Where adventure goes to die
Just a couple things from last session:
Anker’s body should be returned to Aldmaar; Juttah has already indicated that he doesn’t plan to return at this time
Milestones for advancement to next level:
We discussed several rules emphases:
There were a number of sidebar conversations PCs held with members of their factions. Buck won’t be commenting on these discussions in the narrative post — he wasn’t there and I assume your characters wouldn’t have told him about them.
The nobles — seemed not pleased at his message in general
The Guilds — seemed indifferent or uncertain
Anthracite — seemed interested but skeptical
Aldmaar — seemed excited about the references to addressing the King’s plundering of the wood; less so about sharing the game bounty
The peoples of the South seemed generally excited about the whole speech, though maybe not so excited about mining
San Nicholas — seemed wary of the whole speech until Arthur addressed his commitment to the Church of San Nicholas and its prominence within his family, at which point most were beaming.
In general, though, your PCs would have observed that Arthur’s speech was received by the factions in the following ways:
Rules notes: we discussed “weapon juggling” and how the rules explicitly support stowing and drawing a weapon as part of the Attack action, plus stowing a weapon as a Free Action, meaning that a PC with 2 weapons drawn could stow both weapons and still draw another as long as they are taking the Attack action.
We also discussed that administering a potion, to oneself or another, is a bonus action.
To discuss: using DNDBeyond for initiative and HP tracking
Each week I’ll provide a “Session Notes” post from Buck Headstrong that will be a narrative recounting of what happened, and a separate “Addendum” such as this one with mechanical/meta-game stuff.
Loot: there is some loot to be gathered after the fight, no big surprise. This won’t come up often, but Arthur is going to take a significant “share” of the take, which leaves the following for the party:
To discuss: Level Objectives
Joe and I attended DunDraCon in Santa Clara in February. DunDraCon was the first ever gaming convention I attended, way back in …1990? I lost track of it, but attended again in 2017, where I ran my Fate “Kung Fu Wombat” game (though I called it something else back then).
As I’m interested in attending more gaming cons in retirement, I booked us a room and secured tickets to this year’s event.
I didn’t submit to run a game, mostly because I was too late to submit one. More on that later.
DunDraCon has a — being charitable — idiosyncratic system for registering for games. They break down the event into a handful of time windows, such that you will only get assigned one (or zero) sessions during each window. One chooses their top 3 choices for events they’d like to attend per each window. The drawing that determines which, if any, of your choices you can attend, only happens eight hours or so before the window opens1. So, even in the week leading up to the con, even if you registered on the first day of availability, you still don’t know what sessions you will be in.
And, spoiler, you will almost certainly have windows where, you did not get into any session. For the entirety of Saturday, the first full day of the con, I got into only one session. Joe got into zero. An entire day of the conference with no events.
To be fair, not understanding how this was likely to play out, I made two choices that contributed to this problem. First of all, I didn’t register to run any games. Had, I that would have guaranteed that I could have played, and you can be damned certain I would have made sure Joe had a seat at the table. Additionally, GMs get a “priority” registration that increases the chance that you will get into an event when you register with the priority. The dude who ran the game we got into on Friday night said he has never failed to get into a session when he used priority.
The second screw-up was I didn’t book us for events in every window. Many of the scheduled sessions are intended to run 6-8 hours, but the session windows tend to be more like fours long. I didn’t book any sessions for windows where, if we had got into our choices in the previous window, we would still be playing and therefore unable to attend whatever we chose in the previous window. They would have overlapped. Little did I know that there was no chance I would end up in overlapping sessions because we would have been lucky to get into any session at all. For the whole day.
We played eight hours of D&D Friday night, which was fine. The scenario “Bad Water” was one where all PCs were dwarves and gnomes living in the Underdark who had never seen the light of day. We were required to investigate a problem with the local water supply, an underground stream that served the community in which we all lived. It was a bit of a meandering affair that probably could have been a punchy four hour adventure, but it took us all of eight hours. It was fine.
The venue, the aging Santa Clara Marriott is a decent site, and an upgrade from the hotel that hosted the event last time I attended, in San Ramon.
Here are the key takeaways for me, for next year:
Joe and I played some D&D and DDC in our hotel room. We made the best of it.
Next year will be better.
I could confirm some of this if DunDraCon’s site
- 1) hadn’t already archived their event list for this year, so you can’t see how things were scheduled and
2) wasn’t having such performance issues right now that it’s essentially unusable.
… when I’m running a game.
Name:GroupInit
Script:
!group-init
Comments: Just a dumb shortcut for running the standard GroupInit API Script. I don’t have to remember the syntax (which couldn’t be simpler). Allows me to select a group of bad guys click on macro, it launches Turn Tracker, rolls their initiative and the bad guys initiative gets added.
Name: GroupCheck
Script:
!group-check
Comments: like GroupInit, just a simple call to the standard GroupCheck API Script. Select bad guy tokens and click macro button. It produces an inline menu in Chat window, where I select the type of check, including saving throws and skill checks, and rolls for each token selected.
Name: SaveApply
Script:
!group-check {{
–?{Save|Dexterity|Constitution|Wisdom} Save
–process
–subheader vs DC ?{DC}
–button ApplyDamage !apply-damage
~dmg [[?{Damage}]]
~type ?{Damage on Save|Half,half|None,none}
~DC ?{DC}
~saves RESULTS(,)
~ids IDS(,)
}}
Comments: Nice script I found that uses GroupCheck. For selected tokens, it rolls a Saving Throw, asks what the damage to apply is, whether one takes half or no damage if save is successful, asks the Difficulty, and then applies the results to the tokens after all that. Awesome for area damage spells such as Fireball.
Name: Dead
Script:
!token-mod –set statusmarkers|=dead bar1_value|0
Comments: Dead-simple script leveraging TokenMod. Bad guys get the big red X of death and hit points reduced to zero.
Name: TokenSetup
Script:
!token-mod {{
–set bar1_link|hp
–set bar2_link|ac
–set bar3_link|speed
–set name|@{selected|character_name}
–on showplayers_bar1
–off showplayers_bar2
–off showplayers_aura1
–off showplayers_aura2
–on token_vision
}}
Comments: Using TokenMod, sets up token for PCs with just the basics. I have a very similar one for NPCs.
The citizens of BezosCorp’s unique crystal toroid located at the L5 Lagrangian point in the Earth-Moon system welcome you to live the life others can only dream of!
Grown from crystals harvested from asteroids and even Comet Halley, SkyCity is a gleaming gem suspended in a perfectly safe and stable orbit.
Come ride your bicycle amongst the green trees and pure air that only your grandparents can remember from their youth on Earth!
Feast on the finest gourmet foods! Real beef imported from Lunar Colony Heinlein! The finest wine and beer from crops grown right here at SkyCity! The universe’s finest chefs all work for BezosCorp!
Swim in the perfectly clear water of Lake Amazonia!
Like to hike? Rock Climb? Run? Ever try it in 1/3 gee? You’ll never want to go back to the oppressive gravity of Earth!
The streets are spotless. Crime is unknown. And those views! The moon is always full! From L5 we see half of the moon that’s visible from earth and half from the back-side! You’ll never grow tired of seeing Earth …..
;jafjqwfd…. … .
Transmission interrupted.
Welcome corporate criminals! You’ve destroyed the earth and now you’re seeking your last refuge where you think the people that you’ve left behind, poisoned and bereft can’t reach you.
Let this be your notice. There is no escape from your crimes. We are the Fist of Destiny. You will answer for what you have done. Our reach is infinite and we have the support of the 20 billion lives you have fled from. There is no nuclear engine powerful enough to escape Earth, to escape us, to escape your fate!
This soldier accompanies a unit composed of a goliath, a human story-teller, a dark elf sorceress, and some odd halfling-dwarf hybrid.
Upon arriving in Undermountain, we were confronted by a ludicrous band of humans playing as vampires. They were pathetic and easily bested.
We managed to make our way through a magical portal which seemed to grant random enchantments, as likely to be fell as boon.
We fought a group of manticores, fed ritually by a troll, all of which we eventually bested.
We have continued to explore. My compatriots are typical gold-grubbing adventurers with no higher purpose than to fill their coffers until such time as their drinking and carousing forces them into poverty and they must sally forth again to complete the cycle.
They carted the bodies out, one after another…
Last night, this terrible Season of Blood stormed over a new location: Lord and Lady Gralhund’s villa. Neighbors reported hearing what they initially thought was another of the Gralhund’s famous parties being conducted at the lovely compound in the North Ward. However, the evening turned out to be anything but festive. Nearly a dozen armed men, clad in black leather armor (sound familiar, Dear Reader?) met their demise inside the walled villa, alongside an equal number of Gralhund’s own guards and employees.
Lady Yalah Gralhund herself was cruelly put to the sword by these assassins. Lord Orond sustained only minor wounds while trying heroically to defend his dear wife.
The City Watch, in an all-too-frequent refrain, report that they have no leads on the purpose of this murderous assault or on those who may have coordinated it. Citizens reported variously that an evil-appearing human male, tall, broad and clad in — guess what? — black leather armor, was seen fleeing the villa during or immediately after the vicious melee. Other reports suggest that, rather than a man, a mechanical creature departed the villa at that time, springing dozens of feet into the air. Or perhaps both?
It’s clear that the City Watch is unable to guarantee our security, in our City of Splendors during this dangerous time. Lock your doors, citizens. And beware the Black Clad!
As we’ve discussed, our next game will be a return to Waterdeep in the latest D&D module “Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.” From D&D Beyond:
“In this story, you are D&D heroes with swords and magic living in fantasy New York City. A lot of normal people live here trying to get by, but the city is really run by monstrous crime lords, secret nobility, and a lot of evil people trying to get very, very rich. But since this is a city with laws and a police force, you have to act like detectives or vigilantes to get results, like Batman or Robert Downey Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes. Words are weapons, and it’s better to bring villains down by revealing their deep dark secrets than by killing them with a sword.”
We’ll be playing in the “current” iteration of Waterdeep. As much as I have tried to avoid keeping up with the official narrative for Waterdeep (and the broader Forgotten Realms), this game will be firmly set in the setting as it is formally. We are 30+ years in the future from the time of the Open Lord Piergeiron Paladinson. But, while some of the faces have changed except for the newest “Ward:” Deepwater Harbor, the city has not changed, except that it is grander and more cosmopolitan than ever. The above reference to New York City should give some indication of how bustling, arbitrarily corrupt and immune to everyday concerns the City of Splendors is.
For Players: Make Thematic Characters
If your DM and fellow players want to play a game of urban intrigue, you would be well served to create a character that fits in that genre. This way you not only respect others’ fun, you set yourself up to have fun by creating a character well-equipped to handle the sort of challenges the campaign will throw your way. A barbarian suited only for fighting will have fun when combat encounters arise, but when a campaign is mostly based around infiltrating manor houses, schmoozing with nobility, and hunting for clues in ancient archives? You aren’t doing yourself any favors by playing that kind of character.
I will ask that you pick your race, class and background together. In the first 1-3 sessions, I’m going to ask that everyone complete their Traits, Ideals, Bonds and, especially Flaws. Please try to have your character’s behavior reflect all of your characters components, not just Race, Class or Alignment.
More from the article:
For Players: Get Involved in the City
Waterdeep is as much a character as any of the DM’s NPCs. Its many wards all have different moods and treat the characters differently. High-class characters with the noble background may feel out of place among rough-and-tumble sailors in muddy Dock Ward, and common city folk may feel like the North Ward’s suburban atmosphere is a bit too clean for their taste—to say nothing of the opulent extravagance of the Sea Ward. Waterdeep is teeming with personality of its own, to say nothing of the dozens upon dozens of NPCs that live there.
