Giving the Wife a Tour of the Crypts of Aezoul Vhezian

I've been playing D&D on and off for nearly 20 years now.  When I met my wife she knew I played, but as most women who aren't into gaming, she just looked at it as sort of an odd curiosity.  We've been married for 12 years now, and recently she asked if I'd teach her what all the fuss is about, and why I enjoy this game so much.  Of course, I nearly jumped out of my chair at the opportunity to play D&D at the table just about every night, so we rolled her up a character.  She's playing Thanne the Ranger, a female human.  I rolled her up a couple of NPCs to aid her, and decided to give her a run through the mini-dungeon I created a few months back, called the Crypts of Aezoul Vhezian.

 

Originally I had crafted this as an old school dungeon crawl I was going to run for some of my friends at our annual camp, but things didn't go as planned, and we had to put off the game.  I had planned on creating additional supplemental levels and PDFs for this, but alas gamer ADD got the best of me.  Still yet, since I've been running it with the wife, and I already have level 2 drawn and keyed (just not put into PDF form), I may give the project another shot, and make the further levels available here on the blog.

 

So, after explaining the basics of the game to her, we were off and running.  She caught on surprisingly quickly, and after explaining to her the style of game this was (where character death was highly likely) she has approached each situation in the dungeon with an extreme level of caution.  Dare I say, she might be better inclined as a player than some of my own friends who have been playing this game with me for nearly 2 decades.  She takes caution upon entering every room, approaching each door and inspecting it carefully.  She goes through every room in careful detail taking time to explore the area albeit with the notion that this place is full of traps and hidden dangers. 

 

In one of the first rooms, she managed to find an eye shaped glass stone hidden in some rubble (a feature I thought would be vastly overlooked by most playing), which she quickly picked up and placed in her pouch.  She doesn't know it yet, but there is a spot in the dungeon where the glass eye can be placed to open a secret room with treasure.  She cleverly deduced there was a pit trap leading into the room with the carrion crawler and sprang it with a dead body, to which she simply walked around the edge of the sprung trap and entered the room.  Mind you, she did this without the use of a 10' pole.  Upon entering the carrion crawler's lair, she and her NPC companions, very carefully walked in, with the remaining party members being human, and restricted in their visibiilty due to torchlight, this further enhanced her cautious approach.  In the dungeon, the crawler clings to the high vaulted ceiling above the entrance to the room, waiting for its victims to completely enter before dropping down, blocking exit from the room, and surprising the party.  Before this happened however, she made careful note to look at the ceiling to which she saw the crawler inching down the wall near the door.  The crawler lost the element of surprise, and although he nearly paralyzed one of her companions (who made his save), she took the creature out in one round with a critical hit!

 

She has managed to survive using the NPCs in much the way you'd use a hireling as fodder, which has resulted in a couple of NPC deaths, mainly due to incredibly good dice rolls by the orcs they've encountered, but she is plugging along, and I am impressed with her progress so far.  I can say truly, although she is inexperienced in the game overall, she is a natural.  It's been a good time playing the game I love with her.

 

 

The City of Blackspire

I'm in the process of crafting my own homebrew world.  Generally I would start with a map on a project like this, but I'm looking at things from more of an abstract point of view here.  The idea is to create a series of locations and interesting regions, and maybe then map them out in relation to one another at a later time.

 

Blackspire

 

Located in the north, the city of Blackspire sits nestled in a valley at the foot of the Stormwind Peaks mountains on the edge of a large body of water called Icemere Loch, so named for its chilly waters and chunks of blackish ice which linger constantly within a hazy fog.

 

Blackspire is named for the large black twisting tower which sits atop a magically floating series of rocks about 100 feet above the city itself.  The tower, known as the Obsidian Citadel, is home to a conclave of archwizards and necromancers who call themselves the Black Cloaks of Thorvian.  The true numbers of these mages, and their identities, remain largely a mystery, but from within their magical fortress they govern the city, albeit with an aloof front.  They rarely step in to intervene on matters other than those of the utmost importance to the safety of the city, leaving the day to day ruling with the aristocracy of the city below.

