Capt Spanner
2017-02-06, 10:16 AM
A group of friends who have never played D&D fancied trying it out, and asked me if I'd run a game for them. I ended up with six people being interested enough to give over an afternoon.
I ran the jailbreak section of Out of the Abyss. My reasoning here is that throwing the PCs in jail together avoids the whole "you all meet at an inn" thing. I don't have to go over why they are working together, or anything. Additionally, it starts everyone at 1st level, which avoids too much complexity.
Characters were pre-generated, with name and gender being left blank for the players to fill in themselves. I got the characters online, and then made some adjustments to them to better suit the setting. The party started as:
- A dwarf cleric, in the life domain with the acolyte background. (Played by S.)
- A half-orc fighter with the soldier background. (Played by E.)
- An elven wild magic sorcerer with the wanderer background. (Played by J.)
- A human paladin, with the noble background. (Played by T.)
- A human wizard, with the wizard's assistant background. (Played by C.)
- A halfling rogue, with the criminal background. (Played by A.)
I told them ahead of time that it would be fairly combat light, and also that there were some enemies around who could probably wipe the party out in a straight fight. (The priestess Ilvara, for one. I didn't want them forcing a fight with her, which probably ends with TPK.)
After assigning characters, handling the hand-outs (players got a combat cheat-sheet, and a description of the race and class, as well as a list of their abilities, and spell lists for the spellcasters).
Once this was done, I set the scene for them, telling them they had ended up captured by Drow for various reasons, a very brief overview of the other prisoners, and a bit about Ivara. (S: "Is she hot?" Me: "Here's a picture [showing them the picture of her from the Out of the Abyss source book]." S: "Probably just bad lighting. That makes anyone look bad."
I took them through the "you get a random item" bit. Half the party ended up with a 5' section of rope. C got a pet spider, and named him Larry. I think when he gets as far as getting an animal familiar Larry will become the familiar. (He was very protective of harm coming to the spider, which I enjoyed.) The rogue got a piece of flint that can be used as a dagger.
Scene 1
The prisoners are asked to pointlessly stack rocks, or coil rope. There were no stakes here, apart from "you managed it" or "the Quaggoth/Drow supervisors laugh at you a bit". This was really a tutorial for "how to make a skill roll", and "how to help someone" and "how does advantage/disadvantage work".
Scene 2
Now the party is asked to clear out a snake pit, with six poisonous snakes in it. This scene was meant as a combat tutorial. The players started planning on how to take on the Quaggoth supervisors. One decided to attack a Quaggoth. They missed, and the Quaggoth hit them back with non-lethal damage, leaving them one 1HP. At this point they decided to take on the snakes instead.
Once in combat, the pace was pretty good, and I didn't have to do anything particularly to keep the turns flowing. I think the biggest delays were caused by my lack of practice keeping track of initiative order.
By the end of it they had a reasonable grasp of combat mechanics. The cleric asked if purify food and drink (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/5e_SRD:Purify_Food_and_Drink) could turn the poisonous snakes into non-poisonous snakes. Good thinking, but "not until the snakes are dead".
E decided to try grappling a snake, and managed to catch one. On her next turn she asked whether "animal handling" could be used to calm it, and tame it. It's a stretch, but "why not", I figure - the grappled snake was the last one left alive, (and on 1HP to boot, courtesy of a magic missile). She chose a name for the snake, which happened to be S's name. (The two hadn't actually met before the session.) S: Hey! Are you saying I'm a poisonous snake? J (S's girlfriend IRL): You're an estate agent. S: ... fair point.
While here, the rogue decided to try to steal some rope. He was caught at it, but managed to slip away from the Quaggoth guard, who decided just to let him keep it, and threw the cleric down a waterfall in anger. (This was actually to tell the players that they can fall harmlessly down the waterfall.) It was quite entertaining watching the players try to work out how to stop him falling, though.
On the cleric's way back to the party he overheard (in the lift) a whole bunch of useful gossip, thanks to an excellent listen check. He discovered that Jorlan had recently been kicked out of Ilvara's bed, in favour of Shoor, for example. He did consider trying to escape at this point, but I basically railroaded him a little bit, saying that the journey was too dangerous to try alone - especially without gear and provisions.
Scene 3
Back in the pen for the night. The players discuss possible escape tactics. I roleplay contributions from the other prisons, although honestly the PCs largely seem to ignore that there are other PCs there. At this point:
E (fighter): "Kazim [the Drow prisoner], do you know where we can steal food from if we escape?"
