Update on planning session 8 #1

D&D, 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.

While the players negotiate the date for the next session I still need to start planning. The time between now and the next session will just fly by. Before I know it I’ll be staring down the barrel of the next session with very little done.

That’s the benefit of the way of the Lazy DM. You focus on the important things that you need to run a session, whilst keeping the workload to a minimum.

It’s also why I write these planning posts. They are my notes for the next session, and sometimes ideas for future ones. Which I do refer back to while preparing my notes for the next session.

These days often my first task after a session is the post mortem (which I share with the world) followed by an update of my mind map.

Which is then followed by one of these posts capturing early thoughts about the next session.

Having justified these posts (probably for the umpteenth time) I think I should get on with my thought process.

During the players time in Mintarn and their quest for information about the Ironstar mine I kept mentioning that they were getting looks, glances from those around them. I think that was me not ready for them to take on Angrath but to have them fearful that at any moment they could be surprised by him and his pirate crew. (That bit probably could have been in the post mortem.)

The party think they managed to dodge a bullet. They went back to Mintarn and avoided Angrath. Or did they?

The party are basically camping on a beach at the moment.

So my thinking is, and I think this fits in with the ‘create a strong start’ of having a handful of pirates crash out of the undergrowth and attack the breakfasting party.

After the encounter from the beach they will notice a much larger boat near theirs. They won’t be able to get to their boat in time and make an escape. They will have to go in land.

For this over land travel and the search for the lost Ironstar mine I plan to run it based on the group challenge that was used in the D&D Beyond encounter of the Week: Detour Past Dragonspear. I will make it clear to the party that they will find the mine whether they fail or succeed. However how well they do on the challenge will determine what shape the party get there in and what happens when they find the mine.

The map I am going to use for the lost mine is from the Essentials Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure. I like the Dwarven Excavation scenario a lot for this. It looks the perfect length for our sessions. It’s designed for level 2 characters. So the threat level will have to be upped a little.

I also like the idea of using the Circle of Thunder or Dragon Barrow scenarios as potentially something the party could stumble upon to and from the lost mine. Although these would make great mini islands for the party to discover also.

So that’s my thinking at the moment. Obviously more to follow.

When last we left our heroes… #7

D&D, post mortem, RPG

Having successfully delivered the tribute to the Red Rage and a lengthy discussion about what to do next.

The party settled on hunting down a mysterious dwarven mine on the north side of the Mintarn island. Leaving Valdor heading towards the Whale Bone Islands as captive to some red robed wizards.

An unfruitful search of the northern Mintarn coastline meant the party were no closer to finding the mysterious dwarven mine.

They sailed back to Mintarn looking for information about the mysterious symbol that was on a scrap of paper that Kaibon (a dwarf wizard) had in his possession and clues to the mines location.

This excursion to Mintarn had an extra threat due to Angrath having been seen in the city.

Managing to avoid detection by Angrath or any of his agents the party managed to resupply and dig for information. Sadly the later did not prove fruitful.

Full stocked the party sailed off towards the northern side of the island once more.

We left the party of the west coast of Mintarn, making camp on a beach feasting on and preserving a giant swordfish that Khemed had caught.

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.

If the last session was all combat this one was the complete opposite. There was no combat encounter at all this session.

It was also a session where I had to make it up as events unfolded.

But first here are my hand written prep notes.

Where I had planned for the party to take one of the hooks presented to them during the first encounter of the session. They surprised me in deciding to do something I hadn’t expected!

I had discounted the Lost Ironstar Mine hook. Nothing had happened with it in the early sessions. Then Jonas hadn’t done anything with it when he and Jeff had joined the group.

During the groups discussion on what they would do having delivered the tribute I had expected them to pick one of the hooks seeded to them. It was completely unexpected when Jonas bought up the Lost Ironstar Mine.

Naturally it’s safe to assume from the above I had nothing planned for this. It would mean a lot of making it up as I went along, going with the flow. But I was confident that I could handle the session and whatever cropped up.

I think that’s the strength of the Lazy DM advice, and having a DM folder that not only has session and campaign notes in. But also (on the advice of Jim Murphy) dungeon maps used and unused that I’ve collected along the way. Plus with the Lazy DM Workbook also kept with my DM folder I had ten locations that could be used at a drop of the hat if needed. One of those locations was a dwarven mine.

Having that sort of stuff to hand did give me that feeling that if they located the mine and went in I had something I could use.

I felt that the players may have felt I was stonewalling them from finding the lost mine. There was no trace of it from the sea, no coastal paths, landing areas linked to it. When the party went to Mintarn they were unable to get any information about the mine from the local dwarf community. Why did the dwarves not know anything about it? I had the dwarfs on Mintarn as blacksmiths, they weren’t miners. They got the raw materials they needed from trading. It’s a port after all. The money for them was in making weapons for the mercenaries that the city was known for providing.

Besides the Ironstar Dwarves were not native to Mintarn but from the mainland. Plus it was a secret. So I felt that the Ironstar dwarves when on Mintarn would have hidden their identity, even from other clans when they came in contact with them.

Having no combat in the session was an odd feeling.

I was very hands off in this session when it came to the big discussion on what to do, and other group discussions. It didn’t mean I wasn’t listening, making mental notes, taking a pulse of what the group was thinking and had remembered. It was a useful thing to do.

Not happy with my role playing. It’s still pretty weak. The opening encounter particularly was poor.

I tried something new with this sessions start. We didn’t pick up immediately where we left off. But jumped forward a few hours to the delivery of the tribute. I think this worked well. I didn’t see a need for having to go through the whole travel bit.

Before we started the session I asked the players about how they felt about going to Avernus at some point during the campaign. It was a bit of a red herring. I wanted to gauged whether players would be happy with the subject matter, and all that would entail. If you remember I plan to use the diabolical contracts with one of the players. And I needed to know before progressing that twist if that was acceptable to all the players.

At the end of the session we discussed the duration of a session. Was everyone happy to keep it to two hours or would they like longer? The outcome of this brief discussion was we would move to a three hour session.

It thought both of the above was important to discuss with the group. I knew that certain subjects were off the table when Jonathan was playing. But now he had left I needed to know how the group felt about stuff I wanted to introduce.

Overall the session ended up being a social encounter focussed session and resupplying. Not entirely happy for it from my side of things. But hopefully the players enjoyed the change of pace.

Update on planning session 7 #4

D&D, 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.

It’s that time in the run up to the session that I visit the library to print out the bits I need for the session. I dread this bit because it’s so painful using the library computers. They are sooooo slow.

Luckily I only had two or three campaign related things to print. Plus some one shot adventures for the Judge Dredd RPG, along with a couple of pages that help with traits and descriptions (that is also useful for the WOIN system), plus using a d10 instead of the d6 dice pool. Yep I’m getting a Judge Dredd (/Strontium Dog) GM folder ready. Just on the off chance I get to run a session or two. I also printed off the pages from the Genesys FAQ that give the new power level values for the adversaries from all three previously published books.

I am trying to keep the amount of printing to a minimum (due to being economically challenged). So like the previous session my session notes are hand written.

The cost is one side of being a DM/GM nobody really discusses. Printing costs, miniatures, tiles, handouts, etc all add up. Yes you can go digital. But that doesn’t work for me! Yeah I know a geek like me saying that is shocking. Instead of the dudes on a map (whether that’s tiles or a battle map of some kind) could be replaced with theatre of the mind combat. From my limited experience the dudes on a map has been more helpful and easier for the newer players to D&D in the group. It is also easier for me a DM/GM too.

I suppose the expense has been higher as a new DM/GM that doesn’t have a collection of resources to use. And that a lot of the stuff I have now is reusable.

One thing I printed out was a table I “borrowed” from a resource some-one did online for a fishing mini game for D&D. I wasn’t interested in the mini game. I’m happy with whoever wants to fish while at sea to just do a foraging action, and make a roll for it. But the hard bit was deciding what fish they caught. I’m not a fishing person. The nice thing is that the table they created works for sea and freshwater.

The two dungeon maps I printed out have saved me time creating my own. Once or even if used this session they can go into the back of the DM folder with other maps I have printed as an instant adventure resource if needed. All I’ve had to do is populate the dungeons.

Tomorrow is the big day. Getting excited now.

A mini look at Epic Card Game Digitial

Uncategorized

I’m totally enjoying my games of Epic Card Game digital against my friends. And that includes my losing streak of having never won against one of them.

