But the point of this post is to share what D&D books I’ll be taking with me.
You’ll notice in the photo below showing the books I’m taking there are none of the monster manuals. They are not needed for a session zero, they are a session prep thing. So they stay on the bookshelf.
But what I am taking covers most of the settings I can run a campaign in.
The books inside my DM bag for the session zero
I’m deliberately not taking the adventure books I have incase that puts the idea of running the written adventure into their heads! Although I would use them as material about the setting if they wanted to have the campaign set in say Avernus or Ten Towns.
I’ll also have these two MtG/D&D books that won’t fit inside the bag.
The two MtG/D&D books I’m taking
If the party are happy to be based in the City of Arches then all the books come into play!
Whilst we are looking inside my DM bag here is the top compartment that is meant for minis.
Inside the top compartment
But I’m using it to keep my dice, quest decks, dungeon geomorphs, dungeon decks, status cards, spare initiative cards, and inspiration tokens. To be added a dice tray.
Right next time I talk D&D it’ll be the post mortem of the session zero. See you then.
Not even a couple of days since I posted about Kelsey adding to her series on writing adventures with a video on creating dungeon maps. Then Mike aka Sly Flourish releases another video creating an adventure using random tables.
It’s almost as if they have to respond to each other’s content! A crazy conspiracy based on nothing but coincidence.
In the video I’ve embedded below from Sly Flourish we see Mike create a heist adventure using the tables from his latest Lazy DM book, The Lazy DM’s Companion, and his latest Patreon exclusive content City of Arches.
Sly Flourish Create a D&D Heist adventure using random tables
City of Arches is a city setting that can be dropped into any D&D campaign. It’s currently a 12 page document that includes a city map, one page players handout, and all the information you need to run your adventures there.
It’s videos like these, and the Lazy DM books that give me the confidence to run my own D&D campaign, run the session zero this weekend, and know I have the tools (maybe not the skill) to create something that the players will hopefully enjoy based on our discussions.
Anyway I hope you found the video interesting. I did.
In a previous post “How to random table adventure ideas” I shared some videos by Mike aka Sly Flourish and Kelsey of Arcane Library that show them using tables to create D&D adventures.
Now I could go back and update that post with todays video that I’m sharing. And I have done that in the past when new relevant videos have come available.
But not today.
Today it’s a new post. A new post to share a great video from Kelsey that continues her series on writing a D&D adventure. Plus a great way to remind interested folks that there are other useful videos they can watch (if they click on the link above).
Part 3: How to design a D&D map!
I hope folks find the video interesting. I did. I find it very interesting to see other DM’s thought process. Plus I usually find one or two ideas that I can borrow and add to my creative process. That’s a win for me.
Next weekend is the session zero for a second D&D group starting up.
I’ve never met any of the players. Although one or two of them are friends.
So this session zero is going to be interesting.
Naturally I’m leaning towards running a homebrew campaign. Although I’m not averse to running a published adventure. Heck I’m bound to repurpose a map or two from a published adventure to my own needs.
However this session zero is going to be so important.
It’s a chance for me to find out what sort of campaign the players want, the tone of the campaign, setting (Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Realms of Dread, Avernus, Eberron or maybe Ravnica or Theros!).
Without knowing this stuff it’s not possible to write a one-page campaign document. I’ll write one up afterwards and share it with everyone afterwards. It’ll work more as a summary/reminder of what was decided.
But I’m hoping that a group discussion will hammer out those details, and allow the players to create characters whilst we are there.
I’m not planning on running a short adventure. I’m not sure how long all of the rest will take. I’m expecting a couple of hours. Which doesn’t leave much if any time for a short adventure.
Finally hoping that we can agree on the day a regular time for the session to happen.
This will be an interesting experience when it happens.
SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming Vaesen One-Shot. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.
Yesterday was meant to have been the one-shot.
I’d spent the morning printing out what I needed for the session, such as the pages from the rulebook for the intro mystery The Dance of Dreams. Along with the pregens I did, some blank character sheets (just incase), cheat sheets for the players, and the handouts for the intro mystery.
I’d made one or two notes on the printed copy of the intro mystery as I read it. Which was highlighting where the countdowns triggered, what to skip so it fitted into a single session, plus a couple of notes on a couple mechanics I didn’t want to forget.
One thing I didn’t think to do was print the page for the Revenant Vaesen so it was easy to reference during play. Especially if the players were using the rulebook at the time I need the page.
But sadly this was all for nought.