The city's council, who refer to themselves as the Selectorate, govern the mundane day-to-day operations of the city.  They are composed of 50 high nobles, who consistently seek to backstab each other and further their own agendas.  Assassination attempts are commonplace in Blackspire, and as such, the nobility has taken extra guarded measures to ensure their own safety.  It is a common practice within the nobility to expose noble children to a variety of known (and some unknown to the masses) lethal poisons and elixirs in an effort to build a resistance to their properties.  The aristocracy is nearly wholly corrupt, having left behind the base ideas of moralism and ethics for their own self-serving benefits.  These traits they find beneath them and "plebeian" in nature.  Despite their ambitious nature, they live in fear of the Black Cloak mages.  At one time, one of the more ambitious of the aristocracy sought to craft a coup in order to oust the archwizards of the tower.  Before the plot could ever get off the ground, the nobleman was taken by agents of the Citadel where he was torn limb from limb by a summoned eldritch creature in front of the entire city.

The true population of the city is not known, but is thought to be in the thousands.  The only known map of the city lies in the Citadel and is in fact a living document which animates as new buildings are constructed or destroyed.  Most of the city's buildings are composed of damp stonework with wooden roofs.  The nature of the constant dampness seems to stem from the constant cold and moisture from Icemere Loch.  The streets are blackish cobblestone and wind and twist throughout the various wards which makeup the city. 

The sprawling city is fortified by a 20' high black stone wall with several gates of entry into its walls all manned by the constables.

The major source of trade with its neighbors lies in the precious metals mined outside of the city near the Stormwind Peaks, specifically silver.  In addition, the Obsidian Citadel hosts one of the only known academies of magic devoted to the necromantic arts drawing in potential practitioners from across the land.  Many fail in their pursuits, which often results in their own demise.

Despite the cold and dank nature of the city, the citizens and commoners are of a light-hearted sort, albeit a bit darker in their nature and attitude towards most things.  It is not uncommon, for example, to see a group of Blackspire citizens laughing it up when a bizarre tavern game results in the death of one of the contestants.

   

Pitfalls to Avoid in GMing: My Take

Earlier today I posted an entry about pitfalls to avoid when GMing. I noted the common ones known to everyone (fudging dice rolls, railroading, etc.), but I asked others to chime in with their own entries on 3 other common pitfalls to avoid when GMing. So, here is my take on 3 pitfalls to avoid when running a RPG.

1. You didn't make the style of the game clear to the players

You've spent time organizing an adventure, getting the players together, and selecting a nice place to meet up. Only you forgot to mention the theme/style of the game, or even ask the players' input at all. Frequent character death may be a common meme in old school games, but it's not common to everyone who plays RPGs. If your games run a high risk of character death, you need to make this clear up front. Players get annoyed enough when characters die, especially due to bad dice rolls, but it's even more annoying when a player spends several hours working up this amazingly awesome backstory, and fleshing their character out, only to have him/her die against the first batch of giant spiders you throw at the party. Again, frequent character death is almost unheard of in new school RPGs, and if you want to run an old school style game, you need to make it abundantly clear from the beginning. This doesn't just go for frequent character death either. That's just one example. If your game focuses on a mystery the PCs must solve, a combat light horror scenario, or a deathtrap dungeon, you need to at least make some of this known to your players before the game.

2. You plan on using a pet NPC

Avoid this like the plague. There will be moments where you'll think, "hey this is set in that same world I ran my 15th level half-dragon assassin character! Wouldn't it be cool if I introduced him as a NPC in this game?" The simple answer is, no, it wouldn't. Chances are, you'll end up wasting precious time reminiscing about how your uber character knocked off that lich in one round (hyperbole), or managed to con that dragon out of his horde that one time, and frankly, your players don't give a shit. They also don't care to see your pet NPC essentially take over the session doing awesome shit, because you want to show how much of a badass he is. Pet NPCs=bad idea 100% of the time. Don't use them...ever.

