Dungeon Master Tools – Character Creation

Know What Books You Are Going to Use

Firstly, know what books you are going to use. If you are a new Dungeon Master, I think I would go with the Players Handbook and the Revised Ranger which you can find online. I wouldn’t add in anything else, because that is going to mean a few things. Firstly that you or someone owns those other books. And if you don’t own them, you need to know what’s in them pretty well. The other reason is that it keeps what you need to know focused and the character races and classes easier to keep track of.

As you play more and feel more comfortable, I think it’s totally valid to add in more books. In fact, I expect that most Dungeon Masters are going to add in more books over time. Though, if you are playing the revised 5E with the new books, you get to keep it limited, for now.

Is Anything Banned?

Next, know if you don’t want anything in your campaign. Is your setting one where all magic comes from the divine or demonic sources, maybe you don’t go with all the casting classes. Or if magic is banned or doesn’t exist for some reason, that’s good to know. Another example would be creatures with flying speeds that the PC’s (player characters) can play. Do you want to deal with a 3D battle scenario or not?

I think that banning is a last resort. In fact, I recommend that Dungeon Masters don’t do it. But there are thematic reasons why you may ban some class or class feature so be aware of that. Especially if this is your first campaign, and you want to run something that is maybe easier to understand, don’t ban anything, go with a setting that more closely resembles Faerun as it’s going to make your life easier as you and your players don’t need to remember anything.

How Do You Get Stats?

One of the final things here is how you get the stats. And I want to talk about a number of ways that you can get them. Because there are a lot of fun ways. But know how you want to do it. Why, because a player might like one better than another, so they can min/max or manipulate things more. So know which way you want to go so there isn’t a discussion. You run this game as the Dungeon Master, listen to reasons, but at the end, everyone does it the same way, however you land.

Point Buy

Firstly there is point buy system. In this players get a certain number of points, and all stats start at 8. Then you spend points to increase those stats. Before the bonus you get from being an elf or half-orc, whatever it might be, you can go as high as fifteen. Each number increase costs a point and you start with 27 total points. This is going to give the players complete control over how they handout their stats.

Rolling

Rolling For Stats is another way that you can go, and this can be done in a few different ways. The most common way is roll 4D6 (four six sided dice) and drop the lowest of the dice. For example, if you roll a six, two, five, and two, you drop one of the twos, and get a 13. Now, you complete that six times, one for each stat, and players assign them in the direction that they want. That is going to let some numbers possible be higher, but there isn’t a floor like you get with the point buy system.

You can also just go with rolling 3D6 and keeping that, it’s going to create a wider range of what you can roll, though. So it is possible that a player is going to roll very low. A three in a stat is too low to really even play with, and while it’s possible in the previous version, it’s less possible.

Finally, you can use either method and do a down the line approach to the stats. What I mean by that is you start with strength and go down. So if I decide I’m a wizard, I hope I roll well on roll four for intelligence. This is going to create a greater level of variance in characters and how good they are and it can be fun. Just let your players know ahead of time.

Standard Array

The final way is the simplest. This is the standard array. The standard array is 15, 14, 13, 12, 10 and 8 for your stats. Every player is going to start out basically the same. Now that order is going to change, but no one is going to have a very high stat by magically rolling three sixes. And no player is going to have a low stat. This is good, I think for a starting campaign. The more new people you have, the easier this is to use. Mainly, because, you don’t want someone to be in a position to dominate everything because of good rolls.

Is Anything Custom Allowed?

This is the final thing and generally my answer is going to be no for this. Again, if you feel comfortable with it, sure. But know that what is custom might not be balanced. And this could be from a custom class that a player found on the internet that they want to try. Or it might be customizing a spell so it does a different type of damage. Generally I saw go with rules as written. Unless you want that extra challenge in something, keep it simple. And if this is your first game or early on in your dungeon mastering career, definitely don’t do it.

Final Thoughts

This, I think, is a good bonus topic to add into the mix. I don’t think it’s as much of a tool that I would recommend specifically to make your life easier. It is just some good things to think of before you session zero. Especially when it comes to how you want to get your stats and anything custom. That way you know what you are comfortable with.

For me, personally, I like the roll 4D6 and drop the lowest. Though, with that, it is not too hard for a player to get some really good stats. So even with my preferred system, I generally look through and make sure everyone is balanced. If someone rolls everything over 12, for example, I change one. I want you always to have a bad stat, and some good stats, no Batmans (someone who is good at everything) on the team. Use your discretion with that and keep it fair.

So what is coming up next?

• Session 1
• Story Arcs
• World Building
• Combat
• Exploration
• NPCs/Social Interactions
• Meta Game and Players at the Table

And let me know if there are other things to cover as well that you want to know more about, or help with. I think that there are a ton of different things that new Dungeon Masters are curious about or that feel intimidating. So I hope that I can help make them clearer and simpler for you. And this one is really that first step that you can take before you even start to think about the other elements.

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The Game – Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Let’s talk this time about some things that I really like in the game. I’ve talked enough about the rule book, and even looked up one thing again with healing because I feel like I’m doing it wrong still. But there is a ton I love about the game.

