Something this sweeping and broad-scale should be a quest in its own right - and sure, the investigation skill is INT-based, but this is a big investigation, too big for one mere skill check.
So should I just declare the investigation as a smaller quest to go along with the larger one of finding the stone? We do only have a short time before the solstice to find it.
At this point Real-Time is not feassible, we have to go back to game-time now. I'm saying for our next session (the last until after Christmas) 3 days have past from the last session. It is a big investigation and it's going to be a complicated one because frankly, no one knows where to start with it. I did it this way on purpose to make the players use their skills and knowledge to figure out 1. How did someone steal something that was locked away in a cavern 100 ft underground that only two Fairies knew about and knew how to access. 2. After they did gain access to the cavern, the stone was protected by a special "force field", how did they get past that. 3. How did they get in and out of Bristwood Forest unseen. Bristwood is guarded by a detection spell that alerts the Guardian Fairy that someone (or something) has entered the forest without permission. 4. who took it? 5. Where did they take it? and finally 6. How do they know how to use it? The stone can only be used by a fairy, but manipulating the 12 sides to do any specific thing takes knowledge of how it works, use the wrong sequence and you could do some major damage. All of this has to be done before time runs out.
Our DM will return in January and take over this game. I want to go out on a limb and maybe start my own campaign over on Discord. But I don't want to do a homebrew, I'm not experienced enough for that. I would like to start a Pre-Made game to gain more experience as some have sugested on here. What would be a good and relatively easy Pre-Made to start out with? I don't want something with a bunch of complicated stuff like my current game I'm in. I want to move to something more streamlined and already established. Once I get more experience, then I can think about going Homebrew. I just don't have the experience needed right now. So what would be a good one to start with? I know I will have to purchase the books and all, but it won't be until after all these hollidays anyway, and I will have more money to be able to spend on this sort of thing.
The Icewind Dale one is good. Plus, you might just find the weather stuff useful if that ever comes back up.
I highly recommend against Icewind Dale. It It is a truly terrible campaign. A thin plot, a big bad that has no depth (D&D Beyond once even did an article entirely about how Auril is a dull bad guy in the campaign), and a story that ends 2/3rds of the way through the module and then kind of limps along after that.
The setting is pretty cool, but the actual campaign is terrible and requires a lot of heavy lifting from the DM to be halfway decent.
Curse of Strahd is generally considered the gold standard for premade campaigns. I have never played it (I only DM my own worlds and do not tend to play in premade campaigns) but I know lots of people who have and have never heard a bad thing about it.
I briefly played in Descent into Avernus - I found it far too linear for my preferences, but that might be exactly what you are looking for based on your asking for a “more streamlined” campaign.
If you can get the original lost mines of phandelver, it was really good, and great to help teach you how to DM. I‘ve read over the new Phandelver and Beyond, but I’ve heard most folks don’t like it, as it feels like they just kind of glued on more stuff to make it longer.
That's more of the line I'm looking for. I want something with a learning curve to get me some more experience before moving on to creating my own. The one I'm in now is hard enough, thankfully I'm only standing in as DM until our real DM gets back.
Also, I'm starting to become a more pronounced character ,so when she gets back in Jan, I'm going to ask if she will take back over the NPCs, it's too much for me to run NPCs, the game, and my own character all at once. That's why after this weeks game on Friday, I'm putting a hold on the game until she returns. I can't handle all that work. I simply want to go back to just a character and nothing more. I also want to revise some of my fighting skills as they are a bit low for a character that is a Human Fighter and diplomat. You could say I am the Queen's Champion plus her adviser. I plan on volunteering for the Quest.
Which leads me to a question, what types of characters would we need to go on a quest like this? I know we will definately need someone skilled in combat since most likely we will be going into enemy lands. I'm thinking maybe a wizard of some sort in case there is any magic needed. Not sure if my diplomatic skills will be needed or not. I am thinking possibly someone with Nobility Ruling power (Just in case diplomacy can be established). The rest ,I'm not sure, what do you guys think, what kind of 'group' should I put together for such a dangerous quest. Of course the pirates will be there to aid us well. I know it will be a MUST to bring the fairy queen along as she is the only one capable of correctly operating the stone.
