits got the party to disarm themselves.  After an exchange where the supposed leader attempted to get someone to open the tarp, he did it himself and ten of the dragons escaped.  Half of the forces split off to capture them, the party took out the rest.  They then left as quickly as possible.  When they were close to the edge they found one of the dragons; had changed its colors to something similar to a tiger, but they were unable to retrieve it.  The fates of the others is still unknown.  

The forest behind them, the party found a town by a large lake.  It was built largely for gnomes and halflings, but it had many buildings that were suitable for humans.  The party found an inn and, after some negotiations, was able to just rent out the entire stable as soon as the last occupant left that day.  It was there that we called it.   

[thedmexperience]

Part 3 of my groups dealings with some dragons: the dungeon.

Picking back up from the party being at the trap door; Nalu listened at the trap door for anything above.  Not hearing anything, the group opened the door and moved into a small chamber with doors on both ends.  Listening at one door, the party heard nothing.  At the other door they heard two people talking.  Attempting to ambush the two behind the door, the party burst in to find two cultists one of which greeted them surprisingly warmly thinking they were acolytes.  Thrown off, but happy at the sudden advantage, the party went with the cultists to tour the fortress.  Most notably along the tour was a chapel in which the kobold chief and one of his priests were using an item that looked similar to the necklace that the party found to mutate other kobolds.  

Finally, the party was taken to a laboratory where a human wizard/scientist was experimenting on dragon eggs.  Introduced as Stein, the party was told they’d be helping him with his experiments.  Nalu drew her bow and attempted to attack Stein.  In the resulting fight, he showed off his magical prowess by altering the physical properties of his body in order to attack and defend rather than rely on spells.  It was short lived, but he got in a few good shots before finally succumbing to his injuries (and being burned alive.)  One of the cultists, his faith shaken by the man who had seemingly performed miracles with his experiments, surrendered immediately to the party.  They chose to spare him.  

Without much they could do, the party sneaked through the fortress and found themselves at a set of large doors which lead into a chamber where they found the high lord of the cultists sat in wait.  His head and half of his body had been mutated into the visage of a dragon.  Compelling most of the part into entering the room and standing in place, he drew his sword and blew into a horn he had at his side.  Wing beats and thunderous roar heralded the dragon who, to the horror(?) of the party began to change colors.  Most of the party was able to make the saving throw to shake off the compulsion and the real fight began.  The dragon was able to knock down a few party members, but they ultimately won out.  The high lord, unwilling to be killed by the party, took his own life.  Unfortunately, the few remaining cultists in the fortress found the scene and immediately set about gathering as much as possible and getting out to regroup.  

Realizing this meant that the baby dragons in the hatchery would soon be moved, the party raced down below the castle.  Upon arriving they were greeted by a cultist being thrown into a rock wall, dying on impact.  The large kobold and a much smaller kobold tossing glass vials which exploded when shattered were holding the cultists off.  After finishing them off, the party explained what was happening and were allowed to retrieve the baby dragons.  Upon rounding them up the counted 20 babies which all seemed to have different mutations.  However, among all of the strange mutant dragon babies, the party found a platinum baby and a bright yellow/orange one.  The platinum one’s eyes were closed (dragons are similar to cats in this universe.)  Putting together a makeshift cart, the babies were loaded in, finishing with the platinum baby.  In Kya’s arms, the dragon’s eyes opened.  

[thedmexperience]

Part 2 of my epic retelling of all those sessions I missed.

So, the party retreated from the chamber to treat their wounds but not before finding a bag dropped by the chief which contained a necklace adorned with jewels of the color of all dragons.  After some deliberation, they decided to return and search the tunnels (this time more carefully.)  Inside, they found another much smaller dome of red light encasing a sword.  The sword, to the party’s mixed reaction, began to speak to them.  It introduced itself as Zazz, and began speaking in gibberish.  Barakiel figured out that using ice spells on the barrier would destroy it.  The weapon being freed, a dragonborn man spilled out from the jewel on the hilt.  Turned out he was cursed to live on as a sword after a wish went wrong.  

