Official Dungeons & Dragons Thread... (6 Viewers)
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guyfleegman
Flush
Do it!
I can’t believe I am just seeing this thread! I played D&D way back in the day. also played knights and magic (with ral partha lead figures). We each had a castle building set, landscape modules (so we could change the landscape) and armies of lead figures. In fact that was my intro to gambling. We had a rule, if u captured an opponents lead figure piece without killing it, it was yours. My friend had a figure I really wanted so I went to the toy store and bought all the clearance lead figures (they were in a box for .5/.10 cents a piece) to create an army of crap with the goal of capturing that one lead figure. Haha. Still have him....... I wonder if any of this stuff is worth anything...
I run a 1E game and play in several others on unseen servant www.unseenservant.com
Fun fantasy siege diorama part 2
Fun fantasy siege diorama part 3
Fun fantasy siege diorama part 4
About half of the terrain you see above was pre-painted, and the other half (the simpler half) painted by me. All the miniature figures are pre-painted.
Anthony Martino
Royal Flush
So there's a new gaming store that opened up about 20-25 minutes from me that is hosting D&D sessions. I haven't played since the 3.5 days so decided to give it a shot and joined in for the Sunday 5pm session.
Based on their schedule I thought it was a brand new campaign with everyone starting out at 1st level. But it appears I was wrong and there was already some adventuring done previously.
So while myself and some newcomers started at level 1, others in the group were already 2nd or 3rd level. We had a party of 6 and while the DM was gifted in his ability to respond to player actions and react to our choices, I'm concerned about what we got dropped into.
Essentially at the start of the session we are in a town that the previous adventure had suffered from, because the party had been tasked by a dragon to kill some monsters in a zoo for him and he'd let them pass. But something about the task was a trick and the party wound up freeing the zoo monsters and the dragon which did a ton of damage to the town they were part of a guild in.
So then a messenger hurries in, hands off a message to the party and takes off. One of the party speaks Draconic or Infernal or something and was able to read the message about some meeting 4 hours from now taking place at "Cypher Falls". However the guildmaster knows of no such location, but we're able to determine it relates to something from the past and determine the general area where we need to go. However it's 6 hours by caravan, so we can't make it within the 4 hour window.
However we have some bad guy captured from the previous adventure that can teleport us using blood magic. Of course when he does the ritual he hops into a pool of blood and disappears, and then one of our wizards foolishly hops in after the guy, so not wanting to break the party up we all hop in..........and then roll for initiative
We wind up in Avernus (first plane of hell?) and we see the guy we had captured running off while there's a big bloated creature (think the Boomer from the videogame Left4Dead) plus some other creature with multiple tentacles ending in barbs that start closing in on us, plus a scaled serpent-like lady in the back playing a flute, and various portals leading who knows where within the room.
So while we're fighting these demons or devils or whatever the hell they are, the wizard goes down, I revive him (playing a cleric) and the wizard has some flute of his own he got as treasure from the previous adventure. He decides to play it........which opens a portal and out spills a fucking Mind Flayer, 2 Warlocks and some kinda construct creature I think.
They seem to be more interested in attacking the serpent lady with the flute rather than us (at least for now) but I certainly know "mind flayer" = bad news. The big bloated creature manages to make its way into a cluster of our party and explodes, dealing acid damage and downing a few of us.
One of our party members has some Moonbeam spell and he's able to use it to take out the construct plus the bad guy who transported us here. We're damaging the serpent lady but not really making much of a dent.
The mind flayer critically fails to try and take control of a 1st level character in our party and so that character actually gets to control the mind flayer for 1 turn. She has it mentally communicate with the Warlocks to follow it and then runs it through one of the portals. They follow and she has an image of the mind flayer and the warlocks inside a tavern full of people before the connection is severed.
Some of our party members are trying to book it to a specific portal the bad guy had told us was the only one we should go through to reach our destination (well, nearby it) while the serpent lady had been retreating to a different portal as she had been under attack by the mind flayer and warlocks before that
I had been downed but get revived by another cleric and then cast Thaumaturgy to increase my voice by 3x so I can yell to the rest of the party that we should see if there's anything to loot and that we may not want to go through the portal the bad guy told us to use since we wound up in this mess in the first place because of listening to him.
