Three hours with new players, using level 3 characters? You are going to seriously struggle to get this all into a 3 hour session.
Start the players at level 1. They will all have a much better time. Being level 3 won't mean anything to players who've never played before, and even for a level 3 Wizard there are just too many spells to read and understand off the bat without having ever seen someone make an attack roll before.
Your not wrong. I have run a game for newbies before at lvl 3 and it seemed to go over fine a lvl 1 game would be better but i've noticed that first time players get frustrated at all the things they cannot do at lvl 1.
Using DnDbeyond character maker and setting it up a few weeks in advance i think will be good
Update We ran the game with a few modifications and the game went really well!
We did keep it at lvl 3. Players had time to read the rules and get a general idea of what things did. I think that having a few days to build your character ahead of time and looking at your spells helped because ppl were actively using their character sheets. using Items from their starting gear and spells from their lists to try and solve for creative problems. Lvl 3 wasn't intimidating to them even though they were all new players.
The Ape encounter went well they tried talking to them at first using speak with animals and i RPd it so the heartless were talking to eachother but when they found out the PCs could understand them. They got hostile. Was a cool use of their skills and i gave the player a DM inspiration for trying to resolve things peacefully instead of combat. The monkies rolled very poorly trying to snag a few players so i didnt get to position them very well but the Pcs got their first taste of combat with minimal wounds. Saving the Rafaj from being taken into the Jungle by a big ape.
I added quicksand for a random encounter on the road and had the Pcs roll perception/survival. They rolled well and spotted the quicksand and we're able to form a plan to get across. A character used create water and a player who basically played Elsa froze the water over so they could cross without falling to the quicksand.
Finally they made it to the cave of wonders and noticed Rafajs Staff. They all knew it was jafar at that point but played it off like they didnt (I was impressed by this as i thought i was going to teach them about Meta gaming) They ignored it and entered the Cave of Wonders.
The first puzzle was pretty easy i looked up some disney puzzles riddles online and based the answers off everyones favorite Disney movies (They all told me beforehand) The solved the puzzle and moved into a musical room where floating notes blocked the path to the next door. They demanded songs to pass and i had each person do a snippet (Or full song if they wanted) of a song from their favorite movie. The guys were very ehh but the girls all got into it very much so (Kind of what i expected) And so the final door opened.
Boss room:
When the door opened they were greeted by a beautiful women in Egyptian clothing (The lamia using Alter Self) She exchanged pleasntries to get close and tried having the paladin follow her (He was leading) She used her Intoxicating touch on the Paladin in an attempt to weaken him for the charm. (i played it wrong and though it was a charm) The paladin succeeded on a Wisdom Save but she didnt take note as he was following her movements around. The players feel like something is up and they notice the Women moving towards the lamp. A tabaxi player uses their movemnent and rushes ahead of her in an attempt to grab the lamp. Shes not having any of it and the combat errupts. She summons skeletons from the ground (Was originally Jackleweres but decided to make it easier) and she transforms to her true form.
Combat goes well its about 3 rounds and the lamia puts some heavy damage on the party but they ultimately succeed and free the genie from the lamp. They make 3 wishes (the 3rd to free the Genie again as he was re-imprisoned by the lamia) and the party avoids the chamber of gold and weapons and walks peacefully out of the chamber.
Here Jafar is waiting for them. and instead of taking away the genie i chose to opt into him summoning a hundred heartless to the desert. Letting them off with a cliffhanger on what happens next.
The session went well and i wish certain things played out a bit different from a story telling perspective but overall the group had fun and so did i. Thank you all for tips and advice as it was helpful in planning out the encounters!
I love the kingdom hearts stuff. The one thing i would say is that you may want to spend less time in the cave of wonders in order to explore more environments from other movies. The rafaj twist may be predictable since it happened in the movie but if your ok with that it’s fine. If you want to find more in theme monsters to guard the lamp I would suggest trying to find something similar to another heartless. Other then that it sounds really fun
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Three hours with new players, using level 3 characters? You are going to seriously struggle to get this all into a 3 hour session.
