Running this for the first time, a little nervous. I hope to get at least Mission 1 and 2 run since we are scheduled for 2-4. Does anyone have any advice for a DM who has spent all his time running his own games up to this point on this module set? Anything I should keep an eye out for?
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GM of The Bonus Role - We are playing a 5E game set in my homebrew world of Audra check us out Sunday's at 10 AM CST and follow us at the following social media links. https://www.twitch.tv/thebonusrole @BonusRole
As a player who just went through them, they can feel very "on the rails" — make sure the players feel like they have options. The dinosaur race can be fun, but it can also feel like "pause D&D for a bit to play an 'ages 6 and up' board game". I'm not sure what the adventure actually says for the one where you go on a path into the jungle, but at the AL session where I played it, we were literally told that it was death to go off the path and that we had no choice but to just take whatever save necessary to be injured or disabled as we plunged ahead. This was less fun.
That didn't sound fun. We got a late start due to one of our players getting stuck at work so we only ended up running the first mission. It went relatively well, the only hitch was the players wanted to stay and gamble at the Thundering Lizard so I ran them through a fantasy version of Mao (or Mau) in which they could not be told the rules, so a few hands and a few hundred gold in debt they are told if they go to The Weave of Life the guy they were playing against would forgive their debt.
The treck through the jungle...I would have just said okay you go off the path, force a few rolls and have the group show up at the end of the trail or the next encounter, maybe with more bug bites.
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GM of The Bonus Role - We are playing a 5E game set in my homebrew world of Audra check us out Sunday's at 10 AM CST and follow us at the following social media links. https://www.twitch.tv/thebonusrole @BonusRole
Ran mission 1 last night with three regular players and two new players. Intro to the city plus a bit of roleplaying disembarking from ship and in the market place gave the characters a chance to use some social skill rolls and get into unique environment of city which should be played up. The intro text describing city in Tomb of Annihilation hardback is quite evocative. I think the initial alley ambush was helped by having a couple of the thugs on rooftops with nets and the guy at end of alleyway with a crossbow half out of a manhole cover leading down steel rungs into sewer. I had a torrential downpour start just before characters entered alley. Ruled that the rain made acrobatics checks necessary to move around on slick roof tiles, but also gave disadvantage to crossbow guy in manhole as water rushed into his face. The traps have the potential of being rather anti climactic if there is a character with high perception and I think the defeated trap potential needs to be played up. Perhaps the ceiling cracks but block does not fall, etc. I drew out a spiral pattern for players to examine for secret door portion. I changed the layout of the dungeon a little bit to conform with some sewer tiles, which helped make the tunnels a little more interesting. I figured a sewer connection under city walls made perfect sense for the smugglers. Last trap has potential for drama if passageway is flooding and you should think about this one before hand. Perhaps the trap is unavoidable initially except on a natural 20 check, which lets the trap activate but gives three rounds to deactivate. We had a half sea elf sorcerer and a lizardman druid so I wanted to play up some swim opportunities. I think the general theme of the secret passage connection to Yuan Ti serpent folk and ancient gods needs to be played up on and embellished also. Maybe an opportunity for some religion checks. The wizardess in final encounter was a bit underwhelming as the storm sorceress was able to throw up a fog over her and limit some of the ranged attacks. Made the ruffian with two weapons as threatening as possible, having him leap up on crates and attack with advantage (Changed final room into warehouse within city harbor district at top of spiral staircase from sewers below). I allowed the Druid to identify the Velociraptor egg. Also added some poisonous plants, hallucinogenic plants, and bottles of untaxed Elven brandy to crates in initial room to make clear that the party was dealing with smugglers. Make sure the wizardess gives up her name during final fight also so players make connection with letter.
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Running this for the first time, a little nervous. I hope to get at least Mission 1 and 2 run since we are scheduled for 2-4. Does anyone have any advice for a DM who has spent all his time running his own games up to this point on this module set? Anything I should keep an eye out for?
GM of The Bonus Role - We are playing a 5E game set in my homebrew world of Audra check us out Sunday's at 10 AM CST and follow us at the following social media links.
https://www.twitch.tv/thebonusrole
@BonusRole
As a player who just went through them, they can feel very "on the rails" — make sure the players feel like they have options. The dinosaur race can be fun, but it can also feel like "pause D&D for a bit to play an 'ages 6 and up' board game". I'm not sure what the adventure actually says for the one where you go on a path into the jungle, but at the AL session where I played it, we were literally told that it was death to go off the path and that we had no choice but to just take whatever save necessary to be injured or disabled as we plunged ahead. This was less fun.
That didn't sound fun. We got a late start due to one of our players getting stuck at work so we only ended up running the first mission. It went relatively well, the only hitch was the players wanted to stay and gamble at the Thundering Lizard so I ran them through a fantasy version of Mao (or Mau) in which they could not be told the rules, so a few hands and a few hundred gold in debt they are told if they go to The Weave of Life the guy they were playing against would forgive their debt.
The treck through the jungle...I would have just said okay you go off the path, force a few rolls and have the group show up at the end of the trail or the next encounter, maybe with more bug bites.
GM of The Bonus Role - We are playing a 5E game set in my homebrew world of Audra check us out Sunday's at 10 AM CST and follow us at the following social media links.
https://www.twitch.tv/thebonusrole
@BonusRole
POTENTIAL SPOILER
Ran mission 1 last night with three regular players and two new players. Intro to the city plus a bit of roleplaying disembarking from ship and in the market place gave the characters a chance to use some social skill rolls and get into unique environment of city which should be played up. The intro text describing city in Tomb of Annihilation hardback is quite evocative. I think the initial alley ambush was helped by having a couple of the thugs on rooftops with nets and the guy at end of alleyway with a crossbow half out of a manhole cover leading down steel rungs into sewer. I had a torrential downpour start just before characters entered alley. Ruled that the rain made acrobatics checks necessary to move around on slick roof tiles, but also gave disadvantage to crossbow guy in manhole as water rushed into his face. The traps have the potential of being rather anti climactic if there is a character with high perception and I think the defeated trap potential needs to be played up. Perhaps the ceiling cracks but block does not fall, etc. I drew out a spiral pattern for players to examine for secret door portion. I changed the layout of the dungeon a little bit to conform with some sewer tiles, which helped make the tunnels a little more interesting. I figured a sewer connection under city walls made perfect sense for the smugglers. Last trap has potential for drama if passageway is flooding and you should think about this one before hand. Perhaps the trap is unavoidable initially except on a natural 20 check, which lets the trap activate but gives three rounds to deactivate. We had a half sea elf sorcerer and a lizardman druid so I wanted to play up some swim opportunities. I think the general theme of the secret passage connection to Yuan Ti serpent folk and ancient gods needs to be played up on and embellished also. Maybe an opportunity for some religion checks. The wizardess in final encounter was a bit underwhelming as the storm sorceress was able to throw up a fog over her and limit some of the ranged attacks. Made the ruffian with two weapons as threatening as possible, having him leap up on crates and attack with advantage (Changed final room into warehouse within city harbor district at top of spiral staircase from sewers below). I allowed the Druid to identify the Velociraptor egg. Also added some poisonous plants, hallucinogenic plants, and bottles of untaxed Elven brandy to crates in initial room to make clear that the party was dealing with smugglers. Make sure the wizardess gives up her name during final fight also so players make connection with letter.