doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Just as the title says, I want to hear about your latest session of DnD, or any other game really.
Be as detailed or as brief as you like!
Be as detailed or as brief as you like!
D&D General How Was Your Last Session?
- Thread starter doctorbadwolf
- Start date
Blackrat
He Who Lurks Beyond The Veil
I was running heavily modified Whispers of the Vampire’s Blade. Or could maybe even say I was running an adventure inspired by that 
The group’s first encounter with the vampire was on the road, right after sunset. I was rather detailed describing the setting sun. The vampire started by summoning a horde of wolves and when things went south he turned to mist and fled.
Since the players are rather new to d&d they don’t even suspect a vampire. Their current theory is that they are chasing a druid who used animal summoning, obscuring mist and wild shape to flee...
I can’t wait for them to figure out how wrong they are...
The group’s first encounter with the vampire was on the road, right after sunset. I was rather detailed describing the setting sun. The vampire started by summoning a horde of wolves and when things went south he turned to mist and fled.
Since the players are rather new to d&d they don’t even suspect a vampire. Their current theory is that they are chasing a druid who used animal summoning, obscuring mist and wild shape to flee...
I can’t wait for them to figure out how wrong they are...
Zardnaar
Legend
Two nights ago.
The PCs started to explore the House of Perenthuru on the banks of the mighty Nuria.
First combat against a night scorpion I roll a natural 20 with the sting on the 1st round 1st battle on the same PC who soaked the last crit from a night scorpion.
Quite a bit of exploring done on the estate. Death dogs, a couple of groups of Skelitons, a scarab swarm and the night scorpion. A short rest and a random encounter check for a single weretiger (Xanathars random desert encounters) so I made her friendly and added an NPC to drop story hints about blood rubies.
The players are paranoid about traps for some reason but there are none.
Previous session was RP heavy shopping trip.
The PCs started to explore the House of Perenthuru on the banks of the mighty Nuria.
First combat against a night scorpion I roll a natural 20 with the sting on the 1st round 1st battle on the same PC who soaked the last crit from a night scorpion.
Quite a bit of exploring done on the estate. Death dogs, a couple of groups of Skelitons, a scarab swarm and the night scorpion. A short rest and a random encounter check for a single weretiger (Xanathars random desert encounters) so I made her friendly and added an NPC to drop story hints about blood rubies.
The players are paranoid about traps for some reason but there are none.
Previous session was RP heavy shopping trip.
Last edited:
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
My latest session was a caper set in the midst of a Grand Tourney in Sharn.
A Karrnathi Warlord’s son and Seeker Knight who was involved in organizing the Tourney was the mark.
He had a macguffin, my recurring NPC Brenn ir Gadden (who they first met in the doomed tower in the starter adventurer from the 4e Eberron campaign guide, and I made into a noble spy, wand slinger, and dilettante) wants it. The object is a nonagon (a non Euclidean 9-sided polyhedral object made of planar energy infused Syberis dragonshard) that could potentially be used to create an elemental control wheel that needs no dragonmark to use. So...very big deal.
To get the object, get out, and leave no faction knowing who took it, they need access to the place it’s being kept, to Garret (the Karrnathi Noble kid), and to the buyer’s inner circle. They also need to control the crowds, and the news surrounding the Tourney. Oh, and they need inside the Victor’s Celebry, a big party for the winners of the various events of the Grand Tourney.
Now, this is a caper story, so I ran things differently. Brenn laid out the goals and obstacles, and then we move directly into the first day of the Tourney, and setting up their parts in the plan. Each PC chose an event to participate in, and a way to contribute to the heist.
The Karrnathi Paladin chose the joust, the Kobold Wizard took the Mage’s Duel, the Bugbear Barbarian set up a food stand selling hot meat in soft dumpling style bread and also took on the Melee, the firbolg Blade Bard took on the knife throwing contest, the monk took on the fisticuffs tournament, and the firbolg glamour bard ran support and made contact with a prominent reporter on the local beat of an adventurous focused paper.
The first “round” was each qualifying for their event, meeting 1-2 NPCs, and learning the mechanics I was using for the session. Round two was day 2+, with 3 rolls per PC. 2 for their tourney stuff, 1 for whatever they were doing outside that.
