DDEP 10-01: Terror in Ten Towns (Inactive)

Game Master Aeshuura

No worries! I find that getting an inexpensive AL mod from DMs Guild is a nice way to run a self-contained game. Good, if you just want to get your feet wet without deep investment.

I am enjoying my Yapon (fantasy Japan) game... Currently running my players through the Seven Samurai adventure based on Kurosawa's titular movie. As most of the players are very young, they have no idea but they are having a great time!

I plan on taking them on a Momotaro adventure after that!

So we lost Rodney and I think, Lumen as well. Rodalas has been understandably spotty, but I think he is still with us.

Netzer still seems to be here too. So provided I can stick around a little longer, you have five. If I cannot, then you have four. Up to whover takes over if you want to bring in one or two more.

This is a tough call. I’ve ran a group through the next section in person, and I do think additional players would be very helpful. At the same time, my own enthusiasm has waned a bit on running the campaign and losing Aesh (if that were to happen) would be a huge blow for the campaign as an outlet for an optional GM and source of material knowledge.

These are our options as I see them. Feel free to make additional suggestions if you see them.

We could put out a recruitment push and see how much interest we have and go from there with me running the next section.

Take a break and see if the campaign survives a break. It has survived a break in the past.

Someone else takes over the campaign.

Any combination of these things could also work.

Honestly I don't know a lot about this and Aesh has taught me a bunch.

Hey, I can keep an eye on the campaign and try to give pointers as you guys go through... I love to help new DMs (or people learning 5e)!

Hey everyone! Popping out of the blue at Aeshuura’s suggestion - been looking for a noob friendly 5e game here on the forums forever. What are you guys up to? :)

Hey Albion, good to see you.
We're on a bit of a hiatus as we try to decide what our next steps might be.

@everyone
We haven't heard from everyone in a bit, so I just wanted to check in. It sounds like Aeshuura, Lumen, and Rodney have moved on, and maybe Rodalas too? He had a lot of life stuff happen all at once, so not sure.

That would leave us with:

Greycastle / Khitt: DM (hopefully?) / Ranger
Umikh (Fighter)
Baldrick (Sorcerer/Barbarian)
Netzer (Barbarian)
Albion (?)

The party's a bit sparse on magic (especially as Baldrick isn't meant to be played as the sole arcane caster in a group). So we should recruit and/or I could play a different character. In either case, one question is whether new characters should be built at 5th level or are we sticking to AL rules?

I've also been trying to figure out if I have the time to pick up some of the DM slack -- I think I could probably manage it, but (as I mentioned to Aesh) I don't have D&D Beyond or rulebooks beyond the basic set, which might be limiting.

Welcome! They just finished a section, but I cannot run anymore as life and Face-to-face games are taking more and more of my attention. We are currently trying to figure out who will run next...

We have the following PCs:
Baldrick, a former Dwarvish soldier that unbeknownst to himself is actually a wild magic sorcerer.

Umikh, a Dwarf from the hills near Mirabar. Warrior by trade.

Khitt, a Goblin ranger that favors the tundra with his snow leopard, Khat.

Netzer, a Dwarf Hearth Guardian, corrupted by the black ice found across the Icewind Dale...

I am not sure if Rodalas, is still around, but he is an Eladrin assassin of the Winter Court of the Fae...

If I continue to play (depending on how things play out), Turq is a human that was raised by Dwarves trained to be a warrior. Mostly provides a tanky support style....

Hey everyone! Popping out of the blue at Aeshuura’s suggestion - been looking for a noob friendly 5e game here on the forums forever. What are you guys up to? :)

Hi Albion,

Aesh and Baldrick laid out the situation pretty well. If we’re going to continue, the game will need an influx of new blood.

If you’re interested in joining us, pitch your idea and between all of us, we can help you work out a character.

You mentioned the game being noob friendly, why dont you give us an idea of what experience you do have and we can go from there.

Just chiming in to say I’m following the goings on. Hopeful we find an extra person or two and maybe an extra DM (or set of books).

Hi and sorry for just breaking in.

I was following the recruitment thread where Albion (I think) asked for a game and that ended up with me reading you guys here. I learned of your problem with the books and thought I should leave you this wiki where you can find all content. Maybe you knew about it already, but maybe you didn't, and it's a shame to let a game die if you have the means to help, right? :)

I am here!

Thank you for all the replies :)

I am going off the original Recruitment post: 'Adventure Description
As a beastly army approaches Ten-Towns from the south, heroes take the lead in fortifications and defense. But can the heroes’ optimistic hard work overcome the worst enemy—the towns’ distrust of one another?'

