The Big Bear
2019-07-22, 11:26 AM
Last week I began running my wife through a solo-play game for the Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure that comes with the new D&D Essentials Kit. Having found little advice on running a solo game, I made a thread asking the playground for their thoughts. Man_Over_Game offered some good suggestions but I received little else. Given that there seems to be sparse information on how to run a solo game, I have made this thread to aid those who wish to run one in the hope that this helps their gaming experience.
General Solo Game Suggestions
Healing Surges:
We are using the Healing Surges rule (DMG p.266-267), able to be activated as a bonus action. I highly recommend this rule for a solo game, as it adds to the survivability of both the PC and the sidekick.
Point Buy +1:
This is a rule variant that we use in order to make the PC stronger at the start of the adventure. Player uses point-buy as normal, adds racial bonuses, then adds +1 to any stat. One of the gripes with point-buy is that all stats essentially cap at 17 after racial bonuses and also that it discourages choosing odd numbers. This variant rule allows a PC to start with 18 in a stat or otherwise allow the player to put an odd number in a stat and then allow them to increase it by 1 to tick the modifier up by 1.
Starting Feat:
We did not use this rule, but I would definitely consider it. You want the PC to shine during a solo game, and allowing the PC to start with a feat is an easy way to do so. To make up for not using this, I am considering giving the PC both a feat and +1/+1 for their first ASI at level 4.
Character Sheet Instead of Statblock:
Give the sidekick their own character sheet rather than using the statblocks that can be found in the Essentials Kit or online. It makes leveling them up easier and allows you to add additional information.
As far as additional info, I recommend implementing the racial bonuses for the chosen sidekick. My wife chose a halfling for the sidekick, so we added the applicable racial bonuses to help flesh out the character. For humans, I would suggest sticking to +1 to each stat and not allow the player to choose the variant for a feat, unless allowing the PC a feat at level 1 as well. This is to keep the sidekick from outshining the PC.
Share the Sidekick:
My wife and I share the roleplaying for the sidekick. This allows me to give additional suggestions in some situations while allowing her to say things that may not be in-character for her PC. The player should have full control during combats, but allow yourself to have the sidekick to yell out tactical suggestions.
Additional Sidekicks:
I am considering allowing my wife to choose a second sidekick to meet during the adventure. Her party is an Open Hand Monk (PC) with a Defender-style Warrior sidekick. This is a balancing act between giving the play more to do during combat sequences and overloading them during both combat and roleplaying. Definitely consult with your player to see if they would like to handle another sidekick, and perhaps give them full control of the first sidekick when introducing the second. Still, you want the player to be in full control of their actions during combat so they have the satisfaction of overcoming the challenges presented.
Be ready to roleplay the NPCs wherever the player will go. Have general notes for each one and give your player plenty of opportunity to interact with each NPC. The villagers in the Dragon of Icespire Peak all tell different stories; this is a good introduction on making NPCs fun to interact with.
I plan on introducing elements of the PC's backstory now that they are level 4. Work with the player to flesh out aspects of their backstory, such as Rivals, and come up with something related to it that they can explore and gain a level off of.
Make sure to use an abundance of soft cues in the game. Have the dwarves mention that the monster fell from the ceiling and is slow. Describe the remains of the broken statue across from the one holding a gem that will explode when the gem is taken. You want the player to know to ask questions and investigate the scene and not get ambushed. I cannot stress it enough how important soft cues are as a DM, and this become more important in a solo game where an ambush could easily lead to PC death.
Solo Game Suggestions for Dragon of Icespire Peak [ADVENTURE SPOILERS BELOW]
The adventure module lays out the level advancement, but I would suggest allowing the player to level faster in a solo game.
The current level progression for the game I am running:
The adventure book suggests allowing the characters to reach level 3 by completing two of the three starting quests, but giving no additional advancement for completing the third quest. In my solo game, completing the third quest allows advancement to level 4. As the big bad of this adventure is a white dragon, it is a good idea to give the PC and sidekick more levels to deal with this threat and others. My wife just reached level 4 after clearing out Gnomengarde, so I do not have advice on levelling for the second set of quests, but I will likely allow faster advancement than suggested in the book.
Keep a log of where Cryovain shows up and remember to roll each time the PC's enter or leave a location. Have the NPCs mention the dragon sighting. The first three quests have the PC running around informing various people of the dragon in the region. The dwarves in the Dwarven Excavation quest had already seen the dragon and fled into the ruins. Use the dragon's location to flesh out the world and make the threat of the dragon real.
The dragon has already attacked Phandalin three times in our game and the PC was there for two of them. It lands, freezes some livestock, and hauls off a horse or a cow. The bell in the townmaster's hall begins to ring and people start running to their houses. The settlers are becoming afraid to go out and work the fields. I recommend playing this up as much as possible.
Game Log for Dragon of Icespire Peak [ADVENTURE SPOILERS BELOW]
The following is a game log from our run through the Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure.
Session began with the PC and sidekick entering Phandalin on the south road. They pass by several buildings and people, eventually asking where the Inn was, then making their way there. The PC monk examined the Luck Shrine and put a copper coin into the bowl hoping to gain some good luck.
Eager for gold, they checked out the job board after grabbing some food and drink and booking their rooms. Toblen Stoenhill told them of the dragon sightings. They tried to get more info from the townmaster, who would only speak to them through a crack in the door, a chain preventing the door from fully opening. They couldn’t learn much, just that there is a dragon that’s been flying around.
She decided to go to Umbrage Hill first, to convince a midwife to come to Phandalin for safety, as it was the closest location. On their way out of Phandalin I rolled the dice for the dragon's location and it came up for Phandalin. This was neat, she got to see the dragon attack some fields and freeze a bunch of crops and some horses, with the dragon carrying away a partially frozen horse. The PC and sidekick had some fun joking about the results of putting a coin into the bowl at the Shrine of Luck.
Once the dragon left they continued on to Umbrage Hill. Approaching the windmill, they hear the threats and insults of a manticore attempting to get in and eat the woman inside. She yelled to the PC for help, giving her location away to the manticore.
Upon seeing the PC and sidekick, the manticore demanded that they go inside and retrieve the human woman for it to eat and would spare their lives if they did. The PC rolled well and recognized the manticore for what it was, realizing that they are relatively dumb and can be bargained with. They were able to convince the manticore to leave and come back in a few hours, when they would have a horse for it to eat. Being dumb and gullible, the manticore bought the story and agrees to come back for the horse.
[Make sure to play up the abundance of cover in the area and give them the option to get into the windmill. Should a fight ensue, having cover or the windmill as a base to attack from will be invaluable. The player should be able to get into the windmill either by fooling the manticore to let them in to then bring it the woman, or be able to enter when the manticore takes to the skies. Allowing the PC to take shots from a window and resume cover will force the manticore to prepare its tail spikes, limiting it to one attack a round. This is a very tough fight for level 1, make sure to make it obvious that the PC can talk its way out of a fight.]
The book says that Adabra will not agree to leave her windmill. I called shenanigans on that and allowed the PC and sidekick to talk her into going to Phandalin with many good points brought up and a good roll. Having just been attacked by a manticore, who agreed to come back in a few hours, and with news of a dragon about, she unhappily agrees to go to Phandalin with the PC.
Once escorting her back to Phandalin and sleeping for the night, we ended the session with the characters gaining a level.
Highlights:
Interaction between the PC and NPCs was great. Solo play gives the player a lot of opportunity to ask questions and deal with scenarios without worrying about how the other players will feel about the interactions. The sidekick has a flaw that compels him to punch tall people in the groin, known as the “halfling hello,” which led to a lot of fun where he and the PC tried to explain it away.
The manticore is hard for level 1 characters and the book gives no indication that deceiving it would work, but I would definitely give the group that option. If they can promise it some food and roll well, I don’t see why it wouldn’t agree.
We both had tons of fun and are excited to play again.
