Company Charter

In an effort to align some of our character backstories, motivations, and to provide some top-level direction to justify the existence of our jolly band of adventurers, I think it's worth investigating the idea of a company charter.  This isn't so much a list of rules or regulations as it is a general statement of purpose--within the charter, characters can certainly have individual motivations, and we can even act against the charter's purpose as a group when the situation demands; it's more an underlying set of principles that we share that can help guide group decisions.

The charter need not be set in stone.  One of the great things about roleplaying games is that characters develop and change over time, and so to should our charter change to suit great events that befall us or changes in outlook or perception.

One underlying theme, at least in some of the characters currently being developed, is magic or the pursuit of magic.  As such, I put forth the following suggestion for our company charter, at least at the beginning.

• Magic and the produce of magic, be it spells or items or creatures, are beyond the comprehension of most common folk.  As adventurers possessed of unique abilities, we are responsible for protecting the common folk from magic that would do them harm.

• Magic is ancient, and current civilization is built upon the ruins of great magical cultures.  Relics of these cultures sometimes surface, and it is of great interest to us to pursue and secure the safety of these items, lest they fall into the wrong hands.

• Magic is a powerful and sometimes unpredictable force; when magical mysteries manifest, we are responsible for discovering the source of these mysteries, and to control them when necessary lest they bring harm to others.

• Not all magic is benevolent; magic whose sole purpose is to harm should be pursued, controlled, and when possible destroyed.

This should give our DM some fuel for adventures, especially ways to kick off new plotlines.  It should also provide some direction when confronted with decision points, while allowing us the flexibility to pursue our individual moral direction.

Do you have any suggestions to add to or alter the direction of the company charter?

The Crusader (creating a new character class)

For the next campaign, Sean and I have been discussing terms for a new character class that fits the mold he wants to play. The 2e FR accessory Warriors and Priests of the Realms provides a write-up for a class called the "Crusader," which matches Sean's idea thematically (a combat-oriented missionary priest with ties to the goddess of magic) but comes with some mechanical baggage that we're struggling to get past. As a result, we turned to the 2e DMG (pp. 22-23) which describes a framework for creating a new character class from the ground up. Here's our current working model. Each trait listed below has a corresponding modifier; the modifiers are aggregated to determine the XP advancement table.

Crusader (work in progress)

• Must be human (modifier: 0)
• Priest combat values (0)
• Priest saving throw table (0)
• d8 hit dice (+1)
• All armor allowed (0)
• All weapons allowed (0)
• +2 hp per level beyond 9th (+1)
• Cast three spheres of priest spells (+6)
• Learn and cast one school of magic (+3)
• No ability to turn undead (0)
• Use magical items allowed to priests (+1)
• Must be good-aligned (-1)
• Has particular ethos that must be obeyed (-1)
• Cannot keep more treasure than can carry (-0.5)
• Cannot own more than 10 magical items (-0.5)

Modifier total: 9

Experience levels (mage and cleric listed for comparison):

Level	Crusader	Mage	Cleric
1	0	0	0
2	1,800	2,500	1,500
3	3,600	5,000	3,000
4	7,200	10,000	6,000
5	18,000	20,000	13,000
6	36,000	40,000	27,500
7	72,000	60,000	55,000
8	135,000	90,000	110,000
9	252,000	135,000	225,500

The crusader's XP advancement begins much more favorably than the mage and only slightly worse than the cleric, but over time requires greater totals at higher levels of play. I think this is fair and appropriate for a character with multiple types of spellcasting (for anyone concerned about balance with other classes).

One major facet of the class that we need to figure out is how wizard spellcasting should be implemented. The reason for the ability to cast a single school of wizard spells (Sean is choosing conjuration/summoning) is the character's devout ties to Mystra. As such, I think there are two main approaches to consider:

1. The crusader casts priest spells as a priest and wizard spells as a wizard. That is, the crusader's priest and wizard spell slots are independent (the character effectively gets both); bonus spells apply only to the priest spell slots; wizard spells must be learned through study as opposed to prayer; and armor cannot be worn when casting wizard spells (same as a wizard or bard). This treats the character as a multi-classed cleric/mage in terms of spellcasting.
2. The crusader casts all spells as a priest. That is, all spells are gained through prayer, using the character's single set of priest spell slots; the wizard spell school is treated as just another priest sphere; no spellbook is needed and no armor restrictions are applied.

I'm not sure that I have a preference, yet. Mechanically, there are trade-offs, mainly that option #1 gives the character more total spell slots, while option #2 removes the wizardly armor and spellbook restrictions. I think either approach can be justified in-game.

Creating a new class isn't something I've dabbled in before, and it's important that the end result is reasonably fair and balanced (at least, as balanced as anything in AD&D). Interested to hear anyone else's take; the class as constructed seems relatively strong and versatile at low levels, but suffers from a slower rate of advancement the longer the campaign goes on.

Party creation recap and next steps

Revving up for a new campaign in the wake of the recent TPK, this post is a summary of what we know so far.

• The selected classes are transmuter, ranger, cleric/abjurer (dual-classed), and "crusader" (2e fighter/cleric kit, pending final approval)
• It appears that all PCs will likely be human
• The party has agreed on a good-aligned moral compass, rejecting thievery but with a possible anti-establishment penchant (e.g., Robin Hood analogy); the overall party alignment looks to be "neutral good"
• All ability score rolls are completed
• Starting XP will be 5,000 per character (prime requisite bonuses apply)
• Max hit points are assumed for 1st level; all other levels should be rolled; all 1's may be re-rolled

With two character concepts rooted in the Forgotten Realms pantheon, it's reasonable to assume the use of FR gods for anyone concerned with religion. For the sake of backgrounds, while I'm withholding any formal setting announcement until we begin, assume that the starting locale will be a small village in a fantasy realm akin to where the previous campaign left off. In other words, assume forests, mountains, a nearby mining city, a coastline within reasonable distance, etc. The party is assumed to have traveled to this location together leading up to the start of the campaign.

If more detailed information than this is needed, it may be best to pose specific questions or pitch me your background ideas for me to help work them in. Backgrounds are not of the greatest importance in the big scheme of things.

First Session Date

I'd like to get a first session in before the end of December. While the holidays are a busy time, we should be able to find one out of 25+ evenings that three households can be brought together. If it's easiest to plan something between Christmas and the new year, when many of us are off work, that's certainly doable.

All for now!

The Quick Primer: remembering what you know

Tonight, I reread the Quick Primer for Old School Gaming (also linked on the right-hand side of the blog) for the first time in a while, a matter of reflection on the TPK suffered by the party this weekend. At this point, the PDF's "zen moments" are about as engrained as they can be into the way I try to run my games, but it's sometimes nice to revisit things you already know, to usher them back to the forefront of your mind.

Not sure if all the players have read this before; if so, it may have been a while for them, too. The PDF isn't long and though I recommend reading it in its entirety, Zen Moments #2 and #4 (along with some of the "Tips for Players") stood out to me as particularly relevant to many of the sessions we played, including the last.

For my part, it's tough not to fall into the trap of issuing repetitive "miss/miss/hit/miss" responses to attack rolls in combat. Sometimes, when there's a lot going on, you need to devolve to the most basic descriptions to keep things moving. But, even then, spicing up the combat scene here and there is critical not only in providing flavor and excitement for the participants, but also in reminding them that their options are infinitesimally more varied than swinging a morningstar or firing a bow.

FR #17: Beyond Death's Door

The party is expected to win every time. The bad guys only have to win once.

4 Flamerule

Having arrived in Mirabar under cover of darkness with Aranos still incapacitated, the party sought refuge at an inn whose placard had long since faded. The next day, while Aranos rested and Riwyn tended her scrolls, Wren and Arendeth made contact with a lanky, buoyant man named Drunfeldt, who bid the party to sup with him that eve at a nearby residence where they might find suitable employment.

They agreed, and subsequently visited the cottage of Agloroth and Reticence, a husband-and-wife duo nearing sixty winters who brokered specialist work for the city. The couple explained that, in early spring, rich veins of silver were struck in a previously unworked area of the lower peaks of the Spine of the World. Regrettably, the mine bearing the silver collapsed, killing a score of men and dwarves, the tunnel rendered completely impassable.

More recently, additional teams dispatched to the area located a second cave, harboring a catacomb which led toward the vicinity where the silver was found. Thirteen miners delved deeply within, but only three returned. Of these three, all were seriously injured, one having already died, the others left in the care of a cleric of Moradin in the Undercity. The survivors bore accounts of miners ripped limb-from-limb by a massive creature that neither could identify. Prior to this, the miners had been set upon by chitines: ruthless, four-armed humanoids with an affinity for traps and deception. While the miners stayed off the chitines to some success, the emergence of the larger enemy brought about their doom. Moreover, the miners spoke of other oddities in the tunnel that impeded them in battle: a solid stone wall that softened into mud, and errant, spell-like effects.

In light of these events, further exploration of the area was abandoned until a properly-equipped band could ensure the safety of future expeditions. Agloroth and Reticence offered a bounty of 5,000 gold pieces for proof that any threats to miners had been eliminated.

The PCs accepted the job, passed a day making preparations and locating one of the survivors in the Undercity, and departed north, with Drunfeldt escorting them to the base of the lower peaks. A family of perytons, airborne predators with the bodies of eagles and the antlered heads of stags, had recently been sighted near their destination, and as such the party traveled at night to avoid the creatures' daytime activity cycle.

At the landmark denoting the farthest reach of Mirabar's protection, Drunfeldt rode back for the city, and the party made camp under tree cover at dawn, spotting the perytons during their watches but avoiding any unwanted attention. When darkness again came, they trekked to the plateau that harbored the cave entrance, looking down upon a valley to the north where a spattering of fires suggested an encampment of unknown inhabitants, more than a mile off.

Deciding against an investigation, they entered the cave as the sun began to rise. Inside, the air was cool and damp, and they penetrated the tunnel with caution, prodding at the natural stone floor, wary of ambushes or traps.

As they descended, they found signs of the miners' deliverance: drained and consumed corpses, and a severed dwarf arm which bore a gleaming, pewter ring on one of its fingers. Leaving it, they advanced to an area of the tunnel where thick strands of webbing blocked a portion of the way forward, leading passers-by toward a deep hole burrowed into a section of softened stone. The party burned away the webs and circumvented the hazard, then came upon an impossibly thick barricade of webs, which they similarly vanquished.

Uncertain from the lack of a clear threat, they continued on, setting a makeshift camp near the edge of a partially-webbed segment of tunnel, and passing a few restless hours before a skittering noise betrayed a fleeting, shadowy form ascending the wall, amid the strands.

Concerned, they drew weapons and advanced, cutting at the webs ere being descended upon by several four-armed creatures who assaulted them viciously with claws and blades. Only Riwyn drew back, the others wading into combat, outnumbered and suffering from the chitines' multitude of attacks. Upon casting glitterdust and exposing a dozen more creatures lurking near the ceiling, Riwyn attempted to invoke a powerful spell from one of the scrolls plundered underneath Brithem, but failed.

The spell, chain lightning, had a failure chance of 45% due to being nine caster levels higher than Riwyn could normally use. This was an epic roll, as it almost certainly would have saved the party from its recklessness and felled the chitines, to the one, had it worked.

Aranos succumbed to his many wounds, and Arendeth was set upon in full as the glitterdust faded, vying to utter hold person against the four chitines that surrounded him.

This chance, too, failed by a hair. Sean executed his spell, rolling a "4" for the number of enemies affected, on the same initiative count that Arendeth was assailed, before realizing that he'd misstated the spell's casting time. The chitines' attacks subsequently disrupted his casting, thwarting the spell.

Wren and Arendeth were laid low. Riwyn, still uninjured, bolted from the melee, but the chitines doubled the elf's speed. Lighting a torch amid the cavern, she struck and killed one of the vile creatures before they took her life.

The party fell on the eighth day of Flamerule, Year of the Bow (1354 DR). Their story, for now, is at its end.

Post-mortem

AD&D is a difficult game. This is easy to forget when surviving, time and again, whether by luck of the dice, sound strategy, or favorable circumstance. Laughing and joking around the table, it often feels like participation is enough, that the greatest challenge is in making the time in our busy schedules to get together to keep the game going. That a high-level character is the eventual reward for a steady dose of regular attendance over time.

Not so. A high-level AD&D character is truly something to be treasured, the culmination of years of emotional investment and consistent execution. Creating a high-level PC from scratch is one of the least fulfilling RPG experiences I've known, which is why I enforce that any new PC joining an existing game, for any reason, must start at the initial XP total set for all characters when the campaign begins. If this results in a 1st-level mage signing on with a party of established, 9th-level adventurers, so be it. The mage will make his place soon enough, or die trying. From the starting point onward, every new level and ability must be earned.

Last night, there was no lone decision that cost the PCs their lives. There were avenues of escape, dice that might have fallen the other way, and choices to be looked back upon and questioned. We talked about how the party could have sought hirelings in Mirabar, could have proceeded differently in the tunnel, could have managed the combat with the chitines more judiciously. I need not rehash it all here. This session was a grim reminder of the dangers of adventuring, and hopefully comes with lessons to be remembered during the players' next AD&D foray.

What Next?

I have no specific plans yet for how to move forward from here. We've breathed life into this setting through our play, and that could be something I choose to leverage in developing a new campaign. A higher-level party may have possessed retainers, heirs, or next of kin to take over the reins as new PCs, but this group is effectively ended with the deaths of Arendeth, Aranos, Riwyn, and Wren. Might a new party emerge somewhere nearby and experience the world anew? There's much to be considered and discussed in the coming days, balancing the availability, schedules, and interest levels of everyone involved.

Final XP Totals

No experience is gained from a session in which every character dies. Berwyn and Lincoln were not present and technically are still alive. For archive purposes, here are the sidebar XP totals as they stand today:

• Berwyn - 11,169
• Arendeth - 15,472
• Riwyn - 7,736/7,736
• Wren - 7,033/7,736
• Lincoln - 10,852
• Aranos (h) - 2,128

I don't have much more to offer. The party threw caution to the wind one time too many, and ultimately paid the price. There wasn't much I could do to save them, in the end.

Mounted Combat

We hadn't dealt with using weapons and spells from horseback thus far in the campaign, and I was ill-prepared to adjudicate this during the skirmish with the wargs. The 2e DMG discusses mounted combat in detail; below are some of the key points. From p. 76:

Mounts trained for combat (a heavy warhorse, for example) present few problems. These can be used in mounted combat with no penalties. However, steeds not trained for combat are easily frightened by the noise and confusion.

Those fighting from the back of untrained creatures suffer a -2 on their chance to hit, since much of their time is spent simply trying to keep the mount under control.

The horses purchased in Luskan are riding horses only, so going forward this -2 penalty will apply. With regards to melee combat:

In mounted fighting, a character gets a +1 bonus to his chance to hit creatures smaller than his mount. Thus, a man on horseback gains a +1 bonus to his attack rolls against all medium-sized creatures such as other men, but would not gain this bonus against another rider or a giant. Those on foot who fight against a mounted rider, have a -1 penalty; this not applied to attacks against the mount, however.

This would have reduced the first penalty to -1, since the wargs were medium-sized creatures. The wargs wouldn't have incurred a penalty, since they were attacking mounts or dismounted PCs. Missile combat, understandably, is more difficult:

Missile fire from the back of a moving horse is possible only if the rider is proficient in horsemanship. Even then, only short bows, composite short bows, and light crossbows can be fired from horseback by normally proficient characters.

Long bows can be used by those with specialization (if this is used). Heavy crossbows can be fired once, but cannot be reloaded by a mounted man since the bracing and pull is inadequate.

There are details beyond this, including penalties if trying to fire while the mount is moving, but let's leave it here until that situation arises. We don't use proficiencies, but I'll allow short bows and light crossbows to be fired by PCs succeeding a Dexterity check, with failure meaning that the round is lost trying to control the mount (with no ammunition expended). Spellcasting can work similarly. Fair?