Firstly, I really like the characters and their skills. Mainly because with a two player game, like I’m playing, I am missing out on things. Some people might get frustrated being deficient at skills are seek to optimize, but I prefer it when I’m weak at some things. It makes planning more of a challenge versus move the one character who is good over to a location to pass the check. It means that my resources matter more.

I also like the variety in stuff. I haven’t dug into the items, weapons, spells, monsters, for stories 2 and 3, but for the first story there’s plenty. Which means I can customize the way I want. I keep on getting weapons that aren’t ideal for Amiri, but when I get a good weapon for her, it allows me to swap stuff out and improve her character. Or with Seoni, to customize if I want to be more offensive or defensive with her spells.

Finally, though this isn’t all, I like the play time of the game. When I get into the swing of it, turns are pretty straightforward as to what to do. I flip that hour and explore. I can quickly tell by looking at a card what I need to know and if I can make it or not. So last nights game was under an hour plus I was chatting. There are a lot of bigger story driven games that take two plus hours a session. Getting through this in 45 minutes or so is nice. It’d likely be longer multiplayer, but probably not a ton.

Upcoming Streams

So, tonight was supposed to be a stream but I’ll be gaming instead. I don’t know for sure, because Stranger Things comes out on Friday, but my hope is to stream for a hour that evening while the toddler is being put to bed. If I can do that, then I’ll be doing Crowdfunding BIG and little. That series is supposed to be tonight, but again, gaming.

As for Monday, it is a holiday. I will not be streaming then. But on Wednesday I will play more Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. I plan on going through the first story and see where I am at with it. I might leave it set-up, as I said, to play myself but switch to streaming a new game. We’ll see in a few weeks most likely.

Would you like to see a different game after I get through the first story? Or do you want all three story parts?

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Since I have only played on TTS (TableTopSimulator), I am not going to do a full breakdown of how the game works. Plus, it’s a prototype so things are subject to change, though the module on TTS is very solid. And the rules, hopefully shared immediately at launch are pretty good. So instead I’m going to jump into what did and didn’t work. I do talk about that some in a video below, though.

Edgeguard Preview Video

What Didn’t Work?

This is going to be a massive box game. Now that’s not a massive negative for me. Granted, I’d likely need to find more space on my Kallax by clearing out even more games. But when I see a big campaign game, I fully expect that it is going to take up a lot of space. For some people, who maybe don’t have a dedicated gaming space, that might make this harder to get.

Also, this is going to be a game where there is a fair amount of housekeeping to it. Set-up of finding the tiles will take time, finding the enemy tokens, minis and cards, and pulling out everything for your character. I am waiting on the Kickstarter to see how much of a big deal I think that will be. Mainly because I hope they are thinking about storage and how to make it as fast to the table as possible. Because, compared to other dungeon crawl games, this one can get you into and through a scenario pretty quickly.

Neither of these things are a big red flag for me though. In fact, both are issues that I expect for most campaign games. Especially if a game is going to have minis. And I don’t know, maybe there will be a standee version, but I suspect that most people would go with minis anyways.

What Works?

The Characters

Let’s start with the characters, the characters are very generic, and now that sounds like a negative. I actually maybe should mention that in there, but I’ll say it here now, they could be more exciting. But how the characters play, and I’ve only messed around with the different ones while I’ve played true solo, is different. The warrior does what they are supposed, same with the caster, the healer, the rogue and the ranger. Everyone plays in their archetype.

And to make that work, each class is going to have their own cards that build out your hand. What I really like about the cards is that they are powerful. For a caster, for example, you play a card that uses resources to blast everyone in a row, column, or diagonal from where you are. That is a great ability, but it costs when you do that, it costs to get it back and it costs to use it again. That is very fun, and when you level up, you unlock new card abilities to add to your hand. And you have to pass on others, though you can pay to swap them in.

The last with with the characters that is fun is that you can multiclass. In a lot of dungeon crawl games, or RPG like board games, you pick and class and go with it. In Edgeguard, you can change up the class you are playing. Granted, they can never overtake your main class, but it allows you to customize your character more so. The only other one I can think of off the top of my head is a light boss battler or dungeon crawler in Adventure Tactics. This one gives you more than that seems to.

The Enemies

I also really like how simple the enemies are to operate. There are campaign games where it takes a lot of work to get the enemies up and running. And while you do need to find the minis, place out tokens, find the cards for the enemies, their actual turns are pretty simple. And the enemy AI doesn’t change that much, except for when it does.

The enemies, like the players, have a chance to get a critical success. For the players that just means more damage, but for the enemies, that changes their behavior. The Shadow, Assassin, for example, if you get it’s third critical hit option has a shot to immediately take a character down to one hit point. Granted, that takes a little bit of luck. But if you are being swarmed by a number of bad guys and get hit by that, you are in big trouble.

Combat

As for combat itself, I appreciated how fast it went. When I play solo, some games can bog down in combat and set-up. Now, the game is going to take a chunk of time to set-up. And I’ll miss being able to click a button on TTS and have it do that for me. But at the same time, the combat itself is nice and straightforward. The game is simple to play, but has depth in the decision making space it gives you. So a nice sweet spot for me.

