Getting Into D&D 5e Adventures

I forgot to mention in my last post, that it really meant a lot to me when I saw my project featured during the awards show on YouTube. My son was thrilled to see his game on TV. I sent the link to my son’s friend and his dad so they could see it too.

I mentioned in my last post that I haven’t been in the best mental state of mind to play or work on the game. Thankfully, my wife decided that she would schedule the game and tell me when everyone was coming over. That really helped get me motivated to prep and think about something fun.

I jumped in and finished the rest of the map for the game. Specifically the 3^rd floor of the tower and I painted some craft walls I had built.

I spent the day before the game getting my notes put together, printing out some handouts and setting up the table.  I decided to use the Side Kick rules in the book and created some generic Wizard, Cleric, Thief, Bard sheets in case the players wanted to add any additional help to their group.  My son decided he wanted to bring his squire along so I made a 1st level fighter/defender sidekick for him.

I also made a Side Kick character sheet for the Giant Crab the group comes across.  I was thinking that the younger players might like the idea having the crab join their group.  I ended up a Hobby Lobby and came across some cheap ocean creatures and there happened to be a crab and sharks in the bag.  It was only a few bucks so I picked it up.

The last few items I printed were letters that the adventurers could find in the Light House

I’ll include my notes for the adventure at the end of this post, but this is the basics of the adventure.

Everyone shared about their new level 3 abilities when we finally got together to play.  I reminded them that they were traveling to the Tower of Storms to find magical treasure in shipwrecks.  After getting back into the groove of playing, the adventurers decided on the route they’d take to the Tower of Storms.  They traveled along the Tribor Train toward the High Road.  In a later expansion to this campaign there is an Inn located at the crossroads.  I decided to add this to the adventure as a way to introduce it early to everyone.  Instead of an Inn, it is mostly an encampment with Tents that can be rented, food and drinks, and the beginnings of a stone foundation for the Inn that is available to visit in another campaign.

After a night of difficult rest the party approaches the coast as a storm begins to roll in.  They find a path down the cliff to an area that will allow them to approach the lighthouse.  They hear a thumping over the crashing waves and see the green glow in the lighthouse.

They all made their way down and met the Giant talking Crab that asked for their help to free his master, killed by the evil half-orc in the lighthouse.  They need to retrieve the magical focus stolen from his master so their soul can be at rest (they’re currently a banshee).  In return for accepting the quest, the Crab retrieved a magical item for the characters.  It was a magical rod usable by the Warlock.  I didn’t mention this earlier, but I made up some custom magical items for the players and drew some fun item cards for them.  I’ll try to get those pictures added later.

The party began making their way up to the lighthouse when they came under attack by a group of Harpies.  They had been warned that these creatures existed by the Giant Crab and easily scared them away from their roost.

They made it to the Light House and explored the lower level.  They discovered two letters, a potion of Water Breathing, and the Warlock gained a special ability.  In one of the rooms was an Altar to the evil god Talos.  Sitting on the altar was a letter and when the Warlock reached out to pick it up he was imbued with the temporary ability to cast lightening bolt due to a metal rod that would periodically charge the altar.

They began climbing the steps of the Light House tower.  At the first landing they exited to the open landing on the second floor.  They came across the Anchorite of Talos that had killed the master of the Giant Crab, holding the magical focus.  The druid wild shaped into a wolf, and all the characters attacked.  The Anchorite was able to strike the group with lightening and during the combat used Thunder Wave.  He was finally struck down and the adventurers continued up the stairs into the lighthouse.  The group searched the body, gathered some items, and noted that the Anchorite had a large hole in it’s chest, missing it’s heart.

As they approached the top of the light house they realized that the light being emitted was too bright to look at the light source.  They could hear the thumping sound, like a heart, and the knight decided to turn quickly and throw an axe at the light.  He turned, threw, struck the light, and was blinded.  The druid then threw his boomerang striking the light, making sure to not look at the light.  Those that could see were able to see that the light was a giant heart, slowly shrinking.  When the group removed their weapons the heart imploded and disappeared.