Kazim: "... the food hall, idiot."
E: "Did he just call me an idiot? I kick him in the nuts."
Me: "Okay... make an attack roll... that's a hit. You kick him in the nuts for 4 damage."
C: "Do the guards notice?"
Me: "Yes. They think it's absolutely hilarious, and start viciously mocking Kazim over it. However, Kazim is very reluctant now to tell you anything useful."
E: "I have intimidate as a skill. Can I intimidate him into talking?"
Me: "... Yes."
E: [i]Rolls 19.[i/]
So Kazim tells them where all their gear is (the armoury, instead of Ilvara's quarters. It makes more sense to me to do that, and I didn't want to hamper the spellcasters by keeping them away from their gear) and a bit about what the guard is like.
Scene 4
Ilvara visits the prisoners to taunt them. She is, as always, flanked by Shoor and Jorlan.
J: Can Stool [the myconid prisoner] set up a telapathic link so we can talk to Shoor and Jorlan without Ilvara noticing?
After a couple of persuade checks with Stool, I allow this.
At first they try to convince Shoor that Ilvara still prefers Jorlan, but the roll is bad.
So they convince Jorlan that Shoor is planning even further humiliations on him, and will probably kill him as he rests. I decide on a DC of 15 to believe this, with a bad outcome if she fails by less than 10. The sorcerer gets (after CHA mod) 23: J: "He takes it hook, line and sinker".
Now, I hadn't really planned this, and kind of needed a brief break, so I asked the players to write what they thought he would do on an index card, and I'd figure it out when he got back. I then took the cards, and improvised an outcome table, with the possibilities being "do nothing in particular" (1-5), "be grateful for us for the heads up" (6-8), "make sure he gets the drop on Shoor first" (9) and "attack Shoor right here and now" (10 - unlikely, I thought, but entertaining). We got a 9. I haven't decided exactly what effect this will have. Maybe if Shoor appears at a future fight, I'll remove him from the fight, or nerf him somewhat. Maybe I'll decide Jorlan actually killed him, and put Jorlan in for Shoor and then have Jorlan betray Ilvara. Anyway, this excellent stirring of the pot will come back to help the PCs in a big way.
[Note: I was happy with this scheme of getting the players to come up with an idea, and then improvising an outcome table. Some results I didn't use: "he'll watch his back", I thought was a given, no matter what, for example, and a couple of players duplicated ideas. But it rewards the players' creativity, while saving me from having to improvise more than I need to.]
Scene 5
Jorlan's gambit happens. While it's given in the book, I played this off as the immediate reward for the PCs convincing the previous day. They head to the guard tower, guarded by two drow, and an elite drow (neither Shoor or Jorlan). The rogue sneaks in and starts to remove gear, the rest of the party try to sneak past. But the wizard (C) fails his check. He tries to bluff his way past ("I was sent by Jorlan to get some shovels to dig holes in the canvern floor"), but fails the roll by 1. After some discussion as to what would be a likely outcome (I didn't want "the Drow attack", because the PCs were outmatched in a straight fight, I feel, and also that's harsh for missing a bluff by 1) they decided the wizard is escorted back to his cell by the elite drow. (The other two drow would be easily beaten by the wizard, so it was the only choice.) At this point the rogue sneak attacks one of the drow left behind, and the rest of the party pile in to kill them both before either can sound an alarm.
At this point the party decides to lay a trap for the returning elite drow warrior (challenge rating 5). They put caltrops down by the door, and use some their rope to create a trip-wire as he walks in, and arm (but not armour) themselves from their gear.
The elite warrior returns, and rolls a 1 on the dex save to avoid being tripped, and ends up prone. And is surprised. And rolls badly on his initiative. In the end he had to deal with one-and-a-half rounds of the party beating the Hades out of him before he got an action. The party rolled well (except for the Paladin, T, who complained about "pacifist dice"). The sorcerer rolled maximum damage on her magic missile, hitting the drow with all three missiles. By the time he got an action he was down to 11HP, from a starting point of 65. He tried to levitate up out of reach, so he could raise the alarm, but this movement triggered opportunity attacks from everyone in the melee.
In the end, it was the paladin who got the final hit on him, taking him down.
At this point, time was up. We didn't get quite as far as I was hoping, but defeating a "boss" was a satisfying end to the session, and everyone said they wanted to come back to play the rest of the escape, and continue the campaign. And the XP from the elite drow alone was enough to put everyone up to level 2.
