Category Archives: D&D

D&D Grp 2 Session 4 Planning #1

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

Let the following warning/disclaimer be said. Then be it on your head if you ignore it.

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

We have broke the fortnightly session routine already. But that’s on me. Instead of D&D I’d arranged an open gaming session that coincides with the celebration of achieving a 54th year on this Earth. So we will be having our next session the following weekend. A three week gap.

The start of the session will see the party waking up to a note from Adel sending them off on a hunt for another relic.

I knew I had some parchment images from a patreon I had backed a while back. Luckily I had them on my iCloud and was able to find them.

Below you will see my initial version of the note to check I have the look and feel right. I used the Dreaming Outloud Script Pro font within MS Word on the iPad to give me that hand written feel to the note.

Initial test of note for session

Naturally I’ll share on here the final note with all the plot hooks for the session once it’s completed.

As for what the party will be doing in the session I have the germ of an idea.

Obviously I’m going to be running with the overall theme based around Warehouse 13/Friday the 13th the series/Relics & Rarities/The Librarians.

However they still need that relic/artefact of the week to go retrieve.

But that could get boring/repetitive so I plan to break up that formula with the Stargate SG-1/Time Tunnel inspired style session with the party visiting another plane via the arches in the city. I might also throw in the odd Star Trek Deep Space 9/Babylon 5 style alien visitor to the City of Arches plot line.

I have the really inspiring tables from the Lazy DM Companion Hunt for the Relic page, and the City of Arches adventure generator pages, to help generate ideas for the session. The tables Sly Flourish provides generate some really great names for items. I’ve used them for naming the magic items the players have received already.

Over the last couple of days I’ve been mulling over setting the session in a haunted house. A ghost might be too difficult for the group to take on but shadows aren’t (must rewatch the dungeon dudes to see what they have to say about them). Plus I can throw in mummies, werewolves, the odd giant bat, have oozes oozing out of the walls. You get the idea.

I might after this artefact has been retrieved start to drop hints about a big bad. There needs to be that big bad. But I have “time” to think about that.

Now the red dragon wyrmling, who I named Littleflight, may or may not have something to do with that big bad. I need to sleep on this idea.

Anyway that’s where I am currently on my planning.

Grp2: When last we left our heroes… #3

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

Tantalos finally noticed Babs looked a bit worse for wear after the recent run ins with the inhabitants of the sewer aided in healing her a little. After reminding the party how to find their way out back to the Lower Reaches, they parted way with each other.

On their way back through the sewers towards the Lower Reaches Babs discovered a hidden tunnel, that upon following lead them into a kobold ambush.

After hacking away a few of the attacking kobolds the party decided to double back on themselves back to the sewers.

There they set off a shrieker whose spine tingling, ear hurting shriek attracted a smaller band of kobolds. Which attacked as soon as they saw the party.

The skirmish ended with the untimely death of the kobolds. After which the party made their way out of the sewers into the lower reaches.

Vaz then guided them to Adel’s Emporium of Magical Relics.

We left the party resting in the accommodation that Adel had arranged for them (at a cost).

Post Mortem

Before we start the post mortem of the session I do need to do that little bit of house keeping to warn any of my players.

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.

It was another fun session. I am enjoying being a DM with this group. Friendships are starting to happen.

I started the session trying a suggestion from Quick Tricks For Lazy DMs page of The Lazy DM Companion of giving each player inspiration. It’s something I want to use more. I hadn’t used it at all with the other group. Which makes last sessions use the first time I’d used it in anger. I think it worked well. All of the players used it.

My Way of the Lazy DM Session Notes

Player: “I rolled a 19.”

Me: “What are you rolling for?”

Player: “I’m going to steal the healing potion from…”

With the agreement of the player it was going to affect I had them both roll to see if the theft was successful. Luckily for the enthusiastic player the other one rolled low.

But I wasn’t very chuffed with the initial player rolling and assuming the high roll allowed them to do what they wanted to do. Especially when it broke the line in the sand I discussed with them in the session zero. I appreciate the enthusiasm of the player. But they need to remember the DM tells them if a roll is needed or not.

I do need to keep better tracking of the items given out to players. I’d forgotten I’d already given out the fey amulet in the previous session. Which Liz pointed out when I gave a second to Babs! Oops.

