The Practical Dungeonmaster

Not all NPCs want your party to take on a job. Remember, these NPCs are supposed to represent real people in the realm. Some of them want to offer congratulations for a job well done. Others still may seek apprenticeship or training. My new favorite is the admirer, an NPC who truly wants nothing more than to spend time with a player's character. This can be awkward to handle in large groups, but it works great in one-on-one sessions and can even be inadvertent side quests.

In the solo campaign I'm running for my girlfriend, her character Ionel proved herself to be somewhat of a local hero when she helped a squad of city guards take down a Hill Giant zombie that had burst out of a well. This drew the attention of the local Lord and lesser nobility, including the Lord's youngest son Deino. At a soiree thrown in honor of Ionel and her friends, Deino approached Ionel with the intent to get to know her, so they spent time walking the manor where he showed her his private art gallery and tried his hardest to impress the elven maiden.

While this was a detour that didn't have anything to do with the main storyline, I introduced him with this scenario to help make the world feel more real. Ionel was hours away from embarking on a journey across the multiverse and into the depths of a dark and evil plane and this encounter served to make her feel like life goes on even in her absence. It also made the decision to leave an even harder one. With the interest of a noble artistic prodigy with a heart of gold and eyes only for her, she now had something to lose and someone to leave behind.

Grashk'lariaxe, Half-Dragon Hobgoblin Fighter

Medium Goblinoid

Hit Dice: 3d10+3 (28 hp)

Initiative: +1

Speed: 30 ft.

AC: 19 (+1 Dex, +3 Studded leather, +1 Light shield, +4 Natural)

Attack: Longsword +3 melee (1d8+1, 19/20), Bite +3 melee (1d6+1), Claw +4 melee (1d4+1)

Special Attacks: Cone of Fire (2d8 fire) 20 ft. 1/day

Special Qualities: Immunity to fire, Darkvision 60 ft.

Saves: Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +1

Abilities: Str 19, Dex 13, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 9, Cha 10

Skills: Stealth +3, Perception +3

Feats: Alertness

Challenge Rating: 5

Treasure: Double Standard

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

When you're designing a new city or other center of civilization for your players to explore, the task can be a bit daunting and at times tedious. For a long time, I found it difficult achieving a balance between having enough information without having too much information. There are a few ways to handle this, but for today I'm only going to talk about one. This method helps not only define all the areas of your new city, but also helps flesh them out with a ton of useful places and the people found there. For this example, I'll be using a major city called Tudrona in my current campaign that has become a hub for my players.

 There are a few details that you need to concern yourself with before fleshing out your city; what geographical features or oddities there are, why the land was settled, what are the main imports and exports, how big and how old the city is, and how well defended it is. Once those details are squared away, it's time to sweat the smaller stuff.

 Before defining NPCs or even specific buildings of importance, you need to divide your city into sections that group most buildings of a similar nature together. This is going to save you organizational headaches later, trust me. For Tudrona, I split the city up into five districts; Traveler's, Entertainment, Merchant's, Artisan's and Noble's/ Military. This gives you an idea of what can be found where and it is a huge timesaver. For your own sake at this point, keep the titles of these places simple and descriptive. If you want multiple districts serving the same purpose, just number them until you get a better idea of what makes each one unique.

 Once your districts are figured out, it's time to fill them in. I'll normally do five areas of interest that can be found outside walking around and five buildings that are unique or useful. I tend to start with the buildings first, so when creating outdoor locations, I can place one of these buildings at or nearby. I won't detail all the districts, but here's a look at the five I chose to highlight from the Entertainment District;

Evening Star Theatre - Three shows a night. Cheaper tickets later on.

Horned Helm Opera House - Expensive, two tiers of seats, weekends only.

The Red Stringed Lute - Dive bar with a music stage overlooking a fighting pit.

Labyrinth - Comedy Club and silhouette plays

Madame Gulfisk's - Dwarven run gambling house

 Now let's build some outer areas to use as backdrops for these buildings! Here's another look at the Entertainment District;

Hall of Mockery - Square with many puppet stands. Evening Star Theatre.

Keg Roll Overlook - Popular spot in the seedier part. People pay to throw empty kegs off the cliff. Red Stringed Lute.

Silversong Square - Large square built around the Horned Helm by a noble family.