They returned the magical focus to the giant crab and it’s banshee/ghost master.  The spirit was free.  The group then asked the crab if it would join them on their search of the shipwrecks for treasure and it agreed to help.

The group went out into the water, aware of sharks nearby.  The Giant Crab joined the team.  The crab investigated each of the adventurers and mentioned how the sharks would be more included to attack some of them due to unhealed wounds.  The group decided to heal and picked the Druid to take the potion of water breathing since he is small (a Halfling) and could maneuver around the wreckage.  During the dives they were attacked by three Hunter Sharks, with some of the group being wounded, exciting the sharks before they were all killed by the adventurers.  The other two players received custom magical items I made for them.

After they finished exploring the wreckage they asked the Giant Crab it’s name.  It shared that it never had one and the group decided to call it Captain Pinchy.  They did end up asking Captain Pinchy to join their group and he happily joined them.

The group traveled back to Phandalin, passing through the “inn” and giving the patrons and update of their adventure.  They sold goods in Phandalin and decided their next adventure would be Butterskull Ranch.  They need to travel to a Ranch that has been attacked by a group of Orcs.

These are some of the notes I typed up in preparation for the game.

Leaving Phandelver: Do they want to do anything before they travel. Perhaps Horses and a cart?

• Town is beginning to become more busy with travelers seeking adventure and a new life. You hear about a few travelers in town that might be interested in joining you
• Rumors that the Dragon was Spotted near the High Road near Leilon
• Uneventful Travel to the Inn
  • You see a sign reading Wayside Inn at the cross roads of the Triboar Trail and High Road. As you round a bend in the trail/crest a hill you can see a small wooden building that must have been hastily built along with a number of walled tents, and an open fire with a large pot nearby. You also see an area of cleared ground and the beginings of a stone foundation being built.
  • Martisha Vinetalker, owner and striking half-elf, pleasing features and a tough demeanor. Cold, calculating, charismatic, and knows hot to run a business for profit.
  • Backes Dunfield, bartender, human with a scarred face and crooked smile, recently joined up with Marisha. He is a former privateer
  • Coorah Struckt, cook, a half orc that has been a close friend to Marisha for many years. Food is incredibly good, well spiced, stews and meat pies.
• Rumors:
  • A group calling themselves the Stone Cold Reavers, led by a female elf, Syleen Wintermoon came through a night ago.
    • They mentioned something about Phandalin not being worth their time and full of weak people that needed taught a lesson.
    • They said jobs in the area aren’t much and involve helping people. They did have a great time terrorizing some Gnomes and getting magic items from them.
    • Headed Leilon to investigate a rumor White Dragon being spotted in the area.
    • They heard word from another traveler coming from Neverwinter that a red demon was spotted by loggers up river at the Logging Camp.
    • The Lighthouse
      • A few people have ventured near the coast close enough to see an erie green light from the lighthouse.
      • Most people hear a thumping coming from the area…loud enough to hear over the crashing waves.
      • Ships have gone missing near the lighthouse over the past 6 months
• Durning the night, you sleep poorly as the wind wips your tent walls, In the morning you see a storm approaching from the sea coast.

Tower of Storms

• Read entry on arrival:
• You arrive at a cliff face about mid-day, the sky has begun to darken and you see rain and lightning in the distance. Waves crash around a path of stone leading to a 30ft tall pillar with a cave entrace. You also see, what appears to be a giant crab…waving to you?

Meeting the Giant Crab

• Find a plath down, approached by a giant crab, read through section.

Haunted Cave

• Miraal, the sea elf, read descritioption, Giant Crab translates the situation as the banshee howls it’s torments at them.

Plateau: Harpys attack with song

Harpy’s Aerie, find a potion of water breathing

Moesko the Anchorite: Clad in armor made of giant octopus hide, holding an opalescent conch

So, it’s been a while since I posted about the D&D campaign I’ve been running. I’ve had some ups and downs since my last post, but I’ve been happy to get back into it.

