Category Archives: D&D

One Shot Taster Session Planning #1

D&D, one shot, RPG, session planning, taster

Yesterday my good mate Gavin expressed an interest in trying D&D.

Today along with Diego via messenger we arranged a date to hold a one shot taster session.

Naturally that means along side my regularly D&D planning I now have a second session to prep for (hence this and possibly other posts).

The first thing I have to decide is what to run for a session that ideally is going to run for about three hours.

The options I’m considering are the following:

  • The Lost Tomb of the Delian Order (by Matt Colville)
  • The Obsidian Skull (from the City of Arches)
  • The Goblin Ambush (from Lost Mines of Phandelver)
  • 1st Level Adventure Generator (from Sly Flourish’s Uncovered Secrets Volume 2)

The last option will involve a little bit more work for me, requiring me to roll against tables to come up with something.

The Goblin Ambush might be too short, unless it then runs into the Cragmaw Caves. Which would then be too long.

I will use pre-gen character sheets, most likely the official D&D ones. But which?

I could use the ones intended for Lost Mines of Phandelver, or the new ones intended for Dragons of Stormwreck Isle.

But I am tempted to try the pre-gen characters for Sly Flourish’s Fantastic Adventures, or (iirc) a pack of pre-gen character sheets I got off the DMsGuild that were recommended by Mike Shea in a video or blog post at one time or the other in the past.

These alternatives to the official pre-gens in many ways are better as they have more info on them such as spell details. Which cuts down on the need for a players handbook or having to constantly refer to it.

Along side which ever pre-gen sheets I go with I’ll be using the Wizkids 2D miniatures that just arrived. I should try and match up the character sheets to the minis in advance!

Well that’s my initial thoughts on this upcoming taster session. I’m sure there will be others over the coming days that I’ll feel compelled to share on here.

D&D Grp 2 Session 10 Planning #3

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one. REMEMBER you have been warned.

One thing I’m bad it is remembering specific rules, especially when I’m not using them all the time.

One such area is that of magic items, identifying them, and attuning.

So I’ve created these “handy” rules reference cards to have on hand.

I’ve also been searching that amazing blog Dyson Logos for suitable maps to potentially use for Kartan, Tower of the Arcane. I’ve found a couple that I like the look of. Whilst there I found the perfect map for the Temple of Three Sisters.

I’m not sure how the next session will go or where!

Obviously I’m thinking they might visit the wizards. So most of the NPC’s the party will come into contact with will be magical leaning. They might even bump into the legendary wizard Dram!

I’m also preparing for some magic items to go missing or leant to the party. Hence the reference cards above.

I am having a hard time matching up the written description of Kartan, Tower of the Arcane, particularly the following bit:

“An ironbound glyphed door on the first floor stands in front of a stairwell leading deep into the ground below where numerous laboratories and vaults of the dark wizards remain largely untouched.”

With the the side view map (see extract of that below).

It’s the laboratories and vaults. Unless I treat the hanging cages and the area below it as the laboratories and vaults, then I don’t see where they are. I think I need to sleep on this a bit more.

I’m still waiting on updated character sheets to transfer across for my notes.

In the meantime I’ve got some magic items to create!

D&D Grp 2 Session 10 Planning #2

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

With session 10 scheduled to take place next Sunday just before I go and visit Nathan. It’s time to continue thinking and planning for the session.

Which means a little house keeping first with a new look!

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one. REMEMBER you have been warned.

Wizkids have started a range of 2D minis made from acrylic (or some kind of plastic) which are very reasonably priced. The D&D Idols of the Realms: Essentials 2D Miniatures – Player Character Pack just dropped through the letterbox.

Inside this thin packet (you should see the ridiculous oversized box it came in) you get the following 2D minis:

  • Male Human Fighter
  • Female Human Rogue
  • Male Human Wizard (Archmage)
  • Female Human Cleric
  • Male Human Bard
  • Male Dwarf Fighter
  • Female Dwarf Wizard
  • Female Dwarf Cleric
  • Female Elf Fighter
  • Male Elf Rogue
  • Male Elf Wizard
  • Male Elf Cleric
  • Female Elf Bard
  • Female Halfling Fighter
  • Male Halfling Rogue
  • Riding Horses
  • Skeletal Horse

The plan is to use these for sessions (naturally). Initially as NPCs but also when/if I run starter sessions for the players to use.

There is a sidekick pack as well that would be great to use as either NPCs or representing characters also.

The nice thing about these 2D minis is the portability, cost per figure, make these very attractive. They also look cool on the table. Sadly the drawback is if you want multiple of a particular figure you are screwed if all that is included is a single figure or just two. So it could get expensive buying multiple packs to get the number required.