Lover's Lane - Street w/ popular spots for dates. Labyrinth is located here.

Wishing Well - Large square, local lore says the well grants wishes. Gulfisk's.

 The only detail left really at this point is NPCs, but these can often be the hardest to make unique. Everyone's met the unshaven, surly human bartender. It's also good to note their starting disposition toward the party in case of Diplomacy. So it's time to revisit the Entertainment District;

Casca Appemantus - Tiefling acrobat/ Commedia dell'arte performer at Evening Star Theatre. Friendly.

Bloodsport - House band of Half-Orcs at the Red Stringed Lute. Unfriendly.

Lucina Silversong - Spoiled daughter of the Silversong house and star singer at The Horned Helm Opera House. Human. Unhelpful.

Darby Cross - Retired cartographer and owner of Labyrinth. Gnome. Helpful.

Elise Gulfisk - Owner and proprietor of Gulfisk's. Dwarf. Neutral.

So I'm moving this blog to an independent site. My gaming group has finally decided we're making a podcast and The Practical Dungeonmaster will be moving to there. If nothing else, simply because i want to try out Wordpress. The first few weeks may be littered with re-hashes of old post from here, but fear not! New content will be coming soon! So the link is as follows:

This morning I was contemplating the morality of certain actions in Dungeons and Dragons. These characters we play are supposed to think and feel. Should a Lawful Good Paladin be perfectly content with walking into a cave filled with kobolds or goblins and slaying dozens of them, just because they're evil? I understand the implications that go along with his position; you're supposed to fight evil and beat them back until nothing but the light of good shines in even the darkest corners of the earth. What if they've done no wrong though? I suppose what I'm asking is this: Can a group of creatures who are evil in nature live in relative peace?

I always strive for a level of morality in my stories and in my roleplaying that echoes what I myself would actually feel. Just because the sum of my character's being is a piece of paper and a plastic figurine doesn't mean he has to be so two-dimensional. My characters aren't heartless and neither are the NPCs that I make. Isn't that what the point of D&D is; to roleplay as a group of adventurers with the goodliest intentions, so that when they meet a villain who is truly heartless, the difference between that villain and that small village of kobolds in the cave is stark? 

Today, I was doing some planning for an upcoming campaign I'll be DMing and I thought to myself, "What can I do to make this adventure great? It's already good; it has all the essential parts, yet it seems to be missing something." I often think about this while I plan out adventures. It helps keep the adventure from becoming too abstract and makes me look at it from a player's perspective. Obviously any DM will enjoy an adventure they wrote, but it's not always that way on the other side of the DM screen. Sometimes too much is left in the dark for the players and they become bored of loose ends. Anyone who has played with a DM that loves writing can probably attest to that. I myself do this quite a bit.

So how does one fix this? Keep things simple. My golden rule for DM-ing is to only have two consecutive story arcs active at any point in time --one major and one minor. A major story arc should be the big, driving force keeping the adventuring party together. The minor story arc should pertain to the task at hand. 

Another way to keep your players interested is to add in a lot of cinematics. Not every task has to start with a die roll. Sometimes, it's okay to let something be an immediate success, especially if you as a DM want or planned for that action to happen and succeed. Not only will this keep the story rolling, but it also makes players feel good about their characters.

There are a few key things that you should be asking yourself as you plan adventures:

Is this situation fun?

Is this situation engaging and not just a bunch of die rolling?

Is this situation memorable?

I'm a huge fan of using miniatures in my games. Wizards of the Coast's official miniatures are amazing, and there are so many that odds are you'll probably never own them all. As extensive as their line of minis is, there isn't a figure for every monster or every character. That's not necessarily a big problem, unless your PCs want something that will represent their respective characters well. When this happens, the best thing to do as a DM is come up with a way to modify an existing mini into something your PC will enjoy. Sometimes this can be as simple as a custom paint job or as difficult as re-sculpting specific parts or grafting body parts from other minis onto your base mini.

Hand painting your miniatures is the easiest way to make a custom mini. All it requires is some acrylic paint and a few brushes. Oh, and a lot of patience for those new to painting.

Re-sculpting a specific part of a miniature isn't easy, and it usually only works well when you want to remove something, like a weapon or other held object. This requires a lot of practice to do well, along with a sharp blade and a source of heat.

