Topic: The Dungeon and Dragons Thread

@FroZtedFlake Considering all the problems we've had so far with half-dragons, the full five-headed suite probably won't do us any favors. XD

@Tyranexx So it looks like my campaign is on hiatus due to one of my players getting COVID and being in ICU. I know what you thinking, but sadly I can't feel bad for him as he has health issues and should have got the vaccine but he's a big anti government person, so yeah.

Back on subject one of my players wants to try his hand on DMG so, he is thinking of doing a one shot till we get back to mine. I am kinda of excited cause this means I get to play!! I have several ideas for characters but, deciding which one I want to play is another story.

@Tasuki While it's hard for me to feel too bad for that player (Fully agreed that he should get the vaccine), a life is a life, and I wish him a speedy recovery. ICU unfortunately isn't a place anyone should end up. The one shot in the meantime sounds like a fun one! I'm curious to learn what kind of character you come up with.

I suspect we'll meet this coming weekend since the weekend after, two of the players are out of town. The session after next - after we wrap up the current sticky situation in the swamp castle - one of the other players wants to return to his Grim Hollow campaign and take a short break from our current setting. The rest of us sans the current DM have already participated in an intro session; the next one will likely introduce our current DM's character. I'm running a Tabaxi rogue (Chaotic neutral thief cat; that'll be fun lol), another player a human druid, a Dreamer (Grim Hollow race) whose class I don't know, and I believe the current DM will have a Loxodon cleric from what I've been told.

@Tasuki Yikes! Hope he gets better fast, I have to agree that he should've just gotten the vaccine though, people nowadays... One shots are great fun though, nice opportunities to try something out that you'd never do for a real campaign.
@Tyranexx Yeah, I'm meeting today to continue one of our two campaigns (we're not quite sure which yet) so that should be a nice end to the 3 day weekend we've had in the states.

@Tyranexx So I wasn't able to do the one shot this weekend, the majority of the group decided to just sit around and relax this weekend over some board games which was fun but that's for discussion in another thread. Don't get me wrong I do feel sorry for my friend who got COVID but at the same time I want to smack him for being stupid, ah well.

I have heard of Grim Hollow just haven't looked to deep into it. Perhaps one of these days I will.

@FroZtedFlake I agree that's one reason I love one shots.

It sounds like we're meeting this coming weekend, though it'll probably be Sunday since one of the other players is occupied Saturday. This works for me anyway; I need to be up early for a dentist appointment. Unfortunately, 7 in the morning was the only time they could slot me in. X_X

@FroZtedFlake As I didn't see your post until today (mostly stayed off the internet yesterday), which campaign did you go with?

@Tasuki Nothing wrong with a few board games every now and then! Some can be quite fun. You are allowed to both feel sorry for and want to smack someone. I get similar feelings more than I care to admit.

I've read some of the book for the Grim Hollow setting. It's an unofficial dark fantasy setting and occurs in a post-apocalyptic world of sorts where there are no gods and magic is treated with fear and suspicion. It introduces some new races as well some interesting sub-classes and other miscellany.
Link: https://ghostfiregaming.com/grim-hollow/

@Tyranexx Oh yeah, we ended up going with more of a backup one, run by one of my other friends (it also happens to be set in wildemount lol) We ended off with a pretty crazy fight against 6 earth golems, it was a fun one.

@FroZtedFlake Wildemount is a setting I've heard of but have no exposure to. I love the name though. Sounds like your group left off on a cliffhanger; I'm definitely curious to learn how that pans out.

@Tyranexx Wildemount is one of the continents of Matt Mercer's world which he uses on Critical Role. Season 2 of Critical Role took place in Wildemount.

@Tasuki Interesting. I confess that I have yet to watch a full episode of Critical Role, namely due to how long they usually are. I've heard excellent things about it though. I might do some digging on the general setting next time I have a spare block of time.

@Tyranexx I usually listen to podcast version of the episodes due to their length. Usually on my way to work, driving in general or when I am doing house work or something like that. It's much easier that way then sitting and watching 3-4 hours of it on Youtube.

@Tasuki I could maybe fit some of it in when doing housework - I just listened to a Youtuber while doing dishes earlier. Are their podcasts on Spotify? I have a premium sub. I don't have much of a commute (~10 minutes both ways), and the nature of my work is such that I usually can't concentrate very well if I'm listening to noise with words in it. That's why I usually listen to video game music at work since most of it doesn't have lyrics lol.

