Samuel Wise
Demigod
Ready to Help...
Posts: 989
Favorite D&D Class: Warlock
Favorite D&D Race: Mousefolk
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Post by Samuel Wise on Apr 10, 2015 0:02:45 GMT
After rereading the story I wrote again, I am pretty sure that the dice was cursed. No one can roll this many 1s and 20s in a game, but here it is. The Characters Bert the Theif: Bert is a 59 year old retired soldier. Years off of duty has made him fat and lazy (counts as being a level 1). The only thing he keeps from his previous battles is a shrunken Orc head that he keeps in his left breast pocket (no one knows the story behind the shrunken head. Bert is now a rogue hermit who spends his days growing and selling Turnips. Willfred the Fighter and Will the Wizard: These are the two troublemakers of the story. They are both attracted to the Vices of the City that they are considered drunks. Their charisma is so high that they swear that they can entrance any maiden. These two became best friends when their girlfriend (they were in love with the same woman) died. Their girlfriend died because they were fighting over her and 'accidently' ripped her in half... (How is that for a backstory). It took me forever to get these guys playing D&D so I was happy with anything they did and tried to role with it...
The First Game of D&D
This insane story began at Raven'sCrow. A large village lying on the edge of a vast forest. Here enters Bert the 59 year old hermit/rogue. Bert has to travel to Raven'sCrow to sell his turnips. He has hired two men to help him, Will the Wizard and Wilfred the Fighter. When the odd team arrived at the village they (of course) ask around until they found the tavern. Now, since these are new players (with a completely new DM) they had no idea how to talk to NPCs. So, of course, in a video game what do you do with the people who can't give you helpful information? You kill them. And so Will and Wilfred attempted to murder everyone in the bar. The bar fight was insane, everyone playing either rolled a 20 or a 1. Will the Wizard miscasted on his first attempt to use inflict wound, and both he and a NPC flew upward and got stuck to the ceiling. The fat innkeeper, Hobble, threw a glass at Wilfred (1) and it accidentally landed on top of a customer's head. The fat innkeeper then tried to vault over the bar counter, but (1) slipped and crashed onto the floor. In the meantime Will misfired another spell and got his clothes completely disintegrated from his body. So many ones. It soon became apparent that the two Lawful Good, high charismatic characters were going to do everything in their power to prolong the battle, so I sent in a couple of Guards to break up the fight. The fighting stopped as soon as they entered the tavern and Will the Wizard (on a natural 20) successfully convinced the guards that it was all the NPCs fault. Once the guards (here I was forced by the natural 20) arrested the NPC and charged her with public disturbance! In the meantime Will the Wizard miscasted another spell (in an attempt to command another guard) and accidentally belched butterflies into one of the guards face. Will and Wilfred promptly fled the village. The innkeeper (and a grumpy dwarf named Sherlly) creates a mob (of which Bert becomes a part of) and takes off after Will and Wilfed. While chasing the devilry duo the mob was attacked by a couple of kobolds. The guards would have easily killed the Kobolds if the little suckers didn't roll a 20 (with which they ripped poor Bert's eye out). Luckily, Bert fashioned an eyepatch from the dead Kobolds hides. Will and Wilfred flees deeper into the forest where they soon find themselves at a tower called Coffinspire. Of course, there is a princess captured (though they didn't talk to any NPCs to know that!) in the uppermost chamber. They get into the upper chambers and start questioning the princess... until a shadow beings to appear in the room. Instantly Will is a noble defender of the princess and stands his ground between the shadow creature and the princess defending her valiantly (who cares if he just tried to massacre everyone at the local bar). As soon as they attack it, the shadow man (who is the King turned into a Durnosse, though they did not even meet the king yet!) turns into smoke and shoves the princess out the window (I had him go through Will in the process, turning the wizard's arm into a Durnosse weapon (view the Durnosse special rule Shadowblade)). The shadow and the princess crashes through the window and goes right through the ground, leaving a shrinking black portal in the ground. Instead of leaving the tower and clashing into the mob in an epic battle on the way back (what should have happened) Will the Wizard did the next obvious thing, he dives head long after the princess. He goes straight through the portal. Wilfred tries to follow by doing a belly flop into the SHRINKing portal. Wilfred (on another 1) slams onto the ground, loses half of his head (his forehead to be precise), and then flops into the portal. When the mob (and a one-eyed Bert) reach the tower, they find the gate to the tower shut and four shadow creatures guarding its entrance. Two of which are recognizable as Will the Wizard and Willfred the Fighter. Willfred is missing part of his head. Nothing went as planned, but after that short adventure, everyone wanted to do another one. I was plum out of ideas and knew that if I did have any good ideas, they would be totaled. And that was the end of our my first game of D&D.
Corrected: Will and Wilfred wanted to continue playing as Durnosse and take over the world we were in. *sigh*...
Yep... The end.
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Post by dm_mainprize on Apr 10, 2015 0:34:30 GMT
Intense! glad to see my monsters got some table time and claim 2 more into their ranks! Also this story follows that most important rule of DMing, HAVE FUN and the second rule, always be prepared to have what you plan never happen the way it was prepared and planned! Glad they are ready for another session!
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Post by friartook on Apr 10, 2015 2:58:46 GMT
Now, since these are new players (with a completely new DM) they had no idea how to talk to NPCs. So, of course, in a video game what do you do with the people who can't give you helpful information? You kill them. And so Will and Wilfred attempted to murder everyone in the bar.
I had to deal with a fair bit of this mentality in my group early on. They tried to fight some guards in our first session and ended up in jail. I had to beat this attitude out of them by almost killing them a few times. Video games are the bane of good table top RP. Sounds like you guys a great first session none the less! I say let them remain Durnosse, but throw some truly bad@$$, high level, good-aligned adventurer NPCs at them  |
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Samuel Wise
Demigod
Ready to Help...
Posts: 989
Favorite D&D Class: Warlock
Favorite D&D Race: Mousefolk
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Post by Samuel Wise on Apr 10, 2015 3:03:28 GMT
I was about to teach the lot of them a lesson (except Bert since he stayed out of the fight), until they charmed the gaurd! That was completely unfair...
The idea of keeping them Durnosse came to my mind, but they would have attacked the mob looking for them and probably take Bert down with them! Poor Bert.
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Post by friartook on Apr 10, 2015 3:19:09 GMT
Just do what you have to to keep them engaged. The more you can get them caring about their characters, the better your sessions will become.
I had great success by proving I wouldn't pull punches when the chips were down. I killed two PC's. Or rather, the PC's actions put them in a situation I had not intended in which they were killed. I gave them every out, their own choices put them there. I am in no way advocating purposely killing characters. That just pisses people off. But allow their bad decisions to have consequences (i.e.: the angry mob) and make things stick.
After that session, when I allowed two of them to die, everything changed. The guys realized their characters could actually die. They had gotten an inkling of this tension when one of them lost an arm, but when they realized I wasn't going to bail them out of death, they got attached to their characters in a whole new way. Since then the RP has been much more serious and everyone gets real tense whenever I say, "...and everyone rolls initiative!"
For the record, I did allow these PC's to be resurrected. The players were really upset and a bit shook up. As it was their first time facing death (and honestly, my first time killing a PC off), I allowed the resurrections to happen and made them story hooks. I may not always allow it, but I thought it was necessary this time. The whole point is to have fun. I want tension, but only in so far as that tension adds to the fun around the table.
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Post by joatmoniac on Apr 10, 2015 7:34:23 GMT
Investment is definitely the key to a great game. However that looks for you and your players will probably be a little different than others. It seem like the guys you have could be invested pretty easily. I think that if you had them turn Bert into a Durnosse, and the next part of the story could be them battling their way back into their rightful bodies. Love your incorporation of things from the forums, namely the tower called Coffinspire, haha.
Establishing consequences for their actions will be something you have to do to break the infamous video game mentality. I haven't personally experienced it much, but can imagine that it is a fairly hard mentality to break. I think about it more and more as I play video games, and the lack of consequences in them.