Grafting body parts from other minis usually means a paint job too, so be aware that it is a little time consuming. It also requires a fair bit of skill and some good tools; usually a very fine blade, a source of heat and some superglue. 

I've known about WorldWorks for a while, but it didn't interest me because I don't like miniature terrain that I have to print out. I've tried out printable terrain before and it wasn't a great experience. However, WorldWorks is now selling heavy punchboard models that you can use to build an incredible amount of terrain pieces and environments, suitable for 25mm to 32mm miniature figures. Right now, the only models they sell like this are from their Malifaux line, which is a sort of Gothic-Fantasy style. WorldWorks has some pretty cool options covering every basic genre of tabletop RPG out there, however those are downloadable PDFs that need to be printed out by you and they do still cost money, however nowhere near as much as the punchboard models. Definitely worth checking out if you want to start getting into miniature terrain.

Today I'm going to review one of the only 4th Edition products I own, the Adventurer's Vault 2. Now I'm all about 3.5, so I'll try and review this book from a 4th Edition standpoint.  

Synopsis

This book is essentially a compendium of arms and armor for characters. It's comparable to the Magic Item Compendium from the previous edition, although a sizable chunk of the items in the Adventurer's Vault 2 are for really high level characters. This book has something for every 4E class, as far as I can tell.

Appearance

This book is really rather handsome. One thing I've got to say about Wizards of the Coast, they've really stepped up their art for 4E books. Everything is laid out in a visually appealing format. There's art on almost every page, start to finish, and the beginning of both chapters have awesome double-page full color artwork. 

Content

This book has two chapters: Magic Items and Item Sets. Magic Items has several sub-sections essentially devoted to different classes. Item Sets also has a few sub-sections, but those are divided by character tier. Following in the footsteps of it's 3.5 edition predecessor, there's more gear crammed into 137 pages than an entire gaming group would ever need. There are three types of magic items that the Adventurer's Vault 2 has that the Magic Item Compendium didn't have are Wondrous Lair Items, Tattoos and Immurements. Wondrous Lair Items and Tattoos are exactly what they sound like, cool magic shit for your party's base and sweet magical ink with special magical properties. Immurements are special magic items that allow you to change the terrain of a specific area. Kind of a bit strange and useless as far as I can tell, but to each his/her own. One other thing to mention about what's inside the Adventurer's Vault 2 is the actual stat block layout Wizards uses for the items. They've really managed to shine here, as they've already figured out the price and enhancement bonus advancements for higher level items and list them alongside the level, inside the stat block. It's actually pretty great. 

Price

Saturday Night Encounters is coming a little early, so here it is: 

Monsters

Crawling Claw Swarm: Depicted as a black circle with a white C inside it. Stats are in Creature Feature, Part 2

Enhanced Crawling Claw and Swarm of Crawling Claws: Black circle with a white E inside. Stats are in Creature Feature, Part 2

Goblin Archer: Black circle with a white A inside. Stats are in Creature Feature, Part 1

 Read this aloud to your PCs as they enter the first room:

As you finish descending the musty stone steps, you enter a spacious room with a babbling fountain set into the wall opposite you. Between the fountain and the stairs, on the far wall is an ornately carved stone arch with many runes of power and protection. Through this archway, you see a hall with four sets of double doors leading off of it. A fire is crackling merrily in a room at the other end of the hallway.

Your more magical PCs may wish to examine the runes around the doorway and can succeed in doing so with a DC 15 Arcana Check. They are all that remains of a Protection from Evil spell and a Daylight spell, both permanent. Somehow they've been deactivated. All that remains now are the burnt out symbols carved into the archway. 

Also, have your PCs make Spot Checks against the Goblin Archer hiding at the end of the hallway in front of the portcullis, which has yet to drop. Whether the PCs see him or not, he fires off a crossbow bolt at the closest PC as soon as he/she steps into the hall. This will definitely reveal an enemy presence, at which point he stands up and runs through the portcullis archway and stands ready to fire another shot. 