Mainly, going back to the cards, I appreciate how good the decisions are for what you do with the cards. The resources that you need to spend to do a more powerful spell or attack off of a card, that is a good choice. I know when I play RPG’s on the computer, I try not to be the person who just hordes every ability or potion just in case there’s a time I need it more. This game could run into that issue, but only because of players, with the cards that you play. But you can get them back, it just costs. So you don’t use them randomly, but also, you don’t want to horde them.

Who Is It For?

Edgeguard is going to be a game for people who love their campaign games. If that is what you play, and you have a dedicated space for it, it’d be a nice one to keep on the table for a while. I think that most people know if they are that, especially if they are looking to back a game on crowdfunding.

From my time with the game, and remember it’s been on TTS, I think that Edgeguard is probably more accessible than some dungeon crawlers. Yes, there is a fair amount going on with all the different stats that make it feel like more, but overall it was easy to follow what was going on. For that reason another group it’d be good for is the person introducing new people to dungeon crawlers. There will be some RPG elements that take a bit to learn, but the core dungeon crawl game play should be easy to pick-up.

My Thoughts On Edgeguard

I always like to finish up a little bit with my opinion. When I do what I don’t like and what I do like, I try and give detailed reasons for that or explain more of it. My thoughts, on the other hand, are going to be more of my opinion.

Edgeguard is hitting a pretty crowded market, and a crowd of games that are on my shelf. Now, that isn’t a bad thing, because I know I love the campaign genre of board games. And I know that I get to playing them. Whether it’s on Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel or with friends.

What drew me to Edgeguard is the epic look at that it had. But that isn’t always going to be enough to keep me looking at it. What is going to keep me checking this one out on Kickstarter is the simplicity of the game in the dungeon crawl. I know what groups I play campaigns with, and a little bit simpler one will be better for some groups. And even for groups who might not play campaign games with me normally.

So is it one for you? Well, if the card play sounds interesting and you are looking for your next big epic adventure, join me in checking out Edgeguard on Kickstarter.

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Pros

• Theme
• Based on a Proven Game
• Proven Company
• Shipping
• Aesthetic

Cons

• Price
• Different Aesthetic From Original Game

The Page

This is a well done page. I appreciate the fact that Black Rose Wars: Rebirth isn’t a minis heavy game. There are minis for the monsters, at least on the Kickstarter but it isn’t all giant minis. While I love my giant minis, it’s nice to see a game that doesn’t highlight and put all the focus on that.

They also do a solid job of telling you about the game play and giving you a lot of content creators you can checkout for it. This is not a simple game, I’ll get to that more below, so laying out what it does is important. And the section on it is nicely placed on the page. It isn’t too low on the page, some, again, because they don’t have a ton of minis.

However, the price for this game is high. Now, from what they say on the page and what I’ve seen, this game to track down everything for it after the fact will cost more. So the price is good that way. And as stretch goals unlock the value will get better. But for the base of this game, what you got when you first pledged it at the start, the price is extremely high. And for me, it’s a tougher sell because I am making an investment on faith that I’ll want everything and play with everything.

The Game

So the game of Black Rose Wars looks very cool and Rebirth also looks very cool. Mainly because it combines a lot of different mechanics. You have deck building which I love and it’s deck building that has you adding cards as you go, not having to buy the cards, really. So the building part is a constant in the game. I like when deck building games just give you that forward progression in what you are doing.

Plus, you then program out those cards so that they might trigger in a certain order and you can take the various actions on them. But let’s hop back to the cards, because when you program them, you pick which of two different things your spells will do. You can flip the cards over and it’s a different spell when you hold it upside down. That is a cool way with a limited number of cards to increase the options.

This is however a tactical fighting game as well. Now, I really like tactical games, but I’ve found that tactical fighting games tend not to get played as often in my collection. My collection has moved away from so much confrontation, but I still enjoy that when the game does it in an interesting way. Black Rose Wars definitely seems like it does.

Back or Brick

For me this is a Brick simply because of the price point. It’s not just that it’s expensive, but with owning Black Rose Wars, I see how much comes in retail. I don’t know that I’d ever see all of that games content as I play the game. So do I need to spend about $170+ on the game to get everything extra.

Now, I don’t think you’ll regret it if you get this game. Everything I’ve heard about the original, still need to play my copy, and what I’ve looked at with the new version, I think the game looks amazing. It might be a little messy in what it does because there are a lot of moving pieces, but when you get it down, it looks like so much fun.

Is this game a Back or a Brick for you?

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The Session

So, I didn’t have much time to plan anything for this session I was kept busy with a toddler and making dinner before people showed up but it was still a fun session which changed some things up again. You can catch up on what happened in what I called Session 22. But the players immediately jump back into it filling in Assendial on more of what had happened.

They were also curious about what was going on with the Winter Court. It turns out that the member of the winter court has been trying to broker and agreement with Strawgoh to use some students to deal with a Rainman. The group, Barrai, Bokken and Kip immediately volunteer. And try and broker a deal which the school actually takes care of for them. They wanted 60 gold for it but ended up getting 250 which they do agree to split 4 ways with Thrain.