I also was too liberal in causing characters to fall from their horses in combat, some of which I corrected during the session. Even Aranos' fall, however, shouldn't have happened, by the book. Here are the relevant excerpts:

Killing the Mount: This is the grim and efficient method. Once the horse (often an easier target) is dead, the rider is certainly dismounted. The steed automatically falls to the ground.

If the rider has the Riding proficiency, he can attempt to land safely on his feet on a successful check. Otherwise, the character also falls to the ground and suffers 1d3 points of damage. The character cannot take any action that round and must spend another entire round gathering himself back up and getting to his feet.

Again in the absence of proficiencies, a Dexterity check should suffice to avoid taking damage from a fall. Aside from killing the steed, an attack roll of 20 will dismount a rider, but a "normal" hit against either party will not:

Weapon Impact: Riders also can be knocked off by solid blows from a variety of weapons. Any time a rider hits another mounted character or creature with a melee weapon 3' or longer and scores a natural 20 on the roll, the other character is knocked from the saddle, suffering 1d3 points of damage (if from the back of a normal horse).

There's a lot here to digest, and more in the actual rulebook. I turned out to be a bit harsh in my rulings, but should be better equipped to deal with this next time.

FR #16: The Road to Mirabar

18 Kythorn

Recovery from the catacomb was long and arduous, absent Arendeth's magical healing for several days while the dwarf regained his strength. Though the fallen were tended to graciously, the party was otherwise left to deliberate its course, and the decision made was for Luskan. Before their departure, the PCs were solicited by the missionaries, Lucido and Winifred, that adventuring work in the name of Tyr could be found under the employ of their benefactor, Elidar Highborn, in Leolin. The offer was considered, but declined.

They reached Luskan two days hence, having encountered a trio of armored riders and a small contingent of wagoners en route. As the sunlight faded over the Sea of Swords, Luskan's gate-guards demanded a steep tariff for entry, taking advantage of the late hour and of the city's inherent prejudice toward non-humans. With a sour taste for the place already, the party made its way to the piers and procured lodging at the Shadowatch Inn.

Inside, they were met by an old acquaintance, Pevrel the gnome, who admitted to following the PCs since their episode at the gate. The gnome, who concealed a trained ferret underneath his tunic, mentioned that a local ranger was seeking arms-for-hire to combat goblin uprisings to the east, in addition to hearsay that an unnamed man was bartering in high coin with magistrates of Luskan's "prisoners' carnival" for its captives, effectively thwarting a number of (gruesome) public executions.

The gnome left after drinking his fill, and the next morning the PCs visited a moneychanger to unburden themselves of the copper, silver, and electrum plundered from the catacomb. While Arendeth and Aranos tended the coins, Wren and Riwyn were quietly approached by a hooded man in the marketplace in search of crew for a southbound merchant caravel; at an offer of a hundred gold pieces per head but requiring immediate service, Wren displayed interest but neglected to commit. Upon reuniting, the party agreed to move on from the likes of Luskan and spent the remainder of the day purchasing and outfitting riding horses before departing the city's north gate with an eye for Mirabar.

The lightly-beaten road rolled over vast stretches of hills and plains, the River Mirar flowing ever at the edge of their view to the south. For three days they traveled without incident, but that eve the tranquility was broken by the howling of wolves, far in the distance. On the fourth night, after Arendeth scribed a protective glyph of warding around those who slept, the howls were usurped by a crescendo of marching, singing, and rolling wagon wheels as a caravan crested loudly toward the party. Its lead rider drew close, hailing the PCs and imparting that a pack of dire wargs lurked dangerously near - enough so that the caravan, a camaraderie of men and dwarves journeying from Mirabar to Luskan, broke camp in the dead of night to distance themselves from the threat.

Denying an offer to return with the company to Luskan, the party continued watches into the early morn, finally being set upon by a pair of the fell creatures as they rode on. Aranos was bucked from his horse and mauled to unconsciousness before the wargs were slain, ere the party pressed on wearily, arriving at Mirabar's gates after middark on Flamerule the Fourth.

DM's Commentary

Overland travel is no picnic, and the PCs are lucky to have completed a 240-mile journey with no unrecoverable losses. Merchants caravan in large numbers for a reason, and while adventurers oft possess skills and defenses that commoners do not, a full pack of wargs had a sizable chance of annihilating the party outright; as it was, though they ventured on in spite of warnings from the company from Mirabar, fortune saw them meet only two of the creatures along the road. Had they been set upon at night, when the entirety of the pack was afoot, the outcome may have proved disastrous (although Arendeth's glyph of warding was a superb proactive measure, to be sure).

Luskan and Brithem feel far removed as the salty breezes from the Sea of Swords have given way to rolling pastures and silhouettes of mountain peaks on the northern horizon. For now, marshes and catacombs, gnolls, gate-guards, and banditry seem little more than distant memories.

(My initial draft included a section here for mounted combat, but it ended up being long enough that I'm making it a separate post for easier future reference.)

Riding Horse Attributes

It bears mentioning the attributes of the riding horses procured in Brithem, whether or not they're needed again soon:

• Hit dice: 3 (i.e., 3d8 hit points each, rolled randomly)
• Hit points: 17 (Riwyn's mount), 12 (Wren's mount), 17 (Arendeth's mount), 9 (Aranos' mount)
• Armor class: 7
• Movement: 24 (240 yards)
• THAC0: 17
• # of attacks: 2 (per round)
• Damage/attack: 1d2/1d2

PCs can succeed a Wisdom check to control the attacks of their mounts, provided that no morale checks have been failed (in which case a steed is likely to bolt).

XP

Since the party has landed at a (presumed) safe point, I do want to award XP for the wargs, even though the amount is small enough to warrant rounding up to simplify my math (we'll call the total 100 XP per PC and 50 XP for Aranos).

I've discussed at various points previously (most recently here) the Tao of D&D XP system, which awards experience primarily based on damage dealt to and by combatants and spellcasters. I still don't feel that the entirety of this system is appropriate for our game, however I am going to begin issuing individual awards of 20 XP per point of damage sustained by PCs and henchmen, effective this session. In short, this helps bolster the party's XP in a fair and realistic way, while not significantly affecting my bookkeeping. I may continue to refine the XP system later on, but for now I see this as a "quick win."

As a result, Aranos (the only combatant damaged against the wargs after I retracted falling damage from Riwyn and Wren) sustained a total of 15 points, and therefore receives an additional award of 300 XP for the session. Accounting for this and for prime requisite bonuses, the party totals now stand as:

• Arendeth - 15,472
• Riwyn - 7,736/7,736
• Wren - 7,033/7,736
• Aranos - 2,128

Sean will be happy to see that Aranos has attained second level and may roll for hit points and adjust stats accordingly the next time we play.

Faves

I've added a "favorites" label to the site and tagged a few otherwise-unrelated posts that I like to refer back to often. I'd like to tag recaps from some of our most memorable game sessions as well, but it's hard to choose without giving it more thought (there have been so many!). Definitely open to suggestions.

FR #15: Underneath the Castle

17 Kythorn, middark

Having spent several days recovering and deliberating their course, the party was awakened late at night by castle guards headed for the basement in response to a handmaid's distress. The PCs followed, and reaching her learned that a second maid had been set upon by a dark form in a storage room where the pair had been gathering wheat. Located near the end of a seldom-used corridor, the party entered the chamber to the sight of a large, centipede-like creature feasting on a humanoid body.

They attacked, drawing its ire, and it struck back with tentacles protruding from its mouth, oozing a poisonous secretion on Wren and Riwyn which numbed their arms and legs. Aranos and Arendeth slew the creature grimly, ere the dead handmaid was identified and Wren and Riwyn carried to their barracks, where they recovered over the course of an hour.

