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View Full Version : DM Help Monday Night In Red's Adventure-A Campaign Journal/Help Thread



JNAProductions
2018-05-12, 09:24 PM
Okay. You might remember I posted about Tuesday Night In The Underdark. Long story short, I overestimated their abilities, one of them died, and I had to save their butts with a Ki-Rin. I had the Ki-Rin basically tell the players "Look, I can't always do this. But I sense potential in you. Go to the Priestess of Sune in Indos, and she will help guide you."

So, they ended last session chilling in the temple, waiting to be told what to do. I'd like to give them a few missions.

Ideas so far:
-Goblin trouble, down south
-Wolf trouble, in some farming villages
-Demonic lock maintenance
-Investigate a ruin for a book

Looking for other ideas, and advice.

Note on the current campaign journal: I didn't think of writing one till just now (Saturday night-game was Tuesday), so I can't remember all details.

The players began by being sucked into a sinkhole into the Underdark. The players are:

Burner-Dog Fo Raw, the Tabaxi Monk
A-[NAME], Tabaxi Rogue
T-Yrilren, Kenku Wizard
V-Owlclick, Kenku Druid
C-Ino, Drow Paladin

Right off the bat, a few of them hear clicking approaching, and a dim light. Soon enough, they're engaged in combat with GIANT FIRE BEETLES!

Who they, you know, curb stomp. I think they took maybe three points of damage.

Dog and [NAME] chase after the fleeing survivor, of which there is one, but notice that a hanging rock formation seems a little... Malevolent. [NAME] shoots an arrow at it, and it screams-it's a Piercer! They circle around it, with [NAME] fleeing back to safety with the others and Dog heading forward. A few more projectiles at it, Ino comes out, and Dodges beneath the Piercer. The Piercer drops... And misses. It goes splat, due to fall damage.

They all feel good now. The two Kenku are harvesting the beetle corpses for torch supplies, as they don't have Darkvision, and the other three go forward. They see a bunch of white strands hanging from the ceiling, and one of them spots a four-armed small figure in their. The figure begins approaching, and they see he's wearing goggles. Ino then feels like this guy is his friend! Soon enough, so does [NAME] and Dog. Eyes Of Charming, and some REAL POOR saves from the players. The chitine gets Ino and [NAME] to go forward into its den of webs. A Giant Wolf Spider comes down, one-shots (to unconsciousness) [NAME], and Ino puts up a valiant, but ultimately fruitless, fight. When they're both KOed, Dog comes in, sees this, has the enchantment break, and lights the whole web on fire.

He rushes in and drags [NAME] out, taking some damage. Then, he tries going in again, but the flames are too much (1 HP left) and he's rebuffed. Luckily, the Kenku have come out by now, and our Druid has one spell slot left. (Yes, one. She spent on healing herself of the beetle damage. Our Wizard spent one on Mage Armor.) Owlclick rushes in, casting Cure Wounds on Ino, and the two run out.

They short rest, spending hit dice and waiting for the fires to die out. Once they're gone, they loot the bodies and move on. And run right into... DROW! Who don't comment on Ino's drow nature. Shoulda had something happen there, but eh, what's done is done.

The drow then basically say "Easy way-slavedom. Hard way-torture and slavedom." [NAME] draws his bow, and gets killed with a crit to the face for his trouble. After that, no one wants to fight much.

I realize now that I've basically screwed the campaign, so I summon Plot Device a ki-rin, who comes in, crushes a few drow, and revives [NAME]. He explains that he sees potential in them, as he gets them out, and directs them to the priestess of Sune, in their launching point of Indos. They go there, where Yrilren argues over the looted goggles, and eventually settles for a sandwich.

Ino goes to the temple of Kord to spar, Dog sits on his egg rock (he has a good backstory, he does), [NAME] admires his shiny rock, Owlclick maintains her gear, and Yrilren reads.

Session ends. Everyone levels up!

And, most importantly, everyone had a good time. The two ladies who were playing were eyeing buying the PHB and Volo's, and A (who's Rogue died, for a little) I talked to and he really enjoyed it.

Overall, DEFINITELY coulda done better. But hey, live and learn.

Unoriginal
2018-05-13, 11:24 AM
Well, it seems there is an issue in that the PCs actually have nothing to do, aside from going around and killing rats in the innkeeper's basement, if you get what I mean.

Apparently them being in the Underdark or not didn't matter, as you removed them from that part of the world, and you didn't want to let them be captured and try to escape the drow's slave pens, so I suppose the drow weren't meant to bee the main foes either.

So, the advice I give you is: know your PCs, and knows their enemies.

To have a campaign that goes beyond "characters get told what they have to do", the PCs need a motivation, an end goal, or at least a reason to be proactive, and there is a need to have antagonists who are more than just your average gang.

Basically, the campaign need a driving force, or several.

So, ask yourself: what do the PCs want to do in life, and what do bad guys want to do with the region/world?

Maybe an half-dragon is uniting all the bandits of the region and has sent their goblin underlings gather supplies in the south.

Maybe a group of wizards have been experimenting on how to mimic the druidic Wildshape, but one of the rats they tested the wolf transformation on turned out to be a Cranium Rat spy, and now the Cranium Rat wants the whole swarm to be turned into a pack of Cranium Wolves.

Maybe a musician's joyous idea of starting a music festival is weakening the seals placed on the Bard-created prison of the demon, and the musician is manipulated by cultists. The various personalities and local businessfolk love the benefits the festival will give them, and a lot of famous artists are coming, so the PCs must find a way to stop the demon's escape despite all this.

Maybe the book has already been found by the Archdevil Moloch, posing as a magic item collector, and he is ready to give it to the PCs if they do him a small favor and go grab some item from a cult of Asmodeus.

Sandbox is fine, but having the PCs have no goal and no follow-ups for their actions is less so.

Though obviously not everything should be a deep arc with long-lasting and far-reaching consequences.

JNAProductions
2018-05-13, 12:12 PM
Well, they're brand new players. For now, I'm sorta easing them in.

That being said, I do appreciate the advice. I'll hopefully be able to have them develop their characters a little further tomorrow, and see about establishing goals.