Natural 7

My First Campaign - 2

This is a continuation of my previous post My First Campaign - 1. You might want to read that one first if you haven't already, it contains a lot of the context relevant to this post.

The Hands of Fortune

Thus far, the party consisted of five players. In the second arc, I added an additional player for six total. The Hands of Fortune was their group name, decided after they all sought to save a city called Fortunis from the Mystics of the Dark, an evil mage cult.

The original five members were:

And the sixth member was:

They worked for the betterment of the greater realm, and were pretty heroic characters. The only times they dealt in shady business was when money was involved, which is typical of most D&D groups, I think.

Backgrounds, Hooks, Gods

From the previous post you may recall that the premise of this game was to connect lots of PCs to divine beings and use that as a spark for their adventures. I took advantage of the backgrounds of each PC to develop mini arcs specific to PCs that might help tie them to a divine being or one of the more significant adventure hooks I had set out.

In arc 1 - The Mystics of the Dark, most of Faral's mini arc was played out. He found and wielded an ancient elven artifact known as the Kalisar, and used it to defeat its creator: the evil archmage La'Shar.

Logatash recieved dozens of visions in arc 1 from a divine being calling themself Syne. By helping defeat the Mystics of the Dark, Logatash also managed to break the wicked chains binding Syne in an extradimensional prison. The party eventually learned that Syne was the former god of death, and had been exiled by the rest of the gods for refusing to grant immortality to divine children.

Lots of the downtime in arc 1 helped progress some of Sarah's mini arc and she learned about her family's adventurous past. Additionally, she recieved several dreams connecting her to the god of bravery and vigour.

Sonya found herself connected to a strange axe made from bone. This axe spoke to her and called on her to perform vile acts. Sonya refused the axe's wishes, instead praying for the god of storms to aid her in battle. It took some time, but eventually the axe was absolved of its evil sentience.

Arc 2 - The Auction at Greywolf Manor

After some downtime and intermediate adventures around Fortunis, the party set out to attend an auction in a distant town. A nobleman, Lord Greywolf, was hosting the auction. One of the PCs, Sarah, had pretty good evidence that Lord Greywolf was a corrupt noble. Coincidently, he was also the father of a prisoner that the party had freed from the Mystics of the Dark.

Along their journey to the auction, the party was cursed by a group of hags and chased by a mid-summer snow storm. This led the party to seek shelter in a haunted manor, where chaos quickly ensued. There were poltergeists and ghosts and weird traps and even a brain in a jar. It was a good session, and helped ease the tension after the snow storm. Also, the manor was cleared of danger so it could be used as a rest stop on future journeys.

Lesson: Small, compact situations at an interesting location can be helpful in segmenting travel and giving opportunities for exploration, roleplay, and monster fighting.

The Auction

The PCs were able to attend the auction, most of them dressing up in nice clothes. This made it feel like a real event, and helped my players get into the vibe of the situation as they talked to different noblemen and women about the auction. Dressing up also helped further distinguish characters who didn't care about their looks. Some of the PCs really leaned into being disheveled or not caring about their appearance, while others enjoyed putting on fancy attire.

Lesson: I think I first saw this on an episode of Critical Role, but having the opportunity to "costume swap" their character is always exciting for players to describe.

At the auction, the PCs learned that Lord Greywolf's son, the former prisoner of the cult, never made it home. This was alarming because although the PCs did not escort the kid home, they had seen Greywolf's son with a group of mercenaries hired by Lord Greywolf to advertise this very auction in Fortunis. Weird? It will be helpful to know Lord Greywolf's son's name at this point: Zarius Greywolf.

This was around the time that the Hands of Fortune were joined by Anax, who had walked a very long distance from the eastern elflands. The party did a good job introducing themselves and incorporating the new player. Everything was going swimmingly.

Theif!

Up until this point in the campaign, I hadn't done a whole lot for Durothil, the other elf bard. Their player had missed quite a few sessions, and only recently had they been able to attend regularly. I wanted to draw them in quickly, so I had one of the artifacts they picked up in a past adventure become a talisman of an otherworldly entity. In particular, a powerful wind elemental named Gaunadah the Austere.

Once inside the auction hall, Gaunadah whispered to Durothil that he was interested in one of the artifacts to be sold. In short, he wanted Durothil to steal a special dagger from the auction storage vault.

I would probably still offer a quest like this nowadays, but I would try to offer it up to the whole group and make sure they understood it was optional and wouldn't immediately die if they defied Gaunadah's wishes. I think because I only had one player who was really in on stealing the artifact, that made it harder for the other players to be happy about helping with the job and whatever bad outcomes might happen if things went wrong.

Lesson: Clarify that many quests are optional (even if they don't seem like it), and offer them as group projects whenever possible.

The theft went surprisingly well. It was only when Durothil returned from the storage vaults that things got dicey.

Murderer!

About halfway through the auction there was an intermission period for people to get refreshments and breathe a little. Right before the auction was set to get back online, soldiers throughout the manor sounded an emergency alarm. Code Grey! Code Grey!

Immediately the building was in full lock down, and the PCs were collected for questioning. Asking why they were suspects, the PCs were told that not only had Lord Greywolf been murdered, he had been murdered by an elf!

(Recall that the party includes two elves and one half-elf at this point, one of whom is a foreigner. Unfortunately for them, not one other person at this auction was an elf.)

Now hold on, said the PCs. We didn't do it.

Yeah, uh, you did, said the guards. Come with us and we'll prove it.

So the PCs were led up the stairs and into Lord Greywolf's bedroom to look at the body and the evidence (not something that should ever happen at a real crime scene, by the way). The elves were held in cuffs while the rest of the party could look around and poke at things. They found a few clues, but nothing to immediately clear Anax, Durothil, or Faral from suspicion (other than the fact that they all had alibies, but who cares about that).

Clue 1: The window was cracked open.

Clue 2: The room was in moderate disarray. Perhaps signs of a fight?

Clue 3: A box had been pulled out from under the bed and was thrown open. It was empty.

Clue 4: Lord Greywolf had a messy stack of letters on his desk, many of which described his plans to sell fake artifacts at this very auction.

Clue 5: Lord Greywolf had been killed by a letter opener laced with a powerful toxin. This toxin was known to only come from the elflands, and was illegal to sell or buy in the current realm.

Prisoner!

The party was escorted from the crime scene in cuffs and eventually tossed in jail. They had a few ways out of jail, and I didn't want to make it a very big deal that they were arrested. In fact, I mostly just wanted this to be a cutscene to show off the heroics that the Hands of Fortune were known for. Unfortunately, not all the PCs were thrilled with being arrested, so it made the scene pretty hard to get through with everyone happy. Eventually though, the party was set free by request of some political allies in Fortunis.

Lesson: Players do not like being arrested and thrown in jail.

Diplomat!

Their political ally, who had been befriended in arc 1, was Lady Ena Wransys. She was a diplomat from the elflands, and asked the PCs to solve the mystery about who killed Lord Greywolf.

It isn't a problem that he's dead, she explained, but rather that he might have been killed by one of my people. That would spell doom for my diplomatic relations, and ruin any chance your new friend has in fitting in. If an elf had truly killed a human lord, that wouldn't look good on her resume.

Ena also told the party where they could find the primary poison dealers in the elflands. It would be a long journey, but maybe they could learn who might have been able to acquire such a deadly weapon.

Traveling to the elflands would also give the PCs an opportunity to dig into more of their background questions. The Kalisar was supposedly an elven artifact and was made in the capital of the elflands; maybe they could learn more about its origins there. Likewise, Anax, who had fled the elflands, might be able to finally face his fears upon returning. Or, at least he might have more allies to help answer the questions of his past.

Meanwhile, the PCs had no idea where Zarius Greywolf had disappeared to.

Arc 2 Summary

Overall this was an OK arc. Enough happened at the auction and during downtime to shift the course of the game towards the elflands, and the party had a new big quest: figure out if the elves actually killed Lord Greywolf.

