#tamisrandom

I got roped in to do a thing.

@tamisrandom asked me to help DM a group she had, comprising of herself, @tauntingcrow, @bladeverbena and @wehavekookies. All Tieflings, all wanting D&D Shenanigans and more gay ships than the San Francisco Harbour. Old daddy tieflings would not want to be walking around the forests. 

Waterdeep Dragon Heist would be a fun, lighthearted adventure that could be tweaked to focus on character growth in a confined environment. It would also cater to the generally informal play style I suspected the players enjoyed. So I agreed, and began to prep. 

How to Prep for the game if you’re a perfectionist but also lazy DM.

1)    Prepare the platform for play. Purchase content where available. Oh shit, no I can’t. Roll20 module only loads 25% of the plot based on season, and I want to run the Alexandrain Remix. Damn. Time to purchase the Complete WDH Bundle on DM Guild by Valeur RPG instead! It has nearly every map but Trollskull Alley/Manor. That’s alright, Reddit to the Rescue. Damn, now I must add dynamic lighting boundaries. Okay, that’s fine. I’m getting good with Roll20 shortcuts, this shouldn’t take too long. Note: it did take long.

2)      Upload info for the players into Journal. This took too long. Thank you Wikipedia and Google. I made a Witchypedia on Roll20 to summarise some key points of Volo’s Enchiridion, since the characters would know these thing prior to the campaign (All of them are Waterdhavians). I uploaded some key NPCs from the campaign too, with free to access basic info about them. Also, I got to find me sexy Renaer Neverember artwork, mmm. He was always my fave NPC in this.  

3)    Select classes. Cool, classes chosen. Wait, you’re a what now? Okay rogue. No, you’re a bard now? A rogue/bard. You have a mask, fine. Mysterious. I guess that would be important to your class-- You also want a bromeo/dudeliette romance? Okay, that’s awesome, here’s a hot guy in the story—Aww, you like him. If you respect your dude one more time, so help me god.

4)    Integrate backstory for characters. Let’s have the players (all daddies anyway) already be Waterdhavians. Now to give them links to key elements in the plot that will unfold... All the secrets, all woven in, all buttons for emotional pain down the road when I destroy your characters’ lives through the course of the plot. Each character has an arc and a backstory to develop. Everyone has a bond that can make or break them… – thank you for involving me in this process. One is grateful. So now I have a bunch of early 40s old guys with Back Story™ who somehow… are level 2. Okay, life happens. Over 40s maybe don’t really get into the adventuring gig so don’t level up.

5)    Integrate characters into setting. Damn, now they need residences, jobs, contacts. I’m lazy, let’s have them think stuff up. Okay they are into it, cool. OKAY they are TOO into this. ACK! That’s a lot of NPCs! Distract! Get them to design houses for their guys instead! Now they all have residences – with maps for in-game visits and bonking. It’s oddly character-building to create one’s residence. Hold up, is there only one character here with a legitimate source of income? And one janitor.

6)    Connect characters to each other. Somehow, I can’t remember how, they wound up all being connected through one woman – Madame Chaudron. This woman of unusual magical gifts is the owner of the brothel called the Polished Horn who also runs an information network comprising of mainly non-human gigolos, prostitutes and courtesans. Otho the janitor works there, Antiphony who works for her as a cats-paw has quarters here, Savos identifies odd items for her and visits once a year on his birthday, while Than provides perfectly safe 100% organic recreational restoratives for her masked parties. Through her, all 4 diverse characters are gathered, leading us to…

7)    Examine the campaign hook. I don’t want to start with 4 Randos Meet in A Bar. Let’s have Chaudron hear that her friend Volo needs help, and gathers the warlock with the cunning eyes, the rogue with the nimble hands, the janitor with his odd penchant for setting things ablaze, and the doctor who can keep them alive, while also turning into a bear.

Omg thank you all so much! And also thank you for sticking around for the ride, it means a lot!

SO MANY WISHES

I’m just

exploding

with gratitude