Tomb of Annihilation Accessories Unboxing

The early release of the new Dungeons & Dragons hardcover campaign Tomb of Annihilation had an early release date of September 8th for brick and mortar stores. I headed down to our local gamestore Adventure Games and Hobby where I not only picked up the hardcover, but the Tomb and Traps Set, a brick of the Icon of the Realms: Tomb of Annihilation miniatures, the revised Dungeon Master Screen and the Tomb of Annihilation dice. Let me take you through this unboxing and share some of my thoughts on the haul I pulled in.

Tomb and Traps Set

The Tomb and Traps set is intended to be an incentive for those that purchase a brick of miniatures. It cost $49.99 + the purchase of the brick of miniatures. A quick check on eBay seems to suggest that people are flipping this starting at around $70. The notable contents are the iconic demon faced statue from Tomb of Horrors, a swirling portal archway that also seems iconic to Tomb of Horrors, a sarcophagus, Acererak's demilich skull, 4 fire jet tiles, 4 blade trap tiles, 4 magic glyph trap tiles, 4 pit trap tiles, 4 boulder piles, a sword, a shield, 4 piles of gold, 4 potions, and 4 scrolls.

Most of what we get here is novelty. I can't really imagine pulling out the trap tiles and using them as a prop in game often as they would really just clash with any of the other dungeon terrain items that I have. A lot of good looking stuff that will be perfect for behind a display case.

The iconic demon-head statue from Tomb of Horrors is the crown jewel of the set. It is a very well done mold. The perfect detail on the eyes really makes it stand out as a horrifying marker that the corridors beyond are full of traps designed by a sadomasochist.

This one triggers minor PTSD symptoms for me. This mini looks very similar to a certain portal from Tomb of Horrors. After my character passed through this wispy gate at Gary Con, I lasted about another 2 minutes before I met an unfortunate fate. The purple translucence does a great job creating the misty haze and the rune carvings on the outside look great.

I am pretty happy with the sarcophagus as well. Any good dungeon delve will typically turn up a buried tomb full of treasure and/or undead, so I suspect this will get some practical use on more than an occasion.

The tiles that are included in the set are kind of weak in my opinion. The fire trap is a single little column of fire in the center of the piece. The blade trap looks to be about dagger sized where I would have preferred something more akin to spears set into the floor. The color scheme on the pit trap falls flat and doesn't really convey the idea of depth. The color scheme on the rubble piles are too similar to the floor tile to really distinguish. Definitely my least favorite thing that came with this set.

The treasure pieces are super tiny and definitely destined for vacuum cleaner purgatory if they are to be used as an in-game prop. The gold piles are really just mono-color piles of gold. Sparkling some other currency into the color scheme or gems would have made it a more visually interesting piece. The rest of the lot is cool, but really tiny. Picking up the potions and getting them to stand upright takes a successful DC 15 Dexterity skill check to accomplish.

Icon of the Realms: Tomb of Annihilation Miniatures

Seeing as the new adventure is taking us into the jungle island of Chult, it seemed fair that I would need to update my miniature collection to make sure I had representations for the many exotic creatures that could be encountered. As I was ripping off the shrink wrap on the boxes, I had a prayer in my heart that I would find for myself an Acererak (the lich villain of Tomb of Annihilation) figure in the mix.

Its a juggernaut! I'm really hoping there is an actual use for this in the campaign. The detail on the carvings is awesome. Even the steamrolling apparatus on the front wheels has demonic skulls imprinted upon them.

Within the wild jungles of Chult, one might encounter this houseplant known as the Mantrap. I can only assume that a party of all female or gender ambiguous characters will be safe from this monstrosity.

Crab people. Crab people. Look like crabs. Talk like people. Well, I guess they are more like lobsters and they are called Aldani. But they are still going to try to turn the party into metrosexuals.

A druid and a vegepygmy. There is actually an NPC druid in Tomb of Annihilation that has a vegepygmy friend, so I was pretty happy to find this pairing in my haul. Unfortunately, my players will certainly find a way to avoid ever meeting them.

Ah. Both a visible and an invisible version of the legendary warrior Minsc and his miniature giant space hamster, Boo. I'm sure I will probably use this figure all the time.

Onto NPC figures of characters that will actually get used. Both of these are fairly important characters in the Tomb of Annihilation book. I am pretty happy with the version of the guy on the right. I have seen pictures of some where his arrow is no where close to being lined up with his bow.