Our format of choice is Dark Draft. Which I’ve said many times I think that this is my favourite format for the game. Unlike a regular draft, you have an idea what cards your opponent has but you don’t know exactly. Mainly because you know what four cards they were given but you don’t know which two they kept and which two were discarded. I like that mystery.

Sometimes though due to the nature of the game type, luck of the draw, etc. More time is spent drafting than actually playing.

Once it was an option to purchase (you only pay for cosmetic stuff like this and to enter official events/tournaments) using my credits I hit on my avatar for the game that won’t change.

I love the pack alpha art. It fits me as leader of my own “wolf pack”.

The other thing I’m currently spending my hard earned Kickstarter credits on are the foil versions of cards when they become available.

I like how foils work in Epic and Star Realms. For the concept works better digitally than in a physical version. Although they are pretty cool in real life.

I actually like how the actual game looks during play. Granted it doesn’t have those flash animations of the likes of MtG:Arena and Hearthstone. But you don’t miss them or need them. Unlike the two mentioned competitors this is completely free to play. And the bit I like a lot, just like Star Realms, when playing against friends you get 48 hours between turns. It means playing can fit in around what you are doing in the real world, and allow you to play with friends in different time zones.

Granted games take longer to play this way. But that’s a price I’m willing to play. Plus you can play in real time if you wish. It’s nice to have the choice.

This is definitely my preferred way of playing the game. It means I get to play it for starters. That’s always a good start.

You can find me on Epic and Star Realms as Whitespider.

What annoys me about Imperial Settlers

rant

After a day off writing for this blog. Which we all know was a welcome break for both parties, you the reader and me. I’m back looking at one thing about Imperil Settlers and 51st State that annoys me.

But first for the record I really do enjoy both games. It’s allowed to not love everything about a game. This post is about the one thing I don’t love about these two games.

What bought this all on? The imminent arrival of last years expansion for Imperial Settlers, Amazons. I finally got round to getting it. After all it was the only expansion that I didn’t own. There are a couple of promos I think I’m missing but they are less important (I bet that has surprised one or two out there).

It’s the expansions for Imperial Settlers that are the source of this annoyance.

Amazons is the third ‘big’ box expansion for Imperial Settlers. Like the other two it adds a new faction and mechanic to the game. There are also three ‘small’ box expansions that focus on adding a new mechanic.

When it comes to playing the game you have to decide what expansions to play with.

In the rules for the expansion they give you two options.

The first is what they call Open Play.

This allows you to “mix any Common and Faction cards from any expansions with the corresponding cards from the Imperial Settlers base game. Have fun, but remember that a deck constructed this way may not ensure balanced play.”

That last sentence is the important bit. You may not see a single card from an expansion, or get the card you need. Which is why I’m least likely to use this option unless it’s for a single expansion.

The other way is what Portal call Standard Play.

“This is the only format allowed in tournaments.

Common cards come only from the base game. To build your Faction deck, you may mix the Faction cards from the Imperial Settlers base game with the Faction cards from exactly 1 expansion.”

51st State has a similar thing with it’s expansions in that you can only chose one expansion and you shuffle those cards into the common deck. It has no equivalent to Open Play.

What I find frustrating is that you have to decide which expansion and mechanic you are going to play.

So if you want to play one of the ‘small’ box expansions you are limited to the base game factions. If a player wants to play one of the ‘big’ box factions then you are limited to the cards from that expansion.

The problem as I see it is that with a new faction there is a new mechanic, and cards for the other factions to make use of the new mechanic. Then if you want to also play with one of the mechanics from a ‘small’ box expansion you are obviously breaking the Standard Play rule of using just one expansion.

If the other players have to choose between the two is there an imbalance that favours the new faction?

I also think that deck building for new players is an additional thing for them to learn. Something that might put them off and find hard.

Unless you do the deck building before hand (additional time and making decisions in advance on what to play) time for players to deck build needs to be factored into the overall play time. The game also stops becoming something you can just grab off the shelf and play. Which the base game allows you to do.

The limitation to one expansion and mechanic is something that frustrates in both 51st State and Imperial Settlers. On one hand I like the focus and making sure you get to play that new mechanic. On the other having to chose one over the other, and having to play multiple times to try them all, is frustrating. Back to back games in a single session is a rarity (unless it’s one of the filler micro games). As is between sessions. It could be months and years between plays (the draw back of big collections and too many games to play).

So that’s the side of the game that frustrates me.