The second session began with the PC/sidekick hitting some shops for supplies and interacting with the shopkeeps at each one, learning more about he region. They stopped by the Miner's Exchange to see if they could get any info on the dwarves at the Dwarven Excavation, but the information proved proprietary. Shortly after, the party left Phandalin and headed to the Dwarven Excavation, travelling far to the west of Umbrage Hill to avoid running into the manticore.
Arriving at the excavation, they searched the ruins and eventually ran into the dwarves. Happy to sign the paper that they had received the warning of the dragon, they then asked if the party could clear out the excavation in exchange for a pair of Sending Stones. The party agreed to help.
I really played up the dwarves bickering. They did so nearly everywhere they went. They bickered about running into a monster in the excavation site, giving the party necessary information such as "It dropped from the ceiling! We barely made it out of there!" and "It is slow, but be careful!" The party could hear bickering as they entered the excavation site in search of the monster.
Sure enough, they spotted the Ochre Jelly above the alter and began attacking it. This is a tough fight for two level 2 characters, so I made sure to have the sidekick yell out that they should run and pick it off as well as playing up how slow it is. The PCs eventually got into the rhythm of kiting and shooting it after taking some nasty damage.
After clearing this out, the dwarves asked the party for help searching the rest of the cavern in exchange for half of the loot, to which they agreed. The dwarves made it clear that their kind tend to hide doors around caverns, so everyone was set to work attempting to find such doors. Many hidden doors were found and the party set about exploring the cave.
Eventually running into another Jelly, they used the same kiting strategy to take this one out and finished searching the ruins. When they came to the gem room I made it clear that the statue to the south had exploded by describing that pieces of it were scattered throughout the room. With a good investigation check, the PC figured that taking the glowing gem would cause the northern statue to explode in much the same manner, and a plan was hatched to tie a rope around it and yank the gem free from around the corner. The book doesn't give a value for the gem, but the dwarves valued it at 500gp and gave the PC's half of the value in smaller gems.
Having fully explored the cavern, the party decides to rest in the cave before returning to Phandalin. We ended the session here with the PCs advancing to level 3. I wanted the PCs to be level 3 for the orc attack when leaving the cavern during the next session to give a good opportunity to explore their newly-obtained subclass features.
Highlights:
The dwarves bickered every chance they got. It really added to the environment of the excavation site and led to a lot of good laughs between the PC and sidekick, as well as out of character. I would definitely suggest playing this up as much as possible. It was also rewarding for the player to learn kiting skills on slow opponents.
This session began with the PCs leaving the Dwarven Excavation and running into a horde of three orcs. The dwarves had stayed behind in the excavation site while they planned which site they would visit next.
This fight was intense, which was expected since the book advises to throw one orc per PC/sidekick and I used three. Good uses of the sidekick's protection skill, the PCs flurry of blows, and healing surges led the party to victory.
The group went back to Phandalin, again going wide of Umbrage Hill to avoid the manticore. At Phandalin they turned in the quest and bought better armor for the sidekick and a longbow for the PC, who had nearly exhausted her dart supply against the jellies.
As the player had convinced Adabra to abandon Umbrage Hill until the dragon is dealt with, they have been enjoing checking in with her when they are in Phandalin. She is staying in the townmaster's hall, leading to interesting encounters with her and Harbin Wester whenever the party visit to get info or turn in a quest.
The book advises giving the party the next three quests at this point, but I like the Gnomengarde quest and wanted the PC to advance to level 4 before the next round of quests so I decided not to post the next round of quests just yet.
The player decided to head to Gnomengarde the next morning after gearing up and spending the night in town celebrating their newly earned gold with drinks at the inn. While walking out of Phandalin the group saw Cryovain land in a field and carry another horse away.
Arriving at Gnomengarde, again going wide of Umbrage Hill due to the manticore, the party investigated the mushrooms and found the green and purple are fit for consumption and picked some for their packs. They entered Gnomengarde and were attacked by the crazy gnome with the crossbow contraption. The group then doubled back and found the barrel crabs, which the player had fun with. They entered the crabs and went back to the crossbow gnome. I said the glass shields on the barrel crabs were covered in grime and the gnome mistook them for other gnomes, allowing them to pass through.
They ran into more gnomes who made them prove that they weren't shapeshifters, which they were able to do by showing their insignia for the PC's monastery and a persuasion check. The gnomes told them to talk to Fibblestib and Dabbledob, who then asked the group to find and kill the shapeshifter. After scouring the west side of the cavern and conversing with the gnome Kings, they took a rest and decided to check the eastern caverns in the morning.
Climbing into the barrel crabs where they left them in the eastern caverns, the party eventually stopped in the storeroom and began poking barrels. This fight was brutal. I tried to convey that the party should retreat back into the barrel crabs, but the PC remained within melee of the mimic. While she dealt a fair amount of damage, she eventually ran out of ki points for patient defense and was downed, with the sidekick coming in for the kill and then stabilizing the PC with a healer's kit. If I were to do this again I would perhaps have some gnome guards accompany them to help, or have the sidekick yell for her to get back into the barrel crab when things were getting hairy. Either way, she was able to overcome the encounter without the PC or sidekick dying.
After killing the mimic, the PC/sidekick decided to take a rest in the storeroom and we ended the session there. As she has essentially finished this quest, the characters will advance to level 4 for the start of the next session.
Highlights:
Gnomes are fun to roleplay and interact with, given their goofy nature. Having the PC state that they aren't a shapechanger only to be met with "prove it!" was pretty funny.
"I'm a wood elf from-"
"Prove it!"
"Well, I'm an elf-"
"Prove it!"
It was also funny to have the PC looking around Gnomengarde and seeing all of the mostly-failed inventions laying about. The player had fun finding the purple mushroom wine and asking what it tastes like. "It tastes like purple mushroom wine...which is as good as it sounds..." with her making a grimace face and telling her halfling pal he's better off not having any was funny.
Updated: 7.25.19
This session started with the PC ending their rest after the mimic fight in Gnomengarde. They made their way back to the door to the king's room, telling him through the door that the shapechanger had been found and slain. The king did not believe them due to a low persuasion check, forcing them to speak to a gnome guard from earlier to have him check the mimic's body and verify that it was dead for the king.
Upon hearing from one of his guard that the shapechanger had in fact been slain, the king moved to his husband and removed the glue holding him to a chair (for his own safety, of course). They opened the door and thanked the party for helping Gnomengarde, gifting them a Wand of Pyrotechnics and a Wizard Hat for their troubles.
The PC asked if there was anything more they could provide Phandalin to help with the dragon problem, with the PC eventually asking if they could build one of the large crossbow contraptions that was encountered earlier in the dungeon. I loved this idea and the gnome kings agreed to build one for the town.
The gnome engineers kept their end of the bargain and gave the party the Clockwork Amulet and Collapsible Rod for helping their kings. All in all this was probably the most fun quest for both myself and my wife in this adventure so far.
Upon returning to Phandalin the PCs spotted the newly-populated job board and inquired about the new jobs at the townmaster's hall before going to the inn for the night. At the inn they met Don-Jon Raskin, who is the new overseer of the Mountain's Toe Gold Mine and was surrounded by locals listening to his slightly exaggerated tales. The party agreed to escort him to the mine the next day.
On the way to the mine the party found some orc bodies, and with a good medicine check determined that the white dragon had saved them some trouble. When arriving at the mine, the PC sneakily peaked into the entrance and saw two human women who looked a bit off. They had hairy arms and other mouse-like features, but she was unable to discern that these were wererats.
She showed herself to the rats, who offered to escort her to their leader. She inquired about their strange looks but they insisted they were just a rare sub-race of human, which was obviously a lie. She threatened them and they pulled out their swords and laughed. After realizing her attacks had no effect and yelling for help, the sidekick came to the cave entrance and realized that these stange women were wererats. The party fled, with Don-Jon suggesting they needed to go back to Phandalin to obtain silvered weapons to stand a chance against these varmints. The PC was lucky to succeed on her save the one time she was bitten before fleeing.
They made it back to Phandalin near sunset and rested at the inn for the night. Next session they will start by buying silvered weapons and heading back to the cave.
