Campaign Journal (Red Hand of Doom... sort've) session by session

[Zippdementia]

As I did with the Tomb of Horrors (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/149539814045/journey-log-tomb-of-horrors-preamble), I have decided to blog the sessions of my next campaign, which is based on 3.5's Red Hand of Doom (converted into 5th, with QUITE a few additions).

The first post is here (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/152098620670/journey-log-red-hand-of-doom-preamble), which explains the premise and introduces the characters. I'll update whenever a new post is made!

[King539]

Looks great so far! How'd Targaryen get built? Did he use the mystic from UA?

[Zippdementia]

Looks great so far! How'd Targaryen get built? Did he use the mystic from UA?

That's a good head's up! I need to talk about that in part 3. Cause I already wrote part 2. The quick answer is that it is off of a wonderful blog and is a path for the sorcerer. It's much more elegant, balanced, and fun to play then the messed up mystic class. I'll get into all that in Part 3.

Here is part 2: (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/152131236860/journey-log-red-hand-of-doom-box-without-hinges)in which the players swim past some nasty grass and end up somewhere unexpected.

[Human Paragon 3]

I enjoyed your ToH write up! You have good GMing instincts, and I like your additions to the Tomb. I will check out the Red Hand log, but I'm in a Red Hand Game on Myth-weavers, so I'll need to stop reading when you pass me.

[Zippdementia]

I enjoyed your ToH write up! You have good GMing instincts, and I like your additions to the Tomb. I will check out the Red Hand log, but I'm in a Red Hand Game on Myth-weavers, so I'll need to stop reading when you pass me.

Unless there is a TPK, it will be a long time before we actually reach the Red Hand campain, because i wanted to build these characters up from the ground and do a lot ot little quests and adventuring before we hit RHOD. I am not planning on really diving into it until they are level 5 or 6.

As a result i think you can read on in safety for now! If this team dies, i will bring in a new one already at level 6 and have them start directly in RHOD, tho.

[Human Paragon 3]

Awesome! I look forward to reading it!

[Zippdementia]

The new session is live! (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/152456618015/journey-log-red-hand-of-doom-jaded) This session finishes up the opening adventure for the game, and lays out all the pieces that will later fit together into a cohesive puzzle. Also... combat!

Side note: Human Paragon 3, love your game design stuff! So cool you are teaching the skills to a new generation, too.

[Zippdementia]

Part 4 (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/152834552170/journey-log-red-hand-of-doom-conversations-and): Wherein my players find the beginning of a new quest and participate in a con job.

[Lord Ruby34]

I'm going to be following this intently, I'm also planning on converting this adventure to 5E

[Breaklance]

Just wanted to say I've thoroughly enjoyed reading these and your Tomb of Horrors run before this. I especially like your DM asides about how you want things to work or why certain elements don't in your opinion.

I've played a few times as a PC and now I'm definitely interested in DMing. I'm working on making a dungeon as a thought project (due to how I travel for work I doubt I'll be able to DM anytime soon) but you've given me some food for thought. Especially the tomb of horrors journals about making every aspect of a dungeon have context

[Zippdementia]

I'm going to be following this intently, I'm also planning on converting this adventure to 5E

Fantastic! I highly recommend you read the link below, it has helped me immensely in planning the conversion. I won't actually reach that campaign for a little while, yet—I have an entire other adventure path I'm planning on running them through, first—but I hope you are still reading when we do get there! And good look on your own campaign.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?171284-The-3-5-Red-Hand-Of-Doom-Handbook-for-DMs-Major-spoilers!-WIP-PEACH!

[Zippdementia]

New Session is live (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/153097418155/journey-log-fur-and-fangs-red-hand-of-doom): in which we get our first true taste of the grappler class, and in which I ruminate on how to DM your way out of a dead end.

[Zippdementia]

Part 6! (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/153587391640/journey-log-red-hand-of-doom-wicker-man-anyone) It was a long session, so some of it is reserved for the next post. But here we get to see the mysterious island and meet the main players.

[Human Paragon 3]

Nice! Saw that pt 7 is also up. Really enjoyed the bit with the kobold. Nice improvisation.

[Zippdementia]

Part 7 is up! (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/154120663380/journey-log-red-hand-of-doom-seperation-anxiety) This was a fun one to play through and write—we're back to doing a lot of DM analyzing. This time I talk about separating a party and how to do it (and why you usually shouldn't).