They kill a little bit of time with Bokken getting another fight scheduled at the bar and Barrai wrote a letter to his patron. But Kip puts the time to good use and researches what Rainman are. They are fey creatures who hide in the rain and aren’t fully corporeal. But more so, they try and drown you with their aqueous form and that will turn you into a puddle.

Going over to the embassy of the Winter Court in the town they set-up a trap for the Rainman. They make it look like the powerful fey princess of the Winter Court is standing out in the courtyard talking. Bokken spots the Rainman who is watching what is going on, but has realized that something is off. Mainly that the rain is still rain not snow like it’d be turning into surrounding a member of the winter court. So the Rainman is looking around for someone who is controlling this illusion. Bokken charges and the group gets into battle.

Things didn’t go completely as plan. Barrai does a great job opening up a barrage of magic missiles on the one of the Rainmen. And that’s where the issue really is, while the Winter Court had thought there was one Rainman there win in fact two that had been stalking the embassy. They initially focus on Kip because he looks like he’s the smallest and weakest. But when Barrai uses his magic missiles which is way more effective against them, the second one switches it’s focus to try and drown Barrai. Unfortunately for Barrai he rolls a 0 (1 with a -1 modifier) when it grapples him and he gets hit hard with a lot of damage. Eventually he becomes a puddle.

Bokken finishes off the last Rainman and feels very guilty about letting Barrai die. Some of that also due to the fact that one of his attacks had dealt damage to Barrai while he was trapped inside the figure. Kip and Bokken manage to get the puddle that was Barrai into a water skin and they rush his puddle to Assendial whom Bokken had seen use the reincarnation spell before. She is able to use it on him, but he comes back not as a Tiefling but as a forest Gnome.

Behind the DM’s Screen

Like I said, this was a lightly planned session. When they started asking about the member of the Winter Court, I knew that is the direction that I’d been taking the session and two Rainman were going to make a hard/deadly encounter for the three of them. Turns out it was in fact deadly.

And Barrai, and the player, actually got to pick between two different races. Normally you just get whatever you roll but because Kip had used prestidigitation to help get the puddle form of Barrai into the water skin. I decided to make it more interesting than just a straight roll. The player could have picked between human and forest gnome. Thematically they decided that it made more sense to be a forest gnome after all the torturing of Dorin that he had done over the school year.

Have you had a character die and become reincarnated in a game before?

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Easiest To Hardest

Fighter

The first two on the list are by far the easiest to rank. Fighter is not a difficult class to play, mainly because it’s the most common thing that we’d know of. We can think of fighters in basically any movie set in a fantasy setting or a medieval era. And the mechanics are pretty simple as well, most of what you will be doing is fighting with your main weapon. Now you can make it more interesting by adding in additional types of weapons or customizing your attack style in a different way, but mechanically it is a pretty straight forward class to play.

Barbarian

Next up is the Barbarian, much like the fighter they are basically all about fighting in their fairly basic way. The fact that they add in the rage, that makes it very slightly more complicated. Same with the natural defense that they have, but neither of those really make it more difficult to play, they just change is up from how most other classes handle your basic fighting. Once you have the concept of rage down, the Barbarian is as easy to play, or maybe even easier, than the fighter.

Rogue

Next up I went with the Rogue. Now, I do think that the Rogue is a slight step up in terms of complexity. But again it is still going to be more of a standard fighting class. The rogue, however, is shiftier and interacts with their adventuring party more in combat than other classes. They like to focus on enemies are already facing off against someone else to get that sneak attack damage. But they can also go and hide to get bonuses and get away from someone they are fighting easier. It if a little more to keep track of, and they aren’t going to be able to tank like a Fighter or a Barbarian can.

Cleric

Our first spell caster is on the list and it’s the Cleric. Mainly because the concept of a cleric is pretty simple to grasp. The cleric is going to be pass out some buffs, but really, they are going to keep the party on their feet. So slinging around healing spells and making sure if someone gets knocked out they can get back up again, that’s going to be the clerics main focus. There are types of clerics who can fight solidly as well, but most clerics will focus on healing.

Paladin

The Paladin is much like the cleric in that they are good at healing. The difference is they are a half-caster class versus a full caster and that means they have access to fewer spells. Adding in the fighting that a cleric can do, it is definitely a step up in complexity, but not that hard. The main thing to know is that Paladins can convert their spell slots into more damage, so there are two types of Paladins. The first is going to be the type that heals and the other is going to be the type that fights, and generally stick to one instead of trying to do both. But once you pick, then it becomes real easy.

Ranger

Next up we have the Ranger. The Ranger is another half-caster class and can be a bit trickier. There is the Beastmaster Ranger who can have an animal companion which gives them more to do. However, for the most part the Ranger will use a few standard spells, like Hunter’s Mark, and a bow and arrow to deal with their enemies. Some of what becomes trickier are their other abilities. The favorite terrain, how do you work that into a campaign or use that meaningfully. Those are the questions for the Ranger player and DM.