Highlights: Interacting with gnomes is just fun in general. Don-Jon's stories were a hoot.
I will update this thread after we play through more sessions. Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions of your own.
General Solo Game Suggestions
Healing Surges:
We are using the Healing Surges rule (DMG p.266-267), able to be activated as a bonus action. I highly recommend this rule for a solo game, as it adds to the survivability of both the PC and the sidekick.
Point Buy +1:
This is a rule variant that we use in order to make the PC stronger at the start of the adventure. Player uses point-buy as normal, adds racial bonuses, then adds +1 to any stat. One of the gripes with point-buy is that all stats essentially cap at 17 after racial bonuses and also that it discourages choosing odd numbers. This variant rule allows a PC to start with 18 in a stat or otherwise allow the player to put an odd number in a stat and then allow them to increase it by 1 to tick the modifier up by 1.
Starting Feat:
We did not use this rule, but I would definitely consider it. You want the PC to shine during a solo game, and allowing the PC to start with a feat is an easy way to do so. To make up for not using this, I am considering giving the PC both a feat and +1/+1 for their first ASI at level 4.
Character Sheet Instead of Statblock:
Give the sidekick their own character sheet rather than using the statblocks that can be found in the Essentials Kit or online. It makes leveling them up easier and allows you to add additional information.
As far as additional info, I recommend implementing the racial bonuses for the chosen sidekick. My wife chose a halfling for the sidekick, so we added the applicable racial bonuses to help flesh out the character. For humans, I would suggest sticking to +1 to each stat and not allow the player to choose the variant for a feat, unless allowing the PC a feat at level 1 as well. This is to keep the sidekick from outshining the PC.
Share the Sidekick:
My wife and I share the roleplaying for the sidekick. This allows me to give additional suggestions in some situations while allowing her to say things that may not be in-character for her PC. The player should have full control during combats, but allow yourself to have the sidekick to yell out tactical suggestions.
Additional Sidekicks:
I am considering allowing my wife to choose a second sidekick to meet during the adventure. Her party is an Open Hand Monk (PC) with a Defender-style Warrior sidekick. This is a balancing act between giving the play more to do during combat sequences and overloading them during both combat and roleplaying. Definitely consult with your player to see if they would like to handle another sidekick, and perhaps give them full control of the first sidekick when introducing the second. Still, you want the player to be in full control of their actions during combat so they have the satisfaction of overcoming the challenges presented.
Be ready to roleplay the NPCs wherever the player will go. Have general notes for each one and give your player plenty of opportunity to interact with each NPC. The villagers in the Dragon of Icespire Peak all tell different stories; this is a good introduction on making NPCs fun to interact with.
I plan on introducing elements of the PC's backstory now that they are level 4. Work with the player to flesh out aspects of their backstory, such as Rivals, and come up with something related to it that they can explore and gain a level off of.
Make sure to use an abundance of soft cues in the game. Have the dwarves mention that the monster fell from the ceiling and is slow. Describe the remains of the broken statue across from the one holding a gem that will explode when the gem is taken. You want the player to know to ask questions and investigate the scene and not get ambushed. I cannot stress it enough how important soft cues are as a DM, and this become more important in a solo game where an ambush could easily lead to PC death.
Solo Game Suggestions for Dragon of Icespire Peak [ADVENTURE SPOILERS BELOW]
The adventure module lays out the level advancement, but I would suggest allowing the player to level faster in a solo game.
The current level progression for the game I am running:
The adventure book suggests allowing the characters to reach level 3 by completing two of the three starting quests, but giving no additional advancement for completing the third quest. In my solo game, completing the third quest allows advancement to level 4. As the big bad of this adventure is a white dragon, it is a good idea to give the PC and sidekick more levels to deal with this threat and others. My wife just reached level 4 after clearing out Gnomengarde, so I do not have advice on levelling for the second set of quests, but I will likely allow faster advancement than suggested in the book.
