My 5e campaign, I think, is going to have a primarily mission-based structure. There's no real sandbox here for the players to make a lot of choices about what they're going to do next, but I do want to offer them some options.
I noticed that the Lost Mine of Phandelver campaign from the 5e Starter Kit has several small dungeons, and I thought that might be a good way to give them some choices. The Cragmaw Hideout and Redbrand Hideout are kind of introductory adventure sites, and they have the possibility to lead into Cragmaw Castle and the Ruins of Thundertree, respectively.
Session 3
Cast of characters
Raku Chihuly - dragonborn guild-artificer, 2nd level artificer, played by Emily
Willowbald Hornblower - halfling noble, 2nd level bard, played by Steve
Nehryx - centaur outlander, 2nd level fighter, played by Corey
After successfully completing their first adventure, the party was ready to level up. I walked Steve and Emily through the process, and Corey volunteered to pick a different fighting style for Nehryx that's easier to use without worrying about fictional positioning. He chose Great Weapon Fighting, which helped produce some really spectacular damage rolls later on. The group also used some of their new money to buy better armor, an antidote in case of poison, and a healing potion.
At The Laughing Halfling pub, Raku, Willowbald, and Nehryx tried to enjoy a rare treat from Aunt Dinah's cellars - a rare bottle of Chateau Hornblower, produced in the brief window before Willowbald's family's lawsuit forced him to sell all future bottles as Chateau Willowbald. The wine tasted like someone had used red-wine vinegar to steep very strong black tea, had then used the brew to douse a smoldering campfire, and then bottled whatever they managed to strain from the ashes. Willowbald claimed it was an acquired taste.
Just then, old man Bassoon Hornblower appeared in the doorway to the pub, pointing a menacing finger inside. "There they are!" he shouted to an unknown figure, silhouetted behind him. "These are the ones I told you about! They're the one ... who saved my pipeweed!" The poor old man had tears in his eyes as he showed off a new green leaf, fully restored to health by the first good rain after the volcano vanished.
The mysterious figure behind him proved to be Black Iris, who had a business proposition for them. "That diamond was worth a lot more than Bassoon could pay for, you know," she started, before explaining that if they were going into the do-gooder business, there were a number of opportunities to do some good up in the mountains, where various gangs of bandits were making it difficult to ship anything. Iris explained that supply carriers were being intercepted by a group of goblins who kept appearing out of the forest, and by some human ruffians who seemed to be operating out of an abandoned mansion. When they expressed interest in stopping the goblins, Iris offered to pay 275 if the party could stop them, then noted that the ones she'd seen might be getting instructions from somewhere higher up in the peaks.
Following Iris's instructions, the group headed up a caravan trail into the Grosseberg Mountains, where Nehryx felt quite comfortable from his time spent living off the land both before and after he was kidnapped by the traveling circus. They spotted a footpath that seemed like it must be how the goblins were reaching the main trail, Nehryx estimated at least a dozen goblins traveled it semi-regularly. The group decided to camp a little ways off in the woods, in order to surprise the goblins by arriving in the morning. Due to a well-chosen campsite, no goblin ambush patrol found them in the night.
Rising just before dawn, the group set out on the goblin footpath, with Willowbald scouting ahead. The group moved slowly, risking a greater chance of encountering patrols for a better opportunity to avoid being ambushed by any goblins they did meet. Willowbald's careful approach seemed to pay off when he spotted a snare hidden under a pile of dead leaves, and again later when he noticed a deadfall that might have been difficult for Nehryx to climb out of.
In between the two traps, Willowbald noticed a goblin patrol coming down the footpath, and managed to duck out of their sight into the woods. As the four goblins rounded a corner to encounter Raku and Nehryx, Willowbald caught them by surprise from behind, and quickly took one down with his crossbow. Raku and Nehryx won the initiative - Raku quickly eliminated one goblin with her fire breath and Nehryx ran forward to absolutely destroy another with his great sword. The last goblin surveyed the carnage and ran off into the woods, but Nehryx gave chase and prevented it from escaping with his longbow.
When the group arrived at the mouth of the goblin's hideout cave, no alarms or warnings had alerted the inhabitants of the adventurers' arrival.
Gains
200 XP for monsters (four goblins 50/each)
250 XP for traps (snare trap 100 + pit trap 150)
Session 4
Cast of characters
Willowbald Hornblower - halfling noble, 2nd level bard, played by Steve
Nehryx - centaur outlander, 2nd level fighter, played by Corey
Demic - minotaur entertainer, 2nd level paladin, played by Ben
Crow - tabaxi acolyte of Nuula, 1st level rogue, played by Lindsey
Inspecting the entrance to the goblins' cave, the adventurers realized that they'd either have to cross a small river to reach a land entrance, or walk in the cold but slow-moving water. Nehryx invited Willowbald and the cat-woman rogue, Crow, to ride on his back across the water. (Ben hadn't arrived yet, so Demic didn't participate in this part of the session.) Hurrying across, the group got the better of a pair of inattentive goblin sentries, quickly putting them down and then dragging their bodies behind the treeline.
