Creating a 5E Mini-Game: The Dwarven Keg Battle pt. 2

In my last post i wrote up the details to a mini-game called the Dwarven Keg Battle which was inspired by an entry in the Adventurer's Almanac describing a holiday named Dwergferi. Last Friday I tested the game out with a group of high-level PCs, and the experience definitely was an entertaining kick off to our campaign finale (I'll be writing up a play report for this session soon). What unfolded was a fairly dramatic bout of competitive athleticism that achieved the aim of both adding a bit of flair and immersion to the world but also a bit of wonky fun that gave the players a little break from the somber tone from the overarching story.

The Setup

The characters (Eddgerin, Quivin Hood and Kane) had found themselves stripped of their memories and living amidst a group of dwarves inside a cylindrical cone shaped valley. The confused players, all elves, seemed regarded as essential to the livelihood of the community. As they tried to find answers to their questions, the investigation was interrupted by a festival devoted to the worship and praise of the Stonewife, the chief deity for the dwarves here. The three babyfaces elves were feeling fairly out of place and insecure due to a cultural ritual known as the Judging of the Beards. A chance of escaping this cultural isolation soon presented itself as Eddgerin's friend, Cael Gargglestone, encouraged him and the others to enter into a competitive event called the Dwarven Keg Battle. They accepted as they eyed the small ioun stone floating in a trophy case with ambition.

The Game

The game begun with each team of three lining up 25 ft. from the center line. The referee was the village elder, a hoarder named Turdegga Holderhelm, and as she blew the whistle Eddgerin raced forward and got in front of the keg. He soon lost possession of it, however, and the dwarven team got a leg up and began passing it to one another and raced to the other end of the field. Quivin Hood cast a hold person spell on the running back with the keg, which caused Turdegga to blow the whistle and eject him from the field. He went to the sidelines to plead ignorance of the rules, and the game continued. The elven team was not in a good spot, as they were now down a player and the dwarven team was a mere 10 ft. away from scoring a goal. All around the field, the audience was hooting and hollering in satisfaction.

Quivin Hood, meanwhile, was getting no where with the referee. With all attention on the field and the anticipation of a goal, the clever fellow cast charm person upon the referee. Turdegga suddenly ejected one of the dwarven players, citing an extremely obscure rule that a player must refrain from flatulence while not in possession of the keg. The crowd was incensed, but none were aware of the magical influence, and instead assumed that Turdegga was either a terrible referee or had engaged in her own version of Deflategate and spent some time with the keg prior to kickoff.

Turdegga's logic under Quivin Hood's charm person spell.

Eddgerin came in from behind the keg carrier and grappled him, stopping his forward movement. It was at this time that Kane came in with a slide tackle and was able to knock the keg loose from the opposing side's hands. Kane and Eddgerin then finally hit their groove and began taking turns charging forward and then making lateral passes to each other to maximize their progress down the field. Suddenly, from seemingly nowhere, a member of the crowd came charging onto the field with a huge empty tankard that he was looking to fill. Eddgerin had the keg, and he narrowly dodged the oncoming crowd member by diving into the endzone, scoring a point for his side. Turdegga, still charmed, called for it to be scored as three points due to the interference of a crowd member. The stands of dwarves in attendance booed in incredulous rage. The opposing team ran to the referee to demand an explanation. The elven team won through a combination of magical manipulation and athletic prowess, and at the end of the day they were awarded the trophy which was an Ioun Stone of Mastery, giving +1 to proficiency bonus.

Eddgerin is going...going...GOOOOOOOOOOOAL!

Concluding Thoughts

Things I would change: I think I would introduce some sort of contact between the players. The rule as it stood for this session was that you could only physically come in contact with the character holding the keg. Slide tackles to knock players prone and slow their movement down the field and grapples could add some different dynamics.  I also at the last minute changed the width of the field to be 55' instead of 45'. It would be interesting to try this with a more realistic sized field with a wider field of play. I think 330' x 230' would be more authentic. Adding a more versatile point system with a field goal could be interesting to add to a bigger field of play as well.

Was it perfect and balanced? Not by a long shot. The players involved were level 18, and what I'm learning about 5e is that its incredibly difficult to challenge characters at this level. But was it fun? Absolutely. Playing a modified version of dwarven rugby in a roleplaying game is surprisingly satisfying and the players added flavor to it that really made it come to life.

Having run this, I would encourage DMs to put some thought into a mini-game like this and give it a try. It was definitely a highlight and a memorable component to this story. This event worked really well because it involved all of the real elements you'd expect from a story event: the opposing team, the referee and the crowd played important parts. It also had parts to play for every character, the two more athletic characters were on the field literally doing the heavy lifting while the shifty arcane trickster was off on the sidelines conning the ref. 

What else could be a fun mini-game? Have you had any luck introducing or playing a mini-game in your campaign? 

Creating a 5E Mini-Game: The Dwarven Keg Battle

Two summers ago I started DM'ing for a group that included a father and his two children down at our local hobby shop. I never expected it to go past a session or two, but to my surprise it became my most prominent group and the one I'd put the most work into. As with any group that gets together with any frequency, inside jokes and long-running tropes begin to develop that are unique to the party at the table. One such trope has been with the party since very early in our game(which has gained the party name "Collateral Damage" for the superhero levels of destruction that seem to befall the townships they are attempting to protect). That one is the renowned and prestigious sport known as hacky sack. Seriously.

I don't exactly remember the impetus for its origination or why. But the players would often have their characters take a moment to hack. A mini-game for its own sake. Eventually the players were lobbying townsfolk to get on board with the newly created sport and to create rec leagues to promote its play. From Red Larch's "Better Red than Dead" team and the Waterdeep Wyverns, every community was represented. It became a plot all of its own.

What this taught me is that the party enjoyed mini-games and their relevance to the world they were playing in. For our upcoming game, the party is going to be honored guests at the Day of the Stonewife, a celebration of the plentiful stone which provides shelter and protection, and to the nutrients of the rock which when eroded provides food. The celebration is one of eating, drinking and plenty of games and feats of strength which are thought to entertain the Stonewife.