Something this sweeping and broad-scale should be a quest in its own right - and sure, the investigation skill is INT-based, but this is a big investigation, too big for one mere skill check.
Phantom Menace to Society
So should I just declare the investigation as a smaller quest to go along with the larger one of finding the stone? We do only have a short time before the solstice to find it.
At this point Real-Time is not feassible, we have to go back to game-time now. I'm saying for our next session (the last until after Christmas) 3 days have past from the last session. It is a big investigation and it's going to be a complicated one because frankly, no one knows where to start with it. I did it this way on purpose to make the players use their skills and knowledge to figure out 1. How did someone steal something that was locked away in a cavern 100 ft underground that only two Fairies knew about and knew how to access. 2. After they did gain access to the cavern, the stone was protected by a special "force field", how did they get past that. 3. How did they get in and out of Bristwood Forest unseen. Bristwood is guarded by a detection spell that alerts the Guardian Fairy that someone (or something) has entered the forest without permission. 4. who took it? 5. Where did they take it? and finally 6. How do they know how to use it? The stone can only be used by a fairy, but manipulating the 12 sides to do any specific thing takes knowledge of how it works, use the wrong sequence and you could do some major damage. All of this has to be done before time runs out.
Our DM will return in January and take over this game. I want to go out on a limb and maybe start my own campaign over on Discord. But I don't want to do a homebrew, I'm not experienced enough for that. I would like to start a Pre-Made game to gain more experience as some have sugested on here. What would be a good and relatively easy Pre-Made to start out with? I don't want something with a bunch of complicated stuff like my current game I'm in. I want to move to something more streamlined and already established. Once I get more experience, then I can think about going Homebrew. I just don't have the experience needed right now. So what would be a good one to start with? I know I will have to purchase the books and all, but it won't be until after all these hollidays anyway, and I will have more money to be able to spend on this sort of thing.
The Icewind Dale one is good. Plus, you might just find the weather stuff useful if that ever comes back up.
Phantom Menace to Society
I highly recommend against Icewind Dale. It It is a truly terrible campaign. A thin plot, a big bad that has no depth (D&D Beyond once even did an article entirely about how Auril is a dull bad guy in the campaign), and a story that ends 2/3rds of the way through the module and then kind of limps along after that.
The setting is pretty cool, but the actual campaign is terrible and requires a lot of heavy lifting from the DM to be halfway decent.
Curse of Strahd is generally considered the gold standard for premade campaigns. I have never played it (I only DM my own worlds and do not tend to play in premade campaigns) but I know lots of people who have and have never heard a bad thing about it.
I briefly played in Descent into Avernus - I found it far too linear for my preferences, but that might be exactly what you are looking for based on your asking for a “more streamlined” campaign.
If you can get the original lost mines of phandelver, it was really good, and great to help teach you how to DM. I‘ve read over the new Phandelver and Beyond, but I’ve heard most folks don’t like it, as it feels like they just kind of glued on more stuff to make it longer.
That's more of the line I'm looking for. I want something with a learning curve to get me some more experience before moving on to creating my own. The one I'm in now is hard enough, thankfully I'm only standing in as DM until our real DM gets back.
Also, I'm starting to become a more pronounced character ,so when she gets back in Jan, I'm going to ask if she will take back over the NPCs, it's too much for me to run NPCs, the game, and my own character all at once. That's why after this weeks game on Friday, I'm putting a hold on the game until she returns. I can't handle all that work. I simply want to go back to just a character and nothing more. I also want to revise some of my fighting skills as they are a bit low for a character that is a Human Fighter and diplomat. You could say I am the Queen's Champion plus her adviser. I plan on volunteering for the Quest.
Which leads me to a question, what types of characters would we need to go on a quest like this? I know we will definately need someone skilled in combat since most likely we will be going into enemy lands. I'm thinking maybe a wizard of some sort in case there is any magic needed. Not sure if my diplomatic skills will be needed or not. I am thinking possibly someone with Nobility Ruling power (Just in case diplomacy can be established). The rest ,I'm not sure, what do you guys think, what kind of 'group' should I put together for such a dangerous quest. Of course the pirates will be there to aid us well. I know it will be a MUST to bring the fairy queen along as she is the only one capable of correctly operating the stone.