I’m particularly after the D&D Idols of the Realms: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle 2D set. Which naturally goes with the new D&D Starter set Dragons of Stormwreck Isle. Why Wizkids and WotC didn’t do a deal to include these in the Starter Set I don’t know. Instead I’m having to wait for this set to arrive in the UK months after the starter set has hit the shelves.

I’ve also decided I needed to have better player notes for prepping and during a session. So I’ve asked for up to date copies of the character sheets.

For recording the character stats to use during a session I’m using the Arcane Library character cards which I will print out and slip into a Mayday Premium card sleeve or laminate. Not fully decided which way I’m going on that front.

As you can see I’ve scribbled a little extra info on the card to do with hit die and hit points, and their background.

I had been using index cards initially for this but I think these will be more useful, and easier to refer to during a session.

I’m not going to move away from index cards completely. I think index cards will be ideal for recording the characters background, and referring to during session prep.

Right that’s enough for this post. I’m sure there will be another before we gather round the table for the next instalment.

D&D Grp 2 Session 10 Planning #1

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

My days off this week and I was ill with a cold. So instead of recharging my batteries and even gaming on one of them I was instead suffering, drinking hot lemon, and quaffing orange juice.

But enough of the life stuff what you are really here for is my session prep notes. Which means I need to copy and paste the usual non-effective disclaimer/spoiler alert stuff first.

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.

With Adele having done some research she will be all about stopping the return of the demon prince Ibraxus from the realm of Choul.

In the Sly Flourish City of Arches document (available to Patreons only) a lot of the notes I need for this are on page 32. They are part of another adventure idea. But the Choul stuff is perfect for my needs. They give a nice broad strokes over view which will see the party going through one of the arches to Choul.

I’d forgotten I had the Dungeon Tiles Reincarnated which will make providing a battle map for each of the floors of Kartan, Tower of the Arcane easier if needed.

I had looked at the battle maps but not found anything suitable I can use.

Naturally the party will be required to go “Down, down, deeper and down” into the depths of the City of Arches. It sounds very dungeon delving. But I don’t think it is in this case.

I’ve been doing an initial scan of the Monte Cook NPC cards for suitable cards to use as wizard NPCs for when/if the party visit Kartan, Tower of the Arcane.

I have updated (again) my checks sheet. The sheet I clip to my DM screen.

Grp2: When last we left our heroes… #9

D&D, D&D Grp2, post mortem, RPG

Exploring the chamber they were in the party noticed some murals depicting sacrifices and statues coming to life.

Further exploration of the chamber revealed a pool with a satchel in it. Upon trying to retrieve it the pool of water came to life.

The living water was in fact a water genasi called Samson, who seemed confused about where they were, or how they got there.

Further exploration of the caves lead the party to a chamber with two large pools of water.

After fighting some glowing fungi that temporarily blinded the party by emitting a bright flash of light, they came across a scene in the connecting chamber reminiscent of the cave art they discovered earlier.

The party seeing the living statue decided retreating was the better course of action to take.

The party was left making their way back to Adele’s.

Post Mortem

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following part of the post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this part of the post and join me in a future one.

Work shifts meant that our D&D session was bought forward a day to the Friday.

I was still at work, but it was an early shift. So I’d been up since 4am. Tired? You bet.

We were unable to use the normal setup of two tables at our regular hosts. Which meant table space was a premium this evening. None of us had as much space as we’d have liked.

Tonight we added a sixth player to the group Jamie, who is playing a druid (?) water genasi called Samson.

I think the introduction of the new character went fairly well.

Having six in the group should mean having enough at a session to go ahead even if one or two can’t make it.

My Session Notes, & behind the screen

The encounter with the Strobing Fungus was surprisingly challenging for the party. I think being temporarily blinded didn’t help. Or the relative high hit points that the fungi had.

I’m glad the party took the opportunity I gave them to retreat instead of engaging with the Bloodstone Sentinel. With two cult fanatics and Shigmaa behind it ready to join in the attack. This would have been a tpk level encounter. I’m sure more than one of the party would have died if it had gone ahead.

The monsters the group are encountering I’m deliberately not naming as I want them to come up with their own names for them. Unless there is a good chance they would know about the creature then I’m happy to name the creature.

There wasn’t much chance to drop more than one of the secrets and clues. However there was the opportunity to at least forewarn what was ahead.

Luckily I think some of them can be used in the next session.

Which means we have a main story arc in progress potentially that is all about stopping the return of the demon prince Ibraxus from the realm of Choul. This will mean possibly a heist being done on Kartan, Tower of the Arcane and going deep under the city making their way to the second of the two lowest arches in the City of Arches, the Gateway to Choul.

In the meantime we have the Esme rival to Adele plot line to develop, plus the bounty hunter one.