Keep a log of where Cryovain shows up and remember to roll each time the PC's enter or leave a location. Have the NPCs mention the dragon sighting. The first three quests have the PC running around informing various people of the dragon in the region. The dwarves in the Dwarven Excavation quest had already seen the dragon and fled into the ruins. Use the dragon's location to flesh out the world and make the threat of the dragon real.
The dragon has already attacked Phandalin three times in our game and the PC was there for two of them. It lands, freezes some livestock, and hauls off a horse or a cow. The bell in the townmaster's hall begins to ring and people start running to their houses. The settlers are becoming afraid to go out and work the fields. I recommend playing this up as much as possible.
Game Log for Dragon of Icespire Peak [ADVENTURE SPOILERS BELOW]
The following is a game log from our run through the Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure.
Session began with the PC and sidekick entering Phandalin on the south road. They pass by several buildings and people, eventually asking where the Inn was, then making their way there. The PC monk examined the Luck Shrine and put a copper coin into the bowl hoping to gain some good luck.
Eager for gold, they checked out the job board after grabbing some food and drink and booking their rooms. Toblen Stoenhill told them of the dragon sightings. They tried to get more info from the townmaster, who would only speak to them through a crack in the door, a chain preventing the door from fully opening. They couldn’t learn much, just that there is a dragon that’s been flying around.
She decided to go to Umbrage Hill first, to convince a midwife to come to Phandalin for safety, as it was the closest location. On their way out of Phandalin I rolled the dice for the dragon's location and it came up for Phandalin. This was neat, she got to see the dragon attack some fields and freeze a bunch of crops and some horses, with the dragon carrying away a partially frozen horse. The PC and sidekick had some fun joking about the results of putting a coin into the bowl at the Shrine of Luck.
Once the dragon left they continued on to Umbrage Hill. Approaching the windmill, they hear the threats and insults of a manticore attempting to get in and eat the woman inside. She yelled to the PC for help, giving her location away to the manticore.
Upon seeing the PC and sidekick, the manticore demanded that they go inside and retrieve the human woman for it to eat and would spare their lives if they did. The PC rolled well and recognized the manticore for what it was, realizing that they are relatively dumb and can be bargained with. They were able to convince the manticore to leave and come back in a few hours, when they would have a horse for it to eat. Being dumb and gullible, the manticore bought the story and agrees to come back for the horse.
[Make sure to play up the abundance of cover in the area and give them the option to get into the windmill. Should a fight ensue, having cover or the windmill as a base to attack from will be invaluable. The player should be able to get into the windmill either by fooling the manticore to let them in to then bring it the woman, or be able to enter when the manticore takes to the skies. Allowing the PC to take shots from a window and resume cover will force the manticore to prepare its tail spikes, limiting it to one attack a round. This is a very tough fight for level 1, make sure to make it obvious that the PC can talk its way out of a fight.]
The book says that Adabra will not agree to leave her windmill. I called shenanigans on that and allowed the PC and sidekick to talk her into going to Phandalin with many good points brought up and a good roll. Having just been attacked by a manticore, who agreed to come back in a few hours, and with news of a dragon about, she unhappily agrees to go to Phandalin with the PC.
Once escorting her back to Phandalin and sleeping for the night, we ended the session with the characters gaining a level.
Highlights:
Interaction between the PC and NPCs was great. Solo play gives the player a lot of opportunity to ask questions and deal with scenarios without worrying about how the other players will feel about the interactions. The sidekick has a flaw that compels him to punch tall people in the groin, known as the “halfling hello,” which led to a lot of fun where he and the PC tried to explain it away.
The manticore is hard for level 1 characters and the book gives no indication that deceiving it would work, but I would definitely give the group that option. If they can promise it some food and roll well, I don’t see why it wouldn’t agree.
We both had tons of fun and are excited to play again.
The second session began with the PC/sidekick hitting some shops for supplies and interacting with the shopkeeps at each one, learning more about he region. They stopped by the Miner's Exchange to see if they could get any info on the dwarves at the Dwarven Excavation, but the information proved proprietary. Shortly after, the party left Phandalin and headed to the Dwarven Excavation, travelling far to the west of Umbrage Hill to avoid running into the manticore.
