Our intrepid adventurers found them self at a doorway to one of the many crypts lining the Cliffs of the Dead above the City of Arches.

They had been hired by their patron, Adel Rosethorn, to enter the crypts, find her lost adventurer Quintus Harrowtoes, and locate a lost artefact the obsidian skull.

The adventurers freed Quintus from two members of the Children of Ibraxus cult in the Crypts entryway. Who had been aggressively asking him questions. After administering some first aid to Quintus, he guided the party deeper into the crypt looking for the obsidian skull.

After avoiding a booby trap in the Collapsing Catacombs they came across more members of the Children of Ibraxus cult. Who were led by Irvana Blackstar who is performing a ritual with the obsidian skull to open a portal to the abyssal plane of the Choul in the chamber’s gilded arch.

More violence ensued. Two badly injured cult members survived. Although during the enthusiastic questioning of the party they wouldn’t reveal details of their cult, they did try and barter for freedom with information about a recently discovered tomb that possibly contained a magical sword.

The party were left outside the crypts ready to return to the shop of relics, and Adel Rosethorn.

Post Mortem

You know I have to say this, just in case.

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.

“If they are having fun, then you are doing it right.”

I can’t remember who said the above quote, most likely Mike Shae aka Sly Flourish or Jim Murphy. But it does seem to sum up this first session with the new group.

The session lasted between an hour and a half and two hours. I thought it might have lasted a little longer. Because of that I was very tempted to throw a surprise encounter at them on the way out. But I couldn’t justify story wise having a skeleton, stirge or shrieker attacking them. It just didn’t make sense of them suddenly appearing.

In the session zero I had said I would not roll for initiative but use cards instead. Guess who forgot to take the cards with him? So we had to roll for initiative. I did speed it up by pre-rolling some d20s and recording their values to use during the session for the monsters initiative.

I thought the meeples, A3 map, and the use of index cards to hide bits of the map, worked well. Especially because it was a small map that came out at a usable size at A3.

The aid spell helped avoid a tpk during the climatic fight with the cultists doing the ritual. So that was a good call. The party have levelled up at the end of this short adventure. So no more Mr Nice Guy. Although they do have three healing potions that they found. That was a deliberate decision I made. One less than the number in the party. It forces them to make decisions of who gets them when they are needed.

As for running a published adventure. This short two pager was a pleasant experience. I did like the way Mike Shae wrote it. I only needed to dig the stats out for the cultist fanatic and cultists. Although stats for the npc Quintus Harrowtoes would have been nice.

Next session is in 2 weeks. I’m looking forward to it.

Saturday started off with a visit to the library to print off some stuff needed for the later session zero.

I printed off the two pages from the Lazy DM Companion to do with safety tools, and running a session zero. But that wasn’t the only material by Sly Flourish I printed out. I also printed out the one page player guide he wrote for the City of Arches. Plus some spare D&D character sheets.

Nearly forgot I made a copy of the first 7 pages of chapter 4 Horror Adventures from Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. These cover running a horror adventure, but more importantly a session zero. There is some great advice here. I think it goes well with the Sly Flourish stuff.

Then after paying the small kings ransom (although still cheaper than printer ink) to get my printing done I made off in my bat mobile to our new hosts.

Naturally I arrived early so that I was there to welcome the new members of the new group. Oh and make some last minute notes.

After the initial introductions we started off discussing whether they wanted a published adventure or were happy with home-brew stuff. No preference was expressed, so I decided home-brew.

Setting, genre, theme. They were easy. Had no preference.

So I handed them the City of Arches Player’s Guide and asked if that interested them. It did. So even with player character options opening up to include any official D&D book, the group stuck to Players Guide and Xanathar’s.

As the group created their characters we discussed what subjects any of them wanted to avoid. Especially if we had a session or two that were horror themed. The list of sensitive topics from the Lazy DM’s Companion is a great starting point to hand round.

The group said they were pretty relaxed, chilled with all the stuff with the exception of self mutilation. That’s good to know. Not sure I’d do anything that involves that anyway.

I also spoke about requiring a players consent for any adverse actions. I’ve been on the receiving end of the “steal another character’s stuff” and it wasn’t fun. I’ve also watched a planned “attack on another character” by another player, sanctioned by the DM, it wasn’t big or clever.

Overall player experience of D&D with the new group is little to some experience. Which is cool. It’s not as if I’m overly experienced as a DM or player.

The outcome of our session zero is that we will be starting off the home-brew campaign in the City of Arches. Which will be located somewhere in the Sword Mountains (not decided exactly where, but probably between Phandalin and Triboar). So we are definitely on the Sword Coast of the Forgotten Realms.

The party is made up of two gnomes, an elf, and a half elf. Three are able to use magic. But I’ll flesh out more details once I get a copy of the character sheets.

The group did chose a patron:

“Adel Rosethorn – Lower Reach Adventurer Adel, a smiling halfling, runs a shop of relics and curios in the city’s Lower Reaches. She hires adventurers to hunt down mysterious artifacts of previous ages buried in the city’s vast and hidden chambers. Whispered rumors say Adel has a loose connection to the Black Hand.” Patrons of the City of Arches from the City of Arches Player’s Guide, Mike Shea

When I read which one they chose I was instantly reminded of Deborah Ann Woll and the Relics & Rarities adventures she ran. But now on reflection I’m also thinking Warehouse 13, The Librarians.

We will be swapping back and forward between genres through out the campaign. But the overall theme I need to come up with. And that might see me borrowing one from one of the series I just mentioned.

Although the campaign will be reacting a lot to what the players do. It will also make use of the characters back stories. I see story arcs lasting two or three sessions. I like the flexibility this gives us. And the choices made have started sparking the imagination.

Overall I think the session went well. Three of the group already knew each other. But I think it seems like a relaxed, friendly group. I just hope they have fun and I don’t disappoint.

Now that video by Sly Flourish I shared on here last week is even more important. Must rewatch it.

Next task print out the City of Arches pdf, and an A3 map of the city.