The Iron Wardens in 'Dusk' - DM's Perspective

So I recently ran an adventure for the Iron Wardens, and I wanted to get a few thoughts about it down while it's still relatively fresh in my mind. The advenure I ran for them was "Dusk", written by Mike Krahulik of Penny-Arcade fame. (Mike, if you ever see this, and you want me to take the Dusk PDF off of kage23.com, just let me know; I wanted to link to it on penny-arcade.com, but couldn't find it anymore.) Anyway, my first, and overwhelming, thought/response to our session Sunday night is that it was totally awesome. It had been a long time since I had played D&D, and I hope the next time comes sooner. ;)

The adventure itself was quite entertaining. At least, I thought so, and my players seemed to be having a good time. ;) It's a take on Twilight. A traveling crew of actors and stagehands is in town to perform the play "Dusk", and the Iron Wardens must investigate what happened to the missing daughter of the owner of the town's bakery. As it turns out [SPOILERS AHEAD!], the stagecrew are vampires, and they stole the daughter. In the process of discovering this, the IWs talk to the family of actors, each of whom is a colorful character of varying sorts. It was interesting and a bit different for me as a DM to have to actually roleplay various NPCs with differing motivations, that don't necessarily want to help the PCs out. But the characters were all pretty much melodramatic caricatures anyway, so they were pretty easy to roleplay, and I think I did an alright job.

As with any good D&D game, however, things didn't really go to plan. The main difference between the adventure as written and our game was that I combined the second and third encounters into one. Or, more accurately, I dragged (most of) the monsters from the third encounter into the second. The second encounter happens when the players confront the stage manager. He casts a spell on the fangirls in the audience, who proceed to attack the players. According to the "script", as the players fight these "monsters" into which the daughters of the townsfolk have been (probably temporarily) transformed, the stage crew packs up all their shit and gets out of there on their wagons. The players finish the encounter just in time to see the stage crew leaving on their wagons, so the players steal one of the remaining wagons to give chase. They have an intense wagon-to-wagon fight while careening down the road. (I might adapt this idea for some later adventure some time, since we didn't do it in our game.) But the Iron Wardens are upstanding citizens of Fallcrest. They were not going to hurt the fangirls if they could possibly avoid it. They quickly determined that the girls were, in fact, still human, under a spell, and not actually vampires or other undead creatures themselves. As such, they speculated that, if they were to kill the creature that put them under that spell, perhaps they'd come out of it. This sounded reasonable to me, and I knew that if the stage manager tried to go pack up the wagons while the Iron Wardens fought the fangirls, that just wouldn't work. The Wardens wouldn't stand for that. They would defend themselves against the fangirls as best as they could without attacking them, and they would chase after the stage manager until they caught and killed him. So, I just brought him into the encounter, along with a few bats from the final encounter as well. The final encounter also has a few other vampires, and I wasn't sure if I should bring them in or not, so initially, I didn't. Actually, I rolled their initiative at the start of combat along with all my other creatures. My initial plan was to bring them in on the 2nd or 3rd round of combat, but I ended up not doing that. I decided that they had to come in at some point, however; after all, there's a whole stage crew's worth of vampires here. They're not just going to stand around as their leader is killed. They didn't join the fight until right after the stage manager was killed, though. Luckily for the Iron Wardens, it's a small stage crew. ;) I think I only brought two in, whereas the third encounter had three. WIth them, and with the bats, I figured it wasn't fair to bring two full encounters' worth of monsters into one encounter, if I wasn't going to let the players recharge their powers or take a short rest or anything in between, so I left a few of them out.

The whole thing makes me wonder, though ... What would have been the repercussions if they had fought the fangirls? Would the townsfolk understand that the girls were under a spell, or would they think the Iron Wardens just went crazy and had a murderous rampage? Even if they did understand that the girls were under a spell, would they approve of fighting them, hurting and probably killing them, even in the sake of self-defense? Or would the townsfolk have believed there would have to have been another way? Or would I, the DM, have let the players kill the fangirls in the first place? Maybe hitting one of the "monsters" just once would have broken the spell, causing the girl to run away, crying, in pain, actually injured, but not badly and not permanently, making it a really easy fight for the Wardens. I don't know. As it went in our game, as soon as the stage manager was destroyed, the enthralled girls passed out, unconscious but unhurt. Although it just now occurs to me as I write this that we don't necessarily know what happened to those girls afterward. We wrapped up the story, but only to the point of that night in the game-world, not days or weeks later. For all we know, those girls are all still in a coma months later. ;) That's probably something I should address in the follow-up email I told the Wardens I might write. ;)