Chultan goblins. I appreciate that they have different versions of what is essentially the same mold. I think they started doing this with the Storm King's Thunder minis. Gives some visual variety to the baddies to help them stand out a bit.

I don't know what the hell a 'Zorbo' is, but it looks like a little crazy teddy bear and I want one. I'm sure its entirely safe and easily domesticated.

Take a look at the rest of the haul. Overall I am quite pleased, even though Acererak was nowhere to be found. I think the quality on these official miniatures has really improved over time. The little details that have been put into many of them are pretty impressive. I'll definitely be picking up more with time.

Tomb of Annihilation Dice

The Tomb of Annihilation Dice come in a pretty wicked tin that has the Tomb of Horrors demon statue face on it. The dice themselves are a dark olive green. You get 4 d6's, 1 d4, 1 d8, 1d10, 1d12, 1 d20 and a percentile die (a full set). The dice are nice enough, but there isn't anything altogether spectacular about them. The collector novelty of this item is probably the primary motivation to pick it up.

The Reincarnated Dungeon Master's Screen

The art on the front side of the screen depicts a red dragon soaring across the sky with evidence of its presence at the burning city behind it. In its right claw one can see it has collected a hostage. I like the contrast of hues of the red over the blue sea and clear sky. This scene is a lot less busy than the original, and I think I prefer this scene overall.

The new DM screen takes the some material from the original base DM screen, but removes some of the useless tables like the NPC name generator and the "something happens" table that no one ever used in favor of some more relevant info. One thing I don't care for is that they replaced one of the panels with an overview of actions in combat. This isn't information I ever have a need to refer to, and I would have much preferred they had included tables for generating weather or other travel related material (especially given their relevance in Chult). 

The other inclusions are indeed useful, and they include object hit points and AC, encounter distance, prices for services and food, drink and lodging. I am very thankful that they have included the rules for short jumping, long jumping, and suffocating. Every once in a while these things come up but they aren't used enough that I have them memorized. They included the rules on concentration, which isn't one I figure many DM's are going to need. 

The conditions panels are still here, unchanged. Would have been nice if they found a way to make this information more compact to fit some other information in, but these are the most utilized panels for me to reference so I am thankful that they retained this information.

Overall, its an improvement. If you are a DM I would definitely recommend picking it up.

How to Defeat Your Party (Without Killing Them) - Part 2: Conversion

Roleplaying games are meant to be fun. Party wipes that involve killing the characters are not fun and end the adventure. This series is about presenting ideas for party defeat that include setbacks and consequences that progress the story.

For those that missed part 1:

• How to Defeat Your Party (Without Killing Them) - Part 1: Blackmail

Conversion

Sometimes the enemies that defeat the party are not motivated to destroy them, but rather to convert them to their side. They don't see the PCs as intractable enemies and believe that if only the party heard their side of the story perhaps they'd recognize they were fighting for the wrong side. In this instance the PCs were simply mislead by the originator of their quest and just need new perspective to help them make a more informed decision about whom to help.

As a storytelling element this can be quite compelling. After all, the PCs may recognize that their opponents had the opportunity to kill them but instead chose a more merciful route. If this goes against something they had previously learned about their enemy they may begin to question the authenticity of what they know. And if their captors have compelling reasons or evidence for why they were taking part in actions that were previously deemed as vile they might be swayed to switch sides (or at least be given a chance to "fake it" until they can escape their captors).

A less subtle way of setting up this idea would be to cast the story as the heroes as unwittingly working for the villain. Now captive, they are educated on how they were duped and redirected toward a new quest. The forces of good have suffered a setback, however, as they are dealing with the aftermath of the PCs' actions.

Of course, the enemies are not going to take it on faith that the PCs see their side of the conflict. They will expect them to perform a task or undergo a trial that tests their newfound worldview. The party might even be split upon how they see the current circumstance - perhaps some truly do have a change of heart and wish to aid their former enemies, while some maybe pay lip service to this new idea to escape captivity. These types of conflicts create great inner-party dynamics that can promote character development and make for great sessions.

In our previous Dungeon Crawl Classics game, the heroes were summoned against their will to serve the Court of Chaos, a group of vile overlords bent and spreading discord through the multiverse, to stealing a previous artifact from the Plane of Law. Though there was little choice they had on embarking on the quest, they were also offered great reward for accomplishing it...something that helped disquiet any protest that otherwise would have been verbalized. Their attempt failed, and they were defeated by agents of Law and brought into custody.

