Just a short post this week as I’m late sharing week 6.
Here you go.
#dungeon23 Week 6 Roundup
Category Archives: RPG
Grp2: When last we left our heroes… #11
The party hadn’t been back at their digs long before there was a knock on their door. Drenol, Jeb, and Babs answered the door.
It was their neighbour a gnome called Nala. She needed their help. Her husband Hornwin had gone down into their cellar and hadn’t come back up and she was worried. Apparently they had a rat problem.
After a little debate whether they would help, they did indeed end up going next door to find Nala’s husband.
In the basement after destroying a swarm of spiders, triggering a stink cloud and throwing up. The trio found Hornwin lying unconscious in the corner of a room that had dire giant rats in it.
After defeating the dire giant rats and a were rat that appeared the party had the corpse of Hornwin in front of them. It would seem Hornwin had been a were rat.
After breaking the news to Nala that here husband was dead the trio returned home.
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. Don’t give in to temptation go read something else.
This was our first session since the end of November.
Work shifts and the seasonal thing that happens in December being the main factors getting in the way of the session happening.
The change of job opened up my ability to say “I’m free on …” and for regular sessions to be planned again. I think if the work front hadn’t changed the campaign would of just ended. My old job was getting so that planning or committing to anything was just not possible.
It was good to be back behind the DM screen.
As there was fifty percent of the players unable to make this session I went with a one shot adventure for those that were there.
I went with a Mike Shae adventure idea he said he used as an introduction adventure for level one characters of clearing out the basement of the tavern of the rat problem.
But my party were a couple of levels higher. So I could use dire giant rats!
I used a map from the Lazy DM Companion for the basement. Well part of it. I didn’t need the whole thing.
In one of the rooms I added a glyph of warding that when triggered (which it was) cast the spell cloud of stink. If any character had covered their nose (as warned) I gave them advantage on the constitution saving throw. It did lead to a comedic moment of describing the character throwing up with reference to the infamous scene from Team America. With the added bonus of the Babs character slipping up in the resultant pool of vomit.
My dice rolling during combat was atrocious. I don’t think I landed one hit! Although I did roll high on saving throws. So it evened out in the end I suppose.
Once or twice I used the fumbled searches deck to come up with items to find. I should of made a note of the items. One was a book that I said was titled 101 rat recipes, and a burnt bit of parchment. Despite the party trying to find any hidden writing on the parchment they found none. But they only used the old heat and lemon juice ideas to find any. I still have an opening to use this as a plot hook at some point. But I did like using the deck and found it very useful.
I felt the dire giant rats were underwhelming. I think the hit points could have been maybe three times the original value, instead of doubling them. It might have helped if I landed an attack.
I did have the npc they were meant to be saving turn into a were rat. Which they killed.
There was a little discussion over whether the npc got death saving throws. My train of thought was they were killed as a were rat, there was no mention before delivering the killing blow they were “pulling their punch” and aiming to just knock out the npc. So taking the were rat down to zero hit points killed them. As they died they obviously reverted to their original form.
I liked the ingenious use of the bag of holding to get rid of the grimiskas. Now the party have a bag of holding. I have a plot thread there to pull at some point now.
I thought the session worked well as a side distraction from wherever the main campaign is going for those that were able to make the session.
#dungeon23 Week 5 Roundup
It’s been my final week in my current job. Which has seen three early shifts at the start of the week, followed by my two final shifts being lates.
Then in my spare time I’ve been to my next “gig” getting things in place for my start on Monday.
Because of the above I’ve missed the odd day this week. Which meant towards the end of the week I had a catch up day to get me back on track.
I don’t see things getting any easier in the next week or two.
This week did see the start of level 2. So we are now deeper into the megadungeon.
Things are going to start getting tougher.
The creatures for level 2 are coming from The Tome of Beasts 2 by Kobold Press. I love the creatures in this and Creature Codex. They are so fresh and cool to run.
Onto week 6…
dungeon23 Week 4 Roundup
It’s been another busy week at work, so it’s been another struggle to keep to the daily schedule.
One thing I am enjoying about this project is the time I spend inking the map. Not only does it transform the map. But I do find the whole inking and doing the cross hatching very therapeutic.
I’m really shocked by that revelation.
I’d never have thought that doing the cross hatching especially would be so calming and relaxing. But it is.
I am wondering have I managed to tell a story, or at least attempted to tell one with the rooms on this level? Does it come across with the room names and descriptions?
I’m trying to tell two stories at once. That of the dungeon itself and the fall of the dwarven kingdom that built it, and also the story of the current inhabitants.
We’ll see how this progresses.
Next week we go down to level 2!
It’s VDD Day!
