Campaign Journal 11 - Visiting Talengard

We last left our heroes in Linden, preparing to journey to see the sages of Talengard, in the hopes of selling 65-70 antique books, and potentially gaining other information...

The party left Linden on Tuesday April 30, heading east on the Great North Road, in two horse-drawn carts. They had 65-70 antique books to sell, a 6 foot by 6 foot antique carved wooden artwork panel depicting a fight between several warriors and a dragon, as well as some pieces of salvaged arms and armor of modest value. These would all be sold to raise as much money as possible, and to gain information that would help the party's future explorations. Mordecai (NPC fighter) expressed an interest in cashing out his share of the treasure so that he continue a few days further on into Alsberg, where he could visit his father and give him some money.

The trip east through Wegley and Nandra was uneventful, and the party reached Talengard on Tuesday May 7th, 8 days out of Linden. Duncan and Niam (wizard and rogue) were dispatched to meet with the sages of Talengard regarding a potential sale of the books, while the remainder of the party stayed in the town of the same name.

Talengard and the Grand Duchy of Rimini (6 mile - Hexographer)

Duncan and Niam first met with a minor administrator, but when the size and rarity of the collection they were trying to sell became apparent, Oleran Graybeard, Master of the Library, came to discuss matters with them himself. Much of the day was spent in allowing time for numerous sages in various specialties to exam the works, after which some negotiating was needed. The sages valued the collection at 6,700 GP (a princely sum!), but as Bertram, the Master of Coin, explained, that was an amount of coin that they could easily come up with. The next day, it was agreed that 2,500 would be paid in cash, and 4,200 would be paid in "credit" for future services where the sages could be of use. The party was also provided with a much better map of Onoria than the very simple sketch map which was all they had access to previously, and a couple of small journals of adventurers who had traveled the area in the past.

Before leaving, Eustace of Jasla, the sage they had saved near Castle Langborne, and his mentor Bethziral (an elderly halfling) came to visit with the party. Knowing of their interest in Castle Langborne, Bethziral had some additional information to share. Based on her researches, she said that she believed Alferith Langborne was a direct descendent of the Tramantine family, and that was probably one of the reasons he returned to Brin-Dendra (as it was known in the Elder days). The Tramantine family were the Dukes of Sesteval, which roughly covered what is now the Shearingvale and surrounding lands in southeast Onoria. The other reason she believes he went to Brin-Dendra is because of the legends of something called the Soulfire Beacon. Legend has it that the Soulfire Beacon was the culmination of the Tramantine family's researched into dark magic. Some tales say that it is a powerful artifact that uses sacrificial life forces from the living to summon and control the dead. Others say that it is some sort of gate or portal to the underworld, or to a different plane of existence where the souls of the dead rest. Bethziral said that the only specific mention she had uncovered as to the location of the Soulfire Beacon is that it is near a place in deepest mines under the town, a place where the delvings had broken through into the Underdark. It is a place said to be holy to the duergar (the dark dwarves).

After spending the night in Talengard town, the party decided to head to Greva (one day southeast) and then on to the city of Rimini (another day east). In Rimini, they would change their new coins into gems for portability, sell the carved artwork panels, and buy some better gear while they were in a large city.

After two full days in Rimini, the group left on Monday May 13, and had an uneventful trip west along the Great North Road and back to Linden, where they arrived on Tuesday the 21st.

Next - And now what?

GM Commentary - This was a full three hour session where not a single die was rolled in anger. I was OK with it, as some important things happened from the standpoint of building out the world and setting up future adventures (at least from a myth/legend and history of the world standpoint). I hope the players were OK with it, as there was experience awarded for goals and information learned and gathered.

Campaign Journal 10 - The East Laboratory

Further Explorations of Castle Langborne's Dungeons

We left our heroes in a secure room in the East Basements level, bedding down for the night to rest and recuperate.

The night passed uneventfully, and in the morning, as the party was leaving the chamber, sharpeyed Melior the Druid noticed some faint scratch marks on the floor in the southeast corner of the room. This turned out to be a secret door leading to more stairs descending further. The stairs showed years of undisturbed dust.

After descending another 40 feet or so, the party came out into what was once an alchemical laboratory or something similar. There were old stone and wooden tables and stools, many shelves lining the walls, and a large amount of very old arcane equipment. Storage rooms to the east were explored.

Castle Langborne's East Labs sub-level

When the door to the north (right in the picture) was opened, a waft of fresh air swept across the party, and a magical light began to glow, illuminating what was obviously a library. Stone alcove shelves lined the walls, and a table and chairs were in the center of the room. The room seemed to have magical climate control, and the combination of steady temperature and humidity levels had preserved approximately 100 of the books, tomes, grimoires and sets of scrolls stored here (not all were salvageable). These books were made of all imaginable kinds of materials, and were written in a variety of languages. A few hours of going through the books and finding the ones that were still in good condition made the characters realize that they had found a treasure trove of great value. Perhaps 25-30 of the works would be useful in forming the foundation of a wizard's library for Duncan, and the remainder would be of value to sages or collectors. They covered all sorts of subjects (alchemy, biology, mathematics, natural history, astronomy, history, etc), and it was estimated that they might be worth thousands of gold in the right hands.

In searching the library, a secret door was found in the east wall which led to a short tunnel. In the tunnel was a small chest sitting on a wooden crate. The crate was filled with decaying green and gold clothing, obviously the livery colors of someone's household. The small chest had a dozen pieces of jewelry and a note. The note (written in an older dialect of high elven) said:

My dearest Estrellia, Despite your youth, you show the signs of having a gift in the Art. In these dangerous times, that is both a gift and a curse. I have been called to the battlefield, and leave in the morning. Rumor is that General Tamarka fell yesterday, although I know not if this is true. They say that a demon-led orc horde has crossed into the Central Plains, and threatens to overrun everything north of the Serintan. I know that you will be using the library, and so I hope that you will find this. I have set aside these things that should be of help to you should you choose to follow the path that I, and many others of our ancestors have taken. –Grandpa Max

Duncan was given a chance to make an Arcana roll to see if this meant anything to him. He would need to roll a natural 20 to succeed...and rolled a natural 20. Duncan's reading on famous wizards of the past allowed him to recognize that this probably referred to Maximilian Baroka and his granddaughter Estrellia Baroka (known as Estrellia the Savage). These were two of the most famous of a family of wizards (Conjurers especially) from late in the Elder times. This letter itself was probably also of value to a sage or collector.

Among the pieces of jewelry, two items of magic were discovered. One was identified to be a Ring of Protection +2, and one was identified to be Bracers of Fire Resistance. The ring went to Duncan (?) and the bracers went to Malachy.

The decision was made that what they had found thus far was realistically all that they could carry, and that they would travel back to Linden, and then on to Talengard to sell the books.

An ankheg (a gigantic earth-tunneling praying mantis type creature that spits acid) was killed on the way home. The trip was otherwise uneventful.

Next - The party has decided to head to the sage enclave of Talengard in the Grand Duchy of Rimini, approximately a week's journey east on the Great North Road.

GM Commentary - Outside the game, we discussed experience for non-combat goals and discoveries and how I want this to open up the storyline and the choices that the players can choose to make. We also touched on the fact that we now have more characters than comfortably make a medium sized party (and than we have players who regularly show up), and how we should deal with this. I don't know that we have a good answer yet...

The issue with our party size, characters and players is this:

We originally had four player characters and two NPCs to fill out a reasonable (and survivable) party of 1st level characters. Then we gained another adult player and a teenager whose father would sit in and make sure she was doing ok (and to see what D&D was all about). All three of the new people are enjoying the game, and show up pretty much all the time. The teenager has rolled her own new character, so we now have a dwarven paladin. The new adult is content to adopt the NPC druid as his own and make it his player character, which is great. That gives us 7 characters. The teen's father is into it, and we are going to create a character for him (he has been playing our rogue, who is a player character whose owner can rarely make it). That will give us 8. Eight is a lot. Perhaps too many. Now that characters are all 3rd level (and not that far from 4th), they have a lot more hit points, spells, abilities, etc. Challenging a party of 8 in combat encounters would be challenging for me (the GM). Eight characters in a dungeon crawl feels like a small army to me.

So I'm not quite sure what to do. We can play with all 8 and adapt. We can make the one remaining NPC (fighter) go away, which would get us down to 7. We could make the campaign more "one-shot" oriented where each playing session could be tailored to "you do 3-3.5 hours of gaming in doing xyz then you all go back to town at the end of every session". Whoever shows up at the session would have their character involved; those that didn't wouldn't (XP gaps would develop as two of our players can rarely make it). Or we could keep the narrative as it is and bend reality to say that players who are not present at sessions just vanish in and out of the narrative depending on when they can be present. From a story telling standpoint, I'm not sure I can happily get my head around that. We'll have to see where this goes...

Campaign Journal 9 - Into the East Basements

Further Explorations of Castle Langborne's Dungeons

We last left our heroes standing around a flight of old stone stairs in a ruined building in the old Onorian town of Maransa. The steps lead down into the darkness, and Niam the rogue has discovered that there is a cobweb choked chamber at the bottom of the stairs.

The characters slowly worked their way through a series of decrepit old chambers with dirty floors, crumbling wall sections, and lots of rodent tracks of various sizes. There were many visible tunnels bored into the exposed dirt areas behind the crumbling walls. The dwarves' stonecunning made them nervous in this part of the dungeon.

Part of Castle Langborne's  East Basements

The party slowly worked their way northwards (left to right in the picture), being very methodical and cautious. In an early chamber, there was a heavy wooden door barred from the inside. The characters avoided this door, fearing what might be behind it, and continued northwards.

In the first of a series of very good Perception rolls, a secret door was found behind some water barrels that were obviously recently used. This led to a series of hidden old storage chambers. As the party advanced, they were set on by a dozen or so giant rats, which were disposed of without too much difficulty. In the last of these 3 storage chambers, a pallet of crude furs and bedding was found, along with a small amount of treasure. The owner of this was nowhere to be seen.

Doubling back, the party then found another secret door that led into a hallway which soon came to a partially opened door. The door was covered with a very thin sheet of hammered brass, and was covered in runes and sigils. The hallway immediately beyond the door descended down a steep flight of stairs that disappeared from view. Forty feet down, the stairs ended in a chamber with a number of doors leading from it. A double door to the north had a barely noticeable chalk symbol in Thieve's Cant that meant "Danger - Traps".

The party went through the door and quickly determined that they were in a labyrinth full of traps of all kinds. Over the course of the next couple hours of game time, the party used Duncan's Unseen Servant to lead them slowly through the labyrinth. They found nothing, but due to their cautiousness took minimal damage.

Returning to the chamber outside the labyrinth, the party moved west (up in the picture). The next chamber had a high ceiling obscured by a multitude of large spider webs. A pair of giant spiders were noticed high in the webbing, and a brief fight ensued. The party was able to dispose of the spiders fairly quickly, but not without taking some damage in the process.

At this point it was determined to be late in the day (in game time and real time), and the party decided to bed down for the night in a lockable chamber with one known entrance.

Next - The party will sleep for the night and see what the morning brings.

GM Commentary - Dungeon crawling went very slowly. This was due to a few things. Of the four players present tonight, only one was from our very experienced bunch. The other three were our newbies, and were still getting used to things. This made them cautious. The desire to be thorough and make sure nothing was being missed (secret doors etc) provided the benefit of successfully finding everything there was to find, but had the side effect of making things go slowly as well.

The main challenge coming out of this for me as a GM is to give some thought to how I can make sure that dungeon crawling moves at a pace such that we can cover enough ground (and therefore see enough stuff) to keep things interesting. I have some thoughts on this that I will post separately. This is an important topic, as having dungeon crawl sessions get tedious and boring would have a seriously negative effect on the campaign.

Hacking 5e D&D

Per my prior post, I am not completely thrilled with the way experience is awarded in 5th edition D&D, and the way that the narrow focus awarding of experience dictates gameplay (intentionally or not). This begs the question of what else I am not completely thrilled with. Which in turn leads to the inevitable: If I was to re-do ("hack") certain parts of D&D, which parts might that be?

Experience points, to be sure. Backgrounds, maybe. Skills, yes. Combat proficiencies, yes.

Backgrounds. So what's wrong with backgrounds? Nothing, fundamentally, but they seem to exist only for the purpose of bestowing a few additional skills at the point of character creation. We used them, and took the resulting skills and languages, but that seems to be about as far as the use of them went. Some of the backgrounds seem odd in all but a few narrowly interpreted uses. This might be more of a result of the fact that we haven't fully immersed ourselves in the roleplaying aspects of the game, but backgrounds seem artificial to me. All things considered though, this is more of a minor quibble compared to some of my other issues.

Skills. The problem? Too many characters are too good at too many things right from the start of the game. I'm more of the view that "adventuring type" skills should be earned through the experience of gameplay (i.e adventuring) and not in effect be bestowed at birth. This is compounded by the omnipresent "proficiency bonus" which is used for a multitude of purposes in the game. As it stands now, most characters will have a plethora of bonuses based on their 6 ability scores, plus more proficiencies from their race choice, and more proficiencies from their background choice. This is way too many starting skills that were never earned.

Combat proficiencies. Non-fighter types are simply too good at fighting. Spell casters are clearly overpowered compared to melee types at higher levels (as they always have been). The flip side of this should be that hand to hand combat should be the one place where fighter types outshine their spellcasting brethren. This doesn't necessarily happen. In our specific case, we have a very high Dexterity wizard and a very high Dexterity rogue who are just as good at hitting and dealing damage (if not better in some cases) than our fighter types. Granted, they have much lower armor classes and are thus easier to hit and damage, but still...

What to do about these, if anything? I'm not sure. Some of these are fundamental to the design of 5e D&D, and the unintended domino effect of messing around with them could break our game. But it is fun to think about.

Game Theory - Experience

There is a popular saying that goes "if the only tool you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail".

I am realizing that this is true of Dungeons & Dragons with regards to combat, experience, and the resulting affect on gameplay.

Apparently, I am not the only one. I was startled to see a new series of YouTube posts by a couple of my favorite role playing streamers discussing this very issue as it related to their desire to "hack" 5th edition D&D to better suit an online campaign that one of the them was running (Steven Lumpkin and Adam Koebel, Hack Attack, and the Rollplay West Marches series). I watched the episodes they had posted so far, and when they got to the part about experience and exactly this issue, I think I actually pointed at my computer screen and said "Yes, that's exactly it!"

I would summarize my feelings on the topic, synthesized with theirs, as follows...

The Reality - Looking at 5th edition D&D (and most editions of D&D for that matter), what stands out is this... Players want their characters to advance and increase in power, skills and abilities (duh...). The way to do this is to gain experience. The only way to gain experience (straight-up by the book) is to kill stuff - anything and everything that you can, as often as you can, whether it makes any sense in the context of the game or not.

This contrasts with:

The Goal - (in other words, what do I want the game to be like...) Players explore the world, have adventures, interact with the people that they meet and the locations that they visit, and become a part of the world. Exploration and discovery being the key. To boldly go where they have not gone before (or something like that). The goal is not "find the next thing to kill" (although there is a time and place for that).

The Disconnect - Many (if not most) activities related to The Goal don't include killing everything in sight, and thus do not contribute to the players' desire to gain experience and advance in all of the related tangible ways.

A Possible Solution - Award experience for activities that contribute to The Goal, regardless of whether they involve killing stuff or not.

This would mean providing experience for things such as:

• Filling in blank spaces on their map.
• Visiting places that they have never been before.
• Discovering new places and new things.
• Making friends and influencing people.
• Figuring things out.
• Surviving in the wilderness.
• Collecting new information.
• Encountering a new monster or creature for the first time (or finding out something new about a type of creature).

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good combat encounter as much as the next person. And they have their place. But combat encounters shouldn't be the only thing the players are seeking out.

As an aside, there was an edition of D&D back in the dim recesses of time that awarded experience for treasure (1 GP = 1 experience point). If you ask me, that's the dumbest idea ever. But I digress.

The more I think about this, the more I like the idea, and will start moving our campaign in this direction. This will require some explanation to the players, but I don't see an issue in that regard. We'll see how it goes. Once I figure out how...

Barak Brannar, The Under-City of Aravesk

Aravesk area (maps in Hexographer)

There are three legendary and deadly dungeon complexes in the Northlands - Smokehole Caverns in the Tellarn Mountains west of Mercia (detailed previously), the Demon Pits of Rakluar within the fallen realm of Ithilkar (west of Onoria), and Barak Brannar, the fallen dwarf realm known to men and elves as the great Under-City of Aravesk.

Aravesk's precise location is of course no longer common knowledge, but it is said to be in the southern Craghorn Peaks on the northeastern border of old Onoria, north of a body of water called Icemelt Lake.  A number of roads, many of them dwarven-built, traverse the area, and remain in good repair to this day due to the skill of their construction. Following these dwarven roads north into the mountains will lead to the Under-City. Seasoned adventurers will say that, much like Smokehole, the trick isn't in finding Aravesk, it's staying alive once you have found it.

In the olden days of the Elder realms, Barak Brannar was by far the greatest dwarven kingdom in the Northlands, rivaling even that of Trandahar in the west or Marble Halls in the far south. It's wealth was derived from the rich mines of many types that honeycombed the Craghorn Peaks, and in the skill of its craftsmen. Barak Brannar was a friend and ally to both Onoria to its south and Tirask to its east, and even maintained good relations with the elves of Myrveen.

Five centuries ago, when the strength of the realm was waning from the generations of incessant wars, Barak Brannar was laid siege by what is claimed to be the greatest orc horde the Northlands has ever seen. Repeated assaults failed to carry the external defenses, but another goblinoid horde welling up from the Underdark overwhelmed the internal defenses of the Under-City, and thus the bitterest chapter yet was written into the book of the lamentations of the dwarves of the North.

With the fall of Barak Brannar, the noble clans of the dwarves of the Northlands were shattered. Some were exterminated entirely, others fled into the wilds, and some may exist to this day hidden in the deep vales of the northern mountains. Yet others had survivors scattered southward, where they either settled in the towns of men, or were assimilated into other smaller dwarfholds.

It is a badge of honor among dwarven clans to be able to trace their lineage back to Barak Brannar, and among those dwarves there is often lasting ill-will toward the other major dwarfholds, with the feeling being that the other dwarven kingdoms didn't do enough to help their brethren.

One of the most persistent, if somewhat wistful, topics of fireside conversation among dwarves (especially the elders) is that of re-conquering and re-settling the old dwarfholds. The jewel in that crown would of course be Barak Brannar.

Dwarves have very long memories indeed.

The Dawnstone

Located somewhere on the central Onorian Plains south of the Shield Wall is one of the more spectacular and well-preserved sites of the Ancients. As is often the case, this site takes the form of a circle of standing stones, although this site is said to be larger and more complicated than most of the simpler stone circles seen elsewhere.

The site also has a unique feature which has given the site its name - the Dawnstone.

In the middle of the central ring of stones, on a small hillock, is a large table-like rock (or altar-like rock as some say). This central stone is of a different type of rock than is found locally, and is a semi-translucent white in color. It radiates a powerful elemental magic.

Each day at sunrise, for a period of about 15 minutes, the Dawnstone glows with a red light coming from deep within the stone. What this does or means, none can (or will) say...