The deities governing the Plane see mortals as flawed creatures of their creation; easily corrupted by their benign counterparts. Brought before avatars of the Lawful Deities, they ask for the PCs to confess and repent for their crimes. Needing mortal agents of their own, they decide to give the heroes their chance to atone for their sins and prove their usefulness as agents for the gods' own design.

This idea doesn't take away a character's ability to be duplicitous and deceive their captors. They can still choose to remain with the original side in the conflict they were on, or simply strike a path that they are on no one's side but their own. But it does give them an option to escape their predicament via an alternative to death, and presents an opportunity for the GM to add something new to the story. In my situation, I get to play out a scenario for the players to either choose to beg for mercy, simply repent and accept their punishment, or vehemently lash out at the gods for being so heavy-handed in their approach. I'm certainly looking forward to how this version of player defeat will shape the characters in this particular game.

Review: Hole in the Sky (DCC RPG)

A long-running campaign session set for the weekend was cancelled, so once again it was Dungeon Crawl Classics to the rescue. I had purchased the module Hole in the Sky a number of weeks ago and read through it for just this moment. For the uninitiated, Dungeon Crawl Classics is a tabletop roleplaying game designed in the OSR (old school revival) tradition, intended to evoke the feeling of tabletop gaming as it was in its origin back in the 1970s.

Hole in the Sky is a level-0 funnel. What this means is the players roll up between 16 to 24 level-0 characters, farmers and commonfolk, who are called to action in an attempt to earn fame and fortune. Chance of success is minimal and the death toll is high.

The adventure starts as the players receive messages in their dreams from an entity known as the Lady in Blue. She summons them to a feast she has prepared for them overlooking the ocean. Not the most appealing patron, as she holds a number of severed heads which do the talking for her and her welcome dinner appears to be maggot-ridden and spoiled. Her request of the players is to rescue an ally of hers from its extradimensional prison, and in doing so she will grant the commonfolk a chance to "change their stars" by spinning the Wheel of Destiny (it would definitely be appropriate to have one of the severed heads be Pat Sajak).

The introduction is very box-text heavy, which normally I would not be a fan of but for the purposes of this adventure it is fine. Level-0 funnels require some suspension of disbelief for the players to buy-in to its conceit, and the intro sort helps facilitate that there is no alternative. This lady clearly isn't right, and the characters should recognize pretty quickly that if they don't do as she says they might find themselves added to the decapitated head bouquet. One suggestion to any GMs looking to run this adventure would be to perhaps have the Lady in Blue to foreshadow some of the threats that the players might face (such as Cur Maxima). Little tips or hints from the Lady in Blue may provide reassurance that she can be trusted since the welcome dinner doesn't exactly inspire such confidence.

"Peter Pumpkinhead came to town..."

To get to the extradimensional prison, the players must cross an invisible bridge that spans over the ocean. I think it is a very interesting element included as the players must begin this adventure by electing someone to be the one to check the Blue Lady's sincerity about the existence of an invisible road. Since there's already an expectation of a heavy death toll, everyone is anticipating that there is a catch. After discovering how to get onto the bridge, they must make a three day journey over the sea. Also of entertainment value are all of the dangers that the players came up with that I, as a GM, had not even considered. With no landmarks to assist with navigation, how can they be assured which way is straight? How will they find their way back after the adventure is over? Such is the power of the players to add details to the narrative.

Once they reach the end of the bridge, they find the hole in the sky which takes them to the prison. The entire prison-lair is absolutely linear. Unlike the Portal Under the Stars, there is not a mini-dungeon of multiple paths to take, so it basically ends up as an adventure on the rails. The positive of this is that it helps the GM to regulate the death-count a bit more predictably so that there is a good chance of survivors at the end. For instance, if the players suffer a lot of casualties on the way to the prison its easy enough to remove some of the threats along the way to keep the adventure alive. The addition of a homicidal pumpkin-monster named Cur Maxima also assists with the alternative problem of potentially not enough challenge (who am I kidding? That NEVER happens!). The negative of all of this is it may create a feeling for the players that the whole thing is kind of contrived and that they don't have enough choices to create a conclusion of their own making.

One of the tough things about the funnel adventures for me has been that I rarely have more than four players, and its a bit unwieldy to have them control 24 characters at a time. In this case it becomes a balance of trying to bring replacement characters into the adventure to replace the fallen without it being too contrived. The players need to have enough characters in play to ensure they can confront challenges, but you also don't want them to possess too many that it is overwhelming or unmanageable. Fortunately, the module is built under the premise that the Lady in Blue has sent many would-be adventurers to the prison in the past, so it is very easy to have a new level-0 character pop up during the course of the adventure to replace the fallen. This worked quite nicely in our play through, and in the end everyone had a single character that survived.