A6 sized gridded index cards were used for drawing out the map of the sewers as the players navigated their way out. This worked better I thought than the small white boards I used in the previous session.

I used a combat map (from the big book of Battle Maps) with a very rough sketch of the current location for when we were in combat. Which happened twice in this session. I like the simplicity of this. Which can be enhanced with scatter terrain (if appropriate). I think it went well and for the time being will be my preferred way to run combat.

Now to start planning the next session.

D&D Grp 2 Session 3 Planning #4

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

It’s the morning (6:30am as I’m writing this) of the planned session and I nearly forgot to say the following.

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

With that bit of housekeeping out the way I can safely now share my last minute brainwaves for the session that I’ve had.

The main bit of inspiration I had was around the treasure that hasn’t been found yet.

If you check my notes in the post mortem for the previous session there is the equivalent of 400 gold pieces somewhere in the sewers. Plus two magical items.

One of the magical items has been lost and they will stumble across it easily enough early in the session.

But what about the rest?

The loot mentioned above has to be somewhere. It’s from the victims of the giant spider (deceased) and the giant crocodile (sleeping).

I wanted a creature that hordes loot, even shiny stuff.

Kobolds.

Yep I’m going with a classic D&D creature that low level parties tend to come up against.

This group of kobolds have found a wyrmling and have been venturing into the sewers to collect the gold from the victims to grow the wyrmlings hoard.

This also presents an interesting situation for the party. “…kobolds are bitterly hateful toward gnomes.” Volo’s Guide to Monsters, page 65.

50% of the party cause intense feelings of hatred in kobolds!

I think my caption for the above photo (taken from the last session) sums up the problem they will face with the kobolds.

Which makes negotiations with the kobolds that tad more trickier, nah impossible I’d say.

If things did go awry or tits up as I like to say with the kobolds. Then Volo’s offers the following advice for combat (same page as the above quote).

“Although they usually don’t seek out gnomes to do them violence, if hostile kobolds encounter a mixed group of gnomes and other humanoids, the kobolds instinctively attack the gnomes. Kobolds in battle with gnomes are much less likely to run away because their hatred overrules their sense of self-preservation.”

I think one of the secret doors on the sewer map will lead to the liar the kobolds have been tunnelling for the wyrmling.

I’m going for a red wyrmling as that gives me that pokemon charmander vibe.

Now to dive quickly into Fizban’s for some last minute game breaking ideas!

Will the party ever leave the sewers and meet Adel?

Inside my DM Folder for D&D

D&D, DM/GM Tips, RPG

I decided to do a short video of me looking through my DM folder for this second campaign. Someone might find it interesting. Maybe, and it’s a long shot, useful.

I have the following on the video, and YouTube page description. It has to be said.

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

Oh and one more thing it’s what’s in the folder at this moment in time. My DM folder is a living thing! It’s contents will change. It will grow with me as the campaign develops.

Inside my DM Folder for D&D video

D&D Grp 2 Session 3 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. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.

Right if any of my group 2 adventures are still reading then it’s on you if the following spoils your sense of wonder and surprise in our next session. I did warn you to stop reading.

I’ve updated my Checks Sheet with the hand written notes you may have noticed in the photos on the session 2 post mortem. Which has also been printed and added to my DM folder. The original aim of this sheet was to be a quick reference for various ability checks. So if anyone wants this as a pdf let me know and I’ll send them a copy.

My Updated Checks Sheet for D&D

I have also printed out the following since I was at the library already printing out the Checks Sheet.

  • Side view map of City of Arches A3
  • City of Arches Core Adventure Generator A4
  • Dyson Logos version of Caves of Chaos map A3

I held off the new location descriptions because in the next update there are some corrections coming apparently so I saved my money until then.

That’s all practical stuff for running the next session or prepping for it. But what about ideas for the next session?

I don’t know who or why yet. However in the next session the group will be learning from Adel that some-one has been collecting magical relics, beating her agents to them, and in some cases killing her agent.

Adel will have arranged some accommodation for the party within the Lower Reaches. Naturally the payment for this will be deducted from any reward she was going to give the party.

I still need to dig out my Pathfinder npc cards and find a suitable one for Adel.