3. God, that one character is really annoying. Maybe I should kill him

Let's face it, you're gonna run into that one player whose character is just annoying. You know, the guy whose character has a 3 INT and must always do the absolute dumbest thing in EVERY situation? Or the guy who has acquired that one magical item that he uses as a crutch for perceived invincibility? There's nothing wrong with humbling these characters in games, to be certain, but resist the temptation to simply develop an encounter with the sole purpose of killing the character. It's hard to resist the temptation to simply have the character killed off so the sessions are less annoying, yes, but remember you're the referee and judge, and as such you should always remain fair and impartial. These types of characters will eventually be weeded out by other players if not by simply their own incompetence. I recall years ago, one of our friends was running an extended campaign, and one of our players ran a super annoying red-haired female thief named Mitra. She was always doing things which got us in a jam as a party, and really never showed any true benefit to the group. She was always conspiring behind the party's back, etc. So, what did we do as a group? We sold her character into slavery the first chance we got. The DM didn't have to worry about taking the character out. We did it for him as players. Yes, it resulted in some tense moments between the players, but shit happens. The point is, you as the DM should remain fair, even when one of the player's character is an annoying pissant.

So, these are 3 pitfalls I think are important to avoid in GMing. What are some of your own? Write up your own entries, and comment with the link to your blog here, and I'll compile them in one big post. Again, I'm interested in hearing your own takes on common pitfalls to avoid.

Avoiding Pitfalls in GMing

Hill Cantons' recent challenge has turned out a fantastic array of solid GM advice from the far corners of the gaming blogosphere, and while I chimed in with my own entry, this challenge made me think of something else; what NOT to do as the GM.  Now, we can all agree on the normal things to avoid as a GM such as fudging dice rolls, railroading players into a storyline which places them as mere puppets in your table-top fantasy novel, etc.  These things are pretty much common-place obstacles to avoid when sitting behind the screen, but aside from these, I'd like to hear from other gamers and GMs on which 3 pitfalls they think are most important to avoid as GMs.

 

I plan on having my own take up here this afternoon.  For those who respond, I'll create another entry collecting them with links, so post away links to your entries here in the comments, if you are so inclined.  I'm interested to hear and learn from you, and really, isn't tha what this whole blogging thing is all about anyway?  So, let's hear it.

On Building a Better GM

I happened to notice several other bloggers taking up ckutalik's challenge on building a better GM, which was inspired by a post by one of my favorite bloggers, Beedo.

Ckutalik asks us to elaborate on 3 essential elements as follows:

1. Name three “best practices” you possess as a GM. What techniques do you think you excel at?
2. What makes those techniques work? Why do they “pop”?
3. How do you do it? What are the tricks you use? What replicable, nuts-and-bolts tips can you share?

It's hard to narrow it down to just 3 "best practices" really. In surveying my own thoughts on the issue, dozens of best practices come to mind, however I'll try to stick to what I believe are the 3 most important.

1. The game is not about you, it's about your players

It's a hard truth to accept for many GMs. We all have our own philosophies on how the game should be played, but ultimately, the only ones you really need to worry about impressing are your players. That is not to say that you fudge dice rolls, or give into unreasonable player demands at the table. Rather it means keeping your focus on what the players want to do in the game as opposed to what you would like to see them do.

This especially rings true in preparation. There have been countless times when a GM has sat down with his players, having prepared a nice little adventure for them, only to have them do something completely off the wall which derails all that preparation. We hear about these things happening at the table all the time, and true enough, they happen at my own. It's part of the game. You have to learn to roll with it, because it's never going to change as long as you believe in not restricting player control over their characters.

This is where the sandbox style really shines, however, because you are providing a world with which the players interact, and the choices they make should always matter. Resist the urge to railroad players into certain situations. Present the adventure hooks for them, and let them take it in the direction they choose. This is going to require improvisation on your part as a GM, but if you're remotely considering sandbox style play, you must accept the fact that you will likely be improvising...a lot.

Make the world around your players a living and breathing thing. There are NPC motivations outside of what your players are involved in at a given time. Their characters can't be everywhere all the time. Maybe they have a few options in the beginning, but they won't know the results of their actions until things are played out. For example, they have option 1, which is to raid a nearby set of ruins overrun with undead, or option 2, which after some investigation by the players, results in their foil of an assassination attempt. If they pick option 1, don't forget about option 2, and let the consequences of their choices take place. Let that major NPC get assassinated because the players didn't take that hook.

Know your world, and write down notes on events surrounding it. These don't have to be detailed pages and tomes of useless information that may never come up in play. Just a series of simple bullet style notes, preferably keeping it in line with your campaign world calendar. Those particular events in which your players actively chose not to participate in, should happen. The ones in which your players took the bait of a hook should be saved and the results determined by their actions in the game. Doing this, they will quickly realize that their actions have consequences, and will respond accordingly.

Ultimately you want your players to have fun, and have a strong desire to return to the gaming table and continue. That's what it's all about. If your players prefer detailed railroady storyline games over an open-ended sandbox style, then give them what they want, or find a group of players whose play style fits more in line with your own. Don't force players down a path they don't want to take in play style, because the results will often be complacency at best, or downright apathy at worst.

2. Stay Organized

I am the most unorganized person you'll ever meet really. My organization skills in general entail trying to remember if I laid that notebook under the bag of Doritos I've been working over, or with a bunch of other notebooks piled on top of my printer. Still yet, I try my best to keep things organized when it comes to the RPGs I run.

I can't stress enough how important it is to have a campaign notebook. For me, this typically means a traditional 3 ring binder with dividers, document protectors, and various useful in-game documents. That said, your campaign notebook can entail a number of different options. Find whatever is best for you, and run with it. If you can keep things organized on a laptop, or on a site like Obsidian Portal, use those methods, but try your best to stay organized.

So, how do I do it? As I said, I have a 3 ring binder I use, tabbed with document protectors. I have a section for maps, random tables and charts specific to the area the players are in, and a section of notes for the game.

I have stated above how important improvisation is in sandbox gameplay. I tend to use a lot of tables and charts which I can quickly refer to in a jam. These include NPC name generator tables, inn and tavern name tables, random trap and trick generators, etc. These are particularly handy because they allow you to focus your creative energies into important stuff, like the game, rather than having to spend mental energy to find a clever name off the top of your head for a NPC or location, which may end up sounding stupid (we've all been guilty.)

In my maps section, I usually keep a handful of maps I have either made, or found online. There's usually a mixture of both. Some of these mini-dungeon areas are keyed, while others aren't, but the idea is to whip one out in a jam when the PCs go off the beaten path. This way I'm not completely caught off guard. I know, for example, in general where my players are on my hex map before each session. I will then prepare a few maps and encounters for various locales in and around those hexes. Nothing too fancy, just enough to give me something should they wander off from what I perceive to be their goal at the time. Best of all, I can always use those maps in other areas later if need be.

The notes section is probably the most important section of the notebook. I have a campaign log which I keep, an item spreadsheet which lists who has what item, where they got it, if it's been identified and the items known and unknown properties. I also keep a small chart to document xp to help me calculate everything at the end of a session.

My campaign notebook is like my GM bible for the game. A good, well kept campaign notebook, will bail you out of sticky situations, and just make life easier for you as a GM, which in turn, will make things better and more enjoyable for the players.

3. Don't over-prepare

Don't spend too much time in preparation, and stick to things that will directly involve your PCs. Do you really need to write up 3 or 4 paragraphs of notes on a temple or inn your players may never visit? Improvise many of these things. Stick to what's important for the upcoming sessions. Yes, this can be, more or less, a fly by the seat of your pants method, but that's the fun of the sandbox. You're discovering your world along with the players.

When I start a new campaign, I like to take a hex map, key out several locations of interest, without detailing them too much, a brief set of notes on major NPCs in the area, and their motivations, various secret groups and organizations, a very brief overview of the political climate of the area, etc. These don't have to entail hours upon hours of needless preparation. Just a few notes, allowing you to focus on really preparing the important stuff, like areas your players might explore. Throwing up a few one page dungeons to get things going is a good idea.

It's very easy to find yourself spending hours preparing for scenarios your players may never encounter. I've done it myself, and in many ways, it's simply unavoidable, but try to limit the time and energy you spend on your campaign into what directly involves your players in the current session. Trust me, some of the best moments at your table will come through improvisation and just winging it. Just ensure you take good notes (or keep a campaign log as I mentioned in point 2), so you can keep things organized.

Some of these methods may work for you, some may not, and many of you are probably already implementing these methods in some form in your own games anyway. There simply is no absolute best way to GM. It would be a pretty boring world if that were the case. Still yet, we all have techniques and experiences to draw upon, which can make the job of GMing easier if we actually take the time to read and learn from others.

Grognardia or How I Discovered I Wasn't Alone in the Universe

This is a story which I really haven't shared yet here on BHD, but in honor of the fact that James over at Grognardia just surpassed 1,000 followers, and others are paying homage to him, I felt it was time I told this story. 