One of my favorite things about the DCC modules is the visually evocative maps they include. Many roleplaying game modules have scenarios or locations that go a little over-the-top with their method of written description, which can be frustrating for players and GMs alike. The inclusion of these maps helps the GM to feel confidence in the accuracy of the descriptions they are communicating to players.

These maps stand on their own as art in the zany DCC-style.

When the heroes achieve their objective and return to the Lady in Blue, they are indeed rewarded with a chance to change their stars. They are presented with the Wheel of Destiny and are able to roll to potentially change aspects of their character. This could be ability score changes, new birth signs, new race, new profession, etc. - an exciting end to a level-0 funnel where the characters were generated by completely random means. It is especially welcomed with excitement from the character that realizes they survived with a dwarf who has a strength score of 4. As the heroes begin to understand that actions they took during the adventure modify their spin on the wheel, it helps to lessen the feeling that their choices didn't matter and ends the adventure on a positive note.

Final Thoughts

The pacing of the adventure is very well-done and there is not a dull moment. They get the hook right up-front, go on a multi-day journey and find themselves crawling through a linear dungeon towards their end goal with a huge reward at the end. The incentive at the conclusion will likely make this a level-0 funnel I will go to often for new players. It is easily run in less than 4 hours. For players who have never experienced DCC before, Hole in the Sky is going to be a memorable trip to an exotic environment and quirky opponents that are both terrifying and humorous. If you want to get your players to beg for more DCC, Hole in the Sky is a great way to lay the bread crumbs to make that happen.

Feel free to check out our actual play on YouTube HERE!

Beyond the Funnel - Intrigue at the Court of Chaos

Heroes of the Lady in Blue

After running the module A Hole in the Sky by Michael Curtis three times, I had become both desensitized to player death and eager to upgrade the intensity of my bloodlust from level-0 characters to a full fledged level 1 party. The funnels are great fun and a unique, simplified introduction to Dungeon Crawl Classics. But the time had come to move on to the full-game with its blood magic and corrupting influence, warriors capable of great feats of strength and combat prowess, and clerics whose channeling of the divine would test the patience of their deities.

How Does the Game Change from Level-0 to 1?

Here are just a few of the prominent features that stuck out for me that were different:

Spellcasting

This is the first time the players have had access to magic. In DCC, there are no spellslots for either wizards or elves. They gain access to a number of spells equal to that allowed by their class plus a number equal to their intelligence modifier. Spells are selected at random, as is the case for most things in DCC. 

In addition to the spells that they pick up, they automatically have access to Patron Bond and Invoke Patron. The Patron Bond spell is a week long ritual that forms a pact between the character and their deity or another otherworldly being. Depending on if its successful or not, the character will then open up the option to cast Invoke Patron to attempt to ask its deity for aid. This is a great spell that allows for all sorts of potential scenarios to play out. The kicker to asking for aid from a deity is that it will call in the debt at some point, creating endless opportunities for future adventures.

When casting a spell, a player makes a spell check. This is a d20 roll modified by their intelligence modifier and level which is then paired up against a table in the book that explains the result. There are over 180 pages of the core book dedicated to spellcasting. Each spell has countless possibilities from its base effect, description of how it manifests, and the inclusion of effects that are specific to the individual who cast it.

Spellcasting is a dangerous business in DCC. Wizards can sacrifice their physical being to empower their spells via a mechanic known as spellburn. Just like burning luck, the player can elect to reduce any number of strength, agility or constitution points to add a modifier to their spellcheck. If they sacrifice a full 20 points, they get an automatic critical!

The cost of failure can be extreme. When a spellcheck fails, the caster will lose the use of the spell until they spellburn 1 point per the lost spell's level to regain it or they wait a day for it to recharge. If the spellcheck comes up with a natural 1, the spell may misfire and the caster may start to see their physical being warp and corrupt. Because of this, wizards and elves who live long enough are likely to give others an Emperor Palpatine vibe.

What an uggo.