In the wake of the night's events, a search of the basement revealed a partially-collapsed stone wall below the tower previously felled by the black dragons. The wall had been in place for generations, sealing a path to a stairwell that led to an underground catacomb. The catacomb, Mara explained, had been used to operate a mine in the years before the castle was constructed, when men vied against orcs for control of the region north of Port Llast. The last known resident of the dungeon was a wizard of centuries past; when the wizard was eventually routed from the site, the catacomb was sealed, and Brithem was built atop it.

The opening in the wall was high and narrow, but undoubtedly the means by which the carrion crawler had entered. At daybreak, the party ventured beyond the wall and descended the stairwell, emerging in a cavern that forked into deeper darkness. Taking the rightward path, they discovered stonehewn walls of construction unlike the castle proper; traversing a narrow hall, Arendeth sprung a mechanical trap and suffered an impaling blow before the rest of the party ventured through unharmed. Stone steps ascended to a deteriorated wooden door, and beyond it Wren spotted the remains of a human, long since passed.

As she investigated the room, a score of disembodied, clawed hands scuttled from the recesses around her and attacked. Raking and pummeling and grasping at her neck, Wren sliced them as she ran for the next room, seeking shelter. Her companions followed, barricading themselves in an otherwise exitless bedchamber with a dozen of the wretched things while others attempted to reopen the door from outside.

The melee that ensued turned grave when one of the claws seized Arendeth's throat and strangled him to unconsciousness. For several rounds, Riwyn and Aranos worked to sever the creature's grip as they fended back others and Wren pressed her weight against the door. By the time Riwyn had taken the last claw within the chamber, both Arendeth and Aranos were swooned.

Long minutes elapsed as Riwyn scoured the room. A casting of detect magic revealed a secret compartment in one of the chamber's walls; hidden inside she recovered a chest of coins and gems, a hand-painted portrait of a man in embroidered robes, a half-completed letter negotiating a slave trade, and a large bundle of scrolls. Her friend's strength waning, the elf maneuvered the straw bed against the door and heaved her two comatose allies atop it. The pair guarded the door intensely for many hours before Riwyn rested to memorize spells, the disembodied hands unyielding in their attempts to gain entry all the while.

Knowing that the stalemate would eventually be broken, Wren coated her fishing net in oil and fastened two of its corners to the door. She pulled the door ajar, holding the net taught, ere Riwyn set it aflame as the claws leapt in, withdrew, and cast two magic missile spells in succession. The fire, bolts, and cuts from Wren's blade finally silenced the horrific scene, a full day after it unfolded. Over the course of several hours, Wren and Riwyn carefully returned their injured companions to the stairwell and summoned the castle guards.

DM's Commentary

Crazy session, and third in our recent games where at least one PC strayed dangerously close to death. This time, the rolls trended strongly in the enemies' favor, though there were a few instances where the dice spared Arendeth from dropping below -7. It takes a long time (several days) for a character to recover from that weak a point through rest alone; losing the party's cleric was a fearful event, indeed.

Despite their adversity, the PCs succeeded in returning to the castle intact. What's less certain is where the party chooses to go from here, assuming a handful more days of rest for the fallen: back into the catacomb for continued exploration; back to the Witherwood in search of the source of disease; north to Luskan as tentatively decided earlier; or somewhere else entirely? I'll get with the group on their options before the next time we play.

Residual Effects

The fiefdom of Brithem has surely known a run of bad luck lately: dragons assaulting the castle, gnolls attacking its soldiers, and carrion crawlers invading the basement? One could definitely make the case that I'm coming up with anything I can think of to throw against the PCs while they're here. There's of course a bit of truth in that, but it's not the spin I'm going for.

As explained in various posts and sessions, Brithem and its surrounds comprise an ecosystem anchored by the marshlands, the Witherwood, the fiefdom, and the road. Wetland creatures keep within the marshes and create a barrier against the forest gnolls and their ilk; the heavily-traveled road between Luskan and Port Llast deters monsters from the Neverwinter Wood; and while the jagged, perilous shoreline stymies Brithem's ability to trade by sea, equally does it protect the fiefdom from pirates.

When the pair of black dragons claimed residence in the Witherwood for reasons unknown to the party, this ecosystem was disrupted, and Brithem and its populace have been feeling the ripple effects ever since. Most recently, a sealed-off corridor beneath the castle failed under the strain of the collapsed stone tower above it.

No settlement, however large or small, can subsist indefinitely in a constant state of threat and instability. What the characters have witnessed since arriving in Brithem doesn't represent the relative peace endured in decades past; rather, the fiefdom's ecosystem is being tested, the forces within it affecting boundaries not penetrated for centuries or longer.

Will they break, or merely bend?

Initiative in Action

As talked about earlier this week, we tried individual initiative for this session using the spreadsheet I created, and while I haven't had a chance to poll the players on it yet, from my standpoint it worked fantastically. Aside from the fact that the crawling claws always seemed to go first at the worst possible times, the initiative process was quick, easy, and allowed for a better distribution of actions in combat. Barring any negative feedback from the group, I plan to keep using it for now.

On a side note, when I set up the sheet, I elected not to have Dexterity-based reaction adjustments affect PC initiative rolls on the basis that it's not mentioned in the AD&D rules and would create pressure to account similarly for enemies. After running the two encounters last night, I'm changing position on that - for one, over the course of a campaign, the players need all the help they can get, and secondly, monster physiology is often so divergent that trying to normalize Wren and an army of crawling claws in terms of initiative seems like a futile effort entirely.

What that means is that characters with high Dexterity will have reaction adjustments applied favorably to their initiative when I roll. We have too many occasions where initiative is a critical factor in determining life or death to not err on the side of the party.

XP

A decent amount of experience gained for the foray underneath the castle; as the PCs have returned to safety, I'm free to award these now:

• Carrion crawler - 270 XP
• Crawling claws, 19 - 227 XP
• Wizard scrolls, 6 - 2,300 XP
• Coinage, gems, and artwork - 1,635 XP
• Story award - 2,000 XP

That's 6,432 points, which divides into full shares of 1,837 XP for each PC, and a half-share of 919 XP for Aranos. Dead characters aren't eligible for experience awards, but unconscious ones definitely still are. Accounting for bonuses, here are the party's updated totals:

• Arendeth - 15,362
• Riwyn - 7,681/7,681
• Wren - 6,983/7,681
• Aranos - 1,778

No levels gained at this point, though a couple milestones draw nearer. Multi-class characters, particularly, have a slow going of things.

Scroll Contents

The contents of the wizard scrolls were conveyed to the party in-game under the assumption of multiple castings of read magic by Riwyn; to reiterate:

• 1st-level: hold portal
• 2nd: locate object
• 4th: enervation
• 5th: sending, shadow magic
• 6th: chain lightning

Please check the spell descriptions in the Player's Handbook and review the tail end of this post for detailed rules regarding scrolls.

AD&D initiative technology

Oy - quite a lull between posts, but as mentioned it's a busy year. Sean and I were talking about initiative in D&D this week, and the merits/detriments of different approaches. I don't think any initiative system I've seen is perfect, but I do enjoy the unpredictability of the AD&D systems that require new rolls for every round.

That said, rolling and collecting initiative every round can be burdensome, let alone accounting for combatants individually. In our game, we make a single roll for each side, adjust for casting times, and that's it. The approach works reasonably well, but can lead to polarized situations where one full side acts twice in a row. I told Sean that I'd be willing to try individual initiative per round, IF I could distill it down to a single click.

Achieving that managed to not be too difficult after all; I created a spreadsheet that calculates and sorts the data I need quickly and easily enough that I'd like to give it a go on Saturday and see how the party fares.

Instead of asking anyone to roll initiative, what my spreadsheet allows me to do is:

1. Gather intended actions from each player, as I do today.
2. Determine actions for each DM-controlled participant, as I do today.
3. Type a single keystroke to get full initiative results for the round.

The sheet will include individual modifiers, and durations can be entered to calculate the "end segment" for a particular action (completion of a spell, end of a long movement, etc.). It enables me to use a more robust initiative system while streamlining the initiative process for everyone - hopefully leading to a smoother combat experience overall.

This is what the results look like after issuing a click to make the rolls and accounting for casting times:

Not many drawbacks to at least trying it out. I don't intend to show initiative results to the group regularly - not for any desire to hide them, but simply to avoid putting up a second monitor and distracting everyone with the numbers (not to mention that it could spoil any secret participants in the combat). While this does take initiative rolls out of the hands of the players and is a step away from the transparency I've been shooting for as DM, in this case I think the streamlining of initiative may be worth the exchange. Moreover, since any edit to the initiative roll column on the sheet forces a re-roll of the entire round, it would be difficult for me to "fix" anything as long as I'm willing to show the results when needed.

All for now!

FR #14: Marshland Horrors

First post of the new year; I see the game moving along at a slower clip in 2017 due to upcoming real-life events, but let's see what we can do...

12 Kythorn

A brief deliberation set the party's direction north, through the marshland, to see what else they might uncover in the forest. The morning fog gave way to a dark, looming canopy overhead as they entered the Witherwood, a subtle rain barely permeating its thick boughs. The trees, brush, and fauna all seemed normal, and the party observed no signs of disease.

When finally they began to set a fireless camp after hours of roving through dense and uneven terrain, Merlin alerted the group to a lifeless, bloodstained gnoll slumped against the trunk of a think oak. In the dim twilight the party noted the same pockmarks and boils that infested the stag they'd encountered with Roth-grim, two days hence. They dared not draw near, ensuring that their campsite was kept at a suitable distance.

During the night, sounds of creatures traipsing through the wood prompted Wren and Riwyn to ascend into the low branches of nearby trees while Arendeth and Aranos took guarded positions on the ground, blind but for the dwarf's infravision. When the movement slowed and veered toward them, the PCs readied themselves for battle, ere a pair of dog-faced gnolls attacked, wounding Aranos before knowing their demise.

The next day, the party meandered east, then turned south, successfully avoiding more gnolls spotted by Merlin, and discovering a copse of corroded trees, likely damaged by something resembling acid. At dusk, they neared the edge of the marsh and again set their camp.

Upon waking and reentering the marsh, disaster struck: quite suddenly, as the PCs made their way through the tedious wetlands, they became aware of hulking, frog-like forms situated around them on all sides. Exchanging wary glances, the companions ran back toward the wood, but the frog-creatures pounced, driving crude metal implements at the party with severe force and outpacing their quarry effortlessly. Aranos was impaled and fell face-first into the murky ground; the remaining party members stood fast, swinging and slashing with all the deftness they could muster at the half-dozen bullywugs assailing them, but the numbers favored their enemies and Riwyn fell, then Wren, with only a single frog-man laid low in return.

In a rare instance of good fortune, Arendeth evaded the attackers long enough to cast hold person, magically paralyzing two of the remaining five. As the melee wore on, the dwarf splattered two more bullywugs amid the marsh, ere the final mobile enemy took flight. Racing against time, Arendeth cast cure light wounds on Aranos, then Riwyn, then Wren, mere moments each from breathing their last. The dwarf urged his companions to flee while slaying the first paralyzed frog-man before hold person expired. The last bullywug, free of its magical bindings but finding itself face-to-face with the dwarf whose morning star had crushed four of its allies, leapt backward and disappeared into the swamp.

Arendeth ushered his companions, feverish and barely able to move, into the forest, allowing them to rest. No creatures happened upon them for the remainder of the day or night, but in the early morning hours a larger platoon of bullywugs began milling about the location of the previous day's encounter. Arendeth led the party away, skirting the edge of the marshland but wading further into the tree cover. When no enemies followed, the dwarf was at liberty to regain spells, which he applied generously to his allies, restoring them to able statuses. Half the day already passed, they continued their trek south, arriving at the trail that led to the crossroads at nightfall.

They marched west, toward the fiefdom, spying a mounted rider. Hiding in the woods, Arendeth cast hold person at the steed's approach, but seeing that the rider was indeed a Brithem soldier, the dwarf released his spell and the party returned to Brithem in the dead of night.

The Skin of Their Teeth

I didn't really think, after the battle at Whisper's camp, that a closer call resulting in no character deaths would be possible, yet here we are. Here's a screenshot of my damage tracking for the session, in all its glory:

The numbers don't align exactly to the combat rounds (because that's not how I track damage), but the black 1s at the bottom mark the rounds of the hold person spell, and the red 1s in the character rows mark the "death's door" damage incurred in the rounds after falling unconscious. As it was, Aranos dropped to 0 and gradually fell to -9 before being healed during the last possible round by Arendeth. Riwyn and Wren each dropped to -1 and fell to -9 and -8, respectively, before being healed. The three consecutive castings of cure light wounds by Arendeth left the dwarf with only a single round to deal with the two magically-held bullywugs, during which he executed a coup de gras to slay one.

Up to this point in the campaign, I've probably applied the recovery rules to characters restored from negative hit points a little loosely. In this particular situation, it felt critical to apply them strictly, since the party was left in such a frail and volatile state following the encounter, especially with so many dangers lurking in their surrounds. From the "death's door" rules in the 2e DMG (p. 75):

If the only action is to bind the wounds, the injured character no longer loses one hit point each round, but neither does he gain any. He remains unconscious and vulnerable to damage from further attacks.

If a cure spell of some type is cast upon him, the character is immediately restored to 1 hit point—no more. Further cures do the character no good until he has had at least one day of rest. Until such time, he is weak and feeble, unable to fight and barely able to move. He must stop and rest often, can't cast spells (the shock of near death has wiped them from his mind), and is generally confused and feverish. He is able to move and can hold somewhat disjointed conversations, and that's it.

For the sake of consistency, I'll adjudicate this more closely in the future. In previous games I may not have erased spells from a character's mind, etc. Going forward I'll try to stick to the book.

Planning vs. Luck

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." —Seneca, Roman philosopher

I don't want to lose sight, in all the above, of how directionless the party was in rummaging through the forest. The players all knew this, so it's not like it was any kind of secret, but I think the end of the adventure drove home how treacherous their foray really was, lacking sufficient resources or a solid plan. It's certainly possible that they'd have found something more meaningful given a little luck, and I'll also add that Merlin goes a long way toward supplementing the absence of a tracker, having the ability to survey the group's surroundings at a wide radius. Those things said, in the end, the party's success or failure in investigating the Witherwood was left more to chance than anyone probably desired.

The luck of the dice will always play a role in any D&D session; such is the nature of the fantasy world when we play. But one of the core tenets of a successful D&D party should always be to minimize the luck factor as much as possible, through proper planning and the use of resources, be they items, information, hirelings, familiars, etc.

XP

I wouldn't typically divvy out experience at this point since no major milestone was achieved, but given the party's uncertainty about continuing its present course, I think it best to do it now.

• Gnolls, 7 - 350 XP
• Bullywugs, 6 - 390 XP

Shares have been divided up and added to the totals on the site.

Forging Ahead

I'll need some idea of the party's plans before the next time we play, as there was much hesitation at the notion of returning again to the Witherwood, or even venturing elsewhere to gather more resources for Brithem. Feel free to discuss your options in the comments or separately offline. In any case, I'll want to know the group's intentions about a week or so out from the next session, once it's scheduled.

FR #13: Strange Happenings Afoot

4 Kythorn

As previously determined, we reconvened in Brithem, the party having safely delivered the weaponsmith and his family following their rescue from Whisper's camp. Though bereft of their possessions and physically depleted from the events in the forest, the fiefdom offered the victims true sanctuary, and for that they were immensely grateful. Brithem, itself, was yet recovering from the destruction wrought by the dragons: a memorial had been erected outside the castle grounds to honor those who had died, and the remaining populace and soldiers were hard at work reestablishing farm production and repairing the keep. With the trade season now in full flourish, the days were long and wearisome.

Amid all this, two young travelers from the south, a brother and sister who claimed themselves missionaries of Tyr, arrived in recent weeks and offered their hands to the fiefdom. The party spoke to the pair separately: the man, Lucido, the elder sibling despite having seen fewer than eighteen winters, spoke humbly of their journey north, taken under the employ of a benefactor in Leilon named Elidar Highborn; the woman, Winifred, was already acting as caretaker to the victimized family and carried herself modestly indeed. Both siblings were quite fair, drawing the eyes of the men and women around them at every turn.