 

Back in the late 1990's, life began to change drastically for me.  After spending most of my young adolescent days in that decade playing D&D, starting with 1e then moving on to 2e, towards the end of the decade, I began college, started working to pay my way through, and gaming fell on the back-burner.  Eventually I got married and joined the Air Force in 1999, and by that time, gaming for me had completely fallen off the map.  It was, I believe, the following year when Wizards of the Coast took over TSR and revealed 3rd edition.  I recall being in a book store somewhere, picking it up and having a read through, and putting it down on the shelf.  It was strange really.  I had moved on away from the game of D&D, and after seeing the new version I felt the game had moved away from me as well.  The glory days of 2e were behind me, and the whole d20 thing just wasn't my cup of tea at all.

 

Here and there throughout the 2000's I played on occasion, when I got out of the military and returned home, but always we played 2e.  Eventually even that began to subside.  There just wasn't much material out there, and there didn't seem to be much of a niche for older editions online.  I suppose most of the old 2e players either moved on to 3e, or simply gave up on the game completely.  I discovered the Knights and Knaves forum some years ago, back when it was a ProBoards message board, but their utter hatred for 2e turned me away.  So, in many ways I felt alone in my love for the older incarnations of the game.  While most of my playing experience came from 2e, I got my introduction to the game through playing 1e, and always held a fondness for that version.

 

It was late last year, I believe, I was surfing through my feeds and noticed that one of the large sci-fi blogs, io9.com, linked an article James had written on Grognardia about Robert E. Howard.  Being a big Conan fan, I followed the link over, and from there it opened a whole new world up for me.  There was this thing they were calling an "old school renaissance?"  1e had been restored through OSRIC to allow for new material, and best of all, there was not only James, but hundreds of others who were just like me; fans of the older versions and styles of play.  This discovery ignited a fire within me again, and soon I started blogging myself about the games we all love.

 

So, congratulations on reaching 1,000 followers, James, although we know your reach in the community goes far beyond that.  Had it not been for your blog, I never would have discovered the OSR, and all the great people I've had the pleasure to meet over the past few months.

Monster: Lurghor

Lurghor

Frequency: Very Rare
No. Encountered: 1
Size: M
Move: 12 (3 in Gaseous Form)
Armor Class: 2
Hit Dice: 8+3
Attacks: 1
Damage: 2-12
Special Attacks: See below
Special Defenses: See below
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Magic Resistance: Sleep, Charm, Hold spells
Lair Probability: 50%
Intelligence: Very
Level/XP Value: 8/2,200 +12 per hit point

Lurghors are creatures who dwell in both the prime and negative material planes. They are often mentioned in stories and legends told by low firelight by nurse-maids and nannies as a means to scare little children into proper behavior. The Lurghor in its natural form, is a creature of solid black with green glowing slits for eyes. Its body is generally twisted into a form of horrific display (its head will be twisted around while it walks on its hands and feet, for example.)

The arrival of a Lurghor to a village is seen as the sign of a curse, and they may be attracted for a variety of reasons, however the most common is the betrayal of a lover which has resulted in a death. Lurghors are drawn to the negative energy surrounding such an event, and will quickly take hold in an area wreaking havoc in the night.

They generally dwell in small caves in a wooded or forest area near the village they are menacing. The home of a Lurghor is easily identified, as the ground itself within a 500 yard radius of a Lurghor lair will turn to a dark grayish color, and the grass and trees will be brittle, twisted and dead no matter the season.

Lurghors are able to take a Gaseous Form once per day, making them invulnerable to all attacks save magical fire or electricity. They usually take this form turning into a greenish/black mist to sneak into the homes of villagers, where they feed off the dreams of small children. Such a victim of a Lurghor is easy to identify. Although they remain alive physically, their eyes will turn to a milky white color, and they will not respond, talk, or acknowledge the presence of anyone. The only way such a victim can be restored to its prior conscious state is through the death of the Lurghor.

In combat, the Lurghor will attempt to take a gaseous form if possible to evade enemies it determines may be a challenge. In physical form, the sight of the Lurghor requires each of its opponent to make a saving throw vs. petrification, or be affected per the Fear spell. In combat, it will attack with its claw like hands which will drain one experience level each time a hit is scored in addition to its normal damage.

