Good day people, and welcome again to Incorrect Each Time. At present my buffer of reader bounties is so well-stocked that it could be an act of supreme hubris to jot down any additional forward, so I figured I’d as an alternative examine again in on my early adventures in Dungeons & Dragons, and see if we are able to sift some classes out of my early errors. It’s been over a yr since I final revealed one in every of these items, which means trying again is just getting extra embarrassing as I get extra follow – however in fact, enchancment is available in a lot better leaps and bounds early on, when there’s a lot extra you don’t know, however may simply be taught via expertise. It’s true of most issues, however very true for the combo of preparation, efficiency, and improvisation that’s DnD: till you’ve really hosted a dwell desk session, there’s actually no method of realizing exactly what you’ll and received’t want prepped to help you.
That’s the first divide we’ll right this moment be reaching, as we cost previous the top of The Pageant of Saint Agatha, and on into The Dreadful Story of Citadel Blackmire. Saint Agatha was my first journey ever, save exactly one session of visitor DMing our prior marketing campaign, and thus I used to be mainly guessing concerning the extent of element I wanted to jot down into each quest. My first takeaway was a transparent “want extra prep,” which means Blackmire would come with extra absolutely realized expository copy to extra simply set scenes, and in addition extra clear mechanical definition for conflicts I had beforehand, foolishly assumed I may “simply determine on the fly.” I’m not a grasp of swift improvisation; my DnD work calls for preparation to return alive, and balancing that stage of preparation is one thing I’m nonetheless engaged on right this moment.
When final we left off with this endeavor, our occasion of Dante the tiefling sorcerer, Arachne the half-elf/half-spider ranger, Garu the human rogue, and Dylan the crustacean paladin had efficiently derailed some sort of sacrificial ritual, stopping the emergence of a darkish harvest god and saving their good friend Lugdug within the course of. With each my essential facet quests for the city of Nettlebarn resolved, I figured it was time to tug the set off in town’s concluding drama, and get the staff marching in direction of town of Yhaunn, which might in the end turn into their residence for the trials forward.
Fields of Hearth
Late sunday night, after the festivities have died down, the occasion can be awoken by the sounds of screams. Dashing outdoors, they’ll uncover the grain silos holding the yr’s harvest aflame, with townspeople dashing to hold water from the nicely within the sq.. Darkish riders are seen within the glow, chasing panicked villagers down with their steeds. The Grasp of Ceremonies stumbles from a close-by residence in his full-length pajamas, staring in bewilderment on the chaotic scene. “Please.” He clutches the hem of Dante’s cloak, tears filling his eyes, “Please warriors, please assist us now. Please save our residence.” He releases Dante and staggers off, becoming a member of the throng of water-bearing villagers
It’s time for a goddamn BATTLE, which is able to first contain the occasion intercepting the riders. They’ll then combat a Knight, Berserker, and Bandit Captain
Conclusion
Because the festivities die down, the Grasp of Ceremonies reveals himself to be the city mayor (Mayor Pete) as nicely, and thanks the occasion for his or her help in saving the village (providing a Ring of Safety). Having confirmed their energy and valor, he asks them to tackle a far better activity: taking down the evil lord of a close-by fort, who’s claimed an deserted property and is abducting vacationers alongside the close by commerce routes
One in all DnD’s most basic participant payoff loops is “gamers make connections on this planet, gamers are pressured to defend these connections from threats, gamers really feel a way of accountability and satisfaction in defending their pals.” I deliberate to use this loop early and sometimes, mainly utilizing each quest and character to hook the gamers into my world, and thereby flavoring each subsequent victory with the satisfaction of defending locations and folks they’d come to genuinely care about.
For Nettlebarn, I may need tried to capitalize on this a bit too rapidly; past Lugdug, there wasn’t actually something about this city particularly that the occasion had come to care about. First lesson there: you’ll be able to’t harvest a bounty you didn’t correctly seed. Second: it doesn’t really take a lot to seed this stuff, you simply want to make sure your most dynamic, endearing characters really feel genuinely related to their properties, such {that a} protection of these properties seems like a protection of these characters.
This sequence itself may have doubtless benefited from a contact extra expository prep; maybe the briefest attainable scene on a balcony of the inn, the place a dialog with an NPC leads into the occasion themselves noticing the hearth beginning (one other method of giving the occasion a way of possession over the proceedings). Nonetheless, that’s a critique I may stage at mainly each web page of this early work – I used to be considering extra when it comes to performance than scene-setting, and that was most likely to the great.
Lastly, what I will give Previous Nick credit score for is his willpower to hyperlink the whole lot dramatically, to make sure the occasion is mainly by no means unmoored when it comes to their goals, by weaving the decision to motion of their subsequent quest into the conclusion of their prior one. That is really a common narrative writing lesson that serves DnD in addition to every other sort of narrative fiction: occasions can’t merely occur in sequence, they have to be linked by “thus,” “due to this fact,” “however,” and every other conjunction that really implies a causal relationship. This is without doubt one of the basic variations between a narrative with momentum and a collection of occasions that occur.