I started like I normally do when prepping for a game by creating the maps. I drew out the island and first floor of the lighthouse.

I decided that I’d create some additional walls to give the maps a 3D look. I figured my son and his friend would like that.

I ended up priming some cardboard from food boxes brown on one side and taping them together for the second floor. I started by drawing out the map, gluing it down, and then cutting out the shape of the floor.

I took a break between finishing this part of the project and playing the game.

I had the opportunity to visit family in Ohio. We always stop in Point Pleasant, WV to visit the Mothman, walk around the museum, and stretch our legs. During our stay in Ohio we witnessed the eclipse. I can’t describe how awesome that experience was for me and my family. One part of the eclipse that amazed me was that no matter the direction you looked it appeared like dusk.

I ended up suffering an injury that set me back physically and mentally after the trip. Thankfully my wife helped pull me out of this mental block by scheduling the D&D game. That helped motivate me to do something fun. I’ll share more about the game in the next post.

I recently received a prize to create my own HeroForge 2D mini (thanks OnTableTop team and HeroForge!).  I honestly wasn’t sure what I should make.  I started looking through the Dragon of Icespire Peak module to see if there were any monsters or villains I should make into a custom mini.  I really couldn’t find anything that I felt was really needed…until I remembered my first Dungeons and Dragons character I played in High School.  He’d be fun to make!

Thanks to my hoarding superpowers, I still had my character sheet and original mini.  I named him Su Park after two of my first TaeKwonDo instructors.  This game used AD&D 2nd ed rules.  They didn’t have a Monk character class at the time, so I ended up making him a Cleric. I used special class in the Priest Handbook and skills from the Ninja Handbook to create a Monk that worshiped animals.  Pretty much he ended up being a Shaolin Monk.  Like many first time players and teenagers, I ended up in the Murder Hobo category…or maybe my alignment would best be described as Chaotic Dickhead.

Thinking of this characters original adventures, including a trip to Ravenloft resulting in a cloned body and heart replacement, loss of an eye to gain low light vision (kinda an odd story), and betraying his companions a few times.  I thought he’d make a great member of the Neutral Evil adventuring party that has and will continue to mess with my current players.  The Stone Cold Reavers.

I used my original drawings of Su Park to make my new Hero Forge 2D mini.  I think this looks a lot closer to my original concept of the character than my small metal mini.  I’m also impressed with how my painting has improved since I first painted up Su Park so many years ago.

I’m looking forward to making Su Park and the rest of the Stone Cold Reavers to fight the adventurers 🙂

I had the return to Phandalin planned out (see my notes below) and was happy that they decided to keep the Knight’s retrainers in town.  This gave me the opportunity to introduce a group of Neutral Evil adventurers that are mentioned later in the adventure, the Stone Cold Reavers.

The Knight was extremely upset that these people would hurt his friends.  I think they’ll be out for vengeance when they come across them later in the adventure.

After getting their reward, buying a magic item the Stone Cold Reavers sold to the town master, selling gems, etc. the party thought about their next quest.

They decided to follow up on the rumor “Tower of Storms” at their next quest.

“It is late at night when you arrive back in Phandalin. You decide it might be best to stop back at the inn for some food and a good nights sleep. You pass by the job board as you walk to the Inn. You see that the Gnomengarde job is no longer posted and the board appears empty. You decide that’ll you’ll speak with Townmaster Harbin Wester to get your rewards first thing in the morning.

You get to the Stonehill Inn and see Sir Richard’s companions sitting at a table. As you approach you see that they appear bruised and battered. They share a run-in with a group of ruffians that didn’t like that we had taken most of the beds at the Inn. They started to speak ill of them and the adventurers, causing a fight to break out.
As you eat your dinner and share stories with the other patrons you overhear a rumor.