The Lurghor is immune to Sleep, Hold, or Charm related spells. It can only be harmed by silver, magical attacks, or +1 magical weapons. Although it partially exists in the negative plane, it is not undead, and thus cannot be turned.

Much Ado About Neverwinter

In the wake of a recent press release from Wizards about the new Neverwinter "Campaign Setting," for 4th edition D&D, it seems many in the old school blog world are outraged.  After all, Wizards blatantly proclaims it as "the first-ever RPG book focused solely on one city."  I can see how many of my fellow grognards could be outraged over this gaffe.  Despite the fact that not only is Neverwinter not the first city focused RPG supplement, it's not even the second, third, or probably even the 100th RPG book focused on urban sprawls.  This was obviously some sort of ad-copy oversight, and many are dismissing it, but should they?

 

I think at the heart of the matter, folks like Rob Conley, and others who have expressed outrage, understand that this was simply a bad marketing press release, but the bigger issue I think is one that has been brewing for a long time.  That is, the continuing and growing sentiment from old school gamers that Wizards is completely abandoning the roots of the hobby for the sake of making a few bucks, all the while dismissing the foundation of the hobby's history.  Is that an overreaction to what is obviously some sort of marketing stumble?  Perhaps, but there is a bigger picture, and this is simply a small stroke on a much larger painting. 

 

That said, I can't say I share the same sentiment as many of my fellow old schoolers.  I have said multiple times that I'm not an edition wars guy.  I don't care for anything beyond 2e, and to me, these later incarnations do not seem like D&D to me, but some other game, with different mechanics and a different rule base.  D&D in name only.  But if that's what people enjoy playing, I certainly would never begrudge them that.  Point being, I personally am not outraged over the marketing mistake, but I can understand why many in our niche hobby would be.  D&D, it seems, only exists in its current version, and everything before it doesn't matter.  That's the sentiment many feel, and even the smallest of mistakes in a press release only seeks to reinforce this idea throughout our small community.

Dread Rock Playtest Session 2 Recap

Cast of Characters

 

Sharaka - Fighter, 1st level, half-orc

Garik Bloodshield - Cleric, 1st level, Dwarf

Dolan the Red - Fighter, 1st level, human

Denthor - Mage, 1st level, human

 

We picked up right where we left off in session 1, using Skype and Gametable as our online virtual table top app.  Gametable really helps expedite gameplay as you can save maps and easily go back in, load the map, and you're ready to play in a few moments.  The group got a great deal of exploration out of the way in this session.  Garik's player really took the lead and did a great job.  I have mentioned him before in my Cormyr Campaign session recaps.  He is the player who tends to wander off on his own at times, however this is usually whenever we play anywhere other than a dungeon.  In the dungeon environment, he thrives as a player. 

 

Sharaka took the lead with his telescopic 10 foot pole, plugging along slowly pushing at flagstones on the floor and testing for traps.  If you've looked on the map for Dreadrock level 1-1, you may recall there is a scythe blade trap leading into the makeshift orc tavern.  Sharaka discovered this loose flagstone on the ground with his pole, and Garik investigated.  Being a dwarf, in 1e rules, he has a 50% check to detect traps in stonework.  I made the roll for him, which he passed.  He could tell by the narrow slits in either wall, coupled with the loose stone, that this was some sort of trap.  He inquired about how high the slits were from the floor, to which I replied, about waist level to a normal human.  He layed down flat on top of the stone, engaging the trap while the others stood back.  The scythes sweeped in from either side of the wall, flying back and forth as a pendulum over Garik's body as he lay on the stone, eventually coming to a stop and hanging in the middle of the hall.  I thought this was a fairly clever way to disarm the trap.

 

They pressed on, taking out the orcs in the makeshift tavern thanks to the aid of a few Molotov cocktail/oil flasks.  They continued along through the area, taking out a few more rooms with orcs, until they found a place to hold up for a few hours so Denthor could rest and re-memorize a spell.  They secured the room and prepared a watch for about 4 hours.  After rolling on the random encounter charts, the first I rolled was a human slave.  As the PCs were in a room, secured and locked, I simply had the slave come to the door and pull on its handle.  Garik replied back in orc, changing his voice.  He heard the pitter-pat of feet run away, and that was that.  The main mission the party was hired to take on in Dread Rock was the rescue of a human female who had taken up to adventuring and ran away from her wealthy father.  The wealthy father hired the group to track her down and bring evidence of her death, or either return her to Dread Rock Bluff alive.  They did not realize it, of course, but had they opened the door, they would have discovered this was indeed the girl, in rags, now a slave to the orcs.  Since Garik replied in orcish, she never spoke and simply ran from the door.  They didn't investigate any further on the matter.