Another week has passed where I’ve written and played little.
It’s been the regular weekly pattern of work and sleep.
Work has been ballistic. Lots and lots of customers and no staff!
On the plus side I only have a week or five shifts left before my return.
Which means last nights club night will be my last (hopefully) one that I miss. It’s not great that the first two club nights of the new year I’ve had to miss.
At least I’m managing to find folks to play a game or two with on Sundays.
Now onto some D&D news that broke yesterday.
It’s pretty big news.
Remember all that #DnDBegone, boycott WotC and D&D stuff that happened over the last few weeks over the OGL 1.0a?
Well yesterday WotC announced a complete surrender over the issue after the survey feedback (so far) for their draft OGL 1.2 was overwhelmingly negative.
Der! They already knew that. The massive loss of D&DBeyond subscribers, the single voice of descent from content creators, social media.
I suspect this draft and survey were a ruse to allow WotC to backdown without losing face. Or that was the plan.
Whatever their motivation, we got to the right result that community were after. The OGL1.0a is safe. Plus the SRD 5.1 (that’s the document covered by the OGL that allows creators use core rules, classes, races, spells, etc) has been put under a Creative Commons license.
It’s a big win for the community.
The only question remaining is has this been enough to stop the haemorrhaging of creators and players? Or is this too late the damage has been done?
#dungeon23 Week 3 Roundup
It’s back to work and the varying shifts, and yet some how I’ve managed to get to the end of week 3.
The moving shifts such as three lates, a midday, followed by a couple of early shifts does take a toll.
Add in I’ve had to do stuff to get ready for starting a new job (more on that in a life, the universe, and coffee post).
Suddenly squeezing in this has been a challenge.
I feel as I’m coming up with these rooms that they are encounter light.
However this first level is meant for tier 1 parties, and story wise in my head is “controlled” by religious fanatics (priests, clerics, cultists, etc) loyal to the rising evil.
As we get deeper and closer to the rising evil we’ll see things get weirder and more monstrous.
I also don’t like my map until I have finished the inking on day 7. It’s only then that it comes together for me. Until then it doesn’t seem like a real map worthy of sharing.
Currently there is a Humble Bundle called “RPG Worlds by Kobold Press and Friends” going on that has one or two useful books for this challenge.
The one that sold it to me was Endless Encounters: Dungeons.
“Endless Encounters: Dungeons is an encounter and adventure generator for characters level 1-10 using the 5th edition game system!”
I looked at the sample pdf and instantly thought I want this book. In fact this has jumped onto my “I want a physical copy” list.
The others in this great bundle that I think will be useful for the challenge are Kobold Presses Vault of Magic, plus some bestiary that will be useful in sticking the megadungeon.
Growing as a DM – a plan
One of my personal rpg goals this year is to DM/GM (hopefully) a D&D game at a con or FLGS.
Obviously it’d be a one shot. Especially at a con.
I already have the Matt Colville Lost Tomb of Delian Order, or Sly Flourish’s The Obsidian Skull (from the City of Arches) that both make great single session adventures.
Plus I have a copy of the Frank Mentzer single map (Dyson Logo version) AND an A3 printout of the classic Keep on the Borderland dungeon.
Add in my copies of the Lazy DM Workbook and Companion are always in my bag. Which will be joined by his Ruins of Grendleroot and Fantastic Locations.
I nearly forgot my cards that allow me to generate dungeons completely on the fly. Plus the npc cards.
I could at the drop of a hat improvise a session. But as a DM I’m a long way off being that good.
However being a patreon of Sly Flourish I have access to some patreon exclusive adventures. There are three adventures that I have had printed out that potentially could be used at either a con or FLGS. But they are by the looks of them a couple of sessions minimum. One is aimed at a one on one session (DM plus player).
I also took the opportunity to print out the City of Arches source book as a temporary stop gap until an official version can be purchased (a Kickstarter is planned for later this year).
These have been added to the folder.
I’m not up to going through the official UKGE channels and running a session that people buy tickets for. So in the run up to the UKGE I will try to organise something informal at the show.
In the meantime if an opportunity comes up to run a session at my FLGS I’ll take it as that will help build my confidence.
#dungeon23 Week 2 Roundup
Well I’ve made it through week two.
So here is the Instagram post showing the final inked version of the map that was created for week two.
How did this week go?
Well even though I was making the daily updates adding a new room each day. I didn’t share many of the rooms on Instagram this week.
This was mainly due to me not feeling they were worth sharing.
On the map drawing it doesn’t feel like the map has come together until I do the inking at the end. Granted it’s not the best inking by a long shot. But it does the job.
