Redesigning Encounters: Street Assault
I decided to play Street Assault differently than it was written; instead of an ambush as depicted in The Scouring of Gate Pass, the Black Horses planned an all out attack in order to capture Asher (whom they failed to attain in the first session). Also, looking forward, I saw that Kathor and Renard were in the same combat near the end of the adventure; I wanted to seperate the two in order to highlight each individually. Street Assault, known as Street Ambush in the adventure, is located on page 51 and consists of the following: Black Horse Lieutenant, Level 3 Soldier 4 Black Horse Bandits,...
Read MoreMusings on Our Seventh Session
The last month has seen a lot of changes to our roster. First, Brian went and got himself married, and then let his wife convince him to move to the other side of the country. This put a damper on the campaign, not only because we will genuinely miss Brian’s presence at the table, but also because his character was a linchpin the campaign was eventually going to revolve around; being a dragonborn, he was going to play a major role when the Bahamut and Tiamat plot waltzed into the forefront. Fortunately, we’ve built a solid campaign foundation that will focus more on the group as a...
Read MoreRedesigning Encounters: Spy Headquarters
The Spy Headquarters encounter was my favorite so far and not because it was a rewarding combat, but because it was almost completely bypassed by excellent roleplaying and more than a few lucky bluff checks. The encounter started off with the group convincing the Shahalesti that they were sent by Shealis to open the case of the vital military intelligence. I decided that I couldn’t let just one die roll decide the fate of what was supposed to be a difficult encounter, and so I whipped up a skill challenge. We were about halfway through it when I realized that I wasn’t going to...
Read MoreMusings on Our Sixth Session
Session 6 was a spectacular session! My closest friend and the best man at my wedding, Jeff Farnsworth, sat in as a guest player; he portrayed the role of Artimus, Rivereye’s old friend. This was lucky, as Brian was unable to make it out. Additionally, our session took place on my birthday—I am now the ripe old age of 32. Lastly, we lost Arender, finally outed as a spy for the Shahalesti government. He fell in combat against eladrin terrorists who were trying to undermine the King of Shahalesti, Lord Shaaladel. Best of all: though the session was eight hours, only one of those...
Read MoreRedesigning Encounters: Dual at Gabal’s School
The group’s encounter with Shealis was different than those that had come before. First of all, it was completely possible for the group to talk their way past her; a detailed skill challenge was put together so the party could choose whether they wanted to open with diplomacy or hostility. Though the players chose diplomacy, in the end it failed and Shealis attacked. Overall, the encounter was enjoyable for the group, mostly because the players were able to work together and focus on one powerful enemy. On my end of the screen, however, Shealis was boring. She was little more than a...
Read MoreMusings on Our Fifth Session
Session 5 of our War of the Burning Sky campaign was the best session yet! Not only did we get six hours of gaming in, five of those hours were solid roleplay; the session’s combat only lasted one hour. We finally hit the sweet spot of how long combat should last! Between Condition Cards, the initiative board, and a familiarity with their character’s powers, the players zipped from turn to turn with barely a moment in-between. Also: My marriage to Janelle Kann is less than a month away! Unfortunately, this means scheduling future sessions will be difficult as the excitement,...
Read MoreAn Essentials Perspective
Cody—resident player, tactician, and sometimes-MVP—took over the reigns for Seth on Sunday and DM’ed Session 4 of our Essentials campaign. He decided to run us through “The Broken Tower,” a series of three encounters suitable for five 2nd-level characters, from Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeon Delve. One of the exciting things about this venture was it was Cody’s first time at the helm. He not only did an awesome job as a first-time DM, he did an awesome job when compared to many long-time DM’s I’ve played with. Some of the things I...
Read MoreA Dark Sun Sandbox
A few weeks ago, I made a colossal DMing mistake—I had the players follow the DM, rather than let the DM follow the players. Here’s how the situation went down: In the War of the Burning Sky campaign I’m running, the characters were tracking down some vital military intelligence. Eventually, they discovered it was in the hands of an NPC named Shealis. They even found out where she was located. However, it was night, and the PC’s were low on hit points, powers, and healing surges—so they took an extended rest. The next morning, they woke to discover that another...
Read MoreRedesigning Encounters: White Wyrm Terrorists
The White Wyrm encounter, located on page 45 of The Scouring of Gate Pass, was a well thought out combat—as written. Unfortunately, I executed it horribly with my mismanagement of monster’s tactics. First of all, I completely misread some of the powers just before the encounter. Thus, when it came time to use said powers, my plans went out the window. Rather than take a moment or two to regroup, I got antsy and simply attacked without a plan—which is never a good thing. I also found myself unable to roll with the punches (no pun intended); I was resistant to alter my plan of...
Read MoreMusings on Our Fourth Session
It’s been a busy spring for several of the players in my group, and the fallout of that is less time for War of the Burning Sky. Since I’m one of those weird DM’s that prefers every player be present for the campaign, weeks can go by without playing. My go-to excuse has always been, how would Lord of the Rings have ended if Frodo had called in sick the weekend they were supposed to toss the ring into Mount Doom? I guess Samwise would have had to do it… In the meantime, our group finished up the first adventure in Seth’s Essential’s campaign; hopefully there...
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