Advancing further into the tunnel, the found themselves in a large chamber with tons of small tunnels dug into the walls.  Barakiel triggered a fire trap between two rock pillars.  Kobolds attempted to ambush the party, but Crugar began indiscriminately pulling kobolds out of their holes, throwing them to the rest of the party for them to finish off.  

After the fight, the party emerging relatively unscathed, Nalu encountered one of the giant kobolds standing guard in front of one tunnel.  She attempted to attack it, but it caught her arrow before retreating into the tunnel.  The party advanced, Arrayah suggesting showing the kobold the necklace.  Recognizing the necklace, the giant kobold let its guard down and explained he was guarding a joint kobold-dragon hatchery.  The party eventually decided to leave the hatchery alone.  They made their way along, eventually coming to a set of stairs upward, ending at a trap door.  And it was there that we called it a night.  

[thedmexperience]

Hoo boy have I been neglecting this blog...

We’ve had 4 sessions since I last posted.  I’ll recap each one over the course of the next day or so.  Sorry, guys!

Anyway, picking up where the last session ended, the party had just watched the dragon destroy their dummy camp.  Not wanting to attract the dragon again, they took shifts on watch and didn’t light a fire.  That night, a portal opened up and a Gray Elf stumbled through.  She introduced herself as Arrayah and she joined the group.  The next day they investigated the woods and found various paths the dragon had walked through and knocked down trees.  They also found kobold tunnels (the hard way; Kya turned into a fox and went down, she was almost immediately attacked.)  

With this knowledge, they decided to press further in (staying above ground) until they reached what they assumed was a large clearing.  Nothing thinking much of it they entered to find it was merely an illusion; where there was once a clearing was in fact a fortress of sorts enclosed in a dome of solid red light.  Kya attempted to reach through it only to find out it was bad.  Kya took some (lots) of fire damage.  Unable to rest she chugged a health potion while she and Nalu searched for another way in.  That way in was a (suspiciously much larger) kobold tunnel entrance.  They entered only to immediately find themselves staring down an entire corridor of fire traps.  It took a while, but eventually Kya was able to disable them all.   Eventually, the party found themselves in a large chamber serving as a junction of sorts with two large tunnels branching off among many smaller holes.  Crugar attempted to advance in but triggered a pitfall trap, falling 40 feet and impaling himself on spikes at the bottom.  He survived, but combat begun.  A dozen small kobolds reinforced by two very large kobolds as well as their chief mounted on a basilisk flooded into the chamber.  Over the course of the fight, the party had the misfortune of finding out the big koblods were strong and fast and the small ones had access to breath weapons.  The party killed a few of the smaller kobolds; Frank (the awakened dog) took out one of the larger kobolds and in the process revealed himself to be a sort-of paladin.  The rest of the kobolds ran away.  The party survived, but only just barely.  

[lunarspaceartist]

How players see themselves:

How the DM sees the players:

[thedmexperience]

Another year, another successful Tekko. Save the date, everyone! I’ll make more posts about this next year.

[thedmexperience]

Hey all you party people!

So, in my continued effort to bring together people of all types through role playing games, I’ve come across a certain discord channel arranged by one of the lovely members of this community!   https://discord.gg/PMMUnHF Go check it out!

[thedmexperience]

Woah, the final story I owed you guys!