Citadel Blackmire as soon as housed the revered Mire clan, a noble household who dominated justly over 1000’s of acres of fertile land. These had been within the days previous the trendy emergence of city-states, and because the trendy powers rose, the Mires fell into destitution. The clan has withered to nothing over the previous century, and their fort has since been claimed by one Baron Tragdor, a murderous ne’er-do-well who some say isn’t even really a baron
Tragdor has been internet hosting outrageously loud events that upset all of the neighbors, and moreover his raiders have been attacking merchants and caravans all alongside the Daleroads. The occasion is tasked with infiltrating Citadel Blackmire and bringing Tragdor to justice, after which they may report back to town of Yhaunn, the capital of Nettlebarn’s part of the Dalelands. Pete sees one thing particular in you people, and thinks you possibly can be of use to the dominion on this troubled time. He sends you along with his blessing
On the Street
To the east, well-tilled fields finally give option to sprawling, untamed meadows and ragged splashes of timber. The air is temperate, sky huge and empty overhead. There’s a lazy scent within the air, a lethargy born of the late-summer heat, springing pooling mirages from the dusty highway. The trail winds over hills and previous farmlands, via shaded groves and flowering meadows. The Dalelands are merely stunning; the land is huge and bountiful, the individuals pleasant and contented
The occasion mingles comfortably with the highway’s homesteads and vacationers, although the space between every grows because the group approaches Citadel Blackmire. Farms come additional aside and sometimes deserted, overgrown fields and burnt properties talking with equal readability. Ultimately, even the land appears blighted by Tragdor’s presence. Grass grows sparse and feeble because the highway approaches the Blackmire turnoff. Then, within the distance, the occasion spies a line of carriages immobile on the highway, with humanoid figures milling round
Encounter: Because the occasion continues alongside the Japanese Daleway, they arrive throughout a caravan that has damaged down on the highway. The human vacationers state that their caravan was attacked by riders about an hour again, who killed a number of of their horses and compelled them to laboriously rebalance their carriage weights. The vacationers (Jeffrey Pennyworth) beseech the occasion to defend them in case the riders return. Instantly, the riders return!
The occasion should preserve the vacationers alive as riders take passes on the caravan. The extra vacationers survive, the better the occasion’s rewards and renown can be. The riders are extra eager about attacking the vacationers than the occasion, and may be pushed off if the scenario looks like extra hassle than it’s value. There are three caravans bearing vacationers scattered all through the battlefield, and one rider approaching every caravan. Do your greatest, warriors!
The raiding occasion consists of three Spy enemies, every of whom are approaching a distinct coated wagon. Defend the wagons!
As a reward for saving them, the vacationers will half with what stays of their gold (200g) and two potions of therapeutic, in addition to one thing way more treasured: a map of Citadel Blackmire. They may even inform the occasion that a number of of their quantity had been beforehand taken by raiders, and entreat the occasion to avoid wasting them if they’ll
Whew, that’s plenty of textual content! Luckily, I didn’t simply sit there and exposit at my gamers for 5 minutes straight, although you already know I fortunately would have. As you’ll be able to see by the extra absolutely realized description of this subsequent stage of the journey, that is mainly after I began seeing my marketing campaign world as an precise place worthy of description, quite than only a stage for mechanical adventures. The primary two paragraphs right here aren’t even for the gamers – they’re an outline of the search to return, in addition to its type of common tone, to assist me as a DM get my head in the suitable house for the approaching journey. A key innovation right here, considering extra when it comes to DM-side instruments than textual content for the gamers, and reflective of how, having already run a number of classes, I may now see extra clearly what exactly I wanted to get the story rolling.
The “On the Street” sequence is for the gamers although, the primary of many introductory segments I’d be utilizing to set the tone for the search forward. As I’d come to understand increasingly over the classes to return, a paragraph or two of fastidiously premeditated exposition goes a heck of a great distance in direction of making a videogame quest right into a shared fantasy journey; personally, with out the aesthetic backend, DnD feels largely like a slipshod videogame to me anyway. It’s the feel that makes it a narrative, and completely different DMs can provide texture in several methods – I pattern in direction of descriptive copy and NPC dialogue as a result of these are my strengths, however any visible artist may simply replicate what I’m doing with a number of portraits and panorama sketches.
The encounter right here is fairly easy, and largely demonstrates each my rising understanding of how blunt quest on-ramps should be (the place the Nettlebairn quest wanted to be “found”, this one mainly leaps onto the highway in entrance of the occasion), in addition to my makes an attempt to create extra dynamic fight encounters, this time via the presence of a number of targets to protect. Escort missions get a nasty rap as a result of gamers don’t like placing their success or failure within the fingers of an uncontrollable NPC, however by making this easy “king of the hill”-style encounter, I felt I may power the occasion to consider battlefield spacing with out feeling like they had been working on the whim of suicidal hostages. The idea labored nicely, and thus instantly entered my fight encounter lexicon (lately we’ve even bought a devoted “damsel in misery” mini).