Every time something went sideways, a player could spend an Inspiration to establish a backup plan, or establish how the setback was actually part of the plan. This meant that the game ran like a Leverage episode, a caper movie.
It was totally non linear, withbroad room to fudge and soft retcon, and just make it work.
At one point the wizard rolled a 3 on his check to manipulate the magical security of the private vault that the blade bard had gotten them access to under the guise of employing their services, so someone spent an Inspiration to establish that tripping the alarm was the plan. The wizard had created an item in the lockbox they’d already put in the vault that would activate when the security system was taken offline and “rebooted”, altering the “code” of the enchantment to allow the swapped boxes to read the way we needed and for movement within the vault to not set off the alarm. All part of the plan.
The glamour bard used her connections and control of the crowds to stop the buyer’s agents and distract them while their payment case was swapped by a pickpocket they’d hired.
I honestly don’t recall all the details, but yeah it ran super well and felt just like a caper should in a dnd game, and everyone got their cool spotlight moments both in the Tourney and in the caper itself, including some character development moments.
So, it went very very well!
A Karrnathi Warlord’s son and Seeker Knight who was involved in organizing the Tourney was the mark.
He had a macguffin, my recurring NPC Brenn ir Gadden (who they first met in the doomed tower in the starter adventurer from the 4e Eberron campaign guide, and I made into a noble spy, wand slinger, and dilettante) wants it. The object is a nonagon (a non Euclidean 9-sided polyhedral object made of planar energy infused Syberis dragonshard) that could potentially be used to create an elemental control wheel that needs no dragonmark to use. So...very big deal.
To get the object, get out, and leave no faction knowing who took it, they need access to the place it’s being kept, to Garret (the Karrnathi Noble kid), and to the buyer’s inner circle. They also need to control the crowds, and the news surrounding the Tourney. Oh, and they need inside the Victor’s Celebry, a big party for the winners of the various events of the Grand Tourney.
Now, this is a caper story, so I ran things differently. Brenn laid out the goals and obstacles, and then we move directly into the first day of the Tourney, and setting up their parts in the plan. Each PC chose an event to participate in, and a way to contribute to the heist.
The Karrnathi Paladin chose the joust, the Kobold Wizard took the Mage’s Duel, the Bugbear Barbarian set up a food stand selling hot meat in soft dumpling style bread and also took on the Melee, the firbolg Blade Bard took on the knife throwing contest, the monk took on the fisticuffs tournament, and the firbolg glamour bard ran support and made contact with a prominent reporter on the local beat of an adventurous focused paper.
The first “round” was each qualifying for their event, meeting 1-2 NPCs, and learning the mechanics I was using for the session. Round two was day 2+, with 3 rolls per PC. 2 for their tourney stuff, 1 for whatever they were doing outside that.
Every time something went sideways, a player could spend an Inspiration to establish a backup plan, or establish how the setback was actually part of the plan. This meant that the game ran like a Leverage episode, a caper movie.
It was totally non linear, withbroad room to fudge and soft retcon, and just make it work.
At one point the wizard rolled a 3 on his check to manipulate the magical security of the private vault that the blade bard had gotten them access to under the guise of employing their services, so someone spent an Inspiration to establish that tripping the alarm was the plan. The wizard had created an item in the lockbox they’d already put in the vault that would activate when the security system was taken offline and “rebooted”, altering the “code” of the enchantment to allow the swapped boxes to read the way we needed and for movement within the vault to not set off the alarm. All part of the plan.
The glamour bard used her connections and control of the crowds to stop the buyer’s agents and distract them while their payment case was swapped by a pickpocket they’d hired.
I honestly don’t recall all the details, but yeah it ran super well and felt just like a caper should in a dnd game, and everyone got their cool spotlight moments both in the Tourney and in the caper itself, including some character development moments.
So, it went very very well!
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Gods vampires are fun. I am planning on using some classic vampire adventure stuff when my wife’s paladin’s story finally takes the party to Karrnath. Why shouldn’t Strahd be a Karrnathi Warlord, right?I was running heavily modified Whispers of the Vampire’s Blade. Or could maybe even say I was running an adventure inspired by that
The group’s first encounter with the vampire was on the road, right after sunset. I was rather detailed describing the setting sun. The vampire started by summoning a horde of wolves and when things went south he turned to mist and fled.