Mighty Deeds of Arms

These are maneuvers that Dwarves and warriors can attempt that go beyond simply trying to swing a weapon to wound an opponent. They include called shots to the eyes or limbs, attempting to disarm or trip an opponent, and even calls to rally and inspire allies. The mechanic is that the warrior or dwarf rolls their normal attack roll and rolls a deed die to determine if a special attack of their declaration succeeds or not. These are fun and give the warrior classes a little bit more creative edge to their characters rather than being big bags of hp that hit things. The book even encourages players to work with their gamemasters to develop their own signature Mighty Deeds of Arms.

Character Death

The funnels were wrought with character death. Every five minutes, another one would bite the dust. It isn't so different with level-1 characters and beyond, but they do have a little bit more survivability. After dropping to 0 hp, the character has a number of rounds equal to their level to be healed. If they are healed in this way, they gain a gnarly scar or some other permanent reminder of their near-death experience. If no one gets to them in time, there is an option to allow the character a luck roll and the ability to burn luck to survive. If this works, they come back with 1hp and a -4 penalty to all rolls for the next hour and a pemenant -1 to either strength, agility or stamina. Jeepers. Maybe the player will wish they had died after all of that.

Intrigue at the Court of Chaos

The Characters

Samuel the Elf: Samuel had survived the Hole in the Sky and taken the Lady in Blue as his patron. He went back to his village where he operated as a shipping captain; however he recently began smuggling people across the sea and has been proselytizing to immigrants about the benefits of converting to his chaotic patron.

Raton the Dwarf: A professional ratcatcher who survived the Hole in the Sky with Samuel. He has since devoted his time to developing a rat amusement park in town and is training his pets for sinister purposes.

Zander the Elf: Zander began working for the local courthouse transcribing old documents that served as the foundation of the laws for the kingdom. He has become frustrated with the law of man and wishes for a return to nature.

Stan Putsky the Warrior: Stan became a business associate of Samuel's and worked with him to ship exotic animals that he had captured to far away places for profit.

Oz the Wizard: A local fortuneteller who is known to be something of a fraud. Though his fortunetelling skills are false, he is very good at investigating the backgrounds of those that he would con and thus can typically spin a good enough tale to fool the naive.

The Adventure Highlights

• The adventure officially begins after the players witness a puppet show on a city street and are summoned to the Court of Chaos. Once there, the players are asked by five monstrous hosts who ask the players to venture to the Plane of Law to capture an item called the Yokeless Egg. Its purpose is left ambiguous, though it is communicated to the characters that it will be used to erode Law's influence in the multiverse.

• Before the heroes embark on the quest, they are each visited by a different horrifying member of the court. Each tries to entice the character to obtain the egg and deliver it to them individually rather than to the court as a whole. They are offered power and magic items that are quite incredible. Seemingly, each of my players had no problem with this as they all accepted and no one protested (except Samuel who had a pretty epic breakdown and begged for his life when they first arrived).

• Once the characters were ready they were armed with special chaos weapons that will work on the Plane of Law. They were then sent to their destination: a land of perfection with every blade of grass the perfect hue and aligned straight without blemish. No clouds were present in the sky and everyone found the temperature just to their liking. In the distance they could see a giant floating diamond shaped structure which seemed to be where the Yokeless Egg could be found.

• The first obstacle was a giant ox who served as the guardian to the structure. He had an Eeyore quality to him, declaring white might have been a mighty declaration of reprisal if it wasn't for how bored he sounded. The characters caught sight of something written upon his horns. As the Ox stirred and readied to protect his charge, the players were eager for battle. After defeating the hapless creature he simply sighed as he passed on: "At least someone noticed me." Sad. Afterward the party looked upon his horns: the phrase to relieve the Ox from his sacred duties and avoid the confrontation.

• Once inside, it became clear to the party that five trials would need to be passed. The first trial involved the players sculpting a piece of clay that remained from the gods' creation. They were charged with displaying what they would create from this fragment. We got out some playdough, which is essentially the same thing as the divine spark of the Creators.

• Once inside, it became clear to the party that five trials would need to be passed. The first trial involved the players sculpting a piece of clay that remained from the gods' creation. They were charged with displaying what they would create from this fragment. We got out some playdough, which is essentially the same thing as the divine spark of the Creators.

• Inside the Enlightenment trial, the PCs encountered a room with eight pillars that were lit up by sconces. A voice charged them with finding and fixing the imperfection within the room. As they set to work, several pairs of beautiful dancers appeared. As they swayed and moved, their actions became more erratic and they began colliding with the characters and causing damage. The heroes soon noticed that there were no shadows being produced from blocking the light. As they set out to put the flames out and relight them with new light that would cast shadows, several of the party members tried to distract and calm the dancers. Raton began instructing them how to do the YMCA, Samuel pulled off the worm, Zander got everyone into the chicken dance and Oz channeled his inner Chubby Checker said "Come on everybody, lets do the twist!" 