The other thing I wanted to talk about was earlier in the adventure, when the players are investigating the wagons. They, of course, went straight to the crew wagon, the one that is magically sealed. One of the dwarves believed he could pick even a magic lock, but this one was beyond his ken. Of course, in meta-gaming actuality, it was basically a plot door. They simply weren't going to be able to get into this wagon until it was time. Of course, this was the first of the six wagons that they checked out, and if they had opened the door at that point, or if they had disassembled the wagon, as the dwarves attempted, to no avail, it would have been, you found the girl, there are a bunch of vampires, it's daytime, so they die as soon as you open their coffin lid and the sunlight gets in, so game over, we didn't even have any combat encounters. I think there was also talk of burning this wagon down, and I have to say, I don't think the Iron Wardens would have been too happy with the result, had they done that. ;) The way I was conceiving of the vampires, during the daytime, when they're asleep, they're dead asleep. I'm not sure there's anything that could wake them before sundown. Burning down the place they're sleeping certainly wouldn't do it. If the Wardens had torched the wagon, they would have found several charred, but empty, coffins (because the bodies disintegrate as soon as they are destroyed in the fire), and a charred, unidentifiable body that might have belonged to a fourteen-year-old girl. Oh, and the gold coins and the gems. Those probably wouldn't have been destroyed in the fire. ;) The dwarves did almost tip the wagon, though, but they were interrupted when they had to go save the elves from a pack of wolves in the forest. ;) Not that tipping the wagon would have had any effect, either, though, really. It wouldn't have woken the vampires, and the girl they were trying to rescue was unconscious, so it wouldn't have woken her, either.

But all in all, it was a great game, even (or especially) if it did stretch my DMing a bit. One should never expect a game to go as planned, so it's good to get practice in adapting on the fly. ;) And, when you're railroading your players and not letting them open plot-doors, hopefully making it seem not too extremely railroady in-game. ;)

Bike Wreck, Sort Of

So, it's Monday morning, and I'm biking to work. I'm heading south on 9th Street, intending to turn left onto Channing. As I approach the intersection, some frakking ... dude (I'm trying to be nice here) is riding west on Channing. I slow down a bit, with the intention of letting him pass through the intersection before I get to it. As he approached the intersection, he pulled his bike up into a wheelie. But, he wheelied it back too far, and fell over backwards. I was successful in my attempt to not laugh. And I figure, I can speed up and get through the intersection, turning onto Channing, while he's picking himself up and getting re-situated on his bike. So I start making my turn.

But, he apparently got himself picked up and re-situated fairly quickly, because as I'm turning, he starts riding ... right into me. I try to swerve out of the way, but don't make it. He crashes into the right side of me and my bike. Luckily, he had hardly any speed, and neither did I, as I braked while swerving, so it didn't even knock me over. My immediate reaction is to say, "Oh shit! Sorry, dude!" He looks at me for a few moments, and then says, "Are you alright?", to which I reply, "Yeah, I'm fine." (Which was true. My leg was slightly sore where he hit it, but no actual injuries.)

I'm about to ask him if he's okay, when ... he proceeds to FAKE-SLAP ME. Seriously. He makes a slapping motion with his hand, about a foot away from my face, as he makes a "Pssshhht" sound with his mouth. So I just ride away.

What a frakking way to start the week, eh?

What Kind of D&D Character Are You?

What kind of D&D character are you? It's a long survey (129 questions!), but interesting.

Some of them are really hard to answer; they seem like false dichotomies to me. For example:

I would rather spend two hours ...
...camping with my friends.
...drinking with my friends.

Why not spend two hours drinking with friends at a campsite? You can't really camp for two hours, anyway. In order for something to count as camping, it has to be at least overnight. And sometimes my answer might change, depending on how I interpret the words they use.For example:

The nation is at war. Your community is threatened with invasion. Do you:
Help defend it to your last breath?
Defend the area with the rest of your community?
Flee as soon as things look grim?
Cut a deal with the enemy to act as a spy?