Update on planning session 7 #3

D&D, 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.

It’s a hard battle with inner demons, but I’ve nearly avoided being distracted from planning session 7. The current minor detour has been about how they handle planeswalking in D&D. Something that players and DMs will want to do once the new MtG/D&D Theros source book comes out. Between that, Ravnica and the Plane Shift pdf’s there are plenty of MtG planes to explore. But more about this in another post.

Yesterday I did share on Twitter what I thought was a handy tip for DMs that I stumbled upon (yes I’ve not got round to fully reading it yet) while looking at the Infernal Contracts section of the Descent into Avernus campaign book.

Why am I mentioning this here?

A copy of that page from the book will be going into my DM folder for D&D and will be used within the current campaign. The monster table that is rolled against for monsters round Baldur’s Gate is something easily updated to match the ecology round the town in your own campaign.

Although the original plan, or thought anyway was that the Infernal Contract for the player I mentioned in the previous prep post was not something that would or could be done soon.

After watching this D&D Beyond video and reading this encounter from the D&D Beyond encounter series they did leading into the Avernus campaign. I think I should have something prepared in case the appropriate opportunity presents itself.

The suggestion by Chris Perkins in the video of a devil appearing after two failed death saving throws making an offer to save the players life is a pretty cool idea. But the idea of an imp following the party around constantly trying to tempt the party and in-particular the character I had the idea for originally seems pretty fun too.

The encounter also has a pretty cool contracts table that can be customised to my needs for the campaign as well.

So you can see having this stuff prepared and readily to hand for the session and subsequent ones is pretty important now.

I do love how organic this homebrew campaign is. Being able to react to player decisions is pretty cool. It allows me to do stuff like the above.

Off to prep more.

Update on planning session 7 #2

D&D, 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.

With just over a week to go before session 7 is a thing I need to be more focussed in my prep and not get distracted by the other stuff I’ve been writing about.

To be honest I have been feeling that a couple of the group haven’t had the spotlight shone on their characters yet during our sessions.

So last night I started to rectify that by messaging them and asking them about their characters and how we can spotlight them.

From our conversations I got extra background information on both characters that did indeed spark ideas and how to spotlight them within the campaign.

One of those ideas I can use straight away in this next session.

Previously I had seeded stuff to the player that has just left the group. That character the party will be finding out this session has been kidnapped and taken to the Whale Bone Islands by the Red Robes of Thay. Originally this was going to be a kidnapping tied in with the kidnapped characters backstory. However none of the rest of the group know about the stuff I had seeded. So it’s pretty seamless to appropriate this new plot line for my needs to spotlight this other character. It also presents a quandary for the group. The character I’m spotlighting now mustn’t be caught by these Red Robes because they have something the Red Robes want, however they need to rescue their friend. What do they do?

I nearly didn’t have any idea for the other player until their last sentence of the conversation. Their character wants information, wealth, power and to survive. Then it hit me diabolical deals! There are rules for these in the Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus campaign book. This is going to take a bit more planning, but that character is going to be making a deal with the devil in the near future. Or at least have temptation put in their way.

This session is feeling like it will be seeding lots of stuff and advancing ongoing plots. For instance the group will also be hearing that Angrath has been in Mintarn looking for them. It’s going to be interesting to see how the party handle that bit of news. After all Angrath is probably the last person they want to run into.

Now to think more about the dragon liar.

Theros Coming To D&D

D&D, gossip, magic, MtG, news, RPG

The website Comicbook is reporting that once more WotC are dipping into the crossover pool between MtG and D&D.

This new crossover is called Mythic Odysseys of Theros. Which naturally going by that title takes D&D players to the plane of Theros. Which just so happens to be the current set. Although by the time this new campaign book hits your FLGS MtG players will have said their good byes to Theros and moved on to Ikoria.

Theros is heavily influenced by Greek mythology. So it will be interesting to see how they handle the themes and tropes such as heroes, monsters and gods. Plus will they pick up the theme of the current set of the under world?

I’d still like to see a Plane Shift release for Eldraine, and an art book. But now that is just wishful thinking.

Read the original story HERE. (If you want to see the cover of the book they have a link to the archived web page with it on also)

Genesys The Expanded Players Guide

genesys, RPG

It’s sad that my “light” reading these days while having a soak in the bath (yep had to return that image to your mind) are various RPG books.