I have played D&D for many years, but never really dabbled much into 5e. I managed to join some games over at D&D Beyond and even one here in the Paizo forums, but those quickly died away, so I have no experience with characters past level 2, and for sure there are a number of mechanics I do not master. So that is what I meant by 'noob friendly'

One of my go-to classes whenever I am trying to learn (more) about a new system, is the Paladin - usually they are basically a martial class, with some magic and some abilities sprinkled in, so that would be my main option. I think they make great training wheels, also because usually they are resilient :)

The fact D&D5e has a different approach to Paladin alignment gives me a lot of freedom - he can be gruff, and even rough around the edges, with a dark past and a generally bad temper even, while still putting himself in harm's way for others, mainly those who manage to earn his friendship. Stuff like that.

Usually full caster classes when I am not very familiar with the system... Can get messy, because of the spells choice. That is why I would try to avoid it. Though I have also played shortly with a Dwarven Forge Cleric which I enjoyed immensely - mainly because I am a HUGE fan of dwarves (I blame Bruenor completely), and the notion of a dwarf cleric, bolstering his allies and hammering heads as needed, just brings a smile to my face.

This is the Cleric I played for with a bit, and this is the Paladin (Wulfgar anyone :D).

So that is it, in a nutshell.

Cleric would be super welcome! I said I would be willing to pick things up if I could get to the half price and get the books and a few adventures which I will try to do this weekend

Thanks, Netz! Mind if I stick around with Turq to help you along with anything you need?

Deal then - I will be the cleric! ;)

@Netzer Did you see the post a couple above where Jereru pointed out a free wiki?

Yeah, a Cleric and a Turq!

Hey that wiki looks great! I've come across it a few times when searching for specifics, but didn't realize it was so comprehensive.

Hey that wiki looks great! I've come across it a few times when searching for specifics, but didn't realize it was so comprehensive.

I’m surprised WotC hasn’t put a cease and desist on them. Probably the only way to they can pull it off is it’s totally free.

Well I would need an adventure to run are those provided by the wiki? Also you staying with Turq is the best thing for all around fun and group goodness.

So I will look for an adventure for 5 and up and see how I do and modify it to the dales...

Starting at level 5 may be hard for me, but I'll give it a shot.
How does equipment, etc, work for a level 5 character?

Up until very recently (I think just this last adventure), we were playing AL, so equipment and gold were sparse.

Greycastle might be the best one to advise you about what you should start with in terms of equipment, but the rest of the crew has:
- Starting gear for their class + cold winter gear
- ~165 gp
- ~3 Healing Potions
- One +1 item
- Choice between a Headband of Intellect and Bracers of Archery

... I might have missed something...

But yeah, it can be tough to start a character at a high level as you don't get to progress them slowly. I used to go to a lot of local drop-in one-shots, so I came up with 4 or 5 character ideas, then built the same character at a few different levels to accommodate the group I might be walking into. That's how I figured out that spells like Fireball or ones that require concentration, while fun, don't really make sense for Baldrick. This group is the first chance I've had to build Baldrick from level 1 up has been really great. It might be useful to you to think about what your character would have looked like at level 1 and how they got to level 5.

Thanks for the info Baldrick.

In any case, I think it would be best if I sit this one out - I need to find a game more appropriate to my knowledge level of D&D5e, and go through the same experience you did of playing from level 1 or 2.

It is important not only for your own character, but also to understand the mechanics and at least a bit of the relative power levels. I think trying to build a level 5 (which already involves some options and choices) healer/supporter cleric in a system I am not familiar with, is probably not a good idea for me ;)

That's totally fair. Some people like to start out at a higher level because there are more options and you can start out with a sense that your character is a bit more able to do stuff.

Actually, I think that's one of the reasons for the popularity of 5e -- they really upped what is possible for characters at level 1. Starting out at 1st level in 1e or 2e meant that there was a very real possibility of everyone dying before they even went up a level. In contrast, 5e can feel a bit 'safe' and sometimes you level up with no real advancement in ability.

Anyway, I hope I didn't scare you off! Good luck out there.

Nah, not scared off :)

I am decided on giving 5e a try, I will just need to find something more appropriate/comfortable for my noobness. Thanks for the added info!

And thanks Aeshuura for the tip on checking this game out ;)

Netz, do you feel comfortable enough creating your own content for the game, or do you work better off a module? If you work better off a module, there are couple of cold ones from Season 5 that are nice... Shoot me an email at noelmock@gmail.com and I will send you the module PDFs. They are thematically appropriate, and if you want you can tweak them just a wee bit to be placed in the Dale (instead of the other side of the Spine of the World), but it makes little matter.

I didn't want to bog down the Recruitment channel with this:

(Note: Silvery Barbs from Strixhaven has been a massive point of contention at my face-to-face tables, and can be irritating at best.)