Plus what are the adventurers going to do after they have long rested?

D&D Grp 2 Session 3 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. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.

At the moment the party are pretty battered. They need a long rest. But first they need to get out of the sewers. I think Tantalos Whitetail will have to give the party a parting gift of restoring some of their HP. After all there are shriekers, a gelatinous cube, and maybe some other unnamed creatures still in the sewers.

I have the Mot the Sporeling mini from MCDM (but needs to be cut and glued) that is a Sporeling Companion. I’m very tempted to introduce Mot to the party. An even bigger temptation is to run the gelatinous cube as a companion. I need to read the MCDM rules on companions first. Some light reading for the weekend.

When the party finally make it to Adel’s Emporium of Magical Relics the party need a new job from Adel after they have rested. I’ve got time to rewatch some Warehouse 13 episodes for inspiration. Failing that I do have the Lazy DM Companion Hunt for the Relic page, plus the City of Arches adventure generator pages to fall back on for inspiration.

Well that’s my brainstorming so far. Maybe I’ll get more inspired whilst at work!

D&D Grp 2 Session 3 Planning #1

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

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

Looks like I need to get back to the library earlier than planned to print out the new stuff from the update to the City of Arches I need in my DM folder to aid in the prep for the next session and the subsequent ones.

What’s new in the City of Arches pdf

Obviously the two pages that make up the adventure generator will be printed. This is a version of the Core Adventure Generator from the Lazy DM Companion geared towards the City of Arches.

The new side map is a must. To give you an idea what this looks like I’ve put a snippet below. I will need to create a relevant snippet for Mark to aid in his characters knowledge of the city.

Finally the new location descriptions will need to be printed out.

I’m glad this update has been released. It will be very helpful in preparing the next session.

Grp2: When last we left our heroes… #2

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

After tying up the two Children of Ibraxus cult members that they had captured to the alter in the crypt entryway. Our party of adventurers headed off to find a safer place to have a short rest.

The party decided to rest by the arch in the Sunset Grove.

At the end of the break Quintus Harrowtoes disappeared through a door in the base of the arch.

The party followed after him, descending into the sewers below the City of Arches.

Quintus was moving too fast for them. All they heard as he disappeared was “this way”.

Jeb shouted very loudly to try and get Quintus to come back to them. But it was to no avail. Although it did seem to alert the inhabitants of the sewer to their presence down there.

Whilst looking for Quintus the party came across a web column dotted with cocoons in the middle of the central chamber that lead down to the lower level.

As the party descended down the spiral stairs Babs was attacked by a Giant Spider. Battle ensued, and the eventual defeat of the Giant Spider.

On the lower level the party ignored the fleeing swarm of rats to stumble upon the liar of a Giant Crocodile.

It was here they discovered the torso of Quintus amongst the remains of other prey moments before being attacked by said Giant Crocodile.

Things weren’t looking good for the party. They were most certainly looking at a very brief future. That is until the timely appearance of the wizard Tantalos Whitetail. Who sent the Giant Crocodile back to slumber in the depths of its lair.

After introductions and a brief admonishment about waking up the Giant Crocodile, Tantalos gave the party directions on how to find their way out of the sewers into the Lower Reaches.

And that’s where we left our party.

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.

I’d like to say I was writing my session notes this morning whilst drinking my usual hot mug of caffeinated liquid. But I wasn’t. I was writing my session notes whilst my coffee sat next to me forgotten. It was so cold by the time I’d remembered.

My DM Notes

Once again my morning before the session sees me at the library printing stuff out. This time it was the following:

  • Sewer Lair map from Lazy DM Workbook A3 x 2
  • Location descriptions for Sewer Lair map from Lazy DM Workbook A4 2 pages
  • Secrets and Clues page from Lazy DM Companion A4
  • Points Crawl page from Lazy DM Companion A4
  • Annotated map of City of Arches A4

I’d printed a copy of the city map for Mark. His character grew up in the City of Arches. So they should know their way around. I also said Mark’s character should also know one area of the city really well. Mark was told not to share this map with the others.

I did two copies of the Sewer Lair because I wanted to annotate one with the notes for the session, and have the other to use whenever.

