This is part of a very long running series where I share how I go at prepping my D&D games a few days before our bi-monthly game night.
I might not have a game Friday, my roll call so far confirms 2 missing players (Cleric and Wizard) and unless all remaining four confirm, the game might be canceled. I’m eagerly awaiting for the last player to chime in.
Also, next game would fall on Halloween, which is not a good night to game on when you have kids (more than half the group have children).
So if we game this week, this is going to be the only session for a month.
Such is the life of adult gamers.
All right, let’s just assume for arguments sake that I DO have a game Friday.
I have a published adventure to finish (this one).
In my last campaign log, I mentioned that I was caught wildly unprepared for the last parts of the adventure and fast forwarded the group through a free form Lost City section (potentially the adventure’s best part) and brought the PCs to the adventure’s climax, a meeting with Dreaded Dragora, supposed concubine of Moringlar the Green Dragon.
I’m not going to Ret Con this. As hinted at in the log, I will ‘salvage’ the finale by doing what the adventure author suggests to do: weave the adventure in the continuity of my own campaign.
Thing is, since I decided to adopt a ‘mini-campaign’ approach to this campaign, I had not actually thought of what was supposed to happen next, the adventure was supposed to be the whole campaign!
Since the only ‘bad guys’ that have been identified so far in the campaign have been human pirates, it was natural that I made Dragora into a pirate coming from the clans that raid the coast of the PC’s slice of the known world.
Also, the story the players worked together during our first session was how they managed to foil a pirate raid on one of their Halfling Patron’s Venture Forts.
So here’s what I worked out (yes I’m aware my players will read it… I’m leaving a few details out for them to figure out):
Dragora, a Pirate of the Dreaded Crimson Fleet (the scourge of the Southern Seas) was out exploring the ruins for the lost magic of the Enchanters of the Underground city (Hot semi-naked Librarian-warrior? Check). She, along her exploring partner and Transportation Moringlar (Pirate Dragon? Check!) found a lot more than lost ruins and magic! Slave Fighter Mage Ninja Apes (Check, Check Check!!)
Now Dragora is also linked somehow to the pirates the PCs defeated and has a score to settle. Since she has a Scrying Pool, she was able to track them and engineer that little cavalcade that brough the heroes 4 days walk from their now defenseless liege lord (Mastermind plan? Check!) .
So I have a story to finish the adventure and a plan for the rest:
Something happened back in Hobble Port (The Halfing Coastal City sitting by the crater of the long vanished Spire City of Ptolus) while the PCs were away, and Dragora will gladly share this with the PCs.
So what I’ll be doing tomorrow for the actual prep is to prepare the module’s final scene, work out the possible way this may end (PC’s defeated, Bad guys defeated, Bad Guys run away) and then plan the adventure’s Epilogue.
Then I’ll shift the adventure to something entirely my own. Something about going back after the pirates once and for all and nullifying their threat over the region.
I’ll have to design the following over the next few sessions:
- The treasures for completing the adventure
- The Pirate’s HQ (An area and a tactical map)
- A Free form scene where the players are encouraged to create new setting elements to help them find the HQ and reach it (natural stopping point of the adventure)
- Infiltrating/storming the HQ
- Hopefully have a finale with explosives, pirates and ninjas! (Natural Ending of the campaign)
I think this may be promising.
What say you?
Credits: RC Pirate-Ninja (Image)
The “only session for the month” ?
How many times do you guys manage to meet? How many are you? How many are childrened? How old is the progeny?
We (adult group) meet roughly once every two months… so far, it’s been hard to schedule a regular RPGing activity with about half the players learning to adapt to parenthood and scheduling family visits.
I’m suddenly wondering if we could manage to do that a bit more often. HMmm..
Eric Maziades last blog post..Describing attacks
I’ll admit, you lost me somewhere around “hot semi-naked Librarian-warrior”. Being one in training myself, I’ve no argument with militant librarians, but… well, for one thing, where the heck is she supposed to get a decent AC?
(Besides, the camouflage cardigans posited when militant librarians came up on “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” were so much more amusing…)
Ravyns last blog post..Opening the Game Table
@Eric: We are 7 adults, including me as DM. Our model is that when 5 of us can make it, we have a game. The Game is scheduled every 2 weeks.
We currently play at the house of the one with the youngest child (a few months old) so the father can get up and administer to his needs. The rest have kids that are school aged or nearly so.
Also we have very understanding, and non-gaming wives.
@Ravyn: Yeah well, she’s more of a Warrior-Scholar. But the title sounded better like that… 🙂 I came up with this when trying to bridge the gap between Dragora’s mission in the ruins and her completely ludicrous depiction on the cover of the adventure… (BTW, according to her stats, she’s wearing enchanted leather… making her a Goth Librarian Warrior).
Aww, bi-monthly. This is why the word fortnight is needed across the pond 🙂
Ok, to introduce myself: The little I know about D&D I picked up from Order Of The Stick, so I consider this blog to be my informed source for learning about it. A lot of it’s just washing over me, but I’ll work out the basics soon enough.
Love the blog, keep writing!
Annas last blog post..Anna the Drag Queen
@Anna: Welcome to the blog and thanks for the kudos. It’s been said to me a few times that the entry into the blog for a new reader could afford to be made simpler.
I suggest you chose one category from my category sidebar or pick one of my ‘best of chatty’ to dig into.
I do have a tendency to assume that readers have read the previous posts of a series so I don’t spend too much time re-explaining things I already talked about. For this I apologize.
Oh and “fortnight” is this word I only recently mastered and have yet to use in my vocabulary.
As a librarian myself, I completely support the hot librarian-warrior chick theme. Big fan.
In my group of five (including myself), only half of us are married and we meet roughly once a week. Granted none of us have kids yet (though we did lose one player to parenthood a while back) and we do have to cancel sessions from time to time for ‘real life obligations’. While I wish my wife was as understanding as yours, I guess gaming once a week isn’t so bad.
Keep up the great work on this site (and all your side projects). I check this site every day as part of my “getting my day started” routine and today’s has definitely going to be useful in planning my campaigns during the few moments of downtime I have through out the day (especially cause I need to plan for tomorrow’s after school club meeting… got nothing prepped cause I’ve had to work on the classes I have coming in!!!! Damn work getting in the way of gaming!)
Rauthiks last blog post..Adventure Log
We’ve shifted our game to every fortnight as well (lookit that, it *is* more concise!) but we tend to try putting a bit of flex into it when things like Halloween roll around– we’d skip a week, game two weeks in a row to keep the session and make the holiday. I’m guessing that’s not an option?
Barring that, I feel your pain. Stupid growing up and getting a life.
-Ben.
Bens last blog post..My Spawn of Dajobas
Ah! “school-aged” and “understanding, non-gaming wives” are the key 🙂
Worked fine when by boy was a toddler… but we converted all the “understanding, non-gaming wives” into plain “gaming wives” (wouldn’t have it any other way)… and some of the babies can now walk and command attention.
Gaming sessions now either require constant interruption or a grand parent’s care.
(Until multiple babies grow up enough to entertain themselves).
Still, I guess we could try and see if we can get this going bifortnightly…
Eric Maziades last blog post..Describing attacks
“a finale with explosives, pirates and ninjas!”
Man, throw in some zombie-monkey-robots, and you’re full to bursting on WIN.
SeiferTims last blog post..Tutorial: Show D&D Icon Font on Page using FLIR
… Enchanted leather? Oh! They mean her bracers and hooker boots. I think the enchantment must be named “Yes, they’re real and I AM wearing armor.”
The adventure sounds interesting. I’m kicking off a “magic school” sort of storyline at the moment and pondering if any of what you’re doing can give me ideas on how not to b0rk it from the start. 🙂 Oh and if you do robots like Tim above suggests, I’d recommend some clockwork goo because they’re just more interesting. Bit like:
http://www.doctorwhoworld.org.uk/clockwork.html
Warrior scholars are fun. Now I’m having visions of her calling for a brief halt in mid combat as she removes a pair of spectacles and hands them off to an inconspicuous aide before continuing in a more serious vein. My brain’s probably being overly cinematic though.
You CANNOT go wrong with pirates. Or Ninja’s, or hot half-naked amazone librarians.
Though that last one may inspire profession (pimp), perform (luvmakin’) and the often disappointing knowledge (female anatomy) checks…
Then again, you’re all adults…. Right? 😀
It worked superbly!
Up next: Assaulting an Airship moored in a Pirate Haven… Mission Impossible style!