Start the players at level 1. They will all have a much better time. Being level 3 won't mean anything to players who've never played before, and even for a level 3 Wizard there are just too many spells to read and understand off the bat without having ever seen someone make an attack roll before.
Your not wrong. I have run a game for newbies before at lvl 3 and it seemed to go over fine a lvl 1 game would be better but i've noticed that first time players get frustrated at all the things they cannot do at lvl 1.
Using DnDbeyond character maker and setting it up a few weeks in advance i think will be good
Update
We ran the game with a few modifications and the game went really well!
We did keep it at lvl 3. Players had time to read the rules and get a general idea of what things did. I think that having a few days to build your character ahead of time and looking at your spells helped because ppl were actively using their character sheets. using Items from their starting gear and spells from their lists to try and solve for creative problems.
Lvl 3 wasn't intimidating to them even though they were all new players.
The Ape encounter went well they tried talking to them at first using speak with animals and i RPd it so the heartless were talking to eachother but when they found out the PCs could understand them. They got hostile. Was a cool use of their skills and i gave the player a DM inspiration for trying to resolve things peacefully instead of combat.
The monkies rolled very poorly trying to snag a few players so i didnt get to position them very well but the Pcs got their first taste of combat with minimal wounds.
Saving the Rafaj from being taken into the Jungle by a big ape.
I added quicksand for a random encounter on the road and had the Pcs roll perception/survival. They rolled well and spotted the quicksand and we're able to form a plan to get across. A character used create water and a player who basically played Elsa froze the water over so they could cross without falling to the quicksand.
Finally they made it to the cave of wonders and noticed Rafajs Staff. They all knew it was jafar at that point but played it off like they didnt (I was impressed by this as i thought i was going to teach them about Meta gaming) They ignored it and entered the Cave of Wonders.
The first puzzle was pretty easy i looked up some disney puzzles riddles online and based the answers off everyones favorite Disney movies (They all told me beforehand)
The solved the puzzle and moved into a musical room where floating notes blocked the path to the next door. They demanded songs to pass and i had each person do a snippet (Or full song if they wanted) of a song from their favorite movie. The guys were very ehh but the girls all got into it very much so (Kind of what i expected) And so the final door opened.
Boss room:
When the door opened they were greeted by a beautiful women in Egyptian clothing (The lamia using Alter Self) She exchanged pleasntries to get close and tried having the paladin follow her (He was leading) She used her Intoxicating touch on the Paladin in an attempt to weaken him for the charm. (i played it wrong and though it was a charm) The paladin succeeded on a Wisdom Save but she didnt take note as he was following her movements around. The players feel like something is up and they notice the Women moving towards the lamp. A tabaxi player uses their movemnent and rushes ahead of her in an attempt to grab the lamp. Shes not having any of it and the combat errupts. She summons skeletons from the ground (Was originally Jackleweres but decided to make it easier) and she transforms to her true form.
Combat goes well its about 3 rounds and the lamia puts some heavy damage on the party but they ultimately succeed and free the genie from the lamp.
They make 3 wishes (the 3rd to free the Genie again as he was re-imprisoned by the lamia) and the party avoids the chamber of gold and weapons and walks peacefully out of the chamber.
Here Jafar is waiting for them. and instead of taking away the genie i chose to opt into him summoning a hundred heartless to the desert. Letting them off with a cliffhanger on what happens next.
The session went well and i wish certain things played out a bit different from a story telling perspective but overall the group had fun and so did i.
Thank you all for tips and advice as it was helpful in planning out the encounters!
I'm glad it was fun! Good job!
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
Did you continue?
I love the kingdom hearts stuff. The one thing i would say is that you may want to spend less time in the cave of wonders in order to explore more environments from other movies. The rafaj twist may be predictable since it happened in the movie but if your ok with that it’s fine. If you want to find more in theme monsters to guard the lamp I would suggest trying to find something similar to another heartless. Other then that it sounds really fun