Arriving at the excavation, they searched the ruins and eventually ran into the dwarves. Happy to sign the paper that they had received the warning of the dragon, they then asked if the party could clear out the excavation in exchange for a pair of Sending Stones. The party agreed to help.
I really played up the dwarves bickering. They did so nearly everywhere they went. They bickered about running into a monster in the excavation site, giving the party necessary information such as "It dropped from the ceiling! We barely made it out of there!" and "It is slow, but be careful!" The party could hear bickering as they entered the excavation site in search of the monster.
Sure enough, they spotted the Ochre Jelly above the alter and began attacking it. This is a tough fight for two level 2 characters, so I made sure to have the sidekick yell out that they should run and pick it off as well as playing up how slow it is. The PCs eventually got into the rhythm of kiting and shooting it after taking some nasty damage.
After clearing this out, the dwarves asked the party for help searching the rest of the cavern in exchange for half of the loot, to which they agreed. The dwarves made it clear that their kind tend to hide doors around caverns, so everyone was set to work attempting to find such doors. Many hidden doors were found and the party set about exploring the cave.
Eventually running into another Jelly, they used the same kiting strategy to take this one out and finished searching the ruins. When they came to the gem room I made it clear that the statue to the south had exploded by describing that pieces of it were scattered throughout the room. With a good investigation check, the PC figured that taking the glowing gem would cause the northern statue to explode in much the same manner, and a plan was hatched to tie a rope around it and yank the gem free from around the corner. The book doesn't give a value for the gem, but the dwarves valued it at 500gp and gave the PC's half of the value in smaller gems.
Having fully explored the cavern, the party decides to rest in the cave before returning to Phandalin. We ended the session here with the PCs advancing to level 3. I wanted the PCs to be level 3 for the orc attack when leaving the cavern during the next session to give a good opportunity to explore their newly-obtained subclass features.
Highlights:
The dwarves bickered every chance they got. It really added to the environment of the excavation site and led to a lot of good laughs between the PC and sidekick, as well as out of character. I would definitely suggest playing this up as much as possible. It was also rewarding for the player to learn kiting skills on slow opponents.
This session began with the PCs leaving the Dwarven Excavation and running into a horde of three orcs. The dwarves had stayed behind in the excavation site while they planned which site they would visit next.
This fight was intense, which was expected since the book advises to throw one orc per PC/sidekick and I used three. Good uses of the sidekick's protection skill, the PCs flurry of blows, and healing surges led the party to victory.
The group went back to Phandalin, again going wide of Umbrage Hill to avoid the manticore. At Phandalin they turned in the quest and bought better armor for the sidekick and a longbow for the PC, who had nearly exhausted her dart supply against the jellies.
As the player had convinced Adabra to abandon Umbrage Hill until the dragon is dealt with, they have been enjoing checking in with her when they are in Phandalin. She is staying in the townmaster's hall, leading to interesting encounters with her and Harbin Wester whenever the party visit to get info or turn in a quest.
The book advises giving the party the next three quests at this point, but I like the Gnomengarde quest and wanted the PC to advance to level 4 before the next round of quests so I decided not to post the next round of quests just yet.
The player decided to head to Gnomengarde the next morning after gearing up and spending the night in town celebrating their newly earned gold with drinks at the inn. While walking out of Phandalin the group saw Cryovain land in a field and carry another horse away.
Arriving at Gnomengarde, again going wide of Umbrage Hill due to the manticore, the party investigated the mushrooms and found the green and purple are fit for consumption and picked some for their packs. They entered Gnomengarde and were attacked by the crazy gnome with the crossbow contraption. The group then doubled back and found the barrel crabs, which the player had fun with. They entered the crabs and went back to the crossbow gnome. I said the glass shields on the barrel crabs were covered in grime and the gnome mistook them for other gnomes, allowing them to pass through.