So it was that the party passed time in the fiefdom healing from their injuries and honing their crafts, when late one evening a report arrived that a patrolman failed to come in, hours after he was to have returned from a quarter-perimeter ride near the marshlands. Having had their fill of downtime, the party saddled horses and rode toward a northeasterly landmark known as Claw Rock, with Merlin the owl flying out ahead and warning Riwyn of danger a short way into the marsh.

At the edge of the plain, the party tethered its horses and located the eviscerated steed of the missing soldier, though not the patrolman himself. Casting a light spell over the rocky spire a hundred yards away, the adventurers caught a glimpse of doglike silhouettes marauding about its base; wading into the wetlands to close distance, the party aimed bowshots at the creatures they could discern. A gnoll from the outcropping returned fire while another bounded through the willows, tearing into Riwyn with its claws. In the moments that followed, the gnolls acted strangely defensive, eventually succumbing to the party's swords and arrows in a small cave formed into the rocks, where a mother was protecting three gnoll pups, which Arendeth slew. On the cave floor lay the mostly-consumed body of the patroller.

The next morning, the captain of Brithem's soldiery bade the party to accompany him back to investigate further, as gnolls traversing the wetlands could indicate a greater threat in the forest beyond, as when the two black dragons had taken residence there previously. The fiefdom would be ill-prepared to deal with another such menace, so quick and proactive measures were needed. Sharing Roth-grim's concerns, the party agreed.

A day venturing beyond the wetlands and into the dense canopy of the Witherwood revealed no additional signs of gnolls, but turned up a fallen stag untouched by scavengers, its hide mottled with festering boils. Using chalk to mark the stag's location and their return trail, the company made for the keep before nightfall with more questions than answers.

DM's Commentary

Was the gnoll combat interesting for the group? It's not always easy to judge as DM. While the gnolls weren't atypical and the fight was littered with rounds of miss/miss/hit/miss, I felt like the marshy terrain, the spire, and the discovery of the gnoll pups made for a memorable encounter. Whatever the edition, combat rules can only do so much to hold a player's attention. Spells and outside-the-box thinking help too, but for me, the overarching scene and the imagery it invokes are what I tend to remember long after the details fade. A good DM should be able to make even a trivial encounter using the simplest ruleset something special to the group.

Not much commentary from me aside from that. We were back at it after a lengthy delay, and consequently spent time at the beginning of the session reviewing the party's recent dealings and discussing the state of Brithem upon their return. I still really enjoy running the fiefdom; its unique situation and placement make it both stable and volatile at the same time, and Berwyn's background contributes to it greatly.

Site Update

On a side note, I recently gave the blog a minor facelift, along with a cool visual feature if you check back often and pay attention. I wanted the look of the site to feel living and breathing, like the campaign world itself. I also disabled the site's mobile view, which I can put back if it inconveniences anyone. I prefer seeing the standard web version, and figure that everyone following the posts is probably doing so by email.

Learning new spells from captured spellbooks

It's probably useful if I outline the procedure for learning new spells from other wizards' spellbooks. We've looked, previously, at the parameters around using scrolls, which are effectively a one-time-use means for supplementing a wizard's spell slots. Spellbook writings are permanent, though the rules for copying them are similar.

• In possession of an unfamiliar spellbook, a wizard must use read magic to decipher its contents. Read magic allows the wizard to read two pages per caster level; an individual spell consumes one page per level of the spell. (In the previous post I assumed that Riwyn was willing to expend the necessary number of castings, two, to read the full volume.)

• Once the spellbook's writings have been deciphered, the wizard can attempt to copy any number of its spells into his or her own spellbook, using his or her own personal notations. Each spell requires a successful Chance to Learn Spell roll, with failure indicating that the spell cannot be learned at the present time. A new roll can be attempted (assuming that the wizard still has access to the spell) upon attaining a new level.

• If the Chance to Learn Spell roll succeeds, the wizard must spend one full day of study per level of the spell copying the runes. (The degree of dedication required for this work typically can't be achieved while adventuring.)

Note that a wizard isn't able to memorize spells directly from a foreign spellbook, only from the wizard's own spellbook.

Feel free to post any questions or clarifications as comments.

Jhakine's spellbook

I did, in my previous post, wholly forget to make note of the Calishite wizard's plundered spellbook, which Riwyn is presumed to have in her possession and to have perused with a casting of read magic.

The volume is small, lightweight, and leather-bound, intended for use while traveling and ill-suited for large-scale research. A handful of weathered parchment sheets remain unmarked, though most of its pages are inscribed with the following spells:

• First level - detect magic, magic missile, read magic, sleep, shocking grasp
• Second level - blur, ESP

No additional XP award for obtaining this, though Lincoln is surely glad that it no longer resides in the hands of an enemy.

Picking back up, and XP for recent sessions

Before we move on to the next session, I'd like to solidify the point from which we'll pick back up. Various offline discussions led to this conclusion, which I wrote in an email earlier today:

The party's most recent agreed-upon direction was Brithem, in order to get the victimized family to safety. We can pick up from the fiefdom the next time we play. It's not too long or treacherous a journey to skip over the details.

With all of this, the one plot point I will enforce from the get-go (to Wren's dismay, I'm sure) is Rumolt's departure north (toward Luskan) with the scepter from the crossroads. This was always his intended path, and nothing short of sword or spell was going to keep him with the party beyond this point. He's been a dagger in the party's gut for some time now, and it's time for the group to find some internal cohesion without him. The world is dynamic and fluid, so it's certainly possible that he crosses your path again. Sara can write a romantic sendoff post if she feels so inclined.

Given the above, I'll go ahead and award XP for the most recent adventures:

• Kirtak's banded mail (magical) - 500 XP
• Misc bandit gear plundered - 200 XP
• Kirtak - 110 XP
• Bandits, 10 - 300 XP
• Jhakine - 350 XP
• Story award (saving the victimized family) - 4,500 XP

The total of 5,960 XP is split into full shares of 1,324 XP for each PC and a half-share of 662 XP for Aranos. Though Rumolt was a key contributor in the party's dealings, I've omitted him from the dispersement due to the uncertainty around his motives and the fact that he's gone his separate way. New party totals should be:

• Arendeth - 13,110
• Riwyn - 6,555/6,555
• Wren - 5,959/6,555
• Lincoln - 10,852
• Aranos - 662

Lincoln and Arendeth have each attained 5th level; we can assume adequate time passed in Brithem for their advancement.

FR #12: Cliffside Ambush

(Edit: Post title updated to better reflect the session content.)

26 Mirtul, middark

Following the interrogation of the bandit, the party weighed its options, lacking an obvious trail to the smith's wife and daughter. Finally, hitherto silent, Rumolt imparted that he possessed the means to locate Whisper's hideaway, and would do so in exchange for the jeweled scepter and an amicable parting of ways upon returning to the road. As he had no desire to risk the dangers of the forest alone, Rumolt furthermore offered to aid the party in an assault and rescue attempt against the bandits, after the camp was found. The PCs deliberated the arrangement at length, but ultimately agreed.

At dawn, Lincoln handed the captured highwayman a roll of fifty gold coins in exchange for his departure and a promise to live an honorable life upon returning to Luskan, or wherever he might go. The bandit consented eagerly, addressing the dwarf with many a "Yes, sir" and bow as he scattered into the trees to the west.

When all were ready, the party followed Rumolt's lead, the father, son, and uncle trailing closely behind. As they journeyed eastward through the forest, Arendeth inquired how Rumolt would locate the encampment, and Rumolt revealed from his tunic a compass rose made of cast iron, hanging by a thin chain around his neck. The compass, he explained, had come into his possession several years prior, and over time he had learned to utilize its magic, which enabled the wearer to know the direction of specific places or persons through intense mental focus - clearly the same method employed to find the orc ruins, days earlier.