 

One more roll on the random encounter table brought another pull on a door handle from outside the room.  This time, they decided to listen, to which they heard the sound of creatures speaking in kobold.  Garik and Sharaka carefully opened the door, and to their surprise, stood a group of 7 kobolds, in rags and chains, and unarmed.  The leader quickly appealed to the party to let them in, promising they were merely slaves trying to escape, and meant no ill-will to the group.  Garik decided to let them in so he could secure the door quickly.  The kobolds explained they were slaves to the orcs, who had them digging a tunnel to the surface in order to raid Dread Rock Bluff, and the road coming in.  They offered to aid the party in clearing out the orcs, if they would arm them, and set their remaining kin free.  Garik inquired about the slaves, to which the kobolds informed him there were also humans.  The party agreed to arm the kobolds with some spears from the orcs they had previously dispatched in this same room.  Garik mimicked a chant, and told the kobolds he had cast a spell which would result in their instant deaths were they to betray the party.  The kobolds, not knowing any better, believed him (or at least appeared to anyway.)

 

Once the party was ready to proceed, they decided to investigate this tunnel the kobold slaves were digging.  They had the kobolds go ahead to lead the way, and departed the room after resting.  After a few moments, the party, walking in the rear behind the kobolds, heard a click and saw the first 2 kobolds drop.  Sharaka moved ahead to look, and noticed a snapped fish line on the floor, and 2 darts coated with a liquid lying on the ground.  The two kobolds had been pierced by two more darts and died as a result.  Sharaka instructed the kobolds to be more careful and to use their spears to poke ahead on the floor.

 

The party moved on and discovered another door in the corridor.  The kobolds warned the party that the room was an orc barracks chamber, and the party decided to take the orcs out.  They opened the door, which wasn't locked, and managed to surprise the orcs.  Denthor stood in the doorway and cast a sleep spell on 3 of the orcs, then quickly ducked out of the way.  The party stood at the doorway as the remaining orcs pushed forward.  The party managed to funnel orcs out one at a time, using the threshold as a point of advantage.  After taking out 5 of them, the bodies were piled to high for any orcs to proceed.  The remaining orcs in the room turned to flee.  The party then had to spend a round moving bodies out of the way to pursue.  By the time they entered the chamber, the remaining orcs had fled, in an unknown direction.  The party decided to secure the barracks room, and rest for a full 8 hours. 

 

We called the session at this point.  This was the first time any of the orcs had managed to escape the party.  Now knowing of their presence, the orcs have called for reinforcements and are staged with shortbows and nets outside either entrance into the room.  The party will have a rude awakening when we pick back up on Sunday.

 

Post-Session Thoughts:

 

I thought the session went rather well.  So far, the party has only managed to find rooms containing orcs, and have yet to discover a few of the more interesting rooms on the level.  Now, the orcs know of their presence, and things are going to get more difficult for them to proceed.  They really liked the kobold slave twist, and I get the sense they are starting to feel the dungeon environment coming alive.  Looking at the method I used to stock it, I can see I really didn't put in nearly enough orcs.  These are veteran players, and know how to use tactics to their advantage for combat, but with only 4 party members, thus far they have had little problem getting through the combats and traps.  Of course, now that the orcs know they are there in the dungeon, the party has lost the element of surprise.  No more hopping from room to room and surprising orcs.  In fact, it's highly possible the orcs bring out the heavy on this one (that being the ogre prisoner they have for just such an occasion.)  All said, they had fun and I had fun running the session.  We're planning on playing again Sunday night with hopefully another session report soon thereafter here on the blog.

There's a Munchkin at my Table

I've been playing D&D off and on with the same group of people for about 20 years now.  Very rarely do we all get together at once to play, but more or less, we all know each others' playing styles.  We've had new people drop in and out of campaigns here and there over the years, but the core of the group has remained the same.  When I first brought up the idea of this new campaign, one of my friends wanted to invite a mutual friend of ours who was relatively new to D&D to the campaign.  I know this guy, and he's a good person and not a weirdo, so I agreed without really knowing his play style.  In the first session, he was fairly quiet.  Mostly observing, but putting in his thoughts here and there on things that came up.  The second session was a bit different, and it wasn't long before I realized, yes, despite my best efforts, my campaign has been invaded by a munchkin.