• In a room labeled Construction, the PCs encountered a room with a bottomless chasm that divided the room some 100 ft. A door could be seen on the otherside. Close to the characters' position were six different colored vials: tangerine, crimson, azure, gold, emerald, and plum. The solution is to drink the vials in the color of the rainbow starting with the reddish liquid. Drinking them out of order causes strange results. Raton had a crate of his rats with him, and he decided that it would be a good opportunity to test the results of the liquid upon them. Some effects were visible, and some seemed to do nothing. After feeding one of the rats the emerald potion, the rat grew to be 12' tall and began attacking the party. One of the potions caused a rat to get very depressed and it flung itself into the chasm, committing rat-suicide. One of the rights began to glow like a lightbulb. After all of the experimentation was done, the players tried everything from trying to dump the contents out  to mixing them all together. It always seemed the vials would refill, with the exception of the red one when consumed. Eventually, Stan Putsky stepped forward and just started guzzling the strange brews in the correct order, and a mist appeared over the chasm and seemed to offer a way across.

• The final confrontation brings the party to the chamber where the Egg is defended by reflections of the PCs. Each reflection is an idealized representation of themselves with better looks, brawnier muscles and seemingly more confident. The party went to battle with them and despite the conjuration of more than a few lions from Oz and a badass flaming hands spell from Samuel, the rolls were not with the party and we saw our first DCC party wipe. 

• They suffered defeat and now are prisoners of the Scions of Law who will now put the PCs on trial for colluding with the forces of chaos. They will give them a chance to plead their case and in the end will render a judgment they feel is suitable for their crimes.

In our DCC games, Justicia, Goddess of justice and mercy, is represented by her avatar, Jessica Biel.

Conclusion

Our first session was a huge learning curve for me as a "judge" (the term for dungeon masters in DCC). I made a lot of bad calls and fumbled through how the spellcasting system works, but it was a good first attempt at learning how to make a DCC game work. There were other miscellaneous things my players were trying to do based on a 5th edition mindset that proved challenging. For example, one of the players wanted to use their action to focus on evading the enemy (they were looking for a boost to their AC). How do I handle this? Agility is already factored into AC, and there doesn't seem to be a specific action included. 

I noticed that my first-time players are very nervous to burn luck or "go big" on spellburn. Going conservative in DCC is in my estimation a huge mistake. The game rewards risk-taking, and if you aren't willing to take those risks then you might not be successful. The player psychology of trying to conserve resources for the future is a fine idea for other games, but it won't produce the exciting moments that make DCC shine. When one of the players at the very end of the session finally started to take notice of this, the tempo started to change. He started burning four points each round and I found myself feeling excited for the player and hoping for a good result. 

Overall, I am happy that I am starting to get people on board with playing DCC games. There is still a lot to learn in order to make games run smoothly, but this session was a good first step. My mission going forward is to help my players to understand the system, and then to get them back to roleplaying. It can be difficult to learn a system and do an effective job developing your character and getting yourself into the story at the same time. With regular play, I am confident we will all be feeling comfortable with the system and I am certain the players will be the ones teaching me the rules before too long.

Actual Play Stream of DCC: The Hole in the Sky

Our first attempt at streaming a tabletop roleplaying game. A group of Dungeon Crawl Classics newbies heard the summons of the Lady in Blue and met her at a cliff near the ocean where a mission of epic proportions was bestowed upon them. My deceased stamp got a lot of use.

How to Defeat Your Party (Without Killing Them) - Part 1

Our gaming group all started getting heavy into tabletop gaming as a result of 5E Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). We all started with the Starter Set where the players became acclimated with the mechanics by performing public services for Phandalin. Then they became interested with developing their backstories and personalities as they moved onto Princes of Apocalypse where they learned how their actions could leave an impression upon the world. Not long after it was a memorable journey battling and befriending giants in Storm King's Thunder. Though momentary setbacks occurred occasionally, the players started to see themselves as superheroes capable of just about anything with the roll of a die (or several in the case of those who have discovered the 'lucky' feat).

This was all fine and good until I gave them a crash course in original Dungeons & Dragons with the classic B2 - Keep on the Borderlands module. The first session proved deadly and showcased the style and tone of the predecessor to it all. Character death was a certainty. Victory was not assured.

