TigerT20
2020-12-21, 03:47 PM
So, I've just come out of DMing a session of the homebrew module Kobold Alone (https://dmdave.com/kobold-alone-1st-level-holiday-adventure-for-dungeons-dragons-fifth-edition-pdf-included/). It's advertised as a silly and fun one-shot based on the popular Christmas movie, Home Alone. Despite this, I had some struggles.
Let's set the scene: I haven't DMed in over a year. Essentially last minute we decide I'll DM this module for this session. While the party of 2 make their characters, I look through it and begin to formulate some ideas.
The player's make two pickle farmers, Howard the Hafling Druid and Rootsmasher the Goliath Barbarian. The local mafia razed their cucumber patch and they've been looking for revenge. They've received intel that a rich businessman who lives nearby has possible connections to the mafia - and he's currently on his holidays. Perfect chance to investigate. However - a kobold has moved into the home and declared it his own.
I had decided the traps should be improvised, although still picked from the given list. I'd told my players this beforehand and agreed I would do it a step or two ahead - before they enter a room, rather than say as soon as they step on the suddenly appearing caltrops.
The players are quite genre-savvy and are making sure not to touch any doors (I've allowed the use of thorn whip to pull objects which they've takrn advantage of quite a bit, and they kick down any doors that open away from them) as well as entering the house via the treehouse and making their way down - they've cleared the attic and the upstairs rooms.
However, I'm not really sure how engaging the session was. The players seemed to find more enjoyment in their ooc jokes and silliness than any part of the actual game, and tbh I didn't feel like I was having much fun either. I'm not sure if this is due to the lack of any real events happening (most of it was them overthinking doors, stairways and even a bathroom), the module's lack of support for their chosen plot hook - I inserted a 6-figure code behind one of the art objects, but I haven't decided what it's for. All of the stuff they've found could have been aquired perfectly reasonably, and I'm not sure how to actually provide any incriminating evidence, especially now almost the entire house has been explored (mostly they just need to do the basement, with 1 or 2 rooms remaining on the main floor).
Now, their constant overthinking has given Kobold McCallister plenty of time to prepare the basement - although I've planned a beartrap at the bottom of the laundry chute and not much more.
This has been a bit all over the place, but if anyone has any ideas on how I can amp up player engagement and make the finishing sesison something to remember, that would be great. So far my only plans are for the town guards and possibly the old man to show up, and potentially to get the kobold above the party to pull off some swinging paint cans and the like.
Let's set the scene: I haven't DMed in over a year. Essentially last minute we decide I'll DM this module for this session. While the party of 2 make their characters, I look through it and begin to formulate some ideas.
The player's make two pickle farmers, Howard the Hafling Druid and Rootsmasher the Goliath Barbarian. The local mafia razed their cucumber patch and they've been looking for revenge. They've received intel that a rich businessman who lives nearby has possible connections to the mafia - and he's currently on his holidays. Perfect chance to investigate. However - a kobold has moved into the home and declared it his own.
I had decided the traps should be improvised, although still picked from the given list. I'd told my players this beforehand and agreed I would do it a step or two ahead - before they enter a room, rather than say as soon as they step on the suddenly appearing caltrops.
The players are quite genre-savvy and are making sure not to touch any doors (I've allowed the use of thorn whip to pull objects which they've takrn advantage of quite a bit, and they kick down any doors that open away from them) as well as entering the house via the treehouse and making their way down - they've cleared the attic and the upstairs rooms.
However, I'm not really sure how engaging the session was. The players seemed to find more enjoyment in their ooc jokes and silliness than any part of the actual game, and tbh I didn't feel like I was having much fun either. I'm not sure if this is due to the lack of any real events happening (most of it was them overthinking doors, stairways and even a bathroom), the module's lack of support for their chosen plot hook - I inserted a 6-figure code behind one of the art objects, but I haven't decided what it's for. All of the stuff they've found could have been aquired perfectly reasonably, and I'm not sure how to actually provide any incriminating evidence, especially now almost the entire house has been explored (mostly they just need to do the basement, with 1 or 2 rooms remaining on the main floor).
Now, their constant overthinking has given Kobold McCallister plenty of time to prepare the basement - although I've planned a beartrap at the bottom of the laundry chute and not much more.
This has been a bit all over the place, but if anyone has any ideas on how I can amp up player engagement and make the finishing sesison something to remember, that would be great. So far my only plans are for the town guards and possibly the old man to show up, and potentially to get the kobold above the party to pull off some swinging paint cans and the like.