Shortly after highsun, the company arrived at a fifty-foot ridge descending a two-hundred-foot wide canyon, at the bottom of which flowed a river that provided a ford. The opposite side of the canyon sloped gradually upward to a plateau ceilinged by a rocky overhang which began a near hundred-foot climb to the continuation of the forest. A winding trail led upward from the left side of the plateau: the only discernible path up for anyone lacking the ability to scale walls.

A few minutes of surveying the plateau from tree cover revealed bandit activity afoot, but no immediate signs of the captives. Unwilling to risk descending the canyon, the party made its way downriver a considerable distance after Merlin the owl scouted the terrain. A short time later, the party located a reasonable crossing and easier ascent to the opposite cliff. Once atop it, they formulated a plan while waiting for nightfall.

Wren approached the plateau area from the ridge above it at twilight, spotting a burgeoning fire underneath its overhang, which was surrounded by a cluster of highwaymen. Honoring their promise, Arendeth drew forth the magic scepter and handed it to Rumolt, who tucked it away securely in his pack. Together, the company moved in, thieves repelling down the ledge while Arendeth, Aranos, and Rumolt took to the trail.

As the latter group neared, arrows volleyed to and from the plateau, and Aranos was felled by magical sleep. Rumolt continued to fire while Arendeth closed and Wren, Lincoln, and Riwyn dropped in from above. Jhakine, the Calishite mage, could be seen spellcasting behind the bandits, and as Lincoln was pummeled by magic missiles, a flickering form thrust a blade into Wren from behind, laying her low in a single, deadly strike. The figure disappeared from sight again as a bloodbath ensued; the battle saw Lincoln fall to his injuries before Arendeth crushed the Calishite mage's neck with his morning star and the remaining bandits were slain.

As Wren's body clung to the last vestiges of life, Rumolt rushed forward, removing a potion flask from his belt and emptying its contents down her throat. Lincoln, unconscious but breathing, was revived, and a search of the cavern revealed the smith's wife and daughter - alive, though greatly battered and incoherent - and a dark tunnel leading from its depths.

DM's Commentary

situation
noun

1. a set of circumstances in which one finds oneself; a state of affairs.

I understand that Rumolt has been a point of frustration to the party for a handful of sessions now. In this campaign, my method has been to introduce places, and people within those places with their own histories, motives, and agendas, come what may. I'm not executing to an intricate grand design; I'm creating situations that intersect the party's path, and allowing the plots to weave themselves. In this way, the characters have a large degree of control over their own destinies.

It's always been five against one. Rumolt has always been a burden that the party, for all intents and purposes, has commanded the power to rid itself of. The question has always been the terms under which the sides would part ways, and the concern felt by the PCs in allowing a man with unclear motivations to knowingly leave the company in possession of a powerful magic item. But I've never tried to hold anyone's feet to the fire. If any of the group members feel that way, I'd want to explore the reasons why.

Have the events with Rumolt been fulfilling, or dispiriting? Enjoyable, or woeful? My hope, at least, is that they've been entertaining, and memorable.

I can't rightly end this section without a mention of how close Wren tarried to character death during the melee. At 18 hit points, Whisper rolled a critical hit for max damage on the attack roll for backstabbing, reducing Wren to -6. Three rounds elapsed with no healing or attempts to stabilize, taking her to -9. As the "death's door" points tick off at the end of each combat round, Rumolt fed her his potion during the last possible moments before she'd have descended to -10 and died. That's crazy close. I'm really glad I make my rolls publicly.

What's Next?

I don't consider the party to be at a suitable "safe point" for awarding XP, amid the Neverwinter Wood with Whisper still at large. The victimized family, while alive and intact, is in need of safe harbor. In the previous recap I made note of items for which XP would be awarded; we now have pending story awards as well, given the impactful achievements made by the party with respect to the campaign world.

In the interest of attaining safe harbor and setting a firm direction for the next session, I encourage the players to post comments to this thread to help determine the party's next course of action. Depending on what's decided, I may be able to advance the game forward. This blog is here for you; feel free to use it.

I really don't want to know (DM transparency in D&D)

Quick story: Last night I played in a session of Sean's 5th Edition D&D game, which he documents here. During the game, our group encountered a wraith, which with some powerful dice rolls struck my character to unconsciousness from nearly full hit points in a single attack. In fact, my character was one failed save away from being effectively slain.

This wasn't my least favorite part of the session. It actually didn't bother me at all. I was happy with the decisions I'd made for Nefresil to that point, both from tactical and role-playing standpoints. Untimely things happen in D&D. When making choices, it's important to weigh the odds and understand the impacts of randomness and dice. As a player, you control what you can control and learn to live with the results. If that means your character dies a hero, so be it.

My least favorite part of the session was picking through treasure after the combat and being told, without the aid of any spell, that we had found a short sword +1 and a wand of lightning bolts with seven charges remaining.

(I should pause here briefly as I realize I've used the words "least favorite" two times now, and I don't want to give the impression that I don't enjoy playing in this game or that Sean isn't doing a good job as DM. Sean is extremely new to DMing and running from a module, so all this discussion is intended to be instructional and expressive of the way I like to play D&D, nothing more.)

This brings us to the topic of transparency. Not to engage in edition wars per se, but citing the 2e PH description for the spell identify:

The item never reveals its exact attack or damage bonuses, although the fact that it has few or many bonuses can be determined. If it has charges, only a general indication of the number of charges remaining is learned: powerful (81%-100% of the total possible charges), strong (61%-80%), moderate (41%-60%), weak (6%-40%), or faint (five charges or less). The faint result takes precedence, so a fully charged ring of three wishes always appears to be only faintly charged.

Note, specifically, how the AD&D version of the spell stops short of providing the caster with concrete mechanical information about the item. D&D characters don't understand game mechanics, they understand the nature of magical items in abstract terms. Leaving the mechanical details shrouded keeps the players more interested, and less certain. It helps create tension.

Tension, in D&D, is everything.

To Sean's credit, in his game, the short sword came with a tale behind it that our characters were familiar with from lore. The blade was visibly identifiable as one of a pair that was previously wielded by a renowned historical NPC. The two weapons were never known to have been separated, so the fact that we found this one here, in isolation, was exceptional. Whether this flavor was added by Sean or part of the module he's running, it provides an interesting hook that we could potentially become involved with later on. This is good stuff.

Setting that aside, however, we have an issue of transparency. How do our characters know that the short sword is endowed with a +1 bonus? How do we know that the wand casts lightning bolt? How do we know that it has seven charges remaining? Short of casting a spell that yields specifically this information, our characters shouldn't know these things. Being told the mechanical details outright, in addition to breaking believability in the fantasy world, has deprived us, as players, of discovering the properties on our own. Imagine our characters experiencing the horror of unexpectedly running out of wand charges at exactly the wrong time! Because this information was handed to us freely, this can never happen. We need never plan for it. This in turn makes the game less interesting for us overall and reduces our immersion level.

Similarly, as DM, there's a fine line between telling the players what their characters observe and dictating the conclusions that the characters derive from what they observe. It's OK to tell the players "The orc shifts uneasily as you step into the room," but the DM shouldn't go so far as, "You know that the orc will attack you if you advance any further." We do? How could the PCs possibly know this without trying? Players need to be allowed to draw their own conclusions about the information provided to them, and being overly transparent as DM waters down the game for players who want to feel immersed. They're being shortcut through the nuances, which often end up being the most fun and rewarding elements of role-playing and decision-making.

In the end, I don't want the DM to let me in on the truth. I want to uncover the truth for myself by interacting with the fantasy world. Don't tell me things that my character should not rightly know.

It's important to note that the kind of transparency I'm describing here is different from the kind that the DM employs to show that he's playing by the rules and to instill trust around the table. When every DM die roll is hidden behind a screen, it's too easy for the players to feel (rightly or not) that they're being lied to when unlikely things happen. Transparency with dice rolls to remove doubt that the game is being adjudicated fairly is different from transparency with information. The DM at all times needs to be exceedingly delicate with exactly which details are presented to the PCs. Information and spoilers cannot be retracted.