Don't be fooled. This dragon does not care if you have Plot Armor +3.

The fact is that they loved it. Why was this the case? The drama of failure made it more exciting and intense. Suddenly retreating from a suicidal encounter was an attractive option that had not previously been considered. Life was precious and something to cling onto versus the relative comfort of knowing a resurrection spell was just a few thousand gold away. The thrill of risk and reward was instilled in all involved and made playing original D&D an exciting event every time we planned a session.

I had pondered this idea for sometime of how to bring this same type of experience into the modern version of D&D. When our group started playing Tales of the Yawning Portal, a collection of classic D&D modules reworked for 5E, I haphazardly came upon the solution. It wasn't "death" that made the original exciting; it was the prospect of failure that created the environment for a range of emotions that could be felt during a roleplaying game. Anticipation, disappointment, pride, determination, regret, etc. are all things that can only exist if failure is an option that the players believe could happen. In fact, character death was only exciting if there was a prospect of a story to be created from it.

Wiping the party as an exercise in the mortality of characters or to teach the lesson that nothing in the game is a guarantee is, in my view, a terrible way to get the point across. If the party wipes, the game is over. It is not satisfying and does not achieve the same result that 'failure' can provide. Character death can be a driving force to create new possibilities in the story, but only if the Dungeon Master knows how to navigate it in a way that is interesting and creates possibilities that would not have been available otherwise.

My hope is that this will become a regular topic that I can sound off on and share my experiences with. There has been an element of failure that has developed in each of the Yawning Portal adventures I have run and they have all been unique (some spoilers can be expected if you are to continue reading). Some of them were foreseen where I was able to plan for them and others were spontaneous and I had to improvise in order to reframe a party wipe scenario into something that could move the plot along.

#1 - Give the Enemies a Reason to Keep the Players Alive

My experience has been that enemies that toy with the player characters (PCs) and have nefarious intentions other than outright murdering the players tend to be more memorable and give them more cause to develop strong animosities towards them. A good villain has motives that go beyond being super evil and wanting to dominate the world. An even better villain sometimes blackmails or manipulates the players to implicate them in their schemes.

A scenario that took place while playing White Plume Mountain was that the PCs came upon a lair of a mass murdering knight named Sir Bluto and his forsaken crew. As the players entered his guard post I allowed a intelligence (history) check to see if they could identify him from a wanted poster they would have seen plastered all over Neverwinter during a recent visit. Sure enough they were able to recognize him as Sir Bluto, the guilty party wanted for the River of Blood mass-murder case. Their eyes lit up as they heard there was a 10,000gp reward for his capture (alive).

"10,000gp! That's a lot of money! Hey guys, make sure to take care when knocking this guy senseless" said one of the fighters as the party scrambled to get into position for the confrontation that was about to take place. The party was helplessly outnumbered and there was no way they were getting out of the fight without a few casualties. They managed to use non-lethal attacks to bring down the treacherous knight, but it was all in vain as Sir Bluto's eight minions were able to use the party's poor tactical position and their numbers to defeat them.

Party wipe. Could have been the end of the adventure.

Instead, fortune was with the heroes. Sir Bluto's knights were not the type to swear oaths of loyalty unless there was a hefty paycheck involved. Having heard the fighter exclaim the value of Sir Bluto's return to the authorities in Neverwinter, the knights were of a mind to make a deal. After all, they were all criminals too and could easily stroll into town and capture the reward themselves. With the precious magical items of the party and all of their wealth bagged up in a corner of the stone chamber where negotiations commenced, the knights proposed that they would return their belongings if the PCs would take Sir Bluto back to the Halls of Justice to collect the reward and deposit it in a hollowed out tree stump located at an abandoned cottage an hour and a half outside of the city.

There was no better choice that they would be offered, despite their attempts to negotiate. The fact was they had no leverage and this was the best deal they were going to be offered.

They headed to town and did as they were instructed. Though it pained most of them to have 10,000gp in hand that they would not be able to spend, the prospect of losing all their hard earned magical items from their previous adventures was an even tougher pill to swallow. They carried out the task and found the knights to be trustworthy enough to honor their agreement.

This course of events created a story. There was a consequence in that the party did not earn the opportunity to collect on the reward that could have been, and they missed out on the opportunity to take the loot the knights surely had. They also had to make a morally difficult choice in delivering the reward, tax money collected from Neverwinter intended to enact justice for the victims of the River of Blood massacre, to the main instigator's accomplices.

