Session 0.5

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve made any real posts. Tonight will be the second session of my new D&D 2024 campaign. This is the first ongoing game I’ve been involved with in years. Sadly I can’t remember the character names at the moment and forgot to write them down. I’ll get them tonight. Here is the party:

Female Blue Dragonborn Sorcerer played by Alysha – haughty noble 

Male Wood Elf Druid played by Jacob – sarcastic avenger of nature

Female Aasimar Monk played by Tomi – amnesiac that has moved from temple to temple to learn more about religion

Female Human Warlock played by Terron – pact of the blade warlock looking for power and wealth

We had a session 0.5. Everyone made characters and I ran a quick intro session. I usedEveryone Dies at Turtle Bay from Faster, Purple Worm! Everybody Dies, Vol 1. The party were imprisoned at Grave’s End in the small costal town of Turtle Bay. Each was sentenced to life in prison. I let them decide why they were there. The Warlock had been caught stealing, the druid got in a fight, the sorcerer was framed by her jealous step-mother (who she wants revenge on), and the monk mercy killed a diseased priest.

In a Dirty Dozen-style plot the characters (along with a bugbear prisoner named Benny the Butcher) are recruited for a suicide mission. They must investigate a ghost ship. They are given their equipment, some magical boosting from a local merchant, and a ship. Unfortunately, on their way to investigate the ship they find out how the bay got its name. They are attacked by a dragon turtle and as the ship starts to sink the session ended.

This is going to be a fun game. The party is an interesting mix and I think there will be some great roleplaying opportunities. Originally, I was going to send them to Punjar, the Tarnished Jewel next. However, after talking to the players about their characters’ motivations and plans I’ve changed my mind. Fortunately, last week I found out the second Swordfish Islands book has been released. I immediately ordered it and tonight the characters will find themselves Shipwrecked in the Swordfish Islands.

We Are Jimothy

If you've been on the internet recently (and I'm assuming you have if you're reading this), you've seen tons of memes and things about Jimothy. He kind of looks like a furry Squonk to me, which makes me wonder if the original "squonk" was a critter with the same physical condition. If you'd like to add him to your D&D game or just check out his official stats you can do so on D&D Beyond.

A Dom DM

If you made a Venn Diagram of folks into kink and tabletop gamers with my friends it'd pretty much one big circle. I think that's why this one cracked me up. 

Living Spells Play-Along Pack

To hype the upcoming D&D 5.5 release, Arcana Unleashed, you can claim the Living Spell Play-Along Pack on D&D Beyond for free.

This previous the following content from the upcoming book:

• Six living spell stat blocks
• The evoker archmage stat block
• The Agent of the Ninth Quill character background
• The Arcane Infiltrator Origin feat
• The Idol of Good Fortunes magic item
• Ninth Quill faction info, including bastion and renown rewards

The first two episodes of the new season of Dungeon Masters are also available online. I haven’t watched them yet, but I loved the previous seasons Ravenloft actual plays.

Caver, Ho!

My favorite acquisition at Origins was my Caver mini from Severed Books. Because he's a real one, Justin from Severed Books brought one just for me.

Originally introduced in Caver and Cube Book 1, Cavers are a combo of familiar, fantasy mech, and mobile base of operations. They've also been features in Stone Over Sky and Darkest Rock. While all three books are compatible, Stone Over Sky is system neutral and Darkest Rock is designed for Mork Borg. Both books included at least one new Caver class. 

The minis are solid af. They are 6.25 inches tall and way about 2 pounds. They have two caps on top that can be removed to conveniently place minis (see below). I LOVE my Caver, but haven't had him painted yet. I'm not good at painting, so I will probably have a friend take a crack at it.

While I'm still working out details my next game will include a Caver. If I stick with Heroes of the Borderlands, then I'll probably go with my idea that the cultists' base is actually a caver. If I don't I was thinking it would be fun if after going to the canyon and defeating evil, the party find a random new cave. If I don't go with a Borderlands game, it's no sweat. Caver's can be dropped into any setting that includes powerful magic. The game will be a 5.5 one and I think the new Bastion rules will be perfect for customizing the interior of the Caver.