Does it mean my community, like my neighborhood? Or like the people I choose to hang out with and interact with? I'm answering as if all the people I choose to hang out with and interact with all lived within a few blocks of me. ;)

There are many questions I would pick multiple answers on. Such as:

When confronted by beggars, do you:
Give generously?
Give moderately?
Give only what you wouldn't miss anyway--a dollar or two at the most?
Ignore them as you walk by?

I do all four of those, depending on the circumstance.

And of course, as is the case with many surveys, too many questions have too limiting answers. ;) I guess one just answers the best one can.

Anyway, on to my results ...

I Am A: Neutral Good Halfling Druid/Wizard (2nd/1st Level)


Ability Scores:

Strength-11

Dexterity-12

Constitution-12

Intelligence-14

Wisdom-13

Charisma-12


Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.


Race:
Halflings are clever, capable and resourceful survivors. They are notoriously curious and show a daring that many larger people can't match. They can be lured by wealth but tend to spend rather than hoard. They prefer practical clothing and would rather wear a comfortable shirt than jewelry. Halflings stand about 3 feet tall and commonly live to see 150.


Primary Class:
Druids gain power not by ruling nature but by being at one with it. They hate the unnatural, including aberrations or undead, and destroy them where possible. Druids receive divine spells from nature, not the gods, and can gain an array of powers as they gain experience, including the ability to take the shapes of animals. The weapons and armor of a druid are restricted by their traditional oaths, not simply training. A druid's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast.


Secondary Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.


Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)



Detailed Results:
Alignment:
Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (26)
Neutral Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (31)
Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (24)
Lawful Neutral -- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (17)
True Neutral ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (22)
Chaotic Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (15)
Lawful Evil ----- XXXXXXX (7)
Neutral Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Chaotic Evil ---- XXXXX (5)

Law & Chaos:
Law ----- XXXXXXX (7)
Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Chaos --- XXXXX (5)

Good & Evil:
Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (19)
Neutral - XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Evil ---- (0)

Race:
Human ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13)
Dwarf ---- XXXX (4)
Elf ------ XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Gnome ---- XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Halfling - XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14)
Half-Elf - XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Half-Orc - (0)

Class:
Barbarian - (-6)
Bard ------ (-2)
Cleric ---- (-2)
Druid ----- XXXXXX (6)
Fighter --- (-2)
Monk ------ (-21)
Paladin --- (-19)
Ranger ---- XX (2)
Rogue ----- (-6)
Sorcerer -- XX (2)
Wizard ---- XXXXXX (6)

D&D Encounters, Season Two, Encounter 1-3

I guess, since Encounter 1-4 is coming up tomorrow, now's a good time to write my post about 1-3. ;)

I don't have a huge amount to say about this one. The most important thing is that Jarvis thought those were some damn good fruits! Basically, we found a fruit-bearing tree in a canyon, and brave Yuka was the first to eat some. After assuring us that they were quite tasty and he didn't feel sick immediately, Jarvix started eating some as well. Upon realizing just how tasty they were, he immediately tuned his finely-honed psychic senses into the fruit, convinced that they must have some intelligence to be soooo tasty. Unfortunately, he was overcome with a wave of nausea, and found himself unable to do much of anything other than contemplate fruit for a while. As it turns out, the nausea had nothing to do with the fruit; he had been hit with a Confounding Curse from one of the curse-spewing goblins that had been camped out on the rocks around the tree! He was able to get a couple Mind Thrusts out, but in the end, decided he'd rather just take a nap.

OK, in all seriousness (or at least, some seriousness), here's what actually happened. After eating a bit of fruit, we "discovered" the goblins that were camped out on the rocks surrounding the area. I rolled a 1 for my Initiative, and Jarvix does not have an Initiative modifier. In the first round of combat, I was hit by a Confounding Curse (really quite a cool ability, activated by the goblin cutting his arm and flinging fresh blood in the PC's direction) that basically made me miss my first turn. So I didn't act at all until the 2nd or 3rd round of combat (I don't remember if I was hit with another Confounding Curse right after that first one or not), and, of course, not until the very end of that round, due to my Initiative (or lack thereof). I was able to use my Infernal Wrath ability, though, which was kinda cool. It can be targeted against any enemy who had hit me since my previous turn, and gives me a bonus to my attack roll, plus a damage bonus, if the attack hits. I also decided to use my Action Point to spend my Second Wind. Exciting use of an Action Point, right? Despite that, I was still knocked unconscious, revived, then knocked unconscious again. I'm a bit worried for Jarvix's future, given that I'll be entering Encounter 1-4 with only 10/22 hit points and no healing surges left ...

