Save vs. Geek

Here’s a much delayed session report for the second Shadowfell session at Kent.

Before we start, let me talk about the characters a little bit.

We have,

• Calon Lan – Dragonborn Warlord
• Tern – a half-mad Eladrin Wizard
• Felix – a Halfling Rouge
• Kiera – a Half-Elf Warrior
• Urist – a Dwarf Warrior

They all shared a mentor, Douven Staul, at different times in their life, and are traveling to Winterhaven to ascertain why he has gone missing. The details of the characters histories and if they know each other have been left open ended. (If you’ve played with me, you’ve probably know how I like the character to emerge from play over being plotted out before hitting the game table.)

Being new to gaming, and short on time, I’m not pressuring the players to fill out detailed character backgrounds. I intend on trying out my Action Point for flashback rule, to provide an incentive, but realize that my players don’t even know yet what parts of gaming they like. (It’s very strange, to instead of making sure that everyone’s ‘type’ is engaged, to try and do things to encourage the trying of different play styles.)

Now on to session #2.

We begin as the players approach Winterhaven, where they scoped out the town, were pretty interested in the tower in town, I think they were at first looking for an oppressive wizard keeping the town under his thumb. The players who’ve had some cRPG experience immediatley started asking around for a questgiver for the Kobold problem. Hope I figure out a way to insert goals that don’t feel like that in the future.

After an evening in town, talking to people, gathering clues about Douven and the Kobold problem, selling the supplies looted from the ambush. I don’t know what I think about vendor trash. With minions, you get bigger battles, which means more non-treasure loot. I’m tempted to do what Gamefiend (from At Will) does, and just gives the value out as loot, but I like the idea of being able to grab the gear and reuse it. Hopefully, it’ll work out, as the dropped gear is so worthless compared to the treasure, and they’ll just start leaving the gear or destroying it.

The following day, they headed out, to assualt the kobold lair (I’ve ommitted the second ambush, and plan on using the encounter later, taking a tip from The Alexandrian). The players took an direct approach, and began the attack.

Players are still having some trouble really working together, as am I with the monsters, in terms of strategy. Concealment & cover are tricky (what does two squares of forest look like for line of sight/fog of war?). The game is flowing smoothly enough that I’m comfortable trying to give better descriptions, and pulling better narration from the players. Everyone’s still trying to find their place, which is okay.

We ran out of time mid encounter, so that’s where we’re going to pick up tonight. Hopefully the party can handle the inside of the Kobold warren.

Next installment, a new ally joins our heroes. Will his dark past come back to haunt him? Can he be trusted? Only time will tell.

dan DnD, gaming