Category Archives: taster

D&D Grp 2 Session 11 Planning #7

con DM/GM, D&D, D&D Grp2, DM/GM Tips, flgs DM/GM, one shot, RPG, session planning, taster

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.

Ok technically this isn’t for session 11, but then again the Bagman stuff isn’t possibly either. But these are notes for me to look back on when planning future sessions in the campaign so I don’t forget.

So there I was watching a YouTube about what other DM’s have in their DM kit and I came across the this one by Wally DM.

In it he mentioned that along with the Monster Manual he also includes a copy of his book Wally DM’s Journal of Puzzle Encounters.

“That sounds interesting”, I thought to myself.

So I googled it.

Which lead me to DriveThruRPG (which did not like me trying to log in using my Facebook details, which is how I normally do it!)

After watching the review embedded on the books page I purchased the pdf of the book (I’ll get a printed copy payday).

What sold me was the very first puzzle mentioned in the review using a stone statue of an owl and gems. It reminded me very much of puzzles from an early fps. I wanted to use this.

The Prismatic Owl puzzle (depicted on the cover) as it’s called in the book is one I will be printing out and adding to my folder for new players! It won’t work with Matt Colville’s The Lost Tomb of the Delian Order. But it could work with Frank Mentzer’s Dungeon, or some other maps I have in my DM folder ready to be called upon (you might like this Sly Flourish article on the subject), even maps generated on the fly using the cards/geomorphs I have would work with it.

It’s also something you could use when running a one shot at a con or FLGS.

I will definitely be using it at the first opportunity with my current campaign.

As I work my way through the book I’m pretty sure there will be more than a few puzzles I’ll want to use in the campaign.

One Shot Taster Session Post Mortem

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It’s a day or two since the D&D taster session took place. Even longer since the D&D campaign was held. But here we are with the post mortem for the taster first.

Despite a less than conducive environment for playing D&D everyone had a good time, and enjoyed themselves.

The adventure that I went with for the session was The Lost Tomb of the Delian Order (by Matt Colville).

I started the adventure off at the foot of the hill on a dusty road with the owner of a local inn hiring the adventurers to investigate missing people from the nearby village.

The inn keeper gave the party a bloodied bone and told them to break it when they got to the entrance of the tomb. The bloodied bone was a magical item I created to cast the spell aid over the party when it was broken into two.

Sadly the party did not do this.

They finally did use it over the scrying pool.

On a practical level I used The Giant Book of Battle Mats (generously given to me by Shane) along with scatter terrain to give the layout of the tomb.

I should have used my Big Book of Battle Maps because table space was once more limited. I thought before hand we would be using two of the folding 6ft tables.

However unbeknownst to us all, the evening of our taster session at the community centre it was also open mic night.

In my opinion they would have been better off watching us play D&D than listening to the public murder of songs.

That’s why earlier I said that the environment was less than conducive to playing D&D.

The volume of the “performers” murdering rock and pop songs was bordering on making it impossible to play.

The Wizkids 2D miniatures worked well. I think the players enjoyed having something to represent their chosen characters.

The puzzle in the adventure appeared harder than I thought it was. The other group I’ve run this adventure with got it pretty quickly. A fact that when strategically shared with Gavin made him determined to solve the puzzle.

I did give some time at the start of the session for the players to read their character sheets and ask questions. There was a whistle stop tour of the abilities and how an ability check works.

Having multiple copies of the Starter Set rulebooks available was a good call. I think for a taster session for new players they were just right. Especially for finding out the details of the spells. Easier to navigate, and a lot less to search through.

I did half the damage that the goblins did in combat. It seemed the right thing to do considering they low hit points first level characters have. It meant I was able to avoid a tpk. Although it was looking likely at one point!

Having The Arcane Library PC Cards on hand with the pregen details on was useful, and worked well for me.

I think that’s about it for now. Who knows if and when I’ll run another taster session. Maybe it’ll just be an adhoc one one shot for this group instead.

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.