Topic: The Dungeon and Dragons Thread

This is more or less how we've been handling these situations in our campaign. Though perception checks arguably come up the most.

@Darknyht Also I use preciption for the obvious stuff if players want to take a quick scan of the room. Yeah using a perception check the player can see there is a bed, a desk and a wardrobe in the room but they aren't going to find the secret door in the fireplace that leads to the underground cavern.

@Tasuki Good to hear that I am not too far off the track with my thinking. We are trying to figure out how to get everyone comfortable with a role in the party (i.e. Tank, Damage, Healer, Face, etc.) so they can have their individual moments to shine.

Our group still hasn't met for a session yet. We were originally scheduled to last weekend, but one player had to back out a couple days beforehand since they were going to help their grandfather move house to a new place. Unfortunately, the same elderly gentleman was then admitted to the hospital earlier this week - pneumonia - and passed away, so I highly doubt we're meeting this coming weekend either. I'm fine with waiting due to the circumstances, especially since I went through a similar experience very recently. Still, I'm starting to wonder when we'll play again.

@Tyranexx Yeah that's been the problem with alot of my past campaigns life happened and then for whatever reason the campaign never continued. I hope that doesn't happen to your group.

My group won't be meeting this week as I have to work late. But next Sunday we should be good, hopefully we will start Session Zero for this new campaign.

@Tasuki I doubt our campaign is done. RL is just getting in the way for some of us at one point or another. I can relate since we laid my step-grandpa to rest earlier this week; he passed late last week. I used some of the freed up time on Sunday to visit my grandma for a bit. She's holding up pretty well all things considered.

Looking forward to hearing how Session Zero starts for the new campaign!

@Tyranexx Well we finally started Curse of Strahd last night and so far I am enjoying it. So our group consists of, a Minotaur Rune Knight, a Half Orc Paladin, a Werebear Bloodhunter, a Shadar-Kai Shadow Sorcerer/Rogue, and an Eladrin Cleric.

We mainly all got pulled into Ravenloft from our perspective Realms and meant with the Vistani tribe to learn why we were pulled into Ravenloft.

@Tasuki That sounds like an interesting, diverse group setup. Mostly a roleplaying session then? That would allow for a lot of creative exposition. Makes me wonder what motivates everyone in the group, even if it sounds like they were sucked into Ravenloft unexpectedly.

@Tyranexx Well right now, I think everyone is still in shock being trusted in this new world. Right now we are getting use to each other. As for my character being a Shadar-Kai, She is use to always being on the move. Her background was an urban bounty hunter. Right now she is just t wondering why the Mists brought her here.

@Tasuki Good luck with it. Curse of Strahd has been challenging for us, but we are enjoying it. The Minotaur Rune Knight sounds interesting, but I haven't ever seen a Rune Knight in play. What seems to be the role for them?

@Darknyht They can be a tank role or DPS depending whatever runes they choose. It's from Tashas.

We're currently gauging interest in a session this coming weekend, but one group member has agreed to overtime at their job. Not sure if we'll manage to schedule anything.

@Tasuki I admit that I had to look up what a Shadar-Kai is. Definitely an interesting Elven race, one I hadn't heard of before. The only "dark" race I was aware of was the Drow, but there are clearly some differences. Rune Knights sound like an interesting class as well, one I wouldn't mind looking into at some point.

@Tyranexx The biggest difference between Drow and Shadar-Kai is Drow are from the underdark where as Shadar-Kai are from the Shadowfell. Also Shadar-Kai aren't evil like drow and worship the Raven Queen. Shadar-Kai are polar opposites of elves from the feywild, kinda like goth elves if that makes sense at all.

@Tasuki I did catch that their locations of origin are different. Admittedly what I found/read on Shadar-Kai was brief at the time, so I was unsure as to the nature of the Raven Queen. Goth elves huh? I'd joke about a vampire comparison, but I'm fairly certain that would be off base lol.

@Tyranexx Well due to their alliance with the Raven Queen the don't like any undead and see it as a mockery to what the Raven Queen stands for.

Welp, not playing again this weekend; none of our schedules fully align unfortunately. We're shooting for next weekend until further notice.

@Tasuki I see....What I'm finding regarding the Raven Queen's origins is interesting reading indeed, though there doesn't seem to be a definite origin story either....

@Tyranexx That's a shame that you gotta wait longer to game. I won't be gaming this weekend either as I have to work due to request some days off during the week for an event I am going too.

As far as Raven Queen origins go I think she came about in 4th edition and became popular there and WotC just carried her over to 5e due to being popular. I am not sure since I never played 4e, but I don't remember her at all in 3rd Edition.

@Tasuki I suppose I can be patient a bit longer, but it's getting kinda hard. We left off at an interesting point in the plot if I recall - namely landing on top of the commandeered floating giant castle via wyvern. We're technically disguised as cultists again, but I wonder how long it'll last this time....

The Raven Queen is indeed an interesting character (deity?) due to not having a set form per se, and I totally find it plausible for the current Shadar-Kai to be her followers if one of her origin stories is anything to go by.

@Tyranexx Yeah she is an interesting one. I have always enjoyed reading about the various deities and learning about them. With 5e it comes easy for me because alot of them are just Greyhawk deities from the older editions save for a few of them like the Raven Queen.

@Tasuki Part of the draw for D&D, for me, is how lore-heavy the universe(s) can be. It's crazy how invested I can become in settings where everything is carefully laid out. That used to be partially why I was into WoW so much years ago.