I find them (and I can’t believe I’m saying this) a relaxing and inspiring read. After reading a few pages whether it’s about character creation, running combat or some campaign/world background, I can’t help but have ideas buzzing around in my head.

And if it’s a system I haven’t managed to play yet, yearn to get it to the table. You can tell when that happens because I will post a hopeful call for players to try the game on the clubs Facebook page. A day or two later that enthusiasm and excitement is turned into disappointment by the lack of responses.

My current reading has seen me diving in and out of the Genesys source books. With a lot of that time spent in the latest volume for the Genesys system the Expanded Players Guide (EPG).

I really, really like the EPG. It’s such a great addition.

Let’s look at what the EPG brings to the table and why I like it so much.

The EPG is broken into three parts. Those being New Settings, Expanded Rule Creation and Expanded Alternate Rules.

In the New Settings we get three new example settings, ‘Age of Myth’, ‘Monsterworld’ and ‘Post Apocalypse’.

Unlike the Core Rulebook settings these new settings are not mapped to FFG IP. Like the other settings though these are broad overviews and meant as a starting point for building your own game worlds.

The ‘Age of Myth’ is slightly different to traditional fantasy. You are looking at Greek and Norse mythology and how they viewed the world. If you want a good look at this setting watch this video by Dael Kingsmill on the subject. But be warned her focus is more for using the setting in D&D. However Dael does a great job of explaining the difference between a fantasy and myth setting. I also like the job the authors of the EPG did.

‘Monsterworld’ is the gothic horror, setting. So think Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

I think ‘Post Apocalypse’ speaks for itself. However reading and watching The Road by Cormac McCarthy would be a great piece to get inspiration from. Or playing the classic video game The Last of Us. Although if I was thinking of using this setting and it is covered by one of the four The End of the World books by FFG I’d be tempted to use one of them instead.

FFG also provide a handy table that maps skills and talents for the settings to those in the Core Rulebook.

Add these example settings to those in the Core Rulebook and I think FFG have now covered the majority of the genres that most people will ever want or need.

However if they have missed one, or you want to come up with your own based on one of the provided examples or some other source material, FFG have provided a whole chapter of Expanded rules for creating a setting.

For me this is an amazing chapter that is system agnostic. It has some great tables to roll against for the generation of ideas or you can just pick one of the entries. These tables cover common tropes, technology level, world structure, etc. There is an Expanded Setting Creation Sheet you can download off the FFG website to record things on.

In the second part of the EPG we get rules for creating our own vehicles. Additionally there are some stats for common vehicles for land, air and water. I’ve not gone through the creation part yet. But the new vehicle stats are useful, and can go straight into a lot of settings.

We also get rules for creating quick adversaries plus a new challenge level system in this section. I really like the quick adversaries creation. It was fun creating those dinosaurs in previous posts using these rules. The new challenge level system is a welcome addition for judging how balanced an encounter is.

There is also rules here for creating specialization trees aka skill trees using talents. I really like this and currently creating a specialization tree for a runner in the Android setting. This is very video game RPG like.

In the third and final section there are “…new talents and spells designed to work with our magic rules“. It also has “…some alternate rules for character advancement and social encounters, and new tones.”

I’ve not spent any time in this section apart from briefly skimming the new tones, Heist and Noir. Apart from the new rules they introduce for each tone. I think these are pretty applicable to any system, and also another great source of inspiration.

If you play using Genesys system then this book is a must have. It certainly ticks all the boxes for me.

Tales from the Loop Amazon Series

news, RPG

The trailer below dropped this afternoon. Took me a little bit by surprise because I wasn’t aware this was in production.

I believe this series is inspired by the RPG and it’s art with the same name.

Which is pretty damn cool.

We often see a film or tv series made into a RPG. But rarely do we see it going the other way. The only one that comes to mind are movies based on D&D plus the old cartoon.

The exciting thing is we don’t have that long to wait to see it. According to end of the trailer this will be dropping in 3rd April.

I think the trailer looks pretty cool. I’ve gone from zero awareness to totally excited for this.

Who knows there might even be an upturn in the sales and playing of the RPG.

Let me know what you think of the trailer in the comments below.

UPDATE: a twitter like person informed me apparently this is a book also. And that is the source of the inspiration. The Wikipedia page needs updating then.