 

My first warning sign should have been the fact that his character's stats were ridiculous.  Our mutual friend assured me that he rolled these stats legitimately using the 4d6 drop the lowest method (which is the standard method we use in the game.)  This mutual friend is not a munchkin player, and in fact has a lot of GM time under his own belt, although he tends to run very story based campaigns where the PCs are chess pieces in his D&D "novel," but I digress.  My gut told me I should have simply made him roll a new character in front of me, but in an effort to speed things up so we could all start the campaign, I simply let it go.  Of course, being the DM I am, I really didn't care about stats, and I still don't truly.  High stats may help in certain situations in my campaign, but outsmarting the bad guy is what ensures survivability.  After spending two sessions now with this player, and talking to him on the side about the game, it has become quite obvious that he is simply consumed with powering up his character and to hell with the consequences.  So, now I face a dilemma I haven't dealt with in many years, but in the immortal words of Ivan Drago, I will break him.

 

His first near death experience came without him even realizing it, which is disappointing to me as a DM dealing with this type of player.  If you've read the session two summary, you probably already know that the party had to gain access to a tunnel system outside of the city which connects to the sewers.  This tunnel system was blocked by a portcullis and guarded by a blind man.  Life-sized stone statues stood in the antechamber leading into this hall as well.  There was enough for them, as players, to put two and two together and realize that if this meek looking blind man can somehow control the entry point to a major black market trade route, he must have some power behind him.  The munchkin didn't realize this.  Fortunately for him, the others quickly reigned him in.  He was distraut over the required payment of 200 gold pieces, especially considering they had just looted a bandit camp and managed to pick up about 240 gold.  His immediate reaction at the table was "kill the blind man and open the portcullis."  After all, his character has an 18 exceptional STR.  He could smite this blind dude with his hammer in one round and raise the portcullis with a little help probably.  What he didn't realize is the entry point is protected by a medusa who uses her blind slave to take money to enter, and the portcullis is enchanted with lightning which means any character touching it will sustain 3d6 damage.  Had the others not intervened, we would have experienced a very quick and sudden character death.  For their own sake, however, they decided to just pay the blind guardian, and get the hell into the tunnels.

 

Throughout the session there were several facepalm and eye roll moments from my other players in regards to this munchkin's actions, which left me smirking at times.  They know the deal, and a wrong move, or a foolish mistake can result in a death quickly.  I have made this point clear to them at the start of the campaign, so they tread even more carefully...except our munchkin of course.  So, now that it has become painfully obvious how this player intends to run his character, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve for him.  First of all, he is running a cleric/fighter Dwarf, and he is foregoing any attempt at roleplaying the priestly aspect of his class.  For him, priest spells are useful for healing and casting Bless for the party when he's not smashing things with his maul.  In fact, after capturing a bandit to interrogate, he stood by and essentially allowed the bandit to be tortured and even joined in himself.  I warned him, this continued behavior could result in an alignment change, but I did not warn him of the fact that such behavior from a cleric, without seeking penance, will result in him calling for a priest spell when needed the most, and not receiving the spell from his god.  No, I think it better for him to discover this on his own through his gameplay.

 

I am still toying with the idea of a new mini-dungeon for the next session, only rather than a labyrinth crawling with monsters and undead, it will be a tomb of horrors style puzzle/trap maze where a wrong move can easily result in character death.  My only concern with such a dungeon is the fact that I have to expose the other good players to this exercise simply in order to teach a lesson to a munchkin.  If they're smart, they'll simply let him take the lead, as he will assuredly do, and let Darwin take over.  I could easily invoke some method to kill him as a DM and be done with it, but it goes against my code as a DM to simply use my "DM hand of God" to kill a character.  I want to present the challenge, and allow the character to make a choice, and let the consequences of the choice take over.  That's how it should be done in fairness, and I'm a fair DM.

 

Now that I know what I'm dealing with in regards to this player, I doubt it will take long before he realizes munchkinism does not work at my table.  That is my hope anyway.