Reflections on D&D, 4/6

I ran a game of D&D today, and I figure I may as well use the opportunity to go over what happened and reflect on my practice.

I opened up today's session in a new way: asking the players what they wanted to see in the game. I generally got confirmation that they want a short combat every session (today's session was largely over long prolonged battle, so oops).

They also wanted higher level play, which I generally don't like, and more magic items.

I'm not a huge fan of magic items that give a strong combat benefit, but I do want them to get a lot of utility magic items, so long as doing so won't jeopardize the utility of spellcasting.

I already have a few classics planned (everburning lantern/torch, since most of the campaign is taking place underground; pocket boat; some sort of remote communication device) but I've also got some ideas for deeper magic items.

They were going through some bandit-infested caves, and met a goblin named Rur. Rur was supposed to be guarding the hideout (an old Imperial installation) but instead had fallen asleep. After surviving several consecutive attempts to interrogate or kill him, Rur spilled the beans about the bandits, and also told the party that they had taken prisoners.

Unfortunately for the party, they immediately alerted the bad guys in the outpost, because Rur's boss asked him a question through the door, and the bard who replied did not match Rur's voice well.

The resulting battle was brutal, with two of the bandits fleeing to get their boss. Rur had told them that the bandit leader had been emboldened after a sorceress had joined him, and had gotten more reckless (like, for instance, taking a young nobleman and messenger of the King hostage), so the party has to act quick.

The party decided that they were not ready to take on all the bandits after a close call with the welcoming party, and hurried to get the party out. The party's sorcerer cast a grease spell on the doorway, which was unfortunately also a cause of harm as the escaping nobleman slipped and fell in it twice, and the kobold reinforcements fell prone as well. Normally this would have been beneficial, but the disadvantage on ranged attacks proved problematic.

The bard had his only successful dice roll as a result, however, getting a critical hit on the last surviving kobold before the party fled into the larger cave structure of the Rift.

Upon returning to Hope, the capital of the Free People of the Rift, they were knighted by the king. The party plans to export the noble to the academy at Hivegate, a place they were already planning to go, and received a mission from the king's spymaster, Iridar, to hunt down the traitor Marcus of Irondwell, who was suspected of getting there.

All in all, I think the session was a success. It clearly leads forward to new plot opportunities, and allowed some exposition of the setting. Rur and his boss are likely going to return at a later date, since both fled (and escaped the party while doing so).

I got more into characters than I usually do. I'm trying to start giving them more voice and personality. I'm not perfect at it yet, but I think I had something of a breakthrough on that front today.

We were playing on Fantasy Grounds. That made it more interesting, because I also had to redo my microphone setup. I ran a one-shot Degenesis game for a podcast a couple weeks ago, and my mic was being a problem near the end, so I wanted to fix the issues that led to that. I think I succeeded. I record all my games, though I don't usually post the recordings, so I plan on going back and giving it a listen.

Posted using Partiko Android