Before your PCs have much of a chance to catch him and retaliate, the portcullis slams closed. The goblin beyond cackles and scampers down the stairs to the first landing, joining his compatriot. This should have your PCs ready for a fight and wanting to open the portcullis ASAP. The portcullis is not going to open by physical force, however. The PCs are going to have to find a lever that lifts the portcullis, and search fast if they want to catch the goblin. The switch to lift the portcullis is in the bed chamber. However, flipping the switch will open the portcullis in ten rounds, and it will stay open for another five. However, as the portcullis closes the Delayed Blast Fireball Trap goes off, shooting a gout of fire out of the brazier in the room beyond. Before the PCs can even get to the switch and leave the room, the crawling claws attack. 

Read the following to your PCs when they've entered the bed chamber:

This room is clearly a very humble bed chamber. A wardrobe stands along the far wall, a small bed along the left wall, and a chest of drawers along the right wall. A short hallway on your left also leads off of this room, ending in a stout looking, wooden door. As you step into the room, the doors of the wardrobe rattle and burst open. A swarm of severed hands scuttles forth; each a sick mockery of some sort of spider. The drawers of the bureau on the right hand wall open as well, and more of these disgusting beasts crawl out. With a loud whooshing sound, a jet of flame erupts from under the bed, turning it to cinders and splinters. A large metal gauntlet is moving toward you of its own volition!

After fighting off the swarm of severed hands, your PCs may want to poke around. Add in treasure wherever you'd like, but have the top drawer of the bureau contain a false bottom; within is Sir Ecthyos' diary (because he's more than manly enough to admit it's a diary). Most of this diary is devoted to different types of birds and their migratory patterns. It seems Ecthyos is a bit of a birdwatcher. However, there about two dozen or so entries about fights with small groups of goblins scattered throughout the book that become more frequent the closer to the last entry the PCs read. The last entry reads as such:

It seems to me now that all of my prior encounters with the goblins of Briarwood were simply their means of testing my strength. Today they marched on Darkhelm Keep in great numbers. Though we are but five and they are many, I am certain the walls will hold us safe so long as a vigilant watch is kept. I have sent a message to King Garon with Sten's hawk to request reinforcements. Although the militia is spread thin due to the invasions in Goldhammer, I am sure reinforcements will come.

This diary should help your PCs feel more immersed in the setting, giving them clues about what's happening in the world around them. It also clues them in to the fact that Ecthyos was not alone at Darkhelm Keep; that there may be more people here they need to locate and save. 

If any PC is religious or is learned in scrying, the two rooms across the hall may prove useful for just such a purpose. Those who are religious may pray to Bahamut and ask for guidance in the battles ahead and in saving those who need saving. A wizard or sorcerer may attempt to use the scrying pool to locate Sir Ecthyos or to unmask the root of what is going on here.

Answers should be brief and very vague. Those praying to Bahamut see a quick glimpse of heavy stone sarcophagi adorned with carvings of warriors committing acts of valor, and another brief flash of a red-skinned creature sitting atop a throne made completely of bones. Those attempting to scry see a black metal helmet adorned with silver horns, a silhouette of a horned creature hunched over a prone figure and a castle made of dark stone sitting atop a barren mountain set against a stormy sky.

When your PCs have figured out the portcullis mechanism, they'll have to deal with the Delayed Blast Fireball Trap:

Delayed blast fireball trap: CR 5; Magical; Action trigger; Automatic reset; Bypassed by a symbol of Bahamut; 5d6 fire damage; DC 15 Reflex Save for half-damage; DC 15 Arcana Check to disable; Multiple targets

After your PCs have gotten past this trap, they enter the room beyond the portcullis. Read this aloud when they enter:

As you enter this room, you stand amid five statues. Immediately flanking you are two statues clearly meant to be champions of Bahamut. The two statues directly opposite them appear to be some sort of goat-like demon with a polearm. Directly in front of you, between the two goat-demon statues is a much larger statue of a vicious looking winged demon. It looks vaguely reptilian or even dragon-esque. It holds a roughly carved stone brazier in its clawed hands at waist height, which is still above your heads. All around the brazier's brim are runes for the spell you have just experienced. As you look around to see where the goblin has gone, you see a staircase leading downward on the left-hand side of the room. 

The goblins are hiding just beyond the PCs' line of sight on the first landing. They wait for the PCs to step onto the stairs before launching bolts at them. They stand and fight to their last breath. When their bodies are searched after your PCs have disposed of them, two crudely carved wooden charms depicting a human head with ram's horns are found.