Library D&D Campaign ReportsteemCreated with Sketch.

in #games5 years ago (edited)

I have written out the off-the-cuff adventure from my last library Dungeons & Dragons campaign in a more formal fashion, and would welcome feedback from other role-playing game veterans. This is loosely based on an idea I began to write out here on Steemit a long time ago, but changes happened.


Adventure 1: The Summoning

Introduction

The story opens in the late summer, two days before the first monthly market festival of the harvest season. Establish whether they are camped outside of town, renting rooms at the taverns inside the walls, or living in one of the village houses.

Riverton

Riverton is a small farm village and market town in the northern reaches of Hisbernia on the south bank of the Stern River, which flows roughly from west to east at this point as it winds from the Dwemerhame Mountains toward the Sea of Teeth. The town is surrounded by a palisade wall about six feet tall on the east, south, and west. At its center is a large grass-covered market square. Along the riverbank to the north are docks and wharfs with warehouses, fish packing businesses, and granaries nearby. The commercial district is a row of shops south of these dockside structures facing the market green. The taverns and inns are to the west of the green. To the east of the green are the town administrative buildings. The village temple is on the north side of the road just inside the east gate. The inhabitants of Riverton are almost entirely human, along with a few halflings.

fort-parker-palisade-3584793_640.jpg
A palisade wall
Image credit

Alarm

Early in the morning, all player characters are awakened by the ringing of alarm bells. When they seek out the cause of the alarm, they will be told by frightened villagers or town guards that something is wrong at the village temple. Upon their arrival at the temple, they will meet Captain Brevar as he is sending the town guard to establish a perimeter. If the players do not investigate the cause of the alarm, he may conscript them from the tavern to help address the emergency.

The Temple

The ground has a fissure surrounding the temple about 15 feet from the perimeter of the building, and the surface seems to have sunk by about a foot. If the players ask to investigate before proceeding to the temple, they can learn the following:

· None of the guards or gathering onlookers report any earthquakes during the night, and no one heard any commotion.

· Any character who investigates the fissure with a DC15 Nature check can confirm that there doesn’t appear to be a seismic cause for this fissure. At DM discretion, a dwarf may pass this check automatically.

· A DC15 Perception check will discover that the earth is strangely dry, and the grass in the temple grounds is beginning to wilt despite the morning dew everywhere else. At DM discretion, druids pass this check automatically.

· A DC20 Arcana check will reveal traces of summoning ritual magic to sorcerers, warlocks, or wizards.

The temple is a round stone structure with a set of double doors facing south toward the road. These doors are still closed for the night, but there are no locks. Upon opening the doors and entering, the players see two burnt corpses in the center of the room, surrounded by a complex circle of strange marks. Exploring the temple further will lead to the realization that all of the altars around the temple had been defaced with strange sigils, and the idols and icons have been smashed.

· Examining the burnt corpses reveals that one has a charred holy symbol of Pelor, and was doubtless the village priest. The other holds a dagger still clenched in his hand. No other objects or garments remain.

· A DC12 investigation check will discover that the marks on the floor around the bodies and the marks on the altars are dried blood.

· Characters who understand Abyssal recognize the markings as such, and immediately see errors in spelling and grammar.

· A DC12 Arcana check with knowledge of the language reveals it to be a summoning circle for a demon of Asmodeus, but it appears the intended subject of the summoning had incinerated its would-be summoner and the remains of the blood sacrifice.

· If players attempt to record the markings, there are no effects from writing them down, although a DM roll behind the screen for atmosphere may be appropriate.

Investigation

Captain Brevar sends some of his men to canvas the town and the camp outside the walls for missing persons, and asks the players to investigate outside of town. If the players insist upon joining the search for missing persons, a DC12 group investigation roll passed by half or more of the party will conclusively discover that no one seems to be missing from any homes, tents, or lodgings. If they agree to search for evidence left by the murderer, a DC15 perception check will discover tracks in the still-dewy grass outside the temple. These lead to a point in the wall between the river and the east gate where a DC12 investigation check can uncover recent scuff marks of someone climbing over the wall. If they do not discover those clues, a DC10 investigation check outside the wall reveals the same information. A DC12 Survival check allows the tracks to be followed for an hour across the fields and into a forest between the river and the road where they end at a campsite.

The Campsite

The camp consists of a small fire circle and a small tent. A folding metal stand over the fire circle holds a greasy frying pan. Inside the tent is a bedroll, a backpack, and a scroll case. The backpack contains 5 days of trail rations and the contents of a standard scholar’s pack. The scroll case contains loose pages of notes in Common and Abyssal along with strange sigils and shorthand notation. A DC15 Arcana check or knowledge of Abyssal reveals that these notes relate to summoning rituals and demonology, but presumably the final notes were taken into town and destroyed along with the summoner. A DC10 survival check tells the players that this fire has not been lit since some time last evening.

Reporting Back

When the party returns to town, Captain Brevar is grateful for their efforts. Offer a nominal reward in gold, perhaps 10 GP per player, and Captain Brevar asks for their further aid. If they did not mention the scroll case, or did not retrieve it at all, Captain Brevar asks the party to visit other towns and investigate for temple sacrilege and warn the local guards and elders there of the potential threat. If they have the scroll case and report finding it, Brevar advises seeking the aid of someone who could help determine the nature and extent of the threat from the notes inside.


If this is of interest, I will write an outline of upcoming campaigns as they play out. I will be splitting this adventure into two smaller campaigns, since I can't manage 14 players all at once. This adventure will take place in the Fractured Realms setting in northern Hisbernia near the Dwemerhame Mountains, so one party will head north to find a wizard, and then to Newcastle in the mountains where cult hunting and dungeon delving will ensue. The other party will head south and encounter necromancer shenanigans. Well, unless they screw up my plans altogether, which players are wont to do.

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Man, I'm a little envious of this. I'd never write up my D&D stuff, mechanically speaking, because it's a flaming hot mess.

Some of the DCs may be a little high, depending on the edition and character level. DC 20 on Arcana could be tough.

Also, you probably don't need to lock the tests to particular classes. If the characters have acquired the skill through some form of cross training, they shouldn't be locked out. 5E gives an opportunity to get weird skills through backgrounds, so keep that in mind.

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I set a DC20 because it should be hard for a lvl. 1 character to discern the magic. I could drop some 12s to 10s though. I also set the DCs a bit high because of the number of players involved.

If you want it to be hard, then it's fine. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't an oversight. I don't know that it's necessary to drop the lower numbers.

One thing to consider is whether you want to have the GM tell players to roll ("Okay, guys, roll Arcana.") or have the players have to figure out out. If you have all the players roll (or all proficient ones), that shifts the equation.

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My idea goes something like this:

Player: I want to do X!
Me: (ideally) You can certainly try!
(Circumstantially) Do you have a relevant proficiency? If not, feel free to role-play a conversation with the others to find out if someone does.

One thing to consider about that is that then you only roll if players decide to, and you can wind up with a conga line effect ("He failed, so I'm going to try.")

Personally, I like to have a mixture of both: I'll have everyone roll a test in some circumstances, then in others I'll just let one person roll if they bring it up (and make the expectation that it's final clear to my players). That way you don't wind up with large interruptions to the storytelling.

In the former case, you might want a higher DC if you want a chance of failure, since literally everyone (or everyone proficient) will roll. In the latter, you want a lower DC to reward players for their ingenuity, but also balance the fact that only one character rolls.

I also took into account my plans for future story. The party off to see the wizard will learn that it was summoning magic. I just wanted curious people with magic proficiency to have a specified (but very difficult) chance at a sneak peek.

I expect balancing the DC will be difficult. I also plan to have a lot less combat than most campaigns up front to focus on other skill checks and role-play. There will be combat next session, though.

And I think combat with 14 players involved will be a bit different. Do you use some shortcuts?
Last week we fought against 12 enemies and the battle lasted for 2 or 3 hours, it wasn't D&D and a bit slower because the enemies had a lot hp but with 14 players it can be the same.

My plan is to split the party into two groups for two different parallel campaigns, and one group will fight a few cultists in a very small dungeon, and the other will fight a necromancer and a few zombies in a graveyard. Just enough combat to get a feel for the mechanics, since I have a lot of new players.

I also have some fantasy-themed coloring pages and colored pencils to entertain the group not actively playing. I'll have to see how this works out.

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Hot damn! Now this is a post worthy of @curie's attention, and I'm glad to see she showed up for it. I love reading campaign notes and stuff from other DMs...gives me ideas for my own worlds, and helps keep me on my toes by showing off things I might not have considered. Nice work, my good man!

This is so clean I love it, I wanted to do something similar but add a more literary aspect to the narration but it is so hard to do, putting everyone's actions and feeling into paper when they don't come from your own is tough but this journal is really cool, I love it, thanks for sharing!


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I prefer to present a sort of campaign outline for other GMs/DMs to use as they see fit, but I may try adding a narrative prose version of interesting happenings within the game if inspiration strikes.

Hello there @modernzorker!

I am not really familiar and into this kind of gaming genre. But you have written is exceptionally well given the fact that i know a few who ate playing this game and this would tipped them off.

It was great that you walk us through the game. It made us aware of what it is really about. I am not wondering why a lot, including my ex-boyfie, gets addicted to this.

Congrats on your curie love..
Cheers! ❤

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Thanks! I just hope the players don't derail my plans for their upcoming adventures too quickly. I can handle the dice working their randomness on the outcome of everyone's actions, and I plan to have several ways they can resolve situations whenever possible, but it is hard to say what happens in the strange improvisational theater of a tabletop role-playing game.

Hi jacobtothe,

This post has been upvoted by the Curie community curation project and associated vote trail as exceptional content (human curated and reviewed). Have a great day :)

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Incredible the way in which you explain, everything in detail and very direct. The truth is I do not have any knowledge on that subject but it is good to learn little by little about this type of articles

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