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Any thoughts on how I played this are welcome.
I ran the jailbreak section of Out of the Abyss. My reasoning here is that throwing the PCs in jail together avoids the whole "you all meet at an inn" thing. I don't have to go over why they are working together, or anything. Additionally, it starts everyone at 1st level, which avoids too much complexity.
Characters were pre-generated, with name and gender being left blank for the players to fill in themselves. I got the characters online, and then made some adjustments to them to better suit the setting. The party started as:
- A dwarf cleric, in the life domain with the acolyte background. (Played by S.)
- A half-orc fighter with the soldier background. (Played by E.)
- An elven wild magic sorcerer with the wanderer background. (Played by J.)
- A human paladin, with the noble background. (Played by T.)
- A human wizard, with the wizard's assistant background. (Played by C.)
- A halfling rogue, with the criminal background. (Played by A.)
I told them ahead of time that it would be fairly combat light, and also that there were some enemies around who could probably wipe the party out in a straight fight. (The priestess Ilvara, for one. I didn't want them forcing a fight with her, which probably ends with TPK.)
After assigning characters, handling the hand-outs (players got a combat cheat-sheet, and a description of the race and class, as well as a list of their abilities, and spell lists for the spellcasters).
Once this was done, I set the scene for them, telling them they had ended up captured by Drow for various reasons, a very brief overview of the other prisoners, and a bit about Ivara. (S: "Is she hot?" Me: "Here's a picture [showing them the picture of her from the Out of the Abyss source book]." S: "Probably just bad lighting. That makes anyone look bad."
I took them through the "you get a random item" bit. Half the party ended up with a 5' section of rope. C got a pet spider, and named him Larry. I think when he gets as far as getting an animal familiar Larry will become the familiar. (He was very protective of harm coming to the spider, which I enjoyed.) The rogue got a piece of flint that can be used as a dagger.
Scene 1
The prisoners are asked to pointlessly stack rocks, or coil rope. There were no stakes here, apart from "you managed it" or "the Quaggoth/Drow supervisors laugh at you a bit". This was really a tutorial for "how to make a skill roll", and "how to help someone" and "how does advantage/disadvantage work".
Scene 2
Now the party is asked to clear out a snake pit, with six poisonous snakes in it. This scene was meant as a combat tutorial. The players started planning on how to take on the Quaggoth supervisors. One decided to attack a Quaggoth. They missed, and the Quaggoth hit them back with non-lethal damage, leaving them one 1HP. At this point they decided to take on the snakes instead.
Once in combat, the pace was pretty good, and I didn't have to do anything particularly to keep the turns flowing. I think the biggest delays were caused by my lack of practice keeping track of initiative order.
By the end of it they had a reasonable grasp of combat mechanics. The cleric asked if purify food and drink (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/5e_SRD:Purify_Food_and_Drink) could turn the poisonous snakes into non-poisonous snakes. Good thinking, but "not until the snakes are dead".
E decided to try grappling a snake, and managed to catch one. On her next turn she asked whether "animal handling" could be used to calm it, and tame it. It's a stretch, but "why not", I figure - the grappled snake was the last one left alive, (and on 1HP to boot, courtesy of a magic missile). She chose a name for the snake, which happened to be S's name. (The two hadn't actually met before the session.) S: Hey! Are you saying I'm a poisonous snake? J (S's girlfriend IRL): You're an estate agent. S: ... fair point.
While here, the rogue decided to try to steal some rope. He was caught at it, but managed to slip away from the Quaggoth guard, who decided just to let him keep it, and threw the cleric down a waterfall in anger. (This was actually to tell the players that they can fall harmlessly down the waterfall.) It was quite entertaining watching the players try to work out how to stop him falling, though.
On the cleric's way back to the party he overheard (in the lift) a whole bunch of useful gossip, thanks to an excellent listen check. He discovered that Jorlan had recently been kicked out of Ilvara's bed, in favour of Shoor, for example. He did consider trying to escape at this point, but I basically railroaded him a little bit, saying that the journey was too dangerous to try alone - especially without gear and provisions.
Scene 3
Back in the pen for the night. The players discuss possible escape tactics. I roleplay contributions from the other prisons, although honestly the PCs largely seem to ignore that there are other PCs there. At this point:
E (fighter): "Kazim [the Drow prisoner], do you know where we can steal food from if we escape?"
Kazim: "... the food hall, idiot."
E: "Did he just call me an idiot? I kick him in the nuts."
Me: "Okay... make an attack roll... that's a hit. You kick him in the nuts for 4 damage."
C: "Do the guards notice?"
Me: "Yes. They think it's absolutely hilarious, and start viciously mocking Kazim over it. However, Kazim is very reluctant now to tell you anything useful."
E: "I have intimidate as a skill. Can I intimidate him into talking?"
Me: "... Yes."
E: [i]Rolls 19.[i/]
So Kazim tells them where all their gear is (the armoury, instead of Ilvara's quarters. It makes more sense to me to do that, and I didn't want to hamper the spellcasters by keeping them away from their gear) and a bit about what the guard is like.
Scene 4
Ilvara visits the prisoners to taunt them. She is, as always, flanked by Shoor and Jorlan.
J: Can Stool [the myconid prisoner] set up a telapathic link so we can talk to Shoor and Jorlan without Ilvara noticing?
After a couple of persuade checks with Stool, I allow this.
At first they try to convince Shoor that Ilvara still prefers Jorlan, but the roll is bad.
So they convince Jorlan that Shoor is planning even further humiliations on him, and will probably kill him as he rests. I decide on a DC of 15 to believe this, with a bad outcome if she fails by less than 10. The sorcerer gets (after CHA mod) 23: J: "He takes it hook, line and sinker".
Now, I hadn't really planned this, and kind of needed a brief break, so I asked the players to write what they thought he would do on an index card, and I'd figure it out when he got back. I then took the cards, and improvised an outcome table, with the possibilities being "do nothing in particular" (1-5), "be grateful for us for the heads up" (6-8), "make sure he gets the drop on Shoor first" (9) and "attack Shoor right here and now" (10 - unlikely, I thought, but entertaining). We got a 9. I haven't decided exactly what effect this will have. Maybe if Shoor appears at a future fight, I'll remove him from the fight, or nerf him somewhat. Maybe I'll decide Jorlan actually killed him, and put Jorlan in for Shoor and then have Jorlan betray Ilvara. Anyway, this excellent stirring of the pot will come back to help the PCs in a big way.
[Note: I was happy with this scheme of getting the players to come up with an idea, and then improvising an outcome table. Some results I didn't use: "he'll watch his back", I thought was a given, no matter what, for example, and a couple of players duplicated ideas. But it rewards the players' creativity, while saving me from having to improvise more than I need to.]
Scene 5
Jorlan's gambit happens. While it's given in the book, I played this off as the immediate reward for the PCs convincing the previous day. They head to the guard tower, guarded by two drow, and an elite drow (neither Shoor or Jorlan). The rogue sneaks in and starts to remove gear, the rest of the party try to sneak past. But the wizard (C) fails his check. He tries to bluff his way past ("I was sent by Jorlan to get some shovels to dig holes in the canvern floor"), but fails the roll by 1. After some discussion as to what would be a likely outcome (I didn't want "the Drow attack", because the PCs were outmatched in a straight fight, I feel, and also that's harsh for missing a bluff by 1) they decided the wizard is escorted back to his cell by the elite drow. (The other two drow would be easily beaten by the wizard, so it was the only choice.) At this point the rogue sneak attacks one of the drow left behind, and the rest of the party pile in to kill them both before either can sound an alarm.
At this point the party decides to lay a trap for the returning elite drow warrior (challenge rating 5). They put caltrops down by the door, and use some their rope to create a trip-wire as he walks in, and arm (but not armour) themselves from their gear.
The elite warrior returns, and rolls a 1 on the dex save to avoid being tripped, and ends up prone. And is surprised. And rolls badly on his initiative. In the end he had to deal with one-and-a-half rounds of the party beating the Hades out of him before he got an action. The party rolled well (except for the Paladin, T, who complained about "pacifist dice"). The sorcerer rolled maximum damage on her magic missile, hitting the drow with all three missiles. By the time he got an action he was down to 11HP, from a starting point of 65. He tried to levitate up out of reach, so he could raise the alarm, but this movement triggered opportunity attacks from everyone in the melee.
In the end, it was the paladin who got the final hit on him, taking him down.
At this point, time was up. We didn't get quite as far as I was hoping, but defeating a "boss" was a satisfying end to the session, and everyone said they wanted to come back to play the rest of the escape, and continue the campaign. And the XP from the elite drow alone was enough to put everyone up to level 2.
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Any thoughts on how I played this are welcome.