@Tyranexx I believe it's on Spotify. And yeah I know what me about listening to things with lyrics when trying to concentrate on something.

@Tasuki I'll look it up then, maybe download a cast or two (if they're available for that) to listen to just to try it out.

@Tasuki @Tyranexx Yeah, they're a really good listen, it can be slow sometimes, but it's always fun storytelling. It's my favorite podcast other than one called "Sacred Realms" hosted by these two brothers.

@FroZtedFlake That's two recommendations in this thread then, not even counting recommendations I've received from my group lol. It's hard for me to fit passive word listening into my schedule sometimes. The parts of my spare time that aren't spent on feeding/prepping to feed myself for awhile, personal hygiene, yard work, housework, exercise, and sleeping are typically eaten up by a few minutes of YT here and there, gaming, and reading lol.

@Tyranexx Yeah I'm pretty bad about keeping up with the podcasts sometimes, usually I'll either just listen to them for a bit before sleeping, or read for a bit. If I had more free time in my schedule I'd probably listen to more lol. There's always listening while gaming too (I prefer not to though, especially when playing a cutscene heavy game like xenoblade)

@FroZtedFlake I play a lot of story heavy games, so listening while gaming isn't an easy option either lol. I don't even do a lot of reading (unfortunately), typically before bed if I don't pass out first. I could listen while exercising I suppose, but that would have to be from the comfort of home since I usually need my ears when out speedwalking or jogging for safety reasons.

@Tyranexx Yep, that's understandable, I rarely have time to listen myself, it's never really a priority

Whew....I've been very busy the past few days, but we did manage to have a D&D session last weekend. We didn't get up to too much. The player who lost the Tiefling Oathbreaker Paladin is now using their Kobold Warlock follower as a full character, with an improved stat sheet to help out. This'll be interesting without a tanky character....

The Lizardmen had ensured the first floor was secure after our crazy bout. After we looted the belongings of our dead compatriot, we started checking other rooms for cultists and other things we should worry about. We scaled one of the towers and found nothing of note, then tried another near where our characters had been rooming and found about half a dozen cultists on the top floor in one of the rooms. This was quite humorous; our Dragonborn sorceror has boots that enable him to walk on walls and ceilings, so he just casually walked out one window and over to one looking into the room with the barricaded door. We managed to break in, the cultists surrendered instantly, and we gained some information. As suspected, Rezmir didn't flee from fear; she made a tactical retreat. We'll definitely be seeing her again....

Next, we went to the basement of the abandoned, half-swampy castle, where the Lizardmen had been forbidden to go before. Our gnome NPC, Kobold warlock, and the Dragonborn sorceror's croc went down one short, narrow, waterlogged tunnel...and found nothing except some tracks and a small pile of gems in the water. The gnome tried looting the gems, and out popped an ooze. The rest of us none the wiser. The croc did nothing - no direction from its master - and the other two decided the gems weren't worth it and retreated. We then followed a well-traveled path and found a teleportation circle; we'd known from previous discussions with other NPCs that treasure was randomly taken to the basement. Now we know (in character) what happened to it.

Another passage led us to an encounter with the Bollywogs in a chamber of idols, including their leader. Yep, that one, the guy that killed the leader of the Lizardmen. Most of the Bollywogs were disposed of fairly quickly thanks to the bard and a well-placed fireball; the rest panicked and fled with their leader to an adjoining chamber. This was a dead end, and we picked the rest of them off. The smaller attached chamber contained a desk and a chest, which my character identified as rigged with a trap via a perception check (23 with bonuses. ). The rest of us cleared the room while the bard used Mage Hand to open the chest, which caused some jars we'd noticed in the ceiling to shatter. A fine powder covered the room - Mage Hand only has a range of 30, and the chest was in the back - that caused the bard to hallucinate and think WE were Bollywogs. We were attacked and forced to use nonlethal means to take down the bard...for the second time that day. A couple of us covered our noses/mouths and dragged the bard out of harm's way.

The session ended there. I suspect we'll finish exploring the basement and maybe the remains of the castle next time, though out of character one of the players has suspicions regarding some dragon statues near what was Rezmir's room.....