This event did not stop the party from trying to devise ways they could track down the conniving knights and get their revenge. But they soon discovered that the knights had abandoned their previous lair. And every time they started to speak about plans to seek out a diviner to locate them, it seemed an invisible stalker would lash out and put a halt to the conversation. Hmmm...perhaps the thread to a story to take place in another adventure...

Preview: B4 - The Lost City...in 3D

The idea of playing Dungeons & Dragons with 3D terrain has captivated our gaming group since we first laid eyes on events being run with Dwarven Forge at GaryCon. The inclusion of miniatures, dungeon terrain and other visual props is an exciting, albeit expensive and time consuming way, to bring the game to life and provide the players a powerful visual of what is actually happening. I myself am typically comfortable playing D&D using "theatre of the mind" as I loathe interrupting the flow of play to setup dungeon tiles or draw out maps. But when the conceit of an adventure is based around dungeon crawling and exploration through long winding hallways, its hard to argue that having a true physical manifestation of the dungeon on the page laid out for use with miniatures isn't badass.

Over six months ago our group completed their first foray into playing D&D Basic by experiencing the classic B2 - Keep on the Borderlands. The voracious appetite for more old-school gaming led to an interesting idea to construct the pyramid from B4 - The Lost City. If a 3D dungeon was to be built, it definitely made sense to start with this structure as it would be fairly self contained and had aesthetic appeal that went beyond just what was within the walls. What you saw on the outside is an awe-inspiring ziggurat which is able to allow the players to anticipate spatially what to expect from the labyrinth within.

The project began with the purchase of a 4' x 8' of foam board insulation. This was cut into sections that would serve as each tier of the pyramid. We measured 1" for each 10' mapped out in the module layout.

Once piece of advice for anyone who wants to try this project is to bear in mind not only the edges, but also walls the buttress up against other walls. You will need to take these into account for your measurements to work out. Depending on the size of the miniatures you are going to use, you also might want to allow a little extra give for hallways in particular as many of ours ended up being quite narrow by sticking with the 1" measurement per square.

The next stage of the project was using a HotKnife to cut through the foam board to hollow out each room. If you are ever going to try to construct a similar project, I would advise either making sure you have a quality knife or make sure that you pace yourself in cutting these out. My friend who spearheaded this project burned through two of them in the course of the project. We noticed that the hot knife sort of created a smooth glossy look upon the walls and recognized early on we would need to do something to fix that as it kind of clashed with the idea of walking through a ruined structure.

 A really cheap tabletop board was used for the floor. We etched out a grid upon each which had the dimensions of the tier that it would get attached to. Each tile also served as the ceiling for the tier below it, so that once assembled it would have the exterior look of the actual pyramid.

The next step was to begin priming the entire thing for paint. An interesting and unintentional effect happened with this process. The primer actually ate away at the foam board quite a bit; a serendipitous occurrence as it sort of created this effect of pockmarked ruined stone which dulled the edge of the smooth look created from the hot knife. Problem solved!

Once everything was primed, it was ready for some paint. It got a dark coat of some spray on paint to create a foreboding look. My friend who spearheaded the project also took the time to fix some of our miscalculation regarding the walls by using tin snips to cut out from some metal flats that he had to cut out walls and doors to fill out the dungeon.

My favorite part of the entire dungeon is the revolving passage way on the third tier. This chamber operates via a panel of buttons on other side that works as a sort of orbital elevator. A hole saw was used to cut out a piece of the foam board and then the middle passage way was cut into it. It got adhered to a piece of the tile and, using a ball bearing swivel caster, we mounted it onto the floor and it functions as a rotating chamber.

 Everything complete, the pyramid is now ready to see play! Tonight we will be playing a session with an anticipated attendance of 10+. Look for the update to come about how the experience went using a 3D dungeon. If you've enjoyed reading, please click the "follow" button on the right hand side near the top of the blog! You can also get updates by following us on Facebook or on Twitter.

Free PDF Preview of Adventurer's Almanac

Two weeks ago I wrote up a post discussing my thoughts about the Adventurer's Almanac, a GM resource book that is packed with ideas that you can toss into your home-brew game. Since that time, I have already used a number of the ideas in my games. Last Friday I got a lot of mileage out of a Dwarven festival summarized in the book (and came up with the Dwarven Keg Battle mini-game). It has come to my attention that Goodman Games has a free 17-page preview which gives a pretty good idea about what you can expect. You can get the free pdf preview of the Adventurer's Almanac over at Goodman Games here.