Sidequest:
Rescue the captured vacationers from Blackmire Citadel. The vacationers will reward you with two Potion of Higher Therapeutic, and can improve your fame in Tasseldale as they relate phrase of your exploits to these they meet. Additionally a small magical trinket – maybe a primary stage Amulet of the Religious
Lil’ Susie
The caravan will embrace an cute halfling woman, whose mother and father had been taken by the raiders. She is going to do her tragic youngster utmost to persuade the occasion to avoid wasting her mother and father, and beg them to take her with them for the journey. That is most likely a nasty thought by any strategical metric, and can presumably power the occasion into quite a lot of unlucky conditions the place they’re pressured to avoid wasting Susie earlier than she journeys and falls in a bathroom or says hi there to a fort guardsmen – or ought to I flip this round, and have the twist be that Susie is definitely extremely competent?
The method to Blackmire reveals the mire from which it earned its title. Thick fog stretches languorously over tarry stretches of peat and dust, interspersed with darkish puddles of doubtful composition, bubbles rising from their depths. Lonely cries reverberate within the distance, dissolving into cackling laughter and gurgling noises. The highway grows patchy and uneven because the occasion approaches the fort, finally ending at a collapsed bridge. Because the occasion assesses the scenario, these distant cries ratchet right into a refrain of screams, and decrepit our bodies start rising from the swimming pools behind
Encounter: The occasion should discover a option to cross the collapsed bridge, which presumably as soon as spanned a wholesome river, and now perches astride a effervescent cauldron of filth. Complicating this activity, zombies are rising in numbers past reckoning behind the occasion, including a transparent time restrict to their activity. This encounter will mix battle with downside fixing – the occasion may have a little bit time to behave because the zombies method, however will in the end find yourself crossing the hole whereas concurrently participating with zombies. The occasion can exploit Tragdor’s present pulley system, permitting one participant to cross the bridge whereas one other turns the pulley (at both finish) for one (or two?) turns. Remaining gamers should maintain off the zombies. Occasion also can discover their very own methods throughout the channel, although falling within the muck will inflict 2 dmg/flip and require a dex examine to flee
Extra proof right here of how fearful I used to be that the occasion would simply miss the quests I’d deliberate fully, as I layered a second rescue mission sidequest on prime of the mayor’s preliminary “liberate the fort” essential quest. In fact, these additions served a better goal than that: as I mentioned above, I’d nicely realized that quests solely really feel as significant because the occasion’s emotional attachment to the characters concerned, and thus it appeared prudent so as to add a extra direct human ingredient to this complete Citadel Blackmire situation. I additionally preferred the concept of an infiltration mission with a number of targets, probably forcing the occasion to suppose extra strategically about their method to the fort, and make very best use of the ground structure I’d put collectively. I knew from our earlier marketing campaign that few issues excite a celebration or make them really feel like they’ve real company in a mission greater than having a map to pour over, and I used to be decided to utilize as many supplementary props like maps or related panorama pictures as I may.
Lil’ Susie is the primary successor to Lugdug, a personality with an easy character and simple comedic bit for the occasion to latch onto, the human face hooked up to an in any other case impersonal battle. I do know I mentioned all that stuff in regards to the annoyance of escort missions in video games, however remember the fact that I’m additionally designing this marketing campaign for my precise pals, with whom I’ve shared many conversations about exactly these kinds of mechanical annoyances. Making Lil’ Susie lampshade the overall uselessness of escort characters was an intentional joke, although she in the end didn’t play a lot of a job within the journey – as I swiftly realized, it’s onerous to make NPCs who’re touring alongside the occasion really feel current with out feeling intrusive, as their dialogue tends to take the place of conversations the occasion would in any other case be fostering amongst themselves.
This encounter was one other try so as to add distinctive dynamics to DnD’s inherently underwhelming fight system, this time within the type of an approaching horde and a spacial/timing puzzle. It labored nicely sufficient, whereas additionally revealing two key points with its design: first, that encounters the place “kill all of the enemies” isn’t an possibility have to be clearly understood as such (a troublesome activity in such a murder-happy recreation as DnD), and second, that mechanical roles like “spend your motion turning the pulley” work higher on paper than they do in-session, the place no one needs to spend their flip doing an invented activity the DM calls for quite than really taking part in their character.
With the zombie-infested river traversed, the occasion discovered themselves standing earlier than the imposing Citadel Blackmire, the place they might meet an sudden good friend with a future even I couldn’t start to think about. We’ll sort out that assembly subsequent time, which I promise can be a lot ahead of a yr from now!