So, sorry about that.  Getting ready for hashtag:Tekko2018.   Anyway, so this episode was a shopping episode.  The player who plays Crugar couldn’t make it, so I had Crugar resting to recover from the mind fuckery in The Under.   The game started with Nalu having to find a way to forge herself a new maul.  Honestly, shouldn’t have allowed it.  I converted the Vow of Poverty from 3.5 and it was pretty clear in what a player can and cannot own.  I ruled, however, that any non-magical item she was able to make for herself wouldn’t count.  So, for the sake of consistency I allowed it.  Honestly, it’s not that big a deal.  Moving ahead, I may not let any other characters pull that crap though.  It’s kind of on the player to be honest about their own limitations.   Barakiel and Kya went to the burned down shopping district to find that the gnome whose shop was being looted by the shadowy warriors way back in “The Fire” had set up a little extra dimensional tent to serve as a makeshift shop.  Inside, Kya got a Keen Dagger (Crits on a 19 or 20) and Barakiel got a Periapt of Wound Closure.  They also had Barakiel’s various staffs identified and bought some healing potions.  

Nalu, after getting some help forging a new maul, was making her way towards the religious district when she overheard some talk outside of the temple of Ahncabe (god(dess) of war and crafting) that a wand maker in Starfall had been chosen to be the next...  well it’s almost like a prophet, but not in the way that would mean they would have anything to do with prophecies.  Basically, in my world, the deity Ahncabe chooses one person who pursues any form of crafting and assigns them a task that involves creating something legendary relevant to their chosen skill.  Should they succeed they’re granted complete knowledge of all forms of crafting and become Ahncabe’s avatar on the mortal plane.  So I need a name for that.  Anyway, Nalu overheard a dwarf expressing disgust that it was a wand maker and not a blacksmith or someone who could create a more generalized item.  A brief argument occurred but ultimately nothing came of it.  

When the party finally met up again, they noticed two different sets of people entering the city.  One group looked as if they had next to nothing, as if driven from their homes.  The other, while much more prepared, also looked like they were forced out.  Upon questioning the two groups they found out that the first group’s town, Arenglen, had been destroyed by a dragon that appeared to breathe napalm (based on the description that some things seemed to melt as they were burning.)  The second group left their town because several towns had fallen victim to a plague that rendered its victims mindless creatures.  Their eyes and veins black as pitch.  Black ichor pouring from their mouths.  All of this starting from a small town named Chuster.  A town Kya knew all too well.  This was a town from her past.  Where her past as a snake oil salesperson may have cost a poor child his life.   The party would ultimately choose to pursue an investigation into the dragon attack at Arenglen on their way to Starfall.  Barakiel took some time to browse the library and dug up just the basic information on all manner of dragons.  Kya put out an ad and secured passage to just west of Arenglen.  Upon entering they found it was devastated.  Their were bodies, but they were almost completely indistinguishable from the rest of the landscape.  Wanting some sort of answer, the party set up a dummy camp and hid in some nearby woods.  After the sun set a roar came from deep within the woods behind them and soon the large form of a dragon could be seen silhouetted in the moonlight.  The dragon landed by the dummy camp, its body dark against the night sky.  Based on her research and the dragon’s bone structure she realized, to the group’s horror, that the dragon was a silver dragon but it wasn’t metallic and its scales were too dark.  It was there that we ended the game.  

[thedmexperience]

Group 2’s lost session

So, the second of the three stories comes from my second group. Ya know, the pirates in the desert.

So, tasked with capturing a gelatinous cube by a weird wizard who wants to use it for waste disposal, the group continued exploring the former goblin caves. In the dim torchlight the group saw what appeared to be kobolds sneaking away ahead of them. They would choose not to investigate this.

In the distance, a suit of armor suspended in mid air set off the sorcerer’s spidey sense so she cast Ray of Frost to expose the cube and slow it down. In the ensuing combat, the cube attempted to engulf the monk. I say attempted because I pulled punches and made the engulfing process slow instead of instant.

As the fight went on, the party’s fighter set up the portable hole. Once in place, the party lured the cube into the hole.

Now, I built a much more elaborate dungeon. There was a story. Of course, only one of the players actually wanted to explore it so they were voted down.