Anyway, kudos to Maiki for another great game, and kudos to my fellow players for not letting Maiki get a TPK two nights in a row!

D&D Encounters, Season Two, Encounter 1-2

So I guess I've been slacking a bit. The game was last Wednesday, the next game is tomorrow, and I'm just now writing a post about last week's encounter. LOL. Anyway, I quite enjoyed myself, although I think Jarvix enjoyed himself less than Encounter 1-1. My dice weren't cooperating nearly as much this time around. I was only able to hit and do damage once or twice, as opposed to Encounter 1-1, when I think I got more kills than the rest of the party combined. ;) Anyway, this encounter began with the mysterious appearance of a fire elemental, who told us that he didn't know anything about the sand storm (other than that the obsidian shards were extremely rare, since he has not seen anything like it in over 1000 years on Athas), he didn't know anything about the lizard men who attacked us in Encounter 1-1, and he couldn't really do anything to help us get to Tyr. I suspect there were some questions that WotC expected us to ask that we did not, but oh well. LOL. So it goes.

Anyway, after he disappeared, we were ambushed by kanks, which are basically giant beetles. There were two varieties - big ones and acid-spitting ones. Those of us who could do decent damage tried to focus on the big ones, but I was hit by acid spat from one of the smaller ones. That wouldn't normally seem too bad; it's only 2 damage immediately, and then 5 ongoing. However, I failed either 4 or 5 saving throws in a row, including a couple extra ones that weren't even on my turn (another character has abilities that allow additional saving throws, etc.). Eventually, the DM told me that the acid had basically burned away. While other people who got hit and made their saving throws were wiping the acid off themselves, etc., Jarvix wasn't phased at all by being burned away. He just kept on doing whatever he was going to do, and eventually the acid burnt through everything it was going to burn through. I'm pretty sure that was just the DM being nice to me; I don't think there are any rules about ongoing acid damage expiring or anything. LOL. I'm not going to complain, though!

Anyway, I'm a bit worried about Jarvix's future ... I didn't take any damage at all in Encounter 1-1, but at the end of 1-2, I used 4 of my 6 healing surges to get back up to full health. I'm a bit nervous about only having two more healing surges to last through 3 encounters! We'll see what happens.

Anyway, the final thing I wanted to mention is that the Lord Admiral shared a quite memorable and enjoyable moment from the game in his blog posting, so I would encourage you all to read that!

D&D Encounters, Season Two, Encounter 1-1

So D&D Encounters Season Two is off to a pretty good start. The Lord Admiral and I headed down to our FLGS to roll some dice and kill some monsters on the desert planet of Athas. I am playing as Jarvix the Tiefling, and he's playing as Shikirr the Thri-Kreen. It is my opinion that he and I snatched up the best two characters out of the six.

This encounter was fairly straightforward. The caravan we were travelling with was hit hard by a sand storm. Sand storms are a pretty common occurrence on Athas, but this was no ordinary sandstorm. This was filled with shards of obsidian. A sand storm like this happens rare enough for it to be considered legendary. Anyway, the storm ripped through the caravan during the night, destroying most of the supplies and killing most of the caravaneers. The encounter started the following morning with the six survivors. Our main task was to gather supplies from the wrecked caravan tent, before continuing to travel toward out destination, Tyr.

However, we realized that there were hungry lizard-men around, and we looked tasty. So while gathering supplies, we also had to defend ourselves against these lizard-men (some of whom were armed with blowguns with immobilizing darts). It soon became clear that we couldn't really stick around for long, as the lizard-men had called for reinforcements, who were on their way. At some point, the objective changed from "kill lizard-men" to "get the hell out of there!" Which we did.