Share rumor 5 Tower of Storms pg 9

You then head to your rooms for a well deserved nights rest

Meet with Harbin and receive rewards.

Harbin asks you a question. “Since you’ve done such an excellent job, can you put these postings up on the job board for me? (Sliding three pieces of paper and 3 silver coins under the door), Another adventuring group calling themselves the Stone Cold Reavers took the last job off the board (Gnomengarde). You all seem a lot nicer than that group and this’ll give you first pick at the next job if you want one” he say’s cheerily. “They did end up finding some useful magical equipment. I bought Hat of Wizardry off of them. I’d be happy to sell it to you for what I paid since you’re so nice to me. They had some other items they wanted to sell too. You might want to check Barathen’s Provisions, Lionsheild Coster (run by Linene Graywind), or Phandalin Miner’s Exchange (Halia Thornton guildmaster) see pg 8-9.

What is your choice for your next adventure?
Rumor: Visit the lighthouse and shipwrecks on the coast, maybe treasure in the shipwrecks?

Job 1: Investigate the Orcs at Butterskull Ranch, 100 GP after completion

Job 2: Take supplies to the logging camp, 100 GP after completion

Job 3: Escort Don-Jon Raskin to the Mountain Toe Gold Mine, 100 GP after completion

The party spent some of the morning hiking in the mountains when they finally came across the Dwarven Excavation site.  They did a search of the canyon and the Druid rolled a nat 20!  They found a lost pickax and were able to identify a set of orc tracks and two sets of heavy booted tracks.  I used most of the text descriptions from the quest in the book for the areas.  Here are some of my notes.  The one thing that didn’t fit into my notes was that the adventuring party didn’t make themselves known until they snuck up on Dazlyn and Norbus in the Courtyard of the temple.  I used two matching dwarf figures as the greedy looking statues beside the entrance to the temple.

“Some of the group have trouble sleeping the rest of the night and others find sleep easier knowing that you’ve defeated an evil foe. In the morning you break camp and head into the mountains. After a few hours you enter a rocky canyon

Read Arrival on pg 22 Dazlyn and Norbus greet them if the party announces themselves.

E1: If the canyon is searched, The canyon is strewn with rubble and only has a few tough scraggly weeds If searched they see a lone set of fresh humanoid foot prints and two older sets of prints made with sturdy boots

E2: Ruined Settlement: Nothing is nown about this settlement including it’s name, Yet, It looks like there was an avalanche long ago and buried the settlement. We’ve cleared much of the rubble. You see a pony and equipment near an empty, rubble-filled well. Searching reveals a rusted old key and an iron ring

E3: Courtyard and temple Read description pg 22 Dazlyn and Norbus, say that they are willing to give you two matching Sending Stones if you will go into the temple and help get rid of a strange creature that attacked us. Be careful, because earlier in the morning an orc wandered into the temple as we his and we haven’t seen it come back out. We’d like to learn more about this temple and are willing to split anything found before we all leave for Phandalin.”

The party agreed to help Dazlyn and Norbus continue their excavation after clearing out the Temple of the unknown monster inside. They first entered the foyer and examined the secret passage the dwarves had discovered.  Then they decided to move into the main temple room.

The party saw the skeleton and didn’t realize that it was the devoured orc.  I used some pillars from the Dungeons and Lasers Land of the Giants set and an altar from the new HeroQuest boardgame for the temple interior.  They also spotted the Ochre Jelly hanging from the ceiling.  They spent some time thinking of how to deal with the possibility of the skeleton reviving and what they should do with the jelly.

Sir Richard decided to throw his hand axe at the jelly.  Damaging it, but causing it to split in two.

The Druid wild shaped into a spider and climbed up the walls and over to pillar to attack one of the split jellies.  The Warlock and Druid were able to make quick work of the monster.