[Zippdementia]

Part 8 (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/154229495415/journey-log-red-hand-of-doom-murder-at-sea): Epic conclusion to Act 1 of our campaign, as well as a little bit about character death...

[Zippdementia]

Part 9 is up (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/154598889890/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-dockside-decisions): The Tomb of Haggemoth begins, one of the greatest modules written for 3.5, underacknowledged because it is third party material. There are some new characters this session, and the start of a new adventure!

[Zippdementia]

Part 10: Dire Dire Docking (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/154943486170/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-dire-dire-docking)

This has been a favorite session of mine! The post covers how to build quick side adventures, how to handle random encounters, and gives a random sea encounter you can use in your own game. A Christmas present :)

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/154943486170/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-dire-dire-docking

[Zippdementia]

Part 11: Another wonderful session! (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/155565659995/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-undying) This one is an adventure I built from scratch. Mixed in with the description are notes about designing an adventure.

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/155565659995/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-undying

[Zippdementia]

Part 12 (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/156015961635/journey-log-a-session-of-roleplaying-tomb-of) is posted! Starting with this week’s session I’m going to mix up my format a bit and do quicker synopsis and more DM analysis, rolling a lesson or two into each session for the enterprising or novice DM.

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/156015961635/journey-log-a-session-of-roleplaying-tomb-of

[Zippdementia]

My last D&D blog for a while (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/156832856345/journey-log-tomb-of-haggmoth-combat-and). The game continues, but I want to finish my Drivethru RPG adventure submission, and have limited writing time.

I hope you have enjoyed reading!

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/156832856345/journey-log-tomb-of-haggmoth-combat-and

[Zippdementia]

Finished building the horror module (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/159125757155/under-the-skin-my-horror-adventure-available-on) and so the blog is back!

Part 13: Seeker of Callax. (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/160305366770/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-seeker-of-callax)Catching up on some of the adventures we've had while the blog has been offline.

[HolyDraconus]

Rhod from my experience is easy to convert. Most of it is drop it in and play. The only things so far that is causing trouble are the dragons

[Zippdementia]

Rhod from my experience is easy to convert. Most of it is drop it in and play. The only things so far that is causing trouble are the dragons

That's the sense I get, yes. DnD5 I find is closest to DnD Basic, but 3.5 and Pathfinder convert pretty well, despite some monsters moving drastically up or down the CR scale between the editions.

On the whole, I find the conversion tends to make things a little too easy. Dragons get a significant CR boost, it seems, in DnD 5 tho. Is that what you mean? Or do you mean figuring out ways to represent all those special feats and traits?

[Zippdementia]

Latest adventure post! (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/160456762970/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-old-secrets-and) This one involves a storm...

[TrinculoLives]

Good show! I too am going to be converting the RHoD and running it in a couple months.

Edit: these campaign logs are an interesting read!

I'm not too keen on Karrina so far though. She reminds me too much of the type of player who chooses to play the unsentimental, rude type. Sure, it's roleplaying a personality type, but it's not very fun to be around when their cutting words follow shortly after light-hearted banter; as when Targaryen started making up silly nonsense about the brass plate and Karrina interrupted to point out how he is "spewing bull****".

Edit of the edit: Oh gosh, she does the same thing in the next room. And then leaves her friends behind mid-combat while one of them is unconscious. This is bringing back some unpleasant memories!

[Zippdementia]

Good show! I too am going to be converting the RHoD and running it in a couple months.

Excellent! We will get there eventually. I couldn't help taking them through Haggemoth first. Any plans to journal your adventures?


Edit: these campaign logs are an interesting read!

I'm not too keen on Karrina so far though. She reminds me too much of the type of player who chooses to play the unsentimental, rude type. Sure, it's roleplaying a personality type, but it's not very fun to be around when their cutting words follow shortly after light-hearted banter; as when Targaryen started making up silly nonsense about the brass plate and Karrina interrupted to point out how he is "spewing bull****".

Edit of the edit: Oh gosh, she does the same thing in the next room. And then leaves her friends behind mid-combat while one of them is unconscious. This is bringing back some unpleasant memories!

Hah! She is definitely playing a more callous type of character, but in person she is a complete gamer nerd and pretty hilarious, so it isn't annoying or not fun. And she gets pretty beat up over the adventures: keep reading!

The player hosts a gaming channel, actually, if you are interested. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC_PI-MREABWKd3c5cjg07A)

* * *

On that note, while the forums were down, I posted two more sessions:

This one, in which the players tackle a dungeon... (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/160659698220/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-the-drowned-tower)

... and this one, from which someone does not walk away. (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/160780639165/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-old-debts)

[Zippdementia]

This week's adventure (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/161097851930/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-building-a-desert) takes them through the desert and focuses on a couple GM centric techniques for how I deal with (a) NPC retainers and (b) long travel tables.