Of course, my use of that spell catches the attention of some monstrous flying winged devil with a giant spear who starts descending. I cast Sacred Fire and do 5 hp of damage, which essentially tickles him. He hits one of our higher level party members for 22 hp of damage, while another new player casts firebolt at the devil doing 5hp of "damage" which actually fucking heals him from the scratch I gave him.
Most of the party is all clustered near the portal the original bad guy told us was the one to use so we just say fuck it and book it through the portal and manage to escape with our lives.
And while it was hectic and crazy, it just felt really off. Like, a bunch of us are 1st level characters, brand new to 5th edition, and you're pitting us against Mind Flayers and Demons and Devils, what the fuck?
Based on their schedule I thought it was a brand new campaign with everyone starting out at 1st level. But it appears I was wrong and there was already some adventuring done previously.
So while myself and some newcomers started at level 1, others in the group were already 2nd or 3rd level. We had a party of 6 and while the DM was gifted in his ability to respond to player actions and react to our choices, I'm concerned about what we got dropped into.
Essentially at the start of the session we are in a town that the previous adventure had suffered from, because the party had been tasked by a dragon to kill some monsters in a zoo for him and he'd let them pass. But something about the task was a trick and the party wound up freeing the zoo monsters and the dragon which did a ton of damage to the town they were part of a guild in.
So then a messenger hurries in, hands off a message to the party and takes off. One of the party speaks Draconic or Infernal or something and was able to read the message about some meeting 4 hours from now taking place at "Cypher Falls". However the guildmaster knows of no such location, but we're able to determine it relates to something from the past and determine the general area where we need to go. However it's 6 hours by caravan, so we can't make it within the 4 hour window.
However we have some bad guy captured from the previous adventure that can teleport us using blood magic. Of course when he does the ritual he hops into a pool of blood and disappears, and then one of our wizards foolishly hops in after the guy, so not wanting to break the party up we all hop in..........and then roll for initiative
We wind up in Avernus (first plane of hell?) and we see the guy we had captured running off while there's a big bloated creature (think the Boomer from the videogame Left4Dead) plus some other creature with multiple tentacles ending in barbs that start closing in on us, plus a scaled serpent-like lady in the back playing a flute, and various portals leading who knows where within the room.
So while we're fighting these demons or devils or whatever the hell they are, the wizard goes down, I revive him (playing a cleric) and the wizard has some flute of his own he got as treasure from the previous adventure. He decides to play it........which opens a portal and out spills a fucking Mind Flayer, 2 Warlocks and some kinda construct creature I think.
They seem to be more interested in attacking the serpent lady with the flute rather than us (at least for now) but I certainly know "mind flayer" = bad news. The big bloated creature manages to make its way into a cluster of our party and explodes, dealing acid damage and downing a few of us.
One of our party members has some Moonbeam spell and he's able to use it to take out the construct plus the bad guy who transported us here. We're damaging the serpent lady but not really making much of a dent.
The mind flayer critically fails to try and take control of a 1st level character in our party and so that character actually gets to control the mind flayer for 1 turn. She has it mentally communicate with the Warlocks to follow it and then runs it through one of the portals. They follow and she has an image of the mind flayer and the warlocks inside a tavern full of people before the connection is severed.
Some of our party members are trying to book it to a specific portal the bad guy had told us was the only one we should go through to reach our destination (well, nearby it) while the serpent lady had been retreating to a different portal as she had been under attack by the mind flayer and warlocks before that
I had been downed but get revived by another cleric and then cast Thaumaturgy to increase my voice by 3x so I can yell to the rest of the party that we should see if there's anything to loot and that we may not want to go through the portal the bad guy told us to use since we wound up in this mess in the first place because of listening to him.