It was only going to be two players plus me today. But when just after midday one of them drops out ill. The only sensible thing to do was postpone the session. A new date has been suggested that is mid March.
So hopefully we’ll get to run this one-shot or even our D&D campaign. But our group does seem to be cursed never to meet again!
SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming Vaesen One-Shot. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.
In the initial post I pointed out that Free League do not provide any pregenerated characters to use with the introductory mystery The Dance of Dreams in the Vaesen Rulebook.
Which does put a bit of extra work on me if I want to run this as a single session one-shot, maximising our time playing Vaesen and not spending a large part of the session creating characters.
“There should not be more than one player character of the same archetype in the group.” Page 18, Vaesen Rulebook.
The ten archetypes in Vaesen are:
ACADEMIC
DOCTOR
HUNTER
OCCULTIST
OFFICER
PRIEST
PRIVATE DETECTIVE
SERVANT
VAGABOND
WRITER
Sadly in the rulebook there is no suggested party make up for The Dance of Dreams. In an ideal world I’d create all ten archetypes for the players to choose from. And in the long term this is something I can aim for. However with current time restraints I’m creating just a subset.
Each precon character will have a couple of areas on the character sheet, character name, and relationship to the other player characters, left blank. These will be filled in by the player on the day. It will help personalise and make the precon character feel a little like their own.
Steps for creating a character in Vaesen, page 18, Vaesen Rulebook
Following the steps above were pretty easy. I was able to create an academic, doctor, hunter, and occultist relatively quickly compared to say creating a D&D character.
Having what is basically a template for each archetype, tied in with a simplified character sheet makes such a big difference. I think the hardest choice was deciding the age of the character! The age chosen decides how many points you get to spend on attributes and skills.
I dare say that if there were enough copies of the rulebook that you could almost have players creating characters in less that half an hour! Which would make it “feasible” to run a single session one-shot with the players creating characters on the day.
I’m hoping interested folks can access this link. My Vaesen Precons. It should be setup so that anyone with the link can view them.
Just like my D&D session planning posts there has to be some house keeping.
SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming Vaesen One-Shot. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.
As I said in the short (for me) post about where our D&D campaign currently is, the current plan is to run the introductory mystery from the Vaesen RPG, The Dance of Dreams.
This will be an interesting first for me as a novice GM as I haven’t run a published adventure before, nor run a none D&D game either.
There is also the added pressure of this is a completely new system not just to me but also to those playing.
I have the Vaesen bundle that Free League sell. Which is the rulebook (plus a digital copy), GM screen (it finally arrived yesterday), initiative and Vaesen cards, 6 d6 dice, and a map.
It’s going to be a safe bet that I will have the only copy of the rules. So I will need to teach the basics of the version of the Year Zero system that Vaesen uses. I have found some cheat sheets to give to the players to aid them. I also plan to print out the pages of the mystery so that the rulebook is freed up for reference by everyone.
Unlike the starter kits for D&D, Alien RPG, The One Ring or many other systems Free League have not put together any pre-generated characters to be used with this introductory mystery.
The only stuff Free League have for downloading on their website are blank character and HQ sheets, handouts for the introductory mystery and one other mystery (you can get them here).
So my first task for this one-shot other than reading the rules is to create some pre-generated characters for use with the one-shot.
We can visit character creation as a group if we decide to run a campaign or further one-shots at a future date. Using pre-generated characters also means that more time of the session will be spent playing.
I’m planning on our session being about three hours in length, and aiming for us to wrap the mystery up in a single session.
Free League suggest at the start of The Dance of Dreams that it “…should take approximately two to three sessions to complete.” However “If you would rather finish the mystery in a single session, you may skip the first steps and start with the journey to the location. Simply recount how the player characters got the Invitation instead of playing it as a scene. You can also skip the part where each character gains an Advantage.”
Which is great advice. Although I’d love to know what duration they are using for a session. I have an idea for the Advantages which I’ll expand on in another post if after reading the rules I think it’s do able!
I think that’s enough for the first session planning post. I’ll leave you with the official Vaesen teaser.
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 you will recall one of our group is now recuperating from a pretty major life event and March is most likely the earliest they will be able to make it back to the table.
So basically our campaign is still on hiatus until then.
However in the meantime we will still meet up but play a one-shot instead.
A none D&D one-shot!
The plan (at the moment) is to meet up in February and play the introductory mystery, The Dance of Dreams from the Vaesen RPG rulebook. I’ll warn you now there will be a separate series of planning session posts for that.