One of the events I want to include is a keg battle (an idea I took from the Adventurer's Almanac). The idea is that it is a rugby style game where teams of three face off against each other to try to be the first to gain 3 points. A point is scored when the keg is brought over the goal line over a 45' x 110' field. Here are some of the mechanics/rules I am thinking about implementing:

• The keg can only be rolled backwards, and not towards the possessing side’s goal. A character carrying the keg can attempt to move forward.
• A strength athletics check is needed to move with the keg. The number dictates how fast the character can carry the keg down the field.
• DC 12: 1/3 movement
• DC 15: ½ movement
• DC 20: Full movement!
• The keg can be stolen by attempting an opposed strength athletics check versus the creature carrying the keg. If the attacker succeeds, they gain possession of the keg.
• A player can attempt to force a creature to drop the keg by making an attack. If the attack hits the creature’s AC, the creature with the keg must make a DC 15 strength (athletics) check to attempt to retain control of the keg. If they fail the keg is dropped and rolls 10 ft. in a random direction.
• The keg can be rolled or passed. To do so, the player can simply make a ranged attack to judge accuracy. The AC will equal 13 plus 1 for each 5 ft. the barrel must travel. If the AC is not met, the barrel travels half the distance intended and is not possessed by the receiver. If a natural 1 is rolled, the barrel rolls twice the intended distance past the target.
• If the keg rolls out of bounds, the team that last touched the keg loses possession and it is regained by the other team and the game is reset from that point in the middle of the field.
• Keg too heavy? It has been pre-tapped and a character with a mug or wishing to drink straight from the keg can spend their turn drinking the beer within to help lighten the load (every time this is attempted it will give future attempts at carrying the keg a +1 to their strength athletics checks to move with the keg). Caution…spilling will result in a foul!
• Fouls: Players may not physically tackle or obstruct creatures who do not have possession of the keg. Other fouls include deliberately casting magic or cheating to gain an advantage. Doing so will result in the removal of the offending creature until the next point is scored.

Thoughts or feedback? Additional ideas that could make this fun? Better yet, what should the reward be for the winning team?

Enhancing the Yawning Portal

Mapping the Most Famous Tavern in D&D

Tales of the Yawning Portal features the famous tavern of Waterdeep that is built over the entrance to a mega dungeon from which it gets its name. It is a location full of interesting travelers with rumors to share and its walls are adorned with artifacts and oddities presented as proof of survival in the Undermountain. Despite all of the interest players might have for the tavern and the fact that it is literally in the name of the book, it is not as prominent a feature in the book as I had hoped. I have yet to meet a group of players that doesn't like spending considerable time causing shenanigans in a bar, so I have been using the Yawning Portal as a return point in-between the dungeon delving. 

The first thing I found myself longing for was a map for the tavern. It seems that there was a map that came with the 4th edition product Halls of the Undermountain. Using Dungeon Designer 3, I replicated the floor plans of that interpretation of the Yawning Portal. Check it out:

Feel free to use it for your own adventures in Tales of the Yawning Portal! Next time I will take a look at providing stats for Durnan, in case you have an experience like I did where some insolent patrons decide to cause trouble and need to be taught a lesson from the legend himself!

Adventurer's Almanac: A Goldmine of Ideas

"Adventurer's Almanac" by: Michael Curtis

Goodman Games just released a new product called the Adventurer's Almanac, written by Michael Curtis. This book is a 111-page system neutral game-aid intended to assist game masters by providing over 300 adventure hooks and ideas. The book is structured around a 13 month calendar which provides descriptions of events such as festivals, holidays, and adventure concepts that would be appropriate for the time of year. 

Like many game masters, I do from time to time fall victim to the fatigue of trying to come up with creative and new ideas for every session. This burnout is often the result of not enough time to prepare enough material for an entire session. While I am often able to pull off some improvisation to hold it together when this happens, it would be much more preferable to have some material on the bookshelf to draw inspiration from when I don't have enough time to peruse reddit or enworld for ideas to cannibalize from the graciousness of strangers who have been kind enough to share their work. This book is a perfect resource for both last minute game prep as well as long-term planning for an entire campaign.

Each chapter of the book represents one of thirteen months. Every month has an actual calendar that includes names of days of the week (typically named after an animal...I think my favorite so far is The Day of the Narwhal), events/holidays that occur, and moon phases. This book is perfect for something I have always wanted to include in my extended campaign that has been in existence since 2012. Measuring the passage of time and being able to point to exact days brings a tremendous amount of realism to the game. Another feature of the calendar is that each month provides an equivalent date on the Gregorian calendar so that a gamemaster can quickly describe things like weather with some level of confidence. 

Each month has a table of dates for that month and corresponding events and adventure ideas that could happen on each day. The rest of the chapter includes brief descriptions of these concepts. None of the entries go into extreme detail, so there is still a bit of work that will need to be done by the game master in order to fit these ideas into a running campaign. However, they 

There is a really cool idea that it is introduced fairly early in the book regarding character birthdays and astrological signs. The idea that is introduced is that a certain percentage (20%) of people born in a particular month share similar personality traits, enough so that people make generalizations about people from each astrological sign. If the role confirms that they have a personality trait associated with their astrological sign, then they roll percentile dice to determine if they will have a "positive trait" or a "negative trait." For example, for the month of Hardfrost positive traits include sociable, cleverness and bravery; negative traits include being predisposed to being a bully and violent tendencies.

While many of the events and hooks included are seasonal, just as many seem to just be interesting ideas that entire campaigns could be built off of. One entry entitled the "Invisible College" describes a judicial society that oversees the use of magic. If your murder-hobo group start lighting up each settlement they enter with fireballs, flesh this idea out to introduce some retributive justice to the world and set them straight. 

I have a big campaign finale coming up that I need to prepare for, and I have a strong desire to include a festival as a prominent feature in it. This book couldn't have come out at a better time, as I very quickly found a festival in the book that matches what I need perfect. What I want to present to the players is an Oktoberfest-like event that is supposed to be a way for a community of Dwarves to celebrate the season's agricultural harvest and mark the transition to focusing attention to mining. I thumbed through the Adventurer's Almanac for about five minutes and I found the perfect event. The description in the book for the festival of Dwergferi (during the month of Emberfade) describes a holiday that encourages friendly competition by means of the keg-battle (a rugby-like team event), the annual judging of the beards (how awesome is that?), and a ceremonial dance known as the Dance of Thunder and Flame. The entry for the festival also lends flavor to the meaning of the drunk-fest by explaining that it is believed that a dwarf's lifespan is correlated with the number of flagons they can consume. I hope to create some mechanical rules for each of these mini-games (which I look forward to sharing in a future post).

Final Thoughts

If you play primarily out of modules or are looking to pick up a supplemental book because you are looking for mechanics to accompany new ideas or random tables to roll on, then this one might not be for you. As a system-neutral book, you won't find specifics or statistics for things such as the Broadsword of Comedy and Mirth, a pun-producing sword that makes its victims succumb to fits of uncontrollable laughter. These specifics are up to the game master to design.

This is a great resource if you play a lot of homebrew games or have a campaign that is going to take place over an extended period of time. Most of the ideas presented are fairly shallow, and are designed to be jumping off points for the game master to flesh out the details and bring to life. Everything in the book is going to require considerable work on the gamemaster's part to put into motion, but the book accomplishes its goal of providing a nudge to any brainstorming session. It is also a neat way to bring a calendar into your game that can fairly easily be re-skinned to fit into your campaign world. All the fun you can have with character birthdays, random festivals when the story is getting too heavy, and a ton of ideas for quickly providing details to that session that you are expected to run in less than 24 hours.

Helping Players Roleplay: The Campfire Chat

I have had a pretty wide-range of players sit at my tables, all with different motivations for playing a game like D&D. Some players are really interested in their character and have written 20+ pages of backstory. Some really like mastering the mechanics of the game and learning how to maximize their effectiveness in combat. Some are just there to socialize and have a good time, and have little to no interest in learning the rules. There is no right or wrong reason to play tabletop games, what matters is having fun.

Roleplaying games often bring people out of their comfort zone. Its grownup make-believe, and it can feel a bit silly at first to be saying out loud that you are a halfling bard named Stumbleduck who is searching for the flute that the Great and Mighty Skidoosh crafted from the toenail of a fire giant. The game master (GM) should do everything they can to try to make these folks feel at ease, and provide opportunities for them to feel confident playing their character. When it comes to roleplaying, they might have some ideas of who their character is but are having a tough time figuring out how to bring those details to life. Many players are shy and are not going to have an easy time engaging unless invited. Its why icebreakers, love 'em or hate 'em, are necessary in real life; being prompted for an invite into the fun is sometimes all it takes to get someone to speak.

One of the tactics I have used in the past is presenting the party with a question they are discussing while they make camp for the night. While the fire is winding down for the night and the party is drawing straws for who will take the first watch, the party begins to open up a little and share their thoughts surrounding a prompt provided by the GM. If you are concerned that your players will feel put on the spot and not know what to say, this question could even be provided prior to the start of the session so they have time to think about it.

Typically, I like to ask questions that are meant to bring about character development. Good questions to ask are those that are dealing with values or morality, or a hypothetical on how the character might respond to a particular scenario. Here are a few examples:

• Talk about the most important person in your life
• What is your greatest fear? How did this fear develop?
• Does your character have any biases or prejudices?
• What is the most evil thing that exists in the world?

You may find questions like these are a little tough for a first-time player. In that case, it might be best to keep the questions simple. Providing questions that have a few options or choices built into how they would respond or more surface level questions may be less threatening for someone who isn't quite comfortable yet or hasn't given a lot of thought to their character:

• What is your character's favorite drink? What would they order at the tavern?
• What are three words to describe your character's personality?
• From what kind of social class does your character come from? Lower class? Middle class? Wealthy? Nobility?
• Is your character a team player or more of a loner?

What I have found can happen is a very organic experience where the players themselves (in character) begin to bounce conversation off of one another. They will ask follow-up questions and try to elicit more details. Together they will collaboratively begin designing the details and contributing to the story by bringing these characters to life. Sometimes the ideas that come from these questions will become prominent tropes that will help the players know how their character will respond to future scenarios. I once had a character who apparently had this strange sense of smell that had him pick up the scents of various creatures which his nose registered as various foods (for example, orcs smelled like roast beef). In future sessions, I could use this detail to clue him in on the lurking orc warband stalking the party.

Here is a list of questions I have started. Please feel free to share or submit additions! I'd love to expand this list.

Rewarding Roleplaying

Many of your players with not require an extrinsic reward for providing details of their characters, but it can be a nice perk to give the more mechanically minded players an incentive to play along with the campfire questions. In 5e this could be a point of inspiration, in DCC it could be a free luck point to burn, etc. Whatever you find that will motivate your players to help you to flesh out their characters is a worthwhile thing to include in your game.

Final Thoughts

Another thing that is important to remind players is that they do not need to talk in a funny voice. I'm probably not the best person to being pushing this piece of advice, as I often give my characters goofy speech patterns, but it remains true that one need only describe and talk about what it is their character is doing. They can summarize the content of what their character is saying, giving some notes as to their demeanor and any innuendo that they might be trying to encode into their speech. Invite the players to talk in the third-person. With practice and encouragement they will become more comfortable and confident in their abilities and will feel more freedom to enjoy the game.

The Amber Temple pt. 2: A Curse of Strahd Play Report (Spoilers!)