Also, Friartook you saint! Allowing them to resurrect their first characters ever, how dare you!
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Samuel Wise
Demigod
Ready to Help...
Posts: 989
Favorite D&D Class: Warlock
Favorite D&D Race: Mousefolk
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Post by Samuel Wise on Apr 10, 2015 14:24:28 GMT
I thought (since we were a new group) that when I described Coffinspire they would just think that I was trying too hard. Suprisingly, that didn't happen. Everyone was genuinely creeped out. Bert (who wasn't even supposed to know what it looks like) turned to the other players and said, "woah, that is pretty creepy". Mind you this is directly after a huge splurge of video game mentality.
If the description of Coffinspire can creep these guys out, then it will work on the majority of people.
Sadly, this group had to disband since half of the members moved away. This was kind of our final 'hurrah' together. So we played D&D and went away with this crazy story.
Soon I'm going to have to find a new group.
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Post by friartook on Apr 10, 2015 14:30:33 GMT
Also, Friartook you saint! Allowing them to resurrect their first characters ever, how dare you! They are currently paying for it. The entire quest you've been listening to in my recordings is to repay the clerics that brought them back (because their evil DM keeps 'em poor). I've got some unpleasant surprises waiting for them when they "turn in" that quest. |
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Post by joatmoniac on Apr 10, 2015 22:10:26 GMT
Haha. Perfect! Have to make death cost one way or another for them. Love that their current quest is repayment, and that their lives are essentially on loan unless they can get the item they need.
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Post by DM Chris on Apr 20, 2015 18:34:40 GMT
Haha. Perfect! Have to make death cost one way or another for them. Love that their current quest is repayment, and that their lives are essentially on loan unless they can get the item they need. I concur! That is a very interesting idea indeed and have never thought about doing that in any of my campaigns...yet... |
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Post by friartook on Apr 20, 2015 19:21:44 GMT
Haha. Perfect! Have to make death cost one way or another for them. Love that their current quest is repayment, and that their lives are essentially on loan unless they can get the item they need. Tonight is the moment for them; make or break. They have many more options than I think they have thought of, and I've got multiple dilemmas waiting for them. Plus, they have to figure out how to get off the island they are on...the only boat in the area appeared to be giant sized. They've seen and heard rumors of an assault party of giants attacking the island...oh man, this stuff is so the juice for me as a DM; putting the players in awkward positions, having them make tough decisions and solve problems. Sorry, but I'm REALLY EXCITED for our D&D night tonight. We missed two weeks in a row and I am so ready to dive back in! |
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Post by joatmoniac on Apr 20, 2015 21:04:55 GMT
Awesome to hear, and I love that you know you have no idea what they will do, and have several avenues for them. Can't wait to hear more about this soon!
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Post by friartook on Apr 20, 2015 21:16:11 GMT
you know you have no idea what they will do, and have several avenues for them This is how I structure and run a campaign. I tried to do things linear at first, with one or two story options. That backfired so hard, over and over. Now, my campaigns are like an octopus; each session is the head, something I have planned and mapped, but there are branches coming off the head that lead in several different directions. The branch the players choose determines what I plan for the next session. My current campaign is pretty much a railroad, but there are still branches for the players to choose from. When (if) they survive this current chapter and "turn in" this quest, they will be presented with several plot hooks and have to choose which to pursue. Over all this are the large forces at work in the world, doing there thing until the PCs happen to cross their path. P.S.: Sorry to hijack your thread almarianknight, I'm just excited! |
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Samuel Wise
Demigod
Ready to Help...
Posts: 989
Favorite D&D Class: Warlock
Favorite D&D Race: Mousefolk
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Post by Samuel Wise on Apr 20, 2015 21:22:45 GMT
you know you have no idea what they will do, and have several avenues for them Sorry to hijack your thread almarianknight, I'm just excited! Hey no problem! I would have been disappointed if you didn't hijack it. You are giving me some great ideas for several adventures. Awesome ideas here!!! |
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