If you can't tell I'm excited. Have you ever used anything like this in your game? Would you be interested? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Victory in Valachan

We only had four players again this week so I let my fellow DM, Terron, run this time. The party was:

• Human Artificer (still not sure what his subclass was) 
• Bugbear Ranger (Hollow Warden)
• Dwarf Barbarian (Path of the Berserker)
• Lupin Druid (Circle of the Moon) 

Since Terron was running I spent my time looking through bulk Magic: The Gathering singles. I did catch what was happening though, so I'll give a short synopsis.

The party find themselves in a jungle realm (Valachan). They encounter a toothy tree that's quite hunger. The druid offers to bring it food if it doesn't try to eat them. The party then saves some townsfolk from hunting phase spiders. After defeating the spiders they hear massive footsteps. A strigori and his summoned t-rex (yes a goddamn t-rex in Ravenloft) fight the party. After defeating the stirge-like humanoid the party convince the t-rex they are friends (which is an option presented in the adventure).

The group had fun and it was entertaining to listen to. This will be the last session at Dungeon Dwellers until the Season of Arcana comes out.

Stand Ready For My Arrival, Worm

Recently I discovered the 5.5 Viltrumite class. While OP in many ways, it's actually rather balanced and really good. I decided to do a DCC version for fun. You can check out the original version here.

Here's the 1st draft of my DCC Viltrumite class. Like the 5.5 one I can't say it's not OP, but it is playable and I think it'd be fun.

Link

Blood in Borca

  This week’s Season of Horror adventure was Blood in Borca. A few players were out so we combined player groups and I ran the session. The party included

• Human Artificer (not sure what his subclass was) [normally plays in other group]
• Bugbear Ranger (Hollow Warden)
• Dwarf Barbarian (Path of the Berserker)
• Lupin Druid (Circle of the Moon) [same build as the druid in my previous game but different player)

After slaying the illithid vampire in Darkon, the players wake in the domain of Borca. They save a noble from wolves. He hires them to accompany him to a party. The host uses his newly acquired shadow raven powers to incapacitate the party. They wake up in a lab and their new noble patron is ordered to repair a mechanical spider. While this is going on the party are forced to fight a fiery dwarf (an azer). The battle is hard fought and the artificer and barbarian are severely wounded, but survive.

The next room (and final encounter) contains the evil noble (a Priest of Osybus), his two fanatical cultists, and four spies that serve him. This fight was BRUTAL. The cultists started the fight by casting Hold Person on the barbarian and artificer (who failed). Then the Priest used his Soul Blade to constantly paralyze the wildshaped druid. There were many rounds of characters doing nothing but taking critical hits because they were paralyzed. If it wasn’t for the druid, it would have been a TPK. After several rounds, eventually the druid (with help from the ranger and mechanical spider) were able to take out their foes. The fight was frustrating, but ultimately the heroes triumphed. While I was chuckling at first, honestly, I felt bad during this fight. The constant paralyzing effects just made the fight tedious.

Next week will be the final Season of Horror adventure, Victory in Valachan.

Fuccubus Friday - Mozul

 Last week I talked about Malcanthet, this week I thought I'd share some art of one of her high priests (and sometimes plaything), Mozul.

Death in Darkon

Earlier tonight I ran the third session of the Season of Horror, Death in Darkon. It was a blood bath (which is fitting because it's vampire-centric). This week Enza has sent the party to the domain of Darkon to stop the second shadow raven. My group this week was made up of the following:

• Bugbear Ranger (Hollow Warden)
• Dwarf Barbarian (Circle of the Moon)
• Drow Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 

They awake in an underground river. The first encounter they face off with an elven vampire familiar, two bandit captains, and four toughs. I was rolling crits like crazy and they had a small party. The drow (played by my kid) was taken out in one round by the familiar. The party was killed and since we had plenty of time I pulled a Groundhog's Day and let them run through it again. I took the four toughs out and still cause a party wipe. I asked them if they wanted to fight the adventure's boss, an illithid vampire, for the Hell of it. While the dwarf went down, they killed the abomination.