I feel that this week was less focused in my mind from trying to tell a story with the rooms. The aim was to have another way for a party of adventurers to get into the dungeon. Plus working out how that entrance connected up with the previous weeks rooms.
The events and items found in this section of the map felt half hearted. But I did feel they were thematic to this section.
I couldn’t think of any secrets and clues this week, maybe one or two will come as I draw next weeks rooms.
Looking forward to week three and seeing where that takes me.
Where I stand with D&D 5e and Current Events
If you play RPGs, particularly D&D. Unless you live in a remote cave in Tibet with no internet, it will have been particularly hard to have missed the big controversy going on with D&D at the moment.
I’m not going to go over the whole OGL/Hasbro/WotC vs everyone thing. Others more informed have covered the subject much better than I ever could.
Let’s face it does the world need to hear yet another white, middle aged, male opinion/analysis on the subject?
Not really. But here we are anyway with a post by me touching on how this all effects me and the games I run, and will run.
I’m not going to stop running D&D 5e.
That includes when OneD&D gets an official release.
OneD&D I think will be heavily tied in with D&DBeyond and the unreleased virtual tabletop. Which will I have no doubt also be monetised in every way possible. WotC have admitted as much recently to investors.
I have no interest or desire to go digital and open myself up to being held to ransom to get access to content. Which we are now in reality.
I know WotC only bought D&DBeyond last year. When you buy a physical book (which I prefer) do you get it free on D&DBeyond or even a discount? Nope. You have to buy it again. However we know they can do this as they did it with the Essentials Kit (and that was before they owned D&DBeyond). But we’ve seen WotC be that cheap over in MtG and buying physical booster packs and precons and Arena. And we all know what I think of their nickel and dime piss poor ingame economy in Arena.
WotC believe in squeezing as much out of you as they possibly can. So it’s no surprise they have started/plan to use lessons learned from MtG Arena and the video game industry to D&D and its digital incarnation.
So I’m going to remain with 5e and my physical copies I own. WotC can’t take them away from me, or stop me using them. But I bet they wish they could.
I have enough official D&D books to run my own campaigns for years without buying another book.
Add in third party books I own like Kobold Press’s Tome of Beasts, the Lazy DM books, Sly Flourish’s City of Arches, Ptolus source book, plus others.
Plus I can house rule any OneD&D rules into my 5e game, such as the new exhaustion rule, that I like.
A quick aside. Let’s face it official WotC books have been a bit disappointing (especially the source books) the last year or two. Spelljammer was light on content for DM’s, Dragonlance was an adventure not a source book. For me Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft set a gold standard for 5e D&D sourcebooks, but Spelljammer was not even close.
Even with the current money grabbing, WotC crapping where they eat events. I’ll still play 5e.
It may impact whether my favourite independent 5e content creators such as Sly Flourish, Arcane Library (they have stopped) write adventures/source books for 5e. And that will be a great loss for 5e and future versions. And I’ll try and support them as much as I can.
This blog won’t be effected. It’s way, way too small. Plus it comes under fan content.
For the record I hate what WotC are trying to do. It stinks. I’ll support any effort to try and stop it.
Right I have a megadungeon to update.
#dungeon23 Week 1 Roundup
Ok so I’ve started and a week in on this year long challenge.
I’ve managed to post daily updates over on Instagram that pushes them out onto other social media platforms. Well almost daily I didn’t share the two empty rooms at the end. I didn’t think there was much point.
But those updates until the last one are in pencil. I took the decision to only ink the dungeon map at the end of the week. This allows me to make changes if need be as ideas develop throughout the week.
I kinda like how the map looks. It’s not nearly as good as some out there. But it is good for me.
I do have a folder with copies of the DMG Appendix A, dungeon symbols, list of trinkets, and a few other useful bits. I like not having to carry multiple books around, or have lots open at a time. At the end of this hashtag not only will I have a megadungeon, but also a folder I can use for dungeon creation.
Somehow this first week has used up four pages. It’s smoothing that may continue. Two pages for tables, etc, then the actual dungeon itself.
This first week has been about mapping out the first rooms of the long abandoned dwarven kingdom Khul Garom.
I’ve tried to capture in seven rooms(!) that the main entrance to Khul Garom was part stronghold able to repel any outside forces, but also some sort of grand gesture that once showed the wealth, artistry, and might of the dwarves of Khul Garom.
By using bandits, thugs, and cultists to populate some of the rooms I’m trying to start telling the main story of this dungeon of that awakening evil, and it slowly increasing its grip on the surrounding area.
Whilst any items found in these rooms are not of any value. But more the sort of stuff historians at a dig find that hint at the sort of society that was there long ago. In these rooms all the good stuff so to speak was looted long ago.
Right now onto week 2…