Listening at the mouth of the cave, they still heard no alarm, although they realized the sound of the stream would mask most quiet sounds. The cave mouth led to a tunnel with a walking path beside the stream. The tunnel ran slightly uphill while curving to the right, so their visibility was limited. They passed by a staircase where they could hear growling and rattling chains, then a steep side-path across the stream.
Continuing on, they saw a wooden bridge crossing the tunnel overhead with goblins guarding the ends. Worried that they might have been seen, the group retreated, and natural-climber Crow offered to try scrambling up the steep side-path. Halfway up the loose gravel trail, she realized that the path was trapped - an avalanche of gravel slid down around her, dumping her in the stream. Just then, a rumble came from further up the tunnel. They had been seen, and the goblins had unleashed their most dangerous trap yet - floodwaters filled the tunnel, battering everyone and washing them downstream and outside!
When the group washed ashore, Crow wasn't breathing, but quick help from Willowbald and Demic got her back on her feet. The party retreated further downstream, then crossed into the woods to hide, rest, and regroup. After recuperating, they snuck back toward the cave in the woods, emerging in the clearing where goblin sentries were watching for threats emerging from a different direction. These two guards were also rapidly dispatched.
The group returned to the cave and quickly went up natural steps they'd bypassed before. The snarling and rattling came from a trio of wolves all chained to a stalactite, who worked together as a pack to attack the heroes at the front of the group. Ben was able to use Demic's new Protective fighting style to good effect, nullifying the wolves' advantage against one of his allies in melee each round. The vicious, starving creatures were soon put out of their misery.
A narrow passage at the back of this cave appeared to offer a way around traveling the main tunnel. Willowbald could fit through easily, and Demic volunteered to squeeze behind him. They arrived in a larger cavern, lit by a burning brazier. The walls were crowded with dozens of boxes and barrels stowed along the walls. A large, hulking and fur-covered goblin-type leader stood by the firepit with his pet wolf and two regular goblin henchmen. "Who dares disturb Klarg?!" the bugbear demanded.
Demic, drawing on his performance skills from his gladiatorial days, pretended to be a fellow monster. "I caught this one lurking around. I brought him to you to interrogate!" Klarg, not the brightest fellow, was convinced, and asked Demic to bring Willowbald forward. "Of course," said Demic, raising his voice so that Nehryx and Crow would hear him in the other cave, "just let me tie my shoe." He ducked down, and an arrow from Nehryx's bow flew through the passage and skewered Klarg. "What?!" Klarg was briefly furious, but from his crouching posture, Demic rushed forward and gored him with his horns, ending the bugbear's reign of terror.
The goblin lieutenants ran away screaming in fear, and behind them, the group heard the sound of a second rush of water pouring down the main tunnel. Klarg's loyal wolf leapt on Willowbald, knocking him to the ground and harrying him rather severely, but Crow appeared out of the shadows of the passage, and with Crow and Nehryx's help, Willowbald was soon safe.
In the background, the group heard more screaming and the sounds of goblins running away down the main tunnel. They inspected Klarg's hoard and saw that it was mostly stolen trade-goods, exactly the kind of thing Black Iris liked to deal in, and a treasure chest with Klarg's personal wealth. Inside the chest was a crude hand-drawn map that seemed to show a path between a castle and the current cave. After allowing the goblins a head start to escape, the party left the caves and returned to Alpenshire.
Gains
275 gp/each from Black Iris
57 gp in treasure (600 cp, 110 sp, silver statue worth 40 gp)
2 healing potions
600 XP from monsters (four goblins 50/each + four wolves 50/each + bugbear 200)
125/250 XP from traps (avalanche trap 50/100 + flood trap 75/150)
Notes
Running combat went more smoothly this time. Steve managed to think of the one other way to get advantage on an attack roll that I hadn't thought of - which was to take the enemy completely by surprise. The "Protective" fighting style seems to work fine, even in theater of the mind, since it's obviously meant to protect an ally standing right next to Demic, which means someone who's part of the same melee group. He used it to good effect, and I think it adds a nice way to incorporate some teamwork into the fights. Meanwhile "Great Weapon Fighting" gave Nehryx some really impressive hits with his great sword, and ended a couple of fights with a single blow.
The 5e Dungeon Master Guide recommends that you can give XP for non-combat challenges (like traps) using the "experience budget" for building combat encounters, with the amount of XP awarded based on the difficulty of the challenge and the character level. The main impact of that is that characters of different levels will get different amounts of XP for encountering traps.
By my count, at this point, Raku has 1100 XP, Willowbald and Nehryx both have 1950 XP, Demic has 1025 XP, and Crow has 725 XP. So we'll probably start the next session by leveling people up appropriately.
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