I'm not familiar with the spell -- it looks like it confers disadvantage on a foe and advantage on an ally. Is that unreasonable for a 1st level spell (for example, there are cantrips that will do 1/2 of this).

Partly I'm curious because I've lost all sense of what works in D&D -- that's my fault (or maybe Covid's fault) for not having played much D&D recently, and not having much experience outside of the PHB. I mean, the PHB already seemed pretty unbalanced (e.g., the Rogue in my old party was better at both combat and out-of-combat skills than my equivalent-level Ranger), so... I guess when the ruler is broken, it's hard to tell if anything is the right length.

(Also, if Aeshuura and/or Greycastle are comfortable having this kind of discussion with me, I can probably also run / modify a module in or near the Dale)

I have gmd since the 1970s and learned at the feet of Dave at the Source in Minnesota starting with chainmail and moving forward. I can make content for sure but I want to do it in the 5e vein

I can do that, if you want! Maybe Baldrick can start, it can give Netzer a little more time getting comfortable with the ruleset...

What say you, Netzer?

5e is a mess, lol. There DL is not really DL

I didn't want to bog down the Recruitment channel with this:

Is that unreasonable for a 1st level spell (for example, there are cantrips that will do 1/2 of this).

The main point of contention as far as I'm aware is that it is really powerful as a reaction to do. Anything that the enemy succeeds on? Reroll. Anything coming up that may be difficult? Give the person making the check advantage. It seems minor, but it is a real pain for the DM to have to constantly reroll whenever they may hit a player just because of a reaction spell. Granted, it is limited by spell slots and 1 reaction/round. The reason I asked is it synergizes incredibly well with order cleric (when i target allies they can make a reaction attack, silvery barbs targets an ally). However, I do understand Aeshuura (and many other DM's) perspective on Silvery Barbs, and it's hard to disagree with in practice. Another spell i was interested in was Vortex Warp, which allows me to basically teleport 1 or 2 of you guys into combat and let one of you make an attack immediately (due to order cleric).

Ah, I didn't realize it was a reaction spell. That does make it tricky -- I mean, annoying perhaps in the context of an in-person game, but actually complicated in a play-by-post, since you would be asking the DM to reroll after you know the entire result (since we roll attack and damage at the same time). So, a player might decide that an attack that hits but only does 1 damage is not worth the spell slot, whereas you wouldn't actually know that in the context of a live game (which is, presumably, what the spell was designed for).

Vortex Warp, in contrast, you would not be forcing a ret-con -- seems kind of similar to Misty Step, but maybe others with more experience have a different view.

that spell is great from a player perspective, but as a DM I can agree it would be annoying. Baldrick brings up a huge point with PBP. I would tend toward not allowing it as well.

I hope everyone had a good long weekend.

I did some reading and I think that I can pull off DMing the next segment of our adventures. I don't want to step on anybody's toes, though, so Netzer or Greycastle -- let me know if you had something planned and want to take the lead here. (I'll also shoot you each a message so we can coordinate things a bit, so keep an eye on your Private Messages)

You guys need to kick me since I was out scouting my farm for the bow season until early this morning and go out for a week of nature filled God blessed return to humanity the last week of Sept

Sorry to lose you, but enjoy nature for the next few weeks! Maybe you can rejoin us when you return!

No worries! If you think you'll able to return to the game when you get back, we can bot you or delay start by a bit (I imagine September will be a bit slow anyway, as kids and teachers go back to school).

If it'll be longer (or if you don't think you'll return to the game), let us know and we'll look for another player.

I will stay and post when I can if that is ok then I just don't want to be a deterrent to fun and I am finally getting back to being able to play more so if you will have me I will stay

You are always welcome!

Excellent!

I will post something introductory tomorrow and then give folks some time to RP as we get back into it.

The more smelly dwarves to insult, the better.

Hey all! sorry for the inactivity recently, was in Florida for my cousin's bar mitzvah and was unable to check/post. Unfortunately I will be unavailable again next weekend, as my grandmother passed away this Friday. her funeral is on Sunday and we will be driving back down to Florida for her funeral. I should return on Monday, though it may take me a day or two to continue posting. If anything important/pressing happens during the times I am away, feel free to NPC me or just ghost me along.

I am sorry for your loss, Benobo. Life comes at you sideways. We will be here when you have time.

So sorry to hear about your loss -- take as much time as you need.

I am so sorry to hear about your loss.

Dang, after 6th level, I was intending to take a couple of levels of ranger... Not to step on Khitt's toes, but to supplement them... ^_^

I think Turq will lead the group to move at middle pace. Time is of the essence, but we don't want to be caught with our pants down, eh? ;)

Zekher tzadik livrakha my friend.

Also on a less serious note who doesn't like their pants down?

I just want to make sure that we did not level and we should all be 5th level still correct?

I'm level 5