Topic: The Dungeon and Dragons Thread

Finally managed to play this weekend, though it was a relatively short session (~3 hours) due in part to the impending time change. No combat, but plenty of RP action.

The ogres took us to their boss, a storm giant who's more or less driving the floating castle we're now passengers of. Through negotiations, we learned it's mostly controlled by the Spirit of his dead wife. That was a decent conversation between him and the bard (my character isn't usually the negotiating sort and was off grooming her guard drake to the side half the time), and our still quite drunk Kobold Warlock embarrassed himself more than once. The storms giant's wife has telepathically communicated with the bard, though he didn't realize it was her and assumed our sorcerer used Message at one point. The storm giant is quite a conversationalist; turns out he and his ogre underlings are allowing the Cult of the Dragon to use the castle for their needs but aren't affiliated with them per se. He also isn't the brightest lol, but much better than the ogres. We learned that Reznir is on board, so we're quite keen to avoid the lower levels where most of the cultists are bunking.

The bard had the bright idea of bunking with the ogres, but we ruled that out quickly due to the smell. We then tried the nearby Kobold barracks, where one was kind enough to show us where a (giant-sized) guest room was located that we could use. Large furniture, but manageable. Our kobold also embarrassed himself at one point by trying to practice spear throwing with the ogres, then unintentionally became a projectile instead (some bludgeoning damage there lol).

So now our group needs to determine how to sabotage this operation and make Reznir look bad. Oh, and we learned in our info gathering that there's apparently a vampire lady roaming around at night. It was established that she is indeed different from the "Dragon Lady".

@Tasuki Sounds like a pretty fun session all told. A lot of roleplaying, but a bit of combat too. A nice mix! I love the versatility of Prestidigitation; what exactly did you do to drive the wolves off? A very bad smell? XD

@Tyranexx Yeah I made it smell like the scent of a skunk that just sprayed since the wolves couldn't see us due to a fog, all they smelled was the scent of skunk. Which give us enough time to flee since we really weren't sure of the number of wolves.

@Tasuki Ha, nice! I figured it was probably scent related since about anything in the Canis bunch is quite sensitive to smells. XD Any comedy there, or did they just sort of slink off?

@Tyranexx Not quite sure what you mean by comical, they were just wolves, so naturally when they caught the sent they backed off.

After a couple dozen reviews so far for the new movie Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, the critic ratings on RottenTomatoes are "Very Good", looking like it will achieve "Certified Fresh" status.

Redemption, after 2000's Dungeons & Dragons film, which was a complete disaster.

I don't know if I will see the movie or not. For one thing I don't get much time to watch movies and after being disappointed by the previous D&D movies, I am not rushing out to see this one. If I do see it, I probably will see it when it comes to a streaming service.

@Tasuki Yeah it's very simplistic and classless, but that makes it a very grounded experience, which is what I prefer. I dislike the gonzo that is possible, maybe even encouraged in D&D since 3rd ed. I much prefer the old school way, so Knave is an excellent fit for me. But I totally understand how it's not for everyone. D&D has the different personalities very much baked into the rules, which is obviously fine but it is all very high fantasy, and I like my fantasy to be very low.

@Daniel36 Ah that makes sense, yeah D&D tends to be high fantasy even settings like Ebberon and Dragonlance and Spelljammer which tend to be lower fantasy then say Forgotten Realms are still higher fantasy then say Skyrim.

Even if it's not D&D, there's so much variety in TTRPGs today that a person is almost guaranteed to find something they like.

Been a while since I last updated, but we have been able to play a few times since I last posted. We are making progress in Barovia and finally reached Tier 2 of play. Currently we are searching a city for a stolen treasure while trying to stay under the radar of the local authorities, whom my character and his former companions ran into trouble with previously.

When we pick up tonight, we will be visiting the person we believe has stolen the item and I have a feeling things will not be as simple or straightforward as it is presented. Mostly because nothing in Curse of Strahd is simple and straightforward by design.

I haven't really kept track of movies lately outside of the Mario movie blurbs, but the D&D one does look interesting. Not sure if I'll watch it in theaters or wait to catch it after the fact.

@Tasuki I was curious if the wolves damaged themselves, or if it was a sort of Pepe Lepew scenario. I've probably watched way more animation than is healthy in my life. XD

@Darknyht What kind of trouble did your party run into with the local authorities?

@Tyranexx A party member was a little eager to enter a house and the authorities showed up. Instead of bailing and running, the same member attacked the guards and a vampire that was visiting the home. We were only level 4 and woefully prepared for that kind of fight. I ended up surrendering and being arrested so that the others could escape with the item we acquired.

In a bargain for freedom, we were tasked with retrieving something. However, they also hired assassin's to trail and kill us. In the ensuing battle our Battlemaster was surrounded, disarmed and dismembered; and our sorcerer died while we attempted to flee. Eventually I completed the task with my new companions (Druid and Eldritch Knight), but I have a lack of trust of the one who made the bargain. So after all that trouble, we lost the item anyways as the Sorcerer had it in his possession.