The Amber Temple

(**Curse of Strahd spoilers**) Hidden within the Balinok Mountains rests the Amber Temple, a vault designed to contain the evil remnants of long dead gods. It was here where Count Strahd first consulted with the Dark Powers of Barovia to negotiate a pact which led to his eventual transformation into a vampire. The party has received multiple warnings from Dr. Rudolph van Richten that this was a place to avoid, as it contains power too incredible for mortals to resist and does so at a cost to one's humanity.

Printed the entire Amber Temple to scale from http://mikeschley.com/

So naturally the group was going to go there, right?

The Party

• Reinhardt Gregarious - Human paladin of Bahamut. Wields the broken hilt that once belonged to Strahd's brother, Sergei, which he has learned to use to produce a blade of radiant light. Was killed and made a deal with the dark powers and now emits the stench of decay. Strahd recently had Vistani leave Barovia to kidnap his best friend, Lucas. Strahd left a coffin on the road for Reinhardt to find, within which was Lucas' dead body.

• Barzulan - Gnome warlock who is a bibliophile. Has a book he received from a mysterious stranger that depicts various eldritch runes. The book showed to him images of a temple, within which were many halls with amber doors. He has been seeking this since he arrived in Barovia. Also died and made a deal with the dark powers, leaving him with a feeling that insects are crawling underneath his skin.

• Lirean - Half-elf druid who has recently met her father for the first time, a brute of a man with a demon arm named Izek. Also learned that she may not be a natural born individual but may somehow have her origins as an animated doll crafted by a toy maker in Vallaki named Blinsky.

Why we are here

Previously, the party met a dusk elf named Kasimir Velikov, who is believed to be the important ally foretold in the Tarokka card reading to assist in defeating Strahd. Kasimir agreed to lend his aid, but insisted they visit the Amber Temple. He claims that it is where the Dreadlord first gained his powers, and the secret to his demise rests there. Reinhardt and Lirean had reservations, but Barzulan has been the fervent voice advocating that they visit the temple.

Rahadin's Message

The party rested with a group of mountain folk who were taking refuge inside the temple. During the night, a thud had been heard against the door that they had barred to provide them a safe night's rest. On the other side was a letter that had been stabbed into the door with a dagger. It was from the chamberlain of Castle Ravenloft, a dusk elf named Rahadin. He warned the party against trusting Kasimir, who he suggested was a murderer and was misleading them. Rahadin invited the party to find him at Castle Ravenloft, where he promised to secure safe passage from the realm so that they wouldn't torment Strahd anymore. Not trusting Rahadin, the party reassured Kasimir that they were committed to working together to bring about an end to Strahd's reign.

Using the doors to a hallway where they knew several flameskulls were lurking, they headed north. They made quick work of them and found the body of a deceased wizard who did not fare so well against the animated skulls. He was clutching a staff, which Lirean picked up. It seemed to instantly change her. Prior to coming to the Temple, she was not eager to come to this place of evil. Upon clutching the staff, her mood seemed to change and she almost seemed impatient to find the power to defeat Strahd that they had come seeking.

They found a stairway that led down. Entering into an enormous length of hallway with marble floors and walls carved seemingly from a single piece of amber, the party discovered many doors which proved impossible to open. One set of doors, however, were shattered and lay in ruin upon the floor. The party went to investigate and found four crazed looking creatures shuffling around within. Each had smooth purplish skin and a singular eye that dominated their heads. Reinhardt saw within them a shred of humanity, as if something in this place warped and changed them into the creatures they now existed as. They communicated telepathically and seemed to be digging into Reinhardt's mind for secrets.

Reinhardt promptly cast zone of truth. He asked "If I share a secret with you, will you promise to share a promise with me?" Two of the nothics replied with an affirmative, and two replied with a negative. The group groaned as they realized they had a situation analogous to the Labyrinth doormen who presented Sarah with her death riddle (sorry, too much Labyrinth on the mind lately).

Barzulan wanted to know what they were doing here. They said they came seeking the "dark gifts." They pointed to two amber sarcophagi in the room, and the location where a third once stood but it was now just a pile of rubble. They said they had released the essence of the long dead god from within and were gifted with powers. Barzulan pressed on...how did they get in here? All the other doors in the hall were impassable. They told the party they learned the password by digging into the mind of a lich in the upper temple. Barzulan wondered what the password was; they responded that it was "COVFEFE."

The party decided to leave the four creatures alone and they left. They tried to enter the main nave of the temple where a huge 40 ft. cloaked statue stood prominently. As Reinhardt stepped forward, a beam of sickly green light originating from the statue struck him and he fell to the ground, dead. The group drug his body out of the room and carried him back to the room where they rested the previous night.

At this point, I was pretty happy we had the NPC Kasimir with the group. I gave the player who controlled the dead character the NPC for the session with some pointers (in secret) about the character's motives, trusting that he would know what to do when the time came.

The party went in search of the lich. After circumventing an illusory dinner party, an enthralling statue, and a closet full of skulls, the party eventually met the lich. He invited him into his quarters but seemed quite absent-minded. He couldn't remember his name, and didn't even seem to know exactly who 'Strahd von Zarovich' was, but he did know that he was meant to share the secrets of the temple with those who came seeking them. He invited the party to his library to see if they could find something to help restore his memory.

Teamwork makes the dream work.

Lirean found a book which contained a greater restoration spell. Although this was a spell quite outside her current natural abilities, with Kasimir and Barzulan's assistance they managed to pull it off and restore the lich's mind. He informed them of his name, Exethanter, and he shared with them that the amber sarcophogi below indeed contained immeasurable power. Lirean asked if any of them would allow the power to raise the dead, thinking of the fallen Reinhardt. He said yes, and he offered to escort them through the temple.

They took a grand staircase from the library to the floor below, where they found three amber sarcophagi resting. Exethanter mentioned that he has reason to believe one of the sarcophagi to contain the ability to bring the dead back to life. At this point, Kasimir rushed ahead to release the spirit of this sarcophagi. Upon doing so, he emphatically replied that he would not be using this newfound power on the paladin. He came here to gain this power to bring back his sister, a victim of Strahd's.

