Planning Hoard of the Dragon Queen--D&D Encounters S19 S18

Rodney Thompson wrote a great article on how to prepare to run a D&D Session. I thought I would use his ideas to prepare for this weeks D&D Encounters.

When I started this, I thought it would be a fun little exercise, but it turned into a very disappointing reflection on what a bad job I have been doing DM'ing this season--not enough prep time, too many missed sessions, season was too long, etc.

I look foreword to being a player next season.

Main Adventure

Hoard of the Dragon Queen Final Chapter. The Cloud Castle. Lots of Boss's and fighting--some exploration. Key is to thwart the delivery of the gold--maybe capture the castle. They need to get to the Dragon before next week.

Interludes

The Vampire is old school Cult of the Dragon and likes dragolich's and stuff. The Giant are all about restoring the past even if that includes working with Draconic enemies--they treat dwarves as slaves. He misses his wife, alludes to her still directing his life, and is odd. Rezmir will escape when confronted. The Red Thay guys need to have a lot of books and be up to total no good--they are very very evil. Four Factions [Cult of Dragon, Old Cult of Dragon, Red Wizards, and Giant] should be more than enough for this week.

Character Story Arc

The dwarf cleric is confused. The wizards are cocky. The fighters are overly confident. The wyverns are awesome transport. I need to get the guilds more involved--Harpers are trying to steal the treasure--Robin Hooding it from the Lords Alliance, basically. Emerald Enclave needs the books that the Red Wizards have. The Factions need to get more involved this week--which faction will win the gold is the theme I need to start developing this week...

World Texture

More magic. More Mayhem. More of Elminster's realms.

NPC Texture

Giant. Rezmir. Vampire. X the White [he is a Harper]. Red Wizards.

Random Encounter

None--way to much going on already.

Recap

Last week The Party got on the Cloud Castle in search for the Treasure being moved north by the Dragon Cult. Where is it going? Why a Giant? What is going on?

Gotham--Preston Enjoys Option Three!

Broken Oven

This morning our oven was not working and so Lisa had to go to the Bauhofers to make muffins...did not matter I still rolled Box Cars to start off against Matt in the Abzan Mirror!

While we played, Preston watched last nights Gotham--Option Three! 

And then Matt ended up killing me in a fairly silly game.

We did have two rules questions

• Can you Banishing Light the Torin's Emblem?

we voted no.

• Does Hexproof prevent the emblem from making you sacrifice Fleece Mane Lion?

we voted no.

Actual Play Hoard of the Dragon Queen--D&D Encounters S19 S17

Byeshk Metal, Gnolls, and The Bake

Brett opened his garage to us again this week!



James was behind the screen and ready to run!



I did not capture much of the session, but I have published our gaming soundtrack--we listen to Direct TV audio--Adult Alternative this time.

We use iPlay4E for our character sheets, but most of us like to role dice!

Lots of Dice!

Here is K>U>B>A going toe to toe with some Angle of Vengeance!

A good week!

Hoard of the Dragon Queen--D&D Encounters S19 S17

Huge Turn Out!

Comic Quest is literally running out of room & tensions are rising!

Magic kids may have to go! Or a table outside...something...

Lisa made some great asparagus as a snack!

We also scored some giant Grapefruits from Grandma's house

and a fantastic bag of pretzels that will be seen later at The Bake

My table had a lot of players & I had a struggle to keep things moving.

Some of the players had to stand the entire time

The other table that Nathan ran had a fairly strong set of players and was rather crowded as well.

Magic players were in the back and seemed to be having a good time as well

I recorded mostly the audio this week & the video is up on YouTube.

Only one Crit this week!

Blue Mages Rule Tuesday

ORCCON 2015

Jack & I drove to LA for ORCCON--the February Strategcon convention.

As always, I had brought my Tube of Dice:

Jack purchased these horrible neon monstrosities in the dealer room.

Our first game was this Greyhawk Reborn D&D Game

It was a battle interactive in which we had to raise an army of irregular soldiers & the stop an invading distraction force.

The table was packed with 11 players--but the DM's were awesome and really kept things moving along quickly.

Jack opened the session with back to back crit's with his new dice--an amazing feat by any standard!

The session had some really good hand outs.

And the map was an amazing complicated battle complex--totally fun.

After D&D we played some Bar Nuclear War and then Artimes two times. We ended the day with his crazy board game I cannot remember the name of--it was a fun if slightly unfocused CON.