The following weekend will see a new D&D group starting up that I’m going to DM. That first “session” will be a getting to know you sort of thing and finding out what sort of campaign people want. And yes this too will have its own series of session planning posts.
That’s where we are at the moment see you in the next session planning post for whichever session it’s for!
I finally pulled the trigger and ordered a copy of the Vaesen rpg from Free League.
The plan is to use it for a one shot or two with our role playing group. Starting hopefully next weekend.
It’ll be touch and go if the physical bundle (core rules, GM screen, dice, map and cards) that Free League sell will be here by then. But luckily ordering from Free League means I get a digital (pdf) copy of the core rules almost immediately. So that is my “light” reading this week.
Vaesen is a “dark Gothic setting steeped in Nordic folklore and the old myths of Scandinavia. The game mechanics utilize an adapted version of the award- winning Year Zero Engine.(read d6)”
Vaesen is set during the nineteenth century, from what I can guess around about when the industrial revolution is beginning. I’m thinking the age of steam. You can definitely use trains to travel long distances.
“In the nineteenth century, Scandinavia is changed by industrialization, war, and revolutions, and new ways of thinking and understanding the world are spreading through its universities. Old truths are being questioned. The rural poor are pouring into the cities or across the Atlantic to escape starvation, hoping to build a life where they can be free.” Vaesen Core Rulebook page 6
But there seems to be a clash between the old and the new, especially these vaesen and the world of man.
“Throughout history, supernatural vaesen have lived side by side with the people of Scandinavia. But these creatures are not perceptible to human senses – unless they choose to be.” Vaesen Core Rulebook page 6
However…
“Some people in Scandinavia are able to see the vaesen, even when they are trying to stay invisible – it is called “having the Sight.” You are one of them.” Vaesen Core Rulebook page 6
“You and several others who also have the Sight have gathered in Upsala in central Sweden. You have learned that there used to be an organization called the Society. Their mission was to study and combat the vaesen, but the last members of the Society went missing or left the organization about ten years ago, and since then the Society’s headquarters – the old Castle Gyllencreutz by the Fyris River in Upsala – has been left to decay. You have decided to re-establish this organization.” Vaesen Core Rulebook page 7
But it’s all of the above that attracted me to the game. It’s not your usual fantasy setting. It’s also not your murder hobo party. There is more to it, you can’t just go around killing the monsters. The games are more mystery and solving the mystery, and being creative.
I’ll look more in-depth when I get the physical stuff.
You all know I like to share movies, tv shows and books that I think would act as “inspiration”. Below are some that came to mind.
As is customary with these session planning posts here is the obligatory bit of house keeping I need to do.
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.
Will we ever start up our campaign again? That’s the thought going through my head at the moment.
After an attempt to get everyone to agree and commit to the 5th January, we finally settled on the following weekend of the 15th January.
However! Yeah you knew that was coming. That date is looking very unlikely. But the reason would fall very easily into the “no one saw this coming” category. Sadly life threw a pretty major curve ball at a member of our party which means they may not be able to make this date or any other for a while. It’s more important that my friend takes the time (however long) to recover. The campaign and gaming will be there waiting for when they are able to join us again at the table.
In the meantime using the medium of our messenger group I have warned everyone (without going into details) that the 15th is unlikely to go ahead. However. Yep I used a however with them too. Those of us that could should still meet up on the 15th and do a one shot. Which could still be D&D based. Or as I suggested in another system such as (and I just listed two or three that I own) Paranoia, and Twilight 2000.
In the last day or so Matt Colville and his awesome band of merry people that are collectively known as MCDM have released a new pdf for a beastheart class and monstrous pets!
It has amazing cover art. Very old school in style and feel. I love it.
The whole premise of having monsters as pets and rules to use them sound cool and something I could use straight away in our campaign (if we were actually playing again).
The new class I can take or leave. It will be an option in a future campaign if a player wants to use it. My imagination wasn’t sparked into life by it as the illrigger class had done.
But what did get me excited was when Matt talked about the sporeling companion and showed a render of the mini they had done for it.
A mini you could order from them along with five others they had done.
Immediately I thought “the party are going to get a pet and not know it”. I liked the idea of them coming across Mot the sporeling while they are in the lost Ironstar mine. I just have this image of him following them around the mine just out of sight. Or hiding very badly when they look his way.
And yes I ordered the mini.
That’s all for now on session planning. No real progress at the mo for getting back to the table, and yet more ideas to use!