Despite the deaths, everyone had a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to next week's adventure, Blood in Borca.

Music Monday - Who Will You Be

 Here's another Critical Role inspired tune, though instead of jaunty this one is sexy. 

Jester's mother, Marion Lavorre (aka the Ruby of the Sea), would be a great focus for a future Fuccubus Friday post.

I Want You For The Honk Legion

I will be running two session of The Honk Legion for Lurking Fears at Origins. This 5e adventure is set in a twisted carnival full of demon clowns. It's laugh out loud funny and totally absurd. My sessions will be Thursday and Friday morning at 9:00 AM. The Thursday session is full, but four of the five spots for the Friday session are free. Here are some props and decorations I’ll have at the table.

Also if you wear a medium or smaller shirt, Hot Topic has an awesome Honk Legion shirt on clearance.

Succubus Sunday - Malcanthet

Malcanthet is the demon queen of the succubi. The first picture below is her natural appearance. However, to anyone that gazes upon her she looks like what that person finds most attractive (which I guess means she looks like Rhea Ripley to me).

Terror in Tepest

Tonight I ran the second session of the Season of Horror at Dungeon Dwellers in Portsmouth, Ohio. After saving townsfolk from the graveyard, the party made a deal with Inza. The witch told them that if they seek out the shadow ravens that caused the graveyard incident, she would send them home.

One of my players wasn't there, but a new players was. My players were:

• Bugbear Ranger (Hollow Warden)
• Dwarf Barbarian (Path of the Berserker)
• Lupin Druid (Circle of the Moon)

The mists led the party to a harvest festival in Tepest. They feasted with townsfolk and were hired to make sure a ritual site was set up properly. When they arrived they found a hobgoblin captain, some bugbears, and signs of a struggle. The hobgoblin claimed a druid let them have this abandoned home. There was a stand off, until the ranger climbed over a wall and caused the ritual effigy to animate into a death's head tree. The druid (who'd misled the humanoids and created the tree using the shadow raven) joined the fight. While the hobgoblin and her crew fought the tree and druid, the party fought flying death's heads. Eventually the humanoids were killed, but their attacks had weakened the party enough to finish off the tree. A shadow raven escaped the tree and was banished. The party grabbed some loot before the mists took them.

The session was fun. Encounters two and three were combined because of the ranger's actions, but it worked. My only disappointment is that I was never able to do the quirky thing the death's heads have. If they reduce a character to 0 HP, the creature is KO'd and the head replaces theirs's permanently. You then get to roll on a random head chart. They change is just cosmetic, but it's wild.

These scenarios are fun. There are three more. Come back next week to hear about Death in Darkon.

Music Monday - The Legend of Grog Machina

The new season of Legend of Machina is on Prime. If you want a totally accurate summary of previous seasons, check out this jaunty tune from Grog and Pike.

Dagger Danger

June 11th is International Day of Play. In honor of that D&D Beyond is offering another free Borderlands Quest for anyone to claim.

Dagger Danger is a short quest the player's find on the job board in the Keep. The characters are tasked with interring a kobold lair and retrieving a heirloom dagger. It's short, but includes a few kinds of encounters, a variety of foes, and some roleplay opportunities. I'll be adding this one to my Heroes of the Borderlands sessions.

If haven't already, you can still claim last year's adventure, Goblin Trouble, for free as well.

18! 18! 18!

Shared this with a few of my regular readers already, but this idea is hilarious, brilliant, and I think I'll use it in my next game. 

Speaking of my next game I'm thinking it's going to be a D&D 2024, I think like D&D Beyond I'm just going to referring to it as 5.5. I have at least two players and am working on recruiting more. The plan is to start the game after Origins. 

This is my current plan for session one start with the adventure Everyone Dies At Turtle Bay from Faster, Purple Worm! Everybody Dies, Vol. 1. These are scenarios based on Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!If you aren't familiar with it, I see it as a mix of Critical Role and Who's Line Is It Anyway?  Each episode is a short session of comedic D&D actual play that always ends in death. Back to Turtle Bay, the characters will start out as prisoners in Turtle Bay. They are conscripted to investigate a ghost ship in the bay (a red herring). If the stop the boat they get their freedom. Unfortunately they find out how Turtle Bay got its name. In the adventure as written, the 1st level characters are killed by Dragon Turtle that lives in the bay. However, just before they creature kills them the session will fade to black and end.

The beginning of the next session the characters will find themselves on a winding road headed to the Keep on the Borderlands. How did they get there? That's up to them. I honestly think it would be funny if they pulled a Jack Sparrow and told a new story every time asked. 

Going back to the goblin trap above. I think I will put a door at the end of the tunnel in D2. The three goblins will be in that room with the dwarf prisoner, Vinx (who will be gagged so she can't spoil the fun).

Grave Awakenings

I’m running the Season of Horror at my FLGS. Characters are third level and players could either make them using rules from Ravenloft: The Horrors Within and the 2024 PHB or they could use premade characters. The premade characters are the party form this season of Dungeon Masters (which just wrapped up and was fantastic).

A majority of the three-hour session was used for character creation. Because of that we didn’t really get to play most of the adventure, Grave Awakenings.  While most sessions this season are 90 minute one shots, Grave Awakenings is designed to be a three hour “Encounters Celebration” event. The event is designed for up to four tables playing the adventure simultaneously. It’s a cool idea, but we only had six players total so this couldn’t happen. 

I won’t spoil the adventure, but the premise is cool. Multiple groups of heroes are drawn into the domain of Sithicus to cleanse a graveyard. There’s a ticking clock mechanic because townsfolk have been buried alive. There’s also the protentional for a character to become a wereraven. 

My group got through one combat and then we had to call it a night. The other group aggroed the graveyard and got pretty far. I spoke with the other DM and decided that instead of continuing with this adventure we are just going to move on to the second adventure Terror in Tepest next week.

There Must Always Be Nine

The Coven of the Nine is a third-party folk horror adventure for D&D 2024. I randomly came across it on Etsy and it immediately caught my eye. The art is evocative and kind of reminds me of tattoo art. The premise is right up my alley as well. A coven of nine hags has infiltrated a fishing village. The party is sent in after another group of adventurers goes missing while investigating. The adventure was written and contains illustrations by Will Humberstone and Luke Stuart. I absolutely love the art! It reminds me of old school sailor tattoo art. I also appreciate the color choices for the book. While the pages are white, the rest of the book is black, red, and shades of blue-green. It just gives everything a hag vibe. The color is used effectively in text too. Proper nouns, monsters, and magic items are introduced bolded and in red. This makes them harder to miss.

The adventure is broken down into three parts. The first takes place in the fishing village of Oshorio. In addition to the history of the region (which is tied to the adventure), we’re given a nice town map with 18 locations. Pretty much all locations have some lightly fleshed out npc’s attached to them (with a quote for good measure).

After investigating the town, the party will make their way to the second part of the adventure, Rotwood Bog. This appropriately named location is filled with all kind of nasty creepy crawlies. There are a few encounters (with maps) and encounter tables listed.

The final part of the adventure takes place in the lair of the hags. Like the lairs of certain legendary hags, it initially appears as an unassuming hut, but its much more than that. The lair is located on the remains of a huge tree with ties to the Shadowfell. There are a variety of encounters that can take place here, even including some puzzles.

The book ends with a lunch of crunch. There are many new monsters to torment your party with (mostly hags and corrupted fauna). Several new magic items are presented to help and hinder adventurers. Finally there is a really helpful glossary of important names and places for the adventure. 

The Coven of the Nine is a great mix of action, exploration, and intrigue. It’s dripping with insidious folk horror. Plus, it’s just a gorgeous book. If you play 5e (specifically 5.5) and love folk horror, this one is worth your time and money.

The Coven of Nine - A TTRPG Adventure - Etsy

Magefall

Head ups! For what I assume is a limited time, you can download the Free Comic Book Day D&D release on D&D Beyond.

Download Link