Hi everyone, I ran my first one shot (4 hours) 5e campaign I homebrewed the story but set it in the Ravenloft world of 3.0
I hadn't Dm'ed since 2nd ed. The session went good and the players at my table enjoyed them selves and the narative. I learned a few things of what didn't work. So overall quite ok.
The one thing, I felt out of Tone was combat. My players loved it because everything was going their way. The priest of order managed to get all the city guards around him to drop their weapons, the monk was blasting city guards in the walls, etc...
Great for D&D, but for Ravenloft it lacked that fear edge, event the wererat was a minor obstacle.
A easy solution would be to make the guards uber powerful but that would take away at the atmosphere. A peasant conscript is not going full on monk of the 4 elements.
Or I start banning abilities and classes, which I would prefer not to do.
So how do you keep a balance without saying "oh but those city guards where actually demons in disguise!"
Just let them wipe out the guards? (though why are they fighting them in the first place?). I mean, they're city guards. Their job is to demonstrate how the monster works, not be useful.
What level were you playing at? Once the party is level 5 or higher they won't be afraid of mundane enemies - i.e. ordinary guards, animals, commoners etc... - that's part of the design of 5e.
Hi Everyone, that for the tips. To give more context, it's one a month event run one shots at a café. The games last 4 to 5 hours, I used to be a player but now now am a DM ( Big hi, do anyone who might also be a DM or Player from Dox :) ).
I love the part where , I could make everyone more mundane but I'm afraid not everyone has access to VRGTR module. I won't rerun the same story for a little bit but would like to improve it.
So the Party was 5 players of Level 4, there was 2 paladins (devotion), One monk, one abjurer wizard and one cleric (of order). The scene was they where asking question to the corrupt guard commander a Lv 6 fighter and there was 3 Lv 3 city guards (Also fighters) One with a musket (Which homebrewed ignores armor class) and 2 rapier wielding tanks. Fighting was a after thought but the party really messed up their questioning and refused to leave when the commander asked.
I used a online generator for the stats. First thig the cleric managed to get everyone to drop their weapons (Everyone except the lady with the musket failed), she shot good and brought the paladin to half damage. the rest got rid of the weapons. Then 2nd round they paralysed the Musket wielder and grappled or incapacitated the rest. So combat lasted 2 rounds. A bit of bad rolls (on my part) and cleave use of abilities from the party. But if I run the story again, I'd like it to be more of a challenge :)
First thig the cleric managed to get everyone to drop their weapons
commands is one target per spell level. And does not prevent them from picking up their weapons on a subsequent turn. However, if you're using PC-like builds, a two round combat is pretty normal.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hi everyone, I ran my first one shot (4 hours) 5e campaign I homebrewed the story but set it in the Ravenloft world of 3.0
I hadn't Dm'ed since 2nd ed. The session went good and the players at my table enjoyed them selves and the narative. I learned a few things of what didn't work. So overall quite ok.
The one thing, I felt out of Tone was combat. My players loved it because everything was going their way. The priest of order managed to get all the city guards around him to drop their weapons, the monk was blasting city guards in the walls, etc...
Great for D&D, but for Ravenloft it lacked that fear edge, event the wererat was a minor obstacle.
A easy solution would be to make the guards uber powerful but that would take away at the atmosphere. A peasant conscript is not going full on monk of the 4 elements.
Or I start banning abilities and classes, which I would prefer not to do.
So how do you keep a balance without saying "oh but those city guards where actually demons in disguise!"
Just let them wipe out the guards? (though why are they fighting them in the first place?). I mean, they're city guards. Their job is to demonstrate how the monster works, not be useful.
5e Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft has rules to play mundane persons as characters.
What level were you playing at? Once the party is level 5 or higher they won't be afraid of mundane enemies - i.e. ordinary guards, animals, commoners etc... - that's part of the design of 5e.
Mix some warrior veterans in with the normal gaurds.
Hi Everyone, that for the tips. To give more context, it's one a month event run one shots at a café. The games last 4 to 5 hours, I used to be a player but now now am a DM ( Big hi, do anyone who might also be a DM or Player from Dox :) ).
I love the part where , I could make everyone more mundane but I'm afraid not everyone has access to VRGTR module. I won't rerun the same story for a little bit but would like to improve it.
So the Party was 5 players of Level 4, there was 2 paladins (devotion), One monk, one abjurer wizard and one cleric (of order). The scene was they where asking question to the corrupt guard commander a Lv 6 fighter and there was 3 Lv 3 city guards (Also fighters) One with a musket (Which homebrewed ignores armor class) and 2 rapier wielding tanks. Fighting was a after thought but the party really messed up their questioning and refused to leave when the commander asked.
I used a online generator for the stats. First thig the cleric managed to get everyone to drop their weapons (Everyone except the lady with the musket failed), she shot good and brought the paladin to half damage. the rest got rid of the weapons. Then 2nd round they paralysed the Musket wielder and grappled or incapacitated the rest. So combat lasted 2 rounds. A bit of bad rolls (on my part) and cleave use of abilities from the party. But if I run the story again, I'd like it to be more of a challenge :)
commands is one target per spell level. And does not prevent them from picking up their weapons on a subsequent turn. However, if you're using PC-like builds, a two round combat is pretty normal.