Back in town, the party decided to get drinks at the saloon. After failing a series of constitution checks, the barbarian became intoxicated. In an attempt to get to the bar, he bumped into a more intoxicated person and in the ensuing conflict a massive bar fight broke out. It was soon broken up by the sheriff who threw the barbarian in the drunk tank and the fighter and monk were banned from the saloon. And it was there that the session ended.

[thedmexperience]

Forgot to post about the last couple sessions. Oops!

So I have three sessions to go over. Let’s dive on in. I’ll make two other posts for the other games.

In my first group; the party had just freed Crugar, the party’s barbarian, from his cell in the basement of the church of Crone. After some time spent trying to figure out why they were suddenly magically trapped within the church, the group decided the only way to go was up. Ascending the stairs, Crugar immediately triggered a shock trap. Upon discovering the corridor was trapped, the party took great care in making sure they didn’t accidentally set off something potentially more dangerous. It was a good thing they did because they came across some pressure plates that would activate a trap that would smash whoever was on the stairs. Utilizing some spare daggers and a crowbar, they managed to get around that particular trap with no problem.

Their final challenge came in the form of a hallway, the entrance to which had a series of runes that the party couldn’t decipher. At the end of the hallway they found another ring of runes on a wall behind a pedastal that had a large key on it. Kya took the key without thinking and set off a large boulder that rolled down the hallway. The party had to make dex saves to avoid the boulder. Eventually the boulder went through what was revealed to be a portal back to the top of the hallway. Not gonna lie, I probably shouldn’t have done this specific thing. The party very nearly died to this boulder because I didn’t adequately hint that the way to get through the door would be to stop the boulder by disrupting the portal. The boulder eventually sped up to the point where they were making saves twice. I eventually had my NPC that went with them flat out tell them before they all died.

Afterward I put healing mist in there to heal them up before the boss fight. When they finally did engage the boss I had her basically mind control Crugar and he immediately dropped Nalu. Crap. All the adds suddenly became minions. I had two of them incapacitate my NPC so the party was doing most of the work. He just provided support by helping stabilize party members or providing distractions. The evil cleric did actually kill Barakiel. So that was fun. But she was revivified immediately. I just wanted to put the fear of death in the party because my earlier stuff was kind of easy.

The session ended with the party fleeing The Under in a ship procured by Aeowyn. Upon getting to the open sea, she and many of the now free slaves-turned-pirates took the ship and dropped the party and the NPCs that had accompanied them (many of which being freed slaves who chose not to be pirates) back at Stormshield. Upon returning to Phaulkon Industries it was announced that the Tiefling Asmodai and the Werewolf Liam had gotten engaged. Their wedding would be in 6 months in game time, so the party has plenty of time to have another adventure or two before the big day.

[thedmexperience]

Hello! I have a group of friends interested in starting a game, but we have nobody with previous experience or with dm/gm experience. I was wondering if you have any advice or know of any useful resources for first time dm/gm' s? Just doing research before we jump headfirst you know?

First I would suggest reading at least the player’s handbook. You have to know how combat works and how to set difficulty ratings for things like skill checks and saving throws. Doing that also lets you know what “skill checks” and “saving throws” means. Second, figure out what kind of game you and your friends want to play. Some people like very political games with minimal combat, some people like the opposite. Figure out what you and your friends want to do and go from there.Third, figure out your setting and research it. If you’re playing in a prewritten setting like The Forgotten Realms, look up things like events that happened in the setting’s timeline or characters who may be important to the area you’ll be playing in. If you’re making your own world, make a starting town and an area surrounding the town and build the world out from there. Generally speaking the structure would look like: the town, a forest/lake/desert nearby, a dungeon within that previous area, and a city that the players can go to later. When making your own world, the map doesn’t have to be made before play. It just has to be implied to exist. Fourth, and arguably most importantly, don’t follow the rules as written (RAW) to the letter; let what’s fun guide what happens. As DM, you have final say in how anything happens. If your players want to do a thing, there’s a good chance there’s no rules for it, so be flexible. My favorite method is to follow the rule “Yes; Yes, and...; Yes, but...” what that means is that you don’t necessarily have to say no to anything if it seems too outrageous. You can just set a high difficulty rating and let the dice decide. That way, you can narrate either an impossible feat or and funny blunder. Either way the players have fun. Those are what I feel are most important to know as a first time DM. If you want more information from some other DMs who are, in my opinion, far better than myself I would suggest you go to YouTube and look for Matt Colville’s “Running the Game” series as well as DM Tips hosted by Matt Mercer of Critical Role and later Satine Phoenix of Maze Arcana. All that being said, I would not suggest watching either of their shows until you’ve had experience playing/DMing. They’re professional actors, watching that can be intimidating for first timers. If you want a more light version, check out Acquisitions Incorporated. Chris Perkins (story lead and DM for Acq Inc) isn’t a professional actor, but he does do voices and other little things that a first time DM can learn from.