I was right about the place we visited, it was a trap and we are currently in the middle of a battle with multiple vampires. Fortunately, we are better equipped and leveled (currently Level 6) so we are holding our own with help from a string of terrible DM rolls.

@Tyranexx Nah, as I said they were just wolves so naturally when they got the scent of a skunk they just kind of back off. I know not really exciting but my characters main thought was because of the thick fog we didn't know how many there were or even if the were wolves, or words.

Because my character is a shadow sorcerer she tends to use more illusionary spells and such more then straight damage.

@Darknyht Did your party enter that house to acquire said item? And what persuaded that party member to attack instead of flee? Sounds like a risk taker lol, though props to the player if that was totally in-character. Seems like a fun and violent campaign in any case, though it's a shame your group went through all that trouble only to lose the item in the end. Ah, bad DM rolls....The player's best friend at times.

@Tasuki That was a good plan since you didn't know what sort of numbers you were dealing with. I have little experience with sorcerers outside of our party's own, so I don't know much about them other than a few of the traits that distinguish them from wizards.

@Tyranexx we bought the item from a servant, but when we read it we realized that there was something more sinister. Playing in character, he attempted to climb into the second floor of the house but fell while I was picking a lock. He charged in and ran into a maid that screamed. It went downhill from there as he was determined to win and save face.

By the time we joined the battle he was almost surrounded. I threw grease down so we could exit after the guards fell prone, but he hit a guard with a sling rock on the way out the door. Honestly, we were all over eager but the combat went to his head.

@Darknyht A natural reaction from the maid. I'm sure that alone caused the guards to come running unless she was yelling for help as well. Personally I would've booked it in that situation, but I certainly can see the draw of getting in a lasting potshot at one of the guards. XD Shame it led to losing a party member or two.

@Tyranexx This is honestly my first sorcerer. I played a Ninja-mage for lack of better term, a Paladin who sacrificed his powers and became a monster hunter, a Bard, and a Warrior all 2nd Edition though. I did at one point convert my Monster Hunter and played him in 3.5 Edition, but that was a few years ago.

We will be continuing our adventure this Sunday which I am excited for. I call those weekend my Triple D weekend because it's going to be full of the Diablo IV beta and D&D lol.

@Tyranexx sorry for the late reply, work has been crazy. It taught the player an important lesson that Barovia is harsh and deceptive. In the end it worked out to balance the party better with a Tank/damage, Striker/utility, Healer/support model. The player is happier with an Eldritch Knight and the other player is good at healing and support (if not also a bit of a pyro).

We are staring to progress well in the campaign, but Barovia is never a smooth journey. I can see now though how my Mandalorian style Artificer can easily break things.

(I switched from crossbow ranged to glaive with fire bolt for long range. The Mandalorian was the easiest analog to explain how my character worked. Fire Bolt is wrist blaster, same with Tasha’s Caustic. Healing is kettle medibots. Detect Magic is visor in helmet. Steel Defender is like a droid. Etc.)

Normally I would've assumed my group would meet this weekend, but I haven't seen any communication yet. We've set up eleventh hour sessions before lol. But I do think next weekend is more likely by this point. Probably not the weekend after since that's when Easter falls.

@Tasuki Quite a character class roster there! Though I suspect the gameplay revolving around each of your previous characters will have changed at least somewhat in 5e. Looking forward to reading what happens to your group next! Enjoy your triple D weekend.

@Darknyht NP at all, RL keeps me busy a lot too. Sounds like a better group makeup overall, and a good lesson for that player too. Funny you mention a pyro as we've had more than a few "Fireball everything!" jokes in our own group. XD Hopefully your group doesn't run into too many suicidal situations again anytime soon. Your Artificer still sounds like a fun character, especially with your described setup.

@Tyranexx More then likely it would change, but then again maybe not. Gameplay mechanics has never defined my characters really it was more the personalities I gave them if that makes sense. Although it would be quite interesting to see their 5e counterparts. I know my friend still has copies of those characters since they were his campaigns. Though it's been years since I played them.

Anyway, we continued Curse of Strahd this weekend. So after spending a night at the Blood of the Vine Tavern and Inn, our group decided to escort a local girl to the town of Velaki. While my character waited at the tavern the next morning the others in our group decided to check out the source of a god awful moan that went all night long. Upon finding about the source we decide to escort finally prepare to leave the town of Barovia but first, we had to lay the girls father to rest. So we decided to take the body to the local church however upon arriving at the church we come to find the priest had locked his own son in the basement of the church. After come to the conclusion that the son is some sort of undead, given the clues we got, we decided to go put it out of its misery. And that's where we ended tonight.

@Tasuki It’s interesting to hear the differences between my journey through the campaign and yours. I am trying hard not to post spoilers because part of the fun is the twists and surprises, but if I recall events went differently for us as we stayed at a house instead of the inn.

Did your party run through the prequel mission to get you to level 3?