Converge DM Log - Session 5 - 12/1

 Preamble

It's incredibly hard not to start this log thinking or talking about the tragedy in Oxford Michigan this past week.  I talked about it at the top of the stream and I feel very strongly about the issue of guns in our school.  While I recognize that people come to see Dungeons and Dragons and not Politics and Policy, I also feel like not saying something would have been denying viewers a glimpse into the real me.

Overall I think the session was good but offered a pair of challenges I'm working through that I'll talk about below.

Standing their ground

The battle in the 7-Eleven kicked off in high gear and we got to see what the party could do when the dice favored them and they took the intiative.  As a single combatant, the ogre nearly failed to prove a challenge.  That is until some dice shifted the game, and their little 2nd level selves were in serious danger.  For those playing at home I did very little interesting on the statblock for the ogre.  Straight out of the rules as written.  Now the New Blade?  I won't say where that stat block came from yet.  I think that gang has at least one more appearance to be made.

What struck me the most in the battle was the commitment to the narrative even as they played through their turns.  For those that play DND for the tactical combat simulation, I'm sure the battle seemed to drag, but that was because of the players having fun roleplaying, bantering and quipping as they went.

It also gave some good chances to raise some stakes for the PC's.  While PC death is very very unlikely in this game (art is expensive), it's good to have them have to worry about the inconvenience that can come with lugging around a dead body hoping to find someone with a Revivify spell.  

Now for me, I'd rather the party burn out too much too fast because a fight was too hard, and then feel the need to make camp, than spend 45 minutes on a combat that was never in question and the players just roll through.  Granted, a random "long rest" in the middle of a dungeon area can be a bit annoying to play through.  On the other hand, I'd rather work with the party to keep a narrative through that, than have them get bored dispatching non-challenges.

We have Questions

The best part of this scene was that no one seemed to care that the man who had previously been trying to kill them to steal back the shard was now mostly complaining about the fact that he was on the verge of bleeding to death from internal damage.  Still this provided the exposition I needed, as DM, to get to the players and give them a reason to start to set out to find some answers.

I also appreciated the efforts at "turn your life around" kinds of scenes.  It was interesting as the DM to see players really trying to humanize what had started the night as a mostly nameless NPC thug.  I think the hardest part of the interogation was the question "why are you a bad guy?"  I recognize that "to be bad" is a weak answer under the best of circumstances.  I just wasn't anticipating it here.  Why would mercenaries and blackguards sign on with Handsome Dan?  What does he offer that can't be found in the Imperial City or elsewhere?

Really, the answer is freedom.  Freedom from rules, freedom from laws.  It's a chaotic existence where the rules are only there to support the ones making the rules and those hoping to benefit from the rules directly.  Bandits can range from Chaotic Evil (I put me first in all things because I'm me and that makes me happy) to Lawful Evil (I use the rules to get what I want for myself).  But it's that near perfect cocktail of a strong man (or woman) who gives enough freedom to entice, but enough order to maintain their power structure that makes a great gang.

What shall we do with the Shard?

Okay, not going to lie, the last thing I expected as the shard to be left with the relative unknown, PC recreated NPC.  While I think it's laudable that Sam trusts her brother absolutely implicitly with what could be the find of the century, I can't shake the idea that something bad is going to happen to the poor gnome entrusted with the object d' power.

To which I shall say no more....

So, What's your Favorite Monster?

I was asked this on a podcast this past week and my go-to answer was simple:  Gnolls.  

They can be warriors, archers, demonic, orderly, chaotic whatever you want.  They can have witch doctors, they can breed, they can be 'hatched' from hyenas.  You have so many options for them.  And this gave me a chance present the second major "villain faction" for the campaign.  While the PC's know that the New Blades wanted the shard back, there are still many many questions about the role that this gnoll warparty is about to play.  And this gave us the second fight of the night.

Lessons taught, lessons learned

So, from a DM point of view, this fight was much harder than I had intended.  The top difference from previous fights was that rather than one big monster, this a full 4 v 4 melee.  The PC's were up against enemies that could match them action for action and that had a massive effect on the ebb and flow of the fight.  They still managed to win out against the two gnolls and their dire hyena mounts though.  It was a close fight though and I did worry that it was about to take a dark turn when Kati/NLK started making death saves.  Or would have started making them if it were not for that Half Orc ability that kept them from dying.  

One of the challenges though is that while the party was already adverse to confronting the new blades, this particular scrap, and how close it came to the first "we need to find someone with Revivify!", I fear that they will become even more adverse to investigating the gnolls.  Which I can work around but continues to force me, week by week to reconsider the plotline.  

On Rails, Sandbox, or what?

Most published adventures are written as a roller coaster.  There is a clear story for the party to follow, from A to B to C.  This game however isn't prewritten and I can revise it week by week.  As an upside I can adapt the game to the players and their desires.  But it also keeps me from pressing too hard in any one direction.  Or rather, it allows me not to press them and let them truly make their own choices rather than hearing me set a scene and thinking "oh, I guess we need to search the sewers."

Just this week I've had to really put thought in how to get the party to the next milestone so they can get the next phase in gear.

Fortunately, I think I have it.

And of course, they won't follow it.

Conclusions

There's no looking forward this week as I think I've said a lot already and this session log is already late.  Overall, there's not much new to hint that I haven't in previous logs.  I know where they're going, they handed me an amazing plot twist to exploit and we're going to see how it all aligns at the next session.

Oh, and the girl in the opening credits?  We get to meet her.

You can watch Episode 5 here: