Multiple Hooks, Quests and Consequences

My Greyhawk campaign has continued over the past few months with a slight difference: the players now have two characters each. One new, low-level character and the older, mid-level character (about 8th level). Each session, the players choose which character they wish to use. I have no real problem running a session for differing levels; you just need to be aware of it – and … Continue reading Multiple Hooks, Quests and Consequences

5E Adventure Review: Ooze There?

Ooze There? is the first Adventurers League-legal CCC adventure created in Singapore. Designed by Darryl Ho and Jason Koh, it presents a delve into the sewers for level 1-4 characters, in search of missing people. There may be oozes involved. Scratch that: there are a LOT of oozes for the players to fight. The adventure begins with Gray Oozes, then moves on to present Gelatinous … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Ooze There?

Saturday Dragon Heist at Guf Ballarat

I’ve just been checking the dates, and it looks like the best date for starting Waterdeep: Dragon Heist on Saturdays at Guf Ballarat is Saturday 3rd November 2018. The week before is PAX Australia, so a few of our DMs are away; I don’t want to start it the week before that and enforce a break, and I want to give every chance for the two … Continue reading Saturday Dragon Heist at Guf Ballarat

5E Adventure Review: Altar of the Spider God

If there’s a product that demonstrates several features I very much dislike about adventure formatting, Altar of the Spider God is it. It’s a four-page encounter that can be included in the dungeon of your choice, although Undermountain is a likely candidate. The document neglects to suggest an appropriate level for the encounter. I expect level 2 or 3 characters would find it challenging. The … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Altar of the Spider God

5E Adventure Review: Attack on Coppercoil

Attack on Coppercoil is an adventure for 1st-4th level characters set in a gnomish settlement that has been attacked by duergar slavers. The adventurers are summoned by a messenger bat to the settlement’s aid. Once they reach it, the adventurers must explore the interior of a massive tree while dealing with the gnomes’ strange contraptions and various duergar slavers. This adventure offers a lot of … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Attack on Coppercoil

5E Adventure Review: Widow’s Peak

Widow’s Peak is an adventure for 5th to 10th level characters set in Ravenloft. The characters are trapped in the domain of Widow’s Peak and must find a way to escape; however, the domain seeks to corrupt the characters, and the population of the town, many of whom have turned to unsavoury practices, are unlikely to be of much help. This is an evocative adventure. … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Widow’s Peak

Wandering Monsters, Pursuit and Resting

How often do your characters rest? Where do they rest? Do your characters always fight to the death? Further to my last article on the effects that the availability of healing has on the game, I was considering how other mechanics change the flow of the game. To some extent, the mechanics are elements of the old-style dungeon explorations that I still enjoy very much … Continue reading Wandering Monsters, Pursuit and Resting

More Thoughts on Healing

I recently ran a session of Tomb of Horrors. Not the new version from Tales from the Yawning Portal, but the old version. The AD&D first edition version. With the pregenerated characters included in the adventure. Seven players, seven heroes. In a two-hour session they reached about half-way through. The dwarven fighter began the session on 90 hit points, a very good total in those … Continue reading More Thoughts on Healing

What You Need to Know to be a Dungeon Master in the Adventurers League

The D&D Adventurers League is an organisation that provides a shared campaign where players can take their characters from one game to the next, playing wherever suits their fancy. The players can play any of the official D&D hardcover campaigns as part of the Adventurers League campaign, or any of the one-shot adventures that are available on the DMs Guild and tagged as AL-legal. Most … Continue reading What You Need to Know to be a Dungeon Master in the Adventurers League

5E Adventure Review: Quelling the Horde

I had a great game of D&D tonight. We were playing Quelling the Horde, an adventure from the 3rd season of the Adventurers League by Ron Lundeen. The adventure has its flaws; the combats, in particular, are often far too difficult for a party of Tier 1 characters. It also has too much content, which is a problem when you’re trying to run a game … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Quelling the Horde