[TrinculoLives]

This week's adventure (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/161097851930/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-building-a-desert) takes them through the desert and focuses on a couple GM centric techniques for how I deal with (a) NPC retainers and (b) long travel tables.

Ah, two topics of decided interest to myself.

I was not planning on keeping a journal, but I am certainly considering the idea now. I'm taking a two-month or so break from DMing while I slum it as a PC, but after that I plan to start up the adventure. The main difficulty for me is transposing the setting onto the Farwater region of Impiltur. The geography and politics of the region do not easily match up, but I enjoy the challenge.

[Zippdementia]

Ah, two topics of decided interest to myself.

I was not planning on keeping a journal, but I am certainly considering the idea now. I'm taking a two-month or so break from DMing while I slum it as a PC, but after that I plan to start up the adventure. The main difficulty for me is transposing the setting onto the Farwater region of Impiltur. The geography and politics of the region do not easily match up, but I enjoy the challenge.

Are you running Tomb of Haggemoth or Red Hand? If not, which adventure are you transposing?

[TrinculoLives]

Are you running Tomb of Haggemoth or Red Hand? If not, which adventure are you transposing?

It's RHoD that I'm doing. I'm hedging on my players not having paid much attention to the setting thus far, and am just inserting a bunch of new stuff like Brindol for example. (Or possibly trying to make Bay Town work in place of Brindol.)

[Zippdementia]

It's RHoD that I'm doing. I'm hedging on my players not having paid much attention to the setting thus far, and am just inserting a bunch of new stuff like Brindol for example. (Or possibly trying to make Bay Town work in place of Brindol.)

That is a good solution. Or just set it a little "to the east" of where they are gaming now, have some event drag them in that direction, if you don't want to have to mix settings too much.

Aaaand on that note, new session is up! (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/161519923515/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-where-the-good-go)

[Zippdementia]

Part one of a two part mission! Something is brewing... (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/161903369890/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-the-red-eye)

[Zippdementia]

Scary reveals and un-ironic references to Game of Thrones. (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/162407608270/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-weave-a-song-for) I blame my player who keeps naming his characters after them

[Zippdementia]

This post is a little break from the game to talk about how to run a living environment, (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/163304890075/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-behind-the-scenes) like I had to for Celaenos. Next post will be back in combat!

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/163304890075/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-behind-the-scenes

[Zippdementia]

After a long wait, here is the continuation of the DnD blog (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/164098082470/tomb-of-haggemoth-journey-log-justice)! This post took me so long because it was written all in-character. Seemed the only way to do justice to the fight.

More coming soon!

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/164098082470/tomb-of-haggemoth-journey-log-justice

[Zippdementia]

Concluding the fight (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/164493628685/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-a-dark-place) against the knights of the Monastery. Big changes...

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/164493628685/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-a-dark-place

[Zippdementia]

This session (http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/164861202490/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-shattered)I get the opportunity to dive behind the scenes again and talk about some useful techniques for making your encounters more interesting!

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/164861202490/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-shattered

[Zippdementia]

Catching up with a backlog of sessions. This one was fun, with lots of interesting encounters, and a good bit of story as the players discover what exactly happened to Raiden on the island. Still left unknown is his mysterious past and why he betrayed Karina so long ago. We'll get there, if the players survive the upcoming tomb!

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/165476236055/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-a-not-so-random

[Zippdementia]

Another post! Session 27 in our ongoing Dungeons and Dragons adventure (and thank you to anyone who has read from the start and is still following). This session marks almost a year since we've started playing, and finally the players have come to the entrance to the Tomb of Haggemoth. Not without sacrifice, however...

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/166091068860/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-tinkering

[Pope Scarface]

Awesome. I love campaign diaries. Bookmarked.

:smallsmile:

[Zippdementia]

Sorry for taking so long with this next post! I am about five sessions behind, so I'll be combining a few sessions over the next few posts to get caught up. These next ones are going to go into some detail, because we are at the final dungeon now!

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/167095402685/s228-journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-the-rocks

[Zippdementia]

New post! I'm still a little behind in sessions, this was a few weeks ago that this happened, but there is SO MUCH to cover in the tombs that I am taking my time to get it all written down.