Plus this ticking time bomb…

I don’t roll for initiative I shuffle up a “deck” of initiative cards and hand them out. Copying the initiative system used in such systems as the mutant year zero engine and Alien RPG.

I find it speeds up combat a little. It does have some advantages over rolling for initiative.

There was a comment made that they didn’t like this way of handling the initiative.

I need to think about this. I’ll probably switch to rolling for initiative with my monster initiative pre-rolled. A small speed up on my side.

As a whole this wasn’t a session that I got much from. It felt a bit flat. Maybe that was because I was tired.

Now to plan session 10.

D&D Grp 2 Session 9 Planning #2

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

Ok let’s do this next bit one more time with feeling…

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.

Our session nine is this Friday evening. I’m going to be pretty knackered as I will have been up since 4am that day, with no chance of a little snooze before hand.

However in the meantime I still need to do my prep.

The party were left at location 3.

I have a new player joining this session. Which takes the group up to the maximum size I’d personally run with. They will be playing a water genasi. Luckily there is a water source for them to be found at in location 7.

However plot wise I think I can explain why they are there. During the week (in-game time) that these chambers were revealed the water genasi also went in to investigate and came across these pools of water and got trapped there by the cultists. I need to work on this a little.

The great thing about the City of Arches as the basis of the setting is it allows any species to be present in the game. So I don’t need to find a reason for them to be there, it’s just accepted that the city is a diverse mix of species from different realms.

I’m going to attempt to create my own monster cards so that I can have the stats easily to hand as I do now with the Gale Force 9 cards I have.

See you laters.

D&D Grp 2 Session 9 Planning #1

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

Do I really need to keep saying the following on these types of post? Shouldn’t it be taken as a given?

But just in case here is the boilerplate disclaimer.

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.

I’ve been looking through the pages of my copy of kobold press’ Tome of Beasts 2, and I’ve been really enjoying the experience.

The art for the monsters is amazing, and brings them to life. And really fires the imagination.

I am building up a menagerie of creatures I want the players to encounter. I already have the monster and npc stat cards from the Monster Manual in my DM folder that I plan to use, or can fall back on for a random encounter or two.

I really should look into getting the pawns that kobold press sell to go with this book. I think the only problem I have with this sort of product is you usually only get one of the monsters. Which isn’t very helpful when you want to run multiple of the creatures in an encounter.

Talking of 2D standee stuff there are also a couple of Wizkids 2D standee products I want to get my grubby hands on. Those being the Player Character Pack, and the Shipwreck Isle set.

At the last session Anthony very generously gave me three pre-painted Wizkids minis, the Viper Vine, Witchfire, and Gate Hellknight.

As pre-painted minis go I quiet like the look of these. The paint job isn’t going to win awards. But they are perfect for the table top. And more importantly I don’t have to paint them.

I believe these minis are for Pathfinder and the Maze of Death adventure (?).

So I need to get the Pathfinder stats for these minis and then convert to 5e.

But the players will be seeing these sooner than later.

Grp2: When last we left our heroes… #8

D&D, D&D Grp2, post mortem, RPG

With a free week the party spent the time on some self improvement, studying, practicing, and even some research.

Outside the streets of the lower reaches were a buzz with the news of a heroic party rescuing a family from a collapsed villa in the Second Reaches.

Outside on their way to Adele’s Emporium the party were approached by Esme a rival of Adele. Who tried to bribe the party to spy on Adele for her.

At the Emporium the party found a note on the door saying Adele was in the Second Reaches investigating the ruined villa.

So the party made their way to the Second Reaches looking for Adele.

Eventually they found Adele, but not before upsetting a few locals and attracting the attention of an officer of the Silver Talons.

At the ruined villa they met Adele coming out of a cave entrance that had been revealed when the villa collapsed. While talking to Adele Tantalos joined them. He’d been helping Adele.

Adele and Tantalos left to return to the emporium to research the newly revealed chambers.

The party entered the tunnel and immediately went up some steps into a chamber that they soon discovered had two young unkept, spooky looking children at the end of it.

We leave the party in the chamber having defeated the spooky children.

  • Behind the screen
  • Session notes

Post Mortem

Yep it’s that part of the post where I share my thoughts on the session and ideas for future ones. So I need to say this.

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following part of the post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this part of the post and join me in a future one.

The session itself was about two hours of play, and about twenty minutes of finishing off character levelling up.

It would have been nice to have a longer session, but time constraints with my dog-sitter put a dampeners on that.

For this session I had used the Tome of Beasts 2 from Kobold Press for most of the potential monsters to use in the encounters.

I do like this book as an alternative to the Monster Manual. It really does make encounters feel fresh and mysterious. Especially for the players.

For the NPCs that the players encountered I used the newly arrived Monte Cook NPC cards plus my Pathfinder ones I had already been using.

I love the art on these cards, plus the extra info on the back of them.