The party did a search of the temple, not rolling well.  They searched the altar and I gave them a bonus to their roll and had them discover a secret drawer filled with gems.  The Druid examined a pillar where secret compartment is listed in the adventure.  I decided to have it contain a parchment with ancient dwarven text written on it.  The party decided to get the dwarves from outside the temple to read the text.  I was able to give some background on the temple and the religion to everyone.

Next the party offered to help the dwarves continue their excavation.  The dwarves asked them to continue to search for secret passages…and they kept failing their rolls.  The Druid began examing near the temple doorway and finally rolled high.  I had the Druid find the first secret passage.

The party began exploring and came across more passages and rooms.  They took a mid day break and met with the dwarves for a meal.  The Dwarves shared that they finally broke through the passage they were digging in and asked the adventurers to explore there.  Below are my notes from these locations.

“E6: Partially collapsed room. A faint light can be seen through the rubble

E8: You see three stone bed frames against the east wall

E9: Vestry: You see a stone font on the south west wall and a stone wardrobe against the east wall. Inside the wardrobe are two Suits of red Leather Armor with golden studs.

E10: You see a skeleton half buried in the rubble. It wears tattered and torn red leather armor with gold studs

If searched they find a GLOWING tiny jeweled dagger on a silver chain. Inscribed in Dwarvish Runes “Greed is Good” worth 50 gp”

The party continued their exploration of the temple’s secret passages and came across the passage containing another Ochre Jelly.  The party had to coordinate their movements due to the tight quarters, but between the druid in bear form and the fighter, the party was able to defeat the monster.

“E7: Secret Tunnel: An Ocrhe Jelly lurks in the rubble”

The dwarves helped the party clear away the last temple passage that had collapsed.  Knowing that there might be danger, the dwarves went outside the temple and urged the part to continue exploring.
The party entered the room..

“E11: You see the remanants of a destroyed statue on one side of the room. Standing opposite in the north of the room is a stature of a dwarf with horns, that stares greedily at a glowing green gem in its hands.”

The written adventure has the statue with the gem explode as a trap.  The party began contemplating the best way to deal with the statue if it came to life so they could grab the gem and survive.  I decided a living statue was much more fun than an exploding statue.  I gave the statue the stats of an ogre and had slashing do 1/2 damage to it. The fighter had the pickax at the ready near the destroyed statue (in case it reformed), the Druid shifted into a bear to grab the gem and the Warlock waited in the middle to help when needed.  The bear grabbed the gem and I had the statue grab onto the paw (grappled).  I ended up rolling a 1 for my first attack with the statue and decided that it broke it’s hand with the gem off, still holding onto the bear’s paw.  The statue ignored all other characters, only attacking the bear, due to the gem still being in the bears paw.  As the statue began to take more damage I had glowing cracks begin to form on it.  The statue did explode once it was defeated, causing some damage to the heroes.

The party left the temple with their treasure and met up with the dwarves.  They all readied their gear for the long trip back and decided to rest the night at the temple so they could make it back to town in a single day.  In the morning they noticed 3 orcs approaching.  These orcs were looking for their friend that was scouting a new home location for their tribe.

“Leaving the temple, you see three orcs approaching What do you do​?“

The party hid and prepared for battle.  The fight went well for our heroes and they suffered minimal damage.

As the party and dwarves began traveling down the mountain they spotted a white dragon flying out of the woods clutching a goblin in its claws.  The party waited until the dragon was out of site before continuing to Phandalin.

I started this encounter by describing their travel and using the below notes I wrote up.

“Session 2: Dwarven Excavation Adventure pg 22-23 Recap Adventure (Saving Adabra, Manticore, Orcs…)

After gathering supplies, you set off into the wilderness. This is your first time traveling off road and you all feel your senses heightened in these new surroundings. After many hours of walking through the hills and woods you begin to see the foot of the mountains. You decide it might be best to set up camp before hiking into the mountains. You find an area that you feel would make a great campsite and set up for dinner. As night approaches, what do you do? Do they set up watches, etc?

Roll for the time when the attack occurs, resolve combat. Goblins”

They did a great job describing what they did the evening.  The Druid scouted the surrounding area and I told him that there was wildlife in the trees, but that there didn’t seem to be many signs of ground animals.  I was saying this imply that there was something in the woods scaring off the animals or eating them ie the goblins.

The group set up watch and I rolled to see when the Goblins would arrive.  They were scheduled to arrive on the third player/final watch.  I then rolled again to see what hour they would arrive and it was right before everyone was to awake.

I decided to make the goblins a little weaker than normal by having them only use clubs and wear leather armor.  I was able to use 18 goblins for this encounter.

Sissal raised an alarm in time for the rest of the party to be ready as the Goblins moved in to attack.  Waffle and Sir Richard won initiative, followed by the Goblins, and Sissal went last.

Sir Richard and Waffle led the charge into the goblins.  Waffle in bear form is very powerful.  With a single bite he was able to kill a goblin.  He still rolled for his claw attacks and I decided to make it fun by having him describe how he was swiping and having him roll a Dex Check.  He succeeded with the check and I had the goblin go flying into another nearby goblin, causing it to go prone.

Sissal the Warlock began to get swarmed by goblins on the other side of the camp.  Sir Richard rushed to his aid taking on three goblins while Waffle continued to rampage through nearby goblins.  Striking a goblin so hard it flew into a tree.

A goblin decided to start running away at the site of the bear attack.

Once Sissal was able to disengage from hand to hand, I had him roll perception.  Hidden in one of the trees was the Kobold from the Dragons of Stormwreck Isle campaign that is scouting for Cryovain the White Dragon.  Sissal didn’t manage to spot him at first.

After a few more turns of combat, all of the goblins had been defeated for fled.  The part was then able to spot a red small winged creature fly off.  They remembered the rumors that this creature was spotted before the Dragon arrived in an area.  There initial thought is that the Dragon might be hunting it.

They searched the bodies and disposed of them before preparing for the hike into the mountains.

Everyone was happy to get back together for another D&D game.  The boys were excited to try out their characters at level 2 and our Druid player shared the animals he wrote down as options to shape change into.  He chose a bear, wolf, and spider.  I walked over to my mini case and pulled out a Konflikt’47 Ursus and everyone thought it made a great mini for the bear and even the wolf shape.  I was able to pull out a spider I had painted up for my Moria Goblin army too.

The party discussed supply and equipment purchases and visited some of the local shops.  Sissal purchased a bedroll after I reminded the group it was fall and temperatures might be cold in the forest and mountains. They also purchased extra provisions for the walk to the Dwarven Excavation to warn the prospectors of the Dragon in the area. Sir Richard decided it would be best for his retainers to stay behind for their safety.

Then they set off for adventure

I wanted to start off the session with a little bit of excitement before the party began the written scenario at the Dwarven Excavation.   I also wanted to make use of some awesome Dungeons & Lasers terrain I recently won 🙂

I covered the battle map for the Dwarven Excavation with a grassland mat so I can breakdown this setup and have the map underneath ready to go.  I wanted this area of the forest to look like a clearing with some fallen trees.  I used the Dungeons & Lasers The Elven Woods set for this encounter, and a few other terrain items I own.  I placed the encampment terrain in the middle.  I picked out some Woodland Scenic trees I made last year and placed them around the outside of the camp.  I then added stumps from the Warlord Games basing set to the area.  Lastly, I wanted to add some fallen and barren trees to the scenario by using the awesome trees from the The Elven Woods set.  These things are great!

I purchased a lot of the D&D 2d Miniatures in preparation for this campaign too.  It was great to see that many of the sets were specifically designed for the essentials box.  I ended up buying the Goblin 2d Minis event though Dragon of Icespire Peak doesn’t have any in the adventure.  I figured that goblins will always come in handy.  I decided to make them the bad guys for the ambush.

I thought the set up for the encounter looked great even with some of the terrain being unpainted.

I finished setting up the table, and I was ready for the game the following morning.