Monk

After the Ranger comes the Monk. These two and the next one are all really close in complexity if you ask me. The Monk is another fighting class. Like the Barbarian it has it’s own way to calculate defense. Where the complexity comes in is the chi that the Monk has. Basically it is a way to manipulate attacks and attackers. Some of the disciplines of the monk give you lots of ways to manipulate your chi so you really need to think about how you spend it.

Wizard

Now we are into caster territory, and the second easiest caster is the Wizard, in my opinion. The Wizard could even go higher, but I think that casters tend to be a bit trickier than some of the other classes. Why is it easier than some of the others, how it casts is very simple. Simple use of spell slots and not much else that a Wizard does besides cast. It just depends on what type of caster you want to be.

Bard

The Bard is also a pretty straight forward casting class. Again, like the Wizard it is just spending spell slots. Where it adds is Bardic inspiration. Bardic Inspiration is basically a way to help your party do better. It gives them a die to spend on a check and the Bard has a limited number. As you go, it can even do more depending on the college you went to as a Bard. Not too complex to play but adds in a little more to do, and a Bard can also get into the fray with combat more.

Druid

These last three could have gone in most any order, but I’m placing the Druid as my third most complex. The reason that it’s sitting here is that the Druid can go in two different ways. There are caster druids and there are wild shape druids, basically think shape shifting. While the caster has some wild shape, they will focus on casting. Whereas a wild shape Druid will cast, but the wild shape is a key to a lot of what they do. Definitely adds in complexity with what creatures you can turn into with your wild shape and when you do.

Warlock

Next is the Warlock, I think that the Warlock could be simpler than some of these, except that it’s casting works very differently than other classes. You have fewer spell slots, they are always as the higher level and you get them back on a short rest. Plus they have their pact and different benefits that they get from what. Once you can wade through how the class plays, there are some solid and simple combos out there, mainly with Eldritch Blast you can take advantage of.

Sorcerer

Finally we have the Sorcerer. I put this one as the most complex even though it’s base casting is simple. You spend a spell slot and cast it. The difference is they have meta magic with sorcery points. You can convert spell slots to points and back. And you pick which meta magics you want to use. So there are more choices to consistently make than other classes, in my opinion.

Are Any Too Complex For A Beginner?

To wrap this up, let’s talk about this question, are any of the classes too complex for a first time player? Yes, but it depends on the player. I wouldn’t give someone who is casually interested in Dungeons and Dragons any of the last three classes. The Druid, Warlock and Sorcerer are probably just a bit too much, and I would maybe shy away from the Ranger and the Monk as well.

However, a player who is really excited about Dungeons and Dragons, they can play any class. No class is too hard out of the box for a player to pick up. Some of them are just going to require a little bit more work to learn than others.

Now, I skipped the Wizard, I think the concepts of the Wizard a good for a new player. And I think that they are pretty easy to learn, they just have a lot of choices. For a new player that might be too many choices, or it might be just fine. But I think even a somewhat interested new player will be able to figure it out, leveling up just might take longer.

Which is your favorite class to play? Are there any that you avoid because they are too simple or too complex?

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Last time the players had just finished up a test in the Tower which had gotten them up to level 3. It was a bit of a challenge as they had to figure out a number of different puzzles.

When they made it back to Strawgoh, Kip, Thrain, and Barrai were pulled aside by Assendial, the player playing Bokken was the one who couldn’t make it, in order to get their help trying to figure out how the scarab that had attracted the dragon had gone missing. Since they had previously found out the two spies, she entrusted this to them before the school year ended. She also told them to be more discrete about it, not to use their normal tactics, of theft, destruction, antagonizing, threatening, and general ignoring of people, rules, and common sense. But they had previous success which is why she asked them.

They started to dig into everything that had gone on while they were gone at the test. Three of the teachers, Assendial, Tormin, and Linken had all been with them for the test. So that only left Dadellous at the school. Plus Sanphire was keeping watch and all the second year students were still there as well. Plus Parrag had been there while he was sick.

Barrai decides to go and check with Sanphire first, see if he had seen anything from up in the tower. Sanphire, now incredibly bored because it’s been months since the dragon attack, was able to give them some idea. He’d seen a couple of second year students, Parrag, Addrus and Dadellous all around the building that has the teachers quarters and offices. But he wasn’t able to give them a ton of information.

Their next idea is to go and look at the scene of the crime. Tormin had the scarab in his office, even though according to Assendial something like that would normally have been stored elsewhere with other magical items and should have been when Tormin left to go with them for the test. However, he had left it in his desk. Kip decides, since it’s before dinner in the evening to knock on the door. He knocks, and knocks, and knocks, until the door across the hall, Assendial’s office, opens, and she unlocks the door for them.