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/167511359165/s229-journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-things-left

[Horatio@Bridge]

Interesting stuff! Is Tomb of Haggemoth still available?

I'm working on a Red Hand conversion on these boards. Do you have any tips that you might pass on for how to update to 5th edition?

[Zippdementia]

New Post is up! This one is more descriptive, as I write out in character several big encounters the players have in the tombs.

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/167906459690/s230-journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-in-for-the


Interesting stuff! Is Tomb of Haggemoth still available?

I'm working on a Red Hand conversion on these boards. Do you have any tips that you might pass on for how to update to 5th edition?

Hello, Horatio! Tomb of Haggemoth is definitely still available, though you will have to convert it to 5th edition like I did. You can find it at the link below.

http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/robert-kendzie/the-tomb-of-haggemoth/paperback/product-872128.html

For conversion of Red Hand my biggest advice is to consider that Hobgoblins are less of a threat to higher level players in 5th edition than they were in 3.5 and as that is the majority of what the players are fighting you want to make sure you spend some time buffing them up. There are some good options for doing this in Revenge of the Horde, available below. I especially like the option of giving Hobgoblins 1d4 extra to attack rolls if they are surrounding an opponent. This fits well with their “work-together” military discipline and helps threaten some of your players who may by this point have high AC and are used to just wading into waves of enemies and taking them on.

https://nordgamesllc.com/product/ultimate-bestiary-revenge-horde/

Be wary of all the magic items lying around in Red Hand, as well. Really look at them and decide whether they are appropriate for your party. Magic is all-powerful in 5th edition and much more game breaking then in 3.5. For wands, I recommend using set number of charges, not the recharging method used by the DMs guide. DEFINITELY do NOT give out all the +x weapons and armor. First of all, +1 is a significant bonus in 5th edition, with +3 being about as high as you ever want to go. Secondly, +anything armor is nigh broken, unless your characters have ridiculously low AC. An AC of anything over 20 in 5th edition is a struggle for most basic monsters to hit and while you may want to give your players some buffs to take on the dragons and what not laying about the campaign, I highly suggest using temporary things like potions and scrolls to do this. If you use high AC bonus armor you will have to adjust your base troops accordingly to allow them to even get through.

Finally, there is a wonderful thread here on the forums for changes suggested to the original Red Hand of Doom. It doesn’t talk about conversion, but the read will get you thinking about the various encounters and mechanics of the campaign.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?171284-The-3-5-Red-Hand-Of-Doom-Handbook-for-DMs-Major-spoilers!-WIP-PEACH!

Good look and thanks for reading! We will be starting our run of Red Hand of Doom in a few weeks.

[Zippdementia]

I’m catching up fast, now! We are getting close to the end. Well, of this campaign.

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/168002663975/s231-journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-ever-deeper

[Zippdementia]

This is getting very close to the end of the adventure... also we found our Bard’s song! We lead with that :)

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/168447036635/s232-journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-the-beginning

[Zippdementia]

A couple more sessions and then we will actually be in the official Red Hand of Doom campaign! Nothing like a year long build up, right? In any case, in this session, we move beyond the Tomb of Haggemoth into uncharted territory I created in order to resolve Karina's story line:

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/169387847070/s233-journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-the-end

[Zippdementia]

This session we dive into Rayden’s mind and memories as Karina searches for a path towards the truth.

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/169657931535/s234-journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-what-she

[Zippdementia]

Penultimate post in the Tomb of Haggemoth Campaign and the finale to Rayden and Karinna's storyline.

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/169938188045/journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-what-she-remembers

[Zippdementia]

This is the final post in the Tomb of Haggemoth adventure. From here on out, we are running my conversion of the Red Hand of Doom. I’m debating starting a new thread for that, since I know people are interested in the conversion and I want it to be easy to find.

Tomb of Haggemoth turned into a massive pre-adventure. I left a lot of clues throughout to tie it in to the Red Hand campaign, but mostly the purpose of running it was to (a) level up the characters and get the group used to each others, (b) give me a chance to ease back into GMing, and (c) give the players a feeling of investment in the world and in their characters. Along the way, we created an epic adventure, creating the story of the Seeker of Callax, the Fallen Angel Abenthy, and giving us an origin story of how Tyrion became a Warlock (one of the more epic class switches I’ve seen). I’m stoked for the next campaign and I hope there are people here who have been following and will continue to follow our adventures.

http://zippdementia.tumblr.com/post/170294728330/s236-journey-log-tomb-of-haggemoth-finale