Of course, my use of that spell catches the attention of some monstrous flying winged devil with a giant spear who starts descending. I cast Sacred Fire and do 5 hp of damage, which essentially tickles him. He hits one of our higher level party members for 22 hp of damage, while another new player casts firebolt at the devil doing 5hp of "damage" which actually fucking heals him from the scratch I gave him.
Most of the party is all clustered near the portal the original bad guy told us was the one to use so we just say fuck it and book it through the portal and manage to escape with our lives.
And while it was hectic and crazy, it just felt really off. Like, a bunch of us are 1st level characters, brand new to 5th edition, and you're pitting us against Mind Flayers and Demons and Devils, what the fuck?
Alex Lundstrum
Two Pair
I find it really odd that they wouldn't just level match you to the party/campaign. Is it an officially sponsored league or something where that small rule tweak wouldn't have been allowed?
Alex Lundstrum
Two Pair
Finally convinced my brother to DM a family campaign for us 
we've been using Tabletop Simulator ($10 on Steam) and it's working pretty well. I've been learning how to use some free 3d software and have built 3/5 of our party (I'm the dwarf tempest cleric). Using an online mini designer and taking screenshots from different angles then assembling in Zephyr 3D, then finishing in Blender.
we've been using Tabletop Simulator ($10 on Steam) and it's working pretty well. I've been learning how to use some free 3d software and have built 3/5 of our party (I'm the dwarf tempest cleric). Using an online mini designer and taking screenshots from different angles then assembling in Zephyr 3D, then finishing in Blender.
guyfleegman
Flush
@Anthony Martino
Sounds like an egotistical Dungeon Master.
Run away.
Find a decent play group and enjoy your return to a great game.
Sounds like an egotistical Dungeon Master.
Run away.
Find a decent play group and enjoy your return to a great game.
Poker Zombie
Royal Flush
It has been a great many years since I've hoisted my polyhedrals in battle, but this is the reason I no longer play without a "vetted" GM. Just way too many lame bastards out there. Sure, anyone can write a story, but not everyone should. The difference between a GM and every other storyteller is that I can put a book down and walk away. I can turn a TV channel. I can walk out of a play or a movie. With a GM, you are obligated to finish out the session.
Yet somehow, you look for reasons to read a book, start a series, see a movie or play, but a GM research is "Yep, they're accepting new players... that's good enough for me!"
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Anthony Martino
Royal Flush
They have multiple sessions of D&D each week and one of the players told me after two sessions you go to lvl 2, then after x sessions to lvl 3 and so forth
So not really keeping track of experience points, its based on how often you play? Thing is there was a 1pm session as well so a kid played both, assuming with the same character? So he gets double exp and loot I guess?
It's a drop-in/sign-up group, so I guess you won't always be playing with the same cast of characters, even though the story continues to progress
Pretty sure the DM is the owner of the hobby shop itself as well
But yeah, I'm just thinking, I'm lvl 1, where is my cellar of rats to clear???!!!
Poker Zombie
Royal Flush
The only reason god invented kobolds was to give level 1 characters something to do.
Anthony Martino
Royal Flush
Oh yeah, and then his excuse for the crazy encounter was that he didn't expect us to take that route
Poker Zombie
Royal Flush
I have a rule when I GM. Figure everything out. Know where everything comes from and where it goes. I once told Liz that in my campaigns, it's important to know where the materials in the bullets was mined.
It became abundantly clear in a Gangbusters (1920's Chicago Prohibition-era) campaign I ran. One character (news reporter with eidetic memory) had discovered a gang connected warehouse and found crates inside with "asian" writing. Another character who was not in the area, was fluent in Chinese (despite a very low chinese population). Yet the combo of eidetic memory + skill rolls allowed them to make a connection between the mob and connections from China because they now knew where the bullets were coming from.
A good GM has to make up things on the fly. A great GM knows where every path goes, and lets the players choose which path to take.
It became abundantly clear in a Gangbusters (1920's Chicago Prohibition-era) campaign I ran. One character (news reporter with eidetic memory) had discovered a gang connected warehouse and found crates inside with "asian" writing. Another character who was not in the area, was fluent in Chinese (despite a very low chinese population). Yet the combo of eidetic memory + skill rolls allowed them to make a connection between the mob and connections from China because they now knew where the bullets were coming from.
A good GM has to make up things on the fly. A great GM knows where every path goes, and lets the players choose which path to take.
guyfleegman
Flush
The best campaign I was ever a part of was a home made storyline.
We were a 4 person group that rotated DM every session. I started the campaign and the following session was run by Jeff.
The following session by Jike.
The fourth session by Trevor who had never DM’d a day in his life.
Everyone was “forced” to follow the lead of the previous session.
All of us were very invested because of it.
It lasted several months and took us all to level 13 before it ended.
This also took pressure off the DM since you only needed to prepare 1/month. Following another GM helped to keep things congruent.
The game NEEDS DMs.
Put yourself out there and give it a shot.
We were a 4 person group that rotated DM every session. I started the campaign and the following session was run by Jeff.
The following session by Jike.
The fourth session by Trevor who had never DM’d a day in his life.
Everyone was “forced” to follow the lead of the previous session.
All of us were very invested because of it.
It lasted several months and took us all to level 13 before it ended.
This also took pressure off the DM since you only needed to prepare 1/month. Following another GM helped to keep things congruent.
The game NEEDS DMs.
Put yourself out there and give it a shot.
One Eyed Dollar
Flush
A good DM lets the players make bad choices and get in over their heads sometimes when they should've known better. But tossing 1st and 2nd level characters into a situation like that is just stupid.
I only did something similar to a group once with a homebrew campaign, where the first session they accidentally released a powerful demon that had been trapped long ago by some elves, and it briefly tormented them before running amok across the countryside. The idea was for them to feel guilty for unleashing the demon and it would be their long-term goal to level up and eventually confront it. But that group broke up and we didn't make it too far in that campaign.
I only did something similar to a group once with a homebrew campaign, where the first session they accidentally released a powerful demon that had been trapped long ago by some elves, and it briefly tormented them before running amok across the countryside. The idea was for them to feel guilty for unleashing the demon and it would be their long-term goal to level up and eventually confront it. But that group broke up and we didn't make it too far in that campaign.
gopherblue
Straight Flush
I had some bad first dates in my day, but this one wins. People: stay off of Tinder.
Anthony Martino
Royal Flush
I purchased a TON of D&D stuff off Amazon as they had some great sales running
For now I'm going to stick it out with this group and just get some experience, learn what works and what doesn't
But I do have plans to try and get into being a DM at some point, including writing up my own adventure
I can already picture a side quest where a very patriotic fellow wants to hire the party to safeguard a shipment of material he intends to use to build a wall to keep the Halflings out of town since they are taking jobs from honest, gods-fearing citizens because they'll work for half the wages
For now I'm going to stick it out with this group and just get some experience, learn what works and what doesn't
But I do have plans to try and get into being a DM at some point, including writing up my own adventure
I can already picture a side quest where a very patriotic fellow wants to hire the party to safeguard a shipment of material he intends to use to build a wall to keep the Halflings out of town since they are taking jobs from honest, gods-fearing citizens because they'll work for half the wages
I'd play an underground halfling supremacist in that campaign anytime.
One Eyed Dollar
Flush
I ran a fun little encounter once where the party landed on a remote volcanic island and were immediately attacked by bloodthirsty naked halfling cannibals with spears. The halflings actually routed them a took a few prisoners to eat, and they had to formulate a rescue mission.
Poker Zombie
Royal Flush
I thought halflings were named after their size. The wages angle... now that's a new consideration
Poker Zombie
Royal Flush
Nevermind... It just occurred to me... in Anthony's world, halflings are normal sized.
Anthony Martino
Royal Flush
Another idea I had is to have a shop called "Rent-A-Spear" which will act like a Rent-A-Center and charge you way more than an item costs in the long run, plus it'll usually be used/worn and not in pristine condition. But you can return it and stop making payments as well.
I think this idea would fly in Florida.
Anthony Martino
Royal Flush
No, that's Meth R' Us
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