Your character has the opportunity to become involved in the city and make a life there. You aren’t a wanderer, camping out on the side of a road as you travel from ruin to ruin. You may have a regular room in the Yawning Portal Inn and Tavern, and get to know the locals. You might want to start up a business of your own and get to know your neighbors and customers. This creates opportunities for roleplaying, but this is a good idea even if you don’t like roleplaying very much. Making friends with the common people of Waterdeep will help you create valuable alliances that may lead you to finding new adventures, new treasure, and other rewards.
Thanks!
IN OUR LAST SESSION(s)…
…our heroes moved to take on Zanzibar and (presumably) Eyebite. Throm led the way out of the Vault of the Throne, and back through the great Hall of History. Along the way, Tiresius, the Secretary joined the party.
The militia, with their increasing retinue (Alamein, the centaur; Attickus, the ranger; Throm, the Seguran dwarf and Tiresius) followed Throm’s direction back along their path to the great chamber where they had previously slipped past the line of Orc drummers. The heroes dispatched the drumming group who had been frantically pounding away prior to their demise.
Throm led the group further. At the end of a hallway, a large steel door was being guarded by an ogre and orc in chainmail. The heroes dispatched the orc and Throm, in Stone Giant shape held the ogre at bay and tossed him clear once the party was through the steel door. The door was then secured from the inside.
Beyond the door were two similar passages, each festooned with murder holes and capped by a similar steel door. As the heroes made their way down the passage, an oddly uniform series of attacks began: crossbow bolts fired at those who passed, with an interval of clicks and clacks and then another volley of bolts would be unleashed. The militia sustained some damage, but managed to make their way through. The Warden’s Key, once again, proved crucial.
A single chainmail-clad orc spotted the opened door and dropped the rods he bore in either hand, linked by fine wires to some mechanism on each side of the hallway. The orc attempted to flee, but Tia pounced and struck him down before he could take more than a step or two.
The rods were in some way tied into crossbows mounted to platforms in spaces behind the walls of the hallway, positioned in front of the murder holes. Each crossbow was fed via a steel “magazine” and the firing and reloading process — part mechanical, part magical were controlled by the rods held by the orc. The following hallway was configured identically. However, the militia devised a tactic whereby Tia, made Invisible by a spell from Norm, crept down the hallway and surprised the orc operating the automated firing platforms. The orc was quickly overwhelmed.
Throm warned that the path now lead to an ever-broadening passage that emerged into a wide stone stair leading to a “Control” area (per Tiresius) and side stairwells that descended into the mining operation proper.
Norm had made contact with the Kruthik swarm, which was nearby and awaiting his instruction. He could see through the creatures’ eyes that ten or so orcs commanded a few dozen dwarves in two areas at the base of the descending stairs. The militia planned to advance, take the rightmost stairs down, and with help from the Kruthiks, defeat the orcs and free the dwarves on that side, then repeat on the other.
However, as the militia approached the staircase, they realized that a small orc contingent was holding the stairs leading up and would be an obstacle to descending either the left or right staircase. The heroes were able to close within 50 feet of the nearest orcs and unleash attacks before spotted. A volley of arrows and spells, followed-up by charging attacks from the speedy Tovlakov and the galloping Alamein, with Dain astride, crushed this orc force with hardly a blow falling the heroes’ way.
Next came twin assaults on the orc forces at the base of the stairs. However, as the militia carefully advanced on the now-alerted foes downstairs, Norm unleashed the Kruthiks, who boiled forth like an unstoppable tide and within moments had killed the orcs and begun to feast.
Many of the freed dwarves joined the heroes, as did the Kruthiks. Those dwarves too feeble to shape-change were left behind to assist the wounded dwarves lying about in the mines.
This new juggernaut task force, the militia, twenty-or-so Seguran dwarves in Stone Giant form, Attickus, Alamein, Tiresius and the Kruthik swarm moved up the stairs to a great set of double doors beyond which, if the incessant drumming was any omen, the remaining enemy force had gathered in defense.