Now, at some point, spell or no spell, a player needs to know, mechanically, that his or her character is wielding a short sword +1. The intent of this post is not to say that a player should never be privy to this information at all, simply that it should not be handed over without in-game justification. I'm generally not going to silently add a +1 modifier to a player's attack rolls for months on end; it's reasonable to assume that, over a short duration of using a magic weapon, the PC will get the gist of it enough that the bonus can be conveyed and written down on the character's record sheet. We just don't want to deprive the player of learning the nature of the weapon on his own.

It's a poorly-kept secret of DMs that we sorely want, at times, to tell the players everything, to let them in on every minute detail that we've been plotting and preparing over the course of a campaign. But a good DM need always remember that the time for revealing this kind of information is after its in-game relevance has unequivocally passed.

And not a moment sooner.

Kirtak's Camp

This post is an opportunity for the PCs to speak with their bandit captive and otherwise hold conversations and dealings in the short-term safety of the plundered camp. Players can post in-game comments to this thread and I'll reply with any NPC actions or responses, similar to a play-by-post. No pressure on anyone to partake (no experience is at stake), and I'll give adequate time for others to chime in, given that some players have more frequent web access than others.

I'll go ahead and take the post down if no comments come in leading up to the next session, but at least this way any discourse can be archived and every PC has a chance to be involved, regardless of who ends up attending the next time we play.

Please post comments below. They actually work now. :)

FR #11: Forest Banditry

The vote prior to this session set the party's direction as Luskan. After a short reprieve at the Slumbering Manticore, supplies were replenished and the company set out west along the game trails leading to Port Llast.


24 Mirtul, darkmorning

Traveling conditions were favorable over the course of three days; at the end of the first, the party divided into two rooms at the Drunken Mermaid in Port Llast, ere they departed early the next morning and pushed on into the night, camping and trudging on again into the following afternoon, their booted feet worn but happy to be journeying amid comfortable spring temperatures and underneath clear, blue skies.

During the party's first watch, in the shadows of its campfire, Arendeth cast detect magic on Rumolt as he slept. This mention is to serve as a note of that, though the dwarf has yet to relay any findings to his companions.

As the day began to wane and the party began to anticipate reaching the crossroads, they were approached by a southbound wagon driven by a middle-aged man and woman outfitted in travelers' garb. The wagon, piled high with stacks of tanned leather and hides, slowed as it drew near, and the man aboard it hailed the adventurers through a thick, graying beard, warning of highwaymen further up the road. He stated that the would-be thieves were less than formidable, and that the pair had escaped unharmed and unhindered after the lady shot an arrow through one brigand's hand as he came hither.

Thankful for the warning, the party pressed onward, and as twilight loomed, a fretful voice called out from the east, demanding gold for passage. As two bowmen advanced between the trees, Lincoln stalled them with words and Wren fleeted into the grove, hidden from sight. The companions refused to proffer payment, and the lead bandit's demeanor quickly crumbled into emotional distress as he slumped against a tree and wept.

Through tactful discourse, the PCs learned that the brigands were not highwaymen at all, but a metalsmith and his brother made to rob travelers along the road by thieves who held the smith's wife and daughter captive in the forest, and threatened to kill and defile them should the brothers not acquiesce. Hiding deeper within the grove was the smith's son, a boy of sixteen winters who cradled his right arm, its hand impaled by an arrow.

The PCs pledged their aid to the family, and agreed that the smith's son would lead the party to the encampment where the trio was to report before nightfall, while Berwyn remained near the road with the father and uncle. The men explained that the camp was being manned by a mercenary called Kirtak (a name that Lincoln recognized from his prior dealings with the bandit leader, Whisper), but that the captured wife and daughter were held elsewhere, at an unknown location in the forest.

Kirtak's camp was situated halfway up a tree-covered ridge; a burgeoning fire bellowed amid a gathering of armed thieves as Wren surveyed the scene from an adjacent hillock. Shortly, a bandit scout crested the same hill and was felled by Lincoln's bow. The adventurers fanned out, archers taking to either side while Lincoln and Arendeth marched for the camp, the dwarves in plain sight of the thieves but shielded by underbrush.

Arrows volleyed up and down the ridge; after the first three bandits fell, Kirtak and a lone remaining brigand rushed past the dwarves, heading for the hill. The party gave chase, and as the fastest PCs began to gain ground, Kirtak drew up his sword and wounded the ally that ran alongside him, delaying the bandit while Kirtak fled into the night.

While the dwarves captured and bound the injured man, Kirtak's attempts to escape were thwarted by Riwyn's magic as she and Wren continued their pursuit. At long last, and many yards removed from the rest of the party, Kirtak turned on the women and stood to battle them for his life. Blows were exchanged over gruesome rounds of swordplay, ere Wren dealt a killing strike to the mercenary, laying him low. Injured and exhausted, Wren and Riwyn rejoined their allies, and after healing magic was expended, the party gathered the father and uncle from the road and claimed the bandit camp as their own, in possession of a single captive.

DM's Commentary

Another successful session for the party, which managed to plunder a hostile camp with its ranks fully intact. Though Rumolt continues to travel with and aid the PCs, the uncovering of bandit activity connected to the thieves that set upon them earlier in the campaign has at least momentarily overshadowed the matter of the scepter.

In the climactic melee between Kirtak, Riwyn, and Wren, Riwyn's casting of enlarge upon the mercenary's longsword was particularly interesting, and stirred up a bit of debate regarding the mechanics.

The Player's Handbook doesn't go into great detail on the effects of enlarging a combatant's weapon, and I needed to make some split-second rulings on how to handle it. I wanted to itemize here the decisions I made in the heat of the moment, both to explain why I ruled the way I did, and also illustrate the amount of quick-thinking that needs to happen "behind the screen" at times. It's not always easy, and pretty much always subjective.

The three on-the-fly rulings I made for enlarge were:

1. That the weapon wouldn't receive a saving throw. Per the spell description, "Unwilling victims are entitled to a saving throw vs. spell." - but an object carried by such a person has no will to measure. This seemed straightforward, but still warranted consideration.


2. That Kirtak needed to succeed a Strength check (which he did) to avoid dropping his sword. It stands to reason that a wielded weapon could fall from the grasp of even a seasoned fighter upon unexpectedly becoming heavier and unbalanced. If a grease spell had been cast on the sword instead, a Dexterity check would have been appropriate.


3. That the increased size and weight of the sword would result in a -4 to attack rolls made with the weapon. Here, I was challenged in that I allowed Kirtak to retain the benefits of weapon specialization when fighting with the enlarged longsword. I can see the argument, and had considered, alternately, treating the sword as a two-handed bastard sword, and having it acquire such a sword's attack and damage properties, negating Kirtak's specialization. In the end, the -4 penalty was imposed as a means of rendering Kirtak's attacks objectively (or "strictly") worse. I don't think a longsword increased to 130% of its original size would be the equivalent of a different, albeit larger type of sword. It would instead retain the shape and overall function of a longsword, just become unwieldy.

Interesting how a single game ruling can be wrapped up in so many nuances. As we have other unanswered questions about weapon specialization as well, I might post some of this to the forum to see what others have to say.

No XP awards at this juncture, but it’s beneficial to list the items found amid the bandits:

• Longsword, longbow, and banded mail carried/worn by Kirtak
• Kirtak’s gold necklace and coin purse containing 33 gp (taken by Riwyn)
• Bandit swords, short bows, sheaf arrows, and leather armor
• Bandit coin purses totaling 29 gp and 19 sp (taken by Arendeth)
• Miscellaneous supplies not individually described (rations, water skins, packs, lengths of rope, etc.)

I'm planning to put up a subsequent post momentarily to give the PCs an opportunity to speak with their captive between sessions.

Vote for direction

I don't want to shortchange anyone's preferences for the party's direction, but I would like a firm decision to be made soon so I can have material ready for this week. This post will serve as an official tally of the party's votes. Leave a comment here within the next day stating your character's preferred destination. The destination with the most votes will be assumed to be the direction the party travels when we reconvene. I'll only count votes posted to this thread.