DM Chronicles: Session 1, That’s how you start a Campaign! Part 1

DM Chronicles, along my Adventure Prep posts are my longest running series on the Blog.  The Chronicles are a DM’s report of my D&D game that I run twice a month from September to June every year.  This year marks our 9th straight year playing with the same core group and my 1st D&D 4e campaign.

The preparation for the campaign’s structure can be found here.

We were all very eager to play as chatter on Email exploded in the days leading to the game.

One of the things I kept mum about both on the blog and with my friends was the actual adventure we would use.  While I can write an adventure (heck I’m trying to make a part-time job out of it here) I often choose a published adventure and hack it to my players’ tastes.

In this first mini-campaign, I wanted to master the 4e rules set, try many new GM tricks and techniques so I didn’t want to spend much time prepping.

At Gen Con, I bought a 4e compatible adventure from the Goodman Games booth.  A certain Harley Stroh was at the booth.  I looked at the offerings and picked up one he wrote that looked interesting (yeah the nearly naked chick on the cover played absolutely no role in me picking it up).  I gave it to him, paid for it and asked him to sign it… You should have seen his face!  I might have been his first autograph fan!

I started reading the adventure on my way back from the con and was sold after the 1st paragraph, it’s fiendishly hard (I mean, Tomb of Horrors hard, except with no ‘Bang you’re dead’ fiat) but it remains one very well designed adventure. (Expect a Review soon, the adventure ships game stores today).

It was written for advanced players, which my players are… This is a brilliant concept for a new edition of a long standing game.  Since I’m playing a published adventure, consider this paragraph as being a huge SPOILER WARNING.

All right let’s dive in shall we?

The Cast (includes the backstory info we shared and built upon as we begun the game):

Naquist (played by Math): Elven Cleric of Bahamut. Left the elven forests surrounding the Eladrin Capital of Baragramir to sail to the southern Dragonborn island city of Coral’s Bay to study at the Platinum Cathedral.  Naquist is one of the only elves to have ever set eyes on and touched the Platinum Claw Relic in the Cathedral’s Inner Sanctum. He came back to the shore to spread Good and help the downtrodden in a life of adventure.

Intra party Relationship: Met Takeo on the sea trip back to the mainland.

Bjerm (Yan): Elven Fighter, left the elven forests to find worthy challenges to hone his combat skills.  Spent some time in Hobble’s Port gladiatorial arena but was disgusted at the Halflings merchants obsessions with manipulating and rigging fights.  Created the party by signing up on a quest to defend a Logging and Fishing coastal Fort against a Human slaver raid. (Quest assumed to have occurred before the campaign started).

Intra party relationship: Was a Gladiator in Roco’s uncle ‘stable’.  He left right after uncle asked Bjerm to participate in a rigged fight.

Roco la Muerte (Stef): Halfing Rogue.  Roco was the son of a rich Halfling Merchant in Hobble’s Port. He was destined to take over the family business.  Instead, he ran away and joined the local Handlers and Cleaners Guild where he trained to become a master cat burglar and assassin.  During his training, he met Roco, a legendary master Rogue who impressed him a lot.  Soon after, the elder Roco vanished without a trace.  When the young rogue ‘graduated’ from the guild he took up Roco’s name.

Intra party relationship: His uncle owns a large stake in the Gladiator’s arena.  Due to a bad business decision, the uncle lost his most promising star: Bjerm the Fighter.

Fizban (Sigh… Eric): Eladrin Wizard.  A graduate of the Tower of the Mages of Ar’Damara, the world most ancient organization (i.e. Math created that one when we were 15-17) and the only Elven building still standing in Baragramir.   Fizban forswore his birth name in favor of one he read about in ancient documents recuperated from before the Cataclysm.  Fizban is an absent minded  scholar fascinated with strange monsters and ancient ruins.  He often needs prodding from his buddies to react to danger which he’d much rather sketch than fight.

Intra party relationship: Fizban is a childhood friend of Masaru, they kept in touch during thier respective training.

Takeo (Mike): Dragonborn Warlord.  Scion of a great military family of Coral Bay, Takeo has recently completed his military training and felt the need to venture out in the world to prove himself. He joined Bjerm in helping defend the coastal Halfling fort against the human slave raiders.

Intra party relationship: Met Naquist on the ship to Hobble’s Port (mainland) and both met again later in the quest to save the halfling coastal fort.

Masaru (Franky): Eladrin Fey Pact Warlock. Masaru’s ancestors were living in Planescape’s Beastlands prior to the cataclysm (i.e about 2000 years ago). In order to survive the troubled centuries ahead, Masaru’s Eladrin clan secured a pact with the primal Fey spirits that sprung up when the Beastlands fused with the mortally wounded world.  In return, Masaru’s family had to leave the newly formed Feywild and live in the mortal’s world.  The family helped found Baragramir over the ruins of the ancient elven capital but has never been among its noble families nor had any particular political ambitions other than survival.   Since, the family has had at least one Warlock among it’s living members.  Masaru is the latest of such a line.

Intra-Party Relationship: Masaru befriended Fizban earlier in their life.  While Masaru’s status as a Warlock makes him ‘one of the weird kids’ in Baragramir, Fizban’s own kind of ‘specialness’ has brought them close together and they remained friends ever since.

(You can tell which players are storytellers huh?)

These short background, shared around a beer are so full of hooks and grey zones that we could make whole campaigns out of them.  As each player shared his thoughts on his character’s origins, others were invited to chime in.  It really created a sense that the party belonged together like we never achieved before.

The game started with the following scene (adapted by mixing my initial prep idea and the character’s backgrounds):

You are a group of adventurers who recently joined together to perform a quest for Hobble’s Port biggest Halfling Merchant Baron: Brandobaris the Fat.  You answered his call for help to save one of his nearby Coastal Fishing and Logging Venture Fort from a Human Slaver raid.

Having successfully performed your quest, you have been befriended by Brandobaris.  You have all been invited to stay at his legendary Coastal Banquet Hall in Hobble’s Port.  There, you partake in the festivities that mark the beginning of the Harvest Season.

You are currently in the Lord’s company, eating and carousing. You are enjoying the Bard’s somewhat embellished retelling of your recent deeds.  It’s a good thing that you are enjoying yourselves as no one is allowed to leave the table until Brandobaris passes out.

I gave the players the choice of either an Eladrin or Halfling Liege-Lord.  When they voted on a Halfling, I improvised a fat Merchant King and picked the first name that came to my mind.  Brandobaris was originally a halfling hero described in AD&D’s Unearthed Arcana in the Demi-Human pantheon chapter.   Consider this one of many homages to Gary Gygax I hope to make in these mini-campaigns.

The actual game log will be in part two that I’ll post later this week after the next Kobold Love post.