Being early to the session gave me time to finish off my notes for the session whilst sitting outside in the sunny but cool breeze weather. Which was basically coming up with the secrets and clues. Then when our venue was open I was able to get our play area set up.

My DM Prep

As you can see above the warning cards giving valuable advice to the players are back. They should be there every session. However that can only happen if you remember to take the index card box with them in to the session.

Today there was no nice A3 printed map for the players. No 3D terrain or battle map. Instead I was drawing sections of the map on small dry erase boards (see photo below). This seems to have worked ok.

Map drawn on dry erase boards

I could have killed the party today, it was very close. The Giant Crocodile was way too over powered for the party. Made more deadly I think because they were not recovered from the run in with the Giant Spider. Maybe I should have used a regular crocodile or two instead.

As you may have guessed from the rather dull dramatic retelling of the sessions story. I did indeed intervene to save the party by having an NPC turn up and rescue them.

I did try and warn the party that there was something dangerous ahead with the fleeing swarm of rats. But as you gathered that subtle warning was ignored.

Although the Giant Crocodile made story sense. At CR5 it was way way over powered for these none rested or healed level 2 characters.

The Party of Adventurers

I did hand out an inspiration token today. But not really as a reward for good roleplay etc. More to help counter none optimal decisions.

The Creature and NPC, and Monster cards really do work well for me. Having just what I need for the session plus some “favourites” that are campaign related to call upon does cut down on what I have to carry with me to a session. I’d love something like these for the Tomb of Beasts 2.

Right now to start working out how to get the party out of the sewer alive!

D&D Grp 2 Session 2 Planning #2

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

You know it’s the law that I have to say the following.

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

It only clicked yesterday that the players characters haven’t healed or had a long rest yet. So when levelling up they should not be increasing their current hit points to match their new maximum. So I reminded them of this today. Better late than never.

I think I’ve also settled on how session two will start. As the party are escorting the two cultist prisoners to the business establishment of their patron, they will be ambushed by other members of the Children of Ibraxus cult.

It will be a “you are are surrounded and out numbered. Handover your prisoners.”

From there who knows what will happen!

I’m leaning towards the party having to go into the sewers to locate a relic. The old urban legend about crocodiles/alligators living in the sewers of L.A. I feel like making that a real thing in the sewers of the City of Arches. Others creatures I’d like to use possibly are a swarm of rot grubs, and definitely a swarm of rats. I’m also feeling pulled towards using some oozes, maybe a cube of some sort.

I had the Creature and NPC Cards by Gale Force Nine arrive today. I have the cards they do that cover the Monster Manual. Which I like. They are handy to just have the relevant monster cards for the sessions encounters to hand without having to carry the Monster Manual with you. So now I can do the same with the creatures and NPCs.

As the bottom photo above shows the way I store them for use at a session is with some Ultra Pro 9 Pocket folder pages. Obviously these go in my DM folder with all my other notes.

Now to Lazy DM the shit out of my ideas!

D&D Grp 2 Session 2 Planning #1

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

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

As soon as a session finishes the clock resets and the countdown begins once more until the next session.

I did cave at the end of the first session and let the players level up their characters. Naturally I’m waiting for the new stats to be sent to me. I’ll probably send a gentle reminder at the weekend.

Although I suspect I’ll be running The Delian Tomb next session or a variant. I might stick to goblins. Plus maybe add one or two other surprises, such as a slime or two.

I think my main prep will be to come up with more “jobs” for the party to do for their patron.

This campaign could easily turn into a D&D version of Warehouse 13. I don’t mind having them retrieve the artifact of the week so to speak. But like Warehouse 13 I need that story arc, a big bad for them to lock horns with.

For this I think the “Hunt For The Relic” adventure generator in the Lazy DM Companion might be very handy for generating the artifacts for them to go after.

The nice thing is some of these artifacts can be keys to opening one of the many arches that give the City of Arches it’s name.

There is also with the arches the opportunity to have the “alien” of the week mashup like episodes with them arriving at the city through an arch. This could be very Star Trek/Stargate like. Or there is even the chance for them to visit other realms via the arches and the relics they retrieve. Once again very Stargate or The Time Tunnel influenced.

I think that’s enough brainstorming for this post. Catch you in the next one.