That extra info on the back really does help during the session to help (however poorly) flesh out the NPC at the table. And I don’t have to make up a name either.

During this session I did feel like the DM who says no.

Like pointing out that a red Slaad is from a different plane and wouldn’t be known on this one.

I really like to say yes and see where we go with it. But it was hard today because the choices being made were based on information that the characters would not know.

This was a very heavy role play session. Something I’m not great at. So not sure this was a fun session for the players.

For me and I’m not sure if the players felt this way too, that they were being railroaded to the ruined villa and the mysterious chambers it revealed.

There was a hook to go after a wanted criminal they could have done instead.

For the map for the mysterious chambers I used the goblin caves map from the “old” D&D starter set. It seemed the right size to start exploring. Although in future I’d love to use larger more complex dungeons.

In the meantime with this repurposed map I have to populate it with appropriate monsters, which for this dungeon is using appropriate monsters from the tome of beasts 2. Well ones that look really cool.

This was also the first session that I used the DM Screen from the Dungeon Kit instead of the DM Screen Reincarnated. No one even noticed the switch!

Anyway now to start planning session 9.

More ramblings

D&D, D&D Grp2, Gloom Chronicles, life, the universe, and everything, Marvel Champions, rambling, RPG, session planning, still alive

Well just like politics a day in my life can be a long time, and things change.

The next session arranged for Saturday has had to be cancelled due to a union work thing that has cropped up.

However it looks like it may go ahead Monday (currently my day off!) evening instead. I’m still on lates next week, so I don’t have to worry about getting up for a damn early start the next morning.

So there is a silver lining to this cloud.

It would appear that soon (next payday) I will be jumping into the lcg from FFG, Marvel Champions.

Hence the new little icon thingy I’ve done.

I did enjoy the game when I did the “try before you buy” game with Gavin. And it is his copy with expansions I’m buying.

I also think this is a game I can play with Nathan that I’m pretty sure he will enjoy. I’m not sure I’ve played a co-op game with Nath. But I know just from the theme alone he will love it. And I’m excited that I will be able to play this with him.

Buying Marvel Champions does boot into the distance any decision I was going to make about getting into another FFG lcg The Lord of the Rings Card Game. Which does also appeal to me on theme alone.

We know I like the idea of solo gaming, and when I see a game can be played solo it does help sell the game to me. But when it comes to actual reality I very rarely play a game solo. I think I can count on one hand the games I’ve played solo. So I’ll never (ok I know never say never) play Marvel Champions solo.

Another given is in the coming months once Marvel Champions has joined my collection I will be catching up with the expansions I don’t have. It’s that whole Pokémon “got to catch ‘em all” thing.

Bugger they also have playmats for the game. And we know how I am about playmats.

I better order in a lot of sleeves. I usually go Mayday Premium with boardgames. But this technically is a card game so I may fall back to my other preferred brand Dragon Shield Matt sleeves. The ones I use for playing MtG.

Before I look for players willing to commit to playing the campaign version of Gloom, The Gloom Chronicles, I need to get the two expansions that I currently do not own.

Obviously The Gloom Chronicles uses the core game. But it also needs Unfortunate Expeditions, Unquiet Dead (need to get), Gloomier: A Night at Hemlock Hall, Unhappy Homes (need to get), and Unwelcome Guests.

It’s a twenty game campaign. It should be possible to play multiple games a session. I don’t see it being much of a commitment, three or four sessions at most.

I’m very intrigued how Gloom plays as a campaign. It’s a story based game. Well technically if players are not into the story side can be played as just a card game. I know other games like Scythe, Pandemic, etc have campaigns that are tied together by an over all story. But that’s a story written by the designer. Gloom is a different animal altogether. The storytelling is part of the game.

I definitely want to get Gloom to the table sooner than later for sure. Especially around the end of the month. I don’t do Halloween but if that isn’t the time to at least play the game once I don’t know when is.

D&D Grp 2 Session 8 Planning #2

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.

Session 8 had to be cancelled at the last moment.

Luckily everyone was so understanding.

So session 8 takes place next Saturday. But due to my work rota and a 3pm to midnight shift, it is taking place earlier in the day. Which means our usual venue will not be open. Luckily Shane has said he will host session 8 at his abode.

I had been thinking of changing my Checks Sheet with more useful information.

Which I finally did today.

I changed the orientation of the page, added some more info such as death saving throws.

I like to think between this and the DM Screen I have enough information in front of me in a session to minimise having to refer to the players handbook or the DMG.

I also have, thanks to the very kind generosity of Shane I was given a copy of the Giant Book of Battle Maps.

This is the giant version of the Big Book of Battle Maps.

I do really like these battle map books. I must do as the Big Book lives in my DM bag.

Anyway now to brainstorm ideas for the session.