Chronicles of a DM - Session 4

Bonjour, mes amies!

Been a while since an update on the D&D sessions, but life got in the way and people's schedules didn't line up so we were only able to get in one session in the last month or so. Regardless, session 4 is here and it's a bit of a doosy.

Last time on Chronicles of a DM, the party finished the dungeon and got back into town...among other things. Give it a read if you haven't caught up yet.

This session I wanted to accomplish a few things:

• Advance the story to a critical point where choices would have to be made
• Allow for more RP moments
• Include some more interesting scenarios when the PCs failed

My idea was to get the group to meet with the Elder Council, who are the mysterious group that runs the government of Ironora. I then wanted to set up a big event during the meeting and reveal the true nature of both sides of the conflict, as well as introduce a somewhat neutral third party they could possibly identify with.

Again, in point form, here's how it all turned out.

• The PCs finished the dungeon and licked their wounds in the tavern
• The next day, they woke up and all had notes underneath their respective rooms; some PCs got a merc guild invite; some got a thieves guild invite
• The thieves guild notes said they will be at the council meeting that night, so half of the party attends the council meeting later that evening
• Night time comes and the Elder Council meets in a great hall with a large balcony viewing area with many people
• The PCs immediately notice that the council members all seem to be in a trance except for one very tall Elven male, who seemed to be controlling the council (they determined)
• The PCs run into a representative of the thieves guild who is at the council meeting; they are called The Grey Ravens
• One of our heroic PCs pleaded the case to the council about the slavers from Oshakros who were taking adventurers like them and that something needs to be done
• His words were met with rhetoric and disinterest from the council
• Suddenly, throwing knives come from the balcony area of the great hall and a few of the council members are dead
• Panic ensues and the PCs are targeted by the council members including the tall Elven man in combat
• Some of the council members break out of the trance-like state and run for their lives, the others are cut down easily by the group
• They engage with the leader of the council, who eventually reveals himself to be a WERETIGER

Fuck yeah, weretiger.

• During the battle one of the PCs, a Fighter, get bit by the weretiger
• He failed the constitution check...so he has become infected by the weretiger disease (AWW YISS)
• They battle for a little then the weretiger decides to escape the premises by jumping to the upper balcony and smashing through the window
• The PCs follow with the Warlock in our group making it up to the balcony with a nimble athletics check, then tried to jump through the window and land gracefully just like A TIGER.
• Unfortunately...he rolled poorly and took fall damage from a 30 foot drop
• He knocked himself out by jumping (and falling) out of a window, Simply amazing.
• The weretiger went into the nearby woods and the Ranged decides to track him
• He does quite well and catches up to the weretiger who is beginning to limp in pain
• They have a conversation about the true nature of the conflict; Ironora is controlled by a group of beings afflicted by lycanthropy; Oshakros, he says, is ruled by vampires (with Queen Madrica being one herself)
• He explains the group is caught in the middle of an ageless battle
• The Ranger, after hearing his story, decides to let him go
• He returns to the rest of the group and tells him what he has learnt
• The group is given the chance to join the aforementioned Gray Ravens, who see themselves as a neutral force between the two warring factions; they are a collection of lycanthropy and vampire hunters
• The group decides to rest at the inn, lick their wounds, and contemplate what to do next

This went pretty well overall from my view. I've now eased the group into a story when they have 3 factions to consider now. If you ever followed old Star Wars Expanded Universe lore, Grey Jedis consider themselves the balance between the light and dark side; this is how the Grey Ravens see themselves. However, they also see both sides as unnatural and something that must be expelled from this world. I'm curious to see how the PCs react to these events.

The design goals for this session were pretty simple:

1. Allow more information; more choice in where the party goes
2. Provide another encounter where it wasn't that simple as 'run at it and kill it'; introduce more harsh consequences for silly actions

I think I accomplished both things this time. This session admittedly didn't go exactly as planned from a story perspective. Let me explain! 

I had an original idea of making the story kind of like Game of Thrones with lots of political intrigue yet something more general fantasy as well. However, I also had another idea on the back-burner where I wanted something with vampires (not the lame kind like in Twilight) and other sort of scary, gothic-themed things.

I originally was going to go with the GoT-style, but after I saw the encounter and how it played out with my group, I felt like going with the more gothic-style was perhaps a better choice. I believe this will allow to have a bit more freedom from my perspective in designing encounters, world building, and character building. With the GoT-style, while awesome, would require a lot more character stuff than I was perhaps ready to do with my schedule. More importantly, a character becoming a weretiger in front of their eyes really seemed to resonate with them.

With that in mind, I made a snap decision that yes -- vampires vs. werewolves. Fuck yeah.

As life as a DM often is, only time will tell if this ends up working out for the best. But if I'm a somewhat decent DM, I should be able to make it work.  :)

That's all I have for today.

Cheers!