They ran into more gnomes who made them prove that they weren't shapeshifters, which they were able to do by showing their insignia for the PC's monastery and a persuasion check. The gnomes told them to talk to Fibblestib and Dabbledob, who then asked the group to find and kill the shapeshifter. After scouring the west side of the cavern and conversing with the gnome Kings, they took a rest and decided to check the eastern caverns in the morning.
Climbing into the barrel crabs where they left them in the eastern caverns, the party eventually stopped in the storeroom and began poking barrels. This fight was brutal. I tried to convey that the party should retreat back into the barrel crabs, but the PC remained within melee of the mimic. While she dealt a fair amount of damage, she eventually ran out of ki points for patient defense and was downed, with the sidekick coming in for the kill and then stabilizing the PC with a healer's kit. If I were to do this again I would perhaps have some gnome guards accompany them to help, or have the sidekick yell for her to get back into the barrel crab when things were getting hairy. Either way, she was able to overcome the encounter without the PC or sidekick dying.
After killing the mimic, the PC/sidekick decided to take a rest in the storeroom and we ended the session there. As she has essentially finished this quest, the characters will advance to level 4 for the start of the next session.
Highlights:
Gnomes are fun to roleplay and interact with, given their goofy nature. Having the PC state that they aren't a shapechanger only to be met with "prove it!" was pretty funny.
"I'm a wood elf from-"
"Prove it!"
"Well, I'm an elf-"
"Prove it!"
It was also funny to have the PC looking around Gnomengarde and seeing all of the mostly-failed inventions laying about. The player had fun finding the purple mushroom wine and asking what it tastes like. "It tastes like purple mushroom wine...which is as good as it sounds..." with her making a grimace face and telling her halfling pal he's better off not having any was funny.
Updated: 7.25.19
This session started with the PC ending their rest after the mimic fight in Gnomengarde. They made their way back to the door to the king's room, telling him through the door that the shapechanger had been found and slain. The king did not believe them due to a low persuasion check, forcing them to speak to a gnome guard from earlier to have him check the mimic's body and verify that it was dead for the king.
Upon hearing from one of his guard that the shapechanger had in fact been slain, the king moved to his husband and removed the glue holding him to a chair (for his own safety, of course). They opened the door and thanked the party for helping Gnomengarde, gifting them a Wand of Pyrotechnics and a Wizard Hat for their troubles.
The PC asked if there was anything more they could provide Phandalin to help with the dragon problem, with the PC eventually asking if they could build one of the large crossbow contraptions that was encountered earlier in the dungeon. I loved this idea and the gnome kings agreed to build one for the town.
The gnome engineers kept their end of the bargain and gave the party the Clockwork Amulet and Collapsible Rod for helping their kings. All in all this was probably the most fun quest for both myself and my wife in this adventure so far.
Upon returning to Phandalin the PCs spotted the newly-populated job board and inquired about the new jobs at the townmaster's hall before going to the inn for the night. At the inn they met Don-Jon Raskin, who is the new overseer of the Mountain's Toe Gold Mine and was surrounded by locals listening to his slightly exaggerated tales. The party agreed to escort him to the mine the next day.
On the way to the mine the party found some orc bodies, and with a good medicine check determined that the white dragon had saved them some trouble. When arriving at the mine, the PC sneakily peaked into the entrance and saw two human women who looked a bit off. They had hairy arms and other mouse-like features, but she was unable to discern that these were wererats.
She showed herself to the rats, who offered to escort her to their leader. She inquired about their strange looks but they insisted they were just a rare sub-race of human, which was obviously a lie. She threatened them and they pulled out their swords and laughed. After realizing her attacks had no effect and yelling for help, the sidekick came to the cave entrance and realized that these stange women were wererats. The party fled, with Don-Jon suggesting they needed to go back to Phandalin to obtain silvered weapons to stand a chance against these varmints. The PC was lucky to succeed on her save the one time she was bitten before fleeing.
They made it back to Phandalin near sunset and rested at the inn for the night. Next session they will start by buying silvered weapons and heading back to the cave.
Highlights: Interacting with gnomes is just fun in general. Don-Jon's stories were a hoot.
I will update this thread after we play through more sessions. Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions of your own.