This was kind of funny since the player running Kasimir was role-playing the NPC that was advocating against resurrecting his actual character. He did a great job!

Kasimir Velikov explains himself.

The party did not dwell on this long, for one of the sarcophagi was speaking directly to Barzulan. It stated that it was his patron, the entity who saw to it that the book he possessed found him so that it would lead him to this moment. Barzulan consented to release his patron, whom he soon learned to be that of Orcus, the Prince of Undeath. In return, his patron gave to him the knowledge of how to become a lich.

Lirean would normally have resisted the power of these sarcophagi, but the staff she picked up off the dead wizard had changed her. She seemed powerless to the allure of limitless power, so she went forward and released the third vestige. Darkness seemed to enshroud her and a wicked expression came over her face. She, too, had learned something that seemed to change her demeanor and warp her mind even further.

So, one of my players turned evil. The Curse of Strahd book suggests that when this happens, the DM should take control of the character and make them an NPC. But I think that is a little boring, and as long as the player is comfortable playing an evil character I think it could be a cool story. 

"Exethanter, are you a good lich or a bad lich?"

The pursuit for power did not stop there. They continued to enter various resting places that contained amber sarcophagi and released the spirits inside, gaining power and losing themselves. Lirean gained the power of flight but also grew large skeletal wings. She now has gained a taste for bones and grave dirt. She also uncovered the ability to control lightning, but soon the left side of her face began to sag and the muscles seized to work. Barzulan gained the ability to inflict disease upon his enemies, but he gained a nasty stench that seems to follow him everywhere. They found power that would allow them to resurrect Reinhardt.

When Reinhardt returned to life, he was horrified by what his friends had become. He also discovered that he no longer had the Sunsword, and noticed that it was in Lirean's hands who was clutching onto it with power lust in her eyes.

Conclusion

Wow! What a crazy session. With Barzulen and Lirean stacked with incredible power from the Amber Temple, is it still a horror story or has the tone shifted into more of a Suicide Squad situation? What did Lirean awake in her mind when she touched the first amber sarcophagi? Will Reinhardt be able to find a way to redeem his comrades?

Greyhawk Initiative in Action

Unearthed Arcana's Greyhawk Initiative

Game design and mechanics are integral to facilitating role-playing and storytelling. The way a system handles initiative is essential because it is what regulates action and explains the order of why certain characters act before others. Some systems like 5e and Pathfinder use the d20 modified by a dex bonus, some use a deck of cards (Savage Worlds), and OD&D has each side roll a d6 and take actions simultaneously as a team. The way an initiative system works has a huge impact on player interaction, team mentality and tactics as the DM narrates the action.

A new Unearthed Arcana article came out this week and introduced an alternative to the standard initiative system. With Original Dungeon & Dragons and 1st Edition, initiative would be rolled each round for both the players' side and the enemies. This gave the game some level of unpredictability as you may end up with the same side going twice in a row. The threat of an enemy getting two rounds of combat in were excruciating. It required a little bit more of a team mentality as well as opposed to the initiative system in current 5e and Pathfinder which seem to promote more individualistic thinking.

 Listen to Mike Mearls discuss testing his Greyhawk Initiative system at Gary Con IX

The key element of the system is that players need to elect ahead of time the type of actions they will perform on their turn. Instead of rolling a d20, players will roll dice based on the actions they choose. If you declare you will move and attack, you will roll a d6 for your movement and a d8 for the melee attack. Also important to note, the lowest number begins the turn; so you can see that rolling a ranged attack (d4) has a better chance of going first than someone electing to cast a spell (d10).

Group initiative from D&D Basic always saw all the players make their movements first, then everyone who was planning to make a ranged attack could do so, then anyone who wanted to cast a spell, and finally anyone who wanted to make a melee attack. The upside to this method was it required players to work as a team. If the party's ranged party members neglected to think about the positioning of the sword wielding fighter, they could eliminate that target and waste the efficiency of their action economy.

The Greyhawk Initiative system also eliminates the ready action and replaces it with the "delay" action. A player can elect to delay their turn until later in the round. This seems to allow some flexibility and the possibility of players working together to set up ideal circumstances. This is sure to please some players who give this system a try simply based on how many times players at Adventurer's League tables have attempted to delay their turn.

The variant rule of spell disruption is another concept that I am interested to see in play:

It isn't even as brutal as spell interruptions were in the past, where you would lose the spell you were preparing to cast and spend the slot. However, I think for consistency sake with the 5th edition rules it would be fair to allow the spellcaster to make a concentration check to see if they can maintain casting their spell. I can already envision a scenario where I am ducking behind the DM screen to evade a flying soda can being thrown by a raging wizard.

When I first read the Unearthed Arcana article about this alternative to the standard initiative system I admit I was dismissive. Rolling every round of combat for every participant sounds like a nightmare that would just result in slowing action down to a halt. However, the more I thought about it I began to wonder if it would be the antidote for something that often becomes a problem at my tables: players not paying attention to the actions of others. Dungeons & Dragons should be a team sport, and I have noticed that players are often asking for a recap of what happened during the round from the DM at the beginning of the turn, which also wastes a lot of time. Maybe it would be worth giving this new system a shot?

Roll for Initiative: White Plume Mountain

I DM a weekly game at Adventure Games & Hobby in Oshkosh, WI. We have been playing through the Tales of the Yawning Portal and we are just about to begin the re-release of the 1979 module White Plume Mountain. My read through of the adventure led me to think that it had fewer combats and more puzzles/traps, so it would be a good opportunity to test drive something new without it creating too much interference with the norm.

What would make you think that?

Dungeon Master Reactions

One positive I found with this system is that it did improve player engagement. Players seemed to pay more attention to what was happening on other peoples' turns and tactics since this was now of higher importance now that turn order was not pre-determined. At this point its difficult to know if this was a result of the system or simply the players being ultra focused to understand and learn something new. I didn't hear as much meta-game talk at the table tonight as I normally do, which is a relief because it is a huge pet peeve of mine.

I do not believe it slowed our game down in any significant way. The system seemed to help my indecisive players who often seemed overwhelmed by the options available in combat. Instead of trying to process everything that was happening and adjust on the fly, they were already locked into certain actions to take. The best they could hope to do is make the most of the choices they made at the top of the order.

Using this system did not alter the actions that my players made in any way, however it did set up a few more interesting scenarios. A warlock in the party was using his eldritch blast to try and keep an aquatic plant with the taste for blood away from the party using the repelling blast invocation. This worked better while as he was at the top of the order to keep it at bay, and forcing it to have to roll movement (d6) die on future turns and slowing them down. At one point, however, one of the creatures became pushed from the fighter who was getting ready to take it down with some melee attacks. With no target, the fighter simply had to delay their action and basically forfeited their turn. Growing pains.

At most, I had two creatures I was controlling while using this initiative system. For me, that felt like my limit. I'm not sure how I could handle more than that and utilize this system to manage enemies. I think with more than two I would feel compelled to have monsters use the simplest actions in order to quickly adjudicate initiative, which would possibly result in not challenging the players as often. I suppose a DM that has incredibly detailed and memorized knowledge of every opponent the players would face could pull this off easily, but for me I need to take a moment to consider how the creature will react in any given situation. Add upon that the layer of factoring in their dice and it would quickly become burdensome if there were eight different opponents on the field.

I'm still on the fence about the way dice are added for bonus actions. I think I would just rule that all bonus actions regardless if they are for casting a spell, to attack with an offhand weapon, or simply to rage should be a flat d6. This adds to the potential for a higher roll reflecting the additional activity on the turn without getting into the weeds of what the bonus action's die should be.

It succeeds in creating the feeling of the original Dungeons & Dragons game. Action is simultaneous and thus it creates a more dynamic scene than is custom in 5e. It creates unpredictability which increases drama. No one fell unconscious in combat during this adventure, but if a comrade fell wounded at 0hp I can only imagine how different this would feel versus when you can predict when the felled character will make their death saving throws.

**Side note: When I run my Curse of Strahd game this Friday, I will not use initiative at all. The reason being is that I am trying to run a low-mechanics game and focus more on out-of-combat role-playing. When you stop to think about it, you realize how impactful such a mechanic has on the type of experience you will have in the game.

Player Reactions

I could feel some push back immediately as I was explaining how I would arbitrate the system Mike Mearls put forth (as written). I wasn't going to make any alterations before using the system as he wrote it and intended it. We used it and the feeling I received from the players seemed lukewarm. It frankly is a system that is not intended for 5e, and people are often going to have mixed feelings about something new. What I heard underneath some of the comments at my table was that players did not enjoy the feeling of not being able to respond with the same flexibility that they could in the normal initiative system.

I think the intention or rationale for the system is a little archaic for people who haven't experienced some of the older systems. For example, one of the players was questioning why a ranged attack was assigned a d4 and a melee attack a d8. In D&D Basic, ranged went first which had the effect of creating choices that would impact the melee later. They are not rationales that intuitively have answers, they are motivated by game design. An argument could be made that if a system's design causes players to question its logic then it is not sound because it is preventing them from immersing themselves into the fiction of the game.

That being said, just about everyone agreed that it made combat more interesting. My players were more lively during the action scenes tonight than I had seen in a while. There seemed to be more of a story to the combat, at least from my perspective, than had occurred previously. The characters seemed to interact more with one another which helps to create some side stories and bonds that can add something special to a prolonged adventure/campaign.

Final Thought

The system is an interesting one in concept and has a lot of merit to it, but ultimately is it fun for the players? Does it promote tactical gameplay over suspension of disbelief and immersion? I would say after one playthrough using it I am not yet sure the answers to those questions. I guess I question whether it has staying power as a fun way to do initiative. It was entertaining for me to referee and it led to some eventful action. I will definitely use it again for the next session with this same group, but I don't think I will use this for anything less than my most experienced players. One of the reasons I enjoy 5e is the lack complexity, and this certainly complicates the initiative system until one gets the hang of it.

The Amber Temple: A Curse of Strahd Play Report

During our last Curse of Strahd adventure, Reinhardt the Paladin, Barzulen the Warlock, and Lireyan the Druid met a dusk elf named Kasimir Velikov. The tarroka card reading they received from Madam Eva suggested that this individual would be instrumental in defeating Count Strahd von Zarovich, who had summoned them to the dread plane where they now find themselves trapped by the oppressive mists that encapsulate the realm. Kasimir insisted that the party must venture into the nearby Mount Ghakis to an ancient temple, rumored to have been the site where Strahd had sealed his pact with the Dark Powers of Barovia to become a vampire.

Barzulen's ears perked up at the mention of this temple. "Would you say this temple has amber doors?"

Kasimir confirmed this to be true. Barzulen has for much of the campaign anticipated finding a place that matched this description, for a demon spoke to him in Lady Fiona Wachter's cellar* encouraging him to find the amber doors, behind which he would gain power over death itself.

*The importance of reading Curse of Strahd all the way through before beginning it. I have been able to do a lot of foreshadowing with this adventure. The payoffs for doing so are extremely rewarding and the excitement level for the players when they are seeing something coming to fruition is awesome to see.

Reinhardt and Lireyan were less enthusiastic. Dr. van Richten had minced no words when he warned Barzulen against seeking this place out, saying it was a dangerous place where great evil had been sealed away to shelter it from those who would unleash it upon the world for selfish purposes. Nonetheless, it was a condition of Kasimir's assistance and he had been foretold by the divination. It seemed they had no choice.

They climbed up into the mountains and came upon a gatehouse which raised its iron bars as they neared it. On the other side, a wall of green flame prevented their passing. Lireyan expertly cast a dispel magic spell to douse the flames. Two gargoyles on top of the gatehouse then came alive and attacked the party, engaging in an epic battle. Kasimir proved his worth as he showed expertise in advanced magic that helped the party defeat their foes. To the party's dismay, the curtain of green flame returned but fortunately Lireyan had just enough energy to once again suppress the dangerous obstacle. They continued along the mountain path.

Tsolenka Pass by James Webster, artstation.com

Soon they came to a chasm that could only be traversed by a narrow stone bridge. Reinhardt squinted his eyes, protecting himself from the snowstorm that was blurring the party's visibility. A figure was upon the bridge waiting for them: Strahd von Zarovich. Reinhardt wasted no time in activating the blade that once belonged to Strahd's brother, Sergei. A beam of radiant sunlight lit up from the hilt and Reinhardt charged across the icy overpass. As he readied his blade to cleave through Strahd, he passed right through the form. It was an illusion.

After getting their wits about them, the party continued up the mountain until Reinhardt was tossed several feet and hit the ground inches from the cliff side. A giant goat, eyes glowing red with evil intent, had just bucked up against his armor and had attempted to send him thousands of feet to his doom. The party quickly sprung into action to Reinhardt's defense and repelled the creature.

Once near the summit, the party gazed upon an incredible structure built right into the mountainside. Hooded statues of amber loomed above the party, standing in front of the temple like sentinels. A horse neighed nearby, tied to the foundation of one of these statues. It would seem someone was inside.

Lireyan cast speak with animals* and learned that the horse belonged to Castle Ravenloft's chamberlain, a dusk elf named Rahadin. The horse professed it hated coming to this place, but his master would make the journey every month or so. Asking a few more questions about Rahadin's business in such a place, the horse (whose name was Ed of course) simply did not know. The party freed the horse, who was happy to be granted its freedom. The party prepared themselves to enter the temple.

*How exciting! Using an underutilized spell like this was unexpected, and allowed me an opportunity to share with the party some interesting bits of information that they would not have otherwise had. It added a dimension to the temple that I was uncertain they would get had they just run into Rahadin. They have met him before and it was unpleasant, so I assume it would turn to combat real quick. By talking to the horse the players now know that Rahadin comes here frequently...but for what purpose?

"Let's chat!"

Inside the foyer they saw a great hall, though their light did not allow them to see it in its entirety. The moved along to some side passages and found a circular hole in the floor past the first set of doors. Reinhardt moved ahead to look down, and he tossed a rock down to test its depth. 3 skulls wreathed in green flame flew up in response to this disturbance. Barzulen acted fast, remembering the green flame from the bridge, and cast a *dispel magic to send one of the flaming skulls down into the pit.

*A note, this spell obviously does not function this way; but it was too fitting to the observation of the player from earlier in the story to not allow to work. I decided on the fly to meet in the middle and allow it to suppress the flameskull for 1 minute.

The party moved on to a lecture hall. A book rested upon a podium and Barzulen's tiny legs couldn't get him to it fast enough. As he reached to grab the book, a human with half his face mutilated by burns jumped up from behind the podium to prevent the seizure. "It's my book! You can't have it!" The man told them his name was Vilnius and was the apprentice of Jakarion. Or at least he had been before his master was killed by one of the flameskulls. Barzulen tried to make a deal with Vilnius for the spellbook in exchange for showing him the way out, to which Vilnius counter-offered and presented him with an amulet he found. Barzulen quickly cast detect magic and discovered that it was a powerful artifact. They made the deal, and Vilnius fled the temple.

The party headed to the other side of the temple where they came upon a room of mountain folk who had taken refuge in the temple from the snowstorm outside. They didn't seem to know anything of this place, and were merely using it as shelter. They warned the party of more flameskulls behind the double doors to the north. They all agreed strength in numbers was best, and they decided to rest together inside and watch each other's backs.

Skill Check Fatigue

One of the cornerstones of any good role-playing game should be the creativity of the players to deal with the challenges laid out by the Dungeon Master, as well as the DM's ability to adapt and respond to the choices of the players. Part of the fun is hearing the elaborate plans that are concocted and then implemented, thinking of fun wrenches to throw into the plan to make it dramatic, and seeing how it all would resolve. When the players put effort into thinking up creative ways to use their character's abilities and how to shoehorn in that bag of sand that has been sitting in their inventory since level 1, it results in the types of stories that get reminisced about after the game is over. This give-and-take is essential to tabletop storytelling.

With D&D 5e, I have found myself frustrated at many tables because of the lack of description in player actions. I began to find myself bored when players declare that they are going to perform a "perception check" or are about to "roll to intimidate this guy" with no real direction for what the action would look like. And though I might try to elicit more detail, the roll would occur and a roll of "25" would be reported, indicating extreme success, and I would feel pressured to allow it and move on to favorable results. I was sharing a lamentation many DM's have felt before, the game was beginning to feel like 'roll'-playing instead of role-playing.

I roll 3d4+3 at the darkness!

This problem is part of the reason why I am coming to appreciate more and more the ambiguity of the older D&D Basic system and now DCC when it comes to specific character abilities. The lack of a specific number or statistic assigned to a distinct skill encourages the description of the action being performed. Not only do the actions get a verbal illustration but it provides an opportunity for players to put personality into how they perform a task. A careful and patient rogue might investigate a fountain by gingerly running a net through the water, while an impatient warrior might jump in and start splashing around looking for castaway coins.

The Yawning Portal adventure book came out in April and offered to bring to 5e a number of older dungeon crawls from past editions. Starting at level 1 with Sunless Citadel all the way up to the infamous Tomb of Horrors, I was excited to get my groups delving into some complex dungeons, but felt concerned that they might become boring and stale with the play styles that had become the norm.

"Cruel, but most entertaining for the DM." -Gary Gygax

I like 5e because it allows players to feel like super heroes in a fantasy world while still providing challenge in combat and being streamlined enough that I can feel confident as a DM using it to tell my story. But it still holds onto the skill systems of the past that can discourage creativity. While its much more simplified than 3.5/Pathfinder, it is still an element of the game that players and DM's alike often rely on as a crutch. Because the system doesn't inherently promote the descriptive play-by-play I yearned for from my players, I knew that I was going to have to work to try to facilitate it. Here are some of the things I have been trying to keep in mind as I have run my Yawning Portal games:

Skill Checks Only Allowed When Asked for by DM
Skill checks really are only necessary when there is a chance at success/failure. Many players I see will proclaim they are performing a particular check. The roll will oftentimes happen before I can respond, and then when the player excitedly says "I got a 27!" I feel pigeonholed into indicating that it has an effect on the situation. This ruins the game for a number of reasons. First off, it creates this idea that anything is possible with a good roll of the dice, which shouldn't be the case. If you are trying to convince your arch-nemesis to take you to lunch and pick up the bill, a really high persuasion check isn't going to do that. In that scenario success isn't possible, and thus a skill check would never be prompted.

The second problem is that it is lazy and provides no flavor to the scenario. If it is a social interaction, it doesn't mean that the player has to talk in a funny voice and give the table a huge performance (although if they want to, that's great!). But simply adding some description to how their character talks, slipping in some innuendo, what are they referencing, etc., etc. In a situation where a character is trying to inspect a room for traps, its more interesting to hear a player say "I walk around the perimeter of the room cautiously, inspecting the walls as I do so and tapping a staff in front of me to locate any false floors" than "I am going to perform an investigation check."

Avoid Describing Results in Terms of Success/Failure
One of the techniques I have started employing is to not respond to skill checks by openly stating if they succeed or fail. Instead, I describe what the character experiences and perceives. In situations where a trap is involved, this helps to add a certain degree of suspense to the game. For example, I recently had a player come upon a trapped chest that had a device built into it that would shoot a poison needle when opened. I described how the player noticed that an alteration had been made to the lock, and it seemed like there was a silvery glint inside the keyhole. They used their thieves' tools to attempt to disarm the trap. Instead of telling the player that their check succeeded, I described that they were able to pry the needle out of the trap. This outcome can spur questions: could there be more needles inside? Is it worth opening? Alternatively, if the check was a failure, you could give the same description and the outcome could be yes, indeed, there was more than one needle. This makes it such that the suspense of the situation does not completely dissolve as soon as the die is rolled.

Make More Rolls Behind the Screen
For some skill checks, I have found that the meta-knowledge of the players can be diminished a bit if the DM rolls particular checks behind the screen. For 5e, the ones that I have started to make a habit of this are perception, investigation, persuasion and insight checks. The reason is, if a player sees that they roll particularly bad they will hesitate to move forward with their task or tag another player in to try instead. If they see that the rolled a 5 on an insight check while they were questioning a prisoner, they are going to treat that as an uncertainty and may even likely assume that the prisoner is trying to deceive them simply because the check was called for. Rolling behind the screen makes the player rely on the description of what is happening rather than being able to derive some knowledge based on the number they see being rolled.

Fishing for Success
Some players will ask questions like "if I tie a rock to this piece of rope and cast light on it, and then I throw this rope across this chasm, do I feel like there might be some invisible creature on the otherside that will grab the rope and pull me over?" Okay, maybe no one has asked such an egregious question but its come close. Players may fish for the outcome of a possible plan they have without putting any risk in to testing the plan. This is something the DM should try to stop as soon as they notice it happening. The right response is "tell me what your character is doing." Running through all the possible scenarios with the DM and rating them for success/failure is a pretty boring way to spend a session; better to have the players experiment and learn for themselves.

Don't Be Hasty
I have tried to make skill check scenarios more interesting and exciting by describing what happens incrementally. On a failed perception check, instead of saying that the character leading the way down a tight corridor just stepped on a pressure plate and flashes of lightning strike down the corridor dealing 45 points of damage, its more suspenseful to describe the act of stepping on the pressure plate and gauging the reactions. A gulp...sweat pouring down everyone's face as you describe that everyone's arm hair is standing on end as a pulse of blue light seems to be hurdling down the corridor. Maybe the players even describe the futility of an attempted escape to then get the report of how much damage they took.

Knowledge Checks...Who Needs Them?
It is not uncommon for me to sit at a full table and find that not one player has chosen a knowledge based skill such as nature, religion, arcana or history. With these four skills, I have made it a habit that only those characters that have chosen it as a proficiency may roll to see if they have studied or come upon the knowledge in their pasts. These skills do tend to get used less frequently, and I feel this is appropriate unless a player can make a case as to how their backstory related to the circumstances of the knowledge check.

Reward them by allowing fun things to happen
Allow the players to do things sometimes that aren't mechanically allowed with rules as written, but just seem fun. While running a particular adventure recently, the characters were all beat up pretty bad. The gnome wizard was trying to lead the way as the goliath warrior carried his warlock friend. They were in a room with a strange tree in a pool that seemed to awaken as they entered. Being in no condition to fight this monstrosity, the group crossed the room to try to avoid it and escape out the passage on the other side. Unfortunately, I called for a skill check as they crossed which resulted in a failure, and the warrior dropped his companion on the ledge he was crossing en route to the other side. The tree reached down to grab the prone and unconscious warlock as the two surviving members devised a plan to recover their friend. The wizard cast levitate on the warrior who, using a rope and grappling hook, snagged the belt of his friend while hovering on the ceiling above his body. A game of tug of war occurred with the tree, a struggle, but eventually the warrior won and recovered the body of their ally who they brought to a nearby room to revive.

Final Thoughts
I am very happy to report that after running the first three chapters of Yawning Portal and doing some of the things I have described above, I have found that the players do engage more with the game. From Tabaxi characters going to great lengths to avoid a few inches of water on the floor to a character using their speak with animals spell to negotiate a love story between two rats encountered in a dungeon. I'm finding players poking at things with swords and agonizing over turning dials clockwise or counterclockwise (and lengthy debates as to why one is inherently better than the other). When this kind of stuff happens you get a better story, greater group cohesion, and a more memorable experience that will get people excited for the next time everyone gets together for D&D night.