In there is a fairly standard office. Tormin has a desk and some book shelves, a few pictures on the wall. Since the scarab was stolen from within Tormin’s desk, that’s where they started looking. Kip gives it a once over and sees that there are two locks that look like they’ve been used or messed with more than the others. He gets one open and sees some papers with a box underneath it. Grabbing the box, he is surprised when the box grabs back on and bites his hand. Turns out that the box was a mimic. A quick battle ensues while Thrain and Barrai attack, Kip tries not to die and tries not to cut off his hand. Whether or not Kip would have made it through the fight is questionable, but Assendial hearing the commotion casts a high level sleep spell knocking everyone out, including Karl the squirrel who has been with Kip. When they wake up Assendial is standing in the doorway shaking her head at them as she has put the mimic back into the drawer.

They are a bit more careful and Kip tries to pick the other lock that looks like it’s been opened more times. Try as he might the lock won’t open. He kicks the desk and there is a sound of a spring. He goes back to picking on the lock with Barrai’s help, bardic inspiration and enhance ability, and eventually gets the whole front of the drawer to fall off, only to find that it isn’t a front of a drawer, there is just desk behind it. Thrain then takes a look around the room and sees that there is a safe behind one of the pictures but no visible lock. Instead he also notices that the underside of the desks looks a bit off. On the right side where Kip had been picking the lock, there is a not a bit of a bump out. He pulls on it, it doesn’t move and pushes it and it pushes it back in. It clicks back into place. They try pushing on the desk, but they find that kicking it is a more successful way to get it to open. After spending some time poking around, Thrain uses mending and attaches the drawer front to it. They get it further open and then using some leverage manage to swing it open revealing a hidden compartment. In that compartment there is a small book that contains poison recipes, a statue of a toad, a necklace with 8 black beads on it, and a bag containing some gems. The gems, to Kips semi-trained eye, look as if there might have been some spell cast on them.

They are interrupted by Assendial again who reminds them that supper is coming up and that they should clean up this room putting it back as they had found it and go have supper as not to be suspicious. At supper, Barrai watches the second year students to see who stands out. There are twin dwarves, a half-orc, giant, and tabaxi who all are out of the normal, but no one seems suspicious. Most of the second years head off to their barracks to prepare and rest before their test in the tower tomorrow.

Two of them, an elf and a human, head off to Moody’s Bar. There they find a spot in the corner, and Thrain finds a spot at the bar to watch them. Barrai and Kip tag along as well and Kip spots Zaphir across the way. Zaphir seems very concerned about Kip and still very mad at Thrain and Barrai, not knowing which one of them robbed him after he started a bar fight with them. Kip decides to order a round for the two second years and goes and talks with them. It turns out, after a bit of persuading (casting friendship) that they are there to test out a theory to rig a fight. But he also does find out that theft has been up a little bit on campus over this year, which the students found odd, but not too concerning since it wasn’t there stuff.

The three, Barrai, Thrain, and Kip head out as the fights start. As they do, Kip makes it so Zaphir’s beer tastes like urine. Then they go back to their barracks and Bokken realizes that they had been gone for most of the time after the test.

Behind the DM Screen

This was a loosely planned session. I wanted it to be something that is important towards the main thing that has happened so far, the dragon attack, so it didn’t just seem like filler, but I also wanted it not to be so important that it wouldn’t make sense for Bokken to be there. I feel like logically Assendial would have known that Bokken was not stealthy from the dragon attack, but would know that Thrain, Barrai, and Kip definitely are and that Kip was part of the group already, which is why she’d go to them instead of all of them.

As for the desk, I decided that a puzzle door would be interesting to get into that one drawer. Basically whatever, unique or interesting thing that the players did with it, that would get it open, they just needed to do a few things. I like the creativity of trying mend on the door front onto the hidden door.

What do you think of this session? How do you run investigation in your games?

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Thrain and Barrai spooked by the noise decided to book it towards the direction of the mess hall. There they run into a stone wall and Barrai thinks it’s a dead end but Thrain, with his dwarven eyes study it and see that there appears to be a single stone, large, that looks like it’s loose that he could push out of the way. It takes some effort and Barrai’s help but they push the door out of the way and they see that they are in the cellar where they were supposed to have gone for shelter during the dragon attack.

Bokken thinking that everything is good leaves Sanphire up in the tower after their dagger throwing competition and heads back into the mess hall through the kitchen. In the kitchen he is caught by Narius. But Narius, after having gotten beaten up by their group once decides not to fight him and just finishes drinking his water. Bokken settles down watching the door for the night.

Thrain and Barrai thinking that they are being smart decide to loop back around, sneaking outside to see whom they can see who was following them down the tunnel. They make it to a corner and they see Sanphire, out of the tower where he had been keeping watch, going to pick up the two daggers. One of the daggers is lying by the trapdoor which is propped ever so slightly open by a piton. Barrai, thinking quickly, decides to try and cast sleep on Sanphire. However, the spell doesn’t seem to have an affect on him, instead there is a thump from down inside the tunnel and Sanphire notices the trapdoor and the piton. He throws open the trapdoor and messages Tormin. Tormin sees the trapdoor and looks surprised by it. He wakes up the other teachers and they all come out. Barrai, watching the proceedings notices that neither the teachers Dadellous or Linken seem surprised or as surprised as they should be by the trapdoor. Or at least as surprised as Assendial and Tormin did. Barrai and Thrain sneak back inside.

Inside they go back to sleep and are awakened early in the morning by Assendial and Tormin who wake up all the students. Tormin tells them about the secret tunnel and that something was found underneath the barracks where the dragon had attacked and where Castillia had gotten her leg broken. They then tell the students that they are going to question them one by one and start on that process while Linken and Dadellous continue to study the tunnels.

Bokken is the first to go in to be questioned. He steps in and realizes that the room has had some spell cast on it, a zone of truth, and that he has to tell the truth, not Liar Liar style but he cannot right out lie. Assendial is sitting there and she asks him if he knew about the tunnel or any secret passage prior to Tormin telling them about it. He answers truthfully that he did. She asks him what entrance to it he knew of, he answers truthfully. She pulls out four items, a necklace, a scarab, an amulet, and rock with runes etched into it, she asks him if he knows which was found down in the tunnel underneath the barracks. He answers truthfully that he doesn’t.

Barrai is next, and he also fails his saving throw against the zone of truth. Realizing this he hems and haws a bit about it. Assendial asks him to clarify if he knew about it, and he hems and haws some more. She next asks him where an entrance is, he gives a vague answer but not a lie about how a place as old as this there are probably several entrances. Finally she asks him which of the items was under the barracks. He guesses that a dragon would probably want the items that have the most value and that the necklace, amulet and scarab are all golden. Or maybe it’s the rune covered rock because that’s different.

Parrag goes in next followed by Thrain. Thrain who has a very high charisma doesn’t fail the saving throw and he and Assendial know it. She asks him if he knows about the tunnel, he answers truthfully that he does. She asks him if he knows where they are or if he’s been down in there. He successfully deceives her that he knows less about the tunnels and where they go then he actually does. She pulls out the items and asks him about them, about their origins, which was found under ground, what he knows about their magical properties. Thrain is 100% truthful with her that he really doesn’t know much about them. She believes him.

Everyone else is sent back into a large group except for Narius, Addrus, Barrai and two second year students. They are all brought into one room together with all the teachers and are asked a couple of questions, the first that they had to write down was how many different directions the tunnel splits at it’s single junction point. Narius says outloud 4, but had written down 2. Addrus says 4 and has written down 4, Barrai says 4 and has written down 4, one second year has said 4 and written down 4, the last one has written down “?” and says 4. Next they are asked where the four directions of the tunnel go. The first 2nd year just writes down “I don’t know” and says “I don’t know”, the next one says “Moody’s Bar, the field, the cellar, and the tower” and has written that down. Barrai has written down “Not not the field, not not the cellar, not not somewhere fun, and not not somewhere awesome” and says that. Addrus gives the same answer the second year who knew all the directions. Narius, on the other hand, gives all the right answers but only had written down “the field, the food, and the drink”.

The two second years are let out of the room as is Barrai while Narius and Addrus are kept in the room to answer more questions.

The group decides to go to Moody’s bar, since they assume that the trapdoor and the hidden door into the cellar will be blocked off for good now, and they should try and find another way in. Moody’s Bar is the one where the fighting circle that Barrai and Thrain had made some money before, and they had seen Sanphire and Esmelda fight. Bokken decides to give them a good cover as they search around. Barrai and Thrain spot Zaphir, an older student from another school whom they’d swindled before in a fixed fight. They go up to him and see if he wants to bet with them on the Bokken fight. He recognizes them and knowing that they had taken his money before, he orders two beers, plus he has one in front of him. When the beers arrive, he takes one in each hand and smashes them into the faces of Barrai and Thrain. A bar fight ensues and Thrain unleashes an eldritch blast on him, plus hex damage and takes him down. The bartender kicks them out of the bar so that they don’t get in more trouble since technically Zaphir started it, and they head out just until Zaphir is gone. Then they sneak back in wearing fake moustaches (a Dwarf and a Tiefling) and join the crowds who are getting ready for the first fight. They get their program which has the betting odds and see they can get 5 for one on Bokken, slightly worse than normal first time fighters. So Thrain puts down two gold and Barrai puts down 10 gold, that he’d stolen off of Zaphir. And the announcer came out….

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the week night fights…. Let’s get ready to rumble………”

Behind the DM’s screen:

Most of this session was ad libbed. I had some plans for them down in the tunnels, but because of choices that were made, mainly Bokken heading back when he did and not picking up the daggers things changed. Had he picked up the daggers even, they could have gone through the cellar, come back around, and repeated the process. I’m assuming they would have been the ones to find the odd object in the tunnel under the barracks, instead of the teachers. And that was going to be my main plan, things clearly went differently.

One thing that was a lot of fun was the Zone of Truth just to see the different tacts and different successes for passing. I like how Zone of Truth works where you know as the person who is in it what is happening so you can talk around the truth, but the caster also knows if you pass or fail. It makes for some interesting moments in gaming.

And Zaphir being at the bar was totally something the players asked about. So the fact there was a bar fight is on them, Zaphir survived to fight another day.

We’ll have a few weeks off now from any more Tower of the Gods. I’m in the midst of moving and seeing as this is remote, I’m not sure when I’ll have my computer and full set-up ready to go again.

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Greyhawk is a traditional fantasy style world and, as I said, possibly one of the original worlds for Dungeons and Dragons. It has the elements of spell casting while focusing on a war style of game. But in order to differentiate itself from war games, there was the role playing element added to it, and it was a dungeon, an early dungeon crawler, that eventually ended up in having a 13 floor dungeon in which players battled their way through traps, monsters, found secret passages and eventually made their way down to a slide in the 13th floor which would take them back to the outside. Then Gygax stepped aside and let someone else run a game in Greyhawk and working with that DM, eventually the dungeon under the old castle Greyhawk reached 50 levels.

If you’re following along with the Dungeons and Dragons source books for 5th Edition, you’ll have heard of the book Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes or heard of the spell Bigby’s Hand. These are characters who were created and played in this Greyhawk setting, so, beyond them, a lot of interesting characters who have continued to shape the worlds of Dungeons and Dragons came into being.

Greyhawk as a setting for playing it, again it’s going to be that more traditional setting. I’d probably say it’s somewhere between Sword and Sorcery and High Fantasy setting, but it is fairly Forgotten Realms before Forgotten Realms was a thing. If you wanted to start out as nobodies to eventually become a hero, you would play a game in Greyhawk. The one difference is as an older setting it’s going to be filled with dungeon crawling experiences. Yes, you might end up exploring the lands, but it’s a setting where you’ll go from a dungeon to a dungeon more than you would in the Forgotten Realms.

Would I play in this world? Probably not, again, because we have Forgotten Realms now. If someone suggested a game in this world and wanted to adapt it for 5th Edition, I guess I would, but there isn’t a massive reason to do that as Forgotten Realms can do the same thing. It is a good setting if you wanted to adapt a dungeon delve. Like I was saying at the beginning of the article, there is a dungeon under the old castle Greyhawk that goes down 50 levels. So if you and your group want to turn that into something for 5th Edition, it’s sitting out there ready to get taken on, it’ll just take time to convert it.

How about you? Would you play as a PC or run a game as a DM in Greyhawk? Is there anything unique that I should have pointed out?

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Quick refresher, high magic means that magic is common and is used for common tasks or that towns will often have a healer or someone who can cast some spells. When people see you cast a spell they won’t want to either worship you or burn you as a witch. Low magic means that magic is rare. If you can do magic, you might be revered or you might be seen as an abomination that should be killed.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about how it can affect how you role play in a game.

I think if you’re a magic user in a high magic world, you aren’t going to be set apart at a lower level. A spell like mend or cure wounds, your small towns are probably going to have someone who can do those things. People are just going to see that as normal and it won’t be until you start casting higher level spells that you’ll be considered special. In game, I would use that a motivation for a character, you want to be the best smartest wizard, most powerful sorcerer, or devout cleric. It gives a reason for a character to go off adventuring from their small town where they might be able to live a good life, but they want more because they’ve heard of that powerful and revered wizard who now consults for nations and can travel to other planes of existence, you want to be like that. Or maybe you have a rival who is just slightly better than you.

You can also, since magic is common, take some role playing queues from maybe you are just common and not needed in your town. You can almost be kicked out to go find a small town where your skills are needed or maybe you’re just not as good yet, as the person in town, so they want you to take over as being the towns healer, but they send you away to get more experience first. So instead of leaving to make a name, you might be leaving to adventure so that you can come back home. I like this one because it can give you a nice hook for adventuring and gives the DM something to play with.

Let’s look at the flip side of this, what if there is very little magic in the world, how do you role play that?

Firstly, there’s always getting kicked out of your town because you’re a witch or needing to flee, especially if it isn’t a holy magic. So any class that isn’t Cleric or Paladin could be seen as being some sort of abomination. And if you’re a Warlock, maybe your pact actually is with a demon. But, how can you use that to role play. You might be out to prove that you are in fact great. Or prove that your town should have kept you around because some day they might need you. This is a very chaotic and potentially neutral or even possible for an evil character. And, again I like it for a hook as a DM, at some point in time, when you have the power to stop something to happening, I’d force you to make a decision, do you go back to your home town to save them or do you let them burn because they kicked you out? If you still have family there, did they kick you out or was it the town, do you need to still save them?

Or, on the other hand, you might be almost revered. Does that make your character pompous because they can do something else that others can’t and everyone loves them for it? Will they hold that over everyone? I can see a couple of backstory hooks, one where the town sends out the person to save them from some impending doom because you are the best person for it in the town and you must be able to save them because you have magic. But what happens if you can’t? The other would be if you’re playing more a pompous character, are you going to go out and make a name for yourself because the town you’re from is too small? If someone did that, I would then definitely have something happen to the town that you could have stopped, and how does that affect the character? Is it an acceptable loss for their fame or do they feel guilt over something having happened?

There are a ton of hooks you can choose to play around with for both low and high magic worlds and playing a spell caster in them. I didn’t even get into how it might affect party dynamics, but that’s something you’d probably need to role play out with your own adventuring group. Do any of the hooks I’ve presented interest you? Have you played a character like any of those before?

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