Chronicles of a DM - Session 3

Hello, friends!

Here's session 3 of our 'Chronicles of a DM' series. If you haven't read session 1 and session 2, perhaps you should to get an idea of the world and characters.

In this session, I had a few main goals in mind:

• Finish the dungeon
• Get the PCs feeling vulnerable; that there is something bigger to go after
• Get some players a little more involved in things OTHER than combat
• Have another puzzle room (this one a bit more thought out but still kinda easy)
• Advance the story and force the PCs to think about which side they want to be on

The idea here was to get the PCs to finish their first actual dungeon and to encounter the baddie who was causing the badness in the old mage school. I also wanted to continue the theme of 'hey...you don't have to murder-hobo everything' in this campaign.

Here's how that turned out.  :)

• PCs explored the dungeon and encountered an old Elf woman - problem was she was a ghost
• The Half-Orc in the group tried to Bard her way into the conversation, but the Elf is kind of a racist and wouldn't talk to her
• The Tiefling had to step in and talk to her and ask her why she's here
• The group discovers she was the former mistress of Lord Vogalore (he's behind the creatures in the catacombs of this school)
• She says that she needs to complete her unfinished business and that the group can help her...if they do, she has information about how to get to him
• Her 'unfinished business' was to kill Lord Vogalore's wife; something she didn't do in life
• The party doesn't really agree to do so, but she got angry if they left her alone again; one of the PCs left behind an illusion of a pig she could talk to...which she somehow didn't mind

• After they explored around the dungeon a little while longer, they encountered a Wight...who turns out to be the wife
• They dispose of the wife and return to the ghost; she is delighted and give them a 4-digit code
• They continue on and encounter a room with a large square pillar in the middle with four combination-style dials on each side
• Each dial had a written language above it
• They discovered 2 of the scripts above the dials which match 2 of the numbers the ghost gave the group
• Eventually they discovered the proper combination and opened a nearby metal door
• They then encountered Lord Vogalore, 2 cultists, and a few skellys in tow
• The baddie goes into a monologue about how Ironora is the real enemy; they are trying to open a portal into another dimension and take over this world
• He exclaims that his Queen is only summoning skellys and kidnapping capable adventurers because that's the only way to defeat them
• Most of the party don't care...and attack anyway
• Needless to say, it doesn't go well for the group - Lord Vogalore stands there with his arms crossed most of the fight while the group kills the cultists and skellys
• HE IS MENACING AS FUCK AND YET THEY KEEP GOING
  
  
  
• Eventually they get to fight just him and he nearly one shots our Warlock
• He then disappears and the PCs finish the dungeon and lick their wounds

Not exactly the way I wanted the dungeon to go, but they finished it (mainly because I was hella merciful). My aim was to get them to realise that this baddie was too crazy for them to take on, yet they tested me full on. I didn't want to kill off a PC or two on the 3rd session, but damn if I wasn't tempted. They had hints left and right this guy was too badass for them. Perhaps they were playing their character, they thought, but even the most stubborn characters have some self preservation.

Perhaps I needed to do a better job in showing this character is not to be fucked with. Yet at the same time, they need to read between the lines that if there is an enemy not attacking and laughing while they attack his minions...that probably is a bad sign.

My aim with this encounter was to show that the PCs had some vulnerability and that there is something bigger out there. It was also to show they cannot murder-hobo everything. Sometimes you need to negotiate in D&D.

From a design standpoint, here's what I wanted to achieve:

1. Get them wondering about the enemy; maybe they aren't as bad as they think they are?
2. Get the group to not murder-hobo all their problems
3. Try not to kill them if they fail in a 'less murder-hobo' session
4. Try to not completely improvise the next puzzle

It didn't go exactly like I thought, but I think I achieved 3 out of 4 here. I was able to somewhat plan the puzzle part fairly well this time, I didn't kill a PC when they fucked up against a super powerful foe (it was hard not to), and I did get them wondering about the world at large.

"Both these sides seem kind of shitty", was the line uttered before and after the fight with Lord Vogalore. They didn't seem to think that the ends justify the means which is exactly what I wanted. I want some story conflict, some discussion, and for them to give a shit about what's happening.

For the one I failed on, not all party members wanted to try and kill Lord Vogalore (one PC was vehemently against it), but the majority did. That was a failure on my part and my PCs part I think. Maybe I need to be more obvious? I thought I spelt it out that this guy was not a pushover. Hmm...not sure about this.

Overall, it was a super interesting session I thought. But I did sense some frustration from some PCs that they couldn't just 'win' against an enemy. This is good I think and hopefully sets some more boundaries about what they can and cannot do.

Only time will tell if it worked.

Cheers.