The encounter went pretty well, for the most part. Our DM is great; he provides very good descriptions of the action. Something I'd like to work on in my home game. The players were mostly good, too. Some of them were clearly less-experienced than the others, but that's okay. This is a good way to introduce them to D&D 4e, and they didn't slow things down _too_ much. ;)

There were several cool moments I'd like to mention:

• I got the first kill! Jarvix is a psion, and he totally rocks. Near the start of the encounter, our Mul, Yuka, had left the caravan tent and grabbed one of the lizard-men. However, this caused a couple other lizard-men to surround him and flank him. So on my turn, after casually grabbing a couple packs of supplies, I hit one of the lizard-men with my Mind Thrust, causing his head to basically explode. So that was cool. ;)
• Not too long after that, Yuka was holding one of the smaller lizard-men, and being attacked by the larger lizard-man. Then our human sorcerer, Barcan, hit the big lizard-man with Excise From Sight, causing him to not be able to see Yuka. Our DM was great at describing how the big lizard-man was seeing one of the smaller lizard-men just kind of suspended in the air, with blood dripping off him and just pausing, suspended in mid-air.
• Speaking of Barcan, poor guy. He really does not have very good defenses. I think he took the first damage of the fight, which was enough to nearly kill him in a single hit. All told, he was knocked unconscious twice, I think, maybe three times.
• Similarly, our poor elf, Castri, was also knocked unconscious two or three times. In fact, he was unconscious at the end of the encounter, when he was literally carried off the map by Yuka.
• Barcan did have a cool moment, earning his player Renown Points for "Moment of Greatness" (I think that's what they called it). Basically, near the end of the encounter, he was unconscious, again, and it was time for his player to roll her saving throw. She rolled a natural 20, reviving him. Then on Barcan's next turn, he attacked one of the lizard-men who had attacked him earlier, calling down the "Ray of the Moon", if I remember correctly. Once again, a natural 20, utterly frying the lizard-man. Rolling two natural 20s in a row, and going from being on death's door to crispifying the enemies was certainly good enough for some "Moment of Greatness" points!

All told, it went really well and I think everyone had a good time. My only complaints were that the materials WotC produced for this were obviously rushed. The art did not match the characters' descriptions at all, and I think every single character sheet had at least a few typos on it. I read on another blog that some of the skills and stuff were even calculated incorrectly, but I haven't looked into that myself. Still, nice job, WotC. I hope they release errata-ized character sheets at some point during this season, but honestly, I kind of doubt they will. I assume we'll get new character sheets when we hit Level 2, anyway, so it's probably mostly pointless to release errata-ized versions of the current character sheets.

I didn't quite get a chance to use all of my Encounter Powers, though. I used most of them, but I have one called Send Thoughts that I can use twice per encounter. It lets me telepathically send up to 25 words to someone, and allows them to respond in kind, as a free action. This is potentially useful, but the situation last night just didn't call for it. I actually thought abou tusing it a couple times to threaten the enemy or throw out a pithy one-liner before killing them, but decided against it. Mainly because I couldn't think of anything clever to say. ;) The other one I didn't use is called Infernal Wrath, and it allows me to have a bonus on my next attack roll against a given creature, and deal extra damage if the attack hits. However, it can only be used on someone who had hit me since my previous turn. I was not hit at all during this encounter, so I never got a chance to use that one. Not really complaining about that, though. ;) I felt a little bit bad about having not taken any damage at all, when two characters had both nearly died multiple times, and I think everyone else used at least 1 or 2 Healing Surges, but I didn't feel too bad about it. Not my fault if Jarvix kicks ass.

Looking forward to next week's encounter!

Should I Cancel My Facebook Account?

Every so often, someone will post an article in Google Reader or Twitter or whatever about "Reasons to Cancel Your Facebook Account." And I have to say, some of the reasons I've read in some of those articles are pretty compelling, and I have certainly been tempted to cancel my FB account. I already canceled my Myspace a little while ago, and have not looked back. Granted, the little time I spend on FB (maybe an average of 15 minutes a week? If that?) is still much more time than I have spent on Myspace in years ...

Anyway, so I'm wondering if anyone has compelling reasons to _not_ cancel one's Facebook account. These could be general ("I like my FB because of ...") or specific ("I think you specifically, Kyle, should remain on FB because of ...").

Let it be known that I am still undecided. I might cancel it. I might keep it. If I keep it, it's unlikely I'll spend any more time on it than I do currently. But I'm open to thoughts and suggestions.