[thedmexperience]

Hey all! That time of year again!

Tekko is coming up! April 6th-8th.

Just like last year I’m looking for Game masters. And I need them for games besides D&D. Well, I need one more for d&d. But mostly I need other games.

The requirements are:

Must be able to work 12 hours minimum, spread across the weekend, between 9am and midnight.

Must be 18 or older.

Otherwise, just treat everybody fairly and everything will be good!

Anyone who participates gets into the convention for free.

Anyone interested should submit an application at teamtekko.us/staff/ and be sure to include what games you can run so I can know ahead of time.

Keep an eye on your email after that because I’ll be getting a hold of you there.

If you are around the Pittsburgh PA area, I’d love to see you there!

[thedmexperience]

Got a d&d double feature for ya!

So, I ran two games this weekend.  One with my new group and one with my old group that hasn’t met in months.  I will provide stories for both!  So prepare for a long post, y’all.   Starting with the new group: I wanted to run an old west style game.  Ya know; stage coach robberies, WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE style bounties where the task would be rounding up an entire gang with the leader having the highest bounty.  Think like Django Unchained, specifically the scenes where King Schultz and Django just roll up into a place and kill whoever they’re after, but in a more accurate setting where towns were built around brothels and the race considered the “majority” was distinctly in the minority.  Anyway, I gave the players the specifics.  Laid out the expectations and what do three of the players do?  Make pirates.  I had a talk with the person who organized it but it only made me mad.  So I’m dealing with it.   Anyway, the group’s various members all found their way to the mining town of Obsidian Gulch where it was immediately made clear that there were to be no weapons in town.  The players turned over their stuff (except the only player who wasn’t playing a pirate, she kept some daggers hidden on her person.  

Eventually the scattered members of the party found their way to the local saloon where the pirates proceeded to spend a lot of time trying to make the barkeep give them just random drinks that wouldn’t be readily available in a desert.  The non-pirate, a sorceress named Nimue, met a Tiefling sorcerer named Creed whilst reading over the job postings.  It was here that I set the story hooks.  One of the nomadic tribes that was passing through was offering to pay/trade for flowers in the mountains that they themselves would be unable to acquire.  The second, a wizard needed help building his tower and he wanted the group to capture a creature for him.  The final, a bounty for a half-elf bandit leader named George Sevillo.  Of the three it would be the second they would take.  

Meeting the wizard, he gave them the details of the creature they would need to find: a gelatinous cube that he wanted to use essentially for his waste removal unit.  He gave them a portable hole to transport the creature in as well as directions to a dungeon they could find the creature in; a long abandoned goblin hole.   The group made their way to the dungeon, making their way through the winding tunnels they were eventually set upon by four very malnourished and desperately starving ghouls.  The combat was brief, the players easily taking down the ghouls.  But they’re getting further into the tunnels.  And the walls and floors are looking cleaner and cleaner.  Their quarry is near.   Now!  Onto the main group and their continuing adventures in The Under!

The night picked up where the last game left off, the ship burning in the harbor and our heroes sitting in The Broken Wheel.  Captain Ishida, out of now genuine worry for his own safety as well as the others, asks the party if they had anything to do with the ship burning in the harbor or the commotion in the market place.  It was now that the party decided to just start dumping information on the poor soul.  Every time they talked to him they dumped new and more wild information.  

After revealing their now 45+ former slaves, Ishida noted he’d now have to find a bigger ship to get them all out of The Under.  In the meantime, Kya and Crugar decided to buy food for the amassed peoplejjjjjjjj.  The trip to get the food was uneventful, but on the way back Crugar was attacked by an unseen assailant.  Fighting desperately against a fast acting sedative, he attempted to make his way back to the brothel where the others were but finally succumbed short of his goal.  When he finally awoke he was in a dungeon, his jailer glaring at him from behind three sets of bars.  

Meanwhile, realizing that they were down a goliath barbarian, the party set about looking for him.  After a lot of searching they finally were able to track him to the temple of an evil goddess of manipulation.  After lots of trial and error the party found out they could only enter in the manner that the goddess would want, that method being stairs with invisible walls that would force the party to eventually be on their hands and knees.  

Upon entering the temple they felt a compulsion to harm themselves at the altar, one player gave in and attempted but was stopped.  Upon searching the actual building they found a set of stairs leading them to the basement where they acquired a Lock of Trickery and encountered the jailer who immediately attacked.  However, upon realizing she was outnumbered she attempted to flee, but was cut off by Ishida who killed her pretty much instantaneously.  The party took a set of keys she had as well as a strange bag.  We ended the session there.  

[thedmexperience]

The DM as the PC, episode 2

The game began with one of my best friends joining the party as a drunken rogue who started by pickpocketing the bard just to later return the money she stole (this was all done in humor.)

Upon finding out she was a lush, I took the opportunity to mess with her in RP by talking out loud to the rest of the party and then flat out denying it (the others figured it out right away and joined in.)  Eventually she was sober enough to figure it out and I admitted it.  

So, after negotiating a reward for me because everyone thought I was the druid’s animal companion, we were clued in on other young women being kidnapped for other nefarious ends.  Thinking there were clues in the mine, we made our way back in.  Upon returning to the central chamber we found a drow spellcaster trying to reclaim her spellbook.  

Upon finding her, the entire party was paralyzed and she had her spiders attack us.  It was 4v4 with all of the spiders using their web abilities on cooldown.  It was a drawn out fight, but we came out on top.  Upon searching the room we found what appeared to be instructions for the ritual that the goblins were trying to perform previously.  

On our way back to town, no additional clues in hand, we came across a pair of drow who were just out in the middle of nowhere.  Unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to question them  We accidentally killed them.  

We ended the session soon after that.  The DM actually messaged me today and asked me to DM some sessions so he can, as he puts it, learn to DM better.  So I’ll be doing that.  

[thedmexperience]

I’m trying to set up a campaign for the Star Trek RPG, it’ll be my second time both playing/running one so I have a better understanding of it now. The problem is character creation is a serious pain in the gluteus-maximus, and I’ve got a table full of very green players. Would it be better for me to handle creation for them and let them make the character their own after that? Or let them struggle through their own creation process? Leaning towards option 1 but would like feedback.

If it’s for a long form game like a campaign, always let the players make their own character.  Yes, it makes character creation a pain.  Yes, it takes time.  BUT the players will be more attached to their character and, in turn, will be more invested in the story.  However, since they are so new, get together with them and help them do it.  Help ensure the party is balanced and take the opportunity to establish some ground rules and to ask what your players want out of the game.  I don’t know if Star Trek has an alignment type system, but if it does make sure your players aren’t playing evil characters; or worse, chaotic neutral that acts evil.  This is called “Session 0″ and is important to any RPG, especially when a game is set to take a while.