Thursday, April 21, 2016

D&D 5e Session 2 & Continuing thoughts


What can I say about D&D 5e? My group loves it, and I have to admit I'm quite fond of it too. I haven't purposefully houseruled anything yet, but I'm sure some exist from our mutual lack of understanding of all the rules. I am absolutely positive that I will be running a 5e campaign after we're done with this adventure. This session had some hard moments, but still nothing quite as deadly as what I'm used to in the OSR. We'll see what happens!

We're still running the Lost Mines of Phandelver.

This session saw my players make it out to the Cragmaw Caves to try and find more information on Gundren Rockseeker. They went back to where the ambush took place last time. The dead horses were still on the roads. The party split up trying to search through where they thought the goblins were hiding before and after some time found a trail. The character who found the trail quickly called the others. They decided that everyone but one would walk on the side of the road while one walked on the road. Luckily they managed to discover the 2 traps hidden on the way and disabled them.

Eventually they found a cave mouth with a stream coming out of it. Upon approaching the cave mouth, they were set upon by arrows through the brier patch. Quickly the Wizard turned and aimed his burning hands at the bushes as the others let loose some arrows in that direction. Soon afterward they watched the brier patch burn and they checked to find some dead goblins laying in them. The party decided to take a short rest and wait to see if anyone approached.

Eventually the group decided they would head in to see what else was there. They soon found the 2 dogs tied up, and killed them from range with the dogs trying to break their chains but failing. The group checked out the cavern, but then continued their way up. It wasn't very long before they caught a goblin running across a bridge. The group took their chance to fire some shots, but failed. Soon afterwards they were caught off guard by the sudden rush of water. Most of the party managed to dive into an alcove and keep their grip, while the cleric was washed back out of the cave. Dazed and confused he slowly crept back to the others. From here the group saw they climb up this passage and went on to do so. Once up they saw a chamber with Goblins. The Wizard cast sleep and 3 of them managed to fall asleep while the other 2 engaged. Shortly after killing 1 of the 2 left, the leader of this group of goblins appeared with Sildar in his possession with a knife at his throat. He managed to convince the party that if they took out the leader Klarg, that he would give them the human, and information about Gundren. The party requested that one of the goblins go with them, so he picked Slurry (totally not stolen from the WotC videos) and he helped them get through the rest of the caves.

With Slurry's help they easily dispatched the goblins near the pools, and Klarg and his minions and wolf. The fight with Klarg was pretty rough and they nearly lost some characters, but Slurry managed to help them defeat them, and got some revenge. Yeemik was so thrilled he gave the players their information, and even promoted Slurry to his 2nd in command. The players over-exaggerated to Yeemik about Slurry's exploits, so that when they left with Sildar in hand, he came out and hugged the halfling and waved them off. The group made their way back to Phandalin so everyone could rest up.

Overall, we are really enjoying 5e. My players like the action. I like that it still seems tough, but because they can heal more often, and easier, we get more action going. So far it has been so action packed, my players have pushed to keep the game going past our 2 hour sessions (both in the 2nd and 3rd session, haven't had our 4th yet). I prefer playing longer, but find online games that ADD starts to kick in past 2 hours. We've been having a ball, and I know the players really had a good time with the goblins at cragmaw cave.

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Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Basic Fantasy Wilderlands Campaign, Session 9

It's been awhile since I posted. My group has been on hiatus due to some scheduling conflicts. Mainly I was out of town for the last 2 possible sessions, and my players were the week before that. Luckily my blogs are 2 sessions behind, so it'll give me some time to catch up.

This session was far more calm than our last. The group started by meeting a new Elve, Sylwen who had been watching the group. Soon afterwards they decided to head out and check out the Orc castle where Sam had fallen. Once there they discovered 3 Ogres eating what may have been some Orc carcasses. Luckily for the group, they had some great strategy, caught them by surprise, and were quick to dispatch the Ogres.

After looting what was left from the Ogres and Orcs, they decided they would proceed to the caves east of the Keep. They have only heard a little bit about this cave, so proceeded with caution. The paladin Markas took the lead, using his detect evil and lantern to guide the party through the cave. They detected one figure farther down the cave and found the cave split. They took the split for a few minutes before being worried that something might come behind them. Once turned around, they ran into yet another Ogre named 'Ergo' (totally not just Ogre backwards). They managed to befriend Ergo who asked for their help in defeating some monsters in his home. He told them about some stirges and the party agreed to help. After travelling through the cave, they found a hive of 12 stirges flying about. Immediately Ergo rushed in with the others and a tough battle started. The stirges started attaching themselves and sucking blood immediately. Luckily Ergo was a good meatshield and the party survived the fight along with Ergo. They explained to him that they would be back to help him defeat some more monsters in the cave later, but that they would need to return to town to rest up for awhile. Ergo gave them a big wave goodbye as the party crawled back towards town.

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