Since the players are rather new to d&d they don’t even suspect a vampire. Their current theory is that they are chasing a druid who used animal summoning, obscuring mist and wild shape to flee...
I can’t wait for them to figure out how wrong they are...
Nice! I love when my players get wild hair about traps or mimics or whatever, for no reason!
Zardnaar
Legend
Nah 2 sessions ago they found two blade traps (poisoned) and set off a malfunctioning water trap linked to the Nuria.
Blackrat
He Who Lurks Beyond The Veil
Hah, I too use material from other settings quite liberally. Strahd is obviously a Karrnathi warlord
the Jester
Legend
We just finished, like ten minutes ago! And it was great!
It was a no-combat session, as it turned out; one that was entirely roleplaying, travel, and upkeep stuff. The pcs started the session having installed a planar helm on their airship at the end of the last game and were able to finally escape a zone of overlap between the Feywild and the Prime Material Plane. They shifted to the Astral with their new helm, then to the Prime Material Plane, then flew toward a ruined city from which several of them wind walked home, to the only surviving bastion of civilization.
While there, those pcs restocked their supplies, bought some necessary stuff to improve their vessel, and dealt with personal matters. One got some new spells as a reward from his faction for getting the airship. Another dealt with her orphanage, and ended up exiling one kid for gang activity and promoting another.
The pcs also got hold of a quest that has been dangling for several years of real time, waiting for a group that could answer the question "Can you travel thousands of miles?" with an unreserved yes. They learned about a map in three parts, one inside the Aquan Pyramid, an underwater dungeon that rises from the sea every 17 years (next time in a few months); one held by the queen of the hell maidens of Winwillow (an isle); and one held by the Bird King of the isle of Kocho, in the Parrot Isles.
They set forth for the Parrot Isles and encountered a 650' high waterspout in the night, evading it with some good piloting.
And that's where we ended.
Everyone had a blast. It was low xp, but high fun, high roleplaying, and everyone got inspiration.
It was a no-combat session, as it turned out; one that was entirely roleplaying, travel, and upkeep stuff. The pcs started the session having installed a planar helm on their airship at the end of the last game and were able to finally escape a zone of overlap between the Feywild and the Prime Material Plane. They shifted to the Astral with their new helm, then to the Prime Material Plane, then flew toward a ruined city from which several of them wind walked home, to the only surviving bastion of civilization.
While there, those pcs restocked their supplies, bought some necessary stuff to improve their vessel, and dealt with personal matters. One got some new spells as a reward from his faction for getting the airship. Another dealt with her orphanage, and ended up exiling one kid for gang activity and promoting another.
The pcs also got hold of a quest that has been dangling for several years of real time, waiting for a group that could answer the question "Can you travel thousands of miles?" with an unreserved yes. They learned about a map in three parts, one inside the Aquan Pyramid, an underwater dungeon that rises from the sea every 17 years (next time in a few months); one held by the queen of the hell maidens of Winwillow (an isle); and one held by the Bird King of the isle of Kocho, in the Parrot Isles.
They set forth for the Parrot Isles and encountered a 650' high waterspout in the night, evading it with some good piloting.
And that's where we ended.
Everyone had a blast. It was low xp, but high fun, high roleplaying, and everyone got inspiration.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
It just makes sense! And there is a specific existing NPC that is just perfect for the role!Hah, I too use material from other settings quite liberally. Strahd is obviously a Karrnathi warlord
The main question is, do I make this a situation wherein his home is slipping into a Thelanis manifest zone and becoming a recurring tragic tale of lost humanity in the face of endless war and unbending refusal to admit wrongdoing? Or do I just steal NPCs and stuff and run it as a normal but creepy place in Karrnath, maybe with a Mabaran manifest Zone?
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
@the Jester that sounds rad as hell! Is there a sourcebook that you use for airship stuff, or do you homebrew it yourself?
Also I always love seeing spells as rewards.
Also I always love seeing spells as rewards.
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