There was also a sixth player added to the group, and that meant new roleplay opportunities for people to get connected and learn about each other.

I offered many chances to further develop mini arcs for characters and spark ideas for how PCs might progress their stories.

Arc 3 - Into the Elflands

The journey was quick in real time, long in game time. Logatash received several new visions from Syne along the way, one of which implied that an impending threat was growing beneath the elflands.

Once within the elflands, the party stopped at a few towns and villages before reaching the elven capital. There, the PCs speak to some royal mages, pompous nobles, and hippo-shaped librarians. They hear some rumors about elf king Aegoris, that he seeks the Kalisar (just like La'Shar did), that a fire elemental has broke loose of the local forges, and about a strange traveler named Doc Hart who puts on illusory lightshows.

After several side quests, Durothil recieves word from his patron, Gaunadah, that an ally waits for them near the village Halelune to the south. Halelune is also the location with the largest poison market.

Speak of the plot! Not more than a night after that, a lone rider comes to the elf capital with word that Halelune is besieged by undead! They need help, and quick, or else the village will surely fall.

Night Riders

Through rain the party rode, on the backs of forest animals, alongside dozens of elven warriors to the defense of Halelune. The PCs quickly got to work once they reached the walls of the village, helping to stave off the onslaught of ravenous dead.

During the fight, the PCs met and befriended Captain Hope, the tiefling leader of a guild called the Deathbringers. Turns out she manages the poison trade in Halelune. Before the PCs do much investigation, they decide to seek out Durothil's ally.

Dragonslayers

The ally is a full-blooded orc named Raigon. He's looking for an artifact for his master (Gaunadah). It's a golden helmet said to be kept in the lair of an adult dragon named Kennedor the Unforgiving.

The PCs also learn that this lair was once an elven outpost that connected to the ancient elven city of Rymwolde. This sparks a lot of interest because several of the PCs want to learn more about the history of the elves, and both Logatash and Anax believe that there are powerful artifacts locked away somewhere beneath the elflands. Rymwolde might be the place to find all their answers, so the PCs readily agree to help Raigon slay the dragon.

They killed the dragon pretty easily, and then divided the loot amongst themselves.

Lesson: My players like it when they have lots of quests on their plate. It gives them choices and helps them get a grasp on what is happening in the world around them that they can affect. Recently, I've found a sweet spot with keeping at least three quests relevant to the party at a single time.

Lesson: Needing to hand a magic item over to an NPC is a challenge for players, but this type of situation creates interesting conversations at the table. Should we hand the item over, or find another way out of this?

Then, the players descended through the lair and found themselves entering the ruined labyrinths beneath the elflands. Eventually these tunnels would lead to the city of Rymwolde, but we never made it that far.

The End

Defeating the dragon was our final session before we called it quits on the campaign. I think it was a reasonable conclusion, even if we didn't get to resolve all the questlines and questions. To help ease consciences, I ran an additional session to let my players ask me any questions about the trajectory of the campaign. This worked pretty well, and it was fun to talk about some of the ideas I had and where I thought the adventures were going.

I was also able to reveal that my session planning document had reached 98 pages. A lot of that prep never got used in the game, usually because it was unnecessary worldbuilding. My method of session prep has changed recently to help me work more efficiently, but for a long time I would just put down everything in a google doc and try to think of every possible question that might come up during a game. I did not learn how to efficiently prep during this campaign. It took me a long time to learn how to do that.

However, I did learn a lot about GMing and how fun it was to play D&D weekly with my friends. I had a great time running sessions online with Google Meets during the pandemic, and eventually in person at my house. I really got into the game during this campaign, and it convinced me that I wanted to keep playing roleplaying games.

Final Thoughts

This was a long post that concludes my experiences in the first D&D campaign I ran over the course of two-ish years. It began during the pandemic and ended when my friends and I graduated high school. I learned quite a few things about managing quests, offering information through visions and otherworldly entities, and creating moments for PCs to interact with the world around